Tuesday, September 8, 2009
First 10 days home (pics)
For the next slide show, Amelia is loving the little house theme. She wears her bonnet often.
Look at those glasses!
Oh Yeah grapes and dumplings too! Another friend made the girls vegetarian dumplings. When I got these out of the refrigerator Amelia squealed, "Jiaozi" in delight! YUMMY!
First 10 Day Pictures
Can you say jet lagged? Kayli fell asleep all over the floor. We tried to keep her up until night. She kept finding places to lay down to sleep. 
Our neighbor, Bruce, playing with the girls.
The girls playing bicycle or airplane on the floor.
Our first Sunday at church. Kayli does not want her picture made with the other girls most of the time so I take her picture separate.
Almost every meal in our house is eaten with chopsticks. Kayli has learned how to do it REALLY fast. She kept watching Amelia until she got it. She keeps saying she's younger than me. How does she already know how to do these things. ha The day I took these pictures they were eating Puerto Rican rice than one of our neighbors had made. It was AWESOME! All of us LOVED it! The other picture is watermelon. We also use chopsticks to eat soup, cereal...it is quite interesting. :) Amelia LOVES her chopsticks. Our FCC group had extra disposable chopsticks at one event. I'm glad I picked those up before they were tossed. :)
Monday, September 7, 2009
Park/melt my heart!!
Yesterday we took all 3 girls to a small local park. Amelia had a blast! She ran from slide to slide and was pouring sweat in just a few minutes. She had the best time. All 3 girls were running after each other. Ariel climbed a rock climbing wall. Kayli went down the slide by herself. (She fell down a slide when she was little and has not gone down one alone.) Yesterday she took her first long slide ride by herself and was so thrilled with herself.
Today the whole family went to one of our local outlet malls. It was fun! We ate at the food court. Amelia wanted….you guessed it CHINESE! Ha! Today she ate the biggest salad with me for lunch. She loves all of my homemade dressings and has tried several different salads. I start out just giving her a little out of my bowl and then she continuously asks for more so I now give her a large bowl. One of her favorite toppings is red onion. Who would have thought? (this is not in traditional Chinese food)
After the mall we came home and we had promised Ariel a water gun fight like we did before we got Amelia. Amelia didn’t know what to think and cried when we sprayed her but she sure enjoyed spraying others. Kayli and Amelia ended up watering the plants since they couldn’t take it and Ariel and I blasted each other. I’m so thankful that I can run and have fun with the girls! I made up this little dance about my dancing shoes and danced in the garage and Amelia was repeating it and trying to sing it. We twirled around and danced for a good while. (all of the girls)
Today was a full day! Amelia and I enjoyed a snack of cereal with fruit before bed and we had a great time. The other girls were getting showered and ready for bed. We played in the bathtub.
I went to tuck her in and she told me tonight for the very first time Wo ai ni!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
She has told the girls this and Brian almost since day 1. I have told her it probably a dozen or more times a day. She told me that tonight. I was so excited I thought I would cry. What a sweetie! Of course I have 2 other sweet children also. There is something special about the first time they say it to you.
My heart is so full. It is so worth it. I know it must be hard for her. She has been through 2 foster moms and orphanage nanny. I’m not sure she knows that we are not just another short term home. This makes me sad. My prayer is that she will not be fearful of this and will totally know that we are her family forever!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
BACK AT HOME JUST IN TIME!
God’s timing is perfect! We made it back home and this week and there is more political action happening in Xinjiang. It is so sad for us to hear this news. I’m thankful that we made it home when we did and that we were able to go in between. Please keep this area in your prayers. We were hoping to have contact with the orphanage director soon. If they keep this up then we will not be able to send the pictures that she has asked for or receive the pictures that we wanted.
We've been home a little over 1 week!
We all have switched our bodies over to CST once again. This was so HARD! The 13 hour difference was so difficult for the first 3 days. The kids would wake-up wanting to eat all night. It was hard getting broken sleep. We made it through!
Amelia is having difficulty with her sleeping. She was used to sleeping with her foster parents. We don’t allow our other children to sleep with us so we couldn’t start allowing it now. Every night she begs to sleep with us. She cries and points to our bed. We gently hug her and tuck her in like we do Ariel and Kayli. Sometime we lay beside her toddler bed for a good while until she falls asleep holding her hand. A few hours later she walks into our room crying and pointing to the bed again. One of us walks her back and repeats the steps above. She finally goes back to sleep and we sneak back into our bed.
She is doing better. Last night Brian tucked her in and before he walked out of the room she was asleep. I woke up this morning at 6am thinking WOW –I got 8 hours sleep! It felt soo good! (note to self—daddy needs to tuck her in every night. Ha)
Some new English words that Amelia is saying are: Let’s go, hello, goodbye, pink and prissy, (*wait a minute—Ariel taught her this…she shakes her bootie and it is hilarious) please, thank you, and she will repeat any word that we tell her in English. She will tell us the Mandarin word and we will tell her the English. It has been fun. She is helping us and we are helping her. Our Chinglish is improving. Ha! One morning Ariel and Amelia were having their own conversation. Ariel would say in Mandarin I like ___. Amelia would then say what she liked. They did this for all of the animals and foods that they knew. It was priceless.
Her singing is adorable. I have about 12 Chinese songs for kids on cd and some from our Chinese teacher. Several she knows and her eyes get big and she sings away. How sweet!
There is a special sweetness about Amelia. Amelia is giving kisses like crazy now.
