Final Post from China!!!

Well, we have been here almost a full 2 weeks and what a whirlwind it has been! We've seen Claire go from very scared little girl that would stay whereever you set her to a fully mobile, very happy child that as decided it's OK to express her contrary wishes. It has been a joy.

It is Saturday afternoon and the remaining members of our travel group went home this morning. So we're having a wrap up day today. The hotel is very empty at the moment, as we are coming up on a national holiday in China that will slow things down for anyone in the adoption process.

Funny story from 2 nights ago. Kirsten ran into an American guy here at the hotel that had been given a business card for a Mexican restaurant in the middle of Guangzhou. We convinced another family to go with us, but we had to take 2 taxis and we only had one card with inexact directions there. By a miracle, we all made it there and found each other. Lo and behold it was a real hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant run by real Mexicans and it was very good food. For Kirsten's Hobby Lobby friends, we will sell you this information pretty cheap.

Yesterday was our swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate, in which we were asked if we were truthful in everything that we said during the adoption process, to which everyone in the room said that they were. What else are you going to say?

We have to leave the hotel at about 5:30 tomorrow morning. Please pray that we make both of our connections, especially the one in Detroit, as we only have about 1:45 minutes to pick up our luggage, go through customs (with one non-US citizen, at least until we get through customs), recheck bags and find another plane, likely in another terminal. If it all works, we are scheduled to arrive at 5:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon on Northwest Airlines flight 3714. Anyone that wants to join us at the airport is welcome.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers throughout the trip. We're coming to get you, Benjamin and Katie!

Typhoon Hagupit & Visa Paperwork Complete

Byron composing today. Tuesday night brought some very strong winds and a little bit of rain in front of Typhoon Hagupit. Nobody here seemed to be too worried about it though. Well, I looked out the window of the hotel on Wednesday morning, and what did I see? Water everywhere that the streets should be...

Basically, there was a storm surge, that along with the tides caused the Pearl River to overflow and cover most of Shamian Island in 1-2 feet of water. Most of the shops on the island had water in them. We talked to some and asked them how often this happened. It sounded like this is only a once every 4-5 years type of deal. Fortunately, all the water had receded by the end of the day yesterday. Unfortunately, the nice pool here was filled up with the not-so-nice water from the Pearl River. Kirsten went and looked at the pool today and it was drained and being washed!

Despite all the water on the island, we were able to go with our group to the Chen Family Temple. It rained a lot yesterday, but we were able to stay covered most of the time. There is a lot of great carving and artwork to see there.

This morning was our appointment at the U.S. Consolate, which, ironically, we don't actually go to; our guide does. However, I did have to wait by the phone while our guide was there in case there were any hang-ups with our paperwork (there weren't). While I waited, Kirsten and Emma with the ubiquitous Ryan and his family to a gorgeous park, that I call the five rams park (because of the huge statue of five rams), but that's not the correct name.

I tease about Ryan, but it has been good having a friend for Emma here. Emma cried today at lunch because Ryan and his family are leaving tomorrow morning. There are a few pictures here of the kids at the park. The other little girl in the pictures is Ryan's new little sister, Ella. Ella has had a much harder time adjusting, but is doing better every day.

Claire continues to do great. We let her eat way too much strawberry ice cream too close to bedtime last night and she had trouble getting to sleep. But, as you can see below, she's a pretty happy girl.

We are of course missing Benjamin and Katie very badly and cannot wait to see you all when we get home.

More than Halfway Home!

Kirsten posting today. We are so excited to be on the downhill!! We absolutely can't wait to introduce Claire to all our friends and family. She's a real hoot! Yesterday started out not especially fun, we went to the zoo. Generally, this should be a fun outing except we have a little bitty thing who loves to walk! You have to take about a 20 or 30 minute bus ride to the zoo and when you get there the standard operating procedure is to get the large golf carts and ride around to see the animals. Claire does not appreciate being contained for that amount of time. Yay for the long plane ride home! She did pretty good though and we were able to walk around a bit at the end. But, then it was back on the bus. And then on to traditional Chinese dumpling lunch. Ugh! Their high chairs had no fronts and no straps and, trust me, this girl would have lasted about 2 seconds before pooling to the floor. So I held her while she alternately tried to grasp everything on the table and whined and squirmed to get down. Not fun for either of us! I passed her to Byron and although she wasn't happy about it, she was better for him. Interesting, of course, we haven't disciplined her at all other than a "no" here and there, but she instinctively knows that he's the man and means business. She really is liking him better now and eats for him and even gives him kisses and goes to him willingly. Anyway, finally it was time to go back to the hotel for naps. She was exhausted and hungry, ate and passed out quickly. A side note is that Emma had to potty at the restaurant which was, of course, squatty potties. Fairly disgusting ones at that. She was a superstar, though, and did it with no trouble and no complaints. We opted out of the river cruise for dinner. Two hours of trying to keep Claire from going head first off of a boat didn't sound like fun to me!

