almost human

It is 8:30pm and QUIET. Everyone, except me, is tucked away in bed sleeping. Sorry for the lateness in this update. We returned home on Friday September 26th exhausted. We were greeted warmly at the airport by family and friends. By the time we got home we were very tired and that tired feeling has not left yet. Although, today I feel almost normal.

Rebekah is adjusting very well, although her body alarm clock is set to WAKE between 12:30 and 1:30am for about 2 hours. In China we had no sleep issues with her, she slept through the night with only a few restless moments, none of which required anyone to get out of bed. That is all changed now. The first couple of nights both Madeline and Rebekah would be awake at the same time crying and in turn I would end up crying. I am ready for normal again.

We have all had head colds from the stuffy plane ride. Rebekah's nose wont stop running and she hates her nose to be wiped so it is a fight every 10 to 15 seconds. She is getting use to new foods as well. I have learned how to steam an egg and I think she approves because she is not spitting it out.

Her first doctors appointment went GREAT! She had to get 5 shots to update her vaccinations but did not seem to be all too bothered by it. She cried for each shot but once the shots were over so was the crying. I am sure ya'll have heard of the contaminated baby food formula in China. The Social Welfare Institute Rebekah was at did not use the contaminated brand but she got a Nestle's product. But to be on the safe side we had the doctor run a urine test on her and all is fine. The doctor and nurses were very surprised that Rebekah would pee for you when I whistled, so that saved a lot of time waiting for her to pee. She has been a bit feverish and fussy today because of the vaccinations and now she likes Motrin and Tylenol, she always wants more because of the yummy grape taste.

Madeline is very glad to be back in school, it is as if she has not missed a day. She has learned her Recitation verse (Philippians 2:14 - 16) and poem on creation they are to recite on Thursday. We worked on it some during the trip but she seems to pick it up faster when I am not the teacher. Kelly went back to work on Monday and comes home exhausted.

I have been having issues with uploading pictures to the blog. I have set the resolution of the pictures to "large" when I take the for when I make copies. I have to make them smaller for the blog. I have a lot of pictures I want to share with you and hopefully I will be able to get them up soon.

On a boat or on a plane, we come into America!

We were singing that Neil Diamond song as we de-boarded the plane in Mineapolis. Rebekah officially became a US citizen the moment we cleared passport control. Join us welcoming our new 10 month old citizen.

We have an extended Thursday, 13 extra hours. This whole trip we have had good sleep and the night we NEED a good night sleep Madeline has a nasty bout with tummy cramps and Rebekah is fussing in her crib because of all the commotion we are making with Madeline. Our day in a nutshell...we get up a 4am (after about only 3 hours sleep for me), get to the airport at 6am, go through 4 security check points where we show our passports, bording passes, and have our bags searched, board the plane at 7:40am, sit on the plane for 2 hours at the gate while they change the nose tire, I get a migraine during the delay (and it is really not fun throwing up in a plane toilet), take off 2 hours late knowing we will more than likely miss our connecting flight, land in Tokyo to learn they have delayed our connecting flight just for us (YEAH!!!), have to book it thourgh 2 more security checkpoints, board the a loaded plane of frustrated passengers, bump a few heads and shoulders with my carry-on while I walk the narrow aisles to our seat, plop down in our seat, and take off 5 minutes later. Our flight was shorter than expected, plus they flew a bit faster to make up for the delay.

