More pictures from Thursday

Interesting pictures from West Lake

Completed adoption phase in Hangzhou

From dennis:  Today we completed the adoption phase that we needed to finish in order to take Chloe out of the city of Hangzhou. We received 3 documents after paying 4,000 more Yuan (roughly 590 U.S. dollars) at the Public Notary Office.  We now have official certificates for Chloe's birth, abandonment, and our adoption of her. 

We have learned to value air conditioning highly.  It is a high humidity percentage here with the temperature around 90 degrees today.  Most public offices we have been to keep the doors open to the street and do not run air conditioning very much.  So, next time we are in the U.S. and waiting at a doctor's office it will not be a big deal at all sitting in the A/C in a smoke-free building without bus exhaust blowing into the windows and doors.  Our hotel room is air conditioned so we are very well set when we are not out doing paperwork or eating, or seeing the town.

If I ever find myself wanting to complain about Dallas traffic or heat, all i will need to remember are these busy, crowded cities in China.  I am now more thankful for the clean air and environment we have in at least the majority of Dallas.

Changing subjects, at breakfast this morning at our hotel, i noticed there were 2 different kinds of milk.  Probably regular cow's milk, tastes the same as in U.S. - at least to me.  Then another pitcher had a slightly darker milk and it was Soybean milk.  Curiosity got the best of me and i got 1/4 of a glass.  I sat down and considered letting Chloe drink some; but we decided we didn't want to experiment and possibly get her sick if she'd never had it.  So, I drank it and discovered a new favorite for me.  Taken quite by surprise at how good it tasted, I'm going to talk to some locals here to see if we can negotiate shipping costs to the U.S. so I can set up a soybean milk stand outside my house and make additional income.  Or I'll investigate making it here in the states and try to undersell everyone else!  :)  Nice to dream anyway ...

Thursday

Well today was a little bit more laid back.  We headed out this morning to get our final paperwork completed and then headed to West Lake for a boat tour.  It has been very foggy today so it was hard to see far.  As Dennis mentioned it was very very hot.  We stopped at a Dairy Queen to eat lunch but discovered they only served ice cream, so we went next door to Papa John's and had pasta, then went back for ice cream. 

At Papa John's we met the talked to the first American's we've seen other than the families traveling with us.  They were here studying Chinese at the local university.  Hangzhou is considered a resort town for the Chinese and many vacation here, we've seen people from Japan, Germany, Italy, etc, but few Americans.  And very few people speak any English, in Beijing a lot of local people knew a little bit but that is not true here. 

I think Dennis has mentioned the traffic around here, but it bears mentioning again.  Keep in mind that this is a very busy city and we are right in the middle of it.  There are lots of buses, cars, bicycles, scooters, and pedestrians.  But no one really has the right of way, you just go and hope every one stops. It is crazy!  Many times I will be watching out of the van windows and we will be a few inches away from a bus, or there will be a motorcycle trying to go in a very small space between cars. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent being lazy in our room, then we went to dinner and are back in our room again.  Our flight from here leaves tomorrow evening, so we check out of our hotel around 2 and will do a little bit of sightseeing and shopping.

Chloe was much more comfortable with us today, she had been a bit clingy but that was not true today, she was very happy.  I believe the only time she cried today was when she was tired and when they were not serving her food fast enough.  She did not eat as much today, but she still has a very healthy appetite. 

Since tomorrow will be a travel day, we may not get to post.  We hope you are enjoying our journey, we appreciate all of your emails, texts, and comments, keep them coming. 

DongSheng Commodity Market

From dennis:  Today we visited the orphanage.  We saw the buildings from the outside where Chloe was taken care of for many months of her life.  We were graciously allowed inside of the administration building where we made payment (donation to the orphanage for Chloe's care).  We were allowed to walk to the playground where Chloe could play with Deacon and other kids for awhile. Deacon & Chloe were recognized by the kids still there, and it was a good reunion.  More of our questions were answered and we found out more information about the place where Chloe was abandoned.  We bought our driver and guide lunch after they agreed to drive us to the place where Chloe was left - we assume by her mother.  I thought we had seen some busy places in Beijing and Hangzhou, but after the long drive to the far Northeastern corner of the city we saw what i thought was an incredibly busy place.  Next to the East Bus Station is the DongSheng Commodity Market.  It is like an outlet mall, only with lower quality cheap items.  You can buy just about anything there for a cheap price tag.  Down the street are some multi-story apartments and lots of people.  We took photos of the market and street -in particular the bushes around.  In one of the areas where there are bushes at the market was where Chloe was found.  It was a sad moment as we thought of the mother and the situation that would cause her to have to leave her girl there.  We are grateful that she was left in a crowded place.  Someone found her and took her to the police station and eventually she was taken the the orphanage.

