We fly out of Guangzhou tomorrow morning at 8:20 local time! Our flight times are the same as I previously posted. The flight numbers are Northwest 10, 20, and 444. We are scheduled to arrive in Memphis at 5:12pm, Saturday, the 15th.
There are two posts of new pictures below.
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers!! We'll see a lot of you soon!
Friday, March 14, 2008
More Pix
Taking pictures of newly adopted babies in Chinese outfits on the red couches at the White Swan hotel is traditional:
Photos
Eating at another non-English, very local restaurant (we ended up with 6 meals at 3 of these restaurants):
Trying on new clothes, which Anna LOVED:
The traditional Red Couch at the White Swan photos:
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Thursday, the 13th
Tuesday was the last day for our first guide from the adoption agency. Wednesday morning, our adoption agency's main representative here in China took over as several families had come from picking up their children in various provinces in order to get the U.S. immigrant visas from the U.S. Consulate here in Guangzhou.
Yesterday, John and I took Anna to have a medical exam and to get her photo taken for her US immigrant visa. Everything was fine, although Anna did not like the medical. Then that afternoon, I went through all our paperwork for the U.S. Consulate with our adoption agency's representative.
This morning we had quite a scare. Soon after we got downstairs for breakfast, the staff came and got me for a phone call. The rep was at the U.S. Consulate and had been told that the consulate had never received our updated approval from the Memphis immigration office. (The adoption took so long that the initial approval -- the one when the paperwork kept getting lost -- had expired. We had to redo it earlier this past fall.) Although the approval update was dated December 7, 2007, the immigration office in Memphis sent it to a visa processing center in New Hampshire which never forwarded it on to the consulate in Guangzhou. Our adoption agency's rep saw an email from U.S. immigration to the consulate here that stated it would take 10 more weeks to have the approval cabled to the consulate here. Well, according to China, Anna is ours, but without that approval from U.S. immigration we can't take her to the U.S.
I had to fax our approval letter to the consulate. Then they said they might grant us special permission to take Anna home if they saw the original. Well, when I had looked for the form to send the fax, I couldn't find the original. I'm sure you can imagine that I was having to pray myself through not getting panicked. I was envisioning having to stay here for 10 more weeks with just Anna and me while John and the kids went home. Well, I did manage to find the original just where it should have been. Our adoption agency's rep seemed fairly calm about it, so John and I felt like it would work out. She took the original to them sometime this afternoon.
She had also found out this morning that the consulate had moved our oath-taking and the receival of the children's visa and immigration packet to today at 4pm, a day early. So we went downstairs to meet the group wondering if we were going to be able to go. The rep told us that the consulate staff had taken our original approval form to the consular who had agreed to extend the special permission to take Anna home!
We went to the consulate with the rest of the group, showed our passports, and swore that all the information we had given them was true to the best of our knowledge. We were then handed Anna's Chinese passport with the American immigrant visa inside it and her immigration packet. It's a done deal! We could have left tonight if we could have gotten our plane tickets changed (which we've about decided not to try as we really need tomorrow to pack and make sure we don't need to buy an extra suitcase for all the stuff we bought!). After we were outside the consulate building boarding the bus, our adoptions agency's rep admitted to us that "this morning was pretty scary." Man, she was good at staying calm and not letting us see that she really thought there was a chance it might not work out!
But everything has worked out by God's grace and Anna will become a U.S. citizen once the customs officials in Minneapolis check her immigration visa and packet and stamp her paperwork!
Thank you all so very, very much for all your prayers! We couldn't have gotten through this 38 1/2 month process without those prayers!
Yesterday, John and I took Anna to have a medical exam and to get her photo taken for her US immigrant visa. Everything was fine, although Anna did not like the medical. Then that afternoon, I went through all our paperwork for the U.S. Consulate with our adoption agency's representative.
This morning we had quite a scare. Soon after we got downstairs for breakfast, the staff came and got me for a phone call. The rep was at the U.S. Consulate and had been told that the consulate had never received our updated approval from the Memphis immigration office. (The adoption took so long that the initial approval -- the one when the paperwork kept getting lost -- had expired. We had to redo it earlier this past fall.) Although the approval update was dated December 7, 2007, the immigration office in Memphis sent it to a visa processing center in New Hampshire which never forwarded it on to the consulate in Guangzhou. Our adoption agency's rep saw an email from U.S. immigration to the consulate here that stated it would take 10 more weeks to have the approval cabled to the consulate here. Well, according to China, Anna is ours, but without that approval from U.S. immigration we can't take her to the U.S.
