Giving Thanks

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted. As I alluded to in a post back in August I will most likely not update this blog, that is unless blogger implements some of their privacy features in their new version and release it for the masses. In which case I will update infrequently. I am reclaiming our privacy and do not relish the idea of sharing pictures of our daughter out of safety considerations.

Now with that being said this will be the last photo I publish of her since we’ve returned until I can password protect pictures in Blogger.

Words cannot describe the joy Jen and I have in our hearts over having this beautiful little girl in our lives. We are humbled and feel unworthy to be graced with her. She is a constant source of happiness and wonderment for us. Indeed, when everyone was saying the waiting anxiety will wash away once you get your little one, they weren’t kidding. And the waiting was more then worth it. I would have waited another year or two or more to have this little one in our lives.

Teresa’s progress since we came home has been tremendous. We had a developmental needs assessment done on her and she did not qualify for the program as she is progressing normally for her age. She is now picking up food and feeding herself, she holds her bottle now, and will take baby food via a baby spoon. She did none of these when we were in China and shortly after our return. She loves music and will dance to her little music tunes. It’s very cute. She is also just beginning to learn how to walk.

The most important thing is that she sleeps through the night and we no longer have to sleep in her room. She will sleep 11-12 hours in her pac-n-play. After Thanksgiving we’ll move her into her crib. We also use the Fisher Price Aquarium swing to rock her to sleep, which works like magic and was instrumental in allowing us to migrate her back to the pac-n-play and us out of her room. It’s expensive but worth every red cent. We also bought a video monitor system and have it hooked up to our TV in our room to keep an eye on her without disturbing her sleep. It works great and again another worthwhile investment.

As for her special needs classification we did get confirmation from her cardiologist that she has a heart defect called pulmonary stenosis. It is a constricting of her pulmonary valve. It is not life threatening but will need to be monitored every 6 months as she grows. It is hoped that the valve will widen as she grows and no surgery will be required. However, in extreme situations open heart surgery or catheterization is required. We hope it will not come to that. Fortunately she is active and healthy otherwise.

So Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for following our red thread journey!

Impressions of China

Well it's been a fast two weeks since we've come home. A lot has happened but I'll save that for a later post. Teresa is doing great and we are all adjusting to a routine and sleep schedule. However, as promised I want to leave you all with my impressions of China looking back now, after our very brief visit:

1. The people we dealt with were terrific, our guides were phenomenal and any service personnel we encountered at all the hotels were very courteous and helpful. The service we received was first rate and the hotels we staid in were first rate and equal to if not better then any in the U.S.

2. Squatty potties, at least for me, were not that bad. The caveats are: bring purell hand cleaner and plenty of tissues/travel toilet paper while you’re touring. I did not see any western toilets at the Great Wall, although the facilities were clean and for the most part everywhere we went the restrooms were reasonably clean and some had attendants all the time. There did seem to be plenty of western toilets everywhere we went and at least the handicapped stalls were western, so use those in a pinch.

3. If you have never been to China then the first thing that will strike you other then the insane traffic, is the absolute crush of humanity consisting of one race, one people. Even though our guides liked to stress the fact China has some 50 plus minority populations, these minorities will not stand out like in the U.S. First 90 plus percent of China is Han Chinese so the odds of seeing these minorities are slim unless you travel to their home regions. There is probably very little commingling of peoples. Now, I fully understand that within China, people can easily tell the differences; however to Western eyes you will not see the diversity like you do here in the states. It was an amazing thing to witness and enjoy.

4. As an American, you will be stared at a lot, and, if you are overweight, you will probably be snickered at, either to your face or behind your back. Plus some folks will take pictures of you. The fact is we did not see any, and I mean any, obese Chinese in the three cities we traveled to. I did see one tall and heavy set Chinese man at the White Swan but that was absolutely it.

5. The thing that blew me away, especially in Nanchang and Guangzhou was the large number of tiny, and I mean tiny ladies. I am only 5’5” and consider myself to be very short; however I towered over some of these gals. It made me feel better about Teresa’s weight, since she is very tiny as well, but healthy and well-proportioned for her size. Odds are she too will be small growing up, unless her new American diet adds a few inches, heehee.

