A Clear Sign

We have had Sinclair in our family for almost one month now, and we've learned so much about this sweet baby of ours. She adjusted so well to us in China and is happy and healthy. When she had her physical exam in China she weighed in at 18.2 pounds and measured 28 inches long. To us, all of these things are evidence of being well-cared for at the orphanage where she spent her first 10 months.

Sinclair is adjusting well in her new home. When we first came home, she wouldn't let Anita get up to cross the room and back, but now she is doing better. She still prefers Anita to the rest of the family if Anita is around, but if Anita is out of sight, she is fine being held by Daddy or Madison or playing on the floor with Brevin. Sinclair is sharing a room with Madison, and since we've been back she has slept through the night twice. She didn't like to be put on the changing table at all for diapering. Now she is fine with that, and her poops have been much better since that traumatic episode in China. For the first week or so Sinclair would cry each time we put her in the car, but that has also subsided for the most part.
The carpet took some getting used to for her, but she laughed out loud when she first met Phoebe, our cat. She has had so many changes in her life and routine over the last month, but overall people keep commenting on how happy and well-adjusted she seems.

Sinclair is getting into the routine of things in our family, too. She wakes up in the morning around 6:30 or 7:00 and is happy to see us. She is a good eater and takes about 4 bottles per day plus whatever fruit or vegetable baby food we offer.
She is enjoying sitting on the floor with toys or in Anita's lap with Anita and the kids while they are reading and doing schoolwork. She seems to be taking one morning nap and one afternoon nap--we're still figuring out her habits/routine as she has figured out ours. Madison usually plays with her for 30 minutes or so while Anita has some uninterrupted teaching time with Brevin. She has already gone on one home-school field trip to the LA County fair and loved it. She is enjoying being in the Moby-wrap with Anita at church, or at Brevin's baseball games or while Anita does chores around the house. We hold her bottle for her when she eats, so she can gaze up at us and we can enjoy that bonding time with her. Attachment is so important for all babies, but especially for adopted children. We wouldn't miss these moments for the world.

Sinclair's little personality is coming out, too. Her favorite toy is a water bottle, but she also likes her stacking/nesting cups. She babbles and smiles quite a bit and is very cuddly. The kids still make her smile and laugh more than anyone, and she is never lack for attention! Whenever we put on music, she bounces herself up and down, smiles, and tries to sing along. She is not crawling, yet, but loves to stand holding on to someones hands for balance. So far she has learned to play peek-a-boo, wave hello and good-bye, and puts her hands up when we say "up." She is so cute!

So many people have commented on how well Sinclair just fits with us Smiths. While in China, some of the shop owners there had to ask if she was a Chinese baby! One woman said she looks like she could be my biological child. Lineker (one of our guides) said he thought that Sinclair was possibly a Chinese minority as she didn't look Han Chinese to him. We researched what minority groups live in the Jiangxi province where she was born, and she may possibly be from the Hakka group. That is truly a guess, but she does resemble some of the Hakka people whose photos were online. But besides appearances, she still fits so well with us and us with her. She is a wonderful addition to the Smith family and we are all so lucky.

Our mooncakes may have been confiscated by customs, but we would still celebrate the moon festival. Last Sunday, with Chinese lanterns hung, Sinclair got to meet more of her family. Grammy Stockard (Matt's mom) and Boo-boo, Grammy Armijo and Poppy (Anita's parents), Aunty Amber (Anita's sister) with cousins Alicia and Josy, and Great Grams and Gramps (Anita's paternal grandparents) all came over for tea and samples of Chinese baked goods. There was green tea and red bean cake, pastries of green bean, pork jerky, and date with walnut, and some other more "normal" treats. We showed everyone all of our mementos from China, including Sinclair's adoption decree and other documents. Brevin and Elijah put on a wonderful Chinese sword fight demonstration. Sinclair opened presents. It was a great time for everyone just to see Sinclair and celebrate her arrival into our family. Oh, and some of us did gaze at the moon for a couple minutes.

