We're home!

First meeting with sisters




Dancing together


We made it home late last night. All 3 flights from Beijing were pretty uneventful, thankfully. Josiah and Joel slept just the right amount, so they still were tired enough to sleep last night. Our only bump was when we got to the airport, we found out that our van's engine was broken (I don't remember the technical term for what was wrong, but it wasn't cheap!). So that got us home a few hours later than expected. Our van got towed and is supposed to be fixed by Monday, so we rented a van to drive the 3 1/2 hours to our home.

The kids are doing great playing together. Normal spats over toys and all, but all is good. It is wonderful to have the family all together again. Josiah has pretty much latched onto a baby stroller and loves driving it around. Luckily we have 4 of them!

Last night!

We had a good flight here to Beijing with enough time to visit the Olympic stadium.  We paid a bit extra to get into the Bird's Nest and climbed to the highest seats possible.  Since it snowed almost 2 weeks ago, they use the snow to have a variety of snow activities on the field in the Bird's Nest.  It was fun to take the subway for almost 30 minutes and 3 transfers in order to get there.  Crazy that it only costs 2 yuan each for a one way trip, like 30 cents each.

 

Tomorrow we are heading home and excited to get there!

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Last night before Beijing

Well, today was a day of goodbye's as two of our group families headed back home.  Needless to say, the remaining two families.... we were uber jealous.  We miss our girls and are ready to be back in our home.  The hotels are great and all but..... it is not home, nor is the food quite the same as eating out.  Our carpet picnics are fun with noodles, PB&J's, chips, oranges, and bananas, but its not like home cooking.... specifically I miss Mexican food :).   This trip was much easier than our last one with Olivia, less adoption drama and in all honesty a really easy trip with all the wonderful families we got to share time with.  Joel was a champ who rarely complained about the food, granted he didn't always eat much (like tonight when we hit Tai food), but he was a trooper and is a great traveler.  He always has lots of questions, some of which we know, others we don't, but we love the inquisitiveness he brings to our trips. We are already planning our heritage trip in 6-10 years with the whole family to visit both Josiah's and Olivia's home cities.  
 
We did the traditional red couch photo's with our group today at the White Swan (the 5 star hotel close by).  See the pictures above.
 
April is busy packing while I blog, of which I definitely got the better end of deal, as tomorrow we head out of our hotel back to Beijing at 5:45 am.  Hopefully the flight will go well and so will us getting a taxi to our hotel.  We plan on visiting the Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest) and the area around it tomorrow, kids permitting. Then Saturday we are off around 11:00 am for our long legs home (4 hours to Tokyo and 9 hours more to Seattle, then 45 min to Portland, then a 3.5 hour drive to Bend weather permitting). The flight is long, but the price was too good to pass up... although now we are both thinking... what is another 900 if we could have cut out a stop in Toyko or a direct flight from here.... oh well.  We can do a lot with 900 :).   Joel made the observation that the Magic Tree House books say time travel isn't possible, but we leave Beijing on Saturday at 11:00 and arrive in Portland at 11:00ish on Saturday... so he thinks it is possible :).  Another fun explanation :).
 
We will continue to make updates to our blog, but much less frequently once we return home.  Mostly it will be about our adventures (4 kids, how can there not be something exciting going on... like the time Olivia found a small hole on our scale and got her finger stuck... and it took us almost 30 minutes to figure out how to get it out...).  We covet your thoughts and prayers as we adjust to homelife, specifically that Josiah will attach to his immediate family.  That is the downside of having an easy trip so far, we both think the attached process will be much more difficult time then we had with Olivia, she was a tough trip/transition for the first month but easy since then.  As such, we are limiting our overnight trips for the next couple of months, limiting having family staying over, and limiting guests to our home to a short quick visits, and limiting our out and aboutness.  It sounds odd, but it is not a reclusive process, rather a process highly recommended by attachment experts.  Also April and I are the ones responsible for feeding, discipline, basic needs, etc, sorry girls but you can't carry Josiah around, just Mommy and Daddy.  This is a "fun" process for both April and I as we raised our other kids more Love/Logic and Babywise methodology, so it can be a challenge for us when we desire our children to be independent rather than dependant, then when adopting we need to raise them differently while at the same time keeping the homelife "fair" for all the kids.

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Official

Well, it is officially official according to the US government.  We completed our anti-climatic swearing in ceremony at the consolate along with 29 other families.  Tomorrow we recieve our "brown packet" to take back to the states.  A couple of families are heading out tomorrow night and we are a bit jealous since we wait until Friday morning for our flight to Beijing.
 
