We Are Coming Home!

Some things just can't wait until you get home! Yep, this little munchkin fits right in with this Starbucks loving family! One sip and she was hooked on this Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. Oh boy - did this place ever smell like home!

Today we had our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate to finish up Rylee's US Citizenship. We took our oath along with 55 other families (4 families were late, so imagine the other 51 families waiting among all the crying babies - thankfully we were on time!!!) The only thing left now is to land on US soil!
After the Ceremony we headed over to the White Swan Hotel to snap some traditional red couch photos. We always love seeing these photos because the kids are always squirming all over the place, all doing something different usually some are crying. Apparently the squirming takes place even when there is only one family there - thankfully no crying though!

This post is short tonight because we have lot's of packing up to do. We start out very early in the morning tomorrow to head for home. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that commented, emailed and/or followed our journey. I can't even tell you how much it meant to us to know that we are not here alone and to be able to share this experience with all of you. I am sure that someday Rylee will treasure your comments and emails as much as we do!

Hopefully our next post will be from home! Can you believe it RYLEE IS COMING HOME???

We spent the afternoon...

on the island and it was the perfect afternoon for strolling, browsing the shops and playing in the children's park. We walked over from our hotel and to get there you have to walk down an alley where they sell all types of animals. They have turtles, all kinds of fish, puppies, kittens, rabbits, chicks and various other exotic things. There was a vast majority of goods that were unrecognizable to us - dried goods, plants and bags and bags of other things resembling types of spices, barks and other things, all very interesting
.
One trip down the slide and Rylee was hooked! Even though she had a play area at the orphanage, I don't think she had been on the slide before. Hanna coaxed her up and in no time she was running up, sliding down, running up, sliding down... She also loved the teeter totter! We drew a bit of an audience while the girls were playing. These gardeners were working right by the play area and stopped to watch the girls. They didn't seem to mind when I snapped their picture.

After playing we had a great lunch at the Cow and Bridge, a popular Thai restaurant on the island. Rylee fell asleep in the stroller soon after while we shopped a little and then walked back to the hotel. After we were back in the room for a bit she woke up. I'm not sure if it was because she was in a different place than when she fell asleep, but when she woke up she was scared and not knowing where she was. I think it caught her off guard and she started crying quietly. I held her close and she snuggled up close but the tears kept coming. She clung to me while her little body shook with silent sobbing. It was heartbreaking, but so necessary. This little brave soul has been through so much the last week and a day, so many changes and so much she must just not understand. She clung to me crying for maybe a half an hour, although it seemed so much longer. I did not try to distract her, just held on to her, spoke softly to her about how much we love her and that we will never hurt her and promised we will take care of her. She is safe and loved and has a family now. I told her in Chinese "Mama loves you, do not be afraid". She looked into my eyes as I spoke to her, rocking back and forth and holding on tight. As I repeated the few Chinese words I know over and over the tears finally slowed but she continued to hold on to me so tightly. I am touched beyond words that she let me comfort her and that she trusted me enough to share her pain and fear and to share her vulnerability with me...

Successful CA!!!

We had our consulate appointment today at 9:00 and we passed the review! We had to wait in our hotel while our guide attended the interview for us and she called at 11:20 to say that it went really well and there is nothing further needed! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow we attend the swearing in ceremony! While we waited for the approval us girls tried on our new clothes - what fun!

We have the rest of the day free so we are heading to Shamian Island. We met a couple in the elevator from Grand Rapids, MI and we are going to try to meet up with them this afternoon. Imagine coming all the way to China to meet someone from our hometown!

Speese Girls!!!

Six Banyan Temple and Pearl River Cruise

We ventured out on our own again this morning. There is a pedestrian street right outside of our hotel and we decided to try it out. It is full of very nice shops and was a great place for walking by ourselves and just taking in all the sites. You can see everything from a man in a chicken outfit playing a trumpet to people eating long squid pieces on a stick. The people watching was fascinating and we all enjoyed it.

After the walk we spent some time at the rooftop pool and play area. It was a beautiful day, but the water was freezing! Hanna actually went in the pool, the rest of us played in the water from the side. Rylee was not terrified of this pool, so maybe it was the darkness of the pool at the Galactic Peace Hotel that scared her so much. She did not seem bothered by the coldness of the water, just at how deep the pool was. She was perfectly happy to plop down in the foot disinfecting pool though - I guess it's "disinfected" but still I gave her a very thorough shower before we left!

