Last Day in China!

Today was our last day. Hard to believe we are actually coming home with our beautiful daughter tomorrow. We have to leave the hotel at 5:50 am (really 5:50 pm at home!) and go to the airports. Please keep us in your prayers as we fly home. It is going to be a very long day. We arrive at our home airport at 7:44pm on Saturday. We are very anxious to see the boys!
We had our red couch photos today! Hanna, of course, did great. We have some very nice pictures. I went shopping shopping for a few things after pictures and Hanna stayed with BaBa. Unfortunately she cried almost the entire time. 1st thing she is going to have to get used to! After nap, we went to the pool. She didn't really like it. She wouldn't take off her cover up and it took her a long time to want to sit on the edge. She did finally get wet, but didn't really like it. Then we decided to walk to dinner. We didn't find the restaurant we were looking for and ended up at Lucy's. We had a great meal though and Hanna loved the chicken congee. We met several of our travel mates there. Then we all took a walk down the river before we left to shop more. Now, we've had bath and are just waiting on the boys to call us. We are leaving so early in the morning and I still have packing to do. Hanna is going to go to sleep early!
Now for the thank yous!
Dan and Kelly - thank you for the luggage and all of the other things you gave us to help make our trip easier! We've found out luggage quickly!
Ladoga Elementary - thank you for supporting us during these long years waiting and now with the trip! It was been so wonderful that all of you are excited for us. Thanks for helping us keep in touch with the boys and for reading the blog with them!
Jerry and Sarah - thank you for your love and support and for keeping such great care of the boys. We can't wait to see you at the airport.
Sharon (mom) - thank you for your love and support. It has been hard being so far away from you. Thanks for taking my phone call in the middle of the night. Sometimes you just need your mom!
Thank you Karen, Amber, Laura, and Lana for the wonderful shower you gave us and for telling everyone the right size! 3T's fit perfectly! Thanks for everything!
Laura - thanks for taking such good care of my/our students while I've been gone. I know you are doing a wonderful job! Have fun with the smartboard!
Rich - thank you for taking care of Jerry's students!
A great big thank you to everyone who has been "stalking" us (as Carrie says!) for the past 2 weeks! It is great reading all of your comments. We look forward to that each day while Hanna is napping.
Paul, Stacey, and the Gross' - thank you so much for paving the path for us with adopting. I'm not sure we would have done it without your help and encouragement. It is like Hanna has always been with us (except she speaks alot of Chinese!). We know you have been praying for our family for so many years - thank you!

One more day!

Tomorrow is it! I really can't believe it! The time we've been gone seems like it has flown! Skype is so wonderful. I feel like I've seen my boys in person each morning! What a great way to end my day and for them to begin their's! Thank you all for helping us connect each morning, especially Mrs. Welcher, Mrs. Hoard, andMs. Mingus! We definitely appreciate it!
The consulate was really no big deal, but yes I did tear up. We just had to stand and raise our right hand and swear that all of the information we've given to the government is correct. Only the 2nd time in my life I've said "I DO"! Jerry laughed at me when he saw a tear, but I wasn't the only mom who did!
For tonight, I'll just leave you with a few pictures from today. Tomorrow is our group photo on the famous red couch! We are so excited to finally see it. We've read so much about it and seen it so many times in other people's pictures. It seems like a right of passage! Hanna will wear her new traditional silk dress. Then it is on to the pool and shopping! I have several things in mind that I want to get! I hope we have enough room in our suitcases!
Please keep us in your prayers as we begin our journey home. While all of you are trick or treating, we'll be flying! Just one more post until we get home and hug our boys!
Boys....we love you more than the chocolate ice cream daddy and Hanna ate while we talked with you on the computer! See you very, very soon! We are proud of you for being such great kids!

Consulate Appointment Today

We have a small group, so Shiyan was able to get our Consulate Appointment for today instead of tomorrow! That means tomorrow is a free day! This is the last "business" stuff we have to do and if I am right, then she becomes an American Citizen as soon as we go through customs in Chicago! Sorry - that brings tears to my eyes just typing it! I can't believe our trip is almost over. We have such amazing children. We can't wait to get them all together and under one roof. It will be wonderful! Thank you all so much for your support and following our journeys. Prayers have definitely been answered. God is so good! He has blessed us more than we ever expected.

Just a quick update and then I'll try to do a complete blog later tonight. First, Aunt Vic - she loves the stroller, but the wheels don't work right. The store we borrowed from doesn't have another one for bigger kids. I still love holding her though (but my arms do ache some!). I'm trying to cherish all I can, because I know it won't be long before she won't want me to hold her!

Also, can you believe she lets and actually wants me to hold her, hum to her, and rock her to put her to sleep?! I'm so excited. I didn't expect her to want that, but she does! I definitely need to get that chair fixed mom! She's going to love sitting in it with me!

Carrie - I'll let you think the outfit will work for IU, but we all know better! ;)

Terri - yes, I do plan to keep this up when we get home, although it may not be everyday. We are trying to stay connected to her sponsor family this way. We are hoping they are able to view the pictures and movies though, because we can't from our computer. We might have to try something different. Done farming yet? We have one more who needs a turn!