It seemed once we landed on home tarmac all was well with the world. We were all smiles and I was crying as usual, I don't know why, I just couldn't stop the tears from falling. We got to the hotel at 1:30 inthe afternoon and promptly took a nap while Madeline watched PBS (which she missed terribly). It was very hard to wake up. Kelly is already sleeping and I am tending to the little ones while I wait for the magical hour of 8:30 when I put all to bed and finish packing before our long awaited flight to Fort Worth at 9:30am. I never know how to end a post on our blog so I will just end it with GOOD NIGHT!

water water everywhere, water water in the hotel

Woke up this morning after a very good nights sleep, which is rare when you are sleeping on a box spring, to look out our 14th floor window to discover that Shamian Island was flooded. Some areas were knee deep in water. Our hotel lobby was flooded as well to an extent. They had sand bagged the north doors 3 foot high where the hotel was lowest then had to shopvac out water. Although by the time we made it down for breakfast it was business as usual. The hotel restaurant has a river view and the river was up to the window. The beautiful chrystal blue pool is not a pukey river green.The water is receding quickly though. All this flooding has not stopped the locals from getting out and about by foot, bicycle, or car. Even some of the shops are open with water lapping up to their entrances. We believe that we should have not problem getting to our Consulate appointment to get Rebekah's Passport and Visa as well as take the oath that we will lover and care for her. There is an elevated road to and from the White Swan Hotel from the main land. We have not heard if any flights have been delayed yet but we still have a day before we leave. Hopefully by then the storm will have passed and we will be on our way. I would rather be delayed in the hotel than at the airport.

We prepared for just something like this yesterday. I went to the deli and bought sodas, water, peanut butter, bread, and snacks just in case we were stuck in the hotel. Madeline is happy with her dvd player and the Ariel Beginnings video we bought for her before the trip is almost worn out. She has watched it umpteen times. There is a play room on the 1st floor where it did not flood so we will go down there to get our energy out. I still have a few things that I ordered that I need to pick up later tonight and hope the water is all gone by later this afternoon becasue I am not going to wade out in the water because I do not know how polluted it is.

We cannot wait to see ya'll soon. Our total flight time to Mineapolis is going to be about 17 hours with a hour and a half layover in Tokyo. So by the time we get in to Mineapolis we should be wiped out. More to come soon.

HAGUPIT!!

Typhoon Hagupit that is. Hagupit is passing to the south of Guangzhou and we are expected to get winds and lots of rain. We have had some pretty good down pours but only intermitten so far. They believe that the more significant rainfall will begin tonight after midnight and continue into tomorrow. So we have got most all of our shopping done and only have to pick a few things up tomorrow. We have already packed...nothing like being anxious to come home, packing 2 days before we leave eh?

Pray we are not delayed

Shamian Island

I was able to get away by myself this morning to walk around Shamian Island and enjoy the quietness before the hustle and bustle of the shops catering to the families adopting. I walked by the local elementary school and heard all the children reciting their morning lessons and in freindship park across the street was all the older folk doing their morning excersices, tai chi, and dancing. It was a very beautiful sight with the children's voices in the background. The soilders was also out doing their daily drills. All of them were young men. I passed three men who were discussing the days events on the street corner and when I passed by again about an hour later they were still there talking as lively as ever.

The first morning after we got here we went to get Rebekah's visa photo and when we left the shop we were greeted by about 20 2nd graders and their teachers. Their assignment for the day was to find Americans they could practice their English on. It was very fun and the children loved it as well. They asked us question like what is your favorite sport, color, name and they would tell you the same. We also were asked to write our names in their note books. One of the boys was thankful that Kelly spent time talking to him he gave Kelly a fan. Madeline really enjoyed it as well, having other kids speaking English. She has had several people come up to her and start talking to her in Chinese which scared her.

We have enjoyed our stay here in but we are ready to come home to our own beds, bathrooms and Mexican Food. I kinda like the in ground toilets here, nothing to sit on and that is good for a person with a public bathroom phobia, but Madeline is ready for "real" toilets again. As we were heading to the hotel public bathrooms she asked me, "are these squatty toilets?" and when I informed her they were regular toilets she did a little jig, I am not sure if she was happy or just had to go real bad. There is an authentic Italian Resturant here now which was very good. It even had the cranky old Italian owner yelling at the help.

