Good bye China

Today was our last full day in China. We decided to go to the Guangzhou Zoo this morning with our guides Grace and Paul and the Thompson family. This zoo was MUCH nicer and cleaner than the Zhengzhou zoo. The animals were in good shape and obviously well taken care of, compared to Zhengzhou. It was a glaring example of the amount of poverty in Henan compared to this city. Guangzhou is the 3rd largest city in China. It has about 13 million people, compared to about 10-15 years ago when the city only had 6 million. The place is huge and I can't imagine how anyone can firgue out where they are going on the streets. There are a lot of new apartment buildings. But even though they are new, people still hang their laundry outside on their little balconies. Rob says I would fit right in. Anyway, back to the zoo...the first exhibit we say was the monkeys. Kendall flipped out and started yelling and getting all excited as she watched the monkeys swinging from the roofs of their cages. We also saw the tigers, lions, bears, including the panda, brown and black bear, elephants, rhinos, and much more. I wanted to take a photo of her with a panda bear statue, but she freaked out, screaming and crying. I think she thought it was a real bear. She was good and pretty well behaved, even though it was unbelieveablly hot and humid. We're talking shirt and shorts soaked with sweat. We came back around noontime and had some time to relax before leaving for the US Consulate to take the oath and receive Kendall's visa to enter the US. The oath was really nothing, except us saying that we swore and affirmed that the information we gave was true and correct. No big deal. We receive the "sealed envelop" which cannot be opened until we go through the immigration line in Newark. Once the officer stamps Kendall's passport in Newark, she will be an automatic US citizen, but will lose her Chinese citizenship. Her life in the US will be so much different than it would be here...I can't imagine the opportunities she will have and things she will experiece that she never would have had a chance to do here, especially being an orphan. I just hope one day she realizes why why we did what we did to bring her home.Our next post will be from the good ol' USA, from our own house. Our flight to Beijing leaves at 9:00 am so we must leave the hotel by 6:30 to get to the airport. The flight to the US leaves at 3:45 pm and lands in Newark at 5:30 pm on Friday afternoon. Please keep us in your thoughts as we endure a very long and probably trying day of travel. We cannot wait to come home. It has been a unique, eye-opening, sometimes sobering, and life changing experience for us to visit this country and be able to have the privilege to bring one of her daughter's home with us. It is an experience we will not soon forget.

The Booze Cruise, Chinese Style

Okay, for all you non-Office fans out there who have no idea of what the Booze Cruise is. It is an episode where the entire staff takes a boat cruise around the lake with copious amounts of booze. Well, we did something of the same, except our drink offerings of chioce were Pepsi, 7-Up, or orange soda. The cruise was actually a dinner cruise on the Pearl River, which runs through the city of Guangzhou. Our cruise lasted from 6:30 until 8:00 and I have to admit it was the most relaxing thing we have done on this entire trip. Rob and I skipped the dinner (we had Subway in the afternoon instead!), but Kendall really dug into the rice, noodles, and beans. This kid loves her noodles! The timing of the cruise was perfect...the sun was setting and all the buildings around the river were beginning to light up as we were cruising. Very cool. The lower level of the boat was actually air-conditioned, but after the dinner we went up on the upper deck to enjoy the open air and lights. Kendall enjoyed watching all the other dinner cruise boats pass us along the way. Earlier in the day the three of us ventured off the island to the big city to check out the traditional medicine market. Interesting to say the least. We saw dried seahorses, starfish, snakes, all kinds of mushrooms, and god only knows what else. Kendall started the whine, so we only stayed for a few minutes before we wlaked back (plus it was about 90 million degrees outside). On the way back we had to cross a pedestrian bridge over the road where we were entertained by a one-legged karoke beggar. Yep, he was singing (with an amp, microphone and all) for money. Everytime someone would give him some money he would say thank you in Chinese into the mic, which had this terrible echo. Rob, being the nice guy, decided to make a donation to his cause. When we got back to the hotel we decided to take Kendall swimming. I think she would love the pool, but for some reason has developed a fear of Chinese people working at our hotel, including the pool attendants. She took one look at the woman and screamed bloody murder, so her and I headed back to our room for a nap, only to be greeted by a cleaning person and the screaming started all over again. While she and I napped, Rob went back to the medicine market becasue he wanted to see the scorpions. He came back happy because he got to see both little and big scorpions. Lucky him...I'm sorry I missed it. Today was a quiet day. It started out with breakfast where we saw this giant bug (a roach I think...) near our table, laying on its back still kicking its legs. No one seemed to notice it (but I certainly did) until one worker saw it, and a crowd of three workerd gathered around it. One wanted to step on it, but was held back by the lady in charge, so they took the broom and simply swept it up. Goodbye and good riddance. One of the adults had to stay in the room today from 10:30 until 12:00 because it was the day that Grace, our guide, took our paperwork to the US Consulate to apply for Kendall's visa. She called us around 11:40 to tell us that everything was good. YES! This means we are cleared to bring Kendall home on Friday!!!!! We tried swimming after that but had the same reaction as yesterday so her and I took another nap while Rob swam for a while. When he came back I went and did some shopping with the help of Rose, another mother and champion bargainer in our group. I got some really good deals with her help. We went to Lucy's again for dinner and came back to the room. I started packing the suitcases this morning when I was stuck in the room. Miss Kendall was particularly difficult to put to sleep tonight, but after 40 minutes of her laughing at me she finally went to sleep. Tomorrow is a trip to the zoo, where we will probably melt, but Kendall likes animals, and then we take the oath at the US Consulate in the afternoon. Only 2 more sleeps here in China before we come home!

