Thank you!

I heard that I am getting lots of kind comments and suggestions on my blog!  I really appreciate everyone's support ~ it is so amazing to me!  I cannot see my blog from China (I am writing on it via an email address).  I look forward to reading it when I get home on Saturday!

Day 8 ~ Shopping on Shamian

Today was a low-key and fairly uneventful day.  We returned to the medical office this morning for the kids to get their TB tests read and they were all fine.  Then we had some free time for shopping on Shamian Island.  We first went to an herbal market.  There were lots of little open air shops with bulk items for sale to use for cooking and medical remedies.  There were various garden grown items, dried sea creatures (seahorses, snakes, starfish, shark fins, turtles, shellfish) and live scorpions!!  I watched a woman sitting at her large open basket of big black scorpions as she casually picked them up individually (by their tails) to place them in plastic bags to sell!  Creepy!  Many of the shops had a cat or two sitting out front, all tied to leashes.  Pets?  Not sure.
We then hit the tourist shops where we checked out lots of fun trinkets.  There are no price tags however.  We had to "negotiate" for bargains. Those smiling little Chinese saleswomen were not to be underestimated!  They were bound and determined to make a sale!  They would ask if you liked something, and if you dared say yes, they would start writing you a receipt and wrap it up!  I kept telling them that my husband had the money and they would set off to find him!  In the end, Don was not eager to negotiate on my behalf and I had to fend for myself.  I haggled a gift for Kellen down about $10 and was pretty proud.  I'm sure that saleswoman laughed all the way to the bank. :)  Wu Yi was pretty bored by the shopping and had started pulling on my hand to leave.  She also provided me a good excuse to get out of the stores.
This afternoon, we hung out in the hotel.  Don wanted to go out and explore, but Wu Yi gets tired and bored of walking around so we girls hung out.  I redressed and combed the hair of the Barbies and Polly Pockets, colored in the Ni Hao Kai Lan sticker book, and played some preschool computer games while she watched from the edge of her seat.  She refused to join in the "fun", but at least she didn't ignore me while I played. We are getting SO CLOSE! :)  She mostly watches videos in the room.  She likes the Tinkerbell movie.  We weren't able to get our computer to Skype home today, but we were able to QQ the orphanage.  Wu Yi chatted with one of the nannies for awhile and then wasn't even interested in making her usual phone calls.  If its true that these kids usually bond with one parent first, then Wu Yi has chosen me.  Today she definitely always reached for my hand first when we were out, and she tries to sit near me when we are at a table.  She tolerates me hugging and touching her as much as I want.  She still doesn't want me messing with her clothes and she doesn't want to be picked up. 
Last night, when she was asleep, I took off her zip up sweatshirt, put it away, and put a clean one on her bed.  This morning she got up and quickly put on the new one.  I feel a little guilty about doing this, but at least we avoid tears. Tomorrow we have her appt to swear her in as a US citizen.  I really want to completely change her clothes. (Purple sweats and red snow boots especially).  I am torn between letting her have control in dirty clothes, or forcing the issue.  What do I do??  She also needs a bath. I am grateful that she is easy about most things, but I guess we have to face these issues eventually and I might as well do it here, where I have no other distractions.  Wish me luck . . .

