Post Wed. 6-30 GZ

Our routine for morning continues to be about the same. Showers then everyone headed to the breakfast bar downstairs. I think we sleep a little later than some of the other families but then if you are late to the bar, some of the good things are gone. This morning we decided to stay around the hotel. Chuck and I listed the things we have bought and calculated what we had spent so when we go through customs we will have a little idea of what we have purchased to claim. Later we had another lunch at McDonalds and then boarded the bus for the Amercian Consulate here in Guangzhou. Poppy went with us and about 5 or 6 other families. Of the 16 families here with us, each day a few go and today was our day. The fun part about traveling anywhere is the traffic. I do not know how these bus drivers do it. There is a lot of honking at each other but to move a bus to another lane, the driver just sneaks his nose in and goes for it and somehow the car behind wedges in as close as possible and another bus is so close that Chuck could see himself in the review of the other bus....To me it is funny to be face to face with people in another bus literally. They all stare at us and keep staring...guess we are just an odity here. There are so many people in all the chinese citys that we have been to...all the housing just goes on and on. I do not know how on earth you would ever know where to go if you lived here. Only in the finer retaurants and hotels and maybe businesses do people even understand English. Even here in this hotel we have to explain ourselves over and over, but I think we have been here so long we are getting use to it and sign language helps with a lot of things. So this afternoon, we entered the consulate and waited for Shiloh's Chinese name to be called and we stepped forward to a window and they had Chuck sign and then verified our passports and we sat back down. (They called us first out of the 47 or so families...so everyone was watching and you know I hate being on display, but we got everything checked quickly and sat back down. From there we waited for all the families to do the same. Then we all stood and took the oath together. I thought I would be OK for all of this but for this part I teared up. Holding this little girl who had been left on the side of a road in northern China, who now has the most infectious laughter...what an amazing journey to this point. As quickly as we completed the oath with all the other families at the same time, we were done. So now all our paperwork and checks are complete. Perhaps the other mothers with tears were like me....this child is finally ours and she will never wait again for one minute of love. Now tomorrow afternoon we will get our "brown envelope" which we are not to open and are to deliver to immigration in the US! Once we have this and Shiloh's Chinese passport we are free to leave...Our flight home is Friday morning here....but puts us in Atlanta July 2, at 10:10pm. We were not allowed to take any pictures of the happenings at the consulate so that is kind of sad. Poppy was just upset that there were no American Military Men around being that he is a veteran. There were armed guards here and there...kind of placed sporatically. Later we returned to swim for a while. Shiloh got in the water with a little coaxing and what a hoot. She then became a dare devil and jumped in the pool to Chuck...we will have to watch her around water until she can swim. At dinner afterwards she sat in the high chair and did just fine. She is so comical. She used her chopsticks to dip in her tea to drink and she takes a piece of meat and puts it in the chopsticks and then tried to eat it. We skyped with big sister and Nana again as we have most days. Dakota seems fascinated with Shiloh and Shiloh tries to feed Dakota M&M's on screen. We are just so ready to come home. Tomorrow is a free day so we are going back to the island to pick up a few orders and then shop a little. Don't know how we are going to get everything home, but we will find a way. I will post some pics from today and then again for tomorrow and then that will be it and we will be on our way. Shiloh will be an American citizen once we touch down in New York at JFK! I do wonder about some things. In the reports on Shiloh that we recieved most had pictures of her not smiling and there were statements that she didn't smiles much. I don't get it, while I am sure it scared her to death to be left with us at first..she smiles and laughs all day long. She is a little shy around others as it stated but I wonder who didn't spend enough time with this little person to even discover her silly personality and sense of adventure. She may not speak our language yet, but hugs and kisses need no words and neither do smiles and giggles. I see so many families with these younger babies and while they are just as in love, these little ones cry and need diaper changes and formula. I was worried that toddler adoption would be harder as we often hear...this hasn't been easy but we got a really cool kid who opens up a little more to us each day. I would encourage those of you who are interested to think about a toddler...so far this has not been as hard as I thought. She has done so well. There will still be challenges and issues but we will do just fine. More later...

