Happy Halloween!

We have had a good day with litlte Kate! She's still pretty sick - chest cold - so we opted to stay in the hotel and not do the sight-seeing today. We did a little of our own physical therapy with her ... trying to coax her to stand with cheerios and yogurt drops on the couch ; ) And encouraging some tummy time and crawling. She has tiny little legs and feet! None of the shoes we brought fit her - so I'm guessing she is in like a size 2 shoe? or 6-12 months? She tolerated these red shoes for a few minutes then kicked them off ; ) But she did great with the standing! Sweet girl! She will do just about anything for yogurt drops ; ))

We skyped a bit in the morning - here she is in front of the iPad. Anne and Molly were concerned about her lack of clothes ; ) When we take her out, we have to put her in long sleeves and long pants - even though it is warm here ... the culture is to keep children very warm. We ended up going out last night for some dinner again, and her pants had ridden up her leg a bit in the sling... and an older lady came and pulled them down so they covered her sock and gave me a little mini-lecture in Chinese about keeping her covered (or at least I think that's what she was saying!). She was very kind about it but it was sort of awkward! ; ) It is so HOT in buildings here! The restaurant was I PROMISE 85 degrees. Sweat was dripping down our faces! We sweat through our clothes! And you look around and all the sweet Chinese people are in puffer jackets. They think it is so cold outside right now (maybe 75)... it's so crazy!

Kate sucks her thumb and then plays with her shirt sleeve with the other hand. Below she is playing with James - hitting him in the head with cups, yanking his nose, etc. She has started wanting to feed us what she is eating. She'll put a Cheerio in our mouths and smile. So cute!

It's crazy to think it was Halloween here! I had brought her costume and I'd meant to check with the other families from other agencies about some room-to-room trick or treating but didn't end up seeing them! Oh well. Kate dressed up as a cow in the room and we had fun ; ) Her friend Mary was a cow last year and I loved the costume! Back home, her sisters are dressing up like cowgirls as I write! Well, they have probably ditched those costumes and are in princess gear... but that's ok. We'll dress them all up in cow apparel sometime next month and come knocking on your doors! Save some candy! hehe!

Sweet Kate was fussing at bedtime so I laid down next to her after my shower and held her little hand. James got some pics. Apparently I fell asleep but Kate didn't - she just kept her hand in mine! So cute ; ) She is really precious!

Hope y'all have a Happy Halloween!!!! Send pics of your little trick-or-treaters or put on facebook! We'll be excited to see ; ) Take care. We're officially halfway through the trip!

Tuesday Happenings

We are one day closer to being home! Yea! And last night we slept better! It was the first time I'd slept more than 3 hours in a night. WOW! Thank you for your prayers! James skyped in with his bible study study guys and I know they were all praying. THANK YOU! Kate had a better night too. She coughed and coughed so finally I gave her some cough medicine and she slept soundly and is still asleep. Yea! Sweet girl! We ended up calling the International Adoption Clinic doctor in Birmingham yesterday, Dr. Chambers. We just wanted to go over Kate's cold symptoms and make sure we were on the right track there. Also, and I know many of you have adopted so you know about this, but Kate will alternate from being super engaged and playful to being reserved and almost motionless. We just wanted to make sure this was normal - the doc said it completely is. It's just a total shock to them to make a transition like this! We sent the doc some pics and video and she thinks Kate is doing just fine. She'll have lots of labs drawn, be tested for all sorts of genetic syndromes, and evaluated by a team of docs at the clinic when we get home (like they do for all adopted babies) just so we make sure we are caring for her the right way! But so far so good ; )

 Also, we just wanted to thank all of you for caring for our Anne and Molly while we are gone! It's really too many people to list, but we are so humbled by your love and care for them and for us. We've loved all the videoes, photos, and updates you've sent. Thank you so much. More than ever, we feel so grateful for such an amazing community! Thank you!!!

I'm gonna try to attach lots of photos and videos so we'll see how it goes... sorry if the videos don't end up working!

Below in the top two pictures, Kate was meeting Anne and Molly for the first time! So cute. Then there was an article in the China newspaper about the craziness of crossing the street here ; ) And then there's a picture of Kate eating watermelon - she can eat a LOT of watermelon!!! She loves it!

