Mountain Park

Today we went the other family here that are relatives of our friends from church to the Mountain Park. Sheila and Heather were both crazy enough to walk up the mountain, but we opted for the trolley up and the cable car down. Guess she gets cheescake tonight and I have to eat oranges ;) We then did lunch at the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant that we had heard so much about.

Brian has that restaurant figured out so when we got there, they tried to trick us and give us the very expensive dinner menu. But Brian insisted on the cheap lunch menu and it was great. We enjoyed a nice almost Chinese dinner for a change. Obviously Chinese food here is the same as at home being priced twice as much at dinner time than lunch time. And I thought that was just a dumb American thing!

We then went to the park and then up to the room where we talked Faith into crawling!! She is so much more active today than she has been the entire time we have had her. She was bouncing off the walls on the bus today and Caleb said, "Mom, what is wrong with her?". He thought she was having a fit or something since he had not seen her do hardly anything until today. Obviously it didn't take her long to get as crazy as her new family :)

Weather is perfect here. 70s during the day and maybe around 60 at night. Only a light sweater or jacket is needed at night. We were almost smashed today on the highway by a big truck, so obviously you guys are praying for us or I am not sure we would still be here today! Keep praying these drivers are nuts around here :)

UH-OH Look Who's Crawling

And this from a baby that was just a big lump 3 days ago! Amazing what some love and attention will do for a child :) Who knows we may have her walking before we get home!!

Quick Bullet Post From Me

• Faith is an angel baby

• She is finally starting to come out of her shell
• Faith has started to whimper now when I put her down-YEAH
• Unfortunately Faith isn't too fond of her daddy anymore, but at least she is showing signs of actually liking or disliking people
• Don't tell CJ, but if she likes me better...I am OK with that :0)
• Shelby is still being the nice big sister
• Travis has been very whiny, but that may just be from exhaustion at this point
• Faith had her first french fry today
• Shelby is really enjoying her Wahahas again
• We had fun shopping today
• We had McDs for lunch, Lucy's for dinner
• If you have 2 small children, DEFINITELY bring your double stroller!!!!!!
• I love my double stroller
• I use my double stroller every day
• I could just kiss Kim and Michael for finding my double stroller for me :)
• Don't forget to pack Baby Shampoo- you know the tearless kind
• Don't forget to pack some small scissors, but not in your carry on luggage! You may get detained in Tokyo and then they confiscate your small scissors :(
• God is amazing
• Adoption is wonderful
• My family is the best :) I will even include my favorite sister who traveled across the world just to help me out (well and maybe shop too :)
• We miss vegetables
• I have eaten about 20 of those small baby oranges- really no kidding
• Faith has eaten 2 full size jars of baby prunes and still....nothing :(
• Faith will not eat anything "solid" except for the cheerios and those fruit puff thingys
• She does eat congee. Good thing my mom bought me my fancy rice cooker.
• I have the cutest kids ever. Everyone on the island thinks I am crazy to have 4 kids :)
• I wouldn't change a thing about my wonderful family and all the blessings God has given us.
• We are going to have the best Christmas EVER as a completed family of 6!

Guest Blogging from Sheila

Well today after breakfast we went out shopping with Ann. Now this is something I know how to do:). To shop we left the island (aka compound). Donna told me to be very afraid, but since there is not so many people out during the week, it wasn't bad. We bought jewelry and electronics. Ann is great because with her you don't have to worry about getting ripped off.

We also ate at McDonalds, again. My weight watchers leader would be horrified to see what I've eaten the last 6 days. I've not exercised much since getting on the airplane but at least we try to walk everywhere we can. My favorite walk is around the block to get cheesecake!! I can't wait to get back to the Y and my fitness schedule. I truly miss my Zumba class!

Faith, Shelby and the boys are doing great. We all take turns loving on the baby. Faith will reach for me but after I am holding her Donna will say something to her and she looks confused as if to say wait I thought you were already holding me. Its good we look and sound alike.

Well I going to go and get a massage tonight so I'll go for now. It sure is tough being away from my family and friends for so long, so I'm trying to make the best of it!!

Thanks for all the cool comments, it makes it a little less lonely over here,
Sheila

Laughing at Last

breakfast

Exercise Park

Various pics for your viewing pleasure. We visited the park that is mainly full of exercise equipment for adults. Sheila was loving that and I think she tried out every piece. At one point she had the whole neighborhood stopping to watch her-scary! Not very many blonde women who really "get into" the exercise routines around here. Obviously it is fun to watch ;)

Oh and we found the relatives of some friends from church that are here. I knew they would be in China at the same time, but who would have known we would share the same guide and stay at the same hotel?! Jophy has officially retired from the adoption guide services and she has turned us over to our new guide, Grace. Grace will be with us the rest of the trip.

Enjoy the pics! Oh and so far Shelby is still enjoying her new sister. She takes good care of her and kisses her all the time :)

She is Ours

Today we had the official interview to "accept" Faith as our daughter to love forever! We had to answer a few questions and then agree to never harm or abandon her-well duh :) I don't think the thought has ever entered our heads. Anyway-She is OURS forever now.