Last night made me feel doubly blessed to have Claire. We must have had a new family move in next door to us because their little one had a horrible time going to sleep. It didn't really keep any of the others awake, thank goodness, but this little one wailed at the top of her lungs for quite some time. I mean, angry sobbing and screaming, not just the "I don't want to go to sleep" cries. I felt so bad for them and grateful for Claire who most of the time does not make a peep when we put her down. If she does, it's a fake little whine for about 5 seconds. Thank you Lord for all your blessings!!!

Today has been a pretty fun day, we went to the toy market this morning. There was so much to look at that Claire was content in her stroller the whole time. We came back and Ryan and is family came over to play with play dough, then we all went to Lucy's. While Ryan and Emma were playing, Claire was right there with them. She loves the activity! I broke out the crayons to see what she would do and she loved them!! She colored for probably 20 minutes! We think she might be left handed since that's the hand she mostly uses and it seems to be stronger than her right hand. She's been very happy today and funny. She's breaking out her fake cries, but I totally have her number. It's actually pretty funny. They usually happen when she wants to get down or up or needs her nap. She's blowing kisses today and playing peekaboo. It's so much fun. She's definitely a busy little girl and loves to go. I know she and Katie will be fast friends and probably double trouble! When she can tell we're getting ready to go, she goes to the door and usually grabs Emma's hand to go with her.

Emma is having a wonderful trip. In spite of Byron's posts lamenting about Ryan, he has been a huge blessing as a playmate for Emma. Emma loves her little sister and is so helpful. But, I've discovered that she is needing a nap everyday that we're here. She does okay without one, but is tired and sometimes tearful. I'm a little worried about her adjustment when we get back. She has to go to school (afternoon preschool) because of a new rule that preschoolers who miss more than 10 days may lose their spot in the program. So she can't stay home to take a nap, she has to go. She can definitely crash after school, but it may be alot for her to handle. Please pray that the Lord will bless Emma with no jet lag and energy to get her through her day.

Thank you for all the continued prayers and much love to everyone at home. Especially, Benjamin and Katie who we love and miss so much!!!! It's not too long now!!!

Turning into a Ham

Before I get to Claire, Kirsten and I are so ready to come home and see all of you, but especially Benjamin and Katie. 2 weeks is a long time not to see your kids. And even though we see them every day with the help of a video camera, it's just not the same.

Claire continues to do great. Despite our early doubts, she really can walk quite well and I laugh every time I see it because she is the smallest human being I have ever seen that can walk. She is hamming it up for me and Kirsten all the time, but especially when we eat and at the pool.

Since our last post, Claire has had her medical checkup that is required for her Visa to enter the U.S. She did very well. Not a lot of crying, as there was for our drama queen, Emma 4 years ago.

Sunday morning started with the famous Red Couch photos at the White Swan and then group photos in front of the White Swan's waterfall.

From there we went to a local shopping, well, mall, I guess. It was where Chinese people go to shop. And although it looked like a mall, there was no A/C and the public restrooms were squatty potties with no toilet paper (or so I am told by someone that I am married to). Nevertheless, we bought a few things and saw some beautiful things that if we had a lot of money we would have bought. To top it off, we crossed the street and gave Claire her first McDonald's experience. Yay, french fries!!!

The rest of the day was spent napping, at the pool and eating at Lucy's with some friends. After dinner we made it to the Swan Room, which is a play room inside the White Swan. Here's where the story takes a really ominous turn. We met up with Emma's little red-headed (not that there's anything wrong with that) friend, Ryan from Spokane and his family. Emma and Ryan played and watched some of Lion King on the big TV there. Well, we leave and head upstairs with Ryan and his family. We get off on the 10th floor, while Ryan and crew are headed to 19. Well, as we are getting off the elevator, Emma and Ryan say good night to each other and just as the doors are closing, Ryan yells out to Emma, "I love you!"

As you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep last night worring about this turn of events. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions about what to do about this Ryan kid.

I'll leave you with our group pic from yesterday.

OMG! He's sitting right next to Emma!!!

Claire is Really Opening Up!

In just a couple of short days we have seen Claire go from being a little bummed out baby to one that is starting to feel herself around us and is willing to take a risk on us. She has even started to play with us. We have also got to see her walk, after a couple of days of not really moving from whereever you set her.

