Our China Journeys

Free Day

2012-02-15T15:38:00.000-06:00

Let me first apologize for misspellings. I type this into my iPad's Notes app which corrects things like it wants to and I haven't had time to proofread it before I copy and paste into the post.

Le An woke up around midnight again and we got him back to sleep by 1:00. I personally didn't sleep well last night due to "someone's" snoring. I finally got up around 7, made a bottle incase Le An woke up during my shower. He didn't. He slept a LONG time last night!

We didn't hurry this morning since we didn't have to go anywhere today. I washed some underwear and socks since we've kind of run out.

We went down to breakfast and today Le An tried scrambled eggs. He liked them!He also ate another steamed bun (besides his bottle earlier). We really have to get different colors of food in this kid! We tried apple juice the other day but that was not a hit.

We played a bit and then got ready to go to Walmart. I had a list this time. Since Le An sucks his thumb I thought we'd get a pacifier and see if he would take it. We also found some teething crackers for him to chew on. We looked for more of the vegetarian biscuits but couldn't find them. also more water and some cotton squares. We walked back to the hotel. It was rather chilly today.

When we got back to the hotel, we were walking through the lobby and we heard someone call Xu Le An's name. We turned around and it was the gal from the orphanage. She wanted to see him so we got the chunei off of Tony and stood him on the floor. He was smiling and looking at her and she at him. I got out my camera and took a picture of that interaction. I polled the camera down and noticed she was crying. That broke my heart. I went over and put my arm around her and told her we'd take very good care of him. she doesn't speak English, though, so don't think she understood my words. Hopefully she understood my actions, though.

Echo had told us before we met him on Gotcha Day that when he was found there were some keys left with him. The gal pulled them out of her bag now and told one of the CCAI representatives to tell me what they were. The orphanage staff had written a note that they were "Xu Le An's birthmother's belongings". The only connection to his birthmom.

We said goodbye and they went on their way. (By the way, we asked Echo the possible reason for him being abandoned since he was a boy and he had/has nothing physically wrong with him. She said possibly she was young and unmarried because in China an unmarried mother cannot get a registration ID for her child.

We didn't eat much for lunch. We tried to get Le An down for a nap but he would have none of that. I thought I'd gotten him down but then he woke up. Tony dealt with him while I went down to the lobby to post yesterday's post. I got back and Tony was reading and thought Le An had finally quieted down but then he was up again in his crib. He just wouldn't go down.

It was time to go down and meet Echo. She called the room and I said we were getting ready and would be down shortly.

Echo lives not too far from the hotel. She took us through her neighborhood and showed us where she gets her fresh fruits and vegetables every day. We stopped at a grocery store and found some vegetarian biscuits. They had a 4-pack of all 4 flavors. They only had one so they let usmpay fornit and held it to be picked up on our way back.

Next we stopped at an elementary school and watched a class of 3 1/2-4 yr olds. They all said "Ni hao" to us when we walked in and I think they were tickled when we said it back. The teacher was teaching them how to tell a story and was having them come up with reasons why the baby bird was sad. One said because he had to go to school and he missed his mom. One said the bad guys had some and he was scared. them the teacher read the real story to them and it turned out the baby bird didn't need to be sad because he had friends like the bear to make him happy. They took a break and they told the kids they could ask us any questions. I sat down one the piano bench with Le An and several of the kids came over and touched his face and were just enamored with him. There were also 2 other teachers for the class there and this was their first contact with adoption. They were asking Echo all kinds of questions. They also noticed he only had a single layer of clothes on besides his coat. Echo had to explain that it was a cultural difference. Echo sai I could take any pictures and video I wanted to, so I did.

When it was time to leave, all the kids said goodbye in Chinese. They were all so cute! We walked around the playground where older kids were playing and then picked up our biscuits as we passed the grocery store. Echo walked us through a park on the way back to the hotel. Yesterday she said the forecast for today was sunny. We did not see the sun at all today. It was too cold to hang out in a park.

We got back to our room and there was a "hall party" right in front of our room. We joined in and visited for a while. Then a couple of the families decided to go over to the Holiday Inn Express and have Chinese for dinner. We had decided to have Italian so that's what we did. Tony had lasagna and I had a cheese ravioli. We enjoyed those different flavors tonight. Le An even got to taste both of them. He must have liked them because he never spit them out and wanted more!

He got his first bath from us tonight. He LOVES to splash the water! We both got kind of wet! When Tony first put him in the water, he was standing up and just started peeing! So...we drained the tub and put new water in it. He kept wanting to stand up and Tony got worn out trying to make him sit down. We got his diaper on and decided to put lotion all over him because his skin is pretty dry. He got a rash a couple of weeks ago and they have been putting a cream on it and said the rash looked better. They also had given us some cream so we've been using that, too. I an't wait to get him to the pediatrician and find out what's with his skin. The orphanage doesn't know what the rashes but they said it was NOT chicken pox or measles. Thank goodness!

Anyway, we got him lotioned up, got his pjs on (he's a squirmy wormy!) and gave him a bath. It took a while to rock him to sleep but he's finally asleep now.

We take a trip to the orphanage tomorrow!

On another note, when we were at the Civil Affairs Office yesterday finalizing the adoptions, Echo said that the one 12-year-old girl had decided she didn't want to be adopted. Things were rather tense, I guess, and there was the possibility she could have that choice. All the CCAI families and we were hoping and praying something or someone would change her mind. Then today while Tony was walking the hall with Le An, he saw the mom and she said the girl was coming home with them! Praise God! They had to go finalize today and notarize, too, so it's all much better now. I sawn her later and went up to her and said, "I heard" and gave her a hug.

Wow! I can't imagine all the emotions going on with them and their daughter! Wow!

Pictures

2012-02-15T08:31:00.000-06:00

Ok...this post is from Dave. I told Sue before she left that I'd be willing to do this for her only if she told me the name that they have picked out for their son. So...since I now have access to their blog....I must know the name. I do take bribes and am willing to divulge any information which I have for a fee. Anyway, we plan to Skype with them tonight so Meighan will finally get to see her new brother. Please keep Sue and Tony's family in your thoughts and prayers and hope for a safe trip home next week. Enjoy the pictures!

Adoption Finalization and Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T12:19:00.001-06:00

More things we know about Le An:
- He crawls really fast when he's after something.
- He loves to look at himself in the mirror.
- He puts things in his mouth, not something Meighan ever did.
- When he's done eating or drinking from his bottle, he throws the bottle or leftover food. That will have to stop.
- He goes to both of us equally.
- He has 8 teeth and is getting 2 molars.
- He babbles.

Our first night went quite well. Le An woke up at midnight and Tony held him for a while. After I took care of a couple of things I took over. I had noticed that he only sucked his right thumb and it was kind of hard to do if I held him in my left arm. So I held him in my right arm. He promptly started sucking his thumb while I rocked him. His eyelids got heavier and heavier. He would suck for a while and then not suck, then suck, then not. Finally his thumb came out of his mouth and his arm came down and he was out. I waited a couple more minutes before I laid him down and covered him with a lighter blanket (one we brought--the one they have here is a "feather bed" and is too warm. That's all we have on our bed and we get too warm!). We all slept great the rest of the night!

My alarm went off at 6:45 and that woke Le An. He got stood up in his crib and started fussing so I went over and picked him up. I changed his diaper that probably didn't need changing, made a bottle of formula and Tony sat down to feed him while I took my shower. I actually had to make a little more before I even got in the shower because he devoured it so quickly!

We got dressed and went down to breakfast. I got some congee right off the bat and started cooling it down while I waited for my omelet. I got a bun (Chinese bun) and some bread and other things for me. I tore up the bun (the bread was a little dry) so Le An could work on eating something while I ate. When I finished eating I gave him some congee. He didn't need as much this morning.

Other families had pretty good first nights too. We went back to the room and brushed our teeth. Tony had told me that my Valentine's present was a tip to China and he didn't get me anything else. I told him, now, that I DID get HIM something. First, I pulled out a card that had gotten accordioned in my backpack. Oh, well. The I pulled out of Le An's suitcase a small bottle of Mt. Dew. He said it was the best Valentine's Day present ever.

We grabbed our bags and gifts and went down to meet Echo. We had to sign more paperwork. Then we got into the van and Mr. Liu drove us to the Civil Affairs Office. All of the CCAI families were there already. Le An fell asleep one the way and woke up sometime after we got there. I visited with a few families until they called everyone together for the ceremony. Echo videoed the little ceremony that basically said that from now on we were the children's new families and they handed out the adoption certificates.

When we were done with that we were able to leave to go to the notary public to have our forms notarized. They took our picture with the head notary and we signed more papers. We gave our gift and Echo took a picture of us with the head notary and we were done for the day. Before we got in the van, Echo walked us a couple of blocks to a pharmacy to get some anti-itch cream for Le An. He has a couple of places that he scratches relentlessly and gets really upset when we take his hand away from scratching. Funny thing about the picture on the box for the anti-itch cream: the picture is of a blonde child!

We walked back to the van and Mr. Liu and Echo drove us back to the hotel. We have tomorrow free because we can't go to the orphanage until Thursday.

We played with Le An in the afternoon after giving him a bottle for lunch. Eventually he got tired and I was able to get him laid down for a nap. We also took naps. We didn't feel like venturing out for supper so we ordered cheeseburgers from room service. Not bad but I'll be ready for one at Lucy's on Shamian Island! I'm tired of noodles! I think tomorrow night we will eat at the Italian place in the hotel.

After we ate (and Le An had had a bottle and congee earlier) we were trying to get him to stand up on his own. He was looking in the mirror and sitting down and all of a sudden he stood up and took what we believe were his FIRST STEPS all by himself! Tony got the camcorder out and got him taking a few more steps ALL BY HIMSELF! We got to see his first steps!

However, in a little while, I think he realized his new freedom! He was crawling all over the place and standing up more! He still uses the bed, ottoman, chair or wall a lot but I think something is clicking! We went out into the hall and I showed the people across the hall the anti-itch cream we got. They saw Le An and Mom and their new daughter (the 5 yr old from yesterday) and we played with a "Phlat Ball" (can get on Amazon) and I brought out our O-Ball. Le An even stood up and walked a bit for them! He was VERY active tonight. I think he likes his new freedom.

We played until Le An was showing signs of being tired. We said "night, night" and went back to our rooms. It took longer to get him to sleep tonight but what worked tonight was to just put him in the crib and let him put himself to sleep--most likely how the orphanage does it. he quiets down best wham it's pretty dark.

I will try to email a couple of pictures yo my brother like the Mom across the hall suggested and have my brother put them on the blog.

I am removing the banner picture at the top because we have found out that that is NOT Le An!

Gotcha Day!

2012-02-13T13:27:00.001-06:00

I got up right before 7 after an early bedtime last night. (I think tonight will be an early bedtime too!). We went down to breakfast and the hostess was showing us to a table and Tony noticed a couple who we'd met in Chicago were already eating breakfast. We asked if we should sit with some friends and went over and greeted them as we sat down. We got our food and rejoined them. Other families with CCAI were also eating breakfast. We introduced ourselves to another family.

We went back to our room to finish getting ready and grab our stuff and gifts. We had some time yet so we each read a little bit. We then went down to the lobby to meet Echo. We had her write on the gift bags in Chinese who they were for and we had also put Butt Paste in the gift for the orphanage and I had her write on that so they know what it's for. She said she would also explain it to them.

We went out to our van and Mr. Liu drove us to the Civil Affairs Office. We were actually the first ones there. Echo had us check over our information. Good thing because my passport number had one extra digit. Pretty soon a bus load of families from CCAI arrived. No orphanage vans had arrived yet. Soon, though, a van pulled up and Echo said it was from Luoyang. We offered to take video if anyone needed it. No one did so I took some video on our camera of people meeting their children. There was lots of crying from many of the children and lots of tears of joy from the families. Then another van came--from another orphanage, but not ours. We watched again. There was a little girl, 5 years old, who was all smiles when she met her parents. Soon, though, she was crying--almost screaming--because she was scared. Her parents were experienced adopters and just let her cry. They are staying right across the hall from us and her mom said 'time' was the turning point for her and she was all smiles the next time we saw her. Before the children arrived someone came up to me and asked if I was part of a particular Yahoo Group. I told her which ones I belong to and she said she was getting her TWO children today. "Oh! You're Meri!" I said. We got caught up a little bit and then continued waiting for our children.

