The Holiday Season

Hello Everyone!
Boy, it's been a long time! I was looking through our pictures and realized I have hardly any pictures from November, perhaps because we were sick throughout most of the month. We've discovered that having two children means that they pass illnesses back and forth so that the family is never entirely healthy. :) The picture above is from the beginning of December. The girls are having so much fun together, Jorie says all the time how much she loves her sister and how much fun it is to have a little sister. We took down Terra's crib today and set up her big girl bed and as I took down the crib Jorie said, "Make sure you put it somewhere safe because I've been wanting a baby brother." This is such a huge and wonderful change from those first two months after bringing Terra home when Jorie kept asking us to bring Terra back and said she didn't like being a big sister.

This is a picture of Terra in her Christening gown. We had her Baptism planned for December 7th (we took this picture as she was trying on the gown) and we were all set for the party until Jorie and I came down with fifth disease three days before the big event. We knew we weren't contagious, but we were worried that Terra might have caught it and we didn't want to take any chances, so we ended up postponing the Christening. It ended up being a very good thing that we did because Terra came down with fifth disease on December 8th. We're all feeling much better now, though slightly itchy. :)

When Jorie saw Terra in her Christening gown, she insisted on putting on her fancy dress too. They both look so beautiful and so very grown up!

Here are our girls having more fun together. They were dancing in the kitchen and having such a wonderful time, I had to snap a few photos. The funniest times were when Terra tried to twirl Jorie - what a hysterical sight as they ended up in a knotted mess on the floor!

The girls had a lot of fun trimming the Christmas tree. Jorie asked questions about every ornament and Terra just wanted to be a part of the fun. She can definitely feel the excitement in the air and is thrilled to be a part of it, but she doesn't really have any idea what's going on. She loves the lights on the tree and the ornaments are very tempting, but she's been wonderful about looking without touching. We've only found one ornament on the floor and one hidden in the couch - we'll see what happens in the weeks ahead. :)

Is this the most ridiculous Christmas picture ever? They both look so silly, but I guess that means we really captured the essence of our girls - silliness and all. We can't wait to see the expressions when they come down the stairs on Christmas morning!

We took the girls to see Santa Claus this weekend. Jorie was so excited to see him, she was determined to tell him exactly what she wanted. In order to fully understand, you have to know the story of last year's Christmas. Jorie was very disappointed Chirstmas morning because she asked Santa for a computer. Santa brought her a computer that hooks up to the TV, figuring that would be sufficient for a not quite 3-year-old. Jorie was in tears because she wanted a laptop. We ended up mailing the computer back to the north pole and Santa mailed Jorie a laptop. It was quite a disaster and Jorie has talked all year about how she would "have to be more specific with Santa this year." So, what did she ask for? Here are her words, "Hi Santa, I want a dollhouse this year. The one with four floors, an elevator, a pool and pool chairs. But there won't be room in the dollhouse for the pool, so I'll have to put that in the backyard. Oh, and don't forget the furniture and dolls to go in the house." Santa laughed at her and said, "Really, is that all?"

Terra was not nearly as impressed with Santa as her big sister. She was okay with him being near us, but once he reached out to shake her hand, she was done with him. I can only imagine what she must have been thinking about this strange man dressed in red! Jorie put in an order for her little sister and let Santa know that Terra would really like a doll.

Here we are, all dressed for the incredibly cold weather and wondering where we can find the closest cup of hot chocolate. We don't have too many pictures of the four of us, so we took advantage of my mom being with us on our Santa trip and asked her to snap a quick photo.

I'll be sure to post some pictures of Terra's first Christmas and Jorie's fourth birthday after the holidays. We hope that all of you have a joyous and safe holiday season!

A Busy Month

Happy Halloween! I just realized how long it's been since my last post - I guess we've been busier than I thought! Here are some highlights from October:

We went apple picking at the beginning of October. Jorie had a lot of fun picking apples and even more fun eating them! We picked far more apples than we needed and never came close to eating all of them. Terra really enjoyed eating the apples too, though she didn't do much picking.

