Bring Clara Li Home

Photos from Hong Kong

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Jonathan

Happy Easter! We are so glad to be home and very thankful to have our whole family together again finally! We arrived in Nashville on Friday at 8pm to a huge group of family and friends… very cool! Big thanks to Amelia Moore for taking photos at the airport… we will post photos here on the blog as soon as we get them… you may have seen some already up on Facebook… thanks to Amelia, Leah and everyone else who documented our return and Clara Li’s meeting of her brothers!

I did want to catch the blog up a bit from our time in Hong Kong with Brett and Shannon Hilliard. They have adopted four kiddos… Abbie, Hudson, Mary Grace and Zane… they have gotten so big! It was really great to get to be with them, and very cool to get to catch a glimpse of Hong Kong. I had heard the city was amazing and it did not disappoint!

Mothers and Daughters… how sweet!

Last time we saw Mary Grace she was Clara Li’s size… crazy!

Hong Kong from across the Harbor… so cool!

Shannon and Clara Li

Brett is the man!

Awwwww

Two beauties! Great to see you Hilliards!!

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In Hong Kong… On our way home!!

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Jonathan

The last few days have been a bit crazy which is why we haven’t blogged. U.S. Consulate appointment on Wednesday morning went great… Packed up that night and on a train to Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon. It is after midnight here in Hong Kong as I write this. We are spending the night with some old friends, Brett and Shannon Hilliard. Brett is the Senior Pastor of an English speaking church here in Hong Kong. We had a brief, but fun evening with them as they took us on boat ride across the harbor where we could see a full panoramic view of the city… Wow! Sorry, no pictures tonight as this needs to be a quick post… Will update photos upon our return to the States. It is really providential that we have gotten to see the Hilliards as they were mentors to us early in our marriage. Plus, they have four incredible kids through adoption, and their family inspired us early on to have a heart for adoption.

So, our flight out of Hong Kong is at 10:30am (Hong Kong time) on Friday. We fly directly to Newark and are set to arrive in Nashville at 8pm. Please pray for traveling mercies, including rest for Amy and Clara Li, who both struggle with motion sickness. We are so excited to be coming home! The trip to bring Clara Li home has been incredible and we so can’t wait for her to meet everyone! More than anything we look forward to her meeting her gu gus (Mandarin for older brothers) face to face. Amy and I are so looking forward to having our entire family in our arms. Thanks so much for your prayers!

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Guangzhou Zoo!

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Jonathan

About 10pm on Tuesday here in Guangzhou… we are trying to get in bed as early as possible tonight since we have to be ready at 7:10am in the morning to head over to the U.S. Consulate to complete Clara Li’s Visa paperwork… big day! This is the last major paperwork hurdle before we begin our journey home. We don’t expect any problems at the Consulate, but do pray that everything goes smoothly, as we are on a pretty tight timetable to get that Visa turned around and then catch our train on Thursday afternoon to Hong Kong.

Today was pretty much a free day, so some from our travel group decided to visit Xiangjiang Safari Park Guangzhou. We heard from some other Adoptive families that this was really good. I must admit, I wasn’t too excited about going at first, but when I heard that it was the best Zoo in China and home to half of the world’s population of White Tigers I got pretty interested. I have never been to the San Diego Zoo, but some said this one is even better… figuring we probably wouldn’t be back in Guangzhou any time soon, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I must say, I missed Haddon and Hayes more today than at any other time on this trip. They would have loved this place… so, these many photos are dedicated to them… enjoy, my young safari hunters !!

Entrance to the Safari park… the place wasn’t very crowded and the weather was great…yay!

Our Youngest Safari Hunter wearing a White Tiger Ball Cap, complete with tail… so Tennessee !

Our personal tour shuttle… got us right in the middle of the action.

Keep in mind… the following photos were shot without a zoom lens and the animals were not in a cage or behind a fence, leaving only small trench between us and the jaws of death… pretty cool !

Not sure what kind of beasts these are (Amy might remember, but she is asleep). It sure was fun watching them do headbutts!!

Some Black Bears wrestling… reminded a bit of how my boys like to throw down!

White Tiger eyeing me for lunch… I actually got to throw raw meat (the head of a chicken to be precise) to a White Tiger… that is definitely not how Zoos let you roll in the States… so stinkin’ cool!

Rhinos… only 6 feet away… honestly, this made me a bit nervous.

There were at least five male lions in this area… didn’t know the fellas could hang together like this.

Baby White Tiger… awwww.

Clara Li and Daddy at the Giraffe feeding area…

I was able to pet the giraffe on the face. Plus, he licked my hand when I fed him some leaves… Purell please!

““Mommy, mommy look!” (Of course, she didn’t actually say that… only my interpretation of her grunting and gestures.)