I had to fax our approval letter to the consulate. Then they said they might grant us special permission to take Anna home if they saw the original. Well, when I had looked for the form to send the fax, I couldn't find the original. I'm sure you can imagine that I was having to pray myself through not getting panicked. I was envisioning having to stay here for 10 more weeks with just Anna and me while John and the kids went home. Well, I did manage to find the original just where it should have been. Our adoption agency's rep seemed fairly calm about it, so John and I felt like it would work out. She took the original to them sometime this afternoon.
She had also found out this morning that the consulate had moved our oath-taking and the receival of the children's visa and immigration packet to today at 4pm, a day early. So we went downstairs to meet the group wondering if we were going to be able to go. The rep told us that the consulate staff had taken our original approval form to the consular who had agreed to extend the special permission to take Anna home!
We went to the consulate with the rest of the group, showed our passports, and swore that all the information we had given them was true to the best of our knowledge. We were then handed Anna's Chinese passport with the American immigrant visa inside it and her immigration packet. It's a done deal! We could have left tonight if we could have gotten our plane tickets changed (which we've about decided not to try as we really need tomorrow to pack and make sure we don't need to buy an extra suitcase for all the stuff we bought!). After we were outside the consulate building boarding the bus, our adoptions agency's rep admitted to us that "this morning was pretty scary." Man, she was good at staying calm and not letting us see that she really thought there was a chance it might not work out!
But everything has worked out by God's grace and Anna will become a U.S. citizen once the customs officials in Minneapolis check her immigration visa and packet and stamp her paperwork!
Thank you all so very, very much for all your prayers! We couldn't have gotten through this 38 1/2 month process without those prayers!
More Pictures
This is a great picture from our day of walking around Guangzhou's markets off of Shamian Island. This is one of the side streets off the large shopping square.
Anna's 1st taste of McDonald's:
These next two were taken during Cara's and Rhodes' adventure off the island with Aunt Marla yesterday (the 12th):
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Tuesday, March 11th
We've been busy exploring the last few days. I've posted a lot of new pictures, plus 2 videos, that take up several posts below. Be sure to check them out!
Rhodes was much better today. We think he had a little fever at bedtime tonight, but he didn't have any during the day. He never did develop any other symptoms so we haven't taken him to either clinic so far. We're praying he's getting over it and no one else will catch it. With children's tylenol, he's felt well enough to want to get out and do things, so he hasn't missed much. We didn't take him to Yuntai Park due to not wanting to expose the other family's baby directly, but he and John walked around the island exploring while we girls were gone.
Anna continues to do wonderfully. We're really amazed at how well she's done, and we pray the long plane trip and the newness of everything in Oxford, Miss., won't set her back any.
We received Anna's Chinese passport today, so tomorrow morning we will have her required medical exam done and have her picture taken, both of which are necessary to obtain a USA visa.
Good night, and thank you VERY much for all of your prayers and sweet comments and emails!
Rhodes was much better today. We think he had a little fever at bedtime tonight, but he didn't have any during the day. He never did develop any other symptoms so we haven't taken him to either clinic so far. We're praying he's getting over it and no one else will catch it. With children's tylenol, he's felt well enough to want to get out and do things, so he hasn't missed much. We didn't take him to Yuntai Park due to not wanting to expose the other family's baby directly, but he and John walked around the island exploring while we girls were gone.
Anna continues to do wonderfully. We're really amazed at how well she's done, and we pray the long plane trip and the newness of everything in Oxford, Miss., won't set her back any.
We received Anna's Chinese passport today, so tomorrow morning we will have her required medical exam done and have her picture taken, both of which are necessary to obtain a USA visa.
Good night, and thank you VERY much for all of your prayers and sweet comments and emails!
