Friday, August 26 at 7 am Hong Kong time

Well, this is it. We've finished and now we're heading home. It's been a great trip and a wonderful experience for us.

We have to leave for the airport at about 9:30 or so and our plane leaves at 12:45 pm Hong Kong time (which is 12:45 am Michigan time) - we'll arrive in Grand Rapids at 5:40 pm Michigan time. The trip over was long, but the return trip will be especially long with a 1 year old. We'd appreciate your prayers that Stacie will do well.

Sue and I will have one final post on our blog once we return giving our thoughts about the trip and the adoption, but for now I better get going to help pack!

Attached is a picture from last night of the harbor in Hong Kong. (There are better views, but almost all of our night pictures showed up as blurry due to the combination of it being night and being on a boat that was rocking with the waves.)

Take care, and see you soon!

Gord

Here's a picture (actually, 2 copies of the same picture) of the kids on top of Victoria's Peak in Hong Kong (see Sue's post earlier tonight for a narrative). For some reason I couldn't add it to her post.

Hi. I haven’t posted in awhile since I have been busy being mom to four children. It is great to see Stephanie, Sarah and Ryan all interacting with Stacie and loving her to pieces. When they go to school Stacie will surely miss playing with them. It was encouraging to see Stacie love both the swimming pool and her bath.

Yesterday was another whirlwind day. We had to pack everything, pick up different things that we ordered such as etchings of the kids, paintings, Ryan’s tailor-made shirt, pearls, etc. and go to the American Consulate. We even had to buy another suitcase! At the American Consulate we received Stacie’s visa and took an oath on behalf of Stacie. So now when we get to the United States she will automatically become a United States Citizen!! Yeehaa!

We quickly said goodbye to our group of 11 families and took a shuttle van to catch the train to Hong Kong. I was so sad to say goodbye to the other families who had gone through so much with us. Again, I was crying (I hate goodbyes). As I looked at each family with their daughter I thought of how here we were only 10 days earlier meeting each other and climbing the Great Wall of China to meeting our daughter’s for the first time to now seeing all of the babies bonded with their parents—smiling and cooing and so happy to be loved. So much emotion and so much we have gone through this trip and more so this past year and a half. It was a very long “pregnancy” but so worth the wait. She is the perfect baby for us. As I look over at Gordon he is sitting on the bed watching TV and Stacie is hanging out with him and so comfortable with him. I have to laugh because she is babbling mamamamama. Oh well, she’ll get it someday.

The train ride last night to Hong Kong took less than two hours and it was a high speed train. It was nice to experience another mode of transportation. We sat with a group of people from Australia.

Today we took a Grayline bus tour of Hong Kong. It was a great way to see the city. Hong Kong is made up of 3 islands, and tonight we took the ferry over from the island our hotel is on to the central island of Hong Kong. The skyline was fabulous. Everything was lit up like New York City. Our hotel is right in the middle of excitement—bright lights and people everywhere.
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Our flight leaves tomorrow (Friday, August 26) at 12:45 p.m. Hong Kong time on United. I would appreciate your prayers again for safety and that no one gets sick on the plane. I am not looking forward to the long flight. I hope that Stacie will be able to sleep on the plane. We fly to Chicago and then to Grand Rapids—arriving around 5:30 p.m.!! This trip has been one I will never forget but I am homesick and look forward to being around family and friends again.

Sue

Tuesday, August 23, 11 am and 3 pm Guangzhou time (post by Gord)

[Note: This is a long post today because it includes Stephanie's post from Saturday/Sunday which never showed up on our blog. If you only have a short period of time, skip to Stephanie's post at the bottom because hers is the more interesting one by far!]

Today’s our second day in Guangzhou. I’ve had some extra time to type up this post both in the morning and in the afternoon because Stacie is taking some naps (Sue said she cried a lot last night, which is unusual). While Stacie is napping, Sue and the other kids are doing lots of shopping at the local mom and pop stores surrounding the White Swan Hotel.

There are some particularly appropriate Chinese souvenirs that we bought today. Each one of us bought a ink stamp-type of thing (called “chops”) which allows you to stamp your name (in both Chinese and English) on letters and anything else you want.

There are a couple of souvenirs that are pretty cool. One of them is a small bottle, and based on a photograph that we provide an artist paints a picture of our kids inside the bottle. The photo isn’t put inside the bottle – it’s just used for the artist to copy to paint the picture. It’s pretty amazing. The other souvenir involves a photograph again, but in this case an artist takes a photograph of our kids and then engraves a picture of the kids on a small stone surface. Again, the photo isn’t placed on the stone – it’s just used for the artist to copy to engrave the picture.

There’s one souvenir that everyone gets for free for staying at the White Swan. We received two of them because we have two rooms. It’s a Barbie doll (an American woman) with a Chinese baby girl. I understand that we’re not supposed to open the box because these are very special. The box says that the doll is presented by Mattel to “adopting parents of Chinese orphan children staying at the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou, China.” It’s a pretty neat doll and something that I think we will treasure.

There are some things that we’ve learned in traveling to China, and here are just a few:

1. Bring plenty of cash. Fortunately, Sue decided to bring more than I would have. Aside from hotels, there are very few places that take American credit cards. Some take typical American credit cards (Visa, MC, etc.) but only if they are issued in China. We found that out in Wal-mart, which is where I tried to use my credit card but wasn’t able to do so. I didn’t have enough cash in my wallet to pay for the stuff at the check out line, but fortunately one of the members of our group was right behind with cash for me to borrow. The bottom line is you can’t have too much cash in your wallet nor can you have too much cash back at the hotel room.

2. I’ve been able to borrow electricity adapters (from 220V to 110V) at all of the hotels we have stayed in. However, if you have plugs that have a 3rd prong for grounding or if you have a 2 prong plug with one prong larger than the others, then you may want to bring your own converter because each of these have created some problems. Ultimately, though, I was able to make everything work out.

