Day 10 Building Bridges

Yay, I got my phone returned to me this morning!! Our Beijing guide, Della, had it when we met in the lobby to leave for our early appointment. I was excited because my chance of getting online would be greater.  We not only had to use a wifi service of a hotel or other business, but also a VPN (virtual private network) to email, use social media, or when surfing some particular websites. Because China is a Communist country, the Internet is heavily regulated. For some reason our laptop did not have good luck connecting to the VPN service that we had subscribed to.

Just Russ, Kai, and I went to the medical exam. I had heard that the exam location was crowded and stuffy, so we decided to leave the other kids at the hotel at the urging of our guide.  It was true that the exam area was crowded and a little chaotic, but we moved through the 4 stations quickly and smoothly.  One of the examiners was very concerned about Kai's balance. I tried to explain using the interpreter that we expected his balance to potentially be unstable since this is common with people who are deaf. It's hard to know, because of the language barrier, but the examiner  seemed surprised about the unsteadiness, like she had discovered a new problem that hadn't been diagnosed. I reassured her that we realized this and it would not affect our adoption. He has some trouble going down flights of stairs, but he is amazingly fast and agile when running.  

I was so proud of Kai. He was so cooperative for his medical exam, even though we weren't able to explain what was going on. I was worried about how he would handle the TB skin test because I had heard that the parents wood not be allowed to go into the room with their child.  I was surprised when  after a minute or so, Kai walked out of the room with a bandaide on the crook of his elbow! I hadn't even heard a whimper from the exam room. Wow, these nurses were fast! I sense that Kai is beginning to trust us.



We left the exam area and headed to the lobby to wait for the rest of the group. Russ and I were so encouraged and challenged by the call that people had responded to concerning the medical and physical issues of children they had adopted.  I was in awe of the hope, faith, vision God gives.   
After our appointment, our guide took us to a local grocery store to do some shopping. Some families adopted babies, so they might have needed  diapers, formula, or snacks. I liked touring the store to see what different kinds of food were being sold. Here you can see some of the different things.  

There have been challenges to communicating our love to Kai. We have had to be firm with him for his safety when when walking along busy streets and through crowds. He hasn't liked this.  Setting boundaries IS loving a child, but of course children don't understand this.  Buying some foods that Kai especially liked was a significant step in letting him know that we care for him. Like the saying goes, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."