catching up

i just realized it has been a few days since i posted. we took the girls to Freeman Farms on Sunday...a great afternoon spent with new and old friends. Schwen did great until it was time to leave and she threw a fit. I carried her kicking and screaming to the car.

on monday schwen thought she was going to school with jia and was not happy that she was to spend the day with me. I had to clean the carpets so she played with the remote control barbie jeep until Nei Nei (Adam's mom) came over for a visit. Both girls were very happy to spend some time with their grandma.

i took schwen to school today. It was supposed to be a "trial" with me in the classroom. I had prepared my bag and was going to use the time to cut out coupons, make a menu and grocery list. Schwen was practically pushing me out the door before we even got her to the classroom. I used the time to buy the girls come clothes at Kohl's and Once Upon a Child and even found a few xmas gifts to put away. Schwen had a great morning at kindergarten and will go back on Thursday for a full day from 9-3. She was wiped out though and is napping as I write this. I also took her to Adam's dads bookshop for a visit. She was very happy to see her Pop Pop and was thrilled to be able to choose a book for herself and one for Jia.

I picked up the new People magazine today-Katherine Heigl is on the cover with her baby she adopted from Korea. I've never been a big KH fan before but have a bit more respect for her since she has adopted a child. Adoption is not for everyone-many people are convinced they have to have their own flesh and blood for a child and won't even consider adoption. When we left the bookshop today I asked Adam's dad (who will be 81) if he ever thought he'd have two grandaughters from China...he said never in a million years but it was happy he did.

a good day

For the most part a really good day. I picked up cash from the Sweet Victory resale shop where I dropped off left over garage sale items. It's a sweet deal-I made $48 on a few items that I could not sell at two garage sales. We then went to the library and both girls went to the children's area and sat and looked at books and each of them chose a book to check out. We took the girls to the Hamburger Inn for lunch. Schwen has officially arrived in Delaware since she's been to the HI! Jia had a birthday party and Schwen seemed to do ok with dropping her off but had the big melt down when we got home and it took Adam a little while to settle her down. I wanted him to do so b/c she has been attached to me like velcro.

After dinner the girls headed upstairs for more dress-up. This is the third night in a row and Schwen is like a kid in a candy store. The first pic of her in the Belle costume was taken last night. The other pics were taken tonight. She loves dressing up and looking in the full length closet door mirrors and strutting around like a model. The girls also watched a video of Ni Hau Little Friends and it was really fun to watch Schwen and Jia sing along with the songs. Schwen was clearly familiar with the songs on the video.

We have an outing with the Pengyou Pals,(a social group of girls their age adopted from China), on Sunday and have been invited to a cook out of friends/neighbors from church. They have chickens and horses and cats. Schwen and I stopped by for a visit the other day and she was totally fascinated with the chickens.

BEE YOU TI FUL!!!

This is Schwen's new word. She is really picking up quite a bit of english and does not go around as much speaking constantly in mandarin. Tonight she was saying Xie Xie (thank you) and I said it back..she gave me the thumbs up and said "good job mama!"

We've had a few rough patches today-she willingly went with Adam to drop medical records off at the pediatrician but when she realized I was not going she had a huge meltdown and threw a temper tantrum in the parking lot of the doctors office. We are really concerned on how she will do when I leave her at school. Her second incident occurred when I took her to the mall with me and as the car stopped she opened the door-so a scolding from mom.

There were many positives today also. I've been working with her on her letters and she can write F and E and can recognize those letters. She found them on her own in a book and showed them to me. She was playing with magnet letters and showed me how she matched upper and lower case letters and she can also count to 8 in english.

On Thursday night Jia took Schwen up to their room and introduced her to the world of dress up..oh the girls had great fun, hence the word "BEE YOU TI FULL".

Schwen is still needing 12 hours of sleep a night an a nap. School is going to be an adjustment. We will need to be out the door by 7:15 am. I can let her sleep until 6:45 am but can't see putting her to bed at 6:45 pm -I don't even get home until 6:00 pm. I'll try to eliminate the naps towards the end of next week.

