A busy day

First off, I want to apologize for the delay in posting.  I have not been feeling well and can't seem to keep anything down these last 24 hours.  So this post will be brief.

We headed to the Jinci Temple in the morning.  The weather was extremely cool.  I think the high was only 72 degrees.  Thankfully I had leggings and a sweater for Havi.  It took about 40 minutes to arrive at the temple.  This is how Patrick looked throughout the morning, wearing two backpacks.

That's because we both wanted me to wear Havi in the carrier for bonding.  Taking photos while wearing a baby is a bit of a challenge.  So I didn't capture too many photos.

The temple is over 1,000 years old.  There were cypress trees that were 3,000 and 1,500 years old too.  Pretty impressive.

Caleb and Madeline had fun playing chase with Paul, who is five and a half and was adopted by Katie in our small provincial travel group.

It looks like Madeline is sitting on a tortoise, but it's really one of the dragon's sons.

Notice the photo bombers above?  Honestly there was nothing interesting behind me. lol.  The intended shot is below.

Caleb did stop to take photos. I can't wait to download them all when we return home.

There was a bell outside one of the buildings.  It reminded Caleb and me of the bell in the Meindert de Jong book, The Wheel on the School, although much smaller.

Once we exited, everybody wants to sell you something.

In the afternoon, we drove over to the orphanage to meet Havi's foster family.  Patrick went first.  This is her foster mom, foster brother, and his wife, just as I suspected from her cake party photos.

Havi fell asleep in Patrick's arms as I took my turn to meet the family.  It was very emotional.  Her foster mom and I both cried as soon as we saw each other.  And we held our hands tightly as we talked.

We took a very brief walk around the orphanage.  They have two therapy rooms.  This was one of them.  

It was very sad to see.  Infants up to preschoolers just laying in their beds....all quiet.

Then we drove over to the area when Havi was found.  The exact location wasn't identified in her finding ad.  But these are the streets that are mentioned.  There is a children's hospital down one of the streets.  So her birth mom most likely thought this would be a safe place to leave her. It was raining out.   So it was a bit difficult to take photos.

Well, we are just about ready to head to the airport for our flight to Guangzhou.  Our girl has really been a bit boisterous this afternoon.  So I'm sure this flight will be anything but quiet. lol  Tomorrow morning we will head to her medical exam.  We're looking forward to being in Guangzhou and getting some laundry done! 

Pingyao

Precious itty bitty dumpling was up at 5:00am this morning.  Patrick and I both got to spend some time with her before her brother and sister woke up.  We had to be up early and ready to meet our guide Mary at 8:30am.  Breakfast went the same as yesterday.  Havi went searching for her foster mom.  She actually walked Patrick right out the front of the hotel!  She did have more to eat.  So that was a plus.

We had an hour and a half drive to the ancient city of Pingyao, which is over 600 years old.  Havi fell asleep about 30 minutes into the drive...standing straight up and looking out the window.  If you haven't traveled in China with little ones, don't be alarmed at that previous statement. There are no child restraint seats here, unless you count the arms of an adult.

Anyway, we finally made it, and the very blatant staring began.  Patrick wore Havi in the carrier so I could be free to take photos.

We walked up to the top of the city wall.  There are 6 gates to the city, resembling a tortoise: one in the north, one in the south, and two in both the east and the west walls.  The tortoise symbolizes longevity.

The bigger dumplings had fun looking outside the city walls.

Then we walked along the city streets.  Notice the staring as Patrick fed Havi snacks and water.  Admittedly, they probably don't see many men carrying babies.  Still, we garnered a lot of attention. She did great in the carrier, by the way.  We walked along one street that used to have 22 banks.  Our guide Mary called it the ancient Chinese version of Wall Street.

Inside one of the bank courtyards, Madeline thought it was time for a photo shoot.

There are no cars along most of the streets in Pingyao.  Motorized bikes are a very popular mode of transportation here and all of China, for that matter.

Lanterns line the streets and are very pretty when lit up at night.

As we were heading out, I spotted a few Chinese children out on the street.

It was a lovely trip.  On the way back, Havi was very loud and animated.  She was such a hoot.  We arrived back at the hotel around 2:30pm.  Surprise surprise, Patrick headed out to grab lunch for all of us while we hung out in the room.  Poor poor baby girl grieved hard again, reaching at the door for her foster mom.  Then she was tapping at the window again and actually fell asleep with her hand still clinging to it.  She napped for about an hour, and when she woke up, she was so very sad.  After holding her and rocking her for about an hour, the sobbing began again.  She stopped crying when Caleb played Andrea Bocelli on his iPhone.  Then she started eating and perked right up.

Now this might be too much information for most of ya'll, but if you're a part of the adoption community, you'll understand my excitement when I tell you this next bit of news.  I have to stop and give props to my little girl (and mama too) because this newly adopted, grieving 18 month old actually did her business in the potty twice today!!!  I'm serious people.  I'm so proud of her.  How did she do it you might ask?  I held her like the Chinese people do, behind their kids' knees...but over a western potty.  Yep.  She's pretty awesome.

Well, the night ended with lots of noodles, hot and cold, bubbles, lollipops, and smiles.  She went to bed like a champ too, climbed right into our bed and laid down with us and fell asleep.

Tomorrow is a big day.  We will head to either the Jinci Temple (if the weather cooperates) or a museum (if it doesn't) in the morning and then to the orphanage and Havi's finding spot in the afternoon.  We will also have an opportunity to meet with the foster family.  We haven't decided yet which one of us will go and who will stay back with Havi.  It's so obvious their love for her.  She was so well taken care of.  She is constantly feeding us and sharing her food with us and smiles and laughs easily.  She is such a joy.  We are so very much in love with her and are so grateful for all the love her foster family showed her for the first 18 months of her life.

She's officially ours!

Oh yes she is!

This morning started off okay.  We had placed Havi in her crib last night while she slept.  She woke up in it without crying.  We got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast.  She ate two bites of her rice before she decided to start looking for her foster mother.  We quickly finished up and headed back upstairs.

We had a low key morning in the hotel because we had the paperwork to finalize Havi's adoption to do in the afternoon.  Diaper changes are super tough on our little girl.  She cries for her foster mother.  It's so sad to watch.  The whole concept of a diaper is so foreign to her.

Patrick and Madeline ventured outside the hotel in search of snacks and lunch.  Caleb had a great time playing with his littlest sister.

I love this shot above, despite how out of focus it is, because I find that crooked little smile irrestible.

Once Patrick and Madeline returned home, we had to eat some lunch and get ready to meet our guide.

The paperwork took an extremely long time.  Caleb and Madeline were such troopers hanging in there.

Havi had a good stash of snacks to keep her occupied.

She ended up falling asleep on the drive back to the hotel.  It was almost 5:00pm by then.  So we were all pretty exhausted.  Patrick headed back out (surprise surprise) to find some dinner and batteries for the Leapster.  The lack of functioning batteries triggered a pretty big grieving episode for our little girl.  She cried pretty hard for her foster mother and kept tapping at the window and pointing toward the door.  It is so heartbreaking to watch.  She eventually cried herself to sleep. Then when Patrick returned, he helped me move her to the bed.

Today was pretty rough for our littlest dumpling. She grieved a lot more today than yesterday.  That said, she also laughed a lot.  Caleb and I showed her how to kiss.  So now she reaches her face up to me so I can kiss her.  She also got a big kick out of me smothering her left arm with kisses.

Tomorrow we head to Pingyao, an ancient Chinese city about an hour and a half outside the city center.  We should be gone a good part of the day.  Please pray for our little girl, that diaper changes will get easier and that she will eat more during meal times.