Day 16 Thursday, April 26

Funny, two weeks ago we were rushing down to the breakfast buffet in Beijing, all psyched for the day's events, bristling with energy. Now today, we don't even get up for the buffet downstairs. Our room is strewn with clothes and toys and everything else imagineable on the floor (and under the bed). Housekeeping has to call us to see when we will be leaving so they can make up our room! :)

Tami was up with Allie most of the night, so I wanted to give her a break this morning. In my tired stupor, Alison and I took the stroller and made one long, last trip around the island, seeing the merchants we had befriended in the past 12 days, and picking up our laundry for the last time (I will definitely miss having my clothes laundered daily for $6). As always, Allie is a big hit with the locals, she definitely is a cutie in her pink outfits, fussing or not.

We are preparing to meet Cordelia at the White Swan hotel in about an hour for our "red couch picture". This informal ceremony is the last right of passage for adoptive parents in Guangzhou. Since everyone is supposed to stay at the White Swan (do we do anything normal anyway? :)), it is also expected to have all the babies in your group dressed up in their finest outfits for one last picture together on an infamous red couch. Hopefully, I can sneak back to the business center tonight to post that picture for everyone to see.

This will be our last post. Tomorrow we check out of the Victory Hotel, and head to the train station for our three hour ride to Hong Kong. From there, we take a van to the Hong Kong airport.....Our flight leaves for Seoul at 12:30 a.m. and gets there about 6 a.m.

Faith has arranged to get us a 'day room' at the Seoul airport. So Hopefully, we'll be able to get a shower and sleep for a few hours. Then, at 5:30 pm, we board our last plane ride for Seattle. We are expected to get in around noon on Saturday. (Joy: we will call you once we're through customs). So talk about 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles', huh?! Steve Martin had nothing on us. ;)

Thanks for following our blog. It was fun to do, and we hope you were able to get a sneak peak into our trip. I'm sure most of you will be hearing from us once we get over our jet lag. Until then, God speed and see you soon!.......

Love,
Blair, Tami and Allie

Day 15 Wednesday, April 25

It was only a matter of time, but now Tami and I are sick. :( Nothing serious, just the cruds: sore throats, headaches, body aches etc. We tried to hold out as long as we could, but with the Gonsoulins sick, and the getting up at all hours of the night with Allie, it was inevitable. But it couldn't have come at a worse time, as we are trying to pack and prepare for the trip home.

We didn't do much today, except stay in the hotel room and sleep between feedings and play time. We met Cordelia at 3 pm to go to the US Consulate office for our swearing in. She was successful in getting Alison's passport this morning, and now it just needed to get to the Consulate for her U.S. visa that will let her into our beloved country.

The ceremony was very short and sweet, just as I had remembered Charice telling me it would be. "Raise your right hand, repeat after me.." Allie is on a IR-3 visa, which means that the minute she passes through US Immigration and Customs in Seattle on Saturday, she will officially be a US citizen. Yea! We wanted to go out and celebrate last night, but managed to just hit the island's western restaurant (Lucy's) before calling it an early day.

Now just the dreaded thought of getting home. Like most long trips, we are getting rather home sick, and would love to be back in Puyallup. But the thought of this marathon Friday/Saturday travel day just gives me the hee-bee jeebies. I know how tough it was to get to Beijing without a baby, I can't imagine going the other way with a baby. God is good, and He will give us the strength we need....I'm just hoping the other passengers don't stick us out on the plane's wing. :)

I personally feel so out of touch not being home for two weeks. What is going on in the world? Do we still have a house to come home to? Will Max recognize me (I miss him so very much)....I read a little about the Virginia Tech shootings, but that was about it. The english version of 'China Daily' doesn't cover any of the baseball box scores. :)

Day 14 Tuesday, April 24

We've had numerous thunder and lightning storms the past couple of days. There has been tons of rain, so we decided to spend most of the day inside. I (Blair) think we are all shopped-out anyway (I'm sure we've seen every store on the island...twice). I get the feeling that all of us would like to get home soon to start the transition back to the states. The Gonsoulins have had some health problems (Both Christian and Hope had fevers, and Hope actually visited the hospital emergency room last night for an IV.....poor Cordelia, after spending 12 hours with Ralph and I, she had to get up in the middle of the night to translate at the ER......she's a real trooper, Faith. Please keep her!).

We only had one appointment today, the cursory medical check and Visa photo. The medical examination is pretty funny, to be honest. We saw two different doctors, and I think they just wanted to see that Allie had two arms, two legs, and one nose. I'm proud to say that Allie weighed in at 22 pounds (she really is a 'chunk'), and measured just under 30 inches. Both doctors thought she looked healthy, and Tami and I have to agree.

Back at the room, Cordelia walked us through the filling out of some paperwork for the U.S. Consulate appointment tomorrow. Funny thing is, Tami and I don't have to be present---Cordelia will walk the paperwork in for us, and work her Chinese magic. We are just expected to be by the phone in the hotel room in case there are any problems.

Cordelia was able to move up our last two appointments by a day. After tomorrow's consulate meeting, we will go to a "swearing-in" ceremony on Thursday, and then pick up Allie's chinese passport at 5 pm. Then we will check out and leave Friday morning....we will be taking the train to Hong Kong (a 2-3 hour ride), then taxis to the airport. Our flight from Hong Kong to Seoul will then leave at midnight Friday night/Sat morning. We figured out that we will be spending 48 hours travelling from Guangzhou to Seattle (including the 13 hour layover in Seoul). We covet any prayers you offer on our behalf!! :)

Again, both couples/families are very tired, and we can't wait to get home. I truly loved China and the two weeks we have been here, but I can honestly say that I think we are all anxious to start the next chapter in Allie's life.

Day 13 Monday, April 23

An eventful day, a once in a lifetime experience. While Tami stayed the day on Shamian island, I had the rare opportunity to travel and see first-hand Alison's orphanage. It was both a tough day emotionally and physically, but I'm so glad I had the chance to see where Allie spent the first 16 months of her life. I look forward to telling her all about her "hometown" when she wants to know more.

Cordelia, Ralph, and I caught the 8:30 am bus to Maoming. We took a taxi to a large bus station in downtown Guangzhou, a huge and very well run complex. I have to give the Chinese one huge kudos: they are way ahead of us in terms of public transportation. The bus we took was as modern as any chartered bus you would see in the states. Complete with head phones and video screens for each seat (four channels offered: chinese music videos, a Jackie Chan movie--where the English was dubbed with Mandarin!---, a soap opera, and another chinese drama film). Maoming is about 250 miles south/southwest of Guangzhou, and it was thrilling to see much of the countryside along the way. I tried to take some pictures, but the bus was moving too fast to get any really good shots. Guangdong province is very green and lush. And we also saw many rice fields, and pretty rolling hills (Cordelia called them mountains, but we know better :))

We got into Maoming about 12:15, and were picked up at the bus station by the assistant director of the orphanage (didn't get his name, sorry). After a fifteen minute drive, we were parked in an alley way that leads to the entrance of the Maonan State Welfare Institute (SWI). (Later, we were told that there are 6 such orphanages in the greater Maoming area, but this one serves just the "inner" city so to speak).

The director, a Mr. Huang, met us at the door, and it was like dignitaries had come to town. Both directors were very welcoming throughout our stay, and sounded eager to show off their facility. They told us we could take pictures inside and out, with the one exeption of the third floor of the orphanage, where the children were (more on this later).

Walking in, one could tell that this was a very old building. I described it later to Tami as not being dirty at all, but more of a tired, worn-out facility. No pictures on the walls, no color, no character, something that you would expect out of an institutional building.

Mr. Huang took us straight to the third floor to see the children. They currently house 75 kids, and are able to take on 100 at a time. The babies/children are separated into three rooms: one, a newborn or infant room, where all the newborns are kept (very heartbreaking), two, a room for toddlers/children with special needs, and then the third room is for children without special needs.

