Reunited! And Man! It Feels SO GOOD!

We left our hotel yesterday around 7:30AM.  We checked into the airport in Guangzhou for our first flight toward home.  All went well with baggage and such and we headed to our gate.  It was downstairs in the basement.  We had a little over an hour to wait and it was HOT!  There was a toy store right beside our gate, with all kinds of toys making all kinds of noise.  I was a little worried that Caleb would want us to buy the entire store, and would have a melt down when he figured out we weren't going to do that, but all was well. He watched, he played, and he waited patiently.  Finally it was time to load the busses that would take us out to the tarmac to load the plane.  We gathered our things, managed to get on and grab a bar or handle for the ride.  That bus took us on an 10 minute journey!  Every time we'd make a turn and see another plane, we'd think, "This is us."  But nope!  We kept going.  Until finally, we pulled up to a hangar, where all but one of the planes were in pieces, obviously being worked on or repaired or something.  That one plane ---- ours!  Yep, a little unnerving!


But, by then we were so ready to go home it just didn't even matter.  We loaded that first plane, and our seats were in the middle section of the plane - not near a window.  Caleb came unglued and I thought to myself, "Oh boy, this is going to be an awesome 24 hours!"  Hahaha!  He settled down quickly and we had a great flight - until time to land!  He was not a fan!  As we descended, he became uneasy and wanted to be held.  But because he was over the age of 2, he had to be in his seat and buckled in.  It was terrible!  I just didn't care.  He wanted to be held.  He wanted to feel safe.  And I wasn't about to tell this terrified little boy that I couldn't do that for him.  I took him in my arms.  He settled and we landed without the attendants even knowing.  One flight down, two to go!

Because of something having to do with Caleb's Visa, and the fact that he was leaving the country and upon landing in the US would no longer be a China Citizen, they could only give us the boarding pass for that first flight when our guide checked us in at the airport that morning.  So upon landing in Beijing, we had to collect our baggage from the in-country terminal and recheck it for the international terminal and get the last 2 boarding passes for Caleb.  This was a bit of a challenge.  None of the signage was in English.  We know no Chinese, etc. etc. etc....  But we got it all done and made it to our gate in plenty of time.

This was a long flight.  Caleb did great.  He watched movies, played games, talked to the flight attendants, watched more movies, then fell asleep.  The flight was very empty, so we were able to spread out, stretch out and rest.  Caleb slept most of the way home.  Jodie slept for a good part of it.  Me?  Not so much.  I would doze off but never for more than a few minutes.  It was terrible!  A 12 hour flight, and I couldn't get more than a 5 minute nap.  Ugh!  And, to top it off, now that I am on a US plane, I should be able to eat the food and be fine right?  Nope.  Y'all, I went 2 weeks, eating things that are way out of my norm, enjoying every bite, and feeling great the entire time.  Then I ate an American meal on a Delta flight and felt AWFUL!  That was, by far, the worst 12 hours ever!

We landed in Detroit and got in line for customs and immigration.  There were several adoptive families on the flight with us, one family from our travel group.  The did us a favor and told their officer that we were trying to get to a connecting flight, so they pulled out of line and processed Caleb's immigration paperwork right there for us.  This was awesome!  If they hadn't we would have been in that line for HOURS!  So such a blessing!  One more flight to go!  Let's do this!

DELAYED!  NO!!!!!!!!!

The ceiling was low.  The weather was iffy.  And our plane hadn't even left its originating airport!  This was a hard blow for me.  I just wanted to go home!  Buy now, I had been up for 24 hours, with no sleep on the flight, and I was sick.  No fun!  But fortunately, that delay never turned to cancelled.  The plane got there, and they finally let us on!  Then there was a mechanical issue.  Really?!?!?  Take me home!!!!  They got that fixed, and we were finally wheels up.

Then, this.....

Finally!  My girls in my arms.  My boy in my arms.   This family of 5 - together - in the same country - 1 big happy family.  Oh, happy day!!!  It was 12AM EST, 1PM China time (after we had left our hotel at 7:30AM the day before).  I had been up 29 hours.  I felt terrible.  But all was well.  We were home.  We were reunited with our girls.  Nothing else mattered.

We are so thankful for all my parents did for us and the girls while we were gone.  It's been a very long time since they've had little feet under their own for 2 whole weeks.  But there was nowhere else I would rather the girls have been for that 2 weeks.

Mom and Dad met their newest grandchild, loved on all of us, loaded us up, and said good-bye.  Just another reason I am so thankful for them.  They knew, all on their own, that the next few days need to be ours.  And as much as I am sure they would have loved to hang around and get to know Caleb, we do need this time.  It's a whole new world!

