More Pictures!!!

Mommy Alice, Buddy Paul and Baby Colin (he may be hiding but he's a beautiful little boy, full of life and wants FOOD!!!!
Daddy Ken with Travis, Mom is somewhere handling the luggage... .
Taylor and Teresa get to ride the luggage cart, they LOVED it (despite Teresa's face...)

Pictures for Sunday/Monday & Tuesday...

WE're ready to go shopping now!
Arriving at yet anothter Hotel... Can we play yet?
Sorry its the wrong direction, but we're on another magic bus... Taylor obviously LOVES Teresa sitting with her this time!

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, End of October...

Sunday, October 28th
Today was the “White Out Party” which means more paperwork. It took about 1 ½ to 2 hours to complete our paperwork, out of our four families each Mother did the paperwork and the Dad’s , Paul and Uncle Doug walked around and hit some shopping. Doug bought a great outfit for Teresa for 48Rmb (about $7 US), its adorable and actually fits her! Other than the paperwork and packing today is a quiet day. Our schedule for Monday is luggage into the hallway at 6:30 am, breakfast then checking out at 7:30 with departure to the airport at 8:00 am, we should arrive in Guangzhou for lunch and immediately have the girls pictures take for their US Visa’s. The girls will also go through their medical exam (and I use the term very loosely) and who knows what else the day will hold.


Monday, October 29th
Our flights went smoothly and the day passed very quickly with something to do every few hours once we landed. The medical exam was not fun at all and Teresa screamed when the tried to examine her at two of the three stations (weight/height, ENT, and a physical), because of the “special needs” label on each of the children, and especially Teresa, we had to answer extra questions and Teresa had to go through one additional exam the whole time I kept repeating “she’s fine, we can go now, she’s fine, see!”. I believe they do this for the parents concern to make sure we’re happy with our children and the at the match that has been given to us is a bond that will last a life time. We got to spend some time at the pool and as both Taylor and Teresa had their lips turning purple we switched to a hot bath before a pizza party in Doug’s room and off to bed with everyone. For all the kids (yes, and adults too) it was a long day!

Tuesday, October 30th
After our morning ritual breakfast (Buffett Style) we we’re told to wait around until our Country Guide Vanessa told us we were free to go. She had an appointment at 9:00 at the consulate with all of our paperwork, this is the last of the paperwork that we’re required to do (I think?) So after we were free we met for lunch and then Doug toured us around Guangzhou for shopping!!! FINALLY. We spent about 4 hours wandering the shops, bartering and trying to make sure we had gifts for everyone on our lists. It was more comfortable for us walking through the local markets this time than it has been but still people stop and try to talk to us about the children, especially with our token Blonde, Alice!!! We were also the only people in shorts and we think we were reprimanded a few time about not having the arms and legs of the children covered. We saw a Dad pushing his child in a stroller in what appeared to be a sleeping bag, fully covered like it was winter (and it was about 80+ today in Guangzhou!)
Overall our last few days have been uneventful and full of bonding and time alone with our children. It’s a great shopping Mecca and its being cut short by paperwork and finally heading home!! Two more nights sleep for Taylor and let me tell you that is one happy child knowing we’re heading home to normality!!!

We can’t wait to see everyone and miss you all!!!!!

Saturday 10/27 a day at the park...

This is split pants that all the babies seem to wear, it makes it easier to just have them squat along the sidewalk...
China's version of a talent competition

Jamming in the park
Aren't we the cool ones! this is Colin, Teresa and Taylor on a clear day heading to the park...

Saturday, 10/27 - countdown begins

Taylor and I (and probably everyone else) are starting to count down the days until we return home, 2 more sleeps and we return to Guangzhou and the White Swan hotel, just 5 more sleeps and we board the planes to head home!

Here is my post from Friday that never made it up onto the blog...

Friday, October 26th. We’ve been in China for one week today!
We’re off to the Provential County Museum today to see the “most beautiful woman” who, by the way has been dead for 2000+ years - won’t that be fun with a 3 ½ and a 2 ½ year old!

Andy will have more of the details about the museum, I’m going to write and complain about the pollution, its hard to walk across the street (or under the street since you really REALLY don’t want to cross 6 lanes of this traffic, but once you get down to the tunnel, its so filled with smoke you just want to run across it and by the time you reach the other side your throat is burning and your lungs hurt. This morning we can see blue sky above - way above, but there is no way we’ll have a bright sunny day unless the smog burns off or gets blown away. Its like in layers. Taylor asked me yesterday why the sun looked so funny, it was a pink/orange ball and we could see it clearly through the smog. Its just aweful.

Changsha may be the Capitol of the Hunan province, but there are no areas for children other than the schools. Around here the children wear uniforms of White & Blue sweat suites and go to school from 7:00 to 5:30 with a two hour “recess” mid day in order to go and get something for lunch. The high school children may have to return to school from 7 - 9 pm to prepare for the University Entrance Exams, otherwise the will do homework sometimes until mid-night. They are extremely regimented and you don’t see/hear the type of disrespect that you hear about in larger city schools in the US. Yes, I’m sure they’re some wise guys but we’ve heard they save that for the 2 hour recess. School is a serious business. Younger children, 3-5 years old who are not in school are already taking lessons in either English, piano, violin or mathematics. The parents of these children feel that they need to start as early as possible to become smarter and more capable to taking care of things then their generation or previous generations.

Babies are an oddity, there’s no where to be seen, nor are pregnant women, though I did see one or two this week. While we were shopping I noticed the cost of a stroller from the larger department stores was about 300 yuan - rather expensive compared to other items like Doug found the scooters that everyone drives around here for 400 yuan - the maternity section of the store was the size of our kitchen (maybe 12 x 12) and there wasn’t a lot to choose from. Unlike our Babies R Us, there was limited options for cribs and furnishings. I imagine a lot of the baby items are passed down from generation to generation and are probably not purchased new by the larger population and only by those Dual Income newer generation who can afford them.

