Update (Finally)

We arrived home in one piece - after missing our connecting flight to Omaha and getting in late. Lexi did pretty good on the plane, just a little fussy, which was to be expected since she was still not taking a bottle or sippy cup to help her ears. She slept well thanks to some help from Benedryl (THANKS, Colleen!!!!) and it was relatively "painless" taking her half way around the world. I don't know whether it was the lack of sleep or what, but I became really emotional on the long journey home. It really hit me at that point that we were taking her away (far away!) from everything she knew - her friends, her care givers, her world essentially! WOW!! I felt so very selfish and so very sorry for her - as much as I wanted out of that country and as much as I wanted this little girl: how could I do this? That is the part of the adoption that I never really thought about till then. I can't imagine how she feels, what she remembers - I just pray God gives us the grace to see her through this and that she will acclimate well to our family. Too make matters worse, I watched The Blind Side movie on the flight and cried some more! (Awesome film, by the way!) I am trying really hard since we've been home to show extra love to her through all her crying and wanting to be held, but it gets old really fast when you're so tired from jet lag and lack of sleep from the trip itself. Tim really wants her to get used to her crib and she won't have it - cried for 2 hours the other night! We are wanting to be sympathetic and loving, but also trying to get some ZZZ's - where does the line get drawn?

We were welcomed home at the airport by my parents, who brought the boys, and the Bilbys, our best friends of the last 14 years, who helped us sooooooo much during this adoption process. It was a great relief to see familiar faces (who spoke English! :) ) and be home! Tim and I both agree it was a good trip overall, but we are not in a hurry to go back!

My parents stayed until Sunday morning and we were sad to see them leave - Lexi included! As you can see, she got in some bonding with Grandpa! They were such a great help watching the boys and they all had a blast, it sounded like. The boys ate really well and thankfully there were leftovers! We attended Chris' Jazz Concert Sat. night and Lexi really seemed to enjoy the music - fun night for us all. The help for the 2 days was wonderful and really appreciated, as well as the meals that our church family has been providing. We are so blessed in so many many ways!

"I Have Brothers!!"
Lexi has taken to
the boys and they
are doing great with
her! They have been
very accepting of her
crying and I couldn't
be more relieved!

Today and yesterday were taken up with Dentist appt. (me) and Doctor appts. (Lexi). At the dentist, we had him take a peek at Lexi's teeth and he wants her to see a Pediatric dentist as he thinks her brown teeth may have cavities and not just plaque build -up. Ugh! Oh, well at least it is the baby teeth. The doctor's appointment was short lived as she started screaming as soon as he touched her. He is so understanding and we rescheduled until she is more bonded and secure. The eye doctor we saw today is wonderful (THANKS Mary and Becky for the recommendation!) and he has high hopes for her left eye. We will be scheduling an ultrasound for her eye in the future to see what is going on behind it, but his initial look was positive and he thinks we can do some minor correction to make it look as normal as possible. So we are praying that God continues to keep the left eye healthy and that there will be no deterioration going on, which could lead to more drastic measures.

Thanks for all the continued prayers and we (not we, I) will keep up the posts!! Love to all...

It's Official!

This crazy goof-ball is officially ours! These were taken while shopping, looking up at Daddy pushing the stroller!

We went to the US Consulate this afternoon and had the swearing in - it is official, all paperwork is done! Alexis will be recognized as a US citizen once we reach American soil, but she has her passport with Visa being sent to the hotel tomorrow so we can leave Thurs. morning for home! We have a slight delay after landing in Beijing Thurs. morning then off to Chicago, then to Omaha. We end up leaving for Chicago around 4 and arrive there a few minutes later! If only it really worked that way! Unfortunately, we lose the day in flight - crazy time change! Oh, well, please pray for us that the flights go smoothly - Lexi won't take a bottle or sippy cup right now, so I am concerned about her ears during the trip. Can't wait to see family again - missin' my boys! - and introduce Miss Alexis to everyone in person. Have a good day! By the way, to all my friends who encouraged me to shop and get shoes - little missy is coming home with 10 pair! I don't think I've ever owned that many for myself in my life!!

At the pearl market - these are bags

of thousands of pearls!