This morning we went to a zoo.  It was interesting to see the variety of animals there.  They especially had a lot of different monkeys.  Some of the cages were kind of sad for the animals - they looked very bored.  But then there were some beautiful spacious areas for other animals to roam.  Joel got to sit on a pony, and I got to hold a HUGE snake!  Josiah LOVED, LOVED, LOVED pointing out and "talking" about every single animal.  He was great at spotting the animals that were even a little hidden.  Apparently his eye sight is just fine.  We aren't really sure about his hearing yet, or if he just has "selective hearing."  He actually is doing better every day with his behavior.  He doesn't get upset quite as easily when things don't go exactly his way.  Joel and him are getting along great.  Joel is very patient with Josiah, and they just love playing together.  Josiah thinks Joel is the funniest kid in the world, I think.  Joel is having a great time being silly with our guide, Elvin.  Elvin is just about the best guide we have ever had.  He really goes above and beyond what he has to do and seems to really enjoy his job.
 
Tomorrow is pretty much a free day.  We will be sad to say goodbye to the other families that are in our travel group.  They have been a fun group to be with, and we all seemed to really click.
 
Hannah and Olivia, just a few more days until we get to see you!!!  We are so excited to give you both a huge hug, and we are so excited for you to meet Josiah.  You are going to love him!

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Exploring

Well business first, TB for Josiah was normal.  Everything is fine with the consolate as we did not get a phone call between 1030 and 1130 this morning.
 
Kids are doing great, exploring and testing boundries.  I think we all have easily adjusted to Josiah's fits as they are getting shorter and shorter.  He seems to understand basic signs or verbal cues, so this is making everyones life easier.  He helps put on his shoes, coat, and is ready to be picked up and put in the ergo baby every time we leave.  Nice to have some small positive adjustments.  Tomorrow we get to see the zoo and head over to the consolate to do the swearing in. Try explaining a swearing in to an eight year old who gets soap in his mouth if he swears.
 
Now onto the good stuff :)  Yah its about food.  Again.  So after our experience at the best place in the world, we asked our new friends if they would be interested.  Yes all around.  So we reminded them to bring drinks (uh oh, got a few eyebrows and funny looks-- better update them on the type of place this is.... eight tables.... no english... undefined food....local place... will run about 22.  Oh, thats not too much we are sending 15-30 US each meals.... um.... I mean its only 22 RMB.... eye brows again....off we go.
 
We head over the bridge, everyone talking about how they have never ventured off the island without a guide. Heh.  We turn into the dark alley under the freeway. Heh.  Then I see our place and the lady who greeted us so warmly last time.  She jumps up smiling and waving us in, then we point to our friends (4 families), her eyes get a little big but then she is off pushing tables together, pulling me into the kitchen, and waving for everyone to sit down.  I end up ordering basically ordering for everyone, but someone wanted noodles which end up being some of the best fried noodles, eggs, and vegi's.  The food comes and we eat a wonderful shared meal.  The lady who ran the place kept coming over giving out hugs, extra food, plates, anything you can image.  She thought Joel was the best and kept hugging him and talking to him.  Joel did what Joel does best.... smiles and laughs. So much so, she even gave him her phone number.  Now we just need to learn some Chinese.
 
Fortunately, everyone has a wonderful time, good food, and laughs.  It was a highlight for everyone. 
 
Also, today was "lost in translation" day.  Check out the signs in the pictures attached.  Some pretty good ones in there!

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Pedestrian street

This morning, we had Josiah's TB test checked.  It was OK!!  So no X-ray needed.
 
This afternoon, our guide took us and three other families from our agency on a walking tour of a pedestrian shopping street.  It started out with a medicine market, which included lots of interesting types of herbal medicines and other dried animals, such as lizard, sea horses, and some live scorpions.  Apparently they put the scorpions in wine, let it sit for one year, then drink it.  It is supposed to give you energy I think.
 
Then there was a pet market, which was a street that had pets out in cages along the street.  Fish, turtles, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters.  Josiah loved pointing out all the different animals.  After that there is a huge pedestrian shopping area with all kinds of shops - clothing, electronics, jewelry.  You name it, it was there.  We were disappointed that the "chicken man" wasn't out and about.  We saw his costume, but he must have been on a break.
 
