Welcome everyone who is reading about our trip to China to bring Mei home.

I have archived all my posts from the trip here in one place, but….

Here’s the deal: I can’t get it to reverse order the posts.

Sooooooo

In order to get the most out of this, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and work your way to the top!!!!!! That way you get the full picture and range of our emotions during the trip. The posts were written on the fly and reflect frustrations, worry, excitement and anticipation. If you read from the top, you may miss out.

Enjoy..

I’ve been meaning to post the video from our homecoming at the Atlanta airport, but I’ve been too tired…too lazy.

But, it is some great video.

To re-cap: Jen’s brother, Jon, and his wife Joanna, watched our kids while we were in China. They wanted to be at the airport when we arrived, so they packed our three kids up and drove three hours to Atlanta. Jen’s sister, Aimee, and one of her daughters came along as well.

I tell ya, nothing beats seeing your family at the airport!

Thank you.

Thank you for everything.

Between friends, family, church, blog readers and total strangers, we raised a total of $3,596 to help bring Mei home from China!!!!!!!

You guys are amazing. The generosity and love that you have shown my family is beyond words.

Once I get settled, I have some posts I plan to write to sum up this whole experience. But for now, reality has hit hard as the kids headed back to school, I head back to work and Jen figures out a new baby.

Just letting you know that we made it home.

We arrived in Atlanta last night to be greeted by our kids, Jon & Jo, and Jen’s sister Aimee (with one of her daughters). Then Dad and Judy brought us home to Albany today.

We are beat, but trying to stay up to beat this jet-lag.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I’ll write more when I get some rest.

There is a little tradition here at the White Swan that on your last day all the babies get their picture taken on the Red Couch. Almost every China family album we’ve seen has the ubiquitous Red Couch Picture.

Today we took that picture and below are just a few snapshots.

All but two of the babies

Little Hailey is not very happy

All the families

Us with Li Ping

I got out and did some shopping today while Jen took a nap with Mei. I got some very nice things. If you ever get here, go to Jordon’s, it’s wonderful. He doesn’t follow you around pressuring you to buy things and he will do your childs name in Chinese calligraphy. Very nice guy to talk to.

We are packing and bought a new suitcase (medium sized) to help spread out the load.

Hey, did I mention we are heading home tomorrow?

Yay!

Yesterday we wanted to eat at McDonalds. Our little map indicated that it was not that far away, so along with the Moore’s, we packed up the babies and headed out in search of “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun”.

After getting off the island and across a busy thoroughfare, we arrived at the spot where according to the map, McDonalds should be located…

Nothing…

So, we stopped a local and through a series of hands gestures and broken English, we found out that we had to take a left and keep on down another busy street.

Off we went again.

After 6 blocks or so we stopped to ask another local. She said something similar about continuing down the busy street. A few blocks more and the girls decided to stop and send us ahead to do some recon.

Bill and I walked another 3 blocks or so and tried to find another local for help. Something about two guys asking for help just didn’t sit right with the locals and we did not have much luck. We even had one guy say “sorry, no English” with a better accent then I have.

But then we saw it. McDonalds!!!!

We tracked back and found the girls and finished the hike to McDonalds.

We made it!

Eating in

The food tasted just like an American McDonalds. Wonderful.

The area around the McDonalds was a pedestrian mall area. So, we walked back to our hotel a different way and followed the pedestrian mall. It was very crowded.

After we walked an appropriate distance, it was time to turn and head back to the river and our hotel. But the road we were on dead ended and we had to track back down another side street. While on that street, we passed a long alley, at the end of which I could see the river. We decided to take the alley.

We inadvertently stumbled upon a back alley fish market. It was terrible. The smell…the sites…They were gutting fish along the alley and they had baskets of eels, snakes, fish parts and other things that only God knows what they were.

Bill got a picture of the alley to show how narrow it was, but we did not get any pictures of the fish. Partly because we wanted out of the alley as quickly as possible and partly because we did not want them to run us off.

Never take an alley in China

We finally made it home and then went shopping. We got goodies for the family and for Mei. It was a good time, but a LONG walk. I slept like a baby last night.

We just got a call from our local guide saying that our paper work for Mei’s U.S. Visa looks good.

In other words, everything is ready. We will go tomorrow to pick up her Visa. That’s it. We will be done.