Little Miss Piggy snarfing some noodles.

April 18

blub-blb-blp-blub-blp
(loosely translated: I'm bored!)

My first Barbie! Ha, Ha, boys!
one of many to come!





Yesterday we went to a Folk Art Museum that used to be an academy for students to come and study in the Chen Ancestral Hall. It was built in the late 1800's during the Qing Dynasty. It now is an important historical and cultural site here in Guangzhou. We saw some beautiful art - bone carvings, brick carvings, wood work, and pottery. Picture is a carving out of an olive nut!! Afterward, we went to a really nice park that featured the famed Five Goats Statue. It is to be believed that when the people first came to the area the "fairies"/goats brought seed to make the area prosperous.

The rest of the day was just shopping and then the group met for dinner at a Chinese restaurant where we had beef with celery, sweet and sour pork, a snow pea dish (that was delicious!!), fried noodles, and rice of course. Tasted wonderful!

For today not much happened, we shopped a little in the morning and then hung out in the room. Alexis is struggling with teething, we think, and gets really cranky at times. I feel bad since we really only have Tylenol to take the edge off for her. Pray that these couple of teeth we see ready will poke through soon and relieve her of the pain - don't really want to deal with this on the plane in a couple of days.

We are anxious to see you all. Off to the Pearl Market tomorrow!

Tears ang hugs

That was the theme for the day! Alexis still struggles with us putting her down = tears, she still won't drink = tears, she had to go to the doctor for a checkup = tears. With all the tears comes hugs and she hugs back hard = LOVE THAT!! :) We are trying to be understanding, but get frustrated and tired with all the holding and rocking and reassuring. You just don't know what is going on in the little head of hers!!

We are excited to be back with our group again and catch up! Everyone's kids are great and adorable and as Jason commented "a great match up". I had to agree looking around at all the families at dinner tonight, God does an amazing job matching all these kids with these parents and have it all work. All of us have our work cut out for us, but what God has brought us to, He will bring us through!! What I loved tonight was seeing two of the children, a boy age 8 and a girl age 10, who sat across the table from each other talking in Mandarin. They were both taken from their orphanages and placed with new parents - a totally new "world" for each of them; but they have each other to speak to for these few days to make the transition easier. It is just amazing! What a perfect God we have to stage all of this!! What a blessing this trip has been, and though I can't wait to get home, I am trying to enjoy all that has presented itself and trying to soak in all that is China to share with Lexi as she grows up. Thanks for reading!!

Notice the tongue sicking out!

Ups and downs

Today was a day of ups and downs - quite literally! This morning we ate our last big breakfast at the Chengdu Crown Plaza hotel and then were off to the airport. The flight went relatively well - Lexi slept through the ascent and was up halfway through the flight. The descent, on the other hand, was not so fun: she cried! I think her ears were bothering her and the pilots stop was unbelievable! Talk about putting on the breaks!! Felt like we tried stopping on a dime!! The ride to the hotel was a long one, but fun to see yet another city in China. We ate American for supper and for some reason not having rice or noodles was really nice! :)

Lexi still continues to struggle with her schedule and eating. We have her eating alright, but now she won't drink much. Another up and down! We did have her playing by herself for a few minutes so we could get organized for tomorrow which was nice, but the down is: she still won't lay down in her crib to sleep. How long do you let a baby cry in a hotel?? I feel so bad! Both for the other people staying in the rooms near us and for her being scared and not quite secure enough with us yet. What a dilemma! Have a great Friday and weekend - will post (yes with pics) tomorrow - Lexi goes to the doctor for the medical exam part of the adoption. Lucky her!

Little Lexi - BIG bed!

Enjoy this - thought I'd try to do a video upload - sorry so shaky! This is for Zach! Entitled "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!"

We are packing and off to Guangzhou tomorrow for the last leg of our trip! Bye Chengdu!

It's Panda Time!