Guangzhou so far...

We have been really busy here in Guangzhou since we arrived at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am on Saturday morning. On Saturday at 10:45 am, we walked as a group to the medical clinic here on the island for the kids to have their medical exams for their American visa. Talk about a joke...one station was ear nose and throat. They basically squeaked a toy in the child's ear to make sure that they could hear, checked their throat and looked in their ears. Of course Kendall took one look at the people in masks doing the tests and screamed her head off. She must have bad expereinces with doctors in the past because this was the routine at every station. Another station was height and weight (she weights 24.5 lbs but it certainly feels like 90 when you are lugging her around the place) and the last station was a boy check where they took off her clothes, gave her a quick look-over and listened to her heart (I have absouletly no idea how the doctor could hear anything over the siren-like wails coming from her). She then had to have a TB test, which is a new requirement for the US for her to be able to get a visa to enter the country. This just went into effect on July 1st. Great. Thanks a bunch US government. Another screaming station. After that we were done. We were one of the lucky ones. Since our paperwork had been in China forever, we were considered a non-Hauge family. The Hauge agreement went into effect last year and adoptive families need to go through lots more stuff for it, including shots for the kids if their shots are not up to date according to the US standards. Some of the kids got 5 or 6 shots. Inhumane if you ask me. At least we dodged that bullet. Kendall calmed down as soon as we left the clinic, but we asked our guide Grace to make us an appointment at the clinic here at the hotel because she had green guck coming out of her ear. So at 2:00 we went to the White Swan clinic. And yet again another screaming match. She had a severe ear infection, upper respitory infection and bad cough. We got 4 types of meds for her, plus ear drops that we have to do 3 times a day, and were told not to take her swimming or feed her eggs or beans. Huh? What do eggs and beans have to do with an ear infection is beyond me. Must be an ancient Chinese secret. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the kid LOVES to take medicine. Strange kid, especially when we were told to mix all of the meds together to give to her. Yuck doesn't cut it. But she drinks it right down with a smile. I had to go and do the visa paperwork at our guided room in the afternoon, while she slept with Rob, as we were still pretty wiped out after the extremely late night. We went to Lucy's, an "American" resturaunt here on the island for dinner. Pretty good food, if I must say so. Kendall had a MAJOR meltdown at bedtime. I'm not sure if it was the meds, being overly tired, or being in a new place, but she screamed for 45 minutes, which sucks since the walls are pretty darn thin here. She finally wnet down with both of us following suit quickly there after. On Sunday we went on a group tour to a Buddist temple, the Six Banyen Trees temple. Very neat, lots of Buddahs everywhere. We had the option to have our kids blessed, which we and another family decided to do. Hey, we figured it is her culture...why not do it. The monk chanted a chant, sprinkled some presumed holy water on us and that was it. The temple was peaceful...lots of people there praying to Buddah, lighting insence, bowing. Very neat. After that we went to the Chen Family House. The chen's are the largest family group here in Guangzhou and they built this house back in the late 1800's for their family members to come and study in the city. The government took over the house years ago and made it into a folk art museum. Neat stuff, especially the embroidery. Amazing is actually the correct word. But it was super humid, like sweat literally dripping off of you humid. We then went to a shopping area where the prices were pretty good and the quality was good. I bought a few things for some gifts. I got Evan and Kendall shirts that say big brother and little sister in Chinese. I can't wait to see them model those. In the afternoon little Miss Empress refused to take a nap, but we had to take her back to the clinic here at the hotel to get her ear washed out. Once again a screaming match. Actually more like a whining match. Man, can this kid whine. I keep asking her if she would like a little cheese with that whine. But she's cute, which is what saves her...Dinner last night was an optional group dinner at the Cow and Bridge Thai resturaunt. We wnet, but I wish we would not have. It was our first and probably last expereince with Thai food. I took one look at the menu and realized we made a mistake. I'm a picky eater, but who the hell in their right mind wants to eat Goose liver, pidgeon, boneless chicken feet...you get my drift. Rob ordered a seafood salad and we nearly died when it came out and had tenticles. I ordered the fried rice, but without the curry. I ordered Kendall steamed noodles, which were pure white and sticky and stretchy like elastic. Needless to say she would NOT touch them but I couldn't blame her. She ate some of my rice, but not much. Rob ate some of the salad, but avioded the tenticles. He said it was spicy hot too. We came back to our room pretty quickly since Rob's throat was hurting him. Monday was a trip to the Pearl Factory in town. Imagine this...a seven story pearl factory. Yep, it was a large mall with 7 stories of shop after shop of wholesale pearl and other jewelry stores. I did but Kendall a pair of pearl earrings and a pearl necklace that was handstrung right in front of us. She wanted to try them on, which I left her, but I told her to take a good look at them since she will not see them again until her bridal shower...This shop was overwhelming...they kept bringing out pearls on a string and you could pick the size and quality of what you wanted. They were on the cheap side. I think I paid maybe $85 US Dollars for a AA grade pearl necklace. I want to have it appraised in the states to see if I made a good buy, which I think I did. The afternoon was free time, so Rob and Kendall came back to the hotel room and played while I shopped at some of the stores here on the island. There are many little stores, catering to adoptive families. A lot of the stuff is junky, but I did get Kendall 2 pair of leather shoes for about $5.00 each, which she loves, so I think I will go back tomorrow and get more sizes for her to grow into tomorrow. We had to walk back to the clinic here on the island to have her TB test read. It was negative! Yeah! If it had been positive, we would have had to get her a chest x-ray. We then took her back to the clinic at the hotel to get her ear washed out again. Yep, more tears and whining. We walked to an Italian place here on the island and got pizza for supper. Good stuff. These Chinese know how to make a good pizza! The Empress then got a bath, and had another meltdown at bedtime, but fell to sleep within 5 minutes. Tomorrow is another busy day, with more shopping to do! Until then...

