Happy Halloween!

Tradition in the hood - our neighborhood kicks off trick-or-treating with a little celebration and parade in the parking lot of the club house. The costumes are judged and prizes are awarded - Parker won a huge candy bar. :) Just what he needs in addition to his pillow case filled with candy. We jumped right into the festivities this year with all three kiddos. Parker wouldn't hear of missing it so, although I'm not the holiday's biggest fan, we got them all dressed with little effort this year. My friend Cindy had sent a cute little kitty costume that CoraLeigh had worn, Carter received the hand me down race car driver costume from his big brother and Parker finally decided the night before that he would be a LaCrosse player skeleton. It was not as challenging as I expected to find some black clothing to paint. Kohl's had a great sale on long underwear and they had plenty of black. Annette went with me to find supplies at Michael's and we were able to get face paint and white fabric paint to bring the whole thing together. It turned out pretty well and he wasn't too scary.

Smash Cake

Every one year old should have an opportunity to smash a cake right? Today after church we stopped at Publix to pick up a little cake for Grace Lin to demolish. We had gotten her a balloon before on her actual birthday so today she played with balloons and smashed cake. I'm not sure which she preferred more! She chased a non-helium balloon around the room until she caught it and popped it. I would hand her that helium balloon and she would just shake it as hard as she could. When it got away, she would follow it and reach for the string. Some way she pulled the string with her and wrapped it around this chair.

She certainly loved the cake as well. Once she got the hang of the fact that she could put in her hand and come out with lots of sweet goodness, she didn't hesitate. It was fun to watch her work her little fingers into that icing and cake then pull the whole thing to her mouth to see how much she could get in.

Six Full Days

Gracie Lin enjoyed her first Friday night movie night with the Lyman family - It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. :) She sat up in her little high chair by Carter and ate a little pizza (mostly soft crust), lots of sweet potato (feeding herself) and a bowl of applesauce; then she polished off a 9oz bottle. She didn't watch the movie all that much but loved the new book she got today.

This week, six full days, Miss Grace has been exploring the house little by little. I'm so thrilled that it only took her one full day to start leaving me behind and checking out her new surroundings. She found lots of great toys that are OK for her to get into:

However, (I can't believe that I don't have a photo of this) her absolute favorite thing is paper - homework, directions, magazines and our books. She loves to eat paper! There can be 10 toys on the floor and one small piece of paper and guess what she is going for? Gracie Lin has gotten faster with her crawling and is pulling up more each day and getting very quick and confident with it!

We have had lots of visitors, some great dinners thanks to our friends and we received our fourth pumpkin bread tonight! We are loving that most of all I think - breakfast and after dinner! Miss Grace loves the kids but hesitates to go to others (that's a good thing at this point in attachment to us)! She really takes in every new person who comes by though and always wants to touch their face to get to know them.

Daddy, Mommy & Grace Lin went to see Carter in his school's halloween parade today. We tried really hard to hide behind other parents so that he wouldn't see us and want to go home. However, this was impossible so he had a little moment and then gave in to the cookie bribe and forgot about us. He went in as a LaCrosse player because he didn't care for his race car driver suit.

One morning, I found Carter sharing graham crackers with his little sister. He has begun to help himself to the pantry. He can be very sweet to her but then turn around and pop her in the head or push her over. The are brother and sister already!

As for Mom, I feel like the only thing I've accomplished this week is laundry but even that didn't get put away. That's OK, I've enjoyed the kids! Another day!

Sleep & Lots of Laughter

It is day three home and we finally got almost a full night of sleep. Gracie was up for only one hour from midnight until one and then Carter was up at 4:30 but John said he went back to sleep pretty quickly. Carter is having a hard time that he isn't sleeping with all of us any longer and Gracie Lin just hates the crib. Parker has been a trouper! Even though he's waking up he's handling himself well during the day! The time adjustment for five people has been difficult to say the least but there have been many comical moments.

First night home: Grandpa Marvin and Nanannette stayed with us to help out... Gracie Lin woke at midnight and Nanannette did a great job of getting her back to sleep. However, I had failed to let her know that Gracie wasn't going back in that crib easily. So, I ended up going to get her shortly after. I vaguely remember between 12:30 and 2:30 but I think I brought her downstairs and just held her. At 2:30 Carter is screaming, "I wan Mama, I wan Mama!" Upstairs I go again with Gracie in tow. Carter immediately starts screaming, "I wan Daddy, I wan see Pawkew!" On and on that went so I brought him downstairs as well. I would just about get them to sleep on the sofa with me and one would move or roll onto the other and start the whole thing over.... Around 3:30 Nanannette came down to help. (She said, "Parker is in the hallway upstairs reading." Oh my! I asked her to take him a melatonin.) Her getting up to help wasn't very successful at the beginning but she was a new reason for them to stay up to see what was going on. :) Finally, Gracie Lin let Nanannette take her and walk her around about 4:30. Around that time, Carter finally went back to sleep. Gracie Lin's walk turned into, let's explore the house and check out everything. I heard her babbling and Nanannette pointing out things to her. Not likely she's going back to sleep with that going on but I just had to smile. They were happy! Annette ended up rocking her until 8:30 and Marvin took over until 9:00. We have to work on this crib thing.