Here's a picture of Terra playing Mimi's new piano. Terra had so much fun playing and singing, we might have another performer in the family! Mid-October was incredibly eventful for us. Perhaps the most memorable event of the month was when Jorie decided it would be fun to see what happened when she dialed 911, so she gave it a try one morning as I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. I found the phone on the playroom floor and picked it up to hear, "This is the police department, we've been listening to an open 911 call for nearly 10 minutes". I was mortified! I very apologetically explained to the operator that my daughter must have called by accident. Minutes later an officer pulled into the driveway. I apologized once again and sat down for a long talk with Jorie about appropriate reasons for calling the police.


We took a weekend trip to the beach and also went to a baptism. This was Terra's first time at the ocean and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Jorie had a fantastic time splashing in the ice cold water, her jeans and winter coat didn't even slow her down!



The girls had a wonderful time in the pool at the hotel. The beach was a bit cold for Terra, but the indoor pool was just right. She loved jumping in! Jorie had fun jumping in too, thank goodness Jeff was with us! How do moms handle two kids in a pool with no help?!

Here's Jorie with her jack o' lantern. She designed the face herself and enjoyed watching me scoop out the insides and carve the pumpkin, though she was not about to touch the pumpkin herself! Perhaps she'll give it a try one of these years!

Here's Terra with her pumpkin. She really enjoyed the pumpkin carving ritual. She thought it was really fun to scoop out the insides of the pumpkin, but had even more fun putting them back in after we carved the face - I don't think she quite "got" what we were trying to accomplish. :)

Here are our little cuties in their Halloween costumes! I know what you're thinking - what are they supposed to be? Our family rule is that the girls have to dress up as a character in a book. Jorie chose to be Morgan LeFay, the enchantress librarian from the Magic Treehouse series. She was so proud of her costume. Terra is a red button. Her favorite book is a book with buttons and she seems to really like circles and the color red, so it was a natural choice for her costume. Costumes aside, Halloween was not quite what we had planned, Jorie woke up with a terrible cold and spent the entire day on the couch. Fortunately, we have some wonderful neighbors that were willing to risk having her drop by so that she could trick-or-treat at one house. She missed her Halloween party with friends, which was terribly upsetting, but there's always next year! I hope everyone had a safe Halloween!!

Ding Dong the Strep is Gone!!!

We have such happy news that strep has left our house! That's right, all four of us lined up at the doctor's office last week and we were delighted to learn that all of our cultures were all negative! Now that we are all in good health, we can finally get back to our usual routine and chaos of daily life...

Terra has been having a wonderful time exploring! She follows Jorie everywhere and ventures on her own too! We started a music class a few weeks ago and Terra is loving every minute! She was a little unsure at first, but it didn't take long for her to join in and, by the end of class, she was participating with all of the hand movements! The only part she did not like was having to give her bells back to the teacher - she had a death grip on the bells and was not about to give them away!

Jorie started ballet lessons last week, here she is waiting for her teacher in her "beautiful dancing dress". She absolutely loves dancing and can't wait to go back tomorrow. She's been practicing the dance her teacher taught them all week and I must say, the little hip wiggle at the end is absolutely adorable!

Here's our little character! Everywhere we go, we hear people say that Jorie is the funniest little girl they've ever met. Her swim teacher actually referred to her as a "legend" and fully expects to see her one day on "Last Comic Standing". :) You really have to spend some time with her to really appreciate her quirky style and unique sense of humor, but here's a little glimpse of her silliness. This is how she came into the kitchen the other day and completely shocked me - I was not expecting a snowman head on my little girl!

Can you believe it?! This is Jorie's very first haircut!! After nearly four years without even a trim, we decided it was finally time to even out the 'do. We only trimmed one or two inches and we came away with a few curls for the baby book. Jorie thought it was tons of fun and was especially pleased with the bottle of bubbles she got at the end! She's already asking when she can go back.

The Princesses and The House of Strep

Our two little princesses. :) Jorie has always loved to play dress-up, but who would've guessed that her little sister would love it too! Terra watched Jorie get all dolled up in her pink dress, then walked right over to the dress-up clothes, pointed to the purple dress and started stomping her feet. She insisted on everything, right down to the tiara and shoes! It looks like Jeff and I might be spending a small fortune on clothes in the future! They certainly don't get their fancy fashion sense from Mommy, I may have to start looking to my girls for fashion advice!

