Jacob's Orphanage

December 24

This morning we went to see Jacob's orphanage.  It's just north of the city in the middle of a mountaintop forest park.  As far as college campuses go it's pretty OK.  However, as far as orphanages go it's fairly exceptional.  They have sensory therapy rooms, music rooms, a tea room where they teach the children both how to serve tea traditionally and about the culture of tea in China, therapy rooms where they do everything from acupuncture to massage therapy, they have vocational training, onsite foster families, a tennis court, private security, and I could go on.  Some of the rooms were even carpeted.  Joshua's orphanage had a TV and that's it.

The lady on the right is Jacob's favorite nanny.  The other lady is the head nanny.  This is the room where Jacob slept.

 Jacob did well at the orphanage.  Being a little older than Mae, I was more worried about him wanting to go back to his nannies and not come home with us.  A few times he did seem to prefer them but never fussed about coming back to us and did well when we left.  Overall it was a good visit.

After that we did some other stuff then went back to the hotel for naps.  After naps we headed out to the Chongqing zoo where we saw giant pandas and an assortment of other animals.  If you've ever been to a Chinese zoo then you'll understand when I say that the barricades between the animals and you are not what they are in the U.S.  Some of the animals you can just reach out and touch...

The family looking at a bear who was looking for some snacks.

We made Joshua pose by this statue, it just seemed to be a good fit for some reason.

After the zoo we had dinner with Sonia and her mom and then came back to the hotel.  When we got back we went through diapers again and cleaned up our third blowout of the day (Mae this time).  I think Heather came to the realization this evening that our lives (hers mostly) are going to be dominated by trying to feed kids and cleaning up poop - at least for the next few years.  Fortunately they're adorable so we don't mind.

The kids brought some "reindeer food" with them from home.  Since there's no yard to sprinkle it on we let them sprinkle it out of the hotel window.  Nobody below seemed to mind or notice.

Joshua sprinkling reindeer food out the window while Scott looks on.

Tomorrow is Christmas and we'll be celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ like many of you.  In some ways this will be like no other Christmas any of us have had before.  In other ways it'll be just like all the rest, spent with loved ones.  Wherever you are and however you celebrate, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and more importantly I hope you know what you're celebrating.

Speaking of, I have to tell you I was so proud of Heather the other day.  We were signing paperwork with our guide and he was asking about Christmas.  Heather immediately started walking him through how the real reason to celebrate Christmas is because Christmas makes Easter possible.  She went on the explain the gospel to him and we had what I would call a significant discussion with him about how Christ saves and what makes Christianity stand apart from every other world religion.  It's really hard to hear from people here how they try to believe in everything (which is the same thing as not really believing anything).  We pray that God will work in their hearts and I hope you'll join us in that prayer.

Our love to you all!

Jacob's Rescuers

December 23

Today we went back to the civil affairs office to finalize Jacob's adoption.  On the way we stopped by his abandonment/finding spot.  It's only a couple blocks from the civil affairs office.  The experience we had at Mae's finding spot set the bar pretty high so I tried not to get my hopes up that we'd have a similar experience.  What happened instead was just plain unexpected.

When the van got there Heather, Jacob, our guide, and I got out and walked back to the building where he was left.  It sets back off the road behind another smaller building.  We took a few pictures and of course drew a little attention, it's not everyday that westerners come to that building to take pictures I'm sure.

Our guided asks one of the ladies if she remembers a baby being left there two years ago, she doesn't.  Not surprised - but what happened next....  An older lady came over and said she DID remember.  As a matter of fact, she is the one that found Jacob.  She went on to describe how a man brought Jacob to her little grocery store, asked for some hot water for a bottle, made the bottle, and then asked her if she would watch the baby for a minute while he went to get some paperwork from the hospital (there's a hospital about 100 yards away).  As soon as she took the baby the man ran away and never came back.  Jacob was left with some formula, a bottle, a note about his birthday, and a few other small items which the orphanage now has.  The other lady that helps run the grocery relayed the same general story as she was there that day too.  They described the man that left him but of course there's no way to know who he is.

Holy smokes!!!  We got the meet the lady that rescued Jacob.  You've got to be kidding me!?!?  I can't even tell you how cool this was.

The lady with us is who took Jacob from the man.  The lady in the background in the other storekeeper that was there.  This is their small grocery store at the base of a high-rise apartment building.

