Where do I start?

I am so glad that I never claimed to have all the answers when it comes to parenting or raising children. I would be forced to eat those words if I had. I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what is going on in the brain of a 5-year old. If Anyssa had been born to us, we would have some idea of her personality and where she was emotionally, but with her coming to us from a foreign country, not speaking our language and having built up a personality developed from her surroundings in an orphanage, I simply don't know. I've mentioned some of what we've been experiencing to other parents and their response is something like "that's not because she came from China, it's because she's 5!" That might be, but is still difficult to deal with.

If anyone has the answers, please fill me in. What is it about bedtime that suddenly gives kids a burst of energy that Olympic athletes would envy? Why does she want to throw pretty much everything? Why does she pick the weirdest battles to fight? She is picking up English...at least she seems to understand more of what we say. If she could convey what she is dealing with or feeling, even if it was just "I don't wanna!", that would at least let me know where she is coming from. It's a total hit and miss. I pray for guidance and know that this is simply the beginning of a new life for us all.

I put up the Christmas tree this weekend and today we all helped in decorating it. For awhile, anyway. After about 20 minutes, Anyssa was pretty much bored with it so we called it a night. We're going to have a simpler Christmas this year. One tree (instead of our usual 2), probably no train around the tree, and simpler decorations. I wonder if she thinks that this is a year round event...the Christmas season was in full swing when she arrived here. Hopefully by next Christmas, she will be more grounded and a tiny, itty-bit more mature than now. I am more realistic that to assume that we were going to have a Currier and Ives type holiday this year.

Anyway, the above comments represent the reason that I haven't posted much this week. I will try to post more frequently as the holidays progress. Stay tuned!

A Day to give Thanks

Roger and I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for, not only today but always. Anyssa and Roger are watching the Macy's Day parade while I write this. It is wonderful to be home with our family and friends and looking forward to our first Thanksgiving with Anyssa! She is such a blessing and is adapting better in many ways than we thought she would. Our challenges continue to be the bedtime issues and learning to communicate better. We believe she understands much of what we say and we've all learned to use sign language (our version, at least!) to all get our points across. She pushes the envelope every chance she gets!! Typical of a 5yr old, I'm sure.
Anyssa made her first appearance at church last Sunday and did quite well. Our good friend, Miranda, stayed with her in the nursery and Roger and I were able to attend the service. Anyssa even came up to the altar for a blessing during communion, then ran back to the nursery with Miranda! After the service, people came to the nursery to meet Anyssa and she hung with Amy, Lauren and Miranda as the adults visited! It was so wonderful to be back at St. Benedict's and for the warm welcome we received. Our church family is a true blessing!

Roger went back to work this past Monday, so Anyssa and I are trying to get into a routine. But we'll get there. Anyssa has had several visitors this week. Sunday night, she met her cousin Tyler and her Aunt Toni, as they came for dinner (we ordered Chinese, go figure!!) and her Uncle Al, that she met earlier at church, joined us too. By the end of the evening, she was showing off how her cart wheel moves and just being silly with Tyler! Yesterday, she met her cousin Allie and saw her Aunt Vicky again. The three of them worked on the kitty puzzle that was a shower gift and they had so much fun, laughing and giggling! Allie also played the piano while Anyssa sat next to her and joined in at times. It was so great to see them connecting! Was sorry Daddy wasn't home to see. Later in the day, our good friends Joel, Renee' and Amy came to visit. Anyssa met them at church, so after only a few minutes, she and Amy were playing together, or should I say, Anyssa was running around, wanting Amy to chase her! They spent a good part of the visit playing with stickers and the plastic food that our friend and neighbor, Dawn, loaned us. She loves playing with the pretend food, dumping it on the family room floor and designing all kinds of meals!

Then, it was time for dinner at Dawn, Mike, Connor and Evan's house, who live behind us. This was her first visit to someone elses house and she walked around, checking things out first, before settling in to hang with Connor and Evan. She was also intrigued by their pet Guinea pig, Pekachu (sp?) and got to pet him while on her lap. Since our cats continue to hide in the basement (they're afraid of her, rather than the other way around), she enjoyed getting to pet him and watch him eat his green pepper. The boys turned on Sponge Bob and she sat between Daddy and Connor on the couch, settling in to watch a few episodes. She looked extremely comfortable! Then it was down to the basement and there she found the Simpsons pinball machine. With Daddy watching, she easily figured out how to play! She also played air hockey with Connor and Evan. We wonder what she must think of all this. The giggles and big smiles said it all. It was a very busy day and after a little bit of prodding, she fell fast asleep and didn't wake until 7:30 this morning. We give thanks for these little victories.

