tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79885220622403842852024-02-20T11:01:41.265-06:00So Far to Find YouBrian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-68869458231803772702018-11-29T03:59:00.000-06:002018-11-29T03:59:25.729-06:00Last Day in China<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, we’re here in the airport in Guangzhou. It took us until
about 11pm to get all our stuff packed. If you knew us when we got Lydia, you
might remember that our luggage was lost between Guangzhou and Beijing the last
time. Our flight had been cancelled and our guide got us on a flight to
Beijing, but because of the last-minute arrangements, our luggage didn’t get on
our flight. Everyone assured us that our luggage would be waiting for us in
Chicago, but it wasn’t. After a few days of trying to deal with the airlines,
our agency contacted our guide, who came to the Guangzhou airport. She found
our luggage in a room of lost luggage. Without her doing that, our bags would
never have gotten to us. Because of our near miss with lost luggage, we didn’t
pack anything irreplaceable in checked luggage. We got almost all our souvenirs
in our carry-on bags and our checked bags are full of our clothes and other
stuff that we could get again, if we had to. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Yesterday was a long, but fun day. MeiMei woke up at 6:30am and
decided it was time to get up. I woke up, with a start, to the curtains in our
room being opened. And we were up! Lydia was sleeping on the couch and MeiMei
woke her up too. Lydia was not very happy about that, but we told her it was
payback for all the times she’s woken us up!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Since we were up, we decided to get going right away. We enjoyed
another breakfast at the breakfast buffet. MeiMei decided to get some bread,
which surprised me because she doesn’t really like bread. Well, after we sat
down, I figured out that the bread wasn’t for MeiMei, it was for the fish!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After breakfast, we took the bread out to the fish, even though
they’re on a diet. They were going crazy. They piled up on top of each other to
try to get the bread. MeiMei loves watching the fish!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We took a taxi to Shamian Island to try to get a few more
souvenirs. You know, you can never have too much China stuff! We started
walking around, but a lot of the shops were still closed! We were there too
late the night before and too early now! After walking around a little, we
found a shop, “Judy Shop” that was open. The lady there was very helpful and
she had a TON of stuff smashed into her store that was no more than 200 square
feet. We found some really fun, cute stuff. She had some great stuff for my
nephews. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> I can’t wait to see what they think about
the stuff I got them. We spent over an hour there looking at stuff and picking
out gifts. Of course, we had to go find a bathroom, but only one time. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We had so many bags, we could barely carry them all. We had to go
pick up some stone carvings that we made a few days before. I left Brian and
the girls on a bench and went to the other store, so we didn’t have to carry
all our stuff all over the island. The carvings turned out beautifully. I’m so
glad that we got them done. We have a few we had made when we got Lydia, so we
got similar ones this time too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to the hotel after Shamian Island so that we could
drop all our bags. We also decided to go to the noodle and rice restaurant one
last time. This time, we tried something different on the menu – Chinese
hamburgers. It tasted like fry bread with ground meat and vegetables that were
seasoned kind of like sloppy joes, but without the sauce. Well, Lydia fell in
LOVE with the Chinese hamburger. I’m definitely going to have to try to find
the recipe sometime. We also got some noodles that MeiMei kept pointing to on
the menu. They were a little spicy when we tried them. It was so funny when she
tried eating them. She would eat them and then squeeze her eyes together like
she was in pain, take a drink, and go right back to eating them. I guess I’ll
be the only one in the family who can’t deal with spicy food!!! We decided to
get one last bubble tea before we headed home. Brian got a chocolate with
bubbles and pudding. It was like chocolate milk on steroids! It was so
chocolaty. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Lydia and MeiMei stole most of it from
Brian. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">There is a famous statue in Guangzhou of five rams, or goats, that
are made into a tower of sorts. Since it is a tourist destination of the city,
we thought we better go there before we left. We took a taxi and the whole time
we were driving to the park (10-15 minutes) MeiMei talked to the taxi driver. I
have no idea what she was saying most of the time. I did video a bunch of it so
we could ask someone! She started out by talking about Mama, Baba, and Jie Jie.
I know she told the driver I was a teacher, but that’s about the extent of my
understanding of Chinese. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">
By the time we got to YueXie Park, I’m sure the driver was glad to get rid of
us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Once again, the map and signage, was not quite the same as in the
US. We wandered around and around and finally found the statue. We got to the
top, took some pictures, and of course, had some ice cream. China was where I
was introduced to Magnum Bars, before they were available in the US, so I had
to have one of those before we left!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We caught a taxi back to the hotel and Lydia and I headed to
Wal-Mart while Brian and MeiMei went up to the room. Lydia and I had 100 Yuan
to spend on candy and snacks to bring home. Now that we knew the layout, we
were able to get right to the candy. Since it was just the two of us, we were
able to look a little closer and we found some fun candy and also some food
that Lydia liked when we first brought her home. We found some fruit roll up
things that she loved, and also the meat that was wrapped up like candy. We
brought a big bag of food home and when we walked through the hotel room door,
Brian just shook his head. He and MeiMei had gathered all the stuff we needed to
pack in the living room and we were not sure how we would get it all in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We decided to head out for supper and gave Lydia the option of
where she wanted to go for her last meal in China. Wouldn’t you know it, she
wanted the rice and noodle restaurant, especially since she had discovered the
Chinese hamburger. But on our way to Wal-Mart, we had discovered a bakery
similar to the one in Beijing. Lydia was torn and had to pick a number to
decide. The rice and noodle restaurant won. Back again for a Chinese hamburger
it was. We also passed a bakery that wasn’t quite as good as the one by
Wal-Mart, but we decided we could grab a roll from there on the way home. Which
we did after we went back to get one more bubble tea! Since the sugar went
straight to MeiMei’s blood stream, we decided to have her and Brian go back to
the hotel and Lydia and I picked up the bubble tea. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">She and Brian ran the bath water and so it was ready for MeiMei
and Lydia to get in when we got home. They played in the bath for a while and
had a TON of fun (more than Lydia would admit to!!!) while Brian and I had a
“date” eating our cake from the bakery and drinking our drinks. Someone needs
to open a CoCo Bubble Tea in Hartland (or at least Delafield or Pewaukee)!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After packing we headed to bed. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and
couldn’t go back to sleep. I tossed and turned and mostly kept Brian awake. We
got up at 6:30 and got ready. We ate one more breakfast in the hotel. I was the
“hero” today and got MeiMei her favorite waffles with whipping cream. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> She let me feed her as many waffles as
she could eat. We finished up and went back up to the room one last time. We
dragged all our suitcases into the elevator and took them down to the lobby and
checked out. We headed to the airport and got on our plane to Beijing. We’re in
the Beijing airport right now. MeiMei loved her first conscious flight. She was
SOOOOOO excited! We were in the middle of the plane, so she couldn’t see the
take off and landing very well. She kept pointing up all through the flight,
saying “we’re flying”!!! So cute! We collected our bags and had to recheck them
here in Beijing. Even though we checked bags, we’ve had to deal with suitcases
at every airport and we’ll have to pick them up in Detroit for customs and in Chicago.
At least we don’t have to drag all 6 of our suitcases and 4 backpacks all the
way through the airport!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We didn’t have wifi in Guangzhou, so I’m just finishing the blog
and will post it now. In about 20 hours we’ll be home!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Any of you that would like to join us, you are welcome to come to
our house tomorrow, Friday, November 29th between 4pm and 6pm to meet Ruthie
and say “hi” to the rest of the family. I’m sure we’ll be tired, but we want to
give everyone a chance to say hello and Lydia, especially, is dying to see some
of her friends and family! If you need our address, just text me. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Please note that MeiMei is very attached to Brian and Lydia, but
she is still working on learning to like me. Because of this, we ask that all
friends and family members NOT try to touch or hug her. If she comes to you and
tries to touch or hug you, I know it will be hard, but please DO NOT touch her
back. You can say “hi” and wave. We really need her to develop her bond with
all 3 of us before she bonds with other people. I’m hoping that will come
quickly after she and I spend hours together at home over the next month, but
we’ll have to see. Please follow our cues and ask if you are unsure about
appropriate contact levels over then next few days and weeks. Thanks! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
I'll add some pictures on Facebook. I don't have time to download them and add them now.Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-43824262186105508842018-11-28T06:41:00.000-06:002018-11-28T06:41:27.994-06:00Packing NeedsHello Friends,<br />
I promise I will write about today's adventures tomorrow when I'm sitting in the airport waiting for our flights. But for now, it's 8:30pm and this is what our living room looks like. Ekk! I'm not sure how we're going to fit everything in!!!<br />
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<span id="goog_152482589"></span><span id="goog_152482590"></span><br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-3100131381312131492018-11-27T08:58:00.002-06:002018-11-27T08:58:53.253-06:00Safari Park Day<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This morning we had the choice of when to leave, so we chose 10am,
so we could sleep in. Somehow, even though we didn’t have to be on a timetable
we still had a hard time getting ready, getting our breakfast eaten and getting
out to the van! Our guide made arrangements for our normal driver to take us to
the safari park. It took about 45 minutes to get there, so I’m glad that we
didn’t have to take a taxi. He took us right to the gate and helped us get
tickets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We went into the Safari Park and right away MeiMei told us she had
to go to the bathroom. Lydia is unusual in that she rarely has to go to the
bathroom – like 2-3 times per day. MeiMei on the other hand has to go about
every 10 minutes. I’m afraid she might have a bladder infection. That would be
better news than this being normal for her. She never wants to go when we
suggest it, but almost every time we go past a bathroom, she says she has to go
2 minutes later. Ahhhh! When we first got her, she only drank a sip of water at
a time. Now she downs whole water bottles, so maybe she’s never had to hold her
pee before! Whatever it is, I hope we can get it under control!!! Or else we’re
NEVER leaving home!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After our first potty break, we took a look at the map and figured
out where we wanted to head. We took off and headed for the giraffes. They had
a bunch of giraffes and for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">only</i> 30
yuan you can feed the giraffes. Lydia decided that she wanted to do it. She got
one tiny branch and the giraffe grabbed it out of her hand with its tongue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After that we found the koalas. They were so cute! They have been
at this zoo for 12 years and they have been reproducing well. They had a TON of
koalas. Some of them were snoozing, but some were awake and eating. They also
had a “nursery” area with mamas and babies. It’s so different than in the US. I
remember going to the San Diego Zoo and there were keepers making sure that no
one raised their voices around the koalas. Not so much in China. There were people
hollering at them and no one really paid attention. At least that was good for
us since MeiMei thought they were so cute and went from shushing us to squealing
with delight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After leaving each animal area, there was a gift shop that you had
to walk through. MeiMei knows me as the “Keeper of the Money” since I’ve been
the one holding onto the cash. She would walk through the store picking things
up and saying, “Mama?” We said no to just about everything. But if she saw something
she thought was really neat, she wanted me to take a picture of it. I have
about 25 pictures of her and items in the gift shop. Well, all around the zoo were
blow up giraffes that looked like a hobby horse. Lydia thought that they would
be a good souvenir, so we ended up with one. It was fun for the first 30
minutes until MeiMei started riding it and dragging it around and wore a hole
in it. She kept carrying it around until we got her distracted enough to shove
it in the backpack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We stopped to eat our snacks, since it was lunch time and watched
the elephants. There was a water pump there – I’m not really sure why – that MeiMei
had a lot of fun pumping. She filled her mouth with food and then pumped the
pump over and over. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Just beyond the elephants was an area that was labeled children’s
zoo/touch zoo. Well, it pretty much only had horses. I’m not sure if MeiMei
actually recognized the character for horse, but she kept pointing out a
character that was on all of the signs. I took a video of her pointing to
characters so we can know if she has any idea, or if like a lot of
kindergarteners I know, was making up her own “story”. She kept trying to get
me to say the Chinese word for the animals. I was trying to copy the sound and
intonation just like she said, but every time, she looked at me with a disgusted
look and kept repeating it and shaking her head. Whenever Brian would repeat it
though, it was always right. I’m sorry, but Brian has NO skills at language. I’m
pretty sure she was just telling him what he wanted to hear. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> He even purposefully mispronounced some
of the words and she still told him it was good!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We could see a little train nearby, but since we had spent a lot
on the tickets already, we didn’t want to start paying for rides. Lydia really
wanted to ride and she would have been willing to pay some of her own money, so
I went to go find out the price. After a little struggle with the language
barrier, I found out it was free. We enjoyed a ride around the “Children’s Area”
in the train. There were a few more rides there too. MeiMei rode a children’s
roller coaster, we rode another little train, a merry-go-round, and a dragon
ride (like the Dumbo ride at Disney). There were two buttons on the dragons.
One to make them fly in the air and another that made machine gun sounds. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Not really sure about the reasoning
behind that one!?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed over to the main attraction – at least for us – the pandas!!!
They had a bunch of pandas. Again, the pandas in the US are much more protected
than the pandas here in China. Even one of the keepers was yelling at the panda
to get her attention. There were panda triplets born at the safari park 4 years
ago and they were some of the mascots of the park. As 4-year olds, they are
mostly grown, but a little smaller than the adult pandas. It was so cute to see
them eat the bamboo. MeiMei was also trying to get me to say the word for
bamboo. That one I think I did ok on! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">While on the panda trail, MeiMei fell and scraped her knee. I didn’t
have anything to make it feel better, but I did have hand sanitizer. She had
used that after all the bathroom breaks and she decided that hand sanitizer is
the miracle cure all. She put some on her knees and everything was good. After
that, anytime she fell or was upset, the hand sanitizer made it all better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After the pandas came more gift shops, more rides and a stop for a
drink and a treat. There were these cute panda cookies. They looked like they
were chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies, but they smelled like carob and Lydia
thought they tasted like “gluten free”. MeiMei didn’t mind though. She downed
quite a few of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Lydia was dying to go to the “Bear Forest”, so we tried to follow
the map there. I’m usually good at following maps, but the map for the park was
not to scale and didn’t have all the paths on it. I knew the word for bear was
something like “hua”, so I asked a worker there and pointed to the map. He
actually spoke very good English and was able to show us the way. When we got
to the “Bear Forest” we saw some snow wolves, but zero bears. I’m not sure
where they were or where they were supposed to be, but there were no bears!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Lydia also wanted to see the “Jurassic Trail” where they had a
dinosaur exhibit. It was almost closing time and we had to get across the park.
We tried following the map again, but no more success was had this time. We did
end up seeing the tigers and they had a tiger nursery where there were some
very cute baby tigers, so I guess it was worth the detour. We finally asked
someone (using the map) and found out where to go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">As we entered the trail, there were animatronic dinosaurs in the “jungle”
along the trail. It was pretty cool and they were very realistic. They had
sounds and movements that were very realistic. So realistic that MeiMei started
freaking out. Brian took her through as fast as he could sat at the exit, so
Lydia and I could take a little more time. We took maybe 10 minutes and by the
time we got to the end, she was still crying. Have no fear though, I had hand
sanitizer! Just to put into perspective how real the dinos were, Lydia wouldn’t
stand with her back to the t-rex to get a picture taken. I had her take one of
me, but she was a little too nervous to do it herself. They were very lifelike,
if that’s possible for an animal that is extinct and I have never seen!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">At that point, we were shutting down the safari park. I called our
guide, so she could send our driver to get us and after one more stop at the
bathroom, we headed out the gate. We found our driver and he was parked in the
exact same spot that he was this morning. I’m not really sure, but I think he
may have spent the day at the safari park waiting for us. I’m not sure what the
going wage is for sitting in a van all day, but hopefully it’s not too much!
Don’t worry, we’ll give him a big tip at the end of the week. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We had him drop us off at Shamian Island so that we could eat
supper at Lucy’s. Lucy’s is an American style restaurant and it hold memories
for us with Lydia. We took her there and she had spaghetti. They heat the plate
in the over to melt the cheese. When we got Lydia, she touched the plate and
burned her fingers. It was night, so we didn’t realize she burned her fingers
because we couldn’t see. The next morning we saw that her fingers had a blister
on them from the burn and we felt so bad. She didn’t get the spaghetti this
time, but I did. We got MeiMei a grilled cheese sandwich because when we showed
her the picture, she said yes. Come to find out, she was just saying, “yes” to
the French fries. When Brian tried to get her to eat the grilled cheese, she kept
her mouth closed and didn’t even want to try it. He got her to eat one bite, but
she was not impressed. She also wasn’t impressed with the spaghetti that I
offered her. I’m afraid she might not be so happy with meals at our house!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After Lucy’s, and another bathroom break, we headed out to find
some shops that were open. Well, by 7:30, pretty much everything was closed. We
started down a street where we saw lights and MeiMei announced that she had to
go to the bathroom again!!! Since it’s China, I was tempted to just pull her pants
down and have her pee in a drain. I thought that we should at least try to find
a bathroom though. On our way to the bathroom, we saw a shop that was open and
the guy tried to convince us to come in and shop. I told him that we needed to
find a bathroom, and he offered his to us. It was a very interesting bathroom…you
had to walk up five steps to get to the “throne” – at least it was a western
style toilet – and then the toilet was only about 10 inches off the ground. On
the way up, MeiMei tripped and bruised her leg (again), but we made it to the
bathroom. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> We decided that if we had used his
bathroom, the least we could do was look around. We found a chop (stamp) that could
have MeiMei’s English and Chinese name carved into it. There was a bunch of other
stuff too, but by that time MeiMei was almost falling asleep standing up. We
told him we’d come back tomorrow to look some more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We walked back over by the White Swan Hotel at his suggestion to
find a taxi. There was one coming down the road after just a few minutes of
waiting. We took the taxi back to the hotel and before we got off the island,
MeiMei was asleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We’re all tired after our long day and ready for some sleep. Tomorrow
we get MeiMei’s visa that will allow her to become a US citizen when she steps
on American soil. I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last full day in China.