The school age kids were at school when we were there, so we probably saw 30-40 children at most. It was difficult at times to see---the rooms weren't very big (20 by 20 at the most), and the temperature on the third floor was stifling (Maoming is truly in the tropics, just a couple hundred miles from Vietnam). Also on the third floor were a play room (but no toys! Only one solitary swing...we had hoped that maybe they put the toys away in storage for the afternoon, since we were there during their scheduled nap time); a very small "kitchen", and a laundry room. On our way into the orphanage, you could see the huge dryer to dry all the cloth diapers, the only dryer, I think, in all of China (Cordelia says everyone else just hangs their laundry to dry)....

Even though they had mentioned we couldn't take pictures on the third floor, Mr. Huang later relented, and let us take pictures of the playroom and kitchen (out of respect for them, I will not post these pictures on the internet--if you would like to see them privately, please contact me or Tami at our yahoo.com email accounts).

Although he was adamant (sp) about no pictures of babies, he did suggest that I take a picture of the crib that Alison stayed in (I gratefully did, but had to choke back a tear or two in the process).

Mr. Huang then took us to his office to answer questions for us. I found out that he was a big basketball and NBA fan, and was so happy to receive the Yao Ming jersey we bought him (as well as the Yao Ming poster we brought as well, he hurried over to open it in our presence). After questions, Ralph and I presented him with the yuan to build the disabled furniture. He promised he would see to it.

We then got back in the van and drove to the two "finding spots" where Alison and Arabella were abandoned. First stop was a mile away at the #1 Kindergarten in Maoming, where Allie was found 16 months ago, at only a day old. Mr Huang noted that Yu Yu was a pleasant child while at the orphanage, but a very active one (to which I grinned broadly).

Next stop was to a busy and crowded intersection in the middle of the city, where Arabella was found at the base of a tree. Ralph asked me to videotape the spot, and it was very hard for me to do as he teared up sitting at the exact spot his daughter was found.

We had to hurry back to the bus station to catch the 2:30 bus back to Guangzhou, and the five hour return ride. So it was a quick and fast trip, but one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Seeing the conditions as they were (substandard by our western ideas), I was so glad to get back to the hotel and see my wife and daughter, and know that Alison will be well cared for forever.

Day 12 Sunday, April 22

We didn't get to go on the Pearl River cruise tonight. It's been raining on and off all day, which is good because it clears the air and drops the temperature somewhat, but bad in that we had to stay in most of the night. Its hard to describe the warm muggy weather here. We in the northwest of course know all about humidity, but we just don't have the heat......it just feels like a sauna around here when the clouds keep the heat in, and the humidity is close to 100%. Very stifling, but I (Blair) seem to be the only one sweating....everyone else looks great. :)

In the morning, we took a small tour of Yuntai Garden, a tropical park in the mountains overlooking Guangzhou. Strollers in hand, we climbed the walkways up and down this lush park. Allie of course fell asleep very early on into the walk...she seems to love the motion of the stroller, and falls asleep easily there.

Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that in my walk with Allie between 6 and 7 pm last night, she had fallen asleep and must have slept the entire one hour that I walked around Shamian island. Rookie daddy mistake, because she then was wide awake and wanted to play until midnight....ugh. Mommy and Daddy of course were exhausted, and wanted to go to bed at 10 pm. I hopefully learned my lesson!

Tomorrow is a special day. Tami and Hope are going to stay in Guangzhou with the girls, while Ralph, Cordelia and I take a five hour bus ride down to Maoming city, Allie and Arabella's hometown. We are excited to see all the landmarks there, including the kindergarten where Alison was found (one day old) on December 29, 2005. Arabella was orphaned just 6 days before, also at a day old, but at a separate building.

It will be fascinating to see some more of China, especially the country side. Maoming is a pretty big city we are told (aren't they all here?!), but along the way, I'm looking forward to taking plenty of pictures.

Cordelia tells us that we will also be meeting the director of the orphanage there. We will be presenting him with another group gift, this time funds earmarked for the materials and building of furniture for the disabled kids. I'm making sure that Cordelia follows up with the orphanage at a later date to make sure that this furniture was indeed ordered and built, and that a picture gets sent to us and the Gonsoulins sometime next month. We'll see, it was one need that they told us they had......

I don't think I will be able to take pictures inside the orphanage, but I'm pretty sure I can take pictures of the outside. I just think it's important for Allie to see where she came from, I hope it will help in her understanding growing up.

Should be a long day. We catch the bus around 8 am, and may not be back until 8 or 9 at night. I probably won't post tomorrow night, but should have some great memories or stories for Tuesday night.

(Update on Allie's ear infection: the antibiotic we brought with us has really worked well so far. Today was the first day we didn't have the two hour screaming match in the middle of the afternoon.....thank you, Lord).

Day 11 Saturday, April 21

We discovered the benefits of baby benadryl today! :) It has taken the edge off, and not a second too soon, as Mom and Dad were getting really exhausted!

Today was a day off, and we really needed it. Since there were no tours planned, we were able to sleep in (8:30) and take it easy in the room without having to hurry out (although we did almost miss the breakfast buffet downstairs, and had to run down in our PJs....all three of us mind you! :) We didn't start our day until 11:00 am, and then spent most of the day checking out all the baby stores (there's tons of them...its obvious this island caters to the adoption crowd...nothing but restaurants and baby shops everywhere you look). We also found the bakery on the island, next to the White Swan hotel. We had heard about the "Apple Puffs" from a few people, so had to go check that out.

So it was a nice day to just walk around Shamian Island and spend some quality time with Allie (although extremely muggy and humid today weather-wise.....more laundry needs to be done for sure!) I (Blair) get the feeling that Alison is getting more comfortable with us as each day goes by. We have discovered, though, that she is really good in the mornings and evenings, but is really fussy and cries a lot in the late afternoons (right when Dad needs to nap). We are guessing she doesn't like being cooped up in a small hotel room, so to give Mom a break, I took Allie in the stroller to the park in the middle of the island tonight. I was able to talk to some of the locals, and learn more about the life here. Allie has been a big draw wherever we go...people just walk up to us and want to see her, and she always gives them a big inviting smile. :)

In the last day, we've made some new friends from Eugene, Oregon. A single mom (Kristina) and her mother are here to adopt their 2 1/2 year old daughter, Marissa, who is also special needs. Marissa has a small benign tumor on one of her eyes, but other than that is perfectly healthy. The mom and grandma are here all alone--not with any group--so we have tried to include them in stuff we're doing. They came over to have pizza with us last night, and it was funny to see six adults, three kids, and three large pizzas taking up one hotel room.....lots of laughs and stories (I guess their in-country guide is just a hoot). Anyway, the pizza was actually quite good, and we were so happy to taste something other than Chinese food for a change. :)

It's also fascinating to talk to Kristina about her experience. She works for the state of Oregon as a social worker/case worker, and is very involved with placing children in foster homes. Originally, she had wanted to adopt domestically, but has found that the politics and poor condition of the foster system convinced her to go internationally. I thought that said a lot.

Tomorrow is a tour at 10 am, and then we are thinking about taking a cruise on the Pearl River nearby at night. It'll be interesting to see how Allie likes the water.

Tami sends her best....

Day 10 Friday, April 20

Allie woke up around 4 am this morning crying. She let ME pick her up and rock her back to sleep, I (Blair) was so happy that she's trusting me more. But the sign of the week that I'm a first-time parent: I forgot the words to 'Rock a Bye Baby'....now is that pathetic or what? :)

Today we went to the largest Buddhist temple in China, 9 stories tall. See the picture of the three Buddhas to give you a sense of how big this place was. We respectively declined the baby blessing from the monks, but one of the 'staff' wanted to take our picture for a poster he was producing. ?