Heading to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. My Mom is an awesome cook (hopefully I can be as good as her someday). This will be the first visit to Grandma and YeYe's (Chinese for grandpa and that is what Anyssa calls my dad). We give so many thanks that we can all be together today. Roger's brother, Bob, is out of the hospital and will be joining us also.

We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and we are so thankful for our family and friends who love and support us. Blessings to you all!

Love,

Laura, Roger and Anyssa

My favorite signs

As you are probably aware, sometimes Chinese doesn't translate very well into English. I snapped a picture of some of the more interesting signs throughout our travels...here are some of them.




No horns or car bombs, please!

 

Welcome...have a seat, spread your legs and we'll be right with you.
Specializing in those areas where the sun don't shine...



Uh...OK.

 

How do you know your capabiltiy if your brain is diseased?





That was close...I thought I was THERE!



Friday evening

We saw Dr. Ochs today and all looks pretty good. He is pleased with what he saw and read. She is in the 25th percentile for height and weight which I guess is pretty good. He wanted to do a blood test, but when we were done in the office, the lab had closed for lunch for a half  hour. No problem...since we were just a few blocks away, we paid a quick visit to Mr. Pollock's studio. Anyssa got to meet her "Uncle Jim" who was VERY excited to meet her. I had been talking to Jim about doing "birth announcements" about 5 years ago so he's been aware of the entire adoption journey for quite some time. We hung out until the lab opened, then walked back to the hospital. There is a blood test for adoptees that is pretty intense...they drew 5 viles of blood from her little arm! She whimpered a bit, but didn't cry...she's a brave little girl.



Me & Laura in the Forbidden City



After the doctor, we passed by Wrigley Field to see the park painted purple for the NW/UI game tomorrow. Being a Sox fan, I still have to admit that I like Wrigley Field and it looked pretty cool in the new colors! Once we were back in the burbs, we stopped by to give Anyssa her first tast of McDonalds. One happy meal, please. She seemd to enjoy the cheesburger and when it came to soft drinks, she preferred water. After that, we stopped at American Sales which, for those of you who don't know, is one of those seasonal stores that has pools, patio furniture and swing sets in the summer and switches over to Christmas in the fall. As soon as she saw the giant inflatable Santa outside, her eyes bugged out of her head! She had a blast looking at pretty much EVERYTHING in the store. I actually experienced something that I had thought of during the adoption consideration process years ago...viewing and reliving things that I considered mundane through the eyes of a child. It was amazing to look at the lit up trees and the little animated houses and ornaments and lights and wreaths and everyhting that I had grown accustomed to seeing and see them as I hadn't for many, many years. I don't want to think of it as reliving my youth through Anyssa, but rather to use her as an excuse to stop, take a breath, open my eyes and look around for a few minutes. I know there will be challenges ahead but so far, I can say that I am enjoying this trip known as parenthood.

I wish we had new pictures to share, but truth be told, we simply aren't snapping them as much as when we were in China. I will go ahead and post a few from the trip and hopefully you can enjoy those until we get a few new ones.



Anyssa in the airplane home!



Dr. visit

Today is Anyssa's visit to Dr. Ochs, a pediatrician who specializes in international adoption. We're not sure exactly what to expect...we also need to get some paperwork filled out so we can begin the registration process for school.  Since Dr. Ochs office is a couple of blocks down from Jim's studio, we're planning on stopping by to say HEY to Jim and show Anyssa the printing process and how he does his art.

Up until last night, the sleeping process had gotten better. She had been going down with less hassle and sleeping through the night. Last night, she fell aslepp on Laura's lap while I was out. When I got home, we took her to her room, changed into PJs and attempted to put her down. There was resistance and soon the screaming began. Laura was in our bed this morning but said that she did not get in until 2:30. Anyssa was wide awake and wanting to play. This time is truly going to be a test of our patience and especially for Laura...I go back to work on Monday. Since the temperatures have cooled off, the outside time is limited so running her around is kind of tricky. I took her to Best Buy and Home Depot yesterday and she seemed to enjoy it, but obviously, it wasn't enough.

I'll fill you in on the doctor office visit later...