Baby elephant… awwww.

What can I say? It’s a flippin’ Panda! They had a bunch of these rascals… my favorites were the ones swinging from tires and doing Kung Fu moves on each other… I have some video of that!

On our way back to the hotel we were able to catch a glimpse of the Canton Tower. Who knew that Guangzhou has the third tallest freestanding structure in the world? I certainly didn’t!

Clara Li, spooning her Panda purse after a fun but tiring day… so sweet!

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Five Days from Home!

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Jonathan

We are continuing to enjoy our time in Guangzhou with Clara Li, but I am really ready to be home with the boys… less than a week, hurrah! That said, I am really thankful to get this bonding time with our baby girl. Just looking through all of our pictures today, it is amazing to see how much she is opening up to us… consistently calling us mama and baba… man, that is cool. Thanks to everyone for continuing to pray for us and encouraging us with all of the comments… we have felt so loved and supported through all of this. Here are some pics from our second full day in Guangzhou… we did some cultural sightseeing on Palm Sunday… quite ironic, considering some of the sights…

Large Buddhist Temple in Ghangzhou… Acts 4:11-12

The kiddos… pretty bored at the old Temple…

Shopping in Guangzhou… I think the T-shirt maker was trying to pay a compliment… too funny !

You guys don’t visit the blog for political humor or religious commentary… you visit for this!

End of a long day for the ladies!

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Guangzhou!!

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Amy

We made it to Guangzhou!! Wahoo!! 4 planes rides down, 2 plane rides and a train ride to go!! Sorry for not blogging yesterday. We did not get to the hotel until close to 11pm and we still had to exchange money and get our papers together for our appts that were first thing this morning!

Here are some pics of Clara Li playing yesterday on the playground at the airport in Zhengzhou:

Our wonder woman

Peek-a-boo baby girl!!

Hello, my name is Clara Li. .I have no fear and like to jump down slides. .Welcome to the family. .I don’t guess it would make sense for me to have a daughter who likes to sit quietly and color or something!! Bring on the energy and loudness, boys. .She will fit in just fine!!

Her first plane ride. .no pukes so I have no complaints!!

We are staying at the white swan in Guangzhou. .I forgot to take a picture of the room. It was really late and Clara Li was asleep. And now it is blown up, but I’ll try and remember to take one. This was waiting for us when we got here:

Pretty funny!!

This morning was C.R.A.Z.Y because we had to get all the kiddos adoption physical exams early this morning and we got in super late. We had to go foraging for wifi so we could skype the boys because this hotel doesn’t have it. I totally lost it on the phone with them. .man, i miss those little dudes like crazy!! We had Clara Li’s visa photo taken and then headed straight for the physical exam. Clara Li handled it pretty well.

Medical/surgical exam. .pass!

Height, weight and temperature. .pass! She weighs 23.5 lbs and is 18 cm tall.

ENT. .pass!! Wahoo. .one step closer to coming HOME!! She also had to get a TB test. She cried but not as hard as me..ha!! They didn’t even give the poor baby a bandaid and they totally made her bleed. Luckily I had one in my purse, and that helped her alot. Throughout the day anytime she saw her bandaid she would just stick her bottom lip out. .so stinkin pitiful!! So kind of a bummer of a morning, but guess what we found on the way home:

Wahoo!!! Mama hasn’t had caffeine in over a week!!! We spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled and exploring the island. Here are a few more pics.Trying on the hotel houseshoes Pretty cute!! She wouldn’t take her backpack off for over an hour!! It is the one that we sent to the orphanage and she keeps all her favorite things inside. .she is constantly making sure that her stuff is in just the right place.

And just because it is cute…

Ok, my eyelids will stay open no longer!! I’m not proofreading so beware!! Thank you so much for all your comments!! We love hearing from everyone!!!

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Day 4- Free Day

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Amy

Today was a free morning and boy did we need it!!! It felt so nice to not have any plans!! We got up and went to breakfast like usual and then spent some time just playing in the room and skyping. Clara Li has decided that she is not a fan of her daddy for some reason today. Jonathan was going to take her to the playroom while I got a shower, but that was an epic fail. She literally stood at the shower and screamed until I got out!! We thought we had done a good job at both caring for her, and she has done great with both of us so far, so who knows?? Sorry we got a little behind on blogging, but she literally hasn’t left my lap today and it is impossible to blog with her because she hits all the keys!! Please continue to pray that we will have wisdom and discernment in how to love her best and help her through this transition while bonding to both of us.

After the shower drama, Clara Li went down for a nap and I blogged while Jonathan made the trek to walmart for some more formula and things. These pics were from when we first got here, but we never got around to posting them!! It is not quite the same as in the USA!! The 3 story walmart:

With escalators for your carts. .they must be magnetized or something because you literally cannot budge your cart!

