Updates

I think this is the last post on this blog. You can catch us over at the "family blog" at...http://familyalwaysandforever.blogspot.com/. We'll continue to post updates and random thoughts and photos.

For some reason our sidebar has sunk to the bottom of the blog and you now have to scroll ALLLL the way down to read it. Does anyone know how to fix this? This has happened before but I forget what I did to fix it.

We have the guestbook dooown there, too. Feel free to stop and write a hello!

If you'd like to read our journal of our adoption trip from the beginning, you'll need to scroll down to the bottom and work your way up!

Zai Jian for now!

Home Sweet Home

(Mei Lin on her way home!)
**DISCLAIMER: Whew, this is long, but this is my way of remembering things I know I'll soon forget. I haven't journaled throughout this trip except what I've written here, so bare with me while I ramble for posterity's sake...

There really is no place like home....one's own bed, more than 100 square feet of living space, a refrigerator full of one's own food, potable running water, a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, sitting around in one's pajamas all day...ahh...THIS is home.

And after a terrible day of air travel, home was never more appreciated.

Thursday morning, departure day from China, we were to have our packed luggage outside our hotel room door at 4:45 AM for the bellboy. Then we were to meet downstairs at 5:30 AM to take the bus to the airport. Apparently with all the changes in schedules (with the US Consulate issuing Mei Lin's visa at the last minute the night before) and our group being able to leave on Thursday, the bus driver didn't know he was to arrive that morning. He was late, so we were about 45 minutes late getting to the airport.

After a long wait for check-in where we were praying we wouldn't miss our flight, we were told by Northwest that there were no reservations for us on that day's only flight out of Guangzhou to Tokyo (then the US)! Even though we'd called the night before to reclaim the reservation we'd changed when we thought we didn't have Mei Lin's visa, there was no record of it on the computer in front of them.

I must admit panic set in and I said something to the lady like, "no, we confirmed this flight last night and we NEED to get on the flight TODAY!" They were sorry about four or five times, but there were no seats left on that plane and it had been overbooked by about 15 people already!! We quickly called the US 800 number we spoke with the night before and spoke with their adoption services who confirmed our reservations. THEY could see the reservation on the computer, but China couldn't. Hmmm. Finally we handed the lady at check-in the phone so she could speak with the US. After she finally did see the reservation we realized it didn't matter anymore anyway. Our seats had been given away and we weren't getting on that flight.

So we were sent off to another airline, China Southern. There were plenty of seats on the flight that would take us to Tokyo in time for our connecting flight to the US. Thank you, God! But first we had to get on the flight before it left and now we were waiting in another check-in line!

I was fervently praying when one of the NW employees looked over and said, "Don't worry, you'll make it," with a sweet, reassuring smile. I asked her if she saw me praying and she nodded.

She whisked us through airport security and arranged a shuttle driver to take us to our gate. We now call her our angel. At one point I looked at her and noticed her cross earrings. We thanked her a hundred times as we ran onto the plane. "God bless you!" she called back.

Just one of many wonderful experiences meeting the growing number of brave, beautiful Christian people in China. And another way God showed his provision and care for us through them.

It's amazing, isn't it...everything could have gone perfectly and I would have been able to say that God is good for taking care of us. But God's hand is never more apparent than when we face adversity and overcome! I think that's why Christianity is so strong in countries like China where there is persecution. They see God's hand in so many areas of their lives because they struggle and overcome.

Well, the rest of the day wasn't much better. Our seats on the next two connections were given away also and we had to fight for seats similar to what we paid for...and seats together. We were scattered all over the plane otherwise. Then our flight from Detroit to home was delayed 1 hr 45 min, but we made it!!

Thankfully Miyah and Megan slept almost the whole trip home. Mei Lin didn't sleep more than an hour or two the entire 20-some hour trip!



And, of course Mei Lin didn't want anyone but Pat the whole way home. Poor Pat. I tried to relieve him, but she'd just scream...and I mean scream. A long flight isn't the place to fight that, so Pat had baby duty for that long, harrowing trip. We each only got an hour or two of sleep. I'd had only two hours of sleep the night before because I stayed up packing. So, I'd now had only about 3-4 hours sleep in two days!

It was never so good to be in our own beds that night. My mom had made us a wonderful meal and we were all ready for bed soon after.

Miyah and Mei Lin are having a hard time adjusting to the time change and both of them are up in the night. I was so delirious the first night I don't even know how Miyah ended up in bed with me and Pat in the girls' room with Mei Lin...then everyone back in our bed. The girls were giggling and having a party in our bed at 3 AM.

