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.

Mayleah is ready to come home!

Mayleah with her Chinese passport.
This is the stone etching that we got with our FOUR kids!
This is Jack, our guide for this past week. It is very obvious that Mayleah did not want to be held by him.

Hope all is well with you...tomorrow we go to the medical exam (the doctor does the undressing/dressing, it should go well with Mayleah -NOT!!), then we go get her visa photos done after that. We have all the Chinese documents we need. Now, the US documents. We only have five more days before we will be home. I can not wait.

The metamorphisis continues

Another partly sunny warm day in China. Mayleah woke at 5:30 and played for quite awhile. ESPN had on the Wake Forest/Duke game from last sunday night and I we watched then till breakfast. She ate well again and afterwards we went to the play room. When she walked in she saw the ball and ran and got it. She played catch with Chris and was running around and laughing. Every so often she would realize her stuffed lamb was not close enough to her so she would run and get it and bring it over to where she was. It definitely is a security item for her. Other parents and children joined us and we had some adult interaction and we could see how all of the kids were adapting. When we were done we told Mayleah we were leaving and she returned her toy to the shelve and took off running out of the room and down the hall. When she rounded the corner we thought she might stop but she kept going all the way to the elevator bank. She was giggling and smiling all the way. We headed out to the pool area and she continued her spurt of energy up the steps and I caught her on the way down as she tried to jump the last one. Once outside she ran over to the railing by the river and slapped the concrete pillar like she won. I can see her getting instigated by Brandon and Drew into some mischief all the while they laugh. We went to the park in the middle of town and she went up and down the slide and played there for awhile. She just fell asleep. We'll see how long she is out for. She will come to me and set on my lap or play but she is bonded more to Chris, comes in handy for the diaper duty. The hotel room is nice but it gets small pretty quick. We'll go for some more walks when she wakes up.
Have a great day in the snow.
Ken

More pictures!

This is in front of a Chinese Folk Museum that we went to yesterday. It is a good indicator of how short she is. We need to bend over to reach her fingers. She is doing well.

coming out of our shell

Mayleah had a very good day today. We went with Jack to see an art museum and spent the rest of the day here around the motel. She woke up this morning in a good mood, had a good breakfast, and packed alot of food in a little mouth which she carried back to the room. She took a nap this afternoon and when she woke up she didn't cry but she is definitely slow to wake up. We went down to the play room and there were some other families in there. Chris kept tossing the ball to her and she would catch it and throw it back. She's tried the chest pass, bounce pass, and I'm sure one time it was a for sure a no look pass. It appears she is.....left handed. We had a coloring book out last night and she used her....left hand. She wears her bracelet on her right wrist and puts it on with her....left hand. They never warned us about this but it's a birth defect we can live with. We went for a walk down to the grocery store and went through a park, she had lots of looks. They finished our stone engraving of our kids and it look great. We also went for a walk to the outside swimming pool area. She was having a great time walking up and down the steps by herself. She didn't cry all day until she was back in the room and one of the fruit gummies she was storing in her chipmunk cheeks fell out when she laughed. She produced tears and everything. While in the play room I was using a Mickey Mouse larger stuffed animal to kick the ball to her and I tossed it to her. She grabbed his nose and attacked him. We had looked at the orphanage pictures again today and could see scratches on the other kids faces like the one she has. Guess she believes in give as it is given to you. We will look for a shirt when we get home that says "Warning: Spent 3 years in an Chinese orphanage. Play with care." We both think she is going to be a very active and outgoing child. She has been speaking more and making more vocal noise. The group we were with in Beijing will be here tomorrow night so we will catch up with them. Scott and Cindy e-mailed us and said everything was going well for the group. A little group adult interaction will be nice. Tomorrow we meet with Jack at 5:00 pm and receive all of the official documents. Can't wait.

Have a great day.

Ken

More pictures!

More Chinese culture...

I will give you some interesting facts about China...you know how in America we have air fresheners that we hang in our vehicle? Well in China they have a bouquet of flowers in the dash of their car, for example, orchids for the aroma.

The traffic is nuts. Enter the street at your own risk and run if you can. The bigger the vehicle, the safer you are. There are people walking, people riding bikes, vehicles and trucks going everywhere, somewhat like an ant farm. It is like there is no right way to go. It is not abnormal to do a U turn right in the middle of the street. Not at an intersection, just while they are going down the road. You have to remember this is like New York or Chicago with the amounts of people and the inner city life. The streets are very narrow. The cars park up on the so called sidewalks. They do not use blinkers, they use horns. I have never been so close to another vehicle going down the road before and actually not gotten in an accident. Our ride from the airport to our motel this past time was an experience to say the least. I thought the guy got into Jeff Gordon's car and went onto the Michigan Speedway. It is not uncommon to stop on a dime and to gun it to take off. At either time it takes your breath away because it seems like you are going to hit something or someone is going to hit you.

