A few final pics

Our travel buddies... Mellissa and Brian and Wen..... We will miss them!

And he is ours............. FOREVER

Oh, We love this little guy

Red Couch Photos

And he's off................................

Yep! Ours was the escape artist in the group!

Look at our handsome emperor.......don't ya just love that smile?

Da Boys in our group! There were actually 3 others but they left on Tuesday, so this is our "true group"

Happy Family - now complete! America Here We Come!

Catch Up

I have had a hard time getting on blogger here, esp in the evenings. I think there are so many adoptees getting on in the evenings... so it is backlogged. Anyway, I added the pics to yesterdays post during nap time, so today I just added the captions. So you many want to scroll down and read them. Also, it is sometimes easier to post the pictures smaller, but if you click on them, they will blow up bigger. I assure you, Tai is much cuter full screen! So check it out! This will probably be our last post from China. I know all of my blog junkie friends will be sad about that. But for those of you at work, you still have Holly to keep you going! BTW- I am very excited that we were able to see Graycn live and in person via video skype on Hollys Gotcha Day!!!!!! Oh, she is ADORABLE! Jason keeps saying that we will be back " to get us one of those" ! Good thing Tai likes Ramon noodles......looks like we will be saving for baby #2! For all my OREO friends... I think you just moved up "the list".

So the past few days have been fun and full of adventure. I think my last post we were off to the Pearl Market. WOW! Pearls were everywhere! We had a great time.......lots of purchases........and a few gifts! After the pearls we walked back through town to the hotel. We walked through a traditional Chinese mall, which was very interesting. Much like home, but much bigger! We even stopped to buy some sandals for only $7 USD. He needed more shoes!!!!! Just like his mama! He's a shoe boy now! The shoes here are way cuter than at home. Then we walked through the streets of Guangzhou. Our guides took us to the herbal market, which was most interesting. The things that they eat are fascinating. Like the dried blubber of a fish to make your skin soft. The sea horse,frogs, mushrooms, roots, scorpions. All very interesting. Then we walked through the outdoor animal market. Tons of small puppies, kitties, birds, fish, turtles. Sooooooooooo many! Tai liked to look and point at the "Go Go's" No crying this time, but they were in cages and he was in his stroller! We also saw a man on the street carving trinkets and pendants out of ox bone. The detail was amazing! So cool! We of course had to purchase some of his work! After our long shopping day, we headed to dinner with our American friends from New York and their son Wen. We went to an amazing Italian dinner! For those of you waiting to travel here.......I HIGHLY recommend this place! It was fantastic. A little pricey, like a nice meal out at home. But very worth it. A note on the restaurants here..... Lucy Bar and Grill, we thought was awful. Unless you want a beer on the patio overlooking the park. The Cow and Bridge Tai food was good, but certainly nothing special. The padtai was much like PeiWei. Anyway, not impressed enough to go back. So last night the four of us plus kids ventured out to find some good chinese food. Well we had a very hard time. We actually walked out of the first restaurant. We wanted some good dumplings, noodles and rice dishes etc. All we could find was steamed pigeon (yes the whole bird, beak and all) or braised pig ( yes the whole pig) or pig feet, or some sea creatures (still intact). We couldn't even find Peking Duck. We would have been adventuresome but we could find NOTHING to feed the noodle eating maniac boys! We finally stumbled on a German Restaurant with a very nice outdoor beer garden, we thought it looked good. After Mellissa and I asked for the menu and stood outside for about 10 minutes seeing if there was something to feed the munchkins, we decided it would be good! Yeah! They then tell us there was a private party and we could not eat that night. BUMMER. So it was back to the Italian restaurant. Which was fine with us! It was once again........ VERY GOOD!

I have gotten more used to the shopping on the island. Getting good at saying NO. But sometimes is hard, b/c it is kinda cheap. We did find a place that is making a Chinese blanket for Tai. We were able to pick out the material and they will sew it by hand for us today. We also purchased a handmade stocking out of silk and they are going to hand embroider Tai's chinese name on it for us! All of this for $40!!!!! We are very happy with these purchases. Holly, this place is just to the right when you exit the WS hotel. Between the art shop and the shop on the corner. A small store, but worth it! I swore I wouldn't do it....... but I could not resist the squeaky shoes. It is hard to find cute ones for the boys, but I managed to find one pair that I liked. And Tai likes them even more!!! The one thing about the shopping is that it is all geared to the girls! Very hard to find cute boy things. I suppose that is good on the wallet. If we had a girl I would have purchased at least 20 pairs of squeaky shoes by now!