Eventually, the van from Xuchang arrived with 4 children. Tony saw a lady getting out with Le An and took a picture. I ran and grabbed Echo so she could take video. The first child in was Le An! The lady held him for a while and then soon I was able to take him and hold him. He didn't cry. He didn't even fuss! We even got a sort of smile while we were still at the Civil Affairs Office! At the time of this writing he still hasn't cried a grieving cry! He's quite happy and easy-going.

So, anyway, he--as all babies in China are--was all bundled up in many layers. He's actually quite small and fits quite nicely in 12-month clothes. We brought 18-month clothes, too, but will probably have to exchange them when we get home if they won't be good for summer weather when he'll probably be in 18-month clothes! He came with only socks, no shoes. We guess he may not have ever had shoes on until today. We oohed and awed over him for a while and took several pictures. I didn't see the 3 other children come in from this orphanage!

After a while, Echo told us we needed to sign some papers. It's a 24-hour guardian agreement. Tomorrow we'll go back and finalize the adoption in province. We then were called over to have our picture taken for the adoption decree (or whatever they call it). Then we were able to give our gifts to the orphanage. Echo explained the Butt Paste. We gathered our bags and came back to the hotel. Echo came up to our room with us to show us how to mix the formula that was sent with him.

Before we did that, though, I had to get video of the removing of the layers of clothes. Oh my gosh! The first layer was a coat--WAY oversized and really warm. We had to roll up the sleeves a bit to see his hands. We had some toy keys for him and he held on to them like he'd lose them! Next layer was very thick and very warm overalls and the top was a quilted top. UNDER THAT was a long-sleeved t-shirt and legging-type things. Oh, and the legging things and the overalls were split pants. And he had just socks on his feet.

We promptly changed his diaper and I found some 12M pants, a 12M shirt and some socks to change him into. He looked WAY more comfortable!

Echo decided that the formula that was sent with him was not right for him and that we should just use what we brought. Then she left and will be back tomorrow at 9:30 to take us 2 places to sign papers.

Now it was time to get to know Le An! I got out a couple more toys over the next few hours. He not scared of stuffed animals. He played with a teether toy and the keys. He likes to play the game "I drop the toys and Mom and Dad pick them up." I also got out an O-Ball which he really likes. We gave him a bottle which he likes to hold himself. We were playing along and Tony though Le An tooted. The smell stayed and I realized that I had seen his face go blank for a bit like he was concentrating on something. BOY, was he concentrating in something! OMG! Tony said he changed Meighan's first two poopy diapers. It was my turn now. OMG! We got everything ready (on the bathroom floor) and I removed the diaper. OMG! Have you ever seen chancy Gray Poupon? (that has gone bad and become quite runny?) O - M - G!!!!

So, after I changed the WORST poopy diaper I've ever changed, we continued playing. Eventually we decided to go down to the Walmart area to find a baby store that Echo had recommended. We got Le An and me all suited up in the chunei baby carrier and set out. He's quite content in the chunei! Because of the extra weight I couldn't walk very fast. He fell asleep soon after we started walking. We eventually found the baby store and found some shoes tha fit him and they are very cute. They were kind of expensive but are fairly good quality. We can get him more in Guangzhou. I also found a formula dispenser at this store. I didn't have time to find mine before we left.. Le An slept the whole time we tried shoes on him. Then we decided to go to Dico's (the Chinese version of KFC). He woke up when I sat down so he had about a 45 minute nap. He wants to eat everything we're eating! He likes French Fries!

After lunch we walked back to the hotel. We played some more. Le An thinks we're quite funny sometimes so he chuckles a bit. He's also ticklish and laughs when he is tickled. He definitely is NOT as developed in gross and fine motor skills as Meighan was. His muscle tone is not really much--he's chubbier. He isn't walking on his own yet but will walk holding on to fingers. He kind of drags his left foot at the current time but hopefully with encouragement and practice that will get better.

For supper we just went down to the restaurant in the hotel where we eat breakfast. We shared a club sandwich and had some ice cream. We got some congee for Le An. He KNEW what THAT was? It was so hot, though, that we couldn't feed it to him very fast and he'd start crying while I was blowing on the spoonful and he probably thought I was going to eat it. Don't worry, we told him. It's ALL for you. When we got out ice cream, Tony gave him some Cheerios but he pretty much just played with them. Tony gave him some ice cream. His face scrunched up real tight but he never spit it out! He wanted more!

We got back up to the room and got him ready for bed because he was acting tired. Tony put him to sleep the first night just like he did Meighan. He said, "There's nothing more beautiful than rocking to sleep a person who you've known for less than 12 hours."

Things we know about Le An after the first day:

1. He does NOT like to have his nose wiped!
2. He likes to hold the bottle by himself.
3. He needs lots of stimulation to walk.
4. He sucks his right thumb when he is tired or needing comfort.
5. He LOVES congee.
6. He like chocolate chip cookies (yes, I brought some!)
7. He likes to play with balls.
8. He does not like to be laid down to have his clothes or diaper changed.
9. He LOVES to be held and have attention.

I'go wanted to try to put a couple picture on that I took with the iPad but buttons are not available to select pictures. I'll keep trying, though.

WE HAVE OUR SON!

2012-02-13T08:09:00.003-06:00

I have the post written but it's too late to type it. I will work on typing it up tomorrow and post it as soon as I can. Sorry! I know you're all waiting with baited breath!

Shaolin Temple

2012-02-12T06:40:00.001-06:00

Today we were able to Skype with our families and see Meighan! Meighan couldn't see us on the first call and we couldn't see her on the second call but we did get her to smile for us on the first call and we got to hear her wonderful laugh on the second call.

We took the iPad back up to our room and grabbed our backpack and went back down to the lobby to meet Echo. she said it would be about a two hour drive to the Shaolin Temple. It was colder today with a forecast of rain and snow. with these temps, I don't think it's going to rain! The Shaolin Temple is southwest of Zhengzhou in some mountains. Guess what? It was REALLY COLD up there! We just can't win!

We arrived at the Shaolin Temple area in Dengfeng County at about 10:45. As we drove through the town Echo told us that this is THE place where people come to learn Kung Fu and all martial arts. There are many martial arts institutes here and as we drove she pointed out several. There's one every several blocks for a while. There's even one specifically for Muslims.

Mr. Lou dropped us off at the entrance. We walked in and Echo went to buy tickets while we took some pictures. She found out that the morning Kung Fu show was at 11:30 so we went straight there first. Sitting doing nothing for 40 or so minutes didn't help our heat deprivation. The show was good, though!

After the show we walked to the temple itself. The temple consists of 7 buildings called palaces. some of the first palaces were destroyed by fire many years ago and have been rebuilt. There's a place at just about every palace where people can buy incense and light it and say prayers. I'm not a great fan of the scent of incense.

After the temple we came out to the Pagoda Forest. This is where all of the high ranking monks are buried. How high they ranked and what they did for the temple determined the height and design of their pagoda. I will post pictures when we get home. It's really quite interesting.

When we finished at the Pagoda Forest Echo said that was pretty much all there was to see here so we started walking back to the van. On the way we stopped and bought some noodles (like Ramen Noodles) and some "vegetarian biscuits" which is a specialty of this area. Echo got hot water and made our noodles for us which we shared (it had a fork inside which was folded and we had to unfold and lock in place). Then she got her own. The vegetarian biscuits were quite good. We decided we wanted more. Echo said they sell them at Walmart cheaper.

We were sitting at a table with other people and Echo was visiting with them. She said they were a group that met over the Internet and decided to meet in person. They shared their snacks with us. Echo told them that we were there to adopt a son and they thought that was neat. They were also talking about volunteering in an orphanage. They took our pictures with a couple of them--nothing new to us--and I took a picture of all of them. Very friendly people.

We went on our way back to the van. We stopped and bought a book of postcards with pictures of the temple area.

We drove back to Zhengzhou and we requested to be dropped off at Pizza Hut and then we'd go to Walmart and walk back. That way we didn't have to walk both directions. Our legs and bodies are tired of walking. We won't be walking so much the next couple of days.

Echo helped us order at Pizza Hut. We decided on a Hawaiian pan pizza. She asked is we wanted anything else. Bread sticks sounded good but they didn't have those. We looked at the appetizers and I saw "Western Zesty Waffle Crispers." Can you guess what those are? They are aka waffle fries. I still like the name! "Western Zesty Waffle Crispers!". LOL!

After supper we walked to Walmart and got some apple juice, some hard caramel candy that I have fallen in love with and all 4 varieties of the vegetarian biscuits. They were only a little cheaper at Walmart. The 4 varieties are sesame, almond, walnut and peanut. we've had the sesame and really like them.

We got back to the hotel and wrote this post. We meet Le An tomorrow at 10:00 am (8:00 pm Sunday Nebraska time)!

For Those Coming to Zhengzhou Soon...

2012-02-11T18:15:00.000-06:00

I had heard that the Crowne Plaza was really smokey.

Our room is on the 3rd floor which is a non-smoking floor and we don't smell smoke in our room. We DO smell smoke in the public areas but it is not terrible. There is fee wi-fi in the lobby so we have to come down here to check email and blog.

We Made It to Zhengzhou!

2012-02-11T05:48:00.003-06:00

We slept fairly well last night again. Perhaps continuing from Beijing and being so tired when we first got to go to bed helped us adjust to the time change better.

We ate the buffet breakfast again and finished packing with plenty of time to spare. We took our luggage down to the lobby and Tony checked out while I got on the Internet again. I checked email and blog comments (We love reading your comments. If you have any questions, please ask and we'll try to answer.).

Sean and Mr. Xia got there and we left for the train station. The building is HUGE! And COLD! Our main complaint is not that it's cold. We knew it would be about the same here as it is in Nebraska. What we're complaining about is that when you walk into a building, it should be warmer than it is outside. It's just not! We had to wait about a half hour to check in. At that point is when Sean left us. We followed the crowd and got on our car (#3) and found our seats (#5 & #6) which you would think would be together but they weren't. Tony had a window on the right side and I had a window on the left side one row ahead of him. We stowed our luggage where we could and sat down and enjoyed the 2 hour 10 minute ride to Zhengzhou. Sean had told us Zhengzhou would be the third stop but it was the fourth and final stop. The third stop was Luoyang (I know there's an orphanage there.). Nice way to travel if you ask me.

we gathered our luggage and got off the train and really didn't know where to go. We followed the crowd to the "North Underpass Exit". We stopped before actually exiting and were about to ask someone where to go when someone came running up behind us out of breath. She was our guide. She had somehow found us in all of those people--we don't stick out or nothin'!--and had missed us on the platform. She called the driver to see if he could meet us at another location. He could so she helped us exit and we waited for the driver.

Our driver is Mr. Lou. Our guide is Echo. She lives here in Zhengzhou and is with Holt. she speaks really good English. We got to our hotel and she helped us check in and took the copies of things we were told to bring with us. We decided we wanted to go to Walmart ("just a couple blocks away") and pick up some things. She walked with us down there (these are REALLY LONG blocks) and asked where we would like to eat. We decided beef noodles sounded good. She helped us order and then left to go home till tomorrow.