Wow, we had a long trip home. We woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning, Sept. 10th(Tuesday night in the U.S.) to meet in the lobby at 6am. Luckily, all of our luggage was already picked up by the bell boys the night before. Other families were leaving along with us, and one family woke up early just to say good-bye to us. We will really miss these people! We had a short flight to Hong Kong with the Landino family and a couple other families. Julie (Landino) and I were talking about how we need to figure out how to get our two families together more often and realized that we have 9 kids between us! You wouldn't have known it, though, as all of our children were such troopers during all of our travels.

Once in Hong Kong, we all had our own routes home. We said good-bye, and we Smiths decided to have breakfast at Starbucks in the airport. It was D-lish.

On the plane to Korea Sinclair was given her very own baby meal. She enjoyed it very much, then she took a nap on the plane as we had bulk-head seats with a bassinet for her. It worked out great. In Korea, we all rested, got some McFlurries, and played with Sinclair. I think she was happy to be down on the floor instead of cooped up on a lap or in the baby carrier.


The next leg of the trip was the longest--from Korea to Los Angeles. The great thing was that it was almost bedtime. We had dinner, got Sinclair in some jammies, and she went to sleep. She didn't settle in right away, but after a little more cuddling in Mommy's arms, she was out. We all slept as much we could; Sinclair slept a total of 8 hours.

Once we landed, we had to get through customs in the immigration line and then we got our mooncakes confiscated because of the egg yolk inside them (boo!). But finally, we made it out of the airport with all 7 pieces of luggage, 5 carry-ons, a mom, a dad, and 4 kids. It was about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, but the wee hours of Thursday morning to us. We were so relieved to get out of the airport, that you wouldn't know how exhausted we were. Plus, we were so excited that Sinclair was a US citizen now (yeah)! As we walked up the ramp out of immigration, Anita's parents were lined up on the railing waving and taking pictures.

Matt's mom and stepdad were there, too, circling the car around to pick us up at the curb. Sinclair did not like being strapped into a carseat. I'm sure she was wondering why she couldn't sit on my lap and look out the window like on the bus in China.

But she got to go to home for the first time.











What a joy to see her in our home, her home now.

This morning we met our group downstairs in the lobby for a picture with our entire travel group. It is awesome to see how each adopted child has fit perfectly into their new families. As I look at each one, they just belong. There is no doubt in my mind that each and every child here was predestined by God to be right in the family in which they were placed. I cannot imagine any of these children being with anyone else. Adoption is truly a miracle.

Families 1-6:


Families 7-16:



This afternoon we went to the US Consulate in person to get Sinclair's Visa to America! It was great to see how many children will be coming in to a new home and a new life in the United States. Yesterday we felt so ready to go home, but today we feel sad about it. Our trip is coming to a close and we have to say good-bye to friends we've made and bonded with.

The Jiangxi Spicy Girls are coming home! (Reunions are already being planned for the Bo sisters and their cousin, Sheng Bei)

We are hanging in here in Guangzhou, a city more like New York than anything we've seen in China thus far. We are staying in the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in or ever will again which takes up 1/2 a city block. There is a high end mall on the bottom floor complete with a Starbucks where I have been sipping on my latte (oh, joy!) and enjoying time alone to blog.

Early yesterday morning Sinclair awoke with a slight fever, but after some Tylenol and a few more hours sleep, she seemed to be feeling better. She was babbling and smiling at breakfast and had a dirty diaper that did not cause any pain (thanks to the prune baby food). It was visibly noticeable that Brevin was feeling better as his eyes were no longer bloodshot or glossed over. Madison, on the other hand, woke up with a rash on her legs. Ugh! We think it may be an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent in the bed sheets, so she will be sleeping with her blanket from home tonight. Good thing I brought that Benadryl.

