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Allie's Christmas movie

One afternoon I found Allie playing with the manger set. She had pulled down all of the figurines and had them lined up on her table. The song she sings is the Allie version of Away in a Manger. Enjoy and a blessed New Year to All!!

And now for something new....

Ok, so in our ever-increasing effort to stretch ourselves with technology, I present the first ever, and maybe only, dancing Allie movie.....

Fun at the Beach

Last weekend we took Allie to the family beach at Marrowstone Island. We had such a great time with my brother and parents. Allie was her usual charming self and showed fearlessness in going into the cold water. All the way in. As in 'plop' sitting down!

She was one tired little girl by 6 pm and slept all the way home. She had such a great time and so did we. Will have to plan many more Allie-ventures!

A much belated update

Hi again!

We have been home with Allie now for 10 weeks and there is so much to tell!
I'll start with the trip home which was, well, the longest Saturday in recorded history. We left Guangzhou in the morning on the train to Hong Kong. Riding through the countryside was amazing. Once we left the city the views changed to rural survival. We saw people out working in fields, large empty buildings and lots of working cattle pulling plows. We arrived in Hong Kong and our poor sick-with-a-cold Allie was pulled out of line and tagged for Bird Flu. Agh! Yes, can you tell that this 16 month old was a poultry farmer? They wanted her to wear a mask...ha ha...and tagged her passport so she could only be 'in transit' through Hong Kong and not stay. We then moved all of us and our 4 bazillion pieces of luggage onto a private bus and drove to the airport. Where we waited for 8 hours for our flight. Hong Kong is a 'modern' Asian country and we had a feast of potato chips and baked potatoes. While we were at the gate for our flight Blair found a Burger King and the girl spoke English! He was so excited he almost crawled over the counter. Allie was so good at the airport. She walked around trying to grab cell phones from everyone and crawled around under the seats. then we boarded for our midnight flight to Seoul. She did great until I placed her in the plane seat and then it was a meltdown of biblical proportions. She was having none of this plane stuff and tried to crawl over the back of the seats, all the while screaming at the top of her lungs. The Asiana Airlines staff where wonderful. They let us stand in the galley until takeoff and then rushed us to our seats as the plane was taking off. Allie fell asleep more out of exhaustion than anything else and slept for the 5 hours. In Seoul we had a 13 hour layover so we were given a day room which is a hotel room used for people like us with long layovers. We were great until we turned off the lights to sleep. Thats when Allie started crying again. Agh!! Eventually we all got a couple of hours of shut eye and then back again to the airport for the 11 hours to Seattle. Yeah!!! I have to admit that I am not at all patriotic but I was crying on the way to the gate I was so happy to be heading home. Again the Asiana Airlines staff went out of their was to accommodate us and make our flight as smooth as possible. One thing we did learn was that of all the international airports we were in, Seattle is by far the worst. No where else did we have this level of frustration trying to get through customs, immigration and baggage claim. And we even could read the signs and understand the language!!

We have been busy bonding with Allie and she is such a joy. She is picking up the language bit by bit and loves to play play play. So far her favorites have been little wading pools, riding behind mom's bike, riding anyplace in the stroller, and using Max as a bouncing toy. Poor Max the dog, he loves the food dropping from heaven as he sits under her chair but he is starting to wonder about the bouncing on him as if he was a horse!!

We will try to post more as we get back to work and daily routines.

Thanks to all who followed us in China!
Tami

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.