Second night: I think everyone made it until about 2:30. Carter got out of bed and Parker realized he was moving. Parker thought he should stop Carter so basically tackled him in the hallway and made a huge crash. Marvin came out to check on them as I rushed by him to pick up a screaming baby girl. Carter wanted Daddy so he came up and brought Carter back to our bed. I tried to rock Gracie Lin back to sleep but she couldn't get sound enough to sleep for me to lay her down. I moved to the boys room because the rocker is more comfortable. We rocked and rocked and rocked. Around 4:30, I layed down in Carter's bed with her and she finally fell back asleep. I moved to the sofa again. :) Around 5:30, I finally gave up and just opened my computer to read. At 6:45 I heard Parker's feet hit the ground so I headed up the back stairs to keep him quiet. By the time I got up there, he was coming out of his closet fully dressed for school. He said, 'it's 7:48, we have to leave for school.' By this time, Marvin was up and the three of us just started the day. A few minutes later, John stumbles in. Marvin asked Parker what he wanted for breakfast and Parker started mumbling something about the morning before today and the same thing. We looked at him and said, what are you talking about? We just wanted to know what you want for breakfast. At this point, surviving on 4 hours of sleep per day for three days straight, I just started laughing and couldn't stop. Tears were streaming down my face - I have officially lost my mind! :)

Gracie Lin giving her big brother lots of love before school:

Home Sweet Home

Just about to touch down in Detroit MI and become a US Citizen!!!

The 'brown envelope' that gives our government all of the offical paperwork that supports her citizenship. We weren't allowed to open it.

Flying home!!! I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready to get home. Especially after a 1 ½ hour flight from Detroit to Atlanta with two absolutely miserable little ones. They just became completely inconsolable at one point on the flight… at the same time! It will all be a faded memory in a week!

We landed in Atlanta at 5:20PM to Grandpa Marvin, Nanannette and Uncle Greg waiting for us along with a surprise welcome from Emma and Rachel and their Mom Laurie and friend who I can’t remember her name at the moment; wonder why! They are sweet sisters who were in my small group at NPCC for two years -1^st & 2^nd grade.

Gracie took the car seat ride to the house amazingly well – no tears. She didn’t get upset about Cora giving her giant kisses in the face. She was holding on tight to Mommy for a little while when we got here but after 15-20 minutes she let me put her down and walk away a few feet. I think the luggage we started opening was familiar to her and she went right to it. We are just to thankful to be home and in our comfort!

Leaving China

Today is our last day in China. We signed up for the sight seeing this morning because we weren’t leaving town until 4:30 this evening. However, once we got on the tour (the three families that were still willing to get out), we discovered that our brains just couldn’t take in anymore. Our first stop was a Buddist Temple called Six Banyan Temple and there were different Budda’s throughout the place but I couldn’t tell you anything about it. All I heard was ‘Whawha, whawha, whawha’. Carter really needed some run time so, sadly for those poor people actually there to worship, he ran all over the temple. Most of the people loved it but I’m sure he was interrupting some. The one thing that really stood out to me was the amazing architecture and the fresh flowers placed everywhere.

Hard to see in this photo but Carter is chocolate covered from face to belly along with lots of dirt? not sure how he got so dirty at the temple. I appeased his melt down with chocolate after one of the monks had given him a hard round piece of candy that I had to take away.

After the temple we went to the Chan House, which was an ancient meeting house and school house for their clan. Chan is the Chinese counterpart to Smith. The carvings all over the house were created somewhere else and brought to the current location and put together. That part blows my mind that they can do all of that in separate pieces and place them together like they were created as one piece. Currently the place is used as a fold art museum. Guangdong Province has four main crafts – Ivory Carving, Bone Carving (mainly Camel), Embroidery and Porcelain. The intricate work is incredible!

The last thing we did on that tour was visit a ‘Provincial Market.” It was actually a government owned gift shop where you aren’t able to bargain like you can in the street markets. We weren’t impressed.

This lady and her friend wanted photos with Carter. He wasn't thrilled; especially after she had tried to take him out of the stroller and he was buckled in.