I had intended to upload some pictures for ya'll but for some reason the internet is not letting me right now. I will try to get them up at a later time.

faces

whistle while you pee

An odd title for a blog post but pretty sutible considering that Rebekah will go pee if you whistle for her while holding her over the toilet. Pretty amazing if you ask me. We have learned that that is how they begin to teach their children at a very early age and that they become so acustom to the ritual that they will eventually only pee when they hear an airy whistle. No, unfortunately, it does not work with poo.

Sorry I have not updated ya'll lately but I have been sick the last day and a half. The only thing that is keeping me going is phenegren and Imodium...yeah, TMI. I am thankful that I have made it this far being healthy so I am not going to complain. The White Swan Hotel is just as we remember it...baby central. Lots of faces carrying beautiful baby girls.

It is not so hot here but the humidity is stifling. We are trying to do all the sight seeing early in the morning to get it done before the heat sets in but you have to get up way early. We went out on a tour at 8:45am and by 9:30 we were ready to be in air conditioning. Kelly and Madeline spend many hours in the pool which is Wonderful although Rebekah is not all to fond of it just yet. She sat in the pool in my lap and I think she put up with it. She is right now very much enjoying the Wiggles while she is making a pooh...again TMI!

We are going to go to a traditional Cantonese restaurant tonight and I am going to try the roasted pigeon...no kidding, I like to try most things at least once. Before we left Chongqing Kelly and I found a great Japanese restaurant that cooked the food right in front of you and it was very delish. We ordered the calamari without thinking it was not fried like we are use to in the states. They took the whole squid, about the size of a base ball, tentacles and all and threw it on the grill. And boy was it DELISH as well. I also had caviar. It was not at all like I had thought it would be, most people say it is bitter, but it was kinda sweet to me, and when you put it in your mouth you could smell the fishiness not taste it.

I have not done as much shopping this time. I think it is because I have specific things I want and do not want to go and buy every little girl outfit I see. I will by about 3 because I did not bring that many with us. I am enjoying sightseeing and taking pictures more this time around than last time...I think is has something to do with my camera.

Rebekah has come along way since the 11th. She is sitting upright by herself with no assistance and she is even trying to crawl although she will get up on her hands and knees and take one "step" and then fall over to one side. She is real content with the commando crawl. She is becoming more vocal as well. Rebekah is trying to feed herself Cheerios but has not quite grasped the getting it in her mouth part and gets frustrated. She also loves pushing the buttons on the dvd player and that frustrates Madeline. She is not fond of loud places with alot of commotion and she is not like Madeline who gets up happy and bounding through the house, she is a cranky wakerupper. The last two days we had to get her up before her nap was over and YIKES we do not want to do that too often. She is in a bad mood for several hours and nothing seems to comfort her.

It is time for dinner...thats all for now.

We are in Guangzhou at adoption central, the White Swan Hotel. We had a very iteresting flight here, first our 8:30am flight was cancelled and rescheduled for 1:20pm. Luckily we have fair warning and did not have to wait at the airport for those many hours. Then there was thunderstorms in Guangzhou that caused our flight to be diverted to a near by airport about 30 minutes by air away and we were going to take a bus into Guangzhou. BUT LUCKILY AGAIN, our diversion was diverted 15 minutes later and we were on our way back to Guangzhou...YEAH!!!

Several corners have been turned with our new bigger family. Madeline has turned out to be the big sister she talked about all this 2 1/2 year wait. It took a while to get settled in but WOW what a difference. Rebekah Wei Wei has also turned the corner. She had a wonderful flight with no discomfort taking off and landing so that was a big YIPEE for us. Other families did not fair so well though. We are really not keeping to the orphanage schedule becasue there were several discrepencies. They said she only had 1 nap a day from 1 - 2 in the afternoon. She naps about 3 times. You know when she is tired becasue that is when she gets her fussiest but by then it is only a matter of minutes and she is out. She sleeps through the night YEAH and only has a few fussy wake ups that only require a quick shhhh and a pat on the tummy and she is out again. The orphanage schedule said she would take a bottle at 12am and again at 4am but she does not, I tried but she refused it adimently. Tonight she fell asleep with no fuss next to Madeline while they watched Ariel, The Beginning. WEi Wei loves the Wiggles becasue of the bright colors and singing, she sits or lays there bobbing her head up and down.

