From Xi'an to Guangzhou

Our day started out early yesterday (Friday), since it was our last day in Xi'an and Rodney and I really wanted to see if we could find the place where Sophia was abandoned before we left the city. The concierge at the hotel was very helpful in drawing us a map to the hospital and helped us get a taxi. THAT was an experience in itself! The drivers here all cut each other off all the time and drive way too close for our comfort, but this guy actually pinned another car against the curb/wall and the other guy got out, came over to our driver (both of them yelling at each other the whole time), grabbed him by the shirt and tried to pull him our of the car. Oh my word, it was crazy! Rodney and I were both yelling at him to GO! GO! Cars where blocked behind us and honking...

Anyway, we did find the hospital and got some help finding the Pediatric Outpatient Department. Her paperwork says she was found on a chair there. I'd like to think her birth mother left her there because it was a busy place and there's no doubt her baby would be found quickly and taken care of. We'll forever be grateful to her for making sure her last gift was to leave her baby in a safe place. I'm so glad we took the time to go there. Oh, the ride back was very uneventful. :-)

Sophia's "finding place" - a busy waiting room in the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic at the hospital.

We got back to the hotel, packed everything up (more challenging than it sounds!) and headed to the airport. Just before we said goodbye to our guide, Tom, we had a chance to talk to him about a conversation we'd had earlier in the week. He told us previously that he had grown up without any kind of religion, but he had been given a bible and had been reading thru it. He considered himself about "half way" to being a Christian. Rodney and I spent our last bit of time talking to him about it and encouraging him to go the distance and become a Christian all the way. We had shared with him how God had answered so many of our prayers throughout this adoption and he told us that if he did become a Christian, we were part of the reason why. I share that not to toot our horn in any way, but to ask you to please pray for Tom. He is such a nice guy, but more importantly, his job is such that he is in contact with many, many people all the time. What an example he could be to others who may decide to follow Christ as well!

Rodney and the girls with our awesome guide, Tom.

The flight to Guangzhou was uneventful (yeah!) and Sophia did really well for her first time on an airplane. Let's hope she does that well on the long flight home!

We're staying at the Garden Hotel - it is unbelievably nice. We're obviously from small town America - our jaws dropped when we walked in the building... and then we realized we were only in the foyer and weren't even in the real lobby yet! It's crazy nice and all I can say is our agency gets a whopper of a good deal, because a place like this would cost an arm and a leg in the U.S.!!! I suppose if we have to spend another week away from home, this hotel will do. :-)

Can you even see us in this picture? The lobby is seriously HUGE.

The bath tub is too big and scary for Sophia, but we found the sink works great. (Thanks to Brooks for the tip!)

This morning our group met up early and headed to the American Medical Clinic (I think that's what it's called) for the children's medical exams. All adopted children must pass this exam in order to be given a visa and allowed to enter the U.S. Everyone comments on how "healthy" our little chunky monkey looks! It was very crowded and noisy and took a little over an hour, but she did great the whole time and never cried.

Waiting outside for our group's turn to go in.

There were three parts to the exam - she did great with each of them.

Listening to her heart - both doctors gave us the thumbs up!

We had a couple of hours of free time after that and got to explore Shaiman Island for a bit and do a little shopping. I got Miss Priss a few pair of squeaky shoes - they are these darling little leather shoes that only cost $5 a pair - and that girl does love her shoes!

Momma checking out the squeaky shoes while Maddie entertains Sophia.

Worn out from a full day and snuggled up with Mom. She's definitely a Daddy's girl right now, so I love it when she lets me hold her like this.

She also loves her stroller and wants to sit in it every where we go. She even likes to sit in it in our room sometimes.

That's it for now. We're here until Friday morning when we'll start the long journey home, but until then, we only have one more appointment, so we'll be filling our time with some sight seeing and exploring. We're really missing Olivia, Jackson and Elijah and wish we could head home right now, but since we can't, we'll try to make it a fun week. Only five more days and a wake up till we head home!

Till next time,
Karee

Xi'an - Day 5

Yesterday was a full day of exploring and learning - one I'm sure none of us will ever forget. We started out early and headed toward the Terracotta Warriors Museum. First, our guide took us to the workshop where they make all the replicas for people to buy. We didn't, but it was quite interesting to learn about how the original warriors were made. The ancient Chinese people did some truly brilliant things - long before the rest of the world caught on.

Click on photos to enlarge

Every one of the 6000 warriors has a different face. I think I like the one in the middle best. :-)

After our stop there, we headed to the actual Museum were the three Pits are. Very impressive and HUGE. It just amazes me that so much energy was put into preparing for a war in the afterlife. The Emperor whose tomb the warriors are guarding spent 2/3 of the nations money each year on preparing his tomb... for 40 years!!! I can't help but think of what good things could have been accomplished with that money. It's incredible to see the warriors, but it also saddens me.

