One more sleep...

Little Angels, until they wake up

Sticker Mania

The Yellow River

Can't go ANYWHERE without going to Walmart

Until we are in Guangzhou and that much closer to home!! But first let me finish yesterday's post. My keyboard seems a little more cooperative today.

Yesterday we began to see even more of Sierra's strong willful side. And she was even mad at her beloved Baba. In fact so mad she would have nothing to do with either of us and only wanted our guide! While we were at the Shoalin Temple watching the show, Tim put a hat on Sierra and she DID NOT want it on. Even though we were inside it was freezing and she needed the hat on. Well, Tim put it on her and she proceeded to pout, our guide took her and cuddled with her. We were not too happy about this as we need to be bonding with her and showing her we are her parents. After this Sierra would NOT go to either one of us. We eventually got her to play with us some, but she would go right back to our guide. We thought we were in for real trouble when we got back to the hotel and our guide left. But Sierra went right with us and trotted up to the room as if nothing happened.

We are continuing to see little power struggles, but I think eventually she will learn. At least we do not see any full out fits and crying or screaming!! But she definitely does not like to be told no. She also needs to learn to share and to be gentle. She is used to shoving, pushing and just grabbing what she wants. But Syd is not about to take it lying down! And sometimes I find myself cheering her on. I know, bad Mama!

Well, onto today. It was a very relaxing day and we were very glad for this. We had a late breakfast and then met our guide to see the Yellow River. The Yellow River is the "Mother" river for China, because it provides irrigation for so much farm land. And this river is actually yellow in color. We were told there is so much sand from this river and it gives it the yellow color. China removes about 1 million kilos of sand from the river every year. It is taken to the ocean and also to different provinces to be used in building.

During the Japanese invasion of China, it was in Zhengzhou that the Chinese Govt opened up the dam to flood the local area. Millions lost their lives, many more Chinese than Japanese. The Yellow River floods almost yearly because it is so far above sea level. They have built dams to try to control this.

At the present time the river is very low and in fact boats are unable to navigate the river. This is due to it being winter and the river is frozen in the north. We were told the only fish in the river are carp and they are only about one foot long.

After the Yellow River we came back to our room and have been packing and just relaxing. Again, an oxymoron with 2 four year olds! The girls have been playing with flash lights, bubbles and their stickers. Hope they last for another week!

Tomorrow we are onto Guangzhou and we can't wait for the warm weather to be able to get out and walk some. To burn off some of the girls energy. Not sure if I will post again tomorrow or not. We will be getting settled in at the White Swan.

Good Night from Zhengzhou!

Shoalin Monks

Today we went to the Shoalin Temple. What an interesting place! We are not Buddhists and only have one God, but I don't think that means we should not learn about other beliefs. The Shoalin Monks and their temple have been around for over 1500 years. The temple is hidden in the forest of the Song Shan Mountains. The temple itself has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. There are only about 100 actual Shoalin Monks at the temple, but there are around 50,000 students in the area schools. The only govt sanctioned school and the only one to produce actual Shoalin Monks is on the temple grounds. It is said to be very difficult to become a monk. There are 100 schools in the area for students to learn at but they can not become monks. They can go to the schools as young as 3 years old.

We were very fortunate to see the area and learn from a master who teaches the Shoalin Monks Kung Fu boxing. He is a friend of our driver and we got to travel by van throughout the grounds, instead of a cold open air bus!

At the demonstration, Tim had his picture made with the monks beforehand. The demo was amazing. We were inside, but there still was no heat. The monks were thinly dressed and seemed unfazed by the cold. At one pt, a monk broke a steel rod over his head. Tim and I were both going to offer him a Goody powder! Another had a balloon behind a plate of glass and drove a nail through the glass and popped the balloon without breaking the glass. It just left a tiny hole where the nail went through.

We then went to the Pagoda Forest. This is where the monks are buried and a stone tomb is built for them. The higher a pagoda is built, the greater the contribution of the monk to the temple. We then went to the temple and the surrounding buildings. It was very interesting to learn of the history and their beliefs. The current Abbott, head monk, is very young at 40 yrs old. He came to the temple at age 19.

Just because I can't get over this hair

yd and Sierra gang up on Samie!

