Another day

Drew was asleep last night at 9:15 and guess what time he woke up this morning?
Well it was 9:00 ! Can you say sleepyhead? Yes , that's what Scott and Riley always called me because I never got up as early as they did, but now I can say Drew is the real deal here.
He woke up in a good mood and with a smile on his cute face as he usually does. Isn't that pleasant to think about? At least he's not a bear to wake up. He ate a banana and 1 1/2 eggs that Scott fried for him. We didn't make it to preschool again today. We only made it there once this week. We'll try again next week. We just got done going around the block, with him riding his tricycle and I was walking. It's been storming and raining here earlier and still sprinkling a little but we made it back. He just had to ride through all the big water puddles too. He has now just finished off another box of strawberries we just bought this morning. I only bought 2. For lunch, I made philly cheese steak sandwiches, which Drew loved the meat, onions, and green peppers. He ate a lot of the cut up pepper raw and then ate more that were cooked. He ate broccoli warmed up in the microwave as a snack last night before bed. Isn't that strange for kids to request this for a snack? Strange, but healthy.

He questions everything that he comes across in asking if it is his. He points to himself and says,"Drew's?" , or "woh, Drew's?" When we say yes , you would think we just gave him a million dollars! When he found all the toothpaste and toothbrushes we had for him, he counted it all and then jumped up and down when he knew they were his. When we started going for our walks around the block, he would go to everyone's mailbox and try to open them to get their mail. He didn't realize it was somone else's mail he was trying to get. When we get our mail, he immediately asks if it is his and wants some of it to carry and call his own. So thank goodness for junk mail, it's all his! He is happy to get it too. He has this thing for papers, pamphlets, leaflets, advertisements, instruction booklets, etc. He kinda hoards them in his room and hides them in his drawers and under his pillow. He likes to get them out and look or "read" them alot.

He talks all the time and is busy almost constantly, unless he's watching a movie or asleep-haha. He sings his little Chinese songs and phrases alot still too. It's soo cute to hear him talk. He is so cheerful, happy -go-lucky most of the time too. He loves to play hide-and-seek, especially with his Nai Nai (grandma). His little laugh is sooo darn cute! He likes to play fight/wrestle , play karate kicking with his baba too. He thinks it's so funny to beat him up and to catch his leg when kicking it up. He is so talkative and playful with us, but sometimes with new people he clams up. He tends to do this when we go to preschool to visit too. We wish that everyone could see him interact at home to see his shining personality and abilities. He now likes to tell us or remind us to say thank you, so he can say your welcome! When we tell him we love him, he says it right back with even more emphasis, it's sooo sweet to hear!

More catching up

Well as you can read, there's not a lot of time to update this blog or read/catch up on our emails either. So we apologize in advance. Drew is outside at the moment with Scott so I have a few minutes to spare. He is continuing to adjust pretty well this week. Last weekend, he went to church for the 2nd time and did really well. He stayed in his Sunday school class with Riley the entire time as before and then went to children's church afterwards. We'll be glad when he gets used to going and when he really understands the reasons for going. He also went fishing for the 3rd time and had a great time. He reeled in 3 or 4 fish for his baba and he actually cast out and caught 1 himself! They were all large bluegill. He thought about keeping each one, and when we asked why, he replied with a biting motion and pointing to his mouth! He is turning out to be quite the little fisherman, just like his daddy. Forgive me for not posting any pictures lately, I haven't had time to upload any yet! Oh yes, last weekend was our niece Taylor's 16th b'day party. Riley and Drew had a big time dancing and running around there. Riley stayed out on the dance floor the entire time cuttin' a rug. Drew got a helping hand, or actually got carried around on his cousins' Austin and Jesse's backs while they were boogeying down on the dance floor. Drew loved this and wasn't shy at all.
This week we met his regular pediatrician too. He did great there, and was entertained by dad the whole time. They only flag we got was with his colon. They took an x-ray of it and it was really enlarged and full of stool. So now we have to give him Miralax to get rid of it all and see where we stand. We hated to see that his colon was so large, considering the problems/surgery he had when he was a baby. Well we have to go back in a week or so and get re x-rayed. There are a lot of what ifs and I can't help but think ahead and prepare for the unknown. Speaking of Drew's eating habits. He is still eating all kinds of fruits. In the mornings, he usually wants either strawberries, oranges, grapes, carrots, plums or bananas. There is no variance either here. Only Scott can get him to eat an egg occasionally. He doesn't like cereal, pancakes, waffles, donuts, any of that kind of stuff. Drew now bargains for pieces of beef jerky in the morning too. Today he forgot to get the piece but he ate a bag of strawberries and a bag of bananas. He now found out he likes canteloupe as well, so we can add it to the growing list. He now has this obsession with having his food in a plastic baggie. I have to put his fruit in a bag for him to carry around. He almost always eats every bit of it too. Even when we go anywhere we pack snacks of the same fruits for him to eat. He gobbles it all up usually too. I've never in my life bought so much fruit in such a short time, no kidding. We have to make extra trips to the grocery store just for fruit when he runs out. You would think that his bowels would be working great with all the fruits and veggies he eats too. That's what makes me wonder....
As far as regular meals goes, we've found he likes and will eat spaghetti, salad (loves all the veggies), any meat like grilled/barbecued or meat/noodle dishes, fajita meat/veggies, and stir-fry. Other than that, we've not had much luck. Oh yes, does ice cream count? He loves ice cream bars. He is good about trying something for the first time, but usually he decides he doesn't like it. So the list of normal foods that kids usually like such as hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, he doesn't like. So when we visit McDonalds, he will only eat french fries and drink coke. Yes he loves sodas--bad habit. By the way, forgot to mention that he still insists on eating with chopsticks too. Ever seen someone eat spaghetti with them? If you visit our house, you will. However, Scott has had him eat a few times with a fork when we ate out and I forgot the chopsticks anyway.
Drew is becoming used to his regular daily routine. He is quite used to taking a bath at night then getting settled down to go to bed. However, he usually also has to have a night snack of fruit, usually carrots or strawberries. In the mornings, he always tells me he wants to "vroom vroom" and making a driving motion with his hands, that he wants to go in the car somewhere. Two or three of those times, he told me he wanted to go see Tonito--his buddy from China. We already told him we would hopefully this summer but that doesn't make sense for a little heartsick 4 yr old I know. He loves to go out to my dad's work office too. He is the center of attention and always gets a soda out of his "yeh yeh" (grandpa), and usually some gum or money from his uncle Mark. Today he said, "see ya later uncle Mark" with no prompting at all. It was a funny surprise. He is also pretty good at going to different stores with me. He's been really good at them all, with no tantrums or whining for toys, etc. I'm waiting for that shoe to fall soon too... haha. Drew has really taken to the movies he got from the shower. He watched Green Eggs and Ham so many times, he says "Sam I Am" all the time! He also likes 101 Dalmations, and now Ice Age 2. He points and repeats words or phrases he knows in English when he hears them in a movie or on TV. That's great to know he recognizes it. He is continuing to learn English on a daily basis. He is such a fast learner and catches on quickly. He likes to call me by my name and says "Kimber!" 100 times a day it seems. Every now and then he adds in Mama! He thinks this is so funny.

