A few more pictures

These photos are just a couple of different things. The first is a bunch of school kids were coming up and practicing english. They would ask "Hi, how are you? Would you sign my book? Thank you very much. Bye" It was so cute. The second was a shot on shamian Island, of people playing in the park. They love to play badmitton and Hacky sack. They had all these little parks in the middle of the road. It made it lush and beautiful all around. The third was the laser light show across the river from us at night. The blur on the water is one of those cruises.
Its been raining today so we hung out in the play room with a bunch of families. This afternoon we have an afternoon tea buffet and the famous red couch photos. We got our white swan barbie (No mom you can't sell it on ebay:).) Tomorrow is our last full day here. We are anxious to get home to our other kiddos but this last part of the trip has been really nice.
Megan has been doing great today with me. She let Tom leave and she didn't cry. We play and she loves the song "Open shut them". She is even trying to sing the english words as well. She is taking a nap now. Megan still needs Tom for night time and naps but we are starting to bond.:) Her cough is much better now. Tom and I are fighting something, but we don't know if its just tempature and smoke, or if we have the same cough thing she had.
I will upload the red couch photo later today. Talk to you all soon.

Pictures

I just thought I would post a bunch of photos.

Megan is eating chicken nuggets and starbucks. The American Girl.:). The foggy river picture is our view from the hotel room. The blue/green building is starbucks.

What a beautiful night

Our first night in Guanghzou was beautiful. We had a great Thai dinner with our travel group and then we went and played by the river with all the kids. I will upload the pictures later but thought I would update the blog since Tom and Megan are asleep. Poor Tom he has to get up with Megan because she won't let me comfort her yet so he is tired.

We had a great day yesterday. We went walking around Shamian Island which is just beautiful. We got some silk dresses for the girls. Megan needed some shoes so we got squeaky shoes. Every time they step it squeaks. They are great because I know where she is when she loves to run off from us. Its all in fun but I am not taking her to a department store any time soon.:).

Megan is really warming up to me. I can carry her most of the time now. Chase after her and she keeps going instead of running back to Tom. The most hilarious thing she did yesterday was decided to use our toilet as a squatty potty. She was trying to climb up on the potty her self so I was holding her but I didn't realize what she was doing. So she got up squatted on the potty and went. The only problem is she was squatting the wrong way and the pee went everywhere. I wish I could have video taped it, it was classic.

She still loves her squatty potty. We went to the restaurant last night and she wanted to go three times. I got her in the squatty potty and I didn't know what to do with a little kid. Its hard enough for me to go. She just knew what to do. She squatted way down and just went. I was really impressed. I am really glad I didn't bring Matthew and Victoria along they would have freaked out. :).

The hotel has a Mattel play room and it has all sorts of toys to play with. Megan was scared at first, I don't exactly know why but once she got the hang of it she did great. Its great to have since its raining here. Not hard just heavy mist alot.

We are going to the Pearl Market today see if we can find some good deals. I guess they are known for there Pearls. Megan is from as seaside city who specializes in pearls. We thought it would be cool to get her one. We are hoping to go on a river cruise the next couple of nights. They do a laser show off the river and thought that would be really fun. We will see.

Our paperwork is done we are just waiting for her visa and we will be leaving Wednesday your Tuesday so its coming up. We love you Matthew and Victoria and we will be home soon.

We Passed!!!

Megan had three doctors look at her and then they said she passed. All her pox are scabbing and we get to go home on time. Plus we are not lepers anymore we can participate and all the groups activities. So I will start actually start posting pictures again. Now that we can actually see more than our hotel room:).

We are on this really beautiful island that was occupied by the french and british so the buildings are a lot like Savannah, GA. Its so nice here. Very, very humid and for us hot but we feel free again.

Of course now Megan has seem to have gotten a cold on top of her chicken pox. We took her to western doctor. It was so nice. I will have to say the Guangzhou staff for Holt is so nice here. The head person took us personally to the doctors. Got her some cold and cough medicine. The clinic even came and got us and then brought us back. I could have hung out in Guangzhou longer but we will be so happy to get on an airplane and come home. Yipppee!!!

Megan is doing fantastic. She didn't like the doctor but that was to be expected. She told Catherine(our guide) that she didn't want to get shots. Catherine told her not to worry and what they would be doing, but she was still upset. She has adjusted to the new place, and she is warming up to me more and more every day. She jabbers a lot I just wish I could understand her. We have our games that we play and we enjoy them. She says Mommy, Daddy and Megan. She has no idea that is her name yet. We are working on that. I better go play with her but just wanted to update you all.

