We Made It Home !

We made it home at on 11/21 ! We are settling in and Lu Lu is doing fine !

Coming Home

This is our final post as after today Lu Lu is officially a U.S. Citizen - so now we can bring her home. We now have completed the adoption process after a brief trip to the U.S. Consulate in downtown Guangzhou. Unfortunately recently they moved the consulate from the island to downtown so it is a bus trip to get there.

Thank you to everyone who watched our progress in China - we felt like you were all here with us and we appreciated all your thoughtful comments. We had an incredible time here in China and are excited to bring Lu Lu home with some lifetime memories for all of us of her birth country.

This is a beautiful country with a long and interesting history - we hope someday to bring her back to see it and appreciate it for herself.

On Her Way Home...

Today Lu Lu got her approval on her Visa so she can come home. Now all that's left for Pam and I is a visit to the consulate tomorrow and then we can bring her home. We have been waiting around today to get the good word and walking around Shamian Island. We are still having fun but are very excited to come home !

Yuexiui Park and 6 Banyans Temple

Today we ventured out to see Guangzhou with three other families from our agency. It was nice to finally be part of a group in touring around and to actually have to take a bus to fit everyone. Although having the guide exclusively to ourselves in previous cities was nice, it was fun this time to talk to other families going through the same adoption process while we rode the bus. We first visited Yuexiui Park. This park has a famous statue in Guangzhou depicting 5 goats. The story of the goats says that five gods riding on five goats brought the first rice leaves to the city so the people would never go hungry. It is the reason Guangzhou is sometimes referred to as Goat City. Also an interesting side note Guangzhou - although small in comparison to other cities in China is a city of 3.2 million people and serves as an important center of foreign commerce helped by it's proximity to Hong Kong.

While in the park Kyle and I played some hackysack with the locals. Simon, our guide approached a group and opened the door so we could play with them. Their version of hackysack is some rubber and metal disks with feathers sticking out the top. You kick it in the air between people like you would a hackysack in the U.S. - but it is much more popular in parks in China. We saw women and men of all ages playing it. Especially the retired people were playing it. Our guide pointed out that the normal retirement age in China is 50 and we saw many retirees playing hacksack, dancing and exercising throughout the park.

After this we took the bus to the 6 Banyans Buddhist Temple. Although they were performing another ceremony so we could not do a blessing for our babies - something which is a tradition for adoptive families - we still got to see the temple and experience the monks chanting. They were having a service to celebrate the birthday of one of the Buddha's. There are three Buddha's - past, present and future in the Temple - they are around 2 - 3 stories high and all three sit in the temple.

Throughout the day Jia Lu was very animated and seems to enjoy any activity we do. She is continuing to try to walk more and more. We think soon she will be walking on her own once she gets strong enough. She definitely wants to try to walk a lot more now than when we first met her - it's very exciting !

In and Around Guangzhou

Today was our first full day in beautiful Guangzhou. Our hotel and the consulates actually reside on Shamian Island which is connected to the mainland by three bridges. Shamian Island is a 44 acre sandbank on the Pearl River that was created over a century ago outside the city walls as a protected settlement for foreign merchants. Since much of the architecture was done by Europeans who built their mansions on the island it has a very colonial look to it. Much of it was renovated recently so it is very beautiful to walk through the gardens and parks and see the old architecture.

First thing today we got to enjoy the authentic western buffet they have at The White Swan. Kyle was excited to see some old favorite foods re-appear here - things we haven't seen since we left San Francisco. As usual we had to cut off Lu Lu from breakfast and whisk her of to her Visa photo and medical exam appointment. We walked to both of these and on the way we saw many Weddings' pictures being taken - around 7 or 8 - We were told later this was a lucky day for weddings. Lu Lu did well in her Medical appointment and only fought it when the tried to check inside her mouth.

After getting back to the hotel we were surprised to find a complimentary going home Barbie in our room. This Barbie is made by Mattel exclusively for adoptive parents staying at The White Swan hotel and includes a Chinese baby which Barbie is holding.

