June 28, 2010

Adoption Day

I will NEVER forget the noise and chaos of adoption day. We were in a small room, with lots of people, signing and thumbprinting more pages than I can count. Xander was seeing the caregivers who had given him to us the day before, I could tell he was not having a good time. There was lots of crying, it was hot, but at the end of it all he was officially ours!

The orphanage director and some of the people that took care of Xander

Even with all the commotion, Macey was so good!

A gift from Xander's orphanage

Oh, the thumbprints

Oh, the paperwork

June 27, 2010

Flying to Fuzhou, Fujian and GOTCHA DAY!!!

On our way to Fuzhou, Fujian

Waiting to meet her new brother

Sweet, sweet boy

That sad face breaks my heart to this day

One tired sister

Tuckered out after a long and emotional first day in our family

Reflection:

I've always wanted to know what "one year later" feels like. It is a milestone for an adoptive family. It's an adopted child's first birthday, a day to remember the first year together. I often thought that there would be something magical happen on this day. Like maybe this would be the day when I finally felt like I "got it," like I knew how to handle whatever came my way in regards to adoption. Maybe it would be the day that it all made sense to Xander, he had come full circle and now his actions and reactions would reflect his time with our family. Well, neither of these it true. Surprise, surprise, I was wrong again. :)

I remember so much of that first day. The room, the smells, the way he felt, the sound of his cry, my fear, the look in his eyes. Once I had him in my arms I held him close as he pushed away from me and screamed, but I just held him closer and started singing Jesus Loves Me. It was all this Mama could think to do, kind of a reminder to both of us. As we walked up and down the hall, the cries did not stop, just a baby crying and a mommy singing. Today we were on our way to speech therapy, and we had grabbed a quick bite from McDonald's (my all-American boy!), and the opposite happened. There was a baby singing Jesus Loves Me and a mommy crying! That's what "one year later" feels like.

June 26, 2010

Beijing, China

The Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square and Olympic Village

Our first breakfast in Beijing, China

Macey's new friend Evan! She had come to China with her mom and dad to get her little sister, she was also adopted from China. These two were instant friends!

The Forbidden City

That would be Mom taking a picture of me videoing Tian An Men Square.

Macey and I at the Bird's Nest

Dad at the Bird's Nest at Olympic Village

The Great Wall. Um, btw, that is not fog, it is smog. Our lungs burned the next day after this hike!

On our way back down from the top of the Great Wall

So strange. These women (who worked in a store we were shopping in) were in awe of Macey, like many of the Chinese people were. But Macey actually let them hold her and take a picture!

Our wonderful, amazing, gracious, caring guide Susan! We cannot say enough good things about her!!! She carried that bright umbrella and wore a bright shirt so we could see her in the crowds. :)

One year ago

A year ago today Kevin, Macey and I left our home for the last time as a family of 3. We boarded a plane, first headed to San Francisco, to meet up with Grandpa Max and Nana before we took a trip to the other side of the world. I knew it would be an experience, I knew we would be tired, I knew we would need God's strength just to make it. What I didn't know is that it would be life changing (not just because it added a child to our family), the word tired does not even come close to how we felt (and sometimes still feel), and not only did we need God's strength to get through the trip, but He is the only reason we are able to celebrate one year later!

June 24-25, 2010

Flying from DFW, via SF to Beijing, China!

Our little world traveler

Grandpa Max and Nana

Here we go!

Join us from now until July 9th as we relive our trip to China a year ago!

Finally Home Forever!!!

Ahhh, we're finally home. We actually landed in the US at about 8:40am (PST) on July 9 in San Francisco. Xander became a US citizen shortly after that, and I think he was asleep. We hustled through the airport, and thanks to our immigration officer who rushed us through, we made our connection. Took a short 3 hour flight to Dallas and were finally home. It is great to be home!

We were welcomed by some cute signs made by some friends and a clean house, as I had arranged for a cleaning lady to come the day before we returned home. :)

I have to admit that we aren't settling in very easily. If anyone has ever had jet lag you know what a bear it can be, add two toddlers with jet lag and, well, it's not pretty around here. We know it will take time, but we can hardly wait to feel normal again. Xander seems to feel right at home. He explored the house right away, was pretty scared of the cats and dog, but is warming up to them quickly.

Thank you to everyone who commented. We were unable to read them while we were gone, but we have read each of them since returning home. We wish we could have posted more often, but it really was quite hard to find the time.

Thanks to my little sister to was the blog keeper while we were on our trip. She is a beautiful writer, and since re-reading what I posted I wished I had given her editing privileges, but I think y'all got the idea. Thanks, Auntie Meedo!