As far as the food goes she’s loving ALL fruits and most veggies. She asks for bananas and watermelon almost every morning. Tomatoes are left on the table all of the time and she asks for one almost every meal. She doesn’t quite know what to think about oatmeal, grits, bread for any sandwich, English muffin, macaroni, and any processed chip type product (which is good). She loves smoothies, guacamole, eggs, meat (when Brian has it), corn, cucumber, bananas, almond butter, peanut butter, and any type of rice. We went to Blue Coast Burrito on Friday night and I got her a veggie burrito. She picked all of the veggies and it came with rice and beans. She ate about half (adult sized) and really liked it. She enjoyed trying all of the different types of salsas that were offered.
Overall she is adjusting GREAT! Kayli is still having some jealousy but overall she is doing better also. Ariel is just plain awesome. She is really enjoying Amelia and does great with both younger girls. Sometimes she wishes she had time alone with Amelia without Kayli.
We took Amelia swimming the other day and put her in a lifejacket. She couldn’t quite figure out how to stay on one side with the life jacket. We were teaching her how to kick her feet. She wants to do what her sisters do so badly. She tries to do her arms, face and the whole bit. She also wanted some goggles like the big girls. I bought some for 25 cents at Wal-mart. She LOVES them. We will upgrade when she learns a little better how to swim. J Next year Amelia will take swim lessons. Kayli is still a wonderful swimmer.
*For those of you who know Ariel know that she is not into pink or prissy so that is funny coming from her.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
HOME AT LAST!
We had a wake-up call at 4:30 am in the morning China time on August 27. We finally arrived in our home at 12:30am August 28. We had some long flights and long waits but we are OH so happy to be home! China was GREAT but home is AWESOME! Ha!
Overall our entire trip went smoothly. When we arrived at the Guangzhou airport something was wrong with Brian’s numbers on his ticket and his passport. Our guide in Guangzhou was great in handling this situation. Brian and she had to walk to another counter and he finally walked away with boarding passes.
We really did enjoy our trip to China.
Amelia started our first flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai by screaming (wailing, kicking, and was extremely angry about wearing the seatbelt) the last 40 minutes of the flight and was an angel the rest of the trip. Ariel started the first flight with many full bags. (if you know what I mean) She also did great the rest of the trip! Kayli did great the entire time.
Amelia slept 12 of the 13 hours on the second flight. She fell asleep near take-off and woke up an hour before landing. She had breakfast and was raring to go.
The smaller flight to Nashville Kayli and Amelia were playing for the first 45 minutes then they both fell asleep the rest of the flight. Needless to say we made them go to bed as soon as we got home. They got into a little mischief together but finally fell asleep around 1:30am or so. They both got up and went to the kitchen and were found eating raisins in their room. Kayli of course blamed it on Amelia. Boy, I’m in for it! Ha!
I woke up at 6:00am. I got up to come work on our blog and found Kayli waiting for me in the hallway asking “Mommy, can I please have breakfast?”
We were welcomed home by our neighbor Ann, my dad, and the Owen Family. Then we walked around the corner to claim our bags and there stood the Carusos. Thank you guys! It meant a lot for us to see friendly faces upon our arrival. Sorry if we were looking oh so bad! I’m sure we didn’t smell great either. Ha!
When we arrived home we saw welcome home signs and balloons! Thanks Weavers, Selphs, and Scotts! What a treat! The girls were so excited! Amelia stopped at every toy wanting to play. I think she likes her new home and will be excited to play this morning.
I’ll post those pictures that I promised.
With Love,
Angela and the Sutherland gang!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
THE LAST DAY IN CHINA!!
What a wonderful trip! We have completed our documents on this side of the world. Amelia will be a US citizen when we land in Newark tomorrow night. We are so blessed! The girls did amazingly well today. Kayli and Amelia still are a bit jealous but we expected it.
We visited Lucy’s restaurant one last time before leaving Guangzhou. They gave us another shopping bag.
Today we had our exit meeting with Holt. They were amazing. We got our instructions for our return trip to the US. This afternoon we visited the US consulate and took an oath saying “I hereby swear …that all information that we provided to the US government was true and correct to the best of my knowledge…etc.”
Brian and I finished our last minute shopping and spent way too much money. J We figured it would be a while before coming back.
We had the last of our food for dinner. We packed our bags today and will be ready to leave at 7:00am. Our bags will be picked up at 6:00am. We will eat breakfast and leave at 7:00am with our guide. Our first flight to Shanghai is 2 hours and 20 minutes. The next flight is 14 hours from Shanghai to Newark, NJ and then our flight home is 2 hours. We will arrive in Nashville at 10:28pm CST.
Ariel is already dreading the flight. Please pray especially for her and her nerves. She has already began begging me to let us stay in China. She doesn’t want to get on another plane. Her experiences with flying has not been good lately.
We have to pass 1 more temperature check. If anyone has a temperature then we have to stay. Please also keep this in your prayers. I can’t chance giving them Tylenol and having them get sick like on the way here. I’m not going to give it unless I see I need to give some.
Thanks for following our journey with us! We love you and appreciate your prayers while we travel back home. I will update our site with the rest of our pictures when we arrive home.
Our trip has been amazing! GOD IS GOOD! Goodnight and see you at home!!!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
2 more days!
I’m sure our blog is not exactly in order. I had everything posted in order and they all came back to me. I just started sending them in any order to get them there. Sorry! I will fix it when I arrive home.