I’m ready to get back to my queen size bed, but I’m not sure I want to take
care of the cooking and cleaning again. It’s been nice to have the past few
weeks off. MeiMei is pretty good at folding clothes, so at least I might have a
helper while we’re at home. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLZaUQiZ-RPIMCUQkSIFcdQjJB11UzjsPxllbqeKEvk_SwYFDwTc2a3BDZMIGhCbdr4VEZ4F0QDui7XaBY_lnJjJ1ajZ5jimo4jmVpybIgoP5BMtlZzRHs_EVLdF9TWQj9Kgn1-sHSxk/s1600/IMG_4517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLZaUQiZ-RPIMCUQkSIFcdQjJB11UzjsPxllbqeKEvk_SwYFDwTc2a3BDZMIGhCbdr4VEZ4F0QDui7XaBY_lnJjJ1ajZ5jimo4jmVpybIgoP5BMtlZzRHs_EVLdF9TWQj9Kgn1-sHSxk/s320/IMG_4517.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WBvACmokL1lbSrJdQaZoSKDq7XWPU-Eha3lKy6JtnTEl1pOVZ7wC7EEoes2xoL2dnXWRW9jvkKNOe0rfWT226LquW5kPmqCGCc2rWClgKHxxY6wFh0J9GL5IsY4MMSXv8m5_H53-sIc/s1600/IMG_4531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WBvACmokL1lbSrJdQaZoSKDq7XWPU-Eha3lKy6JtnTEl1pOVZ7wC7EEoes2xoL2dnXWRW9jvkKNOe0rfWT226LquW5kPmqCGCc2rWClgKHxxY6wFh0J9GL5IsY4MMSXv8m5_H53-sIc/s320/IMG_4531.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeding the giraffe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUUoh-XeK4maHa7hfD0ykvFxNmuvUIHtPAHEhqJHppC9IA7a9HcFvTEBhfiIQFPuhvuN46SW7gghkn26h3jqU-FZS4cpDgBId_efbfvnTHwaINhxqPCwDlEiIIGXZtnU0L3SjoERg9CY/s1600/IMG_4544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUUoh-XeK4maHa7hfD0ykvFxNmuvUIHtPAHEhqJHppC9IA7a9HcFvTEBhfiIQFPuhvuN46SW7gghkn26h3jqU-FZS4cpDgBId_efbfvnTHwaINhxqPCwDlEiIIGXZtnU0L3SjoERg9CY/s320/IMG_4544.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koala in the tree</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcedrx6xHZZfYNll0HpRPbcAG5lyamN7l70qwJChHm1JJU9HF118iCpcPcXyAL_anSKGUA2TBP6fyrKzMVLQzrfJw9PTScmyco4kUII-xIn2KajkEbiame60tNdDwcn-S0k9vUkheoeLc/s1600/IMG_4549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcedrx6xHZZfYNll0HpRPbcAG5lyamN7l70qwJChHm1JJU9HF118iCpcPcXyAL_anSKGUA2TBP6fyrKzMVLQzrfJw9PTScmyco4kUII-xIn2KajkEbiame60tNdDwcn-S0k9vUkheoeLc/s320/IMG_4549.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many souvenirs we didn't buy! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1i40ARYXz3h2ibWlz8i4Kh8eG27zol5QvjFlxZ-INErb6z7rYrO87HRESn5OiYhwwAEMaMU-k1v_6IWMOjjwgap3nDvhiBGbdk1DmjiqMepagNEFdpM2xGSyFXMiTJxiHWn2383huVBA/s1600/IMG_4555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1i40ARYXz3h2ibWlz8i4Kh8eG27zol5QvjFlxZ-INErb6z7rYrO87HRESn5OiYhwwAEMaMU-k1v_6IWMOjjwgap3nDvhiBGbdk1DmjiqMepagNEFdpM2xGSyFXMiTJxiHWn2383huVBA/s320/IMG_4555.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The one we did buy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0mPIMnivvrD5Ea5qsL4aokoYiPubrfVy0OacZnu3Ch5QMKkNTWYk6xC59NpuXOsUliOPYhFRKbXZYTQDj6nhwdYX-1MfE8eXIhIUfN624rLzS4wtv2H_ZekTbeaiZ-u6N53qSunjrgfo/s1600/IMG_4558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0mPIMnivvrD5Ea5qsL4aokoYiPubrfVy0OacZnu3Ch5QMKkNTWYk6xC59NpuXOsUliOPYhFRKbXZYTQDj6nhwdYX-1MfE8eXIhIUfN624rLzS4wtv2H_ZekTbeaiZ-u6N53qSunjrgfo/s320/IMG_4558.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephants and a giraffe on his head!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmgVzje8OVD0NRgM76y7_GGkt1A74M5tPI07Y89UVGI09HRUzIqv1UMPUs-LM6UUZhNKeEa9urE6XeNIl_u9mZcfPLBRn1Ga67JzCgJv2TBpPddAIzRhcKLNi1xgRdwhoTY_lYQYaSsI/s1600/IMG_4571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmgVzje8OVD0NRgM76y7_GGkt1A74M5tPI07Y89UVGI09HRUzIqv1UMPUs-LM6UUZhNKeEa9urE6XeNIl_u9mZcfPLBRn1Ga67JzCgJv2TBpPddAIzRhcKLNi1xgRdwhoTY_lYQYaSsI/s320/IMG_4571.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An "artistic" picture by MeiMei</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14OpvSC-0D-_YGBVvuk5m1j2AMZGTlGEOHzGh3fXYDEvf1KFTr1Sr4FRCaN3_Sri7C6UniqNpJYWwPNXORrCXdvqOqXcgbe1RNPx-S7jy7uFeC4pJgGfeNCsTkCt6QT32lL2NmAkrNrs/s1600/IMG_4574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14OpvSC-0D-_YGBVvuk5m1j2AMZGTlGEOHzGh3fXYDEvf1KFTr1Sr4FRCaN3_Sri7C6UniqNpJYWwPNXORrCXdvqOqXcgbe1RNPx-S7jy7uFeC4pJgGfeNCsTkCt6QT32lL2NmAkrNrs/s320/IMG_4574.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She really knows how to capture the mood!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6__F8XjW5RkSJ863M7-E1a9E_xzkn7pkFZO00dIWPagk9kXZZ9knNv8jS2uy3bgtn3E6wN6FfQxCyL2q9MII5DStzEjJtFRfVpy4ZYYxdrM-njfJuI2r0UTNJj7OBI3Myds8qu4bAsq0/s1600/IMG_4591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6__F8XjW5RkSJ863M7-E1a9E_xzkn7pkFZO00dIWPagk9kXZZ9knNv8jS2uy3bgtn3E6wN6FfQxCyL2q9MII5DStzEjJtFRfVpy4ZYYxdrM-njfJuI2r0UTNJj7OBI3Myds8qu4bAsq0/s320/IMG_4591.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's a speed demon! She loved all the rides - and no motion sickness :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV99amD1XRSszkpuuKETLHuIGUa20bDnXSoKhC-WQB8h6kC_Lik5n2Sj7Yn6hOG56jHsbmN3aCla2Bv8kaRNp73zA852P85IEzbBl_YtFhNA2vTjrSwmXFstRD50hAOM7Pk92iU72kTCA/s1600/IMG_4621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV99amD1XRSszkpuuKETLHuIGUa20bDnXSoKhC-WQB8h6kC_Lik5n2Sj7Yn6hOG56jHsbmN3aCla2Bv8kaRNp73zA852P85IEzbBl_YtFhNA2vTjrSwmXFstRD50hAOM7Pk92iU72kTCA/s320/IMG_4621.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baba doesn't do spinn-y rides, so it was a good time for Mama and MeiMei to spend together</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86TFpwGxC21al3zjoE1GRuNvcQvtTkxEO9fnGP8XF6nSvS0WNGDAzsDxK9FkrrwGFSKDwVkwTk6zxkf7iYVo7eN-YnXF1WjlcIlvNpIB2IhxmfbUsfp9UHpcLmFVCl2VOWYQjiFLOWeM/s1600/IMG_4645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86TFpwGxC21al3zjoE1GRuNvcQvtTkxEO9fnGP8XF6nSvS0WNGDAzsDxK9FkrrwGFSKDwVkwTk6zxkf7iYVo7eN-YnXF1WjlcIlvNpIB2IhxmfbUsfp9UHpcLmFVCl2VOWYQjiFLOWeM/s320/IMG_4645.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't to sooooooo cute?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1aV8-DcvPF1PoQ1IvNSN9R9zuoQOeFTWReUHo5HZcHooS8Urp1x1UOu9wgo61IJzewOnLVihNnoGY9W81PYB9hdO4gd8voHx2GwSIpM5EFKZVh6YTGZOgU77-XmBvU-4YmnULM8yFNg/s1600/IMG_4649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif1aV8-DcvPF1PoQ1IvNSN9R9zuoQOeFTWReUHo5HZcHooS8Urp1x1UOu9wgo61IJzewOnLVihNnoGY9W81PYB9hdO4gd8voHx2GwSIpM5EFKZVh6YTGZOgU77-XmBvU-4YmnULM8yFNg/s320/IMG_4649.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JaSscmrHdikvuP1i3RKNdFLQlYSZy5lv6PBOYGZw6aGfcdZe9Hz1I0MyfubhW5y4dhDL6RKa6ozJu4uE4SCK-XJ_7KUxFhTraWg-ovGd8qnCLG68S4zeqseE0G0Mq-XDKGspQJzoyxc/s1600/IMG_4651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JaSscmrHdikvuP1i3RKNdFLQlYSZy5lv6PBOYGZw6aGfcdZe9Hz1I0MyfubhW5y4dhDL6RKa6ozJu4uE4SCK-XJ_7KUxFhTraWg-ovGd8qnCLG68S4zeqseE0G0Mq-XDKGspQJzoyxc/s320/IMG_4651.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaGFMk_fnwN_6LvYuXKhr7YE_wVSkeeHCR2YArU2MchRutiALis-MmT5tWR_zKWT1Tk9VeP1026muWHT2-SI7ZXVK80Fj6hDT4qxrRYI9e9yWyKIrZpYSNvKoaXezY0lnRz11X8Od49A/s1600/IMG_4667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaGFMk_fnwN_6LvYuXKhr7YE_wVSkeeHCR2YArU2MchRutiALis-MmT5tWR_zKWT1Tk9VeP1026muWHT2-SI7ZXVK80Fj6hDT4qxrRYI9e9yWyKIrZpYSNvKoaXezY0lnRz11X8Od49A/s320/IMG_4667.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"JieJie bobo MeiMei"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiY6MNuzZrLYTMHlQqD7IDfOlCVeJrlizaQgWpvtgcBeJ2dmJWRp6H1K0rU60aV7gbddsH_4sySTxYVSNrqn11z-QYpa6u1dU_qCvdGw1jVIwA7-IQN1BNllsCJk5dYpQpifpPCWnNyQI/s1600/IMG_4688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiY6MNuzZrLYTMHlQqD7IDfOlCVeJrlizaQgWpvtgcBeJ2dmJWRp6H1K0rU60aV7gbddsH_4sySTxYVSNrqn11z-QYpa6u1dU_qCvdGw1jVIwA7-IQN1BNllsCJk5dYpQpifpPCWnNyQI/s320/IMG_4688.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating the "gluten free" pandas - MeiMei doesn't have too discerning of a pallet!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtQfnf8eqXxfZFuEn7vX6rdluXnxooS0GoxouLxKLgRf7VV3Kj2W30t6bQqvPgIi-UzYzi2Z1EixVIAKJEmF7t7D3pEuRY1dJ3XdYDDaYG-XesoDjwLAKukJphqGxT24RE7n6vIyMCqo/s1600/IMG_4691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtQfnf8eqXxfZFuEn7vX6rdluXnxooS0GoxouLxKLgRf7VV3Kj2W30t6bQqvPgIi-UzYzi2Z1EixVIAKJEmF7t7D3pEuRY1dJ3XdYDDaYG-XesoDjwLAKukJphqGxT24RE7n6vIyMCqo/s320/IMG_4691.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The biggest Beanie Boo ever!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PA_2TNm40Jf4ggTF-nx4_IfaeDrzFoU0WjKXSmtRGZLIYz3wrJ_JTw5h8yq9-WdsUBIQFGSHtugWgn4rpgqPuXf-AXZEqwszy2kgYEGzfuuZv5AWuIt5qJ1t3qgMzYajpvKETcUP3wI/s1600/IMG_4713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PA_2TNm40Jf4ggTF-nx4_IfaeDrzFoU0WjKXSmtRGZLIYz3wrJ_JTw5h8yq9-WdsUBIQFGSHtugWgn4rpgqPuXf-AXZEqwszy2kgYEGzfuuZv5AWuIt5qJ1t3qgMzYajpvKETcUP3wI/s320/IMG_4713.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm about to get eaten!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgub5HFSUV6kxJbP5zNWTmEWWWVqhoR1VQi-DtZEHvRck-J1hSc7QaQz2UuKgjClngD3A22WzxEbccm0QPWhsikkjHXkaSnS7hVFDzN6M8aDC3XF3h0so-s3gtv2s0kKGk2k9RB_QMn7I8/s1600/IMG_4709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgub5HFSUV6kxJbP5zNWTmEWWWVqhoR1VQi-DtZEHvRck-J1hSc7QaQz2UuKgjClngD3A22WzxEbccm0QPWhsikkjHXkaSnS7hVFDzN6M8aDC3XF3h0so-s3gtv2s0kKGk2k9RB_QMn7I8/s320/IMG_4709.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Triceratops</td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-87124774074322399232018-11-26T09:07:00.002-06:002018-11-26T09:07:23.563-06:00Last Step of Paperwork DONE!<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This morning we decided to skip breakfast since we had such an early leave time. We ate a pomelo for breakfast that we got off the street. It was really yummy. It is a citrus fruit and it kind of tastes like an orange or grapefruit, but it’s less juicy. We met our guide in the lobby after forgetting all the paperwork in our room! I realized it after we were in the elevator, so we came back up and got it. At least we realized it before we got too far!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We had to go to the medical office to pick up the medical report for MeiMei. That is part of the required paperwork for getting a visa. The consulate is right across the street from the medical office, so Lily, our guide, took us across the street and made sure we knew where we were going. It wasn’t too difficult, since there were other families that were there and all the guards knew what we were doing. We had to sit in a waiting room for a while until it was our turn to have our paperwork checked over. There was a little play area that the girls played in. One of the walls was a chalkboard. Lydia drew some great pictures and MeiMei was writing Chinese characters. I’m pretty sure they were the characters for the numbers, but I’m not positive. I would have taken a picture, but they don’t allow any cameras in the consulate. After getting our paperwork checked, taking the citizenship oath for MeiMei and getting any questions answered that we had, we were able to leave. On Wednesday, Lily will go back and pick up the visa and other paperwork that we need for MeiMei to become a US citizen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We met our guide back at the medical office and she got the van to take us back. On the way, she took us to a 100-story building. The top 30 floors are a hotel, so the hotel lobby is on the 70<sup>th</sup> floor. We went up there and looked around at the city of Guangzhou and the Pearl River. Across from the hotel is another building that is even taller. It is the tallest building in Western China – 530 meters tall. We took some pictures and were just amazed at the enormity of the towers. Looking up was even more impressive than looking down, I think. I’m pretty sure that buildings are in the clouds some of the time. Today was a clear day though, and we could see to the top. While we were looking down at the river, it reminded us that when we came to adopt Lydia, we went on a river cruise down the Pearl River. Lydia thought that sounded like fun, but we weren’t sure how to get tickets and get there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After getting back to our hotel, it was time for lunch. We decided to head a different way and see what we could find. Well, there wasn’t so much of the other side of the road right away, so we ended up stopping at Burger King. Of course, MeiMei and Lydia were happy to get French fries and chicken nuggets. Burger King has some different foods here in China. One sandwich that they were advertising was a breaded crab cake on a bun with a square egg. There are some things that just wouldn’t go over so well in the US. But…they also had lava cakes with ice cream on top. That on the other hand, I would buy. And we did. Sharing food is a good way to bond, so MeiMei and I shared a lava cake and Brian and Lydia did too. MeiMei thought the ice cream wasn’t the best part, so she fed that to me and wanted to keep the cake for herself. That didn’t quite cut it for me, but I did let her have most of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We were going to head back to the hotel room, but I saw another adoptive mom heading a different way. I figured that she was headed to Wal-Mart, which we heard was nearby. We followed her and found an honest to goodness Wal-Mart. We picked up a few things that we needed/wanted like candy and a coloring book. Wal-Mart was on two levels and it was kind of confusing to find things. MeiMei had to go to the bathroom, so we had to search for that. Good thing that she can tell other people what she needs because otherwise we would never have found the bathroom!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After Wal-Mart, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. Lydia fell asleep, but MeiMei just can’t seem to fall asleep in the afternoons. She laid there for a while, but she kept waking Lydia up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">While the girls were “trying” to sleep, I asked the concierge about river cruise tickets. We found out that there is a ticket office behind the hotel, so we could get cruise tickets there. After talking to Brian, we decided to go tonight, since the weather was so nice. Kids under 1.2 meters are free, but I have no way to figure out how big that is, so we took MeiMei down to check. She was below that, so she was free at least. </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It was such a nice day that on the way back up, I suggested going to the pool. Lydia was, of course, very excited to do that. The three girls got their swimsuits on and headed to the pool. When we got to the pool, the ladies that were checking people in and out warned us, “It is very cold water!” I knew it was going to be chilly based on how it felt when the girls put their feet in earlier this week. If you know me, you know that I HATE cold water!!! Well, in order to help bond with MeiMei, I got in the freezing cold water and played. We stayed in the shallow end, but MeiMei LOVED swimming. She had no fear at all. Lydia was jumping of the side and she wanted to do the same thing. She jumped into my arms and was laughing and playing and having so much fun. Lydia was enjoying herself too. The water, we found out later, was a whole 69 degrees warm. MeiMei didn’t last for too long before she was shivering. She didn’t want to get out, and Lydia definitely didn’t want to get out, but I insisted that they go sit in the hot tub to warm up. They got warmed up and Lydia wanted to get back in the pool. There was NO WAY I was going to get back in the water, so I only let her get back in after MeiMei was in a towel in Brian’s arms. She thought the water was freezing then too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We showered and headed for a quick dinner before we had to catch a taxi to the river cruise launch point. It didn’t take too long and we had plenty of time to exchange our receipt for our tickets and get into the line. The way people wait in line in China is much different than in the US. They made the announcement that people could start boarding the boat and there was a mad rush for the door. People get so close and you just have to go with the flow. I’m pretty sure Lydia’s lack of personal space is come by naturally! We did get on the boat finally and found our table. We chose to sit on the top (even though there was no covering! – They lady selling the tickets didn’t think we would want to sit there). I remembered from the last time that even though we had tickets to sit down below, we wanted to be on the top to see better. It was fun being in the open air. We were at the front of the boat and we could see really well from there. Guangzhou was lit up so beautifully. They have dancing lights on the side of the buildings and the Canton Tower is lit up in rainbow colors. It was fun to watch the lights and cruise along the river. MeiMei loved it and didn’t have any problem with motion sickness! Yeah!!! We met some other adoptive families on the boat that we flew to China with. It was fun to catch up with them and see how things were going in their family too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We took a taxi home and MeiMei ended up falling asleep on Brian’s lap. She woke up when we got out of the car, but not very much! Brian brought her up to the room and she went right to bed without even getting her jammies on. Lydia was hungry – again, so she and I went in search of something to eat. Of course, we ended up at the noodle and rice restaurant. We brought back some noodles and dumplings and shared with Brian. We also had to get a bubble tea/juice on the way back too. We enjoyed eating our second supper while Lydia FaceTimed with some of the other cousins she hadn’t talked to yesterday. She’s in bed, MeiMei is sleeping too and Brian was about to abandon me. He’s the one who has been downloading the pictures, so he knows where he’s putting them, so I made him stay up with me. I think I’m going to sleep good tonight! We’re both ready for a good, long night of sleep!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_LPB_abIz3T1T5l8sA-ek_vUMbiyIx4VkKlSEnTQVutFGCCZ1ZDRH7YlLDyRkWy60HGBY9zSCxQ1Qv2O_IuVfqExXn_rW7yxG7HZWaD4vZqs2HbfK_z5K5YK6y4-4ayakAIjzatcDFk/s1600/IMG_4418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_LPB_abIz3T1T5l8sA-ek_vUMbiyIx4VkKlSEnTQVutFGCCZ1ZDRH7YlLDyRkWy60HGBY9zSCxQ1Qv2O_IuVfqExXn_rW7yxG7HZWaD4vZqs2HbfK_z5K5YK6y4-4ayakAIjzatcDFk/s320/IMG_4418.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canton Town in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDoT13ECxX-P8RpTHOnm0nzWGj4OnbWlZzHWeq9-gPGNwSHX0hllkHytdEjrrNZWY7noN8JAZUyIruJCNp8sURDhRBDfRGbcAKLRATTULwrTP7UVUVYwLh_aDoIeBkvEOPUWRDKXcEIc/s1600/IMG_4423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDoT13ECxX-P8RpTHOnm0nzWGj4OnbWlZzHWeq9-gPGNwSHX0hllkHytdEjrrNZWY7noN8JAZUyIruJCNp8sURDhRBDfRGbcAKLRATTULwrTP7UVUVYwLh_aDoIeBkvEOPUWRDKXcEIc/s320/IMG_4423.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 100 story building we went in.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn8rBP5m58ygrfVbIz47IulMIu7BA28_5Q8qG6-3ms1xrALOdv9tEEGay-_RHCKrqWrWggIIX3XTc_MzRDuviTO2Pem2zXnNmtfbMMV9RnDHQjJyty8puN8-7W97t3mT4TLQjfWA8i78/s1600/IMG_4424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPn8rBP5m58ygrfVbIz47IulMIu7BA28_5Q8qG6-3ms1xrALOdv9tEEGay-_RHCKrqWrWggIIX3XTc_MzRDuviTO2Pem2zXnNmtfbMMV9RnDHQjJyty8puN8-7W97t3mT4TLQjfWA8i78/s320/IMG_4424.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two tallest buildings in Guangzhou.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyu0rqLa5_ISvNNLHwjSvpAt1-NCncrjUcA7xZx3UoQWoAMNZ6V_NdEyc_H6Jm_F74Dfc15gHtSXU7FQyGxPguK9ZO-Hk5btIlaUrHzgCxLrOI6fO6i85-AtNduHqX2HDvjJ7ogRiBJw/s1600/IMG_4428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyu0rqLa5_ISvNNLHwjSvpAt1-NCncrjUcA7xZx3UoQWoAMNZ6V_NdEyc_H6Jm_F74Dfc15gHtSXU7FQyGxPguK9ZO-Hk5btIlaUrHzgCxLrOI6fO6i85-AtNduHqX2HDvjJ7ogRiBJw/s320/IMG_4428.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For some reason, when MeiMei saw these batteries, she insisted on having her picture taken with them! :P</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguARNxCQPWcp6JH8p-x-7yFEfWgebK0-5lB4EpIffCtQWpHg44XjS3vcRb5sm6b8Xlgis-zcMaO51Jo4A9n7xLPfn4wfMy1Cl5vCXamDj1WX_Ikpkh6yf0efASEInrG23uMb_dMEZcDW0/s1600/IMG_4430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguARNxCQPWcp6JH8p-x-7yFEfWgebK0-5lB4EpIffCtQWpHg44XjS3vcRb5sm6b8Xlgis-zcMaO51Jo4A9n7xLPfn4wfMy1Cl5vCXamDj1WX_Ikpkh6yf0efASEInrG23uMb_dMEZcDW0/s320/IMG_4430.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matching-Matching - Their shirts say jie-jie and mei-mei (big sister and little sister).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDIj_0kMDGnbRR49ENPmEv6rhy_e7eXAyZIq05ShcrW-HryAknrMEgaSyb5Iw0691eADlGQI3yak2L13bRuzwjSeWMAibrOxR-gQpd5I9mgi89qC03OeB2GJj2pWDmwanTTV04094RlKo/s1600/IMG_4452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDIj_0kMDGnbRR49ENPmEv6rhy_e7eXAyZIq05ShcrW-HryAknrMEgaSyb5Iw0691eADlGQI3yak2L13bRuzwjSeWMAibrOxR-gQpd5I9mgi89qC03OeB2GJj2pWDmwanTTV04094RlKo/s320/IMG_4452.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The freezing cold water!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4JzhW7Y4Vqx5IkMC4fiXU2aJTSlTxcyKcm_fl3vGZ3VBqKd2_zvz6qLRd9MrbjM7DavQpuIcX-lML_RD7HJ_hd_QUxqYrVdxPr67sHm8x7jgH1Mwz1hng_36X0l0ylzWuAfsoIhlweU/s1600/IMG_4456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4JzhW7Y4Vqx5IkMC4fiXU2aJTSlTxcyKcm_fl3vGZ3VBqKd2_zvz6qLRd9MrbjM7DavQpuIcX-lML_RD7HJ_hd_QUxqYrVdxPr67sHm8x7jgH1Mwz1hng_36X0l0ylzWuAfsoIhlweU/s320/IMG_4456.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying on Lydia's mask!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2cIr9OlT3rzwISzLpFf25cnsPEDdH5R39E7UQuExZW8yqkot5c4U8fRDNUmQ_9H8juoo8WUC0GTSn7Dbrdy7RJq-ux0YxsGgMaBt5CgQk276oIxKFEcaMfltaUYgRxCMSB178AFha8mU/s1600/IMG_4463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2cIr9OlT3rzwISzLpFf25cnsPEDdH5R39E7UQuExZW8yqkot5c4U8fRDNUmQ_9H8juoo8WUC0GTSn7Dbrdy7RJq-ux0YxsGgMaBt5CgQk276oIxKFEcaMfltaUYgRxCMSB178AFha8mU/s320/IMG_4463.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much better in the warm pool!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTB2JM-p6KGfh8NwrY2_lSk_vTYWsaMZFnJlUqMDmteqKDSeDK9bqdW749XoPW5YavQh3KX_uKV32yEkmaWpXwMB-N291hdG3ItKkbdXqZDf34mxcPwHvVCXF9wNWa2hkPyvjJr2E7H8E/s1600/IMG_4479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1600" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTB2JM-p6KGfh8NwrY2_lSk_vTYWsaMZFnJlUqMDmteqKDSeDK9bqdW749XoPW5YavQh3KX_uKV32yEkmaWpXwMB-N291hdG3ItKkbdXqZDf34mxcPwHvVCXF9wNWa2hkPyvjJr2E7H8E/s320/IMG_4479.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gunagzhou at night</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwVpMCK2-Wn7oBMgskhZSo58yPW_Z4NGExcu6ae9GqYu60KmzPJlDuoX11Kqb6MyTyBrPdxgZAmDE6p6WJ5Qo8X4nGGalIpeZWNAksN5MC598Gl6TkyeC9tTnW_skBdYCOHSkil3hxKQ/s1600/IMG_4487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwVpMCK2-Wn7oBMgskhZSo58yPW_Z4NGExcu6ae9GqYu60KmzPJlDuoX11Kqb6MyTyBrPdxgZAmDE6p6WJ5Qo8X4nGGalIpeZWNAksN5MC598Gl6TkyeC9tTnW_skBdYCOHSkil3hxKQ/s320/IMG_4487.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lights were animated.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Canton TV Tower</td></tr>
