Minority Villages

Susan took us to the Minority Villages this morning, about 30 minutes outside of Kunming. From what I understand, Yunnan province has 51 minority groups throughout the region. The government paid to build this village as a place for people to experience all of the minorities in one place. It was beautiful - reminded us all of Disney's Animal Kingdom in places. Of course, there were vendors and things to buy, but we got to see authentic replicas of houses from many groups. It was really nice to be outside since the sun came about 10 AM. Lots of flowers and trees! Susan said it is exceptionally beautiful in the spring and summer, and also very crowded then too.

The girls (all 4 of them) got to sit on an elephant (yes, it was REAL)! S and L did a long zip-line that went over a lake! They LOVED it and had so much fun. Alaina fell asleep in the van on the way back to the hotel and seems a little sad right now. I think the "newness" may be wearing off and she is realizing that she is not going back "home" to her foster family. I may have made a mistake in asking Susan to explain to her that she would have to get some shots at the doctor next week. Maybe I should have waited for our Guangzhou guide to tell her -- I may have stressed her out!

Today is Daddy's turn to nap with Ally. We tried to get Alaina to take a nap, as she fell asleep in the van after the village visit, but she wasn't interested. It turned out that she had a little bit of a fever, so she took a few children's Tylenol and seems to be doing better. Not her usual bouncy self, but playing with her dog and hippo and Pollys. S and L are getting a little stir crazy -- playing the "Duggers" and auditioning for American Idol!

I spent the better part of the afternoon packing space bags and trying to get things together for tomorrow. We fly out at 1:40 PM for Guangzhou and will be leaving for the airport at 11 AM. We may try to go back down to the park this afternoon, just to get some more outside time while it's sunny again. The little girls will also get another bath this afternoon or tonight.

We have really enjoyed our time in Kunming. I'm so glad we are in southern China for our Dec-Jan adoption. I can't imagine being in one of the very cold northern provinces where we would have to wear heavy coats and deal with snow possibly. It has been chilly, but pleasant every day, especially when the sun is out!

We hope to someday come back to visit Kunming and Xian (Ally's city) and bring A and A back to see where they came from. Obviously, it will mean more to Alaina because of her age. I hope they are always proud of being Chinese and of being an American!

Happy New Year!

We heard a few fireworks at midnight, but not too many. The lights around the hotel were beautiful outside and there was a wedding here last night. We just ate in the hotel at a Japanese style restaurant. Ally and Alaina watched part of "Monster's Inc" in Chinese! It keeps Ally's attention pretty well! Funny! We certainly didn't have any intentions of staying up till midnight, so we went to bed around 9. Doug fell asleep first, then S and L. That left me with A and A to get to bed. We put Alaina on cushions between S and L's bed, and Ally has given up on the pack and play and has decided that there is plenty of room in our king size bed for her. Alaina was a little sad last night and didn't want to take her purple vest off or lay down. So, she finally fell asleep in it! Ally then wanted some milk and fell asleep. Last night was the first time that Ally slept ALL night (from 9'ish to 6:30); I think that the nap helped her get a little back on schedule. Ally was really sad yesterday and we think that she has had enough of hotel life. We asked if she missed being at home, and she said no; but when we asked if she missed Dash, she started crying hard. Now, in reality, I doubt it has nothing to do with the dog that annoys her and jumps on her! We calmed her down by telling her that she could pick out a toy for Dash and Snoopie the next time we go to Walmart. She wants to get him a yellow ball!

Rainy Day in Kunming

Today feels like December at home - cold and rainy! Ally wore her little Chinese puff outfit today (looks a little like a snowsuit) and we took the girls to buy some new shoes. Ally got some tennis shoes that are hot pink with an orange puma on them (she was inspired by Diego) and Alaina got 2 pairs of "patent leather" Sunday shoes. Alaina was so cute when we came back to the room - she tried them on and then put them back in the box. She did let us change her outfit (and her panties, finally!) today; although she does still have her same undershirt and purple leggings on! The leggings are size 4T and they are the right length, but baggy in the bottom. The "skinny" turtle neck is perfect - size 4. I am still sure the slim jeans will fall right off of her! She is 42 inches tall.

When Ally put her puffy outfit this morning, she said, "I Santa!". Then when we came back from breakfast, she took off running down the hall (she and Alaina race to the room) and said, "I'm super super fast!" She and Alaina have been playing with S and L's Nintendo DSs. Ally couldn't find the pink one yesterday, and she put her hands up and said, "Where's my DS?"

Alaina's activity level would never indicate a heart condition - she is high energy and loves to run, jump and play. She gives Ally a run for the money!

We visited the Kunming orphanage today. Alaina did just fine, as we asked Susan to tell her that we were only going for a little visit. It was very clean, but there were very few children there. The nanny said that many kids were in school today, but most lived in foster care. We did get to see some precious babies - Doug even picked out a little tiny boy to take home! I just chuckled -- seriously, joking, but he was cute -- fuzzy, spikey black hair. There were several very severly disabled kids we saw too, which was disturbing, since they are unlikely to ever be adopted. The babys we saw looked healthy, but were special needs. The facility was very large and extremely clean. Since Alaina was only there about a week, she wasn't really attached to any of the nannies, but she did wave at them.