Attached are pics of the girls dressed up.

No cavities!!!

Schwen went for dental appointment today and no cavities! I was so happy. She was very reluctant at first but warmed up to the dentist when she blew up a rubber glove and made a balloon for Schwen. She has all four of her 6 year molars and her central incisors. Oh man...Jia is itching to lose a tooth and when she finds out her YOUNGER sister has lost two teeth she will be devastated! I'm NOT volunteering this information and hope that she doesn't ask. Our dentist is chinese so it certainly helped that she could communicate with Schwen.

We made a trip to Wal-Mart, to the resale shop and CVS then home for lunch and a bit of outside play. She keeps asking where Jia and Baba are. We took Jia to school today b/c we had a late night at the fair. Schwen grabbed her backpack as we went out the door and thought she was going to school with Jia.

The girls had a great time at the fair. We made them go through all the animal barns first and then the merchant barns and then they had to eat and then we finally let them go on the RIDES.. oh what fun they had with the neighbor girls and the rode each ride many times. The big slide and dragon coaster were the big favorites of the night and of course the ice cream on the way to the car. We also stopped to see the turkeys being auctioned off and this seemed to hold their interest quite a bit also.

Adam's dad sent pictures of Adam and Schwen's homecoming and Schwen has been though them at least 20x so far. Schwen and Baba are now laying down for a little nap. Tomorrow Schwen and I will be home all day so we will start on some school work.

Silence!

What's that I hear? Nothing except the coyotes howling as the train goes by and the rooster next door...the girls are both sound asleep. It's been a rough morning. Adam went to work and Schwen seemed fine until after lunch and then "where's baba?"..I read the girls a book and had them lay in bed. Schwen decided she wanted to goof around and fell out of bed, landed on my hand and pulled my thumb back. I raised my voice and told her to lay down...many many tears and I comforted her and sat in the room while they both settled down and then left and went downstairs. The next time I checked they were both out. Schwen watched Super Why and Sesame Street this morning and played quietly by herself. She was totally enthralled with the oven mitt to the Pizza Hut pizza kit and I let her take it to bed with her. She also likes her Kai Lan doll given to her by a friend and co-worker.

Adam will be home in a bit and we'll take the girls to the fair. Jia has been itching to go since Saturday.

Schwen seems to feel very comfortable around the house and will even go upstairs by herself to get her glasses, slippers, etc. She is still a bit leary of the dogs but not as terrified as she was. She is eating whatever I give her. She was not crazy about the pnut butter roll up for lunch but when she realized that's what she was getting she ate it along with her gogurt and apple.

What day is it???

What day is it? It's pretty much how I feel right now-not a clue as to the date or day of the week as they are all blending together. It doesn't help that Jia is off of school Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Sunday was Jia's gotcha day-I met her 5 years ago ...hard to believe. We spent the day at the zoo and the girls rode all the rides including the old wooden roller coaster and they both loved it.

We were supposed to go to the fair today but it was raining most of the day and Adam ended up not working b/c of the rain. We took Schwen to meet her kindergarten teacher and see her school. With a little extra effort on our part she should catch up pretty quickly. We then went to visit the law firm where I work and Schwen and Jia were both in rare form and really livened up the place!

Schwen fell asleep again on the couch. The jet lag is catching up with her. Adam is waking up at 3:30 and 4:30 am so by 9:00 everyone else is in bed and I have a few minutes to myself!

A busy day

Both of the girls slept in their room on night 2 and both were also wide awake at 6:00 am! We let them go ahead and get up since we needed to be on the road by 8:15 a.m. anyway. Schwen started the kids china art program classes today. It was planned that she would just go to chinese first grade with Jia. She ended up in that class along with calligraphy and choir. The first grade class may actually be way too advanced for her as far as writing the chinese characters since it does not appear that she ever learned how to do this. She did seem familiar with the calligraphy brush and especially liked the choir. She sat patiently and watched Jia in her dance class and also was fascinated with the soccer game. Both girls were wiped out from the day and Schwen fell asleep sitting on the couch. She seems to understand what we are saying and is able to communicate her likes and dislikes to us. She seems to adore Jia. I know we are currently in the honeymoon stage and I'll enjoy the first few days of the homecoming knowing down the road we'll surely have many battles and obstacles that we will encounter.