Founder of Shoalin Monks
Tim and the monks
Monk breaking steel bar over his head



Breaking the balloon with a nail through a plate of glass

Students practicing outside
Pagoda Forest

Temple

It's Official!

Sierra at the CAB

Us with the Registrars at the CAB

Silly Syd with Daddy's C-pap mask on
Sierra fixing Samie's hair

Now it's Sydney's turn

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Bureau to make the adoption official. This time around is very different than with Sydney. We were rushed from office to office and it did not seem to matter if you made a mistake on the paperwork, just cross through it and keep on going. We have felt very rushed this whole process. Unlike the wait to get LOA! With Sydney we all got together with our guide and filled out our paperwork. If you made a mistake, white out. On some documents you place your thumb print in ink over your signature. With Sydney's process it had to be perfect. Just the right amount of ink. Our guide even made us practice. With Sierra's paperwork, uh.. not so much. But it is finally official!!! And in this province the fees were much less than the average we were quoted. Another Yipee!!

After the official business we went to Walmart to get Sierra a coat that fit her. Samie was amazed at all the sites and had her camera out. After lunch we came back to the room to just relax. Yeah, like that's going to happen with 2 four year olds! But Tim did take them into the other room so I could get a nap. Sierra is very much a Daddy's girl so she did not mind. Tim has waited a long time to get one of those. Sydney gets jealous some times but as long as she has Mommy she doesn't mind too much.

There are some things we will definitely need to work on when we get home. Sierra is very strong willed and very loud and plays rough. She also has NO table manners. The orphanage sends a description of your child's schedule and their personality. We wonder who they were writing about when they wrote out Sierra's. They describe her as a very good girl, tell her no and she stops doing what she was....NOT. But they were accurate in saying she is very smart, she is picking up English very quickly. Samie is a little mother hen and is teaching her how to say things and what to do. An obsessive mother hen, but she has been a great help!

Hopefully tonight will be an early night, we are off to the Shoalin Monks tomorrow. Samie says she is NOT going to volunteer for any demonstrations.

Sierra has landed!!!!

Of These Three Things (I promise I will get a better picture of them!!)
Splish splashing in the bath

All three girls are sound asleep right now, Sierra clutching her photo album of us that we sent to her.

We were up bright and early, OK not so bright, but plenty early! We left for the airport at 5:45AM, Myriam had gotten stuck at the airport too and was going back with us to try and help Charlotte with the families that had gotten stuck in Beijing. Dawn and Jeff were fortunate and got off late last night. The rest, not so lucky. But we were ready to go. Our flight was scheduled for 7:40 and we finally got in the air at 9:42. It was a short and uneventful flight. We were taken to our hotel and had time to eat and get the gifts ready and we were off. At the Civil Affairs Bureau we could see our girl peeking out the glass door. Our guide took Sydney off the van first and took her into the building. When we came in Sydney and Sierra were hugging!! Then Samie got a hug, Mommy and then Daddy. The whole time Sierra was saying Mama, Baba. She has not shed a tear, when the orphanage director, nanny and teacher left she waved and said good-bye to them. She is non-stop energy, gives lots of hugs and kisses. She seems to love her sisters, we have had a few moments of jealousy on both parts. Sierra is very possessive of her things. But then again so is Sydney.

We came back to the hotel and gave the girls a bath. Sierra was the only one who REALLY needed one, but we let her and Sydney play together and they loved it. Sierra is very sturdy, she was dressed in layers of clothes and when we peeled them off we found she was not chubby as all the layers suggest, just very muscular. Her hair is naturally wavey and very thick and coarse. She does have a slight cold but otherwise seems fine.

I am off to join everyone else is slumberland.

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto, but we are still stuck in Beijing!

The scene outside our hotel this morning

Salt throwing trucks on the Beijing highways
Snow shoveling, I mean snow sweepng

2 bored little girls waiting in the airport

OK, I still need to catch you up on yesterday at the Great Wall, but we are stuck in Beijing and I am exhausted. We woke up yesterday to snow on the ground. We had just asked our guide Charlotte if it might snow and she said probably not since it usually only snowed in Beijing 2-3 times a year and then melted very quickly. Well, the next day it snowed. That was yesterday, then again this morning we awoke to snow and it. has. not. stopped. snowing. since. Almost all flights going in and out of Beijing are cancelled. We are now due to fly out tomorrow at 7:40am and we are unsure if this will happen since it is STILL snowing!!