We are craving milk, potato chips, popcorn, water from the tap...we are homesick and so ready to go home. If we could leave today we would. Today we are supposed to go some touristy stuff. Mayleah does really well when she wakes up in the morning, but then she takes a nap (usually about 45 minutes) and wakes up and is traumatized for the next half of the day. We got off the elevator yesterday afternoon and she was holding my hand. We stepped off the elevator, she dropped my hand, started rocking from foot to foot and started sobbing. It was so sad. Needless to say, she is still grieving. She does calm down once I pick her up. She does not like it when I go into the bathroom and shut the door, she needs access and must see me at all times. Ken offered to take her down to get the laundry yesterday and he put her coat on, she walked out in the hallway by herself, realized I wasn't with them and wigged out. They came back to the room. What a surprise. She started speaking in Chinese to me yesterday. Ken hasn't heard her speak yet. But she is definitely getting more comfortable. She will just look at me, get a big smile on her face and scrunch up her nose.

We are again awake at 4 am. You don't realize how this messes up your internal time clock. With the Chinese New Year just finishing there are still remnants of the celebration. Every business and everywhere you go there are miniature orange trees. These are supposed to represent "luck". There is NO! reference to God here. We live in such a great country. Where the government doesn't dictate what we believe, how many children we can have, what we do for an occupation, etc.

That is the other thing...there are so many people in China it is difficult, I would assume to find employment for everyone. For example, there are alot of people that do little things, like the housekeeping. One will be vacuuming, one dusting, etc. maybe 2-3 people for the same job. There are workers everywhere. One nice thing though, there is a grand piano outside one of the motel restaurants and there was a girl playing last night, and it was American music. It reminded me of Ashley. She is always playing the piano at home.

Well, this is enough for now. Have a great evening. We will have a good day. Chris

Adoption registration complete

We left the hotel at 3:00 p.m and went to the police department, showed our passports, they took a picture of Mayleah, and we received our official adoption certificate in a nice China red folder with "The Peoples Republic of China" across the front in Chinese. We were back in our room by 3:50 p.m.

Mayleah fell asleep next to me on the bed and woke up very insecure before we left. She has cried several times since. When we got back Chris stepped into the bathroom and when Mayleah pushed on the door and it didn't open she really lost it. I picked her up and tried to calm her down but that didnt' work. We will stay around here the remainder of the evening.

Tomorrow we have a free day and will leave with Jack in the morning for a tour of the city. He has been giving us information as we have been travelling. The family we were with last night in the play room had previously adopted and this was their second child. The first time they did everything in one day. With all of our meetings so far they haven't totalled 4 hours. When we walked into the police station and got up to the 2nd floor Chris did not feel well. Ask her when you see her why.

Friday late afternoon Jack will meet us in our room with all of the offical paperwork and we will say good-bye to him and that part of the process. Getting closer every day.

Have a great day.

Ken

Sleeping Beauty...

Pictures again...

Isn't she awesome??? Her haircut is alot like the other little girls, they cut it really short in the back, let the bangs hang in their eyes and cut completely around the ears. We will have to remedy that once it grows in more. She is sitting on my lap and she has just starting to talk to me today. This is a first...we have not heard her speak except once the first night we had her. She is definitely getting more comfortable with us. She is the development age of a 18 mo old right now. Just squeaky toys, hard cover books, rattles are what she is interested in. She is definitely coming out of her shell more and more. I know that Ken gave you a paperwork update so I won't bore you with all those details. You are going to love this little girl! Chris

Shopping

After we got back from the Civil Affairs office we had to go get Mayleah some more clothes. We found out quickly if you visit a store the previous day and say you are going to return once you get your daughter the store owner remembers that. As we were shopping a girl stopped and asked us if we remembered her and how we were going to her "place". It just so happened we were on our way there when she stopped us so we walked with her. We went back to every store we previously had been to purchase something. Mayleah now owns 4 pairs of shoes, a cloissoine vase, bracelet, calligraphy of her name written both in English and Chinese, and a two piece chinese outfit for her red couch photo. We took a picture of Ashley, Brandon, and Drew along with one of Mayleah to Stella, a local store owner, and they are in the process of etching all four of our kids into one stone, we saw it partially done and it looks awesome. We saw one Joe and Sandy had done and loved it so we made sure to get one for us.

