Reaching the Pinnacle

Well, you made it. If you have been hanging with us through this trip, the end is upon us. Yesterday we went to the US consulate and finished the last of our paperwork. 4 plane rides (of about 19 hours) and we will be home. ( our plane leaves in about 7 hours)

Most of our posts from China Have been pictures and short updates. Just this once we wanted to share a little of our hear toward adoption.

Thanks to all of you who have supported and prayed for us as we have been on this journey. We wouldn't have made it without you.....

It seems crazy all the hoops you have to jump through and the expense that goes along with adoption. This trip has made it clear to me that there are a lot of people willing to take a child and raise Him/Her as their own. The list gets shorter when you ask people to make the sacrifice that adoption requires of their time and resources but not short enough that children should be left homeless. The real reason most kids aren’t adopted is not because they aren’t wanted but because the process is left open to corruption by government and greed.

If I had to compare the adoption process to something I think I would compare it to mountain climbing.
(I have read that climbing Mount Everest costs between $75000 and $100000 (I also hear you can bargain basement it for around$30000 what a deal!) requires special training, special (expensive) permits, and can take months or even years from the planning stage to reaching the pinnacle. (And they won’t guarantee that you will live through the journey.)

Before I scare you, No it doesn’t cost $100000 to adopt and I am unaware of anyone that has died directly from the adoption process. But it will bring you all the emotions that I think a human can feel. Excitement, frustration, anger, resentment, Joy (yes, definitely joy!)
I guess if it was easy everybody would do it. (Which would be a good option as far as I am concerned) But I can tell you that once done you never look back and think, “It wasn’t worth it”.

It saddens me some to see that out of all the kids being adopted in our group, Christians seem to make up less than half the adoptive parents. With combined income ranges from 40k to easily 7 figures. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for the kids but I think Jesus command to care for the Orphans was aimed more at the Christians.

“Someday I think I would like to ask God why He didn’t help the poor or the orphaned more when He had the power to do something about it…. Of course I guess He could ask me the same question.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jO7xhU_Pw&feature=related

When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.
~Mother Teresa

a pretty good day

Can you imagine the chaos around here with all these babie running around? These are all kids that are being adopted through CCAI (or adoption agency) this week.

These seven are the ones we have been with from the start. They are all from the same province (Henan) even though only 2 are from the same orphanage.

Hannah is the second from the right and the girl on the far right is Mae. the new grandaughter of a lady at our church.

We all went to a thai rest. (The cow and Bridge) to eat tonight. This is the appetizer that was setting on my plate when they seated us. Our "waitress" was standing right there when I took a picture of it but she just smiled. I guess i wasn't charged for it since it was already dead.

the kids all looked cool in their new Chinese outfits.

It is a tradition to have a red couch picture of the family and kids while here in China. Thus the first picture you saw with all the kids on the red couch.

We ordered Mcdonalds today at the hotel and Andrew wanted his picture with the delivery guy for Uncle Derek.

Today we had to go get all the physical stuff done. You can see Hannah had a rough day. it required her taking her clothes off and strangers. (2 of her least favorite things)

on the plus side, I had a great day with Hannah. Holly had to go do paperwork in another room so I got to keep the kids in our room. Hannah and I laughed and played and before our time was up she would come up to hug me and lean her head in to me. Very sweet stuff and the best she and I have done.

I hope to get to do one last big post tomorrow night but we will have to wait and see. We go to the U S consulate and go throught the last of the red tape. We are not allowed to take cameras so I might not have many pictures. I know there have been more pictures than dialogue than what we did while in Kazakhstan but time is so short and spending time with the family is super important.

If I get to postThursday, it will probably be the last of our posts until we see you guys since we fly to Hong Kong Friday and then home Saturday. Thank you all for your support and prayers. The Dunnings are doing great and are looking forward to seeing all of you very soon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHl5Iti-dPc

dad playing with Hannah

greetings from the white swann

How many kids can say they lost a tooth in China? (besides the 1. something billion Chinese kids.) While we were eating supper tonight Elizabeth lost another tooth.