We fly out of here Sat. morning at 8:25 for Hong Kong, then onto Newark and then Atlanta. Keep praying for our flight, that we will have no problems getting out of here on time!

Yay! We are almost home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, time for some shopping.

Special thanks to Nana for getting our U.S. Senator’s office involved (long story) and to Dennis for placing a few calls to his buddies. The U.S. Consulate pushed us through!!

We took the babies for their medical exam today. This is part of the paper work required for her U.S. Visa.

They weighed and measured her. She is a little over 16 pounds and about 29 inches long. But, we will believe that when she gets home and sees Dr. Evans.

The funniest thing was when they checked her ears. They got her focused on something in front then put a squeaky toy behind her to see if she would turn to the sound. Very scientific.

She checked out just fine and then I went to Li Ping’s room for 2 hours of stressful paper work. They will take our papers to the U.S. Consulate in the AM. If there are no problems, then we will go Friday afternoon to pick up her Visa. Then Saturday morning we begin the journey home!!!

Here are some pictures:

Jen and Debbie waiting to go

Outside the clinic

Being weighed

Hey guess what Mei can do in her crib…

Yep, she can go from a sitting position to standing. Neat trick.

I watched her do it tonight. She uses her upper body strength to lift herself enough to get her knees under her. Then she changes hand positions and jumps right up.

Daddy is so proud.

I am a plan kind of guy. I make my plan, then my backup plan, then my backup to my backup plan.

In China…

Plans are no good.

They told us when we first started this whole process to enjoy the ride and to go with the flow. I kind of chuckled to myself, eh, how bad can it be…

Very little has gone according to plan on this trip, but you know what? We have had the time of our lives. One of our kids back home is still sick, one refused to go to the bathroom for a week, we froze in Beijing, we were iced in Nanchang, we went 10 days without seeing the sun, we took a 12 hour bus ride with 7 other babies, costs have gone up, the dollar has gone down and it is raining here in Guangzhou. But in all of it, we have had the time of our lives.

Yes, there have been moments of stress, like when I did not catch the error on Mei’s Chinese adoption papers and had to pay more money, or when we received the finalized adoption papers, I realized that I had missed ANOTHER error…and had to pay more money. But we got through it and have been strangely calm in the midst of all that is going on around us.

Don’t get me wrong, Jon has had to talk me off the ledge a few times, but that’s what brothers in the Lord are supposed to do.

I hope next time we come to China it will be under more hospitable circumstances, but our little adventure, well, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

So, if you are waiting to travel to China to get your baby or if you’re just an average Joe, enjoy the ride. You will still get to where you are going, but take time to enjoy life in the now.

Anyway, on to another topic: Our Guides.

Rule Number 1: Trust Your Guides

Rule Number 2: See Rule Number 1

Seriously, these guys have been great. Sim in Beijing, Bruce in Nanchang and Li Ping in Nanchang and here in Guangzhou, have been wonderful. We would not be where we are today without them. When they tell you something, it is ok to ask questions, but in the end, they have proven that they know how to get things done.

When we found out the airport was closed, they scrambled and got us train tickets, when they found out the train was not running, they had their heads in their hands, but they figured things out and got us a bus and two bus drivers in an hour. Always helping them have been younger ladies with cell phones. They are in the background, but they are doing amazing things to help us out. Bruce and Li Ping have thought of nothing but getting us to our appointments on time.

I am very grateful to have had such wonderful guides.

Bruce. He’s all business

Li Ping. He likes to talk and is very laid back.

Yeah, so we didn’t get to take the train to Guangzhou…

Nope, we got to take a bus…

A bus for 12 hours…

A bus made for small Chinese people…

But, we made it!

We are finally here in Guangzhou!!!!

It looks like we will meet our Consulate appointment on Thursday! Things are back on track.

Thank you Jesus. The sun came out and melted the ice just enough for us to get out of town. We made great time. It is 2am Wednesday here.

We are putting Mei down and are going to go to bed.

Thank you Jesus.

It snowed last night.

It is still very icy outside, but the snow is pretty.

Nanchang in the snow

This makes day 10 since we’ve seen the sun.

We leave for the train station at 3:30pm.

The U.S. Consulate says that we can keep our original appointment, but we will just be late. Liping will submit our paper work without the medical exam. Then we can do the exam later that day. But if the train is on time, then we should be more than ok.