By the time we returned to our room, Carter was melting. We couldn’t get either of the little ones to nap and we were just stressed. It was an ugly day all around for personality traits to be seen. J We survived two weeks together in a hotel room with no major disasters though!! At 4:30 we met our guides downstairs to get Gracie’s passport with US Visa and the ‘brown envelope’ that we couldn’t open but have to hand over to US Immigrations. Wahoo!! We can officially take Gracie Lin home! Once we had paperwork in hand, we had our luggage loaded in a Toyota minivan and were driven back to Hong Kong. It was probably the most comfortable travel vehicle we’ve had then entire trip. We checked into the Regal at the Hong Kong airport and they put us in this huge suite. Where was this room in Guangzhou? Needless to say, it went to waste since we walked in, put the kids to bed, showered and went to bed ourselves. We fly out tomorrow morning at 9:30 to Detroit, MI and then on to ATL arriving at 5:30PM. GOING HOME!!

The Suite

Good Night Hong Kong

US Citizenship

US Consulate Day – Today was the day that our entire trip was booked around. We had to meet in the lobby at 7:45 this morning. (This was when we were thankful for McDonald’s and Starbucks – grab and go!) We went to the consulate to take the oath for Gracie. You aren’t allowed to have a camera – just like we were in the US. All of our families stood as a group and raised our right hands to take the oath of citizenship on our babies’ behalf. I have no idea what we said because unexpectedly, I was overwhelmed with emotion. That frequently happens to me during certain patriotic events but I didn’t expect it today for some reason. Afterward, they called us up one by one and a gentleman looked over our paperwork, signed and stamped it then another lady gave us a quick little interview with random questions about our adoption. All she needs now is feet on US soil. That will happen in Detroit around noon on Saturday, October 22!!! That was it – back to the hotel for lunch and naps. As of today, I think Carter is over this whole trip. He is having a rough time. Pray for him that he can hold onto his trouper attitude for another 65 hours!!

God has blessed us with three amazing and gorgeous kiddos! I'm so overwhelmed with joy!

This afternoon, we tried to do the traditional red couch photo at the White Swan Hotel. The White Swan is where families have stayed for years in Guangzhou when they are adopting. It has been threatening to close down for many years for renovations. Now that we have arrived, it actually did close two months ago but the restaurant and lobby are still open apparently. Oh well. When we arrived, there was a private party going on and they wouldn’t let us crash to get red couch photos! So here are all of the families on the stair case. I know we are missing the Hagerty family but I'm drawing a blank on who else is missing.

We did get to see a fun show that was hired for the private party. I’m sure they loved that we were surrounding it! ;) Gracie Lin love this; she was just patting me to the beat of the music and bouncing. Carter on the other hand was clinging to John and shaking. Poor baby!

So, we got a plum couch photo with 10 of the babies.

Gracie is kind of in the middle in bulldog colors. I love that everyone picked different colors and styles of dresses and it just reflects all of the different personalities of these precious little girls. Big smiles from Magnolia and Leah! All joining amazing families!

After most people returned to our hotel or to dinner, the red couches were free so we at least got a few photos there. We did get a great photo of Stella, Gracie Lin, Aubrey and Magnolia. One very sweet one of kissing cousins – Gracie Lin and Aubrey Mei. Look at those sweet faces!

After all of the excitement, we had a very western dinner of burgers and fries at Lucy’s with Lucy and Eric, Kathleen and Sharon and Sue and Robert. We did a little more shopping damage before heading back. I don’t think I actually learned anything new today except maybe more about our newfound friends who will be headed back to the states with their baby girls this weekend as well. Now I hear lots of snorting behind me so I think I will join them.

Showing off my skills!

For Jody and Winston :)

New Day in a New Place

New territory to explore! We are having fun exploring a new area but are missing our previous home in Nanchang. First of all, in the last hotel, we were all on the same floor so we had hall parties every night! That meant people to help entertain us as well as entertain and help us watch Carter! Guangzhou is very different – much more big city feel. It is much more Western as well. I’ve seen at least three McDonald’s and there is a Starbucks in the Hotel complex. We were given forks at lunch time today – unheard of! J There is a metro station below our hotel. We had a nice dinner down the street this evening but it didn’t compare to the amazing food we’ve been having. I think we may be biased as well because Nanchang is near our daughter’s birthplace…

This morning we went to Shamian Island to have Gracie Lin’s photo taken and medical check for her US Visa. After that we were free to explore the Island a little. I have to explain that it isn’t really an island as you would imagine it, it is a piece of land that has a canal or moat around it separating it from the rest of the city. The French and English, I’m pretty sure she said both, had ownership of this property which is why it is separated. The architecture is very different and there are banyan trees!! It reminded me of a combination of Boca (of course) and Charleston because of the architecture. We had fun shopping for little satin outfits for Gracie Lin and I got Carter a pair of squeaky shoes. He is having the best time in them! Parker bought some kind of flute that he’s been entertaining us with.