They are home!

Things are going pretty well. Schwen seemed pretty shy when she first got off of the plane but she did recognize people from their pictures and is quick to repeat what is said to her. The four of us stopped at Coldstone Creamery for ice cream and she was quick to share her m*m's with Baba, Jia and Mama. She does not like the dogs but is fascinated with the cats. She is very bright and catches on fast. I showed her her bed and she pointed to Jia's bed. Adam's mom made boxes for the girls with their names on and she knows which is hers and says the other is Jia's. The same goes for just about everything we showed her if we had two of-one is Qi Xuan's and one is Jia's. She is already sticking to me like velcro and I have received many hugs and kisses. One melt down last night when I was laying in bed with Jia. Jia ended up sleeping downstairs with Adam as Schwen (and I)were up until 3:30. I did get her up at 7:30 am and she is now napping.

We drove Jia to school this morning and she seemed very interested in what was going on. She babbles a lot and she and Adam seem to have their own language. He did such a good job with her in China.

Schwen loves to point to any picture of Justin and say his name. She did a pretty good job of keeping herself entertained while Adam and I were unpacking.

After nap we are going to the grocery store and then it will be time for Jia to get off of the bus. A busy weekend planned.

Will post pics later. Time for me to get a shower!

It's Citizenship day!!

I looked on the calendar at work and today is "citizenship day"...how appropriate it is b/c today is the day Schwen arrives in the US and will become a US citizen. When we adopted Jia she came home with a green card and we had to apply for her certificate of citizenship-it was the rule back then for families with one parent traveling and the rules have since changed...YEAH!!! This significantly cuts down on the paperwork for me!!

As I write this Adam and Schwen are in the air and only 7 hours more to go until the flight arrives in Newark, NJ for a 3.5 hour layover, then 2 more hours until they arrive in Columbus...

I can tell Jia is excited but also nervous.Last night she asked "what if Schwen doesn't' like me?"....I feel the same way! She had a soccer game last night and we afterwards went out for dinner with Nei Nei and Pop Pop-it was a late night and she was exhausted and had to go to bed right when we got home. I'll let her sleep a bit more than wake her up and spend some time together this morning.

We are as ready as we can be. On hindsight I should have taken today off of work as I would have liked to have had a chance to go to the grocery store to stock up. It just did not happen. We'll figure it out. I'm sure I could probably send Adam tomorrow-he will probably enjoy the time alone!!

When I talked to Adam the last few days in China he told me it was raining. He neglected to tell me just how much and hard it was raining. There is a family on the Shamain Island whose blog I follow and they post pics of the flooded streets from the torrential rain pour from Typhoon Fred.

Thanks for following Adam's journey. I do plan to continue this blog with the random ramblings of our lives.

just a few more days

It is already Tuesday morning in the states, Tuesday evening in China. The day for Jia and I is ready to begin; the day for Adam and Schwen is winding down and tomorrow they will leave China and begin their long trip home to begin Schwen's new life in the USA. A little more than a week ago she was living in an orphanage..the past 8 days her life has been living in hotels, eating out, having Baba to herself 24/7. It will be good to get her into a routine. I've already spoken with her kindergarten teacher and Jia, Schwen and I will take a visit to the school on Tuesday. She will begin school full time on October 5th. My office is right next to the school and I can be there in "2 minutes and 2 seconds" (for all you former "Love Connection" fans!!)

I know Jia is very excited to have her daddy and sister home. As always, she has been a great trooper these past 10 days and I've enjoyed the time alone with her, espcially since I know these times will now be limited.

