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