Prayer Update

I wanted to let you guys know how powerful your prayers are!

**Eric and I are both feeling MUCH better today.  So thankful for that!!!

**We had no trouble at the airport.  Our check-in bags were a little overweight but they didn’t seem to care.  And our carry-on luggage was never weighed.  Yippee!!!

**We learned today that Lydia was returned to the orphanage at least a month ago.  While that worries me a little bit in terms of her being jostled around, it is a good thing for her adoption preparation.  We have been told that her orphanage is very, very good in preparing the children to meet their new families. 

Thank you so much for you prayers!  They are really, really keeping us afloat.

 

more learning...

I’m wising up on Chinese culture!

1. Very few women have their ears pierced. 
2. No one is listening to ipods – I have only seen one during our entire stay and that was a rickshaw driver!
3. Everyone has a cell phone but very rarely do you see people talking on them.  And when you do it is a quick conversation.
4. Lots of men have on pants that are too big, cinched up with a belt.
5. Same sex affection is very common but opposite sex affection is extremely rare.
6. There are western things to eat, but they taste really different.  Can’t wait for a USA Diet Coke!

 

two cultures, one family

In many ways, the Chinese culture puts Americans to shame.  If there is one thing I have learned in these past 2 days it is that Americans have very little past and you would be hard-pressed to find an American as proud of their country as the Chinese.  I tend to think of China as a very repressed place with a discontent population and certainly at times in its history that has been the case.  But present-day China is an interesting mix of the ancient and the modern, of communism and capitalism, of national pride and a desire for change.  What I have been hit hardest with is the immense history of this country.  Their historic landmarks are not from the 1800’s as are ours, but they are thousands and thousands of years old.  The Great Wall which we visited yesterday was begun in 100 B.C.  And with each building and statue comes enormous amounts of symbolism.  The number of posts holding up a door symbolizes your wealth, the amount of animals sculptured on the roof is an indicator of the importance of the building, the colors, the size, the shape, the materials – all are symbolic of something within society.  Horses symbolize success, the crane long life, the fish wealth, the tiger strength, bamboo perseverance for the man, the plum tree perseverance for the woman.  The combination of the ancient and the symbolic come together to form a culture that is rich with significance and meaning.  And the Chinese are unabashedly proud of their heritage.  They treasure it and are passionate about its celebration.   You can hardly find an American who flies a flag, but in this country they are filled with national pride.  Despite what we would consider governmental oppression in so many ways, the people are grateful for their leaders and respect them to an impressive degree.  America is very much looked at like the Promised Land – full of wealth and leisurely lives – but I have never sensed from the Chinese a discontent with their own country.  They embrace the one-child policy, are grateful to the government for health care provisions and housing, and generally see China as an up and coming world power for which to be proud. 

It is challenging to think how we might both increase all of our children’s appreciation for the country in which they live as well as instill in Lydia a sense of her heritage and roots.  She will always be Chinese, and I am learning that to be Chinese is to embrace a history and passion for the ancient and the symbolic unlike we Americans are generally capable of.  Certainly a responsibility of mine is to teach Lydia and help her to navigate the realities of her personal story – how might we best do that remains to be seen.  But there is so much to choose from, so much to learn and enjoy.  I know our kids are really excited to celebrate Chinese holidays – not sure if that is because party equals presents or because they have been instilled with their father’s passion for celebration.  But certainly our family will look different. 

Tomorrow, we will be a blend of two cultures, two histories, two nations, and two races.  There is no turning back now, nor would we ever want to.  I can hardly wait to see my little girl.

 

same globe, not so much same country

My observations from today…

1.  There are flowers EVERYWHERE.  ‘Window’ boxes on the sides of the interstates, huge ‘trees’ made from stacks of potted flowers alongside the sidewalks, flowers in the medians.  It is amazing.

2.  And next to the flowers is DIRT.  Everywhere.  It is disgusting.  There is no litter – I have yet to see a piece of trash on the ground.  But dirty, dirty, dirty.  Everything is covered in this film of dirt.  When you come home after being out you have this layer of dirt on you.  Cars are covered in dust.  I have no idea where it comes from but it is there – and no one seems to care.

3.  Construction is out the whazoo.  I have never in my life seen so many building being constructed.  At least 10 skyscrapers are being built just in the few city blocks where we are.  And when you drive to the other parts of the city it is just the same.  Absolutely amazing.   A two year old boy’s paradise!