Today we had a “free” day. Mom and I went shopping for about 2 ½ hours while Brian kept the girls. I didn’t spend too much money but did get Amelia’s chop along with a few other odd and ends. Brian was ready for a break when we returned. We all went to lunch at Lucy’s again. The girls (except Amelia) love eating here. The girls got grilled cheese and chicken enchiladas. Amelia stuck with the steamed broccoli with butter sauce, and the refried beans off of my bean enchilada. She is not liking anything that resembles a tortilla or even a regular baked potato with sour cream. WHAT? She did eat our tomato and cucumbers off of the plates. They put these on the plates instead of pickles. We ordered watermelon for dessert. She loves it! Brian and I had cheese cake and Ariel had apple pie. (Kayli was with my mom and Amelia ate a few bites of ours)
We came back to our room and took a nap. It rained quite a bit today. The girls were a little bummed that they couldn’t go swimming because of the rain.
Later we walked around the hotel. There is a beautiful waterfall in the lobby and fish in the pond. It is quite nice.
Amelia has had a few fits today. We know this is to be expected as she is testing her boundaries and trying to figure out our family life.
We had dinner in the room again. We ate lentil soup, noodles, peanut butter and crackers. We finally found some descent white crackers. We ate almost the last of our food that we brought. We still have 1 can of black beans left. I’m sure we will finish that tomorrow.
We are so looking forward to our return. We are going to get someone to tell Amelia that we will be on 3 long plane rides before we get home. I hope that there is another person that is bilingual on the longest flight that can talk to her for us. She seems to understand more and more every day. Today she said the girls names, thank you, and please. Two days ago she said that her belly hurt, hello, and bye bye.
Tomorrow we have our exit meeting with our agency in the morning and the swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate in the afternoon.
We have met a lot of nice families here in Guangzhou. One family is from California. They have 3 bio children that are grown- I think. They have adopted 5 children from China. They are very nice. The one that they just adopted is 14 years old. This was her last chance to be adopted. Children older than this are not adoptable and must be released from the orphanage. This beautiful girl has a hearing impairment. They hope to get her some cochlear implants after arriving home.
Another family brought their 5 bio children on the trip and adopted a little boy. All of their children are younger than 9. I was pretty impressed that they brought everyone. They were also very nice. They mentioned selling things in order for everyone to come.
Other families have waited for 4 ½ years to adopt. WOW! That is a long time! Most of these folks have no other children.
Two of our families that we traveled with had issues with the TB testing. The chest x-ray for one of them was ok in the way of TB but now say that they have found a mass of some sort on her heart?? Our prayers are with this family. They have given them the option of changing their mind or staying here to have more test ran. They are going to take her home without running additional test. Please pray with us that there is nothing significantly wrong.
Off to sleep! Everyone is beating to sleep again!
Monday, August 24, 2009
I woke up at 6:00am knowing we had a busy day. I went to breakfast alone and met up with some of the other families. What fun to be around others in our group. We were able to chat with some family on Skype today. They were glad! They apparently have been worried.
At 9:00am I woke Amelia up and got her clothes on for her visa picture. We rushed out the door and were the first to have her picture done. Brian is still not feeling well so I’m on my own today. He did feel well enough to walk the girls down for breakfast after I brought Amelia back.
I had to do paperwork until 10:50 am then I ran up to get her for her medical exam. Here she visited 3 stations ENT, quick physical, and temperature, weight. It was quick. Amelia did great! She told the doctor that her mom and dad came from America to get her. The doctor laughed and told me what she said. As long as everyone told her what was going to happen she was fine. I was pretty amazed. NO TEARS! PTL! She also had a TB skin test. Again they told her what was going to happen, gave her a piece of candy and she did great. NO tears—everyone was amazed at how brave she was! The doctor did say that her teeth were bad and I acknowledged and told her we would have them fixed. We already have someone working on that appointment for us since it may take a while to get her in.
After that we could rest. Do you think I did? No –I went shopping! Ha! What fun! I just really looked for a while and then bought a few things. Tomorrow I will have to get more $$.
It is late…Goodnight!
Today was supposed to be a get up, pack, and travel day! However, our plans changed. We got up and got packed but our guide called 30 minutes before check-out telling us our trip was delayed. Instead of flying at 2:00pm we left at 6:00pm. We had so much time to waste. We stayed at the hotel making sure we got our things packed and went to eat with our guide. Although this put us in Guangzhou at midnight it was a blessing because Brian has been sick today. YEP! The iron stomach that was eating and drinking it all finally gave out. He must have gotten some bad food or drink somewhere. I’m just thankful that he had the strength to get our luggage to and from the airport.
We arrived in HOT Guangzhou at 12:40 am. We are staying at the White Swan this time and it is nice. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes longer. Amelia didn’t mind the flight but hated the seat belt. She figured out how to get it off and finally fell asleep in grandmother’s lap.
Sunday...
Today is Sunday. We had an option to go to church here on the island. We did not have any clean clothes to wear. We picked up our laundry at lunch and shopped for a bit today. Brian loves the shopping. He loves to bargain. It was a fun day. Brian is feeling much better.
Tomorrow is the TB skin test medical check. Please pray that all is well with the TB testing. Amelia’s looks ok to us at the moment but pray that there are no issues. There is a family that had to leave their child here because their child had to have treatments for TB before coming to America. I can’t imagine being in this situation. The thought of staying in China for a few more months would not be good either.
We went to dinner with Mary, Don, and their family. It was fun. We went to an Italian restaurant here on the island. Amelia is having trouble with different types of food. She loves fruits, veggies, rice, meat, and noodles. She has tried Italian pizza, PB & J, and grilled cheese that we had at a restaurant called Lucy’s. She takes one bite and puts it down. She gives us this funny look. The two of us may get along really well. J I ordered salad and vegetable soup. She ate quite a bit of my soup and ate my tomatoes off of my salad.
We didn’t do too much but hang out today. It is VERY humid here.