Aunt Nicole - Jerry is sorry! He'll be back on Tuesday! I'm bringing Hanna in for "show and tell" on either Tuesday or Wednesday! That ought to make her happy!

Am - She is wearing "the dress" for her consulate appointment and no I didn't get one made to match! Also, you'd be impressed. We bought her Gucci sandals to wear with it! Knock offs probably, but they say Gucci!

More later! Thanks everyone!

Boys - we love you more than the breakfast buffet - but still no pancakes! We'll have to have them as soon as we get home! We'll try calling tonight! Just 2 more sleeps until we see you!

We are in Guangzhou!

Yesterday was a travel day. We left our wonderful hotel in Shenyang and flew to Beijing for one night. The hotel there wasn't great at all - pretty yucky - and they didn't have internet. Jerry didn't do well on the flight from Shenyang to Beijing. His cold affected his ears and he was in pain. Luckily the flight attendants noticed and really helped him. She told him to sneeze and then brought him kleenexes and told him to blow. Finally his ears popped and he got some relief. We flew again today from Beijing to Guangzhou. He took medicine and his ears didn't bother him near as much. They still popped, but that is to be expected.
Hanna did well on the flights. Yesterday she just played with playdough or colored. She barely noticed we were in the air. Today she got a little mad that they made her sit in a seatbelt (just wait until we try to put her in a carseat!), but after a few minutes if even that long, she was fine. She played and then took a nap. We were glad for her to take a nap. We had to get up this morning at 5:30 to make breakfast and our flight.
Guangzhou is wonderful. Finally we have shorts weather. Sorry about all of you freezing in Indiana, but it was 85 here today and very humid. You sweat just walking outside! We are loving it. When we arrived in the hotel, we immediately went to see the family waterfall and fish pond on the inside! Pictures won't do it justice. It is awesome. My dad would have loved seeing it! The fish are just like the big one we had in our pond so many years ago, but there are probably 20 or 30 that size! I've got to figure out if and what we can feed them. We had Hanna's visa picture taken today - of course it was cute and went to her medical exam. Everything was fine. She was 14.5 something metric and I forget how tall. It is written down somewhere. I weighed her on our scales in the room and I believe she was right at 32 pounds like they told us. The people are amazed at how tall she is and the local stores don't carry shoes big enough for her! We are having to go to a department store tomorrow to buy her some shoes. She is going to wear a dress to the consoluate (which may get to be tomorrow) and she just can't wear tennis shoes! We went out to dinner tonight with our entire group. We've all met back up now. It is so wonderful seeing everyone again and now with their children. They are all wonderful. We went to Lucy's (a place where you can get American food). Jerry had sweet and sour pork and I had a chicken sandwich. Hanna had chicken congee. She loves that stuff. I've got to research on the internet how to make it at home! Sorry boys, but you're going to have to try something new for your sister! Then we went shopping. We got something for Reese and things for Hanna. We got her traditional outfit and another outfit to wear to Southmont basketball games! I can't wait to show that one off! It would also work for Wabash, but not football (not warm enough).
Thank you Miss Mingus and Mrs. Hoard for allowing the boys to talk with us after class. We've really missed talking with them the last couple of mornings. We should be fine for tomorrow - I'll email if our dinner plans are for too late though.
We are in the home stretch. Tomorrow is probably our consulate appointment, Friday will then be a free day, and Saturday we fly home! Ready or not, we're coming home!
Boys, we love you more than your sister loves congee! Have fun trick or treating. Don't forget to have someone take pictures of you in your outfits!
Mrs. Long's first grade and the rest of Ladoga - have a great time on grandparents day. Don't scare them too much - they're old! I'll see you when I get back. Hanna and I will come to visit.
I hear we have something new in our classroom! I can't wait to play with it!
A note for Mr. Irwin - Our Mountie Powercard didn't work at Pizza Hut or McDonalds!

Sorry about Sunday!