We had to pay first. When our food came, the salad was good and we tried a couple of the cold things--some hard boiled egg pieces, some cubes beef pieces (we think)--but the third cold thing wasn't anything we recognized so we didn't try it. We have no idea what it was. The lemon tea was actually pretty good. It had a pretty strong lemon flavor. The two entrees were noodles and beef and rice and beef. This was a "combo" meal meant for two people. so we picked up our chopsticks and started in. Long noodles are hard to eat with chopsticks!

soon two gentlemen sat down at our table and ordered their food. I noticed one of them kind of chuckling while watching me try to work the chopsticks. I looked at him and said "Are you laughing at me?". I'm sure he didn't understand my words but he knew what I was saying. H egotism some chopsticks out of the container on the table and showed me how to do it. Actually that was good 'cause I was doing it wrong. My little lesson in using chopsticks helped. Tony also had some trouble with the chopsticks so he also got a lesson.

later on, after we had eaten almost all of what we were going to eat, Tony said "It's kind of nice they don't come around and bother you to ask how you're doing.". I said "You paid already so why would they care?". "Good point" he said.

After we finished eating we walked around the corner to Walmart. Walmart is on the 2nd and 3rd floors of this building. We picked up some diapers to give to the orphanage and a few other things, paid and left. We walked back to the hotel and Tony promptly fell asleep. I went down to the lobby to check email and blog comments and exchange some money. Tomorrow we are going to see the Shaolin Temple. The trip will cost 1200 Yuan plus the cost of the tickets to get in. It will be an all-day trip. We'll leave at 9 and get back around 5.

I tried to take a nap but couldn't. I eventually got Tony up and we went to find the playroom (it's just a small playroom) and went and got something to eat. Echo had told us of a restaurant next door at the Holiday Inn Express that had noodles and dumplings. We weren't really too hungry so we went there. Tony ordered pork dumplings. I ordered beef and cabbage dumplings. The pork dumplings tasted way better to both of us than the beef dumplings. When we were done eating, we were sitting there visiting and wondering if we should just get us and they would bring us the check. I started to get up and heard a song start over the background music system that caught my ear. Tony heard it too. We looked at each other and said "O Come All Ye Faithful"? We started laughing. How strange to hear Christmas music here! (Of course, at the Terracotta Factory yesterday they had banners with Santa Claus on them and Christmas trees!)

We got the check and paid and walked back to our hotel. We heard fireworks. We walked back to see that they were behind another building. Then all of a sudden they stopped. Just a very short fireworks show. Tony said "Christmas and the Fourth of July, all in one night!". and I said "Only in China!"

So tomorrow we'll go and see the Shaolin Temple where the Shaolin Warriors learn Kung Fu. Mom and I had seen the Shaolin Warriors when they were in Omaha a couple of years ago so this will be interesting.

37 hours till we meet Le An!

Tour of Xian and Terracotta Warriors

2012-02-10T05:59:00.002-06:00

We slept really well last night...probably because we were so tired. I woke up at 5:45 and didn't really go back to sleep but was able to kind of doze until my alarm went off at 6:45. I got up at 7:00 and took my shower. The shower felt sooo good and I feel human again!

We went down for breakfast and had a wonderful buffet. the eggs in the omelette could have been cooked more but the OJ, bacon, chocolate donut and rice were very good. The rice had eggs, ham and green peppers in it and I could make it myself--and I just might!

After breakfast we exchanged some money (FINALLY!) at the front desk and went back to the room to get ready for the day. We met Sean in the lobby at 9:00 and started our tour of Xian.

First we stopped at the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and he told us all about the Tang, Han, and Qin Dynasties and showed us relics that had been excavated from Shaanxi Province (or replicas of relics).

Our next stop was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is part of the Temple of Thanksgiving. We didn't go into the pagoda itself because he said there was really nothing to see in it, it has more than 280 steps AND it would cost us another ticket. We just walked around and saw the various worship places where people can worship Buddah. A side note for anyone planning a trip to China: Make sure to bring toilet paper (almost all used but leave a little on them) because there may or may not be toilet paper in the restrooms. AND if you don't want to use the "squatty potty" look for the handicapped toilet (singular, not plural) in the restroom.

We then got back in the van to go to the Terracotta Warriors Factory. They kind of showed how they make them and then (of course) took us through all the shops where they want you to buy stuff. We broke down and bought a set of replicas and a couple T-shirts.

We got back in the nice warm van and were told we'd have lunch in a half hour. We stopped and went into a VERY cold building, up to the second floor and were taken into a restaurant (of sorts). There was only one table of people (all men) eating. It was FREEZING in there! They had us sit down at a table next to them and they moved a tall propane heater closer to us so it was (trying to) warm both the others and us. The table of men sounded like they were speaking Russian.

They brought outcome hot tea. Now, I'm NOT a tea drinker but it was freaking COLD so I drank tea today and it actually felt good! they brout out chicken, rice, vegetables, celery, noodles (big, fat and VERY LONG!) and sweet and sour pork--all hot dishes that didn't stay hot very long in that cold room. We tried it all. The vegetables were quite spicy so we didn't eat much of them, but we filled up on everything else. There was no fruit at the end of this meal.

Sean came and got us (I don't know why the guides and drivers eat separately from us. It would have helped to have them help eat the food we left.)

A ten minute drive later we were at the Terracotta Army Museum (our "holy grail" for the day). We meet the owner/discoverer of the pits, Mr. Yeng, and bought a book about the area that he signed and then were allowed to have our picture taken with him. Very special! He will turn 78 years old this year. Sean went to buy our tickets. We walked to Pit 1. This is the pit you see in the pictures. It is the pit that has the most excavating done. They still work on excavating every night after the tourists leave. Currently, after these 38 years since discovery of the site, there are about 1000 figures that have been excavated. They believe there are about 8000 total figures. They were discovered in March of 1974.

When we finished in Pit 1, Sean took us to Pit 3 and then to Pit 2 (numbered in order of discovery). Then we went to another building and saw replicas of two bronze chariots with four horses each. The real ones are out touring somewhere. We also saw up close some figures, including a "kneeling archer" which was them most complete figure found to date.

Have I mentioned it was cold EVERYWHERE? Before we finished Pit 1, I had to put my hood up because my head was so cold. I helped keep the heat in. Tony was getting pretty cold with what he had on. I'm glad I brought my scarf. We had to keep our hands in out pockets because we did noy bring mittens/gloves (didn't want to mess with them). My face and legs got cold but my upper body stayed warm enough.

When we finished with the Terracotta Warriors Museum, we found the van and Mr. Xa drove us back to our hotel. They will be back at 7:30 tomorrow morning to take us to the train.

We got up to our room and climbed into bed to try to warm up. We both took naps because this was a BIG day. I thing we've warmed up now, too.

We found some water and were able to get Internet access to post about our first couple of days.

we go to Zhengzhou tomorrow!

Middle Seats Suck!

2012-02-09T05:32:00.001-06:00

Note -- We plan to blog every day but may not find internet sometimes. You won't miss anything because we're writing it all down. Just remember to scroll down in case two days get posted at a time.

our flight from Omaha to Chicago was perfectly on time! We killed the four hours in Chicago by walking and meeting other adoptive families on our flight. There were at least five adoptive families on our flight. One family that sat in front of us is in out Holt group. Their child is in Guangdong Province, same province Meighan was in.

When we got to Chicago and looked at our boarding passes, we realized we were not seated together (like I thought we were when we checked in online). when they did the visa check, I mentioned it and they seated us together. I ended up in the middle seat for the ENTIRE flight. The good thing was that they seated us in Economy Plus area that has extra leg room. Tony slept some and I was able to relax enough to sleep some, too. The other person in our three seats (in the center so no windows) was a young gal going to study Mandarin in Beijing for 4 1/2 months. She was a very good seat mate.

They fed us well on the long flight. One of the really cool things about this particular plane was that not only did we each have our own screen to watch things on, we could each watch whatever we wanted--movies, TV shows, kids shows, listen to music or audio books, play games on the touch screen, watch the map of our location and route and check how much time we had left. I enjoy watching the map every once in a while. I think it's interesting. I checked out what movies there were (quite a few to choose from) and decided to watch "Courageous" first. I had heard many good things about it. I cried almost the entire movie--happy and sad crying! This is a movie EVERYONE should see, especially men! I'll leave it at that in case you haven't seen it. See it!

We finally arrived at Beijing at 3:55 pm local time. We went through immigration (no problem), found the train to the baggage claim (no problem), got our bags (no problem), wales through Customs (no problem), and found our guide to help us get checked in for our flight to Xian (no problem). Arthur was our best friend for the next 30 minutes or so. He got us to security and then, of course, couldn't go any further. It's really good to walk more then 15 feet at a time!

We arrived in Xian at 10:30 pm. We had trouble staying awake the several hours and actually didn't even try some of the time. We found our guide, Sean (as in Sean Connery)and he took us to our van. Our driver is Mr. Xa (means "summer" in Chinese). He took us to our very nice hotel (1 hr drive) and Sean helped us check in. Our room is on the 7th floor and it was SOOOOO good to see a BED! In recent memory I've never been so glad to see a bed as I was tonight! We got ready for bed as quickly as we could and laid down just after midnight on th 10th. We were soooo tired so it didn't take long to fall asleep. (We'd been up for over 30 hours.)

One Week to Go!

2012-02-06T22:27:00.001-06:00

I can't believe that we are in the FINAL COUNTDOWN to meeting our son! We meet him just one week from today! Wow! What a long road this has been. It took longer than the process with Meighan took.

The house and cats will be taken care of while we are gone. Meighan will be well taken care of at grandparents' houses. We plan to try to Skype with her a few times. We have things to do to keep us busy on the plane rides (and try to sleep too!).

We will appreciate any prayers for a safe trip and smooth process as we travel. Also prayers for Le An in his transition into our family.

Walking into church yesterday it hit me that this was the last time we'd be walking into church as a family of three! Next time we'll have our completed family of four!

Feel free to comment on the blog! We love to read your comments.

A Long-Thought-About Idea Finally Becomes Reality!

2012-01-29T18:02:00.000-06:00

Tony has been wanting to create a different mailbox for several years. He had an idea and never had/made time to do anything about it. Back in December (when it last snowed!) the snow plow hit the mailbox and knocked the actual mailbox loose from the stand. So, it was now time to do something.

I wanted a bigger mailbox. He wanted to make it look like a drag racing Christmas tree. He found a hood scoop online and painted it and cut out the front to hold the new BIGGER mailbox. (I guess some people call this kind of hood scoop a "mailbox".)

For the stand he found reflectors in the right colors and right relative sizes to simulate a drag racing Christmas tree. (Side note for the non-drag racing crowd, a quick lesson on drag racing: A Christmas tree in drag racing is what the drivers use to start down the track. The top 2 lights on each side are the "pre-stage bulbs". The next 2 lights on each side are the "staged bulbs". Then the next 3 amber lights on each side count down, and then when the green light goes on, the driver is supposed to start. If the driver starts too soon, the red light lights up and they lose the race.) So anyway, he built this over the course of several weeks as he has had time. I never got out to the shop to see it but he kept saying it was pretty neat.

Yesterday, he finally got to put it up and finally replace that old, ugly mailbox stand with this one! I went out and thought it was really pretty cool looking! And if you know Tony, he doesn't do anything "half". He goes all out and makes it so it will last and look good.

Today, we went out and took some pictures of our REALLY COOL LOOKING MAILBOX!

This was taken later in the day with the flash. These are only reflectors!

This is a real drag racing Christmas tree with the pre-stage and the staged lights on. See how particular he was in getting it to look just right?

Packing!

2012-01-22T17:32:00.001-06:00

I actually started putting things in suitcases yesterday! Yeah! I have most of Le An's stuff in one of the big suitcases. We have to pack for two seasons because Henan will be cold like it is here and Guangzhou is like Florida. This part is different than when we went last time partly because we are going earlier in the year.

So, anyway, when we got our final in-China itinerary, I looked up all of the hotels we would be at. We'll be in FOUR hotels this time instead of just two. We also will be on six planes and two trains, as well as a myriad of taxis, vans, busses, etc. Here are links to the hotels we will be staying in:

The Xian Golden Flower Shangri-La Hotel from Feb 9-11.
The Zhengzhou Crowne Plaza Hotel from Feb 11-17.
The Guangzhou China Hotel (a Marriott) from Feb 17-22.
The Hong Kong Regal Airport Hotel from Feb 22-23.