Amelia loves spending time with just Brian and I. She sits and colors for hours. When the girls are around they get pretty wound up together. All in all it is very fun! We borrowed a stroller from one of the shops here and then went to the Holt office here in the hotel and borrowed another stroller. Both girls LOVE to be pushed around the island. Amelia begs us to take her out.
Brian took Ariel and Kayli to the pool today with Don, Mary, Emily, and Sydney. I stayed in the room resting with Amelia. The girls thoroughly enjoyed Daddy’s attention.
Tomorrow we have the medical check in the morning and red couch pictures in the afternoon.
August 24, 2009
Today we went out and shopped for about an hour before we had to get Amelia’s TB test checked. That was a big praise! Her test was negative. We thought it looked ok. There were 2 families that had to have a chest x-ray but their results turned up negative as well. We were so glad for them.
At 2:30 we had the children’s pictures taken on the red couch here at the White Swan hotel. Amelia wasn’t crazy about this. She did not smile but didn’t cry either. Then we had group photos made. Ariel, Amelia, and I went to the pool. Amelia loves the water but wants to be independent. She wanted me to let go of her and so I did. She took a big drink of water and then threw up. GREAT! She wanted to get back into the pool so we went to a different location and swam for a little longer. She wasn’t scared of the water but oh so wanted to do what Ariel does. I can’t wait for her to see Kayli. I bet she will be swimming before she is speaking English. Ha!
Brian and I went to the Italian restaurant alone. My mom kept the kids. Amelia wasn’t happy about this arrangement but sat in her stroller the entire time we were gone. As soon as I came back she held her hands up for me to pick her up. She was so glad to see us. We came back to our room and she asked for her teeth to be brushed and ran and got inside of her crib. (that’s what they brought for she and Kayli to sleep in.) They haven’t complained. J
Tomorrow mom and I go shopping while Brian has the kids. We are oh so ready to come home!
I woke up at 6:00am knowing we had a busy day. I went to breakfast alone and met up with some of the other families. What fun to be around others in our group. We were able to chat with some family on Skype today. They were glad! They apparently have been worried.
At 9:00am I woke Amelia up and got her clothes on for her visa picture. We rushed out the door and were the first to have her picture done. Brian is still not feeling well so I'm on my own today. He did feel well enough to walk the girls down for breakfast after I brought Amelia back.
I had to do paperwork until 10:50 am then I ran up to get her for her medical exam. Here she visited 3 stations ENT, quick physical, and temperature, weight. It was quick. Amelia did great! She told the doctor that her mom and dad came from America to get her. The doctor laughed and told me what she said. As long as everyone told her what was going to happen she was fine. I was pretty amazed. NO TEARS! PTL! She also had a TB skin test. Again they told her what was going to happen, gave her a piece of candy and she did great. NO tears-everyone was amazed at how brave she was!
The doctor did say that her teeth were bad and I acknowledged and told her we would have them fixed. We already have someone working on that appointment for us since it may take a while to get her in.
After that we could rest. Do you think I did? No -I went shopping! Ha!
What fun! I just really looked for a while and then bought a few things.
Tomorrow I will have to get more $$.
It is late.Goodnight!
August 19, 2009
Brian and I woke up at 5am. I decided to start blogging for yesterday and Brian watched TV. We will get ready for breakfast and meet our guide in the lobby at 10:00 for a half day tour of the city. Our guide, Jenny, has been wonderful!
Today we went to visit Red Hill Park and the local museum. It is said to be the largest museum in Xinjiang. It told the history of this province and a little about each ethnic group that lives here. They had several mummies upstairs. Ariel thoroughly enjoyed the museum. The two little girls just hung out with our guide while we listened to our museum guide tell us all about the artifacts. It was quite interesting.
Some of the museum workers were talking with Amelia. She told them that she was going to the states with her parents. I'm sure this is something that the orphanage staff has told her. She is doing great. She does get frustrated from time to time when we don't understand and that can cause her to whine a little. Overall she is doing excellent. Kayli has been a little.or let's just say a lot jealous. :0 This is to be expected. When Amelia is holding daddy's right hand then Kayli also wants daddy's right
hand. The left hand isn't good enough. J It is good that my mom is here
and can take Ariel and Kayli to her room for a bit so Amelia can just have time with mommy and daddy. She seems to enjoy this time.
At Red Hill Park they had amusement type of rides. Kayli, Amelia, daddy, and our guide, Jenny, went on the Ferris wheel. All of us rode this hamster type of wheel that you pedal around a roller coaster type of track. It was different because it was manual. All 3 girls and I rode an airplane circular ride that went up and down in the sky and a circular fish ride that you spray water at the fish in the middle. All of the girls enjoyed this park.
After this short half day tour we went back to the hotel for lunch and relaxation time. Amelia, Brian and I fell asleep and then the phone rang and woke us up. It was Les from Beijing checking in with us. He is from Holt.
He just wanted to see how things were going.
Amelia loves play doh. She sat and played with some for a couple of hours yesterday. Ariel built a horse ring and put plastic horses in the middle.
Amelia did the same thing and it turned out pretty good.
Today was a ba ba day. (Daddy) Amelia found out that mommy makes sure clothes are on, teeth are brushed and etc. and daddy throws her up in the air and carries her on his shoulders. Ha! She is too heavy for me to do that.well so is Kayli actually. Daddy will carry both Kayli and Amelia around for a little bit. She comes to me when she wants something or needs something. She is really adjusting quite well. PTL! I'm so glad that we brought the girls.
Ariel has been feeling great! It takes her about 1 day to recuperate from a flight. I pray that the next flight is better. We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou. I will be glad to get there to do some shopping! We have enjoyed the time in the province.
