Site-seeing Day

McDonald's - China style

Forbidden City

Tien'anmen Square


Jon trying out for the acrobat show - sadly he didn't make it.

Pinch us! We are still in disbelief that we are in China. Never in a million years would we have thought that we would be guided towards China one day.

Today, we started with a breakfast within the hotel which was nice; however, trying to remember what to eat and not to eat was quite difficult. Since the water has certain bacteria in it, we certainly cannot drink it or even eat any food that might have come in contact with it. We ate and so far so good with no desperate need to go use the facility. So tomorrow we will try it again.

After trying our luck with breakfast, we all climbed aboard a tour bus and went to Tian'enman Square and Forbidden City. Forbidden City was unbelievably enormous since it kept going and going and going. At one point in history it contained 9,999 rooms (lucky #9)but now it is about 7,000. "Enormous" doesn't even do the description justice.

After having quite a busy morning, we then headed back to the hotel and we both crashed since jet lag is still an issue. It was much needed.

In the evening, our guide Catherine took us to the Olympic Village to see the Water Cube and Bird's Nest which was amazing. We know that preparing the city like they did was no easy task. You should see some of the hotels around it - The Seven Star Hotel is where Former Pres. Bush stayed while he was viewing the events.

The highlight of the day was going to see an acrobat show. I'd have to say it wasn't far off from Cirque De Sole'. While there, I experienced a real squatty potty (not like the one at the airport which was very nice if you can call a squatty-potty nice). I won't go into too much detail so you can use your imagination.

Funny story, as we were leaving the Forbidden City, we were being surrounded by many vendors trying to sell trinkets to us. It was so hard to say "no" (we say "Booya" which means "No, I don't want it"). Most of the vendors were handicapped or young young children but our guide told us to keep walking and since Jon and I are "rule followers", we did just that. Among them was a little boy who looked like he was bent down looking at rocks, but at a closer look, we realized he was really having a bowel movement right there on the sidewalk! No picture for that one.

We are so looking forward to tomorrow- "The Great Wall" and the Summer Palace. Can't wait. Then on Sunday is the BIG day of finally getting TingTing (Julianne)!

We're in Beijing!

Well, after about 20 hours in the air and in an airport, we are in China! Besides the two hour delay in Chicago, our travels went fairly well. We were able to watch Slumdog Millionaire on our own little video screen on the back of the seat in front of us. I really can't tell you the last time Jon and I actually sat down to watch a movie together uniterrupted. Conversations with other adoptive parents also helped the time pass and also an occassional cat nap helped too. The greatest thrill for me was flying over (or near) the North Pole. Leah and Natalie, I looked for Santa and I thought I saw a speck of red on the ground, so it very well might have been him.

Once we arrived in Beijing, we all headed to the local market called the "Wonderful" to buy some bottled water and some Lays chips (the flavors they have are quite interesting...blueberry chips, mango chips, beef flavored chips, etc.) It was so cool to see all of the food brands that we have in the US written in Chinese characters.

The day has been so sureal and we keep pinching each other to see if this is actually happening. Tomorrow we head off to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City.

Travel Approval

Yes, we finally received our TA. Looks like travel will be around March 18th.

New Pictures!!!!!!

Oh, we are so in love with our little Julianne!! Our TA could not come soon enough. In addition to her pictures we also received new measurements which allowed us to come to the realization that the 6-9 month clothes that we've bought most likely will not fit her. 18 lbs!! But what great news that she is growing well and looks so healthy!

This Week in Review

What a week this has been! It started with a great time at our FCC's Chinese New Year Celebration. With this being our first true experience with it, we enjoyed every second of the day - even the icy ride to the event. The girls couldn't have had a better time with so much to do and see. They were glued to the entertainers and we found it quite comical to see two little blond heads upon a sea of black. After the event, the girls had plans to join martial arts, "knife dancing", and learn Chinese. We encourage it all minus the knives.

Monday night through the next twenty-four hours brought us enough snow and ice to give us four days off school. Having that time with the family was quite an unexpected treat; however, by the end of the week, boredom started to set in. We did manage to get in some sled riding, family UNO and Bingo, and a trip up to Skyline which were just some of the snowy highlights. Unfortunately, due to the wind storm back in September, now we have to make up these snow days into June. We're looking at attending school until June 16!!!!!

Julianne's Birthday Party

Julianne turns ONE on the 28th so we decided to celebrate the special day with our closest friends at their home. It is quite funny that Julianne's birthday fell on the first day of Chinese New Year last year so tonight we thought it would be appropriate to have our own little New Year Celebration - not so traditional but we made it our own.

The night started with a small Chinese buffet with homemade fried rice (thanks Kim) and food from our local Chinese restaurant. The kids enjoyed a gift bag (thanks Kim), fortune cookie and a birthday cake and song. I am sure Julianne could hear the serenade of the five young voices singing her birthday song. We also wrote birthday wishes on a Chinese-style lantern and let it loose into the night sky. We stretched the truth a bit (well, a lot) by telling the girls that the lantern was on its way to China so Julianne could see it. I wonder how many calls the police got stating that there was a UFO in the sky. Oh well....

It breaks our hearts that we cannot be there with her on her actual birthday but we will be with her in the next few months - hopefully, in time for Easter. Happy Birthday, RuoTing!

Killian, the cat

After we came back from celebrating (with a dinner) the arrival of our Letter of Acceptance, we noticed Killian, our cat, was very ill. He couldn't walk or even keep his head up. I took him to an emergency vetinarian clinic and was told the grim news that he needed to be put to sleep. He was a great cat. However, this is probably a blessing since we were concerned about a baby gate blocking the basement where Killian's litter box is. We couldn't imagine putting in a kitty door in our brand new door we just put onto our basement. He will be certainly missed especially by the girls.

Letter of Acceptance

We finally have our Letter of Acceptance after 135 days of waiting since our Preapproval!!!
More to come tomorrow......

Keeping Busy

This is old news but writing in this blog keeps me busy and my mind off of the wait....the wait.....
Over Thanksgiving Break we decided to paint and prepare Julianne's room. This turned out to be an entire family project with Leah preparing the wall for paint, Natalie deciding on which books Julianne is "allowed" to have and Jon and I doing the painting. Since Natalie felt like she was a part of the painting and set-up , the big switch into Leah's room went relatively smooth minus the occasional squeal and bed jumping.

Our Saturday Night Concert

Natalie is "charging" her new glow and the dark pjs.

Leah is putting on a show with her new guitar.

The girls putting on a show for us.