As for the House of Strep, the saga continues! After another positive strep test, I am now taking two antibiotics at once in an attempt to finally rid myself of strep. The other day Jorie saw a Lysol commercial and asked me if it was spray paint. I said, "No, that's a special spray that you can spray in the house to kill germs." Jorie's response, "Oh, we should buy some of that to spray around and kill the strep germs. Maybe then people will come visit us again!"

Here's a picture of Terra at the zoo - she had a lot of fun. The monkeys were, by far, her favorite animal. She laughed and laughed as they swung around their cages. Jorie thought the llamas were quite funny - especially when they spit at Mommy!

Can you believe that face? She's so joyful! We absolutely love to see that smile!

Moving Forward

Hi Everyone,

I've had lots of inquiries lately about how we're all adjusting and many requests to update the blog, so here I am!! We've had a very eventful couple of weeks. I think I may finally be getting rid of the strep I caught in China - I don't want to get too optimistic, but it seems like the fifth antibiotic is doing the trick! Terra had a nice "Welcome to America" present in the form of chicken pox. She was, surprisingly, not at all bothered by the pox, though we were all a bit stir-crazy after being stuck at home for a week!

Jeff worked incredibly hard to put together our beautiful new swingset and the girls are thoroughly enjoying the outdoors - how wonderful to finally have a backyard!! Jorie is forever asking to go outside to "swing extremely high" on her big girl swing. Terra is turning out to be quite the daredevil - climbing to the top of the swingset and coming down the slide by herself (something Jorie was not willing to do until she saw her little sister give it a try). Terra is completely convinced that she can climb the rock wall like her big sister and will not take "no" for an answer. She's also convinced that she should be allowed to climb up the bookcases in our living room and dive off of the couch head first, but we're working on that. :)

The girls are already acting like sisters - they love each other like sisters and fight like sisters. Terra plays the little sister role very well as she tries to take Jorie's toys and pushes down the block towers that Jorie so carefully builds. Jorie plays the big sister beautifully by both protecting her baby sister from harm and offering her to just about everyone that stops by. :) Of course, there are those fleeting moments when they cuddle up together or stop everything just to give each other hugs and kisses - what a wonderful sight to see!

All in all, it's been a BIG adjustment for everyone. We're working through each issue one day at a time and have faith that we'll be a stronger family in the end. How could we be anything less with two beautiful, intelligent and strong-willed daughters?!

Silly Girls

It's been a week since we arrived back home and we all continue to grow closer each day. Terra has decided that Jeff is a great Daddy and can't get enough hugs and cuddles from him. They are so cute together! She's walking all over our house and loves to explore all of Jorie's toys. Jorie isn't always thrilled by that, but we're working on it. :) They wouldn't be sisters without the occasional squabble! Terra and Jorie have grown much closer. Terra is content to receive hugs from her big sister and often reaches out to give hugs of her own. The two of them play peek-a-boo and chase each other around. They also love to sing together. Terra doesn't actually say words, but she starts singing "lalala" every time Jorie starts singing.

We all just love to see Terra smile - her smile lights up the room and brings joy to our hearts. How could anyone not fall in love with this little girl?! How blessed we are to have two beautiful angels in our lives!!

We're Home!

Just in case anyone was wondering about us, I wanted to let you know that we're home safe and sound. We arrived last night around 7:30 and were greeted at the airport by Mimi, Grammy, Skipper, Uncle Ry Ry, Auntie Kathy and Uncle Anthony. We're all looking forward to the next phase of the journey!! Thank you so much for all of your love and support along the way!