Today Rylee went to great lengths to explain to me that she does not need to wear pants because she has beautiful panties on underneath. she does not seem to want to accept that panties are not outerwear! She was positively giddy when we got back to the room and I FINALLY said yes to the pants coming off! She ran around celebrating like she had just been set free.

She is starting to trust that we will not let her run out of food and that we will provide that for her. She no longer feels the need to pack her purse full of snacks every chance she gets and for the last two days has not even taken it with her when we have gone out. She still has to tuck a couple of things in her pockets and watch to make sure we have food for her in the backpack. Today she even got tired of having the rice cookies in her pockets and handed them over to me to put in my pockets. She is also starting to eat a little bit less. She still eats pretty much all the time, but not the excessive quantities that she did the first few days.

Hanna has a little bit of a hard time understanding why Rylee gets to have a snack whenever she wants, so we had a talk about how we are teaching Rylee that she can depend on us to give her what she needs and that it is one of the ways that we are helping Rylee learn that she can trust us. We also talked about how there are some behaviors that we are letting go for right now because for one, these are things that she has either been taught or had to do to get attention, and two she doesn't understand us completely yet. One of these is that Rylee is very skilled in spitting and wants to impress us with this great talent. It is impressive in the sink while brushing teeth, but not so much for us everywhere else!

We visited Six Banyan Temple today and Rylee slept through the entire tour. She is doing really well with us and each day shows big improvements. Today she was much more affectionate with us and I even got my first real kiss from her! She was calling me Mama today and pretty much makes sure she can see me at all times. Unless of course we are with our guide. Rylee would happily walk away from us right now if she could go with Connie - she absolutely loves her! Connie is very good with this and when she saw that Rylee was starting to reject me for her she talked to Rylee about it and made sure that she did not let Rylee hold her hand and walk with her or sit on her lap anymore. Rylee wasn't too happy about it, but it didn't take her very long to get over it.

We went to a very beautiful park this evening before the dinner cruise and the girls had fun playing there. They climbed on all the cow statues (there were many) and played a little hide and seek together. Hanna was back to feeling good today and is looking forward to going back to Shamian Island tomorrow.

The Pearl River cruise was very beautiful and it was a perfect night for it. We went on the 6:00 cruise and were the only adoptive family there, which meant that we got a lot of stares and attention. One lady asked if we were here for holiday, and I said we were here for our daughter. She said what do you mean, so I said that we had adopted her. She looked Rylee up and down and said "Her?", I said "yes". She said "now?", I said "yes". She shook her head no - I shook mine yes, she stared at me, I nodded again - she did not look convinced at all. I guess maybe it's because Rylee is not a baby...

After the cruise we were walking out and three older ladies were walking beside us. They were talking about and to Rylee. One of them held out her hands, but Rylee clung to me and said no (sounds like boo yah) so the woman snatched her out of my arms and started walking fast with her talking to her. Rylee was whining and holding her arms out and stretching towards me and calling Mama, Mama! It's a good thing that I had read about this happening and had been warned by my agency or I might have knocked the women over! I remained calm but kept my eyes on her and stayed right up with her. Out of the corner of my eye I see Hanna dodging around from behind me and Pat pushing between me and the women and I realized this was one thing I had forgotten to warn them about. So I smiled at the woman, took Rylee back and told her to have a nice night. When we found our driver and got in the van, I hear "WHAT was that?!?" from both of them. I'm not sure which one would have pounced on her first!

Overall we had a fantastic day. Someone said to me "Could you be any happier?" and I was thinking about that today as I watched Rylee and Hanna running together, laughing and playing and when I felt those little arms holding tight around my neck, and when I got my first genuine kiss, and when her eyes lit up after nap when she saw her whole family here in the room and when she stretched her arms out and called Mama, Mama... And my answer is - how could I ever be any happier than right now as we are living out daily what we have been dreaming of for so very long? It is beyond happiness!

