Getting Sydney - Day 14 - Last Day

Last day in China Today was the big day...today we visited the US Consulate in Guangzhou and swore that everything in our adoption application was true. That was it...it took about 3 minutes. We were in and out of there in no time. Unfortunately, the don't allow any bags (or even umbrella's) in the consulate building so we couldn't record anything. Later this afternoon we should be receiving Sydney's passport with a US visa attached. When we land in Newark and the department of Homeland Security official stamps her passport...she will be an American citizen. Thankfully the INS department in New Orleans faxed over our missing Visa and we're coming home tomorrow...yeah!!!

I had a little Chinese currency left over an it was burning a hole in Ginger's pocket so we had to go pick up some clothes before we left Shamien island. (A husband has to pick on his wife about her spending, but in truth she has been a very frugal shopper and has spent our money very wisely.) Truly the Lord spoke when he gave me Proverbs 31:12 in answer to my prayers concerning our lives together (in high school no less.)

As we wandered Shamien Island for the last time...I couldn't pass up this photo op: reminiscent of "A Christmas Story"..."It's smiling at us"


How much is that girlie in the window?


Since this is our last day with the other two families our guide took us to a Dim Sum restaurant and we tried some more exotic foods. Here's Sydney ready to go:


The waitresses brought out lots of dishes and placed them on a revolving glass table so we could just rotate it and take what we wanted. Here's what Ginger thought...


when she saw this dish:


It wasn't nearly as scary as it looked though...it was actually a desert. It was just jello in a fish mold. It was an interesting flavor...rose-petal water with some cinnamon mixed in.

Here was another scary-looking dish:


But it was actually quite delicious. It was a very delicate sweet roll with a dab of mashed sweet potato in the middle.

Here's Sydney trying her hand at feeding herself. She does very well at the feeding part, just not the scooping part.


Then it was back to the hotel for a nap. Here are a few shots of the Garden Hotel where we are staying:
The Lobby:


and the garden area:


Then we said goodbye to the Keegan family as they headed out for Hong Kong. They are spending the night there and will be taking a very early flight back to the States tomorrow. They have been great friends and we will miss them terribly!


Here's Sydney waking up and yawning sweet little yawns while snuggling her Mommy:

Sydney says "Thank you Jesus for my new family"


And so ends our China journey (at least this chapter of it.) Thanks for joining us and for your prayers and well-wishes. We would appreciate your continued prayers as you go to sleep tonight...we will be starting our long Friday flight home. We're leaving the hotel at 6:30 AM, flying to Hong Kong, then catching a flight to Newark. We're scheduled to arrive in New Orleans 10:30 PM Friday night, but we're trying to get re-routed to Baton Rouge, still arriving at 10:30, but much closer to home. For those of you planning on meeting us at the airport, we should know something for sure by 3 PM and will call your cell phones to let you know.



Videos:



Chinese/American baby, in China, enjoying French fries




Not so sure about ketchup though

Getting Sydney - Day 13 - London's Birthday

Another quiet day at the hotel. Today we had our consulate appointment...and we didn't even go there! Our guide just brought all our paperwork for us. Someone had to stay in the hotel room in case the consulate had a question and needed to call. So all the ladies in our group went, where else...shopping, and left the men to take care of the children. Thankfully I had 2 helpers today and we had another great day (if not a little confined.)

In addition to being a very important day in the adoption process, it is also even more important because my middle child turned 9 today! While Sydney slept in a crazy position:



London and Victoria play on their friend's Gameboy



Then we all gathered together and had a birthday party for London. Sydney didn't know what to think of London tearing paper...but she liked to play with the boxes. Any bets on how long before these toys have teeth marks on them?








Then the ladies took off for a day of haggling and shopping. After Sydney's mid-morning snack she sacked out for a nice, long nap



After an hour or so we tried to wake her up...but she was sleeping too hard (see the video below), Here she is after I passed her off to Victoria



It wasn't too long before Mommy came home, having transferred weight from my wallet to her shopping bags.

Sydney loves her Mommy so much. She can't wait to walk in her footsteps:



Later in the evening our guide stopped by with a gift for London's birthday...she is very sweet and the girls just love her.



Then our friends, the Adams, stopped by with their little boy, Ethan. He has a cleft lip and palate as well. You'd think he and Sydney would have a special bond because they share the same affliction...wrong! Here's Sydney being teritorial:



Then victoria, London, and Kasity were horsing around in the hall



Sydney says "Hey...what's going on out here"



"I want to join in the fun!"





Please pray for us today...we found out today that the consulate here in Guangzhou is missing Sydney's visa that should have arrived last January. We tried to get a copy faxed to us at the hotel, but the INS lady said that it's an official government document and that they can only send it directly to the consulate, again. The officer in charge of these things in New Orleans assured us that she'd send it again today so it would be there tomorrow for our final meeting. If, for some reason, it doesn't get there today we don't come home this week. Needless to say, we're ready to come home and don't want any delay.