Packing Up

Our bags are packed and we're ready to bring Terra home!! We can't wait to see what Terra thinks about her new house! She's feeling even better today - the fever is completely gone, she's still stuffy and has that terrible cough, but she was much more lively - just in time for her to sit still for a really long plane ride! :)

Terra and Jeff slept until 10 this morning! So, Jorie and I went to breakfast together, then walked around and took some pictures. Here's the waterfall in the lobby that I've mentioned. I really don't think the picture does it justice, but it gives some idea of what it looks like.
This is the view from the breakfast buffet. The hotel is right on a river, as you can see. Jorie enjoys watching the boats go by during breakfast.
This is one of the two pools. Both pools are outside. Jeff and Jorie spent a lot of time at this pool while Terra and I were resting this week. They had tons of fun and Jorie especially loved that there was a waterfall going right into the pool!
The hotel where we're staying is very famous in the adoption community. There are tons of adoptive families here - I'm pretty sure I've seen far more adoptive families around than native Chinese families. The red couches in the lobby are also famous. It is a tradition for adoptive families to take pictures on these couches before going to the consulate for the oath ceremony. We took group pictures with all of the families traveling with us, then we took individual family photos, here's ours. We're not allowed to bring cameras into the consulate, so this is a special way of commemorating the event.
The oath ceremony was actually very quick and not at all what we expected. We all sat in a room and waited for our turn to walk up to a little window, almost like a bank teller window, we handed a woman our papers, she looked at our passport photos and Terra's passport photo, then looked at each of us to be sure we were the right parents taking home the right baby. She approved us and told us to sit back down. Once everyone passed the window test, a woman came out and said, "Everyone please stand and raise your right hand for the oath ceremony." So we did. Then she said, "Do you swear that the information you have given the United States government in your adoption paperwork is the truth?" We all said yes, then she said, "Okay, you can sit down." We were completely shocked, that was it! We thought we would be swearing to take care of our children or something a little more involved than simply swearing that we told the truth! Then she gave us a little information about our children's visas and the ceremony (if you can call it that, I'm not convinced it qualifies as a ceremony) was done. We received Terra's visa and now as soon as she steps foot on American soil, which happens to be tomorrow when we get off the plane in Detroit, she'll be a US citizen!! She's stuck with us, like it or not! :)
We've reached the end of our journey here in China, but life as a family of four is just beginning. Was it the perfect trip without flaws? Of course not, but what family trip is? I think when you're traveling with children, it's more of an adventure than a vacation. Was it the perfect way to grow our family? Absolutely, there is no doubt in my mind that Terra was meant to be our little girl. Can I explain why the little girl that is supposed to be ours was born half a world away? Not at all, I don't think I'll ever be able to, but it's more clear now than ever that this was God's intention for us all along. Terra was born to another family, but our hearts have somehow always been connected. We are her family now and we will be eternally grateful to her first family for allowing us the privilege to love and raise such a wonderful and precious little girl. This whole experience has been a dream come true and now I look forward to watching Terra's dreams come true - whatever they may be!

Surprise Surprise!

Hello Everyone!
I've finally emerged from my fever-induced haze and feel ready to write! I'm happy to report that I am feeling MUCH better. I'm pretty sure I had strep throat. The good thing about strep is that once you start the antibiotics, you start feeling better quickly. I started taking the spare antibiotics that our doctor gave us "just in case" yesterday and I'm almost 100% today. Terra, on the other hand has not been quite so lucky. We had one of the grandmothers that's traveling with our group, who also happens to be a retired pediatrician, come take a look at Terra today. She said that Terra does not have pneumonia, but that the upper part of her lungs are very congested. She said we should absolutely continue the antibiotics and Tylenol. I think that she's starting to come around, she was much perkier this afternoon, as you'll see in the pictures below and tonight is her first night without a fever in the past 4 days - good sign!! Now we just have to get rid of that congestion before we board the plane on Friday morning - keep your fingers crossed!