Here, Hannah is finishing off Elizabeths noodles

Holly wanted me to get a shot of the mcdonalds delivery guy

You can see Hannah is warming up to me. Here she is sharing part of our snack on the flight with me. (dried green peas) I passed on the cherry tomatoes

First plane ride, we had to get a picture

We had to skip lunch so all we could find at the airport were these meat sticks. Looked like hotdogs but tasted like vienna sausages. I tried them before giving them to the kids to be sure they were safe. (The kids loved them)

It is very late here and we need to get to bed. I should be able to get a video up tomorrow. Some of the kids and some of the nice place we are staying....Love yall

Obviously the flight went ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3VnMYQU6ZQ

new video up

sorry about the bad video. here is a video of where we are staying

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egXKerSGInA

Smog

Surely you guys can see the smog in these pictures. I was running out to get a coke this morning and snapped these.

notice the rolls setting in front of our hotel.

Next update will be after we land (I hope)

Last day in Zhengzhou

A wink and a nod and we will be home. or at least that is what we are telling ourselves.
I know these pictures make Hannah look like she has a belly but she really doesn't. (the same thing goes for me:O)
Me and my girl bonding over a chocolate ice cream cone. It is a a nightly ritual for all of us but she is finally sharing with me.
We went back to the park today and let the kids just run free. They played king of the mountain and Andrew is showing off his battle scars from climbing in the trees.
We learned why it isn't recommended to eat the local food. We watched a guy that had been cooking in the park walk down to the place everyone was fishing to wash all the utensils and the pans he had been cooking with. Then right back up the bank to start the next batch..The Minnesota couple we have been hanging out with offered to buy our lunch if we were game..(looks like peanut butter and jelly on potpori bread again)
I also took them swimming while Holly did some packing and we must have picked the wrong time. To quote my favorite show (seinfeld) "it was like a flabby armed spanking machine in there". It must be the time of day all the old men go to swim but we stuck it out and the kids didn't seem to mind.

We got all the documents to take to the U S consulate today and we get Hannahs passport in the morning. So we are packing up ready to head to the city of Guangzhou. (gwong jo) I am ready to leave Zhengzhou (Jung Jo) just because of the smog. (Sis, you remember poppies sneezing fits years ago? Nothing i tell you, nothing.) I wish I could get a good picture of the smog but I guess you would have to be here. They tell me Beijing wasn't as bad because they cleaned it up for the Olympics. (by shooting other chemicals into the sky to break it up)

Again, not sure how much we can update over the next few days but we will be home soon enough and then you can all watch my daughter ignore me in person. (just kidding) She is coming along in leaps, she follows her brother and sister around a lot. Not really ready to play but not wanting to be left out. She and I have some pretty sweet moments too.

My Kids are asking me to come play so that is all for now. I will try to have a video up later. No promises. Love you all

ok, here it is. 3 videos in one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifThu2mXigg

I just caught a little girl climbing out of her baby bed to try and sleep with her mom. I suppose that is a good sign and a bad one:O)

for all of you commentors

We read all of your comments everyday and it helps us feel connected back home but we don't know whether to reply on the comments section (afraid since we have a new post you won't go back and see the reply)or to try and reply in the new post and have everybody else not know what we are talking about.

Just know we are reading and loving that we have all of you along with us. As long as internet is available and my computer limps along we will try to keep you up on what is going on over here.

We are heading to a late breakfast now because we all slept in. The weather here (minus the smog) is great. Sorry to hear about the rain but glad we are missing it. ( hey, last time we left the country New Orleans went underwater)
Love you and talk to you soon.

Ps, Nanny, Elizabeth likes the name Cupcake.......

Happy Easter

How appropriate that our girl is blossoming on Easter Sunday. Today she let me play with her. I could get her belly and she would laugh. you can tell she is feeling better and her whole outlook is changing.
My computer crashed today so I may be updating a little less over the next few days. Besides we are flying South Tuesday (Monday night for you) To Guangzhou to finish up the adoption (I am not sure what that involves since we are already officially her parents.) Then Friday or Saturday we fly to Hong Kong for the night then Tokyo (Japan), Detroit, and finally Nashville......



Hope you all have a great Easter, We did here. We are getting stronger as a family and we are all doing great but look forward to seeing all of you when we get home.

Hannah trying to join in the egg hunt but she would rather share

Easter egg hunting in China with wal mart bags, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

You will see more of this picture in the park video. listen for the background music. it was a lady singing live in the park

Hey mrs Brandi, The kids wanted their picture taken with real bamboo to show to the class

Something I have talked very little about is how the people look at us. It is nothing to have people walk up to us (within a few feet) and just stare. I mean stare for long periods of time, no smile no nothing just stare. it is a little offputting but I assume invading personal space over here isn't considered rude.