Everyday we are seeing more and more new stuff from Jia Lu. Today was no different - she really started to move around a lot more and walk around using various objects for support. It is so exciting to see her motivated to come over to us and to see her starting to really connect and bond with each of us.

Guangzhou Arrival

Today was a travel day for us, we left Nanjing and headed for Guangzhou (pronounced Gwahng-joe) in the tropical south of China. We arrived here at 7:00 pm tonight and are staying at the world famous White Swan Hotel where many families stay as their final stop when they have adopted from China. The U.S. Consulate is right next to the Hotel which is why we all stay here - so we can get our children's Visa's before we head back to the United States. The weather here is considerably warmer than Nanjing - Today Guangzhou hit 86 degrees and was sunny while Nanjing was 63 degrees and raining.

Today was Jia Lu's first plane ride and she handled it well. Pam kept her busy eating(something she seems to love) and she took the flight in stride. I was across the aisle from her Jia Lu and Kyle and was able to keep her smiling throughout the flight. So at least we know she can handle 2 hour flights.

Chinese Restaurant Dinner

Linnea seems to prefer Chinese food so we have been trying to eat authentic Chinese food at least once a day. Tonight on our last night in Nanjing based on a referral from our guide we went to a Chinese Restaurant that is adjacent to the bridge in the main square by our hotel. We had our guide write out what we wanted in Chinese characters to make it easier to order. In fact we had her write the name of the restaurant in Chinese characters so we would know we were at the right place. When we arrived at the restaurant we were not sure it was the right place so we showed our note and they confirmed it was the restaurant we were looking for and escortated us up to a table overlooking the bridge and the lighted Dragons on the river - it was a beautiful view. When the menu came - althought there were pictures in it - there was no English writing on it so there was no way to tell what type of meat each dish was so we gave them our note. After a few rounds of going back and forth they delivered our food which was very good.

During this time at a table right next to us there were three older Men who were talking exuberantly in Chinese and Jia Lu was mesmerized by listening to their language - just as she is with our guide when she talks Chinese to her. After a little bit the Men began making funny faces at Jia lu and making her laugh, all of us enjoyed this interaction very much. At the end of the night as they left their table they all said "Bye" to us and smiled fondly at Jia Lu. We saw them again as we left the restaurant and they excitedly said "Hi" to us again as we left to head back to our hotel. These were the only two English words we heard them say all night - So I am not sure what they were talking about but they and Jia Lu sure seemed to enjoy the interaction and we enjoyed watching it happen. -- Paul

Adoption Certificate and Name Stamp

Two big things that happened this afternoon were that our guide brought our Chinese adoption certificate to our hotel room, among other paperwork and Jia Lu's passport. The color certificate is in a beautiful red holder with gold lettering on the front. It is a wonderful keepsake of this exciting event - in addition to being a very important document. So now Lu Lu is one step closer to coming home. . .

As an important keepsake for Jia Lu and her Chinese heritage we also are having a Chinese name stamp made for her. We decided on a dual stamp design with one half a Phoenix that has Chen Jia lu on it and the other a Dragon that has Kyle's name in Chinese characters on it. Our guide, Linda was able to build Kyle's name in such a way that the characters represented a type of Jade which formed an additional symbolic duality in the stamp since Jia Lu also means a type of Jade - this along with the duality of the Dragon and Phoenix make this piece an important item that symbolizes how Linnea's and Kyle's lives are woven together. What's amazing is we ordered it this afternoon and he is hand carving it tonight so we will have it by the time we leave tomorrow at Noon.

Nanjing Yunjin Museum

This morning we embarked on a tour of the Nanjin Yunjin(Brocade) Museum and Institute/Factory. Nanjing is known for it's Brocade which is intricate silk weaving to make everything from table runners to ties and in ancient times emperors formal wear. The artisans in the factory memorize the pattern and on each loom two people work to build the design into the fabric. It takes each team of people 8 hours to make 5 inches of material a day. The thing that amazed me most is it is all done by hand and memory. The designs are drawn and then they build the pattern from memory while they are on the loom. I had always pictured things like these as being computerized and automated but they are still doing it by hand the way it was done over 600 years ago.