They all sound quite nice but I have heard that the Crowne Plaza in Zhengzhou is quite smokey everywhere in the hotel and that we'll be glad to move on to Guangzhou! Hopefully, the weather will be such that we can be outside some of the time.

Spoken By Meighan Tonight...

2012-01-11T19:27:00.000-06:00

after she found puke from Misty in her room:

"Misty, don't puke in my room again!

You're on the 'naughty list'!

You puke in my room again, I'm going to tell Santa!

And the Countdown Begins ...

2012-01-11T17:52:00.005-06:00

We leave four weeks from today!

We booked our flights last night! Yippee!

We will be leaving on February 8 and returning on February 23! We will FINALLY meet our son on February 13!

Our plan is to fly to Beijing, get through customs and immigration and then catch another flight to Xi'an. That will be a LONG day! We'll spend the night in Xi'an and then take a tour to see the Terra Cotta Warriors the next day. We'll then spend another night in Xi'an and then take a flight to Zhengzhou in Henan Province on February 11. We'll have the 12th free and probably take a tour that day. We'll meet Le An on the 13th. Then over the next few days we'll do adoption things and visit the orphanage.

On February 17 we'll flight to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption and all that entails. We'll then probably take a train on February 22 to Hong Kong and stay the night. Then we'll fly home on the 23rd!

We have a MILLION things to do between now and the 8th! I can't believe we have finally made our flight reservations, though!

TA!

2012-01-09T18:44:00.000-06:00

We'll have dates in a few days!

Cookie Decorating

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000-06:00

Well, while we wait for our TA, I thought I'd post pictures of our Christmas Eve cookie decorating activity. We cut out and baked the cookies earlier in the week. Meighan chose which shapes to make and cut out ALL of them. We had a very nice variety.

Then I made the icing and colored it on Christmas Eve and we started painting cookies!

Can't wait to eat some!

Even Daddy got into the act!

And was quite creative!

As time went on, we all got more creative!

Look out for the suger high!

!!!

The final product, Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

These were bigger cookies so we did them last and kept them at home.

Our House, It Is A-Changin'

2012-01-01T17:19:00.000-06:00

Tony took last week off and on Monday I found the style of headboard I wanted for Meighan's "new" big-girl bed. It was a good price so we picked it up Monday evening. We also found some sheets and comforter that she picked out. On Tuesday, Tony put the headboard together and put the bed on it and made the bed. She is now in a regular twin bed.

Mainly because... we needed the crib matress that she was using on the toddler bed for the CRIB that he also put up on Tuesday!

And then I draped a blanket and the afghan I made him on it. He will be nice and warm!

Article 5 Has Been Completed

2011-12-21T06:15:00.001-06:00

I received an email overnight that said our Article 5 has been completed and now our agency representative can deliver it to the CCCWA who will then issue our TA (Travel Approval) to come get our son!

Yippee!

Learning New Things

2011-12-20T21:40:00.000-06:00

OK, so I'm learning new things about "graphic design." I thought it was time to change our header but I didn't want a HUGE picture. So over the course of a couple of days, I have kind of figured out how to work with layers in my paint program. (Dee, I still don't like layers!)

The picture of Le An was taken on Dec. 7 by people from the Yahoo Group I belong to who were there to bring their daughter home and they visited the orphanage. They got 5 pictures of Le An and this one had him smiling! He's also standing up, so he's making progress!

We are still waiting for our Article 5 to be dropped off and then we will wait for TA. Even if Article 5 happens by Christmas, we still won't travel until February because it is 3-5 weeks from TA to travel.

Here's all five pictures:

NVC Letter!

2011-12-04T16:11:00.000-06:00

We received our NVC letter (stands for National Visa Center) yesterday. I will scan it and email it to Holt tomorrow. They will then send that and the scan of the PA to China. Just one more step along the way to our son!

On a holiday note, we got Meighan's 4th birthday picture(s) taken today. She is so photogenic that it is soooo hard to pick out just one shot -- so we got 5. Everyone will get the one main shot but we have 4 others to hang/set at our house!

She will have a short rehearsal for the Children's Nativity Parade after church next Sunday and then the actual program is the 18th. Her school Christmas program (they call it the "Winter Program") is this Friday morning. And she wants to pick out a cake for her birthday at the grocery store, so she will get to do that this year. We'll have cake and ice cream for those that come for that.

I've been a little lax on putting anything up for Favorite Photo Friday lately. "Too busy" is a better way to describe it. I had a Cookie Exchange and Ornament Exchange last night with co-workers. It was a good time and nice to laugh a little (actually a LOT!). I came home with a tub full of cookies and a nice ornament for the tree.

We had our first significant snow yesterday, too, so Tony plowed last night (and didn't get much sleep).

We'll eventually get the tree decorated! We put a couple ornaments on each day. Maybe by Christmas it will be all done!

Meighan's Song

2011-11-20T17:26:00.003-06:00

The other day we were getting supper ready and Meighan wanted to play the piano. I moved "stuff" (that we are gathering for China) off of the bench and she got up and played around a bit. In a little while she came into the kitchen and said "Mommy, come hear my song!" OK, I thought this would be interesting!

She proceeded to "play" the piano AND sing! I couldn't make out all the words but I got enough of them that I knew what she was singing about. I asked her if she would do it again so I could video her. She obliged and this is what I got! You can make out words like "my mommy," "pama's house" (grandma's house), "baby brother," and "forever." I think she's excited to get a baby brother!

PA! (Provisional Approval)

2011-11-19T16:16:00.000-06:00

We received our PA from the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS) today! Yippee! One step closer to bringing our son home!

Based on an estimated timeline I received a few weeks ago, it looks like we will probably travel to China in early February. From PA to travel is about 9-11 weeks. 9 weeks from now puts us at mid-January. They aren't sending anyone to China in January after January 6 due to the Chinese New Year and the government offices being closed (apparently) every Friday. So, February it is!

This PA step is one of the different/extra steps from when we did this before. Now we have to scan the PA form and email it to Holt, Holt sends it to China and we wait for the "Article 5" to be delivered (I think to the US Consulate). Then we wait for TA (Travel Approval) from China saying "come get your child"!

VISAS!

2011-11-11T17:33:00.001-06:00

We received our visas by FedEx earlier this week sooooo, we're ready to go!

NOT!

I feel so disorganized! We could be traveling in a month and a half, or it could be two and a half months! It depends on when we get approval for all we need approval for!

We sent Le An a photo album, a little toy and a disposable camera the other day. I know the nannies at this orphanage will take pictures if they have a camera so can't wait to see what they catch him doing!

We have to pack and buy gifts for several people/groups of people (isn't the orphanage donation enough?) and buy clothes for him and finish up swimming lessons for Meighan and celebrate Meighan's birthday and try to enjoy the holidays and, and, and....

I mentioned my disorganized feelings to someone at Holt in an email and they said they have everything they need from us so far (even though I STILL think I'm forgetting something!).

I have checked into baggage fees (none on United for the first checked back, $70 for a 2nd check bag), I know where to get the VPN that I will need to blog with from China, I have all of the luggage we'll need (no more than last time). I still feel very unprepared at this point!

Pray we get some downtime during the holidays so we can breathe!

Favorite Photo Friday {My Favorite Subject}

2011-11-04T22:57:00.001-05:00

We went shopping last Sunday for dresses -- for winter! -- and she is very picky. I told her she could pick out one dress from a certain rack and she picked this one out all by herself. She didn't do too bad, really! She just won't be able to wear it much until next year!

(Psst... it's a 4T!)

She's growing up!

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

2011-10-29T14:44:00.002-05:00

Did you know that you have to actually SIGN your I-800 form?

Favorite Photo Friday {Halloween}

2011-10-28T07:44:00.004-05:00

T - I - double G - ER!

Woo hoo hoo!

Visa Applications Sent

2011-10-27T17:41:00.001-05:00

Wow! Does this make it feel more "real" or what?

I took our Visa applications to FedEx today. That sure makes it feel more close to leaving even though we still have 2 1/2 months or so to wait yet! And because of all the holiday stuff between now and then, it's going to go REALLY FAST!

Oh, my gosh! We have to get his room ready! What to do with the twin beds?

Oh, my gosh! We have to pack! And get him some clothes (closer to travel time, though! so receipts for returns don't expire)! And buy gifts for the orphanage and officials (apparently, now).

We are again dreading the long flights, but again, we've survived them before (as many others have) and we'll survive them again! But still... THIRTEEN HOURS! At least we have an iPad now (and I bought all the Angry Birds apps)! Books! Toys! DIAPERS! Oh, my! So much to do! Aaach!

Favorite Photo Friday {SCC!}

2011-10-22T14:36:00.002-05:00

OK, this HAS to be my favorite photo this week!

We were very privileged last night to be able to volunteer at the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Lincoln. Because we have a connection now to Show Hope, we received an email letting us know about the concert and that they needed volunteers to help with the Show Hope table at the concert. We were all for it! They are helping us with some finances towards Le An's adoption, we can help them out! We met some new friends and got to see an AWESOME concert! Also performing were Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson, a couple of relatively new faces on the Christian music scene.

During intermission, I asked the guy in charge of the Show Hope table (D.) if we could possibly meet Steven. He said, "No, Steven isn't doing that." OK, so we weren't any worse off now than we were before. No problem. We enjoyed the second half of the concert and went back to the table to help finish up the night. Soon after we got back there, he pointed to us and said, "You guys, come with me. I've got a favor to ask." He started heading over to the other side of the (very large) lobby and we got to thinking "could it be?". We realized that yes, it could be! I asked if I could go back and get my camera. I did and then he led us and two other gals down to the left front of the house (stage right) and told us to wait there for the tour manager to come and get us. Steven was finishing up the concert with praise and worship music. We waited.

Meighan started getting tired and I looked at the security guy who had just spoken to someone on his headset. He said there had been a medical emergency in the lobby so everyone was occupied with that but we just needed to wait.

Soon, the tour manager came and got us and another family. They lined us up against a wall and said Steven would be out to greet us. He soon came out and greeted the first family. When he was done he asked if they wanted to take a picture. They didn't have a camera but I offered to take their picture and they could give us their email address and I'd email it to them.

Then he got to us. We were able to PERSONALLY thank him and Show Hope for the grant that we received! We showed him a picture of Le An and one of the two gals took several pictures of our interaction and then the above posed picture.

Then he went on to the other two gals. I waited and took their picture with him and got their email address.

What an awesome evening! I actually never thought we would get to meet him (although I kept thinking it would be really neat and cool to meet and thank him)! He is such a nice person for the few minutes we were able to visit with him.

I had given D. our blog card and he gave us his card with his email address on it. He seemed very interested in following our journey to our son who is in Henan Province -- the same province where Maria's Big House of Hope is! I would LOVE to be able to visit Maria's Big House of Hope while we are there but I think our time will be so limited with a visit to the orphanage and adoption activities. I also can't wait for the day when we will be able to donate to Show Hope and "give back" to an organization that has helped us tremendously!

Thank you, Show Hope! Thank you, D.! Thank you, Steven!

LOA and I-800

2011-10-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

Today we sent off our signed LOA (Letter of Acceptance) to Holt. They should receive it tomorrow to be able to send it to China.

We also sent off our I-800 form with all the documents and copies that are supposed to be sent with it to the USCIS.

Now we wait for "Provisional Approval" from the USCIS and then we wait for Travel Approval from China.

We now have an expected timeframe of travel -- 3 months. That means probably we'll be traveling to bring our son home in January!

Favorite Photo Friday {Introducing... Xu Le An!}

2011-10-14T17:47:00.001-05:00

So, of course, since we got our LOA today (!!), these are today's Favorite Photos!

Taken April 27, 2011 (8 months old)

Undated but younger than the above picture

Undated, taken same time as 2nd picture.

Taken August 17, 2011, 11 days before his 1st birthday!

Taken 11 days before his 1st birthday.

This was taken by someone who visited the orphanage when they were in China in May/June to get their son. I joined a Yahoo Group of families who have adopted/are adopting from the same orphanage and this was in their pictures of their orphanage visit.

I love the split pants!

