Almost Home!

Today will be the last post until we get home as we only bought so much time for the internet in our room. Jaili is feeling SO much better now and has been a complete ham the past 2 days. She loves to put on a show for people so every morning at breakfast and everytime we are in the elevator. She laughs, makes fart noises with her mouth and snorts at people. She is the funniest kid! She yells mama at me when she is mad and baba or dada at Shane. She is talking (ok really babbling)so much now. She as also started this thing with just me where she scrunches up her face and makes this little snorty sound and then I have ot do it back to her. God definatly had a glorious plan when he gave our daughter to us. She is like us in so many ways it is crazy. She loves a crowd, has to be the center of attention, has really stinky feet(that's all dad), sleeps fantastic, gets really grumpy when she needs to eat and , very stubborn (we are in for it) and loves to make people laugh. Her personality is coming out so much. She isn't fond of big crowds where people are touching her alot though they can look at her from a distance just no touching (only Mom and Dad and the people she knows). We learned as of yesterday that she can crawl. She is cruising all over. We are really hoping that the walking thing doesn't start until after we come home. On a different note, Shane and I took turns watching Jaili and we each got a massage yesterday. The massages felt great, different than at home. They massage through towels so that felt different. We also got a ginger wrap on our backs that is supposed to take out toxins. It felt cold and slimy when they put it on and then they wrapped plastic and towels aroung our backs and it turned into FIRE!!! It literaly felt like there was a fire on my back and my skin was going to fall off. The nioce thing was that for about an hour afterwards it felt like you had a heating pad on your back. Shane loved it, as for me not so much. We are excited to come home and show everyone our beautiful daughter. She is awesome. Shane and I are still having a wonderful time here. It has been beautiful (between 60-70 degrees). I am sad to leave the weather and go back to cold ) : On the other hand it really doesn't feel like Christmas in any way. Which I am O.K. with considering I don't really like all of the hub bub of the gift buying etc. I do miss having the true meaning of Christmas here (Jesus's birth and all). It is commercialized here Santa and everything that goes with him but no spirit of our Lord. Anywho, that's all from us for now. Take Care everyone and have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Much Love to You All!

Our little sweetie is sick

We took Jaili to the chinese doctor (who was so fantastic) today because her rash is just progressively getting worse and she is sleeping a ton. He checked her out and she has a virus. He didn't say what kind but he gave us MORE antibiotic (a stronger one) and some chinese herbs and vitamins for her. I am not thrilled about the antibiotics part at all. She has been on them since we got her and I'm sure it is just tearing her little immune system and body apart. Hopefully this will help her. She has been quite cranky the past 2 days. Today is a little worse than yesterday. I just feel so bad for her. The rash is on her face and eyes, down her neck, on her back and chest and it itches her quite a bit. Everytime she cries it just breaks out hearts. It will be nice to get her back home to see the doctor and Corky (grandpa) to get her on the road to health. We have her visa medical appointment today but that is just a basic physical. We are officially ready to be home. It is hard being away when your little one is sick. Everything is beautiful here but living out of a hotel is not the greates thing in the world. Anywho, if everyone could pray for Jaili and her health that would be wonderful. Thanks everyone

Free Day!!

The last several days have been free days for us and it has been so nice. Shane and I have done entirely to much shopping for everyone for Christmas but we think we have it covered so far. (We are beginning to hate going down the street and be harrassed by the shopkeepers). Guangzhou is absolutely beautiful. The weather has been great. There is a gorgeous courtyard just down from the White Swan with that Shane and I like to hang out and just relax and watch people. Jaili has been doing great. We don't think she feels very well today becuase she has done so much sleeping and hasn't been as happy. She has developed a rash on her face, chest and back that everyone assumes is excema, we will have her checked out completely when we get home. She is such a little tropper though. Today one of the shop keepers tried to hold her and she did o.k. for about 30 sec and then looked over to me and started to cry. Momma had to hold her, she wasn't up for anyone except for Shane or me holding her today. She is sleeping right now also. She's eating very well though so that is a good thing. Tomorrow we have the red couch picture and the medical appointment for her visa. We are almost home and can't wait for everyone to meet our beautiful and wonderful daughter.