We came home, unloaded, showered, and went to bed.  By then it was 2:30AM.  To say we were exhausted wouldn't have done it justice.  But, we were home, and that's all that mattered.

Homeward Bound TOMORROW!!!

Tomorrow we start our journey home to the US - a day that cannot come soon enough.  We are so ready to get home, to bring Caleb back with us and to start our new life as a family of 5.  My heart is in pieces, as it has been far too long since I've hugged an kissed my biggest babies.  My arms ache for them, much like they were aching for Caleb all those months leading up to this trip.  At this point, it's almost hard to even talk to them over FaceTime.  I see their faces and fall apart.  I just want to go home.

Our journey home starts around 7AM, when we will meet our guide in the lobby and head to the airport.  We will catch a flight to Beijing, have a short layover there, then board to very long flight back to the USA.  We will fly back into Detroit and go through customs there before loading that precious plane for our final flight to Raleigh/Durham.  Because of the type of US Visa Caleb has, when we land in Detroit and he put this sweet feet on the ground, he becomes a US Citizen!  How awesome is that!!!  It'll be another unending, very long and draining day, but at the end....

THESE TWO!  I can't WAIT to get my arms around THESE TWO!!!!!

In the meantime, here are few pics from our time here:

 Our first night with Caleb.  We didn't know what to expect, so we decided to play it safe and just order in pizza at our hotel.  Yep, Papa Johns in China!  It was pretty good too!!!

We rented a paddle boat at the park across from our hotel.  This was a lot of fun!

On the 24th, we had to go back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption.  We had to answer questions and take an oath to care for Caleb, to never abandon or abuse him, for the rest of his life.  Gladly!

One day, as Jodie napped, I was reading and Caleb was playing with his toys, being a silly boy in our room.  Then, he climbed into this chair and fell asleep!  It was so funny to me!

These are just a couple of sweet moments that I will forever cherish.

Thanksgiving Dinner - with new friends, turkey, dressing, pie......can't you see it!?!?

Tonight, as we lay our heads down for one more sleep in China, we are forever changed.  This journey has rocked me to my core.  We have seen things and been taught things that we can never unsee or unlearn.  We have made friends that will be life long friends.  As we head home tomorrow, pieces of our hearts will stay here and others will spread all over the US as our new friends begin their journeys home in the coming days.  We leave China, already knowing that we will be back again. “We [have] learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt, “Radical”

Good night, friends.  See you soon!

Spirit of Adoption - Jodie Nixon

In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. - Ephesians 1:5-6

A common comment we receive when discussing Caleb's adoption goes something like, "This is a wonderful thing you are doing for him. His life will be so much better now." I understand and appreciate these types of comments and agree that it is good to adopt and that chances are he may have more opportunity in his life. However, a more detailed explanation of why Carrie and I have adopted must be communicated. Our motivation to adopt was not to do a good thing or provide someone opportunity. Plain and simple this is an act of obedience on our part. We were directed by God (separately I might add) to adopt. This is not our idea, it is His idea. His plan, not ours. The obvious question one can ask is how do you know God directed you to do this? Many people adopt who do not believe in God. This is a valid point. One of a few responses I have is that from the moment Carrie and I agreed we were to adopt, I have witnessed an organized, well designed plan that led us to Caleb. What I'm trying to communicate is that from the moment we said yes, we had very little input. We reviewed one adoption file, it was Caleb's. The 18 month process took 7. The financial requirements were provided without worry. This was an incredible lesson of resting in the will of God. This is my testimony. You can say that all of this can be accomplished without a God. And that is your right, given by Him. But what will you say on the day that Caleb stands and confesses Jesus Christ as His Savior and He tastes the waters of baptism? On that day we will know for sure, when we see Ephesians 1:5-6 come to fruition in Caleb's life. On that day, the evidence will speak for itself.

Here, In China - Our Journey Begins For Real

So today is Thanksgiving Day.  Our day is done, and my favorite boys are asleep in the bed next to me as I sit here and try to process the Wonder of our God.  Honestly, I really think that is an exercise in futility, as once again, He proves that his ways are so much higher, and His love is so much deeper and wider than we can begin to comprehend.  But, even so, who am I not to take a moment and revel is all His goodness, especially on this day of Thanksgiving.

Today was a very emotional day for me.  Not because we made any huge strides with Caleb, or because we did anything super special here in China.  And while I am positive that the fact that today is Thanksgiving and 2/5ths of my whole world is on the other side of it has played a huge part in the emotional rollercoaster that has been today, I think the majority of my emotional state is due to the fact that God continues to shower His beautiful love on me, and I am, once again, humbled by the fact that I am so undeserving.