Susan took us to a place that sells "hand-work" from the minority groups in China and we got a piece to frame. It is supposedly a specialty from the Yunnan Province. It was pretty expensive and Doug (with Lauren's help) did a good job of bartering down the price! I am a whimp when it comes to that stuff, but Lauren loves it - she sees it as a challenge and she has a method. If it's expensive, she starts below half; if it's not so costly, she starts about half of what they ask. She will walk away and wait for them to come back to her. She also knows that she doesn't need to show them that she has more money than they are asking for the item. She is really good and not afraid to try!

For lunch, we went to a "real" Chinese restaurant where no one spoke any English. Luckily Susan helped us order. It was good (but keep in mind that Chinese has never been on my "top 5" list of fav restaurants!), Doug and the girls really enjoyed it.

I am enjoying the "touring" in the morning and free time in the afternoons. It is nice to be able to relax or shop or play! We brought 2 strollers, but loaned one to another adoptive mom since her luggage didn't arrive until yesterday. Her little girl is only 13 months old, so she needed it more than we did. What is funny is that Alaina is willing to ride in the stroller, so it has become a little of a race to see who gets there first! Today, Alaina picked up Ally and walked over to the stroller and tried to sit down. So, Ally gladly (with a big smile) rode in Alaina's lap from the restaurant back to the hotel.

She is doing so well -- I even got a spontaneous hug today and she will always hold hands with one of us! It's nice to see! I understand that this might be sort of a "honeymoon period" and we still will face some challenges with her adjustment, but we are thankful for the answered prayers of her initial adjustment!

(Doug is taking over now)

Lucy and Ally are taking a nap. Sara, Lauren, Alaina and I just returned from a Wal Mart Run. We wanted to get some headphones, but the ones I wanted had two small plugs so I was worried that it would not work. We did get a few more videos. We got 10 more total. These are all Disney Videos that would cost about $15-$20 each. We got all 10 for about $21. We had bought 2 yesterday and made sure that they worked. There is a menu of about 10 different languages that the videos are in. They are pretty cool. The quality is very good. In Guangzhou last year the girls bought some videos of movies that were not even realeased on DVD yet. They were about $1 each and were basically a person sitting in a theater with a video camera recording the movie. You can hear people coughing and laughing in the background.

Alaina is doing so great. She goes to all of us equally and is smiling and laughing all the time. She is most comfortable in the room with just us.

Walmart Visit

This afternoon, we ventured out on our own to Walmart! It was a few blocks away so we just walked. Ally and Alaina took turns in the stroller. We had so much fun looking at the similar things and the unusual things! We saw a large “box-o-beef/ham” (beautifully packaged in a red and gold box for your best CNY gift giving experience!), dried fish hanging on a rope, pig head skins, and coconut coffee. It was sort of like samples day at Sam’s – the Oreo lady was there, as well as the Kraft lady and the Tang lady all passing out samples. It was a multi-level store so we had to work hard to ask where the ramps were, but we found our way around! Our favorite “find” was some Disney DVD’s that cost 15 yuan (about $2) brand new! We let each little girl pick out one – Ally chose “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and Alaina chose the “Disney Princesses” (we all agreed that Miss Randi and SG would be proud!). We brought them back to the room just to make sure they worked on our DVD player – they didn’t work on the portable one, but worked fine on the laptop. They both had the option of Chinese or English. Alaina seemed to enjoy it and sang along to a few songs! Since we know they work, we plan to go back and buy several more in the next day or so. I think we may even be able to get the real full versions of some of the Disney movies – all for 15 yuan! We were the ONLY non-Chinese people there in the entire crowded store. It made me even more aware of how much of a shock awaits Alaina upon going home to GA – yes, we will encounter an occasional Chinese person, but the variety she’ll see will have to be overwhelming! The store was packed with people and all decked out in red and gold decorations in preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration in late January!

We are really enjoying out time in Kunming. Susan, our guide, is really funny and cute. She took us to a jade market that she claimed to be “less expensive”, but we thought it was WAY more expensive than the jade in Guangzhou, so we decided to pass on any jade here. We have a few things that we really hope to find in Guangzhou this time, but not too many. I’m sure we will manage to fill up our suitcase though.

Tomorrow we visit the orphanage. We will be sure to have Susan explain to Alaina that we are just going for a visit and she can take some of her “friends” some candy. I doubt she was very close to anyone there, since she was only there a few weeks (if that) before we got her!

2 Jumping Girls

Nail Polish & Noodles

Sara and Lauren decided to paint Ally and Alaina's finger nails and toe nails with pink polish today. Ally added stars to her manicure and Alaina pranced around with her hands in the air.

We did (with Susan's help) get Alaina into some of the clothes that we brought. She still has on her purple leggings, white tank top, pink top and race car socks, but she did let Susan put the red leggings on and striped fleece sweatshirt on, then Alaina topped it off with her purple fur vest. She was almost in tears this morning when we tried, so we let her wear her purple pants again. Thankfully Susan was successful!