Jaili Girl

So I had to post and say what a truly fantastic daughter we have (no I'm not biased at all). After the orphanage visit yesterday it was like someone flipped a switch and we have a baby that is bonding with us. She was very attentive with us at the orphanage and as soon as we got in the van to come back to the White Swan we had laughy happy baby girl (which she WAS NOT at the orphanage) We had an almost 4 hour ride home and she played and laughed with us the whole time. We think that God just let her know and she feels that she is HOME! She is so funny. She likes to get us laughing also. God has blessed us with such a great baby. She eats awesome(except watermelon), sleeps fantastically ( nap a day and slept from 8-7 last night).She not fond of strangers holding her alot but loves to look at people and play with them as long as we are right there or holding her. Breakfast is her favorite. We had bananas this morning and she thought those were pretty fantastic. She is at the beginning of the bonding process where she does NOT want us to put her down. She likes to be able to see both of us and she does not like to feel like she is alone. She's going to the bathroom normally now (yeah!!). Her favorite thing's to play with so far are the lid to a water bottle and the empty water bottle so she can bang the 2 together. She definatley likes drumming type things, music and those little rings that you hook together (which we don't have, she keeps stealing them from Kate, John and Kristi's daughter) Anywho, just wanted to let everyone know that she is AMAZING! and we are blessed beyond belief. The picture is of her on the bus ride home yesterday. I posted more on flickr also. Take Care

Orphanage Day

We went and visited Jaili's orphange yesterday and it broke our hearts. We started the day at 6:00 am with breakfast and left for her orphanage with Kristi, John, Charlie, Sharon, Leah and Lauren (the other wonderful family that is with us) Their daughter was adopted from the same city as Jaili but a different orphanage. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there and the kids did fantastic. We first went to Kate's orphange (John and Kristi's new little one). The director and the staff where very excited to meet everyone. They gave us a tour and the babies a bottle (Jaili did NOT want it). The orphanage was very clean and friendly lots of kids but they had toys and looked to be well taken care of. We then went to Jaili's orphange and finding site. Our orphange was a different story. First the staff was unprepared for us even though we had an appointment. The main director was at a meeting so the women who was the 2nd in command seemed very upset with us being there. Our holt guide, Catherine (who is amazing) talked with them and they finally agreed to let us and only us see only Jaili's room that she was in. We weren't allowed to take any pictures except of her crib, but Shane was sneaky and filmed the whole thing for Jaili to have later. The babies were all wearing the same thing (so the picts we got were purely for our benefit) and were lying on straight boards. So many wer in there and they were crying. Alot of the babies were doing the self soothing of rocking bakc and forth and banging their heads with their hands. Thier were no toys present so the only thing the babies had was a cloth chinese diaper to hold and play with. It absolutely broke our hearts. On a good note the director said that most of the babies were being adopted soon. Jaili did awesome. When her caregiver and director came to talk and see her she looked at them looked back at me grabbed my sweatshirt and snuggle in to me and ignored them. Her caregiver was even commenting on the fact that Jaili already ignores her and knows who her Momma is. They also commented on how young Shane and I were and they said that Jaili's birthparents were most likely very young and couldn't take care of her. The section of city that Jaili is from is rural and very poor. Most of the people that live there are farmers. You see ALOT of boy children but almost no girls. We then went to Jaili's finding place. She was found at a gas station about 10 min from her orphanage. We got lots of pictures. Just looking at the area and at our sweet daughter I could never imagine leaving her with nothing by a gas station hoping that someone would find her. It amazes me that the Lord had such a plan to bring this little girl to us. She is truly a miracle and I can't imagine our lives without her. I thank God everyday for my beautiful family that he has brought to me! I just love her so much and pray that Jesus will just continue to guide our lives and just be with Jaili and all of us everyday. I've never seen God's love for us like I see it when I look into my daughter's eyes. Shane and I are just astonished and astounded every second by our precious sweetheart. Although we don't understand his plan all the time we know that his plan his perfect and Jaili just confirms it.

We have been blessed!!!!

By the wonderful grace of God we have been blessed with the most amazing and breathtaking beautiful baby girl! She is the most special little one. Shane and I are awe struck and so in love! She is already a daddy's girl. We received our precious baby at 4:45 on Monday. She did fairly well at the hand off. She has a scrap of cloth that was her only toy in the orphanage so as long as we have that she does well (She screams when it is out of her sight). It is her since of security so we will be keeping the lovey with us at all times! She has been pretty pensive the last day and half. Trying to get a grip on everything that is happening around us. We got our first smile from her today and at breakfast she was a completly different baby. She is quite a goofball when she starts feeling secure. She loves being around people, being outside, baths and razberries on her tummy. She is definatly not a fan of having her diaper, clothes or really anything changed at all. Time goes by so fast, Shane and I will just be holding her, staring at her or feeding her and we look at the clock and and hour as already passed. Words cannot describe how wonderful she is. She is not a huge fan of being in the room right now. Which is not the best at the moment because mom is a little sick. She is slowely adjusting to us. She is so sweet and gentle. We will have a chance to visit her orphanage tomorrow but we are not going to take her in since she is just now starting to attach somewaht to Shane and I . One of us will stay outside with her while the other goes in. I apologize for taking so long in updating the blog. We have been non stop busy with paperwork etc since we received her. Right now Shane is holding her and she is a little fussy because she is tired doesn't want to sleep and does not want to be in the room. I will update more tomorrow, we are goi9ng to file for her passport in about 1/2 hour so I have to run. check out the picts of our sweet Chinese princess on flickr.