Fun in GZ 6/29

Today we had to stay in our room from 10 until 11:30am. So after breakfast we came back and waited out the time. Even though it was our consulate appointment, our guides are the ones who take care of this in person with the officials. So we waited and no news was good news. Pretty much our case was presented from what I understand and we were approved if we got no call. Not sure what would go wrong at this point but we sat and waited as patiently as we could. Good thing we had this wired kid to keep us all entertained. Shiloh continues to be a joy. We are still calling her Hongmei as it is the only way to get her attention but Shiloh will come. Once we reached 11:30 we waited a few more minutes just to make sure and then we headed back to the island by taxi for shopping. I think our guides have all been concerned that we have ventured out so far on our own. I guess most families do not do this and just stick to the touring that is set up. We do not want to sit in our own hotel morning, noon and night, so all we do it catch a taxi at the front of our hotel-the door man tells this taxi to take us to the White Swan hotel and then later at the white swan we catch a taxi back to our own hotel. It isn't too expensive and not too hard. Of course when the taxi driver knows a short cut, we realize we are not returning the same way and we kind of wonder, but so far we just use the legal Guangzhou taxi's and it is fine. It is amazing to take a look at how folks live here. High rise apartments row after row, street after street. People hang thier wash to dry on thier decks or makeshift lines. People must go to market daily or every few days. The streets are always busy. We finally got Shiloh to stay in the stroller some of the time. She would also let Chuck hold her a bit and Poppy was good at entertaining her while we looked in a few shops. It is kind of addictive and fun to shop when the prices of items are so good. One place we visited last night and again today was Jenny's..a very nice lady and good prices. Chuck and I got a traditional chinese tea serving set today, which is a very unique pot and 4 small cups for $75 yuan which is about $17 US....the deals on some things are amazing. The funny thing is that this woman Jenny gives us a small gift every time we go in, a bracelet or a necklace. Today she gave Shiloh a little bubble ball that lights up and she gave Chuck and I each another necklace. Right next door was another shop where we waited to find some pajamas for Chuck's mom. The sales clerk, I and Shiloh were the only ones in the store and so she and I talked with her broken English and my broken Chinese...it was fun. She said she was surprised I knew so much. (I have spent 2 years listening to a CD for adoptive families, and a CD on quick Mandarin...still I can only remember a little...it is hard, but we had a great time.) Later on, we caught up with our friends from Hohhot and had lunch at subway....not sure we got all we ordered but finally by sign language we had lunch. We then shopped at Jordan's...which we have heard is a Christian man who owns a shop. We actually met him in the street in passing and followed him right to the shop. He made our families names in Chinese letters and I will have to frame these once home, and he does this for free! Of course I bought a few things from him, but we ordered etchings of both girls from him that we will pick up on Thursday. (Kathy we have your two on order as well!) Chuck mentioned to Jordan that we were Christian and had heard he was and he became so excited. He wanted pictures with us and then as we left he placed all our hands together like when a ball team chants and said "Amen". Really cool in this place where Jesus seems to be far away. I no longer take for granted my right to worship freely. We saw some soldiers at one point and school children in uniforms. So we lost Poppy somewhere along the way but found him chilling out in the White Swan and then made our way back to our hotel. We ate at one of the hotel restaurants which has really good food and little bit finally sat in a high chair for a little while. (Poppy bribed her with Oreo cookies and it worked!) Then Chuck and Shiloh headed to the pool while Poppy and I took pictures and video. She was not too sure about being in the pool, but it was a hoot watching her run and splash Chuck and hurry away as he splashed her. She laughed and giggled so loud that it was intoxicating for us. She had fun throwing the beach ball into the water for Chuck to get. If he splashed her face, she ran to the chair and hit her face on the towel several times and then went right back to splash Chuck. The video will be priceless on this. Suddenly after about 40 minutes of hard playing she got in my lap and started her pretend crying that I think helps her get to sleep. We brought her to the room. I showered her and Chuck got her to sleep. We then Skyped Dakota and let her look at her sleeping sister. Dakota's face is magical while looking at Shiloh. We cannot wait until the 3 more days it will take to get these two beautiful girls together. God is Good!!!

