Life in Charlotte

High Five with Daddy!!

Uncle David teaches Sarah Mei "high five"!! Now it's her favorite game.

AnnaGrace (age 6 -born in Changsha, Hunan) feeds Sarah Mei yogurt...yum, yum, yum.

Snapshots from China

Elaine, Torie and Sarah Mei at the U.S. embassy after I was sworn-in as Sarah Mei's mother. What a great moment!!

Her second bath in China. She still isn't thrilled with her bathtimes:)

Sarah Mei learns to use the phone...Wai (o.k. maybe not the correct Mandarin spelling but I know it means "hello") We rented a Panda phone in China, and it was a great way to keep in touch with Phil, Michaela and AnnaGrace, at home.

Sarah Mei's medical appointment in Guangzhou. She was so impressed as you can tell!

Sarah Mei is a ham!! This is day 4, in China, and she was already charming us with her big smile and great sense of humor.

We're Home

Sorry it's taken so long to post again. For some reason I could never see/or post to our blog while in China. I e-mailed all my posts to Phil, and he had to post them from the states.

But now we're home, so I can post...yippee:)

Torie and I were blessed to be able to catch a stand-by flight home from Hong Kong on Thursday instead of Friday as orginally scheduled. After 30 hours of travel (hotel door to home door) we were exhausted but so excited to be home. Sarah Mei was a trooper on the airplane flights and during the airport layovers. She entertained people on our last flight with huge smiles and playing peek-a-boo. She is definitely a ham!!

She's adjusted to family life amazingly well. My older sister and her family have been visiting since Saturday. We went to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant on Saturday evening. Sarah Mei acted like she was used to going out to eat with 12 family members all the time. She loves being the baby of the family and looks around the table, to make sure everyone is watching, before she performs her antics. She is fun-loving and smiley!!

We are so thankful to God for this incredible addition to our family. As usual, we see His fingerprints on every aspect of this adoption! To God be the Glory!

SarahMei

Medical Examine & Starbucks in Guangzhou

Today we went and had Sarah Mei's required physical done by the medical clinic. She screamed everytime anyone, except for Torie & I, came within 10 feet of her. You can imagine how enjoyable the experience was for the 3 seperate Dr.'s that had to examine her. How they listened to her heart with her "vocalizations" (o.k. screaming:) is beyond me. We also filled out all of the required paperwork for the U.S. consulate appt. Our guide will take the documents to the consulate tomorrow, and if all goes well, I will be sworn in as her parent on Wed. a.m. This afternoon we went out and walked around Shaiman Island. It is an "island" seperated from the mainland by a canal and bordered by Pearl Lake. It is part of the French and British concession (o.k. history majors...help me here...I'm not really sure which war??) You can see the difference in the style of architecture. It's an interesting blend of Chinese, French and British styles. The island is quite small and only takes about an hour to walk the circumference. We walked the whole thing yesterday and most of it today. We also found a wonderful restaurant, Lucy's Bar & Grill, which specializes in western dishes. We had grill cheese, a cheeseburger and french fries yesterday. I think we'll have supper there again tonight. Today during our walking (and a little shopping) we stopped, during a brief rain shower, and drank a Starbucks. We sat on a beautiful front porch complete with upholstered furniture, ceiling fans and a beautiful view. So relaxing. It makes me realize, yet again, how I need to take the time to slowdown and enjoy God's creation when I have opportunities. Thanks again for all your prayers!!

Update from Guangzhou

Have blanket...will travel
O.k. maybe it's not a blanket...despite the fact that we brought 3 different soft, cuddly blankets, Sarah Mei insists on carrying a washcloth around wherever we go. We flew to Guangzhou today (just a one hour flight). Sarah Mei fell asleep, 5 minutes before take-off, contentedly sucking her thumb and holding her washcloth (yes, I had to get one from the hotel to take with us...LOL). She slept almost the entire flight...only waking up because my arms had fallen asleep, so I changed positions. We are now staying at the White Swan until Thursday when we will fly to Hong Kong for an overnight. The White Swan caters to adoptive families. The dining room looked more like romper room this morning!! After one week of seeing no westerners (many from Italy, France, etc but no one from the states), it was nice to be back with others from the U.S. We traded "adoption notes" with several of the families and then went and enjoyed the indoor waterfalls (yes...indoor). This hotel is magnificent.
Well Sarah Mei has been out of my arms for the last 7 minutes...entirely too long according to her!! She's sitting in Torie's arms screaming for me, so I'll end my update here. Thanks again for all the prayers and e-mails.