Videos:
First (for us) sitting to standing:






Brusing sister's hair:






Too sleepy, head-loll:




Why is my face so red? Yin/Yang balancing out:




Eating off a fork:

Getting Sydney - Day 6

Another great night. This time I slept like a rock and Ginger was up a lot. We have really not had much issue with jet lag at all. The 1st few days we were very tired by dinner time, but the trick is staying up and not taking any naps. The kids have adjusted very well.

We're staying at the Asia International Hotel this week. On Friday or Saturday we have to move to the Garden Hotel. It's really a pain to have to move hotels in the middle of the Guangzhou trip, but since we're traveling on short notice it couldn't be helped. So far the hotel rooms haven't had microwaves so we've had to improvise a little bit and heat baby food up in the water boiler.

The breakfast at both hotels so far have been very good. Lot's of selections that we're familiar with...and a few (like beef stomach) that we'd rather not see 1st thing in the morning. Here's a picture of us holding our two youngest...I was showing Sydney how I like to hold my little girls.



Sydney's little legs seem very weak so we let her walk as often as she wants to:


She doesn't really care for the hat...

but if we distract her with food she seems to forget about it.

"Hey...is that hat back on my head?!?!?"


After breakfast we went to Shaiman Island which is where the White Swan hotel and the US Consulate is located. We didn't spend a whole lot yet, but we did make the mistake of buying some stuff at the 1st store we went to, then found out we could have gotten it for $5 or $10 cheaper somewhere else. Oh well...live and learn. Speaking of that...we learned that Chinese laundry is not as cheap as we would have thought. We heard from a few people that we should just pack a few days worth of clothes and then have them washed. We sent off what would have been 1 load at home and it cost us 350 Yuan ($45 US dollars)! Each piece seemed to have been pressed and were in their own little bag....but sheesh! My new plan is to fill the tub with water and shampoo and throw all our dirty clothes in there...then give London $2 to jump in and twirl things around. Somehow having London being an "agitator" seems fitting doesn't it? Victoria would certainly agree. :)

We're in Monsoon season here in Guangzhou so we've been having lots of rain. In fact, last night London and I went down to the pool and Ginger, Sydney, Victoria, and the Keegans went strolling around in our new strollers that we bought at the "Friendship store". (The Friendship Store looks like an American mall and had name brands that we'd be familiar with. I guess they call it a Friendship Store because they're allowing Western goods to be sold there.) They hadn't been gone too long and it started raining...then came the lightening...then came as fierce a storm as I've ever seen in Louisiana. Lightening was flashing all around and there was a constant booming of thunder. The pool was in a huge room with plexiglass ceilings and it sounded like a tornado the rain was coming down so hard. When the ceiling started leaking the pool attendant made us get out.

London and I went back up to the room and prayed for Ginger and the girls that they were in a safe spot...and they were. They were huddled up in a mall with lots of Chinese folks. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but they don't see many foreigner's and they're not scared to stare unabashedly. We've had a few come up and ask to take pictures with us. While they were waiting for the rain to slack off a Chinese woman came up and asked about Sydney. She asked Ginger regarding Victoria, "She loves her little sister huh?". Ginger replied yes and she said "Lucky little girl"

OK...back on track now...here we are in the rain on Shaiman Island:


Here's London looking at all the goodies at a store named "Jennifer's Place"



We only shopped for about an hour and then we decided it was time to get back to higher ground. The river apparently overflowed and the streets were filling up fast.





We made it safely to the bus, but had to pull off our socks and shoes and wade through calf deep water. We don't even want to think about the sanitary state of the water...at least we didn't see anything floating by except a little street trash. The Chinese people are very clean and we have been very impressed with how clean the streets are. In fact, when we landed in Beijing at midnight...there were about 5 guys wiping down all of the baggage carousels.

Here we are safe from the flood.


This afternoon we had a couple of bouts of crying. Sydney started wailing when Ginger took away a snickers bar that she was trying to unwrap. Later she cried when we took a little toy away to go do something else. She also has not pooped since the day we got her. Our guide seemed very concerned...she is a Taoist and they believe very much in keeping balance (Yin/Yang) and they like to poop right after eating (take something out after putting something in.) We've been trying to find prune juice, but haven't located a grocery store yet. Today our guide gave us a few little vials. I thought it was something like a laxative and I asked her if we squirted it in her mouth with some food. Her eyes got real wide and she said "No, no, no...it goes in the other end!" Then I read the lable...glycerin enemas. Yikes.