It was amazing to see what they created in the factory. In some cases they created duplicates of ancient formal wear and decorative pieces based on designs from the Ming Dynasty. during the tour we even got a family portrait on a replica of an emperors throne. Jia Lu stayed awake for this tour and towards the end of the tour one of the women who worked at the museum was playfully interacting with her. Lu Lu enjoyed the attention and cracked a big smile for her. I can't wait to show these slides to Jia Lu as she grows older and share with her the deep rich heritage of her birth country. -- Paul

Linnea's Laugh

This morning we had nothing planned so we spent a lot of time playing with and getting to know Jia Lu better. She has began babbling a lot and we enjoy being able to babble back and forth with her - The first clear words we heard from her were Ba-Ba(Daddy in Chinese). She will say Ba-Ba to me then I'll say Ba-Ba back and we will keep going in a circle. Later on in the day I got her to say Gu Gu(Big Brother in Chinese) and when she says it she'll look at Kyle. Even Later in the day we learned that Ye Ye was Grandpa and she began repeating that when our guide Linda said it. So far she has not said Ma Ma - but were still working on it.

She has begun responding to certain goofy sounds and faces as well. Her eyes scrunch up into smiley eyes and then a grin cracks across her cheeks - she then has a little internal giggle that is very reserved but the beginnings of all out laughing. So now our challenge is to get her to do this since we all enjoy it so much. -- Paul

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your kind words and all of your support! It is nice to know you are there looking over our shoulder. It really does make a difference! I can feel you all next to us! This has been a fun great experience! Pam

Breakfast with Linnea

Today at breakfast Linnea was the most animated we have ever seen her. All three of us were able to get her to do her silly laugh and flash us her big beautiful smile. Kyle has a special knack for getting her to do this but Pam and I are learning. At breakfast she was totally hamming it up giggling and smiling. Between last night and this morning we also noticed that she likes to organize and sort her food. At dinner last night she kept trying to eat a piece of chicken in a ceramic spoon - and would not give up until she got it right. This morning she sorted her Watermelon into her cereal bowl before eating it. She is showing more of her personality and skills with each passing day. She has also begun to tell us she does not want things by quickly turning her head away from the item or food when she has had enough. Sometimes she will get a serious look, close her eyes and quickly turn her head away when she doesn't want something. Then she will contently turn her head back to look at you(once you have moved the offending item away from her) - it's a very cute way she has learned to indicate when she is done. -- Paul

Xuan Wu Lake Park

Today we ventured out with our guide and another family who adopted a 4 year old boy and took a taxi to Xuan Wu Lake Park here in Nanjing. It was a beautiful very large park - so large that to run around the full loop is 10 Kilometers (6.2 Miles). There is a huge lake in the middle so it is a nice peaceful cool walk. The lake has a mountain on one end and is next to the City which is very good Feng Shui. Jia Lu was pretty tired so she slept in the baby carrier as Pam walked through the park with us. Our first stop before we got into the park was in a small grass area next to the lake we saw some people spinning a yo-yo like large top on a 4' or so string between two sticks (We did not get the name of it.) It was very cool because at one point the master teacher got out of his chair and did it and when it's done right the friction between the string and the top makes a steady loud whirring sound. The really good practitioners can move the top all around their body and it becomes a form of exercise. After watching this mesmerizing display we moved on to an exercise park for kids and adults. All of us adults and kids especially liked the self-propelled leg swinging equipment. It was fun to swing your legs like you were walking or to swing them both together forward and backward. These parks are intended to get everyone some exercise.

After this we entered the park. It is a nice walking loop by the lake. On the way as we rounded the corner walking toward a huge dragon formed from large bushes Kyle noticed a huge blow up cylinder on the lake that it looked like you could walk on the lake in. Kyle indicated some interest in it and our guide said he could do it if he wanted. She proceeded to lead us down to the water and in the end I was able to go in it with Kyle. It was very fun but hard work to keep standing. I've always wanted to do this - but never thought I'd be doing it on a lake in China ! Before this we had fun taking pictures of the dual dragon formed out of bushes - it was huge ! While there we were approached by a group of police officers there in the park for some sort of gathering - some were in suits and some were in police uniforms. They approached our group and asked our guide where we were from she told us they made comments how Kyle was in shirt sleeves - they expected that he should have had a coat on even though it was 50 - 60 degrees F. After a leisurely stroll we headed out of the park and back to our hotel.

