Home at Last!

Isn't that adorable?? Our cute neighbor made this banner and it was hanging in our house when we got home. I think I'll keep it there forever. (Thanks so much Laura!)




My apologies to those who've been waiting to see if we made it home safely. Yes, we did and we're just trying to recover from jet lag and continuing lack of sleep. I'm typing with one hand as I hold my sleeping baby in the other. This "spicy" little girl packs a big punch. She screams whenever I try to set her down - even when she is sound asleep. I recognize this is a good thing for attachment purposes - just not for laundry, dishes, and anything else purposes.

The flight was, thankfully, pretty uneventful. We were fortunate enough to get the bulkhead seat with this cool bassinette thing they screwed into the wall in front of our seats. Abby was happy playing in there while we ate and she even slept in there. She was so tired and cried for at least 1/2 hr and then Shawn put her in there and closed the top, as I protested loudly, and she instantly closed her eyes and went to sleep. I couldn't believe it. I had to keep checking if she was breathing. She only slept 3 1/2 hrs but it was better than nothing.

Our kids were over-the-moon excited when they finally saw us coming. They were waiting on the corner jumping up and down - I'll try and post the video. The photo isn't great - (I'm plannning to take more when I come out of this sleep-deprived brain fog.) They were so excited after almost 3 yrs of waiting I think they didn't believe me anymore. They crowded around her all night and they still can't get enough of her. She likes them as long as I'm holding her but she's not too excited about them holding her yet. I keep telling them she'll get there. She is starting to smile more and more and even laughs a bit..

I took her to the Dr. yesterday and she weighed 14 lbs. She is eating well so I imagine she'll pack on some weight quickly. I'll post more photos with the kids in the next few days. Thanks again for following along and for the many many kind words.

Last Day in Guangzhou

Today we visited a really interesting Buddhist temple and then went to the Sun Yet San memorial hall. Our guide gave us an interesting lesson about Chinese history and I'm too tired to post the photos. This afternoon we wandered the streets of Guangzhou outside of the normal American tourist area. We found a store with bottles and bottles of snake wines. Our guide told us it is good for you - ya right! The most novel bottle was one that made the list of the 10 craziest Chinese foods - snake penis wine. Enough said.



I love watching the ingenuity that these people have when moving materials by bike. This isn't the biggest we've seen but pretty impressive. Don't try this at home.


I play for the BNA. Officially licensed material available at very good price.




How cute is that?? So far we haven't found any shoes small enough but today BINGO!! and for only $1.30.



I felt like I was walking through National Geographic again today. I didn't want to be rude and take too many photos right in peoples faces but there were many teeny little shops on the side of the street with people like these ladies making or selling things. This lady was sitting behind her sewing machine chatting with her friends. Many people were napping - anywhere they happened to stop in their shop or on the sidewalk - whatever.

Well, we're packing up. We leave the hotel tomorrow morning at 10:00 am and will land in Utah at about 4:00 pm, assuming all goes well. Pray that it will since I think if we get delayed I will be sobbing hysterically as I try to convince the airline employees that I need to get home NOW.
I have mixed emotions about taking Abby from the culture of her birth. It is an amazing country with such a long and fascinating history. It will be a whole different world for her with us - hopefully someday we can bring her back here to see it for herself. On the other hand I'm thrilled to bring her home with us. I hate that my happiness is only possible because of someone else's heartbreak but I do believe it is the best for Abby or we'd never do it. So to Abby's birthparents whereever you are - Thank you for this wonderful gift - we promise to love and take care of her forever.

We'll post more when we get home and get our heads back on straight - we're planning to video the first meeting of Abby and the kids so we'll post it on here.
Thanks so much for following our journey - for the comments, e-mails and the love and support.

Rosa's by the River

Last night we went with Tom and Amy to Rosa's by the river. It was a lovely setting for a pretty decent meal. Their daughter is Sage and initially she wasn't too sure about Abby sitting next to her but before long she was feeding Abby her little Gerber puffs. It was too cute. They are both adorable little girls.

We were there for a long time because in China they bring you each dish when it's ready - meaning if one thing cooks fast and another takes longer you get it when it's ready. So I'm thinking it was at least 1/2 hr. between the time they brought the first dish until they finally brought the last. That doesn't include the 1/2 hr. we waited for them to take our order. Kind of funny.

We were glad we went there because there was a fun music and light show on the river so at least we enjoyed the wait for our food.