We're still here...

We're still here... And we're in Guangzhou, in Southern China, to do the American portion of the paperwork. It's been an interesting two days, to say the least...Our flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou was scheduled to leave at 5:00 pm on Friday, but the Chinese governement decided they needed the China Southern planes to move troops to the western part of China where the riots are going on, so the entire flight schedule got messed up. We arrived at the airport at 3:00 pm, checked our luggage and found out that our flight was delayed. Great. So now we are stuck at the Zhengzhou airport wher basically no one speaks English and we are quite the main attraction. Yisha, our guide, recommended that we got to a new hotel across the street from the airport. God bless that hotel staff. 8 American families invaded their nice, new coffee shop. They were very gracious to us, and we were able to get something to eat and hang a bit before going back to the airport. At 7:00, we headed back. Yisha checked and they told her that our flight was leaving at 8:00. Wonderful, just in time. We go through security and are on our own only to find out that our flight is NOT leaving at 8:00. They have no idea when it will leave. So we decided as a group to crash in a area near a play area for the kids. We waited, waited and waited some more. No flight. Don't worry, we were told, it will come they were just no sure when. Kids were getting tired and cranky, parents were getting tired, cranky and stressed. Finally around 11:00 pm we found out that the flight we were taking was leaing Shanghai and would be to our airport around 12:00 and we would leave around 12:40. We finally did leave, but not until 1:00 am. Kendall fell asleep about 1 minute into the flight and Rob and I were soon after that. We slept the entire way to Guangzhou, getting ot the airport at 2:45 am. Until we got our luggage and our bus to the hotel, it was 4:00 am when we arrived at the hotel. I think we fell asleep around 4:30 and had to be up to be at the medical exam for Kendall's visa at 10:45. We had no crib in our room and twin beds, so Kendall and I slept together. The kid is a bed hog just like her brother. But at least we made it here, finally.We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, on Shanmin Island in Guangzhou. The island used to be a European area, and the influence can still be seen here in the buildings. The island is very nice, with tree lined streets, with very little traffic. There are lots of little shops that cater to adopting families, since this is the place where most families stay when adopting. The hotel is beautiful, with a big koi pond and waterfall in the lobby. The hotel sits alongside the Pearl River and you can watch boats floating by on the river while you eat breakfast in the coffee shop. Our room faces the river, which is very cool because at night all the buildings on the river are lit up with bright flashing neon lights. Kendall enjoys watching the lights and baots.She is doing well. Her personality is coming out more and more. She is quite the bossy and demanding little thing...quite the emperess. But she is cute which is what saves her. I'll write more about her medical exam and our day today tomorrow. The little empress needs a bath...