Linnea's smile

Linnea smiles when I play roll the ball to Lulu with her.Kyle

It's official

Today we signed and finished the final paperwork so Linnea is officially our daughter ! It took all of 30 minutes to finish at 8:30am this morning(11/13). Then we headed back to the hotel for some family time.

Nanjing is a beautiful city and our hotel The Mandarin Garden Hotel is roughly in the center of it. We are able to head out the front door of our hotel and walk through a huge walking market place with many stores and restaurants to look at on street level. There are few bikes and no cars so it is a relaxing stroll. Our guide said it is safe for us to walk around it until 11:00 pm at night so we will probably take Linnea there often. Today our guide showed us where a local supermarket is so we could buy inexpensive water and snacks and not pay extra at the hotel. She walked Kyle and I through the market pointing out shops and restaurants. Along the way we had many people pointing at Kyle so he went into "hood" mode in hopes of hiding from all of the attention. Linda our guide assured him that all of the people were commenting how cute he is. On the way we reached a square right by the river that had a huge money tree completely covered in gold leaves. Also there is a bridge that crosses the river there and on the wall across the way are two huge gold dragons above boats that you can take down the river. Linda said it is even more beautiful when it's lit up at night so we will check it out in the next few nights. After crossing the bridge we entered the market. It was 4 levels high with the supermarket on the top two levels. You even can take your shopping cart on the flat escalators between levels(the shopping cart wheels lock so you don't have to worry about losing it.) In the fresh area Linda showed Kyle all of the live items available. First we saw various kinds of fish and crab. Then we turned the corner and there was a huge bin of live eels and above them were four bins of live frogs climbing all over each other(they were huge 4-5") below them were turtles "for turtle soup" Linda said. We purchased our snacks and drinks and headed back to the hotel.

After we got back we went to lunch at The Burger King in our hotel. We have found most of the food in our hotel to be a little off from our tastes. We have tried pizza and burgers here and they did not quite taste right. Also the buffet here includes things like steamed snails and ducks blood so that's why we tried the American menu. So Lu Lu got her first fast food today. At breakfast and lunch we found her to be a chow hound - any food we put in front of her she eats heartily ! She is just like her Ba-Ba(Daddy) ! --Paul

Pictures of Lu Lu

Here are those pictures of our beautiful new daughter ! We were able to get internet access working today so now we will be able to post daily from here on out.

Gotcha Day!

We arrived in Nanjing this morning(11/12) at 11:30am. It was an hours drive to the hotel then a short drive to the Civil Affairs office to finally meet Jia Lu at 1:30pm. We were waiting in the main office area and when they brought her to the door we recognized her immediately. We were able to talk to her nannie through our wonderful guide Linda and one of the things we found is that her nickname is "Lu Lu". We filled out some paperwork and brought her back to our very comfortable hotel room. Kyle got her to laugh by blowing bubbles and so far she loves to eat crackers. She is so beautiful and we are very excited to spend the week getting to know her better. She has been so sweet and gentle. Right now she is sleeping peacefully in her crib in the room with Pam while Kyle and I get dinner.

Sorry it took so long to post - we are unable to get internet access working here in our hotel in Nanjing. So this will be the last post for the week. When we get to Guangzhou this Friday (11/16) we will try again. Also we will not be able to post pictures until then either - Sorry.

Today is Linnea's gotcha day!

Today is Linnea's gotcha day! so today we will proceed from Bejing and arrive in Nanjing and soon after we get there we will get Linnea! the next day we will do paperwork to confirm that everything worked out and she's actually ours then we will stay in Nanjing until Friday then go to Guangzhou and stay at the white swan hotel to confirm our paper work. Kyle

The Great Wall . . .

