December 31, 2009

Bellingham Washington

We’ve been home for four days now. Our flights went as perfectly as we could hope for. Sam Sam slept most of the time; we recouped our sleep the next day. We had a great time connecting with friends and family in San Francisco, and were even able to bring our new son to Victor’s home church on Christmas night.

Lidia and Sam Sam are getting along much better than we expected. They run around together and play and play. It is so gratifying to see them enjoying each other. There is the random altercation, but that is all part of learning to live together. He already adores his big sister, and she absolutely loves helping Mama and Papa to help Sam Sam.

If you live nearby, don’t be shy to invite yourself over. Sam Sam is definitely up for visitors. He is such a happy little fellow, and he loves to play.

Our camera died during our last couple of days in Guangzhou, so pictures are few. Here is one of our little ones at home and making a mess together.

Christmas Eve 2009

Our bags are packed and ready for the 6:15 a.m. bellboy pick up. We bought extra luggage today for the extra stuff we have acquired, and we will bring home a cute little Chinese boy as a permanent souvenir.

The van will be here at 6:45 to take us and the other two families to the airport. That will be 2:45pm Christmas Eve for those of you on the West Coast. 22 hours later, we should be in San Francisco International Airport. And it will still be Christmas Day.

Our last day here was spent adventuring off the Island. We took the subway to a Guangzhou eight-story shopping mall. Up to this point, in spite of bazillions of people living in China, we have not seen that much crowding. Today was different. The crowds were absolutely crazy. Tens of thousands of shoppers, elbow to elbow. When we found the toy section and saw parents grab for toys, it suddenly all made sense. We were in a large mall on Christmas Eve! We had forgotten it was Christmas Eve. You could not pay us to go to a mall on Christmas Eve in the States. And this is China! We now know what it feels like to be an ant trying to scurry out of a flooding ant hill.

This evening, after a “hot pot” dinner, we took one last stroll through Shamian Island and discovered crowds here too. Christmas crowds. Our suspicion is that Shamian Island attracts tons of Chinese people on Christmas Eve due to the Western/European nature of the place. Christmas is a Western holiday, and not traditionally celebrated in China. Yet Shamian has one of the oldest functioning Christian churches in Guangzhou, and it was packed out this evening. The crowd overflowed into the courtyard in front of the church, and we could see and hear the choir dressed in robes singing. The rest of the island was crawling with folks strolling around wearing santa hats and blinking antlers. Others sported glowing red horns or bunny ears, for reasons we could not understand. In spite of Christmas décor all over China, no where this week have we seen a manger scene. Remember, the holiday is called the “Santa Festival.” Good thing we are headed back to the States where none of that ever happens! (wink, wink, nod, nod)

We want to thank each of you for sending us emails while we blogged away. Our blogging helped us to process what we were experiencing and to record our memories, but it also helped us to connect with our friends and family back home and made us feel supported in our adventure. A big thank you goes out to Leah Dutton for getting the posts and pictures up and sending out emails to let everyone know. We will try to add at least one final blog entry (with more pictures!) once we are back in Bellingham, reunited with Lidia.

Merry Christmas from Victor, Carina, Lidia and Sam Sam Kozaczuk!

December 21, 2009 Shamian Island, Guangzhou, China Or “The Island of Brides and Babies”

We’ve been in the city of Guangzhou for four days, having arrived on Friday afternoon. Two other families adopting with our agency have joined us here along with their newest family member, so now we are a group of 10. This is our last leg of the trip before bringing our son home.

We are staying in the section of the city called Shamian Island. This

little “island” is separated from the big city of Guangzhou by a big river on one side and a narrow muddy slough on the other. It is only 3 blocks long by 5 blocks wide, so one can walk the entire island in about an hour. You can reach it by boat on the river or by car by crossing a small bridge over the slough from the main part of Guangzhou. It used to be the only place foreigners could live in the late 1800s so there is a lot of old British and French architecture. A former ethnic ghetto, it is very interesting and beautiful. Many of the building have soaring ceilings and windows and columns, and wide porches. There is a canopy of shade over the large plazas formed by 100 year old soaring and sprawling ficus and fig trees between the rows of colonial era buildings. Liana vines wrap and strangle the trunks and hang down. There are paved walks along the river front. There is a gloriously moldy, century-old Catholic church and a freshly painted “Christ Church” built by the British. We can imagine it being 1890 with mustached export agents of the British Empire in sweaty white cotton suits and straw hats sitting on the porches drinking tea, griping about the lack of British sausages and writing letters to send home on the next steamer to Bristol… It is a very popular place for taking wedding photos. We see brides, grooms and photographers here everyday. Last Saturday we counted 20 brides looking romantic and glamorous and demure - though several wore pants and tennis shoes beneath their gowns. The grooms were looking obedient.