3. Don’t bring a lot of food. We brought a ton of snack foods in the event we needed them for lunch or whatever. We won’t end up eating a lot of them and will leave them here because we need the space in our luggage. We didn’t eat a lot of the snacks because there are grocery stores where you can buy snacks, including some American stuff. The main reason why we didn’t eat a lot of the snack foods that we packed, though, is because there are always Western-style restaurants around. We have eaten two or three times each at McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut. This has been for lunch only, except on one occasion we did eat at McDonald’s for dinner when the kids didn’t want Chinese. We have typically eaten Chinese for dinner. (By the way, Stephanie and Ryan in particular are yearning for Taco Bell right now – Stephanie said she wanted to stop at Taco Bell on the way home from the airport in Grand Rapids.)

I received a question about why we are only staying 2 nights at Guongzhou when others have had to stay longer (sometimes up to 5 nights). Actually, most of our group is staying for 3 nights – we leave early tomorrow evening for Hong Kong, which the rest of the group isn’t doing. As to why we only need 3 nights rather than 5, though, I can’t answer that question. The question was also asked as to how far the new Consulate is from the White Swan. I think it’s about a 15 minute drive, but we won’t know that until late tomorrow afternoon.

I don’t have any new pictures from today that I wanted to post, so attached is a picture with Stephanie and Stacie in the pool in Changsha.

Hey! I was almost done with today’s post when I found out that I could finally, finally access our blog site (which calls into question my conclusion that the blogspot.com website was taboo here in China). I have now found out that Stephanie’s post didn’t show up last Saturday or Sunday when I was having major problems with the Internet. My brother Marc brought the problem to my attention, and fortunately I had Stephanie’s post saved as a Word file. So, the rest of this post is from Stephanie from last Saturday or Sunday, when we were still in Changsha. Enjoy!

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Saturday, August 20, 2005 about 4:30 pm Changsha time


Hey Everyone,

It’s Stephanie! To start, I thought that I liked Chinese food, but that was “Americanized” Chinese food. “Chinese food” is a fish that has the head, eyes, and gills still on it! Doesn’t that just sound nummy!:) Anyways, we have had an awesome trip so far, and if you have time, you can read on what I think about it.

Now, in case you didn’t know, I was the one in the family that pushed this thing along, so if you are wondering what I think of her, it isn’t the brightest question. OF COURSE I am so excited to have Stacie! We couldn’t have gotten a better baby for us if we had hand picked her. She fits right in, and is happy all of the time. She is starting to learn that we are her family forever and that we are not going to let anything bad happen to her. She trusts us, and understands that we love her so much! The Chinese women here are always wanting to hold her, but most of the time she just pulls away…..which is a good sign of bonding. She is one of the brightest one year olds that I have met. She continues to amaze us in everything that she does. It makes me wonder what we were doing without her! Some of her characteristics are starting to show, this meaning, she is very strong willed, if she knows what she wants, she is going to get it one way or another and it is hard for us not to give in to her.

The hotel is beautiful! There is staff everywhere that want to please us by helping in every way. There is so much stuff to do like play tennis, swim, ping pong, get a massage (where my mom is right now), go bowling…(I know, a bowling alley in the hotel, weird!), shopping, eat at the restaurant, and much more! Only one problem, the beds are like sleeping on a wood board.

China is so much different than the United States. Every time that we walk on the streets, it is so weird because we stick out like a sore thumb. Usually, people just look at us because my dad is so tall, but now it is because my brother has blonde hair and blue eyes, me and my sister are wearing shorter shorts than Chinese women do, we have 6 people in our family, and one of them is Chinese! It’s crazy!

If you are ever thinking about adoption please do it, I can guarantee that you won’t regret it!

So much love from the other side of the world,
<3 Stephanie

Monday, August 22 at 9:15 pm Guangzhou time

We're now in Guangzhou at the White Swan Hotel. The White Swan Hotel is well known to those in the U.S. that have adopted Chinese babies - I suspect about 95% of them have stayed here. The reason is that it is close to the US Consulate, although the Consulate moved to a different location just last month.

I don't think that will affect White Swan's business, though. It is a beautiful 5 star hotel on the Shanmian Island in Guongzhou. Guongzhou itself is a large city (10 million or so) and Shanmian Island was set up with a European influence. These days, however, it is very Americanized - I assume in large part due to the number of Americans staying at the White Swan. There are tons and tons of stores here catering to the US visitor - many of the mom and pop store owners speak English and they know their customer. This is once again one of the situations where you bargain with the vendors to get the best price (even though quite frankly the original price is oftentimes cheap). Sue and the girls already picked up some stuff here. Stephanie picked up a traditional Chinese dress that is very nice for $5, they bought some bracelets, etc. I'm sure they're not nearly done yet, but I think that whatever they buy will be a good reminder of China for them. Sue's also picking up stuff for Stacie as she grows older.

Aside from the shopping in Guangzhou, the only other significant thing that we did today was have a physical exam performed on Stacie at the health clinic. This is something that apparently all adopted babies have to go through, although in this case it was helpful because we were wondering whether Stacie had an ear infection or perhaps sinus infection due to her coughing at night. One of the doctors examining her said everything was okay. I presume that's correct, but everything was done so fast it's hard to say whether they paid all that much attention.

On that same subject, there were two couples that had to bring their babies into the hospital in Changsha. Although one of them was told by a Chinese person that this is the second best hospital in Changsha, they said the conditions were terrible - if you weren't sick when you went in you were sure to be sick when you left. Aside from the lack of air conditioning and the flies that were in there, they said it was filthy, including blood in various places where it shouldn't be. One of them said that the hotel was 10 times cleaner than the hospital (admittedly, the hotel was very clean, but still . . .).

By the way, our flight from Changsha to Guangzhou was (fortunately) uneventful. It was Stacie's first airplane flight, however, and she did well.

Attached is a picture of Ryan and Stacie in our room at the White Swan.

I should have more updates tomorrow. We're in the home stretch now . . . .

Gord

Sunday, August 21 at 4:30 pm Changsha time

Ryan and I are back from swimming. The pool is huge and the temperature is great - almost close to a hot tub. I'm sure that's why Stacie liked it so much yesterday.

