Sleeping Beauties!

Proof is in the picture. These three girls truly love each other and were meant to be together forever. Jailynn is proud of her new sister and leads her around all over the house and plays with her. Jaidyn loves both Jordyn and Jailynn. She is also playing very well with Noah and JonMarc. She will meet her big sisters later today when we will finally be home all together!!

At the Airport

Happy partial family reunion at the airport

Chaos at the airport!

Three Forever Sisters!

Pics from the zoo

One more update of the zoo.

Jaidyn looking at the Chimp in the second picture. He looked like an old wise sad soul.

Jaidyn and Baba looking at the baby chimps. I caught her by suprise to get a picture. She hids from the camera and does not want a picture taken. We found out later that she gave us a hard time at the zoo because she only wanted to watch the monkeys. Oh well, If we had only known.

Haiving a heart to heart with Momma and our guide on the phone. Please be a good girl and have fun at the zoo.

Jaidn loved the Tigers.

Jaidyn and Baba riding the hose and carraige together.

Jaidyn loved the rides and cars. She was better after that and some ice cream always makes things better.

We finished our trip to the zoo with the animal show. I am not sure if you can tell, but this is a black bear riding a bike. They had a hook in his mouth to control him and when he did a trick they gave him a treat but led him with the wire hook in his mouth. It was a sad, sad thing to witness. Cruelty to animals...anyone???Where is the spca animal cops when you need them? They also had monkeys riding a bike too and that was tolerable I guess, but the bear just broke my heart. SO sad!! They also had the Tigers jump through the hoops and some other animal tricks. I could not get over the bear. They also made the bear walk a tight rope carrying an umbrella.

Finally, the Panda made the trip worthwhle...well, except for the behavior problem and the terrible, inhumane animal show. I know Jaidyn was confused and had never been to the zoo before so she did not know how to experence it. I think it was overwhelming and she can't understand us so that does not help anything. I am happy to report that she was 100% better today and even held my hand.

We are making huge progress. Only 2 more days until we come home!!!

Finally...time to post!

Last day in Changsha

Description of pics. Since I'm emailing this post I can't put the labels with the pics, sorry. ;o)

1. Breakfast with Ba ba.

2.  In the lobby with Ba ba...she would not take a picture with Mama :(

3. On the airplane to Guanzhou. Jaidyn loved the airpane and was not afraid at all. She loves the little green game and plays it all the time.

After Changsha things got harder. I was feeling bad the last 2 days and had a bad day with Jaidyn yesterday. She was not happy with me and pretty much rejecting me and showing more anger towards me. We took her to the zoo and I think it was overwhelming for her. She was more angry and did not want to hold our hands or go with us. She was yelling at us and probably saying some really bad things to us in Chinese. We could not understand her and we were getting alot of shocked and angry looks from the onlookers. We hoped for a good time of fun and bonding at the zoo but it turned out to be a huge fail! We were both embarassed and exasperated and did not know what to do.

I thought I'd call our guide and try and get her to talk to Jaidyn and see if that would help, but I did not have our guides number so I just started redialing numbers that i knew were local China numbers and finally talked to another guide. The guide helped to explain to her what we were doing and that we wanted her to hold our hands and walk wth us to see the animals. She would only hold Tim's hand and finally started to act a little better.

We went to dinner at Lucy's (in Guangzhou of course) and she was much better. She started to cry at dinner and grieved very hard. We had to call our guide Amy to talk with her an explain everything to her. She calmed down and went to sleep after that and then I cried. I just had such a sad day that was not what I hoped for.

Today was much better for us thank the Lord. She actually went to the medical clinic with me and held my hand. This was a first and I was really happy. Its the small things that make me smile :). We walked around Shamian Island for a long time today and had a very good time together. We are going to dinner at Lucy's tonight with some other families.
Please continue the prayers for our bonding and her peace with her new family.
Melanie

Prayers needed...

Hello Everyone,

As you know we are in China adopting our 8 yr old daughter. 

We are finally in Guanzhou and we have 6 days left. We are in need of prayer for our daughter to adjust and begin bonding with us. She is having a hard time and she is greiving. She has formed a bond with another family that has a boy her age and she is much happier when we are with them. I understand that it is confusing to her and she really likes playing with the other boy. It is still hard for me as her Mom. She is distant towards me and will only hold hands with the other family. We are in different hotels in Guanzhou and she was very upset to have to stay with us and go to another hotel although we explained all this to her with our guide. 