Squatty Potty, Pearl Market

Wednesday we visited the Chen Academy. It was built by many many members of the Chen family to honor their ancestors. At one time it was a residence but now it houses a museum of local arts and crafts. It was beautiful but I had to attach the above photo. It is a "sqatty potty". No instructions necessary. I'd been told about these and we have therefore avoided bathrooms in public places but our friend Tom showed us this one. Tom is compiling a photo tour of China's squatty potties. He has perhaps 50 photos and they really are not all alike. This is a pretty average one.



This is a famous ivory carving that was at the museum. It is a big ball with 43 (I think) smaller balls inside. It is intricately carved and each layer has it's own designs including a small ball in the middle. They had some unbelievable ivory, bone and jade carvings.


This is one of those teeny paintings on a grain of rice. You have to look through the microscope to see it. Who has that kind of patience??


Our guide Michael took us to the Pearl and Jade markets today. This is one of the shops in the pearl market - there were many many stores with many many shelves packed full of many many bags of pearls. The prices were OK but still not like the ones we got with our friend in Beijing. The jade market was WAY overpriced, like little teeny necklaces for $500 - needless to say none of us bought anything there.



This is Shawn and Tom shopping for Rolex watches with our "friend" Linda. This is the "Lucky House" where we bought quite a bit of junk. We decided a good strategy for shopping here is to make some acquaintances with store owners and then buy many items in one store. That way you can usually get to the best price. For example tonight we were buying a little toy for the boys - Linda said she was out but she would sell them to us tomorrow for 5 yuan. We had to leave so we checked another store who told us they were 20 yuan. So we told them she would sell them to us for 5 yuan and started to walk away and presto - they told us they'd sell them for 5. It is kind of exhasting to compare prices and bargain but you can save some money if you're up for it.

Dr. Visit & Pearl River Cruise

I've gotten a little behind since this area is so accessible and easy to walk around we've spent much less time in the hotel room. We're heading out for our last shopping afternoon but here is a quick entry.

Abby's Dr. visit when we got here on Tuesday - I think I wrote a little about it but it was pretty quick - maybe 10 minutes. She was rather angry at the nurse who looked in her ears.

On Wednesday evening we went on a Pearl River Cruise. It was a river ferry, dinner cruise. The two bottom levels were filled with nicely set tables (ok - nice linens wtih paper plates) and then there was an upper level to wander around and see the surrounding area.

We sat with our new friends - Tom and Amy from Maryland - who used the same agency as us to adopt their little girl. She was from a different province so we just met them here in Guangzhou. It was so much fun to hang out with them for a couple of days - I had been feeling a little ripped off that we weren't traveling with any other families in Changsha and now I know I was right. Although I suppose it might not have been as fun with just any family we had a great time with them and we laughed a lot.

The photo I attached is everyone racing for the buffet. The only thing I liked on the whole table was tofu in something and some cake that tasted Sara Lee-ish. There aren't many social rules about waiting your turn or standing in line here - it's kind of a survival of the fittest in traffic, airplanes, elevators, etc. Actually when we landed here and the airplane stopped there were people who went running to the front to get out first - we just chuckled. This dinner was kind of like that. I'll post more Pearl River photos later.

Adoption is Final!!

Today was a great day! Our adoption is final, Abby is officially a US citizen and we can go home now, but we couldn't get a flight until Saturday so we have one more day to support the local economy.

We went to the US Consulate and they herded us into a big room (no cameras allowed). There were 60 babies, 150 plus parents, grandparents, aunts, siblings, etc. and probably 1 dozen guides. Pretty incredible to see all of the babies/chldren with all of the families. Apparently they can process 60 adoption visas per day so they have a swearing-in ceremony like ours 4 times a week. He said last year there 5,000 Chinese babies adopted by Americans, the peak was 7,000 3 yrs. ago.

They had us all wait in line and a lady looked at our passport pictures to make sure it was the right parents getting the right baby. Then we all sang Happy Birthday in Chinese to one of the babies, then we all stood and raised our right arm to swear that everything in all of our paperwork was accurate to the best of our knowledge. We were given her passport and visa and a big brown envelope that we have been told NOT to open and we must give it to the immigration officer at our port of entry.

Whew!!!

