Lanzhou Update.

Well this will be our last full day in Lanzhou. Tomorrow we will fly to Guangzhou, but our flight does not leave until 7:45 so we will still have some significant time here. I have been down the last 48 hours with a nasty sinus infection – not wanting to do much. My meds seem to be kicking in and I feel about 33% better this morning (though still without a continual long sleep period). So we have been stuck in the room pretty much this whole time. Though on Tuesday we went to the 5 Springs Park and saw some pretty cool stuff. Sam and Jack had a great time walking around on a frozen pond with Mr. Steed. We got great video of several older men exercising using a “Chinese yo-yo” (they call it Diablo because of the sound it makes). Sam got to impress a Kung-Fu master with his use of a striking stick. Sam twirled it around as if he had been practicing it a while, so I asked if he had done so in Karate class. He responded no – he had learned on his own by engaging in combat with his light-saber.

We moved on to a real live Buddhist temple – statues, monks, burning incense and cellular phones. Yes, the vow of poverty apparently does not extend to portable inexpensive communication devices.

Not getting out as much as we had hoped is a disappointment. We remained stuck in our hotel last trip and we wanted to explore Lanzhou much more this time. Especially disappointing is my not being able to visit the orphanage. I just do not feel up to a 12 hour day given my not feeling very well. It was a hard decision but probably the correct one.

An interesting event occurred the other morning. I was up walking around at 3:00 am and decided to watch a movie on the portable DVD player. I went down to the main lobby to sit on one of the comfortable sofas. I started up the movie placed my legs, not my feet – just to my ankles, on the sofa and settled in to watch Pirates of the Caribbean III. About 10 minutes later, the commie night supervisor – who to this point had not been seen – in fact there was no one in the lobby – not at the front desk, at the front door – no one – comes out and with a smile but no English explains to me that I have to take my legs down. It was 3:00 am – no one around. Can’t tell if they were busting my chops or if it was a continuation of the “keeping up appearances” that is so prevalent in Ch!na. Maybe it is part of their sleep deprivation program so as to cause me to slip up and give away the secrets to conquering Sharpsburg, GA.

As far as pictures go – we received a cord yesterday, but the fittings were not correct. I am feeling a bit better today so I will be able to buy a cord. But doesn’t the anticipation just make the experience that much more wonderful?

Oh, the ladies are back to wipe down the lobby which has accumulated no dust what so ever since 24 hours ago.

Blessings.

Boys, Sinuses, and a Cord

Not too much to report today ... the boys are bonding pretty well, wrestling, laughing, playing cars and play dough. Dan has been in the bed since yesterday afternoon with a bad sinus headache - hopefully, the antibiotics will kick in soon because we are running out of decongestant!!! We tried airing out the room today, figuring the smog might be better than germs. ;0)

And the elusive camera cord. Steed insisted that we not buy one because he has several and we can have one. He did remember to bring it this a.m. Unfortunately, it does not work with our camera. sigh. I want to get those pictures downloaded probably as much as you want to see them!! Maybe tomorrow ...

Monday - "Gotcha!" Officially Complete

Well it is official – Jack is ours. We had the “closing” yesterday, and signed on the dotted line. All went well. Last time the officials came to our hotel to do the paperwork, this time we went to the Civil Affairs Office. The setting is exactly as one would expect in Communist China. The Civil Affairs Office building was generic, plain and functional (almost). We walked into a small lobby area where two “guards” sat at a very plain metal office desk. On the wall was the hammer & sickle along with the Chairman’s picture. The lobby area and elevator waiting area were dimly lit. The elevator took us to the 5th floor where an even darker hallway led us to a conference room. The room contained a large wooden conference table that would seat about 20 or so, and 30 chairs off to one side facing the table (so that these chairs were like an audience viewing the discussion at the table). The same notary and civil affairs official as when we adopted Jenna came and produced the paperwork. While we signed and shuffled the forms, Jack and Sam colored and played. The great thing is that they were coloring out of a Bible stories coloring book. Think about it – an American family comes to the Lanzhou civil affairs office and goes to the communist meeting room, where the adoptee and his new brother occupy their time by looking through a book that references the true King. I love it. After a while, I pushed a toy car back and forth with Jack. It was our first time playing and bonding together. He laughed and giggled as I clowned around a bit. We can tell he is very sharp as he is picking up words rather quickly. That’s my boy! The director and nanny where at the meeting and we took quite a number of pictures. They gave a present to Sam, and gave us gifts for Wan Jin (Jenna) and a few of the other babies that had been adopted out of the orphanage. After about an hour, all was complete and Jack was officially our son. Jack looked a bit anxious as he could tell it was goodbye time, but all went very well. Jack waved goodbye to his former caretakers and walked out of the room hand in hand with his Mommy and big brother. I stayed behind to thank the director and nanny for their sincere and great care of our children. I expressed that we can tell they have done a terrific job. (It was hard to get the words out and remain composed but I am thankful to say I still have my dignity intact).

This was all complete by 11 am and we had the remainder of the day to ourselves. Unfortunately, we spent most of the time cooped up in the hotel room (luckily the room and hotel is much better than the where we stayed last trip – Tony & Gayle: we chose poorly last time). Michele is getting over her illness and her toe is fully functional. Sam has now become a bit sick, but we have started him on medicines and he is sleeping quite well. I am not feeling 100% but hope my medicines will reap results today. Sleep for me is something of the past. Four hours a night – with maybe another hour during the day. Tonight I slept from 7 pm to 11 pm. What to do the remainder of the night – hence this blog entry.