Yesterday, was a free day. We decided not to go to the zoo. We heard it was not so good here. The safari is apparently much better, but it is a 50 minute taxi ride each way. A long way to go if Tai hated the animals. So we had a very nice day at the park and exploring the island. We also did the famous red cough pictures. We got some nice ones. I will try to post those later.

Today we have a free morning, mama is spending it writing to all of you blog junkies! Then i will start the packing. This afternoon we go to the US Consulate to make our oath and get Tai's visa!!! Hoorah.......... we are coming to America!!!!!!!!!! We had quite a scare today when the consulate called us to tell us there was a problem with our paperwork. Mama and Baba's heart stopped for a bit! After much back and forth and discussion with our guide... we finally figured out what was really wrong. In 2 provinces in china you can pay extra to have the american name on the passport, Jiangxi is one of those provinces. We paid for this. After looking very closely at all the paperwork with Jenny, we didn't look at the backside of the passport page. Well they did not put a space between Tai and Alexander. They said that we may have problems getting though immigration. So to avoid this we REDID all paperwork and Tai will now travel with his chinese name. means more paperwork at home for us. But as long as we can get him into the country....... then that is OK. Please help us pray that everything goes smoothly for us. We are still a little nervous still. We only have 2 hours in Detroit to pass customs and do all of Tai's immigration paperwork.

On our last day in china we have been reflecting on this whole journey. We keep thinking that if Vietnam had not shut down on us, then we never would have seen Tai! We know that he was born just for us. God made him just for us, we know that without a doubt! We don't know why we had to go on such a long hard journey to get here, but we can tell you that it was most definitely WORTH THE WAIT!!!! He is perfect, amazing, and wonderful. We sometimes can not believe how in love we are just after 2 weeks. We got a little emotional just thinking about the possibility of heart surgery, where before we thought it was no big deal. We are also a bit emotional about taking him away from his country. This is his home and his birth place, his heritage,his culture. We have tried to learn everything we can about China so we can share it with him. We also really like China. The people are so friendly and welcoming. The history and the traditions we find fascinating. The children are beautiful, we are mesmerized by them all. We think that chinese adoption may just be as addictive as getting a tattoo! We have had an amazing time here. We have loved just being a family of three. We have all grown closer to each other from this experience. But it is time to come home. Today was the first day that we really wanted to be at home. We are tired, sick, out of clean clothes, out of money, and ready to be in our own beds! Tai was up about 6 times last night, we today we are exhausted. So we will see you all in tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are ready to start our new adventures together as a family of three in Kansas. Truly, our journey is just beginning!

Thank you for all of your love and support! We couldn't have done this without each of you!



BTW - Tai is so smart and funny, if you couldn't tell from his pictures! He is talking up a storm to us. In english and chinese. He is linking 2 english words together already! He is picking up on the sign language too. His favorite phrases are bye boat, go go, hello, uh oh. He has the best smile we have ever seen. Everyone here keeps telling us that "he is a lucky baby". But we believe that WE are the lucky ones!!! God has been good to us...he answered our prayers!!!!!!

Sites of Shamian Island and Tai of Course

Outdoor herbal market

This man is picking out the best scorpions with chopsticks. Just wonder what he is going to do with those scropions........... yikes

Dried frog... we think! Some sort of herbal medicine

Dried Seahorse anyone?

Chicken Man on the street?????????? not sure what he does?????

Public walking area and shopping, MASSES of people

Mama and Mellissa buying pearls..... the dads are wondering just how much money we are spending! After you buy the pearls, the ladies string them up for you.

Pearls anyone?????

A glimpse at the parks in china, everyone is exercising! No wonder these people are so skinny and live so long. We need parks like this at home!

Mama and our guide Lily filling out mounds of paperwork so we can bring home Tai!!!!!!!!!

Kim - this one is for you! Don't worry, we already have her in the bag!

Beautiful Chinese bride. We see them everywhere on Shamian Island. I am in awe of all of them, so beautiful!

