Our Rainbow To Vietnam and China

Our Last Day

2011-11-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today has been a whirlwind. We had all morning to pack up before we met our group in the lobby at 2:00. From then on out it was in fast motion. I feel like a band aid has been ripped off of me abrubtly. All the families we've been with for two weeks and shared basically the births of our respective daughters, are now departing from us to go back to their homes in Los Angeles, Arizona, New York, Rhode Island, Florida, Alabama, and Texas. Our guide who has helped us, advocated for us, supported us, and been next to our sides for one of the most important moments in our lives, has had to say goodbye to us. After spending more than two weeks with us, she is going back to her life with her husband in Shenzhen, China. I will not ever forget her.

I do not know why, but I felt a deep connection with Veronica. Her Chinese name is Yue, meaning 'moon'. From the start, she felt familiar to me, like an old friend, something comfortable and also comforting. When she spoke, I listened to her. She has a certain cadence to her words, that of a Chinese speaker who is fluent in English but still a little hesitant or timid in their fluency. I was soothed by her patterns of speech, and loved to listen to her explanations of our tours and our daily schedules. She has certain words she repeats in her speech as crutches, like we all do, but they were somehow enjoyable when she spoke them. Maybe because my emotions are so raw from receiving my new daughter and maybe because we went through so many emotions together when we received our baby in her condition, all while Veronica was by our side, I feel especially connected with her. She is a person I will always remember with fondness, and I have to wonder why I am moved to tears when she speaks. She spoke of her country, our daughter's birth country, with such dignity and poise. She spoke of our daughters and every word she said caused me to hold back tears. I think some people come into our lives and we are never the same again. She, for me, is one of those people.

As we entered the train station from Guangzhou to go to Hong Kong tonight, there was Veronica in the distance, wiping away tears from her face, waving, and blowing us kisses as we disappear into our own lives back in America. Just moments earlier she had been frantically, yet ever so calmly (as is her demeanor), searching for one family's adoption paperwork file from the US Consulate that she had just 20 minutes earlier, picked up from the US Consulate as we waited on her in our shuttle bus. This paperwork is the child's Visa and must be in our hands in order for us to return to the US tomorrow on our respective flights back home. Every family was handed their very important file from Veronica except the Morgan's, who adopted a three year old boy with a cleft lip and palate. Veronica knew they had to have this paperwork in order to fly home and our train was leaving the station in mere minutes to exit mainland China. She knew she had picked up all the paperwork files for us familes at the consulate just minutes earlier and she was racing to retrace her steps as the queue formed for us to depart the train station. I also was hurried because Jeff had left to get us lunch since we thought he had time and all of a sudden the bellboy wanted me to pay for our suitcases to be checked on the train at the same time the line was moving to depart on the train. I did not even know if Jeff was nearby or if he'd make it back in time. Then suddenly, Veronica was back, as the crowd buzzed with worry over the Morgan's paperwork and the sudden formation of the queue and bellboys ordering us to pay in a language we did not understand. She mouthed the words in a quiet calm voice, but with a determined worry, for all of us to check our paperwork to see if we somehow had been given the Morgan's file on accident in addition to our own child's file. I was trying to manage LiLi, who had just woken up, and also tell the bellboy my husband had my money, and I couldn't pay for our bags to be loaded just yet. I also knew I needed to check our file to see if we had been given the Morgan's fie on accident, but it was locked in one of our suitcases and I couldn't get the lock opened. The line was moving and the train was filling up in order to leave. I was being helped by Jim and Karen's dad, who came on their adoption trip with them. He was trying to help me get my suitcase open to check our paperwork to help find the Morgan's file. Just as the scene was reaching a climactic moment of frenzy, worry, and mayhem, I saw Jeff coming up the escalator with our lunch. I was able to beckon him to hurry and got the suitcase lock combination while he paid the bellboy so our bags would be loaded on the train and not left behind in China. Veronica had already left the train station again to go back to the consulate in an attempt to find the Morgan's paperwork.They were resigned to have to wait at the train station and miss the train while Veronica found their paperwork; but as soon as I opened our suitcase and unzipped the hidden compartment where our papers were being held, the Morgan's and I immediately saw their son's file slip out from underneath the file we had been given for our daughter. Immediately we sighed a huge sigh of relief and quickly got in line to leave China on the 5:00 train. It was a whirlwind of emotion all at once, just as we were also leaving the country of our daughter's birth. We did not know where Veronica was but knew she was frantically still trying to find the Morgan's file. We had no way to call her since our cell phones don't work here. Just then, a Chinese lady came up to Jeff and handed him her cell phone and said our guide wanted to talk to us. Jeff had just learned that we were the ones who had been handed the Morgan's file with ours, so he reassured Veronica that everything was okay, and that our entire adoption group was safely in line to depart the train station. Jeff said she was hysterical and could not even speak she was so distraught over the fact that the paperwork could not be found. He told her all was okay and not to worry, that we found the Morgan's file and they could leave the country with our group like planned.

We did not expect to see Veronica again. We thought she was stuck outside the train station and felt bad that that was the way our trip had to end with her. It was so chaotic and she was trying so hard for it all to go smoothly. We knew she had to be dying inside that we had such a close call at the very end of our trip and she felt to blame for it. I had wanted to say goodbye and give her a hug. So when we turned around as we went through the turnstiles and saw her in the distance as we got pushed further and further away from her; and I saw her waving madly, blowing us kisses and wiping away tears, I completely lost all composure and began to cry like a schoolgirl being torn away from her best friend when her family has to move away. I began to sob and wave and blow her kisses as a huge wave of emotion overcame me. I can't help but think there is something very special about her, and I do not know what it is, but there is something. Maybe one day, I will find out why or what it is, or maybe I won't. Either way, she will not be forgotten.

So I sit here in our hotel room after safely arriving back in Hong Kong, where Jeff and I began this trip three weeks ago. We leave on our flight back to the states tomorrow. New parents to a daughter this time. A younger sister for our son waiting back home. A child to complete our family. I will not be going on any more adoption trips. This our last one. We will not be adding any more children to our family. This is it for us. A phase of our life that has brought us down a very winding road for more than a decade, is ending. No more thoughts of infertility or pregnancy loss. No more wounds from being childless and wanting a little someone who needs me and fills my lap with their warmth. No more waiting and hoping and dreaming. My dreams have come true. My waiting has ended.
I have my two beautiful children. A son and a daughter I treasure above all else.

More Pics Guangzhou Day #4

2011-11-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

Guangzhou Day #4

2011-11-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

The infamous waterfall at the White Swan-after reading thousands of adoption travel blogs, it still hasn't hit me that my turn has come. My adoption trip to China has finally happened. It is unreal. The trip I've waited for and dreamed about this past decade has happened!
Our LiLi in the gold dress, ready to be back in my arms

She doesn't like it one bit.

Uh Oh, we lost her. She's down. In the three seconds she is by herself on the couch, she has protested the most. Look at the girls on the other end of the couch. How funny that they are just hamming it up. Our little LiLi just isn't ready to be separated now that she has found two people who adore her. I don't blame her one bit.

Today we went to the US Consulate to get our daughter her visa to enter the U.S. so she can become a citizen of the United States when we land in Los Angeles and go through immigration.

We weren't allowed to take any photos while we were there.

It was a rainy and verrrry humid day today. My hair immediately curls up into tiny ringlets all over and I start to grow dreadlocks by mid morning. Lovely. We went back to the hotel mid-day to let our babies have a nap, and then we head out again by 2:30 to go to Shamian Island to take red couch photos at the White Swan hotel. Afterwards, we walked through a dry and wet market selling critters to mix in your Chinese soups and meals. At the end, we made our way to a pearl market. Jeff and I headed stright to the bus to let LiLi sleep some more and we skipped the shopping at the end. It was early evening and we were sufficiently wet and drippy from the drizzle and humidity to call it a day.

The White Swan red couch photos are a tradition for adopting families. Through the years, most families have stayed there. It's on Shamian Island and very convenient to all our appointments we have to go to while we are here. Since it's undergoing renovation we are staying at the Marriott which is not on the island, so we haven't seen too much of Shamian. That's okay with me since I feel sufficiently touristed out after starting our trip early in Hong Kong. Our LiLi was officially the baby who freaked out the most when we sat her down on the red couch to take pictures. It was funny because all the babies on the right side of the couch didn't care that their parents sat them down, but on LiLi's side, she screamed first and got the two babies on either side of her to cry with her in unison. She does not appreciate when we put her down. She definitely loves being in our arms and that's okay with me since she is such a loving and snuggly baby. She probably has been in such need of attention for her entire life that now that she knows she's getting attention, she doesn't want to let it go.

I really enjoyed walking through the quaint authentic Chinese street markets this afternoon looking at the critters for sale in large bins. Some were already dead. Some were almost dead. Some were alive one minute and then cut open the next minute after being purchased. It was a scene. I loved the rickety stone-wood shuttered skinny apartments above the markets with laundry hanging out to dry next to their window box gardens. You can look into mysterious gated entrances with musty dark staircases leading to the upper floors of the apartment buildings. I can't imagine any elevators in the buidings we saw today. They reminded me of something left over from European cities after being ravaged by years of neglect and wars. Maybe it was the stone facades and rickety wood shutters in combination with some worn ornate gates and potted gardens outside the windowsills. Something about the apartments above the markets today gave it a European vibe. It was so interesting me and my tour group moved way too fast while I brought up the rear trying to soak it all in.

We saw some live animals for sale like scorpions, turtles, dogs, cats, fish, sea creatures, chickens, and snakes. At one market, we saw an elderly man purchasing a snake. The sales lady took it from the cage and wrapped it in a mesh bag while it was still alive. A minute later, another worker took it from the bag and immediately gutted it for the elderly man to take it home. He explained that he was making it into a snake wine that he would ferment for five years. He was enjoying telling us foreigners all about how his snake would be made into this special drink. It was fabulous. Once they began taking the snake guts out our group moved on, but I think we got some good video to remember the moment.

Some of the dried creatures and other assorted goodies for sale were black ants, beetles, sea horses, tree bark, snake skins, eels, centipedes, shark fins, male dog reproductive organs (our guide whispered what this was into our ears since she didn't want to announce it out loud), bees, winged insects, cockroach looking insects, sea stars, and many many more. Jeff tried the black ants and said they tasted like charcoal. There were turtles of all sizes, both living and dead, waiting to be purchased.

At the end of the markets, we came out into a large plaza surrounded by young people shopping in contemporary stores and eating at McDonald's. The entire scene looked like a mini version of Times Square complete with gigantic television screens above the plaza. What a juxtaposition to the street markets we had just walked through. Old and new, side by side.

