Oh my. No more pictures for the blog!! I think I burned out the power supply for the MacBook and I am having to update the blog on my iPad. And, as we know from the Windows Surface commercials, their ain’t no USB drive on an iPad. So, just words. Sorry. Maybe I can find another power supply tomorrow (doubtful).

So, spinning plates. The last couple of days have felt like spinning plates. Just when you get one spinning, you have to run over and take care of another!! Yesterday, Riley and Leah had rough days and Jessie was an angel. Today, Leah woke up a ittle rough, but by the time we got to the US Consulate, she perked up and was happy. Riley, also, had a very good day and, except for grumbling about having to walk to get dinner, which we ate in the room, she was very happy and engaged for most of the day. Jessie, however, was a little grumpy today and was unhappy any time that she couldn’t be by her mom’s side, like when I took the girls on a paddle boat ride without Kelly. Here are the pictures … Oh wait.

This morning we left and went back to the medical clinic so that Jessie could get a chest X-Ray. It was clear, which we knew it would be but we were relieved none the less. I am sure Kelly was NOT looking forward to spending a few weeks or months here so that Jessie could receive treatment for TB!

We needed the medical report, so we waited in the lobby while the other two families walked over to the Consulate for the 9AM appointment we all had. We got pushed back to 10AM so that we could get all of Jessie’s medical files in place. Two things happened in that lobby while we waited. First, standing (no chairs) in the lobby of a building for an hour was just WAY too much to expect from Jessie and Riley! But we are improving. Last week fifteen minutes would have been too much!

The extended wait time meant that they became bored and got a little mischievous. Then they started getting in trouble, first by the security guard. Riley’s answer to that was to stand right beside him at the doorway and mimic his job. Then, when he walked away, she took over. Oh my goodness. What have we done!?!

After that they started getting in trouble with us, which they did NOT like! They were both pretty angry that we dared to make them obey. Their anger carried over to the US Consulate later!!

The other thing that happened is that while we were standing there, a young Chinese man came up to Kelly and asked, “Where are you from?” When she told him America, his next question was, “Do you know God?!” What?!? In downtown Guangzhou, China, this guy is witnessing to us?! Kelly answered “Yes!!” And he proceeded to tell us that his name was Lei and he graduated from Cornell last year. He is working as an interpreter in the building we were in and when he sees Americans that are Christians he likes to pray with them. Could he pray with us right there? WHAT?! Of course!! So, there we were, our family and Lei praying in the lobby. He prayed a beautiful prayer over us and our family and the girls we are adopting and we, in turn, prayed for him. What a wonderful moment!! We have pictures, but again …..

Finally we got all the medical information and went to the US Consulate. Remember, Riley and Jessie are pretty mad at us, so they were refusing to sit with us outside the Consulate, choosing to look like two orphans standing on the sidewalk all alone. We got approval to come into the consulate and wait for our turn to be called and, again, they chose to sit as far away from us as possible.

Jessie was the first to soften. After awhile the room started filling up with people and Jessie and Riley started talking to each other and calming down. Kelly called to Jessie and she moved a little closer. Then Kelly called again and Jessie moved a little closer. Finally Kelly called again and Jessie came the rest of the way, followed shortly by Riley. All was good again, just in time for their mini-interview with the Consulate officer. Who KNOWS what they would have told him just a few minutes earlier!

We will get all our final paperwork tomorrow along with the girls VISA’s for immigration into the United States. We have an extra day here tomorrow because they were worried that we might not have all the paperwork needed to leave by tomorrow. So, tomorrow we go to the Safari Park in the afternoon and the Circus tomorrow night. Brave, I know. But we could have left tomorrow and we should have just risked it! We have been told before that we couldn’t get out in a certain time and God has always made a way.

One final thought for the day. Throughout this process and even here in country, we are told “You are an amazing family!” While I appreciate the thought, it is far from true. We are not amazing or special. Most days we are, truth be told, mostly average and there are many days we are sub-par. What we are is willing to ignore the rational side of our brains and keep saying “yes” when asked. God equips those He calls and not the other way around. There are many days where I feel like Moses complaining to God that I am the totally wrong guy for this job! I believe Kelly would say the same thing. So I understand that people may feel we are doing something great, but in actuality we are just doing something somewhat stupid, but agreeing to do it with God’s help. This journey isn’t ending when we get home! It is just starting. And there are many challenges and struggles that we will have to be overcome. But God is and will continue to be faithful.

Tomorrow is a LONG day with us getting back very late. I am not sure I will have any additional opportunities to Blog before we get back home. Thank you for your prayers and for your continued prayers on our way home. We will update you as soon as we can.

Cameron

We had a lazy day today, sleeping in (as late as the girls would allow) and then heading down to a late breakfast. After that we went back up to the room and all the girls seemed to find things to do that kept them busy! Some were building Lego’s, some reading, some writing, it was just very relaxed. My friend, Bob Hamm, set up Skype to allow me to watch the OSU-Baylor game, and we just kind of kicked back for awhile. Kelly and three of the girls went out on an errand to exchange some jade bracelets I had purchased and Britt, Leah, and I stayed at the hotel watching the game.