Sorry we didn't post on Sunday! We went to bed early due to our colds and I didn't think about it. Sorry. I'll try to get you all caught up today.
Yesterday, we went to Shenyang Palace. It is the forbidden city of Shenyang. It was used when the Manchu people took over the dynasty and moved the capital of China here. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but all of the ancient buildings look the same now. Shiyan told us that the Manchu went to the forbiddent city in Beijing and copied it for their palace here in Shenyang. Hanna had a 2 year old temper tantrum at the palace yesterday as we were beginning to leave. I think she must have seen something, but then she didn't get her way. Boy was she mad. Then to make matters worse it was nap time and she was hungry. She does have a temper and she wasn't afraid to show it! Luckily she calmed down on the bus ride back to the hotel. Jerry left to go to a museum with the rest of the group while she and I had a snack lunch and then a nap. We both needed it after our morning!
When we got up, we needed to go shopping to finish the gifts for the sponsor family. It is the Chinese way to give gifts when you meet people. Shiyan told us that they would probably have more gifts when we meet them at the orphanage (she was right!). We shopped until dark and because we didn't have a planned group meal, we just ate at McDonald's. We learned that Hanna loves corn. They offer that as a side instead of apples. She ended up eating all of her nuggets and her corn - plus most of my fries!
Now for today...I didn't sleep well last night. My cold has really gotten me down, but more it was because of going to the orphanage and meeting the sponsor family. After that meltdown at the palace, I didn't want a repeat there. We got to see the boys before we left...thanks Paul and Stacey. It was nice getting to see them with my mom, Jerry's parents, and mamaw Beeson. It was good hearing about their weekend.
We had to drive out in the country a little to get to the orphanage. I recoginized it immediately when I saw the roof. It is the nicest building out there by far. We saw people out in the fields gathering straw (I guess) by hand. They were raking it into piles and binding them together. Talk about back breaking. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I saw the family and immediately starting crying (them too). Hanna was so excited to see them and leapt from my arms. She hugged and kissed them. They were so kind and loving with her. They seemed very similar to Jerry and me. They liked playing with her and making all over her. They were very happy to see her again and only asked that they get to watch her grow. We exchanged contact information and hope to keep in contact. It is clear they loved her. Hanna didn't like going into the orphanage. She was afraid she was being left. She didn't want anything to do with Jerry and me for quite awhile. Then her sponsor parents handed her to us and went into a room with other children. They watched us play with her from a window. During our play in the hallway, we got our Hanna back. She smiled and laughed and seemed like the same little girl we've had for the last week. Shiyan told them that we were going to leave and they said they didn't want to upset her again and didn't want her to see them. That really meant alot to us. They are so kind and only want what is best for her.
She was alittle quiet and independent on the bus ride home, but has been our little Hanna ever since. We are so thankful to them for all they've done. God has been watching over our little girl and making her life very blessed. After meeting them, we feel as though she is now our daughter. We feel like they've given us their blessing and we were waiting for that. We felt such relief and our stresses just melted. God is truly wonderful for all He does. It is amazing watching her play and giggle.
We've been trying to pack as this is our last night in Shenyang, but Hanna doesn't like it. She keeps pulling stuff out as I pack it away! I guess I'm going to have to wait until she is asleep! I will post some pictures in a little while (after bed for Hanna and packing!). Thank you everyone for all you've done to make this miracle happen. We appreciate everyone's prayers. We are getting so close to being home!

A note for first hour: Do Your Homework!

Boys...we love you more than the dumplings we enjoyed again at dinner! Just wait until you get to taste them. They are delicious!

Saturday

Today thankfully was a free day. We all have colds - luckily Hanna's isn't too bad. She just coughs a little. Jerry and I have it in our heads. It is yucky to be sick here. Luckily we do have some medicine. Hopefully it will start working soon. OK - on today. We went shopping again after breakfast. We started out for Walmart to get some pictures made, but evidently their equipment doesn't work. They told us that the other day, but we figured they didn't understand what we were asking. figured wrong. Then we went to a department store looking for something nice for the sponsor mom. We settled on a nice scarf. Then we got some hand lotions for extra things for the orphanage workers - we had been feeling a little cheap! We were excited to be making progress with the sponsor family gifts. Then we had snacks for lunch and nap. Hanna woke before Jerry and I were ready to get up! Our colds make us drowsy! Then we were off shopping again. This time we were looking for a place to make pictures. We asked at the hotel for a place and they wrote the address on a card for a taxi. The first 2 taxis didn't want to take us - wouldn't make much money because it wasn't far - and finally a very nice taxi with leather seats and a tv took us! We got our 3 pictures printed for part of the sponsor family's gift and decided to walk back to the hotel. That's when we went to the Mao statue. It is very near our hotel. We all went to dinner together again tonight. Shiyan is very kind to order for us and get things she knows we'll like! Paul - you'll like this one. My first bite looked like a pepper, but no one said anything, so I popped it in my mouth. We'll it was definitely a pepper and very hot! It cleaned out my sinuses! Sprite and Jasmine tea helped cool my mouth. The peppers were with some chicken. The chicken was good, but wow! I've included pictures of some of my favorite dishes. I absolutely love the Chinese celery. Hanna loves the dumplings (they are very yummy), and Jerry loves just about everything! He commented again tonight that he ate too much! The dishes are all served family style on a lazy susan. It is fun spinning it around until you get what you want. We try everything and enjoy it all. Brooks and Reese - don't worry. We haven't had anything that looks like bugs, has eyes, or is still alive! I think even you too would have enjoyed the dinner! Watermelon is always dessert!
We've enjoyed getting to know our daughter. She is learning more English each day. Potty, come here, water, where's your mama or baba, bye bye...just to name a few. She is so fun and has the sweetest laugh. We played out in the hallway tonight and Shiyan came out because she heard her. She explained to us what she was saying in Chinese. She plays with her stacking cups and pretends they are cakes! Mamaw Long, she likes making cakes! She also enjoys playing hide and seek! She gets tickled though and doesn't wait quietly for you to find her! She always jumps out laughing. BaBa taught her to monkey crawl tonight. I forgot, now she knows monkey (just not the animal!) Shiyan thinks that everyone will love her when she gets home. We told her yes they will!
Tomorrow we are visiting Shenyang Palace and then more shopping in the afternoon. Monday we visit the orphanage and get to meet the sponsor mom. We don't think the sponsor dad will be able to make it. Evidently they are both managers for Oreo!
The count down is on! We'll be home in less than a week! I'm really enjoying being in Hanna's country, but I'm really missing home. I can't wait to hug my boys! and see everyone else! Sorry I don't have many pictures today. More tomorrow. goodnight from Shenyang!

