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APRIL 7, 2006 About 5:30 am, I heard stirring in the bed next to me. Kai was beginning to wake up. After such a rough night, and my being the culprit in his mind for the agonies he was going through, I just knew that he'd want nothing to do with me. I was afraid to move in order not to start the sequence of screams that were becoming much too familiar in our room during nights. I peeked over to him, pretending to still be asleep, and what do I find? Him "peeking" back at me. He had one eye opened and one shut. I couldn't contain myself from smiling and I got the biggest smile. OH MY LORD! I was thrilled. I woke up Scott and said...."Look, he doesn't hate me!" Scott laughed and said, "Of course not, your his Mommy!" Those words could not have sounded sweeter in my ears. We had a very busy day ahead of us. We were to meet Sara in the lobby at 9:00 am We headed to breakfast with a smiling little boy who continued to show us his huge appetite. Chinese or Western food....if it was edible, it was going down the hatch! At 9 am, as instructed, we met with the Mansfields in the lobby and waited for Sara. She arrived shortly afterwards and we boarded the van for our busy day. First, we went to the notary to pick up our final adoption papers. There it was....in black and white...in Chinese and English, the paperwork clearly stating that Adrian Wen Kai Bombardier was the son of Scott and Ohilda Bombardier as of April 3, 2006! We saw some other families arrive after us and before we knew it, we were back on the bus headed to the passport office to pick up Kai's Chinese passport. His picture was too cute!! He looks like a little man. Actually, he looks much older in pictures. He is REALLY a baby. But, we are astonished at how smart he is! It is amazing to see how he absorbs EVERYTHING. I was sitting on the bed playing with him, and all of a sudden he grabs the remote and holds it to his ear like a telephone....and starts chatting away in his half Mandarin, half baby talk language. Now, this is a child who has never been taken out of the orphanage for anything except his surgery for his lip. Has not been exposed to any outside world influences....how can he possibly know what a phone is? The only time he has seen a phone being used is when our guide uses her cell phone, because when we call home we have a headset that is hooked up to the computer. That is one of many things that I sit in awe about. He repeats everything we say and do. I've totally digressed. We pick up his passport and then decide we all want something American for lunch.....say, KFC!!! We also wanted to find a Christian or Catholic church to visit. Our guide has mentioned there was one nearby and that we could then go to one of the oldest parts of Hangzhou that has an outdoor market. Did I mention it was 90 degrees and we were all sweating in our winter clothes? UGH! But, I still had that urge to take in as much of his province as possible in hopes of sharing every details with him when he was older. Off we went, we arrived at the old church and Sara knocked on the office door to see if they would allow us to go in. The man that answered was a young Chinese man, apparently the caretaker who lived there with his wife. He was very happy to see that there were Westerners wanting to visit the church and very graciously opened its doors to us. It was beautiful. The church was all wood ceilings and floors with very simple stained glass on its windows. I was very moved to walk in and see a HUGE cross made of glass block behind the altar. The natural light shown through and it gave me chills thinking again about the awesome miracle God has given us....twice! We took many pictures. As we prepared to leave and thanked our gracious host, we noticed a small shop in the back. It had books and some other religious items. He said he did not have a key, but if we were willing to wait, he would get it for us. We, of course, said yes. When he arrived, we quickly entered and began browsing through the limited books and different items on the stark shelves. My Mom found several treasures, as did I....including a children's bible in both Chinese and English, and a story book about Christ's birth in Chinese and English. I am hoping these little treasures will somehow continue to connect Kai with his birth country, and also show him the power of our amazing God. It doesn't matter that it is a communist country or that it is frowned upon to believe in organized religion....God's hand was at work, and very apparent that his children all over the world gather to praise and worship Him!! After the church, we walked a few blocks to the outdoor market that was over a mile long. Mike was carrying Sophie, who's a good 22 lbs. and I was carrying Kai, who was now asleep and dead weight. There were so many