It was 5 years ago today that my mother in law Pat and I flew to China to get Jia. Her "gotcha" day is September 20th and she wants to go to the zoo to celebrate. We mark our lives with events-the birth of my son Justin and gotcha day for Jia are two of the best events of my life and on Thursday Schwen's arrival will be ingrained into my heart and memory as well.

Red Couch

Following the tradition to take a pic on the red couch at the White Swan.
Just 24hrs until we leave to take the oath. They want us to walk down to the
White Swan and ride along with two other familes. No big deal as long as it is
not raining as it is now. The ride is free and someone is supposed to take us
to the train station afterward.
We went to the White Swan and took a few pictures. We did pretty well today, she
only had 2 melt downs. I'm ready to come home.

TB test is clear!

This morning Schwen was pushing my buttons from the moment I got up until we
went to the clinic for the result of the TB test, which was fine, hardly even a mark.

We got out the beads and she made three necklaces, one each for us and one for
the hand-in-hand guide. We forgot take the extra necklace with us to the clinic so
after the exam she took hers off and handed it to Cordelia. Cordelia was very
impressed and said she had never received a gift from a child before.

We went to the bank to exchange travelers checks. Advice for others do not
take travelers checks to China unless you have a lot of time on you hands. The
people behind me where moaning and the teller acted like she had never done it
before, in the end it took over one hour and 4 tellers triple checking everything. What a pain.

We also walked to the exercise equipment and played a little, but as we were
walking away Schwen started making fun of one of the women exercising right in
front of her and I had to scold her in public. I didn't get a second look from
the people around, almost as if they approved.

She napping now we shall see what the rest of the day brings.

squatty potty

Sunday we went on the half-day trip with the Laflin family and had a pretty good time.

First we went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. It was interesting but the
girls were bored and hot.

Next to a large porcelain store which everyone loved, lots of cool stuff, but it
was "you break it you bought it" so Schwen kept me occupied watching her.

Then there was dim sum for lunch which was great, Schwen ate like a horse.
When we got of the van Schwen decided she wanted to be friends with Barb's
seven year old daughter and started holding hands with her. During lunch she
took off the pink watch I bought her and made her new friend wear it. While there I
had to take Schwen to the bathroom and she used a squatty potty, it was impressive.

From there it was on to a large amusement park with rides. The girls had a lot of fun.But at 96F and high humidity we were done for the day.

Schwen driving cars at amusement park

Schwen at worship temple

Adam and Schwen at lake

Schwen at lake

She kicks, she scores!!!!

Jia had her first soccer game of the season and scored the only goal for her team! She also was able to keep the other team from scoring a goal and kicked the ball away from the goal. She was very excited to make the score, even though the points do not count at this level. For those of you who know Jia she has a lot of enthusiasm and is also very serious about whatever she does. I could see her talking to the coach prior to the game and he told me that she asked him to put her on "depense" he got a big kick out of it. Jia is also very outspoken and on the last play of the game the ball hit her in the chest. She came running over to me and said (loudly I might ad) that the "ball hit her in the boob!!"". We are going to have to work with her to not be so aggressive on the field though, a few times it looked like she was playing roller derby instead of 1st grade soccer.

Her KCAP (Kids China Arts Program) classes started on Saturday and she was happy to see many of her friends. She is taking Chinese first grade, dance, calligraphy and choir and loves all of the classes and her teachers.

I am on the board of our FCC (Families with Children from China) chapter and we had a board meeting while the kids were in class. The board had a surprise "shower" for me and Schwen received many new outfits, a book about Chinese New Year, a few gift cards (one to Claire's which will be great fun) and an awesome Hello Kitty fortune cookie maker. It was a total surprise to me and at first I wasn't quite sure of what was going on as I've been in such a fog the last week. I'm putting everything back in the gift bags and will let Schwen open them. Adam said she does like clothes! He is going to have to get a second job for clothing for two girls!!