Videos
We wanted to hear Anna talk some more, so we turned on our learning Chinese dvd. She sang the Chinese songs without any hesitation; it was so precious. My video of that was too long for blogger to accept and I don't have any editing software with me. But these two of her talking and trying to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Chinese are cute, too.
More Pictures
We finally found the antiques market:
This was Saturday night. We were walking in the park along the Pearl River, not too far from the hotel. Can you see Anna kissing Rhodes?:
The Markets
This morning (Tuesday), we all ventured off the island into the city by ourselves. We walked to the food market first. All kinds of things were for sale here: live scorpions, frogs, snakes, CATS, plus everything else you can imagine.
Mushrooms? Some kind of fungus:
Can you see what are in the top two cages on the right? Yes... cats. The kids didn't notice them so we didn't have to explain:
While trying to find the antiques market from the food market, we stumbled upon a big shopping square that is above the road. As it was about lunch time, we got some Happy Meals and fries at McDonalds and ate in the square:
Yuntai Park
Marla, Cara, Anna, and I were able to go on the group tour to Yuntai Park at the base of White Cloud Mountain on Monday morning. John and Rhodes didn't go as Rhodes still had a touch of fever and we didn't want to expose the other family's baby.
VERY Local Restaurant
We were very brave Sunday night and went to a local restaurant with no English on the menu. They gave us the one waiter who knew a little broken English. In the middle of the table is a brass bowl where they poured boiling water over our cups, bowls, chopsticks, and spoons. Then they covered the big bowl with a 'lazy susan'. We ate family-style, meaning we ordered several things and they brought them out as they were cooked and set them on the lazy susan for us to serve ourselves. We had fried rice, beef with vegetables, pork, mushroom soup, and dumplings. I didn't eat much meat, only trying the beef. I couldn't eat the mushrooms in the soup either. Marla and John said the pork was mostly fat so it didn't get eaten by any of us. Anna did the best, which shouldn't be a surprise. It's amazing watching her eat as she is extremely clean. And she loves hot tea, only let it cool momentarily. Cara didn't eat anything, and Rhodes only ate the dumplings. We actually went back there tonight, much to Cara's disappointment. The only other obvious westerner in the restaurant was with an Asian man the first night, and tonight we were the only obvious foreigners.
Monday night we ate at an outside restaurant by the Pearl River which was also very local. Again, we didn't see any other obvious foreigners there, and while there was English on the menu, the dishes were very Chinese. The papaya and mango juices were good, as were the bread dishes we got for Cara and Rhodes -- sweet with some kind of dipping sauce that tasted like sweetened (very sweet) condensed milk with vanillla flavoring in it. I wasn't crazy about the rest of it, although Marla and John and Anna ate a good bit each. Especially Anna!
Monday night we ate at an outside restaurant by the Pearl River which was also very local. Again, we didn't see any other obvious foreigners there, and while there was English on the menu, the dishes were very Chinese. The papaya and mango juices were good, as were the bread dishes we got for Cara and Rhodes -- sweet with some kind of dipping sauce that tasted like sweetened (very sweet) condensed milk with vanillla flavoring in it. I wasn't crazy about the rest of it, although Marla and John and Anna ate a good bit each. Especially Anna!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Sunday night
I'm often too tired by the end of the day to post more than a little, if anything, to the blog. I apologize if I'm not giving enough detail!
Thanks to everyone for your comments! We cannot view the blog, but the comments are sent to my gmail account (I can't reply to them directly though).
Anna is doing great! She seems so comfortable with us. Thank you for all of your prayers. She understands more and more of what we say everyday. And she definitely knows the word "no!". She says it quite often now!!
We've discovered from different people talking to her that she understands both Mandarin and Cantonese. She'll follow their directions or answer in other nonverbal ways, but she won't talk unless it's just us. So we don't know which language she is using when she talks or whether or not she can speak both. It never occurred to us to ask the orphanage workers when we had the chance, as we just assumed that since she wasn't in regular school yet that she spoke Cantonese. Hopefully, our guide who does all the adoption work and sightseeing will be able to coax her to talk soon.