We are in Heaven!!!

We made it to Guangzhou and it is beautiful. Not that I can see much of it at night.:). We have a riverview and its all lit up. The hotel is gorgeous. We love our suite and they have a perfect little bed for Megan. So we can actually stop sleeping on couches. She has fallen asleep poor girl was so tired. She had a long day and no nap. I can stay here if I need to a little longer:). Hopefully that won't happen. We have our medical exam tomorrow so everyone start praying. She looks better as far as the scabs go so we will see.
We had a breakthrought today. Megan and I are bonding. She is letting me take her potty again and we played alot. Its amazing how every day she just makes huge improvements. She is such a crazy two year old though. Running around and a wiggle worm. She is driving poor Tom crazy and there is nothing I can do to help him. Its late and we are hungry so we are going to scrounge something to eat. Hope you all have a great day.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and writing me e-mails I so appreciate it. I needed it the last couple days. I am feeling much better now thanks to all the love we are feeling.:)

Progress slow and steady

We don't leave til tonight for Guangzhou so I thought I would drop a note. We went to a ethnic museum today and learned about the main two ethnicities of this province. There are over 56 nationalities in China. That is amazing. We got some souvenirs of her people. Its amazing to me how many people still live here.

Things are going really well with Megan. Last night she went to sleep without any grieving for her foster mom. She is now smiling a lot and acting very playful.

Megan is still a daddy's girl, but she is starting to attach to me also. This afternoon she finally let me take her to the potty and is playing with me often.

Let me just tell you what an amazing little girl Megan is. (brag time) She is fully potty trained and stays completely dry during the night. She blows her nose by herself and is extremely skilled at eating by herself with a spoon. We though there would be some developmental delays, with her spending the 1st 9 months in an orphanage, but there are none. As hard as it is to adopt a child who is attached to a foster mother, if it wasn't for that attachment, she wouldn't be as well adjusted as she is. She is still a little spoiled and prone to tantrums when she doesn't get her way, but we'll have plenty of time to work on that when we get back to the US.

We miss everyone and cannot wait to return home. As much as we have enjoyed our time in China, noting beats being in our own home and in our own bed. If all goes well with her medical appointment on Saturday we can leave on Wednsday. Please continue to pray that all her pox are scabbed over by then.

Last day in Nanning

We fly out tomorrow to Guangzhou. I am rather relieved. Being kind of locked up is getting to both of us. Megan is doing so much better though. She really has attached to Tom. She follows him everywhere. I have gotten smiles and raspberries. I can't do anything for her though. She is all about daddy. He left to go get us some food and she cried for him. Which is really fantastic.
I know that sounds weird but my attachment will come.
There isn't a lot to write about since we haven't done anything. I am asking for prayers. Lots and lots of prayers. Tom and I are feeling anxious and upset about having to stay longer away from Matthew and Victoria. We are feeling a little like lepers.

A rough night and bonding with daddy

Well they warned us the nights were bad. Last night was really bad. She cried and screamed for an hour and a half. Megan actually got all of her stuff she had from the orphanage(one little bag), put her shoes on, and kept leading us to the door saying something in Cantonese. I think it was take me home to mama. At least that was the jist. There was nothing we could do. It was actually kind of horrible to feel so helpless. She finally hid behind the curtain with her little bag and cried herself to sleep. We got her in bed and slept til about 2. She woke up crying and wanting nothing to do with me. So now she is velcro baby with Tom. She won't let him go or get out of her sight.

Today she has been really good. Won't let me near her but she loved going to Walmart. Her foster mom spoiled her when she wanted something she got it. We were a little scared taking her into walmart but she didn't want anything except for some weird cracker things. Probably the equivalent to goldfish in America for kids. Walmart was not as cheap as we thought it would be. It was still very interesting.We got her a couple of outfits since I brought a lot of 3t and she really wears 2t stuff. I brought some dresses but we already got scolded for having her legs not fully covered so we got a few more long sleeve tops I think I have enough bottoms.

After Walmart we went to Mcdonald's. Megan had her first chicken nuggets. She seemed to really like them. Tom and I have been living off a lot of power bars here. The food around our hotel is a little sparse.