Tomorrow we pack up our suitcases and pick up our daughter's visa in her new passport. We get on a two hour train ride with eight families headed to Hong Kong. Then we take a shuttle bus to our hotels near the Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island. We spend the night at the hotel by the airport and fly out the next day to come back to the states. We land Friday afternoon, finally at home.

Then reality sets back in.

This is my last post from Asia. It has been an amazing trip. We have gotten to see so much of China, and Hong Kong was the icing on the cake. I feel like this adoption trip was so much more of an eye opener since we had the opportunity to see four different cities with a guide explaining everything. The highlight of our trip was, of course, adoption day. We came here to adopt a daughter born somewhere near Fengcheng City in Jiangxi Province. She was left to be found, with a tiny red note telling her date of birth, on the steps of the children's amusement park outside the entrance to the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute. I do not know her birth story, who her birth parents are, or if she has biological siblings in this country. I do not know who the foster mother was who looked after her for the first fourteen months of her life. I do know that her new life has begun with us, her forever family. I believe she knew us somehow, somewhere before and has been waiting on our arrival. When I look deep into her eyes,this is the story they tell.

We are here for you now Xiang Li. You have made our family complete.
Mama + Daddy + Sabian Cuong + Linnaea Scarlet Xiang

Guangzhou Day #3

2011-11-08T02:52:00.000-08:00

There was a beautiful rose garden with hundreds of fragrant roses, and then this interesting choice of decoration was placed in the middle of all the fresh rose bushes. Huge fake rose arches lined the pathway between the rose bushes. I'm not quite sure why, but nontheless, there they were.

On Monday we toured a botanical garden here that was lovely. The sun was out and boy was it humid. I am not kidding. It's like Dallas in July. Even our giude who was raised in Beijing and is Chinese, says Guangzhou is green and beautiful but too humid for her. The entrance to the gardens looked like we were entering an aquatic theme park. We strolled around for a bit but it didn't take too long before our entire group was back at the entrance again sitting down waiting on our bus driver to open our air conditioned bus. While we sat and fed our babies waiting for our bus, all the locals were staring at us and reading our cards which explain in Mandarin, basically, that we are adoptive parents and appreciate their country for giving us our daughters. We are definitely stared at a lot by the local Chinese. I'm not sure what they think of us holding Chinese babies, but they are sure curious.

We spent some time getting our paperwork in order for our consulate appointment on Tuesday. That's when we do a short interview with the U.S. consulate to get her visa so that when we land on American soil she autamatically becomes a U.S. citizen. It's the last step in our adoption process, and as soon as we are handed back her passport with her visa inside, we can get on an airplane back to the states. Whew! Three weeks is a long time to be away from our son even though I'm sure he's been having a blast with his Grandma and Grandpa.

We ate lunch again at a local Chinese restaurant. Yummy green beans, zucchini, and broccoli. Again, some differences in our cultures are evident as we eat our meals. I just can't get used to the fact that napkins just aren't a big thing. We have to ask for them and then they are so very tiny that we need tons of them. It's funny how tiny they are and are specially wrapped up in a decorated plastic wrapped bag like they are a gift to be opened. Also, the service is sooooo different. We are very spoiled with service at restaurants in the states. I do miss it, I have to say. I'm missing simple things like clearing off excess plates not being used, or filling up glasses with water when they are empty or not having to wait for ten to fifteen minutes after sitting down to get water or order. I will say there is plenty of hot tea being served quickly.

It's funny how we are overeating also, because we don't know how to pace our meals. Food is brought out to us after being ordered by our guide. It is brought out dish by dish, and the entire table shares each dish by spinning it around on a huge lazy susan. We never know how many dishes are going to ultimately be served, and just when we are full, another dish is brought that looks tasty.

LiLi Photos

2011-11-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

LiLi loves to look at her photo album with pics of our family, especially of Sabian with the dalmation puppies. She points to Sabian when we ask her who GeGe is, and she also tries to bark like a dog. Adorable.

I can't believe this girl already calls me Mama. Her foster mother must've taught her. It is too sweet how she always wants to share things with me and says "Mama".

I'll put a few pics of our little dumpling here before I crash and sleep this sore throat away.

Guangzhou Day #2

2011-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

This is a typical apartment building in Guangzhou, which is very nice compared to the other cities we've been in.

On Sunday, our adoption group toured Chen's Ancestral Hall and Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. Jeff stayed with LiLi back in the hotel room because he needed a day off from touring. I am so glad I went because it was really interesting and I loved the architecture and pretty much everything there. There was some gorgeous blue circular Chinese etched stained glass that I loved, as well as all the carved and painted figurines lining the tops of the entire roofline.There were examples of carvings of all kinds including jade, wood, brick, porcelain, glass, paper, ivory, and some beautiful embroidery. I adored pretty much everything. The detail in Chinese folk arts is truly amazing, And I've enjoyed all the tours we've been on. We have been able to see so much more of China than we did of Vietnam during that adoption trip. Also, our guide has taught us many history lessons and insights into Chinese culture that have been invaluable.

LiLi has come down with a cough that is irritating her as well as some pretty nasty looking nasal discharge. Poor girl. She's been through the ringer. I can also feel myself getting a sore throat and swollen glands in my neck with pain headins up to my ears. Oh boy, I hope it doesn't get worse. For now, my day/nyquil is doing ok with my lozenges. I wish I'd brought my hydrocodone like Jeff told me to.

More Guangzhou Day #1

2011-11-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Here are five of the eight babies in our group. The baby in the center is celebrating her first birthday, and that's our LiLi on the end closest to the camera doing her best to sing Happy Birthday to Bella.

Here's our LiLi on the doctor's table at the beginning of the exam, telling us her thoughts on being torn from our arms to be poked and prodded.

These are some more pics of Guangzhou and Shamian Island from our first day here. It is bridal central. And from just being in only two different cities in mainland China, I can see why they like to have their photos taken on Shamian Island.

Guangzhou Day #1

2011-11-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

Today we are at the China Hotel in Guangzhou, which is a Marriott hotel. We checked in late last night after our one hour flight from Nanchang. We somehow managed to get a huge suite that is absolutely beautiful. Did I mention it is gigantic? I don't know how we got so lucky because all the other families got standard rooms which are at least one third the size of ours. Score! Our bathroom is even enormous. What a nice bonus after what we've been through with this trip.

This morning we went to Shamian Island to our medical examination that all adopted children must go through before we go to our consulate appointment and get our baby's Visa. The medical facility was crammed full of families with their newly adopted children. We've run in to families from Spain, Switzerland, France, and all over the U.S. who are with various adoption agencies. Lots of special needs children are being adopted as well. There is a very large group of adopting parents from Spain here that were in Nanchang with us also. We'd run into them when we were either touring temples or going to our government appointments. Seriously though, it is insane how many adoping families were there today getting their medical exams. What a madhouse it was, in a good way though, because all those needy children now have loving families.

Here in Guangzhou, it is hot and humid! I am reminded of all the years spent in that yucky climate while we've lived in Dallas. No thank you. I've had enough of that. It is nice to see the sun though. We've missed it since we were in Hong Kong. Shamian Island is just as I've pictured it all these years. It is very colonial looking due to the British influence. It's also very green and pretty with tall trees, great architecture, and manicured gardens. Tons of brides are posing for wedding pictures all over the place because it so picturesque. We saw the White Swan hotel where thousands of adoptive parents have stayed during the years. It is still open but we could tell they are remodeling. I'm glad we aren't able to stay there during their remodel. There's no way we would've had such a nice suite there like the one we have at the Marriott.

At the medical exam, the doctor was training a young student and he asked us if we knew she had scabies. He was showing his student what scabies looks like. They were examining in between her toes and her fingers. I don't even know if I mentioned that she has scabies. This is in addition to her malnourishment and underdeveloped body. We had to go see a dermatologist in Nanchang who finally did diagnose her with scabies, even though we already figured that is what she had all over her little body. The second night we had her, she was itching so badly and was so miserable, we got on the internet to look up pictures and info about it. Then we quickly got out our Permethrin cream that was prescribed to us for this adoption trip in case she had scabies, and covered her head to foot in the cream. We also had to cleanse anything that may have come into contact with her including the clothes and toys brought to us from her foster mother and orphanage. Her skin is in such bad condition that it will probably take months to clear up and some scars will linger much longer. A couple scars in her diaper area are so deep and old I can't imagine them ever really going away. I can't imagine what situation she was in where her caregiver neglected her that much to let her get scars like those. It makes me so sad to even think about it.

Last Day in Nanchang-Oct 29th

2011-11-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Our last day touring Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (where our daughter was born)
was Thursday Oct. 28th. Our adoption group walked around Elephant Lake and the temple in the middle of it. It was a humid lazy day and we were all walking extra slowly since the sun was out and very warm. The ceramic tiled roof on these temple buildings were red. I am in love with the detailed ceramic tiled roofs. We've seen green, blue, and yellow tiled roofs on the temples and palaces in Beijing, and now red on the temple in Nanchang.

I walk with LiLi in my hotsling, but it does hurt my back and I wish I had bought a stroller at the WalMart in Nanchang. -Although something tells me she would not appreciate being relegated to the stroller. She is definitely not down with us attempting to put her in a high chair to eat, so she sits on our laps for now.

On Friday, Oct 29th, we pack and fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, which is an hour plane ride south towards Hong Kong. It's even hotter and more humid there. That's where we will finish up our adoption appointments and paperwork in the next week.

Our Daughter

2011-11-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

Since today we are not doing any touring, just staying at the hotel, tying up loose ends with paperwork, and then flying to Guangzhou tonight, I'll write about our Adoption Day and the first days with our daughter.

On Sunday, Oct. 30th, when all of us adopting parents finally got to the hotel after our delayed flight from Beijing, we only had time to run our suitcases up to our rooms after we checked into the front desk to get our room keys. As soon as we entered the Jin Feng hotel, we could hear our babies making noises in the 2nd floor conference room where they had arrived and were waiting for us! It was just after 3:00, and we were scheduled to meet them at 3:30. We were informed that they had just been taken from their foster mothers that morning, and driven with orphanage officials the 2-3 hours from Fengcheng (and one of the babies is from Fuzhou). Our daughter has been with her foster mother since she was 9 days old.

We ran up to the room, got our cameras ready, and headed stright to our daughters. Jeff and I were one of the first into the room and immediately saw our daughter being held by the assistant director, just feet away from us. Our guide, Veronica, verified that it was our daughter. She translates everything for us. All the babies are wearing special hand sewn yellow and gold puffy Chinese outfits that look very hot, but very pretty also. I can see that the other babies are pretty active and alert, sitting or standing with assistance from the nannies. Some are fussing, some are babbling, all look active and alert and busy. Except our little Xiang Li. She does not move. She is clinging to the assistant directors chest, and has melted into his arms. He is a younger man, maybe late 20's-early 30's, and actually resembles our daughter just a tad bit. I can tell he seems to be protecting her and she needs him to do this. She is withdrawn and is merely observing in a daze. I am worried immediately, and voice this to Jeff, who has already set up our video camera on the tripod to record the entire moment.

We were able to get lots of video and pictures (although mine are blurry since the lighting was so dim and I couldn't figure out how to fix it while I was crying my eyes out looking at my daughter) while we were standing there waiting until the moment came when the officials began checking our passports before handing our babies to us one by one. I believe we were the first to be handed our baby, and she came right to me and melted into my arms just like she was melted into the asst. director's arms. She was in a daze the whole time and just entirely quiet and detached from the situation. I was just holding her to my chest and saying her Chinese name and 'I love you' in Mandarin. Some babies were very vocal about being handed over, some seemed nonchalant, and some were happy. Our little LiLi was silent and stoic. After everyone was handed their baby, we headed up to the room to get to know each other.

When we got her undressed in her room we found many layers of clothes on her sweaty body. First, a bright yellow and gold hand made Chinese style snowsuit, then a cream colored winter long sleeve knit sweater, then some split pant pajamas, and then her diaper. We immediately saw her emaciated body covered in scars, old and new, as well as a very bad skin condition which was irritating her from head to her little toes. She was pock marked up and down, and her skin had red welts all over, big and small, especially all over her feet and hands and in between her fingers and toes. She had to have been miserable, and we soon came to realize she was when the itching began as soon as the clothes came off.

We called our guide so that we could make a trip to the hospital that night because the next morning we were to sign papers accepting our daughter and hand over $7,000 to the officials for the orphanage donation and other expenses. The other reason we were going to the hospital was in an attempt to have a doctor identify the problem with her legs and feet. As soon as we saw her little malnourished body when her clothes came off, we were shocked at the condition she was in. Her legs and arms had no muscle tone and were limp. When you hold her to try and get her to walk with assistance, her feet point in at a sharp angle towards each other. We did not know if there was a deformity and she would need surgical procedures. We signed up for a non special needs adoption. Of course I've done my homework and have educated myself over these 9 years that I've been waiting to adopt from China, so I always knew we had a chance of receiving a child with special needs even though that was not the program we waited in line for or actually signed up for. We immediately contacted our on-call international adoption pediatrician specialist back in the states and Skyped with him to discuss the pictures we sent him of her body and condition. Thank goodness for him, or else we'd still be in the dark as far as her condition.

Even though her adoption paperwork updates all said she was crawling very well, she hardly moves her lower body, and certainly does not crawl at all. We have gotten her to lay on her belly and push a little to inch her way forward just a few inches. She turned 14 months old the other day, yet she is the least developed of our group of babies, who range from 9-12 months old. I think all the babies in our group were with foster mothers. We just happened to get a foster mother who did not do her job, and merely kept our daughter alive until we could come to adopt her. I am thankful she at least did that, because she certainly doesn't seem to have done much else for her.

She is sweet and beautiful little dumpling who has thrived on our attention and nourishment from moment one. When she reaches up her feeble little arms slowly to ask for you to hold her, it will literally melt your heart. She will smile slowy but more and more all the time, and has even laughed now. She has taken to both of us equally and smiles for both of us. She is not quick to respond to strangers, in fact the only other person who she has responded warmly to is our Chinese guide and the 6 year old Chinese big sister of another family who adopted a baby in our group. She holds her arms out for us all the time and when she lays between us to nap, she'll reach out one arm for me and one arm for Jeff just to feel us near her and make sure we are close to her. Sometimes, she doesn't even want to be a few feet away, she wants her body pressed up against our chest for comfort. It is just too precious.

She had a picture album we sent to her from Ann at Red Thread China, in addition to some toys and clothes and cameras for her foster mother to take pictures of her while we waited all summer to travel to China. We received all the items we had purchased for her, most of them seemed to still be unused and in the original packaging, except for a musical piano and her photo album which Ann had labeled with our family photographs. I swear that when I said the words Ge Ge (older brother), she knew to point to and react wildly to Sabian's photograph. We were astounded that she reacted like this over and over when we called him in Mandarin her older brother. Maybe her foster mother did show her that album for those months while we were waiting, because she certainly acts like she knows he is her brother and she recognizes other Mandarin words as well. The album was dirty and smelled musty like it had been used and played with. After her Scabies diagnosis by the dermatologist in Nanchang, we made sure to cleanse anything that came from the orphanage/foster family because Scabies is a contagious skin condition.

When we talked to our on call pediatrician back in the states, he said she clearly is malnourished and looks like she has been sat in a chair/rudimentary walker and neglected. She has the typical big belly and underdeveloped limbs of a malnourished child. Her lack of nourishment and sedentary care has contributed to her feet pointing inwards with no muscle tone or lower body movement progression. His diagnosis was to get her nourished and evaluated back in the states and he believes that although she may be a project (his word) for quite some time, with proper nutrition, her underdeveloped limbs will corect themselves and she will catch up physically. I just don't know how long we are talking about and if physical therapy will be involved, or to what extent. We'll find all that out when we get home to see some doctors.

When our adoption group met with the Social Welfare Institute director and assistant director, they answered lots of our questions about our daughters and their foster family situations.
I had told Jeff that her foster mother had to have been elderly, and sure enough, that information was given to us that she was older than 60 years. She is a peasant and her husband is a retired construction worker. They are poor and our guide Veronica said their living conditions were probably very low quality. There was a red note left with our daughter when she was left to be found at 9 days old at the gate of the children's amusement park at the entrance to the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute. We took video and photos of it but were not allowed to keep the note because the orphanage had to keep it (for her file?). It basically stated her date of birth and something about the Chinese zodiac calendar. We did get a name of the person who actually found our daughter laying on the ground at her finding location and brought her into the orphanage (Social Welfare Institute) when she was 9 days old.

We also found out that there are supposedly 80 babies at Fengcheng who are abandoned, and that Fengcheng SWI mainly cares for special needs and abandoned adults who cannot care for themselves and have no family members to care for them. That made me sad to hear. In Hong Kong, we saw a group of adult special needs men and women boarding a bus and it made me think of them when I found that out. When asked by another adoptive mom in our group which babies were chosen for international adoption and which babies were chosen to be adopted by Chinese locals, they did not answer the question and tried to give another answer which did not answer the quesion at all. We were told that about half the babies in Fengcheng SWI orphanage will be adopted internationally and the other half to local Chinese

We really feel like the answers we were given, were to appease us, and were not necessarily the truth on all accounts. There are lots of inconsistencies. For example, our adoption agency told me that the reason our foster mother could not take photographs of our daughter while we waited to travel all summer long was that she lived very far from the orphanage out in the countryside, and could not get to the orphanage to either take the camera or the baby to the orphanage. On the other hand, the orphanage officials told us directly that all the foster mothers lived very close to the orphanage and that the assistant director visited all the foster mothers every month to check up on the babies. So either both the adoption agency is making up stories or the orphanage officials are telling lies or most likely, there is a little covering up/exaggerations on both ends.

After the question & answer meeting with our entire adoption group had ended, the orphahage officials came over to Jeff and I and we had our own discussion where our guide Veronica translated for us. They offered an apology to us for the sad physical condition that our daughter was presented to us in. They claimed that they did not notice her scars or skin rash/condition/scabies (they called it excema-ha!) last month when they visited the foster mother. They also claimed that our daughter just doesn't absorb nutrients properly and that's the reason for her lack of development. Wow! That's a first. Maybe if she was actually given nutrients, she would have absorbed them. They also believe that massaging her legs/feet would heal her problems and that she had been massaged previously in an attempt to help her legs develop. They said when she was four months old they did not notice any problems with her feet turning inwards, so it must have developed later. I'm thinking, good heavens, how long has this poor child been neglected?!? For an entire year? They also were clear that they have already verbally chastized this foster mother for her poor care and that she let our daughter get to this condition. The disturbing thing is that we found out from the asst. director that she also is in the care of a two month old abandoned baby girl who may be adopted later by another couple just like us who is expecting her foster mother to care for her. This foster mother needs to be fired, not given another baby to care for. Take her off the list, man. For real.

We seem to be the only family in our group of 8 adopting families who are in this situation. All the other babies seem to have had foster mothers who took proper care of their daughters and even got very attached to some of them. One of the babies was given a jade necklace on a red string which the foster mother asked specifically not to be taken off the baby as it considered very good luck to have. Our guide showed us her jade necklace which is always around her neck and given to her from her maternal grandmother.

I know our daughter was chosen for us for a reason. I am confident she will grow and progress with our care and love. I have no regrets and loved her instantly with a fierce protection instinct as only a mother can have. She acts like she has known us since the day she was born. She has a sweet little flat nose and rosebud mouth with a perfectly square chin and a slight dimple in it. Her eyelashes are long and her eyes are bright and cute Her eight teeth are tiny and there are four on top and four on the bottom. She shows her slight smile when she is around us and I can tell she is happy to have both us always near her to meet her needs. She is absolutely adorable and during all these years when I dreamed of what my chosen daughter would look like, she is exactly what I have always imagined and hoped for.

***We are in Guangzhou now at the Marriott (awesome!!!) We flew here to Guangzhou Friday evening, Nov. 4th and as soon as we entered the hotel, thought we had died and gone to heaven! Real air conditioning! It is such a nice room. I'll post pics in the next post about our first day here in Guangzhou.

Nanchang-Day #5

2011-11-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today we stopped at a porcelain store before we went to a park and a temple. Jiangxi Province is known for its porcelain so our group asked to stop at a store so we could look around. The park was called Elephant Lake and it had a nice temple in the center of the enormous lake after crossing two arched bridges. It was a warm, sunny, humid day and very peaceful and quiet at the entire park. -very different from the scene in Beijing at the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven.

After our adoption group strolled lazily around the park, temple and lake, we went to lunch at another local Chinese restaurant. When we go to these local restaurants, we sit around large round tables with a huge glass lazy susan in the center. Our guide orders for us and the staff brings bottled Coke products and local dishes out, one by one, for us to taste. We roll the lazy susan around and taste the assorted dishes while attempting to feed our babies their steamed eggs at the same time. There is really no A/C, even though they push buttons on the wall to lower the temperature, and somehow the air gets cool yet hot and humid at the same time. It's strange. The hotel room is the same way. We have to ask for a large fan to be brought to the room to cool it off so it's not humid. The other families did the same thing to cool off their rooms. Chinese people like a warm environment, and we are told often to keep the rooms warm so our babies won't get sick.

We eat breakfast at the hotel buffet every morning and we've found yummy items like the steamed buns with creamy yellow (mango?) filling. It's funny though, we never see much milk. Even though it's put out in a pitcher. there's never more than a couple inches put into the pitcher, and it has been like this for our whole trip. We just can't seem to find enough milk. Tea is endless, but milk...not so much. I thought our daughter would love congee, but so far she gobbles up eggs and breads but doesn't really care for the congee.

We are all so tired, and ready to move on to Guangzhou tomorrow night. I will say, our LiLi is quite the good napper. For two days in a row, she has napped with us so we can get some much needed rest! She also sleeps late in the mornings. What a nice surprise!

Nanchang Day #4

2011-11-02T09:32:00.001-07:00

Today we toured Tang Wen (I have to check the spelling) Pavilion in Nanchang. According to our guide, one of the top three pavilions in all of China. It was just lovely! I adore the colors, rooftops, paintings, tiles, gardens, and music we saw here today- as well as the views of the Nanchang city skyline against the Gan river from the top floors of the pavilion.

We had a terrific lunch at a local restaurant trying new Chinese foods- I've loved every meal we've had at local restaurants, even though I miss big napkins and big glasses of ice water. It's funny to us that we are served Coke and Sprite at every meal because that is what is thought that us Westerners want to drink, and probably many do, but not us. Many of us in our adoption group say we've drank more Coke here in China than when we are home. They are very hospitable in the restauraunts though, for sure.

Our daughter is progressing well, but I will save that post for another time since it's already late and I need to sleep. Let's just say, she's eating up all the food we are giving her and realizing that we are giving her the nourishment and love she has wanted and needed for the past 14 months.

I know every adoption story is different, but this one takes the cake, and vastly differs from her older brother's experience in a Vietnam orphanage. We noticed immediately that she had a connection with her older brother's photographs that were sent to her this summer through Ann at Red Thread China. She knew who he was and recognized him when we asked her who

ge ge (older brother) was. It was an amazing sign to us that we needed that first day, when we saw the physical state she was in. -just an affirmation that, yes, she was chosen for us for a reason and is already a part of our family.

Nanchang-Day 2 & 3

2011-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

I have to write just a few things before petite fille wakes up and I must rush to shower and eat breakfast before we meet up with our adoption group.

*hard beds in the hotels
*bright orange sun in the sky against a foggy/hazy sky with either skyscrapers, apartment building highrises, or rolling mountains peeking through the haze. When we climbed the Great Wall there was a bright orange sun beginning to set behind the mountain.
*no ice in drinks- not many napkins or very big ones- not many drinks, or tiny little sized glasses which are the size of breakfast juice glasses back home- I'm parched all the time because there just isn't an emphasis on drinks with the meals and we can't have ice because we can't drink the water- they do not use ice in drinks anyway, due to belief it isn't good for the stomach. I have found some yummy juices with mango in them. Also, where's the milk? We've never ever seen gallons of milk for sale anywhere here on our trip so far.
*the ragged state of the hospitals and doctor offices (at least the ones we've visited)- doctors sitting around smoking while hoards of people fight there way to be heard and seen. Even when it's your turn to talk to the doctor at emergency room, they barely glance at our child and are doing something else at the same time while they casually say they don't really know what it is and to go see another specialist-all the while, other patients push their way to the front where you are still conversing with the doctor or else they are hanging around the exam table staring at us and listening in while still trying to push their way in.
*cigarette smoking and spitting is everywhere
*Driving is a survival of the fittest mentality with you either getting pushed off the road or cutting everyone off so you can get to where you need to go. In Beijing, the traffic is relentless, and they are even limited as to how many days they can drive their cars on the roads based on a license plate identification system. Imagine 17 million residents all trying to drive at the same time.
*I mentioned the pushing by local Chinese, but I have to mention it again. It is insane! Seriously? Is it really necessary all the time? After so many days here, it gets really old. *Of course, while we were in Beijing we also had an *incident*, as we'll now call it, which jaded us quite a bit! Word of advice, stay away from the #81 bus next to Olympic park.

*the smells tonight as we walked down the street market next to the Jin Feng hotel where we are staying- YUM! Onions, garlic, meats, oils being tossed together in fresh delicious Chinese dinners served by outdoor food vendors, as friends met to eat and listen to live musicians performing at the outdoor restaurant under the rows of red lanterns lining the plaza

*seeing child after child squatting down in their knit winterwear split pants to pee on the sidewalk as taught by their parents. Some kids we've seen are close to school age and it got us thinking...at what age do the adults tell the kids that they are not to pee on the sidewalk in public anymore, and that it's time they use the potty in private?

*speaking of children, we love the way, even though it's quite warm and humid outside, the children all wear winterwear that is hand knit. Knit pants split down the middle for easy peeing in the street or whenever nature calls- knit sweaters and other assorted heavy snowsuit quality outerwear is seen on every child

*curiosity in us as we stroll through Nanchang, as many locals do not understand why all of us non-Asians are holding Chinese babies

All in all, we love the real life Chinese experiences we are having!

Nanchang Day #1/Adoption day!!!

2011-11-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Introducing, Linnaea Scarlet Xiang Brigman...

Right now, we call her LiLi (leelee) or Xiang (she-ahng) Li.
This is what she's been called for the past 14 months

Today, we flew from Beijing to Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi Province. It was a two hour flight, but we had a slight hiccup before take off. After having to wake up at 4:30 (I woke up at 4:20 all on my own without a wake up call because I was so excited the day had arrived to meet my daughter!), we ended up sitting on the airplane due to a fog delay....FOR MORE THAN FOUR HOURS!

Yes, it could have been worse. We could've had our babies with us. It could've been longer. For real though, four hours is a long time sitting crammed into an airplane, especially when it was the day all of us adopting parents had been waiting for since the early-mid 2000's! Plus, we couldn't really understand why fog caused so much of a delay when it seems to be common here (maybe it really isn't), and don't the pilots have instruments to guide them through weather like that? We concluded that the actual runway visibility itself was the culprit. In any case, we were in good spirits the whole time since it was going to be equivalent to the day when a woman gives birth to her child. This day and the day we got our referrals (photos) of our daughters, are two of the most important days of our lives.

***I'll write more later, and post more pics. It's amazing how tired we are at the end of every night and have no time for anything but sleep. Posting to this blog only happens after I get a second wind from some sugar. Right now I should be asleep, and my eyes are burning from lack of sleep, but if I didn't do a post, too much time would pass and I'd start to forget parts of the trip.

The Great Wall, Forbidden City

2011-11-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

We spent our last day in Beijing, Saturday October 29th. Our entire adoption group was together as we toured Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and walked up the Great Wall of China at the Badaling entrance.

The Forbidden City was really neat. I had no idea how extensive it is. We kept walking in and out of gigantic courtyards and plazas, and never knew how many more were to come. It was funny because at first, we were taking tons of photos. As we entered our umpteenth plaza/courtyard and had already taken a bazillion photos, we kind of got burned out because we had mismanaged our picture taking. I did love quite a few things about the Forbidden City and our guide, Veronica (Yue), did such a great job of giving us history lessons along the way. One thing for sure, those emperors were certainly scared of getting attacked and killed, even by their concubines, who had to be kept in their holding rooms completely naked under the sheet covering them.

We heard more about Empress Cixi, the Dragon Lady, whose stories by our guide always amused me. She gave away Hong Kong to the British, and that is one reason many Chinese dislike her. She had her son become an Emperor and also her nephew, but she tried to use them as her mouthpiece so she could be the ruler behind the throne.

I loved the yellow ceramic tiles on all the rooftops inside the Forbidden City; they were just like the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace, which had blue and green ceramic tiled roofs.

At one point in the huge throng of sightseers, I heard a young twentysomething European or American guy mention to his female travel companion that he was surprised at all the pushing and shoving by the local Chinese. I kind of laughed to myself because this is a huge issue that we've encountered in mainland China. It seems to permeate their culture and speaks volumes to us about the overarching message here that it is basically a survival of the fittest mentality. You seem to be fighting your way through life every day here, whether it is hopping on a bus, the subway, driving on the roads, shopping in the markets, or waiting in any line. I'm sure it applies to other areas of their lives as well.

Before we drove to the Great Wall we were dragged to a jade market in an attempt by our adoption agency and the government officials to squeeze every last dime out of us adopting Americans who obviously have the word "sucker" stamped onto our foreheads.

It was hazy/foggy (never sure if it's haze/smog or fog that they have here) but I was so ready for my chance to walk up the wall that I didn't care too much. Ummmm, yeah, so I knew it would be unsteady, and the rocks would be uneven, but I did not realize just how steep and shallow the steps would be. Wow. It was insane. I loved it, but it was insane. I was determined to climb as far as I could in the time our tour group was allotted to be there. I was not going to sit down near the bottom and be lazy. I worked it. I worked it so hard, my legs wobbled into jello on the way down! It was so cool though, and I'm proud of my accomplishment. One guy in our group made it to the sixth tower and that is just plain amazing. I think I made it 20 steps shy of the third, but I was not paying attention to the towers. I was trying too hard to focus on every individual step and clinging on for dear life to that railing!

After we got home from the Great Wall through Beijing's massive daily traffic nightmare, we packed our suitcases to fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province on Sunday morning, where we met our babies at our hotel.

More Beijing Photos

2011-10-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

We took the subway and a bus to get from our hotel to the Olympic Park area. Let's just say that's the last time we do that! We managed the subway, even transfering 3 times to different lines, with all the signs in Mandarin and no English speaking folks to help us. The trouble came when we decided to also hop on the local bus. End. of. story.

We saw the split pants! My question is, what happens if the baby isn't just going tee tee? What is the clean up involved in that mess? Aren't diapers a little more sanitary in that situation? hmmm...

These are the dragon boats we took to get to the other side of Kunming Lake and see the Summer Palace (which is in the background).

We saw many of these as we walked down the Longevity Corridor near the Summer Palace.

Day #6 Beijing

2011-10-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last night, we made our way from the beautiful new Beijing airport into the cool foggy air of Beijing, with our guide, Veronica. She took us on a very nice shuttle to our hotel, Poly Plaza.

We could not believe how nice and crisp and cool the air was compared to humid Hong Kong. It was so reminiscent of our last adoption trip when we left the humidity and heat of Ho Chi Minh City and landed up north in Hanoi. HCMC was flashy, showy, crammed with people during the Christmas festivities, and extremely lively at all hours of the night. Hanoi was foggy, cool, more of an ancient look and historical vibe. Same here in China. Hong Kong was flashy, showy, crammed full of people up all hours of the night partying the hours away. From what we saw of Beijing today, it is spread out very much and isn't crammed so tightly together. It also is cooler, foggier/smoggier, and has a more historical, ancient vibe.

Today we toured the Summer Palace with another adopting family and our guide, Michael. We rode the dragon boat to the other side of Kunming Lake where the huge porcelain
boat sits. Then we walked through the longevity tunnel looking at the thousands of different and unique paintings underneath the awnings. Michael taught us about Empress Cixi, the dragon lady. She sounded pretty funny how she relegated the emperor's statue to the inside of the palace. Then, she put hers outside, front and center, because she was in power and didnt want to play second fiddle like was normally the case when males ruled.

The other adopting family has their two young daughters with them, and lots of the Chinese tourists surrounded them, wanting pictures with their daughters and to touch their hair. They may either have thought the two girls were twins or they just weren't used to seeing caucasian children.

In the middle of the day, we took the subway to Olympic Village where the water cube and bird's nest is. We foolishly took a bus from the subway to the Olympic Park and almost got trampled trying to board the bus. Absolute lawlessness.

Let's just say this much...

STAY AWAY FROM ANY BUSES IN BEIJING AND PROBABLY THE SUBWAY AS WELL!!!
(especially if you are not Asian and stand out like a sore thumb from the locals)

Take a taxi instead. Much safer. Much, much safer. Even with the taxi drivers who adhere to no road rules, it has got to be safer than what we encountered today near the Olympic Village.

On to this evening..

We went to an acrobatic show that was pretty fun and entertaining. I'm glad we went even though I originally thought it'd be hokey. It was pretty cool what most of the performers did, like the girl bicycle act. There must've been at least 12 girls balanced on one bicycle, which was being pedaled in a pretty small circle.

And here we are, back in our hotel room, which is shockingly spacious compared to the cracker box we had in Hong Kong. Our bathroom in this hotel is the size of what our entire bedroom was in the HK hotel. One thing is the same. The beds are as hard as everyone says they are. But at the end of the night when we're bushed, we somehow find a way to crash hard and not wake til the next morn.

Day #5 Leaving Hong Kong

2011-10-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

Today we hop on a flight up north to Beijing, where we will enjoy temperatures 20 degrees cooler than here in Hong Kong. We get to Beijing around 6PM and check into our hotel after meeting our guide. We'll catch some dinner and then get ready for some sight seeing tomorrow around Beijing.

We are just a short four days away from meeting our daughter for the first time. I think when we leave Hong Kong to meet up with the other adoptive families, it will finally hit me that my waiting is coming to an end. This adoption trip is so different than Vietnam. Our family dynamic is different. We are parents already, so I think about Sabian all the time. Every time I see a little boy his age with that black hair and those dark eyes, I stare. Especially if they're being funny or cute like the one on the MTR who was fast asleep on his daddy's lap snuggled up against his chest. Or the one yesterday wearing his preschool backpack walking alongside his daddy, who kept reaching up to hold his daddy's hand or hold onto his daddy's pant pocket.

I'm satisfied with the sights we saw, although I would've liked to have see the fishing village on stilts in Tai O, and maybe one of the rare pink dolphins there as well. Although, based on Aberdeen Harbor, it might've been pretty disheartening to see the conditions those dolphins live in and know the reason for their decline.

I would've gone to the other market in Wan Chai with the fish and sea creatures still flopping about, as they ponder their last moments before getting consumed. I did totally love the one wet market we saw on the corner of Gage St. in Central with those clams wildly opening and closing, and of course those silver fish laying out in a dish, just pulled from their water, flopping crazily in an attempt to get back in!

We had an interesting conversation with someone yesterday at lunchtime. He was a 31 year old single Asian guy from New York, who lives in Central currently for the past couple years, but also knew all about downtown Dallas because his employer put him up at the Ritz when he'd travel there. He pretty much confirmed our assumption that HK is the place to be if you're young, single, have money, a good job, and want to live the fast life. There are tons of young fashionable people who walk fast and are on three mobile devices at once. In fact, if you're not, you're either a tourist, or elderly person.

More Later, I'm gonna try a Skype with Sabian.

Day #4 Hong Kong

2011-10-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today we started off in Kowloon at the Flower and Jade markets, strolling also through some household goods/clothing markets as well. There are no grocery stores, Bed Bath and Beyonds here! Everything is purchased at tiny little markets or tiny little outdoor booths. Everything is tiny, including our hotel room and the length of our bed. Even my legs hang off mid shin!

After that, we took the ferry over to Central and walked from the top of the mid level elevators to the bottom, via some great stores, sights and markets. We saw Man Ho Temple, Gough and Gage street wet markets, produce stalls, the antique stores/markets, and the hippest baby store ever, Petit Bazaar. It had red mushroom knit pillows that got my attention from down the street. I love how Hong Kong embraces what I love, rainbows and red toadstools with white spots!

We also walked through the Harbor City Ocean terminal mall to get some much needed air conditioning on our way to the ferry. Along the way, we encountered two different celebrity sightings. One was a movie star and the other a singer. There was quite a buzz going on everywhere with lots of excited people taking pictures of these celebritites.

In this mall, it is insane because every store is designer and the amount of stores is staggering, as well as the amount of shoppers at all hours of the night. Anna Sui, Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Fendi, Chanel, Tom Ford, Celine, Dior...everywhere you look, there is another designer store, with a huge new Mercedes in front with a driver waiting on his client.

These people never sleep! I am serious. Hong Kong is jam packed with bustling and hurried people on the go, until all hours of the night. These aren't tourists either. The residents stay out late with their little kids/babies/friends while they shop/eat/socialize. The frenetic pace of everyone is insane and makes us feel like old folks who have to go home early to get our sleep. Also, the wealth in Hong Kong is off the charts! Money is obviously abundant for many wealthy families. This absolutely puts Dallas to shame when it comes to money, wealth, design, designer shopping. It is like New York on steroids. You could get lost here forever and probably never explore every nook and cranny.

The Hong Kong slogan on the billboards everywhere is, 'Hong Kong, Asia's World City'. A more appropriate slogan we came up with is, 'Hong Kong, you're here, now hurry up or move'. Or maybe, 'Hong Kong, if you're not here to move fast, get lost'.

I loved seeing the cemeteries built into the sides of mountains, hills, and cliffs. I also used my first squatty potty, not by choice of course. I wondered if I'd ever see one of those contraptions and sure enough, the ferry building has one. I loved the MTR, which is so reminiscint of my days in San Francisco.

Highlight of the day...

Aqualuna antique red-sailed junk boat which took us around Victoria Harbor during the nightly light show. The neon lights and lasers shoot out from the highrises, set to music, which is piped from speakers all over the harbor promenade.

Day #3 Hong Kong

2011-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

We are sooooo tired at the end of the day there is just no energy left to stay up and blog. We can barely get cleaned up, pj's on, charge our cameras, download photos, and we're dozing off!

We've walked more than I could've ever imagined. Today we took a ferry to Lantau Island, then a long bus ride through the jungle-like windy roads skirting the South China Sea, all the way to the top of the island where the Big Buddha sits. We walked up the steep stairs to see the wonderful view of the island and the statues. It was a beautiful clear day so we decided to take the glass bottomed cable car back to the Tung Chung MTR station (exactly like BART). From there, we rode it to central HK island to hop on the ferry across the harbor to see the light show that night.

Highlight of the day...

The Ngong Ping glass bottomed cable car for sure!

More Hong Kong Day #2

2011-10-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pics of our day 2 since I can only upload 5 photos per blog entry.

Hong Kong Day #2

2011-10-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday, we headed to south Hong Kong island after a Dim Sum breakfast in Tsim Sha Tsui.

We took the open air double decker bus which dropped us off first in Aberdeen harbor, and then in Stanley. We passed Happy Valley horse race track, Ocean Park, Repulse Bay, Deep Water bay and lots of expensive properties with luxury cars and yachts.

In Aberdeen harbor, it was shocking to see the vast differences in the gigantic sleek yachts, and the ragged house boats of the remaining boat people who live on the water. Today, as we passed the scores of run down high rises which the majority of the population calls their home, and then saw the luxurious lifestyle of the wealthy Hong Kong vacationers, it became apparent how vastly different their lives must be.

Highlights of the day...

walking the Nathan Road 'Golden Mile', a neon signed wonderland of both luxury and seedy shopping options.

...also, riding the top deck of the open air bus as we wound through HK island - speeding along the skinny, tree lined hilly roads as the orange sun lowered against the South China Sea

More Day #1 Hong Kong

2011-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pics from Day #1 since blogger only allows five photos per blog entry.

Hong Kong Day #1

2011-10-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Hong Kong on the Saturday the 22nd. The 14-15 hour plane trip did not seem long at all. Since it was a red-eye flight, we slept for about half of it.

When we arrived it took us awhile to get a shuttle, but then we got to the business of sight seeing right away. First stop, a Dim Sum lunch,and then Victoria Peak.

When we finally made it back across the harbor to Kowloon, we absolutely crashed on our cozy little Asian sized bed.

Highlight of the day...

taking the Peak Tram and seeing the lights of Hong Kong below

...and we are off!

2011-10-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, my little doodlebug, mama and baba must say goodbye for 22 nights. I know you will have fun with G'ma and G'pa, but I will miss you tremendously! When we return our family will be complete and you will have a new Mei Mei. I hope you remember us when we return because I am gonna want some major snuggles and kisses! Have fun with cousin Tyler and say hi to cousin Talia tomorrow. We love you so much and know you will be such a wonderful big brother to Scarlet. How lucky we are to be your parents and to have been able to spend the past 3 years with you, just the three of us... mama, baba, and doodlebug.

We travel to China in two weeks!

2011-10-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, we are bringing our daughter home from China. This is the daughter I decided to adopt way back in 2002. Of course she wasn't born yet, and we hadn't done any paperwork, but the idea was born.

In the meantime,we decided to take some time off to have fun and live our urban chic life (ha!), I went back to work as an elementary school teacher, we finally put in our adoption paperwork for China in 2006, and then we added a baby boy to our family by concurrently adopting in 2008 from Vietnam. Whew!

A lot has happened since that summer almost ten years ago when I decided I wanted to adopt a daughter from China. At the moment I decided to adopt this daughter, I didn't even know yet that it would be China. All I knew was that JCPenney commercial spoke to me. The couple waited anxiously at the airport as they saw their new baby girl for the first time. It was obvious that they were adopting this daughter from somewhere in Asia and she was brought to them by possibly an adoption worker. They held out their arms to greet this beautiful daughter and at that moment I knew that I would also do the same.

Little did I know it would be almost ten years until my dream would come to fruition. To say this daughter has been a long time coming, would be quite an understatement. I have probably logged (at least!) thousands of hours online related to this daughter's arrival. I've shopped, blog-stalked, researched, and repeated........over, and over, and over.

I've looked at the faces of other girls adopted from China, Vietnam, Korea, and wondered what our daughter's face would look like. I've cried countless times while reading the adoption travel blogs of other families. I've written down hundreds of girl names, hundreds of times, in the attempt to pick one for our daughter. I've crafted hand-made birth announcements to help the time pass while I waited. I've designed and decorated an entire nursery for our daughter over five years ago, in a place we no longer even live. In fact we've lived two different places since that time. I've read books, magazines, blogs. I've dreamed, anticipated, waited.

MY TIME HAS COME. The time to be a mother to my one and only daughter is here.

And now, this daughter, who was originally going to be our first child, is now our second child. She has a three and a half year old brother born in Vietnam. She will no longer be our first child as we had planned. She will have to share the spotlight with him. She will have to share story time, bath time, meal time, play time. In my original adoption plan hatched back in 2002, she was going to be my first. I would have all the time in the world to dote on her alone. Plans changed. I love her older brother, my sweet son, the most beautiful brown skinned, black haired boy ever created. Every day I do not measure up as his mother. I fail miserably, because he deserves perfection. How did I get picked to be his mother? He is my light and I should be his. I hope I can improve every day.

I don't expect my daughter to ever really understand what I've gone through for all these years in the wait for her, and I know I will never fully understand her losses of birthmother, birth country, culture, etc. Maybe, through our respective losses, we will find a common understanding and bond.

Last night in Vietnam

2008-12-30T07:19:00.000-08:00

He's trying to tell me that he doesn't like rainbows quite as much as I do.

It was meltdown central at our hotel on our last night.

"Mama and Daddy have wronged me!"

Loves his bottle! He's constantly pulling himself up and shimmying his way over to get things he wants, which are usually things he's not supposed to have.

We ate at this great Vietnamese outdoor restaurant where they cook the food next to the tables. The waiters loved talking to Sabian and held him the entire time we ate. It was so nice of them!

Sabian loved the waiters!

at the Temple of Literature-we saw another adoptive American couple with their daughter

they adopted from Vietnam 8 years ago.

Jeff being forced by me to pose by Santa

Monday in Hanoi

2008-12-29T05:26:00.000-08:00

Here's our arrival info for tomorrow night. We get home just in time to welcome in the new year as a family of three.
Flight 2458 American Airlines Depart: Los Angeles Intl Arpt (LAX), 6:25 PM Wednesday, December 31, 2008Arrive: Dallas Ft Worth Intl (DFW)11:25 PM Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Today, we went to the Hanoi water puppet show and ate dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Westlake District on the water. We really liked the puppet show. Sabian fell asleep in my sling right before it and we thought he'd sleep all the way through but he woke up as it started and he was pretty mesmerized for most of the 45 minute-hour long show. The puppets were in a big indoor water tank and were operated by puppeteers behind a screen. There were musicians and singers on the side. The water puppets were just so darn cute, for instance, there were jumping frogs, slithering water snakes, dancing tigers, and funny little sumo wrestler-looking boy puppets rowing boats.

Afterwards, we rode through the streets for quite awhile taking in all the sights of Hanoi on our way to dinner. It was the funniest scene with us trying to find something semi-edible to order and then attempting for ten minutes and with the help of several wait staff to understand how to order our food. We were sweating with stress to try and understand why they weren't just simply taking our order, but finally realized after the fourth or fifth person came over to try and translate, that the seafood was sold in kilograms and we needed to decide how many kg of seafood we wanted. And then, they stood over us the entire time as we ate, just inches away! They also didn't have a high chair, in fact, not many places do. When they do have them, they're not the kind we have that are safe. There aren't the right kind of straps to hold the baby in the chair. The other day, Sabian almost fell out of one of these contraptions, and I think the waitress finally realized why I put up so much of a fuss asking for a chair with straps. Don't even get me started on the strangeness of the safety issues here. Our hotel has windows that open up on the fifteenth floor wide enough for a baby to fall out of, yet hair dryers can't be plugged anywhere in the bathrooms by the mirrors. I had to go through a lot just to get a system rigged up by the staff where I could use a mirror as I blow dried my hair. Not that it matters much, because the dryers are such low wattage or output that I may as well towel dry my hair. Aaaahhhh, the conveniences of home! You should've seen where we went to find the baby formula Sabian drinks. The hotel food mart didn't carry it so the concierge wrote down an address for our taxi. The stores are these little tiny hole in the wall places you'd never guess were businesses. Jeff was wandering through this mass of skinny tunnel like alley-ways through a maze of vendors looking for the purple Pediasure can. he came back with it, luckily, because the last thing we need is a baby with an upset stomache on the airplane. We'll need all the luck we can get anyway, just to remember to pack all his necessities in the carry ons.

In a couple hours, we go to the embassy to get Sabian's Visa. That's the last item we need before we can come home.

It's such an interesting culture and country. I can hardly take it all in as we walk the streets and ride through the city. I'd love to stay until Saturday and go to more places, especially Halong Bay, but with a new baby, it's just not going to happen. We've had a great time, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, but it's time to go home and get in our routine there. I feel so blessed to have come on this journey and to have been given a beautiful son who we love more than anything else in the world.

decorating for the new year celebration-they're creating a dragon on a metal form, attaching leaves for the scales

before the water puppet show

After the show, the puppeteers come out from "back stage"

Sunday in Hanoi

2008-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Exhaustion has set in officially. We are bushed! Jeff is asleep and I'll follow shortly. We took a five hour nap today and Sabian did too. Now, his schedule may be totally thrown off, but what can ya do? It's hard to get any sleep because the entire city of Hanoi has been partying like it's the end of the world all over the streets in front of our hotel. Even though we're 15 stories up, the noise, honking, cheering, and fireworks, are still extremely loud. They're celebrating a big soccer victory over Thailand. It's been going on for over five hours now and may not end til we wake up, at this rate. I briefly saw the Vietnamese team holding up a trophy on ESPN news on our tv. Never a dull moment here in Vietnam!

We met our agency's Vietnam facilitator this morning at breakfast. She collected a bunch of our official papers and told us that our VISA interview at the embassy is Tuesday. We can fly home after that is complete. We may get an earlier flight itinerary and come home Wednesday. We're seeing if our travel guy can arrange the same flights, layovers and seats on Wed. instead of Saturday.

Tomorrow we're going to an Vietnamese water puppet show and probably Temple of Literature or Museum of Ethnology.

We began to see all sorts of other adoptive families like us. One couple from Ireland, one from North Carolina, and one from Washington DC. There's even more here that we haven't talked too yet. They all had about two weeks time in country before they adopted their babies. We had less than a day. It just means they were able to sight see longer than we were before they got their babies at their various orphanages. They were also shocked how little time we had to get to get Vietnam after we recieved I-600 pre-approval (we had 3 days and they all had a couple weeks). We're all in Hanoi together because it's the last step in our adoption
processes (getting our Visa's from the embassy) before we can all go back to our homes.

I had to dip into the prescriptions we had filled from the travel medicine clinic back home. It seems I may have gotten a bug or had some of the water on accident? Who knows. It's not bad.

Happy Belated Birthday to Grandpa M! Sorry I missed it but I did think of you on Saturday when it was your birthday. We were traveling that day.
*I forgot to mention we had our first little squirter incident with baby boy S. Mommy didn't cover him up on the bed when I was changing him and didn't have the changing pad under him either. Oooopsie daisy!

Look who loves cords, computers, plugs and outlets already. Uh-oh! He's keeping us busy and reminds me of how active Nicholas was at this age. Very curious!

Standing up by himself and looking out our hotel room window with his droopy size 3 month drawers

Just too cute . It's funny because I would normally crop and retouch the photos but we're so tired and short on time, we're just uploading whatever.

streets of Hanoi

at the entrance to the Buddhist Temple at Hoam Kien (sp?) lake

more Hanoi on our walk back to the hotel trying to dodge beggars

Jeff inside the Buddhist temple-It was really interesting and smelled all smoky and filled with incense in the foggy cool weather.

the bridge to the temple over Hoam Kien Lake

Goodbye Saigon, Hello Hanoi.

2008-12-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well, we are in Hanoi now. Our trip here was fine, except for two little problems...a 5 hour flight delay and one baby related "incident". The first problem was no biggie after all because we had such a nice lounge to wait in for our flight. But the second problem, well...

We thought we had everything timed just right for Sabian-diaper change, bottles and napping. As soon as we got on the plane and began to taxi for take off, Sabian decided to have diarrhea. We were stuck in our seats until after take off! The flight attendant was very nice, offering to help change him and even bringing paper towels to help contain the mess. Thank heavens nothing got on his clothes! We felt bad involving her so we waited until we were in the air. Then, we ran him to the front restroom where the flight attendant was waiting with the changing table in place. We got him cleaned up and the rest of the flight was fine. We even saw some sort of circular rainbow sun spot in the clouds that was pretty cool. ...but after a day of waiting on our flight and packing/unpacking, we were completely bushed last night and even today. We'll write more about our hotel here in Hanoi later, but we must go down for our naps now. When Sabian sleeps, so do we!!!!

The welcome sign at the airport

Our guides from the adoption agency Mr. Tom and Thao

Sabians first plane, it's a big one.

In the lounge waiting.

This is a very nice business class lounge at the Ho Chi Minh airport.

They had a buffet, drinks and Internet.

We found a spot near the fish tank which he loved!

He kept trying to grab the fish as they swam by.

We carved out a nice little area in the lounge.

Moments before the "diaper incident".

Now you know why he is upset, we were about to find out.

Sabian turns 10 months

2008-12-25T21:37:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas night walking around the "mall" near our hotel, then we ate a very quick dinner at a really good Vietnamese joint. It was quick due to a certain someone, not to be named, getting restless and grumpy. So a few pics from last night and today.

We leave for Hanoi in the morning so, we will update Saturday night. Thats early Saturday morning for all you Americans.

Our hotel in the busy 1st district (downtown).

The Lemongrass is where we like to eat Vietnamese food.

The prawns on a flaming dish.

Dad trying to distract the yogurt covered beast. It's not working.

I want these chairs.

Too tempting!

Mom and Sabian outside the "mall".

Now we are talkin'! Sabian took to the drum kit right away.

A very loud and annoying drum toy our guide, Thao, had us buy.

His shirt says, "If you're happy and you know it".........Well you know the rest.

By-the-way... he never clapped his hands.

Ah, now he's starting to settle in.

Ok, this video is shaky because I'm trying to hold the camera ground level. But we wanted to show his mobility.

Christmas day! By J-Fro

2008-12-25T05:09:00.000-08:00

First off, we really appreciate all of the comments. It means a lot to have concerned friends. So our Christmas was an adventure. We went to the Vietnam war museum and the Revolutionary war museum near our hotel. The Vietnam war museum was intense as Americans walking through with thousands of Photographs of war torn Vietnam. The museum makes it a one sided account and they hold nothing back as they show their women and babies blown apart, burned and tortured. We walked quietly and respectfully through as there are a lot of Vietnamese visitors there. Here are a few pics.

Sabian's 8 am nap. He wakes up at 5:45 am! When was the last time anyone saw me at 5:45 in the am?!

Morning walking practice with mom.

Happy Sabian!

And still happy.

The Revolutionary war museum.

I was shocked how small the planes were.

Sabian's not afraid of the cat.

"Quite frankly, I don't think they got my joke!"

These people were very kind, she wanted to play with Sabian and asked us alot of questions. Everyone always asks what his name is. They want to see if you are disregarding his Given Vietnamese name. We always say his full Vietnamese name Cuong Hung Do. We explain that we are keeping Cuong as his middle name because we love it. They always seem pleased. You must be very careful to come across grateful and honored to be with them. Regardless, you either get nice and curious like this family, or ignored and watched from a distance.

It's interesting to watch Sabian with Vietnamese women. Last night we ate at an italian restaurant. We were the only customers because it was early, 4:00 pm. So there were about 6 young women waiting to serve the dinner crowds coming later. We ordered and the waitress said she wanted to hold Sabian. We gave Sabian to her and she walked around the restaraunt with him and the other girls showered him with attention. We thought she just wanted to hold him for a minute, but she meant she wanted to hold him so we could eat! Amazing kindness from alot of the people here. But I am writing to say that Michelle and I were worried he would be grumpy and wanting us, but the fact is he was seeing them as his nannies he has known his short life. They were dressed in white uniforms like nannies and of course speaking to him in that familiar sounding language. He was laughing and loving it. They passed him around taking turns and you could literally see his recognition of what he has known for 10 months. It was as if he enjoyed a break from the hard work of getting to know us and our sounds. These are the little things to think about with international adoption. He will always have a connection to something we are not a part of, and thats fine.

Giving and Receiving Ceremony

2008-12-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a chance yet to write about our trip to the orphanage and the Giving & Receiving ceremony, which both happened on our second day here. It was all such a blur and happened quite fast once we got to the orphanage but I'll try to remember. Thankfully, Jeff videotaped the walk through the orphanage because I had just been handed Sabian and was really focused on him, not to mention my emotional state!

After a long drive through town,we saw the living conditions deteriorate as we drove towards the orphanage. It was just much more poverty stricken than the areas near the first district and China town where we've seen. Tam Binh is smaller than I had imagined, and when we pulled up in our van and I saw the guard open up the gate, I could not believe we were actually here at the turquoise sign I've looked at for so many months on internet pictures. How was this possible? Our day had finally come! It was all so surreal, I just could not take the reality of it and was so overwhelmed.

As soon as we got out of the van and Sabian's young nanny in her pink shirt walked up to greet us, I didn't even know who she as but I lost it and began to cry. I told myself I had to pull it together or else I'd really be a mess! We were escourted by our adoption agency's VN facilitators, Mr. Tom and Thao, into small the Tam Binh office set up with chairs for us complete with a tea service! (so funny, but thoughtful) In fact, we spilled the tea cup when I was filling out the Tam Binh Orphanage book where we have to write an official statement that we are donating a certain amount of money for the care of their orphans. I don't even remember what I wrote, just that Thao showed me what words to write and that I had gotten tea on the corners of their important book. The orphanage director seemed pretty serious and didn't show too much emotion. That was another surreal part -how I've seen hundreds of pictures of him with various adoptive families who've visited and now we were with him! I wanted to know what Mr. Tom, Thao and the director were saying because they carried on conversations in Vn'ese the whole time.

After we had barely sat down in our chairs, I looked to my right where the open door was that we had just walked through, and here was Sabian's nanny bringing him towards us! He was wearing a two toned blue striped sleeper and I knew it was him immediately. My delicate floodgate of tears really opened up at the moment he was placed in my arms. I could not keep them inside any longer, even though I tried so that I would not scare him. He was just as I had imagined he might be, very quiet and reserved, just taking it all in. I was in love with this little being immediately and barely let him go to let Jeff hold him for a minute while I signed the book. Then, we were whisked off to walk through the orphanage. I held Sabian and Jeff video'd.

It was, like I said, smaller then I had imagined and we barely saw the openings to the older kids in their rooms. It was very quiet throughout the front of the complex where we walked. I thought it'd be loud and bustling, but maybe that's because it was so early in the morning. We walked up the staircase on the left side of the complex and saw the two infant rooms. There were a group of nannies in the first one, on the floor caring for a handful of babies. We were introduced to the head nanny She was a mature lady dressed very nicely in a traditional silk ao dai (I think this is what the dress is called) We were escorted next, into Sabian's infant room and showed his crib by the entrance. The room was, again, so much smaller than I had imagined, and there were only 3-4 babies in it. We were instructed to put Sabian in his crib to take his picture, and as soon as I did, Jeff saw his whole face drop immediately. He told me he was about to cry, and I kneeled down to talk to him as Jeff was videotaping him. I picked him back up after we seemed to appease the workers. Thao was pretty quick and forward with how she moved us around so hurriedly, and every time we hesitated to look around (which I did the whole time, 'cause, I mean, come on! we're tring to take this all in so we can document it for our child!)
to get more time there, she came to tell us to hurry along. Before we knew it we were taking a final picture with the staff and shown back to the van. I don't even remember when our gifts got distributed that we had brought with us, although I do remember the director holding ours when we were in his office and thanking us for it.

I looked back one last time and saw the only person standing there on the stairs, Sabian's nanny in her pink shirt. She had a slight smile on her face but as I met her eyes, and said goodbye while holding Sabian, I saw her face change to sadness -and for an instant, in which I cannot explain, I felt in my heart, the sadness she showed on her face, as the baby she had cared for was being taken away to a new life. It was a moment in time I will not and cannot forget.

One of only a few pictures we were able to take at the orpahange becasue we were hurried through and I held Sabian while Jeff video taped. Through this entrance, and to the left up a set of stairs, is where Sabian lived for almost ten months.

Here we are at the Giving and Receiving ceremony with the orphanage director and Thao exiting the door. Mr. Tom took the picture and videotaped for us. Sabian slept through it and we never had time to change his clothes since we were hurried straight to this ceremony after the orpahange visit, but it all worked out perfectly anyway. In this picture, I am thinking that I am the happiest person right there - being able to hold my sleeping child who is pefectly content.

That's all I can write for now. It's 4AM and I'm going to rest for a bit until Little S wakes up.

We are hoping to go to the war museum today and hope it's open on Christmas. On Friday, we get Sabian's passport which Jeff applied for on Monday. Then, on Saturday, we have plane tickets on Vietnam airlines to go up north to Hanoi to complete our adoption process there. It'll be good practice with Sabian on his first airplane trip, to see how he may react for our final trip home to the United States. I'm crossing my fingers!

...more later

More Sabian

2008-12-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo today in the hot and brutally humid weather. It was good to get Sabian out and about with us. It's funny to see everyone staring at us and Sabian, wondering what the story must be. Most Vietnamese have no problem being very forward and blunt. So we had some people walk over and just watch us and talk about us while standing 3 feet in front of us. Some older generation Vietnemese are not as open to Americans coming and adopting their children, so we might get a sour look and animated speaking but most people are very nice and think it is really neat.

Christmas is huge in Vietnam. They decorate everything in the streets and the children are dressed in Santa costumes every night for pictures. So we thought we give Sabian a festive vibe with the green and red. All the childrens schools were at the zoo for the day. Of course every child had Santa hats and costumes on for their pictures.

Here is a little video from our 6:00 am wake up.

Vietnam Day 2

2008-12-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna have to make this short and sweet because we've just spent hours trying to upload pictures and now if I don't go to bed, I won't be rested enough for our big day at the HCMC zoo tomorrow. One thing's for sure, there's nothing like a mac for blogging efficiency. This compaq laptop Jeff has is wearing me out!

Today, we went to the Visa hospital at the back of Cho Ray hospital to get Sabian checked out in order to get his passport. What an experience. The nurse was so cute with her rhinestone bow hair clip, pink crochet sweater, white nurse's hat and pants...and then this doctor? moseyed in and pulled out his backpack from his locker and got ready to assess our baby based on the paperwork and medical tests which have already been done. He told us nothing new and spoke in so heavy an accent, we struggled to understand what he was really even trying to tell us. We just smiled and generally agreed with what he said. Can't wait to go to our pediatrician in Texas who specializes in internationally adopted children and also has two daughters adopted from China himself.

Basically all we found out from this "medical" exam is Sabian's weight, length, and head circumference. I haven't even had a chance to look at the paper where Jeff hurriedly had to scribble down that info. I know this much, the 6-12 month pants that I brought literally slide right off his little legs. It's so funny! It's so hot here that he doesn't need them anyway, though.

We drove by the hospital where Sabian was born. Wow! Eye opener. I can't put it into words, but there's no way it can be very sanitary. As we drove around through the city all morning, I could not even take it all in. the sights of HCMC are just mind boggling. It is truly the experience of a lifetime for both of us. I can't get enough. It is so interesting how these folks live and work. The houses and businesses are stacked so high in skinny skinny 5-7 story dwellings. Some are nice, some are shanties. There are designer boutiques next to the most meager of existences. The sheer number of people out and about on the streets each day and all night is crazy!

After being an angel on our first day together, Sabian showed a little bit more grieving today, but also attachment to both of us, which is great! We are getting to know each other and I love that he needs us, which shows that he is begining to get the picture that we'll soothe him and that we are his caretakers who love him unconditionally. It is a curvy road, this attachment process, and every day brings something new to learn from each other.

I'm still amazed at how Jeff is so concerned with doing as much as I do for Sabian. He is the right hand to my left and I couldn't do this without him. He helps me give baths & medicine,takes Sabian to the store, feeds him, sweet talks him, and rocks him to sleep. It is truly a beautiful vision to me when I see this person I've spent seventeen years with totally and completely change into a loving father instantly. I didn't know he would be this involved, loving, and concerned. Sabian loves him and is completely comfortable having Jeff meet all of his needs.

-gotta go to bed-stayed up too late already-I'll post again tomorrow night if possible.

I could sit like this forever and never tire of the feeling I get with my baby attached to me! -even at 3AM when I've barely laid down and my eyes are stinging with sleep deprivation. The warmth between us is pure heaven to me.

To be sure, I did have to do a bit of convincing to get Jeff to be comfortable with the sling thing.
I just told him lots of hot and hunky celebrity dads have been caught carrying their babies, too!

Vietnam does Christmas like no other place I've seen! Everywhere, it's Christmas decor and more! -lots of it made out of styrofoam and tinfoil...I'm talking entire storefront windows covered in tinfoil dioramas of winter scenes with snowmen, santas. angels, and much more,

Uh-oh, now is the time his lungs get a work out!

This is before he became traumatized by the doctor

Now just try and tell me that is not the sweetest thing you've ever seen!

Gazillion bajillion families/friends enjoying the Christmas revelry all over the 1st district by our hotel. It is a scene I tell you!