Medical Exam and Shamian Island

This morning we had Rylee's medical appointment, which went just fine. We were in and out of there fairly quickly since we are the only family from our agency here right now. Our guide managed to get us right in at each station without much waiting at all! Poor Hanna was up with a stomach issue last night (bad shrimp at dinner maybe). Rylee slept peacefully through the entire night, even when housekeeping had to come and change all the bedding and clean the carpet (I know - that's probably plenty of details on that episode). The doctor quick checked her out too and they wanted to know if we wanted medicine for her. We declined thinking it was better to stick with the pepto and ginger tablets we had brought from home.

As bad as the night was she recovered fairly quickly this morning and we were all able to go to the medical appointment. Afterwards she still wanted to walk around Shamian Island, which captivated all of us. It is incredibly beautiful and we absolutely love it and can't wait to get back there! I could spend days there just for shopping and enjoying the parks!

We had lunch at Lucy's and found out why it is so popular with the adoption community. We ate outside and there was a wonderful mix of locals and adoptive families eating or enjoying walking in the park. While we were there Rylee had to visit the restroom and evidently she has decided she likes the American style bathroom over the Chinese style "squatty potty". She looked in each stall and when she saw the type it was, grunted and shook her head no. After surveying all 8 or 10 stalls she took my hand led me outside and pointed to the grass. I pointed back to the restroom and she grunted again and pointed back at the grass! I admit I debated, but decided I just couldn't let her go outside (even though it is not uncommon for kids here), she shot me a thoroughly disgusted look, but she cooperated! The next time we went in a restroom she about jumped for joy at seeing the American style toilet!

I love the shops here and Pat is quickly getting the hang of negotiating the prices! I just love it here and we had so much fun shopping and picking things out for the girls. If only we weren't limited by luggage size...

Too many cute photo to choose from!!!

First morning in Guangzhou

Shamian Island is so beautiful, it is full of couples having wedding photos made. Hanna was fascinated with all the beautiful brides. This time she asked for the photo, but the groom stepped right in to snap some shots for themselves!

We walked around the White Swan which is absolutely amazing! Rylee loved it so much she kept trying to strip down for a dip in the fish pond!

The girls checking out their new dresses!

We are in Guangzhou!

The blue sky peeked out a bit this morning before we left. It seems the only time we see the sun are the days we spend in the airport - but we sure were happy to see it!

We arrived in Guangzhou with no problems. Rylee DISPISED the seat belt on the plane! I can see we are in for quite a ride home from the airport. If we could get a cab with working seat belts it might help ease her in, but so far they are nearly impossible to find! I had to laugh this evening when we were doing our paperwork with our guide Connie. She said humph... she sure is a bossy one! We knew Rylee was yelling at us in Nanchang, but when we asked our guide there she said no, no, no... she has nice manners - I wonder if that means when she is demanding something she adds the Chinese word for please on the end?

It would seem that she is used to getting her own way and the way she does this is dramatically. Too bad for her she got parents that have dealt with a drama queen already - ha, ha, ha! As an example she wanted a band-aid for a freckle that is on her ankle area, so I fixed her up with a nice pink band-aid and she was thrilled. Tonight after bath the band-aid came off, apparently if the band-aid is removed from a freckle, it renders the entire leg unusable! At first we were a bit worried because (it seemed) she could not even put any weight on the leg and tried to hobble along using the furniture to get her where she wanted to go. Amazingly once I placed the magic band-aid on her freckle - the leg worked again and she was off and running!

Drama and all, I can tell that she is going to fit in to our family just great! She has a great sense of humor and loves to laugh - something we do a lot of around our home. She is sweet, sweet, sweet and is bonding to us nicely. A couple of times she walked towards some Chinese people in the airport and I thought she might want them to pick her up, but as soon as they turned to talk to her she ran back and hid behind us or asked to be picked up.

There is a little bit of a jealously thing going on now between Hanna and Rylee. If Hanna hugs me or sits on my lap, Rylee tries to tug her off. She doesn't want me to hug them both though, just her. When I don't immediately leave Hanna to pick up Rylee, she runs to Baba and has to get on his lap. Then she looks to see if she is having any affect on Hanna. The good news is that we have learned so much from people that have already been through all of this so every thing that we have seen so far we are already familiar with and have ideas of how to handle it. I am in awe of this little girl and the way she is progressing through this transition. She handled packing up, the airports and flying like she has done it hundreds of times - when I know she definitely has not! She is figuring out how to fit into a family and we are thrilled that the family is ours!

Now since Kristie commented that there should be more photos of me here - the first one was taken by Hanna and the second one is Rylee's first shoulder ride!

