HANGING AROUND - WAITING TO COME HOME!

March 14, 2007
We haven’t been doing much except hanging around the hotel for the past couple of days. We are waiting on Mylia’s visa and our consulate appointment. Then we will be heading to Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon and then on Friday we will be heading home!! I can’t wait to get home and get settled into a normal routine. Yesterday we did go to a museum here in Guangzhou, but, I hate to say it, it was kind of boring. There were tons of steps and Mylia was asleep on my shoulder so it was a bit difficult to navigate the steps. We saw tons of ceramic pillows. And then we saw more ceramic pillows. Once you see as many as we did, they all start to look alike.

Anyway, I wanted to post a few more pictures. I probably won’t post anymore as we will be busy packing and getting ready to head home. Thank you for following us on this journey of a lifetime to our daughter. Your prayers and support have encouraged us along the way. Continue to pray as we start the last leg of this journey to home and then as we begin our life with Mylia at home. I guess that is when the real journey begins. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

MEDICAL EXAM

March 12, 2007
Today we had Mylia’s visa medical exam. They checked about 17 babies in about one hour. They had several stations we had to go through. They checked her weight which came to be 8.0 kg. which translates to about 17 pounds. She had all her clothes and her shoes on for this. I am not too sure how accurate their scales are because she is wearing the size two diapers which go to 16 pounds and they fit her with a couple pounds to spare. Of course, one of the father of one of the mom’s here said that she is carrying about two pounds in her cheeks alone.

The first pictures posted today are of Mylia playing on Daddy’s lap. Too Cute!!! Enjoy!!

CHEN FAMILY TEMPLE

March 11, 2007
We had breakfast here in the hotel. Western food – YES! I had French toast and hash browns that were outstanding. I think I will eat much better here in Guangzhou. After breakfast we visited the Chen Family Temple here in Guangzhou. We enjoyed this tour very much as it was a very beautiful place. There were blooming azaleas and statues in the gardens. There were different rooms with artifacts and paintings. One room was full of the most beautiful embroidery I have ever seen – the picture doesn’t do it justice.

After the tour, we came back to the hotel and went out for lunch at the famous place called Lucy’s. Again…western food!!! We hear about Lucy’s on the websites of those who adopt all the time. Now, I know why – very good. We had cheeseburgers that were very good. Then we went shopping – that was fun…too much fun! Mylia got bored with all the shopping and fell asleep.

I just can’t get over how much we love this little girl. She is so precious. She doesn’t cry, although I would like her to sometimes. She doesn’t cry when she is wet or hungry. I think that she learned early on in her life that it just didn’t do any good to cry. I want her to be able to develop trust in Clayton and I so that she will know that we will take care of her needs and it is ok to cry to communicate those needs to us. We have had her with us for one week as of today and have only heard her cry a couple of times. I know I have said this before but, God has blessed us so much with her and we thank Him for His timing in all of this.

JUST HANGIN' ROUND

March 9 and March 10, 2007
Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. We mostly sat around the hotel until time to go and pick up Mylia’s passport. Today was Mylia’s first airplane ride as we flew from Nanchang to Guangzhou. All families who adopt from China will eventually stay here in Guangzhou as this is where the American Consulate is located. This hotel is filled with Westerners who have just adopted. The hotel we are staying in is called the White Swan. It is a very nice 5 star hotel. It is so beautiful inside. It has beautiful views of the Pearl River and lots of different restaurants, Clayton and I ate in a “living room” type of a lounge and had pizza tonight for dinner. It has a lot of places within walking distance to shop and sightsee. Clayton is, as I type, walking to a 7-11 to buy drinks. Yes, there is a 7-11 here. Mylia and I would have gone with him, but she wanted to have a bottle. (she kinda rules the roost right now) I think tomorrow we are going sightseeing with the group on a boat tour. Enjoy the pictures of Mylia playing on the bed and a picture of her first flight.

March 7 - Pavilion; March 8 - Village

Yesterday we went to a Pavilion. From what I could understand, it was a Pavilion that represented the four different dynasties here in China. With each dynasty they would change the Pavilion and it would be different from the dynasty before it. While we were there, we saw a Chinese dance and music show. It was pretty neat. Mylia could have cared less…just wanted her bottle. By the way, she likes it with rice cereal and hot.

Today was mostly just hanging in the hotel until 2:00 when we went to a village outside Nanchang city. We stopped on the way to buy little gifts of candy and pencils, stuff like that, to give to the children of the village. It was so sad. It was worse than any slum in the states. They were thrilled to receive a pencil or candy from us. It made me so glad to be living where we do. I got to thinking about if God had not chosen Mylia for our family, what kind of conditions would she be living in. Maybe not even as good as what we saw today. We in the United States need to grateful everyday for what we have.

Tomorrow, all we are doing is staying around the hotel and doing more paperwork. I think it is paperwork in preparation for the Consulate appointment when we get to
Guanzhou. That is where we have her medical appointment for her visa. I just can’t wait to get home and settle in to a daily routine.