Strolling in Guangzhou

Today Abby would not take a nap so we decided to try a ride in the stroller - her first ever I would imagine. The sidewalks here are actually stroller friendly and the stores even have ramps, unlike anywhere else we've been.
The area near the hotel where we are staying is quite charming. Little tree-lined walkways between the buildings which house shops full of touristy-type items and oodles of salespeople trying to entice people to come inside, "lady, come into my shop, you need some baby dresses?" They literally turn off the lights and sit outside and wait until a customer comes and then they run in and turn on the lights when you walk in. Since the adoption traffic has slowed down so much in the past few years business appears to be struggling a bit.
Throughout this area they have these adorable statues like the one above, cute kids doing various things. There is one of a little boy mailing a letter, a few small children following a lady playing a violin, and then there are others like photographers taking photos and what is up with this?? An non-Chinese looking couple, Dad taking photos, chubby Mom pushing the stroller, baby wearing souvenir Chinese necklace??? I won't take offense - but there is one right next to this one with a really chubby lady in a bathing suit and her dog. I might have to take offense if they're saying that is what we look like in bathing suits. ha ha
We stopped for lunch at the cafe outside the White Swan hotel. First 5 star hotel in China according to our guide. Many adoptive families stay at this hotel. Notice the guy in the background. He was a sweet little old man sifting through the garbage collecting every conceivable item - used and unused plastic silverware, napkins, plastic cups and bowls, you name it. He took my untouched soup (looked like muddy water with chicken parts in it) and set it down next to the garbage can. I even saw him take a receipt off of a tray and put it in his pocket. Sometimes it is easy to forget how good we have it until we see someone else who doesn't.









Our nap strategy worked!!!

Are you my mother??

I decided I was tired of people asking me if she was a boy or a girl so today there should be no question (thanks Aunt Mabel for the dress and Marilee for the headband - and Hannah for handing them down). But sure enough a lady on the elevator (after Abby had pulled off the headband) said "boy or girl" actually she really said "boy and girl" but we knew what she meant. Is it that hard to tell??



We are happily in Guangzhou today. After the abrupt entry late last night we had a good rest and woke up to a place really different from Changsha. We took Abby to get her Visa photos and then to the medical clinic where they examine all adopted babies for immigration purposes, making sure they don't have any contagious diseases, etc. We found out that she weighs, fully clothed, a whopping 15 pounds. That puts her just under the 25% on the Chinese growth chart and not even on the US chart. She doesn't look malnourished though - her skin is good, she has a little fat on her teeny tiny bones and you can even see some muscles in her arms and legs. She is extremely alert and many people have commented about how "smart" she is - she studies faces and knows who is a stranger. Until just today anytime we were holding her if she was facing out she would turn around and look every little bit just to check our faces. The first few days she would look at us and cry - which broke my heart but she doesn't do that anymore. She doesn't like to be held facing in which we are working on - tonight I tricked her by having a toothbrush in my mouth and she was so fascinated she forgot to push away so I'd have to hold her facing out. I'm sure it will come with time.

We spent some time walking around this little place called Shaiman Island. All of the American families who adopt babies from China have to come to this place because they have to go to the American Consulate to get their baby's Visa. Thus, the shops, hotels, and restaurants all cater to adoptive families. There are many many shops within walking distance with good prices - we didn't buy anything today I just needed to have the overview and then divide and conquer. Oh, if only I had a larger luggage allowance and more money I could really spend some cash here.

Three other great things about Guangzhou:

one, the sidewalks are really only for pedestrians. In Changsha I felt like I was always watching my back because there are bikes, mopeds and cars always driving on the sidewalks. They have big walkways which double as access roads to parking spaces for the cars, etc. but it is totally unnerving to be walking on the sidewalk and have a scooter or car come up behind and honk at you to move - or worse to sail past rather quickly and much too close.

two, we've been to 2 restaurants already that have menus in English and have "normal" food. We went to a Thai restaurant tonight and it was quite tasty. I love to try the local cuisine but some of it was too adventurous (read stomach churning) for me.

third, there are tons of adoptive families roaming around this place. We've been here one day and I've seen some people we met on the airplane to Beijing, people we met in Changsha, and lots of others. The most fabulous thing is that they all have these little Chinese babies (although I haven't seen any as little as ours), and children - even up to 10 years old. It is sad to know that they are all going through varying degrees of trauma as they adjust to their new families but it is so thrilling to know that they have families! It makes me teary to see a sweet little child who has spent their life in an orphanage have 1 to 3 or more doting adults - parents, grandparents, aunts, whoever. It is heart warming to think that they are seeing the same faces every morning when they wake up and having the same people to love and care for them. And although leaving the culture of their birth is sad it is infinitely happier to think of having a family.