Aside from brides, you see babies. They are everywhere. In fact, Shamian Island is a bit like the

Twilight Zone. You are still in China, but everywhere you look you see American families with their newly adopted Chinese child with a backdrop of Empire European architecture. Every store offers cute Chinese clothing, laundry services and baby wipes. Every restaurant takes your order in English. Several stores loan out baby strollers. Saturday morning we went with our guide to the

medical center filled with white tile and aluminum trim. It was loud and laboratorial. She led us to the back of the clinic to a room clearly labeled in English: “Examination Room for Adoptive Families.” Do they do this often?

We were glad that our group arrived there first because soon after us came a group of 8 families, and we stopped counting when we got to 20. Children adopted from China are required to get vaccinated and a TB test prior to acquiring a visa to enter the US, so no matter which province your child comes from, everyone ends up on Shamian Island before returning home. The clinic experience is amplified by the fact that the cubicle where the kids get inoculated is located up front near the intake hall. So as you enter and for the entire time you wait you are serenaded by the wails of frightened and furious babies getting shots one after the other. The wails reverberate against the tile floor and walls.

The doctor pronounced Sam Sam to be a healthy boy, but he did not escape their care before getting 6 shots. He did not like that. Luckily his anger was directed at the nurses and not at us. Besides his loud comments in high pitched Chinese, he sat and behaved well enough considering the situation.

After the medical center, we explored, strolling the island. That’s when we met Penny of yesterday’s blog post.

On Sunday we were whisked off the island to the Guangzhou Zoo, and then to some shopping in the chaotic, crowded microstore shopping district visited by the proletariat.

That’s where Victor discovered the game of Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess. “Way cool,” thought Victor. And thanks to Wikipedia, Victor now knows that it may be a form of the precursor game that western chess is derived from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi Victor also learned that game play was one of four arts that every cultured Chinese gentleman had to be proficient at. The other arts were music, calligraphy and painting. Victor subsequently purchased the game and is wanting to try it out. Between owning this game and his talents on the accordion, Victor feels he is now almost halfway to becoming a cultured Chinese gentleman.

The zoo is clean and lush and beautifully landscaped, and home to

one of China’s icons, the panda. The animal habitats are old fashioned and unnatural: concrete and bars and green moats and scratched plexiglas. The animals look healthy but bored and cramped. The chimps have some space and grass and trees. We saw coyru: they look like ginormous water rats swimming and scurrying around. Bigger than pampered house cats. An old, gray haired chimp sat quietly and looked bemused at the people making faces at him. He picked up a banana from the floor and placed it on the platform in front him for a later snack I suppose. There were adorably tiny deer. And there was a sheepish rhino, looking like an overweight lady in denial, wearing a tight dress and combat boots and who’s lost her glasses.

While out, we see so many amazing things. Here are a couple of things we want to

mention which you would not see at home: Bundled baby bottoms and Bike-trucks. Babies and toddlers here look a lot like those tomato shaped pin cushions. We believe their clothing that is made entirely of pillows. What is fun is that the cute Chinese satiny, embroidered look is still quite in fashion for them. And that their butt cheeks are always peeking out, ready for action whenever nature calls.

The other thing are the bike trucks. These guys can make their bike do anything. Forget pedi-cabs. Way too overdone. How about the bike truck? It can haul a pile of cardboard or sticks or boxes three times higher than the cyclist. We have also seen a variety of scooters. Scooter trucks. Scooter cabs. Scooter vans. There are bike lanes here everywhere, but they are almost as wide as the car lanes and are often separated by a low fence. Bellinghamsters, we have seen the future.