We are all exhausted but glad to be in Guangzhou finishing the US side of the adoption. Tomorrow we have our medical check up for Wei Wei and then SHOPPING!!!

Talk to ya'll soon

Panda Express

I am trying to type one handed because I have Rebekah in my lap and she is facinated with the computer mouse pad...not to mention real wobbily. We went to the Chongqing Zoo yesturday and it was a nice change from the city. I was real impressed with most of the enclosures. They were in the process of up dating several enclosures to make them more habitat frendly. The weather started out nice then gradually became HOT & HUMID. YUK! It was an enjoyable day though. The zoo is built on a mountian side so we did a lot of climbing stairs, UGG. We mainly saw the Pandas and a few other exhibits, but because of the massive construction projects it appeared most of the animals were in temporary housing until their new habitats were completed. After the zoo we went to lunch at this very nice resturant. Madeline is having some difficulty adjusting to the food so we are eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. She is also getting use to squatting when going to the bathroom although she has poor control over where it goes, if you know what I mean. Madeline is however getting adjusted to being a big sister and the less attention she is getting. She seems to have turned the corner and that may be also due to she is now use to the time change. Less tears and obstinance - YEAH.

Today we went to the cultural architecual district that has buildings over 1000 years old and smells like it as well. We had fun shopping and taking pictures. The Chongqing people are very friendly and courious, they are constantly coming up to us, well Rebekah that is, and playing with her and caressing her hair and face. Our guides gave us a card that explains that we have adopted her and love her. When we were in Nanchang we did not experience it as much as here. I enjoy it because we get to interact with the people here, even though we have a hard time communicating. There was a deaf 90 year old man who took a liking to Rebekah, I was thankful to have his daughter there to try and translate.

Chongqing Zoo Pictures




Cultural Street

eating bliss and silent shopping

We have great news...rebekah is finally taking her bottle...well sort of. I went out and bought a tippy cup without a no spill plug and vualla the child drinketh. We do not know exactly why but the formula is free flowing and she does not have to suck. We have come to the conclusion that she may have an issue with her "sucking reflex" or she may have a reaction to the plastic nipple. The nanny said she has always been a very slow eater, it may be because she is alergic to what ever the nipple is made out of, who knows, All I know is she is sucking down the formula now and always wants more. YEAH!!

I have experienced silent shopping. When we venture out and about it is usually by ourselves with no translator so that means we have much difficulty communication with the exception of saying thank you and hello. I went to buy the tippy cup today and the whole transaction was done without words but alot of pointing and gesturing. It is really fun. Eating out is also an adventure, we have gone to many a resturant and if we are lucky there will be a picture of what the food is on the menu but most of the times there is not. So what you order can be a suprise. Luckily we have not had pig tail or duck stomach yet (a entre we saw on our cruise for the Mid Autumn Festival). On a side note, pigs tail does not look like what I would say is a pigs tail, quite long and straight.

Rebekah is coming out of her shell. She is babbling a lot more and when you tickle her she actually laughs, which is better than screaming, although sometimes when she screams it sounds like laughter. Madeline is having more and more difficulty adjusting. She is feeling left out and that Rebekah is getting more attention than she. We are trying to do fun stuff just with her like swimming and shoping. Yesturday we went to Toys R Us and bought her a caucasian barbie that sings in Chinese. Tomorrow we will try bowling, she really wants to try ice skating but nobody wants to see me ice skate and my ankles surly do not want me to try it.

We went to Eling Park yesturday and it was beautiful. The sun even came out, something that hasn't happened but once for about 10 minutes since we have been here.