Yesterday was a rough day for Mayleah. The morning went well but starting in the afternoon she would just start sobbing, loud, for no apparent reason. I don't know what she is thinking but I'm sure she was going through the grieving process. We sent a disposable camera to the orphanage with our care package and got the film developed. After looking at the pictures we decided not to take Mayleah to the orphanage on Thursday to visit. One of the pictures is awesome. It shows her standing there opening the care package and holding the stuffed lamb and the photo album. There are several pictures of her with two other girls, possibly her friends. The sad part to the picture is in the background you see over 10 other children behind metal bars kept out of the courtyard. There is good and bad in each picture. We were looking at the pictures during dinner. I gave Mayleah a french fry dipped in ketchup, she scrunched up her face and gave me a dirty look. It was very funny. When we left there she started to sob again so we went back to the hotel. As we got off the elevator she was walking back towards the room and her paced picked up. Once she walked in she headed over to her toy's by the mirror and you could see she felt secure. We gave her a bath and took her down to the play room. There was one other family in there. Mahleah would not leave Chris' side the whole time. I was looking at her and her eyes filled with tears to the bottom of her eye lid then she broke out again so we went back to the room. When we got to our floor room service was "turning down" our room so we couldn't go right in. Mayleah was watching my every move whenever I walked away. I went to the end of the corridor and out onto a balcony and the city lights were awesome. I walked back to Mayleah and held out my hand and she reached up and took it and we walked back to the balcony and I showed her the lights. She ended up falling asleep next to Chris and we put her in bed. She slept all through the night but when she woke she burst into sobbing again. Chris picked her up and she calmed right down and started smiling and has been real upbeat ever since. We expect more of the grieving in days and months ahead. We will save the orphanage pictures for her when she is older and secure in her new family. We put her first pair of jeans on her this morning and she went over to the mirror and checked herself out.

We have a 3:00 pm appointment today with the Civil Affairs to receive all of our official Chinese documents stating she is ours, from here on out we deal with the Americal side of the adoption. We have to go to the police station to apply for the passport today as well. Our guide, Jack, is awesome. Speaks both languages very well and he knows how the system works and he is really good at "kissing up" to the affairs office personel. At the end of week he will give us the passport and that is the last time we will see him. We were given a suggested amount to tip him for his work but we already decided to go above that amount plus we have two extra gift bags with us we can give his wife and daughter, he only has one child because of the China one child policy. He really loves his job. He has been doing this for 10 years and has placed over 1,000 kids with new families. What a calling to have.

Have a great day.

Ken

Orphanage pictures!!

More some of you, you knew that I had sent a care package ahead to Mayleah, so she would be somewhat familiar with us when we got here. In the package was a stuffed lamb, a satin blanket, a photo album with our family pictures in it and a disposable camera. When we received Mayleah one of her nannies gave me her things back, including the disposable camera. So, of course we wanted to get them developed as soon as possible. For those of you who have ever considered adoption and needed confirmation why you should, well...you should see these pictures. It broke my heart!! There are all these toddlers, walking around on tile floors barefoot. You can tell that they put specific clothes on the kids that are getting their pictures taken otherwise they are barefoot, with pants and a sweater on. Their diapers are usually three times the regular size from not getting changed enough. So, if you have ever had the thought, there is probably a reason for that. Anyway...

We have realized that Mayleah does not like the stroller. She wants to be held. It makes it hard for when we want to do alot of walking. She will let Ken hold/carry her, so that is good. She is doing well for being with us for the past 24 hours so hopefully the days continue to get better. She will just burst out crying when you are least expecting it. I know that she is grieving and her world as she has known it for the past 3 years is forever changed. She has never seen an elevator, rode in a car, been outside those orphanage walls. After seeing those pictures, it has definitely confirmed that we will not be going to the orphanage. I would be sobbing and begging to take all the kids home with me. I could not emotionally handle it. We have seen enough to know what kind of environment she has been in.

Please continue to pray for our girl. She will continue to need it in the upcoming days. Chris

For any of you wondering, that is a scratch on her face. That was there when we got her yesterday.

This is one of the first big smiles from her. Up until this point she would look at me and scrunch her nose but this is the first big smile. We spent approximately 45-50 minutes total at the Civil Affairs office this morning. According to the Chinese government Mayleah is ours, completely. From here on out it is all USA paperwork to get her home. She is definitely coming out of her shell. She has even come up to Ken but is still quite reserved. She will come up to me with a smile if I put my hands out. She has a hard time initiating anything-for example, taking a drink, eating food. She waits for you to give it to her. She is getting better. We haven't even had her 24 hours and she is a different girl. There are quite a few families that are not traveling with us but have gotten their girls from the same orphanage. All of these girls have a preference for the dad's and won't even acknowledge the moms. This is very sad for the mom's. This is something that Ken has been praying for specifically that Mayleah would bond with me quickly and well. She definitely likes me. When she is in a group setting, like in the other pictures you can see her leaning into me. Sorry that these pictures are sideways but I can not figure out how to turn them. You will just have to get a kink in the next I guess. This picture below is Mayleah watching me get ready this morning. I was drying my hair and she just watched me. I am so ready to come home now that we have her. As far as I am concerned we can leave today. Not according to the US government. Oh, well. The food is interesting to say the least. Their eggs are runny, especially the boiled eggs. Their breads are all croissant consistency. The meat, well, let's just say questionable. Well, I hope you are enjoying the pictures. We are in love with this little girl. Chris

