Final Day: USA HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Well the final day has come and gone. We slept in a little bit this morning and after breakfast went to Chen Ten Academy. There we saw a lot of unique Chinese art work. The boys enjoyed seeing the people in the park doing exercise using huge swards. I will have to post pictures next week. Forrest had two school girls come up to get pictures taken with him.

We then went back and had our final round of shopping. Guangzhou needs a cargo ship to re-supply the vendors following our little shopping spree. Joe & Kellye you may want to bring a U-Haul truck to pick us up at the airport (just kidding). We found so many neat things. We do have as much baggage as we left with and this is kind of sad considering that we left 5 bags of clothing at the orphanage.

We really enjoyed a few of the vendors here and will miss them. One of the girls asked Andrew what he was doing after 9 pm, guess she was looking for a date. We shared hugs with some of them and enjoyed seeing them again. One little dress shop remembered Robin from the last trip so you know she is a good customer. Adele I believe you have competition. The boys were a huge hit here. This has been a trip of a lifetime and I know many family memories were made. We are very thankful that all our children were here to be a part of this adoption.

We are up very early Sunday morning and will fly for about 24 hours with airport time. This should put us in at our home airport at 4:35 Sunday afternoon. We are all ready to get home. Shiyan is talking a lot more and very happy. She is easily calmed by speaking to her in Chinese and loves to run and play. Lets all pray that she does well on the flights home.

See everyone soon. Thank each and every one of you for joining us on this Journey to Shiyan. See you soon, Forrest, Robin and family.

Day 12, only 1 more day in China

Well this trip is winding down. Today was a totally free day. We went out this morning and watched the people exercising in the parks. They play badmitten and do Tie Chi, dancing and other activities. They are much more active than most Americans. The parks here really get used.

After this little walk we headed to the pearl market. We got some wonderful pearls for the girls and found some other wonderful art work. After lunch more shopping near our hotel. For those of you traveling to China there are some wonderful vendors here. We were at the E Gallery buying some water colors and they were so nice, I recommend this shop. Lucy is also great and so sweet, we love going to her shop, also Jordan’s is a great place and fairly priced. We have found so many wonderful items. The boys have kidded that we need to redecorate our entire house in Chinese since we have so much.

I can not tell you how many people have come up to us and said “Big Family” “5 Kids are you crazy” Chinese people look at us in disbelief. Some of the adoptive families look at us like we are crazy. Oh well we may be crazy but we are truly blessed by this big family. Shiyan fits like a glove, she and Laura will be so close. A few times Laura has been a bit too rough with her (full body slam style) and she will just get back up and laugh. They love to play together. Shiyan rarely fusses, only when very tired or very hungry.

Andrew has taken up calligraphy while here. He purchased a wonderful calligraphy set and has been learning to write it and is doing quite well. The writing here is so beautiful. Aaron seems to be having fun with the shopping. Stephen is enjoying being the middle child now and is a great big brother.

Tonight we introduced the kids to Tai food. We steered clear of the spicy and strange foods but enjoyed it a lot. It is weird here to see things on the menu like intestine, goose kidneys and other not so wonderful dishes. Today while shopping we saw squid on a stick, lizard on a stick and other unidentifiable meats on a stick. I so wanted to try some of these but decided not to chance it.

We truly thank all of you for following this journey. Please pray for our return travel and for us to make all connections. Pray for Shiyan’s medical exams to go well next week and for her heart to be OK.

We will post a few more pictures today for your viewing pleasure. http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Guangzhou/

We are all anxious to be home and ready for Sunday to get here.

Swearing In

Day 11: Consulate appointment. Well this morning our guide went to our consulate appointment and then called to advise us that they wanted to do our swearing in today instead of Friday. We met up with 3 other families from multiple agencies this afternoon and all took the hotel bus to the consulate for the final step. We met up there with about 10 other families and all had the anti climatic “I solemnly swear”. The final step comes when we hit US soil and she becomes a citizen. While at the Consulate we were able to pick up her Visa so everything is in place for this adoption to be complete.

We heard rumors today that the White Swan will close on December 2nd for 9 month of renovations and will be an all suites hotel when it reopens. This would change adoption journeys in a great way and I hope it is not true.

