Category: Travel

We woke up on Wednesday after a good night’s sleep and not so much screaming from Amelie at bedtime. Mike has a master technique with her and it’s a relief to me that he can put her to bed so well. We went down for breakfast and had to head straight up to our room to wait from 9 – 10 am in case our guide Grace called from the Consulate. Grace called a little after 10 to tell us that everything was fine and to be in the lobby at 2:10 pm to head to the consulate so Amelie could be sworn in. I got the girls a bath right after that and we got Amelie down for a nap. The rest of us had a nap too and then got up to get ready.

We got to the Consulate in about 40 minutes, went through security (they take your camera and cell phones because no photos are allowed inside). We waited around for a while and then the head of the adoption unit came out to explain to us what the process would be. She told us that there were 3000 adoptions from China in 2009 and 3400 in 2010 (60% special needs children). So far in 2011 she said that 73% of the children were special needs. I read in a Chinese newspaper a couple days ago that so far 60,000 children have been adopted out to the US and 90% were girls. Then she had all the parents stand up and take the oath for the children. Everyone clapped and cheered when we were done. Then she said we would wait for our name to be called so we could sign the last document for our adoption (insert more clapping and cheering).

Once our turn came up Mike was about to sign when I noticed that we had the Hameloth family’s signature page and I said, “Stop, that’s not us!” The woman looked very confused, but then she went to see what happened. Somehow they ended up with 2 copies of the last page and our last page was missing. They called us back and we signed the form and we were officially done. All of our group headed back downstairs and here we are with our soon-to-be new US citizen.

Here is part of the group on the bus after the swearing in.

After returning to the hotel our guide Grace took Lynnea and us to the photo shop to get our film from the orphanage developed. Once that was dropped off we decided that we would eat dinner at the Guangzhou restaurant which has been around since 1935. It has a pond on the floor inside which is pretty cool. Once they got a table put together for us they came over to ask us what kind of tea we wanted. We all said no tea. Then they got really stressed out and they showed me a translated booklet that basically said ‘everyone gets tea in our restaurant’ and the woman who couldn’t speak much English was saying it was custom to get tea. So we all had tea because what else could you do but leave? Then we placed our dinner order. It was really fantastic and I was once again wishing that my stomach was bigger. We had dumplings, shrimp fried rice, Guangzhou style fried noodles, some fish dish, a beef dish with veggies and shrimp balls with Mushrooms.

After dinner Amelie decided that a meltdown was in order and we took off to the hotel. We got Amelie to sleep in no time flat because she was so worn out. It was a good day.

Hello everyone. I was just too tired and feeling too bad to post last night. Today is much better, but we are not 100%. All I have to do is be doped up enough to survive the travel and then I will go to our doctor at home. We suspect that it’s actually connective tissue around my ribs that is messed up. This is just so much more severe than a muscle strain and not a cracked rib or anything.

Mike still can’t hear out of one ear which is driving him crazy, but he can deal with that. He is hardly coughing now. Nadia just has a cold, no other tummy trouble. Amelie is still having her little cough, but it doesn’t seem to affect her much. I also think she has a couple of teeth coming in which could be adding to all her various issues.

Thanks for all your prayers. I am trying to catch up on blog posts now before we start packing tonight.

Nadia got sick overnight – it was bound to happen since she is surrounded by sick people. Mike and I made appointment at the big clinic inside the Garden Hotel and will be headed there shortly. If nothing else I am hoping to get some strong pain killers to get me through the trip home. Mike is going to have them check out his ear.

We appreciate all your prayers.

On a lighter note, this morning Amelie came up to me and pounded on my leg, said “Mama” and then lifted her arms to be picked up.  Sweet.

We all woke up Monday morning to find a new child had joined our family overnight. She was full of happiness and smiles (still the tantrums when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, but that is expected). The biggest difference was how she behaved all day with Mike. Laughing, playing and the cutest was her “chasing” him around the hotel. She thought that it was hilarious that he was “trying” to get away from her. She let him tickle her a lot and was even lifting up her shirt to have him get her tummy. SO ADORABLE!

With me she likes to stand in front of me and dive bomb into my lap. Even if she bangs her head on my knee she still laughs and wants to do it again. She also likes to spin around in circles so Mike decided that she would love to fly into the air. So the first time he picked her up facing me and tossed her up in the air with me watching her reaction. She liked it – a lot! So then he faced her towards him and she laughed and laughed. Then Nadia wanted in on the action and he was switching back and forth. When Amelie wanted a turn she would run up to his legs  and bang her arms on him and say, “maaaa” which we think is her attempt at more since we have been trying to teach her that. She was really sweet and precious with Mike all day and it helped fill us with much needed hope. What a difference a week has made with her relating to all of us, but especially Mike.

Other observations about Amelie:

• Emotionally she is like a 1 year old. Intellectually she is at her age level. She is very smart and can figure things out quickly. She just can’t cope with changes and all the stimulus has to be impacting her.
• She doesn’t have a “full belly” signal. I honestly think we could feed her at each meal and she would stuff the food in until she threw up. If she is awake she wants to be eating.
• She bangs on the table at meal times for more food. If you don’t respond fast enough she screams.
• If she sees a snack (in any form) and we don’t give it to her instantly, she flips out. Even if she just ate a huge meal.
• She likes to put stuff on her  head or around her neck like a scarf. This can be a toy, book, diaper whatever. Then she throws it behind her.
• When she is tired or recovering from a tantrum she sucks her thumb. Then she uses the other hand to rubs her ear, her eye or the hand of the thumb she is sucking. A lot of the time she drapes her arm over her eyes while she is sucking her thumb.
• She waddles like a penguin or Charlie Chaplin. We are sure this is from the 57 layers of clothes they put the kids in which leads to them having no lower back or trunk strength.
• She really needs 2 naps a day, but the appointments and everything else are preventing any sort of routine.

Once we were up and moving we headed down to grab some breakfast at the buffet. Then we all loaded up in a mini bus and headed back over to the island for the bigger kids to have their TB tests checked. We were able to drop off our laundry at a store near there before heading to Liu Hua Lake Park. This place was filled with people doing everything from Tai Chi to dancing lessons. There were old men playing poker and people singing along with an accordion. We took a nice walk all the way around the lake and then they had a little amusement park and the kids were able to ride a few rides. Nadia rode a train and then I went with her on this alien space ship looking thing where you shoot guns at fake animals to make them make their sounds or squirt water. It was totally random, but she liked it.

Then we headed back to the hotel because Amelie desperately needed a nap. Mike, Nadia and I just ate noodles in the room while Amelie slept. After she woke up we headed down to the club level and had dinner down there and visited with friends. Then we took a little walk around the shopping area before coming back to the room for the night.  Amelie continued to be cute and fun with Mike, which was really so sweet. It really was a good day for us and we could see a lot more into her playful personality.

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Health update (Wednesday night in China, morning at home):

Nadia is fine. Amelie still has a bit of a cough. Mike is on antibiotics and still can’t hear, but his cough is getting better day by day. I am in a lot of pain still for whatever I did to my side last week. I may go to the Western Clinic on the island on Thursday morning, but if it’s something with my rib all they can really do is tape me up, but they might want to give me pain meds. It’s the worst at night when I cough. Please continue to pray, it’s going to be a horrifying 24 hours of travel if this keeps up.