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Adoption Story
Stories from the road in Ethiopia.
Wednesday in Zhengzhou
0294 days
by Pete
in Adoption Story
We’re here and we’re stable. It’s been an interesting day. Brendan came down with a fever last night and so after asking around, we had Theresa, our guide, take us to the hospital to take a look at him. That, in and of itself, was one of the most interesting moments of the trip so far. The hospital is around the corner from our hotel and it is, in word, dingy and overrun with people. We waited around 1 1/2 hours to get to see the Doctor and as I sat in the waiting hall for Melissa, Theresa, and Brendan to come out I got a glimpse into what Brendan’s world is shaping up to be. It’s disorientating to sit in a space where *no one* speaks your language. Normally, I engage with people and am the first to be extroverted and I found myself not wanting to make eye contact due to someone asking me a question. It makes sense why Brendan is so shy.
While I was sitting there, a mom came by with her toddler son who pooped into the waste basket next to me. It’s just a different culture and a different sense of what personal space is. We met with the Dr. who helped 5 other families along with us at the same time.
Zhengzhou is a beautiful city that has problems, just like any other. I felt safe walking around, but because of the growth of the city, the infrastructure just often appears overrun. Between cars (the smog is *INTENSE* here – clear days are hazy, normal days the smog makes it hard to see a mile away), busses, bikes and people, roads are just crazy – I’m never looking at Bloomington Normal the same way.
I had to get a pair of sandals (mine were left at home). We got a chance to walk into the mall and it’s intense. The opening ceremony (yes, I said ceremony) involved two color guard employees opening the gate and bowing/yelling at us to come in and said something to the effect of “thank you for being here”.
This afternoon i got a chance to walk around a bookstore and navigate our neighborhood. It’s just stunning. There are spaces here where the Chinese do an excellent job with what they have. Everything is efficient and there is nothing in terms of space that is wasted.
Tomorrow’s plan (Thursday) is we get the final pieces of paperwork done, probably navigate the neighborhood a little more and then pack. We’re really looking forward to Guangzhou and seeing LIneker and Amy (the couple who are in charge of the national program in-country), the rest of our dear community we traveled with and navigating a city where there are more fluent english speakers. For what it is though, these days this week have been valuable and we’re thankful for them. We’re also thankful for the prayers and petitions God has been answering – it’s been working like this: problem, prayer, answer, problem, prayer, answer. The air here is smoggy, but heaven is present and we are thankful.
Love to you all from inland China.
Dark Nights of the Soul and Hotel rooms…
1295 days
by Pete
in Adoption Story
Hi friends -
We are off on Day 2 in Zhengzhou (pronounced “JinJo”). THANK YOU for your thoughts. I’ve read so many stories over the years of the Father’s presence in China and it seems like although the air is smoggy, we can tangibly feel your prayers.
First, Brendan now is huge introvert. Huge. Did I say he was an Introvert? In the room he is vibrant, laughing, playful and wants hugs and out in public he turns back into the boy we met yesterday. I’m trying to grasp what it means to him to have literally nothing and then be told “Here, pick what you want to eat.” “Would you like a toy?” and being affirmed constantly by two people. He is changing and smiling and laughing.
I’m appreciating yesterday for what it was. Awful, unexpected, weary and emotional. But today we feel your thoughts, the Father’s presence and the encouragement of your notes. We’ve been listening to Andrew Peterson’s “Counting Stars” and just cried through it (“My hope lives on” is now my theme song for this trip). I feel so thin because it was only yesterday morning and we miraculously got on our plane without paying any extra fees and got to our gate. We took a bus out to the plane and it was very similar to our gotcha day for Iona. I’m not sure what if anything, I ate yesterday.
Today we finished up the majority of our paperwork including going to the Notary’s to get the stuff approved. We got a picture “with our dear leader” 
. We got to meet some of the kinder folk at the Civil Affairs building. It was wonderful to see people who you could tell get the vision of why they are there – who care for the kids, etc.
Then, oh, then…WE WENT TO THE SUPERMARKET!!!!! We got food for lunch, some juice, pop and 5 GALLONS OF WATER. Oh the small things. Then we went to the Zhengzhou McDonald’s. It was a nice break from the Chinese fair. So thankful for the small things. I got a picture in front of the fake Apple store too 
.
So, tomorrow is shopping (Aidan, I’m going to look for some of your stuff), then thursday is finishing off paperwork and then Friday we are on to Guangzhou.