Challenges

The adaptation continues. I know how hard it is for me and Laura to adapt, but I cannot imagine exactly what Anyssa is feeling. Laura and I are home and speak the same language and are back in our original time-zone. For Anyssa, her world TRULY has been turned upside-down. Her body-clock seems to be the hardest thing to adjust. Laura has to lie down with her is order for Anyssa to get to sleep, and then she'll wake up later...fully awake. It can takes several hours to get her back down. If it were warmer, we could take her to the park and run her around, but the weather report says it's going to start to get even cooler. Today, we have a couple of doctors appointments to take her too and then maybe a shopping trip. We just have to get her out of the house. I'D go stir crazy here!

My brother has an infection in his dialysis fistula so it looks like he's going to the hospital for a few days. PLUS...his cat is sick and may need to go the vet for a few days. It's not my job to question why God does what He does but rather to accept the challenges he places in front of me. I believe that He knows what he is doing and I have to accept that this is part of the larger plan. This is my last week off of work so I need to spend as much time with Laura and Anyssa as I can now. Today looks like it will be busy for me...I just pray that Laura and Anyssa can tolerate my being pulled in several directions.

Name change

As you may have noticed, I've changed the name of the blog to reflect the current situation.

Anyway, the challenge continues. Anyssa is slowly making the transition to American life (she had her first trip to WAL-MART yesterday!), however, it's gonna take some time for her very young body clock to completely adjust for the 14 hour time difference. Going to bed can be challenging so we try and tire her out and don't enforce naps right now. She's been waking up at 3 and not going back to sleep so THAT's an issue.

Other than that, life goes on. She's gradually tasting American food...raisins, and BANANAs!! We have no idea her experience with bananas, but when she saw a bunch hanging from our little banana holder on the counter, her eyes bulged and she got excited, pointing at them. She ate 3 the first day! We are now trying to get her to maybe 2 a day. I will give her credit...she does at least TRY most foods to determine if she likes them or not. Surprisingly, she HATES Coke and Sprite. Again, probably no experience. She tasted my Sprite and got this nasty look on her face...she couldn't make it to the sink in time to spit it out. We'll see how long THIS lasts!

The next challenge...pizza.

      I REALLY like this one of both of my girls!                        Mommy and Anyssa in Guangzhou

Working through some things

Sorry for the delay in posting...it's taking considerably longer to shake the jet lag from the trip back. We went to bed late on Thursday and we all slept until almost noon. Good, right? Wrong. Anyssa did not want to go to sleep at her usual time and had a minor meltdown. Eventually she fell asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom at 3:00 and saw a light from her room. Laura was in there saying that she heard Anyssa crying. Whatever she was doing, it no longer mattered...she was wide awake. After many failed attempts to cajole her back to bed, we tried a little to be a little firmer. That led to a TOTAL meltdown. Laura finally crawled into bed with her and I guess they fell asleep. At least THEY did...I was wide awake and could not fall back asleep at all. I am literally running on vapors. Anyssa is in the shower now as I write this. Hopefully, she will go down a little easier tonight and STAY asleep.

Here's a shot from our front porch after pulling in from the airport.

Home at last!

Yes, you read that right...we are home. The house was decorated by Tish, Dawn, Vicky, Allie and Laura's mom. Welcome home indeed. This will be a short post...so much to say and just not enough energy to type it all.

This is definitely going to be a process. We're guessing that a lot of her actions/reactions have been bred into her at the orphanage. She can be a very mature little girl and in the blink on an eye, she's a 2 year old. We had a couple of meltdowns on the plane. VERY noisy! She drank a lot of water so every 20 minutes I was taking her to the bathroom.

We have to work hard on what we will accept from her...destructive or violent are not the words I would grab, however, there seem to be a couple of flashes of that every now and then. Again, more on that later. We want to discipline her, but on the other hand, I don't want the only words she hears from us to be "NO."

It's going to take quite some time to download the camera. Once the pics are in, I will put a bunch on the blog so patience, everyone!

Good night...thanks for all the prayers and support.

Last post from China

This may very well be the last post we have from China. We are borrowing a laptop and we will need to return it later this evening. We will be meeting Bill in the lobby in a few minutes to pick up Anyssa's visa. We're pretty much packed except for our toiletry stuff. We will have an extra early wake-up tomorrow so we can shower and get dressed in time for our 6:30 shuttle to the airport.

Time flies! Back from the lobby with all of our paperwork. Everything is a go. We just need to pack, sleep, ride, customs (China out), customs (Hong Kong in), flight. Simple, no?

