Davina Yuerong Johnson

We are excited to tell you that we have a new daughter! In a small office somewhere in the middle of Guangzhou, our adoption was finalized. Before the meeting, Rebekah (our guide here) said that they would interview Davina to make sure she wanted to join our family, but our time at the office was very short and Davina was not questioned at all. When I asked Rebekah, she said that everyone can tell how happy she is, so they did not need to question her. :)

 Next stop was the notary. We were briefly interviewed about our family and why we wanted to adopt Davina. I was caught a little off-guard, and I said because she is so beautiful. Todd added that we knew we wanted to adopt and when we saw her picture we knew she was our daughter. I guess we passed. Davina had to write a statement in her own handwriting acknowledging that this adoption is something she desires. And just like that, we were done and she is ours!

 Davina got a little car sick and so we came back to the hotel for a nap. We ate noodle bowls for lunch and then we headed out for our adventure. We took the subway to the circus. Words cannot describe this incredible adventure. First, Davina was a great guide and helped us navigate the subway system. And the circus was incredible including swinging trapeze artists who performed in the dark so only their glow in the dark suits showed, trained animals including bears, elephants, and monkeys, six motorcyclists going full speed inside of a metal sphere, high divers, and an assortment of random animals paraded through including a hippo, zebras, camels, flamingos, and monkeys herding a group of pigs. Oh, and three white tigers and a lion came out, too. It was really spectacular.

 We were all hungry when we got back, but sleepy, too and the fastest option was Starbucks. Todd and I had sandwiches and the girls got sweet treats. Then it was time to FaceTime with the family. Yuly and Riza kept calling for Davina. It was all so sweet to see all of my girls interact. Audrey doesn't get to say much with her sisters around, but it is nice to see her sweet face :) So that was our day. Our next step is to go to the police station and apply for Davina's passport. By the way, her English is improving constantly and she is working very hard at it. She is an amazing girl and has a smile that is so sweet. Please continue to pray for us and our family. Riza has been sick and my parents have had to take her to the doctor. The little girls are also trying to finish school so that they can be done when we get home. Savanna has done pretty well working on her school work, but she needs to finish. And of course for Davina as she has so many transitions and adjustments to make. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and support. I really cannot tell you how amazed and overwhelmed I am with all of your encouragements. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Meeting Davina

Today has been a very good day.  We all slept pretty well.  It was our first time sleeping in a bed since Saturday. We got up and got ready.  The breakfast buffet is on the 30th floor.  There was an amazing amount of food and an incredible view.

We met with our adoption agency's representative and got all of our documents ready.  While we were in the meeting, our representative got a call that Damina was having tea and dim sun while waiting for our meeting.

We drove across town and then walked several blocks in the rain to get to a very non-descript building.  We rode up a small elevator (9 of us because we were one of two families going to the meeting) and up to the 6th floor.  All of us waited anxiously for the arrival of our precious girls. The other family's daughter came first and the mom rushed to her daughter only to be told that there was a  "procedure" and the daughter had to go do something in another room.  This family's daughter is 14 months old and she just kept crying.  Finally after what seemed like two days, we caught a glimpse of Davina coming down the hall.  She was smiling :). We waved to her as she went by, and then she finally came out and we showered her with hugs!  I don't remember much of those first moments.  Then we went and sat on the couch.  She had saved her money and brought gifts for us!  So sweet.  She was smiling and smiling (and the rest of us, too).  I got to ask the caregiver some questions and then we were off to go shopping at a huge store that included a grocery store.  We got some comfort foods, a hand held translator, and a traditional soup cooking pot.

We went back to the hotel and rested while Todd filled out some more paperwork.  Then we went out to a Chinese restaurant.  It, according to our guide, was a restaurant for locals and we were definitely the only non-locals there.  We asked Davina to order for us all.  We had tofu, eggplant, pork, and an unknown dish (that we later discovered was frog) Most of the items in the menu had an English tag, too, but not that.  Because of the uncertainty, and because it was super hot, I ate only one bite.  Todd had a couple. I don't think Davina liked it much either.  The other food is amazing.  I would never have ordered the eggplant or tofu, but they were both delicious.  We each had a bowl of rice in front of us and we would take one small amount of the food from the serving dish and put it on our bowls.  Of course, the only utensils we had were chopsticks and a flat spoon.  Davina enjoyed helping us learn to use chopsticks, and she was very entertained by our attempts.

After dinner, we came back to the hotel and had FaceTime with our family.  That pretty much covered the day.  We went to bed exhausted.  Today we have to go to a notary office to do more paperwork.

I am having trouble posting pictures here. The best place to see pictures is on Facebook.

In Guangzhou

We are here in China.  It is really hard to believe.  We had a looooong couple of days of travel and then we landed here at 4:45 am.  We've had warm showers, Starbucks, and a short walk in the area around our hotel.  We've also had some FaceTime with our family at home.

Today we are mostly resting.  Savanna is working on schoolwork and I just finished an on-line CEU class.  The hotel is beautiful and our room is amazing.  It is nice to relax a little especially because the week before we left was crazy.  Here is a glimpse of our last week:

• Shower and prayer time for Davina.  Such a sweet time with my beautiful sisters in Christ.  Audrey led off the prayer which made it extra special. Thankful for my sweet friend Katie (and her mom) for hostessing.
• Skating birthday party for the other member of our homeschool.  I even skated.  Later that afternoon I told Todd "my legs really hurt and I don't know why...oh."
• Celebrated Yuly's birthday...twice.  Family dinner the day before her birthday and cake on her birthday.  On her actual birthday we also had..
• Children's choir performance at church.  Riza and Yuly both sang and the songs were all Scripture.  So proud of the way they are hiding God's word in their hearts.
• Savanna went to a Quincinera celebration at school.
• We attended a musical at a local high school because Audrey was one of the choreographers.  It was so fun to see the product of all her hard work.
• Celebrated Audrey's birthday the day before her birthday.  And I got to see her soon to be new living space.
• Celebrated Audrey's birthday with a special breakfast, went to church together, and then headed to the airport.

Whew!

Our travel was fairly uneventful except that Todd and Savanna got randomly selected for "special security screening." I guess a little pat down never hurt anyone. :)

So, I will close with a few pictures of our travel so far...

A rose by any other name...

Early in this adoption process, Todd and I said that we wanted our future daughter to have some input on her name...whether to keep her Chinese name or not, and if so, whether to use it as her first or middle name.

Then we found our daughter.  Her name was Rissa in the shared list.  We thought that was awesome sign because we have a daughter named Riza.  We learned that our daughter's Chinese name was Yuerong.

We waited on deciding about her name, hoping we would have some contact with her, but we didn't.  Finally it came time to fill out some official paperwork and we had to make a decision.  After prayer and discussion, we decided to keep her first name as Yuerong and add Hope as her middle name.  She has been called Yuerong for a long time, so we wanted to keep something familiar.  We weren't sure how to pronounce her name :) but we were willing to call her by her first or middle name.

Then we got an e-mail from her.  She asked us if we had decided on her name.  She wanted to know if she would be able to choose her name.  She asked if her name could be Davina.

When I read the e-mail, I sat in wonder with so many emotions.  Glad to hear from our daughter.  Happy that she felt comfortable to ask.  Curious about why she chose that name.  So we asked.

This is the response we received:

"she knew the name meant 'to be loved'"

Wow.

So our sweet, beautiful daughter, who is deeply loved already, will be named Davina.  And we will be finally able to love her, hug her, and begin to know her in 5 days.  5 days. 

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!  1 John 3:1