As we walk along the streets everyone looks, some stop and stare at the children, some even take pictures. One man came up to us and started smiling and talking and laughing and pointing at the children then at the parents and walked off smiling and laughing at some personal opinion about the situation. We haven’t run into anyone who has made derogatory statements or gestures - at least not that we can tell - and EVERYONE just love’s to stare at one of our Mom’s. Alice is a curly blonde blue eyed beautiful woman - the younger generation openly oogle at her and the older generation quietly and discretely stare.

Saturday, October 27th - We have a free day today so we walked to the park with another family and walked around what we mistook for a small park which in reality was huge! It was filled with families out for the day, what looked like a talent competition, a small zoo area (which you had to pay to get into), games and rides for the children and street vendors with snack foods (cotton candy, ice cream), it was a pleasant but uneventful morning. We did actually see at least 3 pregnant ladies and many more children, most with split pants going potty anywhere they happened to have to go! I’ll see how my pictures came out on that since I didn’t want to be noticeable. The music in the park was provided by groups of people playing various instruments, all beautiful and all relaxing.
We’ll have dinner in tonight (YES!) The Italian resturaunt - haven’t found a steak dinner yet, but would be a little weary of it anyway since we haven't heard of any cow farmers. The fruits and vegetables are very fresh and we've taken to carrying around an apple (which we wash in the sink with bottled water and carry a knive to peel it just in case).
Teresa tried peanut butter and jelly today and didn't like it. That's one of the first things she really hasn't liked. We're going to try the pool again this afternoon, Taylor wants to go we just don't know what reaction Teresa will have after what happened last time, but we're going to try it and hopefully Taylor will pull through as the big sister once again and help Teresa realize there is nothing scary about it.

Today is also Lunenburg's home coming (where I grew up and where most of my family still lives) and we have a Sophmore and Junior who are part of the floats, so we wish them both the best at winning (Chelsea & Alex are Doug's two oldest) I'm sure they'll all be at the parade and we want them to know we're routing for you and can't wait to see the pictures of the floats! Good luck at the football game Alex!

I'll send some pictures next of our day at the park!

Hengshan Pictures part 2

Andy, DON'T YOU DARE... They said he didn't do it, but what do you think?
Lunch is served in a very upscale resturaunt...
Yes, this is a squatty potty, but this one is GORGEOUS and clean and easily washed, the public ones are nothing like this. Andy's sleeping but I'm going to assume this was the resturaunt they ate lunch at...
The new appliances. Andy said the salesman was shaking their hands and saying thank you over and over again. Same as the director.
This is the typical crib in the orphanage, more importantly the woman in the brown leather coat is the one that brought Teresa to us and the one that when Teresa saw she started to scream and kick to get away from me. We have some beautiful pictures of her and the director that we will show Teresa when the timing is appropriate.

Picutres from Thursday (Hengshan Trip) part 1

The orphanage...
They display the families and children that have come through Hengshan SWI
Our local guide Winnie (yes as in Pooh) demonstrates how small the individual play pens are, obviously you can see that they're in storage and not readily used any more.

Nothing but rice paddies on the way to the orphanage.

I don't know how long I"ll be able to keep posting pictures but I'll post a few at a time and then keep trying!

Thursday, Oct 25th....

Hengshan... Doug, I and Ken started out for the orphanage at about 8:30AM local time. We were told it would take about 3hours to get there so we settled into our seats as well as we could. It took about 45 minutes to get out of Changsha as the traffic was awful (what else was new). I video-taped some of what the “flow” was because if I tried to convey it verbally, no one would believe me. It is sort of like organized chaos. A massive game of “chicken”, starting with the pedestrian and working its way up to the large trucks and busses. One gives way to the other in a progressive dance that seems to work. There is no “road rage” here simply because the penalties are too great. I wouldn’t survive 24 hours and would either be in jail or a casualty. :)

Once we got out of Changsha Proper, the predominant landscape was rice field upon rice field as far as one could see. It is just past harvest time here and the farmers are burning the chaff. The air is filled with pungent fumes and smoke and it all looks like a fog has rolled in and will never roll out again. We are all lost in our thoughts but every once in awhile, we ask our guide a question or two about local customs, farming, the soil... things like that to try and pass the time.

Eventually, we get to the orphanage. It is on a busy street, but set back from the road a bit. The traffic is mostly cars going up to the Hengshan Mountain Temple area so the noise is bearable. Director Li meets us at the end of the driveway and is very cordial and jovial. Winnie, our guide introduces us and the conversation becomes very animated as our questions, and the answers about the orphanage and life here go back and forth. We find out that there are no longer any children here and it is only an Old Age residence. The children that are found still pass through because it is the local Social Welfare Institute, but they are usually placed into Foster Care as soon as possible. The first and second floors are being renovated to house the elderly and the smell of fresh paint is in the air. I am video-taping everything I can and Doug and Ken are snapping photos while Winnie is busily asking and answering questions. The Director shows us the rooms where our children played and where they slept. We see the tiny, individual play pens (about 18 inches square). These were used because the caretakers had charge of 6 or so children and when one needed attention or changing, the others were placed in these play pens. They are sort of baby walkers without wheels. There are also “dual” playpens where the children are placed facing each other so they can interact. It’s a very efficient system where one-on-one attention is unavailable. They do what they can.... The Director shows us the barren landscape behind the main building and tells us that the architectural plans are already drawn up to build an annex to house future abandoned and special needs children. He said the projected finish date is sometime late in 2008. I am both glad to see that there will be new housing for them and saddened that they need something like this here.

We are taken to the business office area and the staff has prepared a feast of fruit and water for us in the conference room. We eat bananas, oranges that are more tangerines than anything else, pears and small round fruit that look and taste like apples but we are told are dates. It is all very nice and there is no awkwardness as Winnie is relating to us what is happening here. There are many pictures of happy families who have sent their photos to the orphanage from around the world. They show happy and smiling children who have found their Forever Families and the Director and his staff are very proud of their service to the children and in seeing them so happy. We promise that we will also send pictures of our families as we grow.