OK then, one last picture. Anyone who knows me will understand...it needs no explanation. Special thanks to our guide, paperwork handler and good friend Bill who has contacts everywhere!

Next episode....The Ride Home.

18 hours and counting...

Just 18 short hours and we will be on-board a van traveling to Hong Kong to catch a flight HOME! You never truly understand the impact of the word HOME until you are on an extended trip that you simply cannot wait to end. We are ALL more than ready to return...China is a nice place to visit, but like Vegas, 16 days is WAY TOO MANY!!

We went to the US Consulate yesterday. All of our paperwork was approved and Bill is heading back there today to pick up Anyssa's visa. After that, we're done. Well, done until we have to make the border crossing into Hong Kong and then again when we hit our point of entry at O'Hare. Apparently there are 2 checkpoints at the Hong Kong border...one to leave mainland China and another to enter HK. It's a 3 hour bus ride at 6:30 AM with a cranky 5 year old. Go ahead and say it..."welcome to parenthood."

We have a 14 hour plane ride ahead of us. We hope that we all can get a little rest because even though we land at around 11:30 AM Chicago time, it will be about 1:30 AM body clock time. That will probably hit Anyssa the hardest. Not sure what she's gonna be like then but I imagine she'll be pretty overwhelmed.

We have a couple of people left to shop for. We are heading out in a few minutes to wipe that out, then back to pack. We are on a tiny island that is very pretty. The are lots of trees and beautiful walkway down the center of the island. We will have to post some pictures later. There are a lot of little souvenir shops named after the proprietors (Susan's Shop, Jordan's Shop. etc..) that sell all kinds of kitsch. We went to Susan's shop to look around and got into a conversation about her cat. Anyssa gother first experience with a cat and did not show any signs of allergies, so we are optimistic that she'll be OK at home. We met her husband Dong (no jokes) and the next thing you know we were sitting around their tea table sipping tea for an hour or so and talking about life and politics. It is inevitable because when you mention Chicago, they think of Obama. We mentioned the recent elections and he knew that "Nancy out" so we figured that he as pretty interested in that kind of stuff. We will be heading back there later to say goodbye. Very fun experience!

OK folks...to the stores!

Google is down

Monday morning and Google is down which makes it a little difficult to access g-mail. I've hopped on my regular SBC account to send this out. 

Anyssa just had her TB test examined and all looks good. At 2:00 today, we have to go over all of our paperwork with Bill to make sure that all of our "T"s are crossed and "I"s are dotted for the US Consulate. That appointment is tomorrow. We have faith that all will go well.

We are heading out to do some souvenir shopping now. We are on a small man-made island n Guangzhou...quiet, little traffic and a very relaxing feel to it. We are trying to find a few things that are better than the plastic Chinese crap stuff...THAT you can get anywhere.

Sunday night

I would like to follow up with the earlier post I made. Anyssa is doing much better. BU seems to help a lot. When she starts to do something wrong, we yell BU! and she usually stops. If she is doing something she shouldn't, we yell BU HAO! which is BAD!. If SHE is bad, we yell BU HAO WA WA! which is BAD GIRL! She seems to enjoy hearing the NO like she finds some comfort in the limits we are setting for her. We KNOW this a very, VERY rough time for her and she is pulling through like a trooper, but we need to be sensitive to her needs whether she knows what they are or not. I'm not really surprised to hear myself say (or think) this, but I feel such a love for this little girl that I had no idea was possible. It literally tugs at my heart and it bothers me that I don't always know what she wants or needs. We tell her PAPA AI or MAMA AI which is Papa or Mama loves you and she repeats it so we know that she knows that. She has also learned how to kiss which is always a sweet moment for us all. We will all get through this transition although it will take some time and not always be smooth. We KNOW that this is the path that God has led us too and we are more than willing to walk that path. We have faith that God has brought us all together for a reason and we are indeed a family. We do a big hand sandwich with her and tell her we love her. I know she knows.

It will all be OK. Thank you God...for everything.

We're here...everything is OK!

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in posting again...we are indeed without a laptop so we're borrowing a laptop from the family that we met through Sunny Ridge...the Coyne family. We were with them in Beijing, we split up to get our kids, then we met back up in Guangzhou.

