Ming's Last Full Day In Fuzhou

We will be flying out of Fuzhou (which is most typically pronounced "Foo-Joe") tomorrow evening, the 4th of July, at around 7pm. This means that today was Ming's last full day in the city he has lived in and never left for more than 12 years. Our guide wanted us to experience a number of important places. She first took us to the largest of 77 registered churches in the city...

We learned that this church averages nine thousand people in their three services on Sunday, utilizing two overflow spaces as well as the courtyard around the church. It was great to visit...and they allowed Ming to take a Bible with him as his very own. He has a New Testament, but this is his first complete Bible.

We then visited the provincial museum.

It was good to learn more about Ming's hometown, as well as to give him a last glimpse at his heritage before leaving. The most interesting display was that of a couple of mummies that died and were buried nearly 800 years ago. The were unearthed 20 years ago, and are amazingly well-preserved. They are displayed in some type of fluid...I suppose formaldehyde. I would show you a picture, but they wouldn't allow us to take any. Probably just a well...it was quite odd.

Next, we visited a shop that made Ming a "chop"...it's a stamp that has both his Chinese and English names.

Ming was very pleased with this gift...said it made him feel like a king!

We then went shopping at a Carefore (very similar to WalMart) for some books and a few other things we needed. On our way out we stopped at a McDonalds that was next door, and grabbed some food to go...which we ate back at the hotel. Following a nutritious dinner, we went down to the bowling alley attached to the hotel and each bowled a line.



It was a great day, and we are once again pretty wasted. The heat here really takes it out of you. Our sense is that Ming is really settling into our family...and is as ready as ever to move on into the new adventure that is now his life. Thanks for checking in on us, and please hold us in your prayers.

A Walk In The Park

Since we have a few minutes here in the room before heading out with our guide (Catharine) this afternoon for a bit more sightseeing and shopping, I (Jody) thought I would go ahead and document our past few hours. We decided to go for a walk in West Lake Park, which is on an island almost directly across the lake from our hotel. We probably had to walk a little less than a mile to get over there, and it was great to do. The only challenge was the heat and humidity (I'm guessing in the high nineties with 100% humidity)...but that's just China in July.

Here is a look back at the Lakeside Hotel from the island...it was a very nice vantage point.


Here is Mom with her new boy...


It's great to finally see our 6 children in one place.


The park had some beautiful little enclaves with waterfalls and chinese structures...



And on the backside of the park, we discovered a little kiddie amusement park area with very old rides, and a "Sea World" type seal show. We couldn't read the sign to figure out how much it was, but Ming seemed to want to go in, so we paid our money (which turned out to be around $23...more than we thought, but not bad) and went in. It was really quite comical, but well worth the experience. There was one seal (which I have since named Uncle Bud the Lonely Seal) and the trainer showed off his 10 tricks or so for around 15 minutes...and that was it. Here's a glimpse at the "through the hoop" trick, and the roaring crowd...



As we were walking out, one of the families singled Madison out and wanted two of the little girls in a picture with her. This is exactly what happened when we were here three and half years ago, and it's nice to know Maddie is still a star!


We're now off for the afternoon. We'll publish one more post tonight before we crash into bed. It's been very encouraging to read your comments...so please keep that up. And thanks for your prayers. They are blessing us more than we'll ever know.

Some Random Thoughts

I (Caryn) thought that I would post this morning (while I am awake) some random thoughts about our trip.

*This morning is the first morning since we got here that we all didn't wake up between 4-6. We slept until 8-9, although Jody & Madison did just tell me that they both woke up around 5-6, got up for a while and then went back to bed.
*The funny thing is that because we have been getting up so early, last night we had planned to go to the local park around 6:30 this morning to see the locals. The park is filled with thousands of people exercising, sword fighting, and ball room dancing. We slept through that this morning. I guess we will have to set our alarm tomorrow.
*The breakfast buffet at the hotel is very large and plentiful. The first morning, Ming filled his plate up high with western food and ate it all. I doubt he had ever seen that much food at one time before. The next morning, I showed him where the congee (chinese rice oatmeal) was, thinking he might want that since it is what he is used to eating. He told me he did not want that! I don't blame him at all. That stuff looks awful. I remember when we were in China with Jamae, I took her off of congee the first day because the stuff looks nasty.
* So far we have eaten two chinese dinners. They were excellent. The funny thing is that Madison liked the food (she claims to not like chinese food) and Jamae didn't like the food (she claims to love chinese food. She's chinese after all, as she would say).
*We have also eaten at KFC, Papa John's, and Dico's ( a chinese fast food place). Ming had been to a McDonald's before, but never the others. He liked the food. That is good news since I don't really know how to cook chinese.
*We learned that on special days, like American New Year, the children in his group home would be taken to McDonald's for a special treat.
*So far we all feel good. That has been a blessing.
*To say that Ming loves his Nintendo DS we bought for him would be an understatement. We have a hard time getting him away from it. We do see it as a blessing though. It allows him a way to pull into himself. Being with all english speakers must be very difficult.
*Ming came to us with a backpack filled with school books, a bag with stuffed animals, a bag of clothes, and a box of treasures. We still haven't seen all the treasures yet.
*It is very, very hot and humid here. Being from dry Moses Lake, we are suffering and sweating.
*We have 2 connecting rooms which has been wonderful. When we were here with Jamae, we were not able to get connecting rooms until the end of the trip. We have one room with a queen bed, a roll away and a couch that Jamae is sleeping on. The other room has 2 twin beds and a roll away.
*The beds are HARD! They make me wake up with a backache. I think Ming must think they are very soft, because when we saw his bed yesterday, it is a piece of plywood with a bamboo mat on it.