The second night home the girls again woke in the night and had trouble falling back asleep. I took Miyah in her room and we both slept a while and then relieved Pat in our room. Mei Lin does great with me during the day, but when she's tired only daddy will do. So, she screamed in my arms for 20 minutes until she fell asleep from exhaustion. She's a prize-fighter for sure. I had to hold her tight in a cradle position because she was fighting me so hard and I held her free arm so she didn't hit me. She was MAD!! I spoke quietly and reassuringly to her which made her even madder. I don't know exactly why she rejects a mother figure for comfort, but I know it most likely has something to do with all the changes and transitions in her life. She's had several mother figures in her life and she's lost each of them...first her birthmother, then the nannies at the orphanage for 7 months and a foster mother for another 7 months. Maybe she's learned that "mommies" leave...I don't know. Or maybe she's just afraid of my big nose and blond hair!

I just grieved along with her that early morning and prayed for healing for her little spirit that has known so much pain and loss. I can't even begin to imagine all that she's been through. The good thing is that she hasn't rejected us all. When a child is in foster care or is attached to a nanny, the grieving and transition can be more difficult, but that also means that she can attach again. We'd be more concerned if she didn't show any signs of grieving.

Anyway, the next morning I was still holding her when she woke up and she whimpered a little to see my face instead of Daddy's, but then she was perfectly happy with me all morning while Pat slept. I even put her down for her nap...for the FIRST time. She usually cries for me to put her to bed and she didn't even whine when I gave her a bottle and rocked her. WOW! I guess what I did during the night was akin to "Holding Time" therapy, which never felt right to do with Miyah, but now seemed necessary to do with Mei Lin. She really needed me to just hold her through her raging at me and know that I could handle her anger and not leave her, I guess. And I'm sure the prayer helped a lot. It's going to take time and a lot of work for her to trust me and know that her new mommy is a "forever mommy".

When Pat is around she gets a little whinier and sometimes turns into "Velcro baby" where she just wants to be attached to him. I've been wearing her in the baby carrier a bit each day to help a little.

On top of all the transitions she's also cutting some molars and eye teeth. She's also getting a lot of gas...probably from all that strange food she's eating. We may need to back off the American diet with her a little. We probably all need to back off the American diet (LOL).

She also had a hard time at nap time yesterday. Pat rocked her and then ended up just sitting in her room until she stopped crying and fell asleep.

Last night Miyah slept through the night, but Mei Lin was up again. She had to be touching Pat or she'd get restless and cry. Poor Pat isn't used to all this "mothering" and he seemed to have the beginning of the flu in the middle of the night (chills and fever), so I took over. Mei Lin hardly struggled with me to comfort her and after some gas drops and teething gel she lay on my shoulder and went to sleep. We're making progress! Right now it's hard to tell if we have sleep issues or if it's the time change/jet lag or the gas and teething. We're just treating it like it's "all of the above" just to cover all the bases.

Besides all the sleeping and daddy issues, Mei Lin is doing very well. She seems happy most of the day and loves all her new toys. She happily plays by herself, but she does put her arms out to be held and seeks appropriate attention so far. She began walking unassisted a couple of days before we left China and is now cruising and walking most of the day. She does crawl a little, but not often. The crawling and moving around on the floor is slow, like she hadn't had a lot of time on the floor before.

She's also eating well and taking a bottle of formula for a little bonding time. It was a little work to get her to take a bottle at bedtime, but now she looks forward to it.

She seems to like Levi, our big golden retriever. She repeated, "doggy", when we introduced her. She didn't get too close the first couple of days, but now she'll go up to him and pat him.

She doesn't say a lot of words, so "doggy" was a bit of surprise. She calls "Ma" for Miyah and "Dada" for daddy. On the flight home, while lying in Pat's arms (of course), she looked me in the eye as I played with her and cooed "Mama" a couple of times with a little smile. We were told she was beginning to speak Chinese, but we don't understand any words if she is saying them.

She loves Pat-a-Cake, flowers and plants, sweets, taking books off of the bookshelf, taking things in and out of containers, and her bath.

Miyah is doing very well as a big sister. I think she's doing better (emotionally) at home than she was in China. She was just so excited to be home. She ran up and down the hallway at the airport when she realized she was HOME. In the Detroit airport she asked if this was her new home. Then when we landed at our airport she asked if we were going to our "new home". She's been on a few vacations, but after all those hotel rooms and airplanes, I don't think she completely understood that she was going to HER home.

Miyah sometimes wants to pretend she's a baby, but we just pretend along with her and she's over it very quickly. We're also making sure she has one-on-one time and gets a lot of snuggles. She loves snuggling and reassurance that we love her no matter what..."good times, bad times, happy and sad times, I always love you!".

Megan bounced back from all that jet lag and even woke up Friday morning and went to Bible study! Later that day she went to dance class, then woke up Saturday morning and went to ballet from 9 AM - 4 PM. She missed a lot of dance while we were gone and they're getting ready for the recital in a few weeks.