Waiting to hear from Adam yet today. I did speak to him yesterday and he said that Schwen really enjoys it when he reads books to her and she turned off the television and took one of the books over and indicated that she wanted him to read to her. Her favorite of the ones I sent was "D is for Dragon" by Grace Lin. We have many Grace Lin books so it will be interesting to see if she is drawn towards them. Jia and I set up the hallway upstairs with a book case filled with children's books, a small couch and small rocking chair-her Raggedy Ann doll currently sits in the chair and is the "library lady".

Our friend Julia is coming over today to paint Schwen's chinese characters on the wall in the girls room. Julia painted a fantastic mural in Jia's room 3 years ago and put Jia's chinese characters on the wall so we thought we'd add Schwens. I'll post a pic once Adam returns with the camera.

Jia and I are headed to the horse parade today. No motorized vehicles-only horses and mules, musical groups and the "pooper scoopers" from OWU who are alway entertaining if you are at the end of the parade! The horse parade is held the week before the Delaware County Fair and draws a big crowd. Jia's friend Reagan will be riding in the parade so Jia is very excited.

In Guangzhou!

After a delayed flight Adam and Schwen arrived in Guangzhou on Friday at 11:30 pm. Upon arrival at their hotel they went right to bed as Schwen had her medical exam early Saturday morning. She had to get the TB test and 3 additional vaccinations, which she took like a real trouper (the kid was smiling). She was fine throughout the medical exam and the shots but would not cooperate for the eye examination and the doctors finally gave up. Lunch at Lucy's and back to the Victory for a nap.

I received a frantic email from Adam at 1:30 am our time that he needed the dates of our I800A application and approval. After much digging around I found what was needed and gave him a call. This is needed for the visa application for Schwen and he did not want any delay.

Schwen did not do well on the short 2 hour ride from Nanjing to Guangzhou and she also hated having her seat belt on in the car. He has saved a lot of the things I sent for the plane ride home so hopefully that will help plus the plane's entertainment system.

While at the medical exam Adam met one of the other families from our agency who are in GZ the entire time. They are going to meet up on Sunday and take a tour. They adopted a 5 year old girl so perhaps the two girls can play together and Adam can enjoy adult conversation and company.

Adam said Schwen's personality is starting to show. The information we received on her said she was introverted- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!She is very outspoken. She also likes to mimic people. They were in an elevator and a guy was talking on his cell phone and when he stepped out of the elevator she acted like she was holding a phone to her ear and was yak yak yakking away. She has a sense of humor. She has no boundries but she does respond to directions, and does not like to eat anything except sweets and starches.

Leaving Nanjing

Adam and Schwen are leaving Nanjing today so no posts from him until Saturday. The week has really gone by fast for Jia and I.

When I talked to Adam yesterday he said Schwen wanted to know if Anna (their guide) would be going with them on the plane and Anna explained to Schwen that she would not. Anna was a great help to Adam while in Nanjing, not only with Schwen but she was an adult who spoke english!!! Adam and Schwen have figured out a way to communicate but sometimes it is even hard for Anna to figure out what Schwen means because she speaks with a strong Nanjing slang.

Adam is looking forward to going to the Shamain Island and seeing "greenspace" and letting her burn some energy at the parks and pool.

I am happy it is Friday. I really need to find some time to get things done around the house.

Nanjing City Wall

Nanjing wall guard

Weavers

Schwen found the headbands!

Where Schwen was found

We went on a small city tour this morning. Basically just the Nanjing City wall and a place where they are famous for silk weaving. I was more impressed with the silk weaving (there is a name for it but I’m at a loss now), two people work this eight hundred year old machine and only produce a piece two and a half feet wide by five centimeters long. I could not imagine doing it all day long.
The honeymoon is starting to wear off, last night Schwen and I were fighting over the TV. Her ripping through all the cable channels non-stop, all blaring in mandarin, was getting old so I took the remote set it on one channel and she was mad every time a commercial came on and wanted it changed. You can tell they used the TV a lot in the orphanage……. she will get a rude awakening at Radloff house.
Really part of the problem is that there is absolutely nothing for a active five year old to do around here, no parks, not much grass, you can only walk around the shopping areas so many times. Anna is taking us out to dinner tonight at a restaurant that is supposed to be good. She has been a great help here it would have been a lot harder to do this without her.