The family is ready for breakfast. We will write again soon.

A Very Full Day!

It is probably not possible for a day to be any more emotional or full than today was for us.

Even though we only had two "outings", they were both extremely emotional and significant. This morning, we visited Ming's orphanage, the Living Hope Children's Home. And this afternoon, we drove 45 minutes or so to visit the Hidden Treasures Orphanage. It would fill several pages to document all that we experienced...and we're frankly too tired for that this evening. I think the best move right now is simply to allow some pictures do the talking. The summary would be to tell you that it was a VERY BLESSED DAY, and one that we will never forget.

Here is a glimpse into our morning at Living Hope...








And here are a couple of pictures from our visit to Hidden Treasures. The couple you see is Mike & Deena. We met them at the swimming pool yesterday afternoon, and decided to take a trip out to visit them. We can tell you the whole story after we return, but for now let's just say it was more than mere coincidence that we met them.



And here's a glimpse at what our drive home looked like. This is a view from one of the many bridges over the Min River that we crossed...

July 1

Today was a great day as we tried to take in some of the sights of Fuzhou. We did this for us and for Ming. We certainly want to visit some of the highlights of Fuzhou, but we especially want Ming to have memories of Fuzhou, his home city. After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel buffet, we went to the Panda Zoo here in town. They have 7 of the 100 pandas left in the world. A few of the pandas from the earthquake area have been brought here. We saw one of these pandas - he has lost a leg and eyesight in one eye because of the earthquake. The zoo director was very glad to have us visiting his zoo and really went out of his way to accommadate us. Our guide told us that he was treating us like he would royalty. Here is a picture of the zoo director with Jody, Jay and Ming.

We really enjoyed spending time seeing the pandas. The director even brought us to a place where we could see them up close.



Ming had never had the opportunity to see the pandas, so I was so glad that we were able to see them with him. He seemed to really enjoy it. We also had our guide tell him that on the way home, we are going to Disneyland. How fun to see his reaction. He gave me (Caryn) a huge hug. He said that he has always dreamed of going to Disneyland. I am so thankful we put that in our trip.
We then went to see the "hero" of Fuzhou's home and went to a tea ceremony. It was very interesting. Jesse and Mitchell did not seem to see it as fun, but Ming enjoyed it. He likes tea, so we bought some dragon tea (the tea of Fuzhou) so we can make him some tea at home that he is used to.
After a lunch of KFC, we came back to the hotel to swim. Ming had told us that he knows how to swim. I believe that he has been in a swimming pool before, but he doesn't know how to swim. I only had to rescue him one time and then he learned his boundaries. We had a wonderful time relaxing in the pool.

We decided to take Ming down to the rec area and see if he really knows how to play ping pong like we had been told. Wow! he is really good. Jody did manage to beat him, but he gave him a run for his money. Ming also wanted to try pool although he had never played it before. He caught on really fast.

It has been such a day full of blessings. Ming is such a wonderful boy. So full of life. I know that this change must be very hard for him, but he is so brave. I feel like he is completely embracing us as his family. He understands what is happenning and seems to be okay with it. The language barrier does make things hard as we can't talk to him like we would if we both spoke the same language, but we are getting by with our limited chinese and gestures. A smile goes a long way. He is getting along wonderfully with the kids, in fact he is playing on his DS with the boys right now.

Please think of him tomorrow as we go to visit his orphanage. We have come to learn that he has been living in a wonderful group home these last 3 years, who have become his family. I know he is excited to show us where he has been living, but it will be a very sad day for his as he says his final goodbyes. Yesterday, after we came into the hotel room after receiving him, he immediantly tried to call someone on the telephone. He could not get the number to work. Through our guide, we found out that he was trying to call one of his caretakers at the orphanage to tell him that he was ok. Thankfully, today he was able to call them and connect with the caregiver. I am so thankful that he feels loved and cared for by the workers at his orphanage. I am fully confident that he will be able to also love us, his new family.