We drew quite a crowd watching us, and for the first time this week, the Chinese grandmas came by to coo over Allie and Arrabella, and tell us how much they appreciated us adopting them. We made sure to have Cordelia tell them that we were the ones that were blessed, and that we appreciate the opportunity to raise their baby girls.

Then it was back to the mall we visited yesterday--I think it was called the 'Li Wan' complex--for Dim Sum and more shopping (what else).

We bought a stroller on the island today for 85 yuan ($11). We were borrowing the other one this week, but figured we will need something to help get Allie and our luggage through the airports next week. Speaking of luggage, I found a nice big red bag for 100 yuan ($13). Everything is so inexpensive here, a dinner for the six of us runs about 200 yuan. If the language barrier wasn't so bad, I'd think about being an ex-patriot. :)

Tonight we are thinking about staying in and having pizza delivered!! I guess there's a Papa Johns in Guangzhou that delivers....it really is a global market. :)

Tomorrow is a "free" day, nothing planned with Cordelia. Sunday, we will be visiting a park in Guangzhou that we were supposed to go to today. Monday is very exciting: it looks as if Ralph and I (with Cordelia of course) will be taking the five hour bus ride down to Maoming, the city where Alison and Arrabella were left. Both families would like to get pictures of the respective "finding" spots--Alison's is a Kindergarten, Arrabella was found near an office building.

Prior to lunch we visited another Friendship Store but this one did not specialize in one type of item, rather it was a huge room with lots of porcelains, art, embroidery and lots of pretty things to look at and buy. Allie was a big hit with the shop girls and at one time was observed holding court with about seven of them. She was giggling and enjoying being the center of attention. Boy, are we going to be in trouble. :)

Allie had to visit a clinic today. I (Tami) noticed that her cough has been getting worse and now she is pulling at her ear. Sure enough, she has an ear infection. So this afternoon I mixed up the $140. antibiotic from home and started her on it. Only seems to slow her down when it's bedtime, then the screaming starts. I have to admit it's nice to have her going to Blair so I can give my back rest. Allie is a real chunk!! But she sure is fun, I can't wait for all of you to meet her.

Day 9 Thursday, April 19

Thank you all so much for your comments and encouragement to my meltdown blog last night. Trust me, your words mean more to me than you'll ever know. A very special thank you to Gail Robinson, the counselor/social worker who did our home study last fall. She pointed out that Allie's crying is a good sign that she is able to bond, and that the grieving she is dealing with shows that she probably had a very good relationship with her prior care-givers, a positive sign indeed. In other words, we should be more concerned if Alison didn't have a period of grieving/crying over her new life. Wise words from a smart woman (and one who deals with abandonment issues every day.....thank you Gail).

Well, I am glad to say that we had a much better day today!! Not nearly the crying of the past two days, maybe just a little fussing now and then. We got outside a lot today, and Allie seemed to really enjoy riding in her stroller and taking in the sights and sounds.

Cordelia took us to a big shopping mall--4 or 5 stories high---in the heart of Guangzhou. We found some terrific prices on authentic pearls, so we bought both Tami and Allie necklaces and earrings (and one bracelet too). Tami mentioned we should give her the pearl necklace to Alison on her wedding day, and I almost fell over...."Let me pay off this trip first before we go thinking about establishing a 'wedding fund'". :)

Next, we hopped back in the van and drove to a huge inner-city marketplace where they sell just electronic stuff....stall after stall of cell phones, cameras, computers, video games etc. I have never seen so many phones in my life. Unfortunately, prices weren't much better than in the States, but we did find one thing: a 4 gigabyte memory card for our camera for 125 yuan (about $16). There was also one store that sold CDs and DVDs, so we bought some children songs in Chinese for the room.

When we got back to the hotel, we took Cordelia to lunch at a local Cantonese restaurant. I have to say that I like the Chinese cuisine in the north better....but the pidgeon we had was quite tasty. (And Tami liked it when I served the head to her on her plate).

And we've discovered Chinese cartoons today! They are really bad, a combination between Japanese animation and South Park. :) After breaking parental rule #1 (letting Allie sleep with us), we now have broken parental rule #2 (TV for toddler). Actually, it wasn't very much, just enough to give Tami a five minute break to take a shower. I told Tami that we are in survival mode on this trip, so any tool we can use---television or otherwise---is fine with me. Allie was really fascinated by the images, and even went up a few times to touch the screen. I'm hoping she won't do that to my 42 inch DLP when we get home (yeah, right)....

I am finding that the upload to Flickr is much easier tonight, so I'm loading as many pictures as I can. Keep in mind that they are going to be way out of order, since I will go back and post some from the first leg of our trip in Beijing....but you'll be able to get a better sense of our trip.

And we discovered one more thing today: badminton is just huge over here. We have found crowds of people on the island hitting birdie after birdie back at each other. Some have nets, others just love to whack them at their partner, which more often than not is older. The other big past-time on the island is a form of "hacky-sack", except it's not a sack at all, but a rubber circle with feathers sticking out of it. Very curious, but these people are just so good at keeping it in the air for a long time. I am hoping to get some shots of that this week too.

Tomorrow is a tour of a Buddhist temple, and a huge park/garden in the heart of Guangzhou.

Thank you for all your prayers, friends. I can see that Allie is bonding more and more with us with each passing hour.

Help This Father Understand....

9:15 pm Wednesday night. I didn't think I would be posting anymore today (yes, it's cheap, but 30 yuan an hour at the business center does eventually add up, right?) but I just can't listen to Alison cry anymore. I had to leave the room and go somewhere for a few minutes, hoping to clear my head a little.

Someting has happened in the past two days. I don't know if it's a delayed reaction or what, but the mild mannered Allie has now been crying continuously for the past twenty four hours. The only time she isn't crying or fussing is when she's sleeping or eating.

Call me naive, but I always thought that a baby's cry was due to some need not being met: either she's hungry, tired, or wet. But right now, there's nothing explaining her fussy-ness (is that even a word btw?). Maybe it's the teething, I don't know. But we try everything, including the ubiquitous "let's get her to concentrate on something else" routine. That works for about 30 seconds, before she figures out that she should be crying about something else. And man, does this girl have some lungs.....

Sometimes, it's like flipping a light switch on and off. Case in point: she won't scream and cry if you are holding her STANDING UP, but the moment you sit down, she starts crying again. Does that make any sense to anyone?

She cried throughout the entire passport appointment today. Funny thing is, the official there had to get a picture of her, so it'll be interesting to see what that photo looks like, when her Chinese passport is issued next week.

My nerves are fried....and I think my own tiredness is finally catching up to me. I knew this was going to happen....that taking Alison from the only situation she's even known, and from the only people she's ever known, would cause great sorrow and sadness in her. But like everything else on this journey, there is no way to prepare you for the real deal.

It's fortunate that we have had very little in terms of scheduled events the past three days. Tomorrow, however, starts the first of many tours here in Guangzhou, now that the Chinese part of the in-country paperwork is done. (Next week is the U.S. side). We are scheduled to visit the pearl store tomorrow, followed by a trip to an electronics market. I hope we are able to do both, but I really can't say. It'll probably depend on how Allie feels/acts.

Cordelia is still working on getting us out of Guangzhou next Friday. All the trains are full to Hong Kong, and I guess the flights are too. (The end of the 101st Canton Trade Fair being the culprit). She's now talking about us renting two vans---one for people, one for our luggage--to drive us the three hours to Hong Kong. And I guess there is quite a scheduling issue too that day...that is, we will be issued a U.S. visa for Allie on that Friday afternoon, and then we must get to Hong Kong by midnight to catch our flight to Seoul that night. Another faith building exercise for us.

Okay, I guess I'll check my mail and get back to the room. Thanks for listening.....

Blair

Tami escapes on the 18th....

