August 2010

Whitaker pic from the McChord Air Expo

Catherine enjoying her mom at the Air Show

Andrew readies the M240B machine gun at the Air Show.

Rich

The Whitakers are moving into August and our 8th year living in the Pacific Northwest with new opportunities on the horizon.  Our calling to start new churches is still at the forefront of our minds and hearts because God's church is the hope of the world.  Our family joined Discovery Community Church in Tacoma this Spring where Rich is working to facilitate a church health assessment and strategy development.  Rich is also coaching a church planting team led by Soong-Yol Hong.  Their vision is to plant a multi-cultural church, called As One Community, in Tacoma with an anticipated launch date in October.  Truman is off to start Steilacoom High School this fall as a Junior and is currently enrolled in a boxing class at Fort Lewis (now called Joint Base Lewis-McChord).  Andrew is enjoying his summer and will start the seventh grade this fall.  He recently purchased on old 16mm projector from an antique store and he hopes to buy a film to play on it soon.  We're not sure what to do about school for Catherine this fall.  With a birthday of 3 September, she's too young to start kindergarten...so Cheryl is exploring preschool options.  Rich's brother Rob along with wife Cristin and daughter Lucy arrive for a weeklong visit on the 21st.  Rich gets to take that week off and we're excited for a break and visit with family.  Before they arrive, Rich is headed to Atlanta from 10-13 August for a planning conference, part of his job as Deputy Commander for the 1st Joint Mobilization Brigade.

Update 2008

Rebecca F., Julie B., and Cheryl taking a break at the Paradise snow play area at Mount Rainier National Park.

Catherine taking her horse for a ride.

Andrew exploring an off-limits area...what off-limits area?

Truman becoming one with the snow.

Rich trying to keep his balance. Yes, the snow is really deep around here.

Kelly, Carrie, Cyndi, Cheryl, Heather, and Shawna - The DuPont community group

2006 Update

Merry Christmas to our friends and family! God blessed us in some very cool ways this year and we want you to know what's going on. Truman had his 13th birthday in May and began a new homeschool program for his 8th grade year along with starting electric guitar lessons. He serves on the early set-up team at SoundLife and is excited about participating in SoundLife's newly formed youth group. He and Andrew love their new sister and had a great time during our trip to China...they actually tried foods that I thought would make them gag, becoming so "enculturated" that they now insist on using their personal chopsticks to eat Ramen noodles. Andrew is eight years old and a 3rd grader at Chloe Clark Elementary. He loves his Monday evening Cub Scout den meetings and taking piano lessons from Mrs. Marsh. Our family is crazy about our fall pilgrimage to the Puyallup fair in September for rides, food, and arcade games. Having so much fun and Catherine's cooperation just forced us to stay nearly until closing time. We thank God that Catherine has adjusted so well to being in our home. She likes to play a game of chase where she walks off a few steps then turns her head sheepishly over her shoulder to see who's going to be next on the chase. She runs laughingly around the living room until we grab her up for kisses. It's also cute to see her pick up a book, go over to Cheryl, and then back up a couple of steps to sit down on Cheryl's lap for some "reading" time.

Cheryl homeschools Truman and stays busy with Andrew and Catherine. She also does a great job of taking care of our home and continues to serve as a preschool coordinator and teacher at SoundLife. BTW: Cheryl's wicked case of the measles immediately following our return from China kept her in the hospital for five days. It's one of those events for which we had to look hard to find a positive side. But, the blessing is actually quite obvious. Our great friends Kelly, Melissa, Robyn, and Cyndi along with their gracious families made some serious sacrifices to meet our needs while I stayed with Cheryl in the hospital during the day. There is no way we can thank them and our church family enough.

Rich is in his third year of mobilization to active duty at Fort Lewis, commanding the garrison's medical holding company, consisting of injured, ill, and wounded National Guard and Reserve Soldiers. Lord willing, he will continue this work through 2008. He also serves as a pastor at SoundLife Church. We are extremely grateful that Rich has the opportunity to fulfill his military commitment within 15 minutes from home.

Our year was blessed to have some visits from family. Cheryl's parents, Brown and Linda, visited in July and flew back to Kentucky right before our departure to China. Rich's mom, Janet, along with his brother Robert and his wife Cristin visited at the end of August. Donnie, Rich's dad, visits over the Christmas holiday.

Our prayer is that everyone might know the daily peace, eternal hope, and transforming power of our great God. Our relationship with Him has made and continues to make a huge difference in our lives as we face the new opportunities, challenges, and uncertainty that comes with life this side of heaven. To explore more about how anyone can have a relationship with God, just click here.