This adorable school girl was very eager to pose with her book for us! So studiuos! She can teach the american childen a lesson or two we think.

A view from our hotel

Chinese Elementary School.... A step up from Parmalee!!!! The children in China go to school until atleast 5:30 pm. We have also seen some of them in the evenings after dinner. No wonder they are all so smart here. I think they are onto something!

The Medical Exam building

Look how much Tai loves the doctor

Sure is a lot of writing under the heart section, for having NO MURMUR! ha ha

Supposedly......... NO Murmur......... we will soon see........

Hearing and Eye exam......if he looks at the tamborine, then apparantly he can hear! Very scientific!

Wen helping Tai put on his shoes. Wen is the very helpful.......always cleaning and organizing. Brian and Mellissa hotel room is immaculate......... ours not so much!

Two friends dancing at the buffet.......... Don't you just love those two smiles! They have both brought so much joy to us!

Tai even likes Italian noodles.........oops we forgot the bib. Oh well, we are learning!

Tai had sooooooooooooo much fun at the park! He is going to love his "very own" playset....

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! What a big boy, all by himself!

Finally, mama found a way to get whole milk down him! A banana and milk smoothie! I finally learned after this to mix yogart with whole milk........ and he will drink it! Whooo Hoooo

Just too cute

Hello!!! One of Tai's favorite words. He also loves the telephone! Actually anything that remotely looks like a phone goes to his ear, such as the calcutlator, music box, remote control. But not the land line phone....... he doesn't know what to do with that! So funny!

Pouty face.... when we tell Tai "boo" (no) or "teeng" (stop) when he does something like throw food or toys on the floor...... he does not throw a fit........ he pouts... it is too cute!

Tai's MOST FAVORITE thing to do..........look at the fishies! We do this every morning after breakfast... think we need a fish tank at home. Might distract from the GO!

Thoughts and Pics from Guangzhou

Yeah! We made it to Guangzhou!!!! Tai thinks this is a good place to ride. check out 7-11 in the background.... no shushi's though

Tai's first french fry, dad slept through the whole thing. Just waiting for Jenny to get Tai's passport - Now he can come to America!!!! Hip Hip Hoorah

Tai helping daddy read with his chopstick, don't mind dad in his undies........

Jenny was very excited when KFC have her the coupons for March

All "da boys" from our group, the one in the middle is a brother from Guatamala..... It is VERY unusual to have an entire group of boys. Everywhere we go people comment on this. We get ALOT of lucky baby boys when people see us. Jenny told us in Nanchang that she has been a guide since 2001 and she has only had about 10 boys total!!!!!!! All are girls......

Just hanging out at the park on a bench

While in China, right????? For those of you not part of the china adoption world........... Just had to do it!

Tai and mommy after a long afternoon of shopping

Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!!! Tai at his first Starbucks experience. Michaela and Cameron we are ready to meet you for our coffee chats!

Group of buses at the Temple....... I am postive they are all filled with groups of people adopting babies.....seriously, there are that many here!

Tai and his buddy Wen, we have had a great time with his mommy and daddy too

A picture of a bed and pillows at the folk museum. Very similar to our beds at the white swan, except we have a sheet and a pillow case

Happy American Family at the temple - BTW, we borrowed this stroller for our stay from a vendor, and we rented one for $3.50 for the whole week in Nanchang..... but we are going to buy one for the airport. Just have to figure out which shop to bargain with, trying to find the best stroller......

This man was making the most beautiful paintings with his fists......It was AMAZING, quite talented, we were fascinated

If you make a wish while touching the ball in the Lions Mouth it will come true.... We will see! But if you can get the ball out of the mouth, you can own the temple says our guide! I tried very hard, but no luck

Mama and Tai at the waterfall at the hotel

Aren't these the two most handsomest boys you have ever seen????? Ready to go the games Willis! Thanks for the jacket..........Tai is already a big fan!

We made this cabinet our toy cabinet..... Tai loves it! However, who needs toys .. all you need are a pair of chopsticks and some stacking cups, and maybe a ball

Tai LOVES the fishies!!!!! We stop every morning to look at them. Just as the orphange promised " He don't like animal, but he like fish"

Waterfall at the White Swan Hotel.......I'm telling you - just like Vegas

Tai's first PBJ sandwhich, but still prefers noodle

View from the patio of Lucy Bar and Grill. We have no idea who this lady is, but check out that paparazzi!