Not much time right now to give you a complete update on our goings on here in Chongqing the last couple of days. We have to get ready for breakfast and then off to the zoo to see the pandas, the Chongqing zoo is said to have the most famous panda in the world. I don't know much about that but Madeline is excited. She wants to bring her stuffed panda along so he can see his friends.

Rebekah's feeding times is not getting better. We are, well at least I am, at our wits end trying to get her to take her bottle. We put a call into the orphanage director and we get a private audience with her nanny today. No she is not coming up (6 hours by train) just for us, they have some more babies to unite with their parents today at a different hotel and they will make a special stop here to give us some pointers. She will eat but only by spoon which is VERY MESSY! There is 1 time a day she will take a bottle and that is in the morning right when she gets up, but it is on her terms! We are hoping that she is just grieving still but it can also be that we are just doing it wrong for her liking.

We are all doing GREAT! We all are in bed sleeping by 8pm though so all of us are getting about 10 hours each night but we all need about a hour and a half nap each day that we usually feel like taking at 10am.

Madeline and Rebekah are watching BOZ on the bed. Rebekah loves all the bright colors and singing. she kicks her feet when they sing and starts making a bunch of noise. Well it is time for breakfast then PANDA TIME. I will post pictures later today when we have some down time. Love you all.

Rebekah Wei Gotcha Day

I wish we had more pictures to share with you but the truth is we have not really been able to get out of the hotel for the last 1 1/2 days because of little ones being sick. Madeline by far has the worst of it. Early this morning (2:30a) she woke up with a fever of 105.4 and we thought that has to be wrong so we took it again and it was 104.4. We then broke out a different thermometer and yet another temp of 103.4registered. By now you can imangine we were pulling our hair out. Being that we were in China and her temp was litterally all over the place we called our pediatrician whose office was closed becasue it was Saturday in TX. We got Cook Children's Hospital and spoke to a nurse who did not understand we could not bring her in to have a rapid strep test done because we are in China, she did not feel it was much after we described her symptoms. I told the nurse we have antibiotics for her just in case but we were not going to use them unless her fever lasts more than 3 days and only after we speak to our pediatrician and she agreed that was a good plan. Other than the fever Madeline is her normal bouncing off the wall self, with a few meltdowns. Rebekah Wei Wei had a fever also but it was not bad. Rebekah Wei Wei is adjusting GREAT!!! She is full of smiles and laughter, although she will let you know it if she is upset. We thought Madeline was strong willed...wait till you see this girl. Our only major issue with her is she is not taking a bottle for us. We are having a difucult time getting fluids in her. The most we have got in her in a day was 2 bottles of 110ml each, but usually it is 1 bottle. We are now resorting to an eye dropper of water which she DOES NOT LIKE but it is the only way we can get fluids into her. We have a call placed to the orphanage director to give us any suggestions. PLEASE PRAY THAT SHE BEGINS TO TAKE HER BOTTLE WE ARE AT A LOSS

Developmentally, Rebakah Wei Wei is right on target. She can roll over and push herself up on her hands, and even get on her hands and knees. She also can camando crawl for short distances. She had difficulty sitting by herself when we got her but she is getting stronger each day at it. She has a pecular way of comforting herself, she will quietly lay on her back with both hands in the air and rock herself back and forth quite rapidly while she alternates putting her hands on her forehead. She can do this for hours until she falls asleep. If she is mad or does not want something she will put a hand on her face and turn away with a loud cry (sometimes her cry sounds like a laugh). She also has the cutes dimples.

Madeline is very happy to be a big sister but is feeling left out when we cannot pay immediate attention to her like she is use to. We had a Mommy - Maddie shopping spree at the local Toys R Us yesturday which she liked but it was cut short because she began to feel bad.

