Hi All.  We haven’t disappeared … it just been a crazy couple of days.  I’ll work on getting everything updated as soon as I can.  Our trip to Guangzhou turned out to be a bit of a mess and then today was crazy busy.  Anyway, I’ll work on it.  Tomorrow is similarly busy … church with the Guangzhou branch, outing with the rest of the adoptive families, etc.  Should be a fun day … just another busy one.

Joigin

Free Day in Changsha today.  Unfortunately that doesn’t mean we get by without paying for stuff.  This was quickly evidenced as we made our first outing of the day, but more on that in a minute.

Ah, breakfast.  We overslept a bit so Seth headed down to breakfast with his new bff Joe and his mom and sister.  We joke that Joe and Seth are living the same life on different sides of the continent (Joe’s from New York).  They are both 13, they both play soccer – the same position – and love the same teams and players.  They both want to design sportswear when they grow up.  They were both born 10 days early.  They are both obsessed with sports shoes.  To look at them, however, they are as different as night and day, as Joe has a shaved head and both ears pierced!

We joined them a little later with Liz.  Liz is a bit of a picky eater.  So far, she only consistently eats watermelon and noodles.  She doesn’t like eggs, and will pick even the tiniest little piece of it out of her noodles.  This morning at breakfast she ate butter, with a fork, straight out of the square plastic package thingy.  She started out putting the butter on this Chinese version of a muffin, but by the end she quit pretending she liked the muffin and just ate the butter straight out of the package.

Post-breakfast we were off to Martyr’s Park.  We tagged along with Joe and his family.  They have a friend here in Changsha named Anna who is also an adoption guide.  So she went with us to the Park.  This particular park is huge and beautiful, but doesn’t have grass.  It is surrounded by a pond and sports pretty walking paths and amusement rides.  Seth, Tom and Liz tried out bumper cars and then the carousel.  We were also approached by an animated/stuffed character guy walking around the park who was supposed to look like Goofy.  He was cute to the kids and we took pictures with him, and then he promptly pulled out a ticket, literally out of his sleeve, showing that each picture we took with him costs 10 RMB (which is about $1.50 or so).  Since we had taken three pictures, he wanted 30 rmb.  Somehow he had failed to disclose this prior to the photo shoot.  Anna talked him down to 20.  Capitalism is alive and well in China, and nothing is free.

Tom returning here.  I only tell you that because Sandy wrote the above and doesn’t approve of my new term for our experience at Martyr’s Park.  Capitalism doesn’t fit … it’s Crapitalism.  Not only did we have the picture experience, but street vendors would literally walk up to Liz, hand her some cheap item and then come and demand money from us for it … aaargh.

Anyway, the park was beautiful and we had a good time … just frustrated by the first few minutes in the park.  We enjoyed a very nice stroll and company with Lisa, Joe and Nolah.

We returned to the hotel for about an hour to rest.

After that, we went to a fantastic restaurant called 57 degrees.  It’s a teppanyaki joint with some very fun chefs and great food.  We stuck around for a while after the food to watch the entire crew (about 30 chefs and 20 or so wait staff) practice their dance moves for the upcoming shift.  It was awesome.  We have video, but are struggling to get any video to upload right now … so that will have to wait for those that care to see it when we get home.

It really turned out to be a great day … full of fun and food.  Wish you all could have been there!

Our day started, of course, at the breakfast buffet.  After a quick potty break in our room we headed out.  We had a bit of an incident in the lobby while waiting for our guide and driver.  From the moment we met Liz yesterday, she has had a very runny nose and a bit of a cough.  We figured she came to us with a cold.  Well, this morning she started crying and we noticed something besides mucus in her nose.  I thought it might be a pill (it looked like the edge of an ibuprofen or something) and we set about trying to find tweezers to get it out.  After five minutes of running around, she finally gave Sandy and big blow and out it popped.  It was actually a rubber band, the kind that you do hair with.  A picture of it is below.  We have no idea how long it had been there, it wasn’t from us … just one more little gift from the orphanage.  She continues to have a bit of a runny nose, but nothing like her first day with us.

We had an early appointment back at the adoption center to complete the paperwork to “officially” adopt Liz.  The lat 24 hours were technically the “harmonious period”, during which we get to know our child.  At the end of the harmonious period,  you can say “yea” or “nay” to adopting your child.

We said yes.

Our time at the adoption center was spent filling out a lot of paperwork and signing our names over and over.  Super fun!

