Saturday, 9/18

Hi All - Let's see, what's new to report.  Gracie is doing so well. She has everyone doing pretty much as she pleases.  Had our first shower the  other night and that was pretty exciting. Her favorite place is outside and just like the boys, sand falls out of her shoes and clothes when I change her. So much for the cute little outfits staying clean. She typically pitches a bit of a fit when we bring her in.  Yesterday she was chasing the ducks and chickens w/ the chocolate lab, Snickers, as an accomplice.  Right now she is being chased by Josh and Zach and laughing so hard, she can't breath.   She has slept w/o waking me one time the past two nights. We are anxious to get her into the specialist and find out what the plan will be for her palate surgery.  My guess is that they will want to do the surgery sooner rather than later.  I keep hoping that somehow it will close on its own but I don't think that will be the case.  She says a variety of things but not very regularly. She seems to say, "bye", "ow", "mom", and I think she said "more" the other day.  We taught her to sign "more", which was probably a mistake because I'm usually signing "done" and she just keeps pointing to her hand... "more".  She understands almost anything we say, if you just show her once - like "hot" or "put on your socks" or "no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"  She has gained some weight & is filling out with a little of that toddler pudge that she should have.  Like any 2 year old I guess, one day she loves something and the next day gives it the big frown.  The other night I tried sweet potatoes on her (all dressed up w/ butter, sugar, and salt). She took a big bite and out of the corner of my eye I saw this orange glob go flying across the counter.  I had to turn away because it was hilarious. Take care all - Sorry, I can't figure out how to make this blog site send a message out when I post so if anyone knows how to do that, email me! 

Sunday, Sept. 12

Got a few minutes so thought I'd post a little note.  Gracie continues to settle in better every day.  Found out this week that she had one ear infection and fluid in the other ear so she seems to feel much better now that we are treating that.  Though we don't know Chinese and she doesn't know English, we communicate very well.  She reads hand signals and picks up things so quickly.  We crack up at her fake phone "conversations" and a host of other funny things she does.  Last night she came running into the kitchen and I wasn't really paying too much attention but knew she sounded excitedly triumphant about something.  When I looked at her, I saw that she had finally snatched the TV remote control when no one was looking and was concentrating on pushing every button. 

We know she will probably need surgery on her palate but will not know the specifics of that until after her appt at the end of this month.  Here are some  pictures of her and brother Ben in action.

Emperor "Chair-Head" and his Queen

Home one Week Gone By

Don't have much time to post because there are so many things to do now that we are home and have a 2 YEAR OLD to chase! I am amazed at how much one child can get into in 5.8 seconds.  In summary, the 1st week was rough.  We were all exhausted from jet lag and not sleeping much while in China.  The boys did so awesome while we were gone.  Many people tell us how well they did, and I don't think they're lying!  I got sick and then Gracie wanted to be held all night but would sleep only in short bouts and then wake to make sure she was not put down.  She is now transitioned to the crib- last 2 nights. I hold her hand while she goes to sleep and no more tears the last couple nights (from either of us) and she seems to sleep much more peacefully.  She now chases the cats and pays little attention to the dogs.  Her and Mocha (my Australian Shepherd) forged a new bond last night when Gracie had two spoons w/ ice cream and did not notice Mocha licking one of them clean!  Issues w/ eating have decreased also.  I have some great pictures but no time to load them.  The boys are so patient w/ her little flips btw "I like you" and "go away"!  She's just like a woman already, Dan says.  Anyway, bottle time and bed.  Forgot how the evenings disappear w/ little ones.  Her antics are quite entertaining & if we could just get her to play for 5 minutes w/ a real toy rather than anything in a cupboard or on a shelf, it would help.

HOME!!!