Matt was happy to see us all, but especially his sisters. He missed them a lot and spent a lot of time with Miyah the first few days home. He even volunteered to wake her up when she was sleeping too late one morning. Now the kids are back to their normal bickering-selves again. I wish they could just miss each other all the time.

Mei Lin has taken a little while to warm up to Matt, but she lets him hold her without crying and has even given him kisses.

We let Matt stay home from school on Friday, but he's back again today. It was just so nice to spend those first few days home all together. We didn't go anywhere and even had a pajama day.

My mom did some laundry and cooking for us and then left Friday afternoon. It was so great to have her here, but it was also apparent that Mei Lin was a little nervous around her. She seemed happy when it was just our family again...I remember Miyah being the same way when we first came home.

So, there's the long, boring details, warts and all. Later today I'm hoping to go back and add our journal entries for Guangzhou. It's the only way I'll remember what we did those last few days. We were so busy this trip that it was difficult to find time to do any journaling.

Well, if you've made it this far you must have nothing else to do today or you're peeling your eyelids back to stay awake, or maybe both. Thanks for hanging in there. I hope to update with pictures soon.

Leaving Guangzhou

It's Wednesday....or very, very early Thursday morning and we're all packed up and ready to go. Leaving China is always bittersweet. We really do love China, but it'll be so nice to get home to see Matt and get into a normal routine.

We leave in about four hours so I really should be sleeping. I'll have to post a picture of our room a couple of hours ago. I've never seen such a mess. Let's just say if I ever have to pack a bag again it will be too soon!!

(YIKES!)
Thank God we're even able to leave tomorrow. When we got to the US consulate this afternoon to swear the oath, we were told that there were communication problems between the computers at the US consulates around the world and the US government in the US. SO, Mei Lin's visa was not going to be ready until the next morning. Since our flight left at 8:20 AM, we couldn't leave on Thursday. We were scrambling to make airline reservations for the next day....but there weren't any seats on the only flight that leaves Guangzhou for Tokyo that day. We ended up booking flights for Saturday even though none of the seats were together, dreading the idea of missing Matt for two whole days more!

Then tonight Elsie called and the consulate had Mei Lin's visa!! Praise God! We were so excited. We were able to get the original flight rebooked and then had to scramble to pack. God is so good!! We prayed that things would be fixed and He answered our prayer. We have been so blessed to see his hand faithfully work throughout this trip. We have some great stories to tell of how God has worked; some of them we can't write about here, but we're once again so blessed by this amazing country and its people!

Anyway, we'll be arriving home at about 4:15 PM Thursday night (from Minneapolis) if anyone wants to briefly meet Mei Lin.

We are really looking forward to being home.

HOME SWEET HOME HERE WE COME!!

We can't wait to see you, Matt!!

Wednesday in Guangzhou

Whew, what a day!

After breakfast, Pat and Megan took a taxi to Beijing Road to do some quick shopping for my sister (and me, too). They took our friend, Millie, along for some help with interpreting, etc. I didn't go along because my job (as usual) was to pack while the little ones slept. Packing is overwhelming, to say the least. We have so much "stuff" to bring back with us and I have no idea how we're going to make get it all organized into suitcases.

This afternoon we went to our consulate appointment to swear the oath and then get Mei Lin's visa to enter the US. The oath is so anticlimactic....after you sit there while the coordinators are busy doing their thing, someone (consulate general?) comes out and has all the parents stand and raise a hand and swear that everything on our child's paperwork is true and blah, blah, blah....no one really heard him because of all the screaming babies in the room. There were about 55 US families in the room.

After the oath, they dropped the bomb on us. Because of a big communication snafu in DC, we weren't receiving the baby's visas that day and so, we weren't leaving China the next day as planned. Well, actually there were about six families that did get visas, the rest of us were going to have to wait until the next day.

Anyway, details were whirling through our heads....change flights, need hotel rooms for extra night(s) (and rooms are few with the trade fair coming to Guangzhou), have to call Matt and let him know....argh!

We stopped at the Northwest office immediately after leaving the consulate. The bus dropped a few of us off and we each took turns trying to get reservations for flights out on Friday now, instead of Thursday.

I had difficulty convincing the guy at the NW office that we didn't need to pay $200-some dollars to change each ticket because we had bought transferrable and refundable tickets (through the NW adoption services). I couldn't convince him, and didn't know what to do at that point, so I let the other families go ahead of me while I talked to Pat and decided. By the time they got back around to me, there weren't any tickets available on Friday. In fact, they told our travel companion, Gene, that there weren't seats available for them for WEEKS because of the class ticket they'd booked!! I must admit I began to panic a little. The only option for them was to pay for entirely new tickets for FIVE people...can you say "unexpected expense"? I saw the look on Gene's face and I immediately said, "We need to start praying!". A few minutes later the man found seats for Gene and his family! Praise God!