Catching up

This whole week has been really good for Drew. He has had zero meltdowns and has not gotten into trouble at all! We've been so busy that we've been slacking on getting this updated. The only fit he had was for grandma when he didn't want to sit in his car seat, but she won that battle too-no problems since. Tuesday, he visited preschool for a little while. He was a little timid (this was a first for him) with all the kids surrounding him. We think he will warm up to them as he gets used to visiting them more often though. Mrs. Belcher the teacher, who lives two doors down from us, brought him bubbles the day before so she was already his buddy. Later he had to ring her doorbell like twenty times so he could see her again. Yesterday, was his first Dr. appt in St. Louis. There is a physician who specializes in post-international adoption exams and the program is called F.A.C.E.S out of Cardinal Glennon. They just make sure everything is up to date and that your adopted child is on target healthwise and emotionally too. While we were there, we had our pictures taken by this photographer who does this magazine for Cardinal Glennon. So Drew's and our pictures will be featured, we were told.
Needless to say with the 3 hr drive, it was a long exhausting day for all, esp Drew. He did really well though considering there was no Mandarin translator available, and the fact that he ended up getting 4 shots and gave tons of blood for labwork. He even thanked the nurses when they gave him the band-aids to cover up the boo boos. I think he had like 6 or 7 band-aids on him! They had to poke both arms to get enough blood out..poor thing. He screamed and cried the whole time, saying "mama!" But as soon as it was over, he was fine, just ready to get out of there. He got a good report, with normal growth & development, it seems everything is fine, along with his earlier special need as an infant. He will have to go back in 6 months for a follow-up and the get the remainder of his shots.

It's getting a little harder to find foods that Drew likes. He's getting a little tired of the same ole' fruits and veggies at times. Tonight, he ate the spicy hamburger meat and really liked it, that was for the enchiladas. So, he had that and sliced cucumbers. What a combination, eh? He does like barbecued chicken and pork steak we found out last week. He ate alot of it!
Even some of the food that the report said he liked and ate while in China, we can't get him to eat here. Sometimes, I take him up to the Chinese restaurant here and the owner Fawn and her husband lets him eat whatever he wants there. When we visit there, it's pretty awesome to hear the conversations that Drew and Fawn have (not that I can understand, but Fawn tells me most of it). He told her that he knew my brother Mark was his uncle and that his house was messy and his refrigerator didn't have any food! I' m not sure where that came from, but we had to laugh at that one. He also told her that he basically understands most of what we tell him at home. So it seems that we have more trouble understanding him than vice versa. However, we are quite surprised to realize that it's not been as terribly hard as we thought it might have been in trying to communicate with him. We get used to hearing the same phrases and the same words, so we've figured out a lot in such a short time. Who would've thought?? I hate to admit this, but I will be sad not to be able to hear him speak Mandarin later when he loses most of it. It's soooo cute to hear him talk! He's so animated! He picks up English really quickly and repeats everything we try to teach him. Even the physician yesterday said she was amazed by how well his receptive language is for only being with us for 3 weeks.

BTW, bath time is still a breeze..... thank goodness! So is bedtime and he sleeps about 10 hours a night!!

Battle of the wills...

Well Drew cried the first night without his baba. He kept putting off sleep even though he was wore out. So finally I had to call Scott (at work) so that he could tell Drew to go to bed/sleep and to leave the cat alone. Drew has this obsession with our one cat who is passive and declawed in the front paws. He constantly looks for her if she is not where he can see her, or is carrying her around to the point that she hisses and growls at him, or tries to keep her shut in his room or closet with him. We have to make him leave her alone-- no joke. So anyway, on with bedtime, he did sleep all night long then and every night since /after then too. He now likes me to lay down with him and watch movies before he goes to sleep. I know, I started a bad thing here. But I love cuddling with him and sharing time with him. I'm just glad he sleeps through the night and doesn't have nightmares. Scott's just glad he doesn't sleep in our bed!

We've had our battles with him pretty much everyday except for yesterday. He was very good all day long. We took him shopping for clothes and made a run to Wal-Mart for groceries, etc. Of course he got tons of stuff at all stores. He waited patiently in line for me to pay and thanked me for his stuff too. We thought this was sooo sweet!
Drew is very hard headed and strong willed. He is starting to realize maybe that he's met his match with us, especially with Scott. He can be the sweetest ever then choose to be onery the next. I suppose he is just still testing us in what he can get away with, (which isn't much here).
He is very stubborn and yet he knows when he's in trouble. He went to his room earlier b/c he wouldn't pick up the trash on the floor that I repeatedly asked him to do nicely. He later came out and said "sorry". So he does know when he's wrong.

Whew this discipline stuff is a whole new ballgame for mama here. I'm learning quite a lot, at a very fast pace!

Busy days...

Drew keeps us very busy everyday! I guess this is no surprise, except to me since I'm a new mom--haha. He's been riding his tricycle in the driveway and "racing" me on my bike again today. We also went riding this morning around the block. He made it the whole way but we took several small breaks on the way. When we got home, he had to tell babaw all about how he raced mamaw! He must have been wore out from this as he is in his room watching one of the movies Fawn got him. He has looked at all the movies in his room but hasn't watched them yet. He does like to watch them in the car but doesn't use the headphones much to listen to it. I suppose because he can't understand it anyway? Oh yes speaking of cars, he likes to act like he's driving it. He also likes to fiddle with the controls so now we've had to be sure and take out the keys and use the child locks on the doors! I'm sure he's never been in a car before. He doesn't like seat belts, of course what kid really does?
Last night we went to my brother's house to see them for a minute. Drew was taken back by my nephew Austin's dog Buddy. Buddy is a very big chocolate lab and very rambunctious! I let him out of his cage and it tore after Drew, wanting to play. This scared Drew as he ran through the house with Buddy at his heels about to run over him. However later he kept wanting to go back and look at him. He'd say woof woof and stretched his arms out as far as he could. He and Austin get along just great too. He loves other kids, especially boys. He followed him like a little puppy dog.
He continues to be fascinated with the cats, especially our black/white cat who is very passive and slow moving. He talks about her constantly and always wants to be holding her or making sure she is sitting beside him. Yes, she gets quite mad at him at times hissing at him. I don't know why she doesn't just run and hide better!
Drew's leg is healing up more every day-thank goodness. It just needed some air to dry up a little ( well that and no one pulling off his healed new skin each time as in China). I try to put stuff on it but he howls thinking it's going to hurt like it did before, so mostly I just leave it alone. The scar is huge-poor kid!!
Well tonight will be our first night without babaw here. He has to go back to work tonight--too bad. I'm really wondering how Drew will do without him here. He loves to snuggle up with Scott on the couch and fall asleep. I will keep you posted on this new venture.