Post 6-27... (Late entry)

We had a restless night again with Ms. Priss. Around 3am she woke and fought sleep and cried for a long time. She eventually went back to sleep but Mama and Baba were tired. We all slept late and later went shopping right next door. We bought the girls two traditional chinese dresses and Shiloh a pair of shoes. We got some gifts for friends and family...love to shop and Poppy helps us bargain with the sales clerks on prices...which I hate doing but that is part of the way of life here from what I understand. Shiloh continues to come out a little more with us each day. This morning we walked around outside the hotel to visit the 7-11 store for some snacks and she allowed Chuck to carry her the whole time. He was all smiles. At the 7-11 Shiloh spotted a grape drink and had a fit, so Baba bought it for her and we put it in the sippy cup and she downed the whole thing. This is an incredible hotel. Very fancy and huge. There is a Starbucks right downstairs that I plan to wear out each day! This afternoon at 3pm, I had to meet our guides in the business center of the hotel to complete some more paperwork. I left Shiloh with Chuck and Dad and spent about 40 minutes downstairs. Luckily we are Hague so it didn't take too long. The Non-hague Families had a few hours of this. (Kind of stressful though.) Now we sit and worry all the details are OK. The good thing is that Chuck and Poppy had a great time playing with Shiloh and though she asked about Mama, she didn't cry. Now that we are on the downhill slide of this journey, I am feeling better. I just miss Dakota so bad. (Not long Now sweet girl, you are being so grown up staying with Nana and Aunt Wendi.) Tonight we are headed to dinner with our group. It is a lot of fun to go with the other families and see the babies. I think dinner is traditional chinese food. (Wish they had a Mexican Restaurant here or at least a Taco bell!!!) OK, so I went to sleep last night and didn't post. Sorry about not having something out there now that I can. Well, we went to dinner last night at a local place we could walk to. Baba held Shiloh who was sleeping and probably 10 families went. I knew I was in trouble when we got to the place and there was a baskit of live happy little ducks (poor things had no idea they would soon be dinner) and then more hacked up alligator parts, live snakes (Sorry mom), frogs, any kind of fish live in tanks, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and then a fully cooked baby pig....I was sick before we got to the meal. Still, once inside our guides ordered for everyone a cantonese style family dinner, again everything on a big lazy susan and you help yourself to whatever you like. Of course the weird dishes arriving were not enough for Chuck, he ordered Alligator stir fry on the side! (Dakota, daddy ate alligator and he and the guide are going back one night to sample all the other "yuk" things.) Poppy, Shiloh and I will visit the good hotel food places. But for the most part dinner was uneventful with tired families and babies. Shiloh seems to be most content playing in our two adjoined rooms and running back and fourth. She really opened up to Chuck and Poppy yesterday. So girlfriend slept a little better last night. She still woke three times but I have found the secret is to let her cry and keep patting her on the bottom and back. If I pick her up she cries worse and will not go to sleep. So today we are doing really well! She will still not sit in the high chair, but she sat in the chair beside Poppy for breakfast this morning. She feeds herself like a champ and she now lets me get out of her sight sometimes. She will ride in the stroller a little but not much. She really screams when we try to buckle her into anything...maybe being buckled has not been a pleasant thing in her past? So we are not trying that again One thing at a time.

6-28 Mon....pearl and jade shopping.

OK, so a quiet morning playing around the hotel with a loud girl. Shiloh is really catching on fast to a lot of things. We have decided she is very smart..she can do anything, she just has to be shown. She loves putting things in a cup or stacking items. She runs from our room to Poppy's room laughing and at full speed. She loves to have her hair fixed so notice the three piggy tails..very hard to accomplish with this short hair. We see all the families with children and it is so fun to watch. Some do have older children but the majority have those under two from what I can tell. Today we had to go back to the medical clinical to have Shiloh's PPD skin test read. It was negative, as I give and read these at work. So once we had this done we took off to meet Ann at the white swan. Instead of going on the scheduled or planned trip to the jade and pearl markets with our group, the renegade's took off with Ann to have a personal guide for shopping. We went by taxi to a very big shopping area with floors and floors of shopping. (Kind of like a high rise mall.) We would never have found this on our own. We first bought jade and then silver and pearls. Pretty interesting. When someone wanted to charge me too much for a simple Jade bracelet, Ann made one for me from another vendor! Pretty cool huh! We could not believe the prices and how you purchase pearls. (By the strand...so even if you just wanted a necklace, they can make a bracelet and or earrings out of the left over pearls from the strand.) These are real pearls from the southern oceans...not from cultured freshwater although they did have those. Jade was very cheap and fun to shop for in the store we went to. While the people could not understand us, Ann took care of business and we Renegades decided this was the best decision we had made for the trip. We could not have shopped like this with 16 families all together. Shiloh slept for most of the shopping trip and we have decided that we are glad to have Poppy along as he is a big help! Only 4 more days until we leave for home. I cannot wait to hug you Dakota!