So, the train is the critical path. Pray the train is on time and we arrive in Guangzhou Wed. early AM.

I wont be able to post for the next day or so.

Goodbye from Nanchang. We’ll talk to you from Guangzhou.

Yeah, we could be this guy…

Wild elephant attacks tourist in China

We are stuck in Nanchang.

The weather is terrible.

It started sleeting again and while the airport was open, they were putting stranded passengers ahead of others. We hung out at the airport for 2.5 hours only to find our flight was not leaving today.

The Moore’s

Plan B.

There is no Plan B…Ok, just kidding.

We are boarding a train tomorrow evening (6pm) for Guangzhou. Normally, it is a 12 hour train ride, but there are portions of the track that are out of service due to the storm. If, and this is a big IF, we make it to Guangzhou before noon on Wed. we should be able to make our Consulate appointment on Thursday.

However, if we are later or things do not work out, we will miss our appointment. At that point, I have no idea what we are supposed to do nor do I know if how badly we are screwed.

Liping wants us to call the U.S. Consulate tomorrow to see about getting a new appointment for Friday, but again, I’m not sure what will happen if we CAN’T get a new appointment.

They took us to a new hotel here in Nanchang. The roads are terrible. The full extent of the storm only became apparent once we left the city. The bus driver had to driver VERY slow, maybe 25mph. The bridges are iced and they have straw mats down to help drive across the bridges. Apparently they do not have any snow plows or salt/sand trucks and most of the clearing we have seen has been by hand.

For the moment we are ok. Jen is trying to put Mei down to sleep and then we will try to sleep some ourselves. But we are a bit scared/worried about what the next few days will hold for us.

Will we have to stay longer? How long? Can we reschedule our Consulate appointment? What do we do and how do we do it?

We have an email in to our agency asking the same questions. All the families are in the same boat. I’m sure somehow his whole thing will work out. It always seems to work out in the end.

If I have time, I will write tomorrow morning.

Please pray the train is on time and we get to Guangzhou well before noon on Wed.

It is now raining. That is a good sign. It is warmer and it is raining. We just need it to stay warm until we can fly out of here.

We are heading to the airport at 2:30. Jen is finishing re-packing our bags.

Depending on how things go, you may not hear from us for quite some time. Hopefully, we will be in Guangzhou and at the White Swan by 9 pm tonight!

Keep on praying.

On a different note:

Thank you for all your comments. Even long lost friends have commented. It means a lot to Jen and I to know that you guys are praying for us and following our journey. I have not had the time to respond to most of the comments, but I look forward to sitting down at the computer to see who has commented. A familiar voice in the world. Thank you so much.

Yesterday (Sunday for us) we had an off day. Nothing was officially scheduled so we took the opportunity to get out and about.

It was still very cold (32) with a good wind, but it wasn’t sleeting anymore. However, everything was still very much frozen. We saw one lady slip and fall flat on her backside. I still cringe when I think about it. We had to be extra careful as we navigated down the streets.

Our friends, the Moore’s, went with us. We headed down to where the Pizza Hut is located because we saw a bunch of shops and thought there might be another restaurant.

We found several places to eat which were selling “food”, but nothing we cared to try. We walked a few blocks past the Pizza Hut and finally decided to give up.

So we ate at Pizza Hut again!

Once again the pizza was pretty good and we all ended up good and stuffed.

Heaven On A Plate

The funny thin is I don’t even like Pizza Hut back in the States, but here, it tastes great.

Now if I can just get my hands on a big, greasy hamburger….

We were talking yesterday about how sad it is how much our life revolves around food. The lack of familiar food can affect your mood. It’s really odd.

Anyway, the walk back was interrupted by shopping here and there. It sure felt good to be back in our room to thaw out. Oh, bonus points, we managed to avoid the Nanny Police today. I guess we had Mei bundled up enough for the old ladies.

But, we head to Guangzhou today and with it, food closer to my heart.

Next stop: Guangzhou…then home.

We miss everyone more than you can imagine, especially our wonderfully, awesome kids. Nathan, Charlie and Madi, we are coming home soon. I love you!

Because of the weather, the airport here in Nanchang has been closed off and on for the past two days. We found out tonight from our guides that if the airport does not open up for our flight tomorrow afternoon, we will have to find another way to get to Guangzhou.

Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, all the trains are full. That leaves a bus trip. A 20 hour bus trip…

20 hour bus trip…

With 8 babies…

On icy roads…

Please, please, please pray that the airport stays open and we can fly out tomorrow afternoon.

Jen tried actual baby food for lunch today: applesauce.

Mei almost ate a full 4 oz jar. We should have up to fighting weight soon.

Even with two layers of warm clothes AND a full snow outfit, we STILL got disapproving looks from old Chinese ladies.

Jen and Mei on the bus

This guy is China’s version of Hank Hill:

UPDATE: Since Aimee doesn’t know who Hank Hill is….

Doesn’t
Know
Who
Hank
Hill
Is…

Here is a handy link.

Hi, I’m Huang Chang, I sell propane and propane accessories…

Yeah, so apparently we hit China right in the middle of a gripping cold wave. There have been reports all across the news here about ice storms and record snowfall. Luckily, we have escaped most of the ice…

That is…until today.

We woke up this morning to ice on cars and on our balcony. It was sleeting pretty hard when we boarded the bus at 9:30am for some local sightseeing.

I’m not quite sure why we decided to venture out into the frozen world, but we did. We visited a Buddhist Temple first. It confirms for me that the Chinese have some of the oddest art in the world. After we survived the Temple, we headed on over to some other religious pagoda/tower. We barely made it up the icy stairs and then across the frozen courtyard. What greeted us was about a 150′ tall tower.

Of course you know that the dads HAD to climb the darn thing. Bill (in the Army) took off first, with me quickly on his heels. Then on his shadow. Then on is voice. Then I had to stop. Then I got passed. Then I stopped again. Then I got passed again. Then I stopped again. Then I made it to the top…

It was a nice view and all, but I’m not sure my heart and lungs felt it was worth the effort.

Coming down was tough too, but only because the stairs were so steep and the railing was ice cold. See the title of this post.

Then they took us to a porcelain shop. I tell you what, if I had a way to ship the stuff back to the U.S. without it breaking, Mom and Nanna would have a few nice things. I thought about you guys, I really did, but it would have been prohibitively expensive to ship them and there would be no guarantee of their condition. But it was some pretty stuff.

For lunch we packed up Mei, grabbed some of our new comrades and hiked 1/2 mile to the local Pizza Hut! Yay Pizza Hut!!!

Jen had an honest to goodness Mochachino and slice of cheesecake. She was in heaven. We had pizza as well and it hit the spot.

Coming home was tough. It started sleeting on us and we were walking into the wind. The ice stung our cold faces and we had to watch out for ice on the sidewalk. We finally made it home and warmed up in the hotel room.

Mei took a late nap, as did Jen and I. I’ve got to stop taking such late naps. I woke up in a total stupor. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and my stomach hurt. I took me a good hour to snap out of it.

We had a special dinner up on the 8th floor tonight. Our guide must have heard us complain about the buffet, so he arranged a nice dinner. I could not eat and barely made it through dinner due to the after affects of my nap. I found a couch near the door, because they had the room temperature set to “Sun”. I played with Mei on the couch while Jen talked it up with the other moms. I think it was good for her to have some girl time. Mei smiled and played with our waitress girls, who talked and touched Mei to their hearts content.

We have an off day tomorrow. That is good and bad. Good in that we don’t have to get out in the nasty weather, but bad in that I am afraid the day will drag on. Monday and Tuesday will both be whirlwind days. Monday we fly to Guangzhou and Tuesday we have our medical appointment. The flight will be a dry run for bring Mei home on the 777 for 14 hours….

Welp, time for a hit of bottled water and then some sleep.

Later gators.

Today we went to the orphanage (Fengxin County SWI) where Mei spent the first 10 months of her life.

It is in Fengxin County, which is about 1:30 hours from here. Together with the Moore’s, we loaded into a small van for the trip to the orphanage.

It seemed to take longer, mainly because it was raining/sleeting and the roads were a mess. Once we got out of Nanchang, things picked up a bit.

We passed through very poor countryside. The houses and fields are what I would call dirt farmers. In fact, the side road we had to take to get to her city reminded me of south Georgia. Very rough road, farms and red clay.