Drew's first days home

We've had a few days now to sleep and get some rest. Over the weekend, Riley slept in Drew's extra bed and the only thing that happened was that Drew got woke up by one of the cats-which scared him. Otherwise, he's done great sleeping. Last night he slept in his bed all night long, I had to wake him up this morning at 9:00 ! Boy, does this really help too! You'd think that we'd be caught up on our sleep too by now, but today I still felt pretty darn tired. I'm so thankful he is a good, sound sleeper so far. Well Saturday was our first trip to Wal Mart. We had to go get the necessities at least. Drew had just taken a two hour nap before we got there , so he was still in a daze. (I think we all were). Riley and their friend Chloe was sure to help make sure that Drew did get a toy though (like he doesn't have enough- haha). Today, we rode bikes in the driveway- he rode a tricycle and I rode my new bike. He got to hit the ball with the bat and liked it until he couldn't hit very many, then he quit. He got to play at the park for just a few minutes too. Oh yeah, today was the first time that he rode the lawnmower with his babaw. He absolutely loved this! (Too bad he won't love it in a few more years--Scott says). Yesterday we visited our preacher's family and he had a ball riding Cole's battery powered 4 wheeler. He wanted to go faster and also went for a ride on the big 4 wheeler. I figure it's only a matter of time before we have to buy one at Wal Mart.....
We continue to have visitors and many people asking when they can meet him. He has done very well and just gone with flow each time. He loves to say hello, thank you, good-bye, see you later and count to 10 in English for them all. He also repeats just about everything we say or tell him to say for us. He is learning all of the time!
Yesterday Fawn called and asked if Drew wanted to come to the restaurant and eat some crab and noodles. Of course he wanted to. He calls her "Aye Ei" just as he did to our guides in China. It's like rewinding our time in China... our travel group will remember this forever I would say. Has little voice carries quite far! Fawn told me that all the women in China are called this for "aunties" so it's just normal.
He had a good time there at the restaurant too. He ate a lot of noodles and pieces of crab that Fawn would pick out of the shell for him. She gave him a bag of goodies, cookies, snacks, a
Chinese letter pad, and 2 Chinese cartoon movies. He told her that he missed it over in China... mostly I think he was referring to his friends from the orphanage and those who were adopted the same time he was. He specifically said "Xin Zhu" which is his best buddy Tonito. I told him that we would maybe visit him this summer. He said, "no he wanted to go now." Gee, if only it was that easy.

Just a while ago, he ate a package of ramen noodles and a whole ziplock bag of cut up cucumbers. He would drop or dip the cucumbers in the juice and eat them. I told you he eats gross stuff! haha The women from our church are cooking us dinner all week and tonight it was pot roast, salad, rolls, and ice cream dessert (which Scott devoured). Thank you ladies!!! Drew later wanted to try the pot roast. He tasted of the meat and didn't like it. I think he thought it might have been lamb. He did eat a few potatoes though. And earlier, he ate tons of baby carrots. Good thing he likes his fruits and veggies!
Right now, he is sitting on his baba's lap singing the ABC song along with the LeapFrog fridge phonics magnet he got. It's so cute to hear, he keeps repeating it if he messes up. He sings his own version of it, instead of E-F-G, he says U-F-G.

We're HOME!!

Well we made it home finally, no thanks for United airlines. We were smooth sailing until we go to Chicago on our last leg home to St. Louis. Drew did wonderful on all the flights home and between layovers--quite an amazing feat, I might add!. So our flight home was delayed then cancelled, and we waited for another flight on stand-by status. Finally after much proddding, and begging we got our seat confirmation for the 9:30 pm. flight to STL. Ok remember folks, we arrived in Chicago that afternoon around 2 p.m. and our original flight was for 4:53 p.m. , however due to the cancellations, etc we finally left Chicago at 10 pm. Thursday night! We drove home, arriving around 3:30-4 a.m.! We looked like death warmed over... even Drew had baggage and dark circles under his eyes. So we began our journey home from Guangzhou that morning at 9:00a.m. China time, and it was still 4/10/08 when we got home U.S. time! Talk about time traveling.... Oh yes, 2 of our checked lugagge didn't make it to STL so they had to bring it down yesterday to us! And the kicker is, that United called my parents yesterday asking if they needed tickets to go home! WEll duh... they answered their home phone!!

So when we got home, there was balloons and a welcome home sign on our door for Drew. He got excited and actually knocked on the door to go in- not realizing that this was his new home. The first thing he asked for was to see the kitties, then he asked where the "woof woof' was! We also found signs on Riley and Drew's bedroom doors and a basket of candy and balloons for both on their beds. This was from our great friends Felisa, Jeremy, Chloe, and Sadie. Of course Drew wanted to open the candy then, but instead settled for opening up some of his new toys he found in his room! We finally got to bed after 4:30! We all passed out quickly.
As soon as Scott woke us up at 12:30, we had a continuous flow of visitors to Drew. Later that day, he finally got to meet his big brother Riley. They've gotten along so far famously! Yay!!!
Riley has really stepped up to the plate in helping and playing with Drew and sharing everything with him. He is a very sweet kid. He even slept in Drew's extra bed last night. For dinner last night, guess where we ate? I hate to admit it, but we went to the Chinese restaurant! (Like we hadn't had enough of this for the past 2 weeks-hahaha). So our Chinese friend Fawn was anxious to meet Drew and they talked alot in Mandarin of course. He counted to 38 in Chinese to her, then got bored. He told her he preferred to be called his new name Drew. We were very happy to hear this. She said she'd help in any way she could, which is quite comforting to know!

