Last day in Guangzhou...

Our last day in China. Generally speaking, it has been a good one...Our main activity today, not including going some power-shopping and taking that infamous "RED COUCH" photo was going to the US Consulate for the oath ceremony. It is a very simple process. Our guide, Judy, handed us photocopies of our passports, which we then immediately handed to an agent. We waited for a spell and then the vice consul came out and gave us some information and did the oath part. Sophie slept through the entire process and although this was good for her schedule, my arm was killing me...it has been a long time since I toted 20 lbs around in this position. Well we then retrieved our brown envelopes from our guide and got the offical DO NOT OPEN THIS ENVELOPE, NOT EVER! GIVE IT TO IMMIGRATION! If you do, there are all sorts of problems getting your child into the U.S.. The whole "official" part was less than 5 minutes, it was actually quite emotional for me, I got all choked up...this was it, she was officailly a part of our family. We waited for around 40 minutes when all was said and done. Tomorrow when we go through the immigration line in Detroit, Sophie will become a US citizen when they stamp her passport.

For those meeting us at the airport, we are flying from Guangzhou to Tokyo China Southern flyt 0385, Tokyo to Detroit Northwest Airlines flyt 0026 and Detroit to Dayton Northwest Airlines flyt 3762. We are scheduled to arrive in Dayton a 6:40 pm. We layover in Detroit for 4 hours, I may try to catch an earlier flyt, but I will let you know Dad!

Please pray for the flights tomorrow. Soph had some issues with her ticket to Tokyo, and they have her 1st on the waiting list, so hopefully the agents there will look at the comments for our reservation and make sure we get on. I'd also like to return home with our eardrums in tact, so pray hard...luckily Dr Dwayne gave me some medicine for Soph so she will be more comfortable when we land.

Power shopping today!

Folks, today was a great day! No meltdowns and just pure laughter and play today. We went to breakfast and then we had to stay in the hotel until Judy called and said our paperwork passed the embassy standards. Then Jason, his son, SoYo and myself took a taxi to the electronics market...WOW! The stuff they had....we spent 4 hours there and no outbursts...nothing. Sophie was great! She did take a breif nap on the way there and back, which I'm sure helped.


We rested up and the group decided to hit Lucy's again for dinner as a group, what a clan, then....power shopping! Shamian Island is a place where you can get some amazing deals compared to the other places where we were able to shop. For those coming to China soon, save most of your money for Guangzhou. You can get Beijing 2008 Olympic t-shirts here for 25-30 RMB ($3-4USD)--some of the other Olympic items only seem to be available in Beijing, though. Traditional Chinese outfits are great prices here also. I used a fairly simple bargaining tactic where I would get what I thought was a decent price for each item, but not commit. Then I would gather the items and get a total price, and then bring them down even further. I bought a relatively good suitcase for 80RMB, about $10USD. There were cheaper ones, but I figured I would buy one that would survive the trip home and then some.

We have such a wonderful group that we are traveling with. They have all been so encouraging as I dealt with Sophie's outbursts. She is possibly the most visible (or should I say audible) as far as issues go, but each of the families is dealing with something. Eating troubles, minor tantrums, not sleeping through the night, clingy, not talking at all. I have been able to spend some time talking with other parents and they just seem to understand, all have adopted at least once before. I am sure that it helps that each of the families has other adopted children.

Sometimes I feel like these are negative posts, but please understand that I am very much in love with our little girl. She is such a joy to play with and she has a wonderful giggle. As one of the notes from the orphanage suggested, she is pretty inconsolable. I am sure that a lot of love and attention with change this as she grows into our family. God brought us together and we are going to help her through the process. Her world has been turned upside down, and to top it off, we look funny. Please pray for us, especially that she will accept the love that we have for her.

Guangzhou...Medical Day!

Today was medical appointment day. Let's just say it was an experience. Sophie doesn't mind taking it all off for the staff..ha! When the Dr. examined her female "parts" she decided to discuss this with him, asking questions it seemed and pointing.