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Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-12418471402694955632018-11-25T07:20:00.001-06:002018-11-25T07:22:57.376-06:00Another Relaxed Day...<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our morning started off slow and easy today. We didn’t have any
plans for this morning. We got up and headed to breakfast. There was a table available
outside today, so we got to eat our breakfast outside. We discovered that
MeiMei likes watermelon at least as much as Lydia. There was really good
watermelon here in Guangzhou. Since it’s a warm weather climate, it must grow
all year long. It was sweet and juicy and MeiMei ate a bunch of it! Watch out,
Taylors, you might have to buy 2 watermelons when we have dinner together next
summer!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Since we were outside for breakfast, the girls were watching the
fish in the pool. It comes right up next to the patio where we had breakfast. There
were signs saying that the fish were on a diet (</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">), so we didn’t let the girls give them
bread. I’m pretty sure that the diet the fish are on is whatever food anyone will
feed them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to our room, but the maid was cleaning still so we
headed to the outdoor playground. I was going to take pictures, but MeiMei
decided that she wanted to take pictures of us. You can tell that she has been posed
before. She was arranging us on the play structure and was taking TONS of
pictures. It was pretty funny the way she was jabbering and getting “mad” at
Lydia for not following her directions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we got back to the room, we FaceTimed some of the cousins and
then headed out for lunch. We decided to go to the Noodle Restaurant for lunch.
I had my favorite broccoli and Lydia had noodles. Both the girls wanted dumplings,
but when we got them, neither of the girls liked them. Brian and I thought they
were good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">One thing that is different with restaurants in China is that you
can, and sometimes are expected to bring drinks with you. We had stopped and
got a bubble tea and Lydia and Brian got Pepsi. It was so sad for Brian to
discover that Mountain Dew didn’t make it in China. They had it when we were
here adopting Lydia, but not now. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">☹</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Anyway, getting drinks with caffeine was a mistake. We brought
the girls home to take a nap, which they both desperately needed. MeiMei went
to the bathroom about 7 times in an hour and neither of the girls fell asleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our guide was meeting us to take us shopping at 2pm, so we didn’t
have time to get them to sleep. We had her take us to the pearl and jade
market. It is a giant mall that is full of shops (more like kiosks) selling
pearls, jade, and other precious stones. We got some pearls and jade and I got
a garnet bracelet. It is crazy how inexpensive everything is. It’s kind of
interesting the way they sell pearls. They have different grades of pearls.
They have them strung on a string and you buy a whole string. Then you tell
them if you want them as a bracelet, a necklace, etc. They string them on a new
string and tie off each bead. MeiMei was mesmerized with the ladies that were
tying pearls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After our purchases of fine jewelry, we headed to Shaimian Island.
This is an island in the pearl river in Guangzhou that is special to adoptive
families. It used to be the location of both the medical exam office and the
consulate of the United States. Adoptive families would come to Guangzhou and
never left the island. There are American restaurants there, shops that sell souvenirs,
and a hotel called the White Swan. When the consulate was there, everyone that
adopted stayed at the White Swan. It is a 5 Star hotel and it catered to the
families who stayed there in the “hay day” of Chinese adoptions. Our guide
showed us around the hotel and took pictures of us in some of the picturesque
locations. One thing that was a tradition at this hotel was to take pictures of
newly adopted children on their red couch. If you ask anyone who adopted a
child from China during the White Swan era, they most likely have a picture of
their child on the famous red couch. Well, the hotel, knowing the importance of
the red couch, kept one and put it in one of the lobbies. Our guide took us to
the red couch so we could take pictures there. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After the White Swan, we went to a shop and got a few things for
the girls…dresses, shoes, and some other special things for MeiMei. While I was
picking things out, MeiMei was walking around the shop picking things out for
herself. There were tons of little toys she kept picking out. The lady that ran
the shop thought she was so cute and so good that she gave her a bubble wand.
She was pretty happy about that. We decided to head back to the hotel so that
we could have an early bedtime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Brian decided that McDonald’s sounded good for supper, so off to
McDonald’s we went. It had been sprinkling all day, but when we went out for
supper, it had started to rain pretty hard. Of course, we didn’t bring our umbrella,
but we didn’t want to go back to get it, so we headed off in the rain. We had
some great American fast food. MeiMei loves French fries, and apparently,
ketchup. She eats her fries with ketchup, and she also tried dipping her apples
in the ketchup too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">On the way home, it was still raining. MeiMei LOVED the rain. She
kept laughing and looking up at the sky. Inner Mongolia is very dry, so it probably
rained very rarely there. Also, living in an orphanage, she probably had never
been outside in the rain. She was totally enjoying the experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We got back and got the girls ready for bed and tried to get them
settled into bed. Lydia wanted to fall asleep in our bed, since the beds are so
small, but MeiMei would hear nothing of the sort. She kept pointing to the spot
next to her in bed and saying, “Jie Jie” (big sister). Lydia had to sleep next
to her!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I got chilled in the rain, so I decided to take a hot bath in our
huge bathtub and watch the tv in the bathroom. Yes, this hotel room is crazy
big! Brian said it’s a good thing we aren’t staying here any longer or we might
not be able to go back to our normal size bathroom. It’s almost 9pm, but I
think I’m ready for bed. We have to get up early tomorrow because our
appointment at the US consulate is at 8:30am. We might just have granola bars
for breakfast. I’m not sure I want to wake up at 5am!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WG8D4Epo8pUluYUCKSPr3nyJxhIwyNJa1n-W-Myq01kXLjODo-cyfY7wjTJjRgg5naD0-8skIwLuAWx-SWyao7KyUDgX9BEbOADNJGbopOX9oz7SU3QU_uq3LZvG3hxTWo_5W6R406U/s1600/IMG_4189+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WG8D4Epo8pUluYUCKSPr3nyJxhIwyNJa1n-W-Myq01kXLjODo-cyfY7wjTJjRgg5naD0-8skIwLuAWx-SWyao7KyUDgX9BEbOADNJGbopOX9oz7SU3QU_uq3LZvG3hxTWo_5W6R406U/s320/IMG_4189+-+Copy+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wishing she could feed the fish. She kept telling me to go inside and get some bread.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VAe9vDyWAgjC_kWGcsGTiOoBZz9sE-_oO_Hu0PGpYHz4lrAAgxvDg6PT5QGE7O27HUhL1G-AgLHQ6IAzZg7DO4etzeJCSFmqqw8L8jthOt5jTSfxS7stEiRpE7I8cKBnIlr1SdMjJoA/s1600/IMG_4195+-+Copy+%25282%2529+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VAe9vDyWAgjC_kWGcsGTiOoBZz9sE-_oO_Hu0PGpYHz4lrAAgxvDg6PT5QGE7O27HUhL1G-AgLHQ6IAzZg7DO4etzeJCSFmqqw8L8jthOt5jTSfxS7stEiRpE7I8cKBnIlr1SdMjJoA/s320/IMG_4195+-+Copy+%25282%2529+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This girl has no fear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQE_JXh3mZco7HHxO9tQ6ZYNeoJCKoyKOOyk3K2XyDl0PJwvJ-3epryfvEzYD4aiKPAoRPOhigvqVtHvPi_Nv5_kuJAKZJNvp2SpES66e7VWIpplQeqLLTdvDuQA6oq_YYAibygzcqTA/s1600/IMG_4196+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQE_JXh3mZco7HHxO9tQ6ZYNeoJCKoyKOOyk3K2XyDl0PJwvJ-3epryfvEzYD4aiKPAoRPOhigvqVtHvPi_Nv5_kuJAKZJNvp2SpES66e7VWIpplQeqLLTdvDuQA6oq_YYAibygzcqTA/s320/IMG_4196+-+Copy+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of MeiMei's artistic photography!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She did not approve of the selfie!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian's face is hilarious...I don't think he was in as much discomfort as it looks like!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the famous Shaimian Island poses</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the White Swan</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia's official red couch picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MeiMei's official red couch picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yummy McDonald's!!!</td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-83341783850632724962018-11-24T07:15:00.002-06:002018-11-24T07:15:40.422-06:00A Relaxing Day<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">What a great day today was…We didn’t have to get up at any certain
time, so we had a leisurely morning. We all slept pretty well last night. MeiMei
fell out of bed, but she was still sleeping. Brian brought her into our bed – which,
by the way in China, happens to be a double bed! We couldn’t sleep with so many
people in a double bed, so Brian put her back in her bed and we slept until
after 7am. We enjoyed a breakfast that wasn’t rushed this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After breakfast we decided to explore the hotel a little. We went
back out to the garden and watched the fish. We walked all the way around and
found a little pagoda and a cat that didn’t want to be petted. We also decided
to check out the pool area. It was so beautiful around the pool. It’s not
really very hot here, so I’m not wanting to get in the water. The pool water
felt really cold to me, but Lydia and MeiMei took their shoes off and waded on
the steps. Lydia said that it was starting to feel warm, but I’m pretty sure it
was just numbness setting in. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We had to be back in the room between 11am and 12pm for the results
of the TB test. I’m not really sure what was going on, since no one came to
look at MeiMei’s arm. Maybe it was some other kind of TB test, but our guide
said that if we didn’t hear from her, everything was good. “No news is good news”,
she told us about a dozen times yesterday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I discovered that one of my friends from elementary/middle school
lives not too far from here because her husband owns a translation business in
China. She found out we were close by and took a bus to meet us here at our
hotel. It had been over 20 years since we had seen each other! It was so fun to
catch up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We hung out in the hotel room for a while, and then decided to go
get something to eat. I have really been craving some Chinese food like sweet
and sour, rice, etc. We weren’t sure where to get that around here. My friend
said that kind of food is more common in Beijing, so since she knows Mandarin,
she started asking around where we might be able to get something like that. We
found a restaurant and ate sweet and sour pork, spicy green beans, eggplant,
and shredded pork with Chinese tortillas. It was so yummy! It hit the spot. I
didn’t want to leave China without having the kind of Chinese food I really
enjoy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After lunch, we walked around a bit and found a bubble tea shop.
She and her husband LOVE the bubble milk tea. She helped us order. Brian got
bubble milk tea, I got a passionfruit bubble tea with coconut, and Lydia got
kumquat lemonade. Everything was delicious. MeiMei really liked the bubble milk
tea. I’m definitely going back to get more. It was soooooo good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We came back and enjoyed that in the Garden’s garden. She took
some pictures of all four of us in front of the waterfall and other picturesque
places. It’s not quite the “red couch” of the White Swan days, but the picture
in front of the Garden’s waterfall might take its place. (If you’re not a China
family, you probably don’t understand the last reference, but it’s kind of a
long story. If you’re really interested, ask me and I’ll tell you sometime.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Back in our room, we discovered that MeiMei is quite fond of
taking pictures. She had my phone and kept snapping pictures of me, Brian, and
Lydia. She counted and had over 70 pictures that she took. By the way, she’s
really good at counting, writing numbers, and she could even read a few
characters that my friend pointed out to her. Pretty impressive for five years
old!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We decided to try out a place called the Happy Monk for dinner. They
have American food. Lydia had mac and cheese, Brian had a burger, and I had a
quesadilla. MeiMei just kept pointing to the French fries pictured on the menu,
so we ordered her fish and chips. She ate all the fries, but she wasn’t so sure
about the fish. It was actually pretty good fish fry. I’m not sure what she’s
going to do back in Wisconsin on Friday nights! I guess maybe she’ll just eat
mac and cheese like her big sister! </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">By the time we got done with dinner it was pretty late, so we
headed home for a bath and a little snuggle time. Baba and MeiMei are in bed
already and Lydia is listening to an audio book. I’m not so tired yet, but I’m
sure I will be soon. It was a fun, but tiring day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tomorrow we don’t have any appointments, but our guide is going to
take us shopping. It’s going to be nice having another day where we can relax.
Until tomorrow…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcxKQxE1Q5smoxFb62HPqxZfFFyP7hyphenhyphenCqh32rCqtfoFc8ejV_f3Z_DN6l1V6bmN6DpqlDWAeXwhtIqnrN9csWu81Mgwr90FX-7w6CHYvbZXSqsBYgZtakjDzKM5BAgDTnqfI-R_dZBNs/s1600/IMG_4056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcxKQxE1Q5smoxFb62HPqxZfFFyP7hyphenhyphenCqh32rCqtfoFc8ejV_f3Z_DN6l1V6bmN6DpqlDWAeXwhtIqnrN9csWu81Mgwr90FX-7w6CHYvbZXSqsBYgZtakjDzKM5BAgDTnqfI-R_dZBNs/s320/IMG_4056.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia enjoying her noodles and cocoa krispies for breakfast. Only in China!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6HXHAtEydu-0XiLCtBPhAryKlIDlHYjoR4g0OqkLNvkiFZ_YxI7WuZ8ueztJiqi6LmBGq_W8j9q70GB8FtMvvBS3GMEFdbYHmwyUyoEH1cAOwLiuc7OTZhuZzNpPfZaOTFmTinuPE-Q/s1600/IMG_4069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6HXHAtEydu-0XiLCtBPhAryKlIDlHYjoR4g0OqkLNvkiFZ_YxI7WuZ8ueztJiqi6LmBGq_W8j9q70GB8FtMvvBS3GMEFdbYHmwyUyoEH1cAOwLiuc7OTZhuZzNpPfZaOTFmTinuPE-Q/s320/IMG_4069.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">V for something Chinese! It's popular to do this when getting your picture taken in China. :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLDsy9CsHSPl7JUjMxpGoXbKrLKqNnOLOZliJtNHSOAtTDsl-zUKsjTZKnC6DLu7CW2WM_7srJVlq7O2e5cVekFlgl9BNmrMlNjOZfEhVwiV_pAUqYQ954ymzqo_MzabBA3GkSvzpa0I/s1600/IMG_4075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLDsy9CsHSPl7JUjMxpGoXbKrLKqNnOLOZliJtNHSOAtTDsl-zUKsjTZKnC6DLu7CW2WM_7srJVlq7O2e5cVekFlgl9BNmrMlNjOZfEhVwiV_pAUqYQ954ymzqo_MzabBA3GkSvzpa0I/s320/IMG_4075.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the bridge in the garden.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-68348042688495324492018-11-24T02:24:00.002-06:002018-11-24T02:42:38.499-06:00First Day in Guangzhou<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is what we did today in Lydia’s version:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First, we woke up
and ate breakfast for breakfast I had noodles and cereal. Then we went to a hospital
and Ruthie got a shot and her eyes checked. Also, the doctor asked my dad if Ruthie
was smart and my dad said the people in the orphanage were saying she was smart
plus she has been very smart. So, the doctor asked her 2 questions and said she
was smart. Then we got Subway and sat outside for a picnic then Me and Ruthie
fed some fishes. After that wet took a nap but I did not take a nap instead I
listen to a book and wrote part of the blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">When the alarm went off at 8am this morning, I really didn’t know
what hit me! We had arrived at the hotel, checked in and found jammies and were
in bed around 3am this morning. I really wasn’t feeling it this morning when we
had to get up, but I pulled myself out of bed and took a shower and got
dressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed down to breakfast, which was another buffet of endless
choices. Lydia ate noodles with TONS of garlic on them. I could smell her
across the elevator when we came back up to the room! There were plenty of other
choices to eat that the rest of us got. There wasn’t a lot of time to spend
eating, so we made our choices quick, ate and came back up to the room to
finish getting ready.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">At 10am, we met our guide in the lobby to take us to the medical
appointment. I was pretty nervous that MeiMei would be sick on the way there,
since it was the same time of day that it first and second happened the past
few days. Brian was ready with a bag, just in case, but we made it the 20
minutes to the appointment without incident. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Yeah! Thank you, Lord. This van has seats
that ride a little higher, and I also gave her half a Bonine. I’m still a
little nervous, but hopefully it doesn’t happen again! (She was fine on the
plane – she slept the whole time.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The medical appointment went pretty quickly. We only had to wait a
few minutes for everything to start. Lydia, Brian, and MeiMei went in to the
different exam rooms. In one of the rooms, the doctor asked Brian if she was
smart. Brian said that her teachers at the orphanage said she was. The doctor
said she would check, asked her 2 questions, and confirmed with Brian that she
is, in actuality, smart! If only the people in America knew it only takes 2
questions…My job as a teacher would be much easier. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> One of the things that MeiMei had to have
was a TB test. They wouldn’t let us go into the room for that. They give her a
shot and depending on how that area looks tomorrow, we’ll know if there needs
to be further testing. After that, she came out and I had to put pressure on the
injection area for 5 minutes. I’m not sure what that is all about, but she did
sit on my lap for a whole 5 minutes. I was feeding her candy, so that probably
made me bearable too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After the TB test, we headed back to the hotel. Our guide checked
our paperwork and made sure we had everything, got copies of MeiMei’s passport
for us, so we’re all set for our appointment at the consulate on Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We decided to take a walk and find lunch. When we came back from
the medical appointment, our guide pointed out where we could get some food,
shop, etc. There was a Subway and Lydia thought that sounded good. So off we
went to find Subway. Because of where the hotel is located, and the main
clientele, this area caters to Westerners. There are many people who work in the
stores and restaurants who know English and the menus are available in English
too. I was surprised when I ordered the subs that I could do it in English. It
was nice to be able to communicate a little more than was possible in Huhhot.