New things

So we've learned quite a bit from our trip to China as we've traveled to Beijing, Urumqi, and Guangzghou- 3 major cities. First, never drink the water here, not even in the hotel. We brush our teeth with bottled water. They don't serve you ice in drinks, you get cold or warm drinks/sodas. Coke is the major distributor here. The traffic here is beyond your imagination. They honk their horns constantly, bicyclers, buses, taxis, cars all just maneuver their way around each other within inches, with little concern for the others, including pedestrians. They park and drive on the sidewalks in some of the cities due to not enough parking or hardly any parking lots. You see these pedalers going down the street in busy traffic hauling tons of products or boxes on top of a bicycle! They must have good balance.... Squatty potties--first time to have to use these! They're just like going camping out in the woods and just using it in the bushes, except dirtier and stinkier. Everyone here thinks I (Kim) can speak Chinese. Most of the waitresses and vendors try to speak to me and ask questions. They find out quickly that i don't, some smile back, some snicker/laugh. Actually I'm beginning to wonder if Drew thinks I can speak a little Chinese too. He seems to say things to me in a lower voice and whispers in my ear alot. I just act like I understand-haha. They all ask where Drew is from and immediately ask how old he is, while commenting how tall/big he is.
The poverty here is also beyond your imagination. Even walking down the streets here, you can see people's laundry hanging out on the lines between the buildings. We had our laundry do the other day, so it could've been ours hanging out to dry!! No joke-haha. Scott says there's a lot of hoochie mamas walking around in China. They wear their tight jeans/pants and high heels and are busy talking and walking. It's pretty funny. At least here in Guangzghou, most of the people speak English, so that helps quite a bit. They really cater to visitors here in hotel too, which is nice.

Last day here in Guangzhou!

So today is our last day here in this hot, sweaty, humid place. Don't get me wrong, we've enjoyed some time here but we're all so ready to go home!! We decided not to go to the pearl market after all. Instead, we just went out walking and shopping again for last minute things. Comparing U.S. money to Yuan RMB, when you exchange $100 in US dollars, you get $694 in Yuan. So keeping that in mind, you can blow all that money pretty quickly even though things are really cheap here. The other night, the 5 of us ate for $40 equivalent to US $. When we went to the grocery store, my two bags cost $60 in Yuan, which is about $9 in US money! Sounds good, huh? Too bad groceries aren't that cheap at home... So anyway, we bought a small Chinese tea set, a t-shirt and scorpion necklace for Riley, some small pouch/purses, bracelets, chops for Riley and Drew which are basically stamps, the top is their Chinese zodiac sign, and the stamp below has a picture of a dragon, their American name, and it written in Chinese characters also. Everywhere you walk, the Chinese vendors want to offer you a "good deal", or a "good price for you only today." Scott is good at jewing them down on prices, he says I'm a sucker. Oh the best thing we found for Drew is a pharmacy. This local owner told us of a pharmacy down one of the streets around here. Yahoo!!! I should've asked earlier, I just didn't think to--duh. So anyway we found gauze and tape, and the store owner had small 2x2 sponges. I had tons of neosporin, but they took it from my luggage at the airport I guess. I still have a little bit though and plan on changing Drew's dressing later again this evening and tomorrow on the plane home. We had to go to the clinic here at the hotel again this morning for a dressing change (before we found thepharmacy). Drew was being tortured here everyday , esp for the last 2 days-- he just screamed and cried b/c the dressings they use are quite primitive. They look like from the 70s, and don't use any non-stick pads or Telfa!! So everything they put on it, dries and sticks to his raw skin- then they have to peel it all away again!! I feel soooo sorry and helpless to see him have to change the dressings there, it's like being tortured again and again. Soo our advice is to never give your child anything hot to drink... which you probably already knew this. I wasn't thinking and it was my first catastrophe as a new mom!! I could kick myself.... Also, never have to use Chinese medicine or seek medical treatment here!!!!!! I can't stress this enough!!

So right now, we've been packing and packing for tomorrow. We may need to buy another suitcase to fit everything in. Most people here do this, in order to make it home with all their new things. You can buy suitcases here for like $10-15. We have to go to the American Consulate in an hour and doing our swearing in testimony. Tonight, we will have a farewell dinner together with everyone in our adoption travel group of around 24 or so families I believe. Some of them I don't even know or have not met yet either.

The dinner at the Cantonese restaurant was excellent! Even better, Drew insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time (which made it harder for me to eat-haha). It was really great to see all the families with their newly adopted children. Everyone looked sooo happy and glad to be going home. We just met everyone in our group down in the playroom to say good-bye. With all the kids running around, at least it wasn't sad. They didn't realize that that was really good bye this time! Look out America, Drew is coming home!!! As soon as we land on U.S. soil in Chicago, Drew will be a U.S. citizen-yay!!!!!! Oh BTW, Drew can say " I love You" in English!!!!!

Cruising down the river

Earlier this evening we had dinner and a cruise down the Pearl River. Drew really liked it. At dinner, he ate 4 small ears of corn-which is great to know, as we will have tons this summer at home. The buffet consisted of all different mystery meat and vegetable dishes. Most of it was not edible in my opinion. I had a fish meatball on my plate, and it smelled gross so of course I didn't eat it. The cookies and ice cream were the best food there. Actually the ice cream here in China is delicious! It is very creamy and rich. So back to the cruise, it was breezy and nice. The view was great on all sides, that part of the city is all lit up, including all the buildings, and the other boats, and the railing, etc. They really believe in using a lot of electricity for lights over here-haha. Well it is bedtime on Tuesday here and tomorrow is our last day here. We leave China Thursday morning (Wed. evening US time)!!! So tomorrow (Wed here) we are going to a pearl market shopping and later to the American Consulate to take an oath and get Drew's visa. We'll be busy all day long... whew. Well Drew keeps asking when we're leaving to go home, which is great and also about the kitties at our home. He wants to know why the big kitty has to take care of the little kitty. He then asked who is taking care of them now? He is soooo full of questions... it isn't funny!