Shiyan continues to get more vocal mostly just babble but definite improvement. She is a little squirt and is not used to being told no. The care givers were afraid to let her cry and must have given her what she wanted. We are teaching her that this does not work and have had to let her cry a few times.

Robin had some shopping for cloths for the girls today and I managed to get more of the gifts we need for the girls and for friends. Shopping here is so much fun, a lot of shops and lots of haggling. My personal favorite is Lucy, she is such a sweet Chinese young lady and fun to haggle with. Robin had a custom quilt made for Shiyan and we got it back tonight, it turned out absolutely beautiful.

Tomorrow off to the Pearl market and more walking around the island. Things are winding down and we are all ready to get home.

Until next time.

Day 10: 1 week with Shiyan

Can you believe we have been with Shiyan for a week. Well today was our first day in Guangzhou. Last night when we got in we could not get adjoining rooms and had the smallest rooms we have ever been in. So this morning they moved us to the river side of the hotel. This room is much nicer and has more room.

We had the White Swan breakfast today. Let me say the Traders in Shenyang is a much nicer hotel with much better food. We are disappointed in the Swan after our last two hotels.

After breakfast we were off to the required medical exam. Everything checked out good. The doctor that listened to her heart heard what he thinks is a hole in her heart but was not overly concerned. We showed him her medical records and he had 3 other doctors come in and listen to her. They all thought the diagnosis on her paperwork was incorrect. We continue to pray that she is fine and that whatever is going on will be easily treatable when we get home. In any case we trust that God brought us to this child and he will help us deal with whatever is ahead.

Today we spent shopping in Guangzhou. I would go broke with all the good deals here. We found some great things and will have the challenge of how to pack all of this stuff.

A flash back to yesterday that is interesting. We ate dinner at Lucy’s and when we sat down I notice that they have license plates on the walls. The first plate I see was from Boyd County Ky. where we used to live and the other side had a plate from Indianapolis Indiana, where we also formally lived. How funny is that, being in Guangzhou is like being in a US city, there are adoptive families everywhere.

Tonight we went to a local Chinese place and no one spoke English, but again we managed to order and it was good. There was one meat that was not identifiable but tasted great. After dinner Shiyan took off exercising her vocal chords again, she has really kicked in the past day or two with mostly babble and occasionally a Ma Ma or Ba Ba and some Ga Ga’s in there. Now Laura is jealous wanting to hear her name.

Tomorrow is mostly a free day while our paperwork is processed.

Day 9: Off to Guangzhou.

OK we will start with a funny note today. Our guide in Shenyang was great but his English has a strong Chinese accent. Yesterday he was talking about Shiyan’s beautiful smile but it came out as “She has a beautiful Smell” It took me a minute or two to figure it out but then I realized every time he said smile it came out smell. Too funny.

Robin will miss the sushi at our last hotel. The Traders was equipped for Japanese business travelers and had a wonderful breakfast buffet including sushi which Robin gladly partook of every day.

Today we got up normal time and had breakfast and then off at 9:30 for the airport for our scheduled 12:15 departure. Well in China things don’t work like at home. The airline had decided to change our departure time to 2:05 without notifying us. So here we are at 10:30 am for a flight nearly 4 hours later. Dair did manage to get them to check us in and take our luggage, but we still had to spend another day hanging out in a Chinese airport.

Oh yes and on the way to the airport our poor driver was pulled over by a cop with attitude. Looked like a racket to me but it was not that big and event. The fine for the supposed violation was 200 RMB $24 US. This is a lot of money to a poor working guy here.

OK Shiyan did great today, she walked and walked and walked some more while we waited for our flight. Praise God she never got winded or pale, she seems to be doing great. She did wonderfully on the flight and laughed and played when not sleeping.

On the van ride from the airport to the White Swan she started babbling, it was so great to hear her voice. Last night we got her to say Ba Ba and Ga Ga (daddy and big brother), tonight she was just jabbering away. We pray that with some stimulation she will start talking soon.
Well we made it to Guangzhou and had dinner at Lucy’s a place close to the hotel. In the morning we are off for the medical exam and visa photo and then shopping.

That is it for today, will post photos and more information tomorrow.

Day 8 Orphanage Visit

Get your tissues ready before reading today's post.

Well today we visited the Shenyang City Orphanage. This is always my favorite part of the adoption trip and at the same time we always loose a bit of our hearts on an orphanage visit.