Since we aren’t eating raw vegetables, the subs were a little sparse. Lydia
enjoyed her favorite tuna, while the rest of us had meat and cheese with
pickles and olives. We also stopped at 7 Eleven to get some drinks, chips, and
of course, a little chocolate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s so nice here in Guangzhou. It was in the 70s today, which
feels like heaven to me. We decided to make a picnic of our lunch today. We’re
staying at the Garden Hotel that is aptly named because of the garden in the
back. There’s a huge koi pond, flowers, trees, waterfalls, and just a wonderful
relaxing place. That’s where we ate our lunch. The girls loved watching the
fish and they fed them a little extra of the bread from the sandwiches. The
fish were piling on top of each other to get to the food. MeiMei LOVED watching
them. We’re excited to take her to the safari park here, since she is so
interested in the few animals we’ve seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After lunch, we thought a nap was in order since we had such a
short night. I fell asleep right away, but I guess it took MeiMei a while to
fall asleep. By the time the two of us woke up, it was after 5pm. Whoops! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">MeiMei came to us wearing fashion boots, which look cute, but
aren’t so great for walking in. We had seen an H&M across the street, so we
thought we’d check and see if they had any shoes that might work better. They
did have some clearance shoes for 20 RMB (about $3), so we got some shoes that
will hopefully be a little more comfortable for her. She also wanted some hair
clips with Hello Kitty. Lydia LOVED Hello Kitty when she came home. I just
couldn’t resist, plus they were on clearance for about $1, so she has some new,
cute barrettes to wear. We headed down the street to find some place for supper
(even though it felt like we had just eaten lunch!). There was a place
advertising noodles and rice. Of course, there aren’t any restaurants in China
that serve noodles and rice, so we HAD to try it. I didn’t really care because
I figured I wouldn’t eat anything anyway. It was a great little place with
cheap eats that the girls liked a lot. Upon looking at the menu, I discovered
that they had broccoli. You know I’ve been really wanting vegetables, so I
order the broccoli. It was so good – and it’s not just me. Brian ate some and
said it was the best broccoli that he’d tasted. I’m not sure what they did to
it, but it was really good. I’m totally in favor of eating there again! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We also met another adoptive family that was eating there and
staying in our hotel. In the lobby of the hotel, we ran into a few other
families and found out where some good restaurants are, where the play room is
and other good tips. We ended up going up to the play room to burn off a little
energy. Another adoptive family was there with their 5 kids and Lydia and
MeiMei played for a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We came back to the room and played hide-and-seek. This room is
ridiculously big – 2 bathrooms, a bedroom, living room, office/workout room,
and walk in closet, so it’s a little better place to find hiding places. They
had fun doing that. MeiMei sat on the couch and counted before she went to find
Lydia and me. She counted all the way to 100 in Chinese. I was so impressed, I
almost came out of my hiding spot to tell her what a great job she did. We’ll
definitely have to get that on video!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was late, so we got the girls in bed and now it’s almost
midnight and I’m typing this blog. We don’t have anything to do, except have
the TB test checked tomorrow. If everything is good, that’s all that we need to
do for that. We’re looking forward to sleeping in, if Lydia cooperates. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabnm-XOfIX-Tq9mIHYXOqkASOcgaq8MwtaOhniWOsS_1Sq7e1lef37ulJ-mFj_0OOiGbhc7PuoV_ZoTe3DSJc9gO9M6FmHOnh1xNad8bNJ5Sj-TkRqn_yj5HCk2Ongn6QGLSNxJqfatk/s1600/IMG_4002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabnm-XOfIX-Tq9mIHYXOqkASOcgaq8MwtaOhniWOsS_1Sq7e1lef37ulJ-mFj_0OOiGbhc7PuoV_ZoTe3DSJc9gO9M6FmHOnh1xNad8bNJ5Sj-TkRqn_yj5HCk2Ongn6QGLSNxJqfatk/s320/IMG_4002.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Family</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuPTPyIQ2p8OdS3oQxnQEITW1hiApnQafl3padhFwmMY9tYtJuXNsl3yc2VEJnRX5q6xT1N1YjpLi_HSBW7ErxGbu98hmiP_CW7LLyExKv114peEhFlm6tviKGWezcbytjx1w1EC3B7s/s1600/IMG_4007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuPTPyIQ2p8OdS3oQxnQEITW1hiApnQafl3padhFwmMY9tYtJuXNsl3yc2VEJnRX5q6xT1N1YjpLi_HSBW7ErxGbu98hmiP_CW7LLyExKv114peEhFlm6tviKGWezcbytjx1w1EC3B7s/s320/IMG_4007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Subway in the Garden</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4dxKuZCjh9wqj5ltmjE3JwF6bk-N3pyr4zy2cGXqpk1zsgYehXl-spYVVpRBklxvW4kQ-wfXCrmya-cPoUbf0wY7S_HgzEmV0VhuX5L2FKZRC5-DeOOd98C7skpKldeWHB2bJL-e4Zw/s1600/IMG_4018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4dxKuZCjh9wqj5ltmjE3JwF6bk-N3pyr4zy2cGXqpk1zsgYehXl-spYVVpRBklxvW4kQ-wfXCrmya-cPoUbf0wY7S_HgzEmV0VhuX5L2FKZRC5-DeOOd98C7skpKldeWHB2bJL-e4Zw/s320/IMG_4018.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the fish</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVLOWBWR_NW_Cq9d-_BnmqprghuyLLPouXw7u-GvvpHAsy_-DCuj2XbMyc2UyxI24t2Bk4ZIVFe0ZuYWPwQdho85rN5BJBT_ccuaZtATwfmokB2cVL5upWrzdUqHN324ettxsHf5VJXM/s1600/IMG_4033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDVLOWBWR_NW_Cq9d-_BnmqprghuyLLPouXw7u-GvvpHAsy_-DCuj2XbMyc2UyxI24t2Bk4ZIVFe0ZuYWPwQdho85rN5BJBT_ccuaZtATwfmokB2cVL5upWrzdUqHN324ettxsHf5VJXM/s320/IMG_4033.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who doesn't love noodles?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9EtjDakckwXryBErn3W4aJiNwT4XIcUQUhetcPVQQhlswQJtAKng1V6ka-K3MMTOQrXdG-fDHfcQgzerAP8kqKZa57wVVXr0e2R-K52X0XGHqut46PbBWu-e2-IIuq0e6o9ChkkNabw/s1600/IMG_4036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9EtjDakckwXryBErn3W4aJiNwT4XIcUQUhetcPVQQhlswQJtAKng1V6ka-K3MMTOQrXdG-fDHfcQgzerAP8kqKZa57wVVXr0e2R-K52X0XGHqut46PbBWu-e2-IIuq0e6o9ChkkNabw/s320/IMG_4036.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama would rather have broccoli!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSR9x23NJgVqOENWEtCFpVdFdmuYfXgXtQ_eXC9s5UHReKt5bozu5mat7YE-qDCerkTymRN-B07neXAUmLlOT_veZqHlhnoS8CMvZijBdi00W16JitH0fFC3yksLIVncuuZv67i504iA/s1600/IMG_4039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSR9x23NJgVqOENWEtCFpVdFdmuYfXgXtQ_eXC9s5UHReKt5bozu5mat7YE-qDCerkTymRN-B07neXAUmLlOT_veZqHlhnoS8CMvZijBdi00W16JitH0fFC3yksLIVncuuZv67i504iA/s320/IMG_4039.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More noodles!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TDUYJXohEtGoWMEGcs1e-feSh9Ssgav61iFYyLQuK0ceZGiU3VJoPfHJXGd4oCiLzz4Vx2OFjKM3AhVHg44DR9LBuFzNOpokTq9HSheRkOwzjqaDyNRdXVHaXJLLKQOQY7C7-vPYXb8/s1600/IMG_4047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TDUYJXohEtGoWMEGcs1e-feSh9Ssgav61iFYyLQuK0ceZGiU3VJoPfHJXGd4oCiLzz4Vx2OFjKM3AhVHg44DR9LBuFzNOpokTq9HSheRkOwzjqaDyNRdXVHaXJLLKQOQY7C7-vPYXb8/s320/IMG_4047.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MeiMei loves her Baba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3je0xzUiEltYBrwDGPsIAHKgJ3fUL9GcxhC3uYMqaxzN5EJ1mVG9OKkR_T91XhpDIeZIKBuN8SLu06ACZI3oaIEPWwQA0n7Q6_Y5r4XonM5tyLSwUvbJ9tN6ZIw8WJ2V7J9GvzQr9eSs/s1600/IMG_4049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3je0xzUiEltYBrwDGPsIAHKgJ3fUL9GcxhC3uYMqaxzN5EJ1mVG9OKkR_T91XhpDIeZIKBuN8SLu06ACZI3oaIEPWwQA0n7Q6_Y5r4XonM5tyLSwUvbJ9tN6ZIw8WJ2V7J9GvzQr9eSs/s320/IMG_4049.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playroom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfWIanocxOqNQom0mZQ5OaOsmWjeL3s7JZ33xAOuJr7EvZlQhzWY5fk0P1jD5lMDppdRASccDICjbmYbirsLFV_clq5CqJ1ixxF0CFmWrImfh3-M_ekQ5UFCeBDGLaac4esi9yAP7F9I/s1600/IMG_4050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfWIanocxOqNQom0mZQ5OaOsmWjeL3s7JZ33xAOuJr7EvZlQhzWY5fk0P1jD5lMDppdRASccDICjbmYbirsLFV_clq5CqJ1ixxF0CFmWrImfh3-M_ekQ5UFCeBDGLaac4esi9yAP7F9I/s320/IMG_4050.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our 25th floor hotel room</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-64745572680535598262018-11-22T07:09:00.002-06:002018-11-22T07:09:21.350-06:00Baotou<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">So…we didn’t think we’d get a chance to blog tonight, but thanks
to getting to the airport 2 hours early, and a 1 hour and 45-minute delay, we
are sitting here with nothing to do!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We left early this morning to make the trip to Baotou, Xuan Xuan’s
hometown. We had to have all our stuff packed up and ready to go. Because of
our shopping trip, we weren’t packing as light as we were thinking we might be!
We took 2 trips from our room down to the lobby to get everything down. We had
the suitcases, plus we also had the gifts and sleepers that we had for the
orphanage. The mini-vans here are a little smaller than the ones we have in the
states, so it was a tight squeeze! Lydia and I sat in the back with some of the
suitcases. We thought we better have MeiMei sit in the middle to try to eliminate
some of the carsickness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I gave her some “natural” motion sickness medicine because I only
had full strength Bonine and I wasn’t sure how much of that I should give her.
Well, we made it a little while, but sure enough – puke! Of course, we didn’t
have any bags handy, so it went all over the floor again. (Lydia said we better
give the driver a really good tip, since he’d have to clean up 2 puke messes in
2 days!) We got it cleaned up and I made an SOS call to my sister-in-law,
Jaime, who deals with motion sickness herself and with her kids. I ended up
giving MeiMei Bonine, but she puked about 10 minutes later. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">☹</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> So I don’t think that any of it got into
her system. By that time, her stomach was pretty much empty. She fell asleep
for a little bit and we got to the orphanage without any more incidents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we got to the Baotou orphanage, we were welcomed by Ms. Xue,
the dean who had brought MeiMei to Huhhot for our Family Day. They didn’t say I
couldn’t take pictures, so I started snapping them left and right. We were hoping
to meet the director of the orphanage, but he was in meetings or something, so
we didn’t meet him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We found out that MeiMei had been in some sort of foster family
for the past month or so within the orphanage, but they were in Beijing for winter
camp, so we didn’t get to meet them. They did show us a work room where children
and adults with disabilities work making bead crafts. They sell the crafts for
donations to the orphanage, so we bought a TON to bring home as gifts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Then they took us up to see the kids who were in the same room as
MeiMei. She was like a celebrity when she walked into the room. They were all hugging
her and they wanted to meet her JieJie (Big Sister). They were all impressed
with Lydia. I asked about taking pictures and they said it was ok. I couldn’t
believe it. When we first walked in there was a sign that there were no picture
allowed, but they didn’t mind when I asked. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed downstairs where we went to the sleeping room. The kids all
crawled into their beds and started taking off the layers that the Chinese feel
is healthy for everyone to wear. I guess since they were going to sleep under
covers, they could take their coats off! I always thought that it was only children
that they bundled up, but being here in the winter, I see that the adults stay
bundled up too. They wear their coats inside over layers and layers of clothes.
They keep the buildings to warm too. Usually, I’m all about staying warm, but
this is a little excessive! Rant over… We saw the bed and the room where MeiMei
stayed most recently, and then met some of her teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">There is a school connected to the orphanage where the kids go for
lessons. It looked like she had been going there for preschool and now for kindergarten.
We got some of her school books when they brought her to us. We met the
teachers and we could tell that some of them were very close to MeiMei. A few
of them were crying and hugging her a lot. I could tell that they care about
her and for her very much. It made both Brian and I very emotional seeing them
and her crying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m so thankful that she had as good of an experience as an orphanage
can be. There was a lot of love and care for the kids there. Ms. Xue also cared
so much for the children. It is nice to see that in a culture where some kids
are not valued, there are people who see the great value in them. It was such
and emotional visit. I’m so glad that we got to go and see where MeiMei lived
for the first 5 ½ years of her life. Not very many people have been allowed to
go to the orphanage in the past 5 or 6 years, so this was a great gift. We
thank the Lord that He allowed the authorities to have a favorable response to
our request to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After the orphanage, we headed to a Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant. Hot
pot is a traditional Mongolian food. We had it one other time in California
with my cousins whose daughter is also from Inner Mongolia. The restaurant we
went to in Baotou was amazingly the same chain that they have in California!!! Hot
pot is an interesting concept. You go to the restaurant, order some food that
is uncooked. They bring you a pot of boiling broth, put it on a hot plate and
then you choose what uncooked food you want to cook in your broth. We had beef,
lamb, vegetables, and noodles. It was all sooo good. Lydia LOVED it!!! One
option they had for adding to the broth was some kind of mushroom – really tall,
small mushrooms. I’m not sure what they’re called, but Lydia decided to try some
– without knowing they were mushrooms. I wasn’t about to tell her what they
were. As many of you know, mushrooms are Lydia’s least favorite food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, she really liked them! When I told her
what they were, she was completely grossed out, but still said they were good!
Our driver, Mr. Oo (I have know idea how it’s spelled), also ate with us. He
got some of the food from the buffet for us. He brought us a bowl full of what
we thought was cold soup. We tried to eat it. It was not so tasty. It had a
really strong flavor. I wasn’t sure what, but I couldn’t choke down a whole
bowlful! Come to find out, it was peanut sauce to dip the food in after it was
cooked! No wonder it was so strong for a soup!!! Oh the things we do when we
are learning a new culture!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After hot pot, I asked Aggie to stop at a Starbucks that I had
seen just around the corner. One of my friends collects Starbucks mugs with the
different towns in China. She didn’t have a Baotou, so I had to go find one! There
wasn’t a parking lot nearby, so the driver stopped across the street and told
me to hurry. I had to cross the 8 lanes of traffic to get there. Remember
Frogger? That was me today. I just followed a Chinese person and hoped that I
made it! I’m glad I did. The Baotou mug is really cool. It says Baotou, of
course, but it also has some of the sites of the city and yurts, traditional
Mongolian homes, on the back. I got the mugs and also got to experience cross
the street like a real Chinese person!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">There was one more puking incident after lunch. I’m not sure what
we’re going to do to get this under control. Hopefully smoother roads, less
jerking around, and a higher seat will help when we get home. Just pray that it’s
only car sickness and not plane sickness too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We stopped at MeiMei’s finding spot on the way out of town. It was
originally at a school, but the school moved and it’s now a factory. It was
kind of sad because it looked so abandoned and miserable. I’m sure 5 years ago
it was a nice school with people around, but today it was just dirty and run
down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to Huhhot. MeiMei slept most of the way and there
was no more puking – yeah! Aggie decided to stop at the passport office to see
if by chance the passport was ready. And, yes! It was ready for us to pick up.
I’m so glad. She was planning to send it to us in Guangzhou, but it feels much
better knowing that we have it in our hands. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> We headed to the airport and here we are.