Sunday's activities were a trip to the 110 year old Chen Clan Temple which used to be used for ancestral worship and later an academy. It is now the Guandong Folk Art museum. Sinclair slept comfortably in the baby carrier with me while we walked around the museum. After that we went to a tea house and learned about proper tea-pouring and drank samples of several Chinese teas. Back at the hotel, we ate MacDonald's in our room and Sinclair went back to sleep for another 2 hours. She must have been truly exhausted! You can only imagine the overload she must be feeling after being yanked from her familiar and imaginably dull routine at the orphanage into this family of five who seem to be on the run every moment of every day with a whole bunch of other people. Despite being run-down and sick, Sinclair did manage to learn to wave hello. I can't believe she is changing and growing already; but we are so proud.

That evening we had a great view of the thunderstorm from our 13th floor rooms. It was really cool. The storm forced us to stay in for dinner at the hotel which is twice as expensive as the hotel-food in Nanchang--yikes. However, we had some wonderful entertainment by a Chinese trio who sang American songs such as "Sweet Caroline," and our request "Hotel California" which sounded like "Hotel Shawfa-phone-ya." Another adoptive family requested "Country Road," which was equally hysterical. The boys enjoyed getting Play-doh creations made to order by a master craftsman (Who knew Play-doh art could be a career?!). After dinner, Matt headed over to 7-Eleven upon which he was solicited on the street. It caught him off-guard only because of the ordinary appearance of the "business-woman."

Today was our US Consulate appointment and an afternoon spent on Shaiman Island. We actually didn't have to go to the Consulate ourselves, as Lineker and Amy were able to represent all of the families by delivering the paperwork we had prepared on Saturday. We just had to stay in our hotel room in case they needed to call us with questions. It was quite restful. On Shaiman Island we visited the White Swan hotel, the traditional hotel where adoptive families always stayed in times gone by and in which there is a beautiful koi pond and waterfall. Then I dragged Matt around looking in all the shops where deals can be made on everything Chinese. The boys each got a handmade wooden sword (surprise, surprise) and the girls all got traditional Chinese dresses. We also enjoyed talking in the plaza with the Landino family.

Sinclair's nose was not running nearly as much today, but I speak for all of us when I say, we are so ready to come home!

Today (Saturday) was "business" day and Sinclair was miserable for most of it. She and Brevin now have the cold that the family has been passing around. Poor Brevin has had body aches and congestion since yesterday when we had to fly here. So Matt and the three big kids stayed back at the hotel while Anita took Sinclair out for her Visa photo and medical examination. Last night and today Sinclair's nose was running like a faucet. She usually naps in the morning around 10am and had just dozed off on the bus when it was time to have her photo taken. This picture leading into the medical exam was the last content moment of the day. The medical exam included a weight and height check, a look into Sinclair's eyes, ears and throat and then a quick look at her body. She screamed about the ear check and Anita had to hold her really tightly to let the doctor finish looking. She was so tired and so sad. She fell asleep again on the bus, but awoke when they got out to go to the grocery store. They finally got back to the hotel room where she and Anita both took a much-needed nap. In the afternoon, Anita had to meet the group for a two hour paperwork meeting. She had to fill out the applications to the US Consulate for Sinclair's immigration to the US (yeah!) and her visa. There were a lot of details needed. Our local guide for Guangzhou is Amy (Lineker's wife), and the two of them did a great job walking the group through each step of the documents and applications. Meanwhile, Matt, Madison, Brevin and Elijah were bored out of their minds being cooped up in the hotel the whole day. We ended the day with a group dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant.
This was a cool dinner served in small rooms in groups of twelve, where we took off our shoes, sat on the floor (kind of) and ate together. It would have been really wonderful had we not had two sick children with us. One nice thing about today was being reunited with the families that had gone to get their babies from another province. The Landinos have beautiful Ivy Fu Chen, and it was great to hear about their experiences in Guangxi Province.

Matt and Madison are much better now, so let's pray that Elijah and Anita are not next to get sick. The best part of Sincair's day, by far, was the bath in the sink after dinner. We finally got some giggles after an exhausting day.