Day 7 ~ Sightseeing, Dim sum, and McDonalds

Today was a free day to sightsee, and our guide, Elsie, took us, the McCains, and the Chens out for the morning.  Our new friends are truly great people and we are enjoying our time with them.  We went to the Dr Sun Yat-sen memorial hall (he is China's "first father" who attempted to bring democracy to China in the early 1900's ~ a cross between George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr), then to a famous Guangzhou park (we always notice the active senior citizens in the parks here ~ dancing, playing badmitton, doing calisthenics, and playing some pretty impressive hacky sack!), and then to a 1400 year old Buddist Temple ~ the 6 Banyan temple.  We then went out for some authentic Chinese dim sum ("snack food").  We probably wouldn't have had the nerve to try and order anything from this restaurant ourselves, but the Chen's are self professed "foodies" and they speak Chinese and know the cuisine pretty well, so they ordered for all of us!  We tried lots of wonderful new food, including pigs ear!  Wu Yi doesn't usually eat a whole lot, but she really chowed down today!  It was fun to see how skilled she is eating slippery food with chop sticks!  We had an amazing spread of food, and it only cost $45 US for all 3 families to eat.
We then did some shopping to see if Wu Yi wanted to pick out some new shoes.  I brought her 2 pair from home, but she is determined to keep her red snowboots.  Despite looking at lots of shoes, she firmly refused to show interest in any of them.  We then looked at some toys, and she was pretty excited to buy a new Barbie.  She has picked out a few new toys (dolls) while here, but she then refuses to play with them.
We returned to the hotel and were thrilled to finally be able to get through to home on Skype!  It sounds like there is a flu bug at our house, but despite that, the boys put on a great show for their new sister!  She didn't really want to be on camera, and she mostly pretended not to look at them, but their antics made her ALMOST actually smile!  She seemed to be in a better mood after that ~ good job boys!!
Don and I have physically felt really good this trip, but this afternoon, my stomach started to act up a bit.  I wanted to eat something normal for dinner, so we decided to check out McDonalds (even though I don't think I have been there for a couple of years).  I got some fries and an ice cream cone and we ate with a Missouri family from our hotel.  What will always be memorable to me about this McD's was an interaction we had with a gruff looking middle Eastern man who stood in front of us in line.  I noticed him looking at us while we were showing Wu Yi the menu and after he finished ordering, he turned around and started talking to us in very broken English.  He asked if Wu Yi was from China (we told him yes) and then asked if Don and I were from England (we told him America) and then he struggled to ask us another question which we didn't quite understand. I thought I heard the word "orphan", so I told him she had been an orphan and that she had been with us for 6 days.  He stared long and hard at the three of us, looking for the right words, and then he patted his heart, got a little teary eyed, gently patted Wu Yi's face, and then kissed the top of her head.  He was wiping the tears from his eyes as he quickly walked away.  I was so touched by this.  Especially because he was from a completely different part of the world from us.  It made the world seem so small to me.
Wu Yi made her usual daily phone calls to the orphanage, and today, for the first time, she did not cry.  Not once. :)

Day 6 ~ Halfway home

Today we had an appointment for Wu Yi to have her medical exam.  We were told to dress her so that she can be "easily examined".  For those of you keeping up with the blog, you already know that Wu Yi will not let us remove her clothes!  She is very agreeable to most things we ask ~ brushing her teeth, going to bed, going potty, eating, holding our hands and following us where ever we lead her.  With the exception of swapping her sweater (which had gotten dirty) for a new sweatshirt, she had not changed her clothes.  She did take a bath with Wendy's help, but demanded to put back on her original layers.  She is dressed for 20 degree weather and it is in the 70's here!  Poor little thing sweated all day yesterday and she sweats all night.  So, this morning, I decided I needed to be firm with her (for the first time).  I knew how to tell her that we were going to the Dr and that we needed to change her clothes.  She shook her head at me and backed up.  I playfully tried to tug her sleeve ~ she shook her head and backed up.  I said "please", I said "you do it", I offered her choices, I offered her candy, I left the room for privacy ~ when I returned she shook her head and backed up.  I made a serious attempt to just pull her shirt off and she hugged her arms tight and started to cry.  It became apparent to me that the only way to make her change her clothes was by force, and I did the brave thing and decided to let the Drs and nurses do it :).
We met our guide in the lobby, along with our friends the McCains, and our new friends (also from Seattle and WACAP) the Chens and their new baby boy.  We all piled into a van together and headed for the adoption medical office.  The office was small and crowded with dozens of other families from all over the world and their newly adopted kids.  We checked Wu Yi's height and weight, blood pressure, pulse, and temp, head and chest measurement, ears, mouth, and eyes (she had another "scowling" day and refused to cooperate with the vision tests), did a TB test (she cried a bit when she saw the needle, but held her arm still for it), and finally on to the full body inspection.  We had a 2nd pair of clothes at the ready (the loosest, most comfy things I brought) and I asked our guide to explain to the Dr that we needed to get her clothes off.  The Dr was a really sweet guy, and when he saw that Wu Yi didn't want to have her clothes off, he decided to just work around them!  I begged and plead to the guide to make him understand that she was starting to smell bad from sweat and needed new clothes, and together, the 3 of us (me, Dr, and guide Elsie) stripped her down and redressed her.  I'm not a totally horrible mom though~  I let her keep her snowboots on top of clean socks!  One of the other families there saw the trouble we were having and told us that their 4 year old son had done the same thing at first, but that once he had "let go" of the Chinese clothes it wasn't an issue again.  Keep your fingers crossed ~ she will need a bath again in the next day or two.
The rest of the day went smoothly as we explored the area around the hotel with the McCains.  Shelly broke her leg last month and is on crutches ~ what a trooper she is to be on this trip!  The hotel rented her a wheelchair but you have to use pedestrian bridges to cross every street around her!  Don did some wheelchair pushing while I held Wu Yi's hand and Brad carried their new daughter in a snugly.
By late afternoon when we returned to the hotel, Wu Yi was ready to make some phone calls.  She cried a bit on the phone, but less than in days past.  I'm glad no one hung up on her today, but Don did eventually have to secretly unplug the phone when it was getting to be time for bed.  She ignored his "last call" instructions. 
All in all, today was a better day.  She held my hand pretty tightly when we were out and her scowl is starting to turn into an expression of acceptance.  Don and I find her completely adorable!!  We can't wait to get her home.