Homecoming II

We realized soon after our arrival that Cheryl had a pretty serious sinus infection. What we didn't know is that she had contracted some sort of viral infection in our last days in China or on the flight home in addition to sinusitus. So, instead of enjoying some time getting to know Catherine and enjoying her family, she was admitted to Madigan Army Medical Center on Monday. This turn of events is obviously not what we expected, but we're trusting that God will show us the purpose of this detour.

Truman, our oldest son, has stepped up to the plate to help provide love and continuity for Catherine while I'm with Cheryl. Our church family is making sure that all of our domestic needs are covered, while providing adult supervision and love to the boys and Catherine. It's great to come home to a nice meal, clean clothes, fresh sheets, and an empty sink. I cannot begin to thank our "home crew" enough for the early mornings, late nights, and obvious sacrifices they are making in their own families and schedules to take care of us.

Cheryl mentioned on Tuesday that she felt like she was going "through the fire", referring to the Lord's refining fire. Earlier that morning the Lord brought my mind to the scripture, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:1-2 (NIV). I was encouraged to reflect on this truth - that we all have our fires to walk through but with the assurance that God knows, cares, loves, and will not put more on us than we can bear.

Tests have revealed little as to what type of virus Cheryl contracted, but she is improving slowly. The doctor hinted yesterday that Cheryl could go home by Friday. Your prayers for her continued healing are greatly appreciated, especially the sinus pressure.

(Update: The CDC called our home on August 18th to let us know that someone else in our travel group had contracted the measles. To make a long story short, we now know that Cheryl had the measles along with two other adults from our group.)

Catherine's Homecoming

We walked bleary eyed toward the baggage carousel at SEA-TAC airport and were completely surprised to see a a group of bright eyed...well, sort of bright eyed people from our church - at 1 AM this morning. We were deeply touched by this show of support! An extra van was also a big help with our luggage.

Our journey home began over 24 hours ago when we affirmed our commitment to become Catherine's legal parents and boarded the bus to the airport north of Guangzhou. Simon went with us and assisted several families through check in at the China Southern ticket counter. The flight was full which made the 13 hour flight to LAX a serious endurance challenge as the four of us sat shoulder to shoulder, with no extra seat for Catherine (we only purchased the lap ticket, but most of the time families can find an open seat for some breathing room). Adding to this learning experience were the tired folks in front of us who reclined their seats...all the way back. Seasoned travelers out there will relate easily to the moment when I left my seat to help prepare a bottle and upon my return stared at the spot where I was about to cram my frame, thinking to myself that it looked about the size of a large postage stamp.

For Future Adoptive Families: Be prepared to wait at least an hour at the Immigration station in LAX. We were glad that the immigration officer moved families with babies to the front, but there was only one staff member to handle a large number of adoptive families. Our friends missed their connecting flight due to this unexpected delay and we literally had to jog in order to make our flight to Seattle. Also, consider upgrading to premium economy class on China Southern for the return flight to ensure better seating. Or, choose another carrier with more flexible seating arrangements in economy.

Finally, we are thrilled to be back in the South Sound with our friends, family, and neighbors and look forward to the future we have together. Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers.

Heading Home

Catherine's paperwork to enter the United States sailed smoothly through the U.S. Consulate today! All that's left is to check out of our hotel tomorrow afternoon, participate in a brief swearing in ceremony and the Consulate, and we're off to the airport and back home to wonderful, western Washington.

Tonight we had our Children's Hope International (CHI) group dinner where 36 adoptive families were treated to Cantonese food served family style. Elsie Chen and Simon She (pictured) were our CHI coordinator and local guide respectively. They both exceeded our group's expectations throughout the adoption process and stay in Guangzhou. These two handle all of the details for any necessary administrative and travel requirements while in China. They were also flexible and more than willing to assist families in our group with unique needs.

Thoughts of the flight home and arrival back in DuPont bring to mind the transition that our family will soon experience. Undoubtedly, we'll need some time to get over jet lag and time for Catherine to adjust to our family and new surroundings. So, everyone should expect us to lay low for a while as we focus on the adjustment.

Thanks to everyone who posted an encouraging comment on our blog. Unfortunately, while we could update and publish new posts, some sort of glitch kept us from viewing the final published product that you see here. We received your comments via email but were unable to post any follow up comments.

We would love it if you could pray for our flight back. Specifically, that we would be able to comfort Catherine during her teething. We're almost out of Baby Orajel, the only thing that helps. We will try to find some locally tomorrow.

