March 7th

Hi everyone, we're back online.  A big thank you goes out to my sister Kay for taking the time to put the past however many posts on the site.  We didn't know that certain sites were blocked over here, so it was a mad scramble to figure out what to do once we leaned that we weren't able to do it ourselves. 

As we started our journey home today it took some time putting things back together after living out of a suitcase for the past 16 days or so.  It worked out alright because we had to wait for Tovin's travel Visa until after 4:15.  With the extra time we were able to get some pictures of both Tovin and Addison in traditional Chinese dress...notice that is in singular form, not plural...you can thank me later Tovin!

As you can see the infamous Red Couch that so many adoptive families have taken pictures on while at the White Swan hotel (what used to be the main hotel for adoptive families while in Guangzhou) has been replaced by a Green Chair at the Garden Hotel, or at least that's where we took some pictures of our two little one's all dressed up.  

 

The petite Chinese lady, the one seated next to the two large Caucasians with the asian kids in their laps, is Grace.  She is one of five awesome guides that helped us while we were here.  She is part of the China Lifeline Children Services adoption team.  All five of them were great people, wonderful guides, and a blessing to have as part of this journey.

Before our van ride to Hong Kong which is just over three hours, we went for a stroll outside around our hotel to burn off some energy and to try spend our last 48 Yuan ($8.00 US dollars) before we left.  We did a pretty good job of estimating our purchase at the grocery store, leaving with less than 60 cents worth of Chinese money - which we donated to one of the homeless gentelman we saw.  We are leaving China with absolutely zero Yuan, not even a 10 cent bill.  Yes, they have bills all the way down to the US equivalent of less than six cents, crazy.

Half way through our walk this afternoon, Tovin was pointing at the stroller and Addison, you can see what that resulted in.  Up until this point Tovin had been held by Jen or I everywhere we went; you might have noticed in all the previous pictures.  Addison was more than willing to let Tovin get buckled in with her and to our surprise didn't ask once if we could just carry him instead of him riding on top of her.

Being that Tovin has spent almost three years in an orphanage, one of the ways he comforts himself is to make noises with his throat, tongue, and mouth.  You might think it was cute if you heard him, but it's actually really sad.  What it means is that likely this is what he learned to do on his own to sooth himself; it probably was the only way for him to comfort himself when he felt lonely, anxious, sad, or scared.  Most likely no one was there to do it for him, to rock him to sleep, to cuddle with him, to just be there for him - the typical orphanage scenario.  The minute that he was set in Jen's arms we started rocking him and singing to him...and we haven't stopped.  Every opportunity we have we are holding him, rocking him, singing to him in the hopes that it will be a signal to him that everything is ok, and that he now has someone that will be there to do this comforting for him.  Today when he was riding with Addison he started making sounds, and before Jen or I could start singing, Addison started in with a good old rendition of Old McDonald, real soft and gentle in his ear.  Tovin stopped making his soothing sounds almost instantly and started humming along with Addison's song; it was a precious moment.

Hong Kong is our last stop before we leave tomorrow morning for home.  What an experience this has been!

Before we get home and back to normal life we wanted to thank some very special people who helped us through this journey.

We want to thank the two adoption agencies that helped us along on our journey to Tovin.  New Horizons out of Blue Earth, Minnesota was very kind to do our home-study for us.  They are a great agency to work with, and we hope to work with them again in the future - Tovin might be a middle child, who knows?  Also, Lifeline Children Services out of Alabama.  Wow, they are amazing!  Their China team is top notch, they were always willing to answer our questions and to help us through our journey.  We know that we were showered with prayers from both of these agencies!

To Heidi from New Horizons, it was great to get to know you!  You made the home-study portion of our adoption enjoyable with your great personality!  We will see you again soon!

To Lisa from Lifeline, Thank you for helping us find Tovin, and having faith that we would and could receive PA from China!  What a miracle!  Tovin is truly a blessing to us and our family!

Mallory and Karla from Lifeline...I'm not sure we could thank you enough for all you did for our family!  We felt like we were your number one priority.  We really appreciated your quick responses knowing that you had so many other families to focus on as well.  We look forward to meeting you this summer on our way to our adoption reunion for Addison.

Mary, Meko, Grace, Lily and Rebecca, (Lifeline's China Team)...Thank you for being our fearless leaders while we were in China.  We always felt well prepared and cared for.  We saw the love you had for all the children, and we thank you for that.