When we first got there, we had a chance to meet the farmer who originally discovered the warriors back in 1974 when he was helping dig a well. I took a picture of him signing a book for us before I realized we weren't supposed to do that. BUT, for 20 Yuen, you can have your picture taken with him. No choice after the one I had already snapped!

I think it's kind of funny that for months I've been following blogs of other Starfish babies' whose families have done this same tour, and there is a picture of each of the kiddoes doing this same thing:

The "Eight Wonder of the World" and they sleep right through it!

On our way back from the Museum, we stopped at the Xi'an orphanage so that Michelle could see where Marie Ling had lived and could meet her teachers and try to ask some questions about her past. It's so hard to see all those children without families, but for what it's worth, the orphanage looked clean, the children looked like they're doing OK and Marie Ling was all smiles getting to see her friends one last time. (She's having a very hard time, off and on, so Michelle was very glad to get to do that.)

When we got back to the hotel, Tom walked with us to a little hole in the wall Muslim noodle restaurant and we had dinner there. It was really good and dinner for ALL of us was only about $15. Rodney and Tom had to walk a few doors down to find something to drink with it, but we all had a good time. (Madeline wasn't feeling well and stayed at the hotel.)

Sophia is doing amazingly well. She almost never cries - I just can't get over what a content little girl she is. We are so in love with this little doll baby! She has the sweetest little voice and a smile that just melts our hearts. I'm looking so forward to Olivia, Jackson and Elijah getting to meet her! They are going to have FUN, FUN, FUN just loving on her!!!

She loves sitting in her stroller just about every where we go.

Hanging out with Daddy this morning.

Today was our down time and Tom isn't picking us up until 4:30 this afternoon. He's taking us to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, out for some kind of famous local cuisine (he's been really good at making sure we've tried the things Xi'an is famous for... did you know there's such a thing as a soup dumpling? Yes, it's a dumpling with soup in it. Quite a technique involved in eating it!) and then on to see the Tang Dynasty theater show. It's supposed to be really good and tells a lot about the Tang Dynasty, so we're looking forward to it. It's also our last full day here in Xi'an. We've really enjoyed our time here in this city. Although we've seen a lot of history and done a lot of "touristy" kind of things, we've also had the opportunity to see how real Chinese people live, work, eat, and play. Oh, and stare. That seems to be a past time all of it's own... and we're the subjects of the staring!

Did we mention traffic is a little scary here? This wasn't even rush hour!

There is so much construction going on in China that our guide says the national bird is "the crane".

We're heading to Guangzhou tomorrow for our last part of the journey. Sophia's passport will be ready in the morning and we'll head to the airport a little after noon to fly south. Weather has been interesting here: Beijing was really cold, but sunny, Xi'an has been only a bit chilly, but sunny, and Guangzhou is tropical, so it's time to pack up the coats and jackets because we won't be needing them anymore! Tricky packing for the different climates, but I'm looking forward to being in a warm climate for a while. And so grateful we weren't here in the summer when GZ was over 100 degrees and MUGGY!

Sweet dreams!

Please keep us in your prayers - we feel them and appreciate them so much!
Till next time,

Karee

Xian - Day 4

Hey folks, we're all doing fine, but it's been another very busy day and although it's only 7:00 pm, I'm the only one still awake! Even though we've been gone almost a week now, I think the jet lag is really starting to catch up with us, so I'm going to post about today's events tomorrow and get to bed early myself.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and for your comments and emails - we love hearing from each of you!

Till next time,
Karee

Xi'an - Day 3

It's late, and everyone is sound asleep, so this will have to be a short post. Today was another emotional day, but overall, we're all doing fine. We spent the first half of the day on our own, so we took a walk down the street to the big store our guide calls the "Chinese Walmart" and had fun exploring there. It's always so interesting to see things that are different from our culture. Of course, just getting there and back is quite the adventure because pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. In fact, I'm not sure anybody does and it's a lot like playing Frogger - only it's for real!

Bathed, dressed and ready to start the day!

At 2:00, it was time to meet Amanda's driver in the lobby so he could take us to visit the Starfish Foster Home. Sophia came with him as an interpreter and although I was very glad to see her and so glad she could spend a little more time with little Sophia, it was a bit hard on all of us. Going to Starfish was amazing though - I think it was a truly eye-opening experience for Madeline. It was very hard/touching to see all those precious children there who don't have families of their own. Some of them have already been matched and are just waiting for their families to be able to come get them, as is the case with Nadia. She and little Sophia are best buddies and it was just precious to see them together! Sophia had been crying in the car on the way to Starfish, but when she saw Nadia, she practically lunged to give her a hug! It was so sweet. Nadia's family will be here in two weeks, so I'm very glad she won't have to stay there much longer now that Sophia is gone. Coming back to the hotel was an emotional ride as well, and that's where we said goodbye to big Sophia, who is truly an angel in our eyes. Had our guide, Tom, not already been in the lobby waiting for us to come back down to meet our little group, I'm quite certain the crying little Sophia and I did in the hotel room would have moved well past tears and into the ugly cry category. No time for that though, and I'm sure it was a good thing that we had distractions.