What Was 7 Is Now 8

What a great day today has been in the life of the Bowser family!

After a very brief 4 hours of sleep in a very nice Hong Kong hotel (the Novotel CityGate...just a couple miles from the airport), we were up at 5 and on the airport shuttle at 6am. The airport was very un-crowded at that early hour, and we breezed through check-in and security...leaving us plenty of time for breakfast in the airport and a little down time by the gate. We then boarded and were in the air by 8:50am for our hour and twenty minute flight up to Fuzhou. Once again we encountered absolutely no problems on the arriving end, retrieved all our luggage, and walked out of the airport to a greeting by our new guide, Katharine. She escorted us to our ground transport, and began the 1 hour drive to our hotel, the Lakeside. On the drive we were soon informed that Ming would be joining us immediately after our arrival to the hotel, and that we were going to take care of all of the "official business" this afternoon...including signing the adoption papers, going before the judge, and having the entire deal notarized. Bam! Hey...why not. That's what we're here to do, so let's get this show on the road.

I will say that the anxiety level for all of us kicked up a notch or several. Katherine was able to give us a few details that she knew of regarding Ming's orphanage which were actually very encouraging. She knew that Ming has been in the "Children's Hope Home", which is a separate building and independently funded program on the orphanage grounds that a good number of the older children (we've since learned that Ming has been one of 22 children) live in and are very well cared for. She also provided us with a questionnaire that was filled out on Ming's behalf, telling us that Ming is a healthy, outgoing and athletic boy.

We got to the hotel. Were shown up to our rooms. And immediately received a call that Ming was waiting for us in a conference room on the 3rd floor. All righty...let's do it!

Before I show you several pictures, I'll tell you that Ming looked just like his pictures (we weren't quite sure how old the pictures we had actually were, and whether he had changed much or not), that I found it very cool to see him in the Ohio State shirt that we sent out, and that the mood in the room was electric...





We signed a few documents indicating that we would be his legal guardian for the next few hours until he was officially adopted, and then went up to the room to hang out. I can tell you that he seemed genuinely excited and thankful to be with us. There were flashes of immediate affection, he clearly knew how to pronounce the kids names, he seemed to know a few words in English, and began calling Caryn and I "mother" and "father." We could see right away that Ming is a very active boy, he's not at all shy, and very inquisitive. He really seemed to take to Jamae, and began calling her "baby!". She wouldn't stand for that, and soon began shouting back, "I'm not a baby!". It was heartwarming.

Two things I'll highlight from our 2 hours back in the room. One was the fact that he pulled out of his belongings the photo album that we had sent. He seemed very proud of it. He then pulled out a separate little photo album of pictures of himself and some of his friends from the orphanage. But what he did next was VERY telling and important. He began taking the pictures of himself out of the one album, and inserting them in the blank spaces of our family album. The significance of this was immediately evident. He was already picturing himself as part of OUR FAMILY. Here's a picture that we snapped as he was doing this...


The other notable thing was the look on his face when he discovered his Nintendo GameBoy DS in the bag that we brought for him.


At 3pm, we went down to the lobby for our string of official meetings. We first went to the office of the judge, and then on to the office of the Notary Public. We of course snapped some important pictures along the way...






Everything went as smooth as could be, and by 5pm or so we were done with all the paperwork. We then stopped by WalMart to purchase some bottled water, as well as some gifts to take to the orphanage when we visit on Wednesday. It was special for Ming to pick out some gifts that he knew the kids would appreciate, including some various "American" bags of chips, some candy, and several movies...including "The Bee Movie" dubbed into Chinese. It was Ming's first trip ever to a place like WalMart, and he seemed a bit overwhelmed. It was a taste of his new life.

And finally, we stopped at a very nice restaurant for a celebration meal in our own private dining room. Our guide, Katharine, raised a toast of Sprite to Ming...and the conversation was very easy and fun. We learned during the meal that Ming clearly calls himself a Christian, and seemed very excited that I am a pastor. He also bowed his head in prayer, and clearly understood words like "prayer", "Pastor", and "church". How about that.


That's enough for now. It's been a very full day, and we're all exhausted. Thanks for your prayers, and enjoy the pictures of a family that used to be 7...and is now 8!

Safe & Sound in Hong Kong

We made it! It is now 11:45pm on Sunday China time...8:45am on Sunday back in Washington. We gained 15 hours on a flight into the sunshine. It never got dark. Doing the math, we left our hotel in Seattle "this morning" at 11am, and have been traveling for the past 22 hours. I'm sure we'll be out like a light when we turn off the lights here in a few minutes...but the kids are still pretty wired and excited to be here. But I'll get to that in a minute.