"Sinclair, how do you spell relief?" "B-A-T-H!"

Let's talk about elimination (I apologize to the weak-stomached). The first couple diapers that I changed with Sinclair had urine and a pinkish spot on her diaper. I was concerned, but did not see any blood around either of her bodily exits. It was just over 24 hours before she made poop. She fussed and pushed, but it seemed like she got it out okay. I have been feeding her the same formula she has been drinking at the orphanage. The next day, I decided to give her some prune baby food, just so she wouldn't have to push so hard. This helped and the next diaper was, well, mush. I figured we'd gotten over that hump, and continued feeding her regularly with the same formula, applesauce baby food, congee, baby rice cereal with bananas, and any table food she could chomp with her four little teeth.

Then came the trauma. During our trip here to Guangzhou, Sinclair had tried to push something out a couple times; I could hear her grunting and feel her stomach muscles contracting, but nothing but a little smell came out. But about thirty minutes after she went to sleep in the hotel, she started fussing and crying. We picked her up and she was pushing a lot between cries. I smelled something, and when we laid her down on the bed to look in the diaper, there was poop sticking out about 1 inch, stuck in place. Her skin was stretched out to the max, it seemed. I thought I was going to see her perineum tear right before my eyes. I pulled her legs up to her chest to help her get it out and she just cried and cried. Matt quickly went to try to get a warm washcloth since that was what the nurses used for me when I gave birth. By the time he got that, the first VERY WIDE poop had come out. He came over and then one more shorter, but just as wide, poop came out. There was some blood, and a very tearful family. It was very upsetting to both Matt and me. Luckily, the other children were already asleep. I thought I'd seen everything as a mother, but I guess not. My other children were all breast-fed, and God's perfect food was always easily digested. This morning I fed her lactose-free Enfamil that I brought with us and there will be one more serving of prune baby food this afternoon. Please pray for Sinclair's little bottom and for her digestion. And I want to say thank you for all the wonderful comments and well-wishes we have received. We are so blessed by all of you.

Today was a mellow day. We didn't meet up with the other Jiangxi families until 10am and went out for only a couple hours. Our guides took us to see the countryside just outside the city. It wasn't a farming community, but a village of clustered houses. Mary explained that Beijing and Shanghai are the face of China to the rest of the world, but 70% of China's population lives in the country and is very poor. She said that it may seem like China is making a lot of economical progress, but that for most of the population that is not the case. People living in the country would not be able to pay the fine for having more than one child even if they wanted to (the fine is three years' pay!).
We got to walk through a village and go into a couple homes. Although the houses were not mud-huts, it felt like we were in a National Geographic type documentary. The land to live on is granted to each family, but each must build their own house and it is very expensive for them. There is no running water in the village, but they do have electricity that they use very scarcely. They do not have refrigerators, but do have TV's. I didn't see a bathroom, and I was afraid to ask where they would go for that. Mary did say we wouldn't stay long because it is very unsanitary. Many people and children came out to stare at us Americans. This is the type of conditions that Sinclair would have lived in had she stayed with her birth family. I kept thinking we should promote sponsorship of these children through Compassion or World Vision, but then I remembered that evangelism is against the law. Even though the conditions here are poor, we truly love the culture and people of China; they have been so friendly and hospitable and beautiful.



Next we went to the porcelain shop to view and purchase some of the famous Jingdezhen porcelain. We bought a beautiful plate to have something special just from Jiangxi.

Our afternoon was free once again. Madison was feeling much better, but still had a stuffy nose. Matt now had body aches and shakes, so he took a long nap when Sinclair did. The boys got to watch a whole bunch of TV (Discovery Channel, Mythbusters, Nascar...). They were quite content.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the Jiangxi province and all the memories we have made here. We got all of the notarized documents for Sinclair that certifies that she is definitely a orphaned child who is now adopted into our family. Tomorrow morning we will get her passport and be off to Guangzhou for the next steps in this adventure.