We spent the balance of the morning shopping around Shamian Island, which is where the White Swan Hotel is located. The White Swan is where most adoptive families stay while in Guangzhou. As a result, a whole shopping district catering to these families has developed. There are some good bargains to be had as long as you are willing to bargain ruthlessly, and walk away if necessary. I love to barter...ever seen bambi in Chinese? :-)


We then headed to the grocery to pick up some snacks and juice for the kids. I also wanted to pick up a stroller...$18 for a nice little job that would be $50 in the states. We headed to KFC for lunch where Sophie had a meltdown when I put ketchup on her plate...it lasted for what seemed to be 30 minutes, but the group assured me it wasn't that long as they offered their support and understanding. She was unconsulable and I just wanted to shut down, just for a moment, but she needed me to be strong and talk her through it, which I did and we then walked back and ate, as if it never happened.

Part of the afternoon was filling in the paperwork for the US Consulate appointment. Its fairly boring, and a lot of writing. The guides walk you through the whole process. They have done hundreds of these forms. Like any government form, they spend too much time trying to figure out how to ask question in the most obscure fashion possible. Its really nice having the help through this process. Our group is fun and comical so that made the documents less boring to fill out!

During the paperwork time, Sophie and Hope were under the watchful care of John in the Mattel play area. We later went to dinner on Shamian Island at Lucy's Bar and Restaurant. Its a small place that serves western-style food. It was decent food, and Sophie liked the spaghetti.



I miss you all and we will see you soon...enjoy the pictures!

We made it to Guangzhou!!!

Well, my return from eating dumplings at Steed's home was quite a surprise, I opened the door of my hotel room and I was pretty sure FTD had started up shop there. Remember the Dutch fella who offered me his car for the day, well it appears I have left quite impression on him...ha! lol! I don't think I've ever received that many flowers in my lifetime, let alone at once...ha! Needless to say when I went to the front desk to ask to speak to him, he had checked out and left me a note. "I've met many women, you are the only one to turn me down...If you ever need anything,I am your friend for a lifetime, Dierk." Oh well, he left one more gift and paid my entire bill for the week. Nice fella huh?

Okay, now on with the show. Today was basically a travel day. We made our way to the airport for our flight to Guangzhou. At this point, Sophie has been great riding around in the car, but most of our adventures have been a maximum of 20 minutes one way. She did great for the drive to the airport, which is about half an hour. She did become a little restless in the airport so I walked her around the small terminal. Since our flight was at 2:40, and she missed her nap we were in for a wonderful time, I was sure. She cried the entire take off, I'm sure her ears were not feeling well, but became calm during the flyt. When I ran out of skittles the breakdown occurred, but we got through that one.

We also ran into a little trouble when we started to descend and the pressure started to affect her ears. Some well meaning Chinese people tried to help by trying to communicate in Chinese to her--to no avail she is inconsolable when this happens. It took me getting up and rocking back and forth to get her to stop the meltdown. When is was finally time for me to sit down, she accepted some Cheerios and animal crackers. We landed and it was over...

The drive from the airport to the hotel was possibly the most like what I had heard about. Lanes don't mean ANYTHING! At one point, we needed to move across about 6 lanes of traffic. It was a very harrowing experience, to say the least. I am absolutely amazed that they don't shoot each other here. Similar driving in the US definitely elicit untold amounts of road rage.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, which is more like a resort. I was SOOOO happy to see my friends, everyone congregated outside my door in the hall until we felt as if we were getting stares from the staff to "break it up" haha! The room has a beautiful view, see the pictures! Most adopting families stay at the White Swan Hotel, and there are american families everywhere...Thank you Lord! I was so lonely in the province, but I am so, so blessed to have my friends back. All the babies are just gorgeous, we laughed and cried...they hit me about my OSU sweatshirt...thanks all, somebody coulda called me!!! 41-14..sheesh.



Sophie is really starting to open up, she was already a stinker, but I see iprovements in her trust level each day. She enjoys now being with all the other children. She loves to talk and play. At this point, she will say ee, uh, ee over and over, which is 1, 2, 1. She loves it when I repeat things back to her. Children coming out of an institution are usually developmentally delayed, but she says many things. Lay le ma...not sure if it is spelled right, but it means "are you tired?"