Speaking of yikes...that's what Sydney yelled when Ginger administered it! She cried for a minute or two. Ginger walked her around a little bit so they could take effect. If you're thinking that liquid glycerin works a lot faster than regular supositories...you'd be right; too bad we didn't think of that! About two minutes later the yin came out the yang and we had a little mess! We rushed her to the pottie and a lot more yang came out...so fast that it scared Sydney and she wailed some more.

She also wailed when Ginger tried to lay her down for a nap while she was still awake (hey...it worked at night time.) So Ginger walked her around a little bit singing to her and then she sacked out hard enough for us to lay her down.


After nap time we went out and walked the streets of Guangzhou.



Finally...here's her movie star pose:



Ginger just put her down for bed (it's 8:40 here now) and she wailed again. A soft little hoarse wail though (she's put her vocal chord to good use today.) Ginger decided to just leave her down and sang "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" to let Sydney know that she was still in the room. The little hoarse cries got softer and softer...now sweet silence. Goodnight Sydney...sweet dreams.


Here are another couple of clips from her 1st day with us right after we 1st met:





Here she is the 1st night with us playing before bedtime


Here she is walking with us for the 1st time...check out that tongue action:



Playing with Mommy:

Sisters playing in the bed this morning:

She doesn't really know how to crawl properly...I guess she wasn't on the ground much. She kind of scoots her knees along. This was this morning...she's already crawling better.

Getting Sydney - Day 5

Wow...what an amazing night. This was so not like I was thinking our 1st night would be. Sydney as well as Miata (her friend next door) did wonderfully last night. Sydney slept the entire night through, unlike her father who woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. It was very neat to listen to her making her little night noises, sighing, grunting, and (every now and then) sucking on her fingers. We woke her up at 7 AM and she just checked us out again

One this is for sure though...she does love her new sisters

She's still not too sure about me yet. She'll let me hold her

But if I try to get too close she's like "What??"

Finally...London has a real live China Doll to dress up :)

Sydney just loves taking blocks out of the box, handing each one to you, until the box is empty, then she takes them, one by one, and places them carefully back in the box. Everything she does is so slow and deliberate and serious. Every now and then she claps the blocks together and looks up at us to make sure it's OK. It doesn't look as if she has ever fed herself either...we'll put some food on a plate right in front of her and she'll just look at it. She can be very hungry, and if I pick it up and put it in her mouth she'll bite my finger trying to get it, but it can be sitting right in front of her and she'll just stare at it.

This morning for breakfast we fed her congee (a Chinese rice dish that tastes like cream of wheat) with some cheerios mixed in. She also ate some fried rice with eggs, and some yogurt with a little jelly mixed in. She is definitely into eating. She also loves her little sippy cup...that's like her security blanket. If something makes her nervous she grabs that up and starts biting/sucking on it. A lot of orphanages will cut the tips off the nipples so the formula will flow very quickly. The babies learn to bite the nipple to stop the flow, and open their mouth to resume the flow. She doesn't really know how to suck and her cleft palate may make it even more difficult than normal for her to suck. She she bites and kind-of sucks on the sippy cup and manages to get some down.

After breakfast we went to the Guangzhou city park. The statue is of 5 rams each with a head of grain in their mouths. The city mythology tells of a great famine that was in the land and the 5 rams came down from heaven with the grain and broke the famine. This is a very famous park for Guangzhou.





Here's Ginger with her little papoose



There are some awesome relics from ancient Chinese history at this museum. Here are just a couple. This is a water clock. The top container would be filled and the water flows down to the lower container in a measured amount of time.



This is an unbelievable piece...you have to see it to believe it. It's an ivory ball that is so intracately carved it's amazing. If it were just a carved ball that would be one thing, but this is actually 10 ivory balls inside each other, and each one has characters carved in it to make a story.



Of course that pales in comparison to our little girls first steps (at least her 1st steps with us)



Victoria wanted me to take this picture at this angle. In a previous post I mentioned how the Shitzhu looks like the Chinese dragon...this picture really shows that to be true



At the end of the tour...the moment I was waiting for finally arrived.

The above pictures were on the bus coming back to the hotel from the museum. We stopped off at a mall to pick up some small umbrella strollers, but she was asleep in my lap and I just stayed on the bus and loved on her. It is so sad to think that this was probably the longest anyone has ever just held her and appreciated her. The orphanage that she came from was definitely one of the best...but it's just not possible for the children to receive much individual attention. The past couple of days have been filled with so much joy I only just now thought about what Sydney's birth-mother is missing out on. We'll never know for sure, but I'd like to think that she gave Sydney up out of great need and with much tears and sadness. The alternative would be even more sad.

Back at the hotel we find out, to our surprise, that Sydney does NOT like grapes. Who ever heard of a kid not liking grapes?


That's about the only thing we've found that she doesn't like. She is quite the eating machine.

Finally....here is a most excellent video

That's all the energy I have now...time for bed. Thanks for journeying with us.