It was early morning here in the states so we couldn't speak with a Northwest representative that could help us explain to this man that we would not need to pay to transfer our tickets, but we had him hold the seats and we'd work on it that evening.

When all the Northwest office employees left, except for this man that was helping us (it was well past 5 PM - this was taking quite a while), he asked us if we were religious. Three of us said, yes, we are followers of Christ. The man said he heard me mention praying about the flights and asked us if we believed in miracles. We all said yes and he went on to explain that suddenly seats were available and he couldn't explain why he couldn't see them before or how they opened up....he, too, believed it was a miracle.

It was so wonderful to see God work in that way and have an opportunity to hear of this man's strong faith. Hopefully it was a testimony to the lady that was working on our flights with him at that time, as well. God is amazing!

We took a taxi back to the hotel and Pat and the kids were waiting for me for dinner at the restaurant. We were to meet with a Chinese pastor of an underground church and his family. It was an amazing opportunity to meet them and learn a little about the underground Christian church in China. I can't say much more, but let me tell you that their faith and strength are so encouraging and humbling. Please pray with me that God continues to use them and protect them and grow their ministry.

While we were finishing dinner, we got a call from Elsie saying Mei Lin's visa was ready early and she was heading to the consulate to get Mei Lin's visa!! We were so excited, but now it was nearly 8 PM and we needed to get our original flights back and PACK!! I hadn't even gotten close to finishing packing. Plus we hadn't bought our suitcases to pack all our things in and I still wanted to get some last minute shopping done.

We were (supposedly-read on to tomorrow's post) able to get our seats back on the flight we'd canceled a few hours earlier and then headed over to one of the shops to buy two medium suitcases and a few other odds and ends. It was 10 PM and I was still shopping, calling my sister at home to ask her what she wanted me to buy exactly. Needless to say, I was up late packing that night!

Always a new adventure!!

Tuesday in Guangzhou

While Elsie was at the US consulate this morning, we needed to stay in the room for a couple hours on the remote chance that there were questions or problems with our paperwork. So we slept in a bit and just hung out until noonish.

We did some shopping near the hotel and had lunch at Lucy's, then met for group pictures (which was a surprise...we weren't dressed or ready for them) and then for the girls' traditional Red Couch Photos. We took some with Grace and Mei Lin and then later their little friend, Addie, who was adopted from Kunming through a different agency, joined them for photos, too. The girls were so funny. Grace couldn't sit still long enough for a photo and then they shared snacks, but fought over toys. I think the pictures tell all...

We were planning to go out to dinner with our old friend, Millie, but it was raining so we decided to order in pizza from Danny's Bagels. Millie came to our hotel room and we caught up and played with the girls. It was so good to see Millie again. When we came to adopt Miyah in '04, she worked at one of the little shops and we've kept in touch with her for these two years. Now she's only working very part time and works full-time as a translator for some company.

The McQuades and Graffs joined us for our little pizza party in the "cul-de-sac" (outside our room at the end of the hall with ample play space), but we were quickly asked to go to our room because we were too loud.

Once again we've been so blessed with the most amazing travel companions on this trip. Jennifer and Mike are wonderful people and it's been so much fun spending these last two weeks with them. We're going to hate to say goodbye in a few days. We're already planning to get the girls together on a regular basis. You can check out their blog here... http://ourjourneyofgrace.blogspot.com/

Since the Graffs were with another agency, we only spent a little time with them, but they are wonderful people, as well, and we hope to get to see them again in the future. You can see their website at ...http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=136859

Good food and catching up with old and new friends...it's all good!

Monday in Guangzhou

The babies had their medical exams today. Pat took Mei Lin and Megan and I took Miyah to the park. Miyah shared her candy with some of the local children and made some friends. We spent a couple of hours there and she really enjoyed this play time.

Pat had paperwork to do with Elsie and the other two families, so Mei Lin joined us at the park after her exam. The exam is really just a technicality. The US wants to hear that she's healthy enough to leave China/enter the US. I've never actually been to the exam with either Miyah or Mei Lin, but that's what I've heard. Last time Megan was sick and I stayed back at the hotel while Pat took Miyah to her medical exam.

Mei Lin loved the slide and is walking so much more.

After the park, we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and then went to A Gift From China (my favorite store!) to do some serious shopping. I just love this store and love the idea that all their proceeds go back to Chinese orphans.

After the paperwork was completed, all the families went to Liwan Plaza (the Pearl and Jade Market) to shop for pearls. We hadn't eaten any lunch so we stopped at McDonalds. Mei Lin loved the fries and nuggets!


We found some pearls for Mei Lin and a few other things, but we didn't have much time to shop and frankly, that place just overwhelms me! Floors of little shops selling jewelry. We were hunting for a cross pendant for Mei Lin's dedication like we bought for Miyah last trip and finally found it after searching dozens and dozens of little shops. I think it was in the same little shop just outside the plaza.