After Kelly returned, we went out for a quick lunch and headed down to a park that is not far from the hotel. Riley wasn’t too happy with this plan. She is fine in the room and is OK traveling places, but really doesn’t like to walk anywhere. She would much rather just sit in the hotel room! However, we are not a “sit in the hotel room” kind of family, so we drag her around, much to her dismay.

My friend, John Williamson, told me about a pizza place that is right around the corner from the hotel down one of the side streets. Funny how you stay on the main road and you don’t know what you are missing! Just one block off the main road is a really nice, quaint little neighborhood that is thriving with various restaurants and bars. I enjoyed just walking around this area as it was much more peaceful that walking along the busy roadway.

This little place reminded Kelly of a place close to our hotel in Vietnam that we frequented.

As we got a little closer to the park, I found several new and exciting restaurants that we might try with the kids. Not …

Entering the park, the clouds started to look a little ominous. We were hopeful that the rain would hold off until we had a little time to explore.

It did not. It began to rain just as Leah started going up the ramp to an area we wanted to see. Kelly had to run down and get her as the rain started to fall!

We ended up standing in a covered area with a bunch of other people for about the next hour as the heavens opened and it poured down rain!

Obviously, whatever was on this structure was important to this guy because he was out there filming it in the rain with his expensive smart phone getting all wet.

People found many ways to entertain themselves while it rained. Some practiced their ballet.

Some played games.

Some watched people play games.

Some danced.

Some hid.

Some experimented with taking pictures.

Some got and gave massages.

Some fixed their hair.

Some made a run for it.

Some wrote on the ground with rainwater.

That was actually kind of cool. The guy let Leah and Ali try their hand at using this large brush. Leah did Chinese characters.

While Ali did a giant sunflower.

The guy even started giving lessons to another little boy that was there.

Some sang and played instruments.

Actually, three different groups were singing and playing instruments, which was almost enough to drive you crazy. You can see in this picture that the singer has a headset on and an amp with a speaker on her hip. EVERYONE has one of these, singers and musicians alike, all of them set on 11 (because that is louder than 10). That makes a LOT of noise!

Some practiced their martial arts.

Leah thought she would mess with Kelly a little bit and started running her wheel chair right up to the edge of a step!

Kelly couldn’t take the stress so she went ahead and rolled her down to the next level.

During this time, Riley decided to distance herself from the family and sulk a little, mentioning that she had warned us about the rain and was, ultimately, correct.

Unfortunately for her, we would rather spend time out in the rain just being with each other than sitting in a hotel.

I will just throw this one in because I like it.

The rain lightened up a little, so we decided to make a run for it!

We saw another family that is staying in the hotel across the street making the same run back to the hotel and the girls called out to the husband with a term they use for him (and at times Kelly and me) that loosily translated means “older person”. They don’t appear to use it with distrespect and they keep trying to convince us that it isn’t a bad thing. I am not sure that I believe them.

The arrival back to the hotel again brought about a tear-fest, although I will say that through it all Jessie was a rock! No tears at all, and once one of them starts crying it tends to go downhill! Riley had her biggest cry yet and then Leah became upset when we had her come into the “living area” of the hotel room and play a game with us. It is all part of the process and it helps that we (more Kelly than I) lived throug this with Ali. As with bleeding, all crying stops eventually.

Tonight Brittany and I went out and got pizza from the place the John Williamson suggested. On our way out of the hotel we ran into a wedding in the lobby! At first I thought it was Chinese prom, but Britt set me straight.

As we sat at the restaurant waiting on our order, i took a few shots

The pizza was good, the crying stopped, and Brittany opened up a hair salon using Riley as a model. Her hair is VERY long and isn’t that thick, so Britt is able to work some magic with it. I told Riley earlier today that I loved her hair, and she asked me if that meant that I didn’t like Brittany’s. I told her I liked Britt’s also, but I really liked hers! There are other things about Brittany that I like a lot. She seemed OK with that.

Early to rise tomorrow morning as we have to get all these girls up and ready and fed before the van pulls out at 7:30AM! We are now looking at the down hill portion of this trip and the next several days should move quickly! We are believeing in positive outcomes for Jessie’s chest x-ray tomorrow.

Cameron

Last night Kelly got out the Chinese jump rope and the girls showed us their skills with their schoolyard routines.

Then it was shower time with sister helping sister.

While Kelly was talking to Maxwell on Skype, Riley decided to go for a ride on my back and interrupt the conversation!

This morning we loaded up the bus for a trip out to Shamian Island, the place where we have stayed the last two visits to Guangzhou.

We went out there with two other families that are here. This is our guide, Richard. He has really been a great guide and was responsible for organizing all of our in-country arrangements while we are here in China.

You have to appreciate a bus driver with these things on his dashboard.

The big issue that we ran into was that their was a marathon going on this morning and all the roads were blocked! It took us FOREVER to actually get to the island.

And once there, we basically all bailed out in traffic when the driver of the bus stopped at a place where we could get onto the sidewalk.

