At home on the 21st

We made it home the 19th at 4:30 with only one lost piece of luggage. We got that one today and all is well. Aside from sleeping all day and up all night Meng is doing very well. She has excepted us and is running around the house like a mad woman! She is interacting with her big brother and is speaking Chinese a mile a minute. LOL we dont know what she is saying but we smile and nod our heads! We put up the christmas tree and I got her a giant Santa and she lost her mind she was running and laughing and trimming the tree! We are going to keep the blog running alittle longer so her brother can see her when he goes back to school and just to keep diary of her transition to america.

OK the last post for our trip - The Zoo

Got up early and ate our last big breakfast at the White Swan. I cant believe its been two weeks, and we cant believe we have Meng. Marion really likes it here and I think its because of the hotel and no cleaning and cooking! Really this is just like Europe and the people are so nice and welcoming. I will miss China too. We will eat at lucy's tonight and then get Meng to bed so we can finish packing. Came with two suitcase's, leaving with 3. We are up at 5 am to get to the airport for the 40 minute flight to Hong Kong then a 2 1/2 hour layover till the Big flight to California, 12 hours and 5 minutes then the last two and a half hour flight to Denver. That puts us in a 2:05 pm on Friday.

The zoo was fun:

Hallie and Meng, both were adopted from the same province in Henan, Her family is from Alabama.

The big dude of the day was Xian Ping the Panda:

Off to dinner and Bed. We Cant wait till Meng meets her Big Brother Chris.

The oath!

Yesterday we went to the US embassy and took the oath . Meng wasn't to happy that we couldn't take her stroller , but after a while she was ok with it . She loved the bus ride back from the embassy she was talking up a storm. Meng gets really excited when she sees the boats on the Pearl River she would really love the part of Germany I am from the Mosel by Bernkastel lots of boats to see on the Mosel. I must say I do miss the water as well, especially in the summertime. In 30 minutes we'll leave and go to the zoo, we're certain that Meng will love the zoo and the Panda they have there.

We were not allowed to bring in a camera to the Consulate so no pictures of the oath.

Yesterday we found out just how fast Meng is!  She can move like a cheetah, the leg is no issue!

The squeaky shoes now come in handy as we can keep track of her movements!

The Happy New Year sign on the side of the White Swan.

We will do one more post tonight then its off to Hong Kong tomorrow morning early, for our flight to San Francisco. Twelve hours on a plane tomorrow will be interesting. I am hoping that a miracle will happen and we will get bumped to business class!  LOL, would be nice but I don't think it will happen. We are off to the Zoo to see the Panda, more later!

The Hair cut!!!!!

Ok Chris I got the hairs cut. I woke up this morning looking like one of Charlies Angels and could no longer stand it!!!  So Just for my son and daughter, Ba Ba cut his hair. The 30 minute Shampoo and head massage was the Bomb too!

Jordan's

We didn't make it to the Pearl Market today I am still feeling sick so we just went for another walk . We stopped at Jordan's and had a nice chad with him he is a very nice man just like you said Nanci . He told us to say hi to you and I told him we would and guess what did we buy at Jordan's for Meng ? Another pair of shoes she loves shopping and there I was worried about taking her to a store . Christian is a good thing we don't live over here the girls in the store get your father to buy all kinds of things he has a very hard time saying No to them . He took the picture of the two girls who sold him the outfit on our blog . The one girl gave us her email address so we could email her the photo . The girls over here are really sweet and helpful .

Here they are:

Meng calling her brother today:

Chris check out my new Shirt!

Chris check out the new work shirt!

Another sunny day in Guangzhou

Wow that cold my Dh gave to me is really slowing me down . I wish we brought more cold medicine from home Jason is getting me some more medicine this morning he is so sweet . Like Bill already said the CCAI reps. in China work very hard  and they 're all so nice . We finally found some cloth for Meng that fit her most of the cloth I brought were way to big so we gave them to Yisha for the orphanage . Ash I am trying to keep Meng on her diet while in China , but yesterday her dad sneaked a french fry by me lol . Meng is keeping us busy by the time she goes to sleep we're ready for bed as well.....lol . She is a pretty happy child her foster parents must of given her a lot of attention and love . Meng plays with the chinese doll I bought her all the time it's so cute to see her comb the dolls hair and take her cloth off . Right now she is playing with the phone in the hotel room I hope I 'll feel better later so we all can go to the Pearl Market . Ash email me your address so my son can drop the coffee mug off on Monday .