We are almost ready to board the airplane now. There’s not time to add
pictures, so I’ll add them tomorrow. Sorry for those of you who are dying to
see us!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Happy Thanksgiving – our dinner was chips, coke, and Oreos – at least
that’s pretty American!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-41023582910470227552018-11-21T07:41:00.004-06:002018-11-21T07:41:47.275-06:00Lydia's Top 10 (in her own words)<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">What my ten favorite things so far on this trip are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">1. Visiting my orphanage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I liked this one
because it reminded me of what it was back when I was there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHNOqK8d7SxOHVrvMFA1Tv1pwIIFerEPtZ71yLcR18tV8zy7-TAepV9FcGI2sp5QzUyz7jWDcJdwNBiMTdy6XufoB61CpwIQH28a3vflMzrWdb9K2NQmLaVZVp-CYhZXvYupmtCaVKhM/s1600/DSCN0033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkHNOqK8d7SxOHVrvMFA1Tv1pwIIFerEPtZ71yLcR18tV8zy7-TAepV9FcGI2sp5QzUyz7jWDcJdwNBiMTdy6XufoB61CpwIQH28a3vflMzrWdb9K2NQmLaVZVp-CYhZXvYupmtCaVKhM/s320/DSCN0033.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2. Eating yummy food.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eating food fills
me up and makes me feel good. My favorites are noodles, dumplings, doughnuts,
waffles, and chocolate filled hot dog bun (for lack of a better name).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDsRmFgU7qRciq54NUD6Sz4ZQCRSf-flmA8pMavP8lrbmFKQA26T80SGpcdFyrgn16NFZ3qJgW4HjQuede7QPfLvvqJxxyi7mEv2vFzPFPwqSvZj71bw8qmL8bv2GkJ5Eg8ErYx3PiN3s/s1600/IMG_3527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDsRmFgU7qRciq54NUD6Sz4ZQCRSf-flmA8pMavP8lrbmFKQA26T80SGpcdFyrgn16NFZ3qJgW4HjQuede7QPfLvvqJxxyi7mEv2vFzPFPwqSvZj71bw8qmL8bv2GkJ5Eg8ErYx3PiN3s/s320/IMG_3527.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">3. Seeing the Great Wall of China.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was very
interesting. And it had a lot of history. The ride up and down was very fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCeCQsW4qndQ_F8wRzSBjqMQmcQqNf9MGzYd_IvzFWBGkyMmeStShZO4-UL7TGoH2dbVDPARIghVVRcG5-NshAANhq7zLsVUJUnBP-mpxNKoIyxClhy4-Q0A9U-0OjYdAk7fJy_3CnOI/s1600/DSCN0093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCeCQsW4qndQ_F8wRzSBjqMQmcQqNf9MGzYd_IvzFWBGkyMmeStShZO4-UL7TGoH2dbVDPARIghVVRcG5-NshAANhq7zLsVUJUnBP-mpxNKoIyxClhy4-Q0A9U-0OjYdAk7fJy_3CnOI/s320/DSCN0093.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">4. Visiting the Temple of Heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was interesting
and had a lot of special artifacts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtxPXt_9Lq1Hn6-8r3hkNshF0JpZmYI-sYnndx2wy-qM46cMvOci99UD5FIhz3Zs8BD6zNjv4g2o65iCRZPFxO-gTq-tb1m-VLXHnzPKbT9cyAZ462w5SakkowdU3XvMkKxglXFUsFho/s1600/DSCN0120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtxPXt_9Lq1Hn6-8r3hkNshF0JpZmYI-sYnndx2wy-qM46cMvOci99UD5FIhz3Zs8BD6zNjv4g2o65iCRZPFxO-gTq-tb1m-VLXHnzPKbT9cyAZ462w5SakkowdU3XvMkKxglXFUsFho/s320/DSCN0120.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">5. Going to Tiananmen Square.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was very cool
watching the soldiers march across the street and lower the flag.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJHYbxjKBvZRFg5QD_aDKC7_LCsgedEkG3KKpy17w_zdv6tCyxr8wnLTBVtMGAeQJknbKQMMHx80z8S_t9wqEs6ERujb0jFEiaQWJJbCiQgOVn9qdyjvybv4Reqnp6WbroUubSIGFCsI/s1600/DSCN0110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJHYbxjKBvZRFg5QD_aDKC7_LCsgedEkG3KKpy17w_zdv6tCyxr8wnLTBVtMGAeQJknbKQMMHx80z8S_t9wqEs6ERujb0jFEiaQWJJbCiQgOVn9qdyjvybv4Reqnp6WbroUubSIGFCsI/s320/DSCN0110.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">6. Eating at restaurants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I liked trying all
the new foods, especially the noodles.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwgrO62HSEeJRCuaP7pmU5r0w6IEtEsswVq5co_FFvva9EZk3_SY4qJOGam-glReKj_hxmuexTl1wE0894kQa-u_ktwS3_eZhmIXP8d9ObIOgWUyQbR9fqd1uUdpUJgt4N8E3jlveXJQ/s1600/IMG_3736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwgrO62HSEeJRCuaP7pmU5r0w6IEtEsswVq5co_FFvva9EZk3_SY4qJOGam-glReKj_hxmuexTl1wE0894kQa-u_ktwS3_eZhmIXP8d9ObIOgWUyQbR9fqd1uUdpUJgt4N8E3jlveXJQ/s320/IMG_3736.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">7. Sleeping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I enjoyed my
dreams.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi543YIWgtPxKoZZMH6CYKZBFHvL4xm_-XI5T6arHszUOTYd_wF0j47nufOGILYehtmuTBZ4xAI5WhMXdTO3iX2WimXRPArdVSxxQIOzswVJmsrfTYTp432EUvZaK_ZfGH1CfyGNCOlgbM/s1600/IMG_3701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi543YIWgtPxKoZZMH6CYKZBFHvL4xm_-XI5T6arHszUOTYd_wF0j47nufOGILYehtmuTBZ4xAI5WhMXdTO3iX2WimXRPArdVSxxQIOzswVJmsrfTYTp432EUvZaK_ZfGH1CfyGNCOlgbM/s320/IMG_3701.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">8. Having a tour guide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They told us a lot
of history of China.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKwiCeLp2NxjSXuVqynDizKp0KW7VxNOR73lnszplU2YI0ab7TXoFO-hprgFduDhRM47HvAYmoBLX06US0uCx22M_XtpQMJ0K6g4Yn8YgJIdfc6NI3nFFK1ExjfVsEdvi_cUA6T1L5ks/s1600/DSCN0101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKwiCeLp2NxjSXuVqynDizKp0KW7VxNOR73lnszplU2YI0ab7TXoFO-hprgFduDhRM47HvAYmoBLX06US0uCx22M_XtpQMJ0K6g4Yn8YgJIdfc6NI3nFFK1ExjfVsEdvi_cUA6T1L5ks/s320/DSCN0101.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">9. Going to get Ruthie (MeiMei).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was fun to meet
her, and play with her especially hide and seek.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">10. Going to museums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I saw interesting
things like dinosaur bones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-43622977620243595312018-11-21T07:04:00.000-06:002018-11-21T07:06:35.754-06:00An Historical Day!<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our last full day in Huhhot was good. We started the day off early
as we needed to go apply for MeiMei’s passport. We had to go to a government
office where they fill out the paperwork for the passport. First, we had to
stop at the notary’s office to pick up the official paperwork for the adoption.
We have all those official papers in our backpack. We know from experience how
luggage gets lost and it may be forever!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">On the way to the office, there was a lot of stopping and starting
in the car. It was close to rush hour and we were in the downtown area. Well,
we found out that MeiMei gets carsick – the hard way. Puke all over the seat
and the floor of the van. At least she kept it off herself and us and our bags.
Fortunately, I had wipes in the backpack and we got everything mostly cleaned
up. Now she has puked half as many times as Lydia has in her 6 years with us!
Hopefully this is not a precursor to what is to come!!! She was fine the rest
of the day, so I’m pretty sure it was carsickness. Tomorrow we’ll make sure she
sits in the middle seats in the van and I also have some medicine to prevent
carsickness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we got to the government building, Aggie led the way. She
knows how to get things done. We had a bag full of candy as part of a gift we
brought for the head of the passport office. She took the bag, opened it, and
started handing out candy to the workers. We didn’t have to wait at all! Good
things may come to those who wait in America, but good things come to those who
give candy in China! They filled out the papers, took MeiMei’s fingerprints and
picture and then we went up to another office. There were a bunch of people
waiting, so I thought it might take a while, but Aggie just marched up to one
of the workers, handed her some candy and she processed our paperwork without a
wait. Aggie dropped off the lotion and the 31 bag we brought to the head of the
passport department and we were off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The next stop for us was the Inner Mongolia History Museum. The
best exhibit was the dinosaur bones. They have found a bunch of fossils in
Inner Mongolia. The second largest dinosaur skeleton in the world was found
here and it was in the museum. I have seen dinosaur bones at the history museum
in Chicago and New York, but the enormity of this skeleton was overwhelming. Our
neighbors LOVE dinosaurs, so Lydia was excited to share pictures with them. We
know that even if MeiMei doesn’t know much about dinosaurs yet, she will once
she hangs out with Evelyn and Gabe for a while! She wasn’t so sure about the animatronic
dinosaurs in the exhibit. But once she found out the were fake, she was ok with
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">There were also some exhibits about the history of the Mongol
people, including Genghis Khan. Brian has been reading a book about Genghis
Khan on this trip, so it was interesting to him to see some of the actual
artifacts from his conquest. Inner Mongolia is also home to 34 ethnic
minorities, so the museum had some information about them too. I think Aggie
was surprised about how interested we were in the museum. Of course, we are
history buffs and museum people, so we wanted to see everything. She told us
that if we didn’t hurry, we wouldn’t have time to see it all. I’m pretty sure
we didn’t see half of the museum. Oh well, we have to leave something undone
for the next time we come!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to the hotel after the museum and decided to lay
low this afternoon. Since we weren’t sure about the puking, we thought going
all over town might not be the best thing. We ate goldfish, Lara bars, candy,
cookies, and granola bars for lunch and then took a nap. Brian and I started
cleaning up the room and got a lot of our stuff packed for tomorrow. Hopefully
we can reduce the number of bags we have to take home, but after yesterday’s
shopping trip, I’m afraid we might not be traveling as light as we had hoped!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to the restaurant we ate at yesterday afternoon. I thought
of taking a picture of what we wanted so we could order that way. The people
who had helped us yesterday were working today, so they helped us again. We
really liked the food there and Lydia was especially happy to have her favorite
noodle dish and rice dish. MeiMei liked the chicken meat a lot. We had fun eating
together and MeiMei was serving us all more food from the dishes. Part way through
the meal, an older guy came to our table and started talking to us in Chinese.
He brought us cups and then went back and got us some tea. I’m not sure what
kind of tea it was. It was a yellowish green color and it had some kind of
grain floating in it. It looked kind of like millet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After supper, Brian suggested that we go find some place for
dessert. We decided if we went to McDonald’s we’d know what we were getting, so
we headed there. McFlurries were enjoyed by the other three, and I had a hot
fudge sundae. Yumm! It’s crazy that McDonald’s is one of the more expensive
restaurants in China. We spent 75RMB on our dinner – 3 main dishes, meat
skewers, 3 pops and a water, and for 3 McFlurries and a sundae, we spend 41
RMB. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back to the hotel and MeiMei wanted to be carried. Brian
carried her part of the way, and she figured out how to hold on. That got her a
little further in his arms before he wore out. Lydia wanted to join in the fun
too, so I put her on my back once we got close to the hotel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The girls had a fun time in the bathtub again. The tub is in a
separate room with the shower, so they could splash as much as they wanted and
all the water would just go into the shower. Hopefully this won’t be a problem
when we get home!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">They are sleeping soundly now, but Brian and I need to finish
packing everything up. We have an early start tomorrow as we head to the
orphanage in Baotou. We go there, which is a few hour’s drive, and then head
back to Huhhot where we’ll fly down to Guangzhou. We won’t arrive in Guangzhou
until after 11pm, so we may not blog. On Friday, we have to be up early again
for a medical appointment. Fortunately, Guangzhou has just a few things to do
(even though the timing has to be spread out), so we should be able to take it
easy for the next week. Hopefully we’ll catch up on the sleep we’ll miss
tomorrow!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">It will be MeiMei’s first flight. Hopefully she doesn’t get motion
sickness in the airplane too! At least she likes Brian, so if we get split up,
he’ll have to clean up the puke this time. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Matching, matching again.</div>
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Tried the mobi lasted long enough for two photos</div>
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One of the best collections of dinosaurs in the world</div>
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Eating at our new favorite restaurant in China</div>
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McDonalds ice cream</div>
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Every city needs a random shrimp seat</div>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-8332388282050119282018-11-20T23:04:00.002-06:002018-11-20T23:05:55.357-06:00One Less<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I woke up early today
(actually this is the best I’ve slept the whole trip.) I got a solid
8 hours of sleep. Minus the time I woke up and looked over at the
girl’s bed and thought Ruthie was missing. After waking up enough to
see if she fell on the floor and rolled under the bed, I realized she was
sleeping in Lydia’s spot and Lydia had moved to the end of the
bed. I was not scared, but I was wondering what happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I thought I’d add my two
cents to yesterday. Yesterday I did not sleep as well as
today. I woke up about 2:30 in the morning (I have no idea what time
it actually was, but that seems like a good guess) and started thinking about
everything going on. While I was doing that a song came to me that I
thought summed up the day fairly well. It is the song </span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaETx7hmHQ"><span style="color: blue;">“One
Less” by Matthew West</span></a></span></u><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">. (I attached the link if you do not know
it). I sometimes think songs about adoption maybe make orphanages
seem worse than they are. This may stem from the fact that both of
my daughters spent significant time in one, and I want to think of that time as
positively as possible. We have not been to Ruthie’s yet, but from
visiting Lydia’s it is a very nice building with very nice people that do their
best to care for the children, but it is not a family. God designed
families as his plan for the world. The way we are going to see our
culture improve is to improve families. We need strong marriages,
with parents training their children to follow God’s word. Before I
get too close to preaching, I’ll get back to the point. Yesterday
officially and legally (in the eyes of the Chinese government, the only one
that counts for now) Wang Xuan Yi is no longer an orphan and there is one less
in the orphan world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Three reasons I put this
into our blog. First, I thought I should let everyone know I’m
involved here. Erica is much better at the play by play. If I typed
it, it would be about half the length so I'll let her do
that. Secondly, I thought it was a nice way to sum up the importance
of the day. Sometimes a song is better than words. Thirdly, I
want to let everyone that has had a part in this process for us (there are a
lot of you) know that what you have done is appreciated by us, and is bigger
than us adding to our family. We could have chosen to do that in
several ways. We could have added a dog, Lydia would have been
happy, it would have been a lot less money and paperwork, and we could be done,
but God chose this as the way to add to our family. I believe after
sin entered the world God knew adoption would be a big part of smoothing out
some of the effects of sin. If you look in the Bible adoption is all
over it, not the least significant is that God chose Joseph to adopt Jesus (the
Bible does not say how official the adoption was, but he was Jesus father here
on earth.) Sorry, getting close to preaching again, back to the
point. I want everyone reading to know we appreciate more than we
can express all the way you have helped lower the number of orphans in the world
by one today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-70837413952601881192018-11-20T07:17:00.003-06:002018-11-20T07:17:29.968-06:00It's Official<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Today it’s official…MeiMei is a Peterson. After our favorite breakfast buffet, which MeiMei liked just as much as Lydia, we went to a conference room in the hotel to meet with the dean of the orphanage, a notary, and a civil affairs worker. Together they made it official and we adopted Wang Xuan Yi. She is now Ruth Lois XuanYi Peterson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We had to sign a bunch of papers and also stamp our fingerprint next to our signature. In China, everyone has a “chop” or stamp that they use for their signature. Since we don’t have our own chop, we have to sign and then use our fingerprint stamped in red ink. MeiMei also had to put her whole hand print on one of the papers. It was all kind of a whirlwind process with a “sign here” and “answer this” that made it all legal. We also had to be interviewed and tell what our jobs were, our income, and also tell the Chinese government that we will take care of her, give her a good education, and never abandon or abuse her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">That was done by about 9:30am and we had the rest of the day free. We came back to our room and tried to get things organized. We unpacked all the sleepers that my school collected and put them in giant gift bags. We also arranged all the rest of the gifts we have to bring to the people in Baotou. After all that we were down to one suitcase per person. Much more like us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lydia wanted to FaceTime a bunch of people. She is very proud of her little sister. She spent a good chunk of the morning showing her off to family. She wanted to try calling some of her friends too, but it was getting too late in the US for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">While we were cleaning up, the girls started playing hide-and-go-seek. If you know Lydia at all, you know she loves that game. Well, we discovered MeiMei is really good at it too. She doesn’t mind small dark spaces and she has a LOT of patience. She hid inside a cupboard for a solid 5 minutes or more while Lydia searched all over for her. We’re in a hotel room, so there aren’t that many places, but Lydia didn’t think she could fit in there. They had tons of fun playing with each other. They also made a “fort” under the desk and put their blankets over it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed out for lunch around noon. We decided to see what we could find a little ways from the hotel. We found another noodle restaurant, which also had rice and some other foods that looked appetizing. They had screens that had pictures that rotated, so we had to wait through a few rounds to point out all that we wanted. We ended up with some meat on skewers, fried rice, noodles that Lydia claimed tasted like her favorite meatball noodles, and some chicken and rice. I was glad for something besides noodles! Fortunately, one of the workers took pity on us and helped us figure out what we needed to do to claim our food and fortunately they had a sign that flashed the number of the receipt when our food was ready. We really enjoyed the food there and it wasn’t too far from the hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When we came back, we knew that MeiMei should take a nap. She has been copying everything Lydia does and wants to be just like her. We have been using that to our advantage. We told Lydia to lay down until MeiMei fell asleep and what do you know, Lydia, who “wasn’t tired at all” fell asleep pretty quickly. We let the girls sleep for about an hour while Brian and I did a little laundry in the tub. We’re hoping that since towels seem to dry quickly and Inner Mongolia is known for it’s dryness (so dry that we have a humidifier in our hotel room), that our socks and underwear will be dry in the morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We woke the girls up and Lydia did not want to get up. Aggie, our guide, was coming to take us to a special shopping mall for Inner Mongolian items. Inner Mongolia is kind of like Wisconsin in that it is known for its milk production. Also, since they have so many cows, they also make a lot of leather products. There were a bunch of different items available at the mall to purchase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We got MeiMei a life lock, which is a Mongolian tradition. Because many babies died in the past, the Mongolian people wear long life locks because they think it will keep their children from dying young. There was one that had an owl on it, and since I love owls, I thought I would get that one. Aggie was not really in favor of that. Owls are auspicious, she said. It is bad luck to wear owls. She couldn’t believe that I would like owls so much, but I explained that in America we think of them as a symbol for wisdom. She said it would be ok for me, since it’s a positive symbol to me, but I could tell she wasn’t feeling it. We ended up with a lock that had flowers and the “fu” symbol for happiness. I think Aggie approved of that one!