Boys...we love you more than SKYPE - and you know how much I love my computer and talking with you each day! Paul and Stacey said that we can use their computer again on Sunday, so we'll see you then. I'm guessing at 8pm just like last time. Have someone email me if that isn't right! I can't wait!

Friday - Beiling Park

Nihao from China. Today we went to Beiling Park in Shenyang. It is a tomb for an emperor from the Qing Dynasty. It was huge with a lake and lots of trees. It is under renovations right now. The Clothing Police (older Chinese who make sure the children are wearing enough clothing to stay warm) got us twice today! Once this morning at the park and then later at Wal-Mart! We have to make sure her pant legs are pulled down when she is in the sling! There were people dancing there, getting their morning exercise. The Chinese like to meet to exercise and be social. We then ran into a group who were practicing riding unicycles! Jerry asked (rather had Shiyan ask for him) if he could ride. They loved it! Everyone was surprised that he knew how to ride. Cameras were flashing and everyone was laughing. One gentleman took an interest and had Jerry ride several times with him and pose for several pictures with his camera. YingYing and I even had to be in his pictures! He was quite the celebrity. They asked if any of the rest of us wanted to ride and laughed when we said we didn't know how. Too bad he didn't juggle for them too! I see Shenyang circus in his future! We'll have to check with Sarah tomorrow to see if she got any better pictures. I only have a few. Something to look forward to for tomorrow. The buildings at the park were very similar to the ones at the Forbidden City. Tomorrow is another free day and we are hoping it helps us all get over colds. The weather has turned colder here and much windier, so we took another trip to Wal-Mart for hats and gloves! It is just a 15 minute walk...we are beginning to know our way around better! Hanna won't let BaBa carry her, so MaMa gets that job. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but a break every now and then would be nice! :) I'm glad I have my sling to help take the pressure off of my arms. MaMa is her nurturer and care taker. BaBa is her playmate! She loves running up and down the halls in the hotel playing ball or crawling around on the floor. She is teaching us more Chinese each day... and we're teaching her more English!
We had dinner at a Chinese buffet tonight for Patty's birthday. We even had birthday cake! When we sang, the piano player played Happy Birthday too! It was delicious and great fun. What a way to remember this birthday for her. Chinese use very long candles on their birthday cakes. I'm hoping to find some before we leave to use for Hanna's 3rd birthday.

A note for Tabby: The China Daily Newspaper says that 75% of the Chinese people support Obama! Imagine if they could vote!

Boys - we love you more than the chocolate ice cream we had for dessert tonight! It is wonderful getting to see you each morning. We hope you have a great weekend and we'll see you soon! Thank you for being such wonderful boys!

Gotcha Day Revisited

Our camera was set on some sort of strange setting and they all turned out black. Luckily, Sarah, one of the Bethany workers with us, took wonderful pictures. I thought that I would share them with you today. I think there are probably a total of about 50, but I settled on just about 18! I wanted Papaw to know that she has his sense of humor. I gave her a cracker and asked her to give me one. She got it close to my mouth and quickly put it in hers! We all laughed. We've taught her to say BaBa loves YingYing and MaMa loves YingYing. If I say one of them, she echos the other! She knows she is being funny and cracks up laughing! Enjoy these photos and I'll work on today's entry! Jennifer, Jerry, and YingYing

I think it is Thursday here!