We started the day with bagels at one of our favorite breakfast spots...Panera Bread.


It was great to have Brent and Sandi Bailey & girls meet us at the hotel and accompany us to the airport so that they could take our car back to their new home on the "West Side", saving us all of that money in parking. We then stood in line for over 2 hours...it seemed everyone in the airport was flying Northwest. But we gave ourselves 3 hours, and weren't at all stressed. By the time we made it to our gate, we had just a few minutes to buy some Burger King for lunch, and walk it onto the plane.

These next two pictures tell the story of the past 15 hours...



I'm so pleased to report that the trip here was completely uneventful. We watched several movies, and everyone did just fine. Jamae was a peach, no fussing or tears whatsoever. All of our kids are great travelers. We had just over an hour in Tokyo, which would have been a challenge if we had to change terminals like we did when adopting Jamae. But we were so pleased to find that the gate was right in the same terminal, and made the connection no problem. The flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was another four hours, during which it finally got dark. Jay slept much of the first flight from Seattle, and was awake the last leg. The rest of us slept most of the last four hour leg, as it was between 2am and 6am our "body time".

There were just a few more hurdles to clear. All of our luggage came through no problem. We sailed through immigration and customs. And flowed right out into the main concourse. We had the option of trying to track down the hotel shuttle, but I (Jody) made the decision to book a taxi (a minivan), and get us going right away. It was a great move, as we walked right into the vehicle, right to the hotel, and right up into our two rooms at the Novotel Citigate Hotel. It's a brand new hotel, and the accommodations are great.

The kids are showering up and settling down as I sit here get the blog updated.

We are back down to the lobby in just under 6 hours to catch the shuttle back to the airport. We fly out at 8:50am for our flight up to Fuzhou (which I'm guessing will be around a 2 hour flight). When we arrive in Fuzhou (pronounced "Foo-chow"), we will likely go first to the hotel...but that will depend on our guide. It's possible we'll go directly to the orphanage. Either way, we'll have Ming with us in 12-15 hours. The long journey to "get" Ming is winding down. And now begins the journey of the rest of our lives with him. The weight of the situation is enormous. And yet it's wonderfully light. We're ready. Now is the time. He's our boy...and it's time to get on with life together. God is so very good.

Reunited...and it feels so good!

After a short night of sleep, we got up to make final preparations for our 2 weeks in China. One thing that we realized we needed to do on our way out of town was to stop by the licensing office so that I (Jody) could renew my drivers license. It dawned on me last night that my license expired on my birthday 3 days ago, and I didn't want to take an international trip with an expired license. We hoped to get to the license bureau before they opened at 8:30am, but ended up running about 10 minutes late. When i walked in the door, there were already about 8 people waiting in line. This was a problem because we had a deadline of getting to the airport in Seattle by 11:30am...and it's about a two and a half hour drive. I decided to make a plea to all of those in the waiting room to see if there were any good samaritans. After around a minute, a high school boy came up and gave me his number that moved me up a few spaces. His Mom raised him well. And then another woman in line came up and traded me her number which put me next in line. Praise God I was able to get my new license in around 10 minutes, and we were out the door thanks to two very kind people.

The decision to get my license renewed paid off within around an hours time. I got pulled over. No, I wasn't speeding. But I did get distracted as we rolled west on I-90, and drifted out of my lane. Wouldn't you know, there was a police officer right behind me. He flashed his lights, and pulled me over. After explaining all that we had going on, he informed me that 110 people have died this year on Washington roads, warned me, and sent us on our way. We were again blessed by kindness...and grateful for a current drivers license.

We made it to the Seattle airport in good time, and were there when Jay and the team emerged into the baggage area...


We gave Jay the choice of where he wanted to eat lunch, and he chose Taco Bell...


We then made our way over to our hotel, where Jay opened up his suitcase to give us the gifts that he purchased in Burkina Faso. He also showed off a cool African outfit that he had tailored for himself, as well as a jimbay (African drum) that he was excited to bring home...


So now we try to get a good nights sleep before heading to the airport tomorrow at around 11am. We take off at 2:40pmPST, and will have a 10.5 hour flight to Tokyo, followed by another 3 hours to Hong Kong. This also involves crossing the international date line, which puts us into Hong Kong Sunday night around 10pm. We'll have a brief night in a hotel by the airport before getting back to the airport around 6am Monday morning for our flight up to Fuzhou. We'll try to get a brief update to the blog in Hong Kong...providing the the hotel has a good internet connection and we're not too exhausted.

Thanks for journeying along with us, and for all of your prayers. It won't be long now before we post some pictures of our new son! If you're reading this in the United States, we will be getting Ming on Monday afternoon the 30th (China time) at just about the time that you are heading to bed Sunday night the 29th. Say a special prayer for us.