Once we arrived, the orphanage director met us and we followed him to the orphanage.

Like most buildings here in China, only a few rooms have heat. The hallway was the same temperature as outside, but when we went into the room, it was warmer. It was probably 50 degrees in the room.

The room had about 15 to 20 little cribs in the center of the room. About 5 Nannies were standing around looking after the kids. When we walked into the room, two Nannies came running over to us. One pulled up Mei’s hat and said, “Yun Man!!!!” which is her Chinese name. The Nanny lifted her from Jen and just loved all over Mei. They did the same with the Moore’s baby. Here is some video of the moment:

And here are some pictures of Mei with the Nannies.

We got a chance to talk with the director. He answered what he could. They brought in a bag of clothes that had Mei’s name on it and said they were the clothes she was found in. They let us keep it. That was pretty cool.

Us and the Director

After that, he took us to where they found Mei. She was found at the gate of the local power company. It was in the middle of town on a busy street.

Where Mei was found

I am very glad we got to see her Nannies and where she was found. These will all be things she may want to know about as she gets older.

For lunch, the director treated us to a lunch at a local restaurant. It was the best food we’ve had since we’ve been here. No joke. The area is known for rice noodles and bamboo…both were wonderful! It was a nice lunch and the director asked us many questions about what we do for a living and where we live. I tried to explain what a pecan is, but they were clueless. Next time, someone remind me to bring a bag of pecans with me. I think he would have gotten a kick out of them.

It was a long day, but very worth it. Jen and Mei are sleeping now and I am heading that way myself. I hear we are doing more sightseeing tomorrow. I hope the weather breaks. We have not seen that sun since we have been in China.

Until next time, good night.

We went to the store yesterday afternoon. I tell ya, it is a different world out there..

I’m sure you noticed all the mopeds and bikes there. People in China use them in tremendous numbers. How they aren’t run over in 10 minutes is a mystery to me. Somehow the traffic just flows. Kind of like water. The bikes/mopeds fill in the spaces between the cars and the busses. I need to get video of that.

This next video shows people staring at Jen in the store. It eventually grew almost comical. The Chinese in general love little babies and little Chinese babies being held by Americans is too much.

Finally, they have a lot of the same stuff here that they have back home, but it is just a little different. Take a bag of potato chips. I had to find “Classic American Flavor”..that meant just plain old chips back home, but here it is a flavor. There was also “Savory Pron Flavor” and the good old standby “Meat and Vegetable Flavor”

One of the funnier things I saw were their version of Moon Pies:

I wonder if I can get an RC Cola with that?

Well, it’s 5:30 am here in very cold Nanchang! I bet this town is wonderful in the fall and spring, but wow…we caught it in the midst of a cold spell.

Mei and Jen are still asleep. Mei did great last night. She was a bit restless for the first half, but settled down for the rest. We will be getting ready soon so we can eat breakfast and be ready to leave by 8:30 for the trip to the orphanage.

We are very excited about going to the orphanage. I’m a bit nervous, but very excited. It is obvious from looking at Mei that they took great care of her. I hope we get to see her Nannies so they can see how good she is doing and that we are a great family.

Sorry if my post from last night seemed down. I didn’t mean for it to be. It just threw off what we had hoped to do by her going down so early, but like Jen said, if she wants to sleep, we let her sleep, we will worry about a schedule when we get home. She is right.

At the Super Happy Fun Go Go store, we found the cutest clothes in the world. They were very pricey, so we didn’t get them, but we may before we leave. By pricey I mean like $15 to $20. That may not seem like much, but we are trying to watch our funds. We paid all but two fees and have only our meals to pay for in Guangzhou, but I am not sure how easy it will be to access my accounts from here if I need more. I think it will be one of those things where the last day we will go on a spending spree as we will know exactly how much we need.

Due to the weak dollar and inflation, things are more expensive than we were told. There are lots of hidden costs such as tipping your guides and bus drivers and getting your laundry done. I was thinking we had access to a laundry center, like many hotels have where you can wash your clothes yourself. But what we actually have is a service that picks up our dirty and brings back our clean, all for a cost. We had a good bit washed for $15. Things like that just eat away at your money. But the good news is we unloaded almost all our fees to date. That makes me feel better walking around town now!