We are having a great time and YingYing (I think I pronounced it wrong yesterday - it is more like yung yung - but she answers us however!) She is such a beautiful child and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom. She is truly lovely. She understands much and is quite patient. Last night we went to a restrauant with our group and our tour guide ordered for us. It was delicious. We tried many new dishes and they were all yummy. YingYing even liked most of it. To all of the adoptive parents who may be reading, you'll understand more of why I'm writing about this next thing! While at dinner, she said something and pointed to her bottom. I decided she needed to use the restroom and well, do you know what. So I got our toilet paper and headed for the restroom. The first restrooms were just squatty ones, so we kept walking down the row until at last we found a western one! We were all celebrating this when we got back to the table! It was funny! Last night we also got to talk with the boys, Lana and the girls, and Nicole and our neices and nephew. It was wonderful. Richie still owes me a kiss though! Then we got to talk with Brooks' class and Reese's class. They all seemed to enjoy it and I hope my class did well on their spelling test. Did you remember your question mark and periods? How many more days until we come home? Did you count it up on the calendar? We also got to talk with our sixth grade and tell them more about the history of our trip. One thing I forgot to tell them was the reason Jerry bought that wonderful hat. There is a person in Chinese history who wore a hat like that. See if you can find out who and I'll tell you the answer in a later post. Hint...we've shared the answer already in an earlier post! Nikki - our dental hygienist - I wanted to let you know that Hanna likes having her teeth brushed!
Today, we got to start our day with talking with my mom and Aunt Vicki. That was wonderful. Skype is so incredible! We are seeing and talking to people on the other side of the world for free! So wonderful! At breakfast, YingYing had to play in the ball pit before she would eat. She played for about 15 minutes before she decided she was ready for her milk and watermelon. She likes to sit in a high chair and use a fork or spoon. Boys, we don't think she knows how to use chop sticks! Sorry! Then we decided we would venture out to find a mall or market. We borrowed umbrellas, just in case and sure enough it was raining before we got to the corner. So we had the hotel get us a taxi and tell the driver to take us to a shopping center. Guess where we went...WalMart! It was a nice adventure. Their carts are so much nicer than ours! We got Hanna and the boys some new videos that we are hoping are in Chinese. I think we got 4 movies, a music cd, and daddy some socks and it only cost 95 yuan...divide that by 6.7 and that is what we paid! Cheap!
Right now our King and his princess are sleeping. Jerry caught a cold or something and Hanna and I may be getting it as well. The Queen took a nap with them for a little while too! :) I'm not sure what we are going to do tonight, but we really would like to find a shopping center. Perhaps this evening we'll try again! Well, goodbye from China!
Boys....we love you more than the french toast we get to have for breakfast! We really love getting to see you each morning. We look forward to it every day! We are so proud of you and so happy you are doing well. Have you grown any??!

Hanna Jo Long - or YingYing

Hanna is offically a Long, at least according to China! We got her passport and signed a bunch of legal stuff and ta da, she's a Long. For now we are calling her YingYing, which sounds like yay yay. I will post more later with pictures. I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who are following. We feel so blessed. We love reading your emails and comments on the blog! We may not have time to respond to them all, but we are reading them! Thank you so much! YingYing is taking her nap right now. She is such a sweet sleeper - our little princess! We learned this morning that she doesn't like pineapple (she kept it on the roof of her mouth for about 1/2 hour before I realized it and she spit it out!) but she loves watermelon! Love and kisses from China!
Boys - we love you so much! We can't wait to call you again tonight - which is morning for you! Brooks - How did you do at your soccer game? Did you score a goal? Did your team win? Do you feel any older?!

There is so much to tell, but I want everyone to know that our daughter has been richly blessed here in China as well. She had a wonderful sponsor family who loved her very much. Here are just a couple of pictures they gave us on a cd. I thought Brooks and Reese would like to see that their sister likes oranges and strawberries!

Hanna laughing

Here is a wonderful video of Hanna laughing! Thought you would like to see her smile!

Gotcha!

Wow. I really don't know where or how to begin. She is absolutely beautiful. She has been so well loved and taken care of. Her orphanage and her sponsor parents went through our picture book with her. You could tell how much she loved our book. She knew us by name and didn't cry. She gave us hugs and kisses and even shared her goldfish. She is ticklish and has a beautiful laugh. We are so in love! We couldn't have prayed for better. God amazes us each day with his blessings.
We got up early and flew to Shenyang. Neither of us slept well. We were too eager, anxious, nervous, and excited. It is hard to explain how we were feeling, but so wonderful. We had only 10 minutes at the hotel before we left to get her. Good thing I was prepared with her backpack! Another family with us is adopting a 13 year old girl. She peeked her head out and called me ma ma. I immediately cried and said No, Jodi! There is a third family with us as well and they told us our daughters weren't there yet, but then about 2 minutes later she walked in. I didn't cry, I just waved and waited for someone to call me over. Finally after a few minutes, I just walked over and bent down beside her and offered her goldfish crackers. Instant hit! Within minutes she was smiling, laughing, and allowing me to hold her. We tried not to force ourselves upon her, we just watched her cues. She bounced between her nanny and us. We were there forever (but didn't really seem that long at the time). By the time we left and got back to the hotel, she was tired and hungry. Everyone else was going to go out to eat, but we opted to stay in and see if she would sleep. She cried and was mad for about an hour. Jerry went to get us KFC (sorry boys!) and when he got back, she was almost asleep. We put some food on the coffee table for her, but she kept waving her hand no at us. Then finally she took a bite and got some water. That was all it took! She got up ate and played the rest of the evening. We had so much fun playing with her! She was running around the room laughing and having a great time. She is a good entertainer! She is amazing. She knows us by name and will imitate anything I say. She counted to 5, said the abc's, and says "where's ma ma" when I play peek a boo. Our guide is very impressed with her and tells us how beautiful and smart she is. We are definitely believing that! She takes after her mother of course! ;)
She didn't want to take a bath, but toys persuaded her. Then we put on lotion, got dressed, and got into our big bed. She fell asleep after I read her a story. Thank you all so much for your prayers. God definitely listened! He is so good. Please continue the prayers! God Bless, Jennifer, Jerry, and Hanna (YingYing)
Boys - First, happy 10th birthday Brooks! We are so proud of you. You are a great son! Reese, thanks for doing all of your homework! We love you more than KFC - and you know that's alot!
Coach Thompson - Hanna says something that almost sounds like IU, so I'm working on Purdue!