That has been our day so far. Megan is going down for a nap and then we will probably go to the park later today. Hope all of you are having a great day.

What a difference a day makes

Today was a completely different day. Oh I am not going to say its been perfect. When she woke up she cried for her foster mom. We got her settled down, and we went to the Civil affairs office. There we met one of the caregiver's from the orphanage. You could tell the caregiver really cared for Megan. We thought Megan would break down and cry when she saw her, but she stayed in my arms and didn't really care. That was a big breakthrough. We are officially her parents now. We promised to love her and never abandon or abuse her. That is a no brainer.:)

We went to a beautiful park today and walked around with her a little bit. People were not to happy but we stayed away from everyone but had to get her out. When we got back to the hotel she started to cry again. The other two couples are having the same issues. They want to be out and about. If they are locked inside to long they get feisty and start crying. Its hard on us since we are trying not to get to many people exposed by her.

We came back to the hotel and wow she all of a sudden came out. She is intelligent and into everything. I mean everything. Baby proofing in a hotel is a little difficult so our eyes are constantly on her. We got plenty of raspberries and lots of giggles. The only thing she doesn't like is the word no. Its hard we are trying not to say to much at this point, but there are a couple things she does. So redirection is our main goal. She loves to throw things which is not great. She thinks if hilarious. I don't want her doing that to Matthew and Victoria so we are trying to stop it.

She was very spoiled, and it is going to take some undoing. She is bonding very well with us. She even called Tom "baba", which is daddy in cantonese. She won't say mama yet, but she called her foster mom that so that is okey.

We are going to Walmart tomorrow. I can't wait to see what it is like. Have a good night.

Hello from Nanning

Megan is still asleep so I thought I would take a few minutes to write about yesterday. Once we got off the plane yesterday our guide was there with the bad news about Megan. She said they would have to quarantine us. We were not sure what that meant by that. For a bried moment we panickWe got on the bus and basically we have to stay away from the other adopted children. They don't care what we do as far as the rest of Nanning goes. Its an American Consulate rule. I don't want anyone else to get it anyways so that is fine with us.
We got to the hotel and Jane our guide became our personal guide.:) Kind of nice. So the other people went to the civil affairs office to get there children we got Megan in our hotel room. I actually preferred it that way. We were caught off guard because we didn't have our presents ready. So I raced into the other room and wrapped them while Tom talked to the orphanage workers. They were so sweet. They had already taken Megan to the doctors and got medication for her so we don't have to do anything like that. The Chicken Pox don't seem to bad.
She brought her in and she said mama and baba and was just kind of checking us out. Once the caregivers from the orphanage left the crying began. She threw an all out crying, kicking, screaming. We tried to hold her at first but she is such a small little girl I just sat with her and let her cry. She did this 45 minutes saying she wanted to go back to mama which is her foster mom. I am so glad she loved her so much. Usually the bonding is so much better. After she subsided they took our picture and did some paperwork. We are going to the Civil affairs office this morning to do some more paperwork.
After our guide left we could tell she was exhausted so we got her some dinner which she woudn't eat. So after some prodding she let me take her clothes off and get her into a bath and put some nice clean pj's on. She then fell asleep in my arms around 6:30pm. She woke up once around 9:30pm but then went back to sleep in my arms. She now has entered the velcro stage with me. Poor Tom she won't let him come near her. We both feel its better since he has to return to work, so its better its me than him. So that is it in length. Just continue to pray for her and us. Thank you it has worked for me. I have never been so peaceful, calm or patient as I was yesterday. I needed it, so thank you.

We Have Her

We have Megan and she is currently going through a rough, but normal adjustment period. The Chicken Pox don't seem too bad at this time, so we are hoping that we still can make it back to the U.S. as scheduled.

Things are kinda hectic right now so there is no time to post any pictures. Hopefully there will be time tomorrow.

CHICKEN POX!!!

Well, we arrived in Nanning this morning and came out of the airport to discover that we will be in quarantine because Megan has Chicken Pox. She came down with it this morning. We will be meeting a sick little girl so I am asking for all the prayers we can get. We are just hoping we can get home on time. Gotta go, meeting her in an hour.

