We are home!!

Hi all,
It has been an unforgettable past two weeks...we have been given an unbelievable gift!

We arrived home Wednesday night and started the jet lag. Mayleah, of course, is still on China time. So, she is awake every night. It is progressively getting better, but it is still hard to stay awake during the day and sleep at night. Mayleah is adjusting well though.

I was home a day and I got the "crud". Fever, body aches, etc. It is a good thing that Ken doesn't go back to work until Monday.

Mayleah is getting to know Ashley, Brandon and Drew quite well. She still is reluctant to go to anyone but Ken and I but she is getting better. She attended an American church for the first time today. Last week she attended the Chinese church. What a difference a week can make!

I am very thankful for the many prayers that were said on our behalf for our travels and for Mayleah. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. She is doing great, but the prayers would be appreciated.

Thanks for coming on this "journey to Mayleah"!! Chris

Last blog from China...

Hi,

This will be our last post from China. The time has gone very fast at times and very, very slow at others. We leave for the airport at 5:30 am tomorrow morning (Wed). and arrive 6:00 pm Wednesday night. Figure that one out.

We have a swearing in ceremony this afternoon at the US Consulate and then we receive our paperwork to give to immigration when we get to Detroit for Mayleah. She is officially ours!! She will be a US Citizen once she touches US soil. How awesome is that?

I hope to see you all soon. Please continue to pray for this little girl. She will have an awful lot of obstacles to overcome in her life. We appreciate it. Chris

Paperwork approved

Today was the day they checked our paperwork and we received no phone call requesting additional paperwork. We saw Sheyan after dinner tonight and she said we were all set. Tomorrow we have the famous "Red couch photo" and then we go for the swearing in ceremony later that afternoon.

Today we did some more walking and shopping with Scott, Cindy, and Miley (yes Hannah Montanna) and Scott, Joanne, and Katie. We left the island and walked into the city down the back streets and alleys to check things out. It reminds me alot of Nairobi and the country of Kenya.

On our way to dinner we walked past an open market/restaurant where you pick your food before they kill it. We chose not to eat there but on our way back some of our group came out and said it was the best food they have ever eaten, Sheyan was with them. Maybe tomorrow night.

We had to purchase another suitcase and packed it up when we got back. So we are down to one more day in China. Mayleah is doing really well. Today she let Scott pick her up although she wouldn't interact with him, she didn't try to pull away. That was good to see. We keep asking ourselves what she will do for the long flight home. It shall be interesting. I've been working hard with her on using her right hand. I found duct -taping her left arm to her body has been working well. I have talked to alot of people here both in and out of our group and it is amazing how many different reasons people have for adopting internationally. It is also amazing how many are on there second or fourth adoption. Some are business people, working class, college professors, doctors, farmers (even wears his John Deere hat), etc. One couple put off retirement to adopt one more child. It is also amazing how you take a group of people and put them together in Beijing for a few days and when they get here you naturally hang out together. You get to know them and the world seems to be a much better place. Definitey a learning experience.

Have a great day.

Ken

**These pictures are of the market that we walked through...very interesting. The last picture is of a local dentist. Anyone want to change providers??

what a cutie!

This is the local grocery store on a Sunday afternoon...NUTS!!

Mayleah is definitely coming out of her shell as you can see...

Pearl and Jade Market...

Well today we went to a Chinese/English church. It was very interesting. They would sing an American song and then they would sing a chinese song. The preacher would speak some, and then an interpreter would follow. Very interesting. A girl gave her testimony. It was very good. There was more open talk about a relationship with God than I was expecting. There were even some people with bibles. The church was packed plus. Proper etiquette (according to American ways) was not followed.

It has been very interesting with mothers' and their children (usually one) here. The one child is usually really spoiled and very disrespectful to the parents. Very out of control. We have seen this over and over again. This must be acceptable behavior.

After church, and Mayleah wetting through her chinese diaper, we got a taxi ($1.00 US) and went to the Jade and Pearl factory. You would not believe the prices for the pearls. Almost free, no kidding! The pearls are beautiful! Then we took a taxi to the local Walmart (Carrefour) and waited in the line for 30-45 minutes to check out. The meat section was very interesting. Ken even got grossed out by some of the meat options.

We are very ready to go home. I hope you all have a great day at church and worshipping God. Be very thankful for the country that you were given the privilege to live in!!

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We had another good day today except for the medical exam. Afterwards Mayleah fell asleep and I stayed with her while Chris did paperwork. She woke up after an hour and I was able to rub the side of her face and she fell back to sleep for another hour. We went for a long walk and met up with Eric (F18 pilot) and his Alysa with their son. We are looking at 4 more days in China and they are looking at 4 more days together before he goes back to Japan and she continues home to California. We spent some time out by the pool this afternoon. She is most definitely out of her shell and is making alot more noises. Her first english was "tickletickletickle" by the pool. She is coming to me more often and even up to other people. The others in our group are amazed at her "special child of promise" for being short of stature. We ate at a Cantonese restaurant tonight as a group. Sort of a buffet style where they bring dishes out and set them on a glass lazy susan. I had the roasted duck in a soft tortilla shell with sauce. It was really cooked duck skin, no meat. The vegatables were awesome along with all of the other foods we tried. When we finished we split the bill which came to about $18 each family. Chris wouldn't try the duck. Scott raises hunting dogs in Kansas and he kept asking the server for the rest of the duck. He was wearing his Duck Unlimited shirt. We had a great time. Mayleah had alot of fun in the tub get cleaned up. Scott and Cindy's baby came from an orphanage and their little girl was very dirty and had an orange packed inside her clothes. We spoke to a family in the play room who adopted a deaf girl from an orphanage that recently opened to adoptions and had brought their 17 year old son with them. They had quite a few horror stories. Our group had alot of funny stories from their previous stay but if you met some of the men in the group you would quickly understand why. Our teenagers are enjoying their last weekend home without parents. Julie and Ashley are doing an awesome job with them, we're going to try to get them to adopt them when we get back. We are going to try to go to a Chinese church tomorrow, it would be awesome to have her first time in church be a Chinese church. Chris is reminiscing about the duck in the background. They were talking about going to a Thai restaurant tomorrow, we'll see.
Have a great day.
Ken

Medical exam day...

Today was a very traumatic day for Mayleah. The medical exam was a joke. With as much exposure that our family has had to doctor's appointments, this was ridiculous. Anyway...we started in the ENT room, to check her ears they squeaked a toy and then literally shoved a tongue depressor down her throat. That traumatized her initially. The next station was height and weight. They went to take her temperature and she WIGGED out. I don't know if she thought that she was going to get a shot or what but, oh my goodness, she wigged out. She weighs 21#. She was smaller than some of the babies that are in our group. The last station she needed to be examined (yeah, right!) and they wanted her clothes off. This poor child. I felt so bad for her. We brought her back to the room, she ate, as she was doing the "deer in headlights look" and then she laid down for a nap. She is still sleeping. This was VERY traumatizing for her. Hopefully she doesn't regress because of it.

After the medical exam, we came back to our room and Mayleah and Ken took a nap. During this time I had to go along with a representative from all the other families and do paperwork for the US Embassy. Now, all the paperwork is done. Sheyan, our guide, will take all the paperwork to the Embassy tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be OK and then we have our swearing in on Tuesday and we come home Wednesday. Whoohooooooo!!!

We have appreciated all the prayers that have gone into this little girl. We will continue to ask that you pray for her because there will still be many days of transitioning for her. We are in love with her and it won't be long before she has everyone wrapped around their fingers as well.