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">They also had a bunch of leather work to buy. They had some really pretty and unique paintings on leather. We purchased some of those – one of which we can put in the girls’ room. We also got a traditional Mongolian dress, hat, and boots for MeiMei. We bought one that is big so that we can give it to her later for her to wear. We also got a vest for her that fits her now. She’ll have something special to wear for Chinese New Year. We bought a few other items that are special to Inner Mongolia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It’s really neat to learn about the history and culture that is special to this specific region here in China. There are so many things that are special about the culture here. I’m glad that we will be able to have some special things to give to MeiMei to help her appreciate not only being Chinese, but also being Inner Mongolian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When we first arrived at the shopping mall, they treated us to a tradition of a special scarf. The girls weren’t so into shopping, but they had fun playing with each other and finding different ways to wear their scarves. </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">😊</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">On our way home, it was rush hour, so the driver took us a “back way” home. Aggie was annoyed with the traffic, but I thought it was so fun to see the way of the people. So many people were coming home – riding their bikes or motorcycles and walking. There were carts along the street with foods that people were buying on their way home from school or work. The sheer number of people continues to amaze me. And Huhhot is a “small” city in China. There are only about 2 million people here – Just to put that into perspective – that’s the same size as Chicago, and it’s the third largest city in the US. It’s just crazy to think of how many people there are in China.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When we got home, we could tell that the girls were getting really tired, so we headed out for supper right away. We had passed a restaurant on our way this afternoon that had chicken sandwiches and stuff like that. We decided to try it out tonight. They had a menu we could point to, so it was much easier than some places. They had a family pack that had 2 chicken sandwiches, a wrap, popcorn chicken, chicken nuggets, fries, and 3 drinks for less than $10. We decided to go with that and we had our fill of chicken. Just when we were almost done, they brought out a steaming rotisserie chicken that was apparently part of our meal. Since it’s rude/gross to the Chinese to eat things with your fingers, they brought us plastic gloves to pull apart and eat the chicken. Lydia wasn’t so sure about any of the chicken, since it wasn’t McDonald’s or Chik-fil-A all-white meat chicken, but MeiMei ate it all up. She’s definitely a meat girl like Lydia was when she first came home. Brian and I both enjoyed something that wasn’t noodles again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We headed back home and since it was so busy and dark, we were walking 2 by 2 – me and MeiMei and Brian and Lydia. I could tell that MeiMei was getting tired, so I tried to carry her, but she would have none of that. Only Baba was good enough to carry her. It brought back memories of Lydia wanting to be “bobo-ed” all the time. I don’t think MeiMei will want it very often, but after being on her feet all day and trying to keep up with our big strides, I think she was happy to be carried. One thing about Chinese children that seems strange is that they don’t hold on when you carry them. It seems like it would be a natural thing to cling, but they just sit there like a sack of potatoes! Well, Lydia wanted to join in the bobo-ing fun, so I carried her piggyback for a while. She’s getting to be quite the load! She also tried giving MeiMei a piggyback ride in the hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lydia wanted to blog tonight, but she is sleeping. We told her to lay down so MeiMei could fall asleep. Brian asked if I wanted to bet on who would be asleep faster…Lydia won, by the way! Another long day in the books for the Peterson four.<br />Last night it took me almost two hours to get the blog written and posted, because the wifi and VPN kept going out. I decided to write on Word tonight, so I don’t end up getting the blog partway done and not getting it to save. Here’s hoping we’ll have fast internet connection! I can’t believe that tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving. If we were home, I’d be stressing out about making pies and thawing the turkey. I hope everyone is enjoying the day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpOgAobzWVaDgQtDO2rSq2KhoA6XS6HZAKVFOJQTQ3kBAbtPEZrbXpRBaGj9gLc1Vi2Hv9I8M5PRH4zCo5mO_RXboNy2yLMR61MyvGck8vHDfEV0aOLIdHexJzVmTH3qjD65XvADXAM0/s1600/IMG_3704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpOgAobzWVaDgQtDO2rSq2KhoA6XS6HZAKVFOJQTQ3kBAbtPEZrbXpRBaGj9gLc1Vi2Hv9I8M5PRH4zCo5mO_RXboNy2yLMR61MyvGck8vHDfEV0aOLIdHexJzVmTH3qjD65XvADXAM0/s320/IMG_3704.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matching Matching</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzR9WNbmfJOL6H2fhtS5SJTC2IuYLOYjZHjFLJuxHuXkQk0j8VG8A7rE4wwy7buv7eVg7BpHThWGdStuej79WRtHkXR-fi5WDxlE22_LTg9YnXHKTPrw8Q_RG_VLO-dmPi30tEcanyWg/s1600/IMG_3706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzR9WNbmfJOL6H2fhtS5SJTC2IuYLOYjZHjFLJuxHuXkQk0j8VG8A7rE4wwy7buv7eVg7BpHThWGdStuej79WRtHkXR-fi5WDxlE22_LTg9YnXHKTPrw8Q_RG_VLO-dmPi30tEcanyWg/s320/IMG_3706.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Matching Matching</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3uhtgXz_J2L5xieC-DhhIFpTowyJOUP_TDeTU1oQClBhgZye8x_7PlTUXCfUuZmhmLd8n3WkfLS1tk3502ZJXz5PJeGrNX1lfD18kI1uJqBvji-GXYt2aFoNp9s3BJdulbOlG01RcK8/s1600/IMG_3707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3uhtgXz_J2L5xieC-DhhIFpTowyJOUP_TDeTU1oQClBhgZye8x_7PlTUXCfUuZmhmLd8n3WkfLS1tk3502ZJXz5PJeGrNX1lfD18kI1uJqBvji-GXYt2aFoNp9s3BJdulbOlG01RcK8/s320/IMG_3707.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MeiMei enjoying the breakfast buffet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi75xpTe8-xPqL8b9lkpJB-C2AEa7-yH38I2tUI8hIaIEts_V7dBl7kWWjU38sc4ZNZfUDh_92FAjRTJe1FnQTb34VHyUXWJtPEEoix22POMAeUBW-rZVVG-5N2EniUTuIXGU1gG2Xy4xQ/s1600/IMG_3708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi75xpTe8-xPqL8b9lkpJB-C2AEa7-yH38I2tUI8hIaIEts_V7dBl7kWWjU38sc4ZNZfUDh_92FAjRTJe1FnQTb34VHyUXWJtPEEoix22POMAeUBW-rZVVG-5N2EniUTuIXGU1gG2Xy4xQ/s320/IMG_3708.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our huge stack of money!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp2U67Tca7m-iJUv3DTFZUcQWXCcsTUqvsCSGwExpF-MQGYMy9R7GLfmKuh-RPOguE9WF2-eLZnhKoAAau1PU3awNUK2VHVI_3KV65iogMUDYUYYUm-A5V9re8j9TCex2k5y2upDX-Xs/s1600/IMG_3712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZp2U67Tca7m-iJUv3DTFZUcQWXCcsTUqvsCSGwExpF-MQGYMy9R7GLfmKuh-RPOguE9WF2-eLZnhKoAAau1PU3awNUK2VHVI_3KV65iogMUDYUYYUm-A5V9re8j9TCex2k5y2upDX-Xs/s320/IMG_3712.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stamping our signature</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gPk8G94FrQHrL7exM8Zql3Inf0Yz0mb0wlLAx3mPeNCW2e7TShDXvFhaPpC30B3UAwFbdCjwx-0YQ5DTMdzPTD8tzeBpUljdufJrRhOpxavyA81kfgjiI2vdvHGpYz2S80DgIq4yKeI/s1600/IMG_3720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gPk8G94FrQHrL7exM8Zql3Inf0Yz0mb0wlLAx3mPeNCW2e7TShDXvFhaPpC30B3UAwFbdCjwx-0YQ5DTMdzPTD8tzeBpUljdufJrRhOpxavyA81kfgjiI2vdvHGpYz2S80DgIq4yKeI/s320/IMG_3720.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0CTrAVTsV8CrJKChNVvPGUbTfi2FW3VC0WX2sn0IdUALqbMuY7TwnBYz2KuJ1KbYoTEVqqeW2IdbLJzP33k8pJo65-iSEYGGRAUPqIj1h7LwbnEfpfYiyXtBejfApNYVT5KR36mmH4y4/s1600/IMG_3735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0CTrAVTsV8CrJKChNVvPGUbTfi2FW3VC0WX2sn0IdUALqbMuY7TwnBYz2KuJ1KbYoTEVqqeW2IdbLJzP33k8pJo65-iSEYGGRAUPqIj1h7LwbnEfpfYiyXtBejfApNYVT5KR36mmH4y4/s320/IMG_3735.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisters</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJzoC3AqFKfKYW0XBPT6x0tZg_pXgxkBkcXbSBn_R9cdLZjx88TBGqGhaPT048u6UOGn9W_fZ3zY3yG5cQzLZ2pewncLo_tS4BOEnxAkP0i52mjbUzzkmJTpzwbzJAjkKdxnliC-wtzE/s1600/IMG_3740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJzoC3AqFKfKYW0XBPT6x0tZg_pXgxkBkcXbSBn_R9cdLZjx88TBGqGhaPT048u6UOGn9W_fZ3zY3yG5cQzLZ2pewncLo_tS4BOEnxAkP0i52mjbUzzkmJTpzwbzJAjkKdxnliC-wtzE/s320/IMG_3740.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...But I'm not tired!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZhvCUSGjXsjFimVXzNSFAorDidI5x-RmMn8y650pwH2nhUR16-iHgnYxdQ9v9gBjB08nvYCLWeH-baCYRUFW2gCD86GcPFCSkPJVYCBBdTZwylxzE55OY2pstzAX6QHcZmAbLwORTW0/s1600/IMG_3746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZhvCUSGjXsjFimVXzNSFAorDidI5x-RmMn8y650pwH2nhUR16-iHgnYxdQ9v9gBjB08nvYCLWeH-baCYRUFW2gCD86GcPFCSkPJVYCBBdTZwylxzE55OY2pstzAX6QHcZmAbLwORTW0/s320/IMG_3746.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like Wisconsin!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAh3i6uV4fT3-Qs4qzNMzfpdOLLeEwBQJIvtf9wm7VopaTEdYCcXbkRuqRCGtDmXuYKSoFPFrDdWQZ1pf88uDT3HmH5jwvK4IiHvRrnw-ur80VdKo_f3xJUxuRB4izfFOC0GdMJr_Xfg/s1600/IMG_3747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAh3i6uV4fT3-Qs4qzNMzfpdOLLeEwBQJIvtf9wm7VopaTEdYCcXbkRuqRCGtDmXuYKSoFPFrDdWQZ1pf88uDT3HmH5jwvK4IiHvRrnw-ur80VdKo_f3xJUxuRB4izfFOC0GdMJr_Xfg/s320/IMG_3747.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The shopping mall is shaped like a Mongolian hat.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxX9fjKA_Opk-7xQLz0_Y1Gpc4BBBjlUFRYWaAN7AjRh1cfRIyEq-CGnko__V6wbOwo26n48WXfH7ZQVyO5aVBGiihi5_Fk8xzoYM2bkq7jboUrwwKtsO3fr256X-HpviPToI9R01YaIQ/s1600/IMG_3748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxX9fjKA_Opk-7xQLz0_Y1Gpc4BBBjlUFRYWaAN7AjRh1cfRIyEq-CGnko__V6wbOwo26n48WXfH7ZQVyO5aVBGiihi5_Fk8xzoYM2bkq7jboUrwwKtsO3fr256X-HpviPToI9R01YaIQ/s320/IMG_3748.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mongolian dancer statues</td></tr>
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Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-2228243996948497272018-11-19T09:01:00.006-06:002018-11-19T09:01:57.683-06:00RuthieThis morning we got up and went to a breakfast buffet that topped the one in Beijing according to Lydia. She was pretty overwhelmed with all the different choices. Where else can you find noodles, dumplings, pancakes and doughnuts at one time? I'm pretty sure if she could live in hotels, Lydia would never leave China!<br />
We had to exchange money for the orphanage donation, so a banker came to the hotel to change it for us so we didn't have to go to the bank. I'm not sure if this was under the table, but he gave us the right exchange rate, so whatever! We had to exchange quite a bit of cash and the biggest bill they have in China is 100 RMB, which is like $14.50. So we have a stack of 450 bills! It is crazy. He gave us a bag to take the money in.<br />
A few minutes later, in walked MeiMei. She and the dean of the orphanage came on the train from Baotou to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia (her province). They had some papers for us to fill out and they had a bunch of stuff that they had brought for MeiMei - a Barbie, some crayons and pencils, a set of Paw Patrol toys, a video game player, etc. They also brought back the bear we sent to her with another Baotou mom, and the picture album we sent to her. They gave us a book that has a picture of her each month (I think) and information in Chinese about her growth. We got a stack of pictures of her through the years and a CD with more pictures on it. I'm so excited that we have that for her. We also got a stack of her school books too. She has been working on writing a lot.<br />
We had to get our picture taken together for the paper. It also goes into the official paperwork that finalizes our paperwork. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to get that close to us!<br />
The dean left and she was ok. Since it was the dean that brought her and not her nanny, she wasn't too concerned. She was also trying to play the video game and that distracted her. When our guide got ready to leave and told MeiMei that she was going with us, she wasn't too sure she wanted to do that. She went with us and we headed up to our hotel room. She came in and sat in the chair. We tried to get her to take her coat off, but she wanted nothing to do with that. She sat in the chair for the next few hours. We tried to get her to play, but she really didn't want to do anything. She was trying to be brave, we could tell, but she was crying alligator tears. She kept getting up to get Kleenex and then throw the Kleenex in the trash can.<br />
Our guide ordered us noodles so that we could just stay in the room to eat. We tried to get her to eat something, but she just sat there. She did find some Minnie Mouse stickers and she was sticking those to a bunch of things and gave quite a few to Brian and Lydia and one to me. After lunch we all laid down to try to get her to take a nap, which she does regularly. Brian tried putting her in bed, but she definitely didn't want that. She got back into the chair, with her coat still on and snuggled under her blanket. She finally fell asleep. We let her sleep for an hour and then started moving around so she would wake up.<br />
After her nap, she was a little more interested in us. I had downloaded an app to try to translate some questions. We knew there was a park nearby, so we asked if she wanted to go outside and go to the park. That was a definite yes! I was hoping the app didn't ask her if she wanted to go to Disneyland or something, because she seemed pretty excited! We found the park, thanks to Google Maps and walked around for a while. It did have an amusement park there, but since it's November and cold, the rides were covered and closed. We were hoping to find some toys to play on, but not such luck. We did find an exercise park, which Lydia thought was almost as good. In China, there are these exercise parks on every block it seems like. The people (especially the old ones, it seems) come out to the park to stretch and work out. It was the end of the work day and some people were there exercising. This is how the Chinese stay young and active. There was a set of parallel bars and we saw a 70+ man push himself up and hold himself. Another man was doing pull-ups on a high bar. Lydia used the bars to play on and the sit-up benches as slides. I was afraid we were going to get chewed out for letter her do it, but they kind of just ignored the crazy Americans!<br />
On the way back to the hotel, we passed another exercise park. They one had an actual slide. Lydia went down and tried to MeiMei to come with her, but she didn't want to go down the slide. After a few tries, Lydia got MeiMei to hold her hand while she went down the slide. Lydia would run back to the ladder and MeiMei would run after her. There was no convincing her to try it. Maybe we can go back tomorrow and see if her courage is up!<br />
We came back and the girls colored and played for a bit. It was getting late and we decided we should go get some supper. I looked on Google Maps again and found a bakery across the street and some other restaurants, but after looking out the window of our 14th floor room, we realized that crossing the street at this point may not be the easiest thing to do. We would have to go down to a stoplight and it is a ways down the street. We headed to another bakery and a convenience store that was listed on the map. We ended up with bananas, Cup Noodles (which Lydia has been begging for), some chips, and Oreo cookies. It was something easy we could bring back to the room and eat together. On the way there and back, Lydia and MeiMei were holding hands and being silly. Lydia loves her so much already and MeiMei at least likes Lydia. :)<br />
While we made the noodles, the girls were coloring some more and MeiMei started singing the ABC song! After el-em-min-oh-pea, she got a little lost, but oh well. At least she has been trying. They were pointing out letters on the computer keyboard too. When the noodles were done we ate on the floor picnic style. While we were eating, MeiMei was jabbering away in Chinese. She was telling Lydia what to do, I'm pretty sure. We tried to get her to say the words into a translation app so we could tell what she was saying. That proved to be the entertainment for the night! We were literally rolling on the floor laughing. The best one was the translation - "What about the controversial images of me and my sister?" Who knows what she was saying. Probably something about Lydia - JieJie - because we could understand that. It was so funny. She kept saying the same thing and it kept translating it differently!<br />
After supper we used the app to say that they were going to take a bath. We convinced Lydia to get into the bathtub with her. MeiMei didn't think that she wanted to do that because she'd already been washed today (we got that from a decent app translation). I had Lydia get in the bath and start playing and it was just a matter of seconds before she went in to see what Lydia was doing and started taking her clothes off. The two of them played in the bathtub for 30-45 minutes - spraying each other and having loads of fun! They got out, put on their matching/matching jammies from Auntie Shana and hopped into bed. They were both so tired. It was literally a matter of seconds before they were both snoring! Hopefully they both stay asleep for a long time tonight. Lydia has been told to get up and sleep on the floor if she wakes up since her incessant wiggling is sure to wake up MeiMei.<br />
Please pray for good sleeping and for the bonding process. I'm sure that we aren't over the grieving that will take place, and seeing people she knows tomorrow and especially on Thursday might be hard for her. My heart just breaks thinking of how hard this must be for her. I know it is for her ultimate good, but it's so hard to see her sad.<br />
Just a quick explanation of her name before I head for bed...Her full name is Ruth Lois XuanYi Peterson. She will receive paperwork with that name from the American consulate. We had to send the name in ahead of time, so we have had this picked out for a while.<br />
We wanted something that would fit with Lydia. I had a few names picked out, but finally settled on Ruth, no thanks to Brian. He figured that I was going to pick the name out anyway, so why waste his mental energy thinking about it. It was kind of frustrating, and I kept second guessing myself, but now that we've met, I think she's Ruthie through and through.<br />
As a teacher, it's hard to choose a name, because some of them have totally been ruined for you by former or current students. I did have a student named Ruthie back in the early days at CCS, but she was such a sweet and hardworking girl that I had no problem using the name Ruthie. I love the strength and grace that Ruth(ie) portrays. Ruth means "Friend" or "Compassionate Friend" and from the pictures and videos that we received, I just thought this fit her. We chose the middle name Lois after Brian's Aunt Lois who passed away last year. She was a wonderful, godly woman, and I thought it would be a special thing to be able to tell Ruthie about her Great-Aunt Lois. My grandmother's name is also Lois, although she always went by Bunny. I also like the tie to my side of the family. XuanYi is part of her Chinese name, Wang XuanYi. We found out today that at the orphanage, they call her Xuan Xuan or Xuan Yi, so I'm glad that we kept that part. I also found out that Yi is pronounced "EE", which is kind of cool because that was my nickname growing up - "E" or "Miss E".<br />
I'm off to bed. Hopefully everyone will stay asleep all night long!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOM65lOf4c9yo3j3kq3t4jZkvL23yfcHVV372CluyLMe3gmT0ctzMS9O9MAQuWDnyz__a7Wpwd2hMslFlxH2lGhtUuJPUrd_zET-tTysOGceBNfzWQja4PuFgqF39ZUIaQeG3ARGh2uA/s1600/IMG_3659.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOM65lOf4c9yo3j3kq3t4jZkvL23yfcHVV372CluyLMe3gmT0ctzMS9O9MAQuWDnyz__a7Wpwd2hMslFlxH2lGhtUuJPUrd_zET-tTysOGceBNfzWQja4PuFgqF39ZUIaQeG3ARGh2uA/s320/IMG_3659.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia's breakfast of champions!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She wanted nothing to do with any of us</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksk1mjsffJrs5qEMO9JpJa3Q7ADdtrDKn8Xr30wjcueJUp5rnz51YXQJ3tTXYCTi9liZK5pWrW-BkuyfG19vdk4O54k408tQUx6uVPxzFnbbT5R1e_NjhbqARdqy4sPFG0sdWzh0hw80/s1600/IMG_3671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksk1mjsffJrs5qEMO9JpJa3Q7ADdtrDKn8Xr30wjcueJUp5rnz51YXQJ3tTXYCTi9liZK5pWrW-BkuyfG19vdk4O54k408tQUx6uVPxzFnbbT5R1e_NjhbqARdqy4sPFG0sdWzh0hw80/s320/IMG_3671.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 4 Petersons with Miss Xue, the orphanage dean</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can never have too many noodles, can you?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleeping, in the chair, with a coat, 2 layers of clothing, and a blanket. She was so sweaty when she woke up!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYD4yPurfsybYdAa_U4Vt8nVbv0eTeRHgdZ5OXbhwafQaaVx_oEhwCQkzZVQSI2bvOdIvmyP8uKwhxidkzaRdUxAVLxy4tP6RB3UglXDCEk_vnm_ZwdDr0DpiS3b3esTi828yuWgZfqKk/s1600/IMG_3696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYD4yPurfsybYdAa_U4Vt8nVbv0eTeRHgdZ5OXbhwafQaaVx_oEhwCQkzZVQSI2bvOdIvmyP8uKwhxidkzaRdUxAVLxy4tP6RB3UglXDCEk_vnm_ZwdDr0DpiS3b3esTi828yuWgZfqKk/s320/IMG_3696.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisters!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdN4H9FYU0UFT_8ZGXEhYKJ_c_8Em9nb46FT6S4uiXAD7nXH5zfZSWD6qgzoNmlrnbD-AWj5xmXOnvthkCr5lGhtzEOWBEZ6LJ2210lNftpZn0MRsD5TBuGghAUkJBK5_nKKVMva-YFy8/s1600/IMG_3699.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdN4H9FYU0UFT_8ZGXEhYKJ_c_8Em9nb46FT6S4uiXAD7nXH5zfZSWD6qgzoNmlrnbD-AWj5xmXOnvthkCr5lGhtzEOWBEZ6LJ2210lNftpZn0MRsD5TBuGghAUkJBK5_nKKVMva-YFy8/s320/IMG_3699.PNG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the hilarious translations</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUrr8cZoFEeCPdqdNMgcG4GUhfDs_Pfh_rCGLCYcIgh9HywadSEpsc9xDEpe6JGVmeiCUv1g6FozXVXaKCEjo_Ehxh1_cL4FSkMzAD18-Z16AOlaUQQS7D8DcZDm5wRaGe9P3JAj-iwE/s1600/MNAU6496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUrr8cZoFEeCPdqdNMgcG4GUhfDs_Pfh_rCGLCYcIgh9HywadSEpsc9xDEpe6JGVmeiCUv1g6FozXVXaKCEjo_Ehxh1_cL4FSkMzAD18-Z16AOlaUQQS7D8DcZDm5wRaGe9P3JAj-iwE/s320/MNAU6496.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More noodles</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9T3LHFpLZ1retlb-bgpB2g_RfVvJL9fMt-9KoAbMKc7aKJLRiyVt7k_PkohWLnlBDIuNRYOf6FBIO-5YBnf4WBpivRtGy5-6PMmV2QiKNPwl2IM6yPETzVCZz24BEmZlSFcxerTX6d8/s1600/IMG_3701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9T3LHFpLZ1retlb-bgpB2g_RfVvJL9fMt-9KoAbMKc7aKJLRiyVt7k_PkohWLnlBDIuNRYOf6FBIO-5YBnf4WBpivRtGy5-6PMmV2QiKNPwl2IM6yPETzVCZz24BEmZlSFcxerTX6d8/s320/IMG_3701.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matching-Matching!!!</td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-55082643836179277882018-11-18T07:56:00.003-06:002018-11-18T07:56:54.883-06:00Inner Mongolia BoundToday we didn't have anything scheduled until our flight out of town at 4:20pm. We had the whole morning to ourselves. We got up a little later - I think we're starting to get more used to the time - about 7:00am. We hung around the room and took our time getting ready and headed for our last breakfast in Beijing. Lydia had at least 7 or 8 dumplings plus some wanton soup, rice, and other of her favorite Chinese breakfast dishes. We met another American family in the breakfast buffet. They were on vacation there in Beijing because the dad was stationed in Korea with the army. They ate breakfast with us and we talked about what we had seen and what they were going to be seeing. They had just arrived the night before and they were really excited to go see the Great Wall. It was fun talking to some other people who can converse easily with you. :)<br />
