Day Number Four

Day Four with Samuel began with some playtime with his Dje Dje and his Guh Guh with his new building blocks we got for him at Wal-Mart.

 After breakfast Mary took us to a beautiful park in downtown Nanchang, called 'The People's Park.'  Since most people live in these high-rise apartments, the cities in China build these huge parks where people can come and exercise, play badminton, enjoy flowers and trees and God's creation.

All over the park, people were engaged in different types of recreation from playing with these big yo-yos to tops to Tai Chi to badminton to stretching and on and on.  We saw people writing Chinese characters with water on concrete tiles all over the park which was beautiful.  Below is a video of a group of ladies dancing together.

We took a moment to rent a little motorized boat that you drive around in this little river that ran through the park.  It was quite entertaining and it cracked us up to see like little five and six year old kids driving these boats and ramming them into the bank and other objects.

Mama and Samuel on the back of the boat.

Family shot in our little Chinese boat.

Another pic of the family walking through the park.

Holding Mama's hand through the park.

Emily and Joshua falling in line with the soldiers on the streets of Nanchang.

We stopped by a store where they sell hand-made porcelain items.  Nanchang is famous in China for their porcelain art.  We purchased a plate made by a local artist to preserve some of Samuel's culture and help him to understand his roots as he gets older.

We went for about a mile walk from our hotel to the city square and loved seeing all the different street venders cooking, selling things, etc.  Below is a cart where they would cut pineapple into spiral shapes and sell them on a stick.

This is the city square of Nanchang called August 1st park where there was a famous uprising on August 1, 1927.

Josh, Samuel and Emily posing for a picture on the steps of the square.

The square was full of life with grown men in their 40s and 50s flying kites everywhere, kids skate boarding, people walking, etc.  They were selling little toys for kids, so Emily got a streamer, Josh got some bubbles and Samuel got a little pin-wheel.

We all agreed that Samuel's province is a really neat place with a rich cultural history and beautiful places and people.  We are wrapping up our Nanchang section of our trip and are about to head out for Guangzhou for the next leg.

Day Number Three

 Our day began with some breakfast downstairs at the hotel and Samuel was agreeable to sit in the highchair today.  Once again he enjoyed a nice slab of bacon and a couple of hard-boiled eggs.

 We met another family from Virginia who adopted a little 13 month old boy who is also staying at our hotel.

 After breakfast we visited a very famous site in Nanchang called the Tongwan Tower.  It was built by a prince of one of the emperors back in 653 and has been burned down and rebuilt several times since then.  It was a fascinating tour and was cool to learn more about the Province Samuel was born in.

 Samuel seemed to enjoy exploring the pavilion tower and checking out all the views and the artwork inside.

 The back of the Tower faced across a branch of the Yangtze River looking at downtown Nanchang.

 One of our first family pics as a family of 5.

 Another view of the city from the tower

 Family picture in front of the tower

 We spent some time walking around the grounds and enjoying the different decorations and flowers and trees.

 We went to a local Chinese food restaurant afterward with our guide Mary and enjoyed some noodles, rice, pork and steamed egg.

 On our walk back, we saw a dragon cruising down the street.  We are definitely not in Texas.

 This was Samuel waking up from his nap after our morning excursion.  He snoozed for a good 2 plus hours.

 Tickle time with Mama.

This is the classic, intense, full-faced Samuel smile that we have grown to love and enjoy.  We are amazed at the progress he is making each day so far.  We are learning more and more about him.  Yesterday, Whitney caught our little guy attempting to grab a refreshing drink from the toilet (guess they don't have toilets like that in his orphanage).  I also learned that once you unleash the Silly Samuel side, it's very hard to turn off.  I was tickling him, playing horsey with him, and even hanging him upside down.  Then for the next like hour and a half he was psycho Samuel.  He was giggling, falling over, running around playing the drums on everything, etc.  We attempted to put him in his crib and he climbed out and fell onto the floor.  Yikes! So I need to be a little more careful when I unleash the silly monster next time I guess.  It also made me think that perhaps part of it is that he's really never had a father figure play like that with him before and it just gave me another perspective into the life of an orphan.

Second Full Day with Bao Bao

 We had our second full day with Bao Bao today.  It started off a little rough as he was a bit fussy in the morning.  He is bonding more and more but at the same time the reality of his little world changing is also sinking in.  It's still hard for him to understand the idea of adoption and that we are his new family.  Today, on his own, he started calling me (Brian) 'Baba' and has very naturally continued to call Whitney 'Mama'.  Bringing a 3 year old from another country, speaking a different language and from a different culture into your family is still filled with many challenges.  It continues to take everything we have so we are both pretty exhausted.  As you can see from the pictures below that he is starting to bond more and more with Emily and Joshua.   We definitely still continue to covet your prayers as we continue to take steps together and figuring our our new normal.

 At 'R Mart' where Josh got to push him around in the stroller.  He slept for the whole time we were in there.

Later at the hotel, Whitney got some crayons out and let him color which he thoroughly enjoyed.

 He is slowly getting used to eating from a high chair and wearing a bib.  He resists but then is fine once we get him going.

 Joshua and Samuel held hands walking to the elevator together.