After his first week with us now, Sam Sam is already learning some English words. He mimics us a lot. He’s learned, "ready," "okay,” "uh oh,” “potty” and “more.” He clearly understands “more” and says it loud and strong when buns or juice or noodles are within reach. Chinese say "mama” and “baba" so he already knows those, except he has to switch to "papa" (“baba” in Russian is grandmother!).

the US, our diet has variety because various ethnic foods are available to many of us. Lots of towns have American grills, and Southern BBQ’s, and Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, Mexican orIndian restaurants. But the types of food served in all those places fall in a narrow category of what Americans like on their plates. Here in China we’ve seen that categories of what can be cooked are much broader. A greater range of the anatomy (i.e. not muscle tissue) of animals is available. Some reptiles and amphibians and insects and marine life not consisting of shellfish or fish all fall within the spectrum of “food.” A ne

w friend of ours had a big dinner prepared by her new local friends in her honor. She was served dishes of swan meat, snake meat and chicken feet (not the drumsticks - the feet). She enjoyed them all. We’ve walked into restaurant lobbies that looked like well stocked, high end pet aquarium stores. But all the tanks and the filtration and bubbling were not for displaying pets, they were for keeping the dinner ingredients as fresh as possible. (photos of snakes and sand worms) And the variety is not limited to protein sources, different fruits vegetables and spices are available.

And rice and wheat and other grains are processed into tasty breads and pasta/noodles and pastes and porridges that are baked and steamed and boiled and fried. So eating out can be quite the adventure! … At least Victor thinks so. Sam Sam pretty much eats everything presented to him. He doesn’t even mind using the giant spoon everyone has here in spite of the fact that it does not fit in his mouth. He did have a brief problem with that garlic clove Victor fed him yesterday. My, the look of confusion and horror on his face that interrupted his happy chewing!

Sam Sam has been enjoying the play structures at the plaza. We went to the rec room on the third floor of the hotel today and played ping-pong. Victor was magnificent with his paddle dexterity. Victor is also typing this paragraph…

Tomorrow we plan to experience a Chinese tea ceremony. And go to the American consulate to take an oath.

December 20, 2009 Glimpses of Jesus in China

This post is about Jesus working through two people we have met while we’ve been here. The first one is Pam Williams of North Carolina, and the second one is Penny, a Chinese post-graduate student.

Pam is the founder, director and worker-bee of Swallow’s Nest Foster Care Home in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. She and her husband came to China in 2003 after raising three boys, retiring, and then getting trained to teach English. 4 months after their arrival, Pam reports that she her new life teaching English at a nursing college was sort of boring.

That all changed when her students found a baby only hours old in a box outside the building she taught in. The tiny baby was still covered with blood, and her intestines were mostly outside her body, but she was alive. Pam and her husband took the baby to the hospital in spite of their lack of funds to pay for any surgeries. Miraculously, the hospital did the surgery needed to fix her body. The Williams were able to bring her home during her recovery. They chose to keep this little girl, and have adopted her as their own. Their adoption was actually finalized just this month.

End of story?

No. That is where the story really begins. Pam’s experience with this child brought them personal understanding of the problem of abandoned babies in China. When we first learned that children were regularly abandoned here, we were shocked that a parent could do such a thing. It seems so cold-hearted and selfish. We have learned, however, that many children are abandoned by their parents in an incredible act of selfless love to save the life of a suffering child. It is almost certain, for example, that the birth-parents of the William’s little girl had no money to pay for the surgery she required to survive. As an abandoned baby, the state takes over the care of the child, and that child will receive the medical attention he or she needs.

Unfortunately, a baby who is very sick, or pre-mature, or recovering from surgery often does not fare well in an orphanage setting. Time and again the Williams have been asked to bring a sick child into their home to care for them so they can be returned to the orphanage healthy and active. What began with one little girl is now three homes for “tiny babies,” “babies,” and “toddlers.”

You can read about their story here: http://www.swallowsnestzz.org/latestnews.html

We first met Pam at the Henan Province Adoption Yahoo Group. She is an active participant, and answers a lot of questions adoptive families have. She helped us figure out how to use the train to get to Anyang from Zhengzhou, for example. Her website posts some medicines they are always in need of, so we brought them a bag of goods.

Pam brought us to the toddler home first. It is a small apartment (everyone here lives in a small apartment). There were about 8 kids there and two women caring for them. The kids were very hungry for affection and clamored all over us, vying for attention and the right to sit on our laps. Sam Sam got a little worried when he saw two girls on Papa’s lap. He made sure he got to sit there too. It was gratifying to see him so possessive of his dad.