Hee Hee
I have left daddy with his little distruction machine for a bit to give you STILL more information then you ever wanted to know.

1. Chinese formula goes in smelling rank and comes out as a, well, Bush was right, there are WMD's and they live in our daughters diapers. I really wish she would time them to happen BEFORE housekeeping comes to clean because now I have to walk around Canton with a DMD (diaper of mass distruction) looking for a garbage. If I don't then it lives in the room with us for an entire night. I'm so afraid that the super diaper genie I bought will not be enough. Thinking about WWII gas masks for the task.
1a. Output of Chinese formula is 8.564738 x input.

2. People here eat everything, and I mean everything. Last night during the rainstorm I was watching the fish merchant on the sidewalk from our 4th floor room. One of his buckets overturned and I saw him chase loose snakes down the street with a small scoop. No, I am not ever going down that street.

3. Allie can undue knots, zippers, door latches and crawl under and over things. She has been observed pulling her daddy's dirty socks out of the laundry bag and making an 'I just licked a lemon' face.

4. Squeeky shoes are perfect for finding small escaping Chinese daughters. Unless they take one off, then she sounds like "squeek, thump, squeek, thump...".

5. I will never ever never ever complain about NW drivers again. The streets are full of cars, buses, bikes, people, bikes loaded with huge boxes, and hand-pulled carts. They all share the same two lanes and the lane markers are only a suggestion. I just close my eyes. It's worse than riding with my boys. Only without the punk music playing.

Going a bit stir crazy in a hotel room with a distruction crew that's only 30 inches tall, but wouldn't miss it for the world.

Tami

Day 8 Wednesday April 18

A big lightning and thunderstorm last night really cleared things up today, and the temperature has dipped into the 60s....we're feeling much better (and I'm not sweating as much!). I (Blair) also found the Starbucks this morning, yea!!...and it was like walking into any other Starbucks.....same layout, same menu. Even my extra hot rasberry mocha tasted the same....I had a nice chuckle knowing that this might be my only little slice of home.

The Chinese still seem very fascinated by my big belly. Everywhere I go, I'm stopping traffic, and everyone points, laughs and waves. It was cute the first 100 times, but now I'm beginning to think I'm part of a freak show. Another motivator I guess for me to keep losing weight once I get back home...

People are also coming up to me all the time to try out their English. For the most part, it's very good, and I'm eager to stop and chat. I find the Chinese to be very gracious people.

We had another good night with the little one, although she was very squirmy (sp) with Tami in bed. Upon direction from the wives, Ralph and I walked the three blocks in the rain to a Thai restaurant, ate there, ordered a few extra dishes, and then brought back the leftovers to the room around 9 pm. Service was much quicker there...at the Victory, a typical dinner takes about 2 hours+, as they bring only one person's order out separately every 15 minutes or so....and this is after spending 10 minutes confirming your order back to you. It can get a little frustrating, but once again, we are so happy to be here it doesn't really matter that much.

We did some exploring around the island this morning. We borrowed a stroller from one of the shops and found some shoes and chinese dresses for Allie. Everyone was checking out Allie's pink hat, red sweater, and red shoe ensemble. I got some good shots that Tami will hopefully upload later. The shoes actually do squeek when Allie walks, its too funny. Can't wait to show people at home. (Hope they're not too obnoxious).

Regarding the pictures, we had much better luck last night uploading to the internet. I was hoping that we could post 4-5 pictures in each blog each day, but we think it's better to just try 6-10 pictures on flickr.com and then have you all double-click the link (e.g. one of the pics below---on the right-hand side, scroll all the way down).

We are also finding that the laundry service is very inexpensive. The two full bags we off-loaded yesterday only cost us 50 Yuan (about $6). I think we'll just keep taking a bag to the local baby shop each day if it's going to be that cheap.

Tami seems to be getting Allie's schedule down pretty well, at least in the morning. She usually has a bottle of formula around 6:00, then the daily poop, a bath (where she likes to splash a lot), then wants to cuddle with Mom. Around 9:00 am, we go down for breakfast, where Allie loves to eat a bowl of congee (the rice cereal). Then some playtime, then a nap around 11 am or 12 noon. We're still trying to figure out afternoons and evenings still, since our appointments will be in the afternoon from here on out, and the restaurant thing is such a dramatic enterprise at night.

I have to tell you that I'm just loving this little girl. She is a handful though....Watch out Joy, she's a busy one~~She only lets me hold her for about 30 seconds, then squirms to get down, walk to someone else, and the pattern continues again. Sometimes, she'll plop down on the floor and play with her toys. She's constantly moving it seems, and she seems to have only two speeds: maximum and off. Haven't seen much down-time with her when she has been awake. And her attention span is fairly typical for a 16 month old.....Help me Lord! :) But when she's tired, she really crashes, which is good.

But she's sooo cute, and we've had lots of compliments. She's really into holding bottles of all shapes and sizes (and throwing them on the floor of course). She also loves to pat your hand or object held in front of her. She smiles easily, and also makes these cute "clicking" noises, which we found out yesterday were taught to her by the nannies in the orphanage.

We have one official appointment today at 2:30 pm, and then back to the hotel for more bonding and island shopping! There are so many cute shops to explore and it's very quiet on the island, very conducive to walking. We're still very much enjoying the Gonsoulin's company, they are such a terrific family, and we feel very blessed to have them with us.

Keep praying for us, especially for me in this transition time. Tami seems to be a real natural at this, and it's cute to see her go into Mom mode~~ :)

I'm sure Tami will post later and upload pics. We miss you all very much and think about you guys often.....

More Tuesday April 17...

Hi everyone!
First off, thank you so much for all of the lovely comments and wishes. They mean so much to us and we miss you guys. I would like to tell you a bit about our daughter. Right now she is upstairs sleeping and being watched very closely by her daddy.

Allie is such a good little girl. She has a smile (with 14 very sharp teeth) a mile wide and an infectious giggle. She is a little tornado that has destroyed the hotel room at least 5 times already. She loves shoes and is facinated by ours and trys to carry them around and hide them in the room. She is so very curious and can be seen throwing things under the beds just so she can lay on her tummy and see where they go. She is trying to learn to drink out of a water bottle so all of our water has baby backwash in it (the water is not drinkable in China so we are keeping the Chinese economy afloat by buying bottles of water). Last night she woke up and I broke all rules of mommyhood and let her sleep with me. So I didn't get much sleep as I was so busy watching her and wondering what she was thinking about all of this. She loves to carry toys around and then throw them. She cuddles and gives the wettest kisses ever and fell asleep in my arms that first night. Now that is the only place she will go to sleep. She adores looking at herself in the mirror, window reflections, and elevator doors and will blow kisses to herself.
Today she was officially adopted into our family. I already am smitten and cannot imagine not having her here. I can't wait for all of you to meet my daughter.
Tami

Day 7 Tuesday, April 17

It's 4:30 pm Guangzhou time--I think it's late Monday back in the States--but I was the first one up after our afternoon nap, and wanted to let Tami and Allie sleep a little more. Allie has cried a lot today--Tami has noticed she's more sad than yestereday--so Mom and daughter need their rest. :) Personally, I'm wondering if Alison is finally coming to grips with the fact that yesterday was not just a 'field trip' to the city on the train, and that she's truly not going back to the orphanage. Maybe I'm just being a pop psychologist, and she's just off schedule and cranky (another trait she will share with her father, eh).