Thanks to our friends and Sunday School Class we had 5 large duffle bags of blankets and clothing for the orphanage. They were very appreciative to receive this gift. We helped them unpack the items into a storage room where they will remain until needed by the children.

We then walked over to the orphanage building and on the way met the 4 year old class going on a walk. They recognized Shiyan and began chanting Wen Yi, Wen Yi. Shiyan seemed to soak it all in. We were worried that she would have a bad reaction to the visit. This is an extremely nice orphanage and well maintained. The children are all clean and well cared for. They seem to have plenty of staff and the director has really impressed us.

We first visited the 1st floor and went to the room where Shiyan stayed until between 1 & 2 years old. When the care giver held her, she cried to go back to Ma Ma and reached for Robin. Seems that she knows that Robin is the one who now cares for her and was not comfortable with anyone other than Robin or the orphanage director holding her. We got to visit with the children in this room it was nice to get to meet the children. We tried to touch each child and give them some personal time.

Next we went to the second floor where Shiyan has been living and visited the play area. Here we met this beautiful little girl in a fury sweater. She kept making eye contact with Forrest and finally came over to be held. Our hearts melted and I shed tears as I knew she does not have a family waiting for her yet. She had back surgery but is healthy now. She is beautiful and so sweet. My heart breaks for her (see photos of her on site)

We had 3 waiting children that we were asked to check on while there and met the two boys in the same room as Shiyan had been in (mostly boys in her area). We were able speak to each of them and have the translator tell them that their parents are coming soon. (Photos included)

We saw Shiyan’s bed. She slept right next to the Nannie. It appears they carried her everywhere and did not let her do much for herself. They were so concerned about over stressing her heart and babied her a lot.

We then went up to the 4th floor to meet Hua Liang. Here our hearts were really touched. Andrew was the appointed photographer today and as we go to this area I was speaking to Hua Liang and this other little 4 year old girl went over and hugged Andrew, she then came and hugged me. She also does not have a family yet. Andrew fell in love and made it clear that one day he will be back to adopt a child from China. Andrew wanted us to start paperwork to adopt her ourselves but we can’t do it right now. I have to admit that we shed tears today and that our hearts break for these children that don’t have a family. We pray that they are all adopted but learned that many of them will never be adopted.

As we headed back down stairs we passed Shiyan’s class and the kids again called out “Wen Yi, Wen Yi”.

Today we saw some healthy children and children with severe medical needs. Some will be lucky enough to find a family and many will be in the orphanage for years to come. Pray for these children and pray that people step forward to help them by supporting the orphanage or by considering adoption. We are so thankful that God opened our hearts to adoption and that he led us to China. We can’t imagine the blessings we would have missed out on had we not taken the step of faith to adopt Laura and then Shiyan.

After nap time we will head to a local park so the girls can play and then we have dinner tonight with Dair and Shirley (Chinese food). Tuesday morning (Monday night US) we head to Guangzhou. I must admit that I am ready to leave Shinyang and am getting a bit homesick. We will probably not post again until Wednesday.

On a side note, we are seeing more personality from Shiyan every day. She is going to be a stinker. She seems shy but is going to be sly. She is so cute and it will be interesting to see how her personality continues to take shape. She loves the attention she is getting but is not used to being told no. Today she would not lay down for her nap and kept trying to climb out of the crib. I told her to lay down and she kept getting up. I went over to lay her down and she hit at me, I said “Bo” which is no, she burst into tears and then laid down and went to sleep.

Thank you to everyone that has been following our journey and for all of your prayers and encouragement.

Here is the link to today’s photos http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Orphanage/

Day 8 We feel like celebrities

Today we visited the Emperors Tomb and again drew crowds of people. We had a lot of people staring and taking photos of us, one guy came up and asked if we would let him take pictures of us with the lady that was with him. He then grabbed another guy to take photos of him with us. We were able to get some great (Huge) kites that we can fly at home.

Shiyan is still not talking which is beginning to concern us a little. We will be going to the orphanage on Monday and will ask them if this is normal for her. She is very happy, and doing great overall just does not talk. She responds when we speak to her so not sure what is going on.