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The trip through town yesterday was another wonder in itself. We walked across the bridge and off the island to an area of buildings filled with little rooms with individual vendors. Like a flea market but indoors. What we were looking for we found one back on the island tucked away on a back shelf. Through much broken communication the store owner went in the back, we followed, there was a new one still in a box. We took it. The owner was so happy with our big purchase she went through great lengths to wrap it and tie for us to carry. We continued to work through the stores seeing what they had so when we received Mayleah we could return later. We went to Lucy's for lunch. It's an americanized restaurant that plays 80's music. Our group gave us the job of trying different places to eat so when they show up on Friday we know where they can go.
Jack showed up on time and we went over some preliminaries then we got in the van. The traffic was very congested. It amazes me you don't see people on bikes laying on the streets. Clark Griswold would be elated with the number of potential victims.

We pulled off a main street down an alley and went into a building up to the 10th floor. As we exited the elevator there were many people we recognized and some we had already talked to. We set our stuff down as I expected to wait a bit for Mayleah. I had my camera out and as we were talking there she was, standing off to my side with her caregiver. We had sent Mayleah a care package two months ago with pictures of us and our family with a pink silk blanket and a stuffed animal. It was obvious the orphanage had been working with her because she knew who we were. She took to Chris immediately which I was very thankful for. Chris was wrapped up with Mayleah and speaking to the care giver so I stood filming and watching our personal items. One of the little girls was having a very difficult time, they took her back into the room and she returned calmed down but when they handed her over to her new mom again she lost it. You could see the hurt on the mom's face, it was something we were warned about. We had to present our adoption letter and passports, they almost looked at them, and then handed over the money and we were gone. We rode down with a family who had adopted a 10 year old girl and you could see the fear on her face. The brought with them their son and their previously adopted Chinese daughter but she was stilll in shock.

I was wondering what Mayleah must be thinking as we were driving back. She was not to receptive to me and I knew that may be a possibility. Her and Chris were bonding quite well. We got back to our room and did more paperwork for today's appointment. This is where we get all the legal stuff done and pay the last of the money, it will be nice to have that gone, been carrying it with me since we left. I discovered quickly Mayleah hordes the food. When she was on the bed I held open the bag of gold fish crackers and she plunged her little hand in and came out with a handful. She was eating them for awhile and I did the same with some M & M's. She held them with the Vulcan death grip and found out that they do melt in your hand. I took one of them out of the bag and put it to her mouth and she bit my fingers, she does have nice teeth, that question was answered. She still did not make alot of eye contact. I would catch her looking into a mirrow on an angle towards me. I was rubbing her back while on the bed and she started to lean more into me. Chris sent me with a " list" to fill for diapers and other things while she gave her a bath. She loved the bath. We were going to go out today and get shoes but mom wanted to do that last night so off we went. Mayleah has no problem walking. We found her some nice shoes and came back to the hotel and went to the playroom. When we walked in there was one other little girl in there, Mayleah said something to her and they stood by each other. The parents were first time parents and their daughter was from the same orphanage. She was wearing a "Fish Town" t-shirt. Parents have a summer home in Suttons Bay. We held hands and sang "It's a small world" and watched our kids play. When we came back upstairs Mayleah spent alot of time in front of a mirror playing with the ball and rocking back and forth on her new shoes.

We put her to bed and by 8:30 we were all off to sleep. I didn't get up until 5:30 so it was nice to sleep past 2:00. I heard her cry out a couple of times but not very long. From what we have been told they don't get tended to during the night so they learn not to cry long.

Chris just got Mayleah up. She is definitely small. They called us last night to see if everything was alright and wanted to know if we wanted to keep her. I giggled. We will take her down to breakfast and begin our day. Have a great one yourself.

Ken

More pictures!