I wish we had more time here to see more. We would love to go to Southern Pastures and the city Turpan. Our time does not allow. Each activity is about 2 hours away from the city and that is hard on the children.
Tomorrow we go get Amelia's passport and do some local shopping to buy our souvenirs from this province. Apparently jade is popular here as well as scarves, rugs, etc.
We have seen quite a bit of military patrolling the streets but do not feel fear or threatened.
The other day I experienced going to the bank in China. It was a 1 hour affair. I had to get our traveler's checks exchanged. (Note-do not bring these things to China) Our guide checked with the local Urumqi bank and asked if they would do the exchange and they said you had to go to Bank of China. So we drove about 15 minutes. Our driver parallel parked and we walked in for a security bag check. It was a very large building. I don't think we got pictures...bummer. We had to take a number to be waited on.
There were people inside the bank asking for $$ (begging) so it seemed to me. There were security guards carrying batons everywhere. When it was finally our turn, it took them 35 minutes of paperwork in order for us to get our $$. It was quite the experience.
Our last hotel would exchange them for us but we had to sign multiple times and he had to call and verify and etc.
This same day we also went to the local supermarket. We wanted to buy a small umbrella stroller. We walked in again for a bag check and could shop on multiple floors. When we reached the 3rd floor we had to put our things in a locker in order to shop. It was pretty different. I guess they keep theft at a minimum this way. We didn't find a stroller but did find a few books with English and Chinese words. We bought 3 of them for $1.75.
August 18, 2009
Amelia slept very soundly last night. We had to help her wake up around
7:45 ish so that we could get breakfast and meet our guide by 10:00. She woke up wanting to put her new shoes on right away. She loves her shoes. J I'm glad that they were such a great hit.
We had breakfast at the hotel. I got Amelia's plate first. She loves going with me to get everything. After I sat her in her seat I went to get my breakfast and when I got to the front of the restraint I heard her screaming, "Mamaw" very loudly. This of course is music to my ears. So I went back to get her she will not let me out of her sight which is good thing. J
A note about yesterday: we took Amelia to eat at the lunch buffet downstairs. I asked one of the only ladies that spoke English if she would mind to ask her what she would like to eat. They really enjoyed that because by the time they were finished getting her EVERYTHING that she wanted she had about 10 full plates at our table. Brian was sitting at the table when all of this food started showing up. So now we know what she likes.Just about everything. They did make her some spicy things and you should've seen the look on her face. She spit it out. She tried to keep her area nice and clean by putting everything in tissues. Amelia can use chopsticks very well and the locals kept coming by making sure she did not use her fork but stuck with the chopsticks. Kayli was not too happy that Amelia was only 3 and could use chopsticks and she could not. She didn't put a dent in the food that they brought but Brian sure enjoyed helping her put the food away.
On another note: I'm really enjoying the food this time. I am a vegetarian
but love ALL of the dishes here. I've tried lots of different things.
Some things I'm not sure what they are but some of the new items that I've tried have included lotus root, doughnut peaches, etc.
We went to Heavenly Lake today after we met our guide at 10:00. We drove
about 2 hours on the interstate to this location. It was beautiful! We
took about a 20 minute boat ride on the lake. We had an enjoyable time.
Amelia didn't smile a whole lot while we were on our trip. I think she was still tired. We actually had to wear jackets because we were near the snow capped mountains. It was a beautiful wonder. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
Mom was quite the movie star today. Several people asked to take a picture with them. She just loved that! Ha! I'm sure it is because of her blondish hair. J
After visiting the lake we had a Uyger lunch. It was great. They served Uygur tea, rice pilaf with raisins, lamb kabobs, mutton soup, and Uyger pizza (or bread). Amelia loved it all. She really got into eating the kabobs.
On our way back home Amelia slept and the girls enjoyed the view. It is such a different place to visit in China. We are really enjoying it.
After we got back to our room, Amelia woke up and the girls played with all of the toys that we brought. Amelia enjoyed the play doh and other items.
She has talked and talked in her Chinese. I went to sleep. Brian took some video of her talking. She is such a sweetie.
Later we decided to check out the pool. We all dressed and headed that direction. When we got there we were given a key for the locker room. We didn't really have anything to put in it however, were convinced that we needed it. We went inside and I didn't like the looks of it but it was oh so cold. It was quite busy. I decided I wasn't getting in and now just had to talk the kids out of it. In the meantime we looked down at Amelia and she had a nose bleed. Brian took her back to the room before he saw the condition of the pool Ariel didn't want to get in and Kayli cried because she wanted to swim so badly. I talked her into going back to the room to check on Amelia and finally she agreed after she kept trying to get inside of the pool but it was too cold. This is a bummer as the last hotel we didn't have time to swim but mom and I went to look at the pool while we were waiting to leave. It was really nice. This hotel is a LOT nicer than the last but the pool area must be older. It was just not in good shape.
It is very dry here. We have a humidifier in our room. Every morning we still wake up dry. Amelia had a bloody nose today. This must be something that she is familiar with because I gave her a tissue and she knew exactly what to do.
We went back to the room and ate a dinner that I brought from home.
(lentils and split pea soup.yum) We also shared a gluten free cookie.
Today was a wonderful day!
The only food that we have offered Amelia that she doesn't like is dried apples. She loves nuts and fruits of all kinds. She ate the split pea soup with Kayli and I with no problem and Ariel ate the lentil. We are having a wonderful time in China.
Brian eats so much at lunch that most of the time he skips dinner.
Tomorrow we will see Red Hill Park and a museum.