Everyone had said to bring stacking cups - apparently, children adopted from China just love stacking cups across the board! And they were right! She loves them and would play with them all day long!

She will crawl for yogurt drops ; ) By this point she was really working up a sweat! It's a lot of work having to crawl across the bed for yogurt drops and entertain your new american parents!!! We think she is just now learning to regulate her tempertaure to the way we dress her and keep the room temperature since the Chinese tend to keep rooms very hot (like 80 degrees) and children very bundled. So we're thinking that's the reason she breaks out in a sweat every now and then! Her body is getting used to this new temperature stuff!

Below is our offical adoption form! She is ours! So amazing and exciting. And you see a bag and some folded laundry - we had our laundry done! It was very expensive and if I made $70 every time I did a load of laundry, it would be fabulous! But they did a great job and everything was folded so nicely. It is all damp, because dryers are sort of new here and they use a lot of elecricity, so they don't dry things all the way. I gave Kate a little hair trim! Just to straighten out the back ; ) Sweet girl. She sits more still than Molly does (no surprise ; ) so it was super easy! Anne is easy too - but her hair is wavier so it's a bit tricky. Molly and Kate both have super straight hair. You see the pic of Kate sucking her little thumb? She does this when she is tired. And she puts the other hand right up by the wrist of the hand that has the thumb in her mouth. So sweet. And she can hold her own bottle. Sweet girl. I'm hoping they held her anyway when they fed her and that they didn't prop it up...

Ok, Wessel readers, close your eyes! This next part is going to be upsetting! We went to McDonalds! Eeek. Now, it was ONLY because at this point we are so hungry and there was no Burger King!!! Hehe. And boy, was it good!!! Not as good, of course, as if there had been a Burger King! But we have had no microwave - just a hot pot - and we've been eating granola bars, gluten free luncheables, rice bowls, PB&Js... so this was a super fun treat! We walked there with our new friends the Walls. They are so cool and they are practically locals! They can find their way around and they speak enough Chinese to get us anywhere, so it's fun to go exploring with them. Here we are with Ronald McDonald and then eating inside. Kate had her first bite of ice cream! She winced because I don't think she's ever had cold food (they don't do cold food here really) but then her eyes got really big and she opened her mouth wide open for another bite! And another, and another... James had the ice cream and was feeding her and she was mesmerized - just watching his every move with that ice cream. Hilarious! And some diaper changing and more cup playing...

Below we have more watermelon eating, some BBQ chip eating, her first ever pizza, and a big smile!

Here's a video of some cup stacking action...

Some crawling to the yogurt drops...

Drinking our bottle... with a cute little piggy in the air...

Some sweet little Chinese girls in front of the laundromat (we went with the Walls to take their laundry - we had sent ours out a different method through our guide). The little girls have clearly started English classes at school and would say token English phrases "Hello. Nice to meet you" etc... here they are saying "Nice to meet you too" in unison - so cute!

Walking back from McDonald's last night - it was probably a quarter mile from the hotel. Fun to be out at night and see more of the Chinese culture. The people are so nice and we we feel completely safe everywhere we go. I wouldn't want to walk down many unfamiliar city streets back in the states at night... but this felt totally safe! So crazy.

 

So that's everything for now! Hope everyon has a Happy Halloween. Can't wait to get home and see you all!!! We love you!

 

 

 

 

 

A busy day in town!



Monday was a busy day in town! Our sweet guide, Mary, took us around. We are with another family from our agency, the Walls. They are AMAZING and we couldn't be more convinced that the Lord chose us specifically to be here at the same time. They will be lifelong friends for sure!

 

We opened our next Amazing Race clue and headed out for the day ; ) The hotel has a pretty good breakfast with some western choices (eggs, hash browns, bacon, pancakes, fruit) so that is a blessing! Also below is a picture of Kate with a toy phone - she picked it up and put it right to her ear and started babbling - so I guess she's seem one of those before! The bottom right picture is of Kate with 2 of the Wall kiddos - one has been theirs since she was two and the other was added to their clan on Sunday! Both girls are 8 years old and so precious!