More information

Hi,
Now that you have seen the pictures I will give you an update on how our afternoon went...Like I said she is not potty trained and she is in diapers. So, after two tries Ken was able to find the right size diaper. The first ones were the newborn size. But it is deceiving because on the packaging it is only in Chinese so he did good to just get diapers, let alone the right size. In our room there is a waist high mirror across the end of the room. Ever since Mayleah had her bath she has been fascinated with the mirror. She also hoards everything. She tried to pick up a beach ball, a stacking cup and a sippy cup and try to stay standing. She has the development of an 18-24 mo old child. She just lights up though which is awesome. We are going to go down the road buy some "squeaky" shoes. These shoes are very well known in China. They encourage children to learn to walk because they have squeakers in them and every time they take a step the shoes squeak. My 24 mo size clothes are long on her. Adjusting to her size is interesting. Ken just keeps on saying, "she is soooo little". They chopped her hair off in the back of her neck. So, she has a funky hair cut. Hopefully it will grow in soon. Sheyhan, our guide, was very surprised that she was still on a bottle and still in diapers because that is "not the chinese way". She also wanted to know if we still wanted her. Can you believe that? We said YESSSS!! No question. Well, we need to go. Thanks for praying for this little girl and her transition. We will continue to need your prayers in the days ahead. Chris

WE HAVE MAYLEAH!!!

Meet our girl! This is the first exposure that we had with her! She was brave here!This is one of her caretakers right after we got her. See how small she is. She also is NOT potty trained and she was still on a bottle. The guide said to try to use sippy cups first and hopefully we will not need to use bottles. We brought none of this so Ken had to make some quick stops after we got back to the room. When ever Ken would talk to her or look at her she would look away. She would only look at him if he was looking away. I did get a smile from her as soon as we got her and she scrunched up her nose at me when she smiled. She did receive the package we sent to her and they took a bunch of pictures on the disposable camera so Ken took that down to get that developed. She came in a teletubbies jacket, a hello kitty sweater, new socks and white leggings and squeaky shoes. After Ken left to go get diapers, I took her shoes off and she started to cry. She cried out loud for a while but then she went into the internal convulsive sobbing. Now she has been drinking like a camel. She also hoards food. When we got her she had a biscuit in her hand that she had been hanging onto for quite a while. We offered goldfish crackers and M&M's and she has been hoarding them. I am unsure if she has been given very much food up until this point. We will see as time goes on. We might need to limit the amount she takes in so she doesn't make herself sick.

MEET MAYLEAH GRACE CORWIN!!

More pictures!!

This is the lobby of the White Swan Hotel.
This Barbie doll was left in our room. I guess all the families get this when they come to adopt from China. Pretty neat!

We get Mayleah today! How awesome is that? When we arrived in Guangzhou it was very cold outside. There are palm trees everywhere and blooming flowers but it was cold. So, I am hoping that it will be getting warmer. When we got off the airplane they confirmed that our luggage was ours, by checking our luggage tags. That has never happened before. Maybe they have a problem with luggage being taken. We were waiting for our ride and an armed guard, with a machine gun walked by guarding a man with a bunch of money containers. A little unsettling! It reminds me of Russia here, not that I have been to Russia, but from what I have seen on TV, there are guards everywhere, standing at attention. Everyone is very serious. Very little laughter or smiling.

The Chinese culture allows for what American's would consider rude behavior. If you are standing in someone's way, or maybe if not, they have the right to literally plow you over to get where they need to go. If my kids did that to someone they would be in serious trouble. The very definition of rude in America. But even on the plane, with just room for one person back to back in the aisle to get off, people were pushing their way past people in the aisle to get to the front of the line. I don't like it!

I have given up on sleeping here. Ken and I fall asleep at 8:30 pm at night because we are exhausted and wake up at 2-3 am wide awake. No going back to sleep. Maybe it will be easier when we get home?

The electrical conversion here is 110-220. We fried our alarm clock. Our converter that we brought does not work. Some people that we traveled with said that even their curling iron was so hot that it burned their hair instantly.

We walked around the island (the hotel is on an island) and there are alot of shops around. You barter for everything. There is not as much soliciting here as there was in Beijing.

Eleven of our families got their babies yesterday afternoon. I am so excited for them. That group will be here on Friday and then we will be together. Our guide meets us in our room today at 3pm and then we get Mayleah at 3:30. Unbelievable that today is the day.

For anyone that knows our golden retriever, Emma, she has given Drew and Julie a run for their money. They got home from town yesterday and somehow Emma got her own collar off and chewed it but she kept on acting funny and making funny noises, Drew looked in her mouth and part of the buckle was caught in the back of her throat so Drew and Julie had to do a small procedure to remove the buckle. Poor Drew was as traumatized as Emma. Julie just took it in stride. My family is surving without us there. For this I am very thankful!

This is so black market. The hotel is 5 star, but if we stayed anywhere else it would not be safe or healthy for that matter. If you look outside our room it is very very poor! Very sad actually. Girls at shops ask if you are adopting and ask many questions. Is one of them Mayleah's mom? I wish I could meet her and tell her I will forever care for her daughter and we will forever love her. I pray for her mom. How awful to have to give your daughter away. It would tear my heart out.