CHINA ADVENTURE DAY 3

We actually got a normal night's sleep last night and it was so refreshing! We woke up today and had our delicious breakfast of crepes and various goodies and then had orientation at 9:00 were we received all of the info that we will need for the upcoming days and the best thing of all we received new info on Jaili!!! We got 2 new pictures of her and man does she have a haircut. Her hair is shaved on the sides and spiky on top. She will match her dad pretty well. She will be wearing alot of pink for awhile becuase everyone will think she is our son. She is so stinkin cute though. Her new info says that she loves baths, is kind, soft and happy. The wording is "If you stay and play with her for awhile she will like you!" Shane and I are going to have to keep it relatively calm the first bit because it also states that she doesn't like noisy areas or strangers. We are so beyond excited because at 3:30 tomorrow we get our daughter. I am actually going to be a mom!!! This has been the most amazing experience. I don't know what it is like to birth a child but I'm sure there is just as much excitement. I would not trade this for anything in the world. We are already talking about when we want to come back for #2 and get Jaili a sister! The people that we have with us and the Holt staff are so fantastic. Everyone treats you like family and have been so welcoming and wonderful. The other families that are in our group are fantastic!! I'm so happy that we have such great people around us to share this experience with. We have been recording everything so be prepared family to watch hours upon hours of our experience.
After orientation we went to the Temple of Heaven and Tiannamen Square. They were so beautiful. Our tour guide Sherri and Holt staff Les have been with us the entire time and have made this such a memorable time. The temple of heaven has acres upon acres of park that the Chinese people exercise, play music and games and just hang out in. I will try to post as many pictures that I can but we are quickly reaching our limit on flickr and I'm trying to save room for picures of Jaili. We may open another account on flickr so I will post that when we do. Anywho, good night for now!! This is our last night without children, so we are going to go out in Beijing and make the most of it. My next post will be of JAILI!!!!! I was going to put a picture in but blogger is having issues. I'll try later

China is AMAZING!!!!

What can I say about China but AWE INSPIRING!!! Beijing is so fantastic. The people are so nice, the history is amazing and we love it here. It is a totally different way of life here. It is so safe. You can go out late at night and you don't have to worry at all about someone trying to hurt you or do something to you. The people are so active also, everyone is out and about riding bikes, playing music in parks it is great! We went to the Great Wall yesterday and there are no words to describe the beauty and history of it. Truly amazing. It was about 27 degrees outside but with the wind chill it was about 0 degrees. The wind would rip tight through you, but as long as you kept trucking up the steps you kept pretty warm. The view was breathtaking, it is so hard to put into words the greatness of it. It was something in my life I never thought I would experience and to be there was truly one of the greatest experiences of my life. We also went to the cloisonne factory afterward and had a scrumptious meal there. We got to see how the cloisonne vases and jewelry were made. I purchased a few goodies to bring home. Shane and I have absolutely fallen in love with China! If anyone ever gets the chance to experience this country you should most definately go. Truly life changing!!!

WE ARE HERE!!!

We have finally arrived after almost 24 hours of traveling to Beijing. The trip was pretty good. Airplanes are never comfortable but that is to be expected. China is fantastic so far. Shane and I were able to sleep from about 11:00 last night until 7:00 this morning. Jet lag hasn't been to bad. We are both very tired now but are making ourselves stay awake. Today we took a tour to the Summer palace and the Forbidden City. Both were absolutely amazing. There is such beauty and culture here in China. Just looking at everything it is incredible to see the amount of artistic talent and labor went into these beautiful places. Our tour was a private one because there are no other families going on them at this time so we were chauffered around and Sherri our tour guide took us everywhere. We then ate lunch at a traditional sichuan chinese restaurant and the food was amazing!!! America has it so wrong!! The food here doesn't even taste the same as our "chinese". Thank goodness for our guide because we would be so lost without her. No one in the restaurant spoke english so we had some fun trying to find the bathroom thank goodnes for hand signals (speaking of bathroom I have now mastered the "squatty potty", no toilet paper in most though so that was slightly disturbing). We posted all of our pictures on www.flickr.com/photos/ninjasquirrels so check them out. That's all for now. Brain is not working that great. I NEED SLEEP!!!