It’s time to get back in the van as the Director wants to show is the places our children were found. We go to the place in town where Teresa was found and it’s a very emotional time for me as I film the hotel steps and the surrounding area. It is a busy place and there’s a police station right across the street so someone knew that she would be found safe and sound.

After a time, we drive to the center of town and stop at the local “Best Buy” :) It’s a small appliance store that carries everything under the sun. I had promised that we would buy the orphanage a washer and air conditioner when I found out their needs prior to our trip to China. Because of the generosity of so many folks back home we were able to pool our money here between three families and we bought a large, industrial washer, a fairly large air conditioner and had enough money left to “negotiate” an additional water heater :) It was a lot of fun to “haggle” with the local dealer :) We took pictures of the purchases and we will post them once they come off of Dougie’s camera. We could all tell the Director and his staff were very grateful for these donations. It will make life that much easier for the orphanage and that’s pretty much all that matters when all is said and done.

Time for lunch... :) The Director and his staff treat us to lunch at one of the local eateries... We have a private room and food is served at a round table with a large “Lazy Susan” where all the food is placed. We again talk up a storm with the Director and staff and ask many questions about our children. The food is delicious! First out was a cooked chicken... head, body and feet... the whole thing! I grab a foot and start gnawing and I could tell the folks were impressed that a Westerner didn’t turn his nose up at anything brought out ( I drew the line at the feet and didn’t touch the head :) Next came out a plate of “Wild Boar”... a native animal hunted and caught in the hills around Hengshan. It was a little gamy tasting but delicious nonetheless... We ate and toasted and ate some more and the three of us could tell that everyone else there accepted us and was glad for the opportunity to meet and talk with the parents of “their” children.

It was almost time to leave, but Winnie wanted us to see the famous Hengshan Mountain Temple area. We drove for about 20 minutes through the countryside and got to the temple area. We couldn’t stay long but were able to get a feel for the place and the local culture. I bought some incense and made an offering...

This is a very rural area and they do things much differently here than we could ever accept in the States. I saw small children about Taylor’s age (4 or so) walking alongside the busy road and making their way home from whatever school they went to. Darling and adorable kids and it made me shudder to watch them travel this road, but it’s their way of life and they were all smiling and happy, so who am I to say?

We saw many driveways that were covered with a layer of drying rice... They even had it on the side of the road... .any flat surface that would allow the sun to burn off the moisture was used... Chickens were walking through it, pecking away and I even saw a motorcycle parked in the middle the drying rice... Oh well.. .”When in Rome”... :)

We drove back to the orphanage and the staff presented us with small gifts for the parents and the adopted children. A very kind and simple gesture that we appreciated very much. We were also given the clothes and whatever they had that our babies were found in. The Director was saddened that he didn’t have more but he told us that our babies were found in January and their outer clothing... the heavy coats and pants were used for other babies as ours grew out of them. No matter, we had something precious that no one can ever take away from them or us.

Time to leave... We say our good byes and I promise the Director that we will take good care of our daughter and make sure she grows up to be a good person. I also promise that I will bring her back someday to see where she came from. The ride back for me is quiet as so many thoughts and images are racing through my mind... I try not to contrast my life with what I experienced today as that is totally unfair, but it’s difficult to remain aloof and distant when it’s your daughter and you see where she came from and what could have been.

We have it all on video and in photos, so someday, Teresa will have it to do with as she sees fit.

We make our way back to the hotel in Changsha... I open the room and see three smiling and happy faces running towards me...

All is well with the world...

Andy

ps. pictures will follow later tonight/today...

Let's see if those pictures work today...

Taylor and Teresa at the mall play area having a blast! I was probably the only person that washed their feet and hands with purell' after they finished playing and it was obvious that we were probably one of the very few Americans to "hang out" at the mall.
Someone performing or exercising along the waterpark in the morning. It was beautiful and serene and hard to imagine 6 lanes of traffic off to the left of the picture with a cargo shipping river off to the right - and what is that smell???
We tried to get Teresa to talk on the phone to Nana and Pa but her voice is so quiet (except when she yells) that no one can hear her. She had a rough afternoon.

Thursday, 6:00 am - Theresa slept in the bed last night! She didn't see any strollers when she came back from dinner so was perfectly happy to crawl onto my lap and snuggle in. When she was almost asleep I slide her into bed and she looked a me a few times to make sure I was still there and drifted peacefully off into sleep - she's a sound sleeper and straight though the night, unlike our first little tumbleweed who was awak at 5:00 this morning (getting better!)
and is now playing her leapster while Mommy and Daddy get things organized for Andy to go to Hengshan to visit the orphanage, purchase the donations and hopefully have the chance to visit or at least drive by the finding site and the foster family. Taylor, Teresa and I will be spending the morning at a local park and then relax this afternoon taking baths or should I say playing in the pool in our bathroom (NICE bathrooms by the way, separate glassed in shower with "rain" from the ceiling, separate hand held shower if you need to wash the girls down and separate tub, no too wide but plenty deep.
We're off to breakfast and start our day.
It feels like both Taylor and I have our colds under control so hopefully we're on the way to recovery and won't get any worse!
Enjoy!

Now. more of the family :)

This is Changsha. Yes, its really like this, alhtough it did clear up a little on Monday afternoon and Tuesday you could actaully see the taller buildings, but there is still alot of smoke/haze around every day. Hopefully the wind that picked up on Tuesday will move some more of this out of the city proper!
Good Morning! - Taylor's very excited that we'll be going to get her new sister soon! These pictures will NOT be in order, just trying to get as many sent as possible before the internet decides to crap out again!

More Pictures!!!

This is Octopus on a stick, apparently alot of people are here like it becuase we saw people waiting in line to get some.









Chicken Feet Anyone? This is the from the Markets (Like Quincy Market) in Guangzhou...