Ever since we got Caleb (I will give you the details - give me a minute!), I have been singing the old hymn, "To God be the glory, great things He hath done..."  How wonderful a way to put into words what has taken place in the Nixon family over the last year!  Great things HE hath done for sure!  Jodie and I have shared with a few people that once we said "Yes" to adopting, God took the reigns and we have had little control since.  It has been so amazing to be part of this journey, and we are so very grateful that God chose us to parent Caleb here on earth.  It is so evident to us, and I pray to all of you and one day Caleb, that God has huge plans for this sweet boy.  And it is so humbling to know that we get to watch it all unfold before our eyes.

I have been putting this post off for several reasons.  One, I simply haven't had time.  I haven't wanted to waste even one second that I have had with Caleb.  Every moment I have while he is awake is a moment I can use to bond with him and love on him and attempt to make up for the 3 years with him that are lost forever.  And every night when he falls asleep, I have been right behind him!  Secondly, I know that I will never be able to get how I feel about the events of this week on "paper" in a way that truly captures the enormity of it all, so I am having trouble even starting.  Honestly, there just aren't enough words, even if I took all the words in all the languages across the world and put them together.  There simply aren't enough.  But I guess I will try.

So I guess I left off on Sunday night.  So Monday.  Monday, November 23, 2015 - a day we will NEVER forget.  We woke up early, but had until 12:30 to just hang and prepare for Gotcha Day.  We went up for breakfast with the rest of our group.  We were all so filled with anxiety and nervous energy.  Some of us couldn't even eat.  But we stayed up in the cafe for quite a while, getting to know each other a little better, sharing stories of how we got here and about our children, ultimately just trying to make time fly.  After breakfast, we came back to our hotel room to gather all the Gotcha Day necessities.  That was so hard.  I packed a bag for Caleb, then I repacked it 3 more times, hoping that it would be filled with perfection for him.  There was no way to know if he would have toys to bring with him, if we would be able to keep the clothing he came dressed in, if they would require a clothing donation should we be allowed to keep the clothing he came dressed in.  All we knew was that he, and the 4 other children from his orphanage being adopted that day, had a 7 hour drive to get to us.  We didn't know if they had come in the night before and were already somewhere in the city waiting to meet us, or if they had left Shantou City early that morning and were still en route to us.  All we knew was that we had to be in the hotel lobby at 12:30.  Finally, at 12:00 we decided to go on down.  We just knew that pacing the floor of our room wasn't going to do anything but help us lose our minds.  To our surprise, the other 3 families were already down there too.  It was kind of humorous actually.  We were all so ready.

Before heading to the Civil Affairs building to meet our children, we had to go to the bank to exchange our final adoption fee, which we had all brought to China in the form of perfectly crisp, new $100 bills, into Chinese Yuan.  Boy, what that an experience!!!!!  I don't look forward to doing that again!!  We were in the bank for over an hour!  At one point, we were sitting there at the window.  The teller, who sat behind a wall of glass, had all our money and our passports on his side of the glass.  It was rather unsettling and a little nerve racking.  But, all went well and we accomplished what we had come to do.  Next stop, Civil Affairs.

We got to Civil Affairs a little later than was planned.  Our guide, Helen, wasn't sure if the children had arrived yet or not, so we just made our way up to the adoption floor to wait.  We walked through the door, and there he was.  I lost it.  It was him, in flesh and blood, right there in the same room as us.  I melted completely.  At that point, though, we weren't allowed to talk to him.  He was actually on his way to the potty with one of the nannies, and Helen had a few pieces of paperwork for us to look over before we could get started.  So while we looked over that, we got our cameras ready to capture him heading back to the room.  Here is our first picture of our boy (he's the little boy in the blue shirt holding one of the nanny's hands.):

At this point, I was a complete hot mess.  All the work we had done.  All the questions we had answered.  All interviews and applications.  All the hoops through which we had jumped.  All the dotted "I"s and crossed "T"s.  All the STUFF.  It had all lead up to this.  It was finally time to meet our sweet boy in person.  But I was a wreck!  What if he was too scared to know that this was all done out of love for him?  What if he didn't want to come to us?  What if...?  What if....?  What if...?  But there was not time for "What if...?".  It was time! Then.... ?  This.....

Our boy RAN to us.  And he hasn't looked back yet.  And we are blown away!