After a couple of more relaxing days, today was busy again but in a very good way. We ended up doing different things. Sue, Sarah, Ryan and Stacie went with the group to a museum. The original plans were to go to the park (a big park in the middle of the City), but again it was kind of rainy and uncommonly cool temperature-wise. I understand that the museum was good.

You may not believe it but Stephanie and I, as well as another family, went to church. The young Christian woman that I mentioned yesterday took us to her church - called the North Church because it's on the north side of town (I understand that there's also a South Church on, you guessed it, the south side of town). I don't know how many other, if any, formal churches there are. I'm hoping that there are many of the "house churches" but I don't know.

Anyway, the church itself looked a lot like an older-style U.S. church - it was actually quite big, had cathedral ceilings, and would probably hold 300 to 400 people if full. I have attached a picture of the church. I would guess that there were maybe 200 people or so there, and there are two services - one at 7:30 am and one at 9:30 am. There weren't as many young people as I would have hoped, and our friend tells us that's because younger people are worried about their money situation and trying to support themselves. In the U.S., I generally see people trying to make money to buy a bigger house, etc., but especially for the common people here it's a matter of survival. Anyway, I hope that there are more young people involved in the house church movement. (BTW, according to the website www.light4hunanese.com, the Hunan province is 2% Christian and the city we are in, Changsha, has 6 to 10 million people).

I can't say much about the church service itself because I couldn't understand it. In many ways, though, it seemed similar to our traditional church services - had singing at the beginning, had a few songs by the church choir (which was very good), had a traditional sermon, had a Bible reading from Psalms 103 (there were lots of pew Bibles as well as hymnals), etc. The pews themselves were short and the legroom was, well, not made for someone 6 feet 7 inches tall.

Afterwards, we met with the pastor and talked with him for a bit. I think he was in his late 20s, and he clearly was glad we were here. He gave us some pins with the Christian cross on them and also gave us some other gifts (some cards with sayings on them and some bottled water). We also took his picture and took some a video of him.

I don't know exactly what to make of this given the fact that I know that there is a lot of persecution among Christians in China. I'll let others that are much more familiar with the church in China speak to that issue. What I can say is that the young Christian woman we befriended sure seems to have the love of Jesus in her (as does the pastor, from the short time we were with him). By the way, although we do know the name of the woman, I'm not identifying it just because I don't know for sure if that would create any problems.

Outside the church, the one-way street was buzzing with all sorts of street vendors - selling vegetables, beef, clothing, etc. I've got a video walking down the street and it's just incredible.

When Stephanie and I returned to the hotel, there were a couple of wedding parties that were coming in. It was pretty neat to see them. They must have been very upper class, however, because it is very expensive to have the wedding reception at the hotel. This is also evidenced by the fact that outside the hotel there was a BMW SUV, a Mercedes and a Hummer (yes, a Hummer!).

We then went shopping with our new friend - Sue picked up some embroidery that she wanted and the kids got some other stuff. All of us then went to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was good, as normal, but it was more costly than what we are used to - not much different than the U.S. prices (although our friend had a 20% discount card).

Stacie continues to do very well, although we do wonder whether she's struggling with a cold or not. She is a happy baby. We do think that she may well be active and perhaps strong-willed, though. She truly is a joy.

Sue and the girls are heading out for some more shopping now. We'll then have dinner (probably Chinese) and head to bed early because we have to leave the hotel at 6:45 am tomorrow for the airport. We fly to Guangzhou (about a 50 minute flight), which is fairly close to Hong Kong. We'll spend 2 nights in Guangzhou at the White Swan hotel and then take the train and spend our last 2 nights in Hong Kong. Then we return back to the U.S. , leaving at about noon on Friday and returning at about 5:30 pm on Friday evening Michigan time.

Although things have gone really well for us, there have been others in the group that have been really sick. We really appreciate all of your prayers and support, and we look forward to completing this journey over the next 4 or 5 days. Thanks again - and, oh, if you haven't read Stephanie's post that I put on the blog this morning, please do it. She's probably the best writer in the family!

Gord

Sunday, August 21 at 2:55 pm Changsha time

Hey, the Internet and Google (which owns the blog site that I use) are working well again! It's night and day difference.

Here's a picture of Stacie and Sarah swimming yesterday. As I mentioned in the previous post, Stacie enjoyed swimming yesterday.

I plan on updating this later today (unless Internet and Google problems re-appear), but for now Ryan wants to go swimming and so I've gotta go!

Gord

Sunday August 21 at 6:50 am Changsha time

Just in case I can't post things for a while, I thought I would give an update . Here's what's been happening.

As I've mentioned earlier, the temperatures have changed dramatically. We expected mid to high 90s with humidity but the temps here have been a lot better than in Beijing. In fact the last two or three days they have probably been in the 70s with a lot of wind, and so at times it has felt somewhat chilly! Yesterday we were supposed to go to the park but due to some rain that was postponed until today. That's what is scheduled for this morning.

Because that was cancelled, we had a "day off" yesterday except for some paperwork that Sue had to prepare with the rest of the group (which took over an hour, by the way). The extra time we had gave us a chance to meet with a young Chinese woman, and so we talked with her for an hour or so about what it's like to live in China, the Chinese perspectives on the U.S., freedom of speech and religion, etc. It was a wonderful talk and it was especially significant to us because she is a Christian. I can fill in more details about our talk when we return.

The rest of the day was filled up with just taking care of Stacie as well as going to dinner and going swimming. On most of the days a group of us get together at 6 pm and go to a local restaurant for Chinese food. I think that the places that our guide takes us are somewhat Americanized, however, because the food is not all that spicy and we are told that the Hunan province is known for very spicy food. Either that, or our tour guide just orders the less spicy food (which is fine with us!).

If I haven't already mentioned it, the prices for the food are cheap. Yesterday's dinner for all of us cost 126 yuan, which is less than $16 total. That includes everything. Fast food prices are also generally cheap - for example, a Big Mac meal costs about $2.25 and KFC is also cheap. On the other hand, Pizza Hut isn't all that much cheaper than in the U.S., and apparently for that reason Pizza Hut is thought of as being more upscale than McDonalds or KFC.