Lions and Tigers and Panda Bears, Oh My!

Today we went to the Zhengzhou Zoo. We paid a whopping 16 Yuan for each adult to get in. This amounts to $2.65 or something close to that. Kendall loved the animals, especially the birds. She would point to the animals and get a big smile on her face when she saw them. The zoo had one lone giant panda. The poor thing obviously had something wrong with its front paw because it limped when it walked. It's living conditions and those of the other animals did really leave a lot to be desired. I wonder about the quality of vet services and care in this country. One would think that a majestic creature like the giant panda would have better treatment, especially since it symbolizes China so much. The zoo also had 2 red pandas, known to them as the lesser panda. Gosh, give the poor things a complex why don't you. They were rather cool looking, kind of a cross between a red fox and a racoon in many ways. And speaking of racoons (my favorite animals, next to mice and rats, as those of you at work know...) they were quite the attraction with 2 or 3 pens full of the varmin. We also got to see Asiatic elephants, tigers, lions, giraffes, a zebra, and my personal favorite the hippos. Unfortunately they were hanging out underwater at the time, so we did not get a good look at them up close. The zoo also had a little amusement park in it that looked like it was a left over from the traveling carnival circuit in the US. Needless to say we will wait to put Kendall on her first amusement park rides until we hit Dorney Park. I'm sure these rides are NOT inspected everyday. Every year would probably be lucky. After the zoo, all three of us crashed for naps this afternoon. I had to go to Yisha, our guide's room around 4:30 and pick up the documents from the notary to take to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. We also received her immunization record, a copy of her finding ad (a finding ad is what the orphanage places in the newspaper when a child is found, describing when and where he/she was discovered), and some reports from Half the Sky, an American organization that works in her orphanage. She was in their Little Sisters Program, so I can contact them when we get home and get copies of the actual reports they kept on her, along with photos. Dinner was in the resturaunt in our lobby again. Expensive but nice not to have to go out in the humidity. Tonight is our last night in Kendall's birth province. Tomorrow at 5:00 we fly to Guangzhou in southern China and will be there until next Friday when we leave to come home. Tomorrow may be the last time Kendall ever sees the province of her birth. I hope one day when she is older we will be able to bring her back and visit her orphanage so she can have a sense of where she came from. Keep your fingers crossed for us to have an uneventful flight tomorrow, which will be Kendall's first flight. Until tomorrow in Guangzhou...

If You Like Eating at McDonald's and Getting Caught in the Rain...