By the time we were done, we were all tired and hungry.  So we broke down and went to Lucy's, which is a common restaurant for all us Americans craving American food.  I hate to admit it, but it was pretty good.
 
Tomorrow is our consulate appointment.  We don't do anything for this, except wait in our room for an hour, and if our guide doesn't call us this means that everything with our paperwork for Josiah's visa is fine.  Then in the afternoon we will go to a park.  It was colder today, and I think it is supposed to get a little colder.  So much for getting to go out without a coat on this trip!

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Okay, I am officially a liar.  My sincerest apologies.  I ask for your forgiveness from each and everyone of you who have been reading our blog. My taste buds lied. They are completely wrong.  Tonight we had the adventure of a lifetime. Indulge me for a few moments to explain.
 
As you know, we like to experience the world and discover new things.  If you have adopted before, you also know that the island in Guangzhou is not China, rather a place designed to cater to US and other foreigners.  It has real American food; Subway, Lucy's, German, Italian, Starbucks and a 7-11. It is also uber overpriced, granted it is good food.  But its not China. Its like living in a mall.
 
Today we did a western breakfast at the hotel followed by a quick lunch at Subway.  Both April and I were.... ready for some real food for dinner.  From our last trip, we thought we remembered how to find the pedestrian area that led to some shops/food areas.  So we climbed in and through the construction zones trying to find the pedestrian walkway off the island. We found one, it was just the wrong one.  It was busy with people traveling home from work... lots of bikes and walkers... heading into dark alley area with no shops.  Hum.  April asked, "How much further do you want to go?"  --- translate that to "I am ready to head back".  I replied with, lets try around the corner ( about 50 feet).  It started to rain... then rain some more... off to left was a short (literally short as I had to duck my head) pathway under the freeway where people were waiting out the rain.  Hum... a couple of local shops.... uh oh... I see steamed dumplings and noodles.  With confidence we walk in into the eight table place... no menu... everything on the ordering board on the wall is in Chinese.  In the back table there is a lady making dumplings, she says something in Chinese and I just shake my head.  I get a smile back.  She runs over to a dirty table and quickly starts cleaning it off and yelling towards the people in the cooking area. We sit.  She looks.  We look back.  She points to the board.  We shrug.  We get a smile.  She grabs my arm and pulls me back to the kitchen pointing and talking as we go.  I see some steamed dumplings, noodles, some soups, a big vat of chicken parts.  I point and order.  April sees someone eating a plate of rice, chicken, greens, etc.  We point and she agrees.   So we end up with a plate of steamed dumplings, a plate of rice, greens, chicken leg, a 1,000 year old egg, and a soup with small chicken bones. Knowing that there is only one way to eat it, I go for it with a dumpling.  Oh.... my.... word.....yummy..... This is the real deal. At this point, April and the kids dig in.  Greens, yum. Chicken, yum. 1,000 year old egg, soooo good. Soup, yum. April and I are most giddy with delight.   She comes over and delivers an extra bowl for Joel and then grabs my arm again while pointing at Josiah then at some noodles.  I nod.  Another smile.  Then comes a dumpling soup.  It is to die for.  Seriously, the best soup ever. April and I decide that everyone in our group (if they are adventurous enough) need to check this place out.  Yah Hooooo!  We get to go back!  After the food is gone, we need to pay... hum... So I just take out some bills and she picks out the amount.... a 10, another 10, and 2 ones... yah 22 RMB....about $3.  She also was very interested about Josiah and I think we communicated that he was Chinese and was part of our family.  She was concerned about the rain and our only one umbrella, so she gave us hers.  Now that was an experience.
 
Oh, by the way, we also went to a fancy Garden where there is a famous statue with the 5 goats and a run to Carrefour (the French version of Walmart) where we got squeaky shoes... but seriously.... its all about the food right?
 
April here...  I decided I better add in some stuff about Josiah (since despite David's enthusiasm about the food, that is why we are here!)  He has had a fever today.  We are pretty sure it is due to having 5 shots yesterday.  Tylenol is enough to get the fever down, and he is acting fine, just a little more cuddly.  His behavior was actually better today (less tantrums).  Tomorrow we go back to have the TB test read.  His is a little red, but not raised.  I think it should be OK, but we'll see.  If it is bigger than 10 mm he has to have a chest X-ray.
 
So, all in all, we are really enjoying our time here.  Still we are looking forward to going home so we can see the girls.  We miss you Hannah and Olivia!  Wish you were here with us!  Love you!!!

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