4.  The food is gross.  I mean really, fish heads?  Heads of anything are not meant to be eaten.

5.  People.  Thousands. Millions.  It is unbelievable how many people are in this city.  17 million actually.  People everywhere.  It doesn’t matter what time it is, where you are, they are swarming.  I don’t know about the one-child policy in terms of Christian theology, but I can certainly understand how the government would need to do something.  I have never seen so many people in my life.

We need to hit the sack for an early wakening tomorrow but I wanted to check in and let you know that we are having a great time.  We miss home, but we are enjoying this once in a lifetime experience.  So much to see and take in.  Today we hit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.  And drove by the Olympic Stadium and Village.

Tomorrow we will head for Guangzhou where Lydia is living.  And we will be getting her early the next day.  It’s hard to believe it has all come down to 2 nights of sleep.  So much going through our heads.  I would love to share with you but I need to go to bed.  Some prayer items…

1. Neither of us is feeling 100%.  Pray that would change quickly!
2. Luggage in China is a bit tricky.  Their weight restrictions are ridiculous so we are falling under the mercy of the airport check-in people.  Pray for favor!
3. One last day without Lydia.  Hard to believe.  Pray that even this last day she would be hearing about us and getting prepared to meet us.  Pray for bonding and attachment quickly.

I have a ton on my heart to share.  I should be able to write a lot in the next couple of weeks.  We will have Lydia but there is nothing on the schedule in terms of sightseeing so our days will be a lot less full (sort of…) Thanks so much for your prayers.  We absolutely cannot wait to get home (and get a GLASS OF ICE for Pete’s sake!!!!)

Lots of love,

Ashleigh

 

pretty much like Amazing Race.

What a difference some sleep makes!  We checked into our hotel at midnight last night and fell into bed – after of course checking out the pillow menu, the three-headed shower, the completely automated window coverings, and figuring out the internet.  We were able to sleep the whole night until we received our wake-up call at 6:30am.  The idea was that we were all going to be up at 5:00 in the morning anyway so we would start our sightseeing day at 8:00am.  Good idea turned really bad idea when we were sleeping soundly at 6:30!  But…hopped into my three-headed all marble shower room (I can’t really call it a stall…it’s a room) and got ready for our first day!  Enjoyed breakfast at the hotel – amazing buffet of anything you could ever imagine.  All I could think of was Josiah who would have been in heaven with all of the sausage!  (normal sausage, not cow lung sausage…more on that later).  We were joking last night that there is always someone in the group who makes everyone late…that would be me this morning.  Everyone waiting on the bus for Ashleigh – nothing like making a great first impression!

Speaking of ‘everyone’, we are travelling with a group of families who are adopting from our same agency.  Right now there are 7 families total but we will be meeting up with 14 more.  It is sort of funny, we definitely don’t really fit in.  Several of them are significantly older than us, several getting their first child, and all of them from the su-owth (you have to pronounce BOTH syllables).  Not so much the citified beachy young family with 3 kids who often resemble an Old Navy commercial.  They are all sweet people but I am not thinking we will get life-long friends out of the deal.  Which is TOTALLY fine with this introvert!  My circle of friends is plenty full.  Now I just have to figure out how to not look like a total snob when I just want to be by myself!

This morning our first stop was the Summer Palace which is the ancient summer home of the Emperors.  It was nice – got some good pictures of the architecture.  Beautiful day – very overcast but really cool so that was a bonus.  We were expecting hot and humid.  Sightseeing isn’t really my ball of wax but it is good to learn more about Lydia’s heritage and the country of China.  I kept thinking today what a different world she will grow up in and how do we raise her to have an appreciation for what is so completely different than anything she will ever be exposed to in the US?  We think Williamsburg is old, this place had buildings that were build in the 1200’s!  Original buildings.  It is such a completely different culture, and thus a very different worldview.