We are unsure how the rest of our schedule will be rearranged or when we will get Sierra, we should find out later tonight. For now I will leave you with a few pictures from today. I will still catch up with the Great Wall pics later.

Note from me Donna, posting for Sandy...She sent this to me at 6am EST Sunday so that would be 7pm in China on Sunday night!...Hoping she get somewhere soon!

Day 1

Today we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Silk Factory and a Flea Market. Tim and I have been to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square when we came to adopt Sydney. But this time we were traveling with celebrities! Samie was mobbed by women wanting her to get in their pictures. She was beginning to become a little freaked! She kept making sure where Tim or I were at all times. After the first few times we had to start saying NO!! They would pull her along and yank off her hat and all try to touch her. Then poor Sydney, she had people stare at her and then look at us and then look back at her. I imagine they were trying to figure out how such a beautiful little girl got stuck with the Americans. We even had oneolder lady try to zip her jacket up to her chin and Syd was having nothing of it. She hates to be bundled and in China they bundle their youngsters so they look like little Mich@lin people. Charlotte, our guide, had to fend her off.

After the Forbidden City we went to lunch at a noodle house. Very good, but not near as good as the noodle house we had found on our last trip. We then walked over to the Silk Factory. The girls enjoyed that, Syd liked playing with the coccoons and Sam got to stretch some of the silk. We ended up buying each of the girls a silk comforter and cover. Very beautiful!

Then it was on to an inside Flea Market. Charlotte taught us how to bargain some and what we should actually be paying for some of the items. We were mainly interested in finding Syd some snow pants for tomorrow at the Great Wall. Even with long johns and jeans on she was freezing today. We did find some and got them down to 100 Yuan. That's about $14. Not too bad.

We were on our own for dinner and all the families got together and went to a place right across from our hotel. It was wonderful!! Samie was a little freaked at my prawns with their eyes staring back at her. But she was able to order pizza which was pretty good.

Tomorrow we will try to conquer the Great Wall. We may do the Acrobat show and get Peking Duck after. We'll see how we are doing.

Good night from Beijing!! We are tired, everyone but me is already in bed.

Enjoy the Photos....................

Sydney all bundled up for The Forbidden City

Local celebrity gets mobbed

Sydney examines the silk coccoons
Samie pulls the silk thread
Sam, Syd and Tim at Tiananmen Square
Sam, Syd and Mom in front of Mao's Tom

Today we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Silk Factory and a Flea Market. Tim and I have been to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square when we came to adopt Sydney. But this time we were traveling with celebrities! Samie was mobbed by women wanting her to get in their pictures. She was beginning to become a little freaked! She kept making sure where Tim or I were at all times. After the first few times we had to start saying NO!! They would pull her along and yank off her hat and all try to touch her. Then poor Sydney, she had people stare at her and then look at us and then look back at her. I imagine they were trying to figure out how such a beautiful little girl got stuck with the Americans. We even had oneolder lady try to zip her jacket up to her chin and Syd was having nothing of it. She hates to be bundled and in China they bundle their youngsters so they look like little Mich@lin people. Charlotte, our guide, had to fend her off.

After the Forbidden City we went to lunch at a noodle house. Very good, but not near as good as the noodle house we had found on our last trip. We then walked over to the Silk Factory. The girls enjoyed that, Syd liked playing with the coccoons and Sam got to stretch some of the silk. We ended up buying each of the girls a silk comforter and cover. Very beautiful!

Then it was on to an inside Flea Market. Charlotte taught us how to bargain some and what we should actually be paying for some of the items. We were mainly interested in finding Syd some snow pants for tomorrow at the Great Wall. Even with long johns and jeans on she was freezing today. We did find some and got them down to 100 Yuan. That's about $14. Not too bad.

We were on our own for dinner and all the families got together and went to a place right across from our hotel. It was wonderful!! Samie was a little freaked at my prawns with their eyes staring back at her. But she was able to order pizza which was pretty good.

Tomorrow we will try to conquer the Great Wall. We may do the Acrobat show and get Peking Duck after. We'll see how we are doing.

Good night from Beijing!! We are tired, everyone but me is already in bed.