Toy Cabinet... look closely at what is in his hand. Jason started his z pack before we left Nanchang. When we arrived we looked EVERYWHERE for it, in all of the large bags. But look who found it for us. Mama and Baba really need to work on the child proofing!!!!!!! eeks.... Good lesson for us!

Like father Like Son

Tai's new crib, this one meets our safety approval! Much happier mama and baba

Well, we arrived here a few days ago and we are starting to really enjoy it here. We still feel like this is the Vegas/Disney World of China Adoption. There are sooooooooooooooo many familes here adopting, from all different countries, mostly Americans though. Seems to be alot of diversity. Sometimes we do not feel like we are in China. However, the weather is much nicer and we spend alot of time outdoors. It is very hot and humid though. An extreme difference than Nanchang. Clothes wise, we were not prepared for that. Oh well. I am getting used to the shops/vendors. Still haven't done too much bargaining, just checking out all the stores first. But no worries I am prepared to start wheeling and dealing very soon! We had laundry done today, and we finally found something that is cheaper here than in Nanchang! Laundry! Everything else is much more expensive. We found a little deli down the street that we really enjoy, We get take - out lunch and then go there after dinner for dessert. They have wonderful pastries and ice cream. That is one thing about China that we find fascinating... is the pastries... they are too beautiful to eat sometimes.

One thing we miss about Nanchang is the fact that we felt and were treated like Royalty. We got very spoiled. As soon as we stepped off the elevator, we were greated by hotel staff and bellman, all eager to help us with our stuff ( and yes, it takes alot of stuff for this lil guy plus cameras, video, stroller, coats etc). And the driver and Jenny catered to our every move. Always loading our stuff for us we just took care of Tai. Same thing at the end of the day when we got home. One day our driver had his wife with him. Jenny made sure to ask US if that was OK!!!! Here we just feel like one of the masses. Big tour bus with lots of people and babies. Fend for yourself, except they do help with the stroller part.

I need to backtrack a little, because I did not write yesterday. Our day started off with a tour of the Chen Clan Temple. We were expecting another Buddhist temple. but really it was a folk museum. The building was gorgeous and we learned all about the history. But the best part was you guessed it........... The shopping! We bought some chinese art and scrolls. We had our family name and Tai's name written on them in Chinese characters. We also bought him a traditional stamp with a pig (he is year of the pig) and his chinese characters. We also bought some gifts, but you will just have to wait for that! The thing about this experience is that is was quite caotic in there. Lots of people shopping and quite a few language barriers. Supposedly, the artist will do the writing/characters for us and drop of our purchases at the hotel. We are a bit skeptical of this. We are also pretty sure that our painting will have our friends last name on them and Brian and Mellissa will end up with our name!!!!!!! But I suppose we will never know, we don't read chinese! Well, we didn't see too much of the museum b/c mama was shopping. The center was an open area with trees, flowers etc, very pretty. So the boys enjoyed their time outside. We did see some amazing had embroidered art work. Mama wished she was rich, b/c I would like to purchase some of that! It was AMAZING!

After the temple it was off to the Jade and provincia porcelain place. What do think occurred there???? You guessed it...shopping. We bought a tradtional jade neckless for Tai. It is tradition to give him some Jade on his 16th birthday. I am sure he will be very disappointed to get jade and not a car. Oh well. We spent his car money bringing him to America! Lucky Baby! The porcelain was very nice, but much better and cheaper in nanchang. Good thing mama shopped there instead. But we did walk away with some very nice things. But again, you will have to wait until we get home. Oh, BTW Jade is supposed to be good for health and happiness. It will bring you good luck and health if you wear jade. I am sure you can all guess who gets the Jade present in our family! Funny story about the shopping trip. There is a budda in the front that you give money too and make a wish. Well I dug out some coins and threw them in. Jason just laughed and said that ain't gonna do S***. I only put in about 10 cents worth. oooops