SIGHTSEEING IN NANCHANG

March 7, 2007
Yesterday, we went sightseeing here in Nanchang. We went to a park and a temple. In the park there were a lot of people dancing and exercising. I guess here in China, instead of going to the gym, they go to the park. It was kind of cute to see all these people (in several different parts of the park) in groups dancing or exercising. The park also had a
lot of amusement type rides also. After the park we went to the temple. You would go in one level and then there was a courtyard type of an area, then go through another building with “gods” in it and out the other side to another courtyard type of an area. This went on for four levels. People were burning incense and bowing all over the temple. They were bowing to statues. It was so different from anything I have ever seen.

Mylia is really coming into her own. She just jibber jabbers all the time. She smiles and laughs a lot when we play with her. She seems to be very content and happy to be with us. God’s timing is perfect. I feel like we are the most blessed people in the world.

WE ARE FOREVER A FAMILY

FOREVER A FAMILY – What a great day!!

It’s official…we are Mylia’s parents! We had two appointments this morning. One was at the adoption center where they asked us a few questions like; “what do you do for a living?” “Why did you want to adopt a baby from China?” “Do you promise never to abandon this baby?” After that, they gave us the adoption certificate. De kept saying that this is the official legal document that makes us this baby’s parents. We then went to a Notary appointment where she basically asked the same questions. Then we came back to the hotel to spend the rest of the day as a family. I fixed Mylia a bottle and she is now napping. When she wakes up we are going around the corner to KFC for a late lunch, early dinner type of meal. Then we are going to walk a couple of blocks to check out the local…get ready for it…Wal Mart. Yes, that is what I said…Wal Mart. They’re everywhere evidentially. That should be fun.

GOTCHA DAY!!!

March 4, 2007
What a day!! There are no words to express what today was like. We got up, had breakfast and went to the Beijing airport to catch a plane leaving at 11:30 to fly to Nanchang where we would finally meet our daughter, Mylia. When we got to Nanchang, we were met by De (dur) and his interpreter. They are our guides throughout this “leg” of the journey. We rode a bus to our hotel, the Jiangxi Hotel. When we got to the hotel we only had about ½ hour before we had to leave to go to the Nanchang Adoption Center to pick up our babies. We only had to wait a few minutes and then all of a sudden there was about 6 people coming in the room carrying babies. Mylia was in the first person’s hands, though I didn’t realize it at the time. Then we were all there trying to get a good look at the babies and try and figure out who was who. At first, I couldn’t tell, but then all of a sudden it just “hit me” which one was my baby girl. She wasn’t crying, although she had one lone tear on her cheek. Then they started calling family numbers. We are family number 3. We had to show them our passports before they could hand her to us. But, when they did…oh my!! Instant bonding. She never cried. She seemed happy to be with us. When we got to the hotel, after playing with her for a little while, I gave her her first bath (by me) I fixed her a bottle and she drank that down. We played some more. She just seems so comfortable with us. I hope this trend continues. She likes to suck on her index finger and her thumb at the same time. It is quite cute. At one point, I was playing with her and she just laughed and laughed. She has a beautiful smile. She is now fast asleep in her crib and all is well.

THE GREAT WALL and other "stuff"

March 3, 2007
The Great Wall was interesting. I didn’t realize just how steep it is. The steps are very uneven. Some of them were so high it was hard to climb them. Clayton and I went up about 2 levels. You can tell by the pictures that it was raining and very foggy. We haggled for a t-shirt – I think we could have gone lower. Oh well…now we have a Great Wall T-shirt. After the Great Wall, we went to eat lunch. It was served on a big lazy susan in the middle of the table. A lot of different dishes were served. I tried a few things, but pretty much stayed with rice. Clayton ate just about everything that was served (except the fish with the head and tail attached) We went into a Friendship store afterward and looked around. Some people bought things but we didn’t. We will hit another Friendship store later during the trip. If you look at something with interest, the sales people run up to you to try and make the sale. I was looking at something and then decided to wait. The sales lady then proceeded to follow me all over the store. She hung back a bit, but was definitely eyeing me. This kept going on until I “crossed a line” I guess. As soon as I crossed this “invisible line” she abruptly turned and went back to where she was when I was showing interest. I guess they have territories within the store that they have to stay in. We were supposed to go to Tieneman Square but when we got there they had it closed to the public. We don’t know why. I was very tired by then anyway and with the cold rain it was probably for the best. Our guide told us about it as we drove around it. The traffic here is crazy. They have bikes and cars together in the same place on the secondary roads. Everyone drives so close together. At one point there was probably about a “hands” difference between our bus and another one.

Tomorrow we will get up early and go to the airport to catch a plane to Nanchang and there meet Mylia about 4:00 p.m. What an exciting day!!

WE'RE HERE!