Moms Birthday and The Doctor Visit

Today we slept in and then after breakfast we did the VISA doctors appointment. To say that Meng did not appreciate it, the doctors or that it broke our hearts to hear her cry is a vast understatement.  But we made it through the activity in one piece and with a good doctors report for the consulate! Tomorrow Jason goes to the consulate to put in the paperwork and do the interviews for us. We will be at the room from 9:30 to 11 am standing by if they have any questions for us. CCAI reps work so hard here in country to make everything as easy as possible, that they stress so much, so we don't have too. With 12 families coming on Sunday, Jason is taking a quick vacation and the other two ladies will be handling them. Jason was married three months ago so he is taking some time with his new bride.

Moms Birthday was met with the morning stress, which we eased with shopping and a nice late lunch at Lucy's:

We had cheese burgers and fries, which by the way Meng Meng loves! Then we saw children from the shamian elementary school doing their exercises:

We walked around and came back to the hotel for the evening. Meng and I bought Ma Ma a Jade necklace with the mother/daughter symbol on it. She likes it. I found a nice DVD store in a cart on the street and tonight Meng and I sat in a chair and watched WALLE on the MAC! We laughed and played, and she is so just like her dad and sister, she loves the PC and watching TV.

Well all for now, tomorrow we have just the interview which Jason is taking care of for us then in the afternoon we have a tour of the Pearl market. Wednesday we have the oath and free time , thursday we get the final paperwork and VISA,  then we are going to the Zoo to see the Panda Bear, pack up and fly to the States on Friday!!  We will really miss China and all the wonderful people here. It has been such a wonderful trip, full of ups and downs, but the people here really made the trip wonderful. We are already talking about coming back in a few years and seeing the country again as it grows and matures. This time we will bring Chris with us.

Chris what I want for Christmas!

Chris, I really like Ba Ba's laptop, but he sweats a lot when I use it so I would like my very own V-Tech laptop or similar type ruggedized laptop with lights and sounds so I can sit by Ba Ba until I can have a real one to farm gold with on WOW. Since I am on the Shamian Island I think my first WOW character will be a Shaman! hehe...Meng Meng.

Meng and I on the bed eating honey nut Cheerio's, I think I need to lose some weight.

The city at night is just a sea of neon:

7 days and already 2 pairs of designer shoes, pink, one of which has squeakers in it, should drive the dogs insane:

More tomorrow.......

Dec 14th Afternoon Shopping

Did all the VISA paperwork this morning and paid for the VISA pictures and the VISA itself. Then we went to the Shamian Island shopping and met our son's future wife, a school teacher with her students. We signed their school books and spoke english with them and exchanged gifts! They were very nice and spoke very good english.

Next we went to Starbucks for coffee and gifts. Ash we got your cup!

Then we bought Meng some squeaky shoes that are a huge hit, and some chinese clothes. We saw 5 couples taking their wedding photo's in the square.

Then it was back to the hotel for pictures with Ba Ba at the fish pond:

She pointing to the big fish. Tonight we are going outside to take some pictures of the lights and the river boats. Tomorrow at 10 she has her US physical and Jason will take everything to the consulate. Tomorrow is Moms Birthday as well so Meng and I are going to do something special for her, and a very nice dinner tomorrow night for us. 

Its amazing that in 7 days she has gone from this to this!!

Here at the White Swan

Ok, we went from cold in Beijing, to cold and dry in Henan, to hot and humid in Guangzhou! Its 70 degrees and now I  feel better and Marion is sick. Jason our CCAI rep is getting her some medicine.  The White Swan is the Bomb! It is truly a 5 star hotel. We are on the tenth floor and our window overlooks the Great Pearl river. At night it is breathtaking to see the neon lights on every boat and building. Even the Cable span Bridge has lights which change color.   The island has everything we need, including a Starbuck to get those special mugs. We will head over there today after the VISA paperwork and photo are done.

Talk about an international family! Passport from USA, China and Germany!

      

Meng eating breakfast this morning...The buffet is crazy huge with lots of different foods from around the world.

The White swan has a huge courtyard with a coi pond, christmas tree and shops galore!

The last picture is her standing up and jumping on the bed!  She is now comfortable enough with us to get up and is constantly asking what everything is. Her leg doesn't keep her from doing much, and once we get it taken care of she will be an outside girl!  She finally came to me last night and let me pick her up to look out the window at the city at night, this morning she pointed to the window and me and made the pick me up sign. So I am in heaven. Its good she comes to me now as ma ma is sick. We will post more after the VISA paperwork is done and we go to Star bucks!  Chris check out the size of the Goldfish, mom didn't believe me that they were really goldfish......