We went back to the Green Lake Park today and let the girls ride more rides. They just smile and giggle the whole time and give us all "high 5's" each time they pass by! We are so glad to be close to the park. Sara and Lauren rode this crazy ride that spun them every possible way (like a sphere). I couldn't believe that they didn't get sick. We joked that it must be a rough ride, since they were so strapped in -- any of you who have been here know that personal safety isn't always at the top of the list in China!!!

Susan also took us to see Alaina's "finding spot". It was at the corner of a moderately busy intersection with a flower shop on the corner. We took a family picture there. Susan realized that is was much closer than she initially thought.

We are pretty sure that Alaina has "scolded" Ally on a few occasions! She looks at her and shakes her finger at her and by her tone, it sounds like she is fussing at her. Alaina does not like for Ally to get her shoes on her - that makes her mad! Some things don't matter what language they are said in!

When Alaina looks at the pictures on the blog, she will say "Tick-a-shah" and point at each person! I guess it means "this is her". It's so funny and now Lauren goes around saying it all the time!

We are supposed to have a fire evacuation of the hotel this afternoon. Who knows what that will really be - we may make a WalMart run (I'll take the camera). We did get a letter from the hotel written in Chinese and English just to let us know it was a drill. Sara said we should go thru the hotel yelling "Fuego" (Spanish for fire) and pretend we didn't understand the letter! We are easily humored!

Susan took us to lunch at a noodle restaurant outside of the park. We got 5 huge bowls of noodles (3 with meat) that cost 25 yuan total -- that is under $4.00. He even splurged and got some juice and Sprite for 10 additional yuan. We couldn't even eat it all! 3 bowls would have been plenty! McD's is about 1/2 the price of US. So eating is pretty cheap -- and it was pretty good! Alaina decided to help Ally eat her noodles, since Ally's chopstick skills weren't so great! Ally calls her "A-Nee-Nee"! The only English word that Alaina has really said (other than some numbers) is baby as she looked at a picture of Ally with a baby doll.

Skinny Minnie!

Yep we have a skinny girl! She makes Ally look like a chub (well, not really, but you know)! She was OK with the bath, but isn't thrilled about her new clothes. Here is a look at what she had on when she came to us (plus her black boots)! I didn't even know about the undershirt until we stripped her down for the bath. Most of the items she had on had a number on them. Maybe they were "her" clothes.

Middle of the Night Update

It looks like Doug figured out our internet problems from day 2 (wouldn't let us log in) so I'll try to catch up a little. As Doug mentioned, Ally and I crashed (well, Ally literally crashed, but I caught her before she hit the floor) about 6 or so. She awoke at 11:30 with her usual request, "scratch me Mommy". So I gave her some itchy medicine and slipped her a portion of a Melatonin pill (herbal sleep aid). I hated to drug a 3 year old, but I desperately want her to get enough sleep and help her adjust her little internal clock! So she is still asleep at almost 4 AM - about 9 hours if you take out our little scratching session - at least we avoided the middle of the night "Diego" marathon.

We are seeing a little jealousy on Ally's part, but for the most part I'm thrilled with how she is handling the adjustment. Of course, we are still on neutral ground, so to speak; I'm expecting more of a challenge when we get home to "her" toys, etc...

Alaina is doing equally well with all of us. We (parents adopting from China, and probably anywhere children are in orphanages) are often concerned with how a child will react to the daddy. In many cases, they have never had close contact with any men, since their caregivers are almost all women (tiny women at that). So, I am beyond thrilled that Alaina will walk with Doug, holding his hand, and play with him. He showed her pics on the blog and she loves to look at the little circles at the top and point to herself and each of her sisters. She wants to immediately see any pictures we take and LOVES to see them BIG on the computer!

I still can't get over how tiny she is - the clothes she had/has on are mostly size 3, but are too short. They are even too big in the waist. I'm just relieved that she is actually a little heavier than her referral; although, that was over a year ago, but she is gaining. It could be just in her height because she does seem tall. I still don't have a real guess on her "American" size, but I'm hoping the 4T leggings will maybe stay up on her and be long enough. I don't think there is any reason for me to even try the 4 slim or 5 slim jeans on her that I brought - I know those will be around her ankles in no time (despite the fact that she will have nothing to do with them)! I did bring a tape measure, but haven't gotten that far. I think the girls will try to get her to let them paint her nails and toenails today, if she will let us take her red socks off with the race cars on them!!!

Although she is doing so much better than we initially expected (she was heartbreakingly sad when we first met), I realize that she still HAS to be in shock or denial or still not really understanding that this is permanent. My fear is that she, in her little 5 year old mind, is thinking she is at camp or something and will get to go back home any day now.

Another thing that is so different than when we met Ally, is thinking about how advanced Alaina's language development is. I hate to think of not being able to further develop her written and verbal Chinese, much less loosing it all together. I don't know if a fun little class every Sunday will be even close to enough to help her maintian it. I do know that if she can "keep" her language, that skill alone could be a valuable carrer skill when she grows up. Think about how valuable a Chinese-American person would be to most ANY business in the very near future! I know that we cannot help her with that, and I'm not sure she realizes that we don't understand anything she says! She probably thinks we are all pretty dumb, but we are funny, so that helps!