LOA! LOA! LOA!

2011-10-14T16:16:00.002-05:00

Yippee! Yahoo!

I'll post pictures of Le An tonight!

Favorite Photo Friday {Flexible!}

2011-10-07T06:36:00.002-05:00

The other night (same night as pizza night) Meighan got out ALL of her balls and was playing with them -- lining them up, bouncing them, etc. Then she said, "Mommy, watch this!" She laid down on the floor, put the big bouncy ball between her feet and put it up to her nose. Oh, I HAD to get a picture of THAT! Then I had an idea...

Can you do it with a smaller ball?

Yes, she can! How about a smaller ball?

Yes! How 'bout an even smaller ball?

I was laughing pretty good by now!

Check out more cool photos here:

PIZZA!

2011-10-04T21:51:00.001-05:00

Saturday we made a pizza for supper. I decided that it had been too long since I had made a pizza. So Friday when I got groceries I looked for pizza sauce. I could not, for the life of me, find any pizza sauce. Even after asking. Even after looking in the aisle they said to look in 5 times!

So, I got online and looked for a fairly simple pizza sauce recipe. I found one and had most of the ingredients. On Saturday I stopped and bought tomatoes in puree, tomato paste and garlic to complete the ingredient gathering. That evening (before the Husker game that did not end up in our favor) Meighan and I made a pizza!

I put the sauce together (smelled about right!), cooked some hamburger, opened the refrigerated pizza dough (I don't have time to make it from scratch), we spread it out on the stone on top of some corn meal, I spread the sauce on, we put the hamburger on, she put the pepperonis on, and she sprinkled the cheese on! Voila! A pizza!

We cooked it 13-17 minutes and we ate it and were quite impressed with how it tasted! It was big enough that we even had leftovers! I even have enough sauce left to make 4 more pizzas that size! I froze 3 containers. Today I found out that Rotella's has pizza dough for $1.07! I'm goin' there next time!

Here's the recipe:

Pizza Sauce

1 28 oz can tomatoes (puree)
1/4 c. tomato paste
2 t. sugar
2 T. fresh basil (or 1 T dried)
2 t. fresh oregano (or 1 t. dried)
2-4 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Put all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Makes 3 cups.

Here's pics!

We were so hungry and excited to try it that I forgot to take a picture before we dug in!

What Does Santa Eating?

2011-10-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

On the way to a family dinner tonight Meighan asked about Santa.

"What does Santa eating?" she asked.

"What do you think he's eating right now?" I asked back.

She replied with the following things that Santa is probably eating right now:

Hot dogs
Rice
Chicken
Milk
Mac Cheese
Strawberries
Grapes
Noodles

That sounds like a pretty good diet right now for Santa!

Favorite Photo Friday

2011-09-30T19:06:00.003-05:00

I was going through our Disney photos from last March and I came across this one from our day at Animal Kingdom. I went with her the first couple of times to show her what this was and then she went "all by MYself" (how she says it with the 'my' accented).

Check out other Favorite Photo Friday photos here:

Favorite Photo Friday

2011-09-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

OK, so I couldn't decide between these two pictures today...

Our "techie" girl showing Daddy how to run the iPad.

Happy, happy!

It's A Waiting Game

2011-09-22T18:08:00.002-05:00

We are still waiting for our LOA. I got curious last night and called Holt and asked about the LOA. I was told that they are taking longer now than they did at the beginning of the year. Holt is waiting for ALL LOAs for referrals that were received in July & August. She checked on the CCCWA's web site and with their contacts in Beijing and we are currently in the "review process" which takes 2-6 weeks. We are currently more than 2 weeks into that wait. So... Holt is expecting LOAs in early to mid-October. (Groan.)

So... I asked what I could be doing that would be needed next. She said she would send me the I-800 form, instructions (it's a 10-page form!) and another form (1 page) and instructions and samples for both. That way we can have them all ready to sign once we get the LOA.

So, we are waiting on China right now. We'll do our part in a day or two. Then we'll wait for the Department of Homeland Security to get the next approval to us. Then I think we wait for Travel Approval (TA). With all of this waiting, Holt is not expecting us to travel until next year (early next year, but next year all the same!). (Another groan.)

Pray for any/all parts of this to go faster than expected!

Favorite Photo Friday (on Sunday)

2011-09-18T18:15:00.002-05:00

This intermittent internet is driving me crazy. I believe they are replacing phone cables now that the flood waters have receded a bit.

OK....

You knew this had to happen, right?

Even though I can't post photos of Le An yet, I can show some things we have for him. :-)

GO BIG RED!

New Toy

2011-09-17T18:53:00.000-05:00

We finally broke down and bought an iPad over Labor Day weekend. I've been wanting one to be able to buy and read ebooks (and I've heard there's some pretty cool apps out there). Tony also wanted to get one now so that we had time to learn how to use it before we go to China. I had no problem with that idea!

So this is my first post using (testing out) the iPad with Blogger. The on-screen keyboard is interesting to say the least. Ever since I learned to type I've never had to type with two fingers like I have to with this. I know they sell a 'regular' keyboard to go with the iPad and I may get that someday but I guess for typing posts temporarily, this will work, and it will save space (and weight) in our luggage.

On another note, we haven't had internet service for the last two days until just a couple of hours ago so I haven't gotten to post my Favorite Friday Photos for this week yet. I will get them posted before the weekend is over.

We also didn't have our land line phone for most of the day. We have it back now.

GO BIG RED!!!!!

50 Days ... and counting...

2011-09-14T17:48:00.000-05:00

Today is day 50 since we received Le An's referral. We are still waiting for LOA (Letter of Acceptance). We just sent in our adoption fees and pre-travel and other forms. Once we get LOA...we have MORE forms to fill out! Mostly for immigration, I think. The process is slightly different from when we adopted Meighan. I've read that some people get LOA like 44 days after referral. Not us. We are still optimistically hoping to travel before Christmas, though!

Also, once we get LOA, I'll post his pictures on the blog!

Keep watching!

Favorite Photo Friday

2011-09-09T15:11:00.028-05:00

I know, I know. It's not actually "Friday" when I'm finally getting this posted (it's actually Saturday) but, another blogger (who also has adopted from China) has had a link party for other bloggers until last week called "Black and White Wednesday." She ended that link party after 2 years and has now started a party called "Favorite Photo Friday" which I thought would be fun to participate in. So... I will try to post on Fridays a favorite photo or two. Here goes....

The other day when I was trying to get some ironing done, Meighan was running as fast as she could up and down the hallway. When she would start running, she would say, "Superhero MEIGHAN!!!" Her cape is a little doll blanket/quilt that my GREAT grandma made for me(!), and her "sword" or "light saber" or whatever she was using was a paper towel tube! Just hilarious! I asked her if I could take a picture of "Superhero MEIGHAN!" and she obliged. She looks so serious as she is fighting the "bad guys." :-)

And Daddy finally helped her get her "sword" in the correct hand for the pose I was looking for...

This spider web is about 2 feet in diameter! It's connected to the house and the electric wires. The sun was shining on it just right to be able to get this picture. The spider is also hanging out in the center of it!

Check out other "Favorite Photo Friday" photos here:

Happy 1st Birthday, Le An!

2011-08-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Le An,

Happy 1st birthday, sweet boy! We can hardly wait to meet you and bring you home as part of our family! Today we celebrated your birthday from our side of the world with cupcakes. Your jie jie (big sister) picked out "your" cupcake and blew out the candle for you. Next year YOU can blow out your own candles!

Love,
Mama, Baba & Jie Jie

First Day of School and Good News and Other Fun

2011-08-27T21:59:00.002-05:00

Well, Meighan had her first day of school already and I'm just now getting to post about it. She LOVES school and she was very excited to ride the bus and go to school.

I had to go to the doctor last week and while I was waiting for my prescription to be filled, I decided to have lunch at the Chinese Buffet in the grocery store. This was my fortune:

So at that time we were still waiting to hear anything at all from our medical questions about Le An. Last Thursday we received the 2 more pictures, updated developement information and measurements (all good) and on Friday we received the MRI results. Nothing wrong. There is nothing wrong with this child! We definitely have received good news from far away! They are still working on a video and we may receive that soon, too. Can't wait!

Here are some recent pictures of our very smart and fun daughter!

My aunt and uncle came for a visit in early July. My aunt had never met Meighan so we made sure to get down to visit them.

And my cousin had also never met Meighan.

The balloon puppy that we waited a LOOONG time for at a VERY hot Holt picnic.

Making chocolate chip cookies to take along with us on the plane to Seattle. I love how she's standing on her tippy toes! (She probably doesn't need to.)

Circle of Friends

She loves arranging things, especially all of her stuffed animals.

She eats corn on the cob like a pro!

Our very small crop of very small baby carrots. They weren't worth eating but it made a good picture!

Our acrobat

She and I went to the zoo for a couple of hours last Saturday and this is a major part of the petting zoo.

Updated Information

2011-08-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

Today we received 2 new pictures of Le An (taken on August 17th, 11 days before his 1st birthday) and updated measurements and development information.

Right now he is as tall as Meighan was when we met her (26") and he is 19 pounds (Meighan was 16 pounds when we met her). He's a chubby little guy! And he's been healthy. I'm thinking that those measurements are good for a one-year-old!

We also asked for an MRI if they can do that, and a video showing his motor skills, walking, etc. We haven't received those, yet, if we actually will. There's no guarantee.

We still are not going to post his pictures until we get our LOA. Keep watching the blog, though! Anything could happen at any time!

Telling Our Families About Our Referral

2011-08-23T19:15:00.004-05:00

Here are the combined videos of us announcing Le An's referral:

FAQ

2011-08-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

I suppose I've been preoccupied a bit with getting the information organized and have inadvertently left out one important detail.

Xu Le An was born August 28, 2010, which means he will turn 1 the end of this month.

Announcing Xu Le An!

2011-08-07T22:20:00.000-05:00

Today we finally got to tell Tony's family about our referral for our son. They were very surprised, of course! We put Xu Le An's picture in a birthday card for Tony's mom. She saw it and realized what it was and asked "Where is he?" I said "He's in Henan Province in China" which was everyone else's first clue as to what she was looking at.

So, we are today, officially announcing that we have a SON! See the July 26th post. We don't know yet when we will travel to bring him home.

We will not be posting his pictures online or in emails until we are further along in the process but if you are local, you can find us, our parents or our siblings and we all have pictures.

If you want to see what we've been through to get to this point, click on the following links to get caught up.

May 25, 2010
July 7, 2010
August 13, 2010
August 14, 2010
August 26, 2010
August 27, 2010
September 1, 2010
September 29, 2010
October 11, 2010
November 13, 2010
November 16, 2010
February 23, 2011
February 24, 2011
March 7, 2011
March 8, 2011
April 25, 2011
April 30, 2011
May 10, 2011
May 13, 2011
May 14, 2011
May 27, 2011
May 29, 2011
June 9, 2011
June 30, 2011
July 26, 2011 (2nd part)
July 27, 2011 (extra sentence)
July 28, 2011 (2nd part)

Getting Better

2011-08-05T17:41:00.000-05:00

I’m getting more sleep but still in the chair. Tony got his massage Tuesday and last night I finished ironing so the laundry is finally done! Just in time to start again!

No Sleep

2011-08-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

I only got 3.5 hours of sleep last night. Yuck! I was worthless today at work and I couldn’t breathe! I had my massage tonight but still can’t breathe. Guess I’m sleeping in the chair until this goes away!

Time to Go Home

2011-07-31T17:39:00.001-05:00

We slept OK and I got up at 5:30 to take my shower and finish packing our backpacks and carry-on. We ate a quick last buffet breakfast and were ready to disembark by our appointed time of 8:45 a.m. We found our other 3 bags, got through customs and found our transportation to the airport. We were NOT in a hurry since our flight didn’t leave till 3 pm.

