More Pictures, Less Words

Mostly pictures tonight. It's been a long, fun day and I am tired.

Our last few days have been filled with many "traditional" Chinese adoption moments.

At the White Swan, the following photos would have been called the "red couch" pictures. This hotel has no red couch, but the crying kids all dressed up look the same on the brown sofa as they would have on the red.

(our group minus the three ZZ dads who were all in their rooms sick)

(the kids)

(us minus Kory who is feeling much better and so far, 

no one else shows any signs of sickness, thanks so much for praying!!)

Wednesday we headed to the pearl market. The boys have gotten many requests for pictures on this trip. And while they are mostly good sports about it, I don't think they will miss their celebrity status when they get home. 

This morning we finally had our Consulate Appointment. The LAST thing on our adoption checklist. Tomorrow Zak's Visa comes and we start our journey home. 

And right after we got back from our CA, we headed out to the GZ Safari Park with our travel companions and friends. For all you adoptive families heading to China. We HIGHLY recommend it. The boys loved it. We loved it. That is all I am going to say. The pictures can do the rest of the talking for me.

My last goodnight from GZ. 

A Walk in the Park

Yesterday we said good-bye to Zhengzhou and hello to Guangzhou. Our flight was smooth and on time. The Zak-man was excited to fly, his first time on an airplane. When we took off he was glued to the window and was handing out big smiles. He did great.

Even though we still have 6 days in China, home feels close. We are in the final stretch and thankful to be at this point in our journey. Our guide informed us there is a Starbucks, Papa Johns, Subway and McDonald's all close to our hotel. We cheered. It is nice to be in a place that feels a little more like home. Guangzhou has more of a western feel and our hotel is filled with adopting families and other internationals making us feel like less of a minority.

The breakfast buffet was bustling this morning. The pancakes and french toast disappearing almost as fast as the chef could make them. The boys still managed to get their fill and gave the hotel breakfast two thumbs up.

There are two parks close to our hotel. And when I say park, I don't mean of the playground variety. The parks are large and the paths are winding. Filled with trees, bridges, beautiful landscape and amusement parks. They are beautiful.

The locals were busy playing all sorts of games, from ping pong to a type of hacky sack, to cards to badminton. It had a community feel, and while the boys complained of too much walking and Zak almost fell asleep in his stroller, I loved the meandering.

We walked for about an hour and only covered half of one park. We did let the boys go on one ride to rest their feet a bit. Plus, when we asked Zak if he wanted to ride the train, the smile he gave us was impossible to refuse.

Our walk through the park felt like an authentic glimpse of life in China, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed the time. Watching people of all ages interact, play, and watch us. There is another park on the other side of our hotel that is probably just as big.  We'll let the boys recover a bit before we cover that one.

The remainder of our day will include preparing paperwork for Zak's visa and a dinner out with our travel group. 

We are glad to be in Guangzhou, one day closer to home.

That's Why They Call it Great

We are officially Chinese Heroes aka we climbed the great wall today and apparently that is all it takes. 

A surreal experience on a beautiful day. We are wearing coats and hats in the pictures but by the time we were done climbing, the hats were off and the coats unzipped. 

Kory and Simon made it to the very top. Jonah and I were not as aggressive in our climbing. 

Simon and Jonah both thought the wall was "great." 

And Great it is. 

They named it well.

The rest of our day in Beijing was packed. We made a stop at the Olympic Village, home of the 2008 summer games. 

The kite vendors were out in mass. Offering us 2 kites for 10 RMB, then 3, then 4 and finally he made his final offer: 5 kites for 10. We passed, then said no again and continued to walk. It took at least 5 no's with zero eye contact before they would start to get the hint. One guy lowered his kite as I was walking towards him so I could not go around but had to go straight for him. 

Sneaky kite vendor. In spite of his creativity, he still got a no. 

We ended the day at a Chinese Acrobatic Show. As 10 girls climbed on one bike circling a small stage, we couldn't help but question the sanity of the idea, but they managed to pull it off. We were glad not to be sitting in the front row in case they didn't. 

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were wiped and enjoyed probably our best night of sleep so far. Today was spent traveling to Zhengzhoa and prepping for the Zak-man. 

Gotcha comes around 10ish tomorrow (8pm CST). 

That means the next post features Zak!

MIA

No, the title does not stand for Missing In Action, although based solely on the frequency of blog posts on this here space, you could draw that logical conclusion.

For today's purposes, however, MIA stands for Mya In Africa.

She was an amazing little travel partner. And while I can't say I loved/understood her movie choices on the plane ride over and back (she watched Rio, a movie she has already seen, 5 times), I do love her heart. She jumped right in with the kids she met, rarely complained and was generally one step ahead of us wherever we went.