Tuesday, 10/23/07 4:00am

Teresa is sleeping peacefully since about 8:00pm last night, interestingly enough she didn’t like sleeping in the bed with or without anyone and slept in the stroller. She sleeps soundly and, unlike Tumbleweed, through the night

So, let me tell you some more about yesterday. Apparently Teresa was placed in foster care in April of this year and was brought back to the orphanage recently and she knew and was attached with the director and the two Nanny’s who brought her to Changsha. Overall her day was probably very traumatic and although I believe Teresa had been shown our pictures it was still frightening to be held by me and see the director and Nanny’s not responding to her cries. Once I left the room and headed down stairs she immediately relaxed and looked at me, said “Ma Ma” a couple of times and when Andy came down responded in a similar manner to him, looking at him intently and saying “Ba”. Her hardest times were when she saw the people who brought her, I can only imagine that she felt that she was being left or given away, no wonder she had the response she did. As soon as we got onto the bus she settled right down again and snuggled her head onto me and slept, for about two hours She woke while we were at the restaurant very quietly looking around. Didn’t eat anything at first, only sipped from a water bottle, as soon as we managed to put some corn in her mouth, she started eating, slowly watching everything and everyone around her, almost like a caged animal wondering what or who was going to attack. She hesitantly came around as we were walking back to the hotel, Andy made her smile by playing hide and seek behind a tree (a small tree so you can imagine how much of him was really hidden :) but it worked Since then she has been coming more and more out of her shyness and laughing, playing, taking our hands to lead us somewhere and by supper time she was eating herself and trying to feed Andy It was great to see that 7 hours could make such a huge difference in her.

Today, however we have our second appointment at the civil affairs office and have been told that the director will be there. I’m concerned that Teresa will think we’re giving her back or that she’ll want to go back and the director will obviously not want her, it will be another trauma in such a short little life its hard to imagine the heartache she may feel. I do believe that she will remember and grieve for what she has left behind in the coming months/years and hopefully some day will be able to express herself more clearly.

Teresa likes to sing and will pick up on tunes that are playing either on the TV or by us singing to her. She likes the stuffed animal that Taylor gave her but will freely share with Taylor, she likes the doll too and is a little less willing to share that, which is good as they will both have something they’ll be more attached too, but still willing to share knowing they’ll be getting it back soon.

Taylor has been absolutely wonderful I am afraid that she’s getting sick though Not that you can help it with the air quality here. I know there is a lot of culture visits and tours set up this week while we wait for the baby’s passports and stuff, but I’m wondering if we’re not better off staying in the hotel and checking out the pool and trying to stay where the air is a little cleaner. I’ll have to look at the agenda and talk to Winnie our guide and see if the locations we’re going are in or out of the city and then try to make some decisions.

We’re going to go shopping today to something like a Wal-mart to pick up clothes (I only have 1 pair of pants that fit Teresa’s size 12 month butt ) Did I mention she’s potty trained Probably did but its SO NICE We’ve been showing her the sign for potty whenever any of us go and she tried it, pointed and took my finger into the bathroom to go YIPEE

I’m sorry that these updates will not be hitting the blog as I’m writing them but the hotel’s server is down and being re-booted and re-loaded and they estimate it will take until 9:00 pm tonight so I’ll keep writing my notes in word and copy them down as soon as we’re able.

Sorry Mom, I haven’t been able to get you any pictures but I know Dad’s heart will be lifted when he sees the smile light up Teresa’s face

Love and miss you all (and miss our food, and the air quality). I’m already ready to come home and we still have over a week to go.


Tuesday, 10/23 2:29pm

This morning is over and its official that Teresa is ours. She did so much better than I thought she would with the director and one of the Nannies there. I don’t know that she actually saw them or just didn’t want to acknowledge them, but she played with Taylor and Uncle Doug or colored her coloring book and when we had to leave the room to get our documents notarized she happily stayed with Doug but came looking for us a time or three to be reassured that we were still there and she would be “safe” I guess is one word. She happily holds either of our hands and her and Taylor are starting to walk hand and hand down the hall ways or into buildings. We’re all taking a nap now, but you can tell the travel is wearing on Taylor and she’s starting to ask for home, she doesn’t understand the long wait time now that we have Teresa. I think she was thinking it was like a trip to Wal-Mart “we’re going to China to get Teresa” now that we have her why can’t we go home yet?

Unfortunately the internet is still down although I may be able to access my e-mail from the hotel lobby, which I’ll try once everyone it up and headed off to the pool for the afternoon. Hopefully everyone will wake up in a happy mood.

We exchanged out our roll away bed for a crib hoping that Teresa would sleep in that, but she’s back in the stroller for now. She didn’t seem afraid of the crib but since Taylor was over tired she responded to Taylor’s emotions and getting them down for a nap was an emotional time.

We haven’t really seen much of the city or the area because of the appointments, but tomorrow we’re scheduled to go to an embroidery museum. There doesn’t seem to be as much shopping around here as in Beijing or in Guangzhou. There doesn’t seem to be a large mall or even store, the “Wal-Mart” type store we were at today was more like 1500 square feet on two levels totally focused on babies, not what I had in mind but atleast we have some pants and new shoes for Teresa’s little body, though the way she eats it won’t be that way for long once we get her home. She’ll try anything we put on her plate but will let us know what she doesn’t like and what she does like.

We’ve been told that there are not a lot of tourists in the area so we do get a lot of people staring at us. We just smile and keep going like its totally normal for us. We were also told that there are three categories of people when they see us, the Older who see us and know we’ll take care of our children and love them and give them a good home. The Young (or younger than 30) who are more interested in the fact that they’ve seen a foreigner and will wave or want to take our picture and the Middle Age (guess I’m middle age - those people between 30 and 50 who look at us and ask either themselves or our guides many many questions about us and about the children and where we will take them and how we will educate them. I’m sure there are other categories too but those are the ones that our guide has described to us.

Don’t ask me why but there is something somewhere outside that is playing “Happy Birthday to You” and its rather annoying since its been playing the same song for over an hour I’ll have to remember to ask the guides later today. Now lets see if I can wake everyone up and get up to the pool before they sleep the day away

Dinner tonight is back to the restaurant that we ate at yesterday for lunch and dinner, which is a short walk down across the street and down a ways, its getting old since it’s the third time we will have eaten there in two days. The breakfast here at the hotel is nice, not as big a buffet as the White Swan in Guangzhou, but definitely more choices and is the biggest meal both Taylor and I eat during the day.