Chicken, anyone?

This is what the sidewalks are like. Pedestrians do NOT have the right away. They will literally run you over from all directions. .ahhh!!!

Our hotel. .it is really nice except for they don’t have the air turned on since it is the off season for air apparently so it is unbearably hot!! The temps have been in the mid 80s!!

Our room:

Clara Li’s bed with the sweet blanket that my friends/family prayed over:

Our fabulous guide, Rita:

I think that should catch us up on pics!! This afternoon we received all of our paperwork for the US Consulate and doublechecked everything. We also got Clara Li’s finding ad and we were able to find out where she was abandoned. It feels good to know as much as we possibly can about her story so we can answer as many questions as possible for her one day. Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou, so we will spend most of the morning tomorrow trying to cram everything back in our suitcases!!

On a personal note, I have hit a bit of a wall today. Like when I birthed the boys, the adrenaline wears off at a point and you come crashing down!! Clara Li won’t sleep in her bed, and she is a tiny tornado when she sleeps!! Although I love snuggling with her and know it is good for bonding, mama isn’t getting any sleep!! She literally flails herself from side to side instead of rolling over and I’m so afraid she is going to jump off the bed in her sleep!! The boys never slept with us so I have no idea how this works!! The beds here are low to the ground, but when we get home, our bed is much higher. So please pray for our little bit, that she will continue to learn to trust us both and that she will have a restful sleep tonight!!

To leave on a happy note. .Clara Li busy dressing her baby:

And just having a little banana for snack after her nap. .notice how her feet are crossed!!

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Day 3- Maria’s Big House of Hope!!!

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Amy

Today we got to go to MBHOH!!! What a treat it was to see such an amazing and magical place!! MBHOH truly is showing hope to the world by showing God’s love as they care for His precious, precious children. Even our translator was asking questions about God and Show Hope after she visited. She couldn’t believe what a great environment it was. .she kept commenting on how clean it was and how loving it felt there and that it was not like other orphanages!! We feel so blessed that our baby girl was able to recover from her surgeries in such a loving environment.

Clara Li got extremely carsick on the way there. .without sharing all the horrible details, let’s just say she is no longer wearing her show hope gear!! Although it was very hard to see her so sick, it was totally worth the trip!! There were so many holes in her story that we were able to get answers to, and it was truly an honor and a joy to spend time with the staff and kiddos!! Jonathan had to take over photography because Clara Li wasn’t quite sure about going back. .it’s hard for her to understand so early on that mommy and daddy will never leave her!! Here are a few pics:

Dr. Zhai and some of the staff who cared for Clara Li. .she is grateful despite her stoic expression She has really warmed up to us, but she still shuts down quite a bit in public.

Clara Li’s little bed while she was there:

Clara Li stayed in the tinkerbell room. .I had to work hard for this smile!!!

Praying our daughter will choose to SEE Jesus in her journey to our family. .how He has orchestrated every detail of her life, and has created her in His image!!

This building is such a light in the community!! Some blue sky amidst the smog!!

We love Mikey!!! Thanks for a great tour!!!

We got back to the hotel just in time for one of the little girl’s in our travel groups birthday party!! Quiana (on the far left) turned 2 today!! Sorry for the horrible photo. .it truly was the best we got!

And this is the little girl that we get to see in the room!! When it is just the 3 of us, she is happy and full of joy!! She is all girl in that she loves new outfits, hairbows, and shoes!! She loves to dress her babies, move all of her “stuff” from one backpack to another, and read!! She belly laughs when tickled or chased, and finds it particularly funny when mama tells her “no”. We are still figuring that one out!! I think “no” is not a word she heard very much before!!

She also LOVES her brothers!! We sent her a little photo book when she was in the orphanage, and she could literally look at it for hours. She goes page by page pointing out each person. She will point to herself in the book and then point to herself, and so on and so on. Well last night she started talking and pointed to me in the book and then touched my chest and said “mama”!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!! Jonathan and I both started crying!! I will never forget that moment!! She went on to say “baba” for jonathan and “gu gu” for older brother!! Then when we skyped the boys, she got all excited and started pointing and saying “gu gu, gu gu”!!! She was literally trying to climb out of my lap and into the computer screen to see them!! So so precious!! Cannot wait to have all my kiddos together!! I miss the boys so much!!

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Day 2 with Clara Li

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Jonathan

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalm 139 (ESV)

Forbidden City… pretty cool. Great Wall… kind of nice. Clara Li… now she is “Fearfully and Wonderfully made”! Man’s greatest creative accomplishments cannot compare to God’s handiwork with his image-bearers. I am so thankful to be the father of two incredible sons and an unbelievably beautiful little girl. Praise Jesus Christ for his gracious work in our lives and for bringing Clara Li to our family… I pray now that God will sanctify me to be the kind of earthly father who will reflect to her the love of our heavenly father throughout her life.