Then we took a taxi over to Beijing Road for some serious shopping. Beijing Road is a pedestrian street with a lot of nice shopping. Both feet barely left the taxi before a hawker hooked us into following him to look at handbags. My sister, Michele, was hoping I'd find her some bags and I don't think she'll be disappointed as long as we make it through customs!
(Beijing Road)

Then we walked around and shopped a bit. Megan found some shoes and we hit Pizza Hut for dinner.

We were all exhausted by the time our taxi brought us back that evening. Thankfully our girls are good shoppers!

Easter Sunday in Guangzhou

H A P P Y * E A S T E R!!

This morning we went to the Christian church here in Guangzhou, just about a block from the White Swan Hotel.

What an incredible experience to worship with fellow Chinese Christians. Some of the service was in English and we knew many of the songs. The children's choir sang and the young people led the worship. The pastor's message was good, too. Mei Lin slept through most of it, but we left a little early because the service was two hours long and that was just a little too long for Miyah to sit quietly.

The church was packed and as we were leaving we realized that there were dozens and dozens of people listening from outside.

The rest of the day we relaxed around the island. Guangzhou is so much like home. They even have a Starbucks here! All the salespeople at the little shops say, "Hi, Pat and Cindy! How are you?" as we walk by...they're good at making a sale!

Friday in Kunming

(Run your cursor over the photo to read captions)
Today was a free day and we were so grateful to be able to sleep in a bit.

Mei Lin is doing really well. She's begun to warm up to us all, but still prefers daddy...especially when she's tired. She's showing us more of her personality and laughing a lot more. We've finally tried putting chicken broth in her bottle and she seems to like that. Anything to get her some liquids right now.

We had a lot of shopping to do, so we took a taxi to the bird and flower market. We were trying to find things to give to Mei Lin every year on her "Family Day" and thought it would be nice if they came from her province.

The flower and bird market was fun. Miyah loved all the animals. They were selling fish, birds, bunnies, mice, and turtles. It was as good as a trip to the zoo for her.

We've been getting a LOT of stares in Kunming. Everywhere we go people just stop and stare at us. Many know the word "beautiful" in English (because they use it to describe the things they're trying to sell you I guess) and they comment on how beautiful Megan is. Our guide said she looks like the actress from the movie "American Beauty"...I have no idea who that is! Many people stare at Megan. We need to watch her because the young men are giving a lot of "beautiful" comments. Most everywhere we go we are the only caucasians so we do stick out. Many times they ask if Miyah and Mei Lin are Chinese (I at least understand "Chinese" in Mandarin - "Chung gua ren"). I don't think they understand how two caucasians have Chinese children.

Very few people speak any English in Kunming, but thankfully they're all very friendly and helpful. Whenever we ask for something from housekeeping, they always bring towels. We had similar experiences in Beijing, too. I tried to order room service two nights in Beijing and the woman who answered the phone didn't understand me at all.

We're staying at the Jin Jiang Hotel. The hotel is very nice, but the location isn't the greatest. Our local guide told us it wasn't safe to go right out of the hotel, towards the train station. When we arrived at the hotel there were several beggars in front of the hotel and it's just a dirty part of town. We've driven around Kunming and there are beautiful areas. The climate is always springlike and the flowers are beautiful. The hotel's location makes it difficult to find food and laundry services so it isn't the most convenient, but it's been a great experience seeing another part of China.

I have learned a few useful phrases in Mandarin and I'm very glad I did. Last trip we were in Guangzhou on Shamian Island the entire time where everyone knows how to speak English. This time any little bits of Mandarin are helpful. The only problem is that once you begin speaking Mandarin the Chinese people think you will understand them when they begin speaking back to you. Thankfully I learned how to say "I don't speak Mandarin". Or "I speak Mandarin just a little".

Today Miyah needed to use the restroom while we were at the bird and flower market and so I asked the lady "niao, niao" (like meow only with an "n") while pointing to Miyah and she showed us to a garbage can. The Chinese really do let there children go to the bathroom just about anywhere! We said, "bu", no and she pointed the way to a public restroom. We still had no idea where it was, so I again asked in Mandarin, "Excuse me, may I ask where the bathroom is?" and thankfully they understood me and led us to a hideous public squatty.

The other night Megan and I tried to get take out at a small restaurant down the street from the hotel. For the life of me I could not explain that we wanted the food to go. Elsie has now taught me how to say "to go"...it sounds like "da bao".

One useful phrase has been "bu yao" (pronounced "boo yow"). It means "don't want". Whenever sales people get a little zealous I just say "bu yao" and they immediately understand....they usually laugh and repeat "bu ya". I think I probably say it funny.

This afternoon we couldn't resist another meal at Wei's after a long day of shopping! Miyah and Mei Lin enjoyed the playroom. Miyah hasn't had a lot of kid-things to do on the trip so this was a huge treat!