We are so thankful for the staff. Linaker is the national guide who is the Chinese version of Robel from Ethiopia (ET people will know who I’m talking about). Linaker can tweak reality and has been amazing to work with and we are so thankful for all that he’s done in getting us right. When we get to Guangzhou, I’m giving him a hug.
We miss our other two kids horribly. Now that we are stable, I feel as though that is our next front we are going to battle on.
If you want specific thoughts you can give to the father:
– Skype would be wonderful. We’ve had awful luck so far.
– our VPN is not operational here – hence the weird post
– Brendan would continue to bond with Me and Melissa
We love you all. Only 10 more sleeps till we are back on US soil.
…and this is what it means to follow…
0295 days
by Pete
in Adoption Story
As I type this, we’re settling down for an evening. Alot’s happened since I last posted. About the time I posted, we went down for dinner, ate a great western dinner (with chopsticks…I’m getting really good, if I do say so myself) and then Brendan came up for a bath, and a light switch turned.
He has been playing, laughing, giggling and chasing us around the hotel room. It’s been like an oasis in the middle of just an awful day. I know it’s prayer and the Middle Kingdom here is a place where prayer is felt acutely. He doesn’t even look the same as he did at noon. He is grafted onto me, it appears, Mom – he’s still a little unsure of.
It’s been a rough day, but we are praying with a renewed energy for tomorrow. Bedtime now, but tomorrow early is the Civil Affairs meeting where we are interviewed, the final money is taken and we are waiting for a couple of days to get things squared away before we are off to Guangzhou.
THANK you for your continued encouraging words. We got a glimpse of Brendan tonight and he will be a wonderful part our family. He has a VERY similar disposition to Aidan and he’s gifted in play with using no words.
Prayer requests now though: we are now without drinkable water.
Tomorrow our guide is going to take us in search of cheap bottled water (we think it may not exist) and we also need help with a food source. Both meals today were 140ish RMB (which could get really expensive long haul).
Day 3 – Gotcha day
2296 days
by Pete
in Adoption Story
Friends. It’s been a long day and really hard:
First the “OMG. what are we doing?” moments. Our living situation for the next few days is not the best. We are in a 4 star hotel, but hardly anyone speaks english and quite a few speak chinglish. There are no fluent english speakers around for forever and our guide is not one of them. We’re also in a small town in Central China for the next four days and there are not many english speakers (have I said that?). Despair is a battle that is settling in.
We were at lunch today which was an ordeal because Brendan was hungry, scared and it took us 30 minutes to order because our guide didn’t speak english well.
On top of that, our Internet connection is awful. I’m not sure how skype will work. we’ll see and you all are free to send well wishes our way.
Please pray for us. We’re stranded, essentially, in our hotel with a boy who is frightened, quiet and emotionally shut down. Gotcha day in China is much different than ethiopia and much more hard. Because of the pronounciation issues, we got one signature wrong on our document and it pissed off our case worker in the office.
We leave Friday morning and I’m not sure that it can get here fast enough. I wish we were home right at the moment.
(in the just being honest category). Send some love if you can to family@bearla.com.
Day 2-still getting over jet lag
0296 days
by Pete
in Adoption Story
Breakfast was fabulous again today. Today was more hectic and longer than we were thinking it would be. We went to BICF for church (Beijing International Christian Fellowship) – it was nice to hear some fluent native english speakers for a while. Got some coffee there and it was awesome . Church was interesting (more about it when we get home).
After church, we went to the Jade museum and saw some incredible works of art and then it was off to lunch at the equivalent of a truck stop where the guys tried rice wine (112 proof) and off to the great wall. There’s a common area where the tourists go to the great wall about 1 1/2 hours outside Beijing – and it’s breathtaking (Aidan, I saw a replica of a tera cota soldier there). Me and a couple folks climbed around 400 feet straight up one of the sections. It was *insane*, but I’m glad I did it. It was some really good exercise.
The afternoon after we got back we went to dinner and then saw the Beijing national acrobatics troupe strut their stuff. It was amazing.
Tonight is a really quick night (we need to be on the bus for the airport at 5:15 a.m.). We’re now less than 24 hours away from meeting Brendan!
Hugs to you all! We sang the Extended Doxology song we’ve been singing in church this morning and I thought fondly of the Finish line at BMI and our community worshiping our Creator as we sleep and we felt connected. We love you all!