On Tuesday morning we had to complete our adoption paperwork. We met up right after breakfast to go to 3 different offices. The first stop was back at the adoption center. We paid the fee to the orphanage and for the various documents we would acquire that day. The most important thing was that we got Sinclair's adoption certificate! Some of the orphanage nannies were there again and they were so happy to see Sinclair. One of them asked to hold her and Sinclair went right to her, got a little tummy tickle and then went right back to Anita. She wasn't upset about it at all. It really seems that the people from SWI Poyang County really liked Bo Zheng. When we first got her, all the workers were calling her name and trying to get her to calm down and be happy. So before we left, Anita asked Lineker to thank the nannies and tell them we could really see that they loved Bo Zheng and took good care of her. They smiled and nodded and said "Thank you," and then to Sinclair they said, "Bye-bye!" Anita got really emotional as we walked out. It just sunk in that Sinclair Bo-Zheng is really ours.

The second stop was the police station for Sinclair's passport application and photo.

The third stop was the notary office. This person is not like our notaries, but more like a judge. We sat down at a desk and answered a couple quick questions about ourselves and why we wanted to adopt from China. We then promised to take good care of Sinclair and promised never to abuse or abandon her (of course not!).

After that, we went to Wal-Mart. This was the biggest Wal-Mart we've ever seen--three stories with shopping carts that can go up and down the escalator ramps. All we needed was some bread and jelly and formula, but it took forever. It was so crowded (Nanchang feels much more like the China we expected than Beijing did). One whole floor was like a grocery store and we saw some very interesting and "Fear Factor"-type things being sold in the deli area. Then we all got KFC to go. The rest of the afternoon we finally got to do nothing.

We woke up well-rested on Wednesday morning, except for Madison who woke up really congested. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful trip to the Tengwang Pavilion. This pavilion, or tower, was built by Prince Teng and is included in a famous poem written about the whole Jiangxi Province (please see our post on the Jiangxi province). We walked through the gardens where men were practicing Tai-Chi here and there. We watched a short music and dancing demonstration inside and looked at the view of the Gan River and August the 1st bridge. The artwork on each floor of the pavilion was so beautiful. People were staring at all of us and so we showed them a little card that AWAA had given to us which reads in Chinese, "We love China and travelled here from America to complete our adoption. This baby is part of our family now and we will love and take care of her forever." The people smiled and nodded and one man said, "You are very good." Again it brought tears to our eyes. We don't feel like we are very good, but that we are very lucky.

We headed back to our hotel for free time once again (Wow, two days in a row!) For lunch we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches back in our room. That really hit the spot! Madison stayed in bed sleeping for the rest of the day while we took a little dip in the pool. I can't say Sinclair loved the pool, but she warmed up to it. She seems to be really cautious and serious when we show her new things. Overall, though, her personality is really starting to show. She really loves her siblings and laughs and smiles at them a lot. She goes to all of us now without fussing and seems to enjoy each one of us. We are all so happy!

What a day! We got up at 4 am to catch our plane to Nanchang. Lineker travelled with us from Beijing and we met our local guide Mary when we arrived. They were so nice to give each family a bag of Hero formula, which is the brand our babies have been drinking since birth and which is manufactured right here in Jiangxi Province. Thankfully, we had time to settle into our rooms at the Galactic Peace International Hotel (best hotel name EVER!) before we went to get our babies. Elijah took a two hour nap, but the rest of us, although exhausted, were too anxious with anticipation to try to sleep.

