Home At Last!

Our last few days at the White Swan were very dull. Mei had a medical exam, we filled out some more paperwork and basically packed. I was so anxious to get home that all I could do was wish the time away. We got home safely with a total travel time from start to finish that lasted exactly 29 hours. The flight home was easy because I wanted to get home sooo bad I would have sat anywhere! I justbwoke up at 3:30 am wide awake (hello jet lag!) but I don't even care because I am HOME. A few words about China and I will sign off on the blog for the last time. This trip was a trip of a lifetime and I couldn't possibly explain how it has changed me as a person. I feel different. I liked China but I definitely preferred Beijing over Guangzhou. North China had better food and many more things to do. I did like the tropical feel of Guangzhou even thought the humidity was unbearable at times. We are all settling in and Parker and Mei are best buds already. He is so patient with her! We are trying to get him to keep his sentences simple but he insists on explaining every little detail (I wonder where he gets that from:-). She doesn't seem to mind and rattles on in Chinese to him. It is very cute to watch. We are all VERY tired. The only way to describe it is I feel like I am having an out of body experience or that I am on a 5 second delay. We have missed you all so much and can't wait to reconnect with ALL of our friends and family. When we landed in DC I wanted to go around and kiss all of my fellow Americans. I think Jeff thought I was losing it, maybe I am.....Thank you for all of the prayers and emails. They were like little treasures from home and kept us going each day. It will be a LONG time before I take another trip. Signing off for the last time.

The White Swan Hotel

The waterfall inside the hotel.

There are fish in the water.

The swimming pool is very clean and well kept.

The landscape is beautiful and very tropical. I enjoyed walking around and seeing the flowers blooming.

The Pearl River. It is very smoogy here.

We made it to The White Swan Hotel! Our flight was pretty good and Meiting did a good job for her first time flying(thank you for the prayers). Many people rave about this hotel and I can certainly see why. Although some people thinks the rooms are small, we find this room to be a bit more spacious and arranged better than we had in Beijing. The room in Beijing was VERY tiny with no place to put anything. Meiting's bed was about 2 inches from where I slept so it was like she was sleeping with us. Here, she is about 3 feet away which gives me a little more privacy (not much but I will take it). I am worried that she will think this is how it will be at home. After 3 weeks of NONSTOP togetherness, I am craving a little privacy and personal space. It is very lush and tropical here in the south of China. Beijing is VERY busy and crowded with a fast paced atmosphere. The food in Beijing was much better, but the atmosphere here is hard to beat. We are on the Shamian Island overlooking the Pearl River. We walked around the lush tropical streets. The trees are large and the flowers are blooming. There is fruit growing in the trees. I feel like I am in the tropics! The humidity is high so you are constantly sweating. I love the slow paced, relaxed environment here. I am ready for this after the intensity of Beijing. There is also a Starbucks Coffee right around the corner! I am ready to come home and see Parker and try and settle into some structure and consistency. Living out of a suitcase with 24/7 togetherness in a TINY hotel room is VERY challenging! 4 days left!

Bei Hai Park

Bei Hai Park surrounds this lake. See the smog?

A man "painting" prayers.

The girls being girls. The girl in the middle is the one who contacted us and arranged this visit. She made us rethink how Meiting can be soooo immature and this girl can be soooo mature. There is only 10 months between them and they come from the same place. ???????????

A neat looking boat.

The detail work is breathtaking.

Bei Hai Park surrounds a beautiful lake that was first dug out in the 12th century. Kublai Khan ruled his empire from a palace here. It is not really a traditional park in that it is mostly concrete. You are not allowed to walk on the grassy areas. It is beautifully landscaped with trees and flowers. There are many interesting things to see. The details are breathtaking! I was most interested in the people who use water and a giant brush to "paint" prayers on the ground. It was very interesting to watch. Our pictures show the high level of smog. We have very few crisp, clear pictures because of this. We met a 3rd family at the park who adopted their daughter from the same orphanage a few days ago. She is much more mature and was determined to make contact with us. This little girl called the orphanage and got our number and called us. She is very advanced for an 8 year old. The girls had a good time being girls. We leave tomorrow for southern China. I am looking forward to the change. I am a bit nervous about the plane ride with Meiting. She knows how to turn in on and is especially good at it in public. Pray for us!! I will not post again until Sunday when we are settled in at the famous White Swan Hotel.

