Today we ventured out, unaccompanied by our guide, into Zhengzhou in an attempt to find a nice park to play in. We heard there was a park nearby and with the intense heat outside we figured we should be adventurous and try the subway and so we did!

Eli checking out the view from our room

We successfully bought subway tickets and made it on and off without getting lost. I think the subway station and train were the cleanest places we have been since arriving in China. 

We got to the park which was nice but it wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. Lots of concrete, not a whole lot of green space to run and play. 

Pretty much everywhere we go this is happening....the Chinese people treat blond haired children like celebrities and everyone wants to get their picture taken with them. It is quite strange and a little frightening to the kiddos!

We found a ton of birds at the park that you could pay to feed and then found a giant birdhouse for them. An older man came running up to us yelling in Chinese and we had no idea what he was saying but we figured out he wanted us to get away from his birds and then later saw him near the giant birdhouse. I guess he must have been the bird keeper. 

Here's the giant birdhouse. 

We continued through the park and found some amusement rides and some giant lily pads with beautiful flowers and then we started the long hot walk back to our hotel.  

The heat and all the walking makes this little guy so sleepy!  

On Wednesday we made a visit to Eli's orphanage, the Zhengzhou City Children's Welfare Institute. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. So many children without parents. Sam and I were a little concerned about how going back would affect Eli but he didn't seem to have a reaction either way towards this place. There is a little confusion about how long he was living in this orphanage versus being in foster care. Our adoption agency told us he had been in foster care since last October, but the orphanage told us he had only been in foster care for one month. Either way this orphanage is where he spent the majority of his life before he became part of our family. 

This is the outside and Sam talking with the orphanage director and our guide, Vivian. 

While waiting to go inside he figured out how to give kisses and has been giving tons since!

This is the room that Eli spent most of his life in before being adopted. This is called the Lily Orphan Care Center and the room is funded by our adoption agency, CCAI. There were two rooms to the care center, one for tiny babies and one for older babies. He was in this older baby room with about 5 other kiddos. This is considered the "nicer" part of the orphanage. The heat was almost unbearable inside. No fans or air conditioning and it was about 95 degrees outside and probably the same inside. 

The babies were really quiet, mostly just laying on the floor, with a nanny sitting nearby. There were a few toys but not much. It is heartbreaking to think out son spent most of his life in here. 

This is the sleeping room and below is the crib Eli slept in. 

We were hoping to meet his foster family but that was not able to happen. The nannies in his room at the orphanage were very kind and interacted well with the babies. We were hoping to meet his primary caregiver there but it turns out they have about 20 nannies that rotate through so there wasn't any one that he was really attached to. They all seemed to know Eli but he didn't show any kind of recognition of the nannies or the orphanage. We were so glad Sam and I were both able to go and it wasn't traumatic for him. 

Then we headed out to the outside play area and garden area. 

This tall building in the back is where some of the foster families live on site at the orphanage. I am so thankful to China for taking care of our son but this is no way for children to live. They need loving families to bring them home and need families to support the different ministries that provide help to these orphanages. No children should have to grow up without families and we are so thankful God led us to our Eli. 

Just a few more pictures from our first day together because I can't resist sharing how cute he is!

He loved noodles and ate 3 bowls full as soon as got him back to our hotel!

Eli finally let daddy hold him after he was the one to feed him lunch. 

He came in these crazy split pants and loves his monkey shoes. He wouldn't let us take them off!

Both wrists had these little red bracelets on them. Our guide told us they mean peace and happiness. 

After a really long day for little Eli he crashed around 7:30 pm and slept next to me all night. Sure do love this little guy!

It's official!  He's all ours!

Gotcha day!

Today was amazing! This precious boy was just as amazing as I had dreamed he would be!

Sam and I both woke up early and had to wait several LONG hours until 9:30 so we could leave to meet Eli. We had all our gifts packed and Eli's backpack full of goodies ready to go. We took a short bus ride to the registration office and were told that each child would show up at a different time depending on which orphanage they were coming from. Our little guy was already there waiting for us. It really caught me off guard as I was expecting to have to wait for him and we were the first ones to get our child. The tears started flowing from me just as soon as a saw his little face. Another amazing mom in our group was able to video record the whole "gotcha time" for us.  He was really scared at first and wouldn't look at us and we just held him and talked to him for a while before he started to warm up to us. He really liked the blue lollipop we gave him shortly after we met and I think that helped him think we were okay. After about 20 or 30 minutes we started to see some smiles from him and the rest of the day went uphill from there!

On our way to get Eli!

This kiddo was so thirsty!  He drank and drank and drank water!

He was quite the comedian. We got some laughs and smiles from him pretty quickly!

We got back all the care package items we had sent such a long time ago and his orphanage made us a nice photo album from his time there. This was so special for us to be able to have this!

He is just absolutely amazing. Adoption is amazing. This morning he didn't have a family and now he has one forever!

Welcome to Zhengzhou!

Today was mostly filled with travel as we took a high-speed train to Zhengzhou where Eli lives. The train was comfy and it was nice to see the China countryside and farmland during the 3 hour ride. It also gave us time to get to know the other families in our group. We are traveling with 6 other families, so 7 families total, to adopt 8 kiddos. They are all super nice and Hannah has made friends with several other little girls traveling with us. 

Zhengzhou seems much nicer than Beijing. The area has newer buildings and seems cleaner and not as crowded. The smog is much better here too and we were able to see brought to the blue sky for the first time since we have gotten to China!  We got settled into our hotel in Zhengzhou and then our guides took us to Walmart to get supplies before meeting our children tomorrow. We were given one final update on Eli including his daily schedule and what he eats. We picked him up some baby formula, and his favorite fruits, peaches and bananas, and some cookies that our guides assured us all the kids like to eat. 

We have everything ready to go to meet Eli in the morning.  Lollipops and toy airplanes, nanny gifts and paperwork ready!  We leave at 9:30 am for "gotcha day!"

We have the crib. Now we just need the baby. Tomorrow is the day!

Day 2

A super long day today! We started very early, leaving the hotel at 7:15 am, although again we were up really early (4 am!), unable to sleep any longer.  We started the long trek to the Great Wall of China! George, our guide in Beijing, gave us a little mandarin lesson on the way. 

The wall was pretty amazing! I had no idea it would be such a vigorous climb and we were really working up a sweat going up, up, up. We climbed and climbed the stairs and ended up finding a place to stop and get a Popsicle at the top of the section we were at. We were stopped many times by the Chinese people to take a picture with us. I guess seeing Americans with light colored hair is quite a novelty to them!

The pollution was really bad and it made for some not so great pictures from far away. 

Next we visited a jade gallery to learn about the "treasure of China" as our guide calls it. They had some beautiful things and we picked up something special for Eli to give to his bride when he is older. Next was lunch and then a long bus ride (stuck in tons of traffic!) to an acrobatic show. 

The show was really great and they did some amazing tricks!  I had to cover my eyes at several parts because I just knew someone was going to plunge to their death with the crazy stunts. Hannah said it was the best show she had ever seen!  We are so exhausted from nearly 12 hours out and about. Trying to relax the rest of our last evening in Beijing. Tomorrow we head to Zhengzhou to prepare for meeting Eli on Monday!