But, you should’ve seen the cute outfits! Yes, this is Mike writing this…I couldn’t help myself. Something tells me we will be back to buy Mei and Madi matching outfits.

Walking around town is an adventure. Poor Jen gets stared at the most because she is holding Mei. I’m not sure how the average Chinese person feels about Americans coming over to adopt. I guess many of the looks are just out of curiosity. Some of the people we come into contact with, may not see Americans very often, so they stare. The Moore’s have it worse. They both have blond hair and blue eyes and he is probably 6′-2″. They almost got mobbed at Wal-mart by curious onlookers!!!

Mei ate cereal mixed with formula from a spoon yesterday for lunch. That is the first time we have been able to get her to do that. We are thinking she has never had anything but bottles her entire life. A spoon or something in her mouth is just totally foreign to her. So it was good to have her eat from a spoon. We will probably just keep trying.

I’ll write more later.

Today was going to be easy, but it just didn’t work out that way.

We ended up going to both Wal-mart and the Super Happy Fun Go Go Store. It may have been too much for us and Mei. She is asleep now, early and I fear Jen and I are not far behind her.

We can’t seem to kick this jet lag. We were up from 3 till 4 or so again this morning.

Mei’s cold is better today. She had a pretty good day playing and sitting up, but that coupled with the two trips to the store, wore her out. She finally went number 2 today. That was her first for us and helped her mood tremendously, but it was still an ordeal to go through. Lots of crying.

She has been very attached to Jen all day. She is definitely bonding with her, but as you can imagine it is wearing her out. There were lots of giggles and smiles today. She played on the bed with me and looked at pictures of the kids. She seems to really like looking at Charlie’s picture.

We went to Wal-mart with our friends the Moores and their baby and later this evening we stopped by their room to let the two little ones play. They have a very pudgy and active 10 month old. She and Mei are from the same orphanage.

Tomorrow we get to go to her orphanage. It will just be us and the Moores and it will be good to see where Mei spent the first 10 months of her life. Keep us in your prayers tomorrow.

Also, we are trying to figure little Mei out. Even though she is 10 months old, it is like having a newborn in the sense that we don’t know what makes her tick, what works best for her. Like a newborn, it can be tiring.

Also, since the weather has been so bad, there is not much to do. Today we took to pushing her in a stroller up and down the hallway. Hopefully the next city will have better weather so we can get out more.

Well, that is about all I have to say about today in Nanchang. Tomorrow will be exciting! There will be more pictures then, I promise.

Good night.

Jen feeding Mei this morning.

I decided to post a video of the Great Wall. It still fails to capture the size of this thing and then to realize how many miles it goes on for….

Today we completed all our paper work for adopting from this province. We still have to do some stuff once we hit the end of our stay and get her U.S. Visa, but for now, it’s mainly a waiting game. Waiting to come back to all of you.

We boarded the bus at 8:30am for another adventure in traffic. My goodness, next time we go I plan on taking some video. Unreal.

Anyway, we finally made it to the adoption affairs building from yesterday. We had some more paper work to fill out. Then several of us had to go back to pay the donation and other expenses. After that, we had our interview in which we had to explain why we wanted to adopt a baby from China and we had to promise to never abuse her or abandon her.

There was a mistake on Mei’s paper work that I caught at the last second. Our guide, Bruce, had to rush around getting it fixed before everyone left. I tell you, it was a madhouse, with poor old me left wondering what in the world they were saying.

Then it was off to have everything notarized. We had to answer basic questions as to who we were, our age, occupation and if we were satisfied with our baby. It was a bit odd.

We thought we were finished, but Bruce said we had one more stop to make. It was at a security administration office. The only thing we had to do was put our baby on the counter so they could get video of her face from a webcam. It made all of us a bit uneasy and not sure of what was going on. When we got on the bus I asked Bruce what was all that we had just done. He laughed and patted my shoulder. Not a good sign. He has been very up front with us about everything so far. It could be that it is some new government policy that he isn’t suppose to talk about or who knows. Anyone know?

We finally got back to our room around 12:30 and Jen was hungry, so I took off for a KFC we had seen down the street. It is odd being a foreigner. You feel totally isolated and at the mercy of others. There were lots of people out and about on my 1/2 mile trek. Once at the KFC I had to fight for my place in line. Lines here are only suggestions. When it was my turn, I simply pointed at the giant bucket of chicken for 60 Yuan (maybe $8). The girl took my money and gave me my bucket o’ chicken. Then I had to trek back the 1/2 mile. It is very cold today, mid 30’s, with a misty wind. But when I got back to our room Jen was so happy to have something familiar to eat, that it was worth it all.