Well folks, sorry so long...I miss you all and will see you soon...post more tomorrow with pictures of everyone!

Touring in Lanzhou, final day....

For touring today, we went to the waterwheel park. The Yellow River is a fast moving river and in 1556, Duan Xu designed a waterwheel to use for irrigation. It is very ingenious. The water pushes against the paddle like any waterwheel that we have seen, but there are small "buckets" that pick up the water and dump it at the top. The water is then channeled to the fields or to mills for grinding.

The Mother River statue was the next stop. The local folks wanted to be in our picture and take pictures of us. It is here that we were able to see some sheepskin rafts. These were used to cross the river. They simply take the hide from the sheep, sew up all the openings, and inflate it with air. 12-15 of these are used under a frame to make the raft. None of us were brave enough to go for a ride. EWWWWW! They were pretty gross!
You can see the amount of smog there is by the picture of the city of Lanzhou from the Yellow River.





We ended our touring at a park the has a number of dragon statues. I can't remember the significance but the amount of detail in the statues is amazing. It was nice to walk around the park. We went from there back to the hotel, Sophie fell asleep.

Today, Steed(our local guide)also brought the bulk of the adoption registration paperwork to the room. The main thing I was looking for is the official adoption registration certificate. It is printed on special paper with a photo of the two of us mounted on it, and protected in a special dark red folder. The passport was also brought to me today as well. He was going to bring the remainder of the certified copies of a few other documents, and the left over photos tonight. I have been invited to his mother's home to have Chinese dumplings and I'm excited about that! We will also be getting visit from the Orphanage director tonight, it is customary for them to bring a gift to the adoptive family.

Travel to Guangzhou tomorrow...yippie! I am really looking forward to moving to a warmer climate and seeing my new friends. I am also happy that time is ticking by so I can get home to see my babies, oh how I miss them. Thank you all for your supportive emails and notes, this has definitely helped me survive alone here.

We didn't do much today, both Sophie and I were very ill after breakfast, we both slept from 4:30 pm until 7 am this morning up and down and it didn't get much better throughout the day. I took her to eat and she kept down some beef and noodles, this is bascially noodles with broth and some beef pieces. I have some pictures of her eating this with chop sticks....I should have let her feed me yesterday.

We stayed in and took a couple of trips around the hotel, I have to admit I'm ready to leave Lanshou. We did eat some more ice cream as you can see!I was invited to go see some sights today by a fellow who is staying here, he works/owns or some high paying position at the oil refinery. Since we didn't feel good I didn't accept, also hate to go riding around with someone you don't know. He later had the hotel offer their car to me, but we just weren't up to traveling today. Oh well, there goes my chance to meet a rich foreigner, huh? lol!

Tomorrow I think we may go out for a little while Sophie is the charm of the hotel. We usually see the same folks at breakfast and then dinner. They come up and speak to her and offer her cookies and candy when they see us out walking around. Even with the hospitality, I'm looking very forward to flying to Guangzhou on Tuesday morning. We ended our day with a bath...


I hope you all have a great Sunday, we miss you.

More sightseeing...Lanzhou

Today was spent visiting the White Pagoda Mountain Park. We parked the car and crossed the Zhongshan Bridge, the first permanent bridge over the Yellow River. This river is considered the mother river of China. It passes through all China from east to west, but Lanzhou is the only city on the country it flows through. This and Lanzhou's location in the geographic center of China, are part of the reason Lanzhou is considered the heart of China and the birthplace of the Chinese people. Sophie has some pretty interesting history behind her! The White Pagoda was at the top of the mountain, and it was quite a hike to the top, although easier than climbing the irregular steps of the Great Wall. The views of the city were excellent - the smog was not that bad this morning. We went to a muslim restaurant for lunch--again the food was excellent. We are always the star attraction, American woman with a chinese baby. Steed feels odd, because all the people look down at him, since I am carrying Sophie and he is not. He sometimes feels obligated to help me in order to save his face with his people.