Amongst the kids there was a girl with a shortened left leg and a foot growing out where her knee should be. She is quite an active crawler. There was a sweet 6 year old girl who looks no older than three and can not talk. There was a 2 year old who was just learning to roll over. Another one had downs. They average a two-year stay at the home.

At the tiny babies’ home, there are 8 babies. Pam herself sleeps there 4 nights per week because it hard to hire a Chinese caretaker who will work the night shift. Carina held this baby who appears to be a newborn. She is not a newborn. She had just turned one. Another baby is hooked up to a breathing machine. Others are sleeping or sitting in their boppy chairs.

We were deeply impacted by the children, and by the love and

care they are receiving. All of this merciful work is being done as purely volunteer effort on the part of the Williams, and by donations to cover the rents, medicines, and equipment. Amazingly, the Williams continue to teach English after all these years because it is the only way they can keep their visa. Pam was so kind to spend 40 minutes in a taxi to come to our hotel and pick us up. Then another 40 minutes back to her home with us. She even planned to take us to a restaurant for dinner, but we did not want to rob any more of her precious time, so she found us a taxi to take us home.

The Williams are not involved with the adoption process officially. They are not even allowed to communicate directly with families who are assigned to any kids they have in their care. They pray over each one that a family for them would be found. In the meantime, the kids are loved, held, nurtured and getting ready to join their forever family.

Now, onto our second encounter with Jesus here in China. Penny. We met her yesterday here in Guangzhou. The area we are now staying in is economically supported by tourism. It is mostly hotels, restaurants, and shops. It is called Shamian Island, and 100 years ago was the only place a foreigner could stay. We met Penny while we were exploring the island, and she offered to join us and point out some lower priced restaurants.

As it turns out, Penny knows Jesus! She became a Christian at a house church a few years ago, and now attends a student ministry in Guangzhou, where she is doing post-graduate work.

She reported that initially her life did not change much until she moved to Guangzhou. She had read a verse about how Jesus will return as a thief in the night. This did not make sense to her that the Lord of the Universe would return in such a way. Then she was twice affected by a robbery of some kind, and a third time her luggage was mistaken for someone else’s. Through these experiences she understood that the verse meant we must be ready for His coming. She knew the Lord was speaking to her through these experiences, and she repented deeply and began to truly live out her faith with new-found understanding. The mistaken luggage held items which were very important to her, and she prayed it would be returned. It was returned the same day.

She said her mother did not readily accept her faith, but later her mother did become a Christian when a friend invited her to church. Her father is not yet a believer, nor are her siblings. (Penny is older, and was born prior to when the one-child limitation law established.) It was fun to learn a bit about the church here in China from her. Her initial intent was to evangelize us, but instead we became friends.

Next post will be about Shamian Island and Guangzhou. We are now off to a tour of Guangzhou with two other adoptive families who are with our agency.

December 18, 2009 Leaving Zhengzhou

Thank you so much for the wonderful outpouring of emails we’ve received since our last post. It means so much to have each of you reading along, praying for us, involved. We have no doubt that your prayers have been effective because Sam Sam continues to be easy and well adjusted.

A special thanks goes out to Laura S. for suggesting that we purchase the Ergo Baby Carrier. It is awesome, and Sam Sam loves it. No doubt you all remember that Sam Sam was born without his left foot. Now that we are with him, we have a better understanding of his disability….or should we say his ability. There is really not too much “dis” about it. His left leg seems to be a bit shorter, maybe an inch, and he has an ankle and a heel. He can support himself well on his left “foot;” he can walk, and even run. His walk is not smooth, but what he lacks for in finesse he makes up for in enthusiasm.

He arrived to us with a pair of sneakers on. His left foot does not really hold a shoe well, plus there is the height difference, so someone created a little device to solve these problems. It is a platform for the shoe, and then it ties onto his leg. When we first met him he was wearing it, and he was playing away. We didn’t think to ask about how well it worked. As soon as we were on our own with him, the shoe fell off his foot, and it has refused to stay on ever since. Hence, the need for a baby carrier. One cannot walk around outside in socks in the dead of winter. Shoes are required.