We had a quiet afternoon and evening yesterday - bath, playing in the room, and early bedtime. When Doug and Sara were out at KFC, Lauren fell asleep on our bed and Ally and Alaina were sitting in the same chair (Alaina wrapped in her towel) when Ally's head bobbed. I knew immediately that she was done for the day. I hopped up and literally caught her as she fell out of the chair, sound asleep. Alaina kinda chuckled because we startled her. She got Ally's blanket and covered her up when I put her in the pack-n-play. At that point, Alaina and I were essentially alone. I felt so sad for her because I couldn't even talk to her or understand her. She will hold our hands and she even climbed up in my lap yesterday after we played the silly peek-a-boo game. I'm a little overwhelmed with how many obstacles she will have to over come in her upcoming life.

As we walk around town, I enjoy noticing the stares from the locals. Rarely are any of them at me (unless they look at either little girl first, then me), because all eyes are on Doug (being so tall) or Sara and Lauren (light hair). It is so funny as most of the reactions for Doug are from men or teenage boys that just look up at him as he walks by. S and L get looks from more boys than I remember from our last trip (ha ha), but we ALL get looks from the OLD people. Rarely do we see a smile from them. I can't tell if they resent "us" for taking their children or if they think we are crazy for having and wanting all these girls! Either way, I don't let it bother me; just observing!

We asked yesterday if her name had any meaning. As best I understood, it was likely given to her by the police officer that found her (she was about 2 months old when found at a fork in the road about 2 hours from Kunming). They (the nanny that was from her orphanage) said her name means "bright sunshine". So along with her little sister "lucky cloud" we have some nice weather in our future!
It's now about 4:20 and I may just be the only one awake. This night's sleep will hopefully be a turning point for Ally's little body (and mine too). I slept close to 7 hours and fell much better. I'm just so glad that Sara and Daddy handled Alaina's bed time last night (and that she let them)!

Bath and Bedtime

It is 2:30 AM and I, Doug, am the only one awake. I am fine with that and I am so thankful that Ally and Lucy are getting the rest they need. After we got back from the park, it was bath time. I am guessing Lucy has pictures and will probably add to my post in the morning. I am not going to fumble around the room looking for the camera at this time. When we returned from the park, we had a little playtime and then Lucy got them ready for a bath. The scar looks great. I let them have their privacy as I was napping but Lucy had me get up and check them out before they got out of the water. I will be honest I did not even notice the scar. I did have to laugh because Alaina made Ally look like a contestant on the Biggest Loser. Alaina is SOOOO skinny.

Lucy also took a picture of the numerous clothes that Alaina had on and will probably post that as well. We had somewhat realized the number of clothes the bottom because of taking her potty, but on top she had an under shirt, shirt, light sweater, heavy sweater and a purple vest adorned with some bows and jewelry. She was very concerned as part of the snap on her purple furry vest came off yesterday while we were at the park. I think it is killing Sara and Lauren that she will not change her clothes. After bath, we had put up her other clothes and Lucy tried to get her to put on an outfit that matched Ally. She would shake her head no and squirm to avoid the clothing. So eventually, Lucy went and got her undershirt and one long sleeved t-shirt that was one of her layers. She wore this and a towel for a long time. Finally, Lucy decided to give in and let her put on one pair of her old leggings with her panties.

For dinner, Sara and I walked down to KFC. I asked at the desk where a Kentucky Fried Chicken was and they looked very confused. However, when I said KFC, they smiled and told us there was one very close. They told us to make two rights and we would see it. Well that was not exactly the case but we asked some people at a suit store and they pointed us in the right direction. When I got back with dinner, Lucy said Ally had literally fallen out of the chair asleep while watching Diego with Alaina. Lucy decided it would be best for her to go to bed with Ally at about 6PM, so she could be awake with her in the middle of the night. I guess it is working so far. Sara, Lauren, Alaina and I had fried chicken and mashed potatoes and some type of a sweet custard quiche that was not too bad. Lauren immediately went to sleep after dinner and Sara played so nicely with Alaina. I went out again and bought some milk because Alaina is used to milk at night and in the morning. Alaina played with the Nintendo DS, drank her milk, brushed her teeth and went to bed without a whimper.

Finally, I wanted to say something about Lucy. She definitely has the gift of motherhood. She may not be the best cook or keep the cleanest house, but she is absolutely the “best mom”. I watched her during the first time meeting Alaina. She would stroke Alaina’s arm or her back and offer reassurance to this scared little girl. Yesterday while we were waiting at the police station for the passport stuff, Lucy and Alaina began playing a little game. Alaina would get right behind Lucy and Lucy would quickly turn around to see her. One time Lucy just bent all the way over and looked at Alaina through her legs. Alaina thought that was hilarious. They are definitely developing that love and trust already.

Candy!

These girls sure do love candy! She even had her first McD's today (at least she told Susan that she had never eaten there before). She enjoyed her ice cream first and then a nugget and some fries. I doubt she has ever had Coke before, because she just wanted Koolaid or water.