Don't tell my mom, but later that afternoon, Megan and I went right outside our hotel to do some shopping at an open market. The prices were much better than the bird and flower market.

Tonight I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning to pack all of our things. We leave for Guangzhou in the morning. Somehow we already have two suitcases-full of souvenirs from Beijing and Kunming. Some of that is the warm coats we bought in Beijing....which we've been very glad for. It's actually been cool in Kunming - in the 60's.

Thursday in Kunming

Have I mentioned that Steven, our guide, has kept us busy? Today began at the Dragon Gate, a network of narrow corridors, shrines, and grottoes dug out of the hillside by Toaist monks a couple hundred years ago. The views from the side of the mountain were beautiful and the architecture impressive. Walking amongst these shrines just a few days before the celebration of Easter was a grateful reminder of the peace that comes from knowing a God that blesses us with every good thing; not because we perform ceremony or rituals, or because we've rubbed the right stone for "good fortune", but because of His unconditional love for us and because of the debt paid by His son. We had a few opportunties to share that gospel with our guide and he is very curious and interested.

After the trek up the mountain we stopped at some little roadside shops set up for tourists. We began bargaining with the first lady and she pulled out a pen to write the price....it just so happened to be a Toprol XL pen...the drug Pat's company sells! We gestured for the lady to hold it up for a picture and I think she thought we were crazy.

Then we took a bus ride to a beautiful park. A little girl gave Miyah a hard boiled bird egg. Miyah didn't know what it was and took a bite without peeling it. The egg was tiny, like a robbins egg.

All week I'd been asking Steven about trying a hot pot meal for dinner. So Steven arranged for us to try what he kept calling a mushroom hot pot. We asked him if there were other ingredients besides mushrooms...like chicken,etc. and he said there were veges and chicken also. Well, the hot pot was not what I expected it to be. There were mushrooms....lots of mushrooms...probably ten different kinds of mushrooms....and I hate mushrooms. There were also squid or fish balls and other strange ingredients. Lets just say we ate a lot of rice that meal.

Then we went to a silk factory and watched how they make silk comforters. It was very interesting, but the fashion show was a little strange. They put the show on just for our little group and of course the models were showcasing the silk made by the factory. There was a picture of international officials with the Chinese president wearing traditional silks made by this very factory...including Pres. George W!

Lastly, we were treated to a tea ceremony at "Dr. Tea". It was quite educational and thanks to the great saleswoman, we came out with $100 worth of tea. It looks like we'll all be drinking a lot of tea. Yunnan is known for it's puer tea (pronounced like "poor"). We saw puer tea shops all over Beijing. According to the saleslady it's pretty close to the fountain of youth (ha!)....it's good for cholesterol, weight loss, skin, wrinkles, old age spots, stomach digestion...you name it. It comes in a pressed cake and we bought two, plus jasmine, black, and green tea. Since we'll be living forever with this miracle tea, we should be all set with tea until eternity.

We (Jennifer, Mike, and our family) took Elsie, our guide Steven, and his fiance, Meggie out for dinner. We were starving after our lunch of rice, so we decided to take a taxi to Wei's Pizzeria to get some American food. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to eat pizza and french fries! The Chinese food has mainly been good, but it was still nice to have some familiar food...especially for the kids. Wei's even has a little playroom for the kids on the second floor...and western toilets. Small, but much appreciated luxuries.

Wed in Kunming - Stone Forest and Orphanage Visit

(We posted more photos below for Tuesday, too)
We had a wonderful day today. I know we've been terrible at updating our blog, but we've been so busy seeing so many beautiful places in Yunnan and around Kunming, that we haven't had time to get on the computer. We usually leave the hotel by 8:30 and don't return until even when we have to find dinner, get the girls baths and to bed, then clean and organize things to get ready for the next day.

Having two little ones along on the trip is tiring. Miyah's doing incredibly well, but I think that if I didn't worry about how she would have done without out us for two weeks, I would have left her home. It's not an easy trip for a three year old. She's hungry all the time because she often doesn't like the food and we aren't exactly doing things typically interesting for a three year old. A lot of walking and early mornings/late nights. And that would be fine if it were somewhere like Disney...she did great there. It's really fine, just not easy for anyone.

Anyway, this morning we drove an hour to the Stone Forest. We first stopped at a little shop and bought a carrier made by the area minority people. You see women carrying babies in these all over Kunming. We thought they would be fun to have just for the embroidery, but it also came in handy for carrying Miyah or Mei Lin because we only had one carrier and a lot of walking to do.

The karst formations that make up the "forest" are beautiful. I wish we had time to explore because it would be fun to do a leisurely walk through the whole forest. It was extremely crowded and dozens of people asked Megan to have their picture taken with her. She had a crowd waiting in line for pictures! She was a good sport and smiled through the whole thing. A few times we had to tell them no more.