Chloe's story is not rare at all.  It is so commonplace that it is just part of the culture due to the way the government is handling China's overcrowding situation.  I pray that we are part of the solution, and that Americans will maintain a high value on life, and a growing appreciation especially for the life of the child within his mother's womb.  I fear a decreasing reverence of the sacredness of the act of conception of human life in our country though; but I'm thankful that we do not have the same issues as China.  We have grown to love the culture here in some ways, but are saddened by the seeming necessity to abandon children on streets.

More pictures from Wednesday

Wednesday

Wow, today was a very longgggg day. 

Chloe woke up happy today just because she does not want to be known as grumpy.  She again ate a very large breakfast.

Our first stop of the day was to drop off laundry, we could have had the hotel do it, but we had heard it was fairly cheap to do it at a local store, so we loaded up our 6 days of clothes and took them to the cleaners.  You can imagine Dennis' surprise when it was $90, yes in American dollars.  Luckily Dennis did not choose for us to wear dirty clothes the rest of the trip :) but it is some very expensive washing they are doing for us. 

Then we headed to the orphanage.  It is a new facility and very large.  Our guide told us that it can house about 300 children but currently about 90% are in foster homes.  We met the director and assistant director and a couple of other people there, it was very obvious that they loved the children.  We were told that Chloe was returned to the orphanage last week from her foster family, and the director and one of her assistants took care of her, she actually slept with them.  They were sad that Chloe was very uninterested in going to them.  We were able to walk around outside the facility, play on the playground.  We met several of the older children preschool thru younger elementary age, many special needs.  Yall should be glad we did not have the ability to bring them home, because I do believe I would not have hesitated to say, send them with me I will find a home for them.   

From there we headed to the finding places of Chloe and Deacon, Dennis is going to tell you about that. 

Then we went to lunch, our guide chose a traditional Chinese Family restaurant again, where they bring many dishes to the table and place them on a lazy susan.  Chloe was our entertainment.  She was contently eating her cheerios when they placed the first platter and then she tried to climb to the middle of the table to get to the food, unfortunately it was a platter of very tough meat,  BUT the next bowl was fried rice, I told Dennis to scoop some quickly.  She ate two bowls of rice and then 2 bowls of an egg custard,  i was shoveling it in as fast as I could go.  Then she ate a bowl of ice cream and the only reason she stopped eating was because we had to leave.  SO FYI Jacque, we are going to need those 18 months clothes very soon if she keeps up this pace. 

We chilled at the hotel for a few hours then headed to Pizza Hut for dinner. Where yes once again Chloe entertained us.  She was not as hungry, and apparently is not a pizza fan.  But the waitress brought out our drinks late, pepsi and 7 up.  Chloe grabbed Dennis straw and was trying to put it in his glass so we decided to let her have a drink and she consumed almost half of his 7 up.  That is the picture of her with her head in a class, Her facial expressions were priceless.  We had been having trouble getting her to drink, but since that 7up she has had a bottle of water and a bottle of formula. 

Tonight we attended a show at West Lake called "Impressions" it was choreographed by the same man that did the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics.  IT was actually on the lake on a stage they built right under the water, so it looks like everything is happening on the water. 

Well it is 10 o clock here, we are going to sleep soon (yes I have become an early bird). 

The rest of Monday and Tuesday

Chloe did really well on Monday, she went right down for a nap and slept for about 3 hours.  We went walking after that, and she loved riding in the stroller,  We ate dinner at Pizza Hut.  Then we walked some more around West Lake a famous lake in China.  Around 7 we stopped and watch a water fountain show, it reminded me of a fireworks show with the music, but it was all water fountains.

She went to sleep around 8:30 and slept until almost 7 waking only once when my phone rang. 

Once she woke up we learned two important things about her, she wakes up grumpy and she is grumpy because she is HUNGRY!!!!!  Once we figured out she was hungry we headed to breakfast where she consumed about 2/3 of a fried egg, a bowl of congee (a rice soup), cracker, bread, sweet potatoes, cheerios, etc. 