We decided to buy some boots for him, reasoning that there would be more grip around the shins. We went to Walmart. (Yes, they are here too, along with KFC, McDs, Pizza Hut, Home Depot and even Century 21.) Even in the dead of winter, the Walmart had a pathetic choice of 4 children’s boots with no boy ones in his size. We ended up buying some girlie boots with pretty butterflies on them. We figure it just continues his tradition of cross dressing. In his first photo we received he wore a pink sweater, and the second one he sported a very cute pony tail.

Well the boot shopping was not a happy experience for him. It set him off into an angry fit. This was the first time we saw some anger and tears. (Hmm, maybe he really does not like cross dressing.) Carina put him back into the Ergo carrier and tried to distract him by showing him all the cute things in the store.

“Look, there are soft and fuzzy bears!” She pointed out in English.

“I HATE soft and fuzzy bears!” He replied in Chinese. Carina understood his Chinese perfectly because the words were accompanied by throwing the bear down forcefully.
“Look, here are some remote control cars.” Thankfully, these were attached securely to the shelf.
“I have never liked cars in my life!” After several unsuccessful attempts to calm him, Carina remembered that he had not peed in a couple of hours.

“Nee-ow, nee-ow?” She asked him.

“No! I don’t want to pee! I hate peeing! I have never peed in my life! Don’t ask me again to go pee!”

We had been warned that children react to the abrupt changes with wildly changing behaviors, so as much as we felt bad for our little guy, we were not overly worried. We surmised that he was starting to miss his old family. This was supposed to happen.

Giving up with the calming efforts, we decided to just get some lunch at the food court outside of Walmart. This food court similar to what you might find at any U.S. mall, except for all the restaurants are either Panda Express or Mongolian Grill. And the health department does not show up on a regular basis to make sure everything is clean.
Carina ordered some noodle dish served on a steamer and sat down with a crying Sam Sam still strapped on. Victor and our guide went to get his own food. Sam Sam was not interested in the food. He threw the chopsticks on the floor. Carina didn’t need them anyway seeing as she does not know how to use them well. Unfortunately there were no other utensils, so she sat there and waited for Victor while Sam Sam seemed to get more and more irritated and upset. When Victor and the guide returned, they ate their lunch. Carina just watched them, and wiped Sam Sam’s teary face and blubbery nose from time to time. When Victor finished eating, he took Sam Sam in his arms and walked away.

Carina was finally able to eat. She ate her lengthy noodles with a spoon. Very tricky. Victor returned 10 minutes later with a happy child. Just cooing and smiling. No drama. No tears. Happy to see Mama, who minutes before was the evil one. He had to pee. He really, really had to pee. Victor reported that he peed and peed and peed. Poor little guy. Here we thought he was going through deep emotional turmoil, and it was his bladder that was causing all the pain, not his psyche. Well, that was good to learn. He can hold it! Our apologies go out to our son for making him hold it much longer than he ever thought possible.

Back at the hotel, we were able to get him to put on the boots. They do stay on better, but they do come off as well. Enough so that we find it easier to just leave him in the socks, and carry him around. Carina is counting on her Mr. Fix-it dad to come up with some genius solution to the shoe problem. Of course, we will also take him to the limb differences clinic at UW where they may decide he should get some sort of prosthetic.

The day of the Walmart experience was the day we officially adopted our little son. We had spent the earlier part of the day at the civil affairs office signing various documents, and then received a handshake and a certificate. All done. After Walmart and lunch we went to a notary and signed more stuff so we will be ready to go to the American consulate in Guangzhou and get a visa for him to enter the U.S.

Yesterday we took the fast train to An Yang, the city of Sam Sam’s birth. Sam Sam’s previous name was Xiao Qing An. An being the last name. (An Xiao Qing is the correct order in Chinese). We learned that most babies from the An Yang orphanage have the last name “An.” We were not able to enter the orphanage due to swine flu concerns, but we photographed and videotaped the exterior and the street. Unfortunately our camera was dropped the day before so now it is on the fritz. We took photos with the video camera too, but they aren’t ready for viewing yet.

We met a couple of kids who were headed out to school, and they seemed happy and well adjusted. They recognized Sam Sam who was in the Ergo strapped to Papa. One boy of perhaps 10 or 12 years came up to talk to him, but Sam Sam was not interested in communicating with him. He frowned and hid his face. We’d sure like to know what he was thinking at that moment.