Zoo outing

Monday, yesterday we went to the zoo. Boy was it hot!! Those poor animals...I was expecting worse conditions for them, but it wasn't as bad as I thought for some. Drew wanted to see the tigers first. He kept asking where were the tigers? We have a local guide who also contracts out/ works with our adoption agency CHI, her name is Rebecca. She speaks Cantonese, which is spoken here in Guangzhou and Hong Kong mostly, and also speaks Mandarin. She is one no-fuss lady. She puts Drew in his place quick! (Scott really appreciates this no-nonsense type of personality). She told Drew to stop asking her stupid questions, (basically to hear himself talk or to get attention with silly questions). He said he understood this-so he quit. He asked about the lions we saw, she told him that the male lion has more hair around his head and the female doesn't. He then asked , why on humans do females have more hair than males do on their heads-(just the opposite)? She said this was a very good question and smart question esp for his age. She said he is very smart and his mind is always processing information, she said he will be a very good smart student in school. (We sure hope so)! So, at the zoo, we saw lions, tigers, leopards, monkeys, bears, deer, sheep, kangaroos, giraffes and a few other small animals. This place wasn't that big so it didnt' take that long to walk through it all. Thank goodness, because we were all ready to get on the bus with air conditioning!! They ordered Papa John's pizza for us to be delivered to our hotel room when we got back for lunch. We were so tired after getting back, we took a long nap the rest of the afternoon. We finally got back out of our room, that evening and went shopping. The clothes here are pretty cheap, esp if you can bargain with the locals too. You can buy men's polo shirts for like $14 US dollars which is close to $100 RMB/Yuan. These shops have all kinds of Chinese souvenirs-of course targeted at American tourists.

Drew was trying to teach Scott and me some Chinese this morning when he woke up. He would say something and Scott would try to repeat it, Drew would just laugh and laugh. I'm sure he thought we were retarded in trying to speak Chinese...LOL. Drew is picking up English really really easy. He basically repeats everything we ask him to say in English. It's sooo cute to hear him!! He asked Rebecca when we were walking back into the hotel yesterday, how long we were staying here and when were we leaving to go home? Isn't that great!!??? Yesterday we had to take him to get his dressing changed again and the nurse got onto me for taking the bandage off (it was sticking to his skin) before we got there. Drew wouldn't let it just air out, he wanted it covered again and his shorts back on. Scott thinks Drew keeps thinking someone will take his things away from him so he is careful to keep some of them to himself and/or hidden such as toys, etc. So anyway we have to keep giving him antibiotic, it's strawberry flavored and he doesn't like it. He will drink it down though with a little bribing of a piece of gum. He's gotten used to that pretty quickly. The hotel gives out these Barbie dolls with American barbies holding a Chinese baby, which was put in our room the other day. Drew wanted it and Scott told him no. Of course I didn't care either way as I'm sure Drew has no idea that there's a difference between some girls/boys toys,etc. He just sees them as new toys and he probably has never had much to call his own anyway. So he stashed it away in the suitcase for future reference I guess.

Oh BTW, Drew decided at the zoo that he wanted to crawl into Vivi's stroller, I guess he got a little lazy walking. So this is why you see him in a stroller that he can barely fit into in the picture above! haha

Well at 3:00 we're all meeting down in the lobby for pictures. These should be really good I hope. I'll share them with you soon I promise! We're all going on a dinner cruise later this evening too here on the Pear River. This should be fun and very scenic.

First full day in Guangzhou

So today was our first real day here. Good grief, it's HOT and HUMID here! The weather was dry and just warm in Urumqi so quite a difference. Everything is green and lush here, the trees, grass, flowers, and plants are just beautiful. It looks so tropical and pretty. We are sweating our tails off here. Elsie, our guide is from this city. She said that this city has a population of close to 12 million people!!! Can you imagine? We're staying at the White Swan Hotel ..... very nice and scenic. The back of it is just glass windows and it's view is breathtaking out on the Pearl River. The breakfast is served on the first floor and with the river view. Felisa, I had dumplings today for the first time here in China and they were sooo delicioius! There's soo many shops on the lower level too. This surrounding area and shopping is targeted to tourists, especially adoptive families moreso. Everywhere you look around inside and out, you see all these families with their Chinese babies or kids-- no joke. It's kinda crazy...
There's a waterfall and a large pond with koi fish inside the lower level too that's just beautiful too. Earlier today, we had to take our kids to get their medical exams done. This only consisted of their height, weight, ENT exam, and physical exam lasting only a few minutes. I got pics of it all. Drew weighed 20 kgs and was 111 cm tall. He's so much taller than most the kids around here we've seen! He's going to be big....
We did a little shopping today too. There's these shops everywhere with tons of Chinese things. Most of them have an American name title and do laundry too, which is lots cheaper than laundry at the hotels. We had lunch at Lucy's which serves all American food! Yum... first restaurant with normal real food and iced tea. (We've only had coke or water since we've been here). Last night and tonight we ate at this nice Thai restaurant that was to die for! Very good!
We had Elsie show us where to buy groceries. WEll this was quite a walk away and we saw the very poor locals selling their roots, spices, and LIVE animals in tubs, cages, etc. I took pics of dried seahorses, shrimp, deer hooves/legs, snake skins, among other things. The live animals consisted of turtles, chickens, rabbits, scorpions-lots of them, fish, eels, snakes, crawfish, and other things I can't remember. This was the first time I've seen cats anywhere in China... they were sitting around the shops, supposedly as pets... So at this grocery store, it was like walking into a sauna-- it was not air conditioned and just opened up out into the street. However, I did find deodorant, the old roll on kind. I got Drew some drinks, snacks, and flip flops. He loves these dried seaweed things--looks like beef jerky but only green and crunchy. They smell and taste gross. He likes the chips too , which aren't bad if you get the right kind. He ate the pear immediately after finding it in the bag too. He also thanked me for buying all the things he likes. He now says "thank you", "bye bye", "see you later", in English as well as counts. He understands most of what we say and tell him to do. He picks up so very fast. Elsie made fun of me for only buying 1... guess she was right. Drew definitely is used to eating weird things... he ate this gross very fishy whole fish dish last night and it reeked severely. He ate lamb kabobs one day and devoured them. He is finally getting an appetite here in the last few days--thank goodness. Well tomorrow we're supposed to be going to the zoo-- that should be an adventure. I hate to think of those poor animals... where's PETA when you need them???