Tonight the boys decided to stay in at dinner and not go with us. Robin, the girls and I ended up at a local Chinese place. No one there spoke a word of English so ordering was fun. We ended up with a wonderful meal of some authentic Chinese food. The boys don’t know what they are missing. Monday is our last day in Shenyang, then on Tuesday we fly to Guangzhou for the US portion of the adoption. We are all getting a bit homesick and tired of living out of suit cases.

Until Next Time, From China????

Day 7 Shenyang Imperial Palace

Today we toured the Shenyang Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) It is much smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing but very impressive. Photos are on the photo bucket at http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Shenyang%20Forbidden%20City/

Shiyan is getting a bit of a cold but still doing very good. Tonight she was introduced to Pizza. She loved it. It is funny to see the facial expressions she makes when she experiences a new taste. She will make funny faces then smile and want more.

We received the developed photos from the cameras that we sent in Shiyan’s care package. We got some wonderful of Shiyan with other kids at the orphanage. These were shot over some period of time as we see multiple outfits on her. We have photos of her looking at the photo album we sent her and playing with the toys. In one shot she is sleeping with the bear we sent and has the blanket we sent over her in the bed. It was so nice of the staff to get us these wonderful pictures.

Tomorrow we visit the Emperors tomb and Monday is the visit to the orphanage.

Day 6: Shopping and Stares,

This morning we went shopping at the very high priced mall next door. This place is like Saks 5th Avenue pricing in China of all places. We did not buy anything at these shops but did purchase some story books in both Chinese and English with a CD that tells the story in both languages, Shiyan should love this. We also made another trip to Wal Mart to pick up a few little items. Wal Mart here is great and very reasonably priced.

Needless to say most residents of Shenyang China have not seen a family as large as ours. We get stared at so much when our little army goes down the street. We commented last night that you could walk naked down the streets of New York City and be noticed less than us. Most of the people are nice but can not understand such a large family. Last night we were at the play area in the mall and a gentleman noticed Shiyan and Laura in matching sweaters and held up two fingers, then the boys all walked up and I said 3 sons. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Another man said in a Japanese accent “3 handsome sons protect beautiful daughters”. People will just stop and watch us, the boys are a bit freaked by all the attention.

Shiyan continues to do well. She slept all night and was awakened by Laura this morning at 7 am. She again got up with a smile. She is breathing a bit hard when sleeping on her back but seems more normal when on her stomach. She does have Dextocardia (Heart on the right side). She loves to walk but does get tired since they have not let her do anything at the orphanage. She is amazed at all the sites and sounds of the outside world she has never seen. She will see things and point with a smile. Today when we were passing one music store she started dancing and laughing. It is hard for us to imaging what must be going through her mind, the only life she knew was inside the orphanage walls and all of this is so new to her, her little mind must just be overwhelmed.

Shiyan is a girl of few words, favorites are Laura and Mama. This morning at breakfast daddy moved over to feed her so mommy could eat and when she was done she excitedly said “Ma Ma” and handed her cup toward Robin. This afternoon she again yelled for Mama when she wanted more food. Oh she loves McDonalds chicken nuggets and will eat anything you put in front of her and will eat until you stop feeding her. The orphanage director told us she was the size of an average 1 year old at the orphanage, only about 20 pounds, we pray that she will start growing once on a good diet. We are having to teach her not to grab everything at one time when you offer her a snack, I am sure this is instinct from orphanage life. She is always looking at Robin as if to seek approval of things. It seems that Robin has taken that role of care giver and is the favorite for now. She loves to play with daddy and laugh, she has the cutest laugh and a whole face smile.

This afternoon the two older boys and Forrest went for a walk to explore the area. There is a huge underground shopping mall that goes about 3 city blocks. At some points it goes two stories under ground. We were warned about pick pockets so only took a few dollars with us but it was fine and very interesting to see all the vendors. The other shops here are nice but up scale.

This morning Dair our guide stopped by and left us a gift from China for Shiyan, it was a set of framed masks, they will look great in the girls room. Dair and Shirley have done a great job taking care of us and have offered to help in any way they can, at times they are a bit overly protective. Tomorrow we will have the developed photos back from the cameras we sent to the orphanage, we are very anxious to see these.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Shenyang Forbidden City (This was formally the capital of China) The boys are excited about visiting this site. They have been bored the past couple of days due to the lack of constant activity.

