11,000

In 1992, CCAI began in the founders' basement. Josh and Lily began helping to find families for orphans in China. On Tuesday, the 11,000th child will be adopted into the CCAI family.  So many children who have found their families. It is an amazing thing. I don't blog much about CCAI, but they are great. I can call and ask anything. As busy as they are, we got a phone call from Josh checking on Alex and on us a few weeks ago. They really care about these kids. Josh has an amazing heart- in one blog post he wrote, he said he prays he is out of a job soon because that would mean all the kids have families. 

Here are my two of 11,000.

Claire YuTing, adoption day 1-22-13.

Alexander ChenTing, adoption day 4-15-14.

11,000 chidren. That is so many. Yet so many more wait for families. China says there are 576,000 children in their system. Outside sources guess that there are actually closer to one million. A million children who have no family. A million children with an uncertain future. 98%of children abandoned in China now have medical needs. Boys and girls are equally abandoned. So many children wait. Such a horrible decision the parents must make to save their child's life. Medical care in China is very costly, and inaccessible in poorer areas. 

If you want to help orphans in China, or have questions about adoption- let me know. All of the medical needs are not scary and many are easily managed. 

11,000 have found families with CCAI's help. There just aren't words to express my feelings. 

First week home!!

This week has flown by! Last week Brandi, Alex, and I were up in the skies headed home. He did great on the flights and actually only slept for 3 hours total. He slept for 2 hours on the flight from Beijing to Detroit and then slept the whole flight to Albany.   We got in to the airport so late Scott and Noah met us. A friend came to take some pics and I am thankful. 

This week has also been a whirlwind of appointments. Alex saw our pediatrician, and Claire had dental surgery. We have had meals brought by our church family which has been a lifesaver. 

Here is our first puc as a family of 6!! This was at the kickoff service of the church plant we are helping with last night. Here are a few other pics from the week. 

Top 10 moments in China!!!

1. Alex becoming part of our family and how wonderful he is doing. 

2. Brandi giving Alex his first jello shot. Ok it really wasn't a jello shot. It was berry jello that had probably a splash of wine in it. The jello shot makes a funnier story;)

3. Alex's first popsicle. He did not understand that it would melt and tried to save it for later.

4. Being very sleep deprived and giggling for an hour with Brandi about cake wrecks. 

5. Seeing our guide Kathy moved to tears at Alex's first medical appointment. 

6. All the food. Seriously love the food in China. Did you see all of our FB food posts??!!??

7. Seeing our guide David determined to help the kids left behind at Alex's foster home. 

8. To pass the time we succummed to beyblade and nerf wars, watching dumb you tube videos, watching kids movies, walking to 7-11 a million times, drank free  coffee at the hotel but bought a dozen starbucks mugs (did not actually buy a single cup of coffee at starbucks), spied on the playground to see when other families were outside and practiced our Chinese. 

9. Learning cool things about Alex like he loves fruit and bubblegum, and is not really fond of rice. 

10.  Every time we tried to practice our Chinese at a resteraunt we got the server who spoke english. Yep- asked for no ice at McDonald's in Chinese and the girl said ok no ice in English. Same at Lucy's :)

11.  Getting Alex's visa and finally headed home!!!!!!!! (Bonus number!) 

Guangzhou Zoo

This morning we went to the zoo. It was fun. The male lions were talking to each other (they were in seperate enclosures). 

Alex is year of the pig:)

The peacock was trying to scare off a miniture deer. The deer was not impressed.  I am year of the snake. 

Alex on a dragon. 

Consulate appointment and family pictures

This morning we had our consulate appointment. I have no pictures because cameras, cell phones, or anything with batteries are not allowed- including watches. Yes- this is the US consulate so those are US rules. I will say the new consulate building is beautiful. Lots of green space. The consulate in Guangzhou mainly processes immigrant andvisitor visas for Chinese citizens so it is very busy. Hundreds of people in line. Thankfully as US cutizens with an appointment we did not have to wait. We did have to go through security and have our passports checked. Then we went upstairs to the adoption unit. There we took "the oath."

The oath is such a weird thing. It is not the citizenship oath that other immigrants take. We swear that we did not falsify any of the adoption immigration paperwork. That's it. They review the paperwork, take fingerprints as a signature, and will grant his visa. 

Alex will become a US citizen when the plane touches the tarmac in Detroit on Sunday. That will make me cry. 

We also took some family and group pictures today. Aren't they great?  The other family also got their daughter in Nanning and are so nice. Their daughter is adorable! 

River Cruise and Guangzhou City tour

Tuesday night we went on the river cruise. We saw the Canton tower and the lights of Guangzhou. Alex loved the juggler and she helped all the kids spin a ball on their fingers. 

Wednsday morning we did the Chen house tour and saw the temple of the 6 banyan trees. Only 3 of the trees are left though!

That is us trying some green tea.

The Number one Question- Answered

The question I have been asked the most is how is the language barrier?

I know very little Mandarin. Alex knows very little English. He tells me all sorts of things, and I tell him all sorts of things. I have learned some phrases in Mandarin like bathroom, eat, I love you, no ice,no spicey, are you ok, swimming, and that might be it. McDonald's in Mandarin is Mc Don Alds in case you were wondering. 

Our guide checks in frequently and always asks Alex if there is anything he wants her to tell me for him. He always says no. I had her ask him what he thought of us speaking different languages and he said its fine and does not bother him. 

He is picking up some English already. He knows Alex, shoes, hello, bye bye, he can count almost to 10, and he will repeat everything we say. 

I do wish I knew more of what he is saying because he has such a great personality and I would love to know what he thinks of everything. His first plane ride, the hotel, seeing BaBa and his siblings. That is the hard part. 

We are figuring it out though!!