Tuesday (about 5:30 PM local time)

Andy here... The girls took a really long nap... almost 3 hours. Either they are really tired of each other (yeah, right.. as I watch them snuggle together in bed) or, as we suspect, it’s the whole situation weighing down on them (and us). We took them down to the pool and had a really bad scare, but everyone is fine Taylor and I were in the pool, moving down the wall and suddenly she screamed out in pain, Her whole foot got sucked into the intake valve It took everything I had to pull it out She was terrified and hurt. I went back to check the valve once Sharon had Taylor in her arms and was comforting her and the pressure sucked my hand in and I really struggled to get it out. No wonder she was so scared They came with medical assistance immediately and after about 10 minutes Taylor was able to stand on it without too much trouble. The manager was very apologetic and I explained that in the States they have covers for those things and they would do well to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. This hotel (Sheraton) is brand new and we are the first adoptive group here so they want to do everything possible to make it a positive experience.

They are snuggled together in bed watching a Disney Princess video (thanks, Eric :) and we will have to tear them away to go eat dinner. Food here is very good and the guides are trying to keep the variety .

Tuesday 8:00pm
Yeah, right, the food is great for Andy, Doug and Teresa, they’re loving it, its amazing that Teresa is only 10.5kilos because she just LOVES to eat Taylor and I on the other hand are not as satisfied as the rest of them. Teresa is singing herself to sleep (yet again in the stroller, but tonight we’ll transfer her to the crib after she falls asleep) and Taylor is watching a Chinese program on teaching the children English. We’ve been told that Andy will get to go to the orphanage on Thursday, it’s about a 2 - 3 hour ride we think and it’ll be interesting to see how I do with the two girls alone for the day, they can both be very demanding but hopefully they’ll take turns.
I'll post some more of the earlier photos coming up now that the connection has been restored. To eveyrone that wrote I'll be getting back to you as everyone sleeps (everyone except me that is :)

WE’VE GOT HER!!!!!!

Andy here... She’s ours! We came to the Civil Affairs Office around 11:00 AM local time and sat down. A few minutes later, in came a whole group of people.. Some holding 2 babies and two others walked in by themselves. Teresa was one of them... She looked lost and afraid, but quiet. She looked around and I think, recognized us from the pictures we sent with the Care package. When introductions were made, Sharon scooped her up as she became hesitant. She cried for a few minutes but soon calmed down. Sharon sat with her and Taylor was the perfect big sister... offering her the stuffed animal we brought and wanting to help as much as she could. Tess calmed down for awhile, but then one of her caregivers came back in to give us the silk outfit we sent, and she started to cry again and reaching for the woman. She really wailed for quite a while, and was very agitated. It was good in a way because she reacted as she should have for the situation. She refused any food or drink, but we quickly removed her from everyone else and waited in the lobby downstairs. She sipped from one of our water bottles, called Sharon "Ma Ma" and I think she muttered "Ba Ba" (although it might have been wishful thinking on my part).
She fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel and is now sleeping on the bed. She looks like a raggamuffin in her mismatched clothes. She must have three or four layers of clothing, even in this hot climate. She needs a bath, but that will come...
Sorry this is so fragmented but I’m trying to capture everything and remember it all before it escapes me. We will add more as it comes but wanted everyone to have at least this.
We are heading out to eat in a few minutes... thought about staying with her, but want to provide as much normalcy as possible to her life as soon as possible.
Taylor is a trooper through all this. She decided who was going to hold Tess (mommy) and who was going to hold her (Daddy)... Everything is going to be all right from now on... Our daughters are united finally and we are whole. The circle is complete..
Gotta go...
Lots of Love and Hugs to everyone...
Andy

Sharon here, only about two hours later and this little girl who screamed (no not cried), kicked and hit is now somewhat smiling hesitantly, ate rice, corn and ham after some prodding and keeps staring at Taylor, who is now asleep in the stroller only because we promised her that she could go to the pool! Okay, change the hesitantly smiling to a full belly laugh! We introduced her to markers and she’s laughing every time a new color comes out and she can draw on the paper. Oh and did we mention that she’s potty trained! AND she’s tall and skinny! I haven’t changed her yet but she reminds me of Taylor’s Suixi Sister Stella - Tall and slender and oh so beautiful~ with a full set of hair too! I’ll attach a before and after photo so everyone can see the 2 hour transition. I think her crying is not over as we will see the orphanage director again tomorrow and that may trigger her to have another response, but in the mean time I think our littlest one just got a little more comfortable with her new family!
And on a side note, I thought that the pollution/smog was bad in Beijing on our last trip, boy was I WRONG. I don’t know if it’s the pollution, smog or the smoke from the fires we saw yesterday but it hurts to breathe! We only walked across the street today for lunch and it was terrible!

Okay, once again we can't post pictures! SORRY!!!! Send me e-mail to sharonkrawiecki@yahoo.com and I'll forward a HUGE e-mail with the two pictures I want to post!

Sunday, PM - LATE PM & Monday AM

Since we had until 12 noon to check out of the hotel we did some walking along the rural streets Off the island that Doug is learning so well, they lead down narrow streets with local vendors selling mostly food products, although there are some pet stores but mostly its not an area that sees local tourists. These are some of those photos, stepping back 100's or 1000's of years is only a left turn.

Our flight was great from Guangzhou to Changsha, but answer me this, why would a relatively new airport have you board a bus from two levels down within the airport - drive for what was at least 15 minutes 3/4 of the way around the air port to have you walk back up two flights of stairs in order to board your plane? Made no sense to me and I discovered that, even though I was sparse in packing, I still have too much stuff! Anyway, the traveling is smooth but doesn’t always make sense.