In terms of the pool, the kids went swimming with Stacie yesterday. The pool is very large and also (fortunately) very warm. Stacie did just great and seemed to enjoy the water. I tried to attach a picture of her in the pool, but the blog site won't let me - another problem going on right now with the site or with the Internet.

Speaking of the kids, they have been wonderful with Stacie. Oftentimes two of them want to hold her at once and they are disappointed when they can't. Just yesterday night Stephanie told me she didn't want to go back to school when we return because she wants to be with Stacie. I know that Sarah and Ryan also are enthralled with her as well.

We haven't had a lot of extra time here - there's a lot to do, and it also takes some time just to do the blog and the other stuff - but I'm also reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I'd highly recommend it.

Okay, gotta go. Take care, and again I hope to update this as much as I can but if I don't that's because I'm having Internet problems.

Gord

Friday August 19 at 8:00 pm Changsha time

It has been a couple of days since I have posted. I have been busy taking care of Stacie. Today I received a copy of Stacie’s “finding ad” from the newspaper that had her picture and a description of what she was wearing and where she was found. Each child that is found abandoned is photographed and an “ad” is placed in the local newspaper for relatives to come forward. I believe this step is the last attempt to contact any relatives and see if they will come forward to claim her. If no one claims her then she can be placed for adoption. The ad in the newspaper was dated January 3, 2005. As I read the “ad” I got so emotional (again). I could only imagine her birth mother as she dressed Stacie (Fu Meng) one last time, as she got a bottle ready with the milk powder that she left, and carefully putting her in a basket and bringing her to a place that she hoped someone would find her along the side of the road. Hoping that someone would give her a better life. Even writing this brings me to tears. I love her so much and can’t imagine the pain her mother went through to have to leave her. This is such a tragedy here in this country. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Each day we are discovering new things about Stacie. She loves rice, watermelon, tofu, eggs, plain yogurt, bananas, applesauce and croissants. She also loves to walk holding onto our hands. She knows how to do the motions to “soo big”. She also takes good naps. They have usually been around three hours long (today was over four hours). She loves to snuggle with me and wants to come to me if someone other than our family is holding her-Yea!! She has a blast with the kids. They are so good with her and take right over and help me out. Stacie constantly wants to play with them and the kids have to take turns holding her. Whenever she is with Stephanie, Sarah or Ryan she is giggling and laughing so hard--I have never seen a baby laugh so much. She wakes up smiling. We all have been laughing so much these past four days. I have fallen so in love with her. It seems like we have had her forever—she is perfect for our family—God is so good!

Today we went to the embroidery museum and factory. It is amazing how beautiful the pictures are. Hunan is known for embroidery and they are experts.

Blessings--Sue

P.S.: Attached is another picture from yesterday's trip to the country.

Thursday August 18 at 8:40 pm Changsha time

We're now half-way through our trip to China. We left last week Wednesday and will return next week Friday. It's gone fast and it's been a very good trip.

One nice thing that happened today is a change in the weather. In Beijing the weather was basically oppressive given the heat and humidity. Changsha is typically supposed to be hotter than Beijing because Changsha is farther south but the weather here has been somewhat cooler, and today in particular the weather was much cooler. My guess is that today's highs were in the high 70s, and so it's been quite a change.

I'm pretty much recovered from being under the weather yesterday (having the chills, etc.). I'm thankful for that. Hopefully Sue isn't coming down with something - she seemed to be maybe fighting something today.

Today was the day that Sue hoped to be able to see the orphanage that Stacie came from. That is in Hengyang, which is a 3 hours drive away. Unfortunately, however, the director of the orphanage would not allow foreigners to visit the orphanage - apparently the director is embarrassed about the condition of the orphanage and he doesn't want foreigners to see it. On the one hand, that's disappointing because Sue would really like to see it. On the other hand, it may be better that she not see it if it is really bad.

Today's trip was a 35 minute bus ride to one of the outer villages in a rural area. We met one of the families, saw their house and met some of the local people. We were told that the family that we met was in the middle in terms of financial status - there are others in the rural area that do better and there are some that do worse. There were some surprises at the family's house that we visited, including a flat screen TV and a quite nice bedroom for the family's son and new bride. On the other hand, some areas of the home were quite crude and the neighborhood had a lot of trash on the ground.

In the rural areas, as well as in the urban areas, there are a lot of men in particular that just seem to be hanging around or riding motorcycles. Not sure what they do for a living.

Speaking of motorcycles, I haven't mentioned yet that there appear to be no rules of the road for drivers in China. I don't know how many "near misses" there have been with the bus we've been in and other cars, bikes, motorcycles, etc. It's just amazing to me that there aren't more accidents.

After visiting the rural area - which by the way involved traveling on one lane dirt roads, getting involved in a traffic jam on of those roads, etc. - we returned back to the hotel and went to Pizza Hut for lunch (we've already gone to McDonald's and KFC as well). Yes, the pizza tastes pretty much the same as in the U.S.

Later in the afternoon, we did some shopping for a a couple of hours. The concierge at the hotel volunteered to go along with us to show us the places to shop and so we took her up on her offer. As I mentioned, the service here is truly superior - the people are very nice and they are willing to do basically whatever you want them to do. The service is way beyond anything I have experienced at any other hotel.

It's getting late and I've gotta run . . . The picture attached is Sarah giving out candy to some children in the rural area that we visited this morning.

Gord

Wednesday August 17 at 8:57 pm Changsha time

I just sent a post but I don't think that the 3 pictures showed up even though the blog site said that they were. So, I tried attaching just 2 of them and here they are. (By the way, I've heard that I need to somehow reduce the file size of these pictures by changing the resolution, which will then make it easier to upload the pictures. I've been trying but so far I haven't been able to do that. Hopefully soon . . . )

Gord

Wednesday, August 17 at 7:45 pm Changsha time

Things are continuing to go very well here in Changsha, Hunan province. I don't recall where Sue left off in her post yesterday - I can't access our blog because I'm now fully convinced that China has prohibited anyone from reading blogs on blogspot.com (and perhaps other blogs) - but I'll try to give a summary of what's happened since yesterday afternoon.