Here are some photos from Day 2.

Pink hair clip with her name and pink sweater… pretty cute, huh?

Strawberry Yogurt through a straw… yummy!

Snuggled into mommy’s arms at the registration office… we think she was a little afraid that she was going to be taken back.

Clara Li is now “legally” our daughter! To get her back, they’ll have to pry her out of my cold, dead hands! (Sorry to be so graphic, but you know what I mean ).

Notary office… exciting pic, Amy !!

A Sabbath nap… finally. She can sleep through my snoring… sweet!!

OMG… that’s right, I just went there. This deserves it!

Posted in Inspiration, Travel | 21 Comments

Clara Li Elizabeth Phipps

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Jonathan

Our daughter is finally in our arms!!! She is so amazingly perfect and so insanely beautiful!!! I cannot believe how wonderfully God has made her to perfectly fit into our family!! She is sassy and funny and super girly!!!

I’ll go back to the beginning and replay our day as long as I can keep my eyes open!! She came to us around noon. Jonathan held her first. .she went right to him and laid her head on his shoulder!! I held her next and she snuggled into me as well. She had a long ride from her orphanage and she had gotten carsick on the way to the hotel. .definitely my daughter!! We gave the orphanage officers our gifts and they left after about 15 minutes. From that point on we were alone with her in the room. She wimpered a little when they left but never full out cried. She just kept pointing to the door and looking at us like who are you crazy white people!! She would go back and forth between us easily if we held out our arms. We started to build her trust with food. We gave her a bottle, and she ate an entire banana and lots of cheerios in the first 30 minutes!! We literally sat on the bed for the next 3 hours and she mostly looked at books. Although she hasn’t totally warmed up to us yet, she seems like she is going to be super sassy!! She brought her backpack that we sent her with the photo book and her little panda bear. She was clutching to all of her stuff and didn’t want to let it go for a couple of hours. She just kept moving her stuff from pocket to pocket in the backpack and zipping it up. She seems very independent and she seems to know how she likes things!! She also wouldn’t let us take of her shoes or change her clothes for the first couple of hours. Even though she was wearing 3 layers and sweating profusely!! She came in a pink tutu and the orphanage director cried when she left. .I think they really loved her. No panda pants though Here she is clutching her toys not too sure of us yet:

It was special for me to see that little panda comfort her because that is exactly what I prayed it would do when we sent it to her!! After a few hours she let me change her diaper and her clothes.

Here she is playing with her toys and books and drinking a bottle of water. She wasn’t a fan of the sippy cup we brought so we will work on that later. Is she not the cutest stinkin thing that you have ever seen?!?!

Around 3 we had to go and get our fingerprints done for our adoption registration paperwork. By that point she was still pretty stoic but I had gotten my first smile and my first kiss! Here she is getting her fingerprints done:

After the fingerprints, we went out to dinner with some other adoptive families. There is another group of families here from CCAI that have had their babies for a week. They are leaving tomorrow, but it has been such a joy to meet them and so helpful to see how their children are doing one week in. They are staying on our hall in our hotel and their advice has been invaluable. At dinner Clara Li sat in my lap and ate like a champ. I fed her some and she used her spoon like a big girl to feed herself as well. She doesn’t act like a baby at all. .she definitely acts 2! After dinner, we let the kiddos run around and play in the hall at the hotel and talked some more with all the other families here. It was a blast!! One of Clara Li’s friends from MBHOH has been adopted and is in the other group that leaves tomorrow. .only GOD!! So they got to play tonight. Clara Li was clingy to me most of the night, but she really warmed up at the end. We started playing a game where she would run into my arms and i would catch her. To see those big smiles with her running into my arms brought tears to Jonathan and I every time. We didn’t catch a big smile on camera, but here is a little one:

We then gave her a bath. .she seemed to enjoy it. We got her all lotioned up and pjs on and skyped the boys. They were so excited to see her and she fell asleep on my shoulder while we were talking to them. They wanted to see me lay her down so we let them watch that and then hung up with them. I cannot wait to have all of my children under the same roof and get to watch them love each other!! I can already tell that she is going to fit right in and hold her own with those 2!!! And what a blessing to have 2 older brothers who adore you!! Our little angel is asleep in her crib for now. Please pray that she will sleep peacefully and please pray for her heart as she continues to grieve what she has lost and learn to trust us. I couldn’t have dreamed of this day going any better and she is an absolute delight!!! What a blessing from the Lord to love this sweet angel and be her mommy.