August 17, 2009
This morning we slept in until 7:10am. We finally got our body clock switched to China time. We got ready went downstairs for breakfast around 8:40am. Ariel who has been air/motion sick acted like she felt great this morning when I went to get her from my mom's hotel room to get a shower.
Now suddenly she feels sick and doesn't want to eat. I had to give her some medicine and she did get sick. Neither mom nor Ariel can go with us today.
I barely got breakfast before it was time to leave. Ariel has been a bottle of nerves this whole trip. I guess she is having the reaction that I had last time. She keeps asking me if she will die here. I guess she is feeling really bad. She will just stop eating and then get sick. It's not like I didn't bring tons of stuff here to eat. She just refuses to eat. Since she did not get to go with us to get Amelia I think she has decided to eat now.
We were supposed to meet our guide in the lobby at 9:30am to go to the civil affairs office. (We have never been asked to wear our mask nor have we
volunteered.)
As we were not having a "normal" morning, our minds were not in the right place to go get Amelia. I mean we kept walking to the elevator forgetting things. The last thing that Brian forgot and we did not remember until we got there was the battery pack for the only camera that we took. Thankfully there was a family that we met in the airport just the day before getting their daughter also. The whole family was there (parents plus 3 boys) and they were happy to video and take photos for us. Xin Yu Lu showed up first.
She was dressed in a white dress with flowers and butterflies on it, black sandals, and Mickey Mouse socks. She wore a white necklace. Her fingernails had been painted and had almost rubbed off. She had her hair in pig tails with beautiful hair bows and clips. She was looking oh so adorable. She walked in with her photo album and a very scared look on her face. I went near her and sat on the floor and talked to her gently. She tried to walk back out the door that she came in. Kayli kept talking to her and she looked absolutely terrified. She just stared into Kayli's eyes.
She then started to tear up and kept looking for the friendly face that brought her. (the director of the orphanage) She found her and told her she wanted to go back to the orphanage. I already had tears in my eyes and oh wanted her to know that we would always love her and take care of her.
She sat in my lap and ate a few of the gluten free cookies that I had brought and Kayli ate her package. She never made a peep. Brian had already started the paperwork and I just held this scared little girl.
Pretty quickly after she arrived we had to go get her photo made for her Chinese passport. Her clumsy parents couldn't get it together. We brought a dress that matched the girls for her to wear if she wanted to change. We left it in the car. They said the white dress was to light to wear for the pictures so they had to find a little t-shirt to put over her dress so she could pose for her picture. Then Brian and I had our photo made with her for her adoption decree.
After this we went back to the civil affairs to do more paperwork this time putting our fingerprints on all of the documents and signing our names.
They asked us some questions like why we wanted to adopt Xin Yu Lu and also asked if we promised to e-mail pictures to the orphanage director throughout her life. This was a request that we were surprised to get. We agreed and got the e-mail address. Apparently the cameras that we sent were broken??
They did say that they would send us pictures of her via e-mail after the e-mail and internet systems are restored.
Our next stop was to the notary office. We did more paperwork here answered similar questions as before and waited for paperwork to be processed and fees to be paid. Xin Yu Lu wanted to go with the director and the director kept telling her that we were her mommy and daddy now and would take care of her. She tried to bribe her with candy but couldn't find any in her purse.
She did run around with Kayli screaming, hollering and having fun. The other little girl with the other family cried the entire time. Amelia kept going up to her telling her not to cry and Kayli helped with this. The little girl (Hannah) continuously snubbed. (so sad)
With all of the excitement and forgetting things we did manage to bring the important things (passports and paperwork)
Amelia was a pro at the squatty potty we found out pretty quickly. She needs no help in those. The western potty is a different story. J She needs help getting up and down. She is very independent. She loves to do things by herself.
Ha!
I struck gold with her because in the civil affairs office at one point she was crying and the guide asked her what was wrong. She told her that her shoe was hurting her foot so badly. She was then told that her mommy and daddy would buy her some more. We took her sock and shoe off and began to rub her foot. She did have some marks on her feet. When we did come back to our hotel room is was around 1:40pm. I showed her the Cinderella light up shoes that I had bought for her. She was so excited to get the black sandals off of her feet. The light up shoes are slightly too big but at this point way better than what she had. I think we will stick with slightly too big. At this point anything smaller would probably aggravate
her hurt foot. She loves these shoes. She continuously plays with them
and will not take them off. I showed her that my shoes were off and she took them off for a little while and then went over and put them back on again. We asked the guide to ask her if she liked her shoes. She said, Yes I like the shoes my mama gave me." Brian was like hey what about me? Later she told the guide, "I like the shoes that my mama gave me that my ba ba bought for me." Brian is a little jealous.
We have seen lots of emotions from her today. She was sad at first, and then started hitting Kayli and Daddy. Also we have seen the mischievous side where she tried getting into things that she shouldn't. (all within the first 2 hours) After we got back to our hotel she met Ariel and Mammaw.
Since this time we have only seen the very sweet gently side of her. I can't imagine all that is going through her mind. She will not let mama out of her sight. She has given us a few kisses today and held onto me holding her while we walked across the street. She is warming up to us quickly. I'm not sure if she has ever had a toothbrush. She saw mine in the bathroom and
I could tell she was curious. I got hers out of the bag and we videoed me
brushing my teeth with her. She watched and did a very good job herself.
(There will be lots of dental work in her future) She is very independent wanting to do things herself. She did let me hold her while she slept on the bus today. I did lay down with her at night and she went to sleep. I got up after she dosed off and she woke up saying mama and wanting me to lie down again. I did and she did great. She whimpered when the girls went to their room to sleep and knew it was time for bed. She didn't cry loudly but whimpered softly like she was grieving.