Our second stop was a Hudong tour which was a walking and rickshaw tour of the traditional Chinese neighborhood.  80% of them have been torn down by the government to build high rises but there are a few which have now been preserved (as in they can’t tear them down, not that they actually are nicely kept and ‘preserved’).  It was a very typical Asian experience – dirty, smelly, people crammed together.  If I hadn’t of visited and lived in Southeast Asia I would have been completely freaking out.  Again, I kept thinking – this would have been Lydia’s life, how different her road will be.  We went to the local market – tons of fruit, lots of meat guts hanging around (including cow lungs), and THEN, it happened.  We went to a local Chinese house for lunch.  Ack.  I was hoping to avoid this!  We were served a meal, pretty much just like P.F. Changs except without the forks and sweet tea and a little different in the atmosphere category.  Lots of options, everyone share.  I chose to partake of the rice.  Eric was a little more adventurous and said it was quite good.  I think rice and the Oreos in my suitcase suit me just fine.  Of course, their “houses” are these itty bitty hole in the wall places that in the US we would consider disgusting and practically uninhabitable.  And get this, in these ‘hudongs’ there are 30-50 families who share one bathroom!  Talk about a wait!

Then it was off on the rickshaw again – I felt like I was in Amazing Race.  And had we been, we would have won because our driver was a little crazy, a bit aggressive shall we say.    This afternoon we are just hanging out.  Eric is napping right now for a little bit.  Neither of us feels great which we are hoping will change in the next couple of days before we get Lydia.  I started on the antibiotic for strep this morning since I was feeling pretty rotten.  Since we are now both on drugs, I am hoping a good night’s sleep will bring us up to speed.

Our list of observations for today…

1. The mullet is a very popular hairstyle in China – particularly with the women.
2. Almost no one wears open-toed shoes.
3. Chinese people are really small – and no one is overweight.
4. There are a noticeably larger number of little boys than little girls.
5. Coca-Cola is God’s gift to not-so-into China food travelers.

 

Lots of love,

Ashleigh

 

**we have pictures that I will upload but I haven’t figured that out yet!  Stay tuned…

 

 

 

 

traveling around the world

I had good intentions of writing last night but by the time we got to the hotel I thought I was going to die.  Let’s just say…30 hours in airports and on planes is brutal.  We didn’t sleep one wink on the 13 hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo and so by the time we were waiting to fly to Beijing my body was screaming.  By that time we had been up for close to 24 hours.  I laid down for a little bit in the airport in Tokyo but I got the feeling that people don’t really do that in Asia.  In the US you wouldn’t think twice, but since I was the ONLY one laying down in the entire airport…maybe not so much in Asia!

 

But, we got here just fine.  And I didn’t even freak out – except for one small time.  We were standing in line to board the plane to Tokyo and I look over and there is a bearded Arabic man sitting at the gate, nervously flipping a piece of paper, and very quietly talking on his cell phone.  Yeah, I was a little scared!  Eric of course chastised me for being so ridiculously discriminatory but for real, he looked like all those terrorist people and he couldn’t keep his fingers still!  I think he was making plans but stopped when I gave him my evil eye. 

 

The flight was so long.   I mean really, so long.  All I can say is I am glad we have 17 days to recover and forget how horrible it is before we try and do it with a 2 ½ year old who doesn’t speak our language!  But we did manage to make a few observations…

 

1. You don’t have to wonder why Americans are hated around the world.  They are big fat jerks so much of the time.  Hope we can give a few people a good experience with the old USA!

 

2. I am thinking if Mark Burnett and I could get together we could make people-watching a reality TV show.  Seriously, who can figure out the most about someone’s life just be watching them in the airport? 

 

3. 21 hours sitting on a plane is brutal for tailbones injured in childbirth.  I was wishing I had my little doughnut pillow!

 

4. There really is NOTHING in Siberia.  Flew across the whole place…nothing.

 

5. Listening to Josh Groban on the ipod while watching an episode of 24 on the laptop is a whole new experience – you should try it sometime.

 

6. If Dean ever takes a transatlantic missions trip again I will personally raise the funds to send him first class – the man should not be subject to coach.

 

7. Speaking of first class, after being squished for 13 hours in an 18 inch seat, do we really need to listen to the flight attendant tell us to put our tray tables and FOOTRESTS back up?  Couldn’t she just announce that to the 10 people in first class?  Talk about adding insult to injury…

 

8. And last but not least, gay flight attendants find Eric QUITE appealing.  We even got some free wine out of the deal.

 

We are so glad we are here safely.  It really is still so surreal.  I am wondering when it is all going to hit me.

 

Lots of love,

Ashleigh