6. Hard to say this, but we did not see a patch of blue sky in the three cities we visited throughout our entire trip. Even when we flew from city to city, looking out the window, you could not see clearly to the ground. I hope this is not entirely because of the pollution; however I strongly suspect it to be the cause or certainly it compounds the problem during the summer months in China as the weather turns muggy and hot throughout the country. Picture LA on a bad day and that is what we encountered almost everywhere. Although it was overcast all the time in Guangzhou, it was amazingly cool and very pleasant with some rain. We really lucked out there.

7. Beijing is one giant construction site. They are busting a move to get ready for the Olympics. It’s pretty amazing to see. They are adding a giant new airport terminal which you can see when you land or take off. It is sorely needed as the existing terminal is way over burdened with traffic. The Guangzhou airport is gorgeous and modern and parts are still under construction.

8. Speaking of airports the courtesy carts to haul your luggage are a godsend. They are free and can be found next to the luggage carousels at all the airports or where you are dropped off to depart.

9. I honestly wish we had just focused on touring one or two sites more extensively then we did in Beijing. We barely scratched the surface and everything felt so rushed. That being said our journey was not to just tour but to meet our daughter. There is no doubt in my mind that I want to return to China hopefully with my family when she is older to really soak in the wonderful historical sites.

10. Shamian Island and the White Swan are terrific, however, all the adoption oriented stores were a little annoying to me and do not sell high quality merchandise so be careful about those so-called “good deals”. Some exceptions to this are the gal that does these amazing finger paintings with the side of her hand and little finger. Truly beautiful art for an amazing price. You can watch her do her artwork there next to the 7 Eleven. The other exception are the stone etchings these little shop girls do. You can give them a photo and they will have these stone etchings done of the photo within a couple of days, very nice gifts for family.

11. Bring cash only and do not fool with traveler’s checks. Exchange services are super easy at the hotels, plus I found out by using my ATM debit card at one of the White Swan’s ATMs that you can avoid any of the transaction fees they charge at the exchange desk. Be sure to notify your credit card and bank ahead of time about your travel and use of your credit cards.

12. By all means make sure you have crispy, totally unmarked U.S. dollars. It really helped that I spent 45 minutes at my bank ahead of time with our cash to make sure each one was practically perfect. They will scrutinize your dollars and will not exchange marked, torn, or wrinkled dollars.

13. Try to take advantage of the tours and trips your guides will arrange. We really enjoyed our village trip it was probably the closest we got to a slice of real life in China as the majority of the population still lives in the countryside. The trip to the Buddhist temple was very cool and was indeed a pond of tranquility in the middle of the bustling city of Guangzhou.

Well that’s about it for now. I’ve heard some rumblings about posting some new pictures. When I get some more time to upload them I’ll do that. For now, cheers!

Finally Home!

Yes, we've been home the last 2 days but I haven't posted for the obvious reason that this jet-lag is unbelievable. We knew ahead of time that going over the jet lag is easier, but coming back it's a real drag and now we can vouch for this. I'll recap our arrival home.

Our flight leaving Chicago was delayed by one hour so we were very concerned that we would miss our connecting flight in Atlanta. When we landed in Atlanta I noticed our jet going near our connecting flight's departing gate and prayed out loud for our plane to turn left and park at the nearest gate to our connecting flight's departure gate. We were supposed to park at Terminal A and then we'd have to run to Terminal B to catch our flight. Well the good Lord heared us and our plane suddenly turned left and sure enough, parked at Terminal B near our connecting flight's gate. The flight attendant made the announcement then that our arrival gate had changed. It was unbelievable!

We easily made our connecting flight and got home safe and sound, however our luggage did not, but they delivered it the next day. We were met at the airport by some friends of ours and it was wonderful. It was a very nice homecoming and on top of that my brother, niece and nephew had decorated our house with some signs when we came home.

Our first night home was really rough. Teresa was tired but did not want to go to sleep in a strange new place. She cried off and on all night and we were up and down all night with her. Her schedule and ours are totally shot. On top of that we think she has an ear infection. Baby tylenol really helped. We've got our pediatrician appointment Monday morning and we'll get that checked out ASAP.

Saturday morning was spent picking up our little dog, Ceasar from the boarding resort and our cat Mary from the vets. Teresa already met our other cat, Sarah because we kept her home while my brother looked in on her. The homecoming went well when Teresa met all the critters. She was initially unsure of them but since today she has really warmed up to them and they have responded surprisingly well also. Although Ceasar is still mad at us for sending him to the kennel for two weeks.