A Haircut

Meiting getting ready for her haircut.

Notice the uneven sideburns.

See, no tears.

Almost done!

Much better!

Since the first day we met Meiting she drew the same picture over and over. Dennis asked her who she was drawing and she told him it was of herself. She draws herself with long ponytails. She told Dennis that she always wanted long hair but was not able to have it. We told her we would let her hair grow long and buy pretty bows and clips. She is very excited by this idea. Her hair was very uneven and basically butchered. She had these long side burns that were just awful and VERY uneven. Dennis agreed that a haircut to even things out was much needed. We took her to a salon where she of course began to have a fit. I asked Dennis to ask her if she cried during her other haircuts. She acted surprised by the question and said no (of course not). I told Dennis to tell her tell her that she could not cry during this haircut then. DONE! Not a single tear was shed. I am figuring her out and staying one step ahead and things are much better. The hairdresser was supposed to quickly trim around her face and ears to even things up. He was so mortified by her hair that he spent a LONG time fixing it. It ended up being much shorter then we wanted, but we did not have a choice. It was THAT bad! She looks sooooo much better. Even Dennis was SHOCKED at her transformation. Now let the hair growth BEGIN!!!!!

Beijing Zoo and Aquarium

What?????

Meiting at the Beijing Aquarium.

This is just a random picture.

Today we went to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. We mainly wanted to see the panda's and we were not disappointed. They are so cute and cuddly for ENORMOUS creatures. They have a playfulness about them and are fun to watch. Some of the other creatures were also interesting like the porcupine. It was very sad to see that the condition of some of the animals was quite bad. You can tell the panda's are the favorite and are treated as such. The aquarium was beautiful featuring many exotic fish. It was a great place to visit.
We have learned some interesting things about the Chinese culture. Most are very kind and helpful and are not afraid to ask personal questions. They spit and pick their noses in public. I have gotten used to this and just look away. Very young children wear split pants not diapers. This allows them to squat and go ANYWHERE, and they do. I must have seen a dozen kids "going" in various places. The hardest thing to get used to is the staring. We get stared at ALL of the time. At dinner last night, people were adjusting there seats so they could stare at us and talk about us. We had eaten at the restaurant before so the hostess explained our situation to the WHOLE restaurant. We were trying to be good sports because we know she meant well. She gave Meiting a free plate of sliced tomatoes because she wolfed down a whole plate full a few nights prior. Even the chef came out to watch because they couldn't believe that such a TINY girl could eat so much. I guess they thought it was cute. For lunch on a different day we went to a restaurant that was playing nice Chinese music. The next thing you know, we hear Whitney Houston belt out "I Will Always Love You", Brian Adams "Everything I Do..." and "Moon River". We ARE in China right? Dennis said they were trying to make us feel more comfortable. I wondered if there was a neon sign lit up outside announcing that Americans were NOW eating in their restaurant. It's just weird! I was hoping for more traditional China and all its wonderful customs. Instead we are finding a city that is trying very hard to be Western. It's just sad.

Are you hungry?

Would you like some seahorses or scorpions?
No, how about some giant grubs or unidentifiable bugs?
Still can't decide? I bet the starfish is tasty.
Or, this? I know this is a tough decision:-)
The Olympics have 5 character mascots. This is one of them. Dennis explained that each has a significance based on region and meaning. They each have something different on their head. The one has flames to represent the torch.

The food in China is like nothing we have experienced before. Everything is very fresh and the flavors are amazing. We have tried many different dishes featuring many unique tastes. Most we have LOVED, a few not so much. The Chinese eat many things that we would call an exterminator for (like bugs). We have not had Mei ask for any strange food. Last night we went to the Wangfujing Dajie which is a walking street (no cars) with lots of shopping and vendors. She wanted an ice cream so we looked for the one she wanted. She did not see one she liked. The girl held up a vanilla ice cream with a chocolate coating. It looked good to me! She did not want it. She told them what she wanted, but they did not have it. They pointed to the next vendor and off we went. She immediately spotted what she wanted in the cooler. I have NO idea what is was but it looked like a pureed pea ice cream cone. It even had what looked like peas on the wrapper. I don't believe that it what it was, but it sure looked like it. She LOVED it! I am quite certain our local Food Lion will not have it in stock. We went to the Wanfujing Snack Street which I thought was pretty nasty. It featured many interesting foods on a stick. These foods included things like starfish, scorpions, grubs, squid, seahorses and many unusual things we couldn't identify. Many things smelled as bad as they looked.