Then we headed to the Civil affairs office, and got the official certificate of adoption, so she is officially ours.  Next we headed to the local police station to get her passport, the only problem was that the guide forgot to tell us they would be getting pictures taken and both babies fell asleep.  They were NOT happy about waking up, and the photographer would not take a picture with them crying.  Very interesting time. 

She fell back to sleep on the way back to the hotel and we put her down for a nap.  We ate lunch here in the room - leftovers and soup.  Chloe woke up around 2:30 - again in a very grumpy mood - again because she was hungry.  She ate a bowl of oatmeal, and more cheerios and crackers for the rest of the afternoon.

At 6 we headed out with two other families to an authentic Chinese family restaurant, much like the one we went to on Saturday.  This time I got a picture - we had fried rice, dumplings, sweet and sour pork, steamed fish, shrimp, two kinds of vegetables, a beef dish - all for 300 yuan, or about $43, and that was for 6 adults and 3 kids.  The pictures are from dinner, one of our table and the other of Chloe eating once again. 

Chloe ate cracker and cheerios, some of the dumplings, rice and 4 slices of watermelon!!!!   Yes we think this girl loves to EAT. 

For the most part today she has been very happy, she is attaching well to both her mama and papa.  We are learning her cry cues, trying to understand when she is tired or hungry (which seems to be all the time:). 

It is now 8:45 and she is conked out in the crib, I'm in my PJs and Dennis is taking a shower, I have a feeling that lights are going out soon around here. 

FYI - just wanted to remind everyone that we can't view the blog from China, but are posting via email.  Nathan is keeping it up for us, and has set it where if you comment we will get it via email, so we would love to hear from you. 

Tomorrow we head to the orphanage, and plan to see a show at West Lake. 

New pictures

We will update later about our day but here are new pictures to start your day.

Chloe's first day with the Drake's

I sit at the table in the hotel in Hangzhou, and we have the lights dim in the room; but Chloe is not asleep yet.  It is 9:45pm here and she seems to be just taking things in still.   Not quite ready to turn the page in this book, and neither am I.  Dawn is resting in bed, and I'm typing this while watching Chloe suck her thumb as she switches between gazing at me in the dim room and rolling over in her crib to look at her other surroundings.  The white ceiling, the golden drapes covering the hotel window by her crib, all of our bags that we are living out of for several days.  She is not crying now, although she was pretty fussy about going to bed at first.  Now, she is looking at me with a smile.  She seems to love people, anyone who will stop and talk to her and play.

Today was a living dream, and I say this remembering how long ago we first had thoughts of adoption overseas.  To realize this adoption is a huge milestone for us Drakes. The day consisted of meeting with the orphanage supervisor and one of the caregivers, as well as other Chinese officials who held the adoption ceremony this morning about 9:00am.  Out of the 5 children in the ceremony, Chloe was one of the first two to be carried in.  They called her Chinese name out and asked who the parents were.  As I stood and took Chloe from the caregiver, I cannot describe the feeling.  Almost a Christmas morning feel; but nothing i can describe here.  Not even the same as when Nathan, Samuel, and Anna were born to us.  Those of you who have done this know what i mean.

There is another U.S. couple here with us in Hangzhou that we flew in with from Beijing.  Theyre' from Tulsa.  They adopted a little boy (20 mos.) also with a severe cleft palate.  We still have not found out who helped these kids in the Hangzhou orphanage; but quite a few of them had their lips repaired the same day or week - and by the same organization or doctor.  Whoever it was did a wonderful job.  These little ones can now eat & drink much better.  Chloe and Deacon (the 20 month old boy) both have beautiful smiles.  They will both still need surgeries for cleft palate when back in the states; but we are thankful to have the lips repaired.  If Dawn has not done so yet, we will probably be posting photos of them together later.

In the morning, we go visit the Hangzhou orphanage to close out the final adoption process and make payments.  We also brought gifts to give to the caregivers.  This will be a memorable moment.  We also have been given the location where Chloe was found at 8 days old in the city.  We hope to find it tomorrow and take some photos so she will have that in the future if she ever wants to know.

Much more to write about, but will leave it at that for now.

With much thanks to you all,
dennis

More pictures

WE HAVE HER!!!!!

We went this morning to the Civil affairs office here in Hangzhou around 9 this morning.  We were there along with 4 other families and the orphange brought the children there.  Chloe was the first one in the room, she was almost asleep and had no problem with Dennis or I holding her.  THe only time she has cried was when we had to do a footprint on teh paperwork. 