It's difficult to describe how small Claire is. Despite her age being almost 17 months, she's not much bigger than Emma was at 9 months when we left China. In fact, she's wearing 6-9 month clothes and the pants are very baggy. We were beginning to wonder whether they had just missed her age, although that is difficult to imagine as a possibility.

One thing that makes us come back to them having the age correct, is that we have discovered that she's partially potty trained. Seriously. We had noticed that she would go hours without a wet diaper, even when drinking plenty. We've heard stories of the Chinese potty training very early. So we stood her up on the potty seat and made a "psssssssss" sound and sure enough after a little bit, she peed. Now she's done it three times for us. She's been sleeping really well too. We put her down for nap or bed time and in about 2 minutes, she's out. We feel really blessed in every respect.

Friday was a day with no official adoption duties, so we and another family from Spokane, WA went to a children's park, with a lot of carnival type rides. The other family has a little boy, Ryan, who is 4, just like Emma, and well, there's no other way to say it......he has a huge crush on Emma. They had a great time at the park today. But, I'm pretty sure that Ryan kid can't be trusted!

Well, it is time to get ready for bed. We hope you all are doing well. We appreciate so much all of your thoughts and prayers for us on this journey.

Claire is "Officially" ours!

Today started with the wonderful breakfast buffet. Claire decided she liked the eggs, watermelon and banana muffins. It's pretty interesting though because she all but refuses to feed herself. I certainly don't mind putting food in her mouth, but I don't think she's ever had a reason or food to feed herself with. I finally got her to put a puff in her own mouth later in the day. We talked to family and friends on Skype and then went back to the Civil Affairs office to sign the paperwork making Claire officially ours. The paperwork was fast and dull compared to actually getting her yesterday. So now she ours in the eyes of the Chinese government. Yay!!

On the way back from the Civil Affairs office, we stopped by Carrefour which is a large, completely unairconditioned Wal-mart type store. It was hot!!! We purchased a few things there including water, Coke light (it will do, but is NOT the same) and sunscreen which I forgot to bring. While we were there, Claire came out of her shell a little! I danced with her to the music that was playing and she really like that. I tickled her and got a few smiles and giggles! I'm not sure if it was the shopping that put her in the right mood, but if it was, she'll fit right in with this family! We came back to the hotel and then went and ate lunch at Lucy's again! Emma has decided that Lucy's is her favorite place and she wants to eat every meal there. Then it was back to the hotel for a nap for Claire and Byron. Claire actually went to sleep in her crib without one peep! What an angel! She really fusses very little except when I leave the room. Emma and I went shopping for dresses while Byron and Claire napped. Fast forward to dinner (at Lucy's) where Emma had a breakdown and then fell asleep in her chair at the table! I guess I should have made her take a nap? We had been basically up since about 5:00am because of the jet lag, poor baby. She's really been a superstar about everything. Claire just went to bed in her crib without a whimper again! I hope that's a trend that lasts when we're back home. I'm holding my breath wondering if she'll sleep through the night again, I can only hope! I hope tomorrow will bring out more of Claire's personality. Her little smile is precious and I'll do my best to capture it in a picture for everyone at home.

Love and kisses to Benjamin and Katie! We miss you SO much!!

Not enough details....

Okay, so that was Byron posting and I told him he did not give enough details! So here's the rest for inquiring minds. Emma did super! She made faces at Claire and fed her Cheerios and in general is 4 going on 14! She's a little mommy delux! Claire did so well all things considered. She cried pretty hard when the Orphanage Director gave her to me. I tried toys and blankets and nothing was working so I just plopped a puff in her mouth since it was open anyway. She stopped immediately! She had apparently just had a bottle so she wasn't hungry, just loved them! She ate, and ate, and ate some more. For probably 20 minutes solid and she ate almost everything I brought. She was very quiet back in the hotel room and looked around and held a couple of toys although didn't really play. She started getting tearful again and walked around and rocked her until she fell asleep. That was about 5:15pm and she's still asleep! I think she was exhausted from her day and probably did not have a nap. Poor little thing!

Claire is super tiny! I think the 6-9 month clothes I brought will fit her just fine. In fact, there's another family in our group whose daughter is just a little older than Claire and she's about twice as big! Claire has a little runny nose and cough, too. But she's SO sweet! She's asleep on the bed right now, but I think we're going to try the crib. She's been sleeping very peacefully except for the occasional cough.

Benjamin and Katie, we can't wait for you to meet her!! Love to everyone at home, keep the prayers coming! They are being heard!!