The Yi people are guides at the forest. They are a minority group in Yunnan and wear interesting clothing. I'll post photos from the Stone Forest later.

After the forest, we did some shopping on the way back to the bus. We bought some beautiful embroidery handmade by the minority groups and some dolls and outfits. It's amazing how cheap the embroidery is. It must take them many hours to make, yet they sell it for $5-$10.

Then we stopped at a restaurant for another wonderful lunch. Once again, Megan ate only the fried rice. She pretty much fills up at the breakfast buffet at the hotel and then eats rice the rest of the day.

We were so blessed to get a wonderful tour of Mei Lins orphanage. We brought some donations from Pat's mom and they seemed so happy to have them.

Then we were taken around the large orphanage complex. I can't tell you how impressed we were! The orphanage was extremely clean and the people were friendly. Several workers saw us and ran up calling Mei Lin's Chinese name, "Pan Jun Xia!". She was obviously loved and well cared for. Many of them signed the book given to us by the orphanage. The book is a treasure! There are dozens and dozens of beautiful photos of orphanage and foster care life. It was made in July 2006, so Mei Lin was actually living there at the time. We were told she lived there for 7 months and then in foster care for 7 months.

There is a school, library, physical therapy room, doctor's office, music and dance room, many play rooms, and each beautiful, clean and staffed by happpy, loving staff. We were told there are 7 doctors, 60 full time staff and 200 part time staff. Mei Lin's physical therapist spent a lot of time playing with her and gave the girls a toy from the room.

We saw a few babies be carried, two to a lady (front and back) around the grounds and many older children returning from school and doing their homework under the trees on the beautiful grounds. There are a few gazebos amongst the beautiful landscaping that made you feel like you were at a resort.

By the end of our tour there were many children returning from school escorted by orphanage staff. It was obvious that the children were getting the best care possible at the orphanage. We feel so blessed that Mei Lin lived in such an atmosphere.

We have a lot of photos of the orphanage to share, unfortunately I wasn't able to give each photo a caption due to some computer problem. Maybe I can fix that later.

Kunming, Day 3

Our guide planned for us to go to the Kunming Zoo, but we decided to lay low and just get to know Mei Lin today. We've been on the go since arriving in China and we're all pretty tired.

The weather took a turn for the worse today and it's cold and rainy. We went out for lunch near the Green Lake area and then onto WalMart. We needed to buy some diapers, wipes, formula, cups, etc. Megan found a whole candy section and decided to buy some. It was more complicated than simply loading up a bag of candy. Each candy had a category for price and had to be put in a separate basket. The meat department had very fresh meat...even live creatures.

Mei Lin decided late yesterday that she only likes daddy and Miyah. She's even hit me and yelled at me when I've tried to hold her. I know that children bond to one parent at a time...she just needs time. The strategy is for me to be the "nice guy" and feed her and give her goodies. These evening I was feeding her some delicious oranges we bought at WalMart (Kunming has awesome fruit!) and she toddled over and gave me a big smile and kiss.

Mei Lin doesn't seem to like formula or a bottle. We're having a hard time finding things she likes to drink. We've tried several kinds of bottles and warm, cold, and in-between temperature drinks. So far we haven't gotten much down her, but she does love broth and eats rather well.

Grace and Mei Lin are both close to walking. I think they will be by the time we get home.

We discovered that Mei Lin is a finger sucker. Hand her a blankie and her fingers go in her mouth with a bit of blankie tucked between the upper lip and fingers. So far she's been a good sleeper.

I gave an orphanage official a book of questions about Mei Lin to answer and Elsie has translated them for us. It looks like Mei Lin lived in a foster home from 7-14 months with two older boys (the parent's bio. sons), and two other foster children (one of them being Grace). The family are rice and vegetable farmers and they apparently smoked (ugh!), but it is obvious that they took very good care of her. She seems healthy and happy.

More pictures!

Mei Lin Day!!!

Okay, with all the technical problems, I'm now just putting up a few photos of Mei Lin and I'll try to figure out why the filter is blocking all the slideshow websites and post more.

We hardly slept last night. I still can't believe all that has happened today. We met Mei Lin at the adoption bureau at 9:00 this morning. We barely walked into the room and set our things down when they came walking in with our babies. Mei Lin is beautiful, sweet, and happy. She hasn't really cried yet. She is totally a daddy's girl and wants nothing to do with mommy yet (sigh). It looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me. She loves her big sisters and thinks Miyah is hilarious. We usually get laughs out of her when Miyah plays with her, otherwise she's been fairly quiet, just taking it all in. She just lights up whenever she sees Miyah. She even initiated several hugs. It's so fun to see them interacting together. I can't wait until we have more time to let them just play together.