She can write her numbers over 100. We all really think that Alaina is very bright. She loves to count things and write her numbers. She is teaching Lauren how to count in Chinese (we only knew how to go 1, 2, 3). She will do great in the China Tree school when we get home!

She is so cute when she laughs - she kinda tilts her head and jumps up.

We are trying to decide about taking her to visit the orphanage. I don't think it is really a "special" place for her since she has only been there for about a week. The only thing that I would be afraid of is that she might think that WE are returning her. I think that Susan could explain to her that we are just going for a visit - maybe to take some candy to her "friends". I'm not stressed out about it like I was about Ally, but it's totally different.

We went back to the park today and the little girls rode some rides that would have in no way passed the safety inspections at home! S and L rode the bumper cars with them and all had fun. THey were the only kids on the ride and drew a crowd of spectators. We were surprised that the park was very busy, with today being a work day. Traffic has picked up in true Chinese fashion - our driver made a U-turn in the middle of a busy intersection! (Note to Fay's - we can't try out the straps, because our van has bucket seats - not bench)

There is a play area in the hotel restaurant and the girls enjoyed playing after breakfast! Alaina ate her noodles with chop-sticks and Ally, always close behind, gave it a good try!

They love to push the buttons on the elevators, and we quickly remembered that this could be a battle. Ally pushes the button outside (up or down) and Alaina pushes the button inside (13 -- yes, there is a 13th floor in our hotel, and we are on it; but there is no 4 or 14). When they get off the elevator, they take off in a race to the room. Ally just runs to catch up, while Alaina checks the room numbers to make sure she stops at the right place.

We still aren't quite sure how big she is, but she weighs 15 kg (about 31 or 32 pounds) on the bathroom scale. She is taller than I really expected, but is very thin. We still haven't seen her scar from her heart surgery -- we haven't even seen her feet!!! The bath is coming soon - hope she is OK with that.

Her chattering is just so cute! She makes herself laugh; or maybe she thinks she is so funny because we just smile and laugh when she says something!

Official

Today we completed our paperwork for Alaina's adoption. We had our "family" photo taken for her adoption decree and she had her photo taken for her passport.

She slept well last night, on sofa cushions next to our bed. Lauren also slept well. Ally, on the other hand, fell asleep at dinner and woke up at 11:30. Wide awake and happy, but awake until about 4 AM. Sara tried to help her and so did Doug and I. She was a little itchy, and had a hard time settling down. It was one of those nights when you feel like you look at the clock every 30 minutes or so, but the morning finally came.

Alaina woke a little concerned, but OK. She told our guide that she wants to go back to her house. She was a little sad when I asked some questions to the orphanage nannies this morning. I asked about her foster family, if her foster brother was older or younger than she was. SInce the nanny didn't know how old he was, she asked Alaina. Immediately Alaina started to tear up and didn't answer. That was the only real time we saw her sad today.

Overall, she is a little hyper and bouncy! It could just be her way of dealing with things being so new and uncertain. She jumps around and chatters away. It certainly doesn't seem to bother her that we have no idea what she is saying. She is still wearing the clothes from yesterday. She did take her purple fur jacket off to sleep, but put it on immediately upon waking up. We are going to try to get her into the tub with Ally a little later today! Who knows how that will work.

I just couldn't believe what she did last night. She began showing me pictures and would write the Chinese symbol on a piece of paper. She just glanced at the picture and wrote the symbol. I sat there in amazement. She got everyone exactly right. She was very precise with her strokes and lines. She even got up this morning and wrote some more, but I don't know what those things were! Susan (our guide) said that the nannies all said how smart she was. Then she surprised us even more and wrote "14+1=15" and "17+3=20" on the water doodle. Then she did a lot of math problems on the magna doodle with Lauren. They said she had not been to school, but her foster family must have really worked with her a lot. I can't help but wonder if she has been in school. She seems way ahead of what I would expect a kingergartener to be able to do.

We have had a few squatty potty experiences for Ally and Alaina. They both did just fine, but Ally said "the potty is broken"! Funny!

More later....

Wu Xu Hui

Can you even believe this? It's her name! She wrote it, pointed to it and said it, word by word. Amazing! She is a chatter box and loves to draw. Of course, we mostly just smile and say "good" and "yes". I am pretty sure she is tired, but is fighting sleep. She will have nothing to do with changing her clothes, so she will likely sleep in what she is wearing. We will deal with that tomorrow. She has gone potty twice and takes us by the hand when she needs to go. Even with the moments of sadness, she is very spunky!

We brought some little books that we had gotten for Ally in Guangzhou. They show a picture and the Chinese symbols and the "English" pronunciation. We showed her several and she would say the word and so would I. This made her laugh out loud on several occasions! I'm sure I sounded a little different than she was used to!

Our 4 Girls!

Would have never believed I would say that!

ALAINA!!!