Day 5 part B

I forgot to tell everyone about the snow. Two weeks ago they had a major snow storm here in Shenyang. Well they are still cleaning up snow and it is piled everywhere. The weather now is nice and starting to warm up a bit.

Tonight we went to a mall across from the hotel. We found a food court with some wonderful looking food and the boys found a DQ. Can you say Peanut Buster Parfait or Banana Split in Chinese? In any case the ice cream was great. Robin, the girls and I had some wonderful authentic Chinese food. We are in a very nice part of town with lots of shopping near by. Some very high end shops (we will look only). There is also a play area at the mall and while there we met two families from the US that are here teaching at the university, it was nice to meet other English speaking people. Most people here do not speak much English so communicating is interesting.

Friday is shopping day, we will post more photos as we can.

Don't forget to read down to see the rest of Day 5.

She is now offically ours

She is officially ours now. Shen Wen Yi is now Shiyan WenYi.

Shiyan slept great last night. She woke a few times while we were still up but did not fuss. This morning she lay in the crib until we went to get her. She does not fuss at all, I am sure this is from being in the orphanage and knowing that it probably did not help.

Laura is very Jealous but loves Shiyan. Just if one of us are holding Shiyan, then Laura wants to be held too.

This morning at breakfast we got to meet a wonderful family from Texas that is here adopting. We had been swapping email with them the past few weeks and really enjoyed meeting David, Yvonne and Noah today.

This morning was free time, after getting all our adoption paperwork in order and ready fro this afternoon, we made the trip 2 blocks away to Wal Mart Supercenter. Shiyan was so alert and taking everything in. We learned today that she has rarely been outside the orphanage and really did not know that a world outside there existed. She looks at everything and is taking in all the sounds. Wal Mart is very nice it is a 3 story center and has a lot of the same stuff as at home. The meat department is interesting and the fish market is quite an experience.

Shiyan was introduced to McDonalds chicken nuggets and fries today and loved every bite.

Shiyan does not talk much at all and is very quite. We were concerned about her speaking Chinese but she rarely says anything. The orphanage director said this was also the case at the orphanage.

This afternoon we made the trip back to the civil affairs office to sign all the paperwork and complete that part of the adoption. The orphanage presented us with a certificate thanking us for adopting her, also with a crystal stone and some dirt from the orphanage grounds. We then went and applied for her passport and then to the Notary office. While at the Notary office people started to stop and touch her and talk to her, there were 8 or more people just standing around checking her out.

This afternoon she has been sitting and drawing on the magna doodle and Laura is sitting next to her drawing on hers.

Tonight we will go out for Chinese for dinner. Tomorrow is a free day so Diar and Shirley our guides will take us shopping. New pictures will be on the photo bucket today.
Be praying for Shiyan’s heart. She does not seem to be as sick as they had described but we are not sure what is up with her heart. When she walks she does not get winded or blue which is an answered prayer. She plays and does fine. The orphanage had kept her way too sheltered and I believe she has been more active today then in her previous life. We are trying to take it slow and let her do a little at a time but so far so good. We are all praying that we get good news from the doctors when we get home with her.

Thank you to all our friends that are praying for us and for all the wonderful notes of encouragement we have received, many of your notes brought us to tears this morning, it is great to know we are surrounded by your prayers and support. Thanks to Joe and Kellye for getting up before daylight to get us to the airport last Friday, and for the great muffins. Lastly I forgot to acknowledge our sons for their help yesterday. Aaron helped care for Laura, Stephen was behind the video camera and Andrew was responsible for all the wonderful Got Ya Day photos you have seen.

Until next time, from China!

Day 4 Got Ya Day!!!!

Well today started off very early with multiple delays. We left the hotel at 5:30 am for what should have been a 7:40 flight. We actually made it on the plane and then they had us go back to terminal due to bad weather in Shenyang. As we were leaving the plane we learned that a stewardess had taken Aarons ticket stub. Let me assure when flying in China guard this little piece of paper with your life. We got back to the terminal and they said “No Problem” and gave us another little card. Well after many delays with the flight and very little information in English other than “Just wait a moment” for 7 hours. We finally started to board around 2 pm. We met the same “Mr. No Problem” and now it was a problem. Well after what seemed like forever we were finally allowed on the bus then got out to the aircraft to “Problem” Finally after a lot of discussion and a lot of frustration on my part we were allowed to board. So only delayed by 6 hours (Stephanie you still hold the records at 2 days in Beijing airport)