Last night we celebrated Stacie's first birthday at a local restaurant. Most of our group was there, but a couple of them were not because their child was in the hospital earlier in the day and have been diagnosed with pneumonia - fortunately each child seems to be doing better, although from what I have heard the Chinese hospitals are, well, less than sanitary.

Anyway, the dinner was quite good - we had a lot of different Chinese dishes, including Mongolian beef, a type of vegetable soup, chicken, fish (all of it except for the eyeballs), beef and vegetables, etc. It was actually a very nice restaurant and we had a separate room just for our group. The price was incredibly cheap - including the birthday cake that was brought in, the cost for our entire family including tip was 95 yuan, which is less than US $12. I suspect the same meal in the US would have cost at least $50 or so. Although this is cheap for us, for the Chinese it isn't. I heard from someone that was part of the group that they talked to someone at a major retailer here who apparently earns 1,000 yuan a month, which is $125 a month.

This once again illustrates the real China - in some instances it has most or all of the amenities we would expect in a modern economy but yet for the most part the people are left out of that. For example, the hotel in which we are staying here in Changsha is a 5 star hotel in a 43 story building. The hotel is certainly one of the nicest that I have stayed in - the lobby is truly beautiful, there are every kind of modern conveniences, including free high speed internet, a very nice swimming pool, an 8 lane bowling alley (and we bowled today!), and a bunch of other stuff.

Beyond that, the service at the hotel is incredible and certainly beyond anything I have ever experienced. On two separate occasions, one woman at the hotel's concierge desk actually accompanied one of the members of the group who had problems with their battery recharger for their camcorder. So this hotel employee, while she was working, changed her clothes and took the taxi with the group member who needed the help and he was eventually able to get his problem figured out. This same hotel employee also heard about Stacie's birthday and she along with 3 other hotel employees brought up a birthday cake for Stacie!

Right beyond the hotel, however, is clearly a very poor area where the living conditions look very bad. This is the story of China - modern in some respects but third world in many other respects.

Some other random things before I sign off:

• I've been feeling chilled since late afternoon - I've got the windows open, it has to be in the mid to high 80s in the hotel room and for a while I had a blanket on me. Just in the last little bit I have been feeling better. Perhaps I got the chills from Stacie (a lot of babies have colds and 2 have pneumonia) or perhaps I'm not drinking enough water. I'm starting to drink more bottled water right now and hopefully I will feel better soon.
• Because I've been under the weather, Sue went with the kids to dinner without me. She just returned and said that, unbelievably, Stacie is apparently potty trained! She pointed at her diaper (which is one of the baby sign language) and because Sue has seen Stacie do other baby sign language she put her on the potty. And Stacie then went poop on the toilet. Sue is amazed, as am I - we are so blessed. We are also mindful, however, that regardless of the things that Stacie has done that we are still blessed - and we are mindful of those parents having to deal with pneumonia and other things as well. We've prayed for them and their baby.
• There is some sort of holiday or celebration going on here - there were fireworks at 5:30 am this morning and there have been some this evening as well. Not sure why, but I hope it doesn't happen at 5:30 am tomorrow morning as well.
• Last but not least, attached are a few pictures from yesterday's birthday party. Enjoy.

By the way, I'm now feeling considerably better. I even have the windows shut and the air conditioning back on (and no blanket on!).

Thanks again to all of you for your comments and your prayers.

Gord

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 3:40 pm Changsha time

Yesterday was an amazing day!! It was the day we got our precious Stacie Meng. We went to the Civil Affairs Office in Changsha where the nannys from the orphanage brought the babies. I was so calm when they handed her to me and I just held her close and knew that this was meant to be. She somehow seemed to know me. She was quiet and just studied me with her eyes wide open. I could feel her little heartbeat and when I said "I love you" in Chinese she looked up at me and looked straight into my eyes --- we connected right there. I cannot even begin to describe what happened in that room. Amongst the chaos of all of the babies (11 of them) and families. Time was frozen for Stacie and I and it didn't even seem like anyone else was is the room. Then I remembered that I needed to introduce her to her daddy. His eyes welled up with tears as he held her and then Ryan, and then Stephanie. When Stephanie said "I have been praying for you since before you were born" it so touched me. Poor Sarah was crying so hard because she was so happy and again I was moved to even more tears of joy. Such an emotional moment for our whole family. I am so very thankful that we could bring our kids along to be part of this incredible moment in our lives.

When I had Stacie in my arms her nanny from the orphanage tapped me on the shoulder and slowly pulled out from a bag the photo album I had sent to the orphanage of our family. I totally lost it then. I was in shock. Because just last Tuesday her package was in customs and wasn't going to be delivered to the orphanage. Since there was some complications in the delivery, Fed Ex had called me several times and wanted to know if I wanted it returned to me or destroyed. I didn't want to pay another $75. oo to have it returned to me but I told the Fed Ex woman to wait before destroying the package. I gestured to the nanny asking if the camera had made it to her and she shook her head yes and said took pictures. No wonder Stacie knew us. She had been studying the photo album of our family. Stacie also had a little toy that I had sent to her in her hand when they gave her to me. I hadn't seen it earlier even though my kids had seen it in her hand. It was a toy that has a mirror on one side and two pictures (a picture of me and a little picture of Stacie--her referral picture) on the other side. She was holding it in her hand...so she had been seeing a picture of me and her together! God is so amazing--He made a way when there seemed like there was no way. And now I have pictures of the orphanage, two of her in the orphanage as well as her favorite thing to look at--her photo album of all of us! She even points to the page with Ryan on it. How cute!

It was the kids who got Stacie to first smile. Because I thought Stacie was going to take a nap-ha!-Stephanie, Gord and Ryan all went out to buy water and Coke. Sarah stayed back in the hotel room with me. Stacie pulled herself up to stand and I couldn't believe it so I went into Gord's room (we have to have two rooms because there are too many in our family) to get the video camera while Sarah was getting her to smile. When I was out in the hall I heard giggling and laughing coming from within my room. Sarah had Stacie laughing out loud with the biggest smiles ever!! The two of them had a very special moment. That special event happend in less than an hour of having her.