We are home at last!  Lucille and Gary met us at the airport w/ the boys and it was a happy, tearful reunion. Being so far from them was the hardest part of the whole thing.  Gracie was such a trooper through all of the travel.  We got to Hong Kong about 8pm after taking the train.  The train ride was really smooth and just a neat experience.  There was another family taking the train, who adopted through a different agency but we had seen them occassionally at our hotel in Guangzhou. It was  little scary start though, because as we entered the train station a cop was running toward us (though Dan was just ahead so did not see the cop come around the corner) and when I looked behind us, I saw a guy drop a suitcase and keep on running.  Also an exciting part of the train station, was the infamous "squatty potty". This was my first experience with the hole that is the "potty".  There is no tp and talk about smelly.  Just a free tip for any of you lucky enough to try one of these out yourself, don't stand too high or it splatters on your leg!  (Sorry, that's disgusting.)  Anyway, the bed in Hong Kong was blissfully soft after the plywood w/ a sheet we had at the White Swan.  Gracie slept all night in Hong Kong.  We thought we were early for the airport the next day, since we were flying out at 11:45 we got to the airport before 10 am, though we had actually planned to get there even earlier to eat breakfast but the shuttle had already left. However, once we figured out where we were going- which took awhile, got through immigration, customs, rode the concourse, went up and down and up and down escalators, stopped at Starbucks (yes!!), we barely made it to the jet before boarding.  Then come to find out, in China you can't take any liquids on board so I had to gulp down my glorious mocha w/ whipped cream and dump our water bottles.  We refused to buy water at the HK hotel because they charged us the equivalent of $13 for a bowl of congee for Gracie the night before, which is just a watery rice soup w/ some chicken and seasonings.  We had just enough water and no breakfast (though G had her bottle/ w/ rice cereal).  This hotel cost us almost $200!!! The bed was soft but not THAT soft. We had to stay there due to proximity to airport and nobody gave us any other recommendation.

Anyway, we boarded the plane; rushed to get Gracie a bottle and she was out the first 2 hrs of the trip and we  both dozed some too.  Then we ate and she played pretty well.  Twice I took her to the bathroom to change her wet diaper and both times the seatbelt "bing" went off and I had to stumble back in the turbulence ot our seat.  She typically waved and blew a few kisses as we went.  Then, just when I figured the businessman in front of us had heard enough happy squeals and "Aiya's", we were able to get hot water for her bottle and she was out for about 3 more hours.  They turned the light on for breakfast about 1.5 hrs b4 we landed and she woke up.  We got through SanFrancisco immigration and customs (they were so nice!!) and onto the smaller jet to Boise.  She had to be strapped in for take off and landing, which I thought would be a disaster but she did great, working the zippers on a wallet I'd given her.  The wallet no longer had any money in it but let me tell you, it was VALUABLE!!
Thankfully, Josh drove us home as neither of us could keep our eyes open for very long, though we just kind of dozed. We had slept a little on the plane but had still been up basically all night, plus when we arrived it was in the middle of the night in China. 
She is pretty afraid of the animals and responds in the same way that she does if you kneel down and look under the bed.  She has some association w/ animals and it is not a good one.  It is getting better, though.  The boys have been serving her and playing with her nonstop.  She can't believe she has 3 more servants to add to her list, 5 total now.  The boys cleaned the house and it looked very nice.  I'm sure everyone who cared for them also helped w/ that.  Ben is still working on laundry today and I'm not going to stop him!  She slept ok last night and think that keeping her in our bed is going to be the plan for awhile.  She did nap in her crib for two blessed hours.  She is eating a little better tonight but was refusing most things today. 

We thought we might run into some of the other families we traveled with at the hotel in HK but never did.  We didn't say a proper goodbye so will have to email them. Hope their travel went well.  We feel sooo thankful to be home and in the good ol' USA!! I have a more educated appreciation of what we have here.  We are also humbled and so grateful to our family and friends who have prayed and served & sacrificed time and financially, so we could get her home.  It isn't a spiritual song but the one that comes to mind often is from "Grease", "we go together like ramalamalama, cadingadadingadong.  Hey baby forever (think original words are different but this is what's in my head), like shoobop, shoowadda, wadda, cadinga da ding da dong".  (How's that for spelling??)  Love to all!!! 