Monday, June 2nd

Meiting and MeiLi cuddling on the couch. MeiLi was adopted from the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute at the same time. All the other 16 families from our travel group are adopting from a few other Provinces and have travelled to get their children. We are the only 2 families left in Beijing from our travel group.
This is the Bell Tower. This picture was taken at the top of the Drum Tower.

The Drum Tower performance.

The largest drum in the world.

The Hutong alleyway. Jeff, Meiting and Dennis are in the picture.

Things have been much better these last 2 days. We have made some adjustments in how we handle her and it is working wonders. She needs consistency and not a whole lot of over stimulation. It is amazing how much she has learned in less than a week. She has a silly personality and likes to giggle. She is VERY verbal and speaks to us in Chinese with a random English word thrown in. She gestures more and more and somehow we are communicating quite successfully. She is a fantastic eater. She eats more than I do! We are amazed at the amount of food she eats with her tiny little body. She prefers fruits and vegetables, but likes noodles and a very little meat. Dumplings are one of her favorites. She is an excellent sleeper and even takes a nap each day. She seems to really need it(and so do we).
Yesterday was Children's Day so we went out for a nice dinner. We have had many wonderful meals and have tried many new things. Chinese food in China is VERY different then Chinese food in the USA. It is very fresh and delicious. I was a little afraid of the food at first, but not any more. One of Meiting's favorite words is "yummy", which she says quite often because she LOVES to eat.
Today we visited the Drum Tower. It is also near the Bell Tower. We climbed to the top and got to see the giant drums. We got to see the biggest drum in the world and I posted a picture of it. The Drum Tower is significant because there used to be one in all major Chinese cities. They were beaten to mark every hour. We got to hear the 10:00am performance. About 7 people beat the drums and it was very beautiful. Meiting was very scared because she had never seen a drum before and it was very loud. We then strolled along the Hutong alley. There were many stores and restaurants. The Hutong seen outside our hotel window is more residential. Dennis explained that it is quite expensive to live in one because of its location. The Hutong we visited today has a man made lake in the center. It was very pretty. We passed an area where you can rent boats. Dennis asked Meiting if she had ever been in a boat before. Of course she hadn't and didn't seem like she wanted to. I am not sure what she is going to think of the beach and the water. The swimming pool in the hotel made her afraid because she had never seen one before. It is amazing how preserved the Hutong are considering how very old they are. Many developers are demolishing these historic buildings. We saw many that were already torn down. It is such a shame.
Tomorrow we will visit the zoo. Meiting has never been to a zoo so we are curious about how she will react (and a little scared). She told Dennis she was excited to go. I am looking froward to seeing the giant Panda's.

The Great Wall

It was very hazy at the Great Wall.
The steps are uneven and bumpy. A lady fell down a few steps. She was shaken up but fine. These steps are almost vertical. It is not so bad going up. Coming down is VERY tricky.

It is so huge!
And crowded!

Since I can only post 5 pictures per post, I had to create a new one for the Great Wall. It seems appropriate anyway since it is such an amazing man made wonder.

Sunday, June 1st

Sorry about the poor layout of the pictures. I was experimenting with settings and am not sure how to fix the pictures. The first picture is the Forbidden City seen from out hotel window. The second is the entrance to the Forbidden City (see Chairman Mao's picture). Next we have the famous olympic Bird's Nest. It is really huge and neat to see. Since it is still being worked on, we could not stop and take pictures.














Another photo of the Forbidden City. The detail on the buildings is hard to capture in photos. The second photo is where all the olympic athletes will be housed during the olympics. It is called the Olympic Village.