I do believe we have the best baby on the island. She doesn't cry or complain or anything. She has been eating congee today and drinking a little bit of Wahahahas. She won't have anything to do with formula, but I don't really have a problem with that considering that she is 16 months old. I plan to get her hooked on chicken nuggets and french fries quickly ;) Just kiddin (sort of) but I did go ahead and buy her kind of formula today when we went to the pseudo Walmart here today. We spent $100 US Dollars there and had a buggy overflowing. I guess no different than home, but we bought enough goods to last us 2 weeks here.

We even bought Faith a walker for the room since she needed somewhere to sit. Reality set in as I have no idea what you do with a baby anymore. I had her in the room going OK what do I do with her now?!? I love holding her but it is really hard to accomplish anything that way, so we opted for a walker for in the room some.

Really enjoying all the comments. Sheila and CJ and I all take turns reading all of them. We love knowing you guys are thinking of us and praying us home safely. Oh and just to CONFIRM that Faith is MY baby girl and meant to be with me forever...Please note how my baby girl soothes herself to sleep-no kidding! Same two fingers, same hand :)

God is great all the time! All the time, God is great!!

Amazing Day

Well she sits up, she eats Cheerios and those fruity puff thingys, she won't touch a bottle or a noodle. She is a little sick and coughing, but we met a doctor at dinner time and she listened to her chest for us. She said she didn't think I should give her antibiotics unless she runs a fever or gets worse. Her chest scar looks great. She has a huge belly and is cute as a button! She weighs probably about 20 pounds and is in size 12 month clothing and a size 3-4 shoe. She can bear weight on her legs but not walking or crawling yet. She hasn't cried yet for real, just a wimper here and there. She is baby babbling and playing with toy rattles. She is perfect :)

Precious Baby Girl

GOTCHA!

I think we had the smoothest Gotcha Day ever! For your viewing pleasure may I introduce you to the cutest chubby cheek Straight you have ever seen :) She is perfect and obviously a Straight. Check out the label that was already sewn into her clothing when we got her: Straight Goods! Talk about meant to be :) We are a very happy family of 6! Praise God!!

First Meltdown

And it is from Shelby-not Faith. When we arrived in Guangzhou last night a whole lot of memories came flooding into my own brain. I can only imagine that some of these same memories must have come back to Shelby. We have always wondered how much Shelby remembers of China. I don't know of anyone personally or very many at all period who have brought back their adopted child so soon to China. So this was a wait and see run for us as we had no idea what to expect from Shelby.

Well I can tell you that she certainly remembers some things. When we went into the first squatty potty yesterday, she immediately held her arms up for me to hold her. She knew exactly what to do and how to do it in there. And trust me she hasn't seen one of those since we left China! Needless to say her mind was spinning last night by the time we sat down at Lucy's for dinner. She clung to me for dear life the rest of the evening. She barely sat in her chair to eat some dinner.

Now all of us adoptive parents know the difference between a regular normal child meltdown versus an adoption related meltdown. Well right after dinner, Shelby unfortunately went into full adoption related meltdown. She first took a bite out of Travis and then just melted. I left the restaurant by myself and took Travis and Shelby back to the hotel. By the time we made it to the room, she was just a big melted puddle. It was sad to see her this way as it has been a long time since she has had a meltdown. She cried herself to sleep :(

I know this is very tough on her and I am not naive about that. I don't really know how to help her deal with all the memories except for continue to show her unconditional love. Please pray for us today as her world will be completely rocked today as we meet her new sister for the first time.

We Are Here in Faith's City

We arrived safe and sound today in Guangzhou around 6PM. We took a neat little train ride (hour and a half) from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. We are staying at the Victory again like we did last year. Our rooms are wonderful especially compared to the last hotel. Sheila and the boys have a room with 3 single beds in there and plenty of space. We have a suite with a king bed and a BABY CRIB! We went to dinner at Lucy's and haven't seen hardly anyone at all here on the island. It looks more like a deserted island. Hopefully there will be more people out and about tomorrow.

Reality of why we have traveled across the world is sinking in again. So far this journey has resembled an exotic vacation, but that is not why we are here. We are here because we have a little girl-OUR little girl-waiting for us to come and take her home. Things will definitely change tomorrow for everyone. I am praying for an easy transition, but as with Shelby, I realize it may not be so easy. Please keep us and our baby girl in your prayers today. Oh my goodness...only one more sleep before our lives are forever changed :)

Last Day in Hong Kong

We started off at McDs of course. However, we splurged and let the kids eat cheesecake and brownies for breakfast-YUM! Yes, this was served at McDs. Then we were off and running on our own. We found a great park with a playground. The kids had fun and it was really pretty. They had birds and flowers everywhere. The weather here is awesome. It is around 70 degrees everyday. Sheila and Jophy say they are cold all the time, but I must have already gained a few pounds since I am quite comfortable :)

We then visited the malls and did some window shopping. Sheila found the Nike store. I was happy to find a Toast Store. Just plain fresh baked breads-YUM! Here are some pics for you guys. Sheila had her very first encounter with the squatty pottys and Shelby had her own kid's pottys!

We are about to be off to the train to Guangzhou. Jophy will be here in a minute.