Love to all,

Rich, Cheryl, Truman, Andrew, and Catherine

Catching Up

We took Catherine to the clinic on the 21st and learned that she has an ear infection along with an upper respiratory infection. We have antibiotics and some medicine to help clear up the congestion, but she seems to be in a lot of discomfort today and its hard to tell whether it's from teething, ear trouble, or something else. Please pray that Catherine will make a turn for the better before catching our flight home on Wednesday (day after tomorrow).

However, Catherine was feeling well enough to participate in the group picture taking yesterday. She seemed very comfortable out of our arms as the girls gathered on the well known red couch for a group photo.

We attended a packed Christian worship service within walking distance of the hotel yesterday. We were all very much moved and grateful to have the opportunity to join our Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ in singing "Our God is an Awesome God" and other songs of worship. We took some video of the service that we hope to make available to everyone over the web very soon. We were thrilled with the service's focus on Christ and the biblical preaching. One Asain woman gave her testimony of how she came to faith in Christ following the sermon. I was so impressed with the Chinese pastor's joyful way of communicating the life changing message of the Bible.

Cheryl and Andrew are off to the Guangzhou Zoo today while Truman and I take care of Catherine at the hotel. Our flight home on the 26th has been confirmed, all we need now is Catherine's entry visa into the states which we should received in the early afternoon on the 26th as well. We appreciate your prayers for our health and for all to go well with the entry visa. Thanks.

Qu Jiang Orphanage Visit

Director Wong met our van just off the main freeway and escorted the group of seven adults and siblings to a restaurant for a very special lunch. Truman and Andrew distinguished themselves by trying most every dish that was rotated in front of them...I was very pleasantly surprised. Our lunch was followed by a chance to ask the director and his staff more questions about the children. Before we could ask, Director Wong let us know that all the children in our group had the chickenpox back in January. Surprisingly, we learned that they all received smallpox vaccines - no longer given to children in the U.S. When asked about what needs the orphanage was experiencing, Mr. Wong mentioned that a water storage tank was needed to hold fresh water for emergency situations. The orphanage narrowly averted a crisis recently due to flooding and a fouling of the water supply. The 1,000 gallon fresh water tank costs about 1,000 Yuan or roughly $120.

We toured the orphanage after lunch and found the facility very simple, but clean. There were 32 healthy babies (all girls) in the room where Catherine spent her first months. This orphanage has seen around 100 of its babies adopted since approximately 2003. Her crib, pictured farthest right, is already occupied by a new baby but a sticker with Catherine's name and birth date remain fixed to the crib.

Visiting the orphanage was a great experience for Truman and Andrew. They were both touched with the number of waiting babies. They are pictured below at the gate of the Social Welfare Institute (orphanage).

Before leaving, we met one final time with director Wong. He was overjoyed to learn that our group had donated enought money to purchase two water storage tanks.

Back Tracking

We're going to take a step back in this post to Monday and share some of the details from that special day. I'm sure you can imagine the high degree of anticipation we all felt as we waited until 2:30 in the afternoon for our group's appointment at the adoption center. All the families wonder, "How quickly will the baby adjust to us?" "Will we be able to soothe the baby when she cries?" Our anticipation is mixed with a profound feeling of gratitude for the opportunity God has provided for us to love a child who is not biologically ours. The extended wait time for this adoption to actually happen fosters a feeling akin to disbelief...as in, "Is this really happening? Someone is about to come through the door of this waiting room and hand over a precious, wonderfully made baby girl and we get to keep her and make her a part of our family?" Personally speaking, overwhelming joy is the best way I know to describe this moment.

I was struck with a deep sense of respect for Mr. Wong - the director of Catherine's orphanage in Qu Jiang (about two and half hours away from our hotel). Mr. Wong is pictured at left along with our in-country coordinator, Elsie. Mr. Wong was quick to let us know that Catherine developed a fever during the five hour drive (their bus broke down!) from the orphanage to Guanzhou and provided us with a combination of cold and fever medicines. He also presented us with some soil from the orphanage grounds and a nice photo album of recent pictures.

Catherine's adjustment to her new family is progressing well. She showed some signs of separation anxiety on our first night together, but she slept all night long. We've spent a lot of time together since Monday and she seems to genuinely enjoy the extra attention she's receiving. Catherine likes to touch our faces and even crawls over to one of us when she gets fussy. She is also eating and sleeping on a regular schedule.

Cheryl and I appreciate everyone's prayers. We feel like God is answering them.

I (Rich) am taking Truman and Andrew to Catherine's orphanage tomorrow to get a record of the surroundings for her future and to locate her finding spot at the Number 2. Middle School in Qu Jiang.