Day 5 ~ Guangzhou

Today we left the city of Guiyang and flew a little over an hour to the city of Guangzhou.  For such a short flight, we feel like we landed on another planet!  In Guiyang we were confined to our hotel unless our guide was with us ~ and then it was just to go a very short walk away.  Our hotel was in the midst of crumbling tenements, horrible traffic and pollution, street vendors, and beggars (which Wu Yi always noticed and always asked us to give money to them!).  Guangzhou is a modern, clean, and tourist friendly city.  Our hotel (The Garden) is beautiful! We are in a two room suite with a view of a waterfall and gardens below us, as well as new skyscrapers with flashy light shows all around us.  Our new guide, Elsie, met us at the airport, took us to our hotel, and gave us a map of the area surrounding the hotel to explore as we wish.  We walked around in the warm weather (70 degrees) and admired the flowers, trees, and upscale shopping centers and restaurants all by ourselves!  What a change!  I was dreading staying another week in China, but now I am feeling a little more enthusiastic (still wish we could come home though!)
It was another stressful day for Wu Yi.  She was quiet this morning, even when Wendy came to take us to the airport.  Wendy got us checked in and walked us to the security checkpoint and then quietly said goodbye to us.  We will miss her ~ she was so much more than a tour guide ~ she was an important transitional person for the 3 of us in this process.  After we went through the scanners, Wu Yi looked back a few times ~ I'm sure she wondered where Wendy went.  We sat at our gate for 20 minutes and when we got up to walk to the plane, Wu Yi started to cry.  She kept looking back and as we got onboard, the crying got louder.  As we buckled her into her seat, we, for the first time as parents, became THOSE people on the plane who can't shut their crying kid up.  :)  The flight attendants came to help us and asked us why she was screaming to let her use the phone!  Once again, I am so greatful to the nice Chinese people who come to our rescue with Wu Yi.  In addition to the flight attendants, we had a couple of other young women trying to help us comfort Wu Yi.  Fortunately, by the time we took off, she slumped against me in exhaustion and fell asleep.
After getting to our hotel room, she immediately went to the phone and started making phone calls.  Because the orphanage didn't recongnize the new number, they picked up and talked to her for awhile.  Eventually, someone hung up on her, and Don discreetly unplugged our hotel phone, so she didn't have to endure that again.
Nice news for us ~ we have American neighbors in the room right next door to us!  The McCains, another WACAP family from the Seattle area, arrived shortly after we did with their new daughter Ella.  We spent some time in our room getting to know each other and it was so great to have that extra support and companionship!  Ella is much younger than Wu Yi, but we are looking forward to sightseeing and spending time with them while in Guangzhou.
Sorry for no new photos today!  Wu Yi doesn't like us taking her picture and she has pretty much been scowling all day anyway.  I am sure we will make some bonding progress while here, as we don't have a Chinese "constant companion" guide for her to bond with.  Sorry, my sweet girl ~ you're stuck with us.  :)