I am so thankful to have 3 beautiful girls. It has been an amazing day. The Lord has truly blessed us. I saw tears in Brian's eyes several times today and tonight I asked him if he was happy! He said, "How could I not be, I can't believe that I am a father all over again."
I'm so glad that were able to bring the whole family along. Kayli has done beautifully and Ariel has except for her not eating and motion sickness.
Kayli was slightly jealous today when she woke up from her nap. Kayli got a bath with Amelia that quickly melted away. The orphanage noted that Amelia does not like a bath. After having toys and playing with Kayli in the bath tub I'm thinking she's not minding it too much. We dressed the girls in their matching pj's and posed them for a picture. You can tell Amelia is so tired she had no more smiles for the day.
All in all Amelia is a trooper. We have been practicing our Chinese with her and sometimes she looks at us funny and then corrects us. J I hope that she can keep her mandarin. I hope that our friends at home will help us with this. I brought flash cards and also bought some books here at a local department store. She likes to point to the pictures and tell us the Chinese. We do know how to ask her, "What is this" and she will tell us.
It is a lot of fun. We are trying to call her by her Chinese nickname Lu Lu
and she will respond we are working Amelia in with it.
I'd better get back to sleep. It is about 3am. I just had to get up and type before forgetting about our day.
Tomorrow we head for Heavenly Lake.
Today was a travel day. We didn't do too much but visit with some of the other families that we will catch up with in Guangzhou. We chatted with Mary and her husband Don for a good while. Brian seemed to hit it off with Don and I with Mary. They are from Little Rock. They have a little girl named Emily that is 6.5 born in China and then are adopting Sydney who is 2ish.
We had to leave the hotel by 12:00 to head for the airport. We arrived at Beijing airport 30 minutes later and went through security and sat at our gate A-12. We were standing there waiting and ran into another American family getting ready to board with us and we found out that they were staying in a different hotel but were going to adopt with us. We were excited and hoped that we would run into them again. After boarding the plane a large downpour of rain came and we waited an hour on the plane before takeoff. It did pass by quickly but then made the already long flight longer. J We managed and even slept a little. I met a little girl that sit behind me that wanted to practice her English. I talked to her and she asked that I draw her a picture. I had Ariel draw her a horse. We talked for quite a while and I ended up taking her picture. A lot of people in China are very happy to see you. They kind of look at you funny and even
try to ask you questions. I did have a sign made that explained why we
were in China. People like to read it and smile.
One time on the plane Kayli had to go potty so I walked back and waited in line. An older lady saw coming up the aisle with her and asked if she could sit beside her. The lady was so excited to see Kayli and she slept attached to this ladies arm. Kayli was half asleep when she told me that she had to go potty. Apparently she was dreaming because she was so sleepy that she couldn't go. I love the Chinese people and will forever remember some of the faces that we have seen.
The flight to Urumqi city was smooth. On the way we took lots of pictures of the dessert. It looked beautiful from the sky.
We arrived in Urumqi city to beautiful sunshine. The weather here is mild.
It is dry but beautiful. The weather is pleasant around 75 degrees. We met our guide Jenny and were off to our hotel. Everything in the province has gone smoothly. PTL! Our hotel is luxurious! We love it! The Hong Fu is a
5 star and they gave both mom and us executive suites. Very nice!
Kayli, mom and I went to the restaurant across the street with our guide so she could order for us. It was a very interesting dinner. We at for about $10 dollars. We ended up having so much food left over. The pumpkin soup with small dumplings wasn't very good. The broccoli that I ordered was wonderful. Mom enjoyed chicken. Kayli ordered some noodles but they were too spicy for her to eat. (we had to point and order after our guide left) There must have been some miscommunication between them and the guide because we thought we had ordered rice and noodles that they never brought.
Ariel and Brian stayed back at the hotel since Ariel was sick after not eating on the airplane. They served white rice.and she refused to eat it.
I was supposed to bring Brian back some lamb kabobs but after seeing them on
the street with flies all over them I couldn't bear to buy them.
We had to charge $950 to our charge card in case of incidentals. YIKES! We will not have laundry done here as we have heard that cost A LOT! The hotel breakfast is included which is wonderful.
Explanation from previous post
Here is an explanation for the vague information that I posted on the first day in China. Since it has been over 7 days I feel that I can post it now.
When we landed in Beijing Ariel felt sick. (She is like me and my mom that
feels sick in the mornings or if she hasn't eaten in a while.) I thought
this was the feeling that she had and knew that she didn't eat much on the flight. Brian tried to tell me confidentially that Ariel was going to pass out or throw up. I didn't understand what he was saying and say we had this
big miscommunication. We waited to leave the plane as the last family.
The people in Beijing did not board our plane to take our temperature. We
were thankful for that. I gave both of my kids the melt away Tylenol as
insurance for the temperature checks. I normally do not give my children medicine and sometimes it doesn't sit well on Ariel's stomach. This was one of those times. We stepped off of the plane and low and behold Ariel started to throw up. OH NO! The quarantine team cannot see this!!!! The flight attendants and pilots were standing outside of the plane with us and started to help. Someone gave us a bag and told us to throw it away before going to customs. They told us to have her smile and walk as straight as she could. We had a LONG walk to customs. It was so hot in the breezeway and we thought once we got up into the terminal it would feel cooler. NOT A CHANCE!!! It was SOO HOT! I can't even tell you how hot it was. That doesn't make one feel any better if the temperature around you is miserable.