Forbidden City and Hutong Tour

Wow! What an exciting and exhausting day. We started out at the North end of Tiananmen Square, walked through the Forbidden City, and finally went out the South end. I've never seen something so large. It is called the Forbidden City because commoners weren't allowed. It was strictly for the Emperors and high officals. It is truly a City and huge. It is surprising that it is still intact - especially when Beijing is growing so much. As we walked through the city today, it was hard to keep our minds focused on what we were seeing. We kept noticing all of the children. I had seen the little girl at the end of our slide show about 4 times before I finally took her picture. She is so cute. There were alot of pushy salesmen outside Tiananmen Square. Jerry got followed for quite awhile before the gentleman took the hint. We drew quite a crowd there as well. The people there thought we were part of the view. Several people took our pictures!
Next we went on a rickshaw ride through a Hutong District. That means we rode in a buggy on the back of a bike through an older more traditional part of Beijing. It was really neat. Our driver was comical and tried to beat all of the other drivers. We got to go inside one of the homes and an older woman described her life. I believe she said she was 71 and she was such a beautiful person. She has 2 grown children. She didn't speak any English, so our tour guide translated everything for us. I asked if she had any grandchildren and she immediately said "grandchildren, no!" She understood what I was saying. We all laughed. She is anxiously awaiting grandchildren, but her children keep telling her maybe next year. She was so pleasant and happy. It really showed us how spoiled we are and things don't bring happiness.
We came back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow. Our bags are packed and we are very anxious! We leave the hotel at 7:30am (7:30 Monday night) to fly to Shenyang. We will go to a government building at 2pm (2am Tuesday) and receive Hanna. We will take all of our cameras and will post pictures and video as soon as we can. We aren't sure yet about the internet at our next hotel, but we will work as quick as we can to post. We know you are all anxious to meet our daughter and the boys' their sister! We are going to be a family of 5 soon! My mom is finally going to get her Granddaughter! God has blessed us so much!
Please keep Hanna in your prayers for tomorrow. She is leaving all that is familiar to her. She is bound to be scared and confused. We are praying that God grants us peace and wisdom to handle the situation as best we can. Jerry keeps telling me that I'll have to keep my emotions in check (I'm not supposed to cry! I don't want her to think I'm upset!). Pray God grants us all peace.
Coach Thompson - you will be happy to know there are 2 basketball courts inside the Forbidden City.
A note for 2nd hour - DEREK be quiet. Thanks Chelsea!
A note for Mrs. Long's class - Please be good for Mrs. Hoard. I miss you all and are thinking of you. Tell Mrs. Monts hello for me when you go to library today. I hope you all had a wonderful fall break!
Boys - we love you more than the McDonald's we had for supper - and that is alot because it tasted just like home!

South Wins!

Congratulations South on beating C'ville! Awesome 3 game winning streak!

The Great Wall!

We actually climbed the great wall of China today. It is still unbelievable. It was awesome. We could not believe the people there. We went to the Badaling station and rode in a gondola to the top and then walked the wall from there. We tried to get to the highest portion. We got into a huge mob of people, squashed together, with lots of pushing and shoving. We made it through a small door way and then realized we wouldn't have time to get up there before it was time for our bus to leave. So we turned around and squeezed and fought our way out! Adventure! We learned today that there are over 16 million people in Beijing and just 30 years ago, most of the city was rice fields! It is the largest city you can imagine. Indy has several downtown blocks with skyscrapers, Beijing has them everywhere for miles!
We went to the Cloisonne Factory. The time and energy put into making these copper pots and other items is crazy. 2 or more days just to do 1 step and there are several steps. And the workers don't make much money. We bought a couple of things, but couldn't afford most! Some of the pots were bigger than me!
We got to drive past the Olympic Village and see the water cube and birds nest. It is now a tourist spot. There were more people there than at the wall. Our guide said that they are going to sell the apartments where the athletes stayed to citizens. They looked nice.
We are still trying to recover from either jet lag or time change. We aren't sleeping much. Last night we woke around 3 and finally got up at 4. Would you believe I did some handwashing of laundry in the sink at 4am? Tonight we decided to try something different. We took a nap from 6 to 10. Then we got up to talk with the boys and update the blog. We're getting tired now and hopefully we'll sleep until about 7. We leave today for the Forbidden City. Then we come back to the hotel to pack to go get Hanna! We get her on Tuesday at 2pm, which is 2am your time. We are so anxious. It is hard to forget why we are here. We are drawn to all of the children and just watch them. They are so cute and love to wave at us. There is a 4 year old in our group who is probably Hanna's size. We can't wait to see them together. We'll post only one more time before we get her!
A note for Jerry's 4th hour class: I was playing with a knife and accidently cut myself. I'm in the hospital. Just joking Kristen. Good one Denny.
Boys - we love you more than and longer than the Great Wall!