After going through the line TWICE (you can’t check your bags for Southwest until 4 hours before your flight), we found restrooms and Tony listened to his voice mails. Mom & Dad’s flight didn’t leave for a while so we went down to their concourse to kill some time until they left. Then on the way back to our concourse we discovered a Chinese food place that had orange chicken! We’ve all fallen in love with orange chicken recently. We decided that’s what we wanted for “supper.” We stopped at the Children’s Play Area for about 45 minutes and Meighan ran the whole time. When it was time to go to our gate, Tony went and got some orange chicken, picked us up and we were off to our gate. We left on time. Meighan slept most of the flight waking up to eat some chicken. I was getting sicker.

We stopped in Denver and assumed we just stayed on the plane. Not so this time. Our flight number stayed the same but we had to change aircraft. Turned out the aircraft we had to change to had to have some maintenance. We ended up getting home 2 hours later than we were originally scheduled. And our bags and the stroller didn’t get transferred. So we had to take the time to make a claim and have it delivered the next day.

On the way to Victoria and Walking in Victoria

2011-07-30T17:37:00.001-05:00

Today we slept in! We ate a leisurely breakfast. At 1 pm we went up to Club HAL to participate in the Family Photo Scavenger Hunt. We had 30 minutes to take as many pictures from the list as we could. We came in “2nd runner up” and received a Holland America reusable camera – with film that expired 3/2008. We’ll see how that comes out!

Meighan took a nap and I packed and we arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, about 6 pm. I wasn’t planning to get off the ship but because I was well along in packing, we decided to go ashore. We were going to take a taxi but we needed a bigger vehicle because of Meighan and the fact that they have a seat belt law. Also it was kind of expensive. We decided to walk and see what we could see.

We ended up following the map to Victoria’s Fisherman’s Wharf area. It was evening so most businesses were closed but there are all kinds of house boats of all sizes and shapes there! And we also saw cute little water taxis stop in the area where we were. They were the cutest things!

We moseyed through there a little bit and then made our way back to the ship. My throat was starting to feel scratchy. Not a good thing. We got our 3 bags packed and locked up and put outside our room well before the deadline of 1 a.m.

Ketchikan

2011-07-29T17:35:00.001-05:00

We docked in Ketchikan about 7:00 or so till 12:30 pm. A short time this time. Our tour today was the Ketchikan Duck Tour. Our driver and narrator were great and told lots of jokes – some good, some groaners. It was a good tour. We drove through Ketchikan and then the “duck” drove into the harbor where we saw lots of seaplanes taking off and landing.

It rained pretty hard while we shopped but we stopped in a store called “Christmas in Alaska.” In the back, Meighan found Santa! She sat on his lap, gave him a hug and kiss and he gave her a candy cane. Very special!

Back on the ship we went “swimming” in the hot tub again and hung around on the ship. Our next stop is Victoria, British Columbia tomorrow about 6 pm.

Sitka

2011-07-28T17:30:00.001-05:00

We did not sign up for any tours for today. We just decided to walk around town and sight see. There’s a historic Russian Orthodox church right in the middle of downtown. I wanted to go in and see it but they wanted $5 per person. I guess not.

We explored the shops, a Christmas shop, the Ben Franklin (lots of souvenirs here – normal and silly), I walked into a quilt shop for a couple of minutes, saw a yarn shop (way too expensive!), ran into Dave & Barb & the kids. We walked a ways with them into another shop but we got done before they did so we moved on.

About this time Meighan was beginning to get tired – OVER tired! I had seen a sign for “Alaska Dream Ice Cream Bars.” We checked it out. They are ice cream on a stick HAND DIPPED (in front of you) in Belgian chocolate or white chocolate and rolled in crushed nuts and toffee. Mmmmmmmm!

We finished our ice cream and Tony picked Meighan up who was fighting going to sleep. Almost back to the tender loading area, she finally fell asleep and slept until we got back to our room. Of course she woke up when he laid her down. Oh, well. A little nap is better than no nap!

Tonight was another formal night in the dining room and the night Mom & Dad wanted to celebrate their anniversary and take a formal picture. The meal took FOREVER. When we finally were done, we went to take pictures at two different places. We wanted to give them our gift earlier rather than later but they wanted to go see the show in the lounge. So we did that and then we all came to our stateroom. Lindsay & Tyler showed up and we had them open their scrapbook. They were very surprised. We told them it’s not done yet because there’s more cards to add (that they received at their anniversary time in April).

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

(Added Aug. 7) Lindsay & Tyler wanted to get back to their friends but we had one more thing we wanted to do. We kept the video running and asked what everyone’s favorite part of the cruise was so far. Barb liked the whale watching, Lindsay like meeting new friends, Dave & Tyler like the zip line they would be doing tomorrow(!), Mom like spending time with all of us, Dad liked sleeping! Then Tony thanked them for taking us all on the cruise and letting us relax a while. Then he turned the camera on me but I said to keep it on Mom & Dad. I said “Well, we didn’t get to see many whales on Tuesday because we were taking phone calls and checking emails and (showing them the picture) this is our son!”

Mom’s reaction was TOTAL surprise. Of course we hadn’t told them we were in process and we’d kind of made the fundraising savings account LOOK like we didn’t have much saved yet. NOW it looks WAY better because we got the adoption tax credit refund and on Friday before we left, we received a letter from Show Hope that we’d gotten a grant—a significant grant—and the two together will cover the next amount we have to pay Holt! It’s a GOD THING! Now all we need is travel money and post-adoption report money!

Dad said “Ask me again what my favorite part of the cruise is!”

We all went up to the Observation Deck so they could see the other pictures of Le An. Wow! This is a lot lifted off my shoulders! I’ve been wanting to tell them we were in process for a while but still wanted the referral to be a surprise.

Juneau!

2011-07-27T17:28:00.003-05:00

We finally arrived at our first port of call today. Juneau! The capital of Alaska. We had to get up pretty early to eat breakfast because we had booked a shore excursion. It was called “History Gold Panning Adventure.” We first had a short tour of Juneau and then stopped at Gold Creek. Somewhere near where we were is where gold was discovered ay back when. Our guide went to go get our gold panning equipment, did a quick demonstration of how to pan, showed us what we were looking for and then gave us each pans. Since you are “guaranteed to find gold” we are pretty sure the first pans were “loaded.” There were quite a few flakes of gold in the first pans. Any subsequent pans had 1, maybe 2, flakes of gold. Maybe even none! Anyway, it was interesting to learn how to pan for gold. Hard work, actually, for as little as you find!

We got back on the bus and were driven back to the ship. (sentence added on Aug. 7) We ran up to the Observation Deck to send our LOI (which we had prepared last night). We ate lunch and then went back to shore and did some shopping. We ended up getting a couple of really nice pieces! Very beautiful!

We were docked n Juneau until 7:30 pm and then we set off for Sitka.

At Sea and Glacier Bay

2011-07-26T17:19:00.006-05:00

Today was interesting.

We went to a gemstone seminar and learned all about picking out diamonds and tanzanite, etc. Actually quite interesting!

About noon we started to enter Glacier Bay National Park. They travelled very slowly as per National Park regulations and to not disturb anything. I think it was about 4 pm or so that we stopped at the Marjorie Glacier.

They stopped with the glacier on one side of the ship for 20 minutes so that we could watch for calving (ice falling off the glacier) and to listen to the glacier. The glacier is continuously “cracking” (the native people call it “White Thunder” and that’s what it sounds like!) and this particular glacier they say recedes 6-9 FEET PER DAY! Then they turned the ship so that the other side could watch for calving and hear the glacier. After they turned the ship, I went up to the Observation Deck to check email and THEN is when I saw larger chunks of glacier calve. Darn! I didn’t get it on video!

We also had a very good thing happen today! More on that later!

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

It’s LATER! (added to post on Aug. 7)

About 10:55 this morning my phone started playing the tone that said I had a voice mail. Hmmm… I was able to have service long enough to check the message and call them back. We got cut off but had heard enough. We had a referral for a son and I needed to check email within 15 minutes! We ran up to the Observation Deck, signed in and eventually found the pictures of OUR SON!

We had known it was a possibility that CCOP referrals could happen the week of the cruise so we were prepared. I had doctors lined up to email just in case we needed more specialized opinions. I emailed our pediatrician. That’s all! No real obvious problems! He said he looked good, the medical info looked good and he and the nurses thought he was REALLY CUTE! The “special need” is possible delayed growth and development. But also, they think he may have grown out of that now. Hmmm… OK! What we are wondering is, with no physical problems, why was he abandoned? We’ve come up with a couple scenarios such as maybe his birth mom was single or maybe he was a 2nd (or 3rd) child? We’ll never know for sure, of course.

ANYWAY… his name is Xu Le An (pronounced “Shoo Luh On”), he is in an orphanage in Xuchang City in Henan Province. This means when we go to bring him home, we will go to his province before going to Guangzhou this time. We are not going to post his pictures (we have 3!) on the blog until we get further along in the process but if you are local, you can find us, our parents or our siblings and we all have pictures.

We waited till the next day to send our Letter of Intent to Holt. They eventually received it despite the slow satellite internet of the ship.

At Sea

2011-07-25T17:16:00.003-05:00

Today was a day “at sea.” I didn’t sleep very well last night due to the noise of the wind outside our stateroom. We looked around the ship more and in the evening for dinner, it was a formal dinner night and we ate together in the dining room to celebrate Lindsay turning 16!

We also attended a shopping seminar in the morning while Meighan went to Club HAL. Tony went and got her when Club HAL closed for lunch and brought her to the seminar. Timing was perfect because after they got back, the shopping experts on stage started throwing out free stuff. Some things they couldn’t throw so they left them on the stage. We told Meighan to go get them and one at a time and with a little encouragement, she eventually came back with 3 items from Del Sol – a Frisbee that changes color from clear to blue in the sun, nail polish that changes from silver to gold and a coin that also changes colors. Everyone thought she was so cute running up to get those things!

Space Needle and Bon Voyage!

2011-07-24T17:16:00.001-05:00

We ate the free breakfast at the hotel (and it was worth every penny!). We loaded back up in to the car and drove downtown. Mom really wanted to go up in the Space Needle so we took time to do that. The view was wonderful! We even could see our ship from up there! While at the top of the Space Needle, someone caught my attention and asked if we were from Omaha. Yes! The she asked if we went to St. Andrew’s! I said “Yes! Who are you?” She told me and I recognized her name but didn’t know what she looked like. They had just gotten off the Princess Cruise to Alaska! Wow! You never know who you’ll see where! (By the way, she said she recognized us because of Meighan! That’s normal! Everyone remembers Meighan!)

So we saw what we wanted to see at the Space Needle and got in the car to go find some gas. Later, we realized there were gas stations right there but we’d missed them. We turned in the car and got a shuttle to the pier. We got checked in and found our staterooms. We all had upgraded last week for a small fee so instead of being on Deck 1 with rooms all together, we were now on Deck 6 in a handicapped room (meaning BIGGER!) in the front of the ship. Mom & Dad were 2 decks below us (almost straight down) and Dave & Barb’s rooms were on Deck 4 way in the back. We all have verandahs with the upgrade. Very nice!

The first thing we did (after we found our rooms and Mom & Dad came to see our room and we went to see their room and flowers and balloons that we sent them) was to go EAT! It was time to eat anyway. Then we went up on deck outside and explored the ship. We found Club HAL where kids of various ages go for their own activities and we found the Explorer’s Lounge that had the library, internet café and seats to just watch the ocean go by.

We were outside as we started pulling out of port. It was quite windy but we were enjoying the cooler temperatures!

Vacation!

2011-07-23T17:03:00.002-05:00

We got up early today to catch our flight to Seattle. We arrived in Seattle at 11 a.m. and my parents arrived around the same time. We found each other and got our rental car and drove to our hotel. We unloaded and then headed to downtown Seattle.

We eventually found a place to park (not an easy feat!) and then started walking. I had heard a lot about Pike Place Fish Market so we eventually found that. They throw huge fish to each other when someone buys one. I was actually kind of disappointed at how small the place was. It’s just a small area inside the Pike Place Market that has lots of small shops and galleries and restaurants.