To our travel mates, Jay and Sheila, I know that we have said thank you a zillion times, but really Thank You so much!  Greg, oops I mean Jay, you were our pack mule and carrier of Addison when Jen's shoulders could take no more.  You made Addison giggle when she was tired, and you always had a napkin ready, ha! ha!  Thanks for always taking the extra napkins off the tables at the restaurants, and also for taking the blame when something spilled.  Auntie, thank you for loving Addison so much.  There were many times that she needed you and you were right there for her.  Thanks for making her adventures fun and exciting.

To Tovin's grandparents, thank you for the support and encouragement throughout this journey.  We are very fortunate to have parents that see the blessings that adoption can bring to a family.

To Addison, what an amazing big sister you are to Tovin, and a beautiful daughter inside and out to us.  You showed so much maturity and grace for being almost five years old.  You were a trooper on this journey, we are so glad that you were with us!  On this journey to your brother you faced many of your fears head on...you can now go on any moving walkway, up and down any escalator, stand by statues as well as painted animal figures, and order Chinese food with amazing manners.  Also, your laughter and kind spirit helped put Tovin at ease many times these past two weeks.  He looks up to you, and I can see the love his already has for you.  We look forward to watching your relationship grow stronger.  We love you so much and we are so proud of you!

To Tovin, we are just getting to know your spirited personality, and we love what it brings to the family!  We can't wait to see the Tovin we have after you have your surgery.  We will need our running shoes on, and we can't wait to chase you around!  Your soft and gentle side is so neat as well.  You love to cuddle, and to have your face, hands and feet rubbed anytime the Rosebud comes out.

Finally to Tovin's birthparents...we will never know who you are, but we will get to know you though our son.  Please know that we will take very good care of him, help him through life, and teach him about your love for him.

Thank you for being with us for our special journey to Tovin,
Love,
The Kainz Family.  Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin.

March 6

Today was the day for us to go to the US Consulate to finalize our paperwork that is required for in country processing.  What this means is that once we get all of the paperwork back tomorrow along with Tovin’s Visa he will be considered a US citizen by the Chinese government and that we are cleared for travel with him out of China.  Hurrah!  However, there is some paperwork that needs to be completed once we get back to the states in order for him to be a full fledged US citizen: changing his name from his Chinese name to his American name on his birth certificate, social security card, his US passport (his only ID saying he is a US citizen), etc.  It will take some time, but nothing is real quick when it comes to most adoption processes, so we’re used to it.

While we were at the Consulate, the first family we met, that was there for the same reason we were, happens to live about 45 minutes from Tracy, calling Brookings, South Dakota home.  We quickly made a connection with plans to stay in touch once we get settled when we get back home.  Their little girl sure is a cutie, and happens to have the same heart issue that Tovin has: Tetrology of Fallot, she also happens to be the same age.  Doctors over here fixed her heart when she was six months old, the typical age children with this condition have surgery.  This heart condition requires medical care throughout life, so even though Tovin will have surgery when we get home, it is normal for at least one additional surgery in early adulthood, if not further surgeries depending on the initial severity of the condition and or how the body adapts after each surgical procedure.

We spent the late morning into early afternoon at a local city park.  It was nice to be outside for a bit and who could complain with the temperatures in the upper 70’s, maybe the low 80’s…didn’t really mater, is sure was nice.  Guangzhou isn’t a smog-infested place like Nanchang, so it’s actually a pleasure to be outside, which is a place we’ve quickly learned that Tovin enjoys.  We’ve also learned that he is definitely a boy!  He likes to play with cars, likes to be outside, and loves to be on the go…constantly, even though he can’t walk on his own yet.  Jen’s a little worried about when he gets healthy.  Quite literally, he might give us a run for our money!  Oh, Tovin also enjoys making a mess; I think it’s awesome!

Tony the Tiger might become a staple at our house, not that he isn’t already, with Frosted Flakes being one of Addison’s favorite cereals, but they are quickly becoming Tovin’s preferred food when nothing else will do.  Like I’ve said before, he’s quite determined and can be pretty stubborn, so today when he dug into Addison’s cereal for lunch we just went with it. 