No, this is not Rupert Holmes blogging from China but still us. We had a quiet, uneventful relaxing day today. We ate breakfast at the hotel buffet and then decided to walk to a park just down the street from our hotel. A nice park, nice walking paths, an open air roller skating rink, river with paddle boats, kids peeing on the path, you get the picture. It kind of felt like a time warp and that we were back in the 1970's. We were quite the main attraction...lots of stares and weird looks, especially since Rob was carrying Kendall. A bit uncomfortable to say the least. It was humid as heck so we decided to head back to our hotel and grab some lunch, that famous Chinese food...pizza. Yep, we flew halfway around the world to eat pizza in Zhengzhou. Kendall enjoyed it, eating 3 pieces herself. Heck this kid enjoys anything you put in her mouth. I hope it stays that way. I ordered ice cream for dessert...I guess it was good. I honestly couldn't tell you because she ate the entire 2 scoops by herself. I guess I should mention that the size of the scoops together was about the size of a golf ball. I think I now understand why Chinese people are thin. We put her down for a nap and I stayed with her while Rob and another father decided to walk to Walmart for some drinks. When they got back they called us and asked if we wanted to walk to the McDonalds down the street, maybe 1/2 a mile away. Sure we said, meet you in 15 minutes. Quite the interesting walk I must say. First unusual thing we encountered was a beggar...a child maybe 7 to 8 years old. We couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl, but the kid grabbed Sonya the other adoptive mother with us and would not let go. We tried saying Bu Yao, which means go away but they kept hanging on so I finally reached in my purse and pulled out the smallest denomination of Chinese currency there is. I think it amounts to at the most $.10. They finally left go after I shoved it in their cup. We were told to expect beggars, but it was realy sad to see a kid doing that. When we got to McDonalds they had picture menus so we ordered and sat down to eat. The sky began to darken and we decided we had better get back to the hotel. I grabbed Kendall's food and carried it along with me, expecting to feed her in our hotel room. About halfway back Lance (the other adoptive father) said "Was that a raindrop?" Yep, it was more than a raindrop. It was a deluge. Picture this..2 American families running down the heavily traveled street one carrying a toddler who is screaming because she does not like being wet (us) and the other carrying a baby boy in a front pack and two mothers running right along side of them. The absurdity of it all hit us as we walked into the Crown Plaza Hotel soaked to the bone, laughing our heads off, leaving a dripping trail across the beautiful lobby. I'm not an expert on Chinese by any means, but I'm sure the comment "Stupid Americans...don't you know what an umbrella is?" was in there somewhere by the staff. Miss Kendall stopped crying once we got her dried off and changed and she has been quite the little ham ever since. She's currently modeling both her and my sunglasses. Her paperwork nailed it when they said she was very charming. Boy they were dead on. She's enjoying her Dora puzzle from Grandma, her toy phone and bath ducks that we bought her at Walmart and she loves her doll and My Little Pony and is quite adept at using a brush to comb the pony's hair. Quite interesting considering she has basically almost a buzz cut and has probably never had very long hair in her life. She would like to say something to all of you out in blog land. Kendall says "vmmmmbl;gg/ hhfp9 cv'p96rdcc,m. m vvvvv jk./kjjl;lhhbhh" I'm not quite sure what it says, but I'm sure it is Chinese for "I can't wait to meet everyone! Until tomorrow.

And Then There Were Four

Today was the day that the DeVall family became a family of four. Dang Hong Xiang became Kendall Hongxiang DeVall. The adoption was finalized this morning and she is now stuck with us forever. Poor kid. Here's what we know about her so far:1. She loves to be tickled and she giggles and giggles when you are doing so.2. When she smiles its with her entire face, not just her mouth.3. She will eat anything and ususally lots of it.4. She is basiclly potty trained (thank god for that!). No accidents yet...5. She loves playing with toys that make noise and light up. Boy will she LOVE our house...6. She likes taking baths and playing with her plastic ducks we bought her.7. She has learned how to "give high five".8. She likes to drink juice out of her sippy cup. 9. She's sweet, smart, adorable, and we are totally in love with her (just like we are with her big brother). The actual adoption ceremony, if you can call it that, was nothing. We basically gave our money to the guides and they took it into the registration office. The woman in charge of the registration office came out and presented us with our adoption certificates, said a few words to us and that was that. All the families had their photos taken with her and we got on the bus and went to the notary office to apply for who knows what. Again, we filled out 4 sheets of paper, which our guide Yisha told us everything to say, and we again had our photos taken with the notary official in front of a Chinese flag. No interview, no face to face meeting with the officials. Oh well, who cares...she's ours!The rest of the day was free time, although many of us did go to the Lotus Center, which Rob would have described as a Walmart on Crack. Big food section like a grocery store, but the other parts were not nearly as big. We had pretty many supplies, but Kendall came to us with a cough, that seems to have gotten worse today, so Yisha our guide took me to a pharmacy and got her cough medicine. I paid a whopping $1.25 or so for a bottle of cough medicine. She took it willingly tonight (she will need to teach her brother how this is done...) even though it smelled horrible. I got her a blamket too for the plane ride home, since it was pretty cool on the way over and I couldn't find a jacket or sweather for her. We went to the resturaunt downstairs in the hotel, where she had spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner. She ate about 1/2 the bowl and I ate the rest. Rob had the buffet for the first and only time once I saw the bill. He tried to eat raw chicken on a stick until one of the waitresses came rushing over and told him it needed to be cooked. They probably laughed and thought "Dumb American". Tomorrow is a free day and I think we might try to walk to a park just down the road from us a bit, if it is not too stinkin' humid. The pool here at the hotel looks good too for tomorrow. Until then....