New Servant 1

New Servant 2

New Servant 3

Final Pictures

The deli/bakery that unfortunately has the yummiest ham/cheese pastry things.. bad habit.

Bags of garbage - wow

cool buildings near hotel - very historic area

This is amazing "Grace" who has been our rep here in China. She is a lifesaver and works very hard.

Mom is doing acrobatics to get me to smile. This camera thing is new to me.

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blowing kiss

Last Post from China

This will probably be the last opportunity to post until we get to the US.  They charge for the internet in HK and we will only be there one night.  We did some of the last of our shopping today.  Hoping we don't have to buy another suitcase to get it all home.  I'm getting a bit better at the bargaining. Gracie slept in her crib until about 3 am and woke up soaked.  I keep one eye open when she is restless as I'm afraid she'll fall out of the crib.  I changed her in the middle of night and kept her w/ us & partially slept.  Was pretty tired today.  I threw the wet diaper into the corner on the marble in the night so I wouldn't wake her anymore than necessary or Dan.  Well, of course, this morning at 6 am she wanted up right away and went straight to that diaper (being a new and interesting thing within reach) and then she wiped her face on it!! -before I could get to her.  Apparently thought it was a nice cool, wet wash rag.  Once again she has questioned whether these parents she's acquired are really certified for this job.  The other day she went and threw this paper bag and for some reason, it looked so funny that Dan and I were paralyzed w/ laughter for several minutes.  She has this long deadpan look when she's deciding whether something is acceptable to her or not.  It's hilarious.  When she is upset, there is a longgggg, silent pause w/ her eyes shut and a deep frown. 
We were hoping to take more pictures today but it was raining.  A lot of the scaffolding is made of bamboo at construction sites &  it will be built several stories high. Dan doesn't think it looks like an appealing way to do skyscraper construction. 
Forgot to mention that yesterday at the Consulate, they specially recognized a couple children due to their birthdays being close to their adoption time.  They called out Gracie's name since her birthday was Aug. 12th, the day we traveled.  Yesterday was my brother Brian' s birthday &; as many of you know, Gracie and my dad share the same birthdate.  Today was the 40th birthday of one of the dads here. Their  little Sophie is incredibly cute.  Gracie is currently trying to break a little bracelet I bought her by wrapping it around the cell phone that she already broke.  After about the zillionth request for us to fix the mangled flip top, I whisked it away into the garbage when she wasn't looking.  It is so satisfying to put one over on her occasionally because it is very difficult to avoid her overly observant eyes.  I suppose I shouldn't admit that on this blog.

We ate at Lucy's many nights. All kinds of Hollywood posters and license plates from all over including one that Christian Zimmerman gave them  An Idaho plate w/ a "Z" on it.

White Swan Hotel. Our home for 2 wks.

What can I add?

landscaping near hotel

We look so forward to leaving but can't help feeling a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see more of China.  We are taking home a priceless souvenir though, so it's ok.Well, it's late and we will be losing a lot of sleep in next few days. We fly out of HK at noon Saturday and arrive in Boise close to 3pm that same day.  We will however, have actually been traveling for about 17 hrs.  The flight from HK to San Francisco is about 13 hrs I think.  I'm sure it is going to be very challenging w/ the busy girl but we'll get through.  Guess that's all for now. Can't wait to see those three  boys of ours and friends!!!!!!!!!!!

Consulate Oath Day

Today we completed the final step in the adoption process.  We went with several other families to the US Consulate and took the oath, which was basically confirming that everything we have stated in the adoption papers is true.  We took a bus to the consulate and waited to hear Gracie's Chinese name; they checked our passports and then we stood w/ about 40 some other families and took the oath.  I only half paid attention because keeping her semi-quiet was a full-time job.  Although, the little girl in front of us was pitching a fit that was quite impressive so I wasn't as concerned.  We raised our right hands and Gracie copied by raising her left.  We see families like ours constantly at the hotel and on the streets nearby.  A lump rises in my throat as I see the wave of loving parents with wiggling, crying, laughing,  babies, toddlers, & small children. One girl being adopted in the group was 1 month shy of her 14th birthday.  Apparently, if she reached 14 she would not have been able to be adopted.  Another mother was there adopting for the 4th time.  Her little boy was 4, almost blind, and just learning to get around because his foster mother here in China had basically carried him his whole life. 