Since we didn't have anything planned for the morning, we decided to pack everything up, so we would know exactly how much time we had. We finished packing around 9:00am and decided to head to the Temple of Heaven. It was about 1.5 km away from our hotel. It took us about 30 minutes to walk there. Lydia did not enjoy the walk there. She wanted to just be there. Once we got there, we enjoyed walking all around the park and going into some of the buildings that are a part of the Temple of Heaven.<br />
The Temple of Heaven was built around the same time as the Forbidden City - in the early 1400's. It is so amazing to think that the places we went today were around before Columbus! Anyway, the Temple of Heaven is a huge garden that is walled in along with many buildings for different prayers and sacrifices that the emperor would have made on a yearly basis. One of the times the emperor would come to this location was in the spring to ask the ancestors/gods to bless their crops. There were other parts where the emperor would give thanks for the good things that happened throughout the year. There were different buildings for each prayer and for each sacrifice. There was also a palace where the emperor would stay for at least three days before the ceremonies. The entire place was HUGE. We went to a few of the places, but there were many more things would could have seen. I remembered something of this place from when I was in China in college.<br />
Since we needed to be ready for our pickup for the airport, we only were able to spend about 2 hours there. At the end we were on the northeast side of the gardens, but we needed to be on either the south or the east. We high tailed it to the East exit and practically ran home. We had to be ready for our 1/1:30pm pick up. We were back, brought our suitcases down, and ate our lunch of specialty breads from the bakery next door, with time to spare.<br />
Our guide took us to the airport and got us checked in. Since we had a child with us, they let us go in a special shorter line! We were able to check 4 of our suitcases which made for an easier time getting to our gate. We got to our gate and sat there for about an hour and a half before it was time for our flight to board. Lydia and I were in a different place than Brian. We knew the flight was super short, so we didn't bother asking someone to move. Lydia was excited because we were in zone 1 for boarding. Little did we know that the zones in China are really not important. As soon as they announced that they were going to start boarding for Hohhot, everyone on the plane ran to form a line. We were toward the last people to get on. I guess now that we know what will happen, we will have to try it out again in China!<br />
The flight to Hohhot (which by the way is spelled differently each time I see it) was uneventful and short. It seemed like we were on the runway waiting for our turn for as long as it took us to fly there. I was surprised that we weren't taking the bullet train, but we found out there aren't any bullet trains to from Beijing to Hohhot. And with our over abundance of luggage, I was glad not to have to lug that on and off the train.<br />
We arrived in Hohhot and were greeted at the airport by our guide Aggie. She's the same guide my cousins had and she remembered them when I showed her their picture. She's been great so far in getting us set up. She pointed out some restaurants on the way to the hotel so we would know where to eat and made sure we were settled before leaving.<br />
We were all tired and hungry, so we decided to go to the closest restaurant to the hotel. We had, you guessed it, noodles. I told Brian tonight that I have had way too many carbs. I'm dying for a salad, but since we can't eat raw veggies here in China, noodles it is.<br />
Tomorrow is the day we get MeiMei. We're still waiting to hear the time. They are taking the train here, so we have to find out tomorrow when the train will arrive. We know it won't be too early in the morning. I'm hoping we will all be able to sleep in and rest up because I know that tomorrow will be exciting, but probably tiring too.<br />
Lydia really wanted to blog tonight, but she fell asleep again. Hopefully tomorrow. since we don't have anything set for the morning, she can write a blog post. She's been taking pictures and she want to show those to you all too. By the way, Gracie...she thinks she might be getting almost as good as you at taking pictures!!! :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything is so ornate and beautiful. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia trying to kiss the dragon!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This juniper tree is over 500 years old. When the pilgrims were landing, this tree was already old. It's so crazy to think about that!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The attention to detail is amazing.</td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-84784829501150358702018-11-17T06:36:00.000-06:002018-11-17T06:36:10.682-06:00A "Great" DayThis morning we got to set out a little later than yesterday. I would have loved to sleep in a little, but someone (who will remain nameless, but it wasn't Brian) woke up about 3am and kept talking and making noise. We did get her to go back to sleep for a little bit, but by 6am we were all woken up again. We got up and had breakfast in the hotel. Again, Lydia was in heaven because they have rice for breakfast and dumplings too. Unfortunately they had the dumplings mismarked, so she ended up with seaweed dumplings. You would think with her love of seaweed that she would have loved those too. But, I guess when you have your heart set on pork dumplings, seaweed just doesn't do it. She has also renewed her love of Chinese yogurt. It's usually plain sweetened yogurt, but it's thinner than in the states. They serve it with a straw so you can drink it. She's had that for breakfast the past few days too. When we first brought Lydia home, she drank yogurt (which we thinned out with milk) every morning. This may become a thing again when we get home. Although I won't let her put nearly as much sugar in it as they do in China!<br />
After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and met our guide, Cindy, to head to the Great Wall of China. It took about 2 hours to drive to the section of wall where we went. The drive was nice - partly through Beijing city and then through the countryside of Beijing too. It was interesting to see the smaller towns along the way. We passed by a huge car factory that makes cars that we'd never heard of. Apparently, Jeep works with a Chinese company and their venture together is a car company that they only have in China. I'm not sure what it's called, because they just had the symbol on the building.<br />
All the way to the Great Wall, Lydia was sure she was going to spot it first. Every time we saw a big bridge, we told her that was it and that we saw it first. When we finally saw it, she was the last to spot it. She had been a little restless in the car, so we let her listen to an audio book and she was so focused on that, she didn't remember to look!<br />
When we arrived at the Great Wall Mutianyu section, we had 3 options. The Great Wall is on the top of the mountain, so we had to get up the mountain before we could even begin walking on the wall. We could either walk up the 1000+ steps, we could ride an enclosed gondola, or we could take a ski lift to the top and ride an alpine slide to the bottom. I was worried that Lydia wouldn't want to take the slide down (because that's what I've been wanting to do), but that was her first choice. :) Yeah!!!<br />
We took the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and climbed across about 5 or 6 sections of the Great Wall. One of the things that I was struck by the first time I was at the Great Wall was how NOT flat it was! I was reminded of this fact again today when we walked on the Wall up and down and around the mountain. It is so crazy as you'll be able to see from some of the pictures. There are really steep steps some places but other places, it's just a really steep incline. There's a marathon held along a section of the Great Wall, including where we were today, each year. I can't imagine running along the Wall. It was hard enough walking!<br />
We walked along the Wall, took pictures and learned some history from our guide. The Great Wall was begun to be built over 2200 years ago and we're still walking on it today! All the history in it is amazing. Also, just in case (like Lydia) you think that you can see the Great Wall from space, you can't. Even though it is amazingly long, it's only about 15 feet wide, so if you can't see your street from outer space, you won't be able to see the Great Wall. We also found out that the first and the last dynasties of China were the Chin and the Ching. Although the characters in Chinese are completely different, they sound almost exactly alike in English. I've gotten them mixed up before, but for today, it's making sense to me.<br />
The best part of taking the long trek out to this section of the Great Wall, was the alpine slide. Lydia wasn't sure about going by herself, but they had a bigger sled and they let us go down together. She was pretty good about getting going, but the lady in front of us was going sooooo slow. Lydia ran into her once, because the rules stated: No Pictures, and No Stopping. Lydia took that literally and the person in front of us got rear ended. I explained to her that even though you aren't supposed to stop, you also aren't supposed to hit someone from behind.<br />
On our way home, we let Lydia play games on the tablet and listen to an audio book because we don't want a repeat of last night! We knew that getting home at 4pm, we would have to do something to keep Lydia occupied or she would end up falling asleep right then and there. We asked our guide and she said that Tienanmen Square was just a little ways down the street from our hotel. After getting some Coke to try to get a little caffeine in our system, we headed down to the square. Our guide suggested going to see the flag ceremony at sunset. We weren't able to go into the square because it was already closed for the day, but we walked the entire length of the square and ended up in front of the Forbidden City to watch to flag ceremony. A group of soldiers came out of the Forbidden City and crossed the street, lowered the flag and brought it back across the street. There were TONS of people there watching. I'm pretty sure Lydia comes by her lack of personal space awareness because of her birth culture. We were pretty close to a lot of people. I guess when there are 21 million people in one city, you have to squish together!<br />
We headed back toward our hotel and dinner. Brian had noticed a sign for Pizza Hut when we were out last night, so we decided to try to order some pizza for supper. The manager spoke English, so ordering was easy. The pan crust tastes pretty much like the pizza at home. We got pepperoni, but I guess either I didn't order it with sauce or they don't make it with sauce. It still tasted good to me. :) We got some Pepsi to drink, since we can't drink the water here. The Pepsi cost about half of what the pizza cost...which was expensive for food in China. Yesterday, the noodles we ate for lunch cost about $5 for all of us, and tonight, we spent about $20. Still not bad, but quite expensive for China. While we were waiting for the pizza to come, Lydia was just about falling asleep. While we waited for the check, she did fall asleep. She wasn't very happy when we woke her up. We told her she could write on the blog when we got home, so she was determined to stay awake.<br />
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Lydia's version of the day:<br />
First we had breakfast and then we left the hotel...<br />
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That's as far as Lydia got before she fell asleep. Her head literally hit the pillow and she was out. Pray that she stays asleep all night long! We could all use some uninterrupted sleep tonight. Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Inner Mongolia. :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia loves taking pictures!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to be a serious guard on the Wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out the ups and downs of the Wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture on the slide before we saw the "No Pictures" rule</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It only cost 20 RMB to have our picture taken with these guys! They are very inventive in their ways to make money! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In front of the Forbidden City</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After sunset in Tienanmen Square </td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-41588063770234059102018-11-16T07:24:00.000-06:002018-11-16T07:24:36.320-06:00A Visit to TangshenThe drive to Tangshen can be about 3 hours long, so we had to get up at 6am. I was afraid I wouldn't wake up, so we had a wake up call scheduled and I also set the alarm on my phone. I was already half awake when the phone rang, so I guess no need to worry!<br />
We got up and got ready and went downstairs to the buffet for breakfast. It was Lydia's dream come true...noodles, dumplings, and rice for breakfast! They also had more "Western" breakfast foods like eggs, bacon (labeled baconic), hash browns, and juice. I opted for the regular breakfast, but Lydia had all Chinese food.<br />
After breakfast, we finished getting ready and met our guide in the lobby of our hotel. We headed into the Beijing rush hour traffic. It is pretty crazy. I'm not sure how they tell when it's their turn to go, especially the people on bikes and mopeds, but we didn't see any crashes, so there must be some rhyme or reason to how they decide to go. One thing we noticed while driving through town was a coat like blanket that they put over the front of them and their moped to keep themselves warm. Almost everyone had them. It was in the 40s (I think) so they were feeling cold. For many people the only personal transportation they own is their bike or moped, so they have to drive them rain or shine.<br />
We fought our way through the city center and eventually got to the place where there wasn't too much traffic. We drove for about 2 hours along a highway that went through more rural areas.<br />
We arrived in Tangshen a little after 10am and made our way to the Tangshen orphanage.<br />
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Here's Lydia's version of that visit:<br />
For breakfast I ate rice,dumplings, yogurt, noodles, and apple juice. In the orphanage I got a giant hippo stuffed animal and an apple made from giant beads! I met my orphanage directer and she told me the kids made the apple. She showed us a mural on one of the walls with pictures of the me when I was a baby. Then she took us to some kids from the orphanage and I give each kid one handful of Jelly Bellies. She also took me to the room I slept in when I was there.<br />
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Erica fell asleep and Lydia is done now so I (Brian):<br />
It was nice to be able to see the orphanage again. I recognized a couple of people from before. Unfortunately we did not get to see either of the nannies we met last time that worked with Lydia. One had the day off and the other has retired. Most of the children were not there because they were at school. We only saw the ones with severe special needs. There are currently around 100 children in the orphanage. I always wondered why we had not found many who were adopted from her orphanage. I found out why today. They said only 20 have been adopted from that orphanage and Lydia was the first. I could tell it was very emotional for some of the workers last time to see her go, and that must have been the reason. After visiting, giving out gifts, and taking photos for about an hour we left the orphanage and went to Lydia's finding spot. We were unable to do that last time so it was nice to be able to see it this time. After a bit of searching we ended up at a noodle restaurant right next to the orphanage. On the way home we stopped at the earthquake manorial and museum. We had stopped there last time on our way back to Beijing. I have a lot of good memories of that place. Last time as we were leaving the area was the first time we saw Lydia smile when she was not with her nanny. It was also the first place Lydia allowed Erica to not carry her and walk herself. We then drive back to the hotel, ate and typed our blog post. I'm sure Erica will touch this up (which means completely redo) this tomorrow. We all need a good nights sleep,<br />
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Here is a couple of photos from today (11/16/18):<br />
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-68808038372099745552018-11-16T04:18:00.001-06:002018-11-16T04:18:23.453-06:00We’re Here...and More than a Little TiredWell, we arrived in China last night. Our plane was delayed almost 3 hours in Detroit, so we got to enjoy the Detroit airport for a few hours more than we thought we would! The plane ride was looooong, but pretty uneventful. We didn’t sleep much, even Lydia, but that’s kind of what we wanted. To get over the jet lag, it’s suggested to sleep little on the plane, so you’re tired when you get to China. Well, there was no problem with being tired! As the plane was landing, Lydia could barely keep her eyes open. We played BINGO on the touchscreen and that woke her up a little. We got off the plane and headed to pick up our luggage. Before we got our luggage, we had to scan our fingerprints into the "system". I guess we better not commit any crimes while we're here! We got our enormous amount of luggage, sent it through an x-ray machine that no one was looking at and went out to find our guide outside the terminal. She was all ready for us and had a minivan to take us to our hotel.<br />
We got to the hotel at about 10pm and got checked in. We tried to blog last night, but we couldn't get the internet to work. They gave us an expired password, we figured out, so we had to go to sleep. Lydia told us she wasn't tired, but she was out pretty much as soon as her head hit the pillow. I'm glad she is a good sleeper now! Brian and I had a little more trouble falling asleep, but we slept through the night, waking up about every hour or two. I'm hoping that we can sleep a little more tonight. I'd like to fall asleep right now, but I know if I do that, I won't sleep as long as I need to.<br />
We're going to go get some supper and then Lydia wants to write about her time in Tangshan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia trying out the sleeping mask on the plane</td></tr>
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Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-72266546540836995822018-11-14T16:22:00.000-06:002018-11-14T16:22:07.861-06:00On our way...Almost!We got up this morning about 4am to make it to the Chicago airport for our 9am flight. On the way there, I saw a post from someone on Facebook who was going to be on our Detroit to Beijing flight. They were already on their way and had found out the our Beijing flight was going to be late.<br />
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So here we are at the Detroit airport...We almost could have driven here in the time we've been waiting. The plane is finally here and they say that we are going to start boarding soon - for an "on time" departure of 5:35pm - only 3 hours later than our flight was schedule for.<br />
<br />We've been sitting in the terminal trying to fill the time. We got all our books downloaded to our Kindles and tablets, ate Chik-Fil-A, and met a bunch of other families that are headed to China to adopt too!<br />
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Just about to board...more when we get to CHINA!!!Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-80541754314000198632018-11-11T22:22:00.000-06:002018-11-11T22:22:00.044-06:00On Our Way Soon!I know that a lot of you have been asking about when we are heading to China and the answer is...<br />
Wednesday!!!!<br />
We're flying out of Chicago and heading to Detroit where we will get on a plane bound for Beijing. We have a busy first few days after we arrive. Here's a basic itinerary of what we'll be doing:<br />
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Wednesday, November 14 - Fly to China<br />
Thursday, November 15 - Arrive in Beijing, China<br />
Friday, November 16 - Visit Tangshan - Lydia's hometown<br />
Saturday, November 17 - Tour Beijing - the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, etc.<br />
Sunday, November 18 - Fly to Huhhot, Inner Mongolia<br />
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Huhhot is the provincial capital of Inner Mongolia, MeiMei's birth province. Because of the paperwork that needs to be processed, that is where we will meet MeiMei.<br />
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Monday, November 19 - Meet MeiMei<br />
Tuesday-Wednesday, November 20-21 - Paperwork processing<br />
Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving) - Visit Baotou - MeiMei's hometown and fly to Guangzhou<br />
Friday - Wednesday, November 23-28 - Appointments and paperwork in Guangzhou, including at the US consulate.<br />
Thursday, November 29 - Fly from Guangzhou to Beijing to Detroit to Chicago where we arrive around 9pm and then hopefully we'll get home and get to bed soon after that!!!<br />