Seeing Nadia again for the first time. It was very obvious these two girls love each other a lot.

We walked around outside Starfish for a while and she and Nadia took turns riding in the stroller and pushing it around.

Another Starfish doll baby. Jacqueline, I tried to find a way to sneak this one out in my bag for you, but didn't get away with it. Is she adorable, or what?

We made it back downstairs, met up with our guide, Michelle, Mary and Marie Ling and headed for the Muslim Market. The weather was really nice and we walked all up and down the streets. We saw so many interesting things, did some bargaining, bought some cool things and ate way too many dumplings! (Brooks, believe it or not, Sophia only ate 1 1/2 of them!) I think it was the perfect distraction for Sophia to get out of the hotel room and go some place where there was so much to see. She eventually fell asleep and stayed that way the rest of the evening - even while I got her ready for bed. She is one sound sleeper!

Some of my favorite people in the world :-)

The Bell Tower in Xi'an and part of the city wall.

Roasted duck, anyone?

Yes, I know... precious beyond words.

Tom is an excellent guide - along with taking care of all our adoption procedures, he's doing a fantastic job of teaching us so much about the history here in Xi'an. For now, we're just waiting on her passport to be ready, but that won't be until Friday. So tomorrow we're heading to the Terracotta Warriors Museum, which we've really been looking forward to. Rodney and I keep saying how different this adoption trip is from any of our trips to Russia. We did do a bit of sight seeing there, but nothing like we're getting to do here. We almost feel guilty we're having such a nice trip so far. Almost... but not quite! :-)

So much for keeping it short, huh? Thanks for reading this and for all the comments, emails and messages we've been getting. We appreciate each of them so much!

Till next time,
Karee

What an Amazing Day!

I have to start this post by giving thanks to God for blessing us in such an amazing way! We have been specifically praying for months the He would prepare Sophia's heart to bond quickly with us and for her not to be afraid. We have NO DOUBT she is doing this well because of all those prayers! Sophia slept 12 hours straight without waking up at all (we were prepared for her to wake up scared in the night). When she did wake up, she looked around the room, reached for me to pick her up, and had been nothing but smiles and laughter ever since. Seriously!!!

We had to go back to the civil affairs office twice today to take care of additional paperwork (our adoption is now final!) and then to the passport office to apply for hers, and all the while she just jibber-jabbered and played with us. She has snuggled, cuddled, kissed, smiled, laughed... and completely amazed us all day long. We went out to dinner tonight with Michelle and Mary (Michelle's sister) and Marie Ling, who was adopted today. Marie Ling turned eight years old today and it was such an pleasure to be in the civil affairs office at the time she was brought to Michelle. What a brave little girl she is! We assume she's never been to a restaurant before and she put us to shame with her chopsticks. (Really and truly, they didn't bring us any forks!) Sophia did fantastic the entire time we were there. Oh my goodness she is such a doll!!!

She's in her crib right now chatting up a storm and I'm hoping she goes to sleep easily, but if I must rock her to sleep, well, somebody has to do it! :-)  (Update - it took a while to get all the photos uploaded and she finally laid down and went to sleep without a single tear. Lots of smiles though!)

Here are pictures of our past two days. She is the most adorable little girl - I hope you enjoy the pictures half as much as we have enjoyed being with her!

This first set of pictures is of our Gotcha moment. It was very hard on everyone, but we are so thankful to big Sophia for staying with us and helping little Sophia thru it. You can click on any of them to enlarge the photo.

 

After we left the civil affairs office, big Sophia came back to the hotel and was a HUGE help in getting little Sophia settled down. We got to see her smiling and happy and are so grateful for this time together!

This next set of picture is from today (Monday). What a precious little girl we've been blessed with!

Daddy had her squealing with delight each time he did this with her - don't worry, she's laughing here, not crying!

OK, not a picture of Sophia, but I just had to include this one. These typical Chinese split pants just "crack" me up. (Pun intended!)

Our little travel group. Michelle is on the right with her new daughter, Marie Ling, and Michelle's sister, Mary. We're really enjoying getting to spend some time with them.

Hanging out at the restaurant. I should have taken pictures of some of the crazy things on the menu (that we DIDN'T order), but what we did get was really good and for ALL of us (including Michelle, Mary and Marie Ling, it was only $30!)

Last but not least, my favorite picture, even though it's a bit blurry. She is such a cuddly girl and I'm loving every minute of it!

Tomorrow we have free time in the morning and then we're going to Starfish in the afternoon. I'm looking so forward to meeting Amanda and all the nannies that have helped take such great care of our little girl. It may be hard on Sophia when we leave, but Rodney and I both feel it's important that we go visit Starfish, and after seeing what a resilient little girl she is, I know she's going to be OK.

We are so grateful for all your prayers! Isn't it amazing how He keeps answering them???!!! Keep them coming - we're hoping each day just gets better and better!

Till next time,
Karee