The after party for that little bit of fun-fest included Liz and Nolah playing in the hotel playroom on our floor.  Liz and Nolah really opened up with each other and had awesome conversation – if only we understood what they were saying!  They also repeatedly sang the same song together.  It was absolutely darling.  It was as if they had always been friends.  I suppose it is like any other bonding experience – they are both stuck with strange white people who talk and smell funny!

Dinner was Pizza Hut.  It only took like an hour to get it delivered, and we were ravenous by the time it came, but it was worth it.  Seth says Pizza Hut tastes better in China. Liz liked it quite a bit, except the crust.  She also enjoyed eating the pineapple pieces off of everyone else’s slices.

So really just a lot of around the hotel being with each other today.  I won’t say much, but we have seen some of the ramifications of the current China-Japan dispute.  We were planning on going out for dinner tonight, but decided to order in just to be safe.  Nothing has turned violent here, but we’ve heard that it has in other spots.  Our second day here, we actually encountered a huge military group just waiting around and milling about at the Walking Street we’ve mentioned a few times.  We guessed that they had something to do with the dispute, but now we know for sure.  We’ll continue to be cautious on our trips out.

Sandy asked me if I felt love towards Liz (it is not uncommon for those feelings to have to develop for adoptive parents) and I answered that I do.  The fact is, she is very loveable.  Her energy can, at times, be draining on us … but she is generally such a happy and loving little girl.  Tonight I said, “XiaoYi, wo ai nee” (Liz, I love you).  Her immediate response back was, “Wo ai nee, Baba.” (I love you, Dad).  Now, I’m not saying that is an actual expression of truly felt love (she is 3 and has only known me for less than two days).  But, it took Claire months to so easily return affection toward me … which is normal.

She reminds me in a lot of ways of our Zane.  So energetic and passionate, not content to sit around but always looking for “something” to see, do or engage with.  Quick to smile, quick to turn that smile into something mischievous and isn’t afraid to let us know when something displeases her.  I think she and Zane are kindred spirits.  I expect fireworks from time to time.

Anyway, just a little view into our little Liz.  She is so easily loved … we think you will all see what we mean when we return in a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow’s plans include a day at the park with the other adoptive families here in Changsha.  We’ve heard the park is beautiful and should be fun for all of us.  I will, of course, do my best to snap some pictures and post them here soon.

Below are pictures from the days activities.  The other little Chinese girl is, of course, Nola (MenJie).  She is a beautiful little girl with Spina bifida and club foot.  She struggles to walk a bit, but absolutely lights up a room when she smiles.

It’s been a bit crazy since our Gotcha time … did  you know that 3 year olds can be  a handful?  Hmmm.   I guess it’s been a while for us.

Liz is full (to the brim) with energy … and she is a boat-load of fun.  Seriously, we’ve only had two crying moments … both when she was denied something (on safety grounds).  Otherwise, she is a laugh riot and a laughing machine.  She will fit in just fine with her brothers and sisters.  In fact, they might be a bit overshadowed by her which is saying quite a bit.

Yesterday afternoon was mostly about bonding and playing.  Seth blew bubbles with her and we tried going for a walk.  She loved the bubbles (evidence below).  She didn’t like the walk, too many people.

We grabbed a little KFC for a late lunch and ate at the hotel restaurant with Lisa and Joe for dinner.

PS: I’m currently dealing with a bit of a cold, thus the delay on this post, etc.   I’m hoping to be back on top of things in a day or two and will do my best to keep the posts up.

She’s smart.  She’s beautiful.  She’s fun.  She’s energetic.  She’s a teaser.  She’s a Weeks.

Little Liz is now part of us.  We arrived at the Adoption Center at about 10am this morning and waited … for about 3 minutes!  Shortly after we arrived and were waiting on the 3rd floor of the building, Joseph (the 13 year old boy part of the family also adopting this week) yelled … “There they are!” as he looked out the window.  We rushed over to see Liz and Nolah exiting the van and entering the building.  We then waited for them to come up the elevator.

At first, Liz was very nervous and kept on clinging to the Aiyi that had brought her.  Then without word or warning she collapsed onto Sandy’s lap and then spent the next hour playing and laughing.