Since we've barely left our hotel room in 3 days, I thought I'd post a picture of the view from our window. :) You can't see it in this picture, but Jorie is especially impressed with the building that has a pool on the roof. :) I'm hoping I'll remember to get some pictures of our hotel lobby tomorrow - the waterfall down there is so pretty. We had to stay in the room this morning while our guides went to the consulate for us and completed all of the paperwork. They wanted to be sure they could contact us, in case anything went awry. Luckily, all went well and the paperwork for Terra's visa is complete. We should be able to pick up her visa tomorrow after our oath ceremony - that's where we swear to take care of Terra. I'll write more about it tomorrow, after we actually do it. We ventured out for about an hour around lunchtime to get out of the room, do a little shopping and get some lunch. Jeff went out on a 4 hour shopping spree this afternoon! As he left for the wholesale electronics market, Jorie said, "Is he coming back?" and I said, "I certainly hope so!" But, after the first three hours passed, I began to have doubts myself! :) He did return and I think the shopping did him a lot of good. He came back with a smile on his face and an ipod in his pocket. :)
While Jeff was out shopping, the girls and I spent some time together. Here's a picture of Jorie showing Terra her quilt. We were telling her who each square of fabric was from and how much everyone loves her. She really enjoyed the quilt, pointing at the different fabrics and smiling.
It looks like Uncle Billy is getting his wish of introducing the Boston Red Sox early. Terra especially loved his addition to the quilt. She kept pointing to the letters. She pointed to many other fabrics too, but kept coming right back to Uncle Billy's squares. :)
This was a huge surprise to me - Terra can crawl! I had no idea, she had not yet attempted to crawl anywhere, so I thought that she didn't know how. I figured we were going straight to walking. Well, she was sitting on the bed as I was taking pictures and all of a sudden took off crawling straight at me. I snapped this picture then dropped the camera to catch her before she went right off the edge of the bed. She's looking a little pale and tired, but overall not so bad.
This is Jorie's favorite part of our hotel room. She likes to stand behind the curtains there, then comes out onto the rectangle in the floor to dance. The rectangle is, of course, her stage - where she sings and dances her heart out. Terra thinks it's hysterical - she laughs and points at her big sister. I'm sure the two of them will be dancing together in no time.
Here was the second surprise of the day - Terra walks pretty steadily! She was walking all over the room holding my hand today, we even did a few laps around the hall in the hotel - but, here she is walking right at me without holding on to anything! I have a feeling that once she's really comfortable with us, she's just going to take off and we'll be chasing after her. She has SO much energy and quite a personality! I can't wait to see what the combination will bring in the future - should be a very interesting and wonderful adventure!

We Passed!

This will have to be a short post, I have one very sick little girl that I need to get back to. We somehow managed to pass the medical exam this morning. It must have been divine intervention because Terra had a fever before we left and another one by the time we got back, but was fever-free for the exam! The doctor listened to her lungs and told me she was very congested. He asked if I had any medicine I could give her. I told him I had some antibiotics for her and he told me to start giving them to her right away. So, that's the first thing we did when we got back from the exam. Her fever was over 102 this evening, but I'm hoping and praying she'll be feeling much better by morning. For that matter, I'm hoping and praying that I'll be feeling much better by morning too! :) We missed the sightseeing tours again today, but Jorie and I did manage to have dinner with the group. We went to a restaurant called the Cow and Bridge - great Thai food! Terra was sleeping, so Jeff stayed with her and took a little nap too.
Back to our little sickie...I hope I'll have better news and pictures to post tomorrow!!!!

Under the Weather

I don't have anything exciting to report today. We've entered the somewhat boring phase of our trip - lots of paperwork and appointments. We were supposed to go to a folk art museum this morning, but Terra and I both have colds, so I decided we'd better stay at the hotel and rest. Once Jorie heard that I wasn't going, she decided she needed to rest too, so none of us went. We ventured out for a short walk around the nearby shops, but that's about it. Jeff completed all of the paperwork for Terra's visa and we'll bring Terra tomorrow for her medical exam. We're hoping her fever will be gone by morning because a fever means lots of medical testing before she'll be given clearance to enter the US. We gave her some Tylenol tonight and I'll give her more about 1/2 an hour before we leave in the morning, hopefully that will do the trick!
We had Papa John's delivered for dinner - what fun! Papa John's is one of our favorite pizza places but we rarely get to eat it because the closest one to us is 40 minutes away. Who would have guessed we could travel all the way to China and be closer to a Papa John's than we are at home?!
We decided today that we're going to leave one day earlier than we planned. All of our appointments will be finished Thursday night and we had planned to stay on Friday to rest and pack before the big trip home. But, since Terra and I are both not feeling that great and Jorie is really wanting to be back home, we thought that the sooner we get home the better. So, we switched our flights and will be leaving first thing Friday morning, which is Thursday night for most of you. :) We should be arriving home sometime around 7 pm on Friday evening. We've really had a wonderful trip and an amazing adventure in China, but I think we're all feeling like we'd like to be back in our own beds - particularly since our current hotel ran out of king size beds and we are now all sharing a double bed! I woke up this morning to find Jeff sleeping on the floor! He took the cushions off of the two chairs in the room and made himself a bed. Pretty funny!
I'm hoping Terra and I will feel up to going on tomorrow's sightseeing adventure - I'm not sure where we're headed, but I do believe the adventure ends with dinner at a Thai restaurant - sounds delicious! Hopefully, I'll have a few more pictures to add tomorrow! I'm off to bed...