Perhaps, “I hate you. You’re a bully.” Although the kid did not seem like a bully.

Or maybe, “I don’t want anything to do with this place. I have a family now.”

We also went to the New Century Elementary School where Sam Sam was discovered at one week old on September 29th, 2006. When we arrived, it was just after the lunch break, and the kids were streaming in from all directions. The bike lane outside the school was busy with bikes and motor bikes of all kinds. It seemed like a good place to leave a child if your intent were that the child be found quickly.

There were 5 kids with special banners lined up on either side of the gate. Our guide explained that they were “on duty.” Their job is to make sure the kids are properly dressed and behaving well before they can enter the school grounds. They were very curious to see an American family with a cute little Chinese guy hobbling around in boots. Carina went up to shake the hand of one nice girl.

“Nee How” This means “How are you?” and is equivalent to “hello.” (It should not be confused with “Nee-ow” which means “I have to pee.”)

“How are you?” she replied, giggling.
Testing the waters, Carina continued to shake other hands. “How are you?” she asked each one. “fine-sank-yoo” came the automated giggly reply.
We rode the train home, waited 20 minutes in freezing weather in line for a taxi, and Sam Sam fell asleep five minutes away from the hotel.
It is 7am, and we leave at 8:30 for the airport. There’s no time now, but in the next post we will write about our trip to Swallow’s Nest Foster Home here in Zhengzhou. It is a merciful and beautiful work being done by a Christian couple from North Carolina.

December 16, 2009

It is now the next morning. It was near 10pm when we were writing yesterdays post, and Sam Sam showed no sign of wanting to sleep. Unlike his mom who badly needed some. Falling asleep is something we have to work on with our motor man… But when he succeeds, he sleeps hard. Our boy, the sleeper!

Anyways, he’s listening and already started saying , “Okay” – and we heard him say

“pee-pee” as we were discussing his latest “nee-ow” pleas… Our boy, the linguist!

He ate the equivalent of two ramen noodle packs last night for dinner. Carina fed him for awhile, then Victor handed him the fork and he just started shoveling in big mouthfuls, chewing, smiling and jabbering… Our boy, the noodler! And that was after a juice box and a banana.

The people we meet have been exceedingly kind and friendly. At lunch in a restaurant yesterday, the waitresses and waiters were a-twitter with Sam Sam’s boisterous cuteness. One girl came up and just started feeding him like she was his big sister. She told us what “nee-oww” meant, and then after a glance at us just picked him up and carried him to the potty. And we should mention the split pants. Sam Sam was delivered with two layers of pants, both of which were split open at the crotch. That is how little boys learn to pee. If they need to pee, they just get held over a toilet or a curb and pee freely. You do have to be careful how you are holding him for photos, however, if you don't want to embarrass him when he is a teenager. After his bath we put him in some footie pajamas. What a pain those are for potty time! These Chinese are so smart.

Afterwards, a guy waiter came by and started feeding him and then carried him around the restaurant showing him the Christmas décor and then showing him off to the bartender lady. (Christmas is vogue here now. As of the last ten years. Unfortunately the word “Christmas” in Chinese is translated “Santa Festival.” Our hotel has a giant banner across the front of it that reads “Marry Christmas!” misspelled with an "a." We got a kick out of that. Should we tell them?) Later, in the grocery store after nap time, people were very helpful answering our sign-language questions about which milk container contained milk, and which contained some white liquid with melon or apple or strawberry flavors. By the way, the international sign for milk is miming the action of milking your spouse's upside down thumbs.

Today we go back to the Civil Affairs office and officially adopt Sam Sam, or “Samuel Xiao Qing Kozaczuk”… How many people do you know with an X, a Q and two Z’s in their name?

December 15, 2009 Gotcha Day!!!!