Well, enough for now. The next time I post there will be pictures, hopefully of our little girl. Please be praying for today. Especially for Mayleah. Chris

Today is "Gotcha Day"!

We are in Guangzhou, China!

We have made it here and we will be able to update you with pictures and more tomorrow afternoon. So, when you wake up check your email. Hopefully we will have pictures for you then. Have a great Sunday. Chris

Sunday in China

It's Sunday morning. We again both woke up around 2:00 a.m., I forced myself to go back to sleep until 5:00 a.m. We have to have our luggage picked up by 7:00 a.m. and leave for the airport at 8:30. Later we arrive to Guangzhou and meet our next guide, "Jack". I have to go down and settle my room account, some of the other parents are finding high bills awaiting themm for having laundry cleaned, etc. Most of them I would say have the attitude "we have come this far,just give me the bill" and pay it.

Yesterday we went to Tianamen Square and then into the Forbidden City through the south gate and exitted the north gate. This is not a small walk. The city is huge.. Again the city is built with idea's in mind that do not center around a God but apparrently superstitions or fears. The roof's have on each corner statues of different animals and the number of animals on the corners tells you the significance of the building. Each building has a large threshold approximately 12" high that you must step over but can't step on. This is to keep the spirits or ghosts out because they believe them to only be able to walk and their arms are stuck straight out so they can't pull themselves up over the threshold and the knees can't bend so they can't jump. It really shattered my belief in Casper, he was such a hero to me. Anyway, at the far end of the city is a hill made entirely out of waste materials left over from building and there is a temple on it. The dynasty's have risen and fallen with different stories behind each. One leader in order to receive the position had killed seven of his brothers once his father passed on. One was appointed at the age of 4 by the grandmother of the deceased since there was no actual birth right. It was jut a little chilly during the day. Some people are still facinated with Americans. One of the families traveling with us brought their young blonde hair son. Chinese families are asking to have pictures of their kids taken with him. We took a renshaw ride through a small village within Beihging and visited one of the homes. An extended family will live here sharing a kitchen and other rooms with an outside open court in the middle. There is no restroom here. They share one with other families somewhere outside their homes. It was totally another day similar to Kenya where you see just how rich of a country we live in and all of the things we take for granted and get upset with when we don't have them. Yesterday afternoon we went out for a late lunch with a couple from California...Eric, Alyssa, and her dad David. Eric is an F-18 pilot with the U.S. Navy stationed in Japan,he met up with his wife and father-in-law in Tokyo and once he gets their son they will split up on her way back to California. They are adopting a special needs boy because she had so much difficulty in her pregnancy. Her father shared an amazing story of how last February he and his wife went to Uganda for a month and worked with kids, he knows why he is here with his daughter and son-in-law, but jokingly wonders where God will lead him next year. It was diffinetly nice talking to an F-18 pilot and getting his side of the flight deck experience and I could share my side. It was a good lunch overall. Very inexpensive, $20 for all five of us total. That evening we went to an acrobatic show. I believe they remove the spines of some of the ladies, there is no way a human body can bend like that. The balance and strength was just amazing, one lady held up two others plus herself by her teeth on the end of a pole. The pride they take in perfection was evident. One act was with a man on a section of straight ladder with two women standing on top of his shoulders.He would climb the ladder keeping it balanced and they would all jump in unison so he could raise the ladder up and walk up different levels in a platform. The first two times they fell on the jump. The third time I was suprised he could even climb the ladder again but they did and they performed the jump three times up different levels. Too cool.

Well, it is definitely getting closer to "gotcha day". We'll soon know exactly what she looks like and begin to learn all about her. Our guide told us the reason Chinese people stare at adoptive families and their child is not in judgement or resentment but because they consider that child a "lucky child". Luck is huge to them. We just consider it a blessing.

Thanks for following our blog. We can't view the post's yet, hopefully we will when we check into our next motel.

Ken

Day #2

Hi All!
First, before I forget, if you are leaving comments on this blog site we are not able to access them from China, so if you want to contact us you need to email us at kens3kids@yahoo.com.

Now, the good stuff...since we arrived fireworks have been going on intermittently. No pattern or reason. We went to the Tianamen Square today, a rickshaw ride through a hutong (family compound) and an acrobatic show. We also ate at a "real" Chinese restaurant.

I also was able to experience a "squatty" potty today. Not an experience that needs to be repeated.

More Chinese information-alot of Chinese men carry purses, not fanny packs, grandma purses.
-children that are learning to be potty trained wear "split" pants. Just as it says-there is no crotch in the pants. If the child needs to use the facilities they go right where they are, bushes, street, etc. Their "area" is exposed to the elements.