First Plane Ride

We arrived safely in our second destination today. We'll be in Guangzhou until we leave on Saturday. This is where the American Consulate is, so we'll be here getting Terra's visa all set - so we can bring her home!! We left our hotel in Nanchang fairly early this morning and Terra took her first plane ride! It was a short ride, only about an hour. Terra was so amazed by everything. She pointed out the window and smiled, she loved looking between the seats to see the people behind us and she had a lot of fun kicking the seat in front of us. I'm sure the man in front of us really enjoyed that! She wiggled all over the place trying to see everything she could. My arms felt like I had been in a wrestling match by the end of the trip! I'm hoping she won't be quite as wiggly for the entire trip back to the US, or I'm going to be completely exhausted!! Perhaps she'll be willing to sit on Jeff's lap for a while during that trip.
Everything is so much more relaxed here in Guangzhou. We arrived at the hotel and everything just seems so peaceful. There's a beautiful waterfall in the lobby and gorgeous gardens that add to the tranquility. We ventured outside where there are TONS of shops. The cars still drive pretty fast around here, but there are lots of speed bumps and only one lane of traffic, instead of four, like in Nanchang. We ate lunch and dinner at the same restaurant down the street. They specialize in American food, which was a much needed change of pace today. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich quite so much!
Jeff and Jorie enjoyed some time in the pool after lunch, while Terra napped and I got us all settled into our room. I'm hoping to take Terra down to the pool at some point before we leave. After dinner tonight, we stopped by the 7-Eleven for some water and were surprised and pleased to find Rocky Road ice cream! We bought a big container to share. We weren't sure what Terra would think of her first ice cream, but she loved it! It's official, she's definitely part of the family!
Not much else to report, just a wonderful and relaxing Sunday!

The Noodle Queen

This morning our adventure took us to an ancient village. When our guide told us we were going to see an ancient village, I was thinking we might see ruins or perhaps a tourist attraction, like Old Sturbridge Village. I was so shocked when we got there, started walking through the village and realized that people still lived there! Most of the buildings were over 300 years old. There was no running water and very little electricity. We saw many people sitting around enjoying their Saturday morning playing Mah Jong and some children playing marbles. The picture above is of an old man cutting peppers. It felt very odd to me that we would be walking around their village to sightsee. Our guide had us peak in doors to see their homes - it felt like such an invasion of privacy. But, the people were incredibly friendly. One very old woman offered us some fresh eggs. We declined, as we knew that those were probably the only eggs she had and did not want to take her food. Another woman came up and started talking to me. I had no idea what she was saying and our guide started laughing. I asked her what the woman was saying to me and the guide said that she wanted to know if Terra was my biological child, because she looked so much like me! Isn't that incredible?! That's the first stranger that has mentioned the resemblance.
This is the entrance to the village. The gateway was very beautiful. We were supposed to go to two more villages, but it was so incredibly hot that we asked if we could stop after one. The other families weren't up for more walking and poor Jorie was turning beet red. We walked with an umbrella over our heads to shield the sun, but that didn't help with the humidity. Our guide told us that this is not the hottest it gets here, that it will be even hotter next month and that the hot temperatures continue through the end of October!
My blog about our trip to China wouldn't be complete without a picture of rice paddies! They are everywhere throughout the countryside. We've learned so much about China - the people and the culture - on our trip. For instance, I had no idea that over 75% of the population of China are farmers! They live in the countryside and work incredibly hard, never taking time off, just trying to support their families. The rest of the population lives in the cities. Which, by the way, it can only be considered a city if it has a population of at least 1 million!!! Each city is divided up into districts called counties - so the counties make up a city, instead of the other way around. We also found out that children are only allowed to attend school in their parents' official town of residence. So, for instance, if the parents lived in Nanchang, then decided to move to Beijing, their children would not be allowed to attend school in Beijing because that was not their town of residence. The parents could pay for their children to attend private schools in Beijing, but private schools are a relatively new phenomenon here in China and are not as good as the public schools.