Interesting sleeping habits... We were told we got babies last week that they all would sleep on their backs. Girls in China are placed on their backs on a special pillow to flatten the back of the head for pretty ponytails. They really do make a pretty ponytail head! So I was to hold Gracie Lin for 15-20 minutes after she falls asleep then lay her on her back. That worked for the first week and now the transition to crib isn’t going so well. Each night she seemed to feel more and more freedom to move around in her sleep. Starting last night, it became impossible to transition her to the crib. First of all, I don’t think she has ever slept in one. Now that she is side and tummy sleeping, she doesn’t want me to lay her down on her back. So we’ve had some battles over bedtime which I didn’t expect to fight until we got home. One hour tonight was the falling asleep process between the two little ones. I watched Gracie as she feel asleep on her tummy, in the crib, clutching her snugglie (from Ella Claire) and she has the same routine she had lying against my chest. She’s going to do just fine after a little while!

Babies nap time today. Carter even layed down his head in the middle of Mickey Mouse he was so tired; and when I said, it's time for sleeping music, he said 'Noooooo (it got softer and softer)'. Night, night.

Trying fried rice. She has been trying so many things that I'm sure she has never had but she eats pretty much everything. She is getting a little face rash today and I don't know if it's from all of the new foods or heat. Maybe we'll slow down on the exploring food to see how it does.

Move to Guangzhou

Good Night Nanchang

Thank you Sissi for all of your history lessons!

Thank you Evelyn for taking good care of us!

Twelve Families - thirteen new babies

Wow! Today was much harder than I even expected! Before leaving Nanchang, I checked my email and had an acknowledgment from a friend that, yes it is hard to take your child away from their birthplace. I started to cry right away! I cried on the elevator as we said goodbye to the room we got to know Gracie Lin in. I cried on the bus as we drove away from the hotel where we met her and then I cried on the plane as we flew away from her city and now I’m crying again as I rethink the day! As we drove to the airport, Evelyn was telling us that the people of Nanchang think that these girls have been dropped into a honey pot and that they will speak English perfectly, which is obviously a big deal. As I sat there with my feelings of inadequacy to raise a China daughter to know her heritage and feel like we made the best choices for her over her lifetime, those two things made me feel some better!

Again, WOW! After flying for the first time and not having a lot of nap time today, Gracie Lin got to Guangzhou and wanted down! She has been playing a little more each day but she wanted down and just crawled away from me as quickly as possible. Maybe she was just tired of me because she had been physically attached to my body since 10AM. Either way, I’m thrilled to see that after this crazy day, she is feeling so confident about exploring the new room!

John and Parker are out bringing us McDonalds for dinner. Should be interesting to say the least but it will be a nice change from what we’ve been eating and it will feel somewhat like home, although we only eat there about 2 times a year. J

Last Day in Gracie Lin's Home Province

This is our last full day in Nanchang. Gracie Lin’s passport will be here at five o’clock today! Yeah!! Tomorrow morning we leave our luggage outside our doors at 9:30AM and then depart for the airport at 10:30. In a way it feels like we’ve been here for months but our nine days really has flown by so quickly! I think I could visit different cultures for months just to soak it all in! I love the people in China! They are always so friendly to us. We have had terrific service everywhere. The main downside to me is that so many people smoke. We were really fortunate until the last two days that there weren’t smokers on our hall.

Today we went for a walk by the river and then to the zoo for a couple of hours. It was great to be outdoors again and the weather is terrific! Carter has a great friend next door, Victoria, who is seven and she has a little brother who is three. She is good at chasing him around and is a huge help to us! We were warned that the zoo wasn’t very good but we thought it was actually pretty nice. Not as many trees and landscape that we are used to but it was much nicer than I expected.

When we got back from the zoo, the Turner’s suggested that we go out for lunch to a great restaurant we had eaten at a few days ago. Dave & Cary Williams joined in as well. Evelyn hailed cabs for us and called a head to order the meal for us. We had a great time eating the pepper steak one last time before leaving this town. Jenna is an amazing pepper eating woman!!! It was such a fun time and such great food. Our meal as a family cost 100 yuan which is about $16. It will be hard to go home and head Chinese food in the states! The meals are so inexpensive (except for the hotel) especially compared to our $130 laundry bill for the week!

I think tomorrow will be very emotional considering we are leaving behind our babies home province. This country is so beautiful! The climate is very much like Atlanta, GA. The ground is red clay and much of the vegetation is the same as we have at home. Gracie Lin should feel right at home in that sense. She is already a Southern girl! Sissi told us today that Southern girls are beautiful and that some of the signs of beauty are a watermelon seed shaped face and a small mouth.

There's our beautiful girl!

Victoria and Carter

Too cute not to share.

Zoo entrance

Gorgeous Jaguar

I think this was the best part of Mr. P's day!