Lights are stung everywhere in this district

We've made a game out of finding the most ridiculous number of infants dressed up in Christmas costumes and riding on mopeds smashed between and on top their parents. They are so funny, these little babies as young as Sabian scootering along with their parents through the mad house that is Saigon traffic. When we cross the street, it's like the episode of Seinfeld when George is dodging traffic like a game of Frogger with his arcade game trying to preserve his high score. You just go and hope for the best, that people will not run over you and you'll make it to the other side!

They're already celebrating the New Year here. It's just one gigantic party!

Streets are literally packed nightly, in the Christmas countdown celebration

Jeff's favorite meal where we picked out our seafood and we got to rip the heads off of the prawns to eat them. They were delish, I must say.

Men, the Master poker star, and his friends who showed us around the first night

Outside our hotel-never a dull moment! It's quite strange to have locals ask us (so politely, I might add) to take their pictures with them. We must be a bit odd to them and stick out like a sore thumb, although we've seen lots of American/European tourists as well...and even met another family on a culture trip with their two daughters who were born in Vietnam and China.

Michelle's update of DAY 1

2008-12-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

I should be sleeping because I'll be up early for Sabian's medical exam at 8AM, but before I go to sleep I want to write a few things down so I don't forget even a tiny portion of these memories.

We flew from LAX to Thailand w/ who Jeff thought was some high ranked poker player. The dude borrowed my pen and sat by us waiting at LAX and we could tell by the way he looked and acted that he probably was. When we got to Thailand and saw him again waiting for the same flight to HCMC, Jeff asked him, and sure enough, it was Menh (sp?) the master (leave it to Jeff to know this guy).
long story short
.....we spent our first night with him showing us the town and some real Vietnamese food, as in, we looked at the seafood in the water buckets, picked it out, had it cooked, and ate it all up. We could see them preparing the food in the back. The restaurant workers kneel/sit on the ground to prepare meals. It was a memorable night in the most amazing city I have ever been to.

millions of scooters
babies on scooters
families of four on one scooter
weaving in and around traffic to dodge scooters
face mask- wearing scooter riders
carrying huge loads of cargo on tiny decrepit scooters
honking to tell scooters you're about to run over them
honking to tell pedestrians they're about to get hit

I could not ever fathom the incredible sight of this city and the sheer volume of scooters and people who hang out in this district Christmas time (district 1 is like the Sunset Strip or Rodeo Drive of HCMC) Thousands of locals throng here to look at all the lights and Christmas decorations set up in all the stores, restaurants, and hotels. Parents dress their kids up in costumes to take pictures of them all over this district, and in front of our hotel there are throngs of these Christmas revelers each night. We seem to be a novelty, as they ask to take pictures with us. Complete strangers. It is the most interesting experience we have ever had. Words cannot explain.

Today was a dream! I woke up on my own, with no alarm, at 5:45 to be ready at 7AM to meet Mr. Tom and Thao in the lobby. They're our agency's HCMC facilitators.

I must go to sleep but I'll just say that Sabian is a dream child and the entire day was the best dream come true one could ever imagine. It can't be possible. This is just too good to be true. He is perfection, and from the moment I saw him being carried to me by his nanny, he was mine completely. I was in love with this child of mine. There was not one moment of hesitation or feeling inadequate or lack of a mother to child bond. I can barely believe it myself because I prepared for the worst and knew I might not bond to him immediately, but from moment one he was the light of my life.

Jeff is the most amazingly doting father I could ever imagine (shhhh...don't tell him I let his secret out!) He is absolutely in love and sweet talks to Sabian like you can't imagine. It is the sweetest discovery to see Jeff transformed into this protective, lovable, and completely involved daddy. When I'm holding Sabian, he constantly asks me if he can hold him. He wants to give him baths and make his bottles/ cereal, and basically everything that I also want to do! We are sooo in the baby honeymoon phase it's not even funny!

okay, I've gotta go to sleep but we'll update tomorrow.

Here he is!

2008-12-22T00:48:00.000-08:00

Shelling out more cash.

Like a drug deal.

Arriving at Tam Binh orphanage.

Finally!

Holy smokes!

In the taxi driving to the giving and receiving ceremony.

Sabian crashed in Michelle's arms for 30 min. and slept through the Giving and Receiving ceremony.

Michelle is a bit happy.

Sabian was amazed by the outside world.

Mrs. Thao and Jeff getting Sabian's picture for his Visa.

Michelle trying her Hot Sling, Sabian did not mind at all.

So to clarify, this is not training for late night Wal-mart trips with a baby only in a diaper......it is hot and humid here so we thought we would let him cool off in the room.

Sabian laughing at Michelle.

Look at his choppers!

Ok, so after his nap today he woke up and freaked out! He seemed to be protesting. He seemed to be wondering where his nannies were. After a few minutes he calmed down and was happy again. We will try to post video soon.

Ok we got some poor quality video from our old point and click camera. It is a dark room so its not good but you get the idea.

First Leg, By J-Fro

2008-12-20T23:49:00.000-08:00

Our bird at LAX.

Michelle excited that we could watch the flight progress on our LCD screens.

Our flight closing in on Bankok.

Jeff waiting on Michelle as usual, in the Bankok airport.

Jeff being ignored by the airport assistance staff.

Getting ready to leave Bankok.

Our flight now headed for Ho Chi!

Flying low over Nam.

One small example of the insane traffic flow in Ho Chi.

Santa waiting in our lobby to scare the daylights out of Sabian!

Jeff sweating possible "banking discrepancies"!

Our lovely abode.

Ok, we got a letter at the hotel informing us that we will be getting a 7 am wake up call to leave for Tam Binh orphanage. We will be parenting by 8:00 am. Heaven help us all!! Check back tommorow for picks of the dude and maybe video. That will be Monday during the day for the Texas crew.

3 hrs down-20 to go

2008-12-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

We made it to LAX on a smooth flight. It was a little plane and we almost missed the flight because we were lollygaggin' around in the wifi lounge not paying attention very closely to the time. We heard our names called and figured we'd better board.

With a little help from my old friend, Mr. Xanax I was smiling the entire flight in giddy anticipation for our upcoming adventures with Little S in HCMC. Literally, I don't think I stooped grinning the entire flight! I didn't even sleep although I am going on 2 hours sleep from last night. I was just resting happily in my calm haze. Joy is mine!

We're hanging out now in the international terminal waiting for our flight on Thai air to Bangkok later tonight. I can't post any pictures yet because we checked the firewire cord, so pics will have to wait til HCMC on Sunday.

There were snowy mountains coming into Cali with a blue lake in the mountains surrounded by snow that was pretty.

Oh my gosh! We got soooo lucky at DFW with our luggage. We checked two big bags each and should've had to pay quite a few steep baggage fees but this nice gentleman at the United counter didn't charge us at all. Lucky day...I mean when do you actually get a break at an airport? So we're supposed to meet back up with all our bags in HCMC. Then we'll really know if it's our lucky day when they're not lost or missing!

Off to eat and charge batteries...next stop-Bangkok

Flying the Friendly Skies

2008-12-18T01:54:00.000-08:00

So this is what happens when you have three days to book an international trip just days before Christmas...

-DFW to LAX on United Airlines (7 hr layover here)

-LAX to Bangkok on Thai Airways- (huh?) (oh yeah, this one's about an 18 hour flight...

in economy class nonetheless

-Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City on Thai Airways

Then for the trip back home...

Hanoi to Taipei, Taiwan on EVA Airlines

Taipei to LAX on EVA Airlines

LAX to DFW on American Airlines

This doesn't take into account our in-country flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi midway through our trip which we'll book while we're in HCMC. It'll be our first flight with our baby so wish us luck that we'll know what to pack in the diaper bag!

The saving grace? business class seats on the EVA Air flights are looking pretty delightful (well, anything would after the economy seats for 18 hours on the way over!!!) as is the 1st class ride from LAX to DFW that'll bring us home.

Now, let's hope we don't have to change our flights for the way home due to paperwork delays in Vietnam. This could really screw up the only good seats we have for our trip.

Maybe tomorrow we'll get word about our hotel reservations. I still have no idea what we'll be doing on a daily basis while we're in Vietnam besides the fact that we are supposed to have our Giving and Receiving Ceremony on either Monday or Tuesday, the 21st or 22nd. That is when we get to keep Little Man S for good...meaning he's ours!

We couldn't even use frequent flyer miles for these tickets because it really wouldn't have saved us much money.

-supposedly due to the holidays and the short notice-

Now, as my dad would say..

Let's get this show on the road!

Travel Approval is Here!

2008-12-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 16th, in the wee hours of the morning, the email came. USICS HCM Adoptions Unit had decided we were cleared to come get our baby boy. We are overjoyed and now under much stress to get to Vietnam by Sunday so we can have our Giving and Receiving ceremony by Monday or Tuesday. We're madly making travel plans and nailing down an itinerary.
When I get more info, I'll post it. In the meantime, all that can be said is, "We're coming soon, Little Man S!"

*Just a side note* ummmm.....just checked the weather for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. When we land on Sunday in HCMC- 91* with humidity in the 80% range...oh boy! I guess I'm familiar with that, though. Just gonna pull out the summer clothes.

He Has Teeth!

2008-11-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

We received an updated photo of our little guy a few days ago. Not only does he have at least two little white teeth on the bottom of his tiny mouth, but he is also STANDING UP in his crib! It's so sad to realize all these milestones that we are missing while we wait for governmental bureaucracy to decide it's time to go to Vietnam and bring him home to us. Currently, we're contacting USCIS HCMC every couple days to make sure that they have all the necessary documents to proceed with the investigation into his adoption case. Today, I received an email from our adoption agency telling us that their facilitator is making sure another medical test is being performed by the Pasteur Institute. I'm also waiting to hear from USCIS HCMC that they have definitely received our VISA CABLE 37 from our local office. We are making progress and I'm still holding out hope for a Christmas present in the form of an approval email!

We'll be there as soon as we can Little Man S!

Waiting for travel approval

2008-11-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

I decided to use blogspot to host our trip to Vietnam. I use an iMac at home, but in order to blog from Vietnam, I'd have to buy a Mac laptop to use my existing iweb. Since I'm highly doubtful a new Mac laptop will be in our budget after shelling out twenty thousand plus dollars this past year for adoption related expenses, I decided that blogspot would work just fine!

Here's a link to our Mac website where everything else about our life is at.

http://web.me.com/brigman.mac

Currently, we are waiting for the USCIS in HCMC to give us pre-approval so we can travel to Vietnam and adopt our first child, a baby boy, who's in an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. We've had his referral since June 12th, 2008, but it wasn't made "official" until August 29th. Our I-600 was submitted to USCIS HCMC on October 29th, 2008. And that brings us to where we are now.......waiting for approval to travel to Vietnam.

Stay tuned for news of our pre-approval to travel and hopefully our giving and receiving dates will follow soon after so we can buy our plane tickets!!! It's getting so close now. We are almost parents after being married for SEVENTEEN years!