 



First we went to a government office to sign adoption papers. The office was in walking distance, so we walked. Which sounds so much easier than it actually was! The traffic laws here are ... well ... pretty different! Cars just weave in and out and mopeds and pedestrians are all in the street going every which way. We watch it from our hotel window and are in awe of the whole thing! It's amazing that more people don't get hit! It's amazing that we didn't get hit! Thank you, Lord! Driving is pretty crazy here too. We have run a few errands in a van with a driver that our guide gets... and there are no seat belts and there are a thousand close calls per minute. It's so crazy! Anyway, in the pics below we are at the goverment office. We had to sign lots of papers and put our thumb prints (in red - China color) over each of our signatures. Kate and I are with a government official in the top middle picture. She had on her slippers! She was very sweet. She asked about why we chose China. The bottom right picture is of us with Kate's orphanage director (the man) and another orphanage lady (she came to drop Kate off Sunday too). They were so sweet and playful with Kate! She didn't want to go to them but she watched them closely! I was glad about that. There are two families here adopting (both are from Hawaii!) and one of their little girls wanted to go back to the orphanage worker and that was tough. Both those families have been waiting SIX years for healthy babies! They were a bit shocked that we had waited 15 months for Kate. They couldn't even tell what was wrong with her... her lip really looks great. I wonder if they did it again if they would choose the special needs route? So interesting! Anyway, I was also glad that Kate's orphanage staff was so sweet. They really exuded a unique sweetness and kindness and interest in her well being than I had expected. We tried to give them money to get supplies for the orphanage but they refused to take anything.

 



Here is a picture below of us walking on the sidewalk. Thankfully, at the time of the picture, there were no actual cars on the sidewalk, which is good - b/c sometimes they come right up on the sidewalk! Our guide walks (quickly) and we all run like little ducks to keep up with her ; ) Kate is super easy and did great in her sling all morning and afternoon (despite my obvious poor ability to correctly use the sling - I need to re-read the directions I think! hehe). She fell right to sleep when we got home. We had to wake her up to head out on our afternoon errands. We went to the police station for more signing papers and taking pictures. Then we went to another office where they asked us if we were pleased with her, if she was what we expected, etc. She is such an angel and we both are completely peaceful with these decisions - even though they are so weighty! crazy that we signed adoption papers today and she is OURS! Crazy. Feels so right! We are having a hard time believing she has only been with us for 36 hours. Seems like we've had her with us always. So crazy. Below is a picture of James and Kate with our guide Mary. Also a thumb print pic ; ) All business people in China have their own stamp. So if you don't have your own stamp, you use your thumb! Pretty cool! All the lights were off in some of the government buildings. Electricity is really expensive and everyone is very conscious to conserve it whenever possible. They even unplug things that are off just because they worry that they could be using electicity. They are such sweet people and have all been so kind!

We also went to Walmart, Papa Johns, and KFC! There's the rice in bins at Walmart ready to scoop into bags and bug. Just thought that was cool - looked like big sandboxes! And it was James' birthday - I got him a baby... hehe... well, really he helped with that gift too! But I did bring some of his favorite candies to make a birthday cake. Funny story, but I bought them at a gas station a couple weeks ago. And i guess I usually don't make gas station store purchases so the credit card company got suspicious and cancelled my card! Hehe. Wonder what they will do while we're here in China if they get learly of the Exxon a mile from our house??? Hehe. We called them first just to give them the heads up about China! ; ))

Other random pics from today - all the mopeds parded outside the mall with their colorful rain ponches over them, tired little kate after a morning of errands, our hotel lobby - so pretty, and Mary (in black) from the back as we all run after her. She looks and walks JUST like my Aunt Jennifer from the back. it's uncanny! Auntie Jen, I'll try to take some video for you!

 

Today we're going to have a restful day mostly in the room! Kate is still sick and we want her to have a day with regular naps and bottles and food and playtime. She is just the sweetest little angel baby and we love her so much already. We miss our "big" girls a lot and have tried every way we can think of to shorten the trip... but it's just really a two week adventure and there's not a way to make it happen quicker. We are excited to have this time with Kate and she seems to be bonding very will with us. We are probably not going to go to the orphanage this week for a visit - it's a long day 4-5 hours both ways ... and she is sick and we have met all the orphanage people except for one that were in Kate's life (and we sent her a present and some pictures and a note). A friend visited last week and we will just have Kate call her when she is older and has questions about the orphanage! Maybe we will even come back someday. The drive would be tough and dangerous ... and James and I are both feeling the freedom to skip that visit and just focus on getting to know Kate better and spending time with her and working on what she eats/drinks. We are anxious to get to Guangzhou, see some dear friends, and bring Kate home to her sisters and all of you! Please pray that these next days are great bonding time but that they also fly by and that our girls are happy and healthly back at home! Thank you! And please send us your prayer requests!!!!