The Chinese Love The Colonel

It is 2:20 pm and Jen just got Mei to sleep for a little nap. She had a small one on the bus and was very tired. Still, all she wanted to do was play on the floor. She is a bit wobbly, but can stay sitting up. We put the classic three pillows around her for when she falls. I can’t believe how long it’s been since we had babies this small. She likes to look at Jen and I. She and I are head-knocker buddies. She will lean in for me to knock heads with her. Very cute. Jen had to lay on the bed facing Mei for her to fall asleep. She just wanted to look at Mommy.

Here are some cute pictures of her from today:

Tonight we hit the super fun go go store from last night. I plan on taking video…

Sign at the Great Wall:

You must be this high to climb wall

I have seen some funny things here in China. So, I figured I would do a series of post on what I see.

I wonder if there is an advertisement for “Munchie Snack Cakes: When you need something to munch now!” on the other side of the truck.

Just some more pictures.

She took her last bottle at 8pm and slept through the night. Her paperwork says that she usually sleeps from 8 to 6:30. We shall see. We are just praying that she does not freak out when she wakes up. Heck, I would, so please be praying.

We head back over to the adoption affairs place this morning. We have our interview with the orphanage and we give our gift (cash) to them. I think we will give the Nanny gifts as well as we are not sure if we will be going to the orphanage or not.

The adoption affairs building is like many here in China…about the same temperature inside as it is outside. I could see my breathe in their yesterday. So, 3 hours of that will not be the most fun in the world, but then we have the rest of the day to ourselves.

Later I will write about being the ONLY American in the Super Happy Fun Go-Go Store!!! Mom, you think Wal-mart is a zoo…you ain’t seen nothing until you’ve been to Chinese store. It wasn’t even the Wal-mart, but it was crazy!

On to the pictures:

Yes, that is my hairline…or what’s left of it.

This is just a brief followup to my post about getting Mei. To recap, we flew to Nanchang today and were told we would get our babies today, not tomorrow. I am too tired to write how I feel and what all this means to me, but rest assured I am on the verge of tears. I can’t believe she is finally here.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Continue to pray for us and our bonding time with our new daughter.

Here are some videos from today. I did not get the moment Jen was handed the baby as I was taking a picture.

Part I

Part II – about half way through. The first half is of another family (Moore’s). Then you see us.

Part III

Thank you Jesus. Man God is too good to me to have blessed me with four wonderful kids and a perfect wife. He has blessed me. I don’t deserve any of it, but He loves me enough to bless me.

I am a blessed man, a blessed man.

We just arrived in Nanchang and were told we would be getting our babies today!!!!!

In about 20 minutes we head down to the lobbey to go to the adoption place. We will have Mei in our arms within the hour.

I will post as soon as possible, however, the internet connection is not very good. That may prevent me from loading video today, but we shall see…..

And away we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: We got her!

Wow, what a day. After spending the better part of a day in airports or in the air, today was very different.

Today we toured Beijing.

We started at 8:30 AM and we got back to our hotel at 8:00 PM. It was go, go, go all day long.

To start off we saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. If you’ve ever seen the Last Emperor, it was filmed in the Forbidden City.

At Tiananmen Square

In front of the throne, Forbidden City

Then we headed to the jade factory and lunch. After lunch we hit the Great Wall.

Let me tell you, these pictures do not do it justice. It was absolutely amazing and much steeper than I ever thought. It was in the low 20’s to teens and the snow had stopped, but we hiked up as far as we could make it.

We made it to the top tower in the center of this picture

Nice view

Steep steps

And here we are on the wall together.

Isn’t she cute?

I’m tired, so that is all I am going to write today. Tomorrow we fly to Nanchang and Wednesday we get Mei!

Just some snap shots of our hotel here in Beijing. It’s snowing today. That should make for some nice pictures.

Hotel

Lobbey

And here is some video I took, well, I will put it up after YouTube finishes it’s thing with it

Well, we finally made it to Beijing, China!