Last day in Beijing

What a long emotional day. We went to orientation this morning. They spoke about the process and how everything works. Interesting tidbits and then they hit us. One by one, updated pictures of our daughters started popping up. We had to guess which one was ours. I did pick out Megan right away. I started crying and Tom will admits to getting misty eyed.:) They gave us a beautiful silk bound book with all of her updated info. She looked so much healthier in the photos this time and happy. She weighs 26.4 pds and 30.7 inches. Okey grandparents and Auntie Amy, you can go shopping now:). They said her foster parents spoiled her and bought her everything she wanted. Uh oh we are in trouble:). After we were done we ran upstairs and posted her picture. We were so excited.:) See post below.

After a nice lunch we headed out for more touring. Today was perfect, beautiful weather and blue skies. We went to the temple of heaven and Tienamen square. I enjoyed it but I think all of the adoptive families including us are just anxious to go meet our daughters. That is all we did is talk about it with each other. It was a nice day. We came back and decided to go for hot pot. Kind of like fondue but with soup and a sauce. We had it last night and loved it so much we went back. We are getting better with chop sticks but its nice when a restaurant will give you a fork and you don't have to get all messy.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. We are leaving for the airport at 5:00 am and flying to Nanning. After a three hour flight and checking in to the hotel, we will be off to the Civil Affairs Office to meet our new daughter. Yippie!!!!

Megan's updated picture

We had our orientation today and they gave us an updated picture of her. We are so excited we want tomorrow to be here NOW!!!:)

Rickshaw Ride Video

Another full Day in Beijing

Last night we went to the Acrobat show. The show was incredible. The costumes were incredible, and they were standing on rollers, sometimes holding 4 or 5 people on top of them. There was a bicyclist who had I would say 8 to 10 people on them at once. We went with another couple we will be traveling to province with, so we got to know them a little. We are going on this incredible adventure together. We even survived the ride home with them.:) When your life is on the line you really bond quickly.:) I don't know if I have mentioned this the drivers are insane. When lanes and traffic lights are options, and people are standing in the middle of the road it gets a little crazy.

Today we went to The Great Wall. It was really incredible to stand up there. It was really foggy though so we couldn't see the views, which we were a little disapointed but it was still incredible. Its amazing how many things ancient people built without any of the modern machinery we have. We walked up to the really steep part but didn't go all the way to the top. We had time constraints but wow did we get a workout just doing what we did.

I had to use my first squatty potty. We included a picture of one. I managed. Not as bad as I thought but really not the preferred way of going to the bathroom.:) Its amazing how all of the vendors are so forward. They just pull you into their shops and really push their products. We feels so bad because we are bargaining with them for such small amounts in U.S. dollars, which means even less for them.

After we left the great wall we went to the Colonaisse(spelling?) factory. It was amazing how they are made. They are actually copper not porcelain. After they are fired they smooth them down. They make beautiful vases and pottery. They were beautiful. There was a restaurant across the way that we ate at. Again the food is far exceeding my expectations. I am going to learn how to cook this way. I could eat this way all the time.

We came back to Beijing and saw the Bird's Nest and the Cube where the Olympics will be held this summer. After that we went to the Hutong. We went on a rickshaw ride and then went to a man's house there and was able to speak with him. He was an older man and he was just so happy and loved talking to us. There houses are little and sparse but the courtyard they live around was beautiful with birds and goldfish. He once had 40 people living in this tiny courtyard and as Americans I could not imagine it. He said he missed having all those people around. He said it was like a party all the time. It was so fascinating to experience how they really live.

That was our day in a nutshell. We are going to grab some dinner and do a little shopping. Tomorrow is orientation and we get updated information about Megan. I cannot wait. We are ready to get our little girl. 48 hrs from know we will have our little girl in our arms.

We are taking a rest between sight seeing

We had a really great day!!! We went sightseeing, and getting to know other couples who are adopting from Holt. Today we went to The Summer Palace and The Forbidden City. It was freezing today. We are from sunny California, so to us it was freezing. The Summer Palace was beautiful. They dug this lake and it was not only beautiful but huge. I can not imagine how they actually dug a lake by hand that is incredible. The Summer Palace was where the empress lived for the summer. I could spend a few summers there:).
We went to this family style restaurant and had a wonderful lunch. I did not expect to like the food in China so much, but we have loved it so far. The most hilarious thing about the restaurant was the restroom . The sinks were red butts sticking out(yes you read that right). You had to lean over to wash your hands. We all thought it was hilarious. I made it today without using a squatty potty. I was very excited.:)
The forbidden city was incredible. We could not get over the size of it. It just kept going and going. Their history is very rich, and I am fascinated with it.
A lot of people have been complaining about there beds. I will admit they are very hard but I almost like it. We slept really well but were awake at 3am in the morning. We are doing well today, as far as jet lag. Although, Tom is now asleep taking a nap. We are going to see the acrobat show tonight and then off to the great wall tomorrow.
Oh Melanie by the way Happy Birthday!!!