On the way to the island, there were several street vendors who were out on the sidewalk. I will let you know that the first two guys were pretty irritated that I took their picture, especially since we didn’t buy any of their wares.

Then our three families invaded the island!

We waited for the girls outside the Starbucks as they went to the bathroom.

We went by some of our old souvenir spots, although we really didn’t buy anything.

The girls enjoyed the one shop where there was an artist painting names onto parchments.

On one of our visits we bought a lot of stuff from this one shop, so we spent a fair amount of time in there “negotiating”. It was interesting to see how things go full circle. Here is the shop.

In 2010 when we were here with Caleb he got in trouble for being too crazy in the store so I made him go outside and sit on the curb. There is a pitiful picture of him glaring at me that I put on his blog. Today, Riley did the same thing and I made her sit in almost the exact same spot.

Here is the picture from 2010:

And here is the picture from today:

As is typical, I have to try and keep Riley occupied, so…

Here are a couple of pictures for Bobby Hamm … the old White Swan Hotel, which is STILL being renovated, and Lucy’s Bar & Grill, the worst American food this side of the Delta.

They were having a charity drive in the park and the girls heard the music and wanted to go watch, so we went over for a few minutes and listed to the music and watched the people milling about.

And, again, Riley:

I know that every time we stay on the island I post a lot of pictures of the island, but it really is beautiful and I always love the peaceful environment and the European architecture nestled in this bustling China city of 14 million people! So, indulge me a few more shots.

And yet, it is STILL China, so you do have large transformers within hands reach!

Remember the Thia restaurant we were looking forward to eating in? It is now a vegetarian restaurant. 🙁

So we opted for an old home-town stand by.

When we got back to the hotel we had to wait for the guide to come to the room and make one final pass through our paperwork before our meeting with the U.S. Consulate on Monday. We got two of the passports today and are now waiting only on Leah’s to come from Nanning. While we were waiting, the girls asked to talk to their China Mom’s, which became somewhat disastrous. Riley called and did fine, but soon after she got off, we tried to get Jessie’s mom on the phone and something wasn’t working. She had already started to get teary-eyed before she called and not being able to talk to her China Mom sent her into sobs. This, in turn, caused Leah to start crying also. We were able to get Leah’s China Mom on the phone and that helped to appease her, but in the meantime Riley got in trouble for being crazy which in turn sent her into tears. It was somewhat of a mess. I went to run an errand and thankfully Kelly was able to mend all the broken pieces of the afternoon with a little help from some small Lego sets she had brought.

We opted for a free day tomorrow. Hoping that doesn’t backfire into a day of tears! We will have to work hard to keep them occupied tomorrow, probably making a trek up to the local park to keep them out of the hotel room.

We did hear today that Jessie’s lab work came back positive for TB, which isn’t a huge concern because it is probably just a false positive. But, it does mean that an already early Monday turns into an even EARLIER Monday morning as we have to go back to the clinic and get a chest X-Ray before we head to the U.S. Consulate. Please be praying for that aspect of her medical exam and that all the information comes back negative so we can travel out of here next week!

We watched as another family took a private van from here down to Hong Kong to board their flights back home. There were four of them with luggage and there was NO extra room at all. We realized at that point that this option wasn’t going to work for us due to the number of people we have, so we are once again going to brave the train to Hong Kong next week. We were told that wasn’t a good option for us, but today all opinions have changed and it shouldn’t be a problem. That is expected tour guide language … “shouldn’t be a problem.” We took the train with Ali, even though we were warned against it, but it went just fine and was actually a fairly enjoyable way to travel to Hong Kong and is probably the fastest option. We were told that this time it would be challenging due to Leah’s wheelchair, but we are going to try it anyway. It should work out just fine!!

Cameron

We rolled in last night around 7:00 into the Garden Inn in Guangzhou. The hotel is really beautiful.

I mean, seriously! Any place with a room door THIS BIG has GOT to be a nice place, right?!

I will try and get some more pictures of the hotel later. There is a family staying here that adopted Leah’s younger foster sister and they meet us down in the lobby for a little reunion. They had not seen each other in quite awhile because Leah had been in Beijing for so long with her health issues. The two enjoyed spending a little time with each other.

Leah enjoyed showing her the bells and whistles on her new iPod.

Leah obviously had access to Apple products because the girl is fully adept at doing anything that she needs to do with her iPod. Look at weather, surf the internet … I think I caught her checking her portfolio value the other day.

We went with the other family for a late dinner. SOME signs from home bring warm feelings. Others …

Not a huge fan of McDonalds and even here, with little American food options, it wasn’t that great. Brittany did have a double cheeseburger (OK … two) that was pretty good, and I DO like their fries, but my spicy chicken sandwich was marginal. It was nice to have Ali here to help with the ordering, especially when we needed to order dipping sauce for someones McNuggets.

Leah shared a last meal with her little sister.

This morning it was up early to head to the International Travel Health Clinic so that all of the girls could have a physical and get any vaccinations needed by the U.S. Government for access to America.

Jessie is turning into a little bit of a momma’s girl.

The first part of the physical is your typical blood pressure and temp.

Riley had difficulty sitting still for the ear temperature probe as she said it tickled her.

Then they test them for color vision.

Height and weight.

And vision screening. Ali had to explain the process to Riley a little bit.

They all passed with flying colors and, in fact, Riley and Jessie had exceptionally good vision.

Ali caught playing Temple Run on my iPad.

Sometimes you have to do your best to keep Riley entertained!

After this, the girls had to go into the actual physical exam by one of the doctors.

Ali kept the nurses entertained by showing them pictures of her adoption two years ago and regaling them of stories from a family of twelve kids and mom and dad make fourteen! That is how she likes to introduce herself. I heard it today twice already. It is her claim to fame here …

Next it was off to the ENT doctor, for a THOROUGH (mark that as sarcasm) evaluation of their health!

Then the girls had to get their blood drawn (no parents allowed) and caught up on any vaccinations that the U.S. Government requires. It is such a joke. They required Leah to get a Polio vaccine … and she has had Polio. THAT was money well spent.

Oh … here was the second time Ali used her line, on this lady who was looking over Ali’s shoulder at pictures on the iPad.

The girls had a rough time at the end of the appointments. They were woken up early, Jessie is still having trouble with all the change, then they all had shots, and there were some tears and some grumpy girls! We came back to the hotel, worked for awhile getting all the paperwork together for the U.S. Consulate meeting on Monday. Then we went out for a late lunch. This hotel is really nice because there are restaurants everywhere around it … Chinese, American, even a Mexican place (we are going to brave that tonight. They have chips and salsa … how bad could it be.)

The family with Leah’s foster sister was heading to Honk Kong tonight so we went down to the lobby to see them off. Here is our little entourage in the elevator!

And Kelly’s little shadow in the lobby!

When the other family got down to the lobby, Leah gave her foster sister a little present to remember her by.

The two of them spent a little time together again …

And then it was time to say goodby. Leah was pretty sad to see her close friend leave so soon.

We decided to go look for a park that was somewhat close to the hotel. We actually never found the park (we DID, however, find a map that will allow us to get there on our next walk) but we did get to see different parts of Guangzhou!

Sometimes you just need to find a place to sit and read the paper…

On the way back, we decided to get some magazines for the girls to read up in the room. The guy shorted me on my change and I kept arguing with him about it until I realized that I was arguing over $1. Forget it. Not worth the effort! Its hard when the exchange rate is $6 RMB to $1 US to keep some of these things in perspective. You look at a menu item that is $24 and you think, “That is kind of expensive.” And then you remind yourself that it is $4 and cheaper than the “value meal” last night at McDonalds and will feed several people!

How about a little view “behind the curtain?” There are worse places to update your blog!

Tomorrow we are off to Shamian Island, a beautiful part of this city which used to be where all the British dignitaries lived. It is home to the famous White Swan hotel that used to play a central roll in China adoptions not too long in the past. It is also home to the Victory Hotel, the place where we have stayed on that last two visits to Guangzhou. There is a Thia restaurant there where we are planning on having lunch tomorrow! That is, if we survive the Mexican tonight!!

I had someone thank me for including the struggles we have faced on this blog. I kind of laughed to myself. First, I wouldn’t say there have been “struggles.” The girls have offered “challenges” but when looked at in the light of the immense change and disruption that has occurred in their lives, I would have to say that they are all doing remarkably well. Second, Kelly and I have to die to ourselves EVERY day, and I mean that literally. I pray every night for patience and understanding. And, I probably have to repeat that prayer a dozen times or so every day. Our tour guide has worked many years with the orphanage that Ali, Jessie, and Riley came out of and he commented on the extreme lack of rules and how every child coming out of that orphanage is very undisciplined. We are living that. These girls are not bad by any stretch of the imagination. But they have to be corrected and directed ALL the time.

(NOTE: As I was writing this, Jessie was sitting in front of me, head over the keyboard, biting the side of the screen, pushing keys. My points exactly…)

There are so many times over the last week that it would be so very easy to loose your temper or react with impatience and frustration. But I really feel that God has stepped in and given us an extra measure of grace through this time. Notice I said “extra measure” as we have not been perfect. However, we have done very well!

Cameron

We only had a half day left in Nanning, so since we have walked around the lake every day this week, why would today be any different?! However, there was an entire half of the lake that we have not walked through yet, so we started out to explore that which we have not yet seen!

The exploration started with all all girls race!

I spied Riley spending a little one-off time with Leah. It is nice that, even though they didn’t know each other before now, they are comfortable being sisters.

Once we actually got down to the walkway, things began like this…

Then became this…

Which quickly became this…

And then everything collapsed into bedlam!

Once the game of chicken had ended, we stumbled across some ladies who were practicing an umbrella dance in the park.

Brittany and Riley had their own little foot race over the North Gate Bridge.

We came across a guy who had just caught a fish and needed someone to hold it while he went to fill a bag full of water, so Riley and Ali quickly agreed!

He then tied the bag with the fish in the nearest tree.

Not how we usually keep fish fresh, but it seemed to work for him!!

A little later I tried to get Jessie to ride on my shoulders!

That worked for about ten seconds as the height scared her to death!! But Ali and Leah enjoyed watching it!

Riley offered to carry my backpack for awhile. I think it fit her well!

Then our little Jessie wanted to walk hand in hand for awhile. It started out with her being crazy as usual, but then ended up being a nice little family time together!!

Not to be outdone by Riley, Jessie wanted HER turn with the backpack. Unfortunately if it was too big for Riley, it was WAY to big for Jessie!

The day started out interesting. Both Jessie and Riley slept more restful last night than they have in days. However, at breakfast things seemed to take a negative turn. Jessie and Riley started to rock and withdraw a little, and Leah seemed forlorn. Then, as we went back up to our rooms, it felt that things could cross into uncontrolled craziness. Kelly and I thought that we were in for a long day. But the walk, as you can see, allowed all of us to spend time bonding and all the girls seem to be feeling a lot better.

We will be checking out of the hotel in Nanning in less than an hour and be flying our way to Guangzhou not too long after that. Our final stop before heading home.

Cameron

As I lay awake contemplating the day, my thoughts are turned to grace. Extending grace has never been a strong suit of mine. I have learned that God’s grace abounds in every circumstance of my life and that has become rather easy to acknowledge, even in the tough times, but extending grace, that is a different story. As I lay praying for my girls I realize that even though they have never read a word about grace, or heard a sermon on grace, or experienced God’s ultimate grace, they are extending it to me. The truest grace possible, grace extended in the most trying of circumstances. They graciously signed and agreed to be daughter to a stranger. They graciously call a white foreigner mama, when they are grieving their China mamas. They graciously accept comfort from someone who feels uncomfortable. They graciously try to obey when it has never been a requirement. Leah – worried about my tears as we cry together, Riley – inquires about my headache as her world falls apart, Jessie – sharing her own gum with me when she has never owned anything. They may seem like small acts to some, but trust me, I am being schooled in grace!

Kelly

If you have ever gone overseas you know that there are some things that bring you significant comfort in a strange land.

Today we went to Qingziu Shan Mountain, the tallest mountain in Nanning. It is pretty famous in this province and many people travel long distances to come visit. It has several temples and many other attractions. We started the day at the main temple. While not as old as some, it is a large temple that serves 18 gods, 1 major god and 17 minor gods. Wow. Some days it seems hard to keep ONE God happy! They have a ton! People comet to the temple to request favors. They burn incense to please the gods in hopes that they will grant their requests. Here are people lighting a very large incense stick, which the guide told me can cost upwards of $50-60.

You can buy all different sizes at a small booth right in front of the temple.

There is also a small area in front of the temple that I guess allows you to prepare your incense before going in?

Most people opt to purchase several of the smaller incense sticks, which are probably more like $4-5 each.

They have to light them in large fires that are spread throughout the temple grounds. We traveled farther into the temple that was filled with many monks, whom you were not supposed to photograph!

If the incense wasn’t enough, you could also put your request on a card and attach it to a glass candle that you light.

Not sure which option grants you more favor, but as a third option you could buy a ribbon and put your request on that! These gods give you a LOT of options!

The grounds were very beautiful and there were many flowers throughout.

We finally got to the main temple were there were several large Buddha’s that Burma had donated. They were quite impressive, but, again, no photography.

The guide did brave a picture of Brittany, Ali, and I.

At one point Ali was trying to get a better view of the Buddha’s and got yelled at by a lady for not staying in the lines like she was supposed to! Ali was a little embarrassed.

On the way out there are a couple of additional gods, I am assuming part of the original 18, that have nice donation boxes at their base, just in case the incense isn’t enough.

I was quite the hit on the mountain today. Usually it is Brittany that gets the photo requests, but today I was asked several times to take a picture with people. They will probably go home and tell their friends that they met Boomer Esiason on the mountain. Anyway, one guy came back later and asked if he could take a picture with our family, or at least the part willing to post for a picture.

We then traveled down to another area of the mountain that had some really beautiful scenery and some cute little stone statues.

Jessie and Riley spend a few minutes talking while everyone else took a quick bathroom break.

Here is my photographer, Riley, enjoying taking a picture of Brittany practicing her karate kicks!

She then took a few pictures of me.

I told the girls that if they didn’t obey, the policemen around might grab them and take them to jail! Cruel, I know. But effective for a few minutes!

Here is picture of our guide, Irene (that is here Chinese name. She told us her English name, but it really didn’t make much sense to remember that), along with Kelly and Leah.

This is the statue that Leah liked.

Here is Jessie practicing a few kicks of her own!

Kelly and Leah practice some moves with the statues.

Leah really liked this statue. She even gave it a kiss!

So, I will take this time to talk about the girls a little bit. Jessie was a dream child today. She had some issues before going to bed last night. But last night as well as the night before, when choosing which bed she wanted to sleep in, she chose mine. Go figure. We only have four beds, so almost everyone has to double up. As she went to sleep last night, she let me scratch her head until she went to sleep. I have to admit, it was awfully precious. I’m not saying we bonded or anything, but she has been about perfect all day and has been a pretty happy girl.