We got down to the lobby at about 4:15 and Lucy immediately said "there they are". Alaina and one other little girl were coming through the door of the Hotel with the orphanage director and one helper. As I am writing, we just got our first smile with the help of bubbles. Ally has been great so far. She keeps giving all of her toys to Alaina. Alaina has already had two tiny chocolate bars, so we are getting her used to things around here. Wow what a difference 10 minutes makes. All 4 of them are laughing and playing right now.

She was pretty sad the entire time the orphanage people were here. She tried to be strong and not cry but you could tell she was having such a difficult time. We told her through our guide that it was ok to cry. After they left she just kind of sat there looking so sad.


Lucy and the entire family are somewhat in disbelief at how this is going so far. She is having so much fun. Ally and Alaina are coloring right now. She had another tiny candy bar she is getting up and getting things that she wants to play with when at first she would not take anything we would give her. We had asked her when she was sad about going to the restroom. A few minutes she was giggling and just got up and ran in there. She has on tights, leggings, shorts, panties and a skirt. That is a lot of stuff. She has taken off her boots but will not let go of her jacket. Either she really likes it or she thinks she will have to stay if we take it.
Randi check out the shirt. It is Minnie Mouse.

Green Lake Park

We had a blast this morning at Green Lake Park. We fed the birds some bread as they just circle around the park. The girls rode the bumper cars. We saw lots of Chinese musicians and dancers in the park. Sara, Lauren and Ally joined in on one dance. Here is video footage. Warning the moves in this video may be inapropropriate for small children.

A Sunday Morning Walk in Kunming

We enjoyed our breakfast buffet this morning at the hotel. It was about like the other hotels we stayed in last time. Ally gobbled up her congee and baked beans! We asked her if she ate congee when she used to live with Frannie. Isn't that cute? No idea if any of this seems vaguely familiar for her at all. She just seems to go about her day as usual. We did notice that we got many MORE stares just walking around the streets. People would notice Sara and Lauren then Ally and then look at us and point or stare. Most will just stare. Sara and Lauren have been asked 3 times if they are twins! We did see a church service going on, but didn't know what "kind" it was. Also, there are TONS of cell phone stores around here.

Many places are still decorated for Christmas, and Christmas music is playing in the lobby and halls of the hotel. The tree in the lobby said Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad!

We just got a call from Susan and we will now meet Alaina at 4:30 this afternoon in the hotel. The other family that is supposed to be with us missed a connection, so our meeting will be delayed a few hours. We were supposed to meet her at 2 to go to the Civil Affairs Office, so we'll see. Wow - that is close!

I'm thinking that Ally will have a very hard time with this. She has been acting quite demanding on this trip. I understand she has been through a lot with the flight "challenges" we have had. She is not being a very good girl about obeying this morning. I know she is tired and off-schedule. Hoping she can get a good nap before Gotcha time!

I sat at breakfast and just couldn't really believe that we are HERE again! It's unexplainable! What an amazing opportunity!

Susan also said for us not to be upset if Alaina cries when she meets us or when we go up to the room. The ladies at the orphanage said she is scared of strangers! Great - we will be the most strange strangers that she has likely ever seen! And she will be told to go with us and be a good, big girl. Our anticipations are so different with an older child than they were with Ally.

After our little walk around outside the hotel, we came back to put the nanny gifts together. Doug and Lauren went back out to look for the Green Lake Park. I hear it is beautiful. The weather is pleasant. We wore jeans and a light jacket this morning and we were a little chilly, but it is sunny and clear. The traffic is light, but it is Sunday AM. I'm sure it will be in full-China-traffic fashion tomorrow!

It's just a little strange sitting here waiting for time to pass...

Written on the Plane

I wrote a little yesterday as we were on the LONG flight over the ocean. As for pics, we promise to post some once we have some that were NOT taken on a plane! Susan, our guide, talks very fast and is a little hard to understand, but she is cute and excited about everything! Maybe I was just tired beyond measure last night when we met her!!! I slept a few hours last night and feel OK (I remember last time that I thought I was doing better than I really was). S and L continue to sleep, but Ally has been wide awake since 5 AM. We are trying to get our stuff put away and Doug is going down to exchange some $$!

Here is my "post" from the plane:

Dec 26 (about 6 PM GA time) – we are a few hours into our LONG flight to Shanghai. We actually had another scare in the San Francisco airport with our boarding passes. Somehow, they printed Lauren’s pass twice and didn’t print mine. Since we had 5 slips of paper, we didn’t immediately inspect each one. We realized it just before boarding of our flight began! Thankfully, we did have seats, but were not all together. Right now, Sara, Ally and I are in a side row, while Daddy and Lauren are several rows in front of us. Lauren is thrilled that “Mama Mia” is the in-flight movie! Ally continues her Diego marathon, while my concern is what will we do when the DVD battery dies? I will conserve the laptop battery as a back up. Sara and I have laughed at Ally as she watches her very favorite animal resque-er – she will break out in song (with headphones on) and laugh out loud occasionally. She just laughed and said, “Mommy look, the puma licked Diego”. She always says that she wants to do what Diego does once she is 5. I’m not really sure why 5 is her magic number – the age that she will be big enough and brave enough to zip line through a jungle or ride on a dinosaur. Maybe it’s because her buddy Linzi is 5 and, in Ally’s eyes, Linzi can do anything!!!