Our first adventure

Tom and I, in our attempt to stay awake, went exploring the wonderful shopping area of Beijing. It was right down the street from our hotel. First thing we noticed is drivers and pedestrians only use stop signs and cross walks as suggestions. It's a little scary to cross the street. So we latched on to a crowd who looked like they knew what they were doing, and made it safely across.

Dad, I found two McDonalds right in the area we are staying. Ahh they even had Big Mac's but who wants a big mac when you are in Beijing:). So we found the exotic food market section and there were locusts, cockroaches, scorpions still wiggling on the sticks. We tried what was supposed to be chicken. Pretty good, but a little to spicy.

The people in the market place were amazingly agressive. They would literally pull you into their store and start trying to sell you things. There were some awesome things but nothing we want to buy yet. It was crazy trying to walk through the market. If you made eye contact you were pulled in.

After exploring we went to a famous restaurant that served Peking Duck. Really good but we realized how culturally ignorant we are to their customs. The waitress did not speak a lot of English, but did help us out on how to eat it. It was fantastic. I will be safe if I eat Peking duck every night of the trip. We really liked it.

We are off to sleep. Its 3am now Los Angeles time and we are definitely feeling the jet lag.:)

We are here!!!

Hi everyone just wanted to let everyone know we are here safe and sound. Tom of course got us to the airport early as normal. Once our check in was done at LAX which took a total of 20 minutes, we sat in the airport for three hours. After a grueling 15 hr flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou, we had a three hour lay over in Guangzhou. From there we took a 3 hour flight up to Beijing, where we were met by a guide and taken to our beautiful 4 star hotel. The only problem is that it is 12 in the morning Los Angeles time and only 3pm in China. We want to go to bed:). It feels weird we skipped all of Wednesday and now it is Thursday here. We are going to relax and then go sight seeing so we can try to stay awake til after dinner. Will write more later.

Today is the Day!!!

Well it's finally here. Our waiting has finally ended. We are flying to China this evening. We have about 24 hrs of flying time. I(Wendy) hate flying so pray for my nerves to be settled as we fly over. Don't worry if we are not posting we are probably still traveling for a couple of days:). We have experienced all kinds of emotions from excited, nervous, scared, and back to excited. We can't believe its finally here. We will post in a couple of days. We think we have everything packed. Oh well at least they have our favorite store Walmart there. HEHEHEHE!!! We have a couple of things left to do so will be back in a couple of days. Love to all our family and friends.

Itinerary for China

Mar/20 Thursday

Arrive in Beijing

Mar/21 Friday

Go on tour of Forbidden City, Summer Palace.

Mar/22 Saturday

Go on tour of Great Wall & Hutong Lane.

Mar/23 Sunday

9:00am orientation in Hotel Meeting Room

Half day tour of Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven after group lunch.

Mar/24 Monday

Arrive in Nanning

3:30pm Child handoff in Civil affairs office. Get Megan:)

Mar/25 Tuesday

9:30am Adoption registration in the Civil Affair Bureau,

Notarization in notary office

Optional shopping.

Mar/26 Wednesday

Optional activities arranged by Holt.

Mar/27 Thursday

Optional activities arranged by Holt.

Mar/28 Friday

Going to Guangzhou

Mar/29 Saturday

9:30am-10:30am paper work-checking in Hotel Meeting room then medical check

Mar/30 Sunday

Optional activities arranged by Holt.

Mar/31 Monday

Visa appointment

Apr/1 Tuesday

Oath-taking ceremony

Apr/2 Wednesday

Coming back to USA

Travel Dates

We got our travel dates!!!! We are tentatively planning to leave March 18th so we can do some sightseeing. We have to be in Beijing by the 22nd of March. Our orientation is March 23rd and then we fly down and get Megan the 24th of March. We spend 4 days in Guangxi and then end up in Guangzhou for the rest of the time. We will be coming home April 2nd. Now I have to pack because we are leaving two weeks from tomorrow. Yippee!!!!