Another Update 6/15/07

Today we went and toured the Hunan Embroidery Factory and Museum. The work is amazing. There are four types of embroidery in China...the most famous is the Hunan province's technique (the province both of our girls are from.) President George W. Bush visited this same factory several years ago. He was presented with an embroidered work of his family. The embroidery is so good that it looks like an actual photograph.
I had hoped to buy a 2 sided work. This is where each stitch makes a different "picture" on each side of the silk cloth. ie. a tiger is on the front and a panda on the back. They only had one 2-sided piece available...it took over a year to complete and was priced at thousands of dollars (in US currency). I decided to wait until next trip to purchase one
We also had the opportunity to have lunch with one of AnnaGrace's caregivers. We met her briefly in 2001 and had her photo. Although she retired three years ago, our guide was able to locate her, and she cheerfully agreed to have lunch with us. It was so special to get to talk to her and learn more about the woman who showed our daughter so much love for the first sixteen months of her life. We shared pictures of AnnaGrace with her and were able to take photos of her to give to AnnaGrace. Mrs. Li also signed a book about adoption, which we had purchased in the states, for AnnaGrace.
The highlight of our trip so far was a photo session last night. After Sarah Mei had a meltdown in the photo studio in the morning, the photographers agreed to finish the photo shoot in our hotel room in the evening. The studio sent 1 photographer and 2 assistants to our room. They did a 2 1/2 hour photo shoot and then allowed me to review the photos on their laptop before leaving. Today they are producing a bound book of my 30 favorite photos. They'll also provide a disc with all of the photos from the session. All of this for 998 RMB (about $125). Incredible!! The photos are excellent and we are hoping to post some of them on the blog tomorrow. (To top it all off...they will deliver the photo package, to our hotel room, tonight....how's that for service!!)

Hello from Changsha

Hello from Changsha We haven't been able to post or view the blog since arriving in Changsha on Monday. Phil is posting this for me. We will be in Guanghzhou on Saturday so hopefully I'll be able to post more pictures and updates then.We received Sarah Mei on Monday afternoon. Words just can't express the emotions when you are handed such a gift!! She is beautiful, of course and seems quite healthy. We can feel her heart murmur (which the cardiologist told me about.) She also labors to breath if she cries but other than that she is doing wonderfully. She's a very easy baby...playing non-stop when she's not being held. Until today, she wanted me to hold her all the time. Of course I love that!! Today she's getting a little more adventuresome and will let Torie hold her. She can walk 4 or 5 steps on her own and has an award winning smile She has slept great although she insisted on being in bed with me all last night. Every few hours she would wake up, check to see if I was beside her and drift back to sleep.We filled out paperwork on Tuesday and are now waiting to receive her passport and official documents before traveling to Guangzhou.We have been enjoying our stay at The Dolton Hotel. We had to travel around the world to get an opportunity to stay in a 5 star hotel. It is beautiful. The staff is excellent. And the hotel is like a city onto itself. It has it's own high-end, designer stores, full size tennis courts (inside), an indoor swimming pool, weight room, gym, etc. It also has a bowling alley, so we'll go try our hand at that this afternoon.To Sarah Mei's Chenzhou sisters...we will not be able to visit the orphanage afterall. The guide said that the train is not a good way to travel. I fear that the 9 hour round trip drive might be too much for Sarah Mei. On a positive note, the assistant orphanage director brought Sarah Mei to us. She is excellent and everything that we had sent to Sarah Mei was given to us. The director also gave us a chop with Sarah Mei's name, her finding ad, the clothes she was found in, and leaves from a tree at the orphanage. I was overwhelmed with this thoughtfulness and am encouraged by the love and care for the children. I had also sent 2 cameras, via Adele Hall's service. Both of these cameras were returned to us with 72 pictures taken. I can't wait to have those developed.Hopefully I can figure out how to attach some photos. Thanks for all the prayers and blog comments.Everyone has been so encouraging!Elaine, Torie & Sarah Mei

PS. Elaine has been able to check her email consistently, unlike the blog site.

Hello From Elaine, Torie and SarahMei!