We flew into Changsha about 4:45 and upon our approach it was cloudy, almost thick with smog, but as we got closer we became aware that the farm land surrounding the airport was burning. Apparently its that time of year that they burn the crop fields (later to find out its grains) so the smell and the smoke surrounding not only the airport but the City of Changsha and its 10 million people where enveloped in this, not stinky, but unpleasant smoke. We’ve started treating Taylor for some congestion which will hopefully stay in her nose, but between one of the women in our group that we’re meeting up with today and being able to call both Auntie Sonya and Taylor’s Doctor we’ll get her fixed up in no time...well almost...

Taylor’s system is responding to the 12 hour time change by sleeping 2-4 hours during her 2 naps and then 4-6 hours at night. This is not too fun since I can’t take the same nap times :) So were up at 2:00am on Monday and to keep Taylor busy and quiet so Andy can sleep, Taylor is taking a bath...her hair piled up on the top of her head singing her Disney Princess Show Tunes, playing her Leapster and for all intensive purposes being a perfectly happy healthy 3 ½ year old. She’s asking constantly if its wake up time and if we’re really getting Teresa today (then she proceeds to bounce all over the place like Christmas morning!) “Wakie wakie” is her favorite term when we’re trying to sleep!

BUT the best news from our Local Guide Winnie (yes as in Winnie the Pooh) is that we will meet the girls and 11:00 this morning after doing paperwork at 9:00 so it doesn’t appear that the regional Civil Affairs Office is too far away. Winnie is also going to work with Vanessa and the director of the orphanage to get Andy to visit there and hopefully have the opportunity to meet the foster family maybe Tuesday.

We’re gathering in, what is now 3 hours to do paperwork and off to the civil affairs office.
We’ll keep you all posted...
sorry, unable to upload any images at this time, I'll try later (got a great one of dried snakes and star fish for sale at the local market, along with cooked octopus - yummy

Oct. 21, 2007 (Sun morning 5:40AM)

Andy here... Our bodies are still trying t adjust to the time difference here. Yesterday, we made it to about 3:30 AM and today we got to 4:30 AM before realizing that we were to get up and about. Yesterday was a shopping day and Ann took us everywhere. The women spent about two+ hours buying pearls and jade... I bought a fanny-pack.. :) Sharon forbade me to eat the local, street merchandise and I had to walk past so many succulent dishes! (The squid/octopus on a stick really looked inviting!) We ate at McDonald’s (ugh!) because Ann didn’t want us getting sick on anything, even though I felt a bit queasy after that meal!
We saw a street performer with three monkeys doing tricks. Taylor was fascinated by it all. The deals for pearls and jade were fantastic. We walked and walked and tried to avoid the crush of humanity. Taylor fell asleep in my arms and I carried her for another mile or so before I had to sit and rest... she’s getting heavy! We meandered through countless alleys and side streets to see some of what most tourists miss. Some of the scenes would make a few folks blanch.. Thousands upon thousands of live scorpions, turtles, some snakes... cats/kittens, puppy dogs... hundreds of different varieties of tropical fish for sale. I sensed that most of the animals were for sale as pets and was assured that this was the case by a few locals who spoke some english. No matter, they do what they do and you have to put aside your own cultural mores... “When in Rome...”

Ann was fantastic and really good company. I think she liked me because she ragged on me most of the time we were together... She’s a little wisp of a thing.. No more than 4'10 and maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, but a real firebrand! She needed to leave around 4:00 PM and helped us compose some notes to the Foster Family before departing... For any families coming to China soon, I would highly recommend Ann and her business for Care Packages, guiding around Guangzhou and for anything else you might think you need to get the job done here. She was absolutely indispensable!

Today we need to check out by noon, so it’s pack, pack, pack and get ready to head out to Changsha. We will catch up with the rest of our group there and try to ease our nerves, tensions and anxieties before getting our children tomorrow sometime (Oct 22, here but probably Sunday night back home). Hope the Pats do well against Miami.. :) I think I’ll have a few beers tonight and try to relax before the whirlwind catches us up tomorrow...

It’s almost 6:30 and that’s when breakfast opens up here at the White Swan... Taylor is getting hungry and I’d like a cup of coffee too.. :)

Take care, everyone... we’ll catch up with you tonight from Changsha...

Andy

Saturday Shopping and Exhaustion! 10/20/07

"Saturday Saturday Saturday Nights All Right!"

Since I couldn’t sleep and Taylor was “up before the dawn” we had the opportunity to meet several new families at the White Swan Breakfast Buffett who had recently been united with their children for the first time! “Wonderful Feelings, Wonderful Day” (okay so I’m in the “tune” mode - you guess the tunes)... It was mixed blessings to see everyone, most of the girls NSN (Non Special Needs) between 8 and 12 months, and one older boy. One little girl reminded me so much of Taylor screaming when we tried high chairs I had to talk to the Mom. Amazing the varying experience of these children’s grief/bonding!

Well, onto the shopping! We contracted with Ann from Red Thread China (and if anyone is in Guangzhou and they want the best guide/dealer around, she’s your lady!). I started with PEARLS no less and then onto Jade, silk outfits and finished up with T-shirts. Having spent less than I would have figured but more than enough time shopping (especially since Andy and Uncle Doug brought the sleeping Taylor back to the hotel) I hit exhaustion and headed back for nap! We all crashed, except Uncle Doug who took advantage of the time and got the update on Alex’s game (Congratulations Alec!) among other things. A little complaining did us good and Taylor now has her own bed (and a soft one at that!).