I Got You Babe

I Got You Babe... Yep, take a guess by the title what (or in our case) who we've got...Kendall! Or as she is still known by Hong Xiang. To say its been a tough day is an understatement. We left the hotel as a group around 9:40 and made our way to the civil affairs office a few miles from our hotel. Traffic was again a nightmare and to add icing to the cake it was raining pretty hard. I said to Rob, "I hope this isn't an omen..." Famous last words. Needless to say it was. Everyone else's kids were waiting at the office when we arrived. The only one missing was Kendall. We were told they were on their way and would arrive shortly. Yeah right. I stood outside waiting for the car to arrive and they did not come. We were told to be patient...the orphanage is 2 1/2 hours away and they must have hit traffic. That's a little hard to swollow and continue to be patient when you've been patient for over 3 years. Allt he other families were with their kids and enjoying them and we were all alone. Needless to say I lost it and began to cry. We were then told that everyone was going to the photo shop to get our photos taken for the adoption and we would meet her there. Great, I've waited 3 freakin' years for my daughter to meet her in a photo shop. When we got there they were waiting for us and everyone left us off the bus first. So there in the middle of a photo shop in Zhengzhou we met her for the first time. She was crying when we first got to her and then she stopped and left me hold her. She was saying mama and baba (daddy in chinese) and hello. All was good until it came time to leave and say good bye to the orphanage workers...all hell now breaks loose. We have to walk back to our hotel several blocks away in the extremely humid weather carrying a screaming child. I felt like I was kidnapping her. It was one of the most awful feelings I've ever had. She screamed for a while until I finally had our guide talk to her and she told us to get her some lunch. We went to the hotel next to us and she scarfed down noodles for lunch. Man this kid can pack away the noodles. She was good at lunch, looking around the place, but would not look at me. We got back to the room and I put her on the potty and she peed! She's almost potty trained but wears a diaper at night. She kept crying and we finally got her alseep just as I had to go and do paperwork. Rob got her back to sleep and she slept for a while until Rob and her had to come to finish the paperwork. And then it started again...the crying. She finally did stop once we put her feet in the sink with water and splashed them around. Hey, whatever works. Rob and another father walked to Walmart and Kendall and I hung out in the room. She didn't cry at all the whole time. She snacked on M&M's, Teddy Grahams, and buttered popcorn rice cakes. She got what I believe was her first taste of Sprite...and biy what a face. Unlike her brother I don't think soda is in her future. Right now she ios playing with a toy phone that Rob just bought at Walmart and some squeeking bath ducks. We splurged and are waiting on room service for dinner. I didn't feel like going out into the humidity again. I'll post more later giving you all the details about her as they emerge.

Climbing the Great Wall

Today we climbed the Great Wall. It is as awe inspiring in person as any photos you have ever seen. We went to the Badaling section, which was pretty crowded. It was build during the Ming Dynasty, and let me tell you that there was no standardized step size back then. One is extremely high and the next is really small. And steep...holy cow that wall is steep. Couple the steepness and uneven steps with the heat and humidity and you have a recipie for a heart attack. I was only able to make it to the second tower, but Rob went all the way up to the top...all the way until the wall stopped. There was no way I could make it...the second tower was pushing it but I was determined to do it. After the Great Wall, we went to a Chinese lunch...not as good as yesterdays though. We then went to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube fromt he Olympics. Way cool. We then went to an acrobat show. Very cool, but the theater was not air conditioned so it was hot and the seats were realaly small and our knees were crashing into the seats in front of us. I hate to admit it but I dozed off near the end of the show and something startled my and I jumped like crazy at a particularry loud past. We were too tired to go out for something to eat so we came back to the room and snacked for supper. We also packed the suitcases as our flight to Henan leaves tomorrow at 10:30, so we have to be ready to go at 8:15 and that includes eating breakfast. Next time I post will be from Henan. Only 1 1/2 more days until Kendall day! Oh, one more thing...I know everyone is waiting for photos, but I am officially an idiot and brought the wrong camera cord alongso I don't know if I will be able to download any photos for right now. Hopefully someone has a cord that might fit my camera so I will check it out hopefully tomorrow.