Up all night ... in a FUN way!

The plan was for us all to have a nice long night of sleep! So we turned in at 8 pm local time. But one by one, we Wessels woke up over here ... starting around 11 pm... I got up, then James, then Kate! She was just wide-eyed, looking all around. We would get her up, try to feed her, try to lay her back down... only to peek in at her a few minutes later to see those same big brown eyes! Sweet little girl!

We started with this baby...

So cute of course! But just timid and motionless. Other than swatting a bottle away before bed last night, she had made no other movements with any of her limbs! We were a tad worried but our sweet neighbors who are adopting too (for the 3rd time) assured us that this was normal. And we know God has called us to this little one, and we just fell in love with her rigth from the start... sweet little girl sucking her thumb! Still no luck with bottles, sippy cups, etc. Finally she started eying my granola bar... and next thing we knew, she was all over it!!!

So we ate some of that then I tried laying down with her in the bed. But wide-eyed she was again ; ) And her breathing is just super yucky - gunky, raspy, crackly, etc. She may even have a mild case of pheumonia, but thankfully I don't have my stethoscope and my medical knowledge has mostly turned to mush ; ) otherwise I would have way over-analyzed I'm sure  ;) But I thought we might should go ahead and start the antibiotic that we'd brought for her. So we used the dropper to give her the first dose, and she perked right up! Yum!!! She LOVED the medicine dropper! She then took about 10 ounces of apple juice and 4 ounces of formula dropper by dropper... and she was a DIFFERENT baby! She must have been so dehydrated. They didn't have bottles or anything with them when they dropped her off - and they'd come from a 4 hour drive - so she probably hadn't had any fluid since noon yesterday. And she had flat out sweated through 3 layers of clothes -she was SO hot and sweaty! So the fluid (and hopefully the antibiotic) really gave her some new energy!

All of a sudden, we started having little giggles... and smiles...

 

Then some rolling over and POP! Sitting up, crawling, playing...

So we played with her for awhile. She had a blast! She was clearly showing off all her tricks - rolling snazzy ways, watching to see us laugh, laughing herself... it was PRICELESS time! I mean, unreal! We were watching the most amazing transformation. How frightening to be left with strangers who look and sound totally different, have none of the same foods you are used to, none of the same sights and smells... just so shocking. But she started to trust us! It was the apple juice I'm thinking!!! Hehe. She started to holler when we walked away (to get other iDevices each time we maxed out the memory on one - oops! 2 full iPhones and a mostly full iPad after having her for less than 12 hours. Eek!) But she is trusting us! And having a ball!!!! It's just precious and James and I had tears just rolling down our faces the whole time. What a gift!

So I seized the moment and snuck in a super quick bath - which went great, thank you, LORD! She has never had a bath before, so it was all new. But she just opened her big eyes and took it all in! She is such a sweet heart.

Sorry I'm in a bathing suit! Didn't think through those first bath pics enough to make sure I wasn't in them! Anyway, she is all clean and in her PJs that both her sisters have worn - little lamb PJs. She was our little lost sheep that we came to get, so it seemed fitting to put her in those first. She loved being dressed and having her hair brushed! Her sisters are going to LOVE her!

Then we took one family picture and put her back to bed. She is all tuckered out - just spread out in jumping jack position lying on her back asleep. Precious! James is asleep too ; ) It's his birthday! What a gft to get on your birthday ; ) And I have temporarily given up sleep but I hope to take up the habit again shortly!!! ; ) Feeling so thankful for this precious angel and for all of you! Can't wait to bring this little bit home!!!