Dinner was tricky. Trying to eat Chinese food with linen tablecloth and a baby isn't easy. We looked pretty funny actually. I was giving Stacie rice cereal and she wasn't too happy about the taste. What was I thinking? She had never used a spoon in her life until this point in time. She did quite well for the first time!! What she liked even better was the white rice I was eating. By the way all of us are now pros when it comes to eating with chopsticks. Plus, when all else fails you just stab it!

I love giving her her bottle. She snuggles against me with her right arm around my back and her left hand holding onto my finger or else rubbing my arm while drinking her bottle. I just love that time with her. Her little coos and breathing remind me of a newborn. Her sighs of contentment and peacefulness are gifts to me. I tear up so much because I am so happy.

I love to see the kids take over with her. They all want to hold her and each of them bring a delight to Stacie. She giggles the most with them and I wouldn't trade this for anything. They are so good with her and love her so much. Stacie is already learning so much from them. Stacie is sooo smart and catched on very quickly.

Stacie doesn't want to miss ANYTHING! In fact, last night when we were all talking on the speakerphone to my mother, Stacie was standing on my lap facing away from me and leaning her head so her cheek was against my face. She fell asleep standing up!!

To watch her sleep is so special. Her crib is next to my bed and I can hear her little sighs and coos as she sleeps.

Tuesday--August 16th, 2005

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Stacie, God gave life to you!!

Today is Stacie's first birthday and the official day of Stacie's adoption!!! We traveled to the Civil Affairs Office today to finalize the adoption of Stacie Meng Toering! What a happy day it is for us. First birthday and adoption day all in the same day. Right now she is sleeping so sweetly in her crib. We just got back from an outing to KFC and a grocery store. When we were at the KFC a Chinese woman gave me a plain yogut with a straw. She put a little straw through the foil top and handed it to me. Stacie took the little yogurt cup (I was holding it) and she knew exactly what to do. She drank down the yogurt very quickly. She loved it. I never knew to do that with her. I so appreciate the Chinese women here. They smile and make a fuss about the baby. They love to see her and touch her and it draws quite a lot of attention. They are so very kind. I have a tag written in Chinese that I wear that says that I have adopted her and will be bringing her home to the United States. This helps them to understand why we have a Chinese baby.

Before that we went to the Super WalMart in Changsha--I know..I laughed too when I heard that there was a Super WalMart here. We bought a stroller and some more goodies for us all.

After Stacie's nap there is a birthday party dinner we will be having for her and all of the other babies for their adoption. Ike, our guide has even arranged a birthday cake for Stacie. What a wonderful day!

Thank you for praying for us and please continue to pray. God is doing amazing things throughout this trip and I give Him all the glory. Blessings to you. We will write later.--Sue

Tuesday, August 16 at 7:50 am Changsha, China time

While Stacie is still resting peacefully and the rest of the family is at breakfast, I couldn't help but add another picture for all of you to see. This picture was taken on the bus after returning from the governmental affairs office yesterday.

Gord

Tuesday, August 16, 6:45 am Changsha time

I just checked in with Sue (remember we're in two separate rooms because there's not enough room in one), and Stacie had a very good night last night! After falling asleep at about 9:45 pm last night in Sue's arms, she woke up at 1:30 am this morning and took a bottle. She slept until about 6 am, and then first cuddled with Sue and then had some more to eat. (By the way, she also had some rice and other food last night at dinner.) She then fell asleep again and now is resting as I write this.

She is truly a blessing to our family. There are so many things we can talk about . . . and Sue will write about those things later today.

In terms of pictures, I'm having a lot of trouble uploading multiple pictures. I then tried to add just one picture but it is showing up three times. I don't want to take any chances by trying it again, so attached are 3 copies of the same picture (I think it shows up that way). As you can tell, she is very happy and a joy to our family. She's also full of energy and will keep us busy!!

By the way, as a special bonus, today is Stacie's one year birthday! I understand that our guide has arranged for a mini-birthday party for her. What a gift she has been to us already!

Thanks for all of your prayers - they have been answered in many ways. Blessings on all of you.

Gord

Monday, August 15 at 9:15 pm Changsha time (Hunan Province)

Today was an extraordinary and great day. We traveled to Changsha in the Hunan Province and at about 3:15 pm today we met our new daughter Stacie Meng Toering! (At the last minute we decided to spell her name "Stacie"). I've tried to attach pictures to this post today, but once again uploading files is a problem - I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow morning.

Stacie has been so wonderful today. She is very content and she has smiled, laughed, stood up in her crib, played some fun and games type of stuff with the kids, and even as of this point has not cried even once. She's falling asleep on Sue's arms as I write this. She's pretty amazing.

We'll have lots more details tomorrow, including hopefully pictures. Suffice it to say it's been a busy and exciting day today!

Gord

Sunday, August 14 at about 7:30 pm Beijing time

Hi! It's us again. Thanks for all of your posts on our blog - we appreciate reading them! As I mentioned in my earlier e-mail, I can't access them on our blog because we can't access that website, but that doesn't matter because your comments are automatically sent to my (Gord's) e-mail. So keep sending them!

Sue's going to do today's blog (which was a very busy day). I picked out 10 pictures to attach to today's post, but for whatever reason it is taking forever to upload the pictures right now - I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the volume of traffic on the Internet because I don't think we have true high speed internet. So, for now I'll pass on the pictures and hopefully attach them the next time.

Okay, now Sue's taking over:

As Gord mentioned it was a very busy day. After breakfast we met up with our group of families who are adopting from Hunan and left for Tiananmen Square. It was so filled with people that it was overwhelming. We had to stay together with our guide and that was not always an easy task. Again the heat and humidity were almost oppressive. I can't even imagine what Hunan will be like tomorrow--it is predicted to be over 100 degrees. We saw a lot of officials at Tiananmen Square. We say someone climb over a small fense (perhaps to protest) and he was quickly escorted away. It is hard to think that someone knowing full well the consequences of their actions would still take the chance. But again that happens in the states too.