Day 4 ~ Painful goodbyes

We have settled into a routine, here in Guizhou.  Don and I up early and reading in the bathroom, Wu Yi waking up around 8, breakfast at the hotel buffet, Wendy joining us for an attempt to QQ (Skype) with the orphanage (problems with this everyday!), and a trip to the "monkey park".  Wu Yi loves to feed the monkeys and they are very entertaining for all of us to watch.  Today, we hiked 1/2 mile uphill in the park to the zoo.  Wu Yi is not a big fan of hiking, but it was warm today and she is still wearing lots of layers, so I'm sure she was hot.  (Still can't mess with her clothes!)  We saw a tiger in labor, which should have been exciting, except the conditions of and smell of the zoo were very bad. We also had to experience the zoo bathroom, which was the most disgusting experience of my life! (And I am a North Idaho camping girl!) Poor Wu Yi had to manuver around her layers of clothing to use a filthy "squattie potty", and had to stay there awhile with some unfortunate diarrhea.  Its a good thing she knew what she was doing, as I was pretty clueless. (Wendy volunteered to stay outside!)  Wu Yi enjoyed feeding the deer through the fence with leaves we picked, and we left BaBa outside while the two of us ventured into the "snake and reptile house".  Then, back to feed the fish, eat "spicy meat on a stick", and return through the crowded city streets to our hotel.  Today, the sidewalk to our hotel was under construction, so we had to walk in the street. People and vehicles move together as one through these streets ~ no rules, lots of honking, cars driving within inches of pedestrians, yet nobody seems bothered or mad at all.
Wendy left us to go pick up Wu Yi's passport so we returned to the room to watch Chinese cartoons.  Wu Yi still looks at us like we are the bad guys and was, once again, not interested in playing with me.  After a couple of hours of this, she picked up the phone to start making her daily phone calls.  She broke down and started crying to "grandma" and after about 1/2 hour, "grandma" hung up.  When Wu Yi tried calling her back (about 1/2 dozen times), there was never an answer.  About this time, Wendy returned to the room and bribed WuYi to take a bath (she would get one more phone call if she did).  Wu Yi agreed to the bath (her first one this week) only if I left the bathroom.  She happily played in the bath and brushed her teeth with Wendy's assistance and then firmly refused to put on clean clothes.  She seems to detest anything we brought her today.  She eagerly emerged from the bathroom to make her call, and as she tried calling every number in her phone book, she was put through to voice mail.  Wendy explained to me that the orphanage is "cutting her off" from phone calls and QQ in an effort to encourage her to bond with us, and they do not wish to speak to her again until she is firmly rooted in our home.  I was, once again, reduced to tears watching WuYi dialing number after number and not understanding what was happening!  I trust that the nannies know what is best, but this seems so cruel.  Wu Yi then chose to cling to Wendy and asked her to write her number in the phone book.  She knows we are going on the plane tomorrow (to Guangzhou, but Wu Yi believes she is going to the US) and asked Wendy if she was coming too.  Wendy told her "yes" that she was coming and said she would break the bad news at the airport.  I hate all the lies, but just have to trust that these people are experienced and know what is best.
Its my 44th birthday today and Don found time to sneak away and have a special cake and bouquet of flowers delivered to our room while we were out!  What a wonderful surprise!  I am lucky to have such a great guy!  Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and I love and miss you all!  Be safe in that blizzard I hear is going on back home! Save some snow for me!  :)

Happy Birthday Kellen!

Today Kellen is turning 12 years old!  I like to tell him how he was the size of a loaf of bread when he was born!  (Actually 5lb, 7oz, 19 inches long, and 6 weeks early).  We love you and miss you Kelly Bear!  (Sorry ~ had to say it!). Thanks for being such a great kid and have a great day! Love, Mom and Dad