Drew's airplane adventure

Yesterday, we flew here to Guangzhou, which took close to 4 hours. Drew had a very unfortunate accident. After he woke up from a nap, he got a cup of hot tea. Well this tea was scalding hot and he was holding it and blowing on it. He spilled this on his lap and started screaming of course. Scott was sitting next to him and pulled his pants down to see his leg. I scrambled for my first aid baggie I brought, which of course ended up not being near enough of what we needed. I took Drew to the bathroom and was shocked to see that his left thigh had 2nd degree burn which covered the entire width of his leg and down into his inner thigh. The skin was all gone and that which was left was blistering up! It was a ghastly sight to see. He was just standing there in the bathroom crying and I was getting papertowels wet to cover it. I opened the door and started yelling for Elsie our guide to help. She was excellent and told the attendants that we needed first aid supplies. Well there were none to be found as far as first aid. They tried to give us some kind of oily looking salve to put on him, which looked like yellow gel. Of course I didn't trust this. I asked for ice and it took a few minutes for them to understand why we wanted ice... duh!! I was really afraid that they wouldn't give us any. So we sat holding an ice bag to his leg and trying to soothe him as best as we could. We still had 50 min. left to fly!
This was no fun! I started crying just b/c he was so upset and I knew he was in pain. He kept telling Elsie that it hurt and asking when it would go away. Scott asked me why I was crying. I couldn't help it though. None of us had any children's pain reliever with us, it was all in our checked luggage so we had to wait until we got those to get him some Motrin or anything. Thank goodness he had stopped crying by the time we landed. He asked for his friend (Tonito) Zhu Zhu
and of course his parents brought him to us and he stood in the seat infront of us and held Drew's hand through the opening. It was soooooo heartbreaking and cute at the same time to see his friend comfort him. The night before Drew helped Tonito climb up a slide several times and now it was his turn to return the favor. So the good thing is that there was an inhouse doctor and first aid clinic here at the hotel we're staying in. He saw them here and got it debrided and cleaned/dressed. He cried a little at first but quit quickly. He told Elsie that he was a good boy and didn't cry. We told him that he was sooo tough! They gave us vitamins and antibiotics for him too. We had to go back today for a drsg change, it actually had seeped through it and the drsg was falling off by then. Drew was such a trooper, he didn't flinch or cry today. Last night, Drew started acting like he had a hard time walking with it, but he was only playing and milking it for all it was worth! haha He just laughed and laughed. Tonight when we put his pjs on, his drsg was already seeping through. He's glad he doesn't have to take a bath at least since this happened. He will have quite a scar from this I'm sure though.

Day 4 & 5

We got a little behind on posting here. We've been soooo busy! So here's to catching everyone up. Thursday, we went to the International Grand Bazaar here in Urumqi. It really is bazaar, some of the things they sell-haha. It's this huge place to shop, most of it is outside and involves a lot of walking. They had everything from knives, scarves, Uiygher hats, jewelry, local food, clothes, antiques, alot of junk, etc. This is how the locals make a living doing this. There were so many duplicate "stalls" of the same items. Urumqi has TONS of fruits and nuts, there were carts and carts of this stuff everywhere. Actually we didn't get to see a whole lot of this place b/c Drew had a crying fit so we had to go back to the bus and sit. We sat there for like 45 minutes, so we missed out on a lot of bargain shopping.
Later that afternoon we walked over to one of the department stores here around the corner to the grocery store in the basement. There is a dept store on just about every corner here, and they have a huge grocery store in them. These stores are about 4-5 levels high and sell really high priced makeup, clothing and everything in between. They are about equivalent to a large dept store at home, with more levels and lots more stuff to buy, higher prices too. Anyways, Drew got to pick out some snacks at the grocery store. He got some potato chips that were a little different but not bad and he ate them all. He got some candy (which tasted awful) too.
This place had alot of weird stuff, like raw squid, whole cooked ducks, tons of fresh seafood/fish, all kinds of meats. If I knew how to cook good Chinese food, this place had all kinds of seasonings,rice,sauces,noodles--too bad huh?
Another thing, Drew asked our local Chinese guide named Wendy, which he calls "auntie" in Chinese), if we had a car. She told him yes and he asked if it was black. (We were on a bus, and he was looking at the cars going by). We told him that Baba and Mama, Nai Nai all have a car. He was happy to know this. I later asked Wendy if Drew's foster family had a car or if Drew had ever ridden in one before? She said they did not, as most people don't unless they are rich enough to buy one. We found out today that Wendy is only 24, and I asked her if she had a car or drives. She looked at me and said,"I'm only 24." "I don't have a car." Therefore, we concluded that most people here can't afford one. Drew told her later that he wants to go on a plane. I said that he'd get his wish soon enough! BTW, Drew drives Wendy and Elsie (our adoption agency Chinese guide) nuts everyday with all the questions he asks them. He always yells out for them and constantly wants to talk to them. He has to be the center of attention. He is very very verbal.
Oh yes, one of the families and I took a taxi to find their little boy's and Drew's finding place.
To make a long story short, it took well over 1 1/2 hr to do this, mine took the longest. I was looking for a shop next to a hospital. Well we finally got introduced to a Chinese woman who helped us at the clinic there. She called her daugher, who spoke English and translated for me! That was sooo nice of her to go out of her way for me. Anyway, come to find out, the original flower shop in which he was found, was no longer there-but another one was it's neighboring shop or took it's place due to construction of the roads. So, I took pics and video of this. BTW,never get sick or go to the hospital while in China. You wouldn't believe the ancient, primitive buildings,offices, equipment, everything they use! Just ask me about this later,.. I could go on and on.
So today, Friday, we went on an extra day trip to see Heavenly Lake up in the mountains. It was really beautiful up there. I was glad it didn't take any longer than it did to get up there, as I was starting to get a little woozy. It took us > 2 hrs to get there. Drew loved walking around and climbing on the rocks. In the parking lot of the place, we saw this money walking around. It musthave been somone's pet we thought, although it didn't look very friendly. It kinda looked like a baboon. My camera wasn't working properly, so all the pictures that I took up there are not on my SD card for some reason. I'm so bummed. There was a lot of snow on the tops of the mountains of course too. We ate lunch there at this Muslim restaurant. It was very good. Drew ate 2 skewers of lamb and some shredded potatoes in this sauce stuff. It was kinda like Chinese food in a way. That was the most he's ever eaten all week at one sitting. Most of the time, all he eats for breakfast and dinner at the hotel is watermelon. He loves it! Well the other night, we ate at this Uigyher restaurant next to the hotel and all he ate out of the food was the onions. He'd pick them up with his chopsticks (which he can use proficiently) and put them in a bowl of water to rinse them off and eat them. It was pretty gross. He has terrible table manners, he makes such a mess and gets it all over him. He is really good about letting me wipe his hands and mouth off though. We'll have to work on the table manners when we get home... haha.
Well this is our last night here in Urumqi, Drew's hometown. It's kinda sad to think he may never return to his homeland. Well I hope he does, or wants to maybe later in life. Earlier, this evening we went to park across the street to let him play. They had all kinds of play equip set up today. There were tons of people over there... you would not believe. Anyway, as we were walking on the sidewalk, a lady kept saying Xin Suo (his Chinese name), so we stopped. She could speak a little English but not enough to have a conversation. She told us that she was Drew's teacher!!!! (at the orphanage) What are the chances of running into someone that he knew from the orphanage, while out on the street with us? Oh my.. I was so excited. So after she and her son walked on, I realized I must take a picture of her, so I ran after her for one. So, now I have a picture of Drew's teacher!!! Too bad the other 3 families weren't with us, they could've asked if she was their childrens' teacher too (which most likely was, or at least knew them for sure)!
Drew had a very good day today and evening. He was pretty darn good, never ran off, and no crying, bathtime was fun too-which makes our day a lot easier! haha Well we are headed off in the morning to fly to Guangzhou (pronounced Gwan-joe), the last city to visit!