We had a good night though. All three of us slept through the night, then Tami fed Allie a big bottle of formula at 6 this morning. Boy, was she ever hungry, reaching for that bottle and gulping it down. She also really liked the congee that Tami gave her at breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It's clear that she's a big eater, that girl. :)

Our only scheduled event of today was to go back to the Civil Affairs Bureau (CAB) in older Guangzhou. We had to meet with two separate government officials (a Registrar and a Notary), short meetings that took less than 5 minutes each, but were interesting in that they both asked us the exact same 6 or 7 questions (e.g. age, date of marriage, why we wanted to adopt, would we ever abuse or abandon Allie, etc. Ironically, these are also the same answers we have stated numerous times in our dossier/application....oh well, we just smile and nod our heads agreeably). And of course we then had gift presentations to them...I so wanted to explain the signifigance of Almond Roca to the Tacoma area, but Tami thought better of it!

In between the two meetings, Cordelia shuffled us back and forth to a play room/reception area, where the two nannies that came up from Maoming yesterday were waiting. It was nice to see the aunties interact with "Yu Yu", holding her and playing with her on the ground. (I could see Tami was a little reluctant to let go of Allie). :) They didn't know a word of English, and we obviously didn't know a word of Cantonese, so at times it was funny to see us trying to communicate and take pictures with them and the baby. Also, we had to have an official adoption photo taken at the CAB, where they presented us with an official red-covered book of some sort, I still haven't even looked at it.

A real touching moment was when we and the Gonsoulins presented the nannies with our gifts for the orphanage, and for all the nannies at the Maonan SWI. Hope had brought a ton of toys (I still haven't figured out how she was able to pack so much in her luggage....it's amazing, each day she keeps reaching in and bringing out more stuff!), and you could see the usually reserved aunties really light up with smiles and bright eyes. Cordelia had to translate many of the games/gadgets that Hope had brought, including an Etch-o-Sketch. (I guess they had never seen one of those before). Anyway, tears were all around the room, as we were trying to break the communication barrier to tell them how much we appreciated their efforts in taking care of our girls. Great picturs sure to come (someday anyway right)...

On the way back to the hotel--appointments only lasted about an hour--I could tell that Allie has really bonded immediately with Tami, which I'm grateful for. The things we read before coming here said that these Chinese daughters will initially bond with one parent more than the other. I'm okay with that, I think it's going to get me off diaper duty for a few days!

Back at the Victory, Ralph, Christian and I took a walk around Shamiam island. I think I might have over-estimated the size, it's really really small (8 blocks by 4 blocks maybe). We took our respective laundry to be done at the "Lady Bug", a small shop/store across from the White Swan. (Truth be told, every place on the island offers laundry service, we are very thankful for that). After dropping that off, we walked over to "Lucy's", the only American style restaurant on the island. We ordered some cheeseburgers, french fries, and Caesar salads to go, and brought them back to the room for all to eat as a group.

Then we all conked off for a nap, and here we are. I'd still like to do some exploring of the shops here. The island obviously caters to the adoptive families, since this is where all parents have to visit on their way out of China. From walking by, there are some really cute baby shops, and I'm really interested in checking out the infamous "squeeky shoes", a must I am told.

The weather has really cooled off today, thankfully. (Overcast, high 70s, rained overnight). The Victory hotel is really busy/crowded, as we have both adoptive families and many businessmen going to the Trade Fair.

Even though we haven't done much in Guangzhou---other than getting to know our daughters of course---I can already tell that the traffic here is even worse than in Beijing, if that's possible. Our two trips to the CAB have had our jaws dropping and our heads shaking.....the streets here are much narrower, and the weaving in and out of bicyclists/pedestrians while avoiding all the other cars is just one image I will always have stitched in my mind. Today, for example, our driver had to go up and over the curb onto the "sidewalk" to avoid being hit by two other vans on either side of us! Again, I'm also impressed with the fact that none of the drivers seem mad or the least bit surprised at the driving style. And we have seen no accidents so far in China! If we tried this method back home, the pile-ups would continue all day and night.

Tomorrow we go to another official appointment, this time to file for Allie's passport and visa. As of today's proceedings, she is officially our daughter. So please help me welcome to the family Alison Joy Yu Yu Masenhimer.

(Yu Yu is "little rain" in Chinese, so we are calling her our "little drip" :) ~I think Marce helped us figure that one out!....it's so appropriate for her to come back to the rainy Northwest.)

Day 6 Monday, April 16th "Gotcha Day"

The day we've highly anticipated is here~~~

We met our local guide, Cordelia at 2 pm in the lobby (Cordelia already has been wonderful....very sweet, her English and her concern for us is fantastic....oh, and her Cantonese isn't bad either!) We all hopped in the van and drove through a very old (and I should say 'crowded' would be an understatement) part of Guangzhou to the Civil Affairs office. We took the elevator, and walked into a small room, already filled with three or four couples with their newly adopted daughters.

Wow, then it really hit us. Cordelia was great to ask if we could use the conference room nearby to have some privacy, and no sooner did we get our camera ready, did two nannies/aunties walk in the room with Allie in their arms. I (Blair) don't remember who they first handed her to--I'm sure Tami will remember and explain more later-- but I was feeling just a rush of emotion, something that I had never felt before.

She obviously looked a little different from the pictures that we had (those were taken in Sept '06), but you could tell it was the right girl.....the sweet face, the round cheeks, the big smile! She didn't cry at all, if you can believe it....she let us hold her very easily, and after spending a few hours with her today, we figured out she will go to just about anyone really easily!! Very trusting girl, this one.

She had on a cute green jumper, with cute pink shoes. When I was holding her, she wanted to play with my mustache, and was fascinated with my glasses. We had time to just hold her and play with her on a nearby couch, while Cordelia met with the two aunties and asked them some questions we had about our girls (the Gonsoulins got their daughter, Arabelle, at the same time, in the same pink and green outfit!!).

Tami and I each switched off taking care of Allie, while the other one filled out some paperwork that needs to be finalized tomorrow. (We'll also get to unload this cash we've been carrying around all week, and give the aunties and the orphanage director the gifts we've brought).

Here are some of the things that we were told, either by the nannies or the reports filled out in Chinese (and translated by Cordelia). Keep in mind, I had guessed most of them by just observing her for an hour at the offices:

1) Yes, she can walk! And boy, is she a walker!! She can crawl, stand up by herself, and walk a good 10 feet without any help. It was right there and then that I said a little prayer for more energy and patience. :)
2) She is very sociable! (Takes after her Mom and Dad). Like I mentioned, she will go to just about anyone, reaching her hands and arms up in the air to be picked up. And with the cutest little face you've ever seen (ok, I'm a little biased, forgive me), I don't see how you wouldn't want to hold her.
3) She's fascinated by toys (another common trait with her Dad). But after grabbing them, she has a tendency to drop/throw them on the floor, and then want YOU to go and fetch them. Once again, I said a little prayer...
4) She loves to play, and to go outside and play on the slide that they have at the orphanage. Guess we'll be taking a few trips to the park this summer.
5) She loves TV (don't you get the feeling she's going to fit in really well?). :)

She's been eating a mixture of congee (sp), which is like a rice cereal, with some high protein Chinese formula. We will keep her on her schedule (feedings at 6 am, 10 am, nap at 11 am, feeding at 2 pm, 6 pm and bed at 7) until we get back to Puyallup, where we will slowly wean her off the formula. She also gets some apple juice, and some sugar water during the day.

I have to say I'm not really concerned about her cross-eyed condition. It is very minimal, if at all. I honestly cannot tell, but then again, I'm new at this! :)

Ok, enough of the particulars, on to the story....so we leave the offices around 4:30, get back to the hotel, and then Ralph and I walk up to the only real grocery store on the island to get formula and other things. Tami and Hope feed the two girls around 6, and then the six of us all trample down to the hotel restaurant.

