Ok, so this adoption trip has been quite different so far. Normally, you receive your child maybe the 2nd day you are here and they stay with you 100% of the time after that. This time, our first 4 days we are getting sporadic time with Eric and his foster family prior to him staying with us. I think this has been good for Eric to gradually become more comfortable with us, and yet, I also think it is prolonging his sense of leaving. Leaving is going to be sad for him, even though he was about to lose his foster parents and have yet another transition. I am hoping that once he actually leaves here (on Sunday) to go to his province where we will adopt him, that we will begin to see some closure and therefore, more openness to us. I expect there will be some grieving as well. Yesterday we learned even more details from his past and know there will also be many unaswered questions. Please pray that he will allow himself to begin to bond with us as we go through these next weeks and months.
LANGUAGE: We have also become much more tangibly aware that the language barrier is going to be a huge barrier for a while. Again, I don't think we're really going to know how much English they know until we break away from their surroundings and all our helpful translators. But we just need to pray that we can help them progress in English very quickly.
ANDREW: So far it has been a delight to have Andrew along. Yesterday we had a lot of car time to and from the Great Wall (with Mike, Amy, Andrew, and Eric) all squished in the back seat of a small car. Andrew and Eric played a lot of tic-tac-toe on the foggy window, used their translators together, and then threw snowballs at each other once we got there. Kids have a way of connecting in spite of language!
GOOD-BYE PARTY: How can you put "good-bye" and "party" together? Good-bye's can be sad, but we were blessed to be able to share this time with Eric this afternoon. Father Luke hosts a movie time for all the kids in the group homes and today's "party" was in honor of Eric. There were about "20" kids there today. There are so many special kids here. Some that are paper-ready and up for adoption. Some that are not. Some with mild needs and some with major needs. They are all so precious. When a child is adopted from one of these group homes, it opens up a spot for another child to come into a family setting. There is a long waiting list to get in to these group homes. So even though it is "momentarily" sad for Eric to leave the "known" behind, it will allow him the hope of a future as well as allow another child the opportunity to experience a family setting that is better than the orphanage. We are also fortunate that in Eric's situation, he will at least have the opportunity to stay in touch (via email and skype) with people like his foster parents, Father Luke, and some of his friends. (We don't yet know if that will be an option for Brandon.)
TIANANMEN SQUARE AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY: Mike and Andrew enjoyed time this morning touring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square reflected the current (tributes to Moa) while the Forbidden City reflected the ancient past. The size and scale of the Forbidden City was truly magnificant. We walked thru just a portion of the city in the nearly 2 hours we were there. It is no wonder it is high on the list of tourist attractions in China.
Tomorrow we take the train to Eric's province and begin the real adoption part of the trip.
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