Holy Beijing Hotness Batman!Let me start with today was hot...we're talking about the sweat dripping from your face, shirt soaked with sweat, on the verge of you beginning to stink hot. Our day started off with a buffett breakfast in our hotel. Typical breakfast foods like aged eggs, salad, congee, fried rice, fried noodles...you get the picture. Actually there were a lot of western foods including bacon, sausage, eggs made to order, pastries, yogurt, and the best...cereal, including cocco crispies. After breakfast we met our guide and the rest of our CCAI group in the lobby. We traveled to Tienanaman Square and the Forbidden City, where I believe about 1 billion of the nations 1.3 billion people were speanding their day. We did get to see the famous Chairman Mao picture and the inside of the Forbidden City, but I have to say that while I was really looking forward to it, I couldn't enjoy it because of the heat. Stinkin' hot is a good description. We have several kids in our group and they looked like they were just melting as we pushed along. Couple that with the people trying to sell you junk at every turn and you have the makings of an interesting morning. We then went to a Chinese resturaunt for lunch, where they kept bringing food out onto a big lazy susan in the middle of the table. Veggies in some kind of sauce, rice, shrimp, shrimp cakes, chicken with bamboo, and the famous Chinese delicacy french fries. Yep, we had french fries for lunch. After lunch we went to a silk factory for a tour of how silk was made (and to try to get you to purchase government made silk...). While they had beautiful items, they were just too expensive for me. Our last tour was of the hutongs on a rickshaw. A rickshaw is a cart you sit in behind a bike. The guy who drove us was the skinniest driver of the bunch and he had the sorry task of pedalling a bike pulling my fat carcass around this old neighborhood on an almost 100 degree day. I did give him a tip, even though it amounted to about .33 American money, because it was the only small bills I had. The hutongs were okay, a bunch of houses and shops in like its own neighborhood. Interesting way of living. After that we were on our own for the rest of the evening so we came back to our room to take showers and then Rob and I went to Pizza Hut for supper. We did go to this big mall so I could buy a calculator (so I can figure out what the heck stuff really costs). Rob described it as the Green Dragon on Crack. For anyone who doesn't know, the Green Dragon is a large outdoor and indoor flea and farmers market near where we live. This mall is just one stand of pretty much junk after another. The good thing is that you can bargain with them, so I paid about $3.00 for my calculator, which is probably too much. We then went to a grocery store and had some good laughs there. Bottled water cost us $.15 each and a bottle of bear was about $1.00, which shampoo was about $6.00 a bottle. Funny enough we did find Snyders of Hanover Honey Mustard Pretzels so I had to buy them...what the heck are the chances that we would find something made about 1 hour from our house over half the worl away. Tomorrow is the Great Wall, the Olympic Village and a Chinese Acrobat show. I will post photos as soon as I can figure out how to get them from my camera to my computer. Keep the comments coming. I can read them in my e-mail but cannot not accept them to post them on blogger, as blogger is blocked here in China. Only 2 more days till we get Kendall!

Welcome to Beijing!After a 13+ hour marathon but uneventful flight we've made it safely to Beijing! We are staying at the Holiday Inn Downtown for 3 nights unatil we leave for Zhengzhou. To say it was sureal coming in to land is an understatement. Our flight path was north from Newark, over Quebec and the Hudson Bay and then across the polar ice cap. We started turning south over Russia and flew over that for a few hours. I remember looking out the plane window once I knew we were over China and thinking, "I'm looking at the land of my daughter's birth." Our landing was one of the smoothest I have ever had. Lots of buildings and homes around the airport, which is north of center city Beijing. It actually reminded me of the midwest strangely enough. The in seat entertainment systems on Contenintial were great! Lots of movies, tv shows and music to partake in. There was also a screen which would show where the plane was on a map. It also showed the miles we had traveled, miles to go and the current outside temp. I think the coldest we saw was -70 degrees F. We were cruising at 38000 feet for a while. Before we could de-palne, the ministry of health came on and took everyone's temp.on the forhead with a scanner. It only took a few minutes and we were able to leave. We had to fill out a health forn, immigration card, and show our passports numerous times. After all that we found our luggage pretty quickly and found our guide Sindy and our guide waiting for us. Sindy helped us check into the hotel and will meet us tomorrow at 9:00 to visit the Forbidden City and more. I'll post more after the tours.

WELCOME TO BEIJING!

Here we go!

