Week 1

It has been one week home already!  Three weeks that Kelina has been with us.   It seems so much longer than that.  I can't believe how long it has been since I posted.  Just pouring all my time into my kids!  Kelina is doing so well.  She loves Ge Ge Kyle, Ge Ge Kellan, and Jie Jie Kaylie!  Kaylie must have been thinking about all the things she wanted to do with her little sister because our first day home, Kaylie went from one thing to the next with Kelina.  The best was putting makeup on Kelina and painted her nails!  Kelina loved it and then did Kaylie's face and nails as well. 

They also love playing Barbies together!  Kelina has patience because she enjoyed putting shoes on everyone of the Barbies!  (I guess she really does love shoes!).  
My mom bought Kelina a zhu zhu pet hamster and she loved it.  She giggled as it ran around the living room and kept bumping into Kellan.  She would intentionally put it close to her brother just to watch him scream and jump away.  She also had fun looking at Pokemon cards with Kyle and Kellan, although I doubt she has any idea what they are all about. 
We brought home videos that can be played in English or in Mandarin.  The kids love them.  Barbie and the Three Musketeers inspired some fun play.  After watching the movie, Kaylie would do two cart-wheels, grab a play sword that was on the ground and stand ready to sword-fight.  Then a game of chase.  Kelina had us laughing with her big eyes, animal claws, and funny growling sound that was more like the sound of someone swallowing a mouthful of air.  She especially loved to chase after Kellan.

Kelina also has taken more to BaBa (her Daddy).  The first day home, she just watched as Matt interacted with the kids.  And before long, she was asking for piggyback rides and more.  She also runs and hugs him when he comes home, but there are many times when she still will not let him help her.

On Saturday, we had a small family Birthday party for Kyle and Kellan.  When Kelina got overwhelmed at the meal time, I just took her to another room to cuddle then she wanted to watch her Pleasant Goat video on the computer in the study.  When she was ready to join the family, she came out and interacted with the kids.  She was excited to meet Nathanael, Benjamin, and Asa and she really enjoys interacting with Nana, Grandma and Pap.
She loved the Birthday cake, asking for two pieces!  The amazing part was later when everyone was gone and she was riding a bike outside, she started singing "Happy Birthday to you..." in English!  She sung the whole song, did they teach that to her in China?  I don't think so, but I'm not positive.  In China, she sang  in Mandarin and we recognized "Happy Birthday" and "Twinkle, Twinkle", but she never did an English version.  This girl loves music, so (note to self) Mama will have to use songs to help teach English to her.

Homecoming!

Lina did amazing on the flight home.  It was a 13 1/2 hour flight.  She played, ate the meal, listened to music, and then fell asleep from 11 PM until we landed at 8 AM (PM in Washington DC).  We stayed over night then flew to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. 

We were so excited to see everyone and to introduce Kelina to her brothers and sister.  The kids made huge welcome home signs.  It was so good to see our kiddos and hold them.  We are so grateful for their Grandparents, Nana, and their Aunt Ali and Uncle Chris taking care of them while we were away.

Kaylie being a big sister now, held Kelina's hand through the airport while the boys were big helpers with the luggage!

Do you remember Kyle built that sweet Lego airplane and figure of Mommy and Daddy leaving on our trip to China?  Well, he surprised us with a homecoming Lego display of the airport and our homecoming;we are on the bottom floor.  He had a control tower, baggage claim, and more.  He is so good at this building stuff!

Beijing

We arrived Friday night.  Lina enjoyed this airplane ride listening to music on the radio.

Saturday we went to the Forbidden City.

We went and saw a Chinese Acrobatics Show.  Lina absolutely loved it!

Sunday we went to the Great Wall of China. 

Monday was Tianamen Square, more shopping, and then to the airport to fly to AMERICA!!!  Lina is ready to go home and so are we.  She has been talking about her Ge Ges and Jie Jie everyday now!

Thursday - Oath ceremony

Thursday was our day to travel to the American Consulate for the oath ceremony, which is basically where the parents raise their right hand and swear that the information they have provided on their child's immigration forms is correct and true. But we didn't have to be there until about 3PM, so we had the morning to ourselves. We started it off by sleeping in a little, getting downstairs to the hotel restaurant just before they finished serving breakfast.