Day 2

Hi all! We got to talk with the boys! That was wonderful. They are having great time and Brooks already wants to spend his birthday money! Brooks - dad said he didn't care! Today, we had our orientation meeting with Shiyann. She was telling us what to expect when we get our children (there are 10 families travelling with us, but to 4 different provinces, I think). She was also telling us about writing down questions to ask about our children. We need to start thinking about them. I have a short list, but another mom on our trip has a list of 40!
After the meeting, we ventured out with a couple from Georgia. They also have 2 boys at home, are naming their daughter Hanna, and decorated her room with butterflies! We walked and walked until we finally found a department store and a pizza hut! The pizza was delicious - just like home. Then we decided to follow our map and find the McDonald's and KFC, just to say we did. We had been looking for an open air market, but hadn't found it. We'd seen several small areas where people had stuff set out, but nothing big like we'd been told. Then we stumbled upon it. It was so much larger than I've ever seen, with so many people. I didn't think that I would get to go to the Bridge Festival, but I found it in China! We stayed and shopped for a little over an hour and then we had to leave to get ready for an acrobatics show. We were sorry to leave. We really wanted to shop more. In our hour or so we were there, I'll bet we didn't even see 1/4 of everything there - probably less. We had just made it to a section that was really hustling, when it was time to leave. It is only open on the weekends and with going to the Great Wall tomorrow, we don't know if we'll have time to go back. Tonya and I are really hoping though!
The open air market had tons of Chinese artifacts. We picked up a Buddha statue, a fan with pandas on it, a compact mirror with the great wall on it, and a bracelet for Hanna. We looked for dragon statues, but didn't find one yet. Boys, we will still look! We also bought of lily shaped shoes like the ones women with bound feet used to wear - they are silk with butterflies embroidered on them. Jerry got good at bartering. There were asking $80 for our buddha statue and he got it for $15! Supposedly it is a 150 year old relic.
There is a couple with us from Oregon who have a daughter they adopted three years ago and they are adopting a son now. We're hoping Katie and Hanna will like playing together when we get to Guangzhou. They look like they may be the same size.
The acrobatic show was really neat. At one point they stacked 4 people on top of each other's shoulders! They amazed us with their gymnastics and flexibility skills. Then they showed us how to pack 13 people on one bicycle and still peddle in a circle! That's funny because we've seen several people riding on one bike in the busy traffic!
Boys - we love you more than our pizza hut we had today! We'll try to talk with you again tomorrow! Can you believe we get to climb the great wall?! Who do you think will get to the top first, mom or dad?
A note for Mr. Thompson - You need to get over here. There are six hundred million women your size or smaller!

We made it!

We are finally in Beijing! We are staying in an amazing hotel. It is absolutely beautiful! We ventured out tonight, just the two of us, and found a Chinese restraurant. We ordered some chicken and bowls of white rice. Well - we only ate the rice! The chicken was cut into cubes, but it still had the skin and bones! I did try one bite, but couldn't do anymore - I had to spit it out...sorry mom I know you hate that, but I couldn't help it! Jerry wrote some on the plane that I'll share with you and then more from me!
The plane ride is interesting. About 2/3 of the people are Chinese, so we already feel like the minority. The food offered is both western (American) and Chinese. I chose roast beef and mashed potatoes. Jennifer went with the chicken stir fry (poor choice).
We are flying over the arctic ocean. We passed really close to the north pole (I took pictures!). The temperature is minus 50 degrees! We are flying 540 miles per hour. When you lift the window shade, you can see how frosted the plane and windows are. One doesn't realize just how much of the earth is covered by ice until you see if first hand. We're flying over ice as far as the eye can see.
We've met Karen and Eric, they are also adopting from Shenyang. Go figure, they are naming their daughter Hannah Shen! The couple sitting across from us is adopting one year old twins from Nanjing.
We are anxious to get Hanna, but scared of her reaction to us. I think she will be very scared. We're currently half way and it seems like we've been flying forever. We have great seats. We're behind the bathroom wall, so we have way more leg room than most. Plus we can stand comfortably whenever we want. (We also got to sit together and our new friends didn't). Six more hours and we will be there. It's taking about fourteen hours. We're coming to get you Hanna Jo!
Being around all of the Chinese people makes me feel big. They are so small and thin. We just ate a snack of noodles. We both ate with chopsticks (dinner tonight too!).
Another neat thing about this plane ride is that it never got dark today. We left at 12:50pm Chicago time and it's now 10:50, and it's still bright outside. The outside temp right now is minus 75 degrees - we're passing over the mountains of Siberia and we're travelling 556 mph.
OK - back to me! The flight was pretty good. We successfully watched one movie, but I don't remember the name. Something about a little girl who went missing in the park. We ate 2 full meals, lots of drinks, and 2 snacks. They treated us very well. We're going on not much sleep. I didn't sleep well at home and then not well on the plane either. I'm really hoping to get good sleep tonight. Tomorrow we only have an orientation meeting and an acrobatic show in the evening. I'm sure we'll venture out more. Jerry isn't one for sitting around.
We have encountered several people away from our hotel that do not speak English. It is a bit un-nerving not being able to communicate, but pointing, smiling, and head bows are working fine.
Boys - We miss you very much! We saw a giant model of an allosaurus at the Chicago airport and took pictures for you. We thought you'd really like it. Brooks, can you believe we only ate plain, white rice for dinner??! You'd have loved it. We hope you are behaving for Mamaw Albaugh and having a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you. Make sure Mamaw Albaugh takes you by the house...there are a couple of surprises on the counter! I love you more than Chocolate and Strawberries! Mom and Dad!
A note for my fifth hour class. I am as far away from Tabi's political campaigning as I can get. That feels great!