We visited a buddhist temple and a very large park yesterday (Saturday). It was on the schedule to visit the Chen Clan compound today, but it got moved to yesterday. Then we found out we were going to the temple as well. Apparently, it is very popular with Western tourists because you can climb the 8 stories of the 1200 years old pagoda. So we did that, and then because we were the only family that went yesterday, we opted for the park instead of the Chen clan compound since it wouldn't really appeal to the kids much (according to our guide). We had a great time. It was beautiful and the kids loved the rides. We adults were amazed at all the physical games being played by people of all ages, and at the other activities available such as sand art and catching goldfish and singing.
We took it easy today (Sunday) and didn't make it to church. (Marla tried to go but only got there for the closing song.) Rhodes woke up with fever in the middle of the night last night. He doesn't really have any other symptoms except for an occasional coughing spell that he was already doing beforehand. (He and Cara had the flu about a week before we left home. Thanks to starting Tamiflu early, they only had mild cases. Cara was left with a cough, but Rhodes really didn't have one until on the flight from Tokyo to Guangzhou. It just hasn't let up since then.) There's a medical clinic in the hotel as well as another one on Shamian Island that we will take Rhodes to if he doesn't get better soon.
Cara and her hair continue to attract people. She said it's ok if it's not a lot of people at once. :) She's doing great and enjoying kissing Anna. Anna's not too crazy about all of Cara's kissing, though. :)
I've posted lots of pictures. I can't get Picasa to let me post more than 4 at a time. So there are quite a few new posts below. It's 11:41pm Sunday here so I have got to go to bed.
Thanks to everyone for your comments! We cannot view the blog, but the comments are sent to my gmail account (I can't reply to them directly though).
Anna is doing great! She seems so comfortable with us. Thank you for all of your prayers. She understands more and more of what we say everyday. And she definitely knows the word "no!". She says it quite often now!!
We've discovered from different people talking to her that she understands both Mandarin and Cantonese. She'll follow their directions or answer in other nonverbal ways, but she won't talk unless it's just us. So we don't know which language she is using when she talks or whether or not she can speak both. It never occurred to us to ask the orphanage workers when we had the chance, as we just assumed that since she wasn't in regular school yet that she spoke Cantonese. Hopefully, our guide who does all the adoption work and sightseeing will be able to coax her to talk soon.
We visited a buddhist temple and a very large park yesterday (Saturday). It was on the schedule to visit the Chen Clan compound today, but it got moved to yesterday. Then we found out we were going to the temple as well. Apparently, it is very popular with Western tourists because you can climb the 8 stories of the 1200 years old pagoda. So we did that, and then because we were the only family that went yesterday, we opted for the park instead of the Chen clan compound since it wouldn't really appeal to the kids much (according to our guide). We had a great time. It was beautiful and the kids loved the rides. We adults were amazed at all the physical games being played by people of all ages, and at the other activities available such as sand art and catching goldfish and singing.
We took it easy today (Sunday) and didn't make it to church. (Marla tried to go but only got there for the closing song.) Rhodes woke up with fever in the middle of the night last night. He doesn't really have any other symptoms except for an occasional coughing spell that he was already doing beforehand. (He and Cara had the flu about a week before we left home. Thanks to starting Tamiflu early, they only had mild cases. Cara was left with a cough, but Rhodes really didn't have one until on the flight from Tokyo to Guangzhou. It just hasn't let up since then.) There's a medical clinic in the hotel as well as another one on Shamian Island that we will take Rhodes to if he doesn't get better soon.
Cara and her hair continue to attract people. She said it's ok if it's not a lot of people at once. :) She's doing great and enjoying kissing Anna. Anna's not too crazy about all of Cara's kissing, though. :)
I've posted lots of pictures. I can't get Picasa to let me post more than 4 at a time. So there are quite a few new posts below. It's 11:41pm Sunday here so I have got to go to bed.
Pictures around town
Tying pearls in the pearl market:
Dinner at Lucy's Diner:
More boats on the river:
more from the park
watching children catch goldfish:
Rhodes and Cara driving racecars.
Anna watching the race:
Ping-pong: More Rides!
This was a very cool ride. It was about 10 feet in the air, I think, and we could either move it by pedaling or by pushing a "gas" pedal. I used the gas pedal most of the time as I had a skirt on, but it didn't go much faster than manual pedaling. My sister Marla did the pedaling manually. All 3 kids loved it!
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