We didn't stay long in the square and then went into the Forbidden City. We walked for about three miles. Next we went to lunch at the Friendship Store. The food was great and the air conditioning a relief. After going through the cloisinar factory we were off to see and climb the Great Wall of China. Gord, Stephanie and Ryan climbed the steep side and made it very far-the third tower! Sarah and I climbed just a part of the east side of the Great Wall. (It's been a long time since I have had that kind of a work out.)

We are all getting sleepy and tomorrow we fly out very early to Changsha, Hunan! The big day is coming upon us very quickly! In the afternoon we will go to the civil affairs office to meet our baby and we will become a family of six. I can't wait to meet Stacie and hold her and let her know how very much I love her. I am ready to burst because of my emotions. I am one lucky mother and feel so blessed that I can have her in my life. The song "Held" by Natalie Grant is such a special song for me and the words reflect a lot of what I am thinking at the moment. Well it is time to try to get some sleep--I am so excited that it might be difficult--I can't help but think of tomorrw night and how my life will be wonderfully changed.

Monday, August 15 at about 4:35 am Beijing time

Well, today's the big day! I woke up early again and couldn't get back to sleep, in part because I was thinking about today. It was great meeting the rest of our group yesterday that we will be traveling with. It's so nice to share the journey with others.

We have to be ready to leave for the airport at 6:30 am, and so once again I have limited time. I did want to post a couple of pictures from yesterday before we left, however. I tried to upload several pictures yesterday and things were too slow. Fortunately it worked now, but I've only attached two pictures due to time problems. The two pictures that are attached are a picture of us at the Great Wall and a picture of us in front of the Forbidden City (actually, I think it's the Imperial City at this point but basically it's the same thing).

As I was uploading the pictures, Sue stopped by and was ready to roll at about 4:40 am. She said that she has been awake since 1:30 (I woke up at almost the identical time) and she hasn't been able to sleep since (nor have I). She's excited, I'm excited, and we're ready to roll!

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and prayers. We appreciate them!

Gord


Att

Sunday August 14 about 5:30 am

It's really early in the morning right now on Sunday - I haven't been able to sleep for a while and so I thought I would get up and update the blog. Not sure if I'm still feeling the effects of jet lag or what. The good part is, though, that the internet connection seems to be working well right now - I've had some problems in the past.

I'm writing this without having the benefit of what Sue wrote on Friday. That's because, despite several tries, I can't access the toering family blog site. I don't seem to have a problem accessing other sites that aren't blogs, so it makes me wonder whether blogs are restricted in China - I don't want to say anything more about that issue, though, for perhaps obvious reasons.

Before I begin, I want to attach a few pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have the latest because our camera is in Sue's room and right now she's obviously asleep. (By the way, we need two rooms because the hotels we are staying at don't allow 5 people in a room, even for a suite, and so we have to always get two rooms). Anyway, attached are 3 pictures from a few days ago. There's a picture of our family on the streets of Beijing (including one of the shopping areas), then a picture of Sue negotiating with one of the sales people in Silk Market for a purse, and then finally a picture of some of us at the grocery store right across the street from the hotel. We go there every day to buy bottled water, pop, etc. and the selection is pretty good and of course the prices are quite reasonable.

If I have time, I'll try to attach some more pictures before we begin our day today. I'm not sure I'll make it in time though because today is a busy day - we're heading to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. It's the biggest touring day for us of all the days. It's supposed to be another hot one today - temps in the 90s plus high humidity. The humidity is the biggest issue here right now - since we've been here I think that the humidity has been 100% every day. Hopefully all of us will be able to bear the heat today because we're doing a lot of walking (including up the Great Wall).

Speaking of heat, we really didn't do a lot during the day yesterday because of the heat. The kids (understandably) wanted to stay and swim at the pool and so we did that. We thought about going to the Beijing Zoo but decided against it - and we're glad we did because we talked with another family who did go to the zoo yesterday and they said it was very run down (and of course hot).

More significantly, we also walked around the local area by the hotel yesterday. There's constant activity around there - cars beeping their horns, bike taxis, regular bikes, etc. The most striking thing to me was the number of shops on the streets run by sole proprietors that are very small in size - they might have 5 to 8 feet of street frontage and they aren't very deep either. The proprietors, though, are sitting there in the heat hoping for customers - and I didn't see very many of those at all. I suspect that these business owners work 7 days a week and probably earn very little money. I don't know exactly how best to respond to this - but I wish there were a way out for them and a hope for a different future. If I had more time right now I'd want to say more about this . . .

Last night we went to a local Chinese restaurant for the first time. We had fried corn, beans and beef, and chicken. It was pretty good food and the kids thought it was okay too - except that it took Sarah a little while to figure out how to use the chopsticks!

Since my time is limited this morning, I thought I would end by giving my overall impressions so far. China is a country of contrasts - it does have some modern buildings with lots of lights, etc. (which reminds me of Tokyo), but it seems to me based on our limited time here that this is the exception rather than the rule. More often we see people living in conditions that are not good, and I think that many of them work a lot of hours to do that.

For me personally, this trip is kind of different as well. On the one hand, it's an exciting family vacation for the family and me and we can do all the vacation-type of stuff (i.e., shop, see the Great Wall, etc.). But then I see the poverty and that makes me wonder whether I can simply ignore that, and I can't. So that affects me.

And then, of course, it's more than a vacation - it's a trip to pick up our new daughter. That is supposed to happen tomorrow (Monday) and that hasn't hit me yet. This process has been long and now we're really going to meet Stacie tomorrow (we still haven't decided how to spell her name yet, by the way). I don't know what kind of emotions will come over me, and I'm not sure I'm totally prepared . . . but I guess that's just like any other child birth, right? Right now, I'm almost a little nervous thinking about it - I'm sure it will be an incredible experience tomorrow but it just hasn't hit me yet. Perhaps it will hit me today when we meet the other 10 families that we will be traveling with to the Hunan province tomorrow.