The adoption center is located across the street from our hotel, so once we met up with the other families and our guides, it was just a few minutes before we were at the building where Sinclair was waiting for us. When we got off the elevator, we were asked to wait in the hallway. We could hear babies crying and fussing and Anita starting tearing up. We all took pictures in front of the "Welcome" sign while trying not to look into the adoption room just around the corner. When we got the cue to come in, we walked into a large room with the babies all around, some sitting in laps, some being held by various nannies and helpers. We were looking around trying to see if we could recognize our own Bo baby, but we must admit we either did not see her or did not recognize her. It was very loud in the smoke-filled room and so many babies were already crying. We're not sure if we didn't recognize Sinclair because she was crying or because we've never seen her profile before. Our local guide, Mary, asked us to bring our passports and travel approvals to her. As we did she called out the Chinese baby names to the nannies who would then bring the babies to the families. It was all happening at once, so it was very chaotic. Someone called out a Chinese name that is so similar to "Bo Zheng" that Anita thought they'd handed Sinclair to someone else! Then we heard the name "Bo Zheng". Madison and Brevin were poised and ready with the cameras (see previous post for video). Sinclair's nose was running from crying, and Matt's eyes were welled up with tears.

Each baby had a name tag on a lanyard around their necks and Sinclair's picture did not look anything like her referral picture. Anita made Matt double check her Chinese name with our documents, because honestly she was still not sure it was the right baby. We were all so overwhelmed! Then several nannies came over to us. Anita asked how to say "Bo Zheng" the way they pronounce it, because it sounded different than the way our Mandarin-speaking friend had told us. To us, it sounded somewhere between "Bo Chen" and "Bo Jen" when they said it. Perhaps it's a different dialect? There was a young man there who spoke some English and wanted to take a picture with Sinclair and Anita and a couple other nannies.
He told Anita that Bo Zheng was very beautiful (I guess he wanted her to know what they consider a beautiful baby). Anita asked him who took care of her at the orphanage and he said it was him. We didn't know there were male nannies. One of the female nannies walked up to us and pointed to our four kids from oldest to youngest, saying, "Do-Ray-Me-Fa". We all just laughed. Sinclair had stopped crying by now, and we had wiped her nose, so she was beginning to look more and more like her referral photos. When Anita tried to pass her to Matt, she turned back and hugged Anita's shoulders. So we decided to let her stay with Anita for a while until things calmed down. We asked our guide to find out if Sinclair had received the package that we'd sent her. They said yes, but they didn't bring it because they didn't know we wanted it back. This was odd, since we'd sent a letter written in both English and Chinese characters which explained we did want it back. We were very disappointed, because we really wanted to keep the teddy bear forever, and we never did get an answer on whether we could get it sent to us later or what. By then, it was time to go.

As we walked back to our hotel, Brevin was able to get Sinclair to coo at him and smack her lips like he was doing and Madison got Sinclair to smile. We were just amazed. Back at the room, we only had a short time before we had to meet back in the conference room to preview some paperwork. During that time, we had some wonderful moments. Anita passed Sinclair to Matt and although she fussed, it was only for a few seconds. When he tried to pass her back later, she fussed again. So we realized that whoever she was with was who she wanted to stay with. Each of the kids got a chance to hold her, too, and Elijah got the first laugh out of her.

When we met back with the group to fill out our paperwork and check the rough draft of our adoption papers, we were each given a small photo book of our baby and the newspaper with the baby's finding ad which is placed whenever a baby is abandoned to try to locate the family. It is part of Sinclair's life before we had her, and so although it is a sad part of her past, we are so glad to have it. After the paperwork, we just had time to eat dinner and go to bed. Everyone was so fried with such an emotional day, we were all asleep by 8 o'clock!

We are about to go meet our precious little mei-mei! We meet our group in the lobby at 3:40pm Beijing time to take a short walk to the adoption center. I just wanted to share a couple quick things first. The guys in our family have said some of the sweetest things while waiting to bring Sinclair home. When we received our referral of Bo Zheng, Matt said, "I miss her." Yesterday on the bus, Brevin said, "I love Sinclair so much....even though I've never met her. I just love her." And when asked if he was ready to be a big brother, Elijah replied, "I'm already a big brother. I was a big brother the day Sinclair was born." Then he added, "I can't wait to see that little, tiny face." And on the plane this morning Anita and Madison's faces say a thousand words: