Happy Thanksgiving From Hefei

Good Morning from Hefei! It's 4 am and the babies (I love saying that) are still asleep. I don't even know where to start with this post? Should I start with my job offer to teach in China, or our progress with Xiao Ya? (pronounced shee-ow ya).

Okay well it wasn't quite an offer, but we met a lady at McDonalds of all places, who is here teaching english and she was having lunch with her friend who does the hiring for foreigners. I think she thought when I said that I'd love to teach in China someday, as my bags are packed and when can I start. She even came back 10 minutes later to give me more information.

I really would consider living here for a year or two, but the timing is a little off at the moment!!

We were pretty busy yesterday. We started off with a short tour of Lord Bao's Memorial Temple, where all the kids had so much fun running around (the other family we are with are traveling with 3 older girls.) It was such a beautiful day that as soon as they dropped us off back at the hotel we all took off on foot to the park. My mom talked me into renting paddle boats, which was fine, but there weren't any life preservers on them! So we risked life and limb and Grandma Rena and Jake rented a boat, and Jie Ling and I rented one. Jie Ling insisted on steering our mighty fine duck vessel, where we promptly went round and round in circles. I finally had to insist on helping out, and we had a beautiful cruise around the lake. My camera battery of course went dead, so no pictures of this Kodak moment. It was great fun, and the old rickety paddle boat never sank!

All this time baby Xiao Ya hung out in the stroller (Jie Ling wouldn't go near the stroller when we adopted her) kicking her legs and yelling something in Chinese whenever her dad stopped pushing her. I did carry her in the baby pack for a half an hour earlier in the day, and she did okay. She's not crazy about the closeness, so this is something that will take some time.

We headed back to the hotel around dinner time, and I decided to stay in the room with Ya Ya while the others went to eat. This was a good thing as Xiao Ya let me in a little more into her space. I don't know what happened, but by the time everyone came back, she was falling into my arms giggling. My heart was full!!

edited to add: I cut this post early as Xiao Ya woke up!

There are no words.

As every mother knows there are no words for the joy (and headaches too) that our children bring to us. Our family was really not complete without this precious precious girl. Her little movements and expressions are the cutest I have EVER seen and I can not imagine our life without her.

Of course all the pictures I post are of this happy girl, but she also many moments of utter sadness, and there is nothing I can do to take it away. Only time will do that. Her sadness was less yesterday, but bedtime was especially hard. Her cry is not of anger or frustration, but comes deep from within her. I did not experience this with Jie Ling, but it is apparent with baby Ya Ya.

We don't believe baby Ya Ya is eight weeks shy of being two, and I can't write this off to developmental delays. She seems very young! I thought she walked to us on Gotcha Day, and she may have taken couple of steps, but when we got her back to our hotel and let her go it was scary!! She would fall every couple of steps and I mean fall in every direction hard and fast. She loved it though, and on day two (yesterday) she's really toddling everywhere still crashing into anything in her way, but loving the freedom!!

Jie Ling loves her baby Ya Ya when she doesn't touch her toys, and Jake of course is the best brother any kid could ever ask for. I am so proud of him!

Oh and once again the baby prefers Mike over me. I feed her and change her, but she mostly wants her dad. This is okay, and not as painful as when we got Jie Ling. (Jie Ling slapped me across the face on day two with her) Ya Ya likes me and will bring me toys, but wants dad to hold her and put her coat on etc. He thinks I have no parenting skills and will tell me how and when she likes things!! I just let him revel in his dad glory, but give it a year and she'll be a mama's girl.

Ya Ya is terrified of the bath, and is an extremely picky eater. No fruits or vegetables for this girl, it's noodles, rice, and egg all the way. The only thing she will drink is water also. She had a sip of apple juice and her whole body shuttered like we tasered her!

Have I mentioned yet how cute she is? She is not dainty prissy cute like Jie Ling, but rough and tumble cute! Her mannerisms just crack us up.

Gotta run!! It's 5 am and she's awake!! (so far she wakes up very happy!!)

Kirsten (K.C.)

Introducing Elizabeth Xiao Ya!!

We have our beautiful girl! She walked right up to us and we exchanged Cheerios for the next half hour! I so wanted to scoop her up, but I kept my distance trying not to upset her.

It was so beautiful as Jake and Jie Ling welcomed their new baby sister. I was just in awe and still am.

I'm going to keep it short...she had a major melt down when I tried to put pants on her to go eat, and finally cried herself to sleep. I'm going to quickly eat and regroup hopefully before she wakes up.

She has had surgery on her foot, and they removed one toe. It looks awful, and I'm sure Ya Ya's outcome will be the same as Jie Lings. The bottom of her foot is just as big as Jie Ling's was and know from Jie Ling's surgery that that just can't be scooped out.

She is adorable with the cutest little voice. She plays with toys very rough, and just makes the cutest and sweetest little movements, though there is nothing prissy about her!! She seems like a very tough girl.

We love her so much!

Thank you God for this amazing gift!

A Day In Hefei.

Fiberglass on a stick anyone? That's exactly what it looked like this woman was selling, and it was yummy! Jie Ling refused to even try it and glared at Grandma and I while we snarfed. I did pass at the potatoes we walked by, I figured I could get those at home.

After breakfast this morning, and after thinking we were getting baby Ya Ya this morning, we headed out to try and find the park we spotted out our hotel window. We didn't quite go the right way but had a great time getting there. Hefei is not a tourist destination, so it was nice to just walk and not be bombarded with people trying to sell you things. We finally found the park and the zoo and had a great time watching to locals, as I'm sure they had a great time watching us!! The people are so friendly, and mom's Chinese lessons really paid off! She was actually having short bursts of conversations. Way to go mom!!!

The Hefei people really love their fireworks! As I sit here writing this message it sounds like the fourth of July outside. This has gone on every night since we've been here (whole whoppin 2 days.) Well it's 7:30 and Jie Ling is still sleeping from her nap, and Mike, Mom, Dave,and Jake are all in the hotel bar shooting pool.

I can not believe tomorrow is Gotcha Day!! I can't wait to take baby Ya Ya to the park we found, and just let her enjoy all the sights and sounds. Ya hoo!!

Next post will have pictures of our girl!!

We Made It!

The flight over here was amazingly easy, but did not start off that way at Seatac. My (unreasonable) extreme fear of flying set in, and I almost had myself talked out of boarding. As soon as we settled in on the plane I popped a half of the anti-anxiety the Dr. prescribed and I was fine and was able to enjoy the flight.
Jie Ling is the best little traveler as is Jake, and it was an easy 13 hours.
We arrived in Shanghai around 5:30 and made it to the Astor hotel easy squeezy. We met up with Grams and Gramps had a couple glasses of beer and went to bed. Jie Ling at this time decided that it was time to go home and told me she didn't like China anymore. She was fast asleep within 5 minutes as were the rest of us. The next morning (3:30 am) Jie Ling woke us up declaring to the world that she had to go poop! All went well and by 4:00 am we snarfed down some yummy noodles compliments of United Airlines. Our hotel was right across from the Russian Embassy and was built in 1846. It was pretty cool!





























Our tour of Shanghai was fast and furious! Our first stop was an amazing temple where we met a monk from Tibet (new to the temple) who was quite curious about us, and us him! We walked the Bund, Nanjing Road, Yu Yuen Garden (spelling?), and drove around the French Concession and had an amazing history lesson. We had an awesome guide!! We kept things moving as we had to catch our overnight train to Hefei, which was an 8 hour train ride. I don't want to tell about the train yet, I'm going to leave that post to my mom!! Let me just tell you it was an experience of a lifetime, and we literally laughed all night long and into the morning.