So now to the information you have all been waiting for, Ms Shiyan. We landed about 3:15 and got our bags. You can tell that they don’t get a lot of adoptive families here. Our guide held up a sign that said simply “Family from USA adopting” We were taken immediately to the Cival Affairs Office where Shiyan was waiting. She immediately recognized Robin and called her Mama. The orphanage staff had been showing her our pictures. She had all the toys we had sent her. They also had a scrap book of her activities, with coloring pages, photos etc. She did not fuss much and was very cooperative with us. She did get upset a bit this evening but it did not last long. She loves to laugh. We had been at our hotel for an hour or two and she was sitting on the bed playing with daddy and Laura had gone in the other room and Shiyan said very clearly Laura. With the photos we sent we listed each persons name and they had taught her names.

She seems to be doing well and does not get seem to have problems when excited. She does breath a bit hard but overall seems to be doing very well. She is now resting peacefully.

Laura on the other hand is dealing with a bit of jealousy and wants to stay in the middle of everything.

Shenyang seems to be a great town, we are a block from Wal-Mart and a lot of other shopping.

Well tomorrow is adoption day, we go to finish the official paperwork and make her our daughter. Photos are posted on our photo bucket at http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/?

Oh did I mention that she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!

The Great Fog of China

Hello from the “Great FOG of China” Today we traveled to the Great Wall of China. One nice thing is that it snowed there last night so that was beautiful. However it made for very slick climbing at times. Once again Laura was a super trooper. She insisted that she walk on her own. We climbed to the highest peak we could see and she walked all the way by herself. At the top we purchased little brass plates for each child that said “I climbed the Great Wall of China”. We were very disappointed that visibility was so poor so you could not see the beautiful country side. At some points you could only see a couple of hundred feet.

After the Wall we went to the Cloisonné factory to see how Cloisonné is made. This is a very interesting process that is highly manual and very intricate. We were able to purchase a few items to take back home.

This afternoon while Laura napped, the boys and I went back to the Silk Street shops and haggled with vendors for some additional goods from China.

Tonight we had the opportunity to learn first hand some of what God is doing through the local house church (More about that later). This was quite an experience for all of us and educated us a lot.

Well Wednesday it a whole new day. We have to be up at 4:30 am and off to the airport at 5:40 for the flight to Shenyang. We should receive Shiyan in the early afternoon so late Tuesday night your time at home. We are praying for a smooth transition and are all very anxious to meet our daughter.

Lets hope we get some sleep tonight. They are building a new convention center just next to our hotel and they work all night. They welded beams all night and even with the curtains closed you could see the flashing of the welder in our room. Not to mention the saws, and other machinery that was being used. I woke up at 4 am from the noise and never got back to sleep.

With that I will close for today. The next post should include pictures from today and pictures of us with Shiyan.

Day 2 Beijing

Here is a link to today's photos.
http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/?action=view&current=shiyan4b.jpg&slideshow=true&interval=3

Well today was an early start, Laura must still have a bit of jet lag and woke us up at 4:45 this morning. We managed to keep her quite until 5:30 but were then up for the day. She continues to be great. She walked a lot today refusing to be carried in the baby backpack most of the time.

Today we went to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City, a lot of walking but very interesting. Laura had to have one of the giant kites that the street vendors were selling and truth be known daddy has always wanted one too, so we are taking one home to fly. I have posted a few photos of the Forbidden city, see link in previous post.

Next we went to the Hutong (Water Well or narrow streets). This is an old area of Beijing near the Forbidden city. Here we took a rickshaw ride and visited a home and were served tea, learned about grasshoppers and crickets. Laura had a very short nap and then we were off to the Chinese Acrobat Show. Wow what a show, they are awesome performers and we all enjoyed it, unbelievable how these people can bend their bodies. Tonight we went to a local Chinese restaurant and the waitress spoke about as much English as I spoke Chinese so it was fun ordering. We got everything we ordered and it was great. Aaron is refusing to try the local cuisine and opted for KFC. He does not know what he is missing. The other two boys ate with chop sticks tonight a great new step for them.