Last night went much better, and we are starting to get more into a normal sleep pattern although we still have a ways to go before we get into a normal sleep pattern.

I want to thank everyone who followed us on our journey and for all your kind and wonderful comments. It has been an amazing experience and will continue to be so with our beautiful little girl. If I continue posting it will be very infrequent. I do want to post about my impressions of China during our brief visit, but for now we need to get our rest and recover.

Our newest U.S. Citizen

Finally made it to Chicago and passed through immigration. So now it's official, Teresa is a U.S. Citizen. I'm making this extra short cause we have major jet lag. Flight from Beijing went great, except for one major screaming episode as I had to change her leaky diaper in the only bathroom on the plane with a changing table. Teresa was not happy and let everyone on the plane know about it. Ah, parenthood, ain't it great! So now we're chilling out with Julie and Jeff and enjoying their hospitality. Teresa is having a ball with her Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julie, especially crawlin around their monstrous basement.

We're on track to make it home tomorrow so we look forward to seeing all our friends and family and especially our bed!

We made it back to Beijing! (i.e. we got Teresa's U.S. Visa)

Quick post, no pics, our local agency in our state was able to fax over to the U.S. Consulate last night an addendum saying we can handle a child with a minor special need (like a heart murmur). This morning our guide went and picked up our U.S. Visa for Teresa and gave it to us as we were boarding the bus on the way to the airport. Hooray! Now we are staying overnight in Beijing before flying home, yippee! We have a 13 hour flight ahead of us to Chicago tomorrow so we are on schedule and on track. Boy, we are so ready to get home! Take care and the next time I'll post will be stateside!

Goodbye to Guangzhou (we hope)!

Well we will either be leaving tomorrow morning for Beijing or Jen, I and Teresa will set up some kind of ladybug shop here on Shamian Island and live the remainder of our lives here. All kidding aside, it seems the pinheaded U.S. Consulate bureaucrats want our agency to fax them an addendum to our homestudy indicating we can parent a special needs kid. All this because of that dang medical exam from last Saturday and the notation of a heart murmur that is physiological in nature (i.e. not life threatening). We went to the consulate only to leave empty handed with no travel visa and we are due to fly out tomorrow morning. Even when our group's pediatrician was trying to assure consulate staff that Teresa does not need to be classified as a special needs child they still insisted. So basically tonight our agency has to fax over the addendum to the consulate and our guide will have to run across Guangzhou (NOT easy by any means) back to the consulate to pick up the visa (hopefully) and run to meet us at the airport. Oh, did I mention that we don't even have Teresa's Chinese passport for her to fly domestically? Nope, the stinkin U.S. consulate still has that until they release her travel visa. Needless to say we are furious but too darn tired to fuss much about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention we did the red couch thing today. Anyhow, here are some photos. Through all this Teresa has been awesome. This little girl is amazing. I will probably not blog from Beijing as we are there for only one night and then we fly back to the states (hopefully). So, I will keep you all in suspense as to whether we make it back in time or not. I will post from Chicago if we make it.


(These are the 3 girls in our group from the same orphanage, from Left to Right, Teresa, Danielle, and Kailin.)

Another fun filled day, (hmmm, can we go home now?)

Well this is really boot camp parenting. Traveling around the world to meet your daughter and then traveling with your daughter from hotel to hotel and making havoc with their schedules. I think most of us are anxious now to get home. Teresa continues to be awesome and thrill to parent.

The morning was spent vegging out in our rooms until 11:00am. If our guide did not call us then the coast was clear with the U.S. Consulate and our U.S. paperwork from the I-600 party and the medical exam. We used the time wisely and introduced Teresa to Spongebob Squarepants.

At 12:30pm we had a pizza party with pizza, soda, and beer! provided by our wonderful guide Candy. We held it on the 11th floor in the White Swan. It was excellent pizza. After the pizza party Jen and I put Teresa down for a nap and then after she got up we did some more last minute shopping.

At around 5:45pm we gathered to go do the Pearl River dinner boat cruise. It was very nice and it was very cool seeing the lights of Guangzhou from the river. Some of the neon signs are amazing, like the ones where there is basically video being played on the entire side of a high rise. We then came back to crash in our rooms once again exhausted.

Tomorrow we go for the swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate and the red couch photo op.

As a special treat I am posting some photos of Michelle and Kailin (hope I'm spelling that right) for her friends and family to see.