And then, a epiphany hits me......now I know why parents of small babies or toddlers never eat out! We just get through our order, when Tami and Hope have to take the girls back up to the room, because they were fussing so bad (very tired from a long day of traveling from Maoming city to Guangzhou in the morning). So Ralph, Christian and I send each individual meal up to the room as they come out of the kitchen, and we get to eat our last peaceful meal of our lives~ :)

Allie went right off to sleep, so I'm trying to post some before our bedtime. I got some GREAT pictures of the baby throughout the day, and so want to have you all see them. It's frustrating to both families here that we can't upload pictures, either in a semi-timely fashion, or any fashion at all, but we are trying to be flexible and adaptable like any other part of the trip. Please know that we really want to share our precious Alison with all our friends and family.

Day 5, Sunday April 15

First, to answer a few questions: yes, we can see your posts, and we surely appreciate them (....."I know you do, and stop calling me Shirley"...) :0 Also, Charice, we did just try the Juicy Fruit double-mint gum this morning! But it was the "Green Tea" flavor instead...and we couldn't believe the whole pack was only 1 yuan (about $0.13). Seems like the green tea flavor is everywhere we go: ice cream, gum...oh, and even in tea too (imagine that). :)

Mimi: you're not the only one confused by the spelling issue.....originally, Tami and I were going to use two 'l's in our daughter's name, but then decided later to drop the second 'l'. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to open up a whole new blog after starting this one, so hence the spelling discrepency.

Now back to our originally scheduled program... :)

After our last buffet breakfast at the WangFuJing, we checked out of our room, and loaded our ever-growing luggage (5 carry-ons, and our original two checked bags!) to the van waiting outside. Charlotte took us to the Summer Palace in the morning, and as a special treat, she brought her 6 year old son, Yimo, with her. In spite of the language barrier, the international language of laughter and play cut instantly through the differences of East meets West...He was so cute, and I think he really liked spending the day with us crazy Americans.

The Summer Palace was really nice, but very crowded on this Sunday morning. On the spacious grounds were beautiful residences with more stunning Chinese architecture and painting. After walking around the grounds for about an hour or so, we took a dragon boat ride across the lake and back to the entrance. From there, we had lunch, buffet-style, nearby. (Seems like we're always eating...every few hours or so...but having excellent meals!)

We had one last stop on our way to the airport, and that was to---you guessed it----another shopping stop, this time at the pearl store. We had planned on buying pearls later in Guangzhou, so Tami and I were able to avoid spending any more in Beijing, thank God. But it was interesting to have them explain to us the different kinds of pearls, and how to open up the shells and tell an authentic pearl from a fake one. I'm sure that will come in handy later this week! :)

(Tami here...I kicked Blair off!)
The domestic plane ride on Hainan airlines from Beijing to Guangzhou was, well, 'interesting' to say the least. Imagine riding a plane where you can't understand the flight attendants, the food is bad (and I mean really bad, like when on the packet of the mystery stuff in your lunch it says "not to eat product if big or swelling bad") and we couldn't keep our exit-row seats because we couldn't read the instructions on the exit door! We were however blessed with a 2 hour 'propaganda' movie with some of the most hysterical, literal translations imagineable. I don't think we were actually supposed to be laughing, but Chinese and English are two languages that don't translate too well word for word. Also, the kicker for us was when we were landing and the flight attendent told us that if our ears were plugged, we should try 'slurping'....we hoped she meant to say swallow....

We were an hour late taking off (second common thread of domestic air travel worldwide---being late AND bad food) so we didn't get to our hotel until after 10 pm. We hadn't eaten at all on the plane, so we joined the Gonsoulins for dinner at the hotel restaurant. Their son, Christian, was having his 14th birthday yesterday, so Faith International arranged for a birthday cake to be waiting for him as we arrived. Very cool we thought.....

What really brought home our reason for making this treat was when the housekeeping lady brought a crib to our room at midnight. We have a crib in our room!! AAGH!!

This morning we walked around Shamian island where the Victory hotel is located. This little piece of land--no more than a mile long by 1/2 a mile wide---has beautiful and classical European architecture. We are also right on the water, the island sticking out into the Pearl River. (Oh, and it has a Starbucks too)....we'll show you pictures later, we promise. :)

This morning (Monday) we wondered around this small island, trying to get acclaimated to the surroundings (and the heat!...It's very muggy and tropical here, it was 80 degrees last night at midnight....not much fun for us northerners). We also visited the beautiful White Swan hotel, the place where most adoptive parents stay on Shamian island. Because of the 101st Canton Trade Fair this week, the hotel was booked. But we are staying at an equally nice place, just a lot smaller, five blocks away.

It's 1:30 and now we are half an hour away from meeting Allie. Hard to imagine we are finally at the place on our journey that brought us here after two years, numerous paperwork, and anticipation. It doesn't seem real at times.

Anyway, we will hopefully post pictures tonight as soon as we get settled in with baby. ('Hopefully' is the key word....The Gonsoulins are not able to get back into their internet connection on their laptop, and we seem to be having a problem getting our pictures past the Chinese filters here at the hotel business center).

Keep checking back periodically, as we will keep trying to upload our pictures to the internet.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers....we can definitely feel them!!

Love,
Blair, Tami and Allie

Day 4, Saturday April 14

We never did make it out for dinner (second straight night), but instead found ourselves falling asleep in our room and waking up at 3 am. And, like the previous night, we had a burst of energy, followed by a few more hours of sleep. This time-change/jet lag thing has really had an effect on us, but I (Blair) have to say, it's nice being able to be up, dressed and ready at 7 o'clock in the morning (something I can't say at home, right co-workers?) :)

Today was a day to travel outside the city limits of Beijing. A constant haze seems to hang over Beijing at all times, but it was clear and sunny as we traveled north of the city towards the Great Wall. Along the way, we saw a lot of the contruction for the Olympic games taking place next year, including the main stadium and the Olympic village. (Half way to the Wall, the finished stadium for the bicycling events looked really impressive. Charlotte, and other locals we talked with, are very excited to host the Games in 2008).

On our way to the Great Wall, we stopped at a government-run Jade factory. We took the tour of the facilities, and then had an opportunity (once again!) to purchase some jade products. We got Tami a beautiful bracelet, and a rooster pendant for Allie (she was born in 2005, the Year of the Rooster). We are hoping to give Alison this pendant to wear in the future, when she's old enough to appreciate it. Like many adoptive parents, we are hoping to celebrate "Gotcha Day" each year on April 16. This seemed like a perfect gift for one of those celebrations, maybe when she's 10 or 11 yrs old.

Anyway, we got back on the van and drove up to the Great Wall. It was as steep as Blair remembered 23 years ago, except this time he was older and quite a big heavier. We made it just up to the second tower/watch point before coming down those crazy, uneven steps. We were, however, able to get some amazing pictures in the 70 degree sunshine.

Near the Wall was lunch for the six of us, and then shopping at the Cloisonne factory next door. This enamelware, dating back to the 15th century, originated in Beijing, and is quite beautiful. We did a lot of our Christmas shopping before hopping in the van once again.

Back in Beijing, we had one last stop, at a government run Tea House. We were shown the different types of tea, and the procedures to make/sip each one. Tami, the tea lover, was in heaven. She has been talking about buying a Yixing tea pot for the past few months, so nothing was too good for my beautiful bride. We left with the best quality Black tea, Green tea, and Oolong tea....and yes, a few pots. :)

Back at the hotel, Tami and Hope ran out to find another carry-on bag for our trip tomorrow (to fit all our Beijing purchases!), while Blair took Christian down to the hotel pool, complete with mandatory swim caps. Talk about looking like a dork!

We then went out for dinner (finally) to a restaurant across from the WangFuJing. It was recommended by our guide for it's western cuisine. (Blair had a cheeseburger, not bad he noted). Getting across the street was quite the experience, though, like the old arcade game "Frogger", where you had to dodge objects from both directions.

Tomorrow we visit the Summer Palace before heading to the airport, and our flight to Guangzhou in the evening. We can hardly believe that in less than two days, we will be parents.