We headed off to Lucy’s for dinner, an “All American Girl” or grill, but Andy just had to try something different, his soup was loaded with varying things we couldn’t identify and some we could. He did enjoy every minute of it. Sorry guys, not a lot of pictures of the street vendors food items today, I’ll get those next week when we’re back in Guangzhou, but tomorrow we’re off to Changsha! At Lucy’s, for some reason, Taylor asked about Julia (her Suixi sister from her adoption) because I think she remembered that we had dinner at the next table to the Livie’s and it was one of the first times Julia and Taylor had really been outside together. It was nice to know that Taylor remembers fun things from our first visit but makes me wonder how much more she remembers too! The Swan Room (a game room donated by Matel here at the hotel) has been cleaned up and there were not a lot of activities, then again, there are not a lot of children here now because of the trade show. “Toomorrow, Toomorrow” we’ll spend the morning at the pool (after I find Taylor’s bathing suite” and then head up to Changsha for a probably uneventful day, but I’ll post Andy’s meal again, can’t wait to see what he tries next time :)

Saturday Shopping and Exhaustion! 10/20/07

"Saturday, Saturday, Saturday nights alright"

Since I couldn’t sleep and Taylor was “up before the dawn” we had the opportunity to meet several new families at the White Swan Breakfast Buffett who had recently been united with their children for the first time! “Wonderful Feelings, Wonderful Day” (okay so I’m in the “tune” mode - you guess the tunes)... It was mixed blessings to see everyone, most of the girls NSN (Non Special Needs) between 8 and 12 months, and one older boy. One little girl reminded me so much of Taylor screaming when we tried high chairs I had to talk to the Mom. Amazing the varying experience of these children’s grief/bonding!

Well, onto the shopping! We contracted with Ann from Red Thread China (and if anyone is in Guangzhou and they want the best guide/dealer around, she’s your lady!). I started with PEARLS no less and then onto Jade, silk outfits and finished up with T-shirts. Having spent less than I would have figured but more than enough time shopping (especially since Andy and Uncle Doug brought the sleeping Taylor back to the hotel) I hit exhaustion and headed back for nap! We all crashed, except Uncle Doug who took advantage of the time and got the update on Alex’s game (Congratulations Alec!) among other things. A little complaining did us good and Taylor now has her own bed (and a soft one at that!).


We headed off to Lucy’s for dinner, an “All American Girl” or grill, but Andy just had to try something different, his soup was loaded with varying things we couldn’t identify and some we could. He did enjoy every minute of it. Sorry guys, not a lot of pictures of the street vendors food items today, I’ll get those next week when we’re back in Guangzhou, but tomorrow we’re off to Changsha! At Lucy’s, for some reason, Taylor asked about Julia (her Suixi sister from her adoption) because I think she remembered that we had dinner at the next table to the Livie’s and it was one of the first times Julia and Taylor had really been outside together. It was nice to know that Taylor remembers fun things from our first visit but makes me wonder how much more she remembers too! The Swan Room (a game room donated by Matel here at the hotel) has been cleaned up and there were not a lot of activities, then again, there are not a lot of children here now because of the trade show. “Toomorrow, Toomorrow” we’ll spend the morning at the beach (after I find Taylor’s bathing suite” and then head up to Changsha for a probably uneventful day, but I’ll post Andy’s meal again, can’t wait to see what he tries next time :)

Friday or is it Saturday...way to early to know :)

Friday, or actually Saturday morning and the weary travelers have found our home! We made it through customs with little to no effort and were met immediately by the White Swan guide whisking us away to the hotel in no time, being here though was another matter. The river lights that dance along the river are still beautiful even at 5:00 am which is sadly when I awoke from a meager a 4 hour nap, yet my other two roommates are sleeping peacefully. The hotel hasn’t appeared to change, but I don’t remember the beds being this uncomfortable (HARD is a mild term), and although I thought the internet was included its not so the blog will be updated all at once when I get around to going to the business center or stealing Doug’s computer for a little while. Nor was a bed for Taylor, and I just didn’t have it in me to fight for it after getting through our 27 hour journey to get here, but today will be another matter! Taylor has been an absolutely amazing little angel despite the two different groups that continued to stare at us during our last 5 hour plane ride, like they’d never seen a 3 3/4 year hold child having fun and giggling and playing on a plane (no, it was probably more that they’d never seen a blended culturally adopted family before). Taylor doesn’t like to have other people watch her so intently but she took it in stride when I told her that it was because she was so beautiful...Doug had that experience himself when he was upgrading his cell phone and the customer service representative couldn’t stop staring at the intense blue of Doug’s eyes.
Now for today, we meeting up with Ann from China Thread after breakfast and getting some guided shopping experience, maybe the silk market, the jade market and of course the pearls, but I’m interested to see where else she’ll have us wander too.
On a couple of personal notes, Taylor took a page of travel recommendations from her former travel partners (Sarah and Adam both adopted with her March 2003) and got to ride on the luggage cart and had a blast! We’re not sure if there is memory triggers coming through or just the excitement of the trip but she immediately wanted to see the gold fish that swim all around the dining room.
Kathy girl, you have GOT to sleep on the plane, there is just no way to make it without sleeping. I did nothing but sleep (all of 4-6 hours total between being kicked or head butted by the still famous "Tumble Weed" (Taylor’s nick name since her Gotcha day) and keep Taylor occupied.
If this works out right my next update will be all about the ***SHOPPING*** and I’m not one to usually look forward to it!

Thursday in flight From Andy

October 18th (Somewhere over Canada)
Andy here.. We’re on a 747 and just finished dinner. Everyone is doing fine and it hasn’t gotten to the boredom stage yet. Since we’re heading for Tokyo, there are a lot of Japanese folks on board. Everyone is very nice and polite and smiling at Taylor. She just finished watching a movie (thanks Pa!) and now is playing with her Leapster (Dora the Explorer). Taylor is being very, very good and her only complaint so far is that it’s taking too long to get to her sister! This little creature is a "grazer".. She hasn’t stopped eating since we left the driveway this morning! :) Right now, she’s listening to iTunes of her favorite Disney Princess songs.
Everything is still kinda surreal. It feels like we’re going on a normal vacation rather than heading to China to get Taylor’s mei mei. It won’t hit me until I hold Tess in my arms and concentrate on keeping her from going ballistic. That is my only anxiety... trying to figure out how to minimize the trauma that this little 2.5 year old is going to go through in the next few days. We are hoping it will be a fairly "soft landing" :)
Right now, we’re working on some sort of sleep schedule.It’s about 6:45 PM EDT but 12 hours (AM) later in China. We know that whatever we try won’t work totally, but anything is better than waiting for the "zombie" stage to hit.
Not much more to say... I’m going to try and talk Sharon into playing a few games of cribbage and then walk around the plane a few hundred times. :)
Will post a few pics of the plane ride once we get on the ground and get some sleep.
Andy

Today we're on our way, Thursday Oct 18th

This is Taylor cutting off the final ring! That means we leave today!

