Last Night In China

Tonight is the last night in China and we cannot wait to get home even though we are not looking forward to the long day tomorrow.  With that being said, it is little sad knowing that Callan is leaving his home country and moving to the States.  Kayla and I would like to know what is going on in that little mind, but we rest assured in the providencal care of God who has and is looking after Callan.  We continue to trust in Him and pray that He will guide each and everyday of Callan's life.

Today was a very important day in the life of Callan.  He recieved his visa, allowing him to travel to the USA and upon landing in Chicago he will officially become a USA citizen.  Posted below are a picture of Callan holding his visa/passport and his Hague Adoption Certificate.

Sorry about the excited look on Daddy's face, he just looked up from the visa when Mommy took the picture.

The next time you read from this blog we will be home and we will post one showing Callan's homecoming.  We look forward to seeing everyone at the Lexington airport Wed. at 6:30 p.m.  PLEASE take note, due to Callan still getting attached to Kayla and me, we will not force him to go to anyone.  Please be mindful that we are still new to him and everyone in Lex WILL be new to him.  We appreciate you help in this matter as we bring Callan home. 

Once again, we appreciate everyones responces and words of encouragement while we have been in China.  Your prayers have sustained us greatly and we appreciate them and you.  Please PRAY for us as we make the long journey home!!!   See you in Lexington.

Here is the post from yesterday that never did post.  Will hopefully post another one before the day is over and we leave first thing in the morning.

Today was an early day as we had to be at the US Consulate at 8:30 which means we had to leave the hotel at 7:45 which means we had to eat at 7:00 which means we were up at 6:00 (Callan at 6:45). This is a very important day in which we were to turn in our paperwork for Callan (and it was all there!!!). Here is a picture of us standing in front of the sign at the Consulate:

Following the morning at the Consulate our plans were to walk up and down from the hotel but it rained all day keeping us inside an ever closing room. To keep our sanity we need to take naps as evident here:

Following dinner with friends we have met here, we took advantage of the close proximity of Micky D's where Callan got his first ice cream cone:

Did he ever enjoy:

That's all for now. Callan is trying to go to bed and I'm keeping him up.

Good Night all!!!

Callan's First Church Service

Today, we went to Christ Church of Shamain Island.  The service was done in both Mandarian and English and it was very nice.  It is my understanding that this particular church is a state run church, but the message, from what I could understand since I was holding Callan, was very good.  The Pastor took his message from Luke 23 and the title of his message was "The King Crucified".  The building held about 200 maybe 225 and the place was packed with locals and some adoptive families.  The place was packed out with standing room only and people were coming and going as they please.  Outside the building, the church's PA system was carrying the pastor's message.

As far as Callan was concern, he behaved very well.  He really enjoyed the singing and the movements to the songs.  He got a little restless but a simple trip outside and some Cheerios calmed him down.  We were there with another couple and we left during the pastor's sermon due to some restlessness in the children.  Nevertheless, Callan did great for his first church service and did not fall asleep.  If he falls asleep next Sunday during church, it's not his pastor's fault, to which Kayla says "right".

                                        The Broughton's standing in front of Christ Church

                                                         A look inside Christ Church

Following the church service, all six of us went to a local American favoriate, Lucy's Bar and Grill.  It was very good as we ate good American food.  Callan ate good as he ate fried rice with vegies and eggs mixed in.  He was and is in need of vegies.










 
We came back to the room for the afternoon to relax.  Since Callan napped on the way back to the Hotel, he did not take a nap here in the room.  Kayla did have a good time singing to him and Callan throughly enjoyed it.  We tried to post a video but to no avail, we will hopefully have it up on Facebook.  Nevertheless, Callan did enjoy hearing about Jesus and the Bible.



                  Callan looking as cool as ever

                                   Kayla playing with Callan and he was caught in the act

Kayla getting tickeled at Callan as she was singing "Jesus Love's Me" to him.  As you can tell, he loves the song.

The day ended with a quick run to 7 Eleven.  Go figure, we don't have a 7 Eleven anywhere in KY and we had to travel 8,000 miles to go into one.  After we got back here to the room, Callan suffered his first of many bumps on the head.  Because he was so tired and excited about something, he fell and bumped his head on one of the tables here in the room.  Of course, it left a bump over his left eye, but is has since gone down. 

We will be going to the US Consulate tomorrow morning at 7:45.  This is to get Callan's visa and it will take a day and a half to process.  Our guide will have it back to us late on Tuesday and then it is time for the loooooong trip back home.  We will start our Wed in Guangzhou by departing the hotel at 6:30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday), the airport at 9:15 a.m. and prayerfully be in Lexington at 6:30 p.m.

We again want to thank everyone for their prayers and support.  We know you have been keeping up with the blog and we appreciate your feedback, it means SO much to us.

Disregard the video below, we tried to upload but it did not take.

New City New Outlook

We arrived in Guangzhou last evening and we can truly say "what a difference a city makes."  There are American's everywhere you look in the hotel who are adopting.  Thankfully we made friends with other American's in our last city and it was good seeing them again here, but there are sooooo many more families here and it is good hear other English speaking families who are going through some of the same troubles/struggles we had been going through.

The day began with Callan's medical check-up, as it does for all adopted families, and he did wonderful.  We met up with the Monhemius', the couple from PA that we flew over with from Chicago, and we all went to the check-up together.  It was good to meet up with them again and meet their five-year-old daughter. 