It has been an interesting couple of days with Meiting. She is becoming more comfortable testing the limits. Yesterday was particularly difficult. She has much to learn about boundaries and acceptable behavior. We are experiencing some regressive behaviors which have been difficult to deal with. It is hard to watch an almost 8 year old act like a 5 year old. We had to change our approach with her because she was becoming impossible to deal with. For some reason I am the authority. I have had to become a bit tougher on her because she doesn't recognise Jeff as an authority but is now beginning to. This made me a bad guy for a couple of days, but I think she getting it now. She is VERY immature but VERY smart. She is catching on very quickly. She also has an amazing advanced ability to manipulate a situation. I think we are getting it under control. When you are not in your comfort zone and many Chinese people are giving you a mean look it is hard to know what to do. We have spent the last 2 days focusing on this and we think we are on our way to getting it under control.
Yesterday was a full day of sightseeing. We began at the Tian'an Men Square and walked around a bit. It seemed like a lot of concrete to me, but it was interesting to see Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. It seems big on TV, but the true enormity of its size is hard to explain. Then we walked to the Forbidden City. We can actually see the Forbidden City from our hotel room which is really neat. We liked the Forbidden City except that is is VERY crowded and hot. The buildings have amazing detail and significance. They close off parts at a time so we only saw the middle part. Our guide explained that it has 9,999 and 1/2 rooms. If a newborn baby slept in a different room each night, he would be 27 years old before he managed to sleep in all the rooms. THAT is how BIG the Forbidden City is! Once we finished our tour of the Forbidden City we went to lunch to try Beijing Duck which is the best known dish in north China. The duck is dried and brushed with a sweet marinade. It is roasted over fragrant wood chips. It is carved by a chef and eaten wrapped in a pancake(more like a very thin, soft tortilla), with spring onions and cucumber. The meat is very tender. It was not my favorite dish but I was glad I tried it. Jeff enjoyed it more than me. Then we headed to the Great Wall of China. The word "great" is such an understatement! We drove 1 hour out of the city and the transformation was dramatic. We went from city and flat land to mountains. I won't even try to find the words describe it because I know I couldn't do it the justice it deserves. I was sad that we couldn't climb very far. Mei was giving us such a fit at this point, we only could see a little. At one point during the short climb the steps were almost vertical. The hard part is that each step is a different height. You have to step carefully. Going up is much easier than coming down! This is NOT for someone with weak knees or issues with heights. It was an awesome sight!
We came back to the hotel with shot nerves and weak knees. It will take a full day of rest to recover. We had barely enough energy left to cook noodles in the room. I will try to get back on my daily posts to the blog.

Our adoption is official!

At the adoption office.

Signing and fingerprinting our documents with Dennis our coordinator.

Meiting's turn!

When it was all done she gave Baba a big kiss! Actually she has been giving him lots of kisses.

It's official!

Today we spent our day (a total of 8 long hours) making our adoption official. It was a long and grueling day which took us to 3 different locations. We began at the adoption office where the "official" documents are drafted and where we register the adoption. We were asked questions regarding WHY we wanted to adopt Mei and we had to promise not to abuse her in any way. We had to sign many documents and give our fingerprints. The adoption papers are not finalized until Meiting gives her approval that she wants to be adopted. This is carefully explained to her. An older child must sign their name, but a younger child must provide a handprint. She did not hesitate for a moment. We have some pictures to show the long process (this took hours). When the adoption was registered we went to another location to get the documents notarized. This would seem like a quick process but it was not. Last, we went to the passport office to apply for Mei's passport. We managed to sneak in a wonderful lunch and ate some delicious Chinese food. I had my first dumpling. YUMMY! Mei is a good eater, but very messy. She will need to be taught to slow down and not put so much food in her mouth. At breakfast she eats fruit and yogurt, but will not drink juice. We tried to give her rice and noodles but she would not eat them for breakfast. She scolded Jeff for giving them to her and made him take them off her plate. She LOVES vegetables. We watched her eat almost a full plate of cucumbers and broccoli. She likes this fried corn dish and noodles (for dinner). She went crazy for the dumplings and wanted them all. She is not much of a meat eater and picks the meat out of her noodles. She told Dennis that he does not like chicken. She pushed Jeff's arm away when he tried to give her shrimp. She likes spicy food which really surprised me. Her favorite thing is sugar. She got mad at us when we would not let her eat the sugar cubes for our tea. She had her chopsticks at the ready and was trying to snatch a few as the lazy susan rotated around. I am doing pretty well with the chopsticks. I am guessing not good enough by Chinese standards because a waitress brought me a fork at lunch today. Mei is also a great sleeper and sleeps soundly through the night except for some tossing and turning. She is getting used to taking baths. The first night we could not get her to sit in the tub, she would only squat. Now she gets right in and sighs with satisfaction as we wash her. I wonder what she must think of all this attention. She is not getting one bit sick of it and gets more loving each day. We had a breakthrough last night with her bonding with Jeff. The first night she would barely go near him and push him away. They have spent several hours playing which has brought them closer. Yesterday she sat in his lap and held his hand but would not kiss him. She let him pick her up and he carried her across the street. She didn't like it at first and now she is hooked. She insists that he carry her and she just loves it. We will indulge her while in China while they continue to bond. She now showers him with kisses and wants him all of the time. He of course is eating this up and thrilled to death. They fell in love last night and today the bond grew stronger. I am thrilled because it gives me a bit of a break. The only issue is the bathroom. Now that she loves her Baba, she does not want to be away from him. Dennis had to explain to her that Baba cannot take her to the bathroom because it is for LADIES only. She was not happy with this. Since today was so long and grueling, we will take tomorrow to rest and play close to the hotel. Saturday we will visit The Great Wall of China and will visit one place each day until we leave Beijing. Many of the tours are set up as full day excursions (10-12 hours)with several stops. Mei cannot handle more then a few hours each day of touring. We decided to break it up a bit so we could enjoy it more(and so could she).
Keep those emails coming. We are missing home, family and friends very much. The hardest part of all is being away from Parker. We love you!