Well Kyle and I finally became heroes today(Pam already was). The Chinese say if you climb The Great Wall you become a hero. Boy did we ever climb The Great Wall ! Our guide dropped us off at the base of a very steep hill to climb. It was extremely beautiful towards the top but everyone worked hard to get there. It was an amazing experience to be on The Great Wall knowing all of the history that went into building it. Additionally, we went to the Summer Palace which was The Emperors summer residence when he wasn't in The Forbidden City. The Summer Palace site is three times the size of The Forbidden City and includes a huge man-made lake. Today Pam and Kyle continued the tradition of eating M&M's in China - which was Pam's staple when she was here 25 years ago. However, Pam broke new ground and at a special dinner set up by our guide Pam ate Peking Duck - and I have a picture to prove it ! Finally at the end of the day we went to a Kung Fu show at a Theatre called "The Red Theatre". Now we are getting some sleep before our big day tomorrow - we'll leave Beijing at 9:25 am to fly to Nanjing where we will finally meet Jia Lu for the first time tomorrow afternoon and take the first steps to bringing her home !

some thoughts and observations

I just have some thoughts and observations from someone who was here in China 25 years ago. Obviously, there are so many differences from then and now. Just the fact that we can walk around without a guide is very different. Yesterday, we went to a very upscale mall across the street from our hotel. When I was here before we could only shop at Friendshp stores, which were pretty much souvenir stores, and we could only use tourist money, which we called play money. But, what I find sort of interesting is that we are getting pretty much the same tour we got 25 years ago. I realize we only have two days and there is a language barrier, but what they don't show us and don't talk about tells me just as much about their culture as what we saw. We really hear mostly about ancient China. Yes, I know that they have a very long and interesting history, I just find it curious that we got pretty much got the same tour 25 years later. Paul did not mention that we went to a "rug factory" (pretty much a store where they sell homemade woven silk rugs that were gorgeous) and an ancient Chinese Tea Ceremony (which was pretty much a store that sells Chinese tea. Terri c. if you are reading this, I kept thinking of you and how much you would have liked that recreation of the tea ceremony.) This is a way to show Ancient Chinese culture and crafts. Whereas we would have preferred hanging out in one of the many and really pretty parks in Beijing. (A side note about the parks-The governement puts exercise equipment in the parks for people to use to exercise. So the neighborhood parks have a type of elliptical, starimasters and stationary bikes. We saw these from the road driving by.) I guess, I just find it interesting that we do not hear a lot about current Chinese culture. No judgement, I just find it interesting.

Also, I have to give Kyle a lot of credit for being such a trooper. He draws a lot of attention everywhere he goes. And if you know Kyle, you know that he is not comfortable with this at all. But he is doing his best at being respectful. Sometimes he puts his sweatshirt on and puts his hood and so he can "hide" One of our tours to old Beijing we visited a house of a local (they make it seem like she was welcoming us into her home, but I saw one of the guides paying her. Which is fine. It was interesting to see the courtyard style house which was very common in Ancient China.) She was all over Kyle. She kept rubbing his head and back and giving him gifts and just smiling at him. When we left she kissed him good bye. I try to keep him close to me to help him out. He took it in stride although I know he was not liking it. Last night, when we went to the acrobatic show while we were waiting for the show Kyle had a little meltdown. It was a culmination of a lot of stuff, and something small set him off. He was just sitting there crying quietly so we just gave him space and let him get it out. But there was a group of women behind us and they kept looking at him and giggling and telling him he is beautiful. He just put his hood on and tried to disappear. Like I said, he is handling it fine though. It is so interesting to see how people respond to him. A couple of women have tried to get their boys to talk to him. There are a lot of boys and I have only seen only children.
We have tried to put a spin on all of Kyle's unwanted attention. We told him that Linnea is going to get that kind of stuff almost everyday and ou and her can be in it together talking about how much you don't like it.