We made it to Hefei this morning and we are T-I-R-E-D. I'm not sure if this post is even making any sense?? Our hotel is nice, and the noodle bar on the second floor is amazing. I was a big girl and tried everything, and was surprised at how delicious it all was!!

Hefei is pretty cold right now, and I pretty much packed Jie Ling light weight clothes...I bought her a cute pink hat from a vendor this evening, and will probably have to go out and get baby Ya Ya some warmer clothes once we get her.

Gotcha day is Monday!! I received some updated pictures of her today (totally unexpected) and she looks great and healthy.

Better go...I'm beyond tired and worried this post is all gibberish. Mom and Dave are doing great. Oh boy do I have some major stories on mom (Liz this ones for you) We had to turn around on our way to the train station, and unload luggage, and go through hotel garbage cans to retrieve lost items!!! We've only been here two days, but it has already been one adventure after another traveling with these two old people!!

Take care!
One more sleep until we meet our girl!!

Passports Gone a Missing in China!!

Here's part of a post we received from Grandma Rena:

....we then headed back to go the the acrobatic show...as we were driving I went to get my purse out of my backpack - It was not there! Major panic - although there wasn't too much money in it it did contain our passports and the list of email addresses Liz had so kindly prepared for us - Liz I am so sorry! This was when we found out just how kind and helpful our guide and driver are! First they assured us that everything would work out and they would be with us through the full process. We turned around and went back to the Temple of Heaven grounds on which the police station was located. We made our report and then one of the officers drove all four of us downtown to the police headquarters to complete more reports. By then it was about 10 o'clock so we went back to the hotel. They picked us up at 9 this morning, taking us to the American Embassy where we were able to obtain a temporary passport (normally this could have taken a week, but knowing our circumstances and that we are to leave this Saturday they gave us emergency treatment)....we still had more steps because in order to leave China we must have our Chinese Visa.....our guide, driver and their company went out of their way as it normally is a 5-7 day process which of course would really mess up our plans.....I tell you our guide is like a tiger - we're going to adopt her! She absolutely would not give up when we were originally turned down for speedy treatment - she got someone to agree to issue a Visa tomorrow! If this comes true or not, she had done everything possible to see that it happens....She is someone we will never forget! Well, we've managed to come up with a unique travel experience = how many travelers have been to the American Embassy here or seen the inside of a Beijing police station or the Ministry of Visas!!! This has in no way spoiled our trip, and only made us love the Chinese people even more. Everyone is so open, friendly and helpful. It's been a marvelous trip so far and we can't wait for our next adventure! (by the way Dave now will not let me touch anything important!!

Only 6 More Days...

I think it's time for us to pack. Our Xiao Ya has had her bags packed for a month, but the rest of us have a long ways to go. I just don't know where to start and I'm running out of time quickly!

Only 13 more days until I'm holding my little daughter! Here's our Schedule:

Nov.14th: Leave for China
Nov.15th: Arrive Shanghai & Meet the Parents (who left 10 days before us)
Nov.16th: Shanghai sightseeing today includes bustling Nanjing Road and the legendary Bund, the Jade Buddha Temple, and the elegant Yu Yuan Gardens. After the tour you will be transferred to the train station to join in your overnight journey to Hefei.
Nov.17th: Arrive Hefei 5:19am.
Nov.18th: Free for one day.
Nov.19th: The family will meet child in Civil Affairs. Sign agreement.
Nov.20th: Adoption registration, notary and apply passport.
Nov.21st: Half day tour to Bao’s Musseum.
Nov.22nd: Free.
Nov.23rd: Take passport in the morning. (not confirm yet. )
Hefei-Guangzhou (Victory Hotel)
Nov.24th: Medical.
Nov.25th: Six Banyan Temple.
Nov.26th: Visa appointment at 10:00. River Cruise.
Nov.27th: Take visa in the afternoon.
Nov.28th: Leave Guangzhou by CZ301 at 08:25. Transfer to airport.