She’s a sweetheart …

After breakfast today we headed out for a trip out to a small farming village on the outskirts of Changsha.  We wandered through rice paddies and chatted with some of the locals.  Overall, I think Sandy and I were struck with how different it felt from how these communities felt 20 years ago.  When we spent some time with the locals, almost all of them had smart phones and seemed much more connected to the “modern” world.  Sandy also felt it strange how the “modern” and “old” worlds combined.  The farmers lived in run-down houses with cement floors but had smart phones.  The farmers utilized wooden sticks lashed together, but also used an electric weed whacker.  A road ran through the farm, and we saw both an old-school trucks crammed higher than it should with recycle-able type items pass by, and a fancy BMW.  Just across the street from the generations old industry of rice farming here monstrous factories producing modern world goods.  I guess this is what happens when progress happens so quickly.

The pictures are, of course, below.  The smaller of the two babies is 15 days old and the larger is 5 months old.  They were both very cute and I think heightened our excitement for tomorrow and our meeting of Liz.  The people were super friendly.  They operated a little shop and when we went to purchase cold drinks they just gave them to us.  Seth has started quite a collection of foreign Coke cans. It was beautiful and interesting to see the homes of the area of which there was great diversity.  Most of the homes were modest and quite run down.  There was one home, though, just raised from the farmland that was massive and beautiful.  It would rival any mansion you would encounter in the states.  Our guide affirmed that it was likely the home of a government official.  The best paying and therefore most coveted jobs are those working for the government.  As a government employee myself, that’s certainly a difference between the two countries:)

Afterwards, we quickly headed back out to Walking Street for a bit of a shopping trip.  We found a Walmart and shopped around for a bit.  Seth got a soccer ball so he can keep his skills up while we’re here and some Oreos for a “home-y” snack.  I say “home-y” because these Oreos didn’t have vanilla filling, they had half-orange, half-mango filling.  Of course, that was our choice, we could have had lime, blueberry or raspberry filling.  The resulting combination isn’t gross, but admittedly it does fall a bit short of the expectation one might have before eating an Oreo.  Seth is doing great practicing his Chinese and was able to successfully ask a WalMart employee how to say “oreo” in Chinese.  We also picked up a few small cars and books for Liz.

One thing that were are struggling with more than expected here in Changsha is finding food.  Essentially none of the restaurants have pictures of the food on the menu and so we are generally ordering blind.  After making a few attempts, we finally decided to go the KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) route.  We tried ordering FIVE different things from the menu to which the response was “meiyou” (they were out!).  We instead jumped to a McDonald’s just to get something in our stomachs.  Not very exotic, but quick and easy and gratefully eaten.

Upon returning to the hotel we decided to try out the pool.  We were required to wear swim caps which Seth loved, but drove me nuts!  Plus, the water made me feel a little funny, so I left the area early while Seth and Sandy swam on. . . (rumor has it Sandy beat Seth in a breast-stroke competition, but that Seth reclaimed victory in the head-to-head free style event.  Neither of them could really rock a flip turn.  Apparently we didn’t watch quite enough of the Olympics).

Dinner was another adventure.  The hotel food is good, but we really wanted to try to get out.  Another adoptive family had recommended a place across the street that apparently has amazing fruit tea. When we got there and sat down, we realized that only the drink portion of the menu was in English, the remainder was in Chinese.  So we sadly felt like we should leave and try somewhere else.  We found yet another restaurant without English or picture menus, BUT they had a very patient, helpful waitress who was willing to sift through our broken Chinese and bring us something made with “chicken” and something made with “beef” and some fried rice.  We had no idea what was really coming or how much we had just paid for food, but we ended up with some beef/green onion dish and some chicken/random Chinese vegetable dish, some sort of chicken soup and the aforementioned fried rice.  We actually loved it all except for the chicken (but the vegetables were good) and felt completely satisfied when we  were given a bill for a mere $11.  All’s well that ends well.

We spent a bit of time after dinner chatting with our new friend Lisa and her son Joseph. They are from Long Island and have the New York accent to prove it!  This is their fourth trip to Changsha and they have great stories to tell.  Their daughter is from the same orphanage as Liz, but has been living in foster care and just turned four years old.  Lisa was told our girls have probably been kept together the last few days.  It’s nice to consider that Liz may not be completely scared and alone.

Post-socializing meant crashing with a movie and some snacks.  Sandy fell asleep before the movie was over (no surprise there), but Seth and I toughed it out.

Tomorrow we meet Liz, our sixth child and 3 daughter.  We can’t wait and feel so blessed to, once again, be here in China adding to our family.  We are a bit nervous, as I think most that are about to meet their new child are … but excited and anxious as well.  Please pray for us, but mostly for Liz.  Big  day coming.