A lot of the restaurants that we have gone to have private rooms. Each room has one or two servers. Our room starts out that way, but quickly gathers more attention, because of Sophie and I.

Sophie has been getting used to me, she sings a chinese song at night and talks to me chinese and laughs when I give her a goofy face. She has been throwing a consistent fit when she is tired, which as gotten shorter, since she knows I won't tolerate it. Still quite frustrating, because I can't communicate with her well, this may add to her dispair. She cried when Steed offered to hold her while I went to the bathroom, I'm sure she thought I was going to leave her behind. I hate that. Most of the time she is very quiet and well behaved in public. She eats like a horse, so no issues there.

She woke up last night screaming, I picked her up and held her and she fell back to sleep. That was a frightening surprise in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I was able to comfort her and she slept peacefully aside from that.

A funny adventure when I tried to communicate with some local people, ever tried to ask for feminine products or panties to someone who doesn't understand? This was one opportunity to play charades that I wasn't going to accept...ha! Needless to say I wasn't successful, so then I had to send Steed in...really funny, poor guy!

Only a few more days in Lanzhou...Leaving to head south to Guangzhou and see my friends and their new little ones on the 9th.

Lanzhou Sightseeing...

We went to the Five Springs Mountain Park this morning. Here's some history I found at this web site: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/gansu/lanzhou/5_spring.htm

"There are always legends and stories behind beautiful scenic spots in China. Five Springs Park is no exception. In the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 24 A.D.), a famous general, Huo Qubing, was dispatched by the Emperor to go on a punitive expedition to the Hun people, a minority group who lived in the northwestern part of China at that time. Since the troops had traveled from Chang'an (now Xian ), General Huo and his soldiers were exhausted when they arrived at the foot of Gaolan Mountain. They couldn't find any water nearby, so General Huo forcefully jabbed his horsewhip five times into the ground. Abruptly five springs spurted water into the air. Thereafter the locals called the mountain the Five Springs Mountain. While this story sounds surreal, the quality and the quantity of the five springs are true. They have flowed and served the locals for several thousand years. In 1955, it was officially opened as a park. Local authorities added a zoo, an amusement park for adults and another for children."

The zoo at the Five Springs Mountain has pandas and Sophie was ecstatic about seeing them. As we entered the zoo, she was trying to run, but she was so bundled she only tumbled to the ground...laughing. The zoo isn't very big and the animals are mostly kept in cages with fences, only the pandas had some type of true to life environment. The conditions were better than I was expecting, and I guess they aren't unlike our zoos, we just make ours prettier.

There were monks walking about and people were making offerings to the booda like fruit, vegetables, they were burning insense. According to Steed the strong smell reaches the Gods. Steed has his education in history and boy does he have it down. He is very informative and is very interesting to listen to. After the zoo we went to a little joint in a very small alley. He wanted to host me and take me to get Lanzhou beef and noodles...well eating noodles and beef in broth(a very spicey broth) was like starving to death with chop sticks. Everyone in the place was staring at me...ha!

The guides that we have had, Christina and Steed, have been absolutely wonderful. They are willing to help me in any way and they love the children a lot. We are very blessed to have them with us throughout this process.Sophie is the hit of the hotel...everyone speaks to her when we are walking around, here is one with the door man.

Sophie threw another fit--please pray for us and her. She is almost like a newborn infant in this regard. Unlike the local businesses, the orphanages are generally understaffed and we don't know how much attention she received and if she only received it by throwing these fits. I fed her grilled cheese, she also loves diet coke with lemon....caffine free. She wanted to be held for a while and then she laid down. She pops her head up every now and then to make sure I am still here. I will always be here...

Some pretty exciting news evidently Sophie's palate was repaired in November, this is wonderful! There will still need to be some revisions over the years, but this makes it easier for her to speak and eat. This is a great blessing!

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words, I couldn't have made it through my time here without hearing from you and recieving your support. Lanshou is a lonely city for someone who doesn't speak the language.

Shopping in Lanzhou...