From watching where most Chinese live it is very difficult not to be very thankful for what I have been given. We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow morning and then get Mayleah on Monday. Lots to pray about. Happy Saturday! Chris

More pictures!!

Here are pictures of outside our hotel window in Beijing and Joy, one of our guides...

chWinese culture

We just returned from the local supermarket. An interesting journey indeed. This morning our guide informed us Chinese are a pushy people and cars will not stop for you in the street. We had already seen on the plane and other places where it is not uncommon to step in front of you or cut you off. Crossing the street is not accomplished by following the "walk" signal, you must be sure there is not a car in the area you wish to cross. The red light in front of them means little if anything. The grocery store prices were pretty cheap but we found when we got here our U.S. Dollar is not worth as much as it was two weeks ago while the European exchange rate is almost twice as good. The eggs are kept out, not refrigerated, like Kenya. The beef sets out on a chopping block so when you know what you want someone can cut if off for you. Fish is left on ice non-packaged. We were told not to eat fruits or salad while we are here and reminded this morning in orientation to make sure we keep ourselves healthy so we can care for our adopted children. Our tour today took us to the Great Wall where we road a Gondola up to a section where there was a mini-flea market and we walked up some more to the top. The area around the wall is not kept very clean, trash laying all over the ground or left on tables. The people here seem to "look busy" but don't seem to be doing anything. It was common to see groups of people standing at street corners loitering with nothing happening. There are sections of town where the housing is completely run down and right next to it is a new apartment building being built. Our guide told us to rent an apartment in one of the rings closest to downtown is 10,000 yuan for one square meter, so a small 10 x 10 sq meter area would be 1 million yuan. Very difficult to afford. The city continues to grow and to do this they create another ring all the way around the city and refer to the area you live as to what ring you live in (3rd ring, 6th ring, etc). On the way back we drove by the new facilitiy for the olympics. To build this they tore down an entire community, don't know what they did with the people or businesses they displaced. Some of the heavy polluters were moved out into the country but it was evident from being out of town at the Great Wall how heavy the pollution is as you come back into town. We stopped for lunch at a Jade factory/restaurant and were served a Chinese meal. The sesamee chicken and pepper steak looked familiar. Some of the other items did not. Scott and Cynthia Liebenguth from Kansas City along with Michael and Lisa Cocchiarale and their daughter sat with us. I sat next to Scott and he is the type of guy who can't be serious for very long if at all. It's like setting me next to my brother-in-law Kevin at Thanksgiving, not a good idea. In between the laughs we asked both couples why they adopted as Scott and Cynthia had two children ages 8 and 13 and Mike and Lisa had two, 21 and 22. Mike and Lisa attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Pennsylvania and Lisa felt convicted to do something. She kept making concessions on what she should do, pray for the children, fininacially support the children, support a family adopting...and each time she felt she was to do more. Mike was not on board and at one point was tired of hearing about it. He met a friend one day for lunch and on the way there heard Jeremy Camps "I still believe" and was convicted he was to trust God in faith believing this is what was to happen. Lisa shared her son was heavily into drugs and alcohol and severely messing up his life. Four days after Mike and Lisa pursued an adoption their son was convicted of his lifestyle and gave it all up and committed his life to serving God. Shortly after that he enrolled into a Christian college to pursue seminary. Scott and Cynthia had a different story. Scott felt he was blessed with two healthy kids and had wanted to adopt for a long time, Cynthia was not on board. They went with a group of friends from their church to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Kansas City the same year as Mike and Lisa and they along with some of the others in the group were led to adopt. One couple adopted last year, the other is still waiting. Scott runs a small farm of 40 cattle and trains hunting dogs. They shared how just before they were to leave an ice storm in lower Missouri kept his parents from coming for the first week so people in his church stepped in to help them out with their kids and the farm until the return. Scott is a pretty positive man and strongly believes when God asks you to do something He will provide all you need, you just need to act and do your part. We had a chance to speak with a single young lady from Pennsylvania today but don't know her story yet, maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow we go to Tienamen square and a gymnastic evening dinner along with other small things. We'll try to get to know more about these families. I know Steven Curtis Chapman is big into Chinese adoptions, I wonder if his name will come up again. I do enjoy his video on U-tube, "When love takes you in", check it out.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. Leaving our three other children at home for two weeks is not an easy thing to do, especially when you are close to them. On our refrigerator door we placed the two pictures we had of Mayleah and as it got closer to leaving my children I didn't question if we were doing the right thing, but everytime I looked at her picture I knew in my heart this was going to be worth it, all of the work, the effort, the finances, the short separation, will all be worth it. I do pray though if we are asked to do this again it will be a closer country.

We'll keep you posted.