Today was the day I was waiting for this whole trip - ok second day! We went to the Panda Breeding and Research Center and I LOVED IT!!!!!!!! I really could have stayed there all day and into tomorrow - they were so much fun to watch, especially the little ones. My favorite part of the day was going in to pet the big guy - I didn't find out his name, but am sure that Zach will come up with a good one for him. :) Their fur is very thick and seems coarse (I had to pet him with a glove on). Lexi wasn't too impressed with it all, though did watch them a bit when we got her out of the stroller. She seemed most intrigued with the red pandas! I had promised the boys I'd have pics posted for them when they woke up - enjoy guys! There are tons more where this came from!! (Like you expected any less from your mom.)

An interesting happening at the park - there were quite a few peacocks and while trying to video tape them, one flew up in my face - I screamed and the video went awry! The boys are probably laughing by now as they remember the "attack of the gorilla" on their mom and they are not surprised by this at all! Ask them about the gorilla - they will gladly tell you!



Lexi's pic of the day:

and her "audience" that
were checking her out
more than the giant pandas!



* These were all pictures taken by Tim of actual pandas (not pics of pics)!!*

Ok - You talked me into it...

I received a little resistance to me not posting today; so before there's a revolt, here goes:

We were able to get our guide to take us a couple of places this afternoon which was not only fun, but good to get out of the hotel room for something other than signing paper work after a crazy car ride. I don't know if I mentioned it, but the traffic here is insane! Chengdu is only better since there are about 4-5 million less people here, but the way the drivers are is out of control. The way they treat street lights is as if they are completely optional, everyone has the right of way, and if the person in front of you isn't moving or waiting to turn left at a light, you just go around him on the left! Crazy! I feel like we are either going to die in the cab or van, or we will be killing someone!

Susie, our guide, took us to Bamboo Park where there is over 100 different species of bamboo. It was really beautiful to walk around in - there was an outdoor tea house, people doing exercises, and practicing for an upcoming lantern festival. The were planting some annuals in and around some of the trees as well as decorating for the festival. Susie showed us the amusement park rides that were there and said they are really busy on the weekends when the kids are out of school. Lexi started off doing well and then, I guess, got bored and fell asleep!

After this, Susie took us to the Shu Brocade and Embroidery Factory. It was amazing to see one of the looms in action - it takes 2 men who are trained over 4 months to learn a pattern, commit it to memory and then produce it. An embroiderer is taught this profession over time, it is not a studied and practiced art. They said it takes 8 hours of a day to produce 1 centimeter of fabric!! That is why this stuff costs so much! We saw some amazing pieces and bought a few things so Lexi has something from her birthplace. Chengdu actually means "brocade" and the rivers here are called brocade, since they were used to dye and ship the threads and fabrics. This tiger is a hand-embroidered piece - so impressive! I won't bore you with all the embroidered panda prints we saw and loved - I will inundate you with those guys tomorrow! :)


Today's "Lexi pic"! I knew you were waiting!

Starting to make it legit...

Today we started some of the paperwork towards making Lexi officially ours. This afternoon we went to the Notary and the Civil Affairs office so that papers were signed, our actions with her were watched and pictures were taken. Her passport is in process and money (more money) was paid. Our luggage is lighter now that money is "spent" and gifts were given. And when all is said and done - she is all worth it! :-)
As you can see, she was very enthused!

But before all the "excitement", we had breakfast together for the first time and that must have been exhausting as Tim and Alexis needed a father/daughter nap! They were snoring and everything! We did a little shopping this evening and many thought she was a doll - some asked if she was a boy and many asked if she was Chinese! I guess the American parents threw them?!? Nothing on the docket for tomorrow, so may not post until panda day on the 15th! Enjoy your Tues and make sure to say "Hi!" to your favorite librarians today - it's National Library Workers day!

Special birthday wishes go to my mom today: Happy Happy Birthday! -from your girls

Introducing: Miss Alexis

GOTCHA DAY: I knew I better put a picture right at the beginning of the post, because if I hadn't you would skip everything I wrote and go straight to the picture anyway! Not that you will probably read it, but here goes the day:

We started out early catching a flight to Chengdu. After arriving, our guide took us straight to the hotel for us to drop off our bags, gather the money for the orphanage and their gifts and we were off to get our little girl! It was a whirlwind and I am still comprehending she is ours and we are about done with this whole process. It happened so quick at the orphanage (we were only there about 20 minutes) that it took till we were back at the hotel for it all to hit me and the tears came! It is one thing to give birth and look at your new baby and think "Wow, now what do I do?" but totally another to be handed a 1 year old and told "good luck!" and walk away with her staring at you like "what the heck happened and who are you??" Totally weird!