Riley, on the other hand, has had a pretty tough day. Very melancholy most of the day except for a few times where we got a glimpse of her normal jovial self. Much of the morning she obviously struggled with the transition. These shots were much more typical of the Riley we saw today.

Leah has been Leah! Smiles most of the time. A little impish, fiercely independent when it comes to manning her wheelchair, and a valiant defender of her mom’s Coke when her dad tries to take a drink!

Jessie was a little reluctant to get her picture taken, but she was OK with taking the picture. Kelly said of all the statues for her to want a picture with, this is the obvious choice for her!

We had to work on Riley a little bit, but finally were able to get all the girls to agree to a family picture!! Yay!

Here are just some additional pictures from around this area of the park.

We went to an area with large goldfish that you could feed. The girls really enjoyed how excited the fish would get.

Several of the girls went up 200 steps to the top of the mountain, but Kelly, Leah, Riley and I stayed at the bottom. Leah wanted to take a picture, so Kelly and I posed.

Our final stop was in an area that had stone statues for each of the animals that represent the Chinese zodiac. Except for Riley, who wouldn’t take a picture, the rest of the family posed with their animal.

Our final stop of the day (excpet for lunch at Pizza Hut … we are a little tired of the local Chinese food. Cost me a mint, but was worth every stinking penny!!!!) was at a sign that makes you feel like you are at home. Like the Coke sign, or a Chevrolet emblem.

Gotta love those little reminders of home. And Wal Mart here isn’t a whole lot different from back in the USA … except I have never found broiled chicken’s feet at home!

Tomorrow we pack up (somehow) and move on to Guangzhou to finalize the US portion of the adoption and get everyone’s VISA that is needed to head home! We are now on the downhill slope and we are very excited about that!!

One side note: I got a private message from someone on Facebook and I don’t really know how I got it because it disapeared after read it and they are not a freind of mine. She shared with me how she understood that adoption was good, but that she had been adopted after the parents of her teenage mom demanded that she be put up for adoption. She went on to share that she was raised by a tyranical father and that, once she met her mother when she was 23, she wished her life would have been spent with her rather than the people that adopted her.

While I don’t want to dismiss the life this lady lived, I would submit to you that these girls future is much, much more bleak than just a rough upbringing. UNICEF did a study that showed that if these girls do not get adopted before they age out, 60% of them end up in human trafficing. Of the boys, 70% ended up in prison within five years of leaving the orphanage. I support all adoptions, domestic or international. But I would sumbit to you that an international child, especially a girl from Asia, has the potential for a very bleak future should someone not care enough to answer the call. Our decisions up to and during this trip have not been easy. I can tell you that after several days with these girls that their assimilation into our family and our culture will not come without a lot of tears and frustrations (probably more from me than from them!). I also know that while Riley spent most of the day sullen, I am sitting here in our room right now watching her laugh and laugh as she videos her sister, Brittany, dancing and singing to music on my iPad. There is and will be joy in her life for a long time to come. Her life, and the lives of Leah and Jessie and Mia and Ali and Caleb WILL be better because of our willingness to say “yes”. It will NOT be easy … for them or for us. But they have already given us enough joy to make the pain more than worth it. Any additional joy is just icing on the cake.

So this morning was a wild drive from office to office to finalize Leah’s adoption and start the process for obtaining her passport. At breakfast Riley and Jessie told us that they were going to be good today. They were perfect angels all day until we got to a late lunch. Then, it all went rolling down hill! Oh well … baby steps.

We started this morning getting Leah into the van. We are learning all new things through this process.

At the government office we had to sign and place our finger prints on a whole host of documents.

Then we had to compare all the information on our passports with the official documents.

Then Leah had to put her hand print on the one of the documents.

Then it was off to the notary office with all of us, our guide, and the two directors from Leah’s orphanage!

The directors asked to take a few pictures of Leah with Ali and Kelly.

We had to go in and get interviewed again that we wouldn’t leave Leah and that she was acceptable to us (still an irritating question). We passed with flying colors and then Leah had to go in and be interviewed. She came back and gave us the AOK sign … everything went as planned!

We came back to the hotel and Ali and Brittany wanted to go swimming, even thought it really isn’t that warm! So, we all went down to the pool, which was probably beautiful twenty years ago but is showing its age now.

As with everywhere in China, you have to wear a swim cap to swim.

Brittany kept up a steady stream of hijinks that kept the girls occupied.

While Ali ventured in a little more slowly due to the water being SO COLD!

We moved to the bigger pool and Brittany continued to play to her audience.

Of course, it was just TOO much to expect Riley not to get involved!!

And then Thing 1 & Thing 2 kicked into high gear!

I let Riley take a few more pictures for me. Here is one that she was particularly proud of!

We (and by “we” I really mean “me”) got into it a little bit with our guide here. She is a sweet girl, but very young and inexperienced. We have done this enough times that a certain lack of guide support doesn’t cause of too much grief, but I had hit my limit today. She felt bad and offered to walk us over to a local restaurant and we all had lunch together. All three girls had a melt down at lunch. Leah didn’t know that her orphanage directors had left and she was very upset about that. Jessie and Riley had been “good” as long as can humanly be expected and both became upset. The guide did a nice job managing a table full of crying girls as we had our hands full for a few minutes!