Ken

First full day in China

Hi All,
Today was eventful and one day closer to getting Mayleah. We went to the Cloissoine Factory (very interesting and time consuming). The workers work in very poor working conditions and the work is intensive and long. We then went to the Great Wall. This was impressive! My legs are definitely feeling it. We then went to a group "dinner" with a large lazy susan in the middle of the table at this Chinese restaurant. There were many different dishes. We tried most...but there was one that even Ken said that shouldn't be eaten. After we ate, we drove by the Olympic Stadium and then came back to the motel. Our evening is free until tomorrow at 8:30 am. We will do Tianamen Square, a rickshaw ride, an acrobat show tomorrow night and then we fly out Sunday morning. We got our itinerary for Monday. We get Mayleah 3:30pm Monday afternoon, so that will be 2:30 am your time. So, when you wake up on Monday morning we will already have our little girl. I talked to our guide today about visiting the orphanage and she said to see how Mayleah is handling life. Because if we go back and visit she might think that we are "returning" her. That would not be good. So, we are going to play it by ear. Sitting at the lunch table with other families and finding out what led them to adopt has been totally amazing. God is working in many families to give these little girls' an opportunity to know Him and to have a better life. The pictures will speak for themselves. I hope you are enjoying your snow. It is cold here, 30+/- degrees but no snow. Chris

Some things to know in China-always bring your own toilet paper...
-never drink the tap water...
-never eat the meat if you are not told what it is...

Technical difficulties

Hi,
We are not able to access the messages on the blogspot. We can not access the blogspot at all except to make journal entries. Hopefully it looks OK. I am also having problems downloading pictures, hopefully with my limited knowledge of the computer I can figure it out. Happy Friday from China. Chris

Long Day

It is 4:00 a.m. Friday February 15th here. Thursday 3:00 p.m. Feb 14th back home. We both woke up early so we are going to update some things and get to breakfast early. We meet our group of 12 other parents this morning then we go to the Great Wall and some other touristy things. Two other sets of parents are not doing the touring thing and we will meet up with them later.

We left Traverse City at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday the 13th and arrived in Beijing at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday evening. The total travel time was 26 hours. We really didn't sleep much on the plane except for the last flight from Tokyo to Beijing but I personally feel pretty rested. I think the beds are left overs from "The Flinstones", shale is softer. Chris reminded me I had to use bottle water to brush my teeth this morning. I reminded her I don't brush my teeth. I did a great job at refraining from smart in flight comments. After we checked in and were touring the hotel I got a bloody nose from something, of course I was thinking of several comments I could have used in a group setting of my wife abusing me but no one was around. She was tired and wouldn't have appreciated it much. The landing in Detroit was rough. Both the take off and landings to Tokyo were rough, the last flight was on a new A300 model which was very smooth. We had a long lay over in Detroit so I was able to watch a good amount of the Roger Clemens testimony. I was hoping one of those two men would man up and admit someone was lying. Anyway. On the flight to Tokyo we had a couple in front of us with two smaller children, Japanese or Chinese, I don't know. The little girl kept peeking back at me between the seats or would stand up and look at both of us. I kept catching Chris looking down the end of our aisle to another Asian little girl who was coloring. I know she is pretty excited. Once we landed in Tokyo we had to go through a security check before our last flight and through customs before we left the airport in Beijing. Both were very simple inspections. Wouldn't want to be there during the olympics. It was dark when we arrived and the cab drive was 30 minutes so we couldn't see much outside other then alot of dust/pollutionn maybe built up on cars. The city has a sulpher smell to it, maybe from coal. Lot's and lot's of people on the streets last night. I have been practicing my Mandarin using a web site. If Mayleah can't understand me, at least she'll get a laugh. We will keep you posted. We are able to log onto WCSG from Grand Rapids so we will have a great radio station to listen to. Ken

We made it!! We're in China!!

After 26 1/2 hours of travel we are finally here. There were no issues with the flights, or anything. We are extremely tired obviously. The exhaust fumes, cigarette fumes etc. are very prominent here. Everything else was in the dark so we are unaware of our surroundings as of yet. Tomorrow we visit the Great Wall and the Cloissoinne Factory and hopefully more rest. Our journey has begun. Please continue to pray for us, for our health and safety, for Mayleah and the transition that she will have to go through and for our kids at home that they will also be safe and healthy.

We have our itinerary!

We received our itinerary today. Our schedule of where and when we will be in China. We will receive Mayleah into our arms on Monday, February 18!! How awesome! Unless things change, we will not be seeing her orphanage. Bummer for us. But we are scheduled to see the Great Wall, the Cloissoine Factory, an acrobat show, a folk art museum, etc. So we will be very busy. Happy snow day! Chris