We leave for Hong Kong late tomorrow afternoon, via a three hour van ride, once we get Tovin’s Visa and other paperwork.  We’re scheduled to get into Hong Kong around 9 or 10pm, and then we’ll be at the airport waiting for our plane ride home by 8:00am Friday morning. 

Most likely this will be our last post until we get home.  For those of you that have never been to China, it is a magnificent place! There is so much history, so much pride.  There is so much to experience for yourself that my writing about our trip and your reading about it is in no way doing it justice.  Please know that as I write this, I do so humbly, in somewhat of a state of shock.  To be thinking that through this journey, once again, Jen and I are bringing home a child to call our own, and for that we are truly blessed! 

In such a short period of time Tovin’s life has changed so much, as has he.  While getting them ready for bed tonight Tovin was sitting on the bed as he has every night; I gave Jen a kiss goodnight then gave Addison a hug and kiss goodnight as well.  I followed that with what I thought would just be my giving Tovin a goodnight hug.  All three of these things have been the same routine, the same thing, that he has been witness to and a somewhat limp participant in since the day we picked him up.  However, tonight as I picked him up to “give” him a hug, he reached out for me and instead of kind of looking blankly off into space and not really knowing what was going on and or what to do, he looked straight into my eyes, puckered up his lips and was all ready for his goodnight hug and kiss…however, by the time our faces met, all I got was a kiss full of his teeth!  We’ll have to work on that, but not too soon; he doesn’t need to figure out how to be good at kissing until he’s like 40!

We’d like to thank everyone again for your thoughts and prayers; it truly means the world to us.  Thanks again to Jay and Sheila for coming along and being such a big help on this adventure!  Lastly, thanks Kay for posting this stuff these past two weeks, if it wasn’t for you we literally would have fallen off the face of the earth and a lot of people back home would have been wondering what happened and what we were up to everyday, thanks!

Ta Ta for now, see you when we get back,

Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin

March 5

If any of you are following the blog via the Internet Explorer browser, you may not be seeing all of the posts.  For instance I've noticed that the March 2nd post appears to have old content.  New entries have been posted Feb 28, March 2, 3, 4, and today.  If you are disappointed with what you see, try using another browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.  I've been able to see the posts as I expect them when using Firefox. 

And since Mabel enjoyed seeing her name in the blog from the other day, I have to share how excited she is to have a boy cousin.  Last night Mabel asked me to print some photos of Tovin to share with her fifth grade class

                                                                                                                                                  - Aunt Kay

Well, according to Jen today was a good shopping day.  Shamian Island didn’t disappoint, and as far as I was concerned it was nice that we only had three hours to spend there. 

Addison was happy to get in some shopping as well.  As a matter of fact back home her two favorite stores are Walmart and TJ Maxx; it’s pretty pathetic I know, but what can I say, Jen’s trained her well…Jen loves TJ Maxx but doesn’t really care for Walmart (Addison likes is because they have princesses there)!  It didn’t take long for Addison to learn that there are Walmart’s all over China.  “Hey mom, can we go to Walmart?” has been asked at least ten times since we’ve been here, but only once has she said, “Mom, does China have TJ Maxx?”  She was pretty disappointed to find out that they didn’t, but she hasn’t asked since.  Shamian Island isn’t a TJ Maxx, but the shops on the island do have pretty much anything you might want, especially when it comes to souvenirs.  So…today was a good day not only for Jen but for Addison as well. 

Sherri’s Place, Amy’s Place, Jenny’s Place…they are still on the Island.  I’m surprised that they didn’t remember Jen and Addison!  Jeremy’s Place is not on the Island anymore, but he is still doing the name paintings.  Jen ordered five of them from him.  Yes, five of them!  At least there were no squeaky shoes being bought today!   Addison found a Hello Kitty at the first store that she “loved”.   Mom was thinking that she has enough Hello Kitty items, but she wanted that as her treat for the day.  So we are bringing it home to add to her collection of stuffed animals.  The shop owners all commented how slow business was had been, I’m not sure if that’s their new sales pitch or if it really is slow.  One of the pictures shows the hotel we stayed in the last time we were here, the White Swan Hotel, all curtained up for renovation.  I’m sure with most of the adoption families no longer staying on the island, business has slowed down since most of the shops sell souvenirs for the likes of Jen, adoptive mothers; such as traditional Chinese outfits/dresses, squeaky shoes, oil paints and chalk drawings they’ll do of your new baby, etc., etc., etc., the list goes on and on.  By the sounds of it when they are done renovating the White Swan it is not going to cater to adoption families as in the past, it is going to accommodate the business traveler, good luck selling them little girl dresses!  As much as I didn’t mind that we weren’t staying on the island this time around because it was such a shopping tourist trap for adoptive parents, it is sad to think that other families might not get to have this experience in the future.