We are hoping Madeline will feel better so we can attend the Mid Autumn Festival Celebration tonight, we are going on a cruise on the Yangze. All in all we are doing good but please pray for Madeline to feel better and for Rebekah Wei Wei to start taking fluids.

OFFICIALLY OURS!

It is official, Rebekah is ours. We were in civil affairs yesterday, we paid the money, signed the papers, took the pictures, gave the fingerprints, took the oath and now Rebekah is OURS!!!! YEAH.



This adoption experience has been totally different, procedure wise, than Madeline's was. One thing we were able to do was to sit down with Rebekah's orphanage director and ask her questions. We kinda did this with Madeline but it was rushed and we really were not able to ask may questions. We got to ask about her personality, who her nanny was, what she likes and dislikes, how and why she was given her name, and lots more. One thing we have been worried about is she really is not taking her bottle, she is on table food, which most other babies are not just yet, but her feeding schedule says she still is on the bottle. Typically, the babies down the bottle within seconds, not Rebekah. The orphanage directer said that Rebekah is a slow eater, she likes to drink some then look around and take in the scenery. That was the reason she was placed in foster care in March, her weight was dropping because she was not eating like "normal" so they placed her in foster care for more individual attention. Once her weight came back up and they realized she takes her own sweet time eating she went back to the orphanage. The caregivers and director really love the babies and they kept taking them out of our arms at civil affairs to kiss them and wish them goodbye.
We get to go to walmart today to buy baby stuff. Madeline was going to buy some special toys to play with but with here being sick that is now left up to me. Will write later

High Tempertures Here

You probably think I am going to talk about how hot it is here in Chongqing...NOPE Madeline began complaining of a sore throat in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. I thought it was just allergies becasue my throat is a bit scratchy as well. WELLL, I was wrong. She woke up at 2am with a 102.7 fever, Motrin and Tylenal has brought it down 1 degree. All this traveling, messed up sleep, and disrupeted eating has really done a number on Madeline. She is really upbeat and happy but we will be keeping her indoors away from all the other babies and Tia, an 8 year old friend she has made. They are like peas and carrots (peas and carrots is written like Forrest Forrest Gump would say). Please pray that she gets well before Friday the 19th. If she still has a fever they will not let her on a plane here. Other than that we are all doing great! Rebekah is adjusting well, she is napping more than she is typically use to though, she is beautiful sleeping.

GOTCHA

Well we finally have Rebekah in our arms. We got the call to come down to the conference room at 2:55, our guide, Michelle, told us to come down at 3:15 but we left early and proceeded to wait for 45 minutes. There are 16 families in our group so when the babies came in there were oooo's and ahhhhh's coming from every corner. Madeline was going to video tape our gotcha moment but another family volunteered so Madeline could be in on the moment. We were the last family to get our daughter. I had figured that it would be that way because she was the last baby to come in with her nanny...yes I recognized her before she was announced. It wasn't long and she was in our arms. She did not cry, but mommy did. Madeline was excited and kept asking "can I hold her, can I hold her" so she held her. Rebekah really did not cry until we got her back to the room...and boy can she cry! She seems to have bonded with us already. Kelly had to leave to sign some paperwork so Madeline and I broke out the magic food...CHEERIOS and she perked up and began interacting with us instead of crying. When Kelly returned, Rebekah saw him and started to kick her feet and then she smiled for the first time and began to laugh. From then on it has been smiling, laughing, and goo gooing. She likes the "papa ooo mau mau" song and "copacobana" by Barry Manilow, go figure that one. She seems to have attached to mama because when I tried to leave the room for the bathroom she began to cry (makes me feel good). All three of my babies are now asleep and enjoying their sweet dreams. (Kelly fell asleep before everyone.) Madeline was trying to stay awake and when I finally said to go brush her teeth and pray she broke down crying because she wanted to stay up and watch Rebekah sleep. It took Rebekah only 5 seconds to conk out. We know she was fighting it but when she was ready that was all she wrote.
Oh you guys are probably saying, "PICTURES...SHOW ME SOME PICTURES!!!" Here they are.