We are getting ready to leave for New Jersey to spend the night with Rob's brother so we can be at the airport bright and early tomorrow morning. Wish us luck, pray for us, for Evan and Kendall, and next time we post it will be from China!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!
I can't believe that after 3 years we are leaving on July 1st to travel to China for Kendall. Right now I have so many emotions going through my head...I'm excited, scared, nervous, anxious, but happy and optimistic too. 17 days is a long time to be away from Evan...he's going to miss us and we are going to miss him so much! We are going to try to rent a cell phone in China and call him hopefully every day. Our flight leaves Newark at 12:10 pm on Wednesday and gets to Beijing at 1:50 pm on Thursday. 13 hours and 40 minutes...wow is all I can say. I think the plane is full or nearly full, at least going to Beijing. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Downtown in Beijing. We will tour the city on the 3rd and 4th, and fly to Zhengzhou, Henan Province on Sunday the 5th. We get Kendall in the morning on the 6th. We fly to Guangzhou on the 10th and leave to come home on the 17th. Please say a prayer for us that everything goes smoothly and our health remains good, that Kendall has an easy transition and does not grieve too much, and that Evan has a good time with his grandparents and doesn't miss us too much. We'll try our best to post from Beijing. If I can't get on Blogger, then my wonderful friend Becky will post the messages for me.

Update on Kendall!

We got an update on Monday about Kendall including a new photo and measurements! As of June 5th, she weighed 26.4 pounds, was 33.8 inches tall, had a head circumference of 18.89 inches, a chest circumference of 20 inches and her feet were 5.5 inches long! She has 19 teeth and is healthy! I cannot WAIT to go get this girl. The time until TA (travel approval) seems to be dragging by. I feel like I've been stalking my Yahoo groups, RQ (the China adoption rumor board) and my e-mail several times an hour to see if our TA is on its way. I hope it comes within the next week so we can make our travel arrangements soon without having to pay even higher flight costs.

The photo is the one we received with the new measurements. I was THRILLED to see her in a dress, especially a pink one! But alas, she looks less than thrilled. I sure hope she likes dresses, as she literally has a closet full of them in various sizes waiting for her once she gets home.

BTW, check out the evil looking apple in the background...

New Photos of our girl!

We are so lucky to have these new photos of Kendall, that were taken last month. A family visiting the orphanage took these photos and posted them to the Luoyang Yahoo group that I belong to. The shot of her with the little boy in blue is first photo we actually have of her smiling! She looks like quite the ham in this photo! The other photo cracks me up...she looks nosy, like she's miffed about not knowing what is going on. Boy, will she fit in here! I cannot wait to bring her home! Now if only her hair would grow.........

Special Olympics

Since Evan is in first grade, he was eligable to participate in the Special Olympics at Kutztown University on April 22nd. All the school districts from Berks County had participants, so there were a lot of kids there. I took the day off of work to go and watch. The day was cool and cloudy, but at least the rain held off until later in the afternoon.

Evan was a participant in the 50-meter dash, the softball throw, and the standing long jump. His first event of the day was the 50-meter dash. He did a GREAT job!! He and Mrs. Strackbein (his favorite aide in school) were in the lead until the very end when he slowed up. He still got second place with a time of 14.43 seconds. I was a happy and proud mom! He then went back to Kutztown's resting area and had some lunch. After lunch Mrs. Hartz (his teacher), Mrs. Strackbein and myself took him to the 2 other events. By that point it had been a long day, and he was NOT in the mood to be throwing a softball, but he did it, along with the long jump, where he got 6th and 5th place, respectively.

Here are some photos of the day. It was a really neat day and everyone was so encouraging to all the kids. I realized while sitting there watching all these wonderful kids that we are so unbelieveable blessed to have Evan. He may have his challenges in life, but what joy and love he has brought to us and will continue to bring to us outweighs any hardships that we face.

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PA Today!

We received PA today for our sweet little girl waiting for us in Luoyang Orphanage Henan Province! We are so excited to finally say, "Our daughter!" Pam with the WC program of CCAI told us that we could travel within the next three months! Wow, I have SO much to do until that time. Her bedroom is all painted and her curtains are hanging up on the windows. I need to clean out some of the clutter (I am the queen of clutter much to Rob's dismay) and get her toddler bed up.

I joined the Luoyang families Yahoo group today and found about 5 or 6 photos of Kendall that were taken by another adoptive family this past January while they were visiting the orphanage after adopting their son. We were so happy to see photos that show her with her friends in the orphanage. She looks like a linebacker, with her multiple layers of clothes on! The adoptive family was handing out cookies and lollipops to the children, and in one photo she has a cookie in one hand and a lollipop in the other. She will fit right in to our family, although Evan does not like any sweets. He's more of a salt loving boy, especially if it is Goldfish!

Here are my girls referral photos...I can't wait until I have the chance to look into those soulful eyes for the first time and say "I love you".