Brooks turns 10!

Well, not officially! We had his birthday parties over the weekend since we will be in China for his real birthday. He had a wonderful time and got lots of $$$. He got a guitar - and he has been looking forward to that for a long time! It is hard to believe that he is 10 already. I remember the day so well...calling Jerry from the hospital and telling him that Brooks would be here soon! The Yankee's swept the world series and I watched while I was in recovery! Jerry was so nervous, he put the video camera in the bag still taping!

His soccer team didn't fair too well on Saturday. They experienced their first loss as they got beat 5 to 0! They are now 2 to 1. He plays next on his 10th birthday! I hope that brings him luck!

Reese's football team won and Reese scored a touchdown! He was so excited. He even got a flag during the game. He is so proud of his trophy!

around 36 more hours!

Can you believe we leave in about 36 hours?! We have our suitcases packed and are just trying to sit still to see if God will tell us something we've forgotten! He's spoken twice so far - at least I believe he has. This morning he told me how to fix my computer (the wireless function had gotten shut off) and where to find a bill I needed to pay. I was stressed about both things last night and this morning, I just knew the answer to both!



We will try to update as soon as we can when we get to our hotel in Beijing. It may take us awhile to figure things out though ;) We'll try our best!



Please continue to pray for our family. We've never been away from the boys this long and even though we know we are leaving them in capable hands, it is still unnerving to leave them. 16 days is a long time. Pray for Hanna and her bonding to us. We know that she is going to be upset and grieve her loss. She is quite loved at the orphanage and it is the only home she has ever known.



Thank you everyone for your support. We love you all! Jennifer

AHHHH AHHHHHH AHHHHH

Oh my gosh...we leave in less than 10 days! I am so scared. I hope that is natural and I hope all goes well. Someone needs to scream for us - and Prayers please!

Reese's Team Wins! Brooks's Team Wins!

Both of the boys played today! Reese didn't get a flag, but his team won and he had fun. Brooks' scored 2 goals helping his team win 6-0! He had a blast. This was only his second game and his dad was very proud of him! He played hard and went after it! Congrats boys! Enjoy these pictures I've taken over the past few days.

Mom and I got Hanna's suitcase packed! It was so fun looking at all that pink and deciding what we should bring with us! When Jerry and I get packed, I'll post a picture of our luggage. We are trying to take everyone's advice of packing light! I hope it works out.

WOW - 13 days!

We are leaving in just 13 days! We got our itinerary today, we have plane tickets, and the bank has our money! We are just waiting on our passports (we had to send them to DC to get our Chinese Visas!) and need to pack! I can't believe that in just 18 days Jerry and I will be hugging our beautiful daughter. It feels just like a dream. God is so good to us. We feel so blessed that He is trusting us to parent not only our two wonderful sons, but now this beautiful little girl. We are so blessed! Jerry and I are fighting over who gets to hold her first! You'll have to watch and see, but I'll bet most of you know who is going to win this fight! ME! I told him that it was only fair since he got to hold the boys first!

Brooks is very excited about his birthday. He is getting to have a few friends over next Friday night and the family party is on Sunday (3pm!). He is playing soccer for the first time and is doing very well. He had his first game last Saturday and he scored a goal! It was wonderful. I caught it on video, but no real good pictures. I asked Joe Boswell where he was going to be, but Callie had a game at the same time ;) I can't believe my baby is about to turn 10. We are so proud of him. He is doing very well in school and got a very good report card today. We love you Brooks!

Reese is jealous that Brooks gets to have his birthday while we are gone. He thinks Brooks is getting something cool and he isn't! Reese is playing football and doing well. He really enjoys it. He hasn't scored yet, but had a really nice carry last night. He said he blocked very well! He is also doing well in school and he got a good report card. He must have a good teacher ;) It is funny to hear him call me Mrs. Long when we are at school! Reese, you're our best bud! We love you!

Gotta go start packing! I'm going to China!