After a long morning of shopping ( and Jason realizing that he may have to pick up some shifts in the PICU on the weekends, to pay for mamas habit) Tai was fast asleep on the bus and it was home for naptime. And mama loaded pics to the blog yesterday. After nap it was more walking around the town, which is when we found Starbucks! It was like in the movies with the beautiful music and the slow motion running. We were afraid it may have been a mirage, but think god it was not! We love just walking around a people watching. We are mesmerized by the people and their beauty. We really love it here. The people in China are so friendly and peaceful. So much different than the hussle and bussle of America. After our afternoon walk, it was time for dinner. We met up with the group for a dinner at the Cow and Bridge, a Thai restaurant. It was very good. I stuck with padtai, much like home, and jason had fried squid which was quite tasty. Tai liked it too, finally something besides noodles! A funny thing about the restaurant is that you have to pay for napkins. They handed out wet wipes prior to dinner, but our guide told us that you had to pay for them, so we quikly handed them back. Except our Wen (our friends little boy, he was not giving that thing up). So during dinner Jason asked for a napkin, the waiter handed him like a package similar to a travel kleenex package. We got a good laugh when he quickly wrote on our ticket 20 yuan!!!!!!

The best part about the whole day is that Tai SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! We are making some headway here guys! Wooo Hooo!!!!!! He got up once, stood in his crib and took one look at us and was back to sleep. He fussed slightly but was back to sleep in no time. Pretty sure he was thinking "oh good these two characters are still here".

So this morning, it was the same rush around to get out the door. We have this down to a science only taking 2 hours! Hmmmm not sure how I will ever make it to work at 6 am! After our wonderful buffet breakfast, we met the group and we were off to our medical exams. This part we have to do in order to get Tai his visa. The only word I can use to describe this is caotic! Sooooooooo many people, chinese and adotees all crammed in. It was insane. Apparantly there is no HIPPA here. We have some pics but havne't downloaded them yet so will do so tonight. Tai hated the entire thing BTW. He supposedly weighs 11.2 kgs, but not too sure how correct that is? We asked the doctor if he has a murmur. He says NO. We pointed to where it says congenital heart anomoly, he says oh and listens again, nods yes, then wrote a bunch of chinese on the line for cadiac. Have no idea what it says......... Of course Tai was screaming and soooo many people and I tell you his stethascope was no littman! So who knows if he heard anything at all! The worst part of the whole morning was for our friends' boy, they are a hague case (if you are not part of the adoption community, just know this is not us) anyway they had to get 4 immunizations. His mama tried veryhard to not get these!!!!! But to no avail, they said it was not there decision, he must have them to get a visa. Apparantly they did 4 seperate shots, and VERY SLOWLY! Poor mama had to hold him the entire time! Sure wish nurses Heidi and jason could have done this for them. We would be much more proficient with the shot giving!!!!!! so sorry guys!

After the exam, we were very happy to find a park!!! We had so much fun,just the 3 of us playing on the slides. Tai loved it!!! He is going to love his playset in the backyard. Can't wait for that. The parks here are so cool, they have all kind of exercise equipment. It is so cool. We also saw some soldiers marching, school kids playing, and a beautiful bride and groom. After the people watcing it was off to starbucks for a green tea frappachino - mama's favorite! It is so hot and humid here so it was most delicious! Tai liked it too! And then we did mounds of paperwork for our consulate appt. It was so fun to sign all the documents with Tai's full name and then By: mother and my signature. It actually made mama a bit teary eyed! We are one step closer to bringing this guy home and making him and American citizen! After todays nap time we are going to go play outside a bit and then it is off to meet the group for you guessed it ........ more shopping at the Pearl Market. mama is excited about this excursion!

Congratulations to my cousin Katie for passing her boards!!!!!! You are now a Real Nurse too!!!! Yippeeeeeeeee. We have a bedroom all ready for you and a great Children's hospital with a job waiting for you! You are most definetely going to want to live with your cousin Tai!!!!!!!!

And yippee for Holly, she meets Graycn today! We were able to talk on Skype last noc with them, it was so much fun! We have both been so busy planning our trips that it was nice catching up!

Tommorrow is a free day and I think the 3 of us are going to venture out to the zoo! Should be fun! Lets see if Tai likes the animals or not......... we will let you know.

We are having so much fun being a family, but we miss you all and are ready to come back home!Enjoy the pics for the day!