One Month Later

It has been one month since Tru joined us. He is already a totally different little boy. He is happy, healthy and we are enjoying watching him learn and grow. He has had a few visits with the doctors, had six shots and given blood but he still seems to like us!! We love him too. Lin-Ley is starting to warm up too. She has taken the sharing of our attention pretty hard but she is finally coming around.

On The Road Again!

(Leaving Baltimore for Louisiana)

We arrived back in the U.S. on August 8th. On August 18th we were going again. This time we flew to Louisiana to visit our families and to introduce Tru to everyone.

Well, it would not be easy... When we arrived for our connecting flight in Memphis we found that our flight to Baton Rouge had been canceled. We had to hang around for 6 hours for another flight. So we browsed, ate, saw many Elvis impersonators, and took pictures of practically everything we could find trying to pass the time.

Lin-Ley and The King.

Trying to kill time until the next flight.

STILL trying to pass the time...

We made it! As soon as we could collect the luggage, pick up the rental car and strap in the car seats we were on our way to Pride.

Of course throughout our visit Tru was a big hit and he grew more comfortable as the days flew by. He was quite entertaining at times!

"Just a Swinging" with Pa-Pa Bill (Jody's dad)

Lin-Ley was fascinated with the cows. (and the dogs, and the cats, and the goat!)

Pa-Pa Bill and Ma-Ma Shirley as well as Pa-Pa Cowboy and Ma-Ma Linda had pools for Lin-Ley and Tru.

Lin-Ley named Dallas' dad Pa-Pa Cowboy when she first began talking. He is never without his cowboy hat so the name just stuck.

Tru's first 4-wheeler ride.

Feeding the cows!

The night before we left Uncle Cecil brought over a truck load of bread for the cows. Apparently the cows get this treat a couple times a week.

Lin-Ley and Olivia (my best friend Melissa's little girl) were supposed to stand in the truck and watch. But they had other plans and decided to get in on the action.

See the bread flying through the air? Unfortunately Uncle Cecil received many pieces of bread to the face and head. Oops! Sorry Uncle Cecil!

Our flights back to Baltimore were uneventful thank goodness! It was a good but short visit with our families. Back to reality! Our big girl started Kindergarten on Monday (8/27/2007). How time flies! She is enjoying riding the bus and going to Kindergarten.

Waiting for the bus on Lin-Ley's first day of Kindergarten.

Just so you know... When we asked Lin-Ley how she enjoyed her first day of school she informed us, "I do not go to school. I go to Kindergarten!"

Did you really expect to see anything other than a Princess backpack??

Home Sweet Home !

Tru at the Hong Kong Airport. Just waiting...

Lin-Ley playing her Princess game while waiting to board the plane.

We made it! We arrived in Baltimore at 11:30PM Wednesday night (August 8th). We left our hotel at 5:30AM on Wednesday morning (that was 5:30PM on Tuesday evening in the U.S.). So it took us 30 hours to get home. Lin-Ley slept some but Tru only slept around 4 hours total. It was tough keeping him occupied!

We finally made it home around 12:30AM. After a midnight snack we had baths and went right to bed. Everyone was asleep around 2AM. For some reason... Lin-Ley and Tru were up at 6:30AM ???

We were all exhausted and just sat around most of the morning. At noon we decided to take a nap. The phone rang later and we realized that it was 5:45PM. We had napped for almost 6 hours! Needless to say, our sleep patterns are not quite right yet.

Yesterday (Friday) we had tickets to go see The Wiggles in Baltimore. Dallas and I both have colds and did not really want to go but we already had the tickets. It was actually very fun! Tru was very happy and excited to be there. However, once the show started he slept through it.

Lin-Ley and her Dorothy The Dinosaur tail.

Did I mention our exhaustion? Lin-Ley was so tired after the concert that she slept soundly on the kitchen steps for several hours.

FEED ME!

We Are Out Of Here!

We received Tru's visa today and that was the last piece of the puzzle. We had Pizza Hut for dinner and it is now 6:30PM. Our only plans for the evening are packing and getting ready to leave. We will leave the hotel at 5:30AM tomorrow and approximately 30 hours later we will arrive in Baltimore. Please say a prayer for us...

We will post again at the end of the week - from home!

A special hello to Paw-Paw Bill - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

One More Day To Go

Nothing exciting today. We were on our own until 1PM. After breakfast Dallas watched Lin-Ley and Christopher while Kari, Tru and I went to The Friendship Store for some light shopping (toys and snacks for the long plane ride on Wednesday). After lunch, which included chicken feet (Dallas was the only one brave enough to taste them), we went back to The White Swan and the surrounding areas for some shopping.
Tru and Christopher's visa applications were approved today and we pick up their passports tomorrow.
We will be packing tomorrow as we prepare for the trek home. We came with two bags and a stroller. The quesion is... how many bags will we have going home??

Blessings and Shopping

We started our day at a Buddhist Temple. We visited this temple when we adopted Lin-Ley as well. We were all blessed by the monks and then enjoyed the scenery. We have some great pictures but I just wish they could convey the extreme heat here. Dallas even commented today that Louisiana has nothing on Guangzhou as far as the heat and humidity.

