Last Days in Zhengzhou

I'm not feeling the blog vibe lately. But since the only thing I'm in the mood right now to do is not possible (fly home and enjoy some "boy" time with Eli and Jeremy), I guess I'll try to touch on some of the highlights of the past couple of days.

Zhengzhou is certainly a beautiful city as far as cities of China go. It offers blue skies and tree-lined streets. The temperatures are fairly mild and the hotel staff has been helpful and friendly. I certainly would not want to overlook the fact that I have a rare opportunity to see sights that many of my family and friends will never see in person, and I consider myself lucky to have three fantastic kids, two of which came from this far away place. Having said all of that, I'm ready to come home.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to entertain ourselves while our guides took a few families to visit the orphanages where their children came from. We opted to pass on that chance. Just as I thought with Jeremy, I would think that visiting the places she spent so much time previously would either re-open a bad memory for her or negatively affect the bonding we have developed in the short time we've had together. My hope would be that both Jeremy and Leah would have an opportunity when they are older to return to China to visit these people and places if and when they are ready.

Instead, after breakfast, we met up with another couple to walk around the city. We have spent a bit of time with Bill and Sara on this trip, and have found them to have a lot in common with us. Besides the fact that we are both here to adopt a daughter, their daughter Mya looks a lot like our niece, we both home school, and both moms roll their eyes whenever Bill or I make a suggestion. Apparently us dads are just here for comic relief.

Bill fulfilled his role by stepping into a local hair salon to get a haircut. For 15 yuan (about $2) he got his hair washed, trimmed, re-washed, and blow-dried. When he tried to include a tip, it was ceremoniously refused. It gave the rest of us time to joke about him. To be honest, I'm glad we were along as it was an activity completely out of the ordinary.

We also enjoyed a cooked sweet potato from a street vendor. Leah and I loved it, meaning mom only got a couple of bites before we devoured it. It was probably the most "American" thing I've eaten with the exception of a pepperoni pizza we would eat later that night for dinner in the hotel. It wasn't until I read Sara's blog where Bill mentioned something about being advised not to eat from local vendors that I even thought about the potential danger to my lower intestines. Fortunately that was not a problem.

The only other issue we encountered was the local women giving me stern looks for apparently under-dressing Leah. She was sporting a dress with undershirt and knit tights. She also had on a winter coat, but apparently one layer on the legs was unacceptable. I tried to explain that her legs were pencil thin and the socks were two inches thick, but the humor was lost in translation (or lack thereof). I looked to my lovely wife and our traveling companions for help, but they were nowhere to be found. I think they enjoyed seeing me take the heat on my own! No worries. I just smiled and amused myself with the fact that dressing a kid like an eskimo, but leaving a big, gaping hole in the crotch of their pants for using the bathroom whenever and wherever couldn't possibly be warmer or more comfortable.

Today, we took a trip to a museum of history that covered the various eras of the Chinese people. It is believed that the local area was the birthplace of the country and that Kaifeng, the town where Leah was abandoned, was the original capital city. With our passports, the entry fee was waived. I wouldn't consider it a highlight of the trip, but it was a nice way to waste some time rather than just sit around the hotel for another day. At the very least, it gave Leah an opportunity to ride the bus in her very own seat. She fell asleep on the way back -- a seemingly typical response for all our kids when in a moving vehicle for any length of time!

We will be taking a group picture later this afternoon in the hotel lobby. I look forward to having that picture to remember all the families we have met on this trip. I have learned so much about the other children who were adopted and find myself in awe of the other families. While I believe that I have stepped outside my own box by adopting from a foreign land (twice), I realize that my step was not nearly as big as others have taken. I am sure that I would have shied away from adopting an older child (two children in our group are older than eight), a child with a missing limb (a boy is missing an arm), or a child with a serious medical condition (a girl is still taking medication for her heart condition which is apparently worse than originally stated). I am surrounded by incredible families that inspire me to give thanks for my blessings and try to be better than I am.

Tomorrow morning, we pack up and fly to Guangzhou to wrap up our adoption trip. I'm looking forward to a change of scenery, warmer weather, and (hopefully) a juicy hamburger. We still need to purchase a picture for Leah to match those we bought for Eli and Jeremy on our last visit. We hope to meet the families that we were with in Beijing before going our separate ways to meet our new children. But most of all, we look forward to being a day closer to boarding a plane for Charlotte. We are longing to bring Leah home, and to be back with our two sons who we've been away from for far too long!