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