Sam Sam is no longer a photo. He is - loud! And real cute. His personality is charming, and so far he seems to be an incredibly happy guy. And my is he ticklish – he just bursts into peals of laughter at the slightest belly tickle……



We went straight to the civil affairs office after driving in from the airport through the light snow and checking into our hotel. We found him there in a large play area having a great time exploring the toys. The orphanage director and another orphanage officer lady had brought him by train from Anyang this morning. They were twinkly-eyed and seemed very sweet and like they’d cared very much for him. They have known him since he arrived to the orphanage at one week old. We learned that his foster family included an older brother and sister, so hopefully he won’t mind when Lidia starts telling him what he can and cannot do. The orphanage ladies could not stay long, so our long list of questions will be emailed to them. They handed us a wonderful photo album with Chinese and English captions that they had made for him which shows Sam Sam with several of his caretakers including his foster mother. Our impression is that the Chinese system of caring for kids lacking their birth parents has been very good for Sam Sam. But then it may be that he is just a super-duper kid…For now, we are extremely thankful that he is not rejecting us, nor throwing the feral tantrums that we were warned are common reactions to transitioning to a new family. He enjoys being held and stroked and petted and played with, and seems to have a good sense of humor.




Sam Sam is very verbal. So far we have only understood one of words. He repeats it patiently until we respond. It’s, “nee-oww”. Which means, “Er, big-person-caring-for-me, I want you to understand that, presently, I strongly wish to urinate”. It easy to remember if you think of “pay attention to “me now” or there will be consequences”…. He says lots more, but we don’t know Chinese. But then our translator/guide doesn’t understand half of what he says. It’s either baby jabber or a regional accent she can’t figure… We also understand, “sheh sheh” which we’ve learned means, “thanks”. He is quite a good mimic

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Sam Sam just typed that! He was curious so Victor picked him up onto his lap… See, he can already use a piece of high tech equipment to create complicated text strings. “Sam Sam Script 1.0”… That’s our boy!

Tour of Beijing in Two Days

TIENANMEN SQUARE: Tienanmen Square is a giant cemented slab; it is one of the few places in the world where one million people can gather at once. On the south end of it you can find a newly erected building with lines of people long enough to compete with Disneyland. What’s inside? The remains of Chairman Mao in a crystal coffin. At the north end Mr. Mao strikes a handsome pose over the entrance to the Forbidden City.

(click on picture to enlarge)

FORBIDDEN CITY: This place is the former home to various emperors over a period of 600 years up until 1911. It is a huge walled city of ornately decorated buildings protected by lots of sculptures of scary mythical creatures. One cannot help but be impressed with the sheer immensity.

For lunch our guide took us to a restaurant full of Chinese people eating yummy looking food. We were surprised to be ushered past them all and down some stairs to a special basement room reserved for foreigners. Our guide told us she would eat upstairs because she was not allowed to eat down there. The food served to us was tasty, but safe fare for the Western palate served by teenagers who stood next to the table and stared at us and giggled. We had fun with them.

(click on picture to enlarge)

SILK FACTORY: Onto the government silk factory. Did you know a silk worm’s cocoon is one super long silk thread? About a mile long. No kidding. And unbelievably strong in spite of being barely visible. Silk thread is made by twisting ten threads together, making it all but unbreakable. (Note the cocoons floating in the water in groups of ten.) And the fabrics made from it are gorgeous. Some genius figured out that you could get two larvae into the same cocoon (twins?) and their silk thread would get twisted as the cocoon was created, making a net much like a very strong spider web. They told us this stuff is so strong it can be made into a bullet proof vest. We watched a woman opening up the double cocoon and stretching it. She layers it over others she had already stretched, again and again. You can stretch it in all four directions to out to king size and layer up thousands of them to make a very soft quilt (with the added bonus of keeping you safe from any stray bullets which might be passing though your bedroom.)

Finally, we took in a show of Chinese acrobats which was amazing and fun, and then spent the remainder of the evening strolling with our guide down a busy avenue of street vendors where you can dine on skewered meats. We opted out of the skewered meats. Mostly because the choices of meat not only included hearts and livers, but also crickets, larvae, scorpions, squid, seahorses, and chicken embryos. And some of the scorpions are alive and still wiggling. Don’t look at these last photos if your about to eat dinner.

(click on picture to enlarge)

TEMPLE TO HEAVEN: Monday morning was spent at the Temple to Heaven which is a beautiful building where the emperor attempted to communicate with Heaven on an annual basis. The temple is situated in an enormous park where retired folks come daily for morning exercises. These guys retire at 50 years old, and they really know how to enjoy it. We saw hundreds of people doing various exercises together. Everything from badminton to line dancing. We enjoyed ourselves by joining in with the group who was waltzing.