WAITING..

Well it is one and a half hours before we are to be united with Rebekah. We have been asked to stay in our hotel room and wait for a call to notify us that Rebekah has arrived then, in a few short moments she will be in our arms.

We Made it toChongqing

Ni Hao from Chongqing. Well we finally made it to Chongqing no worse for wear this morning. We are exhausted but ok. We laid down for a quick nap this afternoon at 3pm not wanting to sleep long for fear we would not be able to go to sleep tonight...WRONG - we slept for 2 hours and had avery difficult time getting up. Madeline did not fair so well on the planes, she got airsick at the end of our flight to Tokyo, and threw up in the only thing we could reach for, a airplane blanket...YUK. Poor girl, she has been getting airsick ever since. It usually comes about right after a bout of turbulance. Madeline has been her usually friend maker. On the plane to Tokyo there was a 6-year-old gild named Mion (me-on)who became fast friends when they saw eachother and hugged. Madeline immediately asked her to come sit with her (which very difficult on a plane) and watch a movie. Instead, they settled for doing and coloring dot-to-dots until the flight attendant came by and said they could not share a seat and seatbelt. So we sent Mion off with a few coloring pages and colored pencils.

Our guide, Michelle, is GREAT. She has done so much advance preparations for us, even checking us in the hotel before we got here. You may not think that is a big deal but it is A LOT after you have been traveling for over 26 hours straight and all you have to do is say "we are the Wood's" and they give you a key to go straight up to your room within seconds. Traffic is "crazy" here and there are not very many stop lights, we have only seen 2 so far, but everyone seems to get were they are going eventually.

We have found a few comforts of home real close to the hotel, one of which you coffee lovers will love.


Today is a day of rest for us before we begin the busy work of tomorrow at 10am. Our schedule has changed and we will be getting Rebekah at 3pm tomorrow instead of 5:30p - YEAH!!!. on a side note, Kelly has found the joy of hotel robes, I would upload a picture but have promised him I wouldn't.

Have a GREAT DAY today. We love you all.

in minneapolis

We made it to Minneapolis with ease and early. Our plane was scheduled to land at 5:26pm but we landed at 4:58, almost 30 minutes ahead of shcedule although we had to wait just 50 feet shy of the gate becasue we were so early that there were no gate workers there yet to move the gate out to the plane so we had to wait for them. The Mall of America is right across the street from our hotel so Madeline got to ride the fariswheel inside the mall. We would have rode more rides in the indoor amusement park but it was closing, so we will try to go back tomorrow morning to ride some more before we leave for Tokyo at 3pm. Madeline has impressed us with some new words "pinwheel" = fariswheel and "middlezoopark" = amusement park. It is very cool here and we are enjoying it. I wish we could spend more time here to visit other sites instead of only the Mall of America. Thats all for now.

Oh The Places We'll Go

One of my favorite children's books is Dr. Suess' Oh The Places You'll Go and I have to say that our adoption journey has been like a "PLACE" in that book, The dreaded "Waiting Place!" We have had a two and a half year stint in that place described below:

...You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...
for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting...

OR in our case waiting for a baby to come. So with that Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who have been there and prayed us through this wait. We love you all so very much. We ask you now to pray for safety in travel, rest, and for Madeline and Rebekah as both are going to be thrown out of their comfort zones. We are so blessed to be able to welcome Rebekah in our family and cannot wait to hold her in our arms finally.

Kelly Savalas????

In preparation for our China trip Kelly got his hair cut, well shaved off. When Madeline saw this she exclaimed, "Daddy, you do not look like daddy anymore, you look like Joe." We did not know who Joe was since we know no Joe with a shaved head. When we asked Joe who? Madeline replies "Joe from Princess Diaries!" (Joe is the bald security agent assigned to protecting Princess Mia)