Speaking of meeting the other families, I've got to run. There's a bunch of stuff that needs to be done before we leave, and so I better end this now. If I don't have time to post new pictures, then I'll do that in our next update. Take care and God bless.

Gord

Friday, August 12 at about 10 pm (Beijing time)

We're now in Beijing! It took some figuring out by the hotel's computer department, but we now have access to the internet. Supposedly we have high speed broadband, but it doesn't seem to be that much faster than normal dial-up service.

We're all pretty tired, but I thought that I would give an update yet tonight and Gord will add in some additional stuff tomorrow along with pictures.

After a four hour delay in Chicago we arrived on Thursday evening around 6:30 pm. It was certainly a long flight but we were able to catch a couple hours of sleep. We met a family that sat in front of us who are also going to Hunan for their daughter-their second adoption from China. The mother had a lot of great advice for me. Their three year old daughter, Soo Lyn, kept Stephanie, Sarah and Ryan entertained for a large part of the trip. We will be staying at the same hotel in Hunan as them so we will see them on Monday.

The airport in Beijing was so quiet and we went through customs very quickly. Our guide Ike met us and our shuttle driver swiftly delivered us to our hotel. During the five minute trip I saw bikes, cars and people all traveling the same road. It didn't seem like traffic rules apply here. Because it was getting dark the whole experience seemed sureal. I felt as though I was in the middle of a dream. Not many people were smiling--I had felt a sense on saddness here--just a different feeling than what I feel back at home. The dense fog and heavy humidity and heat was one that I will never forget. The pace seemed so fast and I was on slow motion at that point. Right after checking into our hotel we went with our guide to buy bottled water and some coke. We have to use bottled water to brush our teeth--otherwise we could get pretty sick. Gord, Ryan and Sarah went swimming and had a great time. It is an indoor-outdoor pool and Ryan claims that it's the best one yet.

Our hotel is very nice. It just hits me hard when it is a four star hotel and just down the street is what we would consider poverty. I feel somewhat guilty walking onto this beautiful area, where security is evident, when I know that others are barely getting by. I feel like we live in a castle at home in Jenison.

Today, after a wonderful "western" breakfast we went shopping downtown Beijing. We took the shuttle and then walked to the Silk Market place. It was really odd being stared at by so many people. I think Gord's 6'7" height along with having three children with us made us stand out. The silk market place is one huge adventure. Everyone had little shops that were about 8' x 8'. They wanted us to buy their goods. They would say things to try to get us to look at their products. Like "You open my business--first one--I give good deal to you--nice family--you like?--final price--we be friends--I give to you--no one else--" You get the picture. Well we walked out of there with Purses, wallets, belts, and a lot of fun dealing for hardly any money. But they did really wear us down. If you go to China--don't pay what they ask you to pay. I got a great leather purse and small leather clutch bag for only 25.00 when they originally wanted around $100.00. Gord's negotiating skills came in very handy--he did far better than I did. I
guess he has had a lot more practice than I have.

Then it was off to the Marketplace. On the way it was so sad to see a little two year old child begging for money while her parent was near by. It seemed so unfair. It nearly broke my heart.

We also walked to another marketplace where many of the locals get their goods. Another facinating adventure. This time Stephanie even got in on bargaining. While Sarah and I were in McDonalds outside, three different people wanted pictures of Gord, Stephanie and Ryan--I guess it is because they don't see many people with American children. We were told to expect the picture taking-- but is still seems odd. Next time we go out we will bring stickers and lifesavers that we brought along for the kids to hand out to other children. We thought it would be a nice gesture of friendship.

We finally found a taxi that would take all five of us back to the hotel. We were so tired of walking and figured we had walked around five miles to go to the shopping areas. We made it back to our hotel and ate granola bars for dinner. Gord and Ryan went swimming, and now everyone is sleeping except for me.

Gord will fill you in on any details tomorrow that I missed since I am getting sleepy too. By the way, you will never guess what we had for lunch--McDonalds. They are everywhere! Where else can five people eat value meals in China for under $12.00 total? It is amazing to see how China is becoming so "western".

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Well, I have no idea what I am doing, but I'm going to try to create a blog for our family's trip to China. Hopefully it will work!

Sue, Stephanie, Sarah, Ryan and I will all be going to China. We're all very excited about it - it's been a long time and we can't wait to get our new daughter! Her real name is Yang Fu Meng. I think she is called "Meng Meng" by the people in the orphanage. We haven't fully decided what we're going to name her, but I think it's going to be Stacie MengToering (we might change the spelling of Stacie - it may be Stacy or Stacey). She lives in the Hunan province of China.

Okay, here are the plans. We're leaving on August 10 and we're returning on August 26. We first go to Beijing for 4 days or so to sight see, etc. We'll see the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and other stuff. Then we'll head to Changsha, which is the capital of the Hunan province. There we're going to pick up our new daughter! We'll be there for about 7 days. Then we head to Guangzhou, and we spend 2 nights there and get the final paperwork finished. Then finally we spend 2 nights in Hong Kong - not because it's required, but because we really want to see what Hong Kong is like.

For those of you that are interested, here's our flight schedule:

Departure:8/10 Grand Rapids/Chicago UA7577, Leaving GR 10:33 am, Arriving Chicago 10:30 am
8/10 Chicago/Beijing UA851, Leaving Chicago 12:00 noon, Arriving Beijing 2:30 pm on 8/11

Return flight:

8/26 Hong Kong/Chicago UA896, Leaving Hong Kong 12:45 pm and Arriving Chicago 2:25 pm
8/26 Chicago/Grand Rapids UA5396, Leaving Chicago 3:45 pm, Arriving Grand Rapids 5:40pm

All of the stuff above isn't that important - what's important is picking up our new daughter (I don't dare say her new name again because I don't know how we're going to spell it!). I'm attaching the only pictures we have of her right now in case you haven't already seen them. Hopefully we'll be able to post many more pictures in the coming days.

Well, I've got to go right now and see if this blog-stuff works! Look forward to hearing from many of you!

Gord, Sue, Stephanie, Sarah and Ryan