We had a fun time on the flight out of Chengdu...first, for whatever reason, they booked us on a flight out at 5:20 PM. We got to the airport good and early...3:00. Over 2 hours with a 5 year old in an airport...OY! Well, we boarded the plane late and sat. And sat, And sat. At almost 5:45, they announced that we would be delayed an hour and they brought the food and beverage cart. We ate dinner in the plane at the terminal. At around 6:15, we taxi out to the tarmac and sat. And sat. We had to have been 5th or 6th in line to take off with a landing in between each take-off. We got airborne fine and landed a little rough, but Anyssa did not have any reaction one way or another. We landed close to 9:00, had to wait for our shuttle and by the time we got settled in our room, it was after 11:00 PM! We had to be up early for Anyssa's medical exam and TB shot.

Well, jump ahead to today. Today, the honeymoon has officially ended. Anyssa has been a brave trooper through all this...almost TOO brave. Today, after breakfast, we were going to take a walk. We left the hotel and as we started to walk hand-in-hand, she stopped. She fought us and lay down on the ground. We tell her either "walk or you get carried." Well, she got carried and she started to meltdown. Crying like never before. We went back to the room and put her on the bed and sat with her as she cried for another 15 minutes. We have all been struggling with communication but obviously, Laura and I have each other, but she has no one to relate to. Bill, our guide, said it is especially difficult to communicate with her because she speaks a unique dialect from the region she is from...not straight Mandarin. He taught us "BU" which means NO...which we could have used a week ago. Today, we went to a nice park area and as we were leaving, she got away from me and started run. It's a game to her...she runs and we chase her. Fine and dandy until she ran into the street. I freaked and grabbed her. I tired to yell at her but she was laughing the whole time. If you saw how traffic is here, you would realize how especially bad this is. It may sound bad, but we are more than ready to get the heck out of this country. We are all going stir crazy here waiting for things to happen. Just WAY too much free time in an unfamiliar setting for us all.

Tomorrow we get her TB test checked out, then free time. Tuesday, we have free time in the morning, then we take another city tour. Wednesday, we have free time until 3:30 at which time we go the American Consulate to take the "oath" which we undestand to be more of a "do you swear that you did not lie?" thing. Provided we make it that far without a hitch, we head back to the room, pack and prep for our bus trip to Hing Kong at 6:30 Thursday morning. Then, a 14 hour plane ride home and we're back!!

OK, folks...that's it for now. Pray extra hard for us that this whole Consulate business goes smoothly. Once we get her visa, we are done. Then home. Home...what a wonderful, beautiful word.

Update from home

Hi everyone - Toni again. Roger sent me an email saying he had to give Emily back her laptop, as they were leaving Chengdu. So, we may not see updates as frequently as before. As I write this, they should already be in Guangzhou. It seems amazing that in 5 more days they'll be back here with their precious new addition! (who is cute beyond words). Looks like Mom and Dad are doing really well - as we all knew they would!!

Pandas!

Today is our last full day in Chengdu. We started the day with breakfast...they don't even ask anymore...they know we are "1 coffee, 1 tea". Anyssa has a daily bowl of congee and has recently started liking bacon. Since breakfast is a buffet and it's free, we spend about 45 minutes of quality family time while the smiling girl servers (who are all named "Trainee"...go figure) bring us more napkins.

We met Emily in the lobby, loaded up in the van and headed to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. It is the largest breeding area and sanctuary for giant pandas in the world. The panda is the official symbol for Chengdu. I have never bothered to put together a bucket list for one reason or another, but today I would be able to add, then scratch off holding a panda. It's something I've wanted to do ever since I found we were coming to China. Granted, you have to make a donation (RMB 1000 yuan), you only hold him for about a minute and only the person who is paying gets to go in. They take your camera and snap a bunch of pictures. It's kind of a psyche-job. They keep smearing honey on his paw to keep him busy as he's shuttled between laps. Not a bad gig if you ask me! His fur is really coarse and thick. I had to grab his ears because they look so freakin' cute! They have pretty good size claws to which is why you had to look in the trees sometimes to find them. They told us that pandas used to be carnivores, but as their environment changed and meat became scarce, they turned into vegetarians eating only a specific type of bamboo called "arrow bamboo". So I wondered that if evolution works so well at helping adaptation, why did they stay a bright BLACK & WHITE?? There does not appear to be a good answer other that God has a sense of humor. He also likes red and you can see from the picture of Laura and Anyssa and the red pandas.