Lucia (our guide) with Lin-Ley and Christopher.

The family that we are with now is Kari and Christopher. Kari's husband and son (also adopted from China last year) are waiting for them at home. We have really enjoyed having them here! Christopher is three years old.

The kids were blessed by a Monk.

Great picture of Tru.

Kari and Christopher.

When Tru is hungry he opens his mouth and points inside. He does this alot! I do not know how he eats so much!!

Play time at the hotel.

After we visited the Temple we had a fried chicken and dumpling lunch. It was probably one of the best meals we have had in China. Then we visited a local silk and embroidery shop. This store did not compare to the one in Changsha but we managed to find a few things...

DISCLAIMER: When I post to this blog I am unable to make changes. I know that there have been some misspelled words. That is one of my biggest pet peeves! I can post but can not view the web page that you see. And... everything is in Chinese. I will make some corrections later...

Greetings From Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou around 4PM yesterday and could not be happier! It was hot in Beijing but it is HOT here. That's ok because there is another family here and we have been alone since we arrived in China (other than our guides). So the company is very welcomed. They feel the same way. More on the other family in our next post.

Today Tru took his visa photo (frowning as usual), had his medical exam, and then... we shopped. We only had about 45 minutes for shopping today but we made the most of it and spent most of our time at Sherry's Place. Dallas watched all of the kids while the other mom and I purchased silk pajamas and chops for the boys. There were other purchases - luckily Dallas just keeps his back turned and hands over his wallet when it is time to pay! But hey - you don't come to China everyday!!

We visited the White Swan Hotel (where all of these photos were taken) for some play time for the kids.

Lin-Ley met some other "big girls" there who were also back in China to adopt siblings. I heard her ask them, "Hi guys. Where are you from?" I do not think they ever answered her but I think she was trying to find out if they were from China too.

Lin-Ley took this picture of the fish and wanted to make sure I posted it.

Lin-Ley was born in the year of the horse.

Tru was born in the year of the rooster.

All of our paperwork is complete. Now we just wait while Tru's visa is being processed. So until then... I guess we will just have to shop!

Last Day in Lanzhou, Gansu

Nothing to report today. Our guides have been very busy and could not meet with us until 3PM today. When that time finally rolled around Dallas and I were not feeling well. Just temporary... we are fine now. So basically we have been in our room all day except for a short walk this morning. Tomorrow we fly to our next and final destination - thank goodness!! The adoption is official and we have all of the paper work as well as Tru's passport. Now we will be in Guangzhou until August 8th. The only reason we have to stay in China now is to get Tru's visa from the U.S. Consulate. Just for the record we were ready to coming home on Monday (the morning after Tru arrived).
To our Hunan friends (2003 Travel Group) - if you are reading this we want you to know just how much we are missing you right now! It is not the same without you!!!!
Tomorrow is a travel day so it may be two days before we post again. Until then...

Outings in Lanzhou

Yesterday, after naptime, we visited the Ganzu Provincial Museum. This is the home of the Galloping Horse. This a bronze statue that is considered one of China's national treasures. It is considered so precious that it is the only item in the museum that can not be photographed. Oh... and I found out that you can not take pictures of any other displays in the room with the Galloping Horse. This was a lesson learn after I snapped a picture near the statue and the security guard came running toward me. There I go again!

The museum focused primarily on the China Silk Road and items that were unearthed from the road, the history of pottery in Ganzu, and fossils found in Ganzu.

We were on our own for the evening. We have arrangements to have dinner each night in the dining room downstairs which serves a buffet. In need of an adventure, we loaded up the kids in the stroller and started walking. Speaking of our stroller - everyone here is fascinated by it. We thought it was because it was one of the new sit-and-stand strollers where Tru sits in the front and Lin-Ley can sit on stand on the back. But the comments are "Look it holds two babies." So I thought about it and I finally figured it out. In China you can only have one baby so there would be no need for a double stroller....

Our adventure led us to a shopping area and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It took about 15 minutes to order (thank goodness for picture menus). The chicken was spicy. We were hesitant to eat it but were hungry enough for some "American" food that we ate it all and then ordered more. I think it was safe to say that we were probably the center of attention. We sat by a window and everyone around us in the restaurant was turned to look at us and people would stop to stare into the window from outside.

Today we visited Five-Spring Park and the Lanzhou zoo. There are two pandas at the zoo but just like the Beijing zoo they were either sleeping or kept their backs to us - so no good photos. But there was

an opportunity for a camel ride. I convinced Dallas to take Lin-Ley for a ride. However, they both agreed that just sitting on the camel was enough...

The park was a beautiful, shaded trail up the side of a mountain. Many people walk the trail every morning for their daily exercise. Some of the older people walk up the mountain backwards for good luck. One of our stops was at a Buddhist Temple. Today was one of two days each month that people would come to the temple for prayer.

Lin-Ley and Amber (one of our local guides).

Lin-Ley is performing a few ballet moves.

For lunch we had Ganzu's famous beef noodles. They brought us sooo much food. One of the side dishes was what looked and tasted like roast beef. We found out later that it was roast yak!