Then we headed back to Shaiman Island, location of the White Swan hotel, and all of the adoption-specific souvenir shops. We picked up a few last items, including silk dresses for our girls. We met a shopkeeper named Jordan (actually - he met us - he's quite the salesman and storms out into the street to introduce himself and invite you into his shop!) Our friends, the Adcocks, had talked with him before, and had told us he was a Christian believer. When we entered his shop, his Chinese bible was out on his desk, and we got to talk with him a little bit about his faith. He is a member of one of the legal and state-OK'ed churches here in China. He explained that his pastor preferred to stay legal and agree to some government rules in order to have the ability to be open and public about their faith.

Jordan painting Kelina's name on her parasol in traditional Chinese calligraphy

While near the White Swan, we also stopped in for some photos on their fabled red couches. A photo on these couches is a tradition among adoptive families, and Kelina was happy to pose away for us in one of her new dresses.

In the afternoon we headed off to the consulate for the oath ceremony. Lots of adoptive families are brought in at once for this, so we got to see some folks who we had met back in Nanning. They call each family up one-by-one to verify your documents, so there was about a 1/2 hour wait through that. The papers we got back from the clerk were copies of each of our passports. Lina's was on top, and she spotted it in Daddy's hand and pointed to the Chinese characters for her name, and read "yo-lee-na." Then she flipped to the next page, which was a copy of Daddy's passport, and pointed, saying "yo-ba-ba" (ba ba is Chinese for Daddy). Then, funniest of all, she flipped the page again and pointed to Mommy's passport, saying "yo-ma-ma"!!!

"Yo" is the pronounciation of Lina's family name "You." So I guess it is a good sign if she's using her family name for Mommy and Daddy too, right?

Then it was time for the oath. I think Kelina was a little nervous again. She could tell something formal was happening here, but wasn't sure what. She seemed to get over it quickly as we all walked out of the room and down the escalators together.

For dinner, we tried a local noodle shop that Simon, our guide, recommended. It was good, and we stopped at the bakery on the way back to our hotel.

Daddy trying to convey our order to the one waitress who spoke a little English

The noodle-making station

Back at the hotel, we had yet another encouraging event for Daddy - he got to provide a "horseback" ride for Lina, and she was giggling so hard she could barely breathe. Daddy's pretty reassured now that we are on the right track, although I'm sure we will still have our moments.

All our official paperwork and bureaucracy is done. Tomorrow we pack up and head for a few days of sightseeing in Beijing. Hope to blog again from there. See you all soon!

Wednesday afternoon - Daddy time!

After the temple, we stopped at local toy market. It was basically a warehouse packed with tiny stalls and shops selling every "Made in China" toy you can imagine. Children would go absolutely nuts in this place. We did some shopping for our kids, but can't go into much detail 'cause they read this blog too - don't want to ruin any surprises!

Our friends the Adcocks met us for lunch. Our guide Simon did a wonderful job of setting up arrangements at a Dim Sum restaurant near our hotel. When we arrived there, they had a table reserved for us in a back room, and Simon had selected several items from the all-Mandarin menu that seemed safe for westerners. We all were very full and somewhat embarrased by leaving lots of food still uneaten, but it was great fun and a great lunch. One thing we all agreed on was that they do not have a habit of overcooking their meat here. This keeps it very tender, but makes it a little unappetizing, especially for those like Sherri who prefer very well done. It is always hot all the way through, and we haven't yet gotten sick on any of it, but it would take some getting used to if you needed to survive here long term.

Enjoying Dim Sum

The girls enjoying their lunch time together

After lunch, we walked to the Adcocks' hotel, which took us through some of the street-vendor shopping. The shopping on the island, where the Adcocks' hotel is located, is geared toward tourists, while the shopping near our hotel is more local. The Adcocks enjoyed the chance to get some of this local experience.

Local pet store

Yes, the pink cage on the left does contain chipmunks!

A local tea shop near our hotel

By the time we neared their hotel, there were several tourist shops that Sherri and Tracey wanted to visit. Tracey suggested that the girls go shopping while the dads take the girls back to the White Swan hotel's playroom. About halfway through her sentence, she realized that she was asking for Lina to go with Daddy, leaving Mommy behind, which up to this point seemed completely impossible. Daddy used his best Mandarin to see if Lina wanted to go play with her friend while Mommy shopped. She agreed, and off we went!

We were at the playroom for about two hours, including several sessions of play between Lina and Daddy! Just before Mommy came back, the play had gotten pretty "energetic" and included sprinting around the room. Lina fell, and this, combined with getting tired, started her back into her "I don't want Daddy" mood, but all in all it was a great reassurance to Daddy that someday he'll get to shower all his affection on this precious little princess.