After the panda sanctuary, we stopped at a silk brocade factory. Chengdu used to be a stop on the silk road so there is still a factory here doing the silk weaving by hand on looms. Amazing art and really interesting how it takes 2 guys to run the loom...one to toss the shuttles back and forth and 1 to pull various ropes to adjust the silk threads to create a pattern. This was my first experience at dealing with a squirming 5 year old. Who would have thought that a 5 year old would find a silk museum boring? It seemed pretty cool to me! Anyway, I knew there would be changes and this is one I'm learning to handle. Oh, she was good, just constantly pulling to go somewhere else. She liked the patterns too, she just chose to view each one for 3 seconds. We got 2 nice panda brocades that are framed...very affordable prices. Since the pandas are the local symbol, it seemed appropriate.

We are all going stir crazy in this hotel room. We check out at 2:00 tomorrow for a 5:00-ish flight to Guangzhou (oy, who made THESE plans?). We will probably go for a walk again just to get some air and see the city one last time.

I have to tell you something weird I was thinking yesterday. We were debating what to do for dinner so we chose to eat in the lounge on the 25th floor of the hotel. There is a large bar and instead of eating tables, there are sofas and chairs and coffee tables to sit by and eat. At 5:30, no one was there so we pretty much had the run of the place. Well, as we are sitting in a little glass alcove of plush sofas and eating noodles and dumplings, I looked at Anyssa. I was thinking of the princesses yesterday and looking at Anyssa thinking "she is like Cinderella". Here is this kid with NOTHING and suddenly she is sitting in a lounge on the 25th floor of a luxury hotel, eating dumplings and biding her time until she flies home to America. It's funny how life works.

The princesses of China

This is an interesting factoid that Evelyn taught us in Beijing that we did not know. You all know that China has the 1 child room, but that only pertains to the Han people. Of course, the Han people are the majority at 95%, so there is a pretty major impact on the population. Well, Evelyn is 25 and she says is one of the first of the "1 child generation". Apparently, other than the obvious, there has been an unforseen result of this. Since there is only one child, the parents and grandparents only have one child to spoil and apparently, they get SPOILED. So spoiled, that none of them know how do do basic housework or cook or other basic housekeeping chores. Instead, these spoiled kids have become the ultimate "me first" generation to the point where all they seem to care about is fashion, being seen and material goods. No...not quite like American teens...it's a little more than that. They frequently marry and divorce...the divorce rate among them is sky high becasue of course, no one knows how to maintain a house or children. That's what has earned them the nicknames the "princes and princesses of China". Today, we got a chance to see that first hand.

The 3 of us took a walk before dinner. There is a large retail area right near the hotel that is off the streets...just a large mall area with 50 foot high billboards and neon and ads for everything. Everywhere you look, there are young girls dressed to the nines...the current fashion trend here is the micro-mini with either nylons or leggings, finished off with to the knee boots with high heels. A lot are embelished with fur (fake fur?). I mean, this is Rodeo Drive. Makeup and perfume, girls just strutting around arm in arm wanting to be seen. The boys are a little better but still seemed to have that spoiled air about them. They will not stop if you walk into their path and don't seem to care at all if it bothers you.

Well, according to Evelyn, this has caused the government to really look at the one child rule. So NOW, it looks like if you have a girl, once she turns 4, you can have another child. Sounds like a pretty straight-forward answer...I wonder if it'll work. That is not going to do much for the current group of self-absorbed young people but on the other hand, they will be running the government one day so you never know what that'll mean to the world.

I try and snap some pix tomorrow so you can see the phenomenon yourself.

Back from the store!

Well, today we ventured out on our first excursion as a family (Emily is out today). We went back to the department store...Laura and me and Anyssa makes 3...hand in hand. It's interesting to see the looks from the locals...especially the older folks. We asked Emily about what they think. She said that before the advent of the internet, there was a lot of uneasiness because no one fully understood what was happening and what foreigners were doing with Chinese children. But now, with the internet, they understand more so it is not as strange as it might seem. However, we still must be an unusual sight. I didn't mention earlier because we didn't have a computer, but twice along the way, locals have stopped us and wanted pictures taken with us. Evelyn said they think that Americans are like movie stars. A family of 5 at the Great Wall wanted a picture of each of them standing with me or Laura. Kind of strange but they seemed like fans finding movie stars. Yep...good for the ego :-)

Anyway, we went looking for some clothes for Anyssa because as it looks, we were pretty wrong about size guessing. We brought 5's and 6's but in reality, she could easily fit into some 4's and 5's. Not sure what her aversion is, but she would NOT put jeans on. No problem, pink sweats it is. We went to the store I mentioned earlier and found out that no...designer stuff is not exactly what we are looking for. It's so WEIRD...EVERY department has a buttload of workers. All of the fashion areas have girls dressed in the fashions they are selling to try and sell more. It was kind of eye-popping (and I couldn't help feeling like a dirty old man) but as we passed the juniors department, there were young girls dressed in knee high socks and Catholic-school type skirts and sweaters. Yowser! You really had to keep moving because if you stopped, you would IMMEDIATELY be approached by a salesperson.