Tovin continues to bond with and entertain us.  Things that used to make him cry or fuss a little aren’t as many, so he’s becoming more comfortable with his new surroundings and some of our nuances and or normal way of doing things, if you can call living in a hotel room normal.  He once again showed some frustration today and doesn’t like it much to be corrected or told no when he wants something.  He’s pretty strong willed and is quick to look away from Jen or myself when attempting to confront this frustration. 

He’s also a stubborn little fellow when he wants to be.  Tonight at supper he tasted some Sprite, probably for the first time…bad idea!  He wanted to drink the entire can and not eat anything of his food.  We took the glass away and tried to convey the fact that he had to eat some of his noodles before he could have any more soda.  You could tell that he knew what he had to do to get more Sprite, but he managed to fuss his way to going to bed quite hungry tonight because it wasn’t until the waitress started clearing the table and took his desired treasure away that he willfully and eagerly ate the few noodles that were left on Addison’s plate in the hopes that the waitress was going to bring back the Sprite, she didn’t!

Needless to say we’re really going to have to watch what he eats, or in what order he gets what he gets.  We have a feeling that he was able to eat mostly whatever “he” wanted without much of a protest by the adults in his life, probably not wanting to fight to get him to eat.  In his information from the orphanage they said that he likes biscuits (Chinese kids biscuits that is, which taste like kettle corn) and other sweets.  Boy does he ever!  He must have had these quite often!  It really hasn’t been too bad and he has been eating pretty well about every other day.   However, when he throws a little attitude we’ve found out that he’s a stubborn little guy. 

We’ve got a long road ahead of us with a lot of things in his life; add eating habits to the list.  We’re not really fighting this too much while we’re over here, wanting to bond with him as much as we can, but when we get home and after surgrey, game on Tovin, let the fight begin!

Good night from China,

Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin

March 4

Today was a very beautiful day…it was a perfect day to be at the zoo and take a dinner cruise, which is what we did. 

Addison and Tovin both enjoyed the zoo!  When we left for China, Addison had two things on her agenda not including the wonderful day she had at Hong Kong Disneyland.  Her two things were: #1. To come get her brother, #2. See a Panda.  Well, after today, her list is complete. 

The dinner cruise was on a riverboat to see the city of Guangzhou at night when the lights on the river brighten the night sky.  It’s obviously a tourist thing to do, as pretty much every building on the banks of the river light up at night.  A main attraction of the cruise is the Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower, the second tallest structure in the world standing 600 meters (1968 feet) high.

Tovin had really slowed down with eating the past couple of days.  We were thinking that maybe he ate real well those first few days because he wasn’t sure what the heck was going on and subconsciously not knowing when his next meal might come.  Which we think resulted in him possibly being “full” for the first time in his life so that he wasn’t hungry the past couple of days.  However, he ate better yesterday once again and today was another good day.  We were happy that he has shown an appetite, and hope that it continues.

He has slowing starting to pick up a few words.  On the bus ride back from the cruise he was looking out the window at who knows what, and he started to wave and said, “bye-bye.”  It was pretty cool to hear.  He is saying Mama pretty regularly and picked Addison out of the big group photo of all the Lifeline adoption families by pointing at her and saying Jiejie (Gee Gee), which is “big sister” in Chinese.  We’ve been calling Addison Jiejie off and on since last week, but he hadn’t said it until today when he picked her out while looking at the group picture. 

We are patiently waiting for the final piece of paperwork to come through so that we can finalize everything here at the US Consulate, which won’t be ready until Wednesday.  Once that is complete we have to stay in Guangzhou for another 24 hours until we are allowed to leave, so here we are sitting and waiting once again.  Our trip to Shamian Island is scheduled for tomorrow, but that’s all we really have until the Consulate appointment on Wednesday.

Good night from China,

Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin

Jason is being a good sport, however once Addison got up on his shoulders and flipped her skirt on top of his head she said, "this way your head won't get sunburn".