Gracie is doing better every day.  She is exhibiting less and less of the tantrum-like behaviour.  These have been a minor part of what we've experienced with her; with her general demeanor being very playful, inquisitive, and giggly.  She has a gut laugh and squeal that is just intoxicating for lack of a better word.  Even though we have felt quite clueless about how to deal w/ the "no's", tantrums, and sleeping issues, by God's "grace" we seem to be doing something right.  We decided yesterday that we would try to have her sleep in her own bed but prepare for her to sleep w/ us.  Sleeping w/ us is probably best for her but means less sleep for me.  We put her down earlier, having also decided she isn't getting enough sleep & tried giving her the big bottle earlier in the evening so she didn't wake up soaked & then fed her a small amount right as she was going to sleep.  (Of course, the fact that the last bottle of the night was only a couple ounces ticked her off and she tossed it & kicked her feet- even though she'd had a substantial amount just an hour earlier.)  She stirred a couple times but didn't wake until 4 am and was coughing so I let her sleep on/beside me until she woke completely at about 7 am.  We also decided to try to "help" her stop or curb the fit action & that seems to be much more effective than just ignoring them. The last couple days have been much, much better w/ very little of this behavior.  Also figured out she is pretty darn good w/ a spoon so we give her a bowl and add to it rather than her eating w/ her hands & begging from us.  Most of these children eat and eat so you have to watch it.  If food is around, it's the focus of their being & is very much a control issue as they have in many cases, not had enough or it has been very regulated. We've also seen the other end of the spectrum in the foster children (as opposed to orphanage) who have been allowed to eat all they want and any way they want.  It is hard to feed Gracie enough w/o over-feeding which causes constipation and stomach trouble. Now that she eats one her own, the battle w/ each meal is all but gone & it has really been fairly pleasant to sit down and eat again. 
We are going to take a train to Hong Kong Friday afternoon instead of flying out of Guangzhou, which would have been at almost 11pm Friday night.  We leave Hong Kong for home at almost noon Saturday and taking the train from here to Hong Kong on Friday allows us to get to our hotel in HK early in the evening (instead of midnight) & also we will get about $300 back as a refund on our airline ticket and the train ticket is only around $100 so we net $200.  Changing money here at the hotel is easy but has sometimes been a  bit of a pain at the bank next door.  The clerks ignore you & even if you take one of the tickets, it has a different type of number and they never call it.  Dan went in the other day and was being ignored and this guy from Poland comes in and apparently spoke great Mandarin because he got right in there and told the clerk what to do and to get with it & then they changed our money like they're supposed to. 
We have bought quite a few things & the prices are cheap for the most part.  I hate shopping though because they follow you around and try to sell everything you look at to you.  Their favorite phrase is "this special price just for you" and "all this on sale, 20% off for you today".  I get so annoyed, I have to leave.  They didn't have my size in a traditional Chinese blouse that I liked today & the clerk kept trying to sell me a different one.  I told her I did not want it and if she left me alone, I might pick out something else. She said ok but then immediately tried to sell me that blouse again!! ARgg.  I want them to make a profit but you can't tell if you're being ripped off. 
Tomorrow is our last full day in Guangzhou since we leave for HK Friday.  Well, I gotta put Lil missy to bed. She is throwing everything she finds in the garbage & runs away and laughs.  Dan keeps quoting one of the Pink Panther movies, "Attila the Hun?  Boyscout!"  She really isn't even close to that bad - just two & extremely busy & smart.  She loves to be hugged and kissed & falls to pieces when one of us leaves for a short time.  The blessed time of sleep approaches!  Love to all!

Infamous red couch picture w/ all the children terrorized to leave their new mom/dads for a few moments

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Already gets the cell phone thing but also tried to use it for tv remote