The bottom level is a supermarket so we shopped for soda (for me), cookies and snacks for Anyssa and whatever else we could decipher. They have an abnormally large selection of dried, jerky-style...uh, things. You look at some of the stuff and have to wonder what is used to be when it was alive. As I mentioned, the meat department is a total health hazard. I'm not sure if they would let me take a picture, but if you saw it, you would turn into a vegetarian. The raw, open and exposed meat that anybody and his brother could touch (or sneeze on) is a little shocking. They also sell individual cans of beer. I bought a Tsingtao (Chinese favorite) but I've got to go back later and get one of the Chinese Budweiser cans. Kind of a novelty.

OK...here's this posts pictorial section. I think you need to see more mommy/daughter shots, so here are the girls playing with a sticker book and one of them both on the street. See you all later!!

Wednesday morning

I know I told you all that we simply did non know what to expect. There were just so many unknowns and variables that it was impossible to account for them all. I know it is still early in this game, but our prayers seem to have answered to an extreme! Anyssa is so happy and joyful. She loves to be with us and we love to be with her. She is a curious bundle of energy. She found out that there is a little nightlite on our travel alarm clock so she kept turning off the lights so she could use it as a flashlight. She seems to understand almost everything we say.

It's funny...she is so much like her mother. I think she will be a little neat-freak. Jill wondered if that was a hair clip in her hair. Yes it was. As a matter of fact, she puts them in herself. You can see from the picture as she stands in front of the mirror making herself pretty...just like mommy. She also seems to have amazing problem solving skills. She learns from experiences and seems to be able to think her way out of situations. She is g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y picking up the language. She has an upper tooth that came in out of place so she has difficulty with "S". I point at me, she yells "PAPA!", I point at Laura, she yells "MAMA!", I point at her and she yells "Ah-NITH-Ah!". I don't want to say it but things are going better than we could have hoped for.

Today will be an easier day...Emily is doing some legwork for us and will meet up with us in the afternoon. We're going to eat breakfast and maybe go shopping this afternoon. I, I mean WE, want to check out the toy department at the department store. It's like a Macy's only with 5 times the employess. No fooling...they are standing along the aisles ready to help you. In the cookwares section, they have little cooking stations every 15 feet or so all along the aisles. They cook and demonstrate the products. There are like 20 of them...like nothing you'd see in the states. There are TONS of high-end merchandise. It appears that even though the area we are in appears very run-down off the main streets, there are high-end retailers all over the place. It's kind of a paradox...what you see is the high-end glitz but if you peek around the corner, it's very run-down...the other photo is what we see from the window in our room.

Well, we will also be following the elections as the day progresses. One of our guides told us that a lot of people here think "Obama is stupid". I'm not sure what info they get here, but it's interesting that that's the impression they get.

It's Mama's turn

It's Laura and I'm finally sitting down at the computer. Roger has done an amazing job on the blog and we thank all of you following us and praying for us! Things would not have gone so smoothly, this far, without all your prayers and love. Thank you also for the emails. We're so blessed to have you all in our lives. Anyssa is doing great, far beyond what Roger and I could have ever imagined. We've all been nervous these past 36+ hours but she seems to be adjusting great! And I think we are too!! We know we will have our challenges ahead, but we're just taking one day at a time. She has a good appetite and is already taking to things like bacon and chicken sausage (which they serve each morning at the hotel breakfasts). She'll probably be eating American food before we know it!

Roger is falling into the Daddy role with great ease. In short, I think he's an awesome Dad already, but of course I'm biased! My eyes well up with tears each time I see them together. She is already a Daddy's girl, so look out!! She also is very organized and a neat freak, just like her Mamma! We are spending the rest of the day resting and just getting to know each other. We'll leave Chendu on Friday and meet up with the other couple in Guangzhou, who met their 18 mo. old daughter this past Sunday. We're anxious to see them and introduce the 2 girls. It's now 1pm and time for a nap. We'll see how this works today. Love and blessings to you all.