We're all sitting at the airport! Thank you Kathy for the ride up, unfortunately we forgot to take Corky out of the back seat (Corky is Taylor's Zebra). Guess this means that Taylor will have to pick out a new stuffed animal in China and fortunatly Taylor hasn't asked for it yet.

We're scheduled to depart at 12:05 and arrive in Guangzhou at 11:00pm on Friday (total time including to/from the airports will be about 27 hours.

We'll try to write often and include pictures when we can.

We love you all and appreciate all the support we've gotten while we were waiting for Teresa's referral.

The schedule is that we'll be getting Teresa on Monday morning (Sunday night back home) so by Monday afternoon we'll be sure to post some pictures of our Gotcha Moment!

Wednesday, Oct 17th... the night before

Well, we thought we'd be bored home alone so we had some company to share in our last night - Andy's son Tim and daughter Jennie helped to send us off as well as our good friends Kathy, Erik and Katie! Taylor thanks you again for the fun toys, between that and the goodie bag from the Morse's and Pa's DVD Player, Taylor should have plenty of activities to keep her busy on the airplanes tomorrow, and if not we'll make her sit next to Uncle Dougie for a while :)

Here's Jennie and Taylor's first picture together, Jennie lives in Canada so doesn't get to visit often.

Donation Thank You!

We would like to express our thanks and gratitude to everyone that donated money towards the washing machine and air conditioner that we will be purchasing with the Offer Family from California who's daughter is in the same orphanage as Teresa.

Thank you to: Todd, Gina and Anna Wilson (Anna is also from Hengshan, China), the Livie Family, the Reeves Family, Nana & Pa, Freedom Cad employees, the Frank Family and special thanks to Uncle Lou & Aunt Lauren for everything.

Travel Dates Confirmed!

We're off to China on the 18th of October traveling through Manchester, Detroit, Tokyo and Guangzhou before we meet Teresa on the 22nd in Changsha!
We are counting the days by having Taylor cut off a red link in a construction paper chain we created and when she wakes up on the 18th there is a GOLD LINK which signifies our day of Travel. For anyone with youngin's this is working GREAT so Taylor doesn't ask us each day if we're leaving today. (Thanks for the idea Jim).
There are a total of 5 families traveling to China during that time with Wide Horizon's for Children, and from what we can tell only Teresa and one other beauty are from Changsa. We'll hopefully have an uneventful journey and will keep everyone up to date.
Comments posted to bog sites are not visible in China so if you want to get in touch with us I'll be checking my personal e-mail account which is myfirstnameourlastname@yahoo.com
So if you know us you can reach us!
TTFN (Ta Ta for Now) and check us out again on the 19th for an update~

Travel meeting and Donation Request

We finally have the date of the travel meeting. Its going to be on Friday 10/5, we're expecting to travel mid-late October though they are trying to move as quickly as possible. We've been fortunate and have found a wonderful liason and have rec'd additional information about Teresa's personality, weight and height as well as more information about the Hengshan SWI (Social Welfare Institute). Through the relationship with Ann (our liason), we've learned that the orphanage is in need of a washer and air conditioner, which we and another family have agreed to donate. If you would like to help with the donation please send us your donation as soon as possoble. We have already rec'd some and will make sure to include as much as we can about the donations we rec'd and when we purchase these large items in China!
We're excited and Taylor asks every day if we're leaving to go get her sister tomorrow. She is very anxious to get her home too!
Love to all!

TA's are HERE, TA's are HERE

We just got the call that our Travel Authorization (TA) has arrived and WHFC is scheduling our Consulate Appointment. We're hoping to travel mid to late October (the sooner the better!)

We'll know more next week after our agency has some time to work on the arrangements.

Since people have asked, we'll let you know that all three of us will be traveling with my Brother Douglas! I don't even know if he knows yet as he wasn't home from work when I called. Sadly Samantha (our niece) who was scheduled to come with us will not be able to take the time off from college but we will miss her and think of her during the whole trip!

The next step is the travel meeting and then travel. We'll update the site as soon as we have more information.

Here's hoping for quick travel so we can put a smile on this beautiful little girls face and love into her heart!

Introducing Teresa Mei Dong Liang!

Teresa Mei Dong Liang!!!

Well, its official, we have been approved by CCAA to adopt this beautiful little girl!

We sent our request to them July 5^th - our agency forwarded it after translations on July 17^th, so that process *ONLY* took 33 days.

What now? Well we wait for a TA (Travel Authorization or Invitation to Travel). Although our agency says that will take another 1-2 months we’ve been reading on the internet that they’ve been coming about 2-3 weeks after the authorizations! So we’re hoping to travel in October!

Teresa was born January 13^th 2005 and resides in Hengshan, Hunan Province in China. The description we have (other than medical information) tells us that her favorite toy is a doll, she likes to sing and read picture books! The last update (at about age 2) is that she was 33.4 inches tall and 23 pounds!!!

One more step down and just a few more to go!!! I can't wait to hold her and put a smile on that beautiful face!

Welcome to our Journey to Teresa Mei

We started our Journey to Teresa Mei exactly 6 months after we brought our Taylor home, and as soon as China allowed us, our Dossier was submitted and logged in at CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) on May 28th, 2006. Here is Tayor in Florida by the pool!

We have been blessed with our first adoption and are thrilled to be expecting our second child, whom we've selected to name Teresa Mei and we will add her Chinese name as soon as we are matched by China.

So far the wait has been extended from the 9 months we originally planned on to 20+ months with the expectation that it will continue to get longer and longer.

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride along with us as we wait and travel to China!