This morning at 6:30 am, 6:30 pm China time, Elaine called to give me an update. They spent yesterday filling out paperwork...SarahMei is now officially our daughter:)!!!! Elaine is having difficulty using the computers in the motel. Right now, she cannot pull up this blog site to update it. She plans to get the guide to help her so she can post pictures.
Right now, SarahMei will only let Elaine hold her. She wants attention from Torie, but only wants mommy. She is also very cuddly! I don't need to tell you how wonderful all of this is for Elaine:)

Lord willing, the computer issue can be overcome and Elaine will be able to send pictures and updates for all of us to see. I want to thank all of you for your prayers throughout this whole process.

Proud New Daddy,

By His Grace,

Phil

History Lesson from Beijing

I still haven't figured out how to post pictures. Once we arrive in Changsha I'll see if I can get Peter, our guide, to show me how to post.
We had a wonderful time, yesterday, visiting a jade factory and climbing the Great Wall . The Wall gives you a quick indication of your fitness level..ugh:) The steps are all of varying heights and depths. This was by design. In ancient times each solider memorized his portion of the wall. This enabled the soldiers to run their portion of the wall, in case of attack, but the enemy was slowed down due to the step variations. (It also slows down the tourists:) We have a few good pictures which we'll post tonight.
Right now we are eagerly anticapating the departure of our flight to Changsha (Hunan). Changsha is the capital city of the Hunan province and also the city where we will meet our daughter. We are due to meet her this afternoon, and the minutes seem to be dragging...LOL. Sarah Mei is in Chenzhou, 4 hours south of Changsha, so she is probably in transit too, right now. Pray for safety for all and a smooth transition.

We're Here!

We're in Beijing!! We're on our way to tour The Great Wall and The Forbidden City. Everything on the blogsite is in Chinese...LOL. So I'm not sure how to post pictures. I'll try to have our guide help us this evening, so we can post some pictures of the wall.
Thanks for all your prayers!! Only 30 hours until we hold Sarah Mei in our arms...but who's counting:)

China Itinerary

Following is our itinerary:
Saturday, June 9th - Arrive in Beijing
Sunday, June 10th - Tour the Forbidden City and The Great Wall
Monday, June 11th - Fly to Changsha and meet our daughter:)_
Tuesday, June 12th - Registration and Notarization
Wednesday, June 13th - Free Day
Thursday, June 14th - Free Day
Friday, June 15th - Tour the Provincial Museum & Embroidery Museum
Saturday, June 16th - Get passport and fly to Guanghzhou
Sunday, June 17th - Free Day
Monday, June 18th - Physical and Photo Taking
Tuesday, June 19th - Visa Application
Wednesday, June 20th - Pick up Visa
Thursday, June 21st - Fly to Hong Kong
Friday, June 22nd - Fly Home

A special thanks to Mei and Jane (from Christian World Adoption) who made all of this possible. Words can't express our gratefulness!

Sarah Mei...A Girl After My Own Heart:)

This picture and Sarah Mei's updated sizes were sent to us on May 25, 2007. At 16 months, she is 31 in. tall and 19 lbs. A petite little thing, but she obviously loves her cookies. Her face makes it very clear, that she won't give up this cookie without a fight:) Like I said, a girl after my own heart!!

The Journey Begins...

How this adoption journey began...in September, 2006 Phil and I attended an "If You Were Mine" Adoption conference. We went to the conference to learn how to start an orphan's awareness ministry at our church. We come home with a great framework for our church's ministry; however, God had other plans for us too. He laid it on our hearts to begin paperwork to adopt our 4th daughter. Having been through the adoption "paper maze" before (we adopted our 3rd daughter, AnnaGrace from Changsha, China in 2001) the dossier went together quickly. While waiting for our final piece of dossier paperwork...we saw a special needs list from our agency, Christian World Adoption. We saw Chen, Ji Qing's face and knew she was our daughter. After seeking medical counsel, to access her special heart condition, we sent in our letter of intent to the CCAA. Now just 9 months after beginning our paperwork, Torie (our oldest daughter) and Elaine will be traveling to pick up Chen, Ji Qing....soon to be Sarah Mei Qing Horton.

The verse that God laid on our hearts to pray for Sarah Mei, during this wait, is Ps. 139:5 "You hem me in-behind and before; You have laid your hand upon me." We thank God that He is protecting and watching over Sarah Mei as she waits to be united with her forever family.

For our fellow adopters...here is our timeline:

LOI 12/19/06 for Chen, Ji Qing - Chenzhou, Hunan Province
PA 1-18-07

DTC 1-19-07

LID 1-23-07

LOA 4-19-07

TA 5-16-07

Leaving for China 6-8-07

CA 6-19-07

The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to glorify God as He works in the lives of our family.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever." Ps. 136:1