The sites and sounds of Chengdu

Life in the city is extremely crazy. There appear to be no rules regarding traffic...auto, bike, scooter or pedestrian. It is a total free for all. Cars weave their way through the pedestrians in the crosswalk, bikes and scooters don NOT stop for traffic and although there are a LOT of car horns, no yelling or finger gestures. It's just mutual chaos. And I thought the drivers in Puerto Rico were bad!!

We went to supermarket again today. It is such a trip! For anyone who saw the Chinese Wal-Mart phots, I can assure that yes...the meat department is exactly like the pictures. Slabs of meat just laying out, no covers or anything. I told Emily that in the US, the FDA would shut them down NOW. We are buying Anyssa ramen noodles and cooking them in the room. It is not easy to shop here because not a lot of the locals speak English. I told Emily I wanted some spicy Sichuan food and we stopped at a street vendor. We bought 3 sticks of chicken that they deep fry (mmmm...fried) right in front of you. Then they put some spices on and then you "paint" a layer of crushed peppers on it from a large pan. VERY tender and delicious...spicy, but not hot. You just look a little silly walking down the street carrying sticks of meat. Oh...and speaking of meat, I bought 2 little bags of Lay's potato chips...one is "Italian Red Meat Flavor" and one is "Numb & Spicy Hot Pot Flavor". I'll let you know how they taste.

Here's a picture of traffic, some of the scooter parking and, of course, our little ham.

She's all ours (and we're all hers!)

It is official. We went through the 24 hour "trial" period without a hitch. Then we went to the civil affairs office, did more paperwork, then off to the notary, more paperwork, a promise to treat her as our own and take care of her, a handshake, several envelopes of "donations" and we are a family. The ladies from the adoption center were there to do some paperwork. When the van approached the civil affairs office, Anyssa tensed up. When we walked in and she saw the ladies, she just shut down. She didn't know WHAT was going on. After that was done and they all said good-bye, she was ecstatic! All smiles and acting just like any 5 year old. I think she thought that she was going back to the center!

We had to return the DVD player. Not nearly as easy as you would have thought. Explanations, a thorough examination of the box and supplies, waiting for one manager, then another manager and finally the refund...less a 3.5% service charge because it was over 24 hours (?). Whatever...it simply wouldn't play our original DVD's because of the region coding. They won't even play on Emily's laptop. Of course everything is in Chinese... :-)

Good morning!

It was an interesting first night. We have 2 full-size beds so one of slept with Anyssa during the night. She is very restless! She tossed and turned and then would be very still. In the middle of the night we heard a loud THUMP...she fell out of bed but did not wake up. We put her back into bed and I tucked the covers in tighly so she couldn't fall out again. She is very resilient.

Emily told us that not many children have come out of that social welfare institute. She did a child herself about 12 years ago. She said there are about 70 people there and not just little kids...older kids too.

We will eating breakfast and then heading to the civil affairs office to sign paperwork and make our donations. Then the ball is rolling. Tomorrow we tour Chengdu and YES! we get to see pandas! I asked Emily if I could hold one and she said yes, but expensive...like $175 - 200. Hey...when am I going to get the chance to ever hold a panda again? Hopefully it happens!

Getting ready for bed

This kid will not stop!! Of course I say that with love. She has been bouncing 'round the room almost all day. We all took a walk to buy a portable DVD player (which needs to go back...stupid region coding) and she was starting to look really tired. Nap time! Uh...no. She got her second wind when we hit the room. She will unpack, then repack the backpack. She loaded it up with her books and everything else that will fit and now it weighs like 20 pounds. Doesn't matter...she will sling it onto her back anyway. She has "mama" and "papa" down pat and although we don't speak Chinese, there is something she says repeatedly at times which we have deduced to mean "I need to go to the bathroom". We found one of the local Chinese channels that shows cartoons. We made her some instant noodles and she began to scarf them up while watching the tube. Kids will be kids no matter where they are!

Also, just so you all know, the blog is definitely banned here, so we are just continuously posting. I know you are making comments and asking questions, but we simply cannot read them until we get home. Keep watching for updates! They will be coming fast and furious!! If you want to shoot us an e-mail, we will have a working laptop for the next few days. Use rogostro@gmail.com ... this addy will be good for the rest of the trip.

Laura is getting her ready to shower (yes, she showers) and has her new Hello Kitty jammies ready. She HAS to be tired. HAS to be. I think...

I hate to be a proud parent, but be prepared for many pictures of kid stuff. Jammie pix to come. In the meantime, here is a pic of her wrapping daddy around her finger and one of her eating her noodles.