I can only imagine how confusing and hard this is for her. Please pray that she will begin to trust us and we will be able to bond with her while in Guanzhou. 

The point of me and my husband traveling together without any of our children was for the time alone with her for bonding. So far that is not working out well. 

Please pray for God to intervene and begin to soften her heart towards us. We are trying very hard with her. Also, please pray for our family during the transistion when we come home and for safe travels and a special time during Christmas.

Thank you,

Melanie and Tim

Changsha Park and the Embroidery Museum and Factory

Today has been so much better. Jaidyn has come out of her shell more and showing more of her personality. She is very smart and asks lots of questions to our Guide Amy. We went to the Changsha Park.  is the entrance to the park. everything is decorated for Chinese New Years.


Jaidyn loved the park. She rode the carousel and bumper cars and had so much fun. This was the first time she has ever had this experience. 

We went with another family and she loves the little boy named Mason. She as become friends with him and talks to him constantly. Mason said that he wished he could speak Mandarin and talk with her. 


Jaidyn would not let me take any pictures of her by herself and wanted Mason in all the pictures with her. I tried to sneak some pictures but she was watching me very closely and would move as soon as she saw the camera in her direction. She has alot of personality and she is really funny at times. 

She finally let me have a picture taken with her! 

Jaidyn is feeding a Koi fish with a bottle. She kept saying "come eat little fish so you can grow taller!" She was so cute!

 Jaidyn loved feeding the fish! She kept talking to them and
 telling them to come eat and grow taller.

We also went to the embroidery Museum and factory. Changsha is famous in China for the embroidery and it is very detailed and beautiful. Some of the pieces take 6 months or 2-3 years to complete. 

 Jaidyn with Mason's family standing in front of beautiful embroidery artwork.

Gothca Day!! Finally!!! We have our girl!!!

Gotcha Day has finally arrived and we have our beautiful girl!!  

We arrived at the Civil affairs office early and waited for her to arrive. Tim saw her first through the window with Director DIng and Ms. Wu. Jaidyn was very shy at first and did not want to leave Director Ding's side. She seemed very timid. We talked with the Director and Ms Wu and showed them the pictures of Jordyn and Jailynn. We showed Jaidyn the pictures of her big sisters and she seemed to warm up to us a little. She said she remembered them and we told her that they were her big sisters waiting for her to come home in America. I felt sad that they were not here with us to share in this moment and I also thought it would help Jaidyn to have them here. 

We signed the necessary paperwork and left the Civil Affairs office to go shopping for supplies...water, drinks, and snacks. Director Ding invited us to have lunch and we enjoyed a very special time visiting with him. He is very happy that all three girls will grow up together and he asked lots of questions about Jordyn, Jailynn, and our family. Jaidyn had a big appetite and ate very well. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and now she is watching TV. 

She is still shy around us but I hope that she will come out of her shell and trust us. So far she has not been interested in any of the things that I brought for her...a Barbie, stuffed teddy bear, and paper doll toy. I think she may like different kinds of toys. 

I wish that I had learned more mandarin to talk to her because we are not communicating at all yet. I know that will come in time. She is very beautiful and sweet!

     

New blog...new life!! 1st post!

This has been a very long awaited trip...and has been a long time in the making.  We can see God's hand in everything, and can hardly wait to get our baby girl home with her brothers and sisters.  What an amazing Christmas this will be!

Since I left without setting up the blog to accept email posts, and since you can't see Blogger here in China, to work on it, I had a friend set up a new one for me.  She will also be posting a lot of our pics until I can figure out the email posting she has set up.  I know that our friends and family would like to follow along, so here goes! 

We are finally in Changsha and we will meet Jaidyn in in a few hours. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. We are here with another family getting a baby so that has been good. 

We have been very tired from jetlag and sleeping at the wrong times but as long as we are getting sleep that is what is important. The pics are just of us in Beijing. Beijing was fun but I am just ready to get Jaidyn. 

The first 2 pics are of us at the airport eating lunch and an example of traveling without any sleep looks like...NO....I did not have any alcohol. lol

Next is the view from our hotel room

Tianemen square...we look fat because we had on lots of clothes to keep warm...

or we are just old and fat. lol

Next is the Forbidden city

 Tim ponting the way out o the Forbidden city because you think you will never get out...

it goes on for miles.

Last pics of us at the Great Wall. It was windy and cold and you can see my ida of climbing. I got high enough to see a little and went back to the warm van. I was not up to climbing in the cold. Tim climbed to the third tower and took pics.