Her little face and hands are so tan. We were thrilled to find out that she's been in foster care with our travel companion's little girl, Grace. It's apparent they've spent a lot of time out in the fields with their foster parents, most likely strapped to their backs as they work. The foster village is about an hour from Kunming, in a rural minority area. They were each in four layers of new, warm clothing and it was in the 80s today!

Mei Lin is almost walking, but she has some gaps in her motor development. She creeps and crawls a little, but I suspect she hasn't had a lot of time on the floor. She has taken several steps today without support and I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't walking by the time we get home.

She's quite sturdy, too. She's wearing about a size 12 or 18 months. I have to try some outfits on her yet, but some of the 12-18 months I brought her (the biggest size I packed for her) look like they'll be too small. The little capris I put her in today Miyah wore last summer! She's definitely not petite, but she's not especially chubby either.

We had a busy, busy day. All of the adoption paperwork was finalized, passport pictures taken and applied for. We left the hotel at 8:30 AM and except for a short lunch break, didn't return until around 6:30 PM.

Jennifer and I commented several times today about how amazing our new girls have been with all the changes and the hectic schedule with barely any sleep. Miyah has done great, too. She hasn't felt well on and off and I know that there are so many factors that have made the rigors of travel wear on her, but she's been an amazing little trooper.

Before we returned to the hotel tonight, we stopped at the Carrefour department store and stocked up on baby essentials and some food for the hotel room. I guess we never went to the Carrefour on our first trip. It was nice to find everything in one stop....even the live toads and turtles!

Mei Lin loved her bath tonight. She and Miyah splashed and played and one of the few times she even whimpered today were when I took her out of the bath. Pat got her to bed tonight easily. Both Miyah and Mei Lin were exhausted and are sound to sleep in HIS room! Hopefully I'll get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight.

It's been an awesome, incredible day. God is so amazing in his blessings. We can't even begin to describe how blessed we feel to have another amazing child to raise and love.

Hopefully we'll have more tomorrow! I'm going to try to post some more photos from previous days, but Megan is begging to get on the computer.

Thank you all for all your prayers.

Goodnight from China!

On Our Way to Kunming!

We’ve all been up since 4:30 or 5 this morning. I’m really trying not to think about the fact that we’ll be meeting Mei Lin tomorrow because I know I won’t be able to sleep at all if I do. I know it’ll be difficult to sleep tonight. We’re supposed to meet her in the morning.
I couldn’t sleep this morning, so I decided to update the blog. Miyah woke up hungry again so I got a call at 5:30 from Pat asking for something for her to eat. Cheerios and Goldfish crackers are about all I had left. She’s eaten through most of the snacks already.
We instant messaged with Matt this morning and then called to talk to him. Miyah wanted to say hi and tell him how much she missed him and loved him. When she got on the phone though she began quoting movie lines and singing to him.
Grace from CHI met us at the hotel to bring us to the airport. The Beijing airport was definitely busier than I remembered it, but we didn’t have to wait in line to check in and they didn’t even charge us for the extra piece of luggage or for each piece being overweight. After all that weighing and shifting and reweighing we find that so far none of the airlines even care how much our luggage weighs. Northwest didn’t even weigh our luggage when we left home. I did mention to Chloe here that we had an extra piece of luggage for orphanage donations and she said that the Beijing airport isn’t very strict especially if they explain that they are donations. So I don’t know if Grace explained that or not, but we didn’t have any problems. I’m so glad we decided to take things for Mei Lin’s orphanage instead of donating them in Beijing.
We’re now on our way to Kunming. I’m so excited to see a new part of China. From everything we’ve heard and read, Kunming is supposed to be beautiful. Most families prefer it to Guangzhou even. Here’s a little blurb about Kunming from Frommers:
"As the capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, also known as the ‘city of eternal spring,’ is one of the most pleasant and relaxed cities of China. And Lonely Planet says this about Yunnan: "Yunnan is without a doubt one of the most alluring travel destinations in China. It’s the most geographically varied of all of China’s provinces, with terrain as widely diverse as tropical rainforest and icy Tibetan highlands. It is also home to a third of all of China’s ethnic minorities (nearly 50% of the province is non-Han - the majority people group of China) and half of all China’s plant and animal species. If you could only got to one province, this might well be it. Yunnan is also well known for it’s mild climate year-round. Kunming has a flavor all its own that seems more than half a world away from Beijing...."
Yunnan contains the nation’s highest number of species of flora and fauna and has been called the "Kingdom of Plants/Animals", "Garden of Heavenly Marvelous Flowers and Plants", and "Hometown of Perfume".
We are also excited to see Elsie, our CHI coordinator, again. Elsie was our coordinator in 2004 and our family fell in love with her. She’s a sweet, kind young woman. We’re so pleased to spend the rest of our trip with her! And we’re also excited to meet the McQuades who’ll be adopting their little girl from Kunming, as well.