She is very quiet, but very smart.  She has already played peek a boo with her "papa" and loves to walk with someone holding her hand.  She loves cheerios.  She also enjoyed playing with her friend Cheng (who will now be Deacon).  He is the new son of the family traveling with us. 

We will update more later today as we get to know her, jsut wanted to share pictures ASAP.  ENJOY!

Dennis' thoughts from Saturday

I managed to climb the Great Wall in Beijing.  I am thankful to be in such great shape to do these kinds of things, that should be obvious from the photo Dawn posted on Saturday. 

4 random guys in China saw me sitting outside of the 2008 Olympic store near the Bird's Nest and stopped and started laughing at me.  I was exhausted from jet lag and just trying to catch a nap, sitting and leaning against the store wall outside.  One of them walked over and pointed at me then said something in Chinese and his buddies laughed even louder.  I got confused but was able to remain calm and just smile and wave at them.  All of them quickly waved back at me, so I think I made some new friends that I can't communicate with.

If you want to break some bones and put yourself in the hospital, cross a street in Beijing.  Walk / Don't walk signs (if you can find one) just point out a human target for traffic.  It can be a red target or a green target.  Green humans on Walk signs just mean extra points for drivers.  They are courteous and honk before they hit you though.  We just learned to cross while dodging and jumping in between vehicles and so far have made it just fine.  Bicyclists in Beijing are tough people.

Sunday

So it is Sunday night 9:38 pm and I am sitting in the hotel room talking with my new friend Aimee about the fact that in just 12 short hours we will be picking up our children.  I am so excited but also saddened to know how hard it is going to be from her.  Chloe has been living with a foster family since April and was brought back to the orphanage sometime this past week, so she has already had a major change in her life, so tomorrow will be hard for her.  Pray that God will give her comfort. 

Here is our day.  We had a great night sleep, ate breakfast at the hotel buffet.  Then Dennis headed to the Bank to exchange our money - he had quite an adventure that I will let him share.  I packed our bags and we checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport.  We ended up cutting it close and had to run and get lunch to take on board.  It is quite fun to order KFC by pointing at pictures.  Out flight took us to Hangzhou.  It is a beautiful city, different than Beijing,  we will be here til Friday so I am excited to see the city.  We arrived at our hotel around 5 and had to fill out paperwork for tomorrow.  We unpacked then headed out to find some dinner.  We (and the other couple we are traveling with) were wanting to eat chinese food, but could not find a place that had a picture menu so we ended up at McDonalds.  Yes I have traveled to the other side of the world and have been to McDonalds twice and KFC once. 

We are schedule to get Chloe at 9 am in the morning which will be 8 pm Sunday night your time.  We expect to be back at the hotel around 11, and will post pictures as soon as we can (and after her new brothers and sister have met her via the webcam.)  So check back Sunday night or Monday morning.

Thank you for your continuing prayers!

Saturday

We had a great night of sleep.  We are staying at the Marriott in Beijing, they have a breakfast buffet that is quite interesting.  They have the normal breakfast offerings, but some unusual ones too such as baked beans, vegetable soup, and steamed vegetables. 

We met our local guide at 10 along with two other families with our agencies.  We had a VERY BUSY day sightseeing.  We started out at the Great Wall of China.  That is an amazing place.  Dennis climbed all the way to the top  I chose to just go a little ways and then investigate the towers and cannons at the lower level.  From there we went to the Friendship Store for lunch.  We all sat at a large table with a lazy susan in the middle, and they brought out all kinds of food. We had pot stickers, rice, soup, orange chicken, a beef dish, a whole fish, fried chicken, french fries, steamed vegetables, a green stick looking vegetable that was really good but we did not know what it was, and watermelon It was quite delicious.

Then we experienced Beijing traffic that makes DFW traffic seem like nothing.  We visited a silk factory, where they showed us how they make a silk quilt.  Next stop was the Olympic venues, we got to walk around the Birds Nest and the Water Cube.  

It is 7:45 and we are going to have a quiet evening.  We head to Hangzhou tomorrow afternoon. 

Dennis' thoughts from Friday

Here are some things I learned over the last couple of days flying:

 

·         It is best to drink the apple juice from the flight attendant before traveling through the potholes around Wyoming.  If you hold it that long, you may wear it.