In the course of speaking with these ladies a crowd was starting to form around us.  Men from the construction crew next door even stopped what they were doing and came of to check it out.  This was becoming a scene by the time we left.

Next we went to the civil affairs office which, relatively speaking, was uneventful other than the fact we are now Jacob's official parents.

Getting the adoption certificate from the Official.  Every Provence does it differently.  Here they made a formal ceremony out of it.

After we got back to the hotel we met up with Sonia's family and went out to dinner at a place along the river.  It was delicious and we had a great time.

Us with Sonia's family.  Her dad is front and center, her grandma is in the red jacket back right, her mom is next to her grandma, and Sonia is next to me.  In the background is the Jialing River and the central part of Chongqing City.

This was a wonderful day.  Scott's tummy is doing better and he's more like his normal self.  My tummy is doing better which means I can go back to abusing it (I bought some seaweed flavored Pringles at the grocery store today, we'll so how that goes).  Everyone else is pretty well on par.

Merry Christmas from the Shanks'!  Again we took this prior to breakfast this morning to minimize the amount of food stains in the photo.  Couldn't be happier about my family.

Dressing for Winter

Not sure if you noticed on the previous post but Jacob had several layers of clothing on when we got him, five to be exact.  He had a fleece, then two layers of wool sweaters, then a quilted vest, then a huge quilted coat.  He also had long underwear pants under some lined denim pants.  And the hat that you can see in the pics.

How close to absolute zero was it today, you might ask?  Low 50's, fahrenheit.

Mae was dressed very similarly when we got her although it was in the high 30's there at the time.  As soon as we got Mae we started dressing her the way we dress all our kids - comfortable for indoors with enough removable layers (coats, gloves, hats) to be warm outside.  This is such a different approach to what people do here that several times Heather has been yelled at (in Chinese of course) by older women for not having enough clothes on our children.  Even our driver today fussed at us for not putting enough clothes on her.  He was surprised when we got back to the hotel that her hands were warm, since we didn't have 8 layers of clothes on her, for the 50 degree weather.

One other thing we've noticed from both our trips to China is that when the Chinese turn the heat on in a room, they turn it waaaayyyy on, like baking the Christmas ham kinda hot.  Likewise, when they decide not to turn the heat on, it's as freezing inside as it is outside.  There seems to be no in-between.  The thermostat has not made its way to China.

I don't say this to say that China is weird.  I mean, I do think they're weird but I'm sure they think we're weird.  We might both be right.  Having grown up in yankee country and now living in Houston I've already come to realize that people handle cold weather differently.  However, being yelled at by a 60 year old Chinese van driver for not putting gloves on my 1 year old Chinese daughter's deformed hands because it's 52 degrees outside is new.

Gotcha (#2 of 2)

December 22

Today we got Jacob!

This is when we first met him.

On the ride home.  He kinda went into zombie-mode after his nannies left.

Heather is happy, Jacob is somewhere else.

Back at the hotel, having snacks and playing.  Lauren had a couple toy cars with her (because she's a better parent than we are I guess).  Once he got those he started to disengage zombie-mode.

Mae learned to pout her lips.

Here's the whole family ready for bed.

Jacob did really well today.  He was pretty docile until he started to realize that he wasn't going back to his nannies.  He calmed down quickly after they left and the he transitioned into what I call zombie-mode (where he emotionally disengages with reality).  Once we got back to the hotel he started to interact with us.  Within a few hours he was laughing and smiling and playing with toys.  He has latched on to me more than Heather it seems but he's OK with her as well.  Overall he did outstanding and we made it through the first evening.

I think the biggest challenge for the night was bath time and bed time.  It might take us two hours to get everyone ready for breakfast in the morning.  Hard to say...

So that's it, we got our kiddos.  We finalize Jacob's adoption tomorrow and we'll get to see his finding spot.  The remainder of our time here is all about getting the paperwork (passports and visas) to bring these kiddos home.

Day of Rest

December 21

Given the day we had yesterday and the night we had last night we elected to just stay close the hotel room today and let everyone rest.

Good thing we did, for Scott's sake anyways.  He threw up at breakfast and then blew out his diaper again around midday.  Pretty awesome.

Sonia came over this afternoon.  Everyone except Scott and Micah went out exploring this evening, including a ride on the Chongqing monorail.