My favorite Mya quote from the trip:  "Mom, the world is a lot bigger place than I thought."

She was not ready to leave Zambia, but I have a feeling she will be back someday.

Maybe she will return as an artist/teacher/missionary just like Aunt Leslie.

Below is a clip/compilation of  watching MIA (Mya In Africa).

TIA

Did I say something about blogging in Africa?

Between the jet lag, busy schedule, spotty Internet, low shower pressure and limited hot water, it just didn't happen. And while the water temp/pressure didn't have anything to do with my blogging schedule, I thought it was important to find a way to let you know.

All of this can be summed up in one little phrase, "TIA."  

Translation:  This is Africa.

We had an amazing time.

Between learning about the incredible work Lifesong is doing in Zambia, spending time with Leslie, watching Mya interact with kids from the other side of the world, making new friends and having face-to-face encounters with African wildlife, we left with grateful hearts for the experience of Africa and the work God is doing there.

Here is a snippet from ONE of my favorite moments. The women you see work for Lifesong farms, in the strawberry fields of Zambia. They all have children who attend Lifesong school. Lifesong is not only investing deeply into these families by providing income and schooling, the profits from the strawberry farm are being poured back  into the school. The dream is that one day 100% of Lifesong school's administration costs will be covered by Lifesong farms. 

I am hoping to post more. There is SO much to share!

Here we go...

The day she has long awaited is finally here.

In Mya's own words, "As the days got closer (to leaving for Zambia), I got nervouser and excited. I couldn't wait to hug Aunt Leslie and play with the things in my backpack."

She has been ready to get on the plane for weeks and the day is finally here.

Today Mya and I leave for Africa, Zambia to be specific, to visit my sister and the Lifesong school.

We are expecting to have a great adventure.

I have a few other expectations for our trip as well:

I am expecting to spend some quality time with my sister whom I miss,
to tour the Lifesong school and learn more about how God is working there,
to have lots and lots (like a 15-hour plane ride lots) of mother-daughter bonding time,
for a life-changing experience that shapes my daughter's perspective for life.

There are others, but I'll stop here.

I don't know if my expectations are too high, or too low.

Regardless, its time to set expectation aside and start living this adventure.

Here we go!

What to Read on Vacation

Last week Hubs and I escaped to Florida.

The kids stayed home (with grandparents), and we had the luxury of doing whatever we felt like doing. Bliss!

We walked the beach, rode bikes, slept in, went out to eat, read by the pool...

It was a much need break from the busyness of life; and more importantly an investment in our relationship. And while this isn't really the point of this post, if it has been over a year, or 2 or 3 since you've had time away with your hubby, alone. Stop reading and plan a trip TODAY!!!

Back to the reading by the pool...

Vacation reading is a treat. I only read certain kinds of books on vacation. I stay away from deep, life-changing stuff. Non-fiction is off limits. No literary prose or Pulitzer prize winners allowed. Instead I focus my attention on...

any guesses???

Drum roll please...

Thrillers.

John Grisham provides a huge selection along the legal lines. But I've dabbled in T Davis Bunn and Ted Dekker as well.

No real meat. Pure entertainment. Fast-paced reads that allow me to barrel through at least two per vacation.

Periodically, I will make an exception to my vacation reading fare. But the exceptions don't read as well, because let's face it... there is nothing like getting lost in a good thriller, hiding from the Florida sun under an umbrella poolside.

How about you... What are your favorite vacation reads?

Gotcha Day - the video!

She hasn't been herself the last few days. She's been battling fever and a cough that won't go away. Her normal sunny personality has been clouded with gray. This morning the suhn peeked through again. She is on the mend and I will be so glad to have her feeling better and back to normal.

At church yesterday a friend reminded me that one year ago we had no idea what life with Suhn was like. She was a dream. Today I can't imagine life without her. I am thankful beyond words that God hand-picked her for us. He knew we needed her.

Today I'm going to share Suhn's gotcha day video with you. It is a little long (just over 13.5 minutes), but it is so special. It shows the day we received a precious gift, wrapped in a beautiful red dress.

Suhn, you fill our lives with joy. We are so glad you are ours!

Suhn's Adoption Trip - part 1

I'm a little frustrated right now.

I've been working on putting our video and photos from China into "movie" form and have been having a little bit of trouble. I use Windows Moviemaker. It is free and easy to use. It's not flashy, but it does what I need it to do.

For some reason, our videos from China do not like this program. I edit them and they show up on the screen unedited. Or the words do not match up with the picture.

When I play the video back in Moviemaker there are no problems. It is just the way I want it.