interesting things to see and for the first time at prices that seemed good deals, but it was tough going thru the crowds carrying babies, cameras, backpacks and dealing with the heat and humidity. I got stopped several times by Chinese people asking about Kai and why he was with us. One lady thought he was born in the US and we had brought him back. Ummm....yea right! After 20 minutes, we couldn't get to our lunch location fast enough. Again, I have to thank Cindy for sharing her hubby and son with us. They kept the humor going through the tough times and made our stay in Hangzhou a lot of fun! Finally....KFC!!! Scott walked for blocks thinking about mashed potatoes!! For those of you that don't know my hubby well, he is definitely a meat and potatoes man....and would live on mash potatoes if I let him. We walk into KFC and it is hotter than outdoors....again, sheesh....no air conditioning....and if they have it, they don't use it! I didn't care. I was starving by then, and just wanted food. First, no cokes in cans....only fountain drinks. Ummm...using their water?? We'll pass. Next....we ask for bottled water. Nope. No bottled water. I was ready to think we'd be washing our food down with spit. But, then the manager comes out and says we can buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke. Yeah!!! We said sure. He kept saying..."But, very large." Scott was ready to grab the darn bottle from his hand and run, we must've said...."Large is ok" ....4 times before the guy finally let go the darn bottle! And then, Scott's heart sank. No mashed potatoes! No mashed potatoes?? How can it be KFC without mash potatoes? Poor guy was ready to cry when Mike discovered a picture of what looked like mashed potatoes and kept pointing to it. They said something in Chinese to Sara and went back and forth. We all stood there in confusion thinking......what is the big deal?? Give us what's in the picture! We finally got our food and I must confess it was the best chicken I have EVER had! OMG!! It was delicious. It was confirmation that I am totally done with the Chinese menus. Sara rushed us through lunch and told us we had 10 minutes in the hotel to change the babies' diapers and come back down. She had made reservations for us to take a boat ride on the West Lake and then to tour Lingyin Temple, the oldest and largest temple in Southeast China. We went upstairs and
before we knew it, it was time to head down. So, we were back in
the lobby. The gardens leading to the actual temple were astounding. They had carved statues of Buddha and different Gods in the hills and Sara was very knowledgeable about the history behind all the architecture. We continued the trek until we reached the actual temple.....which consisted of several buildings. It was interesting to see the huge amounts of people worshipping their Gods. There were large pots filled with sand in the entrance to all of the buildings and the worshippers were offered bundles of incense to light. After grabbing their bundles and lighting them, they went to the entrance of the temple, where Monks were performing a ceremony and bowed continuously in prayer. Definitely something I was so glad to see, even with the exhaustion that was quickly overpowering us. At one point, I stopped at sat on a bench to feed Kai. Mike quickly followed my steps. I told the others to keep going and I'd catch up, but they said they'd wait. I really felt guilty because Sara was so proud of being able to share all that this little piece of earth had to offer, and was getting frustrated at our lack of interest after an hour of touring the temple. Finally, Mike spoke up and said we were ready to head back. We arrived at the hotel at almost 6 pm. This time, I was ready for another showdown with Kai. After last night, I had emailed a few friends who had been in my shoes and asked their advice. I got lots of wonderful suggestions. One of them that stood out was "swaddling" Kai. Being that he is really a baby to me, I thought this might be a good idea. So, I went thru the routine, bath, song, bottle and then I swaddled him in a blanket and held him while I whispered to him. It was almost like magic! He was asleep in no time!! Wooohooo!! Was this the answer? I don't know, but I know I loved it and am so thankful to my many friends for their support. I also want to say again that I love getting your emails. Time has been so tight that I have not been able to respond to all of your emails, but you are all in my thoughts and prayers and your love and support is so appreciated!!! Tomorrow morning at 11:00 am, we head to the airport to go to Guangzhou! The last leg of our journey in China! Blessings, The Bombardiers.... Scott, Ohilda, Amanda, Kai and Abuela Titi
We'd love to hear from you!
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Today is day 10 of our Journey To
Kai! 