On the Monorail

Perhaps everyone that travels to a foreign country feels the same way but I find China to be a real assault on the senses.  Everything tastes "Chinese", there's constant honking and squealing brakes, cigarette smoke everywhere, smog, constant sound of people speaking Chinese in my ears, every building has either too much heat or no heat, you can't just drink a glass of water, etc...  It doesn't even matter how much you're enjoying it all, the fact is it's different and you find yourself just looking for something "normal" for a sensory breather.  Today, lounging around the hotel room with Scott served as such a breather for me, it was welcome.

Tomorrow we get Jacob.  Heather and I discussed on the way to Chongqing how the easiest part of this trip is now behind us.  I guess we'll see.  Either way we pray for God's grace in raising these children, we'll sure need it.

Nanjing to Chongqing

December 20

Today we traveled from Nanjing to Chongqing.  I saw a documentary recently during which Chongqing China was referred to as "the largest city most Americans have never heard of."  I'd say that's about right.  Here's the high points and the low points for the day.

High: Scott didn't have a blowout on the plane (he's gotten some kind of stomach bug).
Low: Scott did blowout his pants during the car ride from the airport to the hotel.  Heather wrapped him in a changing pad to try and protect the stroller from the poo.

Scott sitting on a changing pad.  A bath followed shortly.

High: We got to reunite with Sonia and meet her parents and grandma.  They took us out for a very nice dinner.
Low: We can't really converse with her parents or grandma.  I didn't mind not being able to converse with people here until there was someone I actually wanted to talk to.  This is frustrating.

Dinner with the Zeng family.

High:  We saw a lady helping her granddaughter pee in a trash can.  Here's the story: We were walking through the mall (it's a nice mall, think Houston Galleria) when we spot a woman shucking some little girl of her pants.  She then grabs the girl by the legs and then quickly carries her over to the nearest trash can where she holds the girl in a squat position while she pees in the trash can.

Low:  We saw a lady helping a little girl pee in a trash can in a shopping mall.

High: The beds here are much softer.
Low: Lora threw up in hers about 4:00 this morning.

High: I'm running out of these.
Low: Scott threw up on himself on the way back from dinner.  Micah and Lauren aren't feeling 100% either.

Every trip like this has some hard days.  Today was a hard day.  I'm hoping Sunday is better.

Xuanwu Park

December 19

Today was another free day.  Today we visited a park at the north end of the city, visited a pearl shop, and then went freelance for lunch.  Here's some pics of our day.

Took this last night before bedtime.

At the entrance to Xuanwu Lake Park.  This is the North gate to Nanjing city.  This park was only accessible to the Imperial family until about 100 years ago.

Lora and Joshua in front of the Lotus Fairy.

China is a constant juxtaposition of old and new.  For instance, here you have a 1500 year old Imperial garden with a hot-dog truck in it, in front of a Ming Dynasty city wall in front of the tallest building in the city (450 meters).

A wishing garden.  All the red tags are wishes that people have placed in the garden.  Everywhere you turn here there's another temple, or wishing garden, or good luck charm.  Yesterday we saw a lady praying at a rock while rubbing it.  In the gift shop in our hotel there is a idol of some kind for sale and the shopkeeper placed offerings in front of it.  At the city gate yesterday, there were fruit offerings in front of a painting of some guy that helped build the wall.  These people are desperately looking for something to hope in.

Mae at Xuanwu lake park

Lora and Joshua in front of a balloon thing.  It's part of the Christmas decorations that are going up in the mall across from our hotel.

Lora getting her picture taken for about the 500th time today.  She had just finished eating some kind of chocolate ice-cream bar, hence the chocolate ring around her mouth.

The gang in front of a local dumpling and noodle restaurant.  Notice how the entire front of the store is open.  This is pretty common.  No heat inside.  Everything here is very open-air.

This was taken out front of the restaurant where we ate last night.  There's a lot of (what I assume to be) salt-cured meats hanging in front of shops and outside of apartments.

By the way, for breakfast I had some duck feet braised in "brown sauce", among other things.  The dietary options here really are endless.

Mae is doing better every day.  Today she has had a much better appetite and she has warmed up to me a lot more.  She enjoys the other kids mostly but is definitely not afraid to assert herself.  Overall, she's a real fascinating girl who's had to adapt both to orphanage life and her non-functioning arms.  It'll be a real treat to watch her grow and develop.

Tonight is our last night in Nanjing.  Tomorrow morning we board a plane for Chongqing.  I think I'll miss Nanjing.  I really like this city more than the others I've been to in China.  All the same we're very excited about reuniting with Sonia and meeting Jacob.