BUT, when I save and upload my movie to You Tube (which takes an inordinately long time) it plays back wrong, or in the case of the video below after 10,000 tries almost right and just a little wrong.

Yes, I settled.

It's going to be good enough.

I hope you like it. It's a little long and a little shaky, but it's done. Even though it is not perfect, I like it. It brings back good memories and reminds me of good friends, which is the whole point of a home movie in the first place.

Mission Accomplished.

Enjoy!

Snowed In and Catching Up

It took a blizzard... here's a blog post. :)

And dare I say it,

I have LOVED being snowed in.

It is becoming a rare occurrence to have a complete day at home, and running around with five littles (or even 4 when Mya is at school) is exhausting.

So today I am giving thanks for snow days, a change of pace, a warm house, electricity, and a strong man who is willing to brave the elements to dig us out.

In other news, for friends and family who live afar, here is what we've been up to...

Suhn started preschool. She goes three mornings a week, gets OT and PT for part of the time and has loved the experience so far.

We celebrated Suhn's third birthday. Her first birthday with us. To see her surrounded by HER family, soaking in the love was awesome.

Ahh, vacation. Driving 19 hours straight through with 5 kids is not for the faint of heart...

But the destination was so worth it!

There you have it, a catch up blog post of sorts, with more to come...

Unpacking

If you are the kind of person who unpacks your bag immediately after you return home from a trip, the title of this blog post probably didn't even register.

The thought, "She can't still have unpacking to do after being home over a week?" probably never even peeked into your brain because that concept would be completely foreign to your worldview.

If that is you. You might want to stop reading.

Now.

For those of you still with me, prepare yourselves to gain absolutely no redeeming value from reading further. My friend Sarah sometimes writes blog posts entitled "purely pointless."

That is pretty much what this is.

All this hype to confess, I am not unpacked after being home over a week.

My suitcases are empty and put away. I accomplished that task by Wednesday.

In case your worried, the clothing suitcase was unpacked and washed the next day; we would have been underwearless otherwise. Just the kind of information you are wanting to hear on a Monday morning I'm sure.

Back to my point, or non-point if you'd prefer, I'm still living out of my toiletry bag.

I think it has to do with bathrooms.

I don't like cleaning them.

Kory tells me if I'd quit procrastinating I could have them cleaned in 10 minutes.

The same would hold true for unpacking my toiletries (which reside in the bathroom in case you were wondering about the connection).

And still they sit, because, well, I'm disciplined like that.

Maybe today will be the day I can officially say I am unpacked.

Maybe I'm blogging about this to give my self that extra boost of motivation.

Maybe the end result will not be purely pointless because I will actually follow through and unpack.

Maybe this will only be purely pointless for those of you still reading.

And if you are still reading,

I'm curious... What kind of an unpacker are you?

On our way!

I was tempted to wax poetic and share the thoughts that have been going through my head over the last few hours.

But I am way too tired to think. Any thoughts I manage to type out would probably need a translator.

Not to be redundant, but we are going to China in 1 hour! Not Seattle like we did 9 hours ago. China!

I'm already looking forward to my bed in Beijing. Did I tell you I am tired? And, we have a 12 hour flight pounding on the door. Perfect.

We were able to tour Seattle, mainly Pike's Place Fish Market, draggin our carry-on luggage and telling everyone we met that we were going to China to adopt our daughter.

As nice as our 9 hour layover has been, enough is enough. Get me on that plane! Tired or not.

Next time you here from me, I'll be on a different continent! Maybe even a little more coherent.

or not.

Yipee!!

10 Things I Learned in Florida

1. Sleeping children make a 19 hour car ride much more enjoyable. Awake but happy children are also enjoyable. However, whining and crying young ones can make 10 minutes seem like an hour.

2. Florida is the condo. The condo is Florida. When we are driving around Naples we are not in Florida. "I'm right mom," says the 3 year old (just in case you don't believe me).

3. Sand castles are fun, but Sand Mermaids are better (thanks Aunt Leslie).

4. New Years Eve is much more fun when you have good friends to share it with. Especially when husbands clean up the kitchen, take the kids down to the pool for ice cream and let the moms and sisters sit at the table and talk! Fireworks you can see from the condo are also a plus.

5. Parks are just as fun in Florida as they are in Illinois.

6. You can make snow angels in the sand. Snow men, however, are a little harder.

7. It is possible (with only 3 kids) to make over 10 trips to the pool bathroom in one hour. Sad, but true. 8. Even trains need naps in Florida. 9. It is much easier to brave the waves and reach the sand bar when you have a friend beside you. 10. Even though there is no place like home, no one likes to leave Florida.