I guess they don't want to air condition the airport. It almost felt better outside than inside. Anyway we went to the bathroom, washed her face, and gave her a nibble of a bar that mom had for her to eat. One of the flight attendants went back on the plane to get Ariel a ginger ale. The staff was AWESOME! I can't say enough about the Continental staff in this moment. We all started to pray over Ariel 50 steps before going into customs. If you could've seen Ariel you would've known that she was either extremely tired or totally sick. She looked pitiful! I hated this for her but kept telling her to reach down deep inside and try and pull it together for a few more minutes. We were 15 steps from the temperature scanner and Ariel turned to me with her hand over her mouth. I rushed her to the nearest small trashcan. She was so sick! I just knew that the lady with a walkie talkie was radioing someone to tell them to pull us out of the line but thankfully no one ever did. We did get LOTS of stares but again continued to pray and pray very hard. Since it took us so long to get her from point A to point B another flight had come in and we had to wait in monstrous lines. This was OH so not fun! I was trying to fan Ariel but trying not to make it noticeable that she was sick. Apparently the Chinese do not mind the heat.
We made it through the rest next two lines. We then had to ride one of those tram type rides to get to the other side of the airport. I prayed that Ariel would not get sick. I had to push my way on first so that I could make sure Ariel got a seat. We ended up sitting right beside a quarantine official! He kept looking at us funny. Oh! Again I so prayed that Ariel would not get sick on this moving craft. As soon as we got off of it Ariel ran to the nearest trash can. I have never been so thrilled to get through the airport in my life. Ariel was awesome in the grand scheme of things. I kept coaching her not to get sick. Walk as straight as you can, and smile when we get up here to this man or that woman. It was terrible. It was totally a miracle that we did not get pulled. I know that!
We then had to get our baggage and by this time the other family had been waiting for us for a long time because they were in first class and did not have to wait in any lines. The guide was thinking that we must've gotten quarantined. She sent Mike back into the baggage to see if he could find us. He did. thankfully and he helped us get out of there. We then had to deliver 2 suitcases to the Hope Foster Home. Brian went to look for them and thankfully they had not left either.
So now we explained to our guide that Ariel got motion sickness. I'm not sure if she believed us but we did board the van and were off. Ariel slept the entire way to the hotel which was good! Bless her heart! Now every flight she feels sick. I'm sure just the memories of it all! We have 4 more flight before we get home. She normally feels sick the whole day after we land too. After that she is her usual self. I think she wishes that she didn't come. She is not looking forward to our return home flight.
Kayli is the one that has done so well! She is the world traveler! She loves her China!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
China Day 2
This morning started out great! We had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. We met some more families that are here with Holt. We ventured out to the Great Wall. Ok so we've been to China twice now. There are 2 extremes that we have seen VERY VERY COLD and VERY VERY HOT! What is up with this? It was soo hot and the girls are soooo tired. They slept all day. We woke them to go to the Jade store and then woke them to go to the Great Wall. Kayli was sooo tired that she did not even care. This morning she was jumping around couldn't wait to go and then when we got there was so mean and grouchy that we woke her. She looks like I gave her drugs and knocked her out. She is sleeping soo hard. I guess the jetlag is really working on the girls. My mom and I are the only ones awake right now. I will have to post the pictures in the morning or the middle of the night. We will probably not post after the pictures because we are leaving tomorrow to go to Urumqi. From the e-mails that I have rec'd from other families that just visited said it was pretty terrible for a lack of better words. They were so glad to have each other. This is a little sad because we will be there alone. Please pray for us especially this week. Soon we will hold Amelia! So excited! Our flight tomorrow is 4 hours and then our next flight to Guanghzou is 6. I'm thinking we will all sleep on this flight. I pray Amelia likes flying. We did get more information about her today. She does not like baths. She is wary of strangers. She likes music, cars, toy piano, and dolls. They call her "Lu Lu". They did put her back in the orphanage last month so she could start grieving her foster mother before we come. Her current caregiver is 35 years old. She has had 2 foster families. She still takes naps...I wonder if she can talk to Kayli about this? ha! She loves sweet food, snacks, sausage and juice...isn't that an interesting combination? Again, please pray for us! We are all exhausted and excited to be getting Amelia. I pray the kids sleep all night because they have been sleeping all day. Bless their hearts! This morning began at 4am. :( Angela |
Friday, August 14, 2009
WE ARE IN BEIJING!!!!
We woke up this morning at 2:00am to arrive at the airport at 3:45 am. The staff doesn't come in until 4:30. We are learning to be "flexible" early. God is good and worked in our behalf today in a mirraculous way. We won't go into details at this time but please continue to keep our family in your prayers! I felt them today as I could sleep on the airplane and felt a total peace while in the midst of flying. Specifically pray for our continued health and endurance for more long flights. :) 16 hours down. Please e-mail us! I will try and post some pictures in the morning. I just wanted to get the word out that we were here. Brian is asleep and I need his assistance. |
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
God cares about every small detail
The final countdown has begun! One more day until CHINA!!! We are thrilled to say the least. In 24 hours from now we will be sitting in the airport waiting for our first flight. The cleaning is done, and the bags are packed.
We won't be able to post while in our province because there is no internet service but we hope to catch up in Guangzhou on the 21st or 22nd. We won't be able to view the blog or comments so leave them but also send us an e-mail. :)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Last Saturday in the states for a couple of weeks!
We had a fun Saturday! We started off by going swimming. (the girls and I) Next we got ready, rested and bummed around. Daddy went to the store to pick up a few things to eat and he bought water guns and water balloons. Mommy went to pick up some last minute items for our trip from the store. After dinner we went outside and had a blast. The girls kept telling Daddy how much fun they were having and this was the best Saturday ever. How fun! Amelia, we saved some for ya! We can't wait to have water fun with you too!
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