Here she is, our little noodle queen! Give her a plate of noodles and she will be content for hours! She is so cute the way she picks them up in her hands then sucks them into her mouth. She LOVES noodles! This was actually supposed to be my lunch, but Terra saw me eating and dug right in. If anyone knows of a place in CT where we can get some really good Lo Mein or Chow Mein, please let us know!

Making Progress

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post, but just thought I'd throw the idea out there. I know that there are a lot of people reading the blog at this point and I wanted to mention that one of Terra's best friends from the orphanage will soon be available for adoption. She looked to be about the same age as Terra and has the most beautiful little face. I thought it would be pretty neat if someone we knew were to adopt her, then the girls could grow up together. Just thought I'd mention it...We started our day today by riding this ferris wheel! It is the tallest ferris in the world! It took us 30 minutes to go around once. We went on with the other two families in our travel group. I think that our family was the only one that truly enjoyed the experience. Jeff and I thought it was incredible. Jorie kept saying, "This is so exciting!" Terra kept pointing out the window and smiling. The other two girls in our group were less than thrilled with the ride and clearly wanted to get off about halfway through - not that that was an option!
This is the view from the top of the ferris wheel. As you can see, we were far above even the tallest skyscrapers in the city - very cool!! After the ferris wheel, we stopped by the porcelain market to do a little shopping. We're in Jiangxi province and this province is known for its porcelain.
Here is a picture of Jeff holding his little girl for the first time. At least, the first time where she's not screaming. Terra was playing on the floor with me and I got up to make her a bottle. To my surprise, she didn't start crying immediately. So, I decided to wait a little while and see how long she was content without me. After about five minutes, I suggested to Jeff that he sit down next to her and start playing too. The two of them played together for about an hour, which was the first time he was able to get near her without her being in my lap or arms. After the hour was done, we could tell she was getting sleepy, so Jeff decided to try giving her a bottle. He picked her up and she cried a little, until she saw the bottle. Once she saw the bottle, she relaxed in his arms and eventually fell asleep. It was so sweet.
During Terra's nap, Jeff took Jorie to these paddle boats which were set up on a "walking street" - a street closed to car traffic. She had a wonderful time, though it did take a while for her to figure out how to use the paddles. She was the only one in the boats while they were there, but she drew quite a crowd. Jeff said that, by the end, the entire pool was surrounded by people just watching her. We discovered yesterday that if we put Jorie's hair in a bun, we attract much less attention - I think the curls are what people are really intrigued by. So, she'll be wearing a bun for the rest of the trip, as she's already said she's much happier when we're out and about. Although we have been told twice in the past 24 hours that she looks like a Barbie doll!
Here are our girls in their sister t-shirts. Jorie's shirt says jie jie (big sister) and Terra's says mei mei (little sister). Jorie asked to wear them today and she proudly told everyone what the shirts said. Terra's was pretty big, but looked cute anyway. I was trying to get both girls to look at the camera, so I said, "Where is Baba (Daddy)?" They both pointed to Jeff as he took the picture - too cute!
Jeff talked me into ordering another dress for Terra - as if I needed any persuading. He suggested that we get another white one made in a larger size that she could wear for her First Communion. I thought that was a fantastic idea, so we picked out another white fabric - slightly different, but just as gorgeous - and told the store we would like a dress that would fit a 7-year-old. We figure if it's a little too long or too short, that won't really matter, she'll still be beautiful.
We didn't make it out to dinner tonight. The girls were both so worn out and not what we call "restaurant appropriate". We opted for a pizza in our room and early bedtime - if only the early bedtime had worked as planned! I don't think either of them were actually asleep early tonight. Oh well, perhaps they'll sleep a little later in the morning. One can dream, right?