She is crazy!

That's right, you did not misread the title. Jia is nuts, wacko, animated! Her new nickname is crazy train. Who needs entertainment when you have Jia! I can't even begin to describe to you how hilarious she is. She is going to fit in just perfect when we get her home.

We took Miss crazy train on a little shopping trip to buy some porcelain today. She loved all the pretty colors, but as you probably already guessed I had to take her outside because she wanted to get down and play ! We found a beautiful tea set to give her for her wedding one of these days, and a set for us as well. I will post pictures of them when we get home. The nice lady in the shop wrapped them up so that we can transport them on the plane and I am not about to unwrap them!

Tomorrow we will fly to Guangzhou to have her medical appointment and finalize her travel documents with the US government. I have eyes and ears on the ground in Guangzhou that have already located a store where we can buy baby shoes! The store is appropriately named Sherry's! Thanks Jackie, see you soon! We have a lot of shopping to do on the last leg of our journey, silk pajamas for Hannah , fabric for Grandma etc...... We will begin our long journey home on the 29th when we leave for the Hong Kong airport at 5:30 am. I hope everyone on the plane to Detroit has a good sense of humor! Maybe will just do a live feed of Jia's antics on all of the movie screens!

We have a little more packing to do before bed so I will say goodbye for now.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Meeting Jia

- On Sunday we started pacing the room about 2:00. Our guide had assured us that she would call us at 3:00 and bring Jia to our room. Right on time the phone rang! Within 2 minutes there was a knock at the door. When I opened it there stood this tiny little girl that was wondering what was going on. She shed a few tears and then that was the end of it. I carried her over to her toys and she has been happy ever since! She is very smart and quick to learn. Her palate is as bad as they come so she just makes a lot of sounds as apposed to words. Trust me she has no problem getting her point across! She has the biggest personality which we had expected by the funny pictures we had received of her. Right now as we speak she is literally climbing up my husband and making him flip her backwards onto the bed.




Jia likes to play the hairbow game. Ya know the one where i put a bow in her hair she pulls it out then gives it back to me only to point to her head and demands that I try again.




She loves her shoes. She does not want to take them off. If one of her shoes comes off she sits down and waits for someone to put it back on.




She is a mommy's girl most of the time until she is tired then only daddy will do. She pops her 2 fingers in her mouth and off to dream land she goes. She takes a nap and sleeps all night in her crib.




Jia is a human garbage disposal! She loves her snacks! When the orphanage reps brought her they said that she could drink from a straw but we had brought some sippy cups that she can bite and make the milk come out. She won't touch a straw.
Drum roll please!........ She is halfway potty trained! She woke up from her nap today and started fidgeting with her diaper so i sat her on the potty and presto!
She loves the mirror and giggles and smiles most of the time. She is very busy all the time and points at everything so that you will tell her what it is. Jia loves to take a bath! I think she would stay in there all day if she could.
All this and she has been with us for just over 24 hours! I am sure she has plenty more crazy where that came from!
Today all the paper work was completed and she is officially ours! Signed sealed and delivered. The rest of the week we will spend just hanging out and sightseeing here in Nanchang. On Friday we will fly to Guanzhou and her consulate appointment is on the 27th. We will fly out of Hong Kong on the 29th.
Lot's more to come............
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Great Wall

Today was a very long day! We gathered all of our things and replaced them very carefully in our suitcases so that we could meet the in country 44lb weight limit. Our guide and driver met us at the hotel at 9:40 am to begin our journey to the Great Wall. The vastness of it was unbelievable! We happened to be there at a time when the visibility was low but I think it made it even more mysterious and kept us wandering what was around the next watch tower. Our fatigue from traveling quickly got the best of us and we stopped a few times on the way back to the Cable car. We made our way down through the narrow pathway lined with vendors yelling T-shirt $1. Our guide, and driver joined us for the most delicious meal yet. We ordered several things and shared them all. After lunch we headed for the airport where we had about a 2 hour wait for our flight. We said goodbye to our guide, Alice to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude for all of the help navigating though Beijing. She was a wealth of knowledge and a joy to spend time with. Our airplane was stuck on the runway for over an hour waiting for our place in line. We finally arrived in Nanchang about 9:00. We grabbed our suitcases and met our guide for the week. Her name is Mary and she is kind and has a gentle way about her that I think will be a big help to us when Jia arrives at our hotel at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. (that is 3 am Sunday morning at home). Mary said that she had been to our orphanage and has met Jia! She said that Jia is very cute! We are sooo excited and can't wait for tomorrow to come. Goodnight all! Sweet dreams Braeton, Hannah, Conner, Casey and Jia! We love you!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Beijing

Forbidden city

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad














What a long but great day! We began our by riding the subway! Our guide promised to give us an adventure and she did not disappoint. We made our way through the crowds at tiananmen square while Alice began our "history lesson". We continued on to The Forbidden City and were completely blown away by the beauty and history. Many of the buildings had a fresh coat of paint for the Beijing Olympics so the colors were very vivid. She told us about the social structure during the Ming and Ting Dynasties, how only people of high social status could enter the Forbidden City. I could go on and on with all that we learned today, but I will save that for another time. Next we had lunch at a restaurant located next to a beautiful lake. This restaurant is famous for Peking Duck which my husband has been patiently waiting to try. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic. Then we hired a rickshaw and took a journey through the Hutongs. The Hutongs are narrow alleyways in the old portion of Beijing where many people still live today. Most of the homes are owned by the government but a few are privately owned by families. We were invited to tour one such home that had been owned by the same family for 100 years. The owner of the home ,who is a retired teacher of Physics, was very kind. Her father had been a famous Beijing artist and now her son in law was carrying on the tradition as an artist. We purchased a beautiful hand painted scroll to hang in Jia's room!


Our very long day ended with a ride home on the public bus, a nap and room service! Tomorrow morning we will pack our bags, tour the Great Wall and then fly to Nanchang City so that we can get a good night's sleep before we get to meet Miss Jia! More updates to follow. Good night or good morning depending on where you are in the world!

Location:Dongmencang Hutong,Beijing,China

Ready to start our sightseeing!

Good morning Beijing! We had a long journey! Our crazy day began with our flight from Louisville leaving 40 minutes late which led to running trough the Minneapolis airport to catch the flight to Tokyo with 10 minutes to spare! A little more running followed to catch the flight to Beijing. All that running was worth it when we were upgraded to first class on our flight to Beijing! We are now spoiled! Our guide,Alice was waiting for us after we came through customs. She is wonderful and I can't wait to introduce her! Today we will be traveling to the Forbidden City, Tiannimen Square, and the hutongs in the older part of Beijing. More updates and photos later!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Dongmencang Hutong,Beijing,China

The kids are off to school!

Have a great first day back!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:S Goldenrod Ln,Hanover,United States

And we're off!

After all night packing, making detailed lists for my mother in law to reference while caring for Conner, Braeton, and Hannah, we are finally leaving for China!
We are dropping off the kids for their first day of school on the way. We will miss them. Thank God for Skype :-)
I am months away from a doctorate degree and had a number of issues putting the fancy car seat in the car. After hours of pain, a few choice words, and the assistance of my wife, I am happy to say that the car seat is in place and Jia will be safe on the ride home. I hope we never have to switch vehicles.
Here is an updated picture of Jia that we received a few weeks back! More to come!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:S Goldenrod Ln,Hanover,United States