That is all for now. My little two cents. Pam

Visiting The Forbidden City and Beijing City Tour

Today we had a non-stop tour of Beijing. After meeting Helen, our personal guide - we first toured Tiananmen Square (which translates as The Gate of Heavenly Peace). It was a beautiful Saturday morning and the square was full of tourists. We were struck by the shear size of the square. From the square we went under the adjacent street and came out at the entrance to the Forbidden City. We walked through The Forbidden City and toured many sections of the various buildings. By the time we left The Forbidden City and the Moat on the other side it was about 1 and a half to two hours later - it was huge, and we didn't even tour each side of it, it looked like you could get lost in there. We even found out that there are 9,999 and a half roofs in the entire Forbidden City ! After this we were whisked off to an authentic Chinese Lunch which was very good ! We then were treated to a bicycle rickshaw tour of the old part of Beijing which gave us a glimpse of how the locals live day to day. Finally we headed for The Chaoyang Theater and took in an entertaining acrobatics show which included a bike ridden by ten acrobats at once among other things. It was a very busy day and we were glad to be back in our room to get some sleep. Tomorrow we will head for The Great Wall...

We made it to Beijing !

We made it to Beijing today ! Kyle hung in there. After a 2 hour plane ride to San Francisco and an 11 hour plane ride to Beijing we finally arrived. Because of all of the Olympics construction at the Beijing airport they had our 747 park on the runway and they bused us back to the terminal - It was fun walking out of a 747 on some stairs and then onto the Tarmac (almost 400 people onboard the plane had to do this. We only had a second to take this shot so that's why Kyle looks a little out of sorts in this shot. We then had about an hour ride to get to our hotel in Beijing - All told we did not arrive at our hotel room until 5:00 pm Beijing time on Friday November 9th. On the way we got a thorough mini-tour of the city and Kyle was very excited to see the Wall that originally protected Beijing during the Ming dynasty 500 years ago. Now they have made it part of a park that goes around the city. Tonight we got a call from our guide for tomorrow and we are getting some rest tonight so we can tour the Great Wall and Forbidden City with her in the next few days.

A good send off !

On Wednesday morning Pam and Kyle were surprised by a big red sign by the Hazelwood School Office (Kyle's School). On the sign it said "Good Luck Bainbridge Family, Welcome Home Linnea !". Thanks for this and all of the other good wishes, thoughts and cards - It helped us take our mind of our marathon travel day on Thursday.

Ready to Go!

Two more days and we are on our way. We are all ready to go. We are packed, we have all the paperwork, and we went to the bank yesterday to get money. WE will get Jia Lu on Monday November 12, so if you have time on that day, send us some good thoughts. And especially send some loving and encouraging thoughts to Jia Lu. It is going to be a hard and confusing time for her in the next couple of weeks. We will do our best to help her transition be as smooth and loving as possible. We will keep you posted. --Pam

yay! wer'e going to china

Yay! wer'e going to china in 4 days to get my sister her name is Jia lu that means little jade but when we get her wer'e going to name her Linnea. before we get her we will see the great wall and other Beijing sights,then we will fly to Nanjing and get her. Kyle

getting closer...

We got our itinerary today for our in-country travel. We will have two days in Beijing. We will pick Jia Lu up on the afternoon of the 12th. We are staying in pretty modern Western hotels. That should be good for comfort and convenience, since this is not really an adventure travel vacation. Two of the hotels have golf ranges inside the hotel, one has a bowling alley. It looks like if we are up to it we should have a few days in each city for sightseeing. I hope we get a chance to do some of that.

We got our tickets

I purchased our airline tickets today. We went to a very wonderful travel agency here in Lynnwood, recommended by the agency. I think they recommendthem to everyone, we are just lucky they are in our backyard. Yen is very delightful to work with (and the agency is called Delightful Travel). She knew all the ins and outs of traveling to China. She made sure we had four seats together coming home (instead of two and two) because she said we are a new family and we should all sit together. She even told me how to pronounce Jia Lu's name (and we have been pronouncing it right).

Here We Come!

We got our final notice and travel approval today, just three weeks after our letter of confirmation, and 3 weeks earlier than expected! Yikes! We are on the way. We are probably going to leave November 8, spend a couple of days in Beijing acclimating (a little) and Kyle and Paul can see The Wall and a couple of other biggies. Then, we will get her on November 12, and be home November 21. We are just waiting a day or two to get a confirmation of our US consulate appointment, which will hopefully be November 19.