Elephant Park and a quiet day...

Today we wanted to get away from the crowds of people, so we took a cab to Elephant Park this morning. The park was very nice but as you can tell from Hanna's hairstyle - it was extremely windy! The girls had fun running around the park. Hanna has successfully taught Rylee how to canter and they continue to develop their relationship. Everyone was a little on the tired side today so we spent most of the day hanging around the hotel.

Rylee's personality is really starting to come out. She approaches life with enthusiasm and gusto. She wants to run everywhere she goes, but her little legs aren't strong enough to hold out that long yet. She has no idea how to be carried, so when you pick her up you have to wrap her legs around you and she still doesn't hold on at all. We resorted to a stroller for a while at the park today and she loved it!

Rylee has completely charmed the workers at the hotel restaurant. They all know her by name and cater to her at meal time. They play peek-a-boo with her and everywhere we go, we here soft voices calling "Xiao Bao". She loves to laugh and does it often and today she has been coming to me for comfort when she hurts herself. It turns out this happens frequently because she is very active!

She continues to stash food in her purse and today she had on an outfit that had several pockets. She has figured how to climb up and get to the snacks that are on top of the refrigerator so before we left for breakfast she filled all of her pockets with food. She still managed to stuff a few more fruits in those pockets before we left the restaurant.

Rylee has been talking a lot more today and this afternoon she decided it was time to teach Hanna the proper way to pose for pictures. She counted to three in Chinese, shouted something and flashed the Victory sign! This child could not possibly be any cuter!

So then Baba decided that it was time to teach Rylee to give thumbs up. She thought this was a riot and has been giving him the thumbs up sign, along with the appropriate giggles, all evening! She also chastised him after dinner tonight. She went in for a snuggle (no prompting even from him - woo hoo!) and when she pressed her cheek to his, she pulled back and started talking and poked her finger in several places on his cheek all the while shaking her head "no"! It was completely obvious that she was telling him that it is unacceptable to go a day without shaving and that it does not feel good on her baby soft cheeks! He promptly assured her that he would never skip another day shaving again!

Tomorrow we take Rylee on her first plane ride. We get her passport in the morning and then we fly to Guangzhou to finish up the rest of the paperwork. It is a little bit sad to be leaving the area and we have already decided that as soon as we are able and Rylee is a bit older, we will have to come back for a homeland tour. There is just too much to try to absorb and take back for her, so much that we didn't see. I guess it is just hard to leave the place where you found the very greatest treasure!

Photos from Elephant Park, Nanchang

Happy Halloween!!

First a big Happy Birthday to our granddaughter Elyse and one of Hanna's best friends from Michigan - Sammie - we love you both and hope your Birthday's are wonderful!



Today we visited Teng Wang Villa and got to experience what it is like to be a celebrity! We had crowds of people following us everywhere we went. They wanted to touch Hanna, feel her hair, test out the springiness of her curls, hug her, kiss her and take pictures with her or with us. There were many schools age children having tours of the pavilion today and a couple of them around Hanna's age wanted to talk to us. The were so cute and kept saying "Hello" and "Nice to meet you" and then the would giggle and whisper to each other and then say "Hello" again. They were very curious about Hanna, so I asked them if they wanted a photo with Hanna, suddenly about 20 of them appeared all jostling for a spot in the photo. They then followed us - almost the entire class, until we got into the narrow stairway and someone called them back.


After that group there was a group of older students from something called Blue Sky Institute, there with their teacher. They also followed us and kept telling us how beautiful Hanna was and first one and then the other, and then another and then part of the group and then the next part of the group wanted photo after photo with Hanna, Hanna and I, or all of us. They followed us everywhere we went asking questions and wanting to tell us things about themselves. Then they wanted to know where we lived in Nanchang, I just knew they would show up here and want to hang out with us some more. They really were very nice, but it is definitely something we are not used to! There are some nice gardens surrounding the pavilion and we enjoyed walking in them and getting away from all the stares for a while. Rylee was a big Baba's girl today and was pretty quite most of the day. I think the crowds of people following us around was a little intimidating. I thought it was a good sign though that she wanted us to hold her and would move closer to us whenever strangers were around. So many people stop and ask us about Rylee. Usually they are asking if she is Chinese, I say yes and then that always brings much discussion among the group. Sometimes they look like they are trying to understand how we ended up with a daughter that doesn't look like us, sometimes they give us big smiles and nods. We asked our guide about this and she said that people that are local understand adoption because they see many families with the babies, but visitors from smaller cities don't necessarily know there is such a thing as adoption and they want to know how we got a Chinese baby. Rylee is warming up to us really well and getting more comfortable with us. She had many more smiles when we got away from all the people.