Oh what fun we had shopping at the local department store. You don't have to look for someone to help you, the ratio is 5 sales girls to every shopper, ha! Sophie, I've been calling her XiaoYang (Sheou yun), I thought it would help her at least feel some normalcy. We bought gloves, hat, scarf, 2pr of shoes; one that lights up and the other look like a pair of Steve Maddens, panties (by the way she was so excited when we returned back to the hotel to put these on...she danced around. She was brought here without any and she didn't want the diaper or pull up, she kept shaking her head no)...back to the shopping, snow bibs (the locals had a fit that I didn't have her in these) no stoller, according to the guide I would be looked upon unfavorably for pushing her in a stroller, she is old enough to walk...sheesh. She loves to draw so I picked up some paper and pens, I couldn't find crayons and finally a pair of long johns for her, all this for 380 Yuan or $49.

She is sleeping now, I'm here to tell you this one has a TEMPER! She has been great, however I think shopping wore her out, when I denyed her an egg roll cookie the kicking, screaming, throwing things when I ignored her, more kicking, more throwing started. I placed her in the chair 4 times before she realized I meant business, then she sat there and just flat out screamed, finally coming over to me and hitting me. Hard to reason with someone who can't understand a word you are saying, however I do know Bu, Bu which means No! No!. She immediately stopped and put her hands out, I picked her up and she was asleep in 30 seconds. Wow! Don't think any of the olders threw that kind of spiral...Well, she's had a rough day and a half, she'll make it as will I.

Well, enjoy the pictures...John and Pat are the couple, I've posted this for their Daughter who has been so kind.

Lanzhou - Registration day

Sophie XiaoYang is 100% officially ours now. We went to get some photos done and then to the Civil Affairs office to register the adoption with the Chinese government. The whole process was about 1.5 hours to process. Most of the dialog was in Chinese and we were asked some simple questions. Sophie was great throughout the process, she cried when the orphanage director and Nanny tried to hold her. She grabbed onto me desperately.

We will likely take a walk in downtown Lanzhou while after while, Sophie is very tired and eating a grilled cheese sandwich, she has a hollow leg and LOVES french fries. Lanzhou doesn't see nearly as many westerners as other cities.

The orphange director said that she doesn't talk and I noticed around them she did not, but with me, she is talking my arm off, laughing, running, playing. She puts her hands together as if praying and knods twice when I give her a cookie, saying thank you. Its 12:23pm local time. I'm not familiar enough with Chinese to know what she is saying, but she will fit right with our family of talkers! She is watching cartoons and she will say "ma ma" and when I look she dances and smiles, she has the biggest dimples.

We are going to KFC for dinner tonight. I've enjoyed the Chinese food, but some good old greasy chicken will be a treat.

I miss all of you, I'll post some more pictures later, my internet is giving me fits today.

God Bless....

Lanzhou Family Day!!!

This morning, I boarded a flight to Lanzhou. The flight was delayed, but overall, the trip into Lanzhou was very uneventful. I was in awe of the mountains, they were absolutely beautiful, I was amazed at how little green there is. The fields look like a patchwork quilt in shades of brown and gold. I was surprised at how many fields there are, when it is obvious there is little water to irrigate them.
! I checked into the hotel around 3:30pm and went to the to unpack and prepare for meeting Sophie. Steed said he was brining the nanny and the director from the orphanage around 5pm.

Sophie is now with me, I was completely full of emotion when our eyes met. Sophie was with her nanny and a couple of women from the orphanage, one of whom I am guessing is the director of the orphanage. She was given to me and did not cry at all. When I picked her up she said Ma ma, ask Dad, I called him and she said it. The orphanage staff gave me some absolutely wonderful gifts--her clothes that she was wearing when she was found, some dirt from her home town, photos of her at the orphanage and some other handcrafted items.



Sophie does not seem scared at all, she acts like she has been with me since birth. Her journey today consisted of being driven for a number of hours from PingLiang City to Lanzhou and then given to strange speaking woman and she doesn't care, "just gimmie some cookies!"