Man, what a long flight. I remember thinking how much longer could it be, then I realized we were only half way there.

I did not snap any shots of Beijing yet as just getting from the plane to our hotel was a blur.

We left on time from Newark in a Boeing 777:

Honestly, how long of a flight can it be?

I got a few shots of the land near the north east extent of Canada, just before we passed over to Greenland.

Confused as to how we got here? Well here is a handy dandy little map that charted our progress. Yes, we really did go over the North Pole, and no I didn’t see Santa. It was too dark.

Over the North Pole

Just as we headed into the long winter night of the North Pole, I got a shot of the moon.

Jen was sleeping at the time, so of course I had to get a shot:

Asleep at the North Pole

While flying over Russia, I noticed we were near a giant lake, so I took a picture of the southern shore line with massive mountains:

View of Mother Russia

I looked it up and it is called Lake Baikal

We made it through customs ok, found out bags and found our guide. Sim is our guide. He took us to the hotel and he will be the one dragging us around Beijing later today. I say later today because as I write this, it is only 3:45 in the AM MONDAY.

There was only one bad thing about the whole trip. I got sick.

Yep. I was doing great. I took Dramamine before we left and did great. Great until I woke up from my last nap. I felt nauseas. So I had some water and some crackers, but no dice.

I held it together until about 30 minutes before we landed. They had already made everyone sit down and buckle their seat belts, so I was trapped. I felt it come on, so I grabbed the little bag you are suppose to use and ….

Apart from Jen there is only one other person reading this who has ever witnessed me vomiting and that’s Jen’s sister, Aimee…

Let’s just say that the noise is akin to one screaming into the pits of Hell. No seriously, if I am hugging the porcelain god, I almost levitate as the evil leaves my body….

So, imagine if you will, a very quite airplane. Everyone has settled down and is just sitting quietly, when out of the blue comes this noise. A noise that does not sound of this world….

I can’t even figure out how to spell it…it was just very loud…and nothing….

Then it happened again…still…nothing. Every time it happened I would say I’m sorry. I could hear the people around me groan as they realized what was happening…Not my finest hour.

I was able to make it until we landed and we had arrived at the hotel. But it finally caught up with me in our room. A good 8 hours later and I’m still queasy.

So, be praying for me today as we head to the Great Wall and all the other sites today. I really want to enjoy myself.

Will write later as time permits.

Well, we’ve landed in Newark. Yay us!

Phase I of trip is a success. Phase II will be 7x’s as long and a bit more complicated, but I am sure we can manage it.

Our crap

Getting Ready to go

There is a winter storm heading into Georgia. Jus the thought of anything with the words ice and snow is enough to send Atlanta running for the hills. As a result, Delta was cancelling flights left and right. Actually, they preemptively cancelled flights for today, last night. So, it was good that we got out.

Flying into Jersey, we could see the New York skyline and we even caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. Silly me had the camera packed away so I missed it, but I did get this shot from our concourse:

New York

It’s a little less than 14 hours from here to Beijing. I’m not sure what I am going to do to pass the time. I may do some Sudoku and a few crossword puzzles. I’m not sure of the movie selection.

Jen

This is it.

We leave for Atlanta tonight and we fly to China tomorrow morning!

We’ll be traveling in a shiny Boeing 777 flown by Continental. Artist depiction below:

Not actual size

Here is our brief itinerary:

Saturday Jan 19th: Atlanta to Newark to Beijing – We will be landing in Beijing at 3 am EST, but it will be 3 pm China time

We will be returning on February 2nd: Guangzhou to Hong Kong to Newark to Atlanta – We will be landing in Atlanta at 9:30 pm EST and we will be staying the night in Atlanta and coming home the next day.

Just so you know, it is a 12 hour time difference between EST and China time.

You can follow our journey on the internet. I will be trying to update this site but I’m not sure I will be able to from China. For all I know, I could be banned. So, we have a backup. Good friends of ours have an adoption site where they will be posting what we send them every day. Each day we are in China is listed, so click and enjoy our trip with us.

We should be getting Mei on Wednesday. I’ll try to have pictures and video for you all to enjoy. Just be warned, there will probably be lots and lots of ugly crying…You know, the kind where snot comes out your nose? Yeah, that kind of ugly crying.

Next time you hear from me, we should be in China.