Wednesday, May 28th

Meiting likes to paint.

She wrote her name.

She tried to write Mama, Baba, family but wasn't sure how. I love that she tried!

The famous sneakers!

Posing at the hotel.

We are settling in as a family. Mei is learning to communicate with us using sign language and the use of a few words. Other than that she continues to speak to us in Chinese. She can say Mama, Baba, hello, thank you, your welcome, bubbles, water, eyes, nose, mouth, hair and a few more. She has learned these words in the last 2 days. She is very affectionate and will hug and kiss me all day. She is hugging Jeff more and will give him the occasional kiss. I don't believe she had much contact with men. She is trying to figure him out. She likes to keep the room neat and will constantly keep cleaning and fixing it (it is very small so it gets messy quickly). She has the backpack I brought her with some art supplies, Leapster, and small baby doll. She informed Dennis that she does not like baby dolls. Barbie dolls are fine, just not BABY dolls. She doesn't know what to do with it. She loves the Leapster and is learning the names of shapes. She spent some time today painting ans writing. She drew us a picture and wrote some Chinese symbols. Dennis told us she was trying to write something about Mama, Baba, and family but did not know the correct character to use. I attached the picture so you can see her Chinese writing and the picture she draws over and over. She is very small and seems a bit behind developmentally. She acts very much like a 5 or 6 year old. She has moments where she is testing the limits, but for the most part she is very manageable. She is very active and barely sits still for a moment. She also loves Coke which she will get in moderation since it only makes her more hyper. Note to Granny "hide the Coke". Today we went shopping for a while and after about 2 hours she was shutting down. She gets very overstimulated with crowds and activity. We are trying to help her regulate this by only keeping her in overstimulating environments for a short time followed by a longer periods of quiet activity. It will need to be this way until she can learn to self regulate. We have had Dennis speak to her about her manners, not yelling, using inside voices and my personal favorite, sticking out her tongue. She has responded well to this and is trying to learn what is appropriate. The is often the case of children who are brought up in an orphanage. The strong survive and the weak do not. She is very protective of her THINGS and does not like us to touch them without her help. She still isn't sure we won't take them away so she guards them with her life. This will pass in time. She enjoys playing with Jeff and he can get her to laugh so hard. Tonight she discovered she liked Baba to carry her around when yesterday she would not even let him pick her up. She is a loving, grateful, and a thoughtful little girl. She is constantly picking up Jeff's backpack and fixing it for him(she also scolds him in Chinese for leaving it laying around). It is very cute to hear her scold Jeff and Dennis. We realized today that the only thing better than light up sneakers is a pair of light up sandals. She even got excited about the socks we bought her. It is very humbling to witness a child experience so many "firsts" with such appreciation when we take these same things for granted daily. It makes me want to cry when she gets so excited over socks because it really puts things in perspective. She has really touched our lives in such a special way.
Note: Thank you to all who have sent us a personal email. We LOVE to get them. We have found that we cannot respond due to technical difficulties. Please keep the emails coming because it makes us feel closer to home.
2nd Note: Dennis took us to an AWESOME chinese restaurant. The food was incredible! Luckily we did not judge the restaurant on its appearance.