Things are becoming VERY boring!!! And I am starting to get tired of Chinese food! Just think, we are now in the single digits! Only NINE DAYS LEFT HERE!!! Lord help me… 🙂

Cameron

It was a good day. It was a challenging day. We got Leah today and it was a very wonderful experience. I also had a little trouble with Jessie, which is to be expected. So much change in these little lives. So much time that has gone by without much direction or training. At times over the last several days I have wondered if we are absolutely crazy, and after a brief mental pause, I realize that there is no doubt that we are. But I also believe, day in and day out, that this is what God called us to do at this time. When things become challenging, you have to keep that in perspective and ask God for a little guidance.

The day started with our typical trek around Nanhu Park. Our guide took us to the bank this morning to exchange money and then told us about a tree park that it up the street from the hotel. It ended up being Nanhu Park, so we made the circuit one more time!

We arrived at the entrance and I tried to take a picture of my girls, but some are starting not to cooperate!

I am throwing in this picture because I thought the building was pretty. That is all …

The park seems like a nice place to take a little lunch break!

A picture of a couple of my pretty girls on the Nanhu Bridge.

We found a couple of little places by the hotel to eat and decided to try one today called Western Street Bar. It has basically stolen most of the color schemes and logo from Starbucks. But the food was pretty decent and the pizza was extra spicy! Since Riley doesn’t like to be in FRONT of the camera, I decided to put her behind it.

Problem is, once she gets the camera, she doesn’t want to give it back!!

She doesn’t follow direction well….

… and she hits the shutter button at the MOST inopportune times!

But, sometimes she does get a decent shot.

We went back to the hotel to wait for Leah’s arrival. This is my room:

This is the girls room:

Just saying…

The highlight for me today was at one point I was on the bed playing solitare and Jessie came over to take a nap by me (after checking to see if Riley approved) and she laid her head on my chest and watched me play for quite awhile. Then Riley came over and was watching me on the other side and she started gently scratching my arm. It was three or four minutes that I wished would have continued for longer! But, I will take what I can get.

Finally, at around 3:30, they called and told us that Leah was on her way up. THIS is how adoption greetings should happen. We opened the door to a huge smile and Leah calling out “Hi Mommy. Hi Daddy!” The only person with a better intro to their kid was John and Karin Williamson.

After getting almost NO information with any of our other adoptions, we were presented with a huge amount of information on Leah!

Riley wasn’t sure what to do with all the excitement.

As many of your know, Leah’s artwork is quite well known in these parts. The orphanage had been collecting all of her prize money, and Leah happily handed that money over to Kelly as a gift! Which we promptly told her we would keep for her use.

Here the directors of the orphanage are showing us various awards she has won, including one of children that earned her the top award in the province recently.

Leah wanted to show Kelly that award winning picture …

Then it was time for the directors that had traveled with Leah to leave. As always, this is such an emotional time. Even with the joy that Leah brought to meeting her new family, there still is the pain of leaving those who have been so close to her for so very long.

As we were going to move over to the new room, Jessie did something that completed scared Leah and she started crying. So, we figured that ANOTHER walk around Nanhu park was in order, this time with the brand new wheelchair that came with Leah.

So, on an average day in Ohio, as a family of eleven, we often times get strange looks. John Brandt can attest to that. I can now say that is NOTHING to the looks you get in China when you are an white couple with a white daughter walking around with FOUR Asian daughters, one that is in a wheelchair. We look like Ripley’s over here! Just to prove the point, I took two pictures just so that you could see what we endure here. And I could have taken a million more!

Oh well. We had an enjoyable time on the walk and it allowed Leah a little time to adjust to everyone outside of the small confines of the little hotel rooms.

Tonight we ate in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, which was pretty good. Unfortunately, I am acquiring additional shy girls into the family!

I ran into a little trouble with Jessie and Riley after Kelly took Leah up to the room. They started getting goofy and that moved into just being rude in a restaurant full of people. I took their food away from them (don’t worry … they had eaten plenty by this point) then took them upstairs and made one stay in one room and one in the other. After a few minutes I brought Ali into the room with me and Riley and talked to her about what happened. She was fine and apologized. I explained to her that she had to help with Jessie. Jessie does things to gain Riley’s approval and doesn’t know when to stop.

Then I took Ali over to the other room and talked to Jessie. She was pretty mad at me and said she wasn’t going to eat or sleep or play with her ipod. Everyone left her and I in the room together and I just sat there with her in silence. After awhile she broke down and started crying pretty hard and Kelly came back in. We comforted her and brought everyone back together. It is so challenging taking these beautiful young girls and providing some structure and direction into their lives. They are such good girls, just full of a TON of energy! Later, Jessie let me give her a huge and a kiss, so I think we are OK now!

Tomorrow we have to go do all the paperwork to finalize Leah’s adoption. Wednesday we go to some park (hopefully not Nanhu Park!!) and then it is off to Guangzhou! Time keeps moving forward!