Wednesday's visit to SWI

Adam is sending emails and I am posting to the blog. I have not had a chance to talk with him today to find out if he was able to see the children whose parents I've emailed with for updated pics.

Today was a much better day for me, not so much for Schwen in the morning. We got to go to SWI and meet the kids. I have a lot of pictures and a few small videos. Anna told Schwen we were going but as we started to get near she shut down then started crying when stopped out front to get out of the taxi. She started to bounce back when we gave her the job of handing out the treats we bought. Then she came out of her shell and I got to observe her interact with her friends. She really liked handing out the treats and being in control.
The place seemed pretty clean and staff was very nice. Nanjing has cooled off a little and the kids were outside. Anna pointed out a small building for the kids that have severe disabilities and the nannies had a few of the children outside. Until you’re in China and you’ve been to an orphanage you just don’t know how good we Americans have it. These kids have nothing and wear old worn out clothes. Schwen eats a lot and fast like someone might take it from her at any time. When we were walking down the short street as we were heading into the orphanage she took off the necklace I had given her and handed it to me, it was if she knew if she had it on someone would want it. She hides things under her pillow, probably the only safe place she had.
She got say goodbye to her friends and as we were heading back she said she had a headache so we got something to eat. Now she is napping.
As a funny note, the taxi driver on the way back was a woman who would put men drivers in the states to shame, she would get within inches of cars at 40 mph weaving between semi size fuel trucks, buses and bicycles. All this while talking on her cell phone, telling Anna she had had a nose job (they increase the size in China to look more western) and blaring the horn at anyone in her way. I would love to have a chance to drive here, it’s like a Grand Prix race everyday.

Visit to SWI

Art and soccer

J won the prize for the best portfolio in her art class. This was something the class voted on and of course she was thrilled.

We picked up her soccer jersey today and the team is the "Force" and the color is yellow. She so wanted to be a pink "Flame" again.

As of this Saturday we will be in full swing with KCAP (kids china arts program) and soccer...and now the fun begins!

We are missing Adam but time is going by quickly for us.

Adoption finalization

The finalization went well today, we met Anna in the lobby at 8:30am and as we were waiting outside she noticed a small bus filling up with the French adopting families, so she told the taxi driver to hurry up and get there before them. It was wild a ride down back alleys and little one-way streets loaded with bikes and people.

The whole process took about 15 minutes. I had to write a paragraph on why we wanted to adopt and answer some questions. Then do the thumb print stamp on my signature. Schwen got very nervous when we were there, I think she thought she was going back to the orphanage but was very happy when we pulled up back at the hotel telling Anna she wanted to go to the room and watch TV, dragging me into the hotel.

Instead Anna took us shopping in the walking mall, which was a good thing because the shop keepers were pulling on my arm as we were leaving trying to get me to buy more, it was a little too much in my face for me, but Anna knew how to handle them. They are VERY aggressive with me thinking I’m a rich American. As best as I can tell I am the only American in the hotel and as far as I can tell the only English speaking foreigner in the area. The other families are a French group and they don’t speak English.

Then she gave us a surprise, she had translated where Schwen was found and it turned out to be a 2 minute walk from the hotel in the very walking mall we were in. She asked a few shopkeepers where it was and finally a cop. All the shops are numbered and there are about 1000 of them and it is hard to tell and they change hands all the time. The photos of the shops with us in front of them are as close as we are ever going to get.

Five minutes after Anna left house keeping knocked to clean our room so we walked to a grocery store and tried to find something like Tylenol with no luck, I’ll have to ask Anna tomorrow. Then Schwen ate her first McDonalds, she loved the French fries but drank so much bottled water afterward it came out her nose. It amazing how much of the basics I have to show her, like showing her how to use a fork, not being able to screw a cap on a bottle stuff you just take for granted at 5 years old.