And in the midst of all of these children how did we get the child that is just right for us??? in all honesty we really do know how and will be forever grateful since we know Who is ultimately in charge of this process. We are humbled and so grateful to the Father of us all who has seen fit to allow another beautiful little spirit into our family along with the 4 that we already completely adore. We're falling in love with her more every day and it is hard to believe it has only been 1 week since she has been with us. The miracle of adoption.

Earthquake and Frogs

You've probably heard plenty about the earthquake, but here's one follow up. Our guide worried aloud to us that the government should have predicted the earthquakes better. We told her that it is impossible to reliably predict earthquakes and the only thing you could do is prepare. That led into a discussion about 72-hour kits that we have and she thought the kits were an excellent idea (she phoned her mother to be prepared). Anyway, apparently there is some earthquake prediction by watching animals, as stated here: http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080513-toads-predict-earthquake-dead-china . There were thousands of frogs moving in an area near the earthquake in the days before it happened.

Earthquake!!!

First of all, we are fine. I don't know how to do arrows but the earthquake was in Sichuan Province and we were in Hunan province, and are now in Guangdong province -clear in the south near Hong Kong.

This afternoon we were sitting in our room and I felt the bed kind of bouncing. I asked Shawn if he could feel it and he couldn't so I made him come and sit on the bed I was sitting on. He still couldn't feel it so I made him sit right where I was sitting and as I got up to move I noticed the picture on the wall was moving. I told him we need to get out of here.

We grabbed Abby's bottle and our backpack (not our passports - duh) and I walked into the bathroom and really started feeling like things were moving. We left our room and our guide was standing outside with a panicked look on her face and asked if we felt that. She was in her pajamas and put a sweater over it and grabbed her purse.

Now, we were staying on the 30th floor in a relatively new hotel, but Shawn had been wondering since we got here what building codes they had and whether they were adhered to. I just figured the last place I wanted to be during an earthquake was on the 30th floor anywhere - actually it was the 2nd to last place.

The elevator door opened and a few panicked looking guys were in there saying "hurry, hurry" so we got on and started heading down. The elevator started down and then stopped and a bunch of people crowded on (I was going to do a post about the difference in personal space that the Chinese have but lets just say they are OK with twice as many people on an elevator than we would in the US). So there were so many people the door wouldn't close and a light went on that said "overload". A few people got off and then we went down to the next floor and repeated the same scenario. This happened on several floors in a row. Now, I was getting a little panicky - I'd like to say I remained calm but the thought of being trapped on an elevator with a bunch of people who didn't speak my language in the middle of an earthquake gave me a feeling of sheer terror for just a minute or two. So when the door would open on the next floor I would say - "no it is full - no more people". It didn't even register to me until Shawn pointed it out later that it said "overload" in English so they didn't even know why the elevator wasn't working. Once we started moving down I was still a bit disconcerted as I watched hundreds of people pouring out into the streets from our hotel and the high buildings nearby.

I started thinking about the fact that there are 7 million people in Changsha - we're talking a city the size of New York or London. We saw a lot of old shabby buildings that I imagine would collapse with a lot less than a 7 point earthquake. I also started thinking that there is probably no emergency plan or resources for such a situation. An earthquake is always a scary thing but in a foreign country is a little much for me.

They were all jabbering on their phones and looking nervous, looking at the buildings. Our guide said all of the circuits were busy so we couldn't find out what was going on. We walked down the street where there were not quite so many tall buildings and she finally found out there had been an earthquake in another province. I found it a bit of a relief since it explained the tremors but she was rather freaked out. She decided we needed to change our flights which were scheduled for tomorrow morning and come early to Guangzhou - the last stop on our trip. So we waited for her to get Abby's passport and some other paperwork and she made arrangements so we could leave and we headed to the airport for a 10:00pm flight. We arrived here safely and Abby is now sleeping -she didn't sleep on the airplane but she slept on the way from the airport to here and then screamed for 1/2 hr. when she woke up.

I'm so sad to hear of the terrible devastation in Sichaun province -it is heart-wrenching to think about it. I'm also very grateful that we are here safely and we did not have to experience a major earthquake today.

So ya wanna be a rock star??

You might want to start at Window of the World in Changsha. People have been staring at us ever since we got here but this is the first place that they run up and ask if they can take our pictures and if they can be in a picture with us.