Near the end of their playtime, Daddy also noticed that Lina and Jing Shu also seemed to be calling each other "jie-jie" - "sister"! They've developed quite a friendship together!

We finished the night off by ordering Papa Johns pizza with the Adcocks for a little taste of home. It was pretty good pizza!

Wednesday - Temple visit

Wednesday morning our guide completed the paperwork for Lina's visa to travel to the US, then stopped by the hotel to pick us up for a sightseeing visit to a local Buddhist temple. It was a shorter drive than we expected - 1500 years ago when this temple was first built, it was probably a good ways outside of town, but now the city has enveloped it so it isn't that far away.

The central courtyard inside the temple

Our guide explained that the temple itself is 1500 years old. It is a walled compound with several shrines and some dormatory facilities for the monks who live there. Also at the center of the complex is a 10-plus story pagoda that our guide explained was built over 700 years ago. And we in the US are impressed by buildings that are 200 years old!

The main shrine housed three very large Buddha statues. One was to represent the past Buddha, one the present Buddha, and one the future Buddha. This day was a celebration of the past Buddha's birthday, so we got to see some of a ritual where the monks and the Buddhist people were singing and praying to the statues. It was kind of sad, kind of uncomfortable to watch, knowing that these folks were doing all this for a very large piece of wood that held no saving or helping power.

Our guide also explained that the man who introduced Buddhism from Nepal to China was born near Guangzhou, and this temple also had a shrine devoted to him. The worship ceremony moved from the Buddha shrine to this man's shrine. The styrofoam containers brought to the altar are full of live fish, which will be released into the river as a symbol of forgiveness.

Tuesday evening

After a pretty rough morning attitude-wise at the safari park, we were back at the hotel. Lina started playing with the bubbles we bought for her at the park, and her attitude was much better. Sherri and I think we might be noticing a pattern: whenever others are around (especially Mandarin speakers) Lina is in her mood of rejecting Daddy's attention, not wanting Daddy to push the stroller or help with any food or anything. But when it is just the three of us in the room alone, she interacts with Daddy much better. So after enjoying some time with Daddy and the bubbles, we decided to go swimming at the hotel pool. While there, a jumbo jet flew overhead, and Kelina shouts, at the top of her lungs (which are some pretty good lungs!) "wo ee-yow tsua fey-jee!!!" Again, Daddy knows just enough Mandarin to understand this one, but it put a smile on our face, because she was calling out to this 747 "I want to go on an airplane!!!" Evidently that first airplane ride of her life a few days ago was not that traumatizing after all. Hopefully she still feels as excited about air travel at the end of that 14 hour flight from Beijing to DC next week!

Daddy was encouraged by today's progress. We played together with the bubbles while Mommy was on the other side of the room, and Lina even invited Daddy over to the foot-washing pool (which she was using as a kiddie-pool) while Mommy stayed in the big pool. We're nowhere near the love and cuddling I so badly want to share with her, but I was encouraged that there was forward progress.

Tuesday - Safari Park

Tuesday morning we headed to the Safari Park just outside of Guangzhou. Our friends the Adcocks joined us. It was REALLY hot - like 100 F and humid kind of hot. That, combined with the fact that it was a Tuesday, meant the crowds were pretty light, which was nice. We started with a "Safari on Wheels," a train ride through an area where the animals are not caged. Cars are allowed in, too, and the animals were coming right up to people's cars to be fed.

This is with no zoom on the camera, and no fence between us!

Of course, Sherri had done her research on this park (she's good at that planning kind of stuff) and knew of a few specifics we had to see. One was the train ride. Another was the panda exhibit - the earthquake of 2008 damaged the national panda care center, and many of the pandas were brought here. This is probably the most pandas we will ever see together in our lives.

OK - I'll admit, this shot is with a little bit of zoom, but still, we were really close!

Another of the "must-sees" was the chance to hold a baby white tiger - even though is was just for a quick second while the photo was snapped, this was pretty neat to do.

Lina was in a defiant mood for most of the morning. She wanted ice cream, and was told she had to eat something for lunch first. After a lot of "strong-willed" resistance, she finally did concede and eat a hot dog during the elephant show. That improved her mood some. And at the end of the show when she saw you could get a picture riding on an elephant, she was very excited. Elephants seem to be her favorite animal, and she really enjoyed the chance to be on one. Since she did finish the hot dog, Daddy was happy to buy her some ice cream as the rest of us ate lunch.