Finally... Some more pics!!

Well we finally had time to upload some pictures last night so I'm going to try to put some on here before we leave to go to the Grand Bazaar. There's just a mix of things we've done over the past 3 days, and maybe a few from when we were in Beijing.

Day 3

It is Wed morning just after 8:00. It just now gets light outside here in Urumqi. They keep the same time as Beijing but they actually don't start their day until like 2 hours later, it's really confusing. Right now, it looks like a ghost town outside our hotel window as everything is quiet and closed. We have a really good view of the city buildings and the park across the street from us. So Drew and the rest of the kids are used to going to bed at 10:30 p.m. and not going to his preschool til after 9:00 a.m, a late start for the rest of us. They're used to taking a 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon according to the reports. However, he's not been able to take a nap like that since he's been with us. So he wears himself out playing all day and by night time, he's exhausted. He is still sleeping right now actually. He loved his spiderman pjs he has on, (thanks to the Duffers to them)! His friend Tonito (Xin Zhu) and his sister Vivi came by last night right before bed time, and they played good. Drew shared his toys and gave him some stickers too. He had to include his mama and baba in this, as he placed a sticker on each of our foreheads too! He fell asleep pretty fast last night, on his own and slept even better than the previous night. It seems he's a good sleeper, so far. Well our schedule is to go to a museum today at 11. So I'll post more later folks. Well we had to go to the museum later in the day instead of the morning so we were free til then. It was really windy so Scott bought Drew a kite and was trying to fly it, though Drew wanted to run the other way and so the kite kept falling to the ground. He wouldn't listen to Scott, and tried to run off away from him. Scott had to grab him and get onto him. He kinda threw a fit, so we had to go back to the hotel to calm down. Earlier in the morning before breakfast, Drew tried to throw a can of coke out our window. We're on the 23rd floor here. Of course he got in trouble. Then, he tried to tear up some Yuan money, and yet got in trouble again- then he tried running out of our hotel room, which really got him in deep. So... needless to say, our day hadn't started out real good. It seemed that he was trying to test us most of the day. However, each time he would calm down and get over it. Before we left, Drew got in his bed and said, "I'm laying down", according to Scott. He did lay down and wanted to take a nap but we had to leave for the museum. He actually fell asleep while there, his Nai Nai (mamaw) held him while he slept. We later went to a real Pizza Hut for dinner. It was delicious, just like home. Really this was the first real "American" home style food we've had since here. Drew told Elsie our guide that he didn't like pizza but he did eat one piece. He had Scott get him a bowl full of veggies and fruit from the salad bar and he ate most of it. This was the best he'd eaten all week for us. Maybe he's close to a vegetarian? haha

Also a first for him, (not to be gross), he had a bowel movement while at Pizza Hut! I realize this is not something normally to get excited about... however with his earlier colon problems and diagnoses, I was worried as he hadn't gone all week! And... also....Drew had his FIRST bath tonight with NO CRYING or SCREAMING!!!! ( The first night, he only put his feet in the tub, last night, he stood screaming and crying as we tried to wash him off). We had Elsie remind him several times today that he had to have a bath tonight. He said ok, but we'd heard that before.... Let me tell you he was truly dirty and very very stinky!! He had a BIG time in the tub, squirting Baba and Mama with the water from the rubber duckies. He laughed sooooooo hard and soooo much. We just loved it!! He got us really really wet, but we didn't care. He is really in a great mood tonight.

To big brother Riley

Just wanted to let you know that Drew is ready to meet you and ready to wrestle a lot with you and dad. He likes to run, play fight, and loves to play with balls, is good at catching and kicking them too. Maybe you can show him how to play soccer and he can be as good as you are someday. Drew can show you how to eat really good with chopsticks, he's an expert!! Hugs and kisses to you, we LOVE YOU Ri--Man!!!!!!!!! By the way, Riley, we know that Drew is truly your brother because he has a problem with warts on his fingers too, and he is SO Hard - headed--- JUST LIKE YOU ARE!! hahaha

Day 2

Good morning to all! Drew slept through the night in his rollaway bed. He got a little restless in the wee morning hours, probably b/c he was hot. I got up and took off 2 layers of pants he had on from yesterday. Yes, he had 3 layers of clothing on from top to bottom! They really bundle these kiddos up over here. Drew finally woke up around 7:20 this morning. The first thing he reached for on the nightstand was the disposable camera he had yesterday. He loves to take pictures! He got the picture album out and started looking at it again. Scott pointed to our pictures and asking who we were. He pointed to me and Drew would reply Mama, he pointed to Riley and he replied "guh guh" (which means big brother in Chinese). He recognized Nai Nai and Yeh Yeah(grandma and grandpa). The whole bathing issue was a tug of war you could say in which he won. He did not want to take a bath at all last night or this morning. Finally, Scott got him to sit on the side of the tub and put his feet in. So they splashed around and made bubble bath beards. Scott was getting our laundry together to send off, and put Drew's clothes in it from yesterday. He pulled out the sweatshirt/jacket from the pile, I'm sure he thought his baba was maybe trying to throw away his clothes? Before we ate breakfast, Drew wanted to go down the hall to see our Chinese CHI guide Elsie. He told her he wanted to go outside to the park again to play. We told him ok, but after we ate. So needless to say, baba took him outside just now, while I am blogging for a minute. Well gotta go see them play and going shopping too.