Couple of thoughts about our time spent in Beijing come to mind as we depart:

1) The traffic here is horrendous. There were so many less automobiles here in the early 80s, when bicycles ruled the streets. Now it's cars, cars, cars, everywhere you look (mostly Volkswagen and Audis we noticed). And they all seem to go wherever they want.....merging, pulling U-turns onto oncoming traffic, using the shoulder as a passing lane, dodging bicyclists, all the while honking incessantly....think Manhattan on steroids! The lane dividers seem merely to be a "suggestion", and I can't tell you how many times we came inches to being hit by others. But somehow, our driver seemed to intuitively know where all the cars around us were going, and in spite of all the honking and cutting people off, I never saw a hint of anger or road rage.

2) The amount of new buildings, and new construction is just amazing. But it's clear that the city is old and new co-existing together. Older areas (as old as 200+ years old we were told) are being torn down, and new high rises and apartment buildings are going up everywhere. Yet you still see pockets of the poor, run down housing, the likes of which we will never see in the west. The view from our 9th floor hotel room is the perfect juxtaposition: Next to this four star hotel is what I can only describe as a "slum" or a "shanty-town" so to speak. Hundreds of crude houses crammed into a half-mile radius, surrounded by new apartments on both sides.

We feel so blessed to be here, and are looking forward to exploring the southern part of China. We were getting good this week at our Mandarin (we had "hello" and "thank you" down pat), so we will have to tune up our Cantonese for the rest of the trip. :)

Day 3, April 13

Friday the 13th was not unlucky for us! In fact, after a great rest and a western style buffet, we were ready to tackle Beijing.

We should have mentioned that our guide Charlotte (above) has been great. She met us at the airport, and helped us get settled in at the WangFuJing hotel. Today, she took us to three major sites: The Forbidden City, the Tianamen Square, and then to the Hutong district, an inner-city market place that gave us a flavor of the local daily life. In between, we experienced a rickshaw (sp) ride and a trip to the government-owned silk store.

The Forbidden City was as beautiful (and big!) as Blair remembered from his trip here in 1984. We took lots of pictures, but are having a problem uploading them to any photoshare site. We think there might be major filters in China that slow the process down of uploading over the internet. We will try to post just a few pictures each day from now on, and then upload the other hundreds (!) when we finally return home. We hope you'll continue to check back at this site to see more of our pics...

We then walked around Tianamen Square, where Blair was approached by many of the Chinese people asking to take pictures with him. At first he was flattered, but by the end of the day, he realized that the popularity was more due to his size than his charm. :) At one point, he heard "Buddha" being yelled out....anyway, he was approached no less than 10 times during the day to have pictures taken.

Here is Blair and his fan club above. Just trying to improve Sino-American relations. :)

Next was lunch at a restaurant across from Tianamen. We had a terrific traditional Chinese meal, along with great conversation. Above is a picture of the Gonsoulin family that we are traveling with.

Then it was off to the silk factory in the heart of the city. We learned all about the silkworm process, and then had the chance (imagine that!) to buy silk.....we bought a silk comforter for our bed---and one for Alison's bed.

Next we travelled to an inner-city market. Charlotte was telling us that this part of Beijing represented a good picture of the normal/non-tourist part of Beijing. We didn't get any meat or fish (instead having fun looking at the pig parts) but Tami bought some spices from this merchant above.

We also did the rickshaw ride in Hutong district. That poor man who had to carry Blair, but he was well tipped for his efforts. Here is Tami sitting in her rickshaw.

Back to the hotel and rest. After posting these blogs, we are going to venture out into this city of 13 million (with 10 million bikes, Charlotte tells us) and get some dinner. Tomorrow is the Great Wall.....

Day 1-2, April 11-12, Travel Day

We should also title this page, "Why you shouldn't stay up for 36 hours straight!" :)

On Tuesday night (4/10), Blair went for one last workout at the high school pool. Good idea in one sense, because he'd need the energy for the long day, but bad for all the endorphins that kept him up all night....Tami packed until very late, and then her son Steve came over and stayed up with her watching movies. So, bottom line, we didn't go to bed at all Tuesday night, and were awake when the shuttle van picked us up at 3:30 am. Little did we know that we wouldn't see the sun set for another day and a half....

Our 2 hour flight to San Francisco was very uneventful. The 11 1/2 hour flight to Beijing, however, was a different story. Different in that it felt like forever getting to China. We did a lot of eating (4 lunches and 2 separate snacks) and cat-napping. We weren't too interested in the movies (Happy Feet and Casino Royale), nor did we watch any that we brought. We just tried to shut our eyes and pray that we could sleep. Word to the wise--get a good night's sleep before this 6150 mile plane ride!

The great thing, however, during the flight was that we were able to connect with the other Faith family, the Gonsoulin family from Beaumont, Texas. Both Ralph and Hope are from Louisiana, and met at LSU, so Blair got to kill some of the plane ride talking college football with Ralph. :) They have four children (and the fifth one coming up in 4 days!), and brought their 13 year old son Christian. (Only son too, because with their Chinese baby Arabella, they will have four daughters). Christian is a great kid, and we are really enjoying him. So well behaved and funny....also, Ralph works for Exxon, and Hope stays home to homeschool the kids. She also teaches art and drama in her "spare time", a real go-getter. Anyway, a terrific and Godly family that we are really enjoying getting to know. We hope that we will be friends for a very long time. I have no doubt that the Lord put us together for the encouragement (and laughter).

Arabella was abandoned not less than a week before Alison, at the same Kindergarten in Maoming City. We like to think they are playmates, and maybe even cripmates.

Anyway, we got to our hotel at around 6 pm Thursday. All we wanted was a shower and a bed.....slept until 2:30 in the morning. We got up for awhile, talked for a bit, but then fell asleep again for another three hours. Next thing we know it's Friday morning.

Letter to Alison

Dear Allie,

It's midnight, and I can't sleep. The shuttle that is taking your Mom and I to the airport will be here in three hours, and even though we are all packed, I'm just so excited to get on that airplane tomorrow to come pick you up.

It's funny, I love you so much, yet I've never met you. I've dreamed about fatherhood for so many years, but have never had the privilege. But now God is giving me the desire of my heart.....He is allowing me to love and serve you, my dear Alison, for the rest of my life. I hope I am up to the task! :)

I want to give you so much. I want to give you a beautiful home in which to live in, food and shelter to protect you, education to enrich you, freedom and opportunity to do whatever you choose to do with your life. I'm so glad that you will have a chance to grow up in America, so you can have all those things. And I am glad that I live in such a rich nation that allows me to give you those things. We are both very blessed.

But most of all, I want to give you my love. My unconditional love...I want to show you how much your Heavenly Father loves you, by being a loving and caring earthly father. I want to model that father-child relationship. I so want you to be proud of me, to want to spend time with me, even when you become a teenager, and would rather hang out with your friends at the mall, rather than spend time with your "boring" parents. :)

But truth be told, I think you will teach me more about love than I will teach you. You will be able to reveal to me what true unconditional love is, and give me a taste of the deep love that God has for me, because you see, I am His child, much like you are my child.

So I'm so looking forward to holding you in my arms next Monday. Please know that your Mom and I will cherish you always, and that you are so worth every effort of ours to fly half way around the world to get you.

Now let's start that journey together!!! :)

Your Dad,
Blair

Updated/Final Itinerary

CHINA ADOPTION TRIP
APRIL 11-28, 2007

APR 11: WEDNESDAY
Seattle--San Francisco --Beijing
United Airlines

 UA385        SEASFO          600AM        805AM 

 UA889        SFOPEK        1116AM         225PM

Apr 12: THURSDAY-------Wangfujing Grand Hotel

Beijing - Arrive Beijing at 2:25pm. Will be met by local guide and taken
to Wangfujing Grand Hotel.

Apr 13: FRIDAY-------Wangfujing Grand Hotel

Beijing - Tour of TianAnMen Square, Summer Palace and

Forbidden City.