We made our way over to the Space Needle only to find out that it was an hour wait. Since it was around 6 pm already, we decided to head back to the hotel.

Background Check Updates

2011-07-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

We're Logged In!

2011-06-30T21:41:00.001-05:00

June

2011-06-29T22:26:00.000-05:00

Oh, my! June is almost over already! June has been a very stressful month. We're busy, busy, busy! We are dealing with the flooding of the Missouri River. Click here to see photos I've taken of the progression of the flood near our home. Our home is not in danger of flooding but our route to get in and out of Ponca Hills has changed. It's a very stressful time at work, too, because they are remodeling and right now, it seems like the ENTIRE dealership is having something done to it. And tomorrow it's supposed to be 100 degrees or more. Ick. We are also working on several things that we hope to get done (or need to get done) before we go on our cruise in a few weeks. Wow! Can life get any busier?

Tony is working on improvements to the two-car garage (i.e. putting cement block underneath the plate that was built directly onto the cement slab and has rotted away over the years) and then it's my job to paint it once he gets the siding put back on. A lot of the siding has rotted, too, so it's pretty much all new siding, too. AND when it was built tar paper was put over the studs and then the siding -- no OSB board. SO he's putting OSB board, house wrap and THEN siding up. When it gets done (which I hope is soon) it will be so much better and stronger!

I had my 30-year class reunion. Only 10 of us were there but it was good to see people again. Here's a couple pictures.

And we had a Father's Day BBQ at our house. We prepared for WAY more people than came so we had some friends over last Friday evening to help us eat more of the meat.

Meighan and I dowsed ourselves with Off last night and went out and picked green beans. We got a pretty good amount so I'm sure I'll now ALSO have to find time to can some of them!

Other than that, we have quite a bit we want to get accomplished and we are feeling overwhelmed with the little time we think we have to get it done. Can't wait to relax a bit on the cruise!

DTC!

2011-06-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

Yee Haw!!

2011-05-30T19:34:00.002-05:00

(The title of this post will become apparent towards the end.)

Wow! Have we had a busy month! We've also had several good photo ops so I'll include some of the good ones as we go.

Starting way back in April...

On April 30, we drove up towards central Nebraska to Monroe for a 50th birthday celebration. Before we went there, however, we went on to St. Edward to visit a high school friend of mine and her family. They have quite the menagerie! Meighan got to see cows, horses, a goat, dogs, cats, a young rooster, a couple very cute ducklings and a baby pig! She even got to ride a horse and has been talking about it ever since!

On May 5, Tony took the day off and went with Meighan's preschool class to the zoo. He got some pretty good pictures.

For Mother's Day, all the daycare kids made a gift for their moms. I thought it was pretty cool!

One day she came out from drawing on her chalk board and told me to come see what she drew. She drew Mama, Daddy and her! (Mama is the one with the big head ;-P !) Still, it's pretty good for 3 years old!

And now, her newest "thing." Tony has had a pattern for a tire horse swing for a couple of years but has never had time to get to making it. He saw it on sale at Tractor Supply this last week so he decided to just spend the money and buy one. She LOVES it! Here are pictures of her swinging and a video of her seeing it for the first time.

And, for anyone interested, I now have the ability to upload YouTube videos into my account that are longer than 15 minutes, soooo.... I uploaded our coming home video from April of 2009. Just click on the YouTube link on the right side of the blog and find "Welcome Home, Meighan - 4/17/2009" on our channel. Enjoy!

Referrals (not for us, yet!)

2011-05-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

Our 11th Anniversary AND Dossier off to Holt!

2011-05-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Dossier to DC!

2011-05-14T21:35:00.000-05:00

Back to Lincoln

2011-05-13T21:33:00.000-05:00

To Lincoln

2011-05-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthmother's Day!

2011-05-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

Again, WHAT?

2011-04-30T21:31:00.000-05:00

USCIS Fingerprints

2011-04-25T21:29:00.001-05:00

HAPPY EASTER!

2011-04-24T15:52:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter to everyone! Hope you all are having fun celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord today! as well as finding lots of hidden eggs!

We have had a VERY busy weekend! Meighan had 2 egg hunts (at preschool and daycare) on Friday. Then yesterday we went to our church's Easter egg hunt and then to the Easter egg hunt at the Nebraska Children's Home! She fell asleep on the way home, and after I brought her into the house, I also got a little nap! All that between doing the laundry. Last night I prepared the parts of breakfast and dinner that I could prepare ahead of time (shred cheese, chop onions, measure corn flake crumbs, etc.) and actually got to bed at a decent time!

This morning there was no Sunday School so Meighan came to church with us. She does pretty well in church but, then again, she IS only 3! Two very interesting things happened in church today (besides the fact that they had to use overflow seating in the Family Life Center -- nice problem to have!). Meighan got a little Ty Beanie Lamb from the Easter bunny. She took it to church and at AMAZINGLY appropriate times during songs -- like at the end of "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" -- she would raise the lamb FAR above her head and hold it up for the world to see. I thought of it as raising Jesus up (since He is the Lamb of God). And she did it several times! I wondered if anyone behind us noticed that. The other thing that she did today was, while we were saying the Lord's Prayer, Tony was holding her and had told her earlier that it was prayer time. She closes her eyes and prays. When it was time to say the Lord's Prayer, she was saying the last words of phrases (that's about all she does of songs, too). I was watching her and her eyes were still closed and she was actually trying to say the Lord's Prayer along with all of us! Made tears come to my eyes seeing that! She's already learning to love the Lord! AND...she says AMEN! with GUSTO!

Following are some pictures of our egg coloring session on Friday night, egg hunts on Saturday and her in her pretty Easter dress. Enjoy!

PAINTING eggs is WAY better than dying them in a cup!

Between songs before the church Easter egg hunt.

Hide it under a bush, oh no...!

What a haul!

At the Nebraska Children's Home

Pretty girl!

Happy Gotcha Day, Meighan!

2011-04-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

Two years ago today we met our beautiful, smart, loving, fun, energetic, outgoing, helpful, happy, healthy, bouncy little girl for the first time. We knew our lives would never be the same, and we were right! This has been the most positive experience we could have ever asked for. We love you, Meighan!

Our Little Student of the Month!

2011-03-09T19:43:00.002-06:00

We received a letter from the preschool yesterday that Meighan had been selected "Student of the Month" in her class for February! Wow! How proud did THAT make us? Only a month and a half into any schooling and she is "Student of the Month"!

She received a certificate, a medal, a lapel pin, a pencil and 2 free meal certificates at a couple different restaurants! One is Applebee's!!!! So we'll have to go out and celebrate sometime soon!

Watch For Rate Increases!

2011-03-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

WHAT?

2011-03-07T21:26:00.001-06:00

Nice To Be Where It's WARM!

2011-02-27T11:39:00.002-06:00

This post is specifically for anyone in Nebraska or anywhere where it's cold/cool right now and is specifically meant to make you jealous.

We made it to Orlando yesterday with NO problems whatsoever! It was probably the least stressful travel I've done in a long time considering we did not have to change planes! Meighan did very well considering her age! It's so nice and warm down here and SUNNY! It's actually VERY BRIGHT.

Last night we were walking around the resort and found that the pool didn't close until midnight so we changed and went swimming for a while! Meighan did fine. She went under the water for a couple seconds and got scared so I inflated the floaty thing I had brought. Her smile came back immediately and she loves being in it. I'm more comfortable with her in it, too, since I don't swim.

I-800A Form Mailed

2011-02-24T21:25:00.000-06:00

I-800A Form

2011-02-23T21:24:00.000-06:00

I Play Snow!

2011-01-23T15:44:00.000-06:00

Meighan has been asking to go "play snow" for several days. Last night when it was snowing she asked again. I told her we could go out and play for a little while after it stopped snowing. So... today we did.

We got bundled up for the 10 degree weather (even though the sun was shining--brightly!) and Tony cleaned up a sled he had and put a rope on it and we played in the 6" of new snow. Here are some pictures. We all had a good time!

Making a snow angel.

I'm ready for Florida!

Our New Normal

2011-01-22T17:53:00.003-06:00

So...I started a new job right after Christmas. Tony had the week off so was able to be with Meighan for three full days. The following week we were both working so I took Meighan to daycare which was out by our church. All that week I visited 4 different daycares that were closer to our house and the preschool she was enrolled in. We had decided that if she stayed at the original daycare, once she started preschool she'd be riding around Omaha for 2 hours every day. We did not want that for her.

So we finally decided on a daycare in the 72nd & Sorenson area. If you know Omaha and where we live, you know that's more "on the way" to work for me and is so convenient. That location will save me 16 miles per day or 80 miles per week! Plus, I can easily be home by 5:30 if I don't need to make any stops.

The transportation department for preschool wanted to wait to set up Meighan's transportation until we got the daycare decided. She stayed at daycare only for a week and finally started preschool on January 18! I took her on the first day and made sure everything was OK. The bus took her back to daycare and the daycare provider called me when she got there to let me know all was well. Meighan loves to ride the bus. She plays well with the kids in preschool and daycare and has made good progress with her potty training! I emailed the teachers after her first day and asked how she did. This was the response:

"Meighan had a great first day. She really seemed to enjoy everything. She played Duck, Duck, Goose in the gym and understood exactly what to do. During learning labs, she played in the house area. We were doing pretend winter play. She went ice fishing, sled riding and sock snowball fight. She was not shy about asking bigger kids to give her a ride on the sled. She was a joy to have in the room. She used short phrases to talk or repeated short sentences that she heard."

Makes a mama proud! I had no doubts she would be OK and I know she will absolutely THRIVE in preschool. She's jabbering a LOT! Some of it we understand, some we don't. Some of the things she says right now are:

I play JoJo - means I play with Jerri (the daycare provider)

Ride bus

Mama play ball

Play snow (play in the snow)

Brush teeth

I want apple juice please (and we're finally getting a "p" sound instead of a "t" sound when she says "please")

As far as Tony and I go, we are keeping busy. Things didn't change much for Tony, but I have a LOT less time at home now. Laundry day changed from Friday to Saturday and I also use Saturdays to get groceries and other shopping done. Evenings are also spent trying to get things done as well as watch the TV we enjoy (i.e. relax!). Although I had shopping and laundry to do today, this was the first Saturday since starting my job that I was able to "sleep in." Yeah!

Last Saturday night we actually had a "date night"! We signed up to participate in Trivia Night at church. The childcare provided pizza for the kids and we ate soup and salad before playing Trivia. Our team came in DEAD LAST, however, we DID answer more than half the questions correctly! We had a really good time and we even won a prize for last place!

Happy New Year! ... and ... Woo Hoo! I Got A Job!

2011-01-01T14:51:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good Christmas season and didn't get too stressed out. I tried (HARD!) to not get stressed out. We stayed healthy and made it where we needed to be. My favorite part of Christmas is actually the Christmas music, so I enjoy going to church to hear all the good music our talented members provide. Yes, I could help make some of it but I helped for so many years I just enjoy listening for now!

The best Christmas "present" I received was a job! I had an interview (set up by Celebrity Staff) on December 22. I got the job offer and accepted on the 23rd! That was quite quick! I had to go take a drug test and get a background check that day yet, so I did! I went in for paperwork and a tour of the building on the 28th for a couple of hours and then I started on the 29th! I am the new Administrative Assistant to the Controller at a long-established car dealership here in Omaha. Basically it sounds like I will be doing something different every day, unlike my last job where I just sat at my desk all day and did basically the same thing all day. I will have a big variety of things that I will be doing.

Looking forward to 2011, we have a couple of trips planned so will get to see different parts of the country that we either haven't seen in a while or haven't ever seen. Keep watching the blog to see where we go! I also have decided that I will be an iPad owner someday. Maybe sometime in 2011 will be that time. We'll see!

She's 3!

2010-12-16T20:23:00.000-06:00

Today our little girl turned 3 years old! She understands a little more this year about presents, etc. but she didn't quite know what to think about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her the other night. She got three presents to open tonight from us (no we're NOT going to give her 4 presents next year, 5 the next, etc. It just worked out that way this time.)