Crowding around taking photos of Shawn and Abby

Class of 13 yr. olds whose teacher came up and asked if they could take a photo with us - our guide told them she is our manager and they would have to pay 2 yuan each. They looked a little surprised and then she laughed and told them she was joking.

still more - probably high school age.

This woman came up to us and asked if she could take a picture of us with her son. We said sure and then she had him take one of her with us. She stayed around for a minute and asked a few questions - how old is the baby, where are you from, etc. and then the little boy told the guide he wanted to ask us a question. He wanted to ask us "Who is Jesus?" We told him, through the translator, "He is the son of God" then he wanted to know if we knew about Adam and Eve. I was so surprised that he would even know anything about Christianity. The Mom said that he learned it in school - he's only 7 so I'm not sure if it was a world religions class, or perhaps western civilization, really unusual and surprising for a 7 yr. old in China. He also asked why do we celebrate Christmas? We told him that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birthday. Christmas is somewhat fashionable here - not Christmas as we know it but there are Santa Claus pictures in really random places and banners that say Merry Christmas. We saw 2 at the place today - one on a Western Fast Food shack - big Santa head stuck on the sign, and then on another building above a doorway - Merry Christmas with a Santa head. We've seen those in many places since we've been here - even available for sale in little markets. So today I said a heartfelt prayer that someday that little boy will get to know who Jesus really is.

We told them about our family and he bent over and said "FIVE"? He couldn't believe we have 5 kids - we showed them the pictures and then he told his Mom he wants to have 3 brothers. He said - it would give her more chances, one of them would make her happy. We visited with them a bit more - oh, and he wanted to tell us a joke. Our guide translated for us - There was some chicken poop and his friends at school put their hands in it. Ha ha ha - he thought he was pretty funny. I guess little boys are little boys wherever they live and whatever language they speak.

First merry-go-round

The only ride we went on while at "Window of the World" is this double-decker merry-go-round. It was pretty cool - the bottom level wasn't working so we rode on top. It was a nice, sunny day today - Abby's not liking the hat. Can I just say how grateful I am that we are here in the spring and not in the winter or summer? It has been nice to be able to go out and walk around and enjoy the surroundings without being too hot or too cold.

Notice everyone gawking and taking photos of Abigail. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes and I counted 4 other kids below the age of 16 the whole time we were waiting. They don't see babies too often.

She didn't seem scared or unhappy on the merry-go-round. But if she was really enjoying it she didn't want to let us know.

Mt. Rushmore, no, Egypt, no

We decided to hop on a plane today and fly to Mt. Rushmore,

no, really, we are in Egypt looking at the pyramids

just kidding, we're at Easter Island - gum gum dum dum.

Actually, we visited Window of the World in Changsha China.

We couldn't find a church of our faith to attend here in Changsha so we thought today would be a good day to visit a nice park or something. We found some pictures in a book in our room and asked our guide what is this? She seemed a little suprised and asked if we'd like to go there. We said, sure. We were scheduled to go to the zoo today and we didn't want to so this seemed like a better option. We got there and saw this pyramid and lots of people around some large Egyptian, Roman and Greek statues. It was after our guide bought the tickets and we started asking more questions that we realized we were at an amusement park!! Not quite what we were looking for but we decided to take a look around.
They had many replicas of things from around the world - pretty amusing. They didn't have many rides but it was fun to see the people.
They had their version of the Swan castle - see above - not quite like the Disney version but it was up on a hill and made a nice photo op.

Capitalism is alive and well in China

The entrepreneurial spirit and the profit motive are truly alive and well here in this communist country. I found the salespeople more aggressive in Beijing "lady, lady, try this, it is no problem, lady, lady" if you so much as looked at someones wares they would practically chase you down the street asking your best price. But here in Changsha there are stores, markets, street vendors - you name it, everywhere you go.
Above is the market place where we went shopping today. It looks like an abandoned warehouse but there are shops outside and inside full of every conceivable thing. Apparently it is a wholesale market for retailers to get their goods. We bought some Chinese New Year decorations for a fraction of what we would pay in Utah, and I even found myself a flat iron for $3 - since my other one got fried the first time we plugged it in. We'll see if this one fries my hair.

Anyway, it was really interesting and lots of fun to bargain shop. Oh if only I had more luggage and a bigger luggage allowance on the flight - oh, and more money too.