I’m thinking a bit about our upcoming meeting with Alaina. I think about the scar on her chest from her heart surgery 4 years ago. It makes me a little sad that at that time, I wasn’t even aware that I might realize the long time dream of adopting from China, much less adopting AGAIN from China! Makes me sad to think that she, at such a young age and likely fragile state, was in a hospital with her nanny or foster mom by her side. OK, not to make anyone cry or anything, I’ll move on to happier thoughts.

As I look at her picture, I see her spunk. I just so hope that she is not absolutely terrified when she is left alone with us. I guess that is really asking a lot, but it is my hope. Yes, I am prepared for her to have a hard time, and I have said that we will “expect the worse, but hope for the best”. But honestly (BTW, I really don’t like that phrase because it makes everything else I have said seem not honest), I am not sure that we are prepared for what might come our way. I have heard of very happy meetings of older children, but I have also heard of older children yelling and screaming in Chinese that “these people are NOT my parents and they are kidnapping me”. I guess that is where our guide can fend off people’s concerns and stares! Hopefully, it won’t be that bad; I’m not sure how I will handle that.

So, now we are just relieved to actually be on the flight to China. We hope and pray that our connection to Kunming will be seamless (that seems to be asking a lot with our shaky track record). This trip has offered us several opportunities to teach Sara and Lauren how to handle the unexpected. They immediately panic and then want an instant solution. We have tried to be reasonable at each step and challenge, trying to think of our best “next step.” I’m not sure that all of our “steps” have been the best, but we have remained pretty calm, for the most part.

I think we have about 10 more hours on this flight, so I’m hoping for time to pass quickly and quietly! All in all, we are hanging in there!

We are HERE!!!!

It is now about 3:00 AM. Lucy and the girls are all sleeping. We had good flights and everyone did AWESOME!!! (except for Lucy). She did not get much sleep at all. We did not arrive until about midnight in Kunming. We saw the sign for our guide before we got our luggage so that was comforting. It took forever to get our luggage and then we had about a 15 minute ride to our Hotel. We are staying at the Grand Park Hotel and it seems very nice. We have adjoining rooms and they had a pack and play set up in one room already for us.

A couple of days ago, our guide Susan, met Alaina It sounds like she understands that she is going to be adopted and is excited about her new family. This is a huge answer to prayer. Her hair must be pretty short because our guide thought she was a boy. We leave tomorrow at 2:00 PM to get her from the Civil Affairs Office. So hopefully we will get to sleep in and finish unpacking. We will post pictures as soon as possible.

How exciting I can view our blog here. Last time we would just have to post and hope the pictures etc. loaded.

Next Stop CHINA

We're in San Francisco and waiting for our flight to Shanghai at noon Pacific time. We will get some lunch and "run" the girls! We are doing fine and trying to stay happy and patient. Thanks for comments and prayers.

4 Posts in One Day!

I had not hoped for this to be the case, but we are now in LA in a hotel for the night. The flight that we are NOW scheduled to leave on (tomorrow AM) connects in San Francisco and then to Shanghai. So, we will probably leave the hotel around 3:30 AM (Pacific time) to hopefully get seats on a 6 AM flight. We are confirmed on a 9:00 AM flight, but that will only give us about 50 minutes to change over to international. After this morning, we aren't comfortable with that small window of time. So, we are getting ready for bed now, in order to wake up super early!

Here is a brief run-down of what happened this morning that caused us to miss our original flight... (I suppose it was technically our fault)...

We got to the ATL airport 3 hours before our flight. There were only 3 agents checking in for Delta international. The line was very long and slow. We had to check in 1 hour before our flight and we missed that cut off by 2 minutes (we stood in the check in line for 1 hour and 55 minutes - and missed the flight). This was 58 minutes before our flight was to leave and we were told the flight was shut down and no one else could board. By this time there were probably hundreds of people behind us that also missed their international flights; many were also to be on that flight to Shanghai. So, the flight left on time, with many empty seats and many upset customers who had been at the airport 3 hours before the flight time... By the time we got the flight to LA, there were 9 agents working. In my opinion, poor planning on Delta's part...

All in all, we are trying to stay calm and just "roll with it". At times, it has been trying to say the least, but we are safe and we do have a plan. S and L are quite frustrated and a bit short-tempered. I am trying to stay calm and understand, but it does become difficult. I feel as if we haven't really made any progress with the trip, yet we are already tired!!! I'm hoping to sleep well tonight (all of us).

Ally did fairly well on the flight - thank goodness for the DVD's of "Diego"! She watched them with the head phones on until the battery died (about 3.5 hours). She fell asleep for a few minutes while sitting with Daddy and Lauren (we had 3 seats in one row, and 2 seats about 10 rows back). Sara enjoyed the in-flight music selections, while Lauren chose her Ipod and a movie on the laptop.

Thankfully, we do have all of our luggage with us; although, we aren't opening our "checked" luggage. I guess we will sleep in our clothes and just go "as is" tomorrow. I can't even believe that we travelled last time Carry-on-only! I feel like we have SO much stuff, yet we used the space bags again and didn't bring a bunch of extras!