Tomorrow we will get a city center tour (assuming Sam is up to it). We will go to the “5 points people’s park”. We look forward to getting out and exploring a bit as last time we were intimidated by the stares. Not this time. We will go out and meet and interact with the local people in a winsome manner. Actually, we arrived in the city a bit earlier in the day this time round so there was more daylight. The walk to the photo studio and store was not as formidable as we expected. While we were still stared at, it was not the same as 2 years ago. More smiles, less “accusatory” gawking. The smog also seems to be a bit reduced; though, Steed tells us this varies from day-to-day.

I must comment on 3 women, 3 buckets and 6 rags. As I could not sleep last night, I walked around the hotel to pass the time. At one point I watched 3 twenty-something women, use a bucket a piece and a rag in each hand (think wax on/wax off) clean the entire lobby area. They cleaned everything but the main floor itself. Every vertical surface within reach, every banister and railing, every banister and railing support, all base boards – behind planters, curtains, chairs, tables, etc.), walls, door trimming, everything. Though, they never changed the water in their buckets!?! Now, if they do this every day, maybe they do not need to change out the water – we will see this morning as I follow up on my observations.

UPDATE: They were there again this morning – wiping away.

We hope to be able to post pictures today.

Hope this entry finds you well.

Blessings.

You've Seen the Video - Now Here's the Story

Jack was already at the hotel when we arrived - just as the case with Jenna. He seemed a little overwhelmed at all of the attention, as you would expect. He turned 5 the beginning of December, so he has some knowledge about what is happening ... enough to make the whole event somewhat frightening. To make things easier, Mrs. Yang and the nanny came up to the room with us, which gave us an opportunity to share photos of Jenna and other Pingliang children, videos of Jenna's progress, and pictures that Jenna made for them. They really appreciated getting all of the updates of the children and were quite happy that we Pingliang families keep in touch with one another.

Meanwhile, Sam was trying to coax Jack into playing cars and ball with him. Jack did play and even smiled, but when he saw Mrs. Yang getting her purse, the tears began. It was a little difficult, understandably, for both Jack and Mrs. Yang, who was tearful, too. We had to walk a few blocks for Jack's passport photo, so Mrs. Yang and the nanny walked down with us. But, when Jack, Sam and I walked through the rotating hotel lobby doors, they did not follow. Jack kept looking back, but was soon overcome with all of the sights and sounds of a bustling city. After the passport photo, our guide took us to a store to pick up supplies. Our guide and Sam were both holding Jack's hands at this point, and surprisingly, Jack kept looking back. Except this time, he was looking for me.

Once we got back to the hotel room, he got a little fearful again and cried, but he did not resist me picking him up and comforting him. We were even able to get a few smiles out of him. His first English word to us was "Sammy," which pleased his brother very much! Sam is SO proud of his little brother and has already begun watching over him.

I was dreading bedtime, thinking that he might really miss the familiar. However, that was not the case. Both Sam and Dan fell asleep early and Jack had gotten into his bed and quietly watched me as I walked around the room. When I got into the bed next to his, I put my hand over the side. A few seconds later, I feel a little hand clasp mine. I peeked over to see his eyes finally close.

Today, we have begun to see a little personality! He's talking to us. Of course, we can't understand most of what he is saying. He made friends with his "Baba" today (that's Daddy), and even held his hand. He said, "Car, Baba!" to the astonishment of us all this a.m. And he got to see his sisters on the phone (Skype w/camera). What many people have wondered was if he remembered his old friend. When he saw her on the computer, he said, "Wan Jin" - that's our Jenna.

So, now we wait on his passport to be completed and will leave Lanzhou on Friday to go to Guangzhou, our last stop before home.

We cannot find the cord to connect the camera to the computer, but our guide is helping us with that. We hope to be posting some pictures soon. I am feeling better (maybe because I started antibiotics?). Unfortunately, Dan is now feeling under the weather. Hopefully, everyone will feel good by the time we reach Guangzhou. Thanks for all your prayers - they were definitely felt! Love you, Girls!! Talk to you soon!

This should say it all!

Hopefully this works.

SAM 2ND DAY IN CHINA

YESTERDAY WE VISITED THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA AND I CLIMBED TO THE TOP! WHEN IT IS WINTER, THERE IS LOTS OF ICE AND YOU CAN SLIP AND HIT YOUR BOTTOM JUST AS I DID. FLOP DOWN 2 STAIRS JUST AS I DID AND IT HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT I AM O.K. WE HAD A GOOD BREAKFAST OF PANCAKES WAFFLES FRENCH TOAST AND BACON AND EGGS AND HASH BROWNS AND BREADS WITH RAISINS AND CHOCOLATES INSIDE THEM.

BYE

LOVE YOU LANE AND JENNA :)

HI JACOB AND JARED

LOVE,
SAM:)

Our Last Day in Beijing - from Michele

It's 2:30 a.m. here in China, and we're up, but we are making progress to our goal of sleeping through the night! Sam usually conks out about 6 or 7 and we cannot seem to wake him up, so we have opted to let him sleep..

I will let Sam post about what we did yesterday. We got a little shopping in before returning to the hotel. The smog is annoying my sinuses (my cold/cough), and I've lost my voice here and there, so I'm going to go ahead and start my antibiotic since we are now going to a city where the smog will be worse. Better safe than sorry, I guess. I just wish I felt better for our first meeting with Jack later today. We will be posting pictures once we are in Lanzhou. Talk to you soon - love you, Lana and Jenna!