Our guide doesn't seem to understand silliness that much. Yesterday when we were in People's Park, Hanna was practicing her trotting, canter and gallop. Finally Wanda said "What that for? What purpose for that?" Ummm... I guess the purpose would be for fun??? Apparently children in Nanchang don't run around pretending they are horses! And then today Hanna posed in her duck walk pose and Wanda again looked really confused! Finally she asked us "What that? Why she do that?" We just couldn't help but laugh, she just couldn't see why you would do such a thing. We tried to explain and finally she just shook her head and walked away from us while we were still laughing. Poor women is probably trying to figure out what strange thing we are going to turn Rylee into - lol!!!

Rylee is not quite sure what to do with me yet. She is much more accepting of affection, but not initiating it much. Sleep time is key for us and it seems to be when I make the most progress. She was so tired at nap time that I held her and rocked her close to me so that she could hear my heart beating. When she fell asleep I laid her down and rubbed her back and her arms and snuggled next to her. When she woke up she was happy to see all of us and came to me often. At bed time tonight she tossed and turned. She would pull my hand over and put it on her back, but then she would push it away. Then she would pull me back and put my hand on her forehead (I have been putting her to sleep by rubbing her temples and across her forehead gently) and then she would push me away. Then she would pull me back and then push me away, and so on. Finally she let me hold on to her feet. After a while she reached out and held my hand and touched my face some. A while later she moved over to lay on me where she could hear my heart beat. There is so much going on inside that little person right now, and she is doing amazingly so well.

When we were in the elevator last night there was a group of people heading up to the hotel bar and we were all crammed in together. They started talking to me (I was holding Rylee) and the only thing I understood was Chinese National and they were pointing at Rylee. I said "yes", they talked to each other until a man in the middle placed his hands together, bowed his head then stood up looking directly at me and gently said "thank you!". I choked up because how could I explain to someone that does not speak my language that it is I who is so very thankful? I didn't know what to do, so I bowed my head back and could only whisper "you are welcome" with tears brimming my eyes...

Nanchang Day 3

This morning Hanna slept a little later than the rest of us so we had a little quiet time with Rylee first, but as soon as Hanna got up Rylee ran to her, got behind her and followed her every where she went. If Hanna bent down, Rylee bent down, if Hanna ran, Rylee ran, if Hanna danced, Rylee tried her best to dance too! It was completely adorable and she had us all laughing. She finds her Baba hilarious and gets quite a kick out of him. She laughs out load at our attempts to mimic her Chinese and shakes her head "no". I cannot believe how good things have gone so far and I keep waiting for her to break down, have a tantrum, get frustrated or fearful but so far she has done none of these (with the exception of the swimming pool yesterday).

We had a fantastic day today visiting the Nanchang Zoo, where we saw monkeys walking a tight rope, tigers riding horses, a monkey riding a goat across a tight rope, a bear riding a bicycle and other amazing tricks. Hanna sat through the tigers riding the horses with her hands clamped over her mouth and her eyes as big as saucers (she said now she has something to tell Ms. Ashley, who has been her riding instructor, next time she talks to her). Rylee silently studied everything, a few times she gave me looks of confusion which is easy to understand. She has had little if any contact with animals and she wasn't quite sure this is what they should be doing.

After the zoo we went to People's Park nearby. The park is very beautiful and they have taichi and other exercises going on at all times throughout the day, we loved it so much we are going to try to go back before we leave at the end of the week. The girls had a blast running around, climbing on things, trying out the exercise equipment and just being together. Rylee was so much more relaxed with us today and especially tonight. Today she has good eye contact with all of us and even asked to be picked up and carried sometimes. While we were at the park she reached up and grabbed on to my hand, shyly peeked at me and gave me a heart melting smile. I got tears in my eyes, because it was such a genuine and sweet gesture. I am not sure why we have been so blessed to be given this child, but I am grateful beyond words...