Let's say shopping in China is a little different and difficult. Mom, Drew and I went to this department store, which was at least 5 levels. The bottom was a grocery store and other things. Basically this place was an equivalent to a major mall in the U.S. and just expensive if not more. So when you wanted to purchase an item, the clerk had to write it down on a slip of paper and you had to take it to a cashier at a different spot, then after you paid, you had to go back to pick up your things. This is quite a change from shopping at home. We found Drew a pair of shoes, which light up. Yes I know their not the greatest, but he liked them. He also picked out mickey mouse socks. The ones we brought are too big, as are the rest of his clothes. We later found the toy department and he of course picked out some toys. Lastly, he picked out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltles DVD movies, a music CD, and a comic book--these are all in Chinese! Interesting, eh? So coming back to the hotel, he fell asleep in the taxi so we thought he'd take a nap in the room. We put in this movie of the turtles and he never fell asleep. We've been lying in bed eating and playing. He and Scott have been playing hide and seek in the closet, and wrestling. Drew is a very active, assertive little boy. He knows what he wants and he lets you know it. He sings songs in Chinese sometimes and it sounds sooo cute. I just love to hear him speak in his little voice in Chinese. Most of the time, the only word I recognize in all of what he's saying is either Mama or Baba. But hey, I guess that's the most important words anyway!!! Alot of the time we just say ok to him, unless he's getting into some trouble and we tell him "Boo" which means No in Chinese. We know just the very very basic words to communicate and at times we have trouble with that. That doesn't seem to affect how he interprets us though, I think we have a good thing going here. Oh yeah two more things, Drew LOVES gum and loves to pass it around to everyone. When he chews, his dimples just shine!! And we think he is very very smart indeed as he can already count to 5 in English. Scott has been working with him on this and it's only the 2nd day we've had him!!!

Our first meeting!!

Well we've had quite an exciting, nerve racking, long day today. Well actually my nerves were working overtime and Scott was A-ok as usual. Just got back to the hotel, it is 6:00 p.m. now Monday evening. We left here this morning before 10 a.m. to meet our Drew. We went to the Civil Affairs office and when we got there, the kids were already there in the room. However, Drew was no where to be seen. Of course I panicked and wondered if they forgot to bring him!

Thank goodness not, he was there, just in the bathroom. He was very quiet and shy at first, he stood over to the side trying to hide from us. He stood there and got tears in his eyes for a few minutes as there was a lot of noise going on in the room with the 3 other kids meeting their families too. The room was quite small of course. First Scott gave him some bite sized chocolate chip cookies which he ate a few of. We showed him his backpack and he perked up immediately. He continued to unpack EVERYTHING in his backpack, every little nook and cranny pocket was emptied out. He had a ball with everything he could find to drag out of there. Then the other kids came over to check out all his neat stuff, we all had a good time sitting there in the floor as the kids went through all the toys. Let me tell you that he LOVES his BABA-- (his daddy), he wants to be beside him at all times and only wanted to sit on the bus beside him. We did switch seats coming home and he asked to sit by his dad, but then he settled for me I guess. He only wants his baba to hold and carry him too. Scott says he weighs a ton! hahaha

We were walking down the street waiting at this office, and Drew wanted a balloon. Well he not only got a balloon, he got 2 more toys and juice to drink. He was very happy with that. We realize he doesn't truly understand what is going on, as he asked the Chinese tour guide who was taking him back to the orphanage. She told him he was staying with his mama and baba. He said ok. Just to tell u as I'm writing this, Drew found his MP3 player and wanted me to get it started for him. He is into EVERYTHING! He is a Very inquisitive little boy to say the least. He opens everything he can get his hands on or into. When we first just now walked into the room, he walked straight to this laptop and turned it on!! I'd say he knows how to use a computer....

Drew had a big time passing the beach balls around in this office we were in today, we were in there for hours!! He got it out and wanted it blown up. He was laughing out loud while throwing and catching that around. He also kept asking for ice cream, preferably chocolate according to our tour guide Wendy. So finally later, his baba took him to buy a chocolate ice cream bar which he ate all of. He seems to be very independent. He likes to play with the other kids at times, and other times, he just wanted to sit down and look around,or draw pictures at the table by himself. He can definitely entertain himself pretty good. Ok I'm going to post some pics for now, and will do more later. It appears since we've been in the room, that he can speak a few words in English it sounds like. We shall see.... Oh yeah, his dimples are sooooo darn cute!!!!

Ok here's the rest of the day events. After we got back to the hotel, Drew (Xin Suo-his Chinese name) wanted to go outside so we walked out to this (concrete) play area/park across the street from the hotel. He wanted baba to hold him, actually stopped in front of him and held his arms out for Scott to put him on his shoulders! He got to ride these little animals car-like things. He didn't want to get off of it after it was over. He locked his legs around it, but did not throw a fit at all-thank goodness. He then saw this kiddie train-which of course he wanted to ride. Once this was over, he jumped out of it and got into another cab of the train to ride again. So we're walking around here and there's this man selling balloons, he spots him and immediately gets excited. So you know he ends up with yet another balloon! After this, we walked back to the hotel to eat. Just to let you know, you would have thought he had eaten out with us a thousand times before. He did so wonderful. We found out he likes watermelon, tomatoes, broccoli, meat, not a very picky eater-yippee!!

On the road again...

Well folks, we are now in Urumqi, Drew's hometown. Just got into our hotel, would you believe this place says you can't drink the water still? I brushed my teeth with the water at the last hotel we were in.. b/c I forgot! Hopefully I won't kill over anytime soon. We had a 4 hour flight here from Beijing. I slept the majority of the way, thank goodness. We haven't been sleeping well since being in China--it seems all of us want to wake up in the middle of the night. Basically we run on a lot of adrenaline I guess. We're meeting with our guide Elsie in an hour to alot of paperwork. We were told that we will be leaving in the morning at 9:40 going to the some Civil Affairs Office to meet our children at 10:00 a.m. We're still going to ask if we can visit their orphange, but it doesnt look good at this point. They already said we can't meet the foster parents.... what a bummer. So it is Sunday afternoon 3:00 here , which makes it late Sat. night 1:00 a.m. there? I will be a basketcase by tomorrow morning. Scott reminded me that today/tonight is our last night of freedom with kids. I hope that I can sleep at least a little bit still. haha Elsie is going to help translate to our kids tomorrow when we meet them which will be wonderful in explaining to them what in the world is going on. I hope he likes his new name too.
All of the families with us here are soooo excited too for tomorrow, the big day. I just pray that it goes as smooth as possible for the kids' sake. So, be thinking of our family, Sunday evening, because it will be our Monday morning here!!!