Apr 14: SATURDAY-----Wangfujing Grand Hotel

Beijing - Tour of Great Wall.

Apr 15: SUNDAY ----- Victory Hotel

Beijing – Hutong tour.

Take Flight HU7801 (4:50 – 7:40pm) to Guangzhou.

Arrive Guangzhou at 7:40pm. Will be met at the airport
by local guide and check in at Victory Hotel.

Apr 16:  MONDAY----Victory Hotel 

Guangzhou – Receive your daughter in the Civil Affairs Bureau office at 2:30pm.

Apr 17:  TUESDAY----Victory Hotel                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Victory Hotel                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Victory Hotel                                                                                                                                 

Guangzhou – Interview with Civil Affairs Bureau, have adoption registration done.

Interview with Justice Dept.

Apr 18: WEDNESDAY----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Apply for baby’s passport.

Apr 19:  THURDAY-----Victory Hotel                                                                                                    Victory Hotel                                                                                                     

Guangzhou – Visit the electronic market.

Apr 20: FRIDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Visit the suburban of Guangzhou City.

Apr 21: SATURDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Rest and free time.

Apr 22: SUNDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – City tour.

Apr 23: MONDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Rest and free time.

Apr 24: TUESDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Pick up the Notary documents and passport.

Apr 25: WEDNESDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou – Child’s picture taken and fill out forms. Child’s medical check up.

Apr 26: THURSDAY-----Victory Hotel

Guangzhou - Interview with U. S. Consulate at 9:00am.

Apr 27: FRIDAY

Guangzhou – Pick up baby’s visa. Take train to Hong Kong.

Apr 28: SATURDAY------TRIP HOME

Hong Kong---Seoul, Korea----Seattle

Asiana Airlines

OZ724 HKGICN 1230AM 455AM

OZ272 ICNSEA 530PM 1120AM

Faith representative in Beijing: Erika

Hotels in China:

Wangfujing Grand Hotel: 011-86-10-65221188

Victory Hotel: 011-86-20-81216688

Guides in China

Charlotte in Beijing

Cordelia in Guangzhou

Easter a Special Time

I (Blair) wanted to wish you all a blessed Easter!!

It struck me the other night, as I was driving home from band practice, that Easter has been a special time for Tami and me.

Of course, Easter spells great spiritual blessings for all of us with the risen Christ/Messiah (not the least of these is the gap He bridged between the Father and all mankind), but more personally, the following events have occurred on recent Easter weekends (and I am just now figuring this out!)......

Easter 2003 I proposed to Tami at her parents house in Snohomish (complete with Walt, my father-in-law, running downstairs to get his gun). :)

Easter 2005 Tami and I first bring up the subject of international adoption with our families (first in late March with my family at my 40th birthday, then with Tami's folks at the annual Easter dinner). We officially started the adoption process that same week.

Easter 2007 We receive word that we will be adopting a precious Chinese daughter in less than a week.

Kinda cool, huh?

Travel Plans

Does this sound crazy or what? :)

April 11 6:00 am United Flight 385 to San Francisco Arriving 8:05 am
April 11 11:16 am United Flight 889 San Fran to Beijing Arriving 2:25 pm April 12.

3 days in Beijing (Friday thru Sunday, April 13--15). After sleeping most of Thursday (4/12), we will meet our guide Charlotte Friday morning and start the sight-seeing part of our trip. I believe we will see the Forbidden City and Summer Palace on Friday, the Great Wall and shopping on Saturday, and the Peking Duck dinner/performance also on Saturday night.

Sunday, April 15th, we will check out of our hotel in Beijing, head to the airport, and fly to Guangzhou, a 2-3 hour flight we believe.

Monday, April 16, is "Gotcha Day"--the day we receive Alison--and have more paperwork to fill out. We will be in capable hands of our guides there too.

We will be in Guangzhou from Monday 4/16 until Saturday 4/28, attending certain meetings with government officials, including the US Consulate in Guangzhou, and doing some sight-seeing and shopping. We also hope to explore this beautiful modern city, and just get to know our daughter better at the hotel (Victory Hotel).

Return trip: Now for the crazy part (or, what happens when you have to make flight arrangements overseas in less than a week.....)

April 28 12:30 am Asiana flight 724 from Hong Kong to Seoul, South Korea Arriving 4:55 am
April 28 5:30 pm Asiana flight 272 from Seoul to Seattle Arriving 11:20 am.

Yes, you read that correctly......a 12+ hour layover in Seoul. We have heard that one can rent a hotel room at the airport, for up to 6 hours....this we will definitely do if available. I'm sure baby (and Blair) will need a nap and bath/shower!

Also, we don't know yet when the short flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong will occur, but we'll update you here when we know more.

Also hoping to post pictures each day of our trip, and journal some if we're not too tired. (yeah, right?). :0

Allie, Here We Come!!

Hi, this is Blair......just wanted to give you guys a little historical perspective on how wild these last four months of referral/travel planning have occurred, and how God has had his fingerprints all over this thing. (Although some of you have received my long winded emails recently.....bear with me, some new stories for you here) :)

First off, let me take you back a few months to when Tami and I had to go to Homeland Security again. It was the week between Christmas and New Years, both of us had off from work, and as is protocol, we had another appointment to have our fingerprints taken again, since they expire every year or so (go figure). The first time we had this done, the process was very swift and uneventful.......we were in and out of the Homeland Security office within an hour........this time, however, we sat in the waiting room for four hours, bored to tears.

Little did we know then that we had another important appointment.....to meet in the waiting room a couple who had just returned from China less than a year ago. They were in the process of going back to adopt again, and to my joy, they had their beautiful Chinese daughter with them. Since I'm no introvert (and we didn't have anything else to do, right), we struck up a conversation with them, and learned that their daughter, who looked perfectly healthy to me, was a "special needs" child, who was cross-eyed at birth, but otherwise very healthy. They told us of a simple procedure/surgery that corrected this after they returned to the States, and advised us that we should possibly look into adding a special needs addendum to our application (which we later did).

Less than two weeks later, our adoption agency---Faith International Adoptions (FIA)--sent us and other prospective parents an email with the pictures of special needs children now up for adoption. One of them immediately caught our eye---Nan Hui Yu, a beautiful baby girl in the southern province of Guangdong. As it turns out, her only special need was.....yep, you guessed it, crossed-eyes. Looking back later, I am so convinced that Tami and I wouldn't have even entertained adopting a special needs child unless God sent us that divine appointment at Homeland Security. Then, when we later learned that Yu Yu's birthday was December 28, 2005---the same day that Tami and I finalized our application/dossier and turned the last of the paperwork into Faith's offices---we were convinced that she was the child for us.

That was mid-January. That week, we signed an updated letter of intent to the China Center for Adoptive Affairs (CCAA), asking to adopt Yu Yu. In early March, we received our confirmation letter from the CCAA. After signing and sending that back (have I mentioned its a paperchase thing with the Chinese government? ;), we didn't expect to get our travel approval from the CCAA until March or April, and then actually travel until May......well.....

We got a call last Friday (April 6) that the US Consulate might be able to fit us in on April 26, so counting back the days in country, we would have to leave in five days, Wednesday, April 11th. AAGHH!!! You can imagine our panic (and happiness). :)

The last week has been one of the most stressful, yet rewarding. Two years after our initial thought of adopting, and after a year of waiting, we now only had a few days to get packed!! Also, it didn't look until yesterday that FIA could get our plane tickets/hotel accommodations worked out in time (There is a giant Spring Trade Fair in Guangzhou), but everything has worked out, thank you Lord.....We are leaving in four days to go get our little Allie, It seems so surreal to even type that!!

I will post our travel plans/rough itinerary in another post, but just wanted to give you an update on the craziness of the past three months.

China, here we come!!