GREAT WALL: Our last stop was the Great Wall. In spite of Victor’s disbelief, our guide claims that the Chinese government recently calculated the length of the wall to be 10,000 kilometers, or 6,000 miles. With that much mileage, I’m not sure why she took us to the section that goes straight up a very tall mountain on a windy day. The steps are not to code either. We got in o

ur exercise for the day, and all in 30° weather.We are thankful to our guide for a wonderful tour of Beijing. She has helped us tremendously to appreciate the rich history and culture of this great nation.

Tomorrow we will get to know this culture in a much more personal way. Our driver will pick us up at 5am. We fly to Zhengzhou, capital of the Henan province. Sam Sam will be arriving there as well.

Best get some sleep before the big day that changes our lives forever. We'd love some emails.

9-13-09 Beijing China

9:00 a.m. Sunday Morning, December 13, 2009
Beijing, China

Countdown to Sam Sam: 48:00 hours




















We began our trip by missing our flight from Seatac to San Francisco in spite of arriving to the airport by 6am. The doors closed just minutes prior to our arrival, and although our plane was right there, we were denied entrance. Nice start.

Fortunately we had a long layover in San Francisco, so we were put on a different plane and arrived with time to hand Lidia off to Auntie Cathie and Natalya, and to catch our flight for Beijing.

The flight here was long and cramped. Victor’s over sized body barely fit into the 4 square feet of space assigned to each passenger. 12.5 hours in the air. Sore buns and backs. We arrived at 2:30am Pacific Time, 6:30pm in Beijing. Victor was quite taken with the airport structure. It is far bigger than any stadium or other covered building we have ever been in. It is awesome. It is huge.

Our bubbly Beijing guide, Sarah, met us and guided us to the smiling chauffeur who smiled and smiled while smashing our luggage into his trunk, and continued smiling while slamming the car door on Victor’s foot. Here is a photo of the view from the window of the Grand Hotel, where we are staying. This is another hotel.





We rested well and ate a wonderful buffet breakfast this morning. Carina had an omelet and croissant. Victor had cangee with stinky tofu. Mmmmm. Free wi-fi is nice given that the computers in the business centre cost $5 for ten minute’s use. Unfortunately, the internet is choppy and prone to shutting down. If you don’t hear from us for awhile, you’ll know why. Today’s adventures will include Tiananmen Square which is supposed to be enormous and enormously cold. We will opt out of the promised Hutong tour on the advice of two trusted sources (not authentic). Pictures to follow.

And Our Trip Begins...

Our trip officially began when we left the house last night. We spent our last moments in Bellingham at Leah and Aaron Dutton's house along with our church home group. It was great to connect with them just before hitting the road, and to have their prayers and support to send us off.

A big thank you to all of you for your support in this new adventure. A toddler bed and a mattress were provided to us within days of our last post. Thank you Laura and James for the bed! Thank you Quinn and Danalee for the mattress!

Well, we are about to board our plane to SFO! Gotta run! next post is from Beijing!

Blessings, Carina and Victor

Sam Sam is Coming!

We are re-activating our blog in honor of our son's homecoming. We got the call yesterday saying we are now officially invited to come to China and adopt An, Xiao Qing, aka Sam Sam.

We leave NEXT FRIDAY (!), the 11th of December, and Sam Sam will be in our arms on the 16th of December. He will officially become a US citizen on Christmas Day when we re-enter the USA with him at noon.

Up until yesterday, we have been fairly certain our travel to China would occur in mid-January or even early February. As you can imagine, we are extremely excited, and not quite ready for this little guy to join us. We have a little over one week to get our visas, a toddler bed, and a bunch of other stuff. But what the timing could not be better. THANK YOU, JESUS! Christmas vacation means Carina is not working, and Lidia will enjoy spending the days at her cousin's house in Sacramento a whole lot more. We'll be back home together for a week before Carina has to return to her ESL classes.

In His amazing way, the Lord has made it clear to us that we are walking in His timing and will. Prior to Thanksgiving we had been asked to read a scripture for this Sunday's advent service. We didn't know which scripture until yesterday. Here is the prophetic passage assigned to us:

Luke 1:11-17: Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

May it be so for our son, Samuel Xiao Qing Kozaczuk.