Callan's check-up could not have gone any better.  He is a healthy boy, with a healthy appetite to go along with it.  Here are his measurements: Height - 31 1/2 inches, Weight - 24.4 lbs, Head - 18 inches.  The doctor checked him over from head to toe and said that he was normal with the exception of his left hand, and it is only under developed.  The Ear, Nose and Throat doctor looked him over and Callan had no problems there.  Again, everything went well and Callan is a healthy boy with the exception of his hand and that is not a problem.

We have learned that Callan likes to discover how things work.  For example, he was fascinated with the seatbelt on the airplane last night and kept on unlocking the buckel.  He also like to place the lids on the water bottles as well as the lids to his bottles.  He likes to stack things up and he places his toys under the seats in the hotel room.  I told Kayla he was putting them in the garage for the night.  We also notice he likes to keep his tray on his high chair clean (I hope his Aunt Karen takes note of this). 

Tomorrow (Sunday), we are going to Shaymain Island to attend an English speaking church service.  This church is a government sponsored church and I am not sure how much teaching will take place.  From what I have heard from others, there is no in-depth theology during the preacing.  Following the service, we will have lunch on the Island and a time of shopping.

We continue to ask you to pray for Callan and he is still suffering through his cold even though he is improving.  The doctor today at his check-up said to continue the antibiotics until they are gone and he would be fine.

Sorry, it is late and we are trying to get Callan to lay down, so there will be no pictures with tonight's posting.  Hopefully we can post some on tomorrow's post.

We Made It

We made it to Guangzhou and what a difference.   We are in the China Hotel, A Marriott Hotel and what a MAJOR difference.  It is like Kayla says, "it even smells like a hotel." 

Callan did a fantastic job on his first flight.  The plane was packed and he did just fine.  I don't know if the others thought he did, but I sure was proud of him.

Well, not much to report today, just wanted to let everyone know we made to Guangzhou and we are counting down the days till Wed.  Please pray for us as we take Callan at 9:30 tomorrow morning for his medical examination.

First Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving as a family.  What a wonderful gift we have been giving by an awsome God.  Thank you God for your manifold of blessings You has blessed us with, namly Your Son, Jesus Christ.

We know that you will soon be gathering with your families for the traditional Thanksgiving meal and we can smell, even in our minds, the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and all the fixings.  We can also smell the pies and all the deserts that are going to be there.  Litterally, however, all we smell is the line of venders selling days old China sausage, raw duck waiting for someone to buy.  Trust us, we would soon be there in the states.

As far as the day went, we started out watching Kentcuky Basketball where Callan thought they did not play their best, but, a win is a win.  Afterwards we went to an indoor garden here in Nanjing and it is over 600 years old.  We got to see the oldest tree living in all of Nanjing.  It was a beutiful garden and was extremely quiet and peaceful consdering Nanjing is a city of 8 million people.

                                  Sycamores lining the streets of Nanjing going to the Garden

                                      A dragon centerpiece to greet you inside the Gardens.

                     The oldest tree in Nanjing.  It is located just behind the sign and post.

                                                                View inside the Gardens.

Following the garden we went to the one of the many malls here in the city.  This one is only 2 blocks away from the Hotel.  After we finished our shoping our guide left us there for lunch which consisted of noodles, vegies and a WHOLE lot of oil.  What a Thanksgiving meal, but Callan really does like the noodles.  Come to think of it, Callan really likes whatever you feed him.

                                                    Christmas time at the Aqua City Mall.

                               Callan and Mom enjoying a water fountain show at the mall.

                              Callan and Dad getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving noodles!!!

Here at the Hotel there are two other American families who are adopting.  On couple is from Maine and they are adopting a 5 year-old girl.  The other family is just a father as he and his wife have a five year-old at home and the wife stayed home with her while he is here picking up their 19 month old son.  So, the seven of us celebrated Thanksgiving together by going across the street to KFC.  Again, a long way from the traditional Thanksgiving meal, but we really did have a great time being with one another on such a family tradition holiday. 

Callan, Kayla and myself want to wish our family and friend a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

P.S.
Eat a piece of pie for us!!

Another Day Down

Today was a rainy and dreary day in Nanjing and because Callan is suffering from a runny nose and a cough, we thought it better to cancel the day's activities.  These symptoms were there on Monday when we first meet Callan and they have just never got any better.  So, we spent the day couped up in our hotel room.  As rainy and dreary as it was, Callan did not take full advantage of it since he woke up at 5:30 an never returned to bed.  But, due to his conditions, Kayla gave him some Benadryl and it knocked him out for about 3 hours.  When he woke up he stilled had a nagging cough and when our guide called to check on him she was presistent on us taking him to the Children's Hosptial of Nanjing.

This hospital is the largest in the provence and due to the fact that there are no private pediatrician, all children in China are taken to the Children's Hosptial.  Also, since it was past 4:00 p.m., there are no pediatricians at the hosptial and all children after this time are taken to the emergency room.  We were in and out in less than 30 minutes.  The total bill for registration, examination and medication was a whopping $28.57 USD.  The antibiotics should get rid of everything he has in about a week or so.  Hopefully and prayerfully the symptoms will be gone for our long trip back to the states.

One thing that did make Callan's day is that North Carolina got beat and he is really looking forward to waking up in the morning to watch the Kentucky Wildcats play.  In honor of gameday he and his mother wanted to wear their favoriate gameday outfit:

Kayla is wearing her UK National Championship shrit.

Everything is going as plan and we should be in Guangzhou Friday evening.  We will have a scheduled medical examination on Sat., church on Sun., Consulate visit on Mon., rest day Tues and travel Wed.  Again, thank you to everyone who continues to pray for us.  We love you and can't wait to see you.