Meng and Mom are combing dolls hair

Off to Guangzhou

It's time to say goodbye to Meng's home province and Zhengzhou we had a really good time here and hope to come back one day . Our flight for Guangzhou will leave at 10:50 in the morning it's a two hour flight I have already packed our suitcases so we're ready to go . Bill still doesn't feel good it's so easy to catch a cold here just praying that Meng will not get a cold while we're here . Right now she is playing with dad and the flash light for such a tiny person she can laugh really loud . She is such a blessing for our family we can't wait to bring her home so she can meet her big brother who will spoil her as much as he can . Will let you all know how the plane right goes tomorrow .

Snacks in China

We had brought some snacks for Meng from the states but, really you can get everything here. Just down the street from the hotel here we have a 7/11 and bought her noodles which she eats like crazy, and cookies and a bottle of water that she can open and close herself. These kids are fiercely independent, due to the environment of the orphanage or foster homes. 

Becky, in Beijing we took a tour of the Government silk factory which was very nice, and had alot of stuff, silk sheets and dresses and tailor made silk suits. The exchange rate is 6.80 to the dollar so things are very inexpensive. Our tour guide in Beijing also took us to a department store. But on the weekends they are so crowded.  Here in ZhengZhou we have the Lotus center and they have everything you could ever want! Its a WalMart and Target slammed together and then injected with steroids. The stores are very clean and have everything. Alot of their products say made in America!  Its kind of funny. Here is a picture of the snacks Meng was used to and they are all in the 7/11.

The noodles are the two packs with the little boy on them, then the water bottle and finger cookies and the top is thin biscuits. The Huge hit is the Honey Nut Cheerio's from the breakfast buffet in the morning. She will eat those all day long. Long story short is food is a great way to bond with the kids and they have everything here u would need. 

Now she is calling us Ma Ma and Ba Ba, pooping and cleaning are going well. She is talking in chinese to us and we repeat it back without knowing what she is saying..but it makes her laugh so that's all that matters. Every hotel has a flashlight as power can go out, and that makes a cool toy as well.

Dec 11th walk through town

One the walk thru town we found Santa Claus, Meng Meng Loves santa;

She likes her stroller!

Chris, check out the pants on the little guy in orange! That is the most awesome idea in the world. All the pants are split in the back and everything is exposed, including the twig and two berry's. They just cop a squat, It is so nice to see the mom's and dad's out with their kids. You see many kids on electric bikes with their moms coming home from school. China has come along way in 30 years and is a wonderful country full of people just like in america.

We saw a very old bicycle on the street used by a street cleaner, a very real mixture of old and new.

We got back to the hotel and then it was playtime in the bathroom, cleaning up our little queen. Megan she loves the sink as you can see.

 

We are just chilling today and will go and get Meng Meng some noodles at the seven/eleven. Tomorrow will be interesting as we fly to Guangzhou. I wonder how Meng is going to take the change. We will see.

Another nice day in Zhengzhou

We just got back from our walk Meng and dad are taking a nap . It's amazing how she let's us know what she wants without speaking any english  . I am starting to wonder if we will ever call her Faith , we're so used to calling her Meng or Meng Meng that after all is her name . Guess we should a thought about this earlier . I forgot to tell you that when we met Meng another couple were adopting twin boys they were about two years old . One twin was happy and the other one was crying just like Meng . Looking back now at Gotcha Day it really wasn't  bad at all still can't believe how fast Meng opened up to us she is so amazing . Tomorrow Yisha is going to pick the passports up for us so we don't have to do it . Yisha is very nice and so good with the kids , she just knocked on our door and dropped Meng's finding ad off . There were a lot of kids on that one page to bad the only thing we can read are the dates . Bill has a cold and doesn't feel very good so he probably will post the pictures tomorrow . Megan we'll try the bathroom sink tonight let you know how it went tomorrow .

Shoes and other Matters

Yesterday we bought Meng new shoes as her's were as rank as my black sneakers. These are the old shoes she came with.

These are pictures from the Lotus Center shopping trip yesterday:

Meng was worn out after the two hours shopping and fell asleep at 5:30 pm last night and slept till 7:30 am this morning! This girl ROCKS!  Pictures of her from last night, she took the shoe picture, and this morning before breakfast. Today she is talking to us and is saying Ma Ma and Ba Ba. Today we relax and if I feel better, I think I have a crazy zoo animal named cold, we will go to the park and maybe MacDonalds. She is very happy with us now, and she is talking chinese. I got to carry her today to breakfast, so for me its baby steps, but is really really worth it. For the first time in two years my heart isn't so heavy.