This will be the official last post of the adoption blog. It has been a wild 4 years to get to this point, and I know the ride has only just begun. It is really an amazing thing to know that the adoption portion is over. It hardly seems real. Thank you for all of your prayers, we truly could not have made it without them. The Lord answers prayers, and we were the lucky recipients of many of them.

Here are a few more random photos that I thought were blog worthy. Enjoy!

Our first attempt at swimming, it didn't go so well, but later in the trip we learned that Xander LOVES swimming!

This was the first time we put Xan in the stroller, it may have been his first time ever, and he thought he was on a ride!

C'mon! Does a smile get any cuter?

All of us together at McDonald's

Please keep up with us on our family blog Life in Texas, McNeely Style.

Almost Home

I'm going to say that this will be our last post before returning home. We haven't been as good at posting as we had hoped, but we hope you enjoyed what we did share. It has truly been the experience of a lifetime! We've spent the last few days shopping, seeing a few local sights and even relaxing. It has been nice to have some down time, it was much needed. I can't really say that we feel more rested, but we are not any more tired than we were before, so I guess that's the silver lining.

I think the last post was on July 4th. That evening we went to an Italian restaurant (we were under the impression it was American food), it was ok, but it was nice to venture out and hang out with our friends. It has been especially hot since we have been here. In fact, we've been told that it is the hottest it's been in 60 years, awesome. We did many outdoor things while in Fuzhou, but since getting to Guangzhou we have opted out of a few simply because it is so hot. We chose not to go to the zoo, which would have been fun, but we thought the kids would probably fall asleep and we would be left looking at animals we didn't really care about. Call us wimps, but we'll go to the zoo in Texas when we can all enjoy it! :)

We are headed out the take an oath. Basically to say that all the paperwork we filled out for the past 4 years, including the mounds that we have filled out since arriving in China, is true and we did not lie. Um, seems a bit pointless, but it is required by our lovely government so we will comply. Tomorrow morning we will get his US Passport which completes the last step in getting permission to bring him to the US. Thursday evening we head to Shanghai and Friday morning we board a plane for our LONG flight home. Ahhhh, finally!

It has been fun, exhausting, emotional, frustrating, humbling, and exciting. We will be so happy to be home so we can introduce Xander to his new home and all of his friends and family! See you soon!!!!!!

Macey enjoying a milk cream shake

Xander and Dada

Macey and Xander in their traditional Chinese duds!

Macey's dinner of fries and chetchup on Daddy's belly

Instead of going to the zoo, we just fed the monkeys in our room.

And the Adventure Continues...

As you can plainly see, we are having a slightly difficult time keeping up with the blog on a daily basis. Waking up at 4am everyday has taken its toll on our productivity; therefore, here I am writing this at 5:30am on the 4th of July in China. The lack of free internet in our rooms does not help us either.

The kids are playing well together, especially yesterday afternoon when Mama was trying to take a nap. Xander continues to eat like a maniac and is very grumpy when his tummy is empty. He eats bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, fried rice, white rice, shrimp, yogurt, eggs and drinks tea…and that’s just what he has for breakfast, all of this after a morning bottle of formula. It is quite an adjustment for us who is used to a little girl who loves her yogurt and mac & cheese. I just don’t know what we are going to do when we get home and there is no buffet.

On Friday night we left Fuzhou for Guangzhou, where we will be until it is time to go home. The flight was delayed twice and finally left after 10pm. Macey was melting down before the flight, but settled down on Nana’s lap once we got going. Xander fell asleep once we got moving and was asleep for most of the flight after about 15 minutes of crying. Thankfully the flight was only one hour and fifteen minutes. For us that is our 4th flight of the 7 total that we will have to take on this trip.

After finally getting to bed at 1:30am Saturday morning, we were up at 6am getting ready for Xander’s medical check-up. We left the hotel at 8:15 and headed to a clinic. Knowing that about 60 families would be there at 10am, our guide Susan decided that being there when it opened would be best. She was right as usual and after about 15 minutes of waiting, we made it through the 3 stations in about 20 minutes. Xander weighed in at 10 kg (22.5 lbs) although we believe he is much heavier. I weighed him on the scale with and without me and estimated that he is about 24 lbs.

After the clinic we were able to do some shopping and I was finally able to find a soccer jersey that I have been looking for the entire time. Sports jerseys are not common around China, especially the Chinese national team since they are not very good. We met up with our group for lunch at a Thai restaurant. I loved the food, but many people in our group thought it was too spicy. After an afternoon nap, Xander and I got to share a cool father son moment by watching a little bit of Hoosiers on TV. I’m sure that won’t be the only sports movie we will watch together.

To celebrate the 4th of July, we are going to go to an American style restaurant with tons of other adoptive families. We have been incredibly blessed to be in a group of about 6 families that are some of the finest people we could have hoped to share this experience and adventure with. We send everyone back home greetings and hope y’all have a great 4th of July.