Lexi is bonding pretty well with us so far. There have been few tears - she doesn't like to be put on the floor on her feet to see if she can walk - screams usually follow. We did notice once the smiles came that she has about 5 teeth and more look like they are on their way! She likes her feet being kissed and tickled, "sooo big" is a popular game, and her fave thing to do is flick things with her fingers! She spent quite some time holding a coupon and a postcard and flicking it with her other hand! At least she is self-entertained! Here are a couple more pics:


We do feel very blessed to have received some pictures of her from her orphanage and they actually gave us the note that was left with her that had her birth date and time written on it. Our guide wonders if it was written by her father as it looks like male writing. This is so priceless to me! Our guide saw a copy of the posting of her as an abandoned child and took us to the spot where she was found so we could take pics. I know this is very rare and many parents don't get this opportunity - I feel honored to have it and know Alexis will appreciate it when she gets older.
I am praying our other families that took off this morning are having a successful first day with their new children - Blessings to all of you and see you in a couple days in Guangzhou!!

Our last day in Beijing

Our time in Beijing is coming to a close - today was our last day of sightseeing and early tomorrow (6 a.m.) we head to the airport to go to Chengdu, China to go and get Lexi! I know you are anxiously awaiting her pics as much as we are to see her - maybe I'll have to make you all suffer and wait a few days to post.......Kidding!! :)
Today we went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City with a Hutong tour afterward. We had a good time despite the rain and cold wind. (We're from Iowa - not a prob!!) We learned a lot and were impressed with the size of it all - looks smaller on the movies you see it in. I'll even admit that the Disney movie Mulan came to mind while walking in the Forbidden City and admiring the palaces. There were tons of people and, though I don't mean to complain, many were soooo pushy and it was hard to see without getting shoved around or poked with an umbrella. Tim actually had an advantage being so tall - me, I was the same height as everyone! Enjoy the couple of pics...

We took a tour of the Hutong district here in Beijing - it isn't too far from the Forbidden City. The area was built when the Mongolians were ruling and they built these small homes with courtyards in a walled community. Each of these were close together as to use the same water wells. The streets between them are incredibly small and one vehicle can just get down them - we took our tour on rickshaws!
What a blast!









Off to the room to pack - HOPEFULLY this time tomorrow I will be posting pics of my girl!! Have a great day!

I did it!!

My "life verse" and motto for the day today: I can do all things through Him that strengthens me. Phil 4:13 Today I conquered the Great Wall of China. For those who know me well, I don't like heights and I have trouble with motion. I was able to get through my flights, but I was not prepared for the tram/gondola that was to take up to a section of the Great Wall. Not that it was "dangerous", it was just going up a lot higher than I thought in a smaller "vehicle" than I thought. God was good and calmed my fears as I hung on to the bars and looked straight ahead as we lifted off and the trip down.
Once up, I was taken away by the view! How they built that wall I cannot comprehend - it was thousands of years ago, with no lifts, cranes, or machines and it is magnificently placed up in jagged mountains; built by men who were trying to protect themselves, their families and their villages; and it still stands today! I am in complete awe!! I also didn't know/realize that it is in sections and not all one!

Our group also saw the Cloisonne factory and how they made this beautiful enamelware. Quite the process I must say! We purchased this vase for the family and enjoyed seeing all the other amazing pieces. I had always thought this was ceramic but it is actually copper based!

Tomorrow we are off to Tianneman Square and the Forbidden City. More posting tomorrow!

Places I thought I'd never see

I could probably keep adding to this for the next two weeks as I never imagined I would ever go to
China. Thought I'd start with a few....



Siberia! Seen from 38000ft.

A Chinese grocery store!
(they have oreos!
Double stuff even!)

These girls were incredible!
I cannot dream of being this flexible!!

A sea lion in the hotel restaurant lobby!
He is kinda cute though!