Pics From Sheila's Camera

What Was I Thinking?

As I lay wide awake here in China at 4AM here were some of my thoughts...Is Faith going to be "healthy"? Has Faith ever been loved on? Is my heart going to be able to hold all the love I have now for my husband AND my four children? Is Shelby going to think she has been replaced? Will Caleb and Travis feel "left out" now that the girls will need my attention even more? Am I strong enough to do this? Does God really think I can handle this? Does Faith even know what real food is? Will she just still be only taking a baby bottle? Is that really healthy? Will I know how to comfort her (and Shelby) at the same time? Will Shelby like Faith at all? Will they grow up to be great sisters? Will Travis be good with Faith and have better luck with her than he did with Shelby? I wonder if I can just ask Lucy's to make me some Mexican food? How much money have we really spent to get us here? Will we be a great family of 6? Does Faith have any idea that her entire world is about to change? Is Faith going to be loved on her last day at the orphanage?

Was this really what we WANTED for our family?---Yes

Are we HAPPY to be blessed with another child?--- You bet

Is this the RIGHT thing to do?--- Absolutely

Is this what GOD called us to do?--- Without a doubt!

Magical Day

We had a great day today at Hong Kong Disneyland! First of all, we managed to get ourselves to Disney all on our own. This even included a taxi ride and the MTR (Marta train) and a transfer on the MTR. We were all pretty impressed with ourselves.

We arrived at the park around 10AM. It was SO worth it. We all had a terrific day. You can see in one of the pics that there weren't too many people here especially not compared to Disney World. More people showed up around noon, but when we first arrived it was pretty empty. So we were able to do everything in the park and we left around 7PM with all the kids completely wiped out!

It was really great today to watch Shelby and Travis at Disney. Travis is at the age where everything is questioned in his head, but his little heart still believes in all the magic. I loved to watch his eyes today light up when he would see something new and exciting. His favorite ride was the Jungle Cruise-we rode it twice :)

I was especially moved today just sitting and watching the Lion King Show. I know that sounds pretty silly, but it really was a moment to me of East meets West. Here we were surrounded by all these people who look like my daughters, who speak Chinese, and who live where my daughters were born. The performers would sing a song in English and then sing a song in Chinese. Everything seemed so perfectly blended, so incredibly RIGHT. I felt as though Shelby felt complete. I know all that sounds weird, but I understand every thought and I don't want to forget it. It was a great feeling.

Tomorrow we will cruise more of Hong Kong and then we are off to Guangzhou at 2:30pm with our guide Jophy. We had our guide Jophy last year too. We are her last family that she will help guide for adoption. Since Hope is no longer open, she will not be doing this work anymore. Very weird considering that she has been doing adoptions for over 10 years and now we are her last family. She will ride the train with us tomorrow to Guangzhou, so no worries for us on getting there!

Oh and yes Shelby finally was able to see her favorite princess Snow White in person during the parade. It was truly a magical moment to see her so excited as Snow White appeared in the distance. "Look Mommy Snow White, it's Snow White!" One mommy was a bit teary eyed witnessing the magical moment :)

Oatmeal at 4AM

Hmmmm what does a 3 year old do at 4AM in the morning in China....

Eat oatmeal and watch Curious George of course!

How the Other Half Lives

Well we struck out this morning around 9am to tour Hong Kong on our own. I think we are in New York City. Not that I have ever been to New York, but at least what NY looks like on TV. Let's see the stores we walked passed today included Armani, Gucci, Coach, Rolex, Louis Vutton, etc etc. I probably didn't even spell some of those right since they aren't located at my local thrift store ;) Needless to say this isn't China!

We did have a good day checking out the city and we met up with our guide Jophy at 2:30. She took us to the highest point in HK to see the city from above. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for that trip. We rode the ferry and the famous MRT (HK Marta Train) and have walked all over the city. These are the few pics from the day. The weird M coffee thing was a McDs cappuccino Sheila ordered-coffee pudding was a better description. We ate at McDs for breakfast and KFC for lunch, Starbucks and McDs for snacks-Caleb is happy!

Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland!! Thanks for all the great comments. It is good to hear you guys are out there "watching" over us. Only 3 more sleeps to our baby girl. Shelby keeps saying she is ready to go to China to get Faith-too sweet. Let's just hope she still thinks this way in about 5 days ;)

Loooonnnnggggg Flight

I think I forgot to tell you all or remind you all (whichever applies) of how incredibly LONG the flights are to China! I would love to sugar coat it for all my digit friends who are returning soon-BUT I can't do that for you. It must be like labor pains in the fact that you forget what it is really like until you are there doing it again. Thank goodness for selective memory! I really really hope Faith does as well as the others did on the flight home. I can't even imagine the long leg of the flight with a screaming baby :(

Fortunately we had ZERO meltdowns and no crying (except for me on the inside I think) all the way here. Our flights were 2.5 hours, then 13.5 hours, then 5 hours and arrived in Hong Kong. The hardest part was about hour 6, 7, & 8 on the 13.5 hour flight. You feel like you are going to jump out of your skin-ugghhh. So glad we are here and off that plane!