Anyway, next stop Shanghai (well, actually San Francisco). At least we had an eventful Christmas after all! Enjoying the comments!

(Sorry for the brevity of the previous posts -- they were from my Blackberry and it's a chore to type a blog post on that)

Made it to LA

We are safely in California. More details once we figure out our next move. It will likely involve a hotel and a long flight tomorrow!

detour!

Well, once again, we are delayed in Atlanta. We are now going thru LA and then to China. We will hopefully post once we get to California!

Sleep Did Not Come Easy

At least for mommy, it didn't! Oh well, nothing surprising. We are hydrated (drank lots of water in the last few days), we have boosted our immunity (with immune boost yogurt), we are packed (in WAY more bags than we took last time in July 07) and we are ready (at least we better be!).

Just a little thank you to my "bloggy" faithfuls. Your comments are our connection to home and we LOVE them; they really do keep us going! This morning, as you all are waking to little folks so excited about Santa and celebrating baby Jesus, we will likely be in the car on our way to the airport! While you are opening presents and enjoying a big dinner, we will be on the airplane. When your kids are bored because there's "nothting to do" or no one can play (yes, we have been there), we will be on the airplane. When you tuck them into bed tonight, we will STILL be on a plane. AND finally, when you wake up tomorrow, we will be on ANOTHER plane! So, all this to say, please pray for us as you go about Christmas today!!! We would so very much appreciate it!!!

Hey, Randi, it might not be such a good idea fall asleep with the laptop!!! Thanks for everything!!

Yeah - the time has come!!! Merry Christmas!

Alaina - Here We Come!

OK -- Doug was right; everyone in the house is asleep, except me! So here is a little send off from mommy!

For Little Alaina - We have so many questions about you! We wrote them down so we will remember to ask them in the excitement of meeting you on Sunday! I hope that we will see that sweet smile soon, but we know you will be scared and confused. Please know that we have already loved you for a long time! I have looked at your face everyday for 8 months and I am so excited to come and get you and see you learn to love your sisters and your new family! Hold on tight, sweetie, we're coming!!!
Love, Mommy

Christmas Eve. We leave in the morning.

Well it's Christmas Eve and almost all the decorations are put away. We took down both trees yesterday and got everything put back up in the attic. We just returned from Hebron's Christmas Eve service and dinner at SONIC. We wanted to get one more Mexican Dinner in before a 2 weeek hiatus, but it was closed.

Last night we went over to the AJC famous Burke Family. We were in China with them when we got Ally. They had us over to watch the "A Home for the Holidays" special. We were all touched by the show as it dealt with the adoption of older kids. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw both sang very spiritual songs about baby Jesus and it was just so awesome to see that on a major network. It was sponsored by the Dave Thomas (Wendy's) Adoption Organization.

This morning I took Ally to speech and the first song that we heard was Stephen Curtis Chapman's "All I Really Want for Christmas" and I had a difficult time holding back the tears. After last night and hearing that song, one can't help but want to love these kids.

We leave at about 6:00 AM. We are really getting excited. I think the girls and I will have no problem sleeping tonight, but I expect Lucy to have a difficult time. She will probably worry if she got everything packed, etc. Please keep us in your prayers. Please pray that Alaina will know we are coming to be her forever family!!! Also pray that we will all stay healthy during the entire trip.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Merry Christmas!

This year we made some special arrangements with the big guy in the red suit! Santa came early and today we celebrated Christmas! Lauren, especially, was concerned about trying to keep as many of our Christmas traditions, despite the little trip we are taking on Thursday! I think it felt pretty much like Christmas day around here, except for the fact that Ally had a dentist appt this AM, and we ran several errands to stores that would have otherwise been closed!

FINALLY, I am posting a few pics:

From Ella Kate's Party (pics with Ellie and Katie too)

Ally's pre-school Christmas program (she swung that little pink dress from side to side most of the time, when she wasn't trying to find the jingle bells she dropped)

Frannie came for a visit and the rolling on the big chair ended in a bloody nose for Frannie and some sympathy pains from Ally!

Merry Christmas! My 3 favorite moments were (yes, of course, I have a list):
1. Ally getting a personal phone call from Santa. Her little eyes just lit up and she whispered to me "Mommy, it's Santa!"
2. Mema coming to celebrate and Ally saying "I'm Mema's girl"!
3. Watching Sara and Lauren play with the Wii Sing Disney game - they had so much fun together; and with the Wii Fit, too!

We are packed and as ready (well, almost) as we can be! We will still go to the Christmas Eve service at church on Wed. Thanks to our pastor, Larry, for saying a special prayer for our daughter and our safety this past Sunday!!

Since my sister and brother-in-law will be staying at our house to tend to our "watch dog" (well at least he thinks he's a watch dog!) and the "drooling attack cat", I'm trying to think of a super nice gift to bring them from China! Any ideas???

We are missing both of our "family get-togethers" and I think that is the thing that we will all miss the most! But it's certainly worth the trade-off! This is sinking in ...