March 1, 2007
We got up very early today to be ready when the limo came to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. Yes, there is a 4:30 a.m. Our flight to Newark from Norfolk was full and it was a small plane. We had about a 4 hour layover in Newark and then boarded a huge plane – but it was packed also. The flight was hard. It was too hard for me to sleep. Clayton slept some and during the last few hours of the flight, he slept hard. I never really slept much at all. After arriving in Beijing (by the way, it is now March 2) and going through customs, we met Thomas, our guide for while we are in Beijing. We got on a bus (our luggage was on another bus) and rode for about ½ hour to downtown Beijing to the Poly Plaza hotel. It is a pretty nice 4 star hotel. After getting settled in our rooms, Thomas took us out to buy water. There was a McDonald’s on the way, so we stopped there and got some dinner to bring back to the hotel. I was so tired that I was dizzy and didn’t feel well and wasn’t able to eat much. We went to bed about 8:30 and slept until about 4:00 a.m. We both woke up at the same time. I guess it will take a while to adjust to the time change. Today we are going to see the Great wall and Tienamen Square.

OFF WE GO!

Tomorrow is the day! We will leave our house about 4:30 a.m. and head from Norfolk Airport to Newark and then on to Beijing. We should be able to hold our daughter on March 4th around 4:00 p.m. China time. Are we excited?! There are no words to express how we feel right now. We are busy today doing last minute errands and packing for the trip. It looks like so much stuff, but all is needed.

Please pray for us as we take the journey of a lifetime.

TRAVEL PLANS

We got an email from our China program coordinator stating that we are set to travel! We will leave on March 1st and return on March 16th. This is a much longer trip than we had anticipated. Our agency normally flies to Hong Kong, not Beijing. However, this time, we will be going to Beijing first. We will spend a day there seeing the Great Wall and Tiananman Square. We will then fly to Nanchang, the province where our Mylia is, on March 4th. Hopefully, we will meet our daughter then. If not, we will finally get our hands on her on the 5th. (I'm hoping for the 4th...duh) We will spend several days in Nanchang doing more adoption paperwork and then travel to Guanzhou. Every family that adopts from China will eventually go to Guanzhou for the Consolate Appointment. After we receive Mylia's visa, we will travel to Hong Kong and then home. I don't have all the details of travel yet. We are waiting for our travel packet to arrive from our agency. We should get it in the next couple of days. However, we do know that we will indeed begin the trip of a lifetime on March 1st. God is so good!!

I'm Overwhelmed!

I am so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that I have received during this exciting time in our lives. As we wait now to travel to get Mylia, my wonderful friends at the pre-school where I work decided to throw a shower for me. And threw they did! What wonderful things Mylia received. She is so loved, by not only Clayton and myself, but so many who are waiting to see her in my arms. Like I said, we received so many wonderful things, but none of that compares to the love I felt today as my friends celebrated with me the gift of my precious little one - Mylia Joy.

Jiangxi China

I thought you might be interested to see where in China Mylia is waiting for us.

She is from the Jiangxi (jangzee) province. On this map, it is colored kind of a peachy color. The capitol of Jiangxi is Nanchang. We will be staying in Nanchang for a good part of our trip. It is probably there that we will finally get to kiss our dear daughter's beautiful face. It is located right above Guangdong, the province where Hong Kong is. Also in Guangdong is Guanzhou (guanzho). We will also travel there to make everything "official."

Since we received the referral last week, I have pretty much only been looking at her face. I have also been trying to read about Jiangxi and the small town, Yujiang, that she is from. I am so anxious to bring her to her new home. Please continue to pray for us as we now wait for yet another milestone in this incredible journey -- the day we finally get to hold our daughter.

HERE SHE IS

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!!!

Mr Fedex came today about 1:30 and brought me the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. It is with great joy I introduce to you...Mylia Joy. Her Chinese name is Wang Yue Feng. She was born on May 25, 2006. (Clayton's birthday) From what I can tell from the information sent, (most of it is in Chinese - I will get a translation soon) her measurements were taken when she was about 5 months old and she was almost 13 pounds and was about 24 inches. She is currently in the Yujiang Social Welfare Institute in the Jiangxi province. Her health is normal. She can locate the direction of sound/voice, can follow you with moving head from one side to the other She can distinguishe between acquaintances and strangers. She is a quiet baby and is fond of listening to music. This is all the information I have at this time. We don't know when our pre-travel meeting is yet, but will find out in a few days. We are soooo hoping to get to travel sometime during the first part of February. (before Chinese New Year which begins on February 18)

I talked to Clayton on the phone and emailed him all this information along with her photo. We are so excited and thankful to God. God has blessed us so much with our four boys, and now, we have the honor of being this precious child's parents too. I can't say it enough...Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!!

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to travel to China and as we continue on this incredible journey to our precious little Mylia.

WE GOT THE CALL

I can't believe that this day has finally arrived. I got the CALL at 4:22 p.m. today. I was so worried because all these other people were getting information from their agencies yesterday and today, but we had been told that we wouldn't get ours until Friday or possibly tomorrow. So I went from being sooo bummed to being sooo excited. We know nothing about her yet. We will receive our FEDEX package tomorrow. When I get that I will post her picture and information. I am so thankful to God for this indescribable gift!!!!