As for the pictures …

— Farming community

— More pictures from Walking Street and the Walmart connected to the area

— Special “shout out” picture for the Steeds … Go Canucks!

— Picture of the Chinese lanterns … I was basking in the cultural beauty of tradition until I realized that all of the lanterns were emblazoned with “Coca Cola”.

That’s the time set for our appointment to meet Liz.  We will meet our guide in the lobby at 9:30 and head to the Civil Affairs office for our 10 a.m. appointment.   For those of you in the Mountain Time Zone, that is 7:30 pm on Sunday night, September 16th.  Did you notice it is in less than 24 hours?!?!  We did.  We are excited, nervous, and praying that Liz’s heart will be calm and as prepared as a three-year-old can be . . .

Today offered us our first try at the breakfast buffet here at our hotel (Dolton International).  It was … (drum roll) … mediocre.  Good bacon, decent (cheese-free) omelets and a whole bunch of Chinese friendly cold vegetables and processed meat.  Anyway, not a totally enticing breakfast but it will do for a few days.  Seth is happy to have omelets every morning.

After breakfast, we decided to take a walk around Changsha in a direction we hadn’t tried yet.  It turns out it was a good move.  We found a market VERY close to our hotel that offered both better prices and more variety than the one we identified.  We also found many more options for lunch/dinner and Seth found some very cool shorts for $6.  We remained pretty stuffed from breakfast and so opted for “ice cream” for lunch.  I put ice cream in quotes because while Sandy’s choice was a pretty tasty and familiar option … Seth’s choice was more like a frozen frosting type dessert.  Kind of weird and a bit too rich to eat it all

After a brief rest in the hotel room we met back up with Shirley (our guide) for a trip to the Hunan Embroidery Museum.  I think we all came away with a greater appreciation for embroidery arts and for the amazing skill of the Chinese artisans.  Simply beautiful stuff.  They basically paint a scene on a piece of silk and then meticulously split silk thread to get the right color and textures, and then use the thread to embroider the picture they have painted.  The specialty in Hunan is double-sided embroidery, so they create a scene on both sides of the silk instead of one side picture / back side disaster of threads.  Seth tends to like the pieces that feature animals, Sandy favors traditionally thematic Chinese landscapes and scenes while I vote for vibrant colors and bold patterns … particularly those with dragons.

We took a quick trip over to an embroidery shop to find something to purchase for Liz (the museum prices were pretty high).  We found an item we all agreed on of two panda bears playing on a double-sided silk pane … it’s very nice.  While at the shop we met a man whose last name in Chinese  is the character for the color white, so when we asked him what his American name was, he replied, in English, “White.”  Of course, we all thought he was trying to say “Wyatt” but after a brief discussion we figured out that he really did name himself “White.” Hmmm . . . .

Our quote of the day came on the drive home from the embroidery trip.  When Sandy was caught nervously laughing at one of our drivers’ maneuvers that involved nearly removing a few Chinese pedestrians from their earthly existence Shirley said, “There are no rules in China that can’t be bent, we are very flexible.”  That is particularly true of rules of the road.

And a bit of Chinese culture – Shirley said most people who live in the city get married in their late twenties, early thirties. Shirley is an only-child, or as she says, she “comes from a one-child family”  She wants to marry a man who also comes from a one child family, because then, under an exception to the one child policy, they could have two children.  She wants one boy and one girl.  Shirley is 24.  She says her parents are constantly pressuring her to go out with boys and try to find a husband.  We suggested she marry White from the embroidery shop.  She said she would consider our suggestion!

Shirley then guided us over to the building next door for dinner.  It turns out that our hotel is right next door to a movie theater and a “western” restaurant.  We chose Chinese fare but the mom and child next to us ate french fries and meatloaf.  We probably should have chosen the same.  The food was good, but a bit too spicy for our tastes.  (When Tom says a *bit* too spicy, he is trying to spare you from the visual image of tears running down our cheeks as we salivated, unable to drink the tap water they provided us, since our American stomachs can’t handle the local water.  And we learned that if you just keep eating the spicy food, eventually your mouth goes kinda numb, so that as long as you are still eating, you can’t really taste the spice, that is, until you stop eating.  Seth said even his lips were on fire. )  I usually enjoy the spicy … but whatever they put on top of that fish had to have been stewed in Hades … it killed me!  Anyway, we ate what we could and enjoyed a little Xi Yang Yang on the TV.