I can remember being pregnant with Georgia, scared to death that I didn't have enough love to give her considering breadth of the love I had for Samantha.  Of course, I did.  I do.  One would think I would've learned my lesson with that.  But, even so, this is different.  I know that I felt love for this sweet boy from the moment I saw his picture.  But throughout this process, there has been this underlying fear that I didn't have enough true Momma Love for him.  There was this fear that, since I didn't birth him, even though I wanted to love him as if I did, that I wouldn't.  But, man, I am so very much in love with this kid.  I love him 100%.  I love him as though he has been mine since day 1.  I love him as though God had knitted him together in MY womb.  I. LOVE. MY. SON.  And I am so incredibly Thankful.

More pics to come soon.  Please keep the prayers coming.  Pray for endurance.  So far this has been an absolute joy.  We have had NO issues.  He's eating well, he's sleeping well, and he seems to really like us.  And while I am loving this bonding time with him, I am missing my big babies something fierce.  We have been able to FaceTime with them every day, but it's just not the same.  I want to wrap my arms around them.  I want to introduce them to their brother.  I want to get on with life as a family of 5.  I want ... to go home.  But, we are only 1/2 way there.  We have just shy of another week here in country.  So please pray for renewed endurance.

Thank you all for your support.  Love you!

Here, In China - Saturday and Sunday

Saturday was our last day of touring Beijing.  The plan for the day was to visit the Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.

First stop, Tiananmen Square.

Right there with Tiananmen Square, was the Forbidden City.  This place was HUGE!  We moved very fast through our tour due to the weather, so I missed most of the commentary about this place.  But, it was built for the Emperor, to glorify the Emperor.  I would love to go back on a better day weather-wise and be able to take it all in.  But, here are some pics:

For the Emperor, to glorify the Emperor.  So sad to think this was all build for just 1 man.

Every building had very detailed and beautifully painted rooflines.

The picture is very dark, so it's hard to see how detailed and ornate the ceilings are.

As you can probably tell from the photos, weather was not on our side.  We woke up to below freezing temperatures and freezing rain.  By the time we were done with our tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, we were all so cold and wet that we didn't want to continue with anymore out door sightseeing trips.  So we had lunch and headed for an indoor tour of a silk factory. Unfortunately, the actual factory was outside the city, so we didn't get to see the actual making of the silk for which China is so famous, but we did get a lesson on the life cycle of a silk worm and how they take the cocoon of a silkworm, unwind it to get one very long strand of silk, combine it with several other strands to make silk thread, then weave it into silk cloth.  It was pretty neat, and, of course (as was becoming a pattern) we were given the opportunity to buy.  :)

After the silk factory, we headed back to the hotel to get a head start on the repacking process.  Then dinner at the Peking Duck restaurant, then back for the night.

Right before we left the US, we received a new video of Caleb from our agency.  America World has a missions department as well, and there had been a missions team (most of them from Georgia) at Caleb's umbrella orphanage for the week prior to our arrival.  It was so awesome to get this video and only made us more eager to get to him.  Well, come to find out, this team was flying back home on Sunday, but had an over-night layover in Beijing Saturday night, so they were staying at our same hotel.  So after dinner, we were able to meet the team, along with 2 other families from our group also adopting from that orphanage.  What a blessing!  We were given new pics, new videos, and heard all kinds of new tales concerning our kiddos.  Then the team prayed over us, our children, and our families.  It was such a sweet time of community with our sisters in Christ and was such a wonderful gift from God.

Sunday came, and it was time to fly to Caleb's province.  We woke up to chilly temps, but so far so good.  We got to the airport, checked luggage, paid for weight overages, got our boarding passes, said good-bye to our guide, Eve, then boarded our plane.  By now it was snowing pretty good, but things were moving forward, so we stayed hopeful.  We ended up needing deicing before we could take off, but take off we did!  

Snow piling up on the window of our plane.  

The deicing machine getting our plane ready to take off!

More deicing going on.

Thank the Good Lord!!!  We heard later that a crazy number of flights were cancelled that day.  We were so very thankful to get off the ground and get to Guangdong!  We arrived at the airport and were greeted by Helen - the most phenomenal guide in China!  She has been doing adoptive family guide services for more than 30 years.  She has it down to a science and knows what we need to do, when to do it, and exactly how it has to be done.  Add to all of that the fact that she is an absolute mess!  She has us in stitches constantly.  I already wish we could pack her up and bring her home with us!  Helen took us to our hotel, went over a few specifics, then took us to lunch at a Noodle shop downtime street.  Oh!  My! Word!!!!!  These noodles!  They were soo good!!!  Plus, it was so cheap!  Jodie and I could've shared because it was so much food, but even without sharing, we ate lunch for less than $7!  Yes, I do see more of this in my future!  We will, after all be here for 10 days!!!

The best noodles I have ever had - evah!

After lunch, we headed back to our room to unpack, settle in, and rest.  Tomorrow was going to be a very big day!