Well enough for tonight, we have an early day tomorrow and will be heading to the Great Wall. One of my favorite spots on earth! Hard to believe that Wednesday (Tuesday night US time) we will meet Shiyan for the first time. Pray for her to bond with us and to be healthy. We will give another update soon.

Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes. We appreciate every one that is following this Journey to Shiyan.

Viewing photos

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/DSC_0047b.jpg


I now have English menu's so this link should take you to photos. Off to the Forbidden City and Hutong today. Laura woke up at 5 am and we have been up since then.

Day 1 Beijing

Hello from Beijing. Well it has been a long couple of days. We got up very early on Friday March 16 and headed to the airport. After some flight delays in Detroit we ended up on another flight we were finally on our way.

Laura has been a trooper, she only slept about 4 hours out of 28 hours of travel. She was up at 5 am at home and finally went to sleep at 11:45 our time for a couple of hours and picked up another couple of hours between Tokyo and Beijing. She wanted to stay awake and avoid missing anything. We were delayed a bit in Tokyo waiting on our original flight to get there (just the luck). We got to Beijing at about 10:30 pm (Saturday night, 9:30 Saturday morning at home) by the time we got to the hotel it was 1 am by the time we got to bed. Laura was up at 7 am wanting breakfast, so Robin and I took a short nap with her this afternoon.

We had a free day today. We went to what was formally Silk Alley. It is now a big 6 story in door shopping complex (Silk & Pearl Market) but still same great deals and haggling (“I make you great deals”). This evening when we were walking back from that area and we had this lady really trying hard to sell us scarves and socks, she would just not take no (BOO YA) for an answer. She kept after us for two city blocks. She finally gave up. After that I gave in and let the boys talk me into Pizza Hut for dinner. I would have preferred something Asian but tomorrow for that. Well we are up early in the morning so will sign off for tonight. We will post more in a day or two.

Monday is Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well the day has finally come. We are headed to China. First stop Detroit, then Tokyo and on to Beijing. We will post Sunday China time to let everyone know we made it.

This will be quite an experience and we are looking forward to every minute of it.

Talk to you soon!

Final Countdown and Packing

Well we are in the final days. There is so much to do and so little time. Work is crazy and then home to wrapping up loose ends every night. By the time we get on the plane I will be ready for a nap. We are packed and ready with the exception of a few minor things. Everyone is excited and ready to get going. Not long now, come on Friday lets get in the air.

Thanks for following along and for all the prayers that are being lifted up on our behalf.

Travel Arrangements

Well we have travel arrangements, we will be heading to China next Friday. We also have our in country travel plans. We will get Shiyan on Wednesday 21st March in the afternoon. After a few days in Shenyang we journey down to Guangzhou for the US portion. We should have some free time there to shop and enjoy the city. We will fly back to the US on April 1st.

They have some neat tours set up for us, we will go to the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and several other places. We are scheduled to visit the orphanage and see where Shiyan has spent the first two plus years of her life.

We are excited and ready to get in the air. Please keep our travel in your prayers. Pray that Shiyan bonds with us quickly and that she is doing well. We will update as often as possible so please stay tuned for all the latest updates and pictures. We will have a photo bucket where you can see multiple photos as we post. The link is on the main page.


We have been in touch with another family that is currently in Shenyang, thanks Stephanie for giving us a preview of our trip and allowing us to share in your journey. Looks like the place we will stay is very nice and close to shopping, parks etc.

WE HAVE A TA!!!!!!!!!!

We got the call today at around 1 pm that our TA was at the agency. They have requested our Consulate Appointment and we could leave as soon as two weeks from now. The general plan is 3 days in Beijing touring, then to Shenyang to get our girl, sped a few days there and then down to Guangzhou for the US portion.

We are excited and ready to travel. Pray that arrangements happen quickly and we can have firm dates and be past this state of limbo.

We will update again early next week.

We have some news!

We are hoping that our Travel Authorization will be in early next week. This would mean that we will travel in late March. Tentative dates would be March 21 returning around April 5th. We hope to be able to firm up plans by early next week.

We will post here first so stay tuned for updates. We are all getting anxious to travel. Laura keeps asking "Are we going to China today" Today she was talking to Shiyan on her toy phone.

Keep all of us in your prayers. We are praying to get the consulate appointment and then to find affordable air fare so we can make the trip.