Where to Begin???

All of these photos are of us at the Notorial interview where we met Joshua for the first time. The man in the photo below with Lawrence and Joshua is the caregiver at the orphanage.

The photo on the left is at the hotel after an exhausting day of paperwork, crazy cab drivers and meeting his parents for the first time!!

I want today to be forever ingrained in my memory. We all did not sleep well last night and are still suffering from major jet lag. We are hoping to stay awake until about 9:00 p.m. so we can get on the right schedule. We got up early and ate breakfast in the hotel. That is always interesting. We met Emma, our guide, at 9:00 a.m. in the lobby to go to the Notorial Interview. Since there were so many of us and the cabs are so small we had to take two cabs everywhere we went! The streets here are so busy and the taxi drivers are crazy. I am not sure I can count all the close calls we had today and there are no seatbelts! You don't realize how much you appreciate those until you don't have them.

We went through all the paperwork at the notorial interview, met Joshua, went to take passport photos and a family photo and then back to the hotel! It was about 11:30 when we got back and about 1:00 when Joshua finally just crashed in my arms. He was soooo tired!

Our initial visit with him in the notorial office went extremely well. We were going over paperwork with the officer and all of a sudden we looked up and there was a man standing in the door with Joshua!! We were not expecting it yet and were completely surprised. He was a little hesistant to come to us at first, but really took to Lawrence right off the bat! We were so happy to finally see him. After a few minutes of receiving several toys from us (including a stuffed mickey mouse that he will not let go of) he came to me. He had to go to the bathroom two times while we were there at the first visit so we are wondering if there are issues there or not. We also noticed later after getting back to the hotel and giving him a bath that he has something wrong with his feet. He walks fine except maybe a little clumsy and we think it has something to do with his feel. They are not shaped exactly right or something. He may need surgery or braces to correct the problem! I hope it is not too late to correct it! He does have an extremely large scar on his back that goes between his hip bones and it runs horizontal across his back.

We all went to eat a late lunch and early dinner at Pizza Hut around 3:00 p.m. He loves pizza. He apparently loves food period!! He has eaten everything we have given him and more!! He is really chubby!! I am not sure, but I am guessing he weighs about 35 lbs. He seems to understand us more than what I thought he would. He can tell us by gestures when he needs to go to the bathroom. This is really important!!

As we drove from place to place and have walked the streets of Changchun, I become deeply saddened by the way of life of so many people and I realize that I will never really understand or experience what poverty is. I have been brought to tears many times over the past two days as we walk these streets. We have seen blind people walking with sticks, old people barely able to peddle their bikes up a hill, people living in a tent on the sidewalk and poverty striken people just trying to sell something to be able to eat. The conditions in which most of these people live are unbelievable to say the least.

I hope my thoughts are clear enough for you to understand! I still feel like I am in a fog! I will update again tomorrow. I can't believe how smooth this has gone and can almost feel that we have been lifted up in prayer by so many! Thank you for those prayers. They are working!!