We took a walk with Steed to get her passport photo taken and purchase some juice and crackers for her, she is eating everything in sight. She is very tiny, 2T is hanging off of her. She is methodical when eating to make sure and get every last pc of rice, she even checks her clothing. She went through 2 bottles of juice and I had to cut her off. She appears to be potty trained. She also has some what were once some pretty severe burns on her arm, back and hip. When they brought her I felt as if she was a pc of furniture or something, after showing me the scars they asked if I still wanted her, asking for my forgiveness that she had been damaged and they understood if I wanted another child...sheesh. There was no doubt in my mind what I wanted to do as I grabbed her up in my arms.

It was seeming so surreal until last night. This process has been almost a year and even getting on an airplane didn't seem to make a huge difference. Last night it all started to sink in and this morning was a stomach full of butterflies. I've been rather emotional for the last couple of hours, and I don't think it will wane for a while. Sophie is now in our family. We are a family of five. God has brought us on a wonderful journey to get this far and its only the beginning. Today is a joyous day that we will remember forever! Thank you God!

I want to thank all of you for your emails, comments and prayers!

Last day in Beijing

We started our day today at the Great Wall, this place is amazing and we walked up two levels. By the time we got to the top we were walking on rubber legs and our chests hurt from breathing so hard, but we did it!...I even got my "hero" card. Yippie! Such wonderful culture here and the history, wow!



We then went to Dr. Tea, where they explained some of the teas to us and let us do some tea tasting, this was very interesting.



Next stop was the acrobatic show, my joints are still hurting me from watching these limber folks bend and jump around.



Our day ended with Pizza Hut, we were all dying for some american food, along with one of the families sharing their time earlier this week at the Philip Hayden Foundation. They spent a couple of days playing and encouraging the children that have been brought to Beijing for treatment of their special needs. We are so blessed to be part of this group. We part ways in the morning to go to the provinces where our children are located. We will meet again in Guangzhou on the 9th.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I fly to Lanzhou in the morning (evening for those of you back in the US and Canada). I will meet Sophie in the afternoon sometime. Please pray that she will not be scared! The last report indicated that she was somewhat scared when out of her room at the orphanage. She has a 5-7 hour drive from PingLiang City to Lanzhou, which combined with being handed over to some blonde haired woman who talks funny could make for a very scary situation for a 2.5 year old.

Forbidden City Photos

Sightseeing in Beijing

Today was spent touring some of the attractions around Beijing. We started at a Jade store. It was interesting, but everything was rather expensive--$50USD for a very small, B or C rated pendant. The detail in the carvings is stunning.

Our group is made up of 5 families from various parts of the US. Some of us are in our 40s with young children, others have grown children and are continuing to grow their family. The last few days have been a great bonding experience. We started to get to know each other through a Yahoo group that we set up once our travel group was determined. The initial discussions helped us feel like long-time friends when we finally came together in person.

This morning, we went to Tian An Men Square first. It very expansive space that is across from the entrance to the Forbidden City. Roughly 500,000 people can fit in the square. It is also the location of the Beijing 2008 Olympic clock and the Fuwa, which are the "friendlies" or mascots for the Olympics.

After walking through the sometimes very crowded Tian An Men Square, we entered the Forbidden City. This palace for the emperors is HUGE! You walk through gate after gate which each lead into a separate courtyard. The amount of detail is stunning. The Chinese people, at least in the past, did not spare anything with respect to ornate detail on their buildings. We were all snapping as many pictures as possible as we were herded through the palace. Throughout the Forbidden City, there are many small shops to buy souvenirs. One of the bookstores made our day--it had a Starbucks! Caffeine was definitely a help as almost all of us are waking up at various times during the night and up and about around 5am.

We ended the touring for the day by stopping at a pearl store. I got Sophie a little tiny freshwater (pink) pearl bracelet for $5 USD, Sarah a bracelet and earrings in pink for $39 USD and I picked out a white pearl bracelet which was $8 USD. The guide said China is the only place you will get freshwater pearls, as well as pink or purple. I loved this store!

Goodnight and I hope you all survived New Year's Eve!