Lina also enjoyed seeing some of the "Dress-up" characters. She grabbed Mommy's hand and pulled her over to see them up close!

Monday - Post-post script

Oh yeah - also on Monday, we hiked over to the White Swan Hotel (about a 20 minute walk) to meet up with some friends for dinner. Darrell and Tracy Adcock are here with three teenage children to adopt 5-year-old Jing Shu. Since Jing Shu was from the same region as Lina, they were with us in Nanning last week and we struck up a good relationship with their family. We did dinner at Lucy's, an American-style restaurant just down the street from the White Swan hotel. After dinner, we headed back to the White Swan's playroom, where the girls spent some very good time together.

Jing Shu and Lina at Lucy's

Playtime together at the White Swan

Monday - Postscript

I (Matt) have to add a little postscript from yesterday. The story starts with our lunch after the shopping described in yesterday's post. We decided we had to try McDonalds at least once while here, so we tried it for lunch yesterday. Here I (Matt) am, trying to order in my pre-school quality Mandarin. I got my Big Mac and Sherri's cheeseburger ordered by the number menu, and was trying to convey that I wanted nuggets for my daughter. Luckily, they had some pictures on the counter as advertisement, and one of them was nuggets. So I point and say "wo da nyu are," "my daughter." The cashier, who spoke absolutely no english to help me up until this point, says, as clear as day, with absolutely no accent or error "oh - Happy Meal!" I nodded vehemently and we all got a good lunch. Tastes identical to McD's in the US, too!

Luckily, the meals are numbered, and Matt can count in Mandarin!

Little Princess at McD's

I thought things had gone pretty well (although by no means lovey-dovey) between Lina and I for the day, but when describing the above story over Skype to my sister Ali, Lina overheard it and when I got to the "wo da nyu are" ("my daughter") part, Lina gets in my face and yells at the top of her lungs "wo bo shure ni da nyu are!!!" Unfortunately, I know just enough Mandarin to know exactly what she was yelling at me: "I AM NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!" That one hurt. I knew this wouldn't be a bed of roses, and I know she's been through unimaginable turmoil in the precious little life she's had so far. One of us is 40 and one is 4, and I have to make sure it's not too hard to tell the difference, but it still wasn't fun to hear.

I think the thing that confuses me the most is the Jekyl and Hyde effect we have going on - we have a pretty smooth time for a while, then she turns 180 again...

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY KELLAN!

Surprise!!

9 years ago today, a sweet little boy entered into our world!  We love every moment watching him grow and learn and become a wonderful boy!  We love how Kellan talks and makes us laugh.  We love playing games with Kellan and listening to him talk constantly about Pokemon!  He is also Mommy's cuddle bug and I miss cuddling with him today!  WE LOVE YOU, KELLAN!!  We wish you a great day as you celebrate your birthday!

Local Shopping with Guide

Monday we get a pass on Lina's TB test results, so she is all set.  Then we went shopping in a mall and along the streets near our hotel.  It is a different experience in the open street markets.  The food is out in the open.  People are washing dishes at the fast food restaurants right on the sidewalk.  A man was sitting on the ground of the alley cutting his raw fish for dinner on a wooden block.  A little girl saw us and ran back to her parents store.  Matt said she was probably saying, "There are strange people coming and they are taking captives!"

Pet Market where locals can buy a family pet.  This is just outside our hotel.

We had some tea in the corner of a silk shop with the owner, Mrs. Tang, who is famous for her embroidery and her school for embroidery in the Henan Province.  She gave us a book/magazine about herself.  She also gave us a traditional medical treatment kit to remove impurities from your body.  Poor Simon was the volunteer to receive this treatment.  It gave him a HUGE bruise on each arm!  I told him he would have to wear long sleeves tomorrow;  he agreed that it isn't the best treatment during the summer months because of the marks it leaves on your body.  She gave Simon his own kit, because she said he was fighting a cold and he verified that she was right.  So anyone interested?  We'll let you try it when we get home!

She did try it on Matt for just a moment.  It was amazing to watch the suction power of this instrument!

After souvenir shopping, Lina and MaMa hit a dress shop.  Lina was so into finding a dress that she liked.  The lady even gave Lina 3 necklaces for her to share with MaMa and Jie Jie.