Cameron

I will address the title in a minute. First, today was our first day in Nanning and I have to say it is probably one of the prettier Chinese cities I have been in. Maybe it is just the area, as our hotel sits on the edge of Nanhu Park. However, on our extended adventures through the city later in the day (Thank you, Bobby Hamm), most of the downtown area is very nice. In addition, the traffic here is incredibly civil! The most US like traffic we have seen in China to date!

Since we didn’t get in bed until after 1AM, we slept in this morning, almost sleeping through breakfast. The buffet ended at 10:30 and no one really even stirred until 9:30. We ran around trying to get everyone ready and out the door and walked into the restaurant at around 10:15 .. just in time.

After that we went for a walk along the lake that is a part of Nanhu Park. It was a beautiful Sunday morning here and many people were out enjoying the weather.

As is typical with Chinese parks, there were areas for people to exercise along the way.

We stopped for a minute to take pictures of all my girls. However, Riley has now decided again that she does not like her picture taken so you can see her tucked behind on the left side!

We went into an open area that looked like they were preparing for some sort of festival. A lot of areas were roped off as crews were planting and watering all of the landscaping.

I had the girls take a picture of Kelly and I since this is as close as the two of us have been lately. Because of all the people we have with us, the cheapest option is to have two separate rooms. That means she sleeps in one and I sleep in the other. Not the most optimal of living arraignments.

There were many areas where musicians and singers were performing Chinese opera. We stopped and listened to this group for awhile. I am no great connoisseur of Chinese music, but it seemed pretty good!

We walked down to the Nanhu Bridge, which was a pretty structure that went across the lake.

I was able to coax Jessie into taking a picture with Brittany.

We crossed the bridge and went to the other side.

Riley felt that the sun was just TOO hot today!

We made our way back up the other side of the lake, enjoying the weather and stopping at one point to buy some water from a local vendor.

As we crossed back over the lake, I took a picture of our hotel from the bridge.

Jessie decided that she was going to copy Riley, which happens fairly frequently!

So, as to the title. Bobby told me how easy it is to get a taxi and go to Wal Mart! Cheap and easy! So, Brittany, Riley and I went down to the front desk and asked for a taxi. It took FOREVER! Seriously. We waited for probably 20 minutes for a taxi to show up. Once it did arrive, we were quickly whisked over to the Wally World for our shopping extravaganza for a very reasonable $2.

Once we exited the Wal Mart with all of our arms full of stores, the adventure began. First, we had to find a taxi that would take us back. That SOUNDS easy, but it was not! Taxi after taxi told us that the trip was too cheap and they couldn’t afford to take us. We should take a bus. Right. Two non-chinese speaking white people with a china girl that speaks no English. We would probably have ended up in Shanghai!

So, we decided that we would start walking back to the hotel, which started out pretty well. There was one tricky spot, but we started seeing signs for the Nanhu Bridge, and since that was close to home we headed in that direction. Things seemed to be going so well when we hit the lake … or what we thought was the lake. It was actually a river. Ooops. I kept thinking that as long as the lake was to our left, we would eventually hit the hotel. So, we started walking farther and farther from our hotel.

We are staying in a hotel with a huge green ball on the roof! How hard could it be to see that! But, when I still didn’t see it after many minutes, we went into a hotel and asked directions. Riley was a lot of fun and helped with trying to communicate things the people we came in contact with. The hotel was more than happy to provide me a map and directions … for $5CN. Great. Half the price of the cab that wouldn’t take us.

The problem with the directions that they gave us was that they were wrong! We started moving farther away from the city! And it was getting dark!! We started walking into an area that was the main downtown area and it was rather dark and unpopulated. We came across a restaurant and asked again for directions. They told us to take the bus. Whatever. A nice old man tried to help us out and for a minute Brittany and I thought he was going to drive us in his own car! And, the sad thing is, we would have willingly gone! In the end, he pointed us to a busier street to hail a taxi.

On that street the Taxi’s just ignored us, but we saw an “international” hotel. They should speak English there, right? Nope. But we found a very nice doorman there that worked for quite awhile to finally find us a taxi that was willing to take us home. I happily paid the doorman $20CN and the cabbie $20CN, for a total of four times what the cab ride should have taken me.

A few hours after we left we finally came home. But, two things came out of the night. One, Brittany and I had a really fun time with Riley. Kelly and I have wondered how we did this with Ali without a translating child with us. But tonight I realized that it isn’t that hard. You talk to them in English, they talk to you in Mandarin, and the two of you work things out! The second thing was that we roll pretty well with international travel now days! I remembered being in China the first time in a city that had no white people in it and no people who spoke English and feeling very isolated and alone. We are in that same position now, but it feels relatively comfortable. We can make it work. We have done this enough that we are actually becoming somewhat good at it!

So, I am thankful to Bobby Hamm that I got the time to spend with Riley tonight and to enjoy what a fun little girl she really is. Each of these girls is special and unique and it helps to spend a little one-on-one time to realize what their personality really is.

Cameron