Thank you Gamma and Pappy

The room is complete. It was a family effort. Gamma made the shades and quilt for the bed and Pappy made a nice shelf to go on the dresser. Paul, Kyle and I hang out in there sometimes. I don't know if it isi because we are excited or because it is the cleanest room in the house (for now).

Happy Birthday

Happy 2nd birthday to Linnea Jia Lu! We are thinking about you.

Happy Birthday present to me from the CCAA in China! We got our Letter of Confirmation today. This means that we are really really official now. They have looked at all of our paperwork and they approve the adoption. Now we are waiting for our travel approval. This usually takes 3-5 weeks. But the first week of October is a holiday in China and everything is closed down, so we will lose a week maybe two because of that. We hoping now we will have her by Christmas.

By the way, tomorrow is the Moon Festival celebration in China. "The Chinese Moon Festival is coming soon! The Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival, is one of the most important holidays celebrated in China. It is held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and this year falls on September 25. The festival is a time for families to get together for moon gazing parties. Traditionally, families stay up late and watch the moon rise, light lanterns, have a big family dinner, and eat moon cakes. " -quote from our weekly newsletter from WACAP. It sounds like fun!

Linnea's room 2

Kyle and I have been putting stuff in Linnea's room. Kyle is having a great time playing with his old toys. These are mostly toddler toys that we have saved and are putting in there. He keeps going in there and pulling stuff out and playing with them. He is going to have fun playing with these things with Linnea.

Linnea's room

We have finished the mural in Linnea's room. Paul drew it and Paul, Pam , Kyle and Jami helped paint it. Here are some pictures. Paul finished the floor last night so we are almost ready to start moving stuff in.

Ouch Part 2

Maybe I was scared that they would see me cry but I finally toughed it out and got my shots today. I had to get the MMR shot among others which stung worse than a bee sting when she initially inserted the needle - now I know why Kyle didn't like it ! I guess it's just a minor sacrifice in this whole adoption process.

Ouch!

Kyle and I went to the UW travel clinic today and got our first round of shots! I told Kyle he could hold this against Linnea someday. He had to get 4, and will go back in a month for two more. I only got two. PAul goes in a couple of weeks. He was supposed to go today with us, but he coincidentally had a meeting. Maybe he did not want us to see him cry.

care package

I mailed off a care package to Linnea Jia Lu today. The adoption agency will mail it for us. We put pictures of the three of us in there with labels of who we are (the agency will translate) and a toy and a teddy bear. Hopefully she will get it. I am not sure how much of it she will understand though.

here is our BLOG

Here is our BLOG This will be our journal of our journey to bring Linnea Jia Lu home to our family. For those of you who have not met her yet, she is currently waiting for us in China. (Kyle's friend at school asked him why he left his sister in China) She will be two years old in October and we hope to go and get her sometime in the Fall, probably after her birthday, but before Christmas. Her name is translated to New Jade, so we nicknamed the post little Jade. She is in an orphanage in eastern China, in a city called Xuzhou. We will probably pick her up in Nanching, China ( a "medium" sized city of 8 million people). Today I went shopping at Target to start to compile all the stuff we will need. Since we will be in a larger city we can buy a lot of stuff there. It has been recommended though that we take medicines and stuff like that from home, so we can read the labels. The doctor gave us a list of all kinds of stuff to take in case she needs it when we get her,-lice medicine, scabies medicine, cold medicine, constipation, diarrhea, etc... Yikes, we will be a traveling pharmacy.

Pre placement phone call

Today I had a conference call with a social worker from the adoption agency. I felt so important being part of a conference call. Anyway, she talked about what to expect when we finally get her in our arms. Not that it will be a cookie cutter response from her, but she can give us a little idea of what to expect. I think if we can just keep in mind and try to put ourselves in her shoes and remember the trauma that she is experiencing, it will help us in trying to understand her a litttle better and be patient with her.