WE HAVE BABY KATE!!!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." -John 14:18

It has been such an exciting day!!! We got sweet little Kate! She is PRECIOUS! Two ladies from the orphanage along with our guide brought her to our room about 4 pm. We got to ask them lots of questions about Kate, they gave Kate a necklace with a rabbit on it (maybe her birth year was the year of the rabbit?), they brought the newspaper with her picture (they run an add of every orphan and give the parents a chance to reclaim the child ... no one claimed her - but WE did! and GOD does!) So crazy to watch her sleeping and think that she was in an orphanage last night. She just doesn't belong - NONE of them do! They are precious children and it's just mind-boggling to think that every child doesn't have a Mama and Daddy... wow.

It's also so completely surreal that a group of people come to your room, hand you a child, wish you luck, and head out. I mean, it's all so weird and wonderful!!! We haven't really slept for more than a couple hours in maybe 40 hours? So we are praying for a good night's sleep. Kate cried a bit off and on after the ladies left her with us. She was saying a word over and over - we think it was the name of her nanny. We will find out tomorrow. She finally just fell asleep at 5:30 (I'm sure she missed her afternoon nap since they traveled here during it) and we have just been watching her sleep! We left her in the clothes they brought her in (sweater and socks we had sent her in a package) but they say to save the clothes in a baggie and not to wash them so they always smell like the orphanage. Sadly, she pooped on the pants, so they had to come off and will need to be washed ; ) but we'll save the shirt and shoes in the bag ; ) She had on tons of layers of clothes so we have slowly removed all but her shirt. She is a snuggler! WOO-HOO!!! Molly is going to be upset about this news but we love snugglers (Molly is a snuggler too). Kate sucks her thumb - precious. Anne and Molly are going to love playing with her! Kate has big round eyes and they just watch you as you go all around the room - she is so curious! She loved the bubbles and a little toy music box we brought. She isn't playing yet - she is just sort of lying on us and watching. It will take a few days for her to jump in!!! She is sick - no fever but chest cold - so we may start her on antibiotics in the morning after giving her a proper once-over. I'm excited to give her a bath and break out more toys! She is precious and we can't wait for her to meet each of you!

The folks from the orphanage were very kind and they really loved her. Adoption is not customary here (the locals don't do it) so they are a bit confused by the whole thing! Everyone has been SO nice and helpful. There is a FABULOUS couple with us(actually in the room next door) adopting their 6th child (third adoption) and they speak Chinese and have lived here. They are awesome and a huge blessing to us! Ok, pics below:

In Beijing!

Ok! We are in Beijing! We continue to be confused on the time... but we think we've been up for 24 hours (except for some cat naps on the plane ; ) It's 8 pm in Beijing and we'll board a plane for Nanchang soon! That will be our final desitination for now ; )We will get to the hotel in Nanchang (Galactic Peace Hotel is our hotel ; ) We'll be getting Kate TOMORROW!!!! So exciting! The plane was super comfortable and we had a good time (movies, books, etc) but we still had trouble sleeping! I think it's because we're getting Kate ... I think even if I'd been in the most comfortable bed I wouldn't have slept! Just too exciting. We learned to say "thank you" on the plane... but we need to pick up some additional Chinese for sure!

Below are some pictures (in the wrong order!)

 

when we were about to land in Beijing, we saw the sunset - the last time the sun will go down before Kate has a Mommy and Daddy!!

View of Alaskan mountains from plan

Beijing Aiport! It's like a stadium inside!!!



 

Some last pictures in Canada - one with my sister, one with James, one in the hotel while we waited for the sun to rise (we were up super early and the sun rises late there in the winter!)

 

Plane from Vancouver to China! SOOOOOO nice! They gave us these little toiletry bags full of fun stuff. And slippers, super thick blankets, yummy food... so fun!



Rachell from James' office helped me print out these Amazing Race labels and I made us some clues for our trip ; ) it's one of our favorite shows so I surprised James with the clues. He was excited! First clue: Make your way to Nanchang, China ; ) There you will find a beautiful baby girl who needs a Mama and Daddy! Be the first to find her and you will receive a lifetime of blessings!

 

So off we went!!!!

 

 

Good Daily Promise

I love these 365 Daily Promise emails... each day you get a different one sent to your email. The one for this morning is great (like all of them ; ) but the picture looks just like some of the landscape we flew over yesterday. And here from Vancouver you see snow capped mountains all around - so gorgeous! Just thought I'd share!