Big Steps

Two major steps are under our belt as of this evening. We received our adoption certificate from the Chinese government, making Cheryl and me Catherine's official parents. After a wait of several hours, all eleven families in our group loaded the bus for the police bureau with our adoption certificates where our new daughter's passports were initiated. The children and parents are bonding amazingly well, as evidenced by the contentment shown during today's administrative marathon. Cheryl and I are thanking God for the cooler weather for these first two days due to Typhoon Bilis - we're mainly receiving rain, but no serious weather. Once the passports are complete, entry visas from the United States are the last hurdle.

Tomorrow we spend the morning sightseeing around Guanzhou, to include some shopping.

Catherine Le Meets Her New Family

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we have Catherine now - praise God. We'll give details soon. Until then, we hope these photos will express how we feel best.

Ready, Set, Gone!

One positive aspect of waiting two years for Catherine's adoption to materialize is that Cheryl had plenty of time to put together helpful packing lists. She was able to focus on Catherine's needs for diapers, formula, clothes, accessories, while limiting our family's need for clothes to the basics. We did exceed United's 50 pound weight limit on "big black" (the suitcase loaded with diapers, baby food, and clothes). We easily transferred the extra weight to the thirteen other suitcases - just kidding - we only had four suitcases for our family of "five" to be. We scheduled an ealier flight into LAX so that we could check in well ahead of time for our international flight. We found the China Southern ticket desk (colocated with Delta in Terminal 5) at around 6PM and discovered that check in would begin at 7:30 PM so we just hung around in some nearby, but limited, standard aiport seating.
We boarded our flight at 11:00 PM and were in the air by 12:10 PM. The flight took fourteen hours instead of the fifteen we were anticipating - not that an hour makes a lot of difference on an unbelievably long flight. Curved neck pillows are an absolute must - we learned the hard way. {Big Lesson Learned: this is probably a no brainer for most people, but we found that each passenger, including children, must fill out a Chinese immigration entry form. We were sent to the back of the line to fill out additional forms for Truman and Andrew.} Thoughts of the long flight and the immigration delay faded as we departed the newly constructed Guanzhou air terminal for the 30 minute ride to the White Swann Hotel.

We were seeing China for the first time. Ten million people inhabit Guanzhou, many living in what appearances suggest as squalid, high rise tenement structures. We drove by a wall to wall arrangement of these buildings for a good six miles before seeing any appreciable difference in the quality of living conditions.

Tomorrow is "gotcha-day" for Catherine. Cheryl and her new friend Pam will head off in the morning with some of our group to a local shopping center to purchase baby food - a mix of powdered milk and rice cereal, while my new friend Steve and I go to the bank to exchange our US dollars into yen and then take the boys swimming. We depart the hotel at 2:30 PM for the Adoption Center and our first moments with Catherine. Gratefully, our in-country coordinators Elsie and Simon provided all the detailed information necessary to accomplish the upcoming administrative steps.

Please pray that Catherine will bond with us quickly and our family to know best how to meet her needs in our hotel.

Final Preparations

What a busy, but fun, week we're having. "Pirates of the Caribbean" on Monday and a day trip to Mount Rainier along with some hiking along the Ohanapecosh River yesterday, it's time to focus on final preparations for our trip. The tasks are few at this point because Cheryl has done such a great job getting everything in order.

Our to-do list is down to two additional passport photos, flight confirmations, and some new shoes for the boys - not like girls need new shoes - these boys really need new shoes. But the first item on today's agenda is to thank the people who are covering our bases while we're away.

Captain Jeff Quatrini and Sergeant First Class David Holohan {shown right to left with Sheryl Obermiller (center) - our community liaison} for their more than capable leadership of the medical holding company - with over 230 Soldiers. Thanks also go to the 654th ASG command and staff for their support of A Company and for their grace in granting an extended period of leave to accomplish the adoption and transition. SGM Edmonds-Leland for researching how Adoption Leave works and 1LT Matt Middleton for house sitting. Thame Fuller and Gene Marks for covering down on my ministry responsibilities. Tracy Lane and family for making sure our church's set up trailer arrives at the theater each week - by 6:30 AM. Finally, thanks go to those we might have left off this list and for those who have committed to pray for us in the days ahead.

Catherine's Baby Shower

We were awed by the generosity of our family and friends and so encouraged by the many beautiful, helpful, and thoughtful gifts yesterday. Twenty three ladies attended, with Rich and Brown (Cheryl's Dad) serving as the token males.

We are deeply grateful for the gifts and for the promises of prayer as we travel and begin to transition Catherine into our family.



Cyndi Appleby and Robyn Halford planned and organized the shower and showed off their considerable culinary skills with a beautiful cake and fabulous punch respectively.