And this is her the other night blowing out her candles on her rainbow birthday cake. She did it several times and she's quite good at it!

She can now finally bounce/hop on something that's MEANT to be hopped on!

The other night we made pfefferneusse (a Danish recipe of a kind of cookie we make for Christmas). Meighan and Daddy put the pieces on the cookie sheets after I got them rolled out and cut up. It really didn't take too long. It takes MUCH longer with one person doing it all!

Welcome Home, Liana Mei!

2010-12-09T23:34:00.001-06:00

We were very privileged tonight to welcome home our friends, Brad and Tammy, and their new daughter, Liana Mei. Here's just a few of the pictures I took. She has such a ready smile and was taking in all of her new family! What a cutie!

Visit With Santa

2010-12-04T19:12:00.000-06:00

The Nebraska Children's Home had their annual Adoptive Families Christmas Party/Potluck tonight and then Santa came to visit the kids. Once again, Meighan sat on his lap and did just great! Here are the couple pictures we got.

Two Years Ago Today

2010-11-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

We saw our daughter's face for the first time on November 23, 2008.

What a difference two years makes!

Winter Has Arrived

2010-11-17T16:12:00.004-06:00

At least temporarily...

We got some cold rain Friday night and then it changed to snow and we (up here) got about 4" of slushy snow overnight. So, Saturday, Meighan and I went out and made a quick snowman. It was really the first time she WANTED to be in the snow much. She helped pack more snow on the snowman. She would go get snow from "over there" and bring it back to put on the snowman. She couldn't just get the snow that was "right here". Funny!

And then on Sunday, we went to church early to eat pancakes. She wanted to try strawberries. I think she liked them at least a little bit!

And here's a little fun we had (or blackmail picture, if you prefer)...

A VERY Productive Day

2010-11-16T21:22:00.000-06:00

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

Today was a very productive day – for once!

Yesterday, I was able to get 3 pianos to tune and make a little money. This morning, Meighan and I went and ran some errands. I had forgotten my grocery list and when I went back up to get it, the phone rang. It was HR at Creighton! I had applied maybe 3 weeks ago for a transcriptionist position with them. It was OK with the HR person that I called back when I got home.

So, our first stop today was the Douglas County Records Department to get background checks done for our dossier. It’s not a big deal or even very expensive—it just has to be done. I filled out the forms, paid the money, waited a few minutes for the papers and was on my way! The second stop was the CPA to pick up Tony’s employment letter. That was THREE dossier forms taken care of today! Next stop was the bank to cash the checks from the piano tunings. We then went to Office Depot to make 5 copies of all of the dossier documents collected so far. We are supposed to make 3 copies but I’m making 5 – because I did 5 last time.

Our last stop was the grocery store to pick up fresh stuff for the chili I’m making Friday for our soup potluck get-together. We got home by 1:00 and had a little lunch. I called Creighton HR back, she asked me a few questions about my previous jobs and said she’d get back to me either way in the next couple of weeks. Hmmmm.

I organized the copies of the dossier documents and recorded today’s expenses on the spreadsheet I’m keeping of our adoption expenses.

Home Study is DONE!

2010-11-13T21:20:00.000-06:00

November is National Adoption Awareness Month

2010-11-03T11:59:00.049-05:00

The following was posted on a blog I follow, Our Boy and His Cricket, and the blogger gave me permission to use it on my blog. It was written and given to her when they brought their daughter home earlier this year. It says it all. She used it to talk about the first sight of her daughter and included a BEAUTIFUL picture of their first meeting. My picture is not of our first meeting but happened later that first week. Tony captured this during one of our many photo ops in the hotel and it is a favorite of both of ours.

On the Eighth Day

10:15 am Heaven Time

"God," said the angel. "What are you doing?"

"I'm creating a woman."

"You made a female last week!"

"This female is a newer model. Unlike model A, this one will not be able to reproduce in her own likeness," God responded.

"You can't do that Sir," cried the angel. "How will man survive?"

The Lord studied the angel thoughtfully before He answered.

"Every once in a while a little soul is born and for one reason or another, the birth mother cannot care for her. I needed a stand-in female."

"I think you're going to an awful lot of trouble for just a stand-in," the angel said, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Have you taken a good look at this one? You still gave her loving arms to rock a child to sleep and gentle hands to wipe tears from crying eyes. Plus, I see incredible strength and courage in her face."

"Humm," God muttered, listening to the angel.

"And one more thought. I realize you give all the females giant hearts and fill them full of love, but you made this female's heart even bigger. Why?" the angel asked.

Stroking his chin, God answered.

"Because this female must be able to love a child from the body of another.

That takes a heart with a little something extra."

"You know, Lord, I hate to criticize, but all you did was create another mother."

"I know," God said. "I know."

-C.B. Roe - April, 2010

Fall Fun

2010-10-16T11:32:00.003-05:00

ENJOY!

Hysterical!

2010-10-11T22:25:00.016-05:00

I bought a little bowl while in China (at Jordan's for those who know the shops around the White Swan area). Meighan usually uses it for snacks but tonight she found another use for it! She had us all (including her) laughing hysterically! Turn up your sound. We hope it makes you laugh like it did us.

I got the video to appear right here and finally got it to fit in the post area. The link is also below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zfV46JJRY0

Shocking the Well, Part 2

2010-10-11T21:18:00.000-05:00

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

The place where we ordered our UV Filter from said to do another shock chlorination to try to get rid of the rest of the coliforms SO, on Friday night, October 1, we took showers early and poured 2 more jugs of Clorox into the well. By Tuesday we probably could have tested again but since I only wanted to make one trip to the lab (hopefully only one more trip!) I waited until we received and installed the UV Filter.

We received the UV Filter on October 6 and Tony laid it all out so he knew what he had to do. The following night he installed it but when he turned the water back on, the main shut-off valve was leaking – a LOT! So, another trip to Home Depot to get a new shut-off valve and time installing it and he was finally done!

We were both tired of dealing with water!

I took a water sample before the UV Filter was installed (to see how much more good the 2nd shock chlorination did) and another the morning after. I was told the results would be emailed to me on Saturday even though they were “closed.” Well, I didn’t get the emails until Monday, the 11th. BOTH tests came back CLEAR! YIPPEE! That means the 2nd chlorination worked! And the UV Filter will keep it clean!

In the meantime, our social worker has called and set up our three appointments to do our home study! She will come to the house on October 13th, 19th and 28th. For some reason three visits are required. So the “water thing” delayed our home study for a month. This will leave 2 months to get our dossier to China this year – if that’s even still possible!

Before & After -- We're FINALLY Done Painting! (The House)

2010-10-04T15:55:00.002-05:00

We've been trying to get the house painted all summer. Tony had to do some repairs to the sofit before we painted. We finally got to start painting on Labor Day weekend! We were able to get three sides painted with two coats in three days. I worked on part of the back side the following week and we finally finished the new house color on September 12. Then I started working on the trim. With the rain and my new jobs (childcare at church and a part-time work-from-home job that I'm almost done training for) I finally finished the trim yesterday! Yippee! Tony wants to do some repairs to the 2-car garage yet this fall and get it painted yet this fall, too! I don't mind painting and my guess is it will be quite easy to do since I won't have to get up on a high ladder. I will be able to do all of it myself if I have to.

BEFORE -- Notice the two-tone yellow.

AFTER -- The new color is called "Gypsy Moth" (like a cream color) and the trim is called "Toasted Wheat" (it's a medium brown). NO MORE YELLOW!

Our Water

2010-09-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

So…on September 10, Holt called and told us we needed a well water test that is less than a year old. They said this is a State of Nebraska requirement. I asked her why we didn’t have to do this last time and she didn’t know. I called Culligan and on Monday, someone left a message that we should check with Midwest Laboratories about a water test. On Tuesday, I picked up a water test kit and took a sample in on Wednesday. On Friday, Holt called and said they got the results (we didn’t get our copy until Monday) and that our water is “contaminated.” She can’t approve a home study to be done until we have a pure water test. On Monday (Sept 20) she called and said she hadn’t gotten to talk to anyone yet but I could call if I wanted to. I called and found out that I could take the next sample—not necessarily someone from the lab. I also called Culligan and spoke to the guy there and he said something about “shocking the well” and suggested I call another company that can clean water. I called this other place and learned about a reverse osmosis system and how to shock a well. He said we could do this ourselves. So, I went and got several water test kits, 2 gallons of Clorox, and 5 gallons of drinking water so we don’t have to drink chlorinated water the next several days. When Tony got home, he poured the Clorox into the well and we did the next couple of steps before bedtime. We had to let it sit overnight in the pipes and then let it run from the outside for two hours. I called the lab and asked when we could test again and they said “When you don’t smell chlorine anymore.” It was Friday before we didn’t smell chlorine anymore but my mom was here watching Meighan while I painted trim so I didn’t get to take a sample on Friday.

On Monday, September 27, I took a 2nd sample to be tested. I had the results emailed to me on Tuesday and they came back MUCH better—but not perfect. So, I called our well people and spoke with 2 people at Culligan and learned lots! When Tony got home in the evening, we talked and decided to get a UV Filter System and that should take care of all the bacteria that’s left. I emailed Holt and received a reply that our file will be given to our social worker. Yippee!

We can finally start the HOME STUDY!

New Pictures

2010-09-26T16:49:00.004-05:00

Our little daredevil!

Summer fun. I set up a little sunshade mesh tent (see next picture) I got several years ago and sprayed for mosquitoes so they stayed away and we had a good couple hours of water fun about three different times in August.

Jumping up and landing/splashing in the water on her little butt. She thought that was soooo funny!

At the fall FCC picnic there was a sand pit and she spent all THREE HOURS that we were there playing in the sand! She slept on the way there AND on the way back!

A new outfit that I think looks really cute on her. I told her last night it was very pretty and this morning when we dressed for church, I told her to go show daddy and she went and did a "ta da!"

Runzamatic Casserole

2010-09-05T20:03:00.006-05:00

I found the following recipe in a local publication earlier this past week. It's called "Runzamatic Casserole". If you are not from Nebraska (or have never been to Nebraska), you probably don't even know what a runza is. It is beef with onions, cabbage and spices inside an enclosed "bun". The origins are German (and possibly Russian). It is often a Husker Game Day staple in and around Memorial Stadium. Here is a picture of a runza and an open runza to give non-Nebraskans an idea of what they look like:

So, anyway, I wanted to try this recipe because it sounded EASY for one thing, and if it actually tasted like a runza, it would be a good thing to take to a potluck sometime. So I gathered the ingredients and made it today in the midst of painting our house (more on that later). This is such an EASY casserole to make and it actually tasted like a runza! So, if you don't have Runza in your area, make this and you'll know EXACTLY what a runza tastes like.

Here's the recipe:

Runzamatic Casserole

2 pkgs crescent rolls
2 lbs hamburger
1 pkg (dry) onion soup mix
2 c. cheddar cheese (grated)
1/2 c. water
1 8-oz pkg shredded cabbage (or shred your own like I did)

Brown hamburger. Add onion soup and water. Add cabbage and cook 15 min. Take one pkg rolls and line greased 9x13" pan. Spread beef and cabbage mixture all over rolls. Lay second package of rolls over top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

(This is how the directions were printed. It didn't say what to DO with the cheddar cheese -- put it ON or IN -- so I put it IN right before I spread it in the 9x13" pan.)

This came out SOOOOOO good and tasted EXACTLY like a runza. We were pretty hungry because it was a late lunch/dinner (noon meal - depending on what you call the noon meal). I will definitely be making this again. We have leftovers so we'll see how those are.

Happy cooking!

9/14/10 -- Note after making this the second time: I decided to use THREE cans of crescent rolls so that the entire bottom and top could be covered. It came out great and I think that's what I'll do from now on. I also shredded the cheese coarser this time. I think it was better. I use a little more than they say to use 'cause I like cheese!

Interesting Day

2010-09-01T21:15:00.000-05:00

More Forms

2010-08-27T21:13:00.000-05:00