·         Mt. Rainier Washington is in the flight path to Tokyo; but the flight crew frowns on passengers wanting to step out on the aircraft wing for a better view.  This is disappointing, but we all have to believe that those in charge of our well-being know best

·         The wings on this airplane stayed fixed in the same position the whole trip.  They did not flap up or down, so the lift is generated some other way.  There are many other things catching my attention, so I just decided to shrug this one off and leave the details to Boeing on that one.

·         We crossed the International Date Line somewhere around the Bering Sea.  But we didn't see any kids waiting in line to go out on dates with foreigners; so not sure what that's all about.  Will Google on internet and report back on significant findings

Yes he will be providing comic relief on this trip. 

Friday

We are at Nakita Airport in Tokyo Japan.  It is a beautiful bright sunshiny day, the only problem is that our bodies are saying it is about 3 in the morning. 

Our flight to this point went well, it wasn't the easiest thing we have ever experienced but it was not as hard as I had imagined.  I don't think either one of us slept for long.  I read an entire book, watched "The Proposal", "Yes Man" and "Mamma Mia".  Dennis watched "The Soloist" and "Yes Man".  The movies really helped pass the time.
 

Our original flight from Tokyo to Beijing was supposed to leave at 7 but was delayed for two hours.  We arrived at our hotel at about 2 in the morning.  It was a really, really long day.   

We are posting on here via email now, so we apologize if anything looks strange. 

Thank you to everyone who sent us emails and texts, we appreciate all your prayers. 

Our Itinerary

Thursday, 9/10 - Leave DFW
Friday, 9/11 -layover in Tokyo, arrive in Beijing
Saturday, 9/12 - visit Great Wall, Olympic Venues and Silk Factory
Sunday, 9/13 - Fly to Hangzhou
Monday, 9/14-GET CHLOE!!!!!!!
Tuesday, 9/15 - Complete adoption
Wednesday, 9/16 - Visit West Lake
Thursday, 9/17 - Visit Lingyin Temple
Friday, 9/18 - Fly to Guangzhou
Saturday, 9/19 - Adoption medical exam
Sunday, 9/20 - Visit Safari Park
Monday, 9/21 - US Consulate Appointment
Tuesday, 9/22 - Final ceremony at US Consulate
Wednesday, 9/23 - Head home through Shanghai, Chicago and finally DFW

Our Family

Here is a quick introduction of our family....

Dennis is an engineering technician at a company that designs printed circuit boards. He loves spending time with his family and listening to audio books. He also loves to camp, fish and ride his bike, but doesn't have time to do those now.


Dawn is a stay at home mom. I am currently babysitting and picking kids up from school to help with the budget. I am a small group leader of the 6th grade girls at Lake Pointe Church Town East Campus. I love to read and cook (but only when it is cool outside). I love being a mom and the official chauffeur of my kids and their friends.

Nathan is a junior at Texas State University. He is working on a general studies degree with 3 minors of economics, business and photography. He hopes to have he on recording studio someday. And he is a drummer. He also has a lovely girlfriend, Allison.

Samuel is a senior in high school. He his currently taking dual credit classes at our local community college, and will finish home schooling this year. He is also a drummer, but mainly just loves being around people. His current plans are to join the army next summer.

Anna is a freshman in high school, and is experiencing public school for the first time. She is a major people person, and loves spending time with her friends at the mall, movie, etc.

Jenny and Chrissy are the mutts in the family.

And of course in one short week we will be adding Chloe, who is 15 months.

And so the journey finally begins

We are so excited to finally be at this point in our long journey to adopt. In January 2001 we felt God calling us to add to our family through adoption. We decided to wait just a little bit to finish schooling, move to a bigger house, etc. In August 2003 we decided it was time. So we contacted an adoption agency and began the mountain of paperwork. That agency closed their Texas office, so we started again in February. Because of the craziness of our lives at the time, it took us another year to finish the paperwork, and almost 8 months to get through the rest of the process. Finally in April 2006 we sent our dossier (all the paperwork) to China where they logged us in. But what had been a 6 month wait became a 3 1/2 year wait. In May of 2009, our agency called and asked if we would consider adopting a special needs little girl. After much prayer and conversation we said yes. We leave this week to bring Wang Jing Ya home. She will soon become Chloe Nicole JingYa Drake. Her birthday is June 5, 2008, so she just turned 15 months. She has a repaired cleft lip and an unrepaired cleft palate. We hope you will enjoy following our journey.