We stopped at a shop in the building and purchased a video for Liz and one for us (Avengers Blue-Ray).

We seriously thought about jumping into a movie … maybe Spiderman.  We thought it would be fun to tell friends at home that while we thought the movie was well shot … the dialogue was terrible … couldn’t understand a word.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

It was home after that and early to bed.  We were absolutely exhausted and had a great sleep last night.

Tomorrow (now today) we head out to a farm to see how life is outside of the city … looking forward to that!

Not exactly sure about the point when yesterday and today become their own entities … it’s just been a general blur that started on Wednesday, September 12th in the USA and is now ending on Friday, September 14th in China.  I’ll call it “Day 1” in ChangSha … it’s more like “Day Huh?” in wherever.

Our layover in Korea was long but really kind of cool.  We were able to Skype the kids … yay!  We were also privileged to share a couple of hours with an Elder Spilker of Kaysville, Utah.  It turns out that he needs to head home for a little bit to get over a mysterious (and bit terrifying) spinal infection that nobody is quite sure what it might be.   He’s been serving in Cambodia and is on his way home with the hopes that western medicine can help him quickly and he can get back to serving in Cambodia soon.  He was a really great guy and seemed like he is probably a fantastic missionary.  There is a picture of him in the gallery below.

The flight from Incheon to ChangSha was our best of the trip.  Brand spankin’ new Airbus with all of the amenities (Seth was particularly happy that it had a USB charger for his iPod) and actually a very good lunch.  The flight was about 3 hours which seemed like a piece of cake after a very uncomfortable 13 hours from LA to Korea.

Upon landing we met our guide for this part of the trip … Shirley Chan.  She is also pictured in the gallery below chatting with Sandy.  She seems great (if a bit young) and I’m sure she’ll help us make our first few days with Liz go great.

We decided to go and find some lunch before a jet lag recovery nap.  We walked for about an hour and didn’t find any great Chinese options on the street, so we ended up grabbing noodles from the hotel restaurant.  Hopefully we’ll have better luck tomorrow and on.

Next came the very needed nap.  What was planned for 1 1/2 hours turned into about 2 1/4 as we all slept through the alarm.  I had to put on my “most annoying husband/dad” hat in order to get us up and going.  Really, Seth was not happy with me.

We went for a trip out to “Walking Street” for the evening and that was really a great thing.  It is a huge open market and mall and we wandered for a couple of hours.  Getting back home was a bit tricky as it took us a while to find a cab back to the hotel.  Obviously, we eventually did and now Sandy and Seth are sleeping while I finish the day with this log.  One day away from Kate, Grant, Zane and Claire … one day closer to Liz and bringing us all together.

Overall, not a bad day.

As an overview of the pictures:

— The night time shots are at the Walking Street market

— The very blurry picture is of a young man with only half a body that was singing at Walking Street to solicit tips

— The day time city shots are mostly the view from our hotel room.  We are the 3oth floor of the Dolton International Hotel.

— There are a couple of shots in our hotel room.  5 star in China is more like 3 star in the states.

— There are some hotel lobby shots … one that includes Sandy talking with our guide, Shirley.

*****Note. It’s Sandy here.  Um, apparently I should have screened the photos before Tom posted them, but at least we can’t be accused of not keepin’ things real on this blog.  You will have to excuse our (okay, my) zombie-like efforts at what is supposed to be smiling at the camera at the night market.  I’m not sure there are words in English that describe my facial expressions.   We were all just a *teensy* bit tired.  Hope you got a to laugh out loud at my expense.  Knowing that I helped you experience even just a few moments of happiness might make the whole jet-lag thing worth it.

The trip didn’t start out great.  The airplane we were supposed to board had complete power loss about 10 minutes before we were supposed to board.  After an hour and a half of … “we think we almost have it figured outs” they finally brought in a new plane for us and we got on our way … 2 hours late.

That made us VERY late into LAX and we literally had to sprint from Terminal 3 to the International Terminal to make our flight out of LAX into Korea.  By the time we got to the gate, explained who we were and go to our seat … the plane pulled away from the gate about 5 minutes later.  It was tight.

Anyway, everything worked out and we are now sitting in Incheon, Korea for our 5 hour layover before flying into Changsha, the city in which we will finally meet little Liz!

That’s it for now, it’s 4am here and I want to get some sleep before our flight.  Check back in about 12 hours!