We went to a museum today. (boring, everything was written in Chinese) There were a ton of school kids there and they followed us around like we were the pied piper laughing and poking at us. They wanted to touch Elizabeths shirt and cheeks especially. You kind of get used to it but not really. (Kind of like you get used to drinking hot coke. I might have to drink it cause that's all there is but would prefer it wasn't so. )

I wanted to comment about our group. You see the bald guy with his boy? And that is the grandma that came beside them because the mom couldn't. He just happened to get a little boy that should be a professional wrestler. He is funny and a bruiser. He was going around taking swings at the other kids the first day we got the kids. The grandma said he was just trying to get their attention. (yeah right) I just think it's funny how God paired them up since the mother couldn't come on this trip. If he would have been paired with Hannah it wouldn't have worked for anybody. I see several others like this in the group but I won't go on with their stories for the sake of time but suffice it to say I think God does an amazing job working behind the scenes

You can see Hannah and mom are still hitting it off.

This is Lilly (whom you already met) and her little brother Bing bing (nickname) he is a party all by himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EuUblYDDso
easter in China

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dak6QVyAp3U

china park

Bath time

I thought I could get some good video of bath time but alas, bath time wasn't good. We ended up moving to the sink and that wasn't to bad though.

Good observation sis on the posts. Not a lot of time to get this stuff done. Plus with my new 3 pack a day smoking habit (the smog and people smoking in the hotel)it is hard to see the screen through my puffy eyes and bright red nose.

This little girl is the new grandaughter of a lady in church. We thought Tommy and Gail would like these. We will try to get more pictures of all the kids in our group.

French fries from KFC. If she likes these (and she does) wait till she gets mcdonalds fries:O)

We were forced into going along on a shopping trip and didin't plan on getting anything. You can see by the bags our plans changed. Also, Hannah found a few little toys she wouldn't let go of so of course dad had to by them.

Can you tell by my eyes how bad the smog is getting to me???

Andrew found a video game to play on our shopping trip.

miss Hannah watched veggietales with Andrew and Elizabeth this morning

Might get a video up but it might be tomorrow before I do. Sorry.

ok, here is the best I can do for tonight...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI8n2uT8BG8

Good morning/ Good evening

a quick update before we start our day, I am not sure how the pictures will show up because I took them in the dark.

We are Heading to breakfast. We had a good nights sleep and were told we do have some things we have to do today:O(you know Andrew isn't excited about that)

Hannah is a wild sleeper like her brother bouncing of the side of the bed but she doesn't wake up and fuss much. She really is a sweet girl and you will find her hard not to love. I have made too big a deal of her not liking me (even though she doesn't) but I love her and it is kind of funny(In a not so funny kind of way) and the rest of my family is getting a real kick out of it. But I will have the last laugh!!!!!!!!

Swimming and hanging out at the hotel

It's almost bedtime so I thought you would enjoy seeing her in her cute pjs.

Looks like she is about to crack a smile but don't be fooled. She was about to cry

Swim caps are required when swimming here. fortunately I was always taking the pictures instead of being in them. because the water was to deep for the kids to swim by themselves so I had to get in and yes, I had to wear a swim cap!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL0nHX9BV0U

Nothing we had to do today. It was nice not having to rush around to get things done and let the kids be on their own schedule today. As you can see swimming was high on their list.

Went to pizza hut KFC tonight and got pizza and chicken legs to take back to the room. It was actually pretty close to what we have back home. (except you can't order teryaki octopus and quails egg on a stick (together) at our pizza hut). Anyway, we enjoyed it. Wish we could eat the local food because we all agree that we like the local Chinese food but our director is telling us we shouldn't eat it. (we did in Beijing and we really miss it.)

Forgot to mention that on our shopping trip last night we had Holly go and do most of the shopping and I ran around with Hannah strapped to my chest and Andrew and Elizabeth holding each hand. We must have looked a sight because people stared at us like we had 3 heads each.

So many ladies came up to us and would hold up 3 fingers and point at the kids, then hold their heart. Then they would all rub Andrews head. People here seem to be really excited we are adopting children from China. Even when we pass Gruff old men on the streets they will crack a smile and give us the thumbs up.

Hannah still isn't warming up to me. She seems to like me best in small doses and from a distance. (I have become the brunt of all of Holly and the kids jokes) But she is fussing a little less. For example, she isn't fussing right now. (of course she is asleep)

Anyway, you can see we are making it ok and everyone seems to be healthier right now. Thank you for all your prayers and support. we look forward to coming home but know we will look back on our time here fondly and miss it. (Of course it will be a good miss:O)

(might get to add another video here later if you want to check back)

and here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8E6VQkjd8