 We found a little ball pit and slide in one of the restaurants of our hotel and Samuel loved it and also made a new friend about his age that played with him.  Joshua got in there and helped lift Samuel up out of the balls when he would slide down.

 Emily and Samuel had some bonding by the window together looking out over the city.

Off to get some sleep.

in Christ,

Brian and Whitney

Our first 24 hours with Samuel 'Bao Bao'

 Our first moment meeting Bao Bao on his gotcha day.  Emily came with the word 'Nervicited' which is a perfect combination of nervous and excited that we all felt in that moment.

 Whitney having her first interaction with him as she gives him a first toy to play with to begin to build a bond of trust.

 This was taken about 40 minutes into our life together.  He had a few early moments of some laughter and smiles which we were amazed about.  He definitely is a pretty happy child and likes to play.  We quickly learned that he has this kind of full face smile that is hard to describe unless you see it.  The evening of our first night together was a mixture of smiles and tears and much restlessness for little Bao Bao.  He was very clearly calling for the ladies from the orphanage over and over into late at night when he finally fell asleep in Mama's arms (Whitney) looking out over the city.  The only life he had really known in the orphanage for 2 1/2 years was suddenly gone and he was grieving that.

 hanging out at breakfast together.

 He loved the bacon.  In fact he carried this little piece of bacon around with him for quite awhile savoring each bite.

 We bundled him up and headed out to three different stops where we officialize the paperwork to make him our adopted son and we were able to write down his new name 'Samuel Phillip Bao Dunn' and applied for his passport which will be ready on Friday.

 hanging with Mama in the car

 Emily and Josh were excited to experience Walmart, Chinese style.

 Emily using her little brother in a new stroller we got for him

Emily and Joshua together at Papa John's. (yes in China)

Day 1 and 2 of our Chinese Advenuture

Here's a few pics from our journey so far.  Emily and Joshua did great on the 2 hour plane ride to Chicago and then the 15 hour flight to Beijing.  Last night we were picked up by our guide, Rocky, who works for our agency, Gladney, and serves as a guide for adopting families.  The hotel is nice but no AC apparently in Beijing.  Emily and I went for a night/rainy walk to look for some bottled water and Whitney and Joshua crashed inside the room.  We were entertained by the sound of fireworks going off most of the night in celebration of Chinese New Year which concludes Sunday night.

Today we spent some time sight-seeing in Beijing.  We went to the Forbidden City and then to the Great Wall.  Rocky was a great tour guide so we learned a lot about Chinese history as well as seeing some beautiful places.  The highlight for Emily was the fact that there was snow on the ground at the Great Wall.  Today is our last day as a family of four.  I've been trying to process on what lies ahead for us tomorrow when we meet our new son and become a family of five.  It's still hard to wrap my brain around that.  We will be heading out shortly for an acrobatics show and then calling it a night.

God bless,

Brian, Whitney, Emily and Joshua

A Quick Moment of Reflection

As we prepare to board a plane in three days, I wanted to stop and reflect for a moment today.  Our family is truly humbled and overwhelmed at the faithfulness of God through all of this and the generosity of His people.  So many have prayed, given, donated, encouraged, provided services, hosted events, and on and on.  Everyone one of them is a part of this story....the story of a boy abandoned at six months, cut off from his birth family forever, and growing up in an orphanage to being chosen, given a new forever family where he can experience a whole new eternal destiny.  Here are a few quick quotes or mile markers from our blog over the last four year:

 “....will continue to press on and know that God is for adoption!” - August 30, 2013

“We are now in December and realized that God has already brought in a little over $21,000.00 towards our goal of $34,000.00 to fully complete the adoption (Just $13,000 more to go to get it done, yay!)....” - December 11, 2012

“It was amazing to see so many friends and businesses come together to support the night....” - October 29, 2012 (After a fund-raising banquet)

“Last Friday we had another donation of $1000 come in so we are so thankful for that family who gave towards our goal.  That puts our total account up to $7600.00 at this point (praise God!).” - June 4, 2012

“One thing I am already learning is that we need not put our hope and trust in a certain set of expectations of how we think this will all go but simply put our hope and trust in God....” - May 7, 2012

“Currently we are beginning to walk through the process of adopting a child from Honduras.... For me, as I observe Scripture and the lives of those who have faithfully walked with God over the years, there seems to be a pattern.  God speaks and we obey.  When God called Abraham, He simply said ‘go to the land I will show you.’  He did not answer all of his questions.  God does not call the equipped but He equips the called. God does not wait for us to get all of our ducks perfectly in a row and then He uses us.  He often comes right into the mess of our lives and calls us to step out in faith and follow Him.  He tells us to ‘seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all of these things will be added to us.’  He loves to be our provider.  We are stepping out into something that is in the ‘center’ of God’s heart, ‘the fatherless’ – pure religion.  I am willing to take risks when I know I am in that realm.  
So this is the beginning.  Thanks for stopping by...Thanks for your prayers...Thanks for your support as we step out and trust God“ - April 14, 2012

I would challenge you to take a moment today and think back on where the Lord has brought you and give Him praise!
in Christ,
Brian