We are still getting along when we are alone but she becomes very excited, loud and talkative when Anna is with us. Last night she did some crying when she would wake up and not realize where she was, it was easy to calm her down but it went on for about 2 hours. She is trying to nap now it’s around 2.

Tomorrow around 9:30 we are going to the orphanage, not inside and maybe not to see the kids. They are very busy, only Coco the woman who is in charge of the international adoptions at the SWI came to the finalization, the directors could not. Just as a side note the gift giving to the notaries was kind of a joke, they smiled took the gifts put them in a pile behind them and moved on to the next person, I could just imagine by the look on there face what they where thinking (Great more crap, where the hell am I going to put more junk in my tiny apartment) I think the nanny’s need it more than them. ]

Schwen with Daddy's sunglasses

It's official

I am now the mother of three! I have kept the family tradition of 2 girls and 1 boy-which goes back to at least my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and sister! Not sure before my great grandmother though.

Gotcha day was better than anticipated. Adam was in the room, Schwen went into the room, saw him, gave him a hug and said "Baba". She holds his hand when out and gives him a lot of smiles. The guide says she has a good vocabulary and speaks mandarin with a nanjing dialect. Communication is difficult but she is mimicking him. She is not shy and has her opinion on the clothes and toys. She told the guide she wanted to see her things and was very definite on what she liked and did not like and then folded everything up and put it away. They went to the store and she wanted apples and pears to eat. His biggest concern is keeping her busy while in Nanjing. A good first day and she went to bed with no problem.

Day 2

Adam is in Nanjing. I received a brief email from him this morning - he is having issues with his laptop so he probably will not be posting and you'll have to rely on my interpretations of phone calls with him!

He lucked out on the 16 hour flight from Newark to Hong Kong and had two empty seats next to him. He said the food on Continental was horrible. The Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong to Nanjing was nice and again he had an empty seat.

Arrived in Nanjing and met by his guide Nancy. She took him to the bank to exchange money and told him he needed a $1,000 more than he had anticipated! He said he about threw up! She spoke with the HIH person and found out these fees were already paid. It turns out that Nancy works for some agencies that don't require the payment up front. The bank was interesting-tons of people sitting around on benches waiting and Nancy goes right up to a window and banged on it and the money was exchanged. He was very impressed.

Nanjing is very industrial and tons of people everywhere. He said it is like being at the State Fair! There is a kareoke event going on outside of his hotel and busloads of people were being dropped off! Things he noticed right away were smog, smell and so many people. He decided to venture out and was bombarded by people trying to sell him things. He said he only saw two other caucasion people and that he really stands out. We've heard there are seven families adopting children this week so hopefully he can hook up with those families at some point. No other families from out agency though. I received four requests from families who have children in Nanjing and gave Adam their names in case he is able to visit the orphanage. Right now he is just a bit overwhelmed with everything.

Jia and I will be out of town until Monday night so probably won't post until then. Happy Labor Day to everyone!

Adam's Itinerary

9/4/09-9/5/09
travel to Hong Kong-overnight at HK Sky City Marriott

9/6/09
fly to Nanjing where he will be met by the guide and taken to the hotel

9/7/09
gotcha day

9/11/09
leave Nanjing and fly to Guangzhou

9/15/09
consulate appointment

9/16/09
oath and then take the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong-overnight in HK

9/17/09
arrive at CMH at 7:30 pm

And so the adventure begins!!!

As I write this Adam is (or should be if all went as planned) about 3 hours into his 16 hour flight to Hong Kong. He will spend the night in Hong Kong and hopefully meet up with the Dini and Corkern families who will be spending their last night overseas before heading home with their new children.

I read that there will be a total of 7 families getting children from Nanjing next week so hopefully Adam will be able to connect with a few.

I have so much to do while he is gone...clean the house, clean the carpets, get the girls room ready, make a few dishes and put into the freezer. They will be home in less than two weeks. J and I made a paperchain and will tear away a chain for each day daddy is gone.