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Please pray for smooth travels, good health, and quick jet lag recovery for the three of us traveling. Lydia is so excited, but she has such a difficult time dealing with life when she's tired. Pray that she will be able to adjust her body quickly to the huge time difference. I really don't think I can deal with her being emotional and then try to deal with MeiMei's emotions when we meet her. Also pray for all the transitions that will be taking place throughout the trip and coming home. MeiMei will be leaving all that she has known for the first 5 years of her life to move halfway across the world with a family that mostly looks, feels, sounds, and smells different than what she is used to. Pray that she would pick up English quickly and that we'll be able to communicate with her when she needs something.<br />
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Thanks for all the love and support from all of you. We will blog each night as we are able. I know that a lot of you will be looking for posts every morning. We'll try not to let you down. :)<br />
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Pictures added for cuteness!<br />
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-8221922618462881842018-09-30T19:46:00.000-05:002018-09-30T19:46:19.849-05:00Finally, A SisterWell, it's only been five years since my last blog. I'm not so good at keeping things updated here. We used this blog the first time so everyone could follow our journey to Lydia. We're using it now so that everyone can follow our journey to our next Peterson Princess!<br />
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Surprise...For those of you who have not heard, we are about two months away from traveling to China to adopt a "MeiMei" (Little Sister). We've been in the process since November of 2017 and we're so excited. Lydia couldn't stop saying, "I can't believe I'm having a sister" for about a month after we told her. She is still excited, but is torn because she has heard from all her friends that little sisters can be very annoying. :) Brian and I are excited and busy at the same time. The paperwork keeps us on our toes.<br />
For those of you who have done this before, or who are in it now, we are waiting for our I-800 approval. That is approval from the US government for our daughter's immigration. We need a few more things from the US and China before we can book our travel. Our agency thinks that the week after Thanksgiving is a good estimate for travel time.<br />
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We wanted to let you all know what was going on and give you a little glimpse at our MeiMei. I'll try to blog a little more in the next two months, and for sure, when we get to China.Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-86333409574479939942013-04-09T21:54:00.003-05:002013-04-09T21:54:26.187-05:00One Year Later...What a difference a year makes...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first family photo with three, April 9, 2012</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebrating Gotcha Day, April 9, 2013</td></tr>
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Wow! This past year has been an amazing journey. We are so thankful for our daughter, Lydia. She has brought so much joy to our life. I look back at our pictures from our first days in China and I can hardly believe that this scared, timid little baby is our confident, friendly little girl. She has grown so much and learned an amazing amount in this past year. I am so glad that the Lord brought Lydia into our lives. <br />
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We had a wonderful day celebrating our family. We started off with a lunch at McDonald's. I told Lydia while we were there that her first meal at McDonald's was ketchup. Now she barely touches the stuff. She loves McNuggets, fries and especially chocolate milk. : ) It was a fun lunch with Mama, Baba and Lydia's special friend, Miss Patti. (It is because of Patti's prayers and faithfulness to God in their own adoptions that we saw God leading us to adopt Lydia.) <br />
Lydia really wanted to go to the zoo today, but it was pouring down rain and cold, so after some convincing, we got her to agree to go to the children's museum instead. We went downtown to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and she had a blast. We closed the place down! She would have stayed a lot longer if she could.<br />
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We then went to "Bear Noodles" AKA Panda Express for some rice and noodles. Lydia loves that restaurant and can spot one whenever we drive by. She thinks it's so fun that there are pandas on the cups and decorations. She even got a stuffed panda while we were there. <br />
On the way home, we stopped at some friends so Lydia could play for "5 minutes" which really turned into more like an hour. She had tons of fun with her China girl friends. : )<br />
When we were in China we got Lydia a knitted Chinese doll with a silk outfit. We gave that to her when we got home. I think she likes it. She asked if she could sleep with it and she's snuggled up with her now. I also made her a Shutterfly book with pictures from the past year. She looked through it and asked us about all the pictures. She loves to look at pictures on the computer, so I'm sure that her book with get a lot of use. I saved the book online just in case we need to get another copy someday! <br />
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As we put her to bed tonight, I just wanted to snuggle her and kiss her. I am so amazed at God's faithfulness. He provided for us throughout the adoption process, brought us to her in China and helped us to bond, and has given us the strength and wisdom that we need to be the best parents we can be. I am so thankful for all that He has done throughout this past year...To God be the glory, great things He has done!!!!<br />
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Here are some pictures...just for fun. : )<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our family Easter picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckyQKZRidQUZSJHmY62yeebcnf3EZhdNjhzS34D8DhtOrFoDHyez56GMoY6XPURbqKSybvFyZp0MjoaYVxGlQ1LfbGfvDnenH6RF4Nk0buoJWtpZb4OoaOA86_yUyBNEbcOdahspozsg/s1600/IMG_8867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckyQKZRidQUZSJHmY62yeebcnf3EZhdNjhzS34D8DhtOrFoDHyez56GMoY6XPURbqKSybvFyZp0MjoaYVxGlQ1LfbGfvDnenH6RF4Nk0buoJWtpZb4OoaOA86_yUyBNEbcOdahspozsg/s400/IMG_8867.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easter Dress</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD1NgTNb37ijQlrUsjys6MOLbE9_0_jQggR2ZmmnDVA2wwYpuhGEY2aNbxLCD_gddaNODJW0TronWg4zpNRoWo3qtsPSGwtSqHHMLEdXHWOAFknmK7che0lizR1HlPoXAJE7YTxHKfuWE/s1600/IMG_8964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD1NgTNb37ijQlrUsjys6MOLbE9_0_jQggR2ZmmnDVA2wwYpuhGEY2aNbxLCD_gddaNODJW0TronWg4zpNRoWo3qtsPSGwtSqHHMLEdXHWOAFknmK7che0lizR1HlPoXAJE7YTxHKfuWE/s400/IMG_8964.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia and the cousins with Bestamor and Bestafar - Great Grandma and Grandpa Aunan</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjDqe_A1nYNfAO0UVsk1-zLxuNyWKDNKfmcejG7PJHvfOpb-iorx9LDL7Y57yrqkc_tEBT1QJqVqU3lXWAM9lBUtDWliDkJ7pTO-2lVqFGbbwiMra_oTuB_d67AdWp0uNUTkN8bKA4SA/s1600/IMG_8987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjDqe_A1nYNfAO0UVsk1-zLxuNyWKDNKfmcejG7PJHvfOpb-iorx9LDL7Y57yrqkc_tEBT1QJqVqU3lXWAM9lBUtDWliDkJ7pTO-2lVqFGbbwiMra_oTuB_d67AdWp0uNUTkN8bKA4SA/s400/IMG_8987.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia and Miss Patti</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbHtkDImnVZZmWEhM0GofkWobVvyFqLIpI_DxZaKpl1-8FzES9eDZ61m1bdzIGjtOpis4Nv1Fr0FN8ch3WEMgEzv7xGGdm6KZDdii9n03impcv9aMJ8s9EMHiZklHnceQBa7_URDiVWk/s1600/IMG_9013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQbHtkDImnVZZmWEhM0GofkWobVvyFqLIpI_DxZaKpl1-8FzES9eDZ61m1bdzIGjtOpis4Nv1Fr0FN8ch3WEMgEzv7xGGdm6KZDdii9n03impcv9aMJ8s9EMHiZklHnceQBa7_URDiVWk/s400/IMG_9013.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super Cute!!!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZs_Sk-4OvbJP9gEww-kp6aowfGbs35eYUGt_i3yunNQ6zmV-N2I4kNXGqTUCWB9upv_oFuH_Gqhx7P6x8gp1rUVhPZsTvRczbdR-S7UlJn7hTl31-PoxAljJ9nuPo_EZ-GvVx-I6s_GA/s1600/IMG_9011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZs_Sk-4OvbJP9gEww-kp6aowfGbs35eYUGt_i3yunNQ6zmV-N2I4kNXGqTUCWB9upv_oFuH_Gqhx7P6x8gp1rUVhPZsTvRczbdR-S7UlJn7hTl31-PoxAljJ9nuPo_EZ-GvVx-I6s_GA/s400/IMG_9011.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating noodles is so much fun and yummy!!!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUViUTFCJcRUmJFTxnPZeSr9UwVP52eHrOiaHEba3wy-x0kwVNff_SIHc-WZ-1f10xa43z_QIqyv5-OvWVkwp4pnNWKT7AeskgEuCuC5x4lI_XuMBqU_bGPpsbUznM-ojTV5H9P3Pg8NU/s1600/IMG_9022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUViUTFCJcRUmJFTxnPZeSr9UwVP52eHrOiaHEba3wy-x0kwVNff_SIHc-WZ-1f10xa43z_QIqyv5-OvWVkwp4pnNWKT7AeskgEuCuC5x4lI_XuMBqU_bGPpsbUznM-ojTV5H9P3Pg8NU/s400/IMG_9022.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydia with her presents</td></tr>
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Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-31936014386695346172013-03-26T23:13:00.001-05:002013-03-26T23:13:53.165-05:00Photo Book<object width="425" height="425" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"/><param name="flashvars" value="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=0AcNXLJi5atmauwg&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true"/><param name="menu" value="false"/><param name="quality" value="best"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><embed width="425" height="425" align="middle" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="wrapper" quality="best" menu="false" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=0AcNXLJi5atmauwg&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true" src="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"></embed></object><p style="width:425px;margin-top:0;text-align:center;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNXLJi5atmbzY&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET&eid=115">Click here to view this photo book larger</a><div style="margin-top: 10px; width: 425px; text-align: center;">Visit Shutterfly.com to create your own personalized <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books" style="color: #6666cc;">photobook</a>.</div><img width="1" height="1" border="0" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;" src="https://os.shutterfly.com/b/ss/sflyshareprod/1/H.15/111?pageName=sharekey&c1=photobook&c2=blogger" /></p>Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-10457739432708398742013-03-01T08:56:00.000-06:002013-03-01T08:56:18.633-06:00Ok, so it's been a really long time since I've written a blog post. Time just gets away from me. When you have a three year old and teach kindergarten, there are very few dull moments. : )<br />
<br />
Well, in honor of Lydia's second surgery, I thought I better post something!<br />
<br />
Her first surgery went about as well as anyone could hope for. She woke up from anesthetic and when I went into the recovery room, she had already eaten one Popsicle and was on her second. It barely phased her that she couldn't do much with her right hand. When she tried to wash her hand the first time, she asked Brian to take her cast off. When he told her it had to stay on, she just went with it. She didn't complain and just tried to figure out a new way to do everything. She's pretty adaptable. <br />
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About a month later, her cast came off, which I think was more traumatic for her than the surgery itself. She did not like the noise the saw made and when she saw her fingers were dirty, she was NOT happy. She kept looking down at her fingers and saying, "Dirty". We took her out for supper at the restaurant of her choice - "Bear Noodles" AKA Panda Express and then went home for a bath. After she soaked in the bath and her hand was clean, she thought her new hand was pretty nice. It took her a few days to get used to using her right hand again, but she has really enjoyed the extra movement that she's been able to have. <br />
<br />
Here we are again at the hospital waiting for Lydia's surgery to be done. She had a sinus infection a few weeks ago and woke up with a cough the other day. I was worried that she might not be able to have surgery because of that, but the nurse didn't seem to think that it was a problem. The anesthesiologist resident made me a bit nervous by saying that sometimes it takes a month for airways to open all the way after an infection. When the doctor came in though, she just asked about how long ago she finished her antibiotics and said that everything should be ok. : )<br />
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Last night at supper, Lydia asked Brian, "How long til March?" (She knew that her surgery is on March 1st.) He told her, "One dark-outside nigh-night." (This is how she keeps track of time!) After Brian told her that she started clapping and cheering. She told us that she was "A little bit excited and a little bit happy" about her surgery. For Lydia when she says "a little bit", it is so cute and it doesn't really mean a little bit. She was so excited that I didn't know if she would even be able to go to sleep. When I put her to bed, I told her that she had to go to sleep fast because it was still going to be dark outside when we had to leave for the hospital. <br />
<br />
This morning when we turned the bathroom light on, she woke up, but she said she just wanted to snuggle in bed. She laid in bed for a little bit and then got up and got dressed and ready to go. When we left for the hospital, she kept telling us that we needed a flashlight because it was dark outside. : )<br />
<br />
We got here and got checked in. The nurse in the check-in to surgery was the same one as the last time. In November, she asked me a lot about adoption. When we checked in today, she told me that she is engaged and getting married in November. Because she is older she said they have talked about adopting! She was concerned that she might be too old, but I told her she was well within the range to adopt from China. She said they have already talked about saving their wedding gift money for adoption expenses. : ) I gave her our name and number and the names of our agency and some others that we know are good and work in China. Who knows, maybe God put us here to encourage her toward adoption. There are no coincidences in life - God has it all orchestrated. <br />
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I'll post a picture later today of the "new cast". Lydia picked out orange this time. : )<br />
<br />
Here are some pictures...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQO4vo0POZXiDpehxJV8COlbCT_yr-0JPZEI9QZKda96kPoLNTjKrGGu8V6ZFd1P6_Y-_wpS101bxb1awMjCIpFCFbJVccxm7zi4DV5lRkLdC0n3Bjr7ZvVk2dp3kpZVNno4hhDEMjF4/s1600/IMG_8781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQO4vo0POZXiDpehxJV8COlbCT_yr-0JPZEI9QZKda96kPoLNTjKrGGu8V6ZFd1P6_Y-_wpS101bxb1awMjCIpFCFbJVccxm7zi4DV5lRkLdC0n3Bjr7ZvVk2dp3kpZVNno4hhDEMjF4/s320/IMG_8781.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First attempt at snow angels</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3N9U6nRIFdSHZmyzcnz8oic3p82EPuJRba8PzrMdHIyu97mWI4lm7lJjHZ6KF3kxy_1Mqoe3kTZCj8frf57VxbLPWWLazur409rRKsQwRbl_tXbM-RxeDfoivpcidZTkUpJTAxlhoUx0/s1600/IMG_8772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3N9U6nRIFdSHZmyzcnz8oic3p82EPuJRba8PzrMdHIyu97mWI4lm7lJjHZ6KF3kxy_1Mqoe3kTZCj8frf57VxbLPWWLazur409rRKsQwRbl_tXbM-RxeDfoivpcidZTkUpJTAxlhoUx0/s320/IMG_8772.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love playing in the snow</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3scqyXL-OqO5imBwFFzCLvPRIXStOZ9suEj5jYrGRmzwT5_94AifF_5cFS9pGzg5tq0Rmysp_w4PkzxGqSsnUiGKSIt4pHmV4AHX4MR514e2R0KBqWwxbPdAvWvzqwOXkyd06kLGmYs/s1600/IMG_8789.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3scqyXL-OqO5imBwFFzCLvPRIXStOZ9suEj5jYrGRmzwT5_94AifF_5cFS9pGzg5tq0Rmysp_w4PkzxGqSsnUiGKSIt4pHmV4AHX4MR514e2R0KBqWwxbPdAvWvzqwOXkyd06kLGmYs/s320/IMG_8789.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chinese New Year party with some of our Chinese friends</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqCwgXyXg_L_EfC-KLKu_wnqP3293_hqE2i-4TGaZj_UNHThMtk58fIfXhXqF8IGFvCIgpzmTnGrmaBoFZjrMLIxvzeivMAEetatG9asKfR4Ge8tKcPel1V_8HgFXE75KiCUm3iCUoWFM/s1600/IMG_8806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqCwgXyXg_L_EfC-KLKu_wnqP3293_hqE2i-4TGaZj_UNHThMtk58fIfXhXqF8IGFvCIgpzmTnGrmaBoFZjrMLIxvzeivMAEetatG9asKfR4Ge8tKcPel1V_8HgFXE75KiCUm3iCUoWFM/s320/IMG_8806.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to go, even at 5am!!! Baba isn't so sure. : )</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejI8L5CX7sEfTQZf3ibVebM9j7Ci1QPkMmRv44ODJDCl_2DKCHaM4cjmEb_BZJJvW4kI_VM8WZAx8FWuKsUvEg7NB5h0MexOGcaJTwVsSfM-jNYfTXDaK8yAev0Rw3WAc9OSA0IWWGHU/s1600/IMG_8807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejI8L5CX7sEfTQZf3ibVebM9j7Ci1QPkMmRv44ODJDCl_2DKCHaM4cjmEb_BZJJvW4kI_VM8WZAx8FWuKsUvEg7NB5h0MexOGcaJTwVsSfM-jNYfTXDaK8yAev0Rw3WAc9OSA0IWWGHU/s320/IMG_8807.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I like these jammies"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmOpBXL47SLbpcqOWVScA9KeELbXEYG1GJBjBQD-SYVTCGOnSIqGBCkzJ5QvShyphenhyphenrXbeeyQaKCZ-GudbwZY1HNscMJo46vHPDuRxytMqJHHZ_hWLV8FTrmXhUYU2sI_iOBo0CRdZILtpY/s1600/IMG_8808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmOpBXL47SLbpcqOWVScA9KeELbXEYG1GJBjBQD-SYVTCGOnSIqGBCkzJ5QvShyphenhyphenrXbeeyQaKCZ-GudbwZY1HNscMJo46vHPDuRxytMqJHHZ_hWLV8FTrmXhUYU2sI_iOBo0CRdZILtpY/s320/IMG_8808.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little out of it after the goofy juice!</td></tr>
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<br />Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-24179002355871491492012-11-24T00:04:00.001-06:002012-11-24T00:04:07.435-06:00Stationery card<div class="sflyProductPreviewWidget" style="width:425px; height:494px;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetTop" style="height:6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/top.gif);"></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetCenter" style="height:482px; padding: 0 6px 0 6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/bg.gif); background-repeat:repeat-y;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewLogo" style="width: 105px; height: 34px; padding: 14px 0 0 14px;"><img src="http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/logo.gif" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;"></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewContainer" style="height:350px; text-align:center; padding: 0;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNXLJi5atmbq4&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET&eid=115"><img src="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/prs/v1/0AcNXLJi5atmag/0AcNXLJi5atmauSg/p/67b0de21b3127d902548/JPEG/1353737012000/0/" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;"></a></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewMessageContainer" style="height:55px; background-color:#f4f4e9; text-align:center; padding: 15px 0 15px 0; line-height: 19px;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewTitle" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 15px; color: #333333; font-weight: bold;"><span>Flourish Of Frames Christmas Card</span></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewSEOText" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 13px; color: #333333;"><span><a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards" style="color: #6666cc;">Christmas cards by Shutterfly.</a></span></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewViewCollection" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 13px; color: #333333;"><span>View the entire <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery" style="color: #6666cc;">collection</a> of cards.</span></div><img width="1" height="1" border="0" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;" src="https://os.shutterfly.com/b/ss/sflyshareprod/1/H.15/111?pageName=sharekey&c1=msc&c2=blogger" /></div></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetBottom" style="height:6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/bottom.gif);"></div></div>Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988522062240384285.post-18976997226174176342012-11-24T00:03:00.001-06:002012-11-24T00:03:55.132-06:00Stationery card<div class="sflyProductPreviewWidget" style="width:425px; height:494px;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetTop" style="height:6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/top.gif);"></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetCenter" style="height:482px; padding: 0 6px 0 6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/bg.gif); background-repeat:repeat-y;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewLogo" style="width: 105px; height: 34px; padding: 14px 0 0 14px;"><img src="http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/logo.gif" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;"></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewContainer" style="height:350px; text-align:center; padding: 0;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNXLJi5atmbq4&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET&eid=115"><img src="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/prs/v1/0AcNXLJi5atmag/0AcNXLJi5atmauSg/p/67b0de21b3127d902548/JPEG/1353737012000/0/" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;"></a></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewMessageContainer" style="height:55px; background-color:#f4f4e9; text-align:center; padding: 15px 0 15px 0; line-height: 19px;"><div class="sflyProductPreviewTitle" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 15px; color: #333333; font-weight: bold;"><span>Flourish Of Frames Christmas Card</span></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewSEOText" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 13px; color: #333333;"><span>Turn your favorite pictures into <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards" style="color: #6666cc;">personalized Christmas cards</a>.</span></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewViewCollection" style="font-family: arial, sans-seris; font-size: 13px; color: #333333;"><span>View the entire <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery" style="color: #6666cc;">collection</a> of cards.</span></div><img width="1" height="1" border="0" style="padding: 0; background: #ffffff; border: none; box-shadow: none;" src="https://os.shutterfly.com/b/ss/sflyshareprod/1/H.15/111?pageName=sharekey&c1=msc&c2=blogger" /></div></div><div class="sflyProductPreviewWidgetBottom" style="height:6px; background-image:url(http://cdn.staticsfly.com/img_/share/preview/msc/widget/bottom.gif);"></div></div>Brian and Ericahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05004094226215404644noreply@blogger.com0