Dorothy Was Right

There's no place like home! I'm looking for ways to keep myself awake at this point, in hopes of getting back on the right sleep schedule, so here goes our last entry. It's hard to believe it's over and she's an American citizen, a Nibley resident, and a very loved Snyder girl already.

We started our last day in China with our final guide Michelle. She first took us to a jade store. They create amazing pieces with intricate details using diamond "drill bits". My favorite was what they call a family ball. It's a small ball inside a larger one, and then they are inside a larger one. Sometimes they even have 4 layers, all made out of one piece of jade. Each ball represents one generation of the family.

Then we headed to the Great Wall, and tried to make up for our lack of exercising while we've been gone. We only hiked up one section of stairs, but it was incredible. It is beyond my comprehension how they created something so huge in the time era they did. I didn't realize how steep the mountains could be. Then add the heat to working conditions, and it is truly a wonder.


Next came a closinne factory, which really helped us to appreciate the beautiful vases we'd seen. Again, the detail is amazing.

Our final excursion was a Ming dynasty emporer's tomb. Beijing is very rich with culture and history, and it was actually fascinating right down to an emporer's final resting place.
We had some wait time in the airport but finally boarded the plane for America. Walking through the last gate in China really hit me. I'm taking a child away from everything she's ever known and can only hope it's the right choice. We left at 9 pm and were able to sleep quite a bit. Sadie did really well on the flights and slept more than I expected her to. Being so small helps make an airplane chair more comfortable. We went through immigration quite quickly and got her passport stamped, making her an official citizen. Throughout the whole adoption process small things really become meaningful--a paper in the mail you've been waiting for, an approval from a government, a picture of your child, etc. and the small things like a simple stamp continued to mean so much to us.

They served us breakfast on the end of one flight, then we ate dinner before our next flight. The time change this way is more confusing since we arrived in America three hours before we left China, but we'd had a 12 hour flight. Then from LAX to Salt Lake. Seeing the lights of Salt Lake from the airplane window was such a welcome sight and I was glad to feel reassured that yes, we had made the right choice, and this is where she belongs and will be loved and happy.
On the ride from Salt Lake to Nibley, we had a little problem with Sadie staying in her carseat correctly. I hate being the mean mom, but some things have to be learned. It just isn't fun sticking a child in a carseat after hours of airplanes, airport lines, shuttle buses, and cabs. We enjoyed the smooth car ride on smooth rodes on a quiet freeway roads with nothing but wide open space to look at.

We made it to our house at 2 am and finally got to sleep about 4:30 am. It's always a shock when I have to show her new things--drinking from a drinking fountain, brushing your teeth using the water coming out of the sink, how to pet a dog, jumping on the trampoline. Sara woke up for a few minutes and got a chance to say hi to her. Sadie had fun looking around the house and really wanted to go outside and play even though it was dark. The neighbors barking dog was too scary though. She seemed to like her room and was excited about the toys that were out. She wasn't very tired and cried a little when I put her in bed. I just rested on the floor and held her hand wishing I could explain this is home, you are safe and loved, and it will get better. We finally HAD to wake her up at 10 this morning, before the other kids burst from excitement. She gave each of them a small gift we'd brought from China and within a matter of minutes they were off playing, laughing and holding hands. We've almost had to set time limits for them each to have a turn. If we can keep her awake, she will sleep well tonight. It's been great seeing her happier than we ever have. I know we'll settle in, and it won't always be rosy, but today has been pretty close to perfect.

I wish we could express the thanks we feel to all those who have helped us throughout this time. Our kids are happy, the house is still standing, and we owe so many people more than we can ever repay. We are surrounded with kind and giving people and can't wait for Sadie Jiao to meet you all and grow to love you like we do.

Journey Toward Home 9/3/2009

You might be in China if.....
-- you'll willingly pay for internet just to talk to your kids for a few minutes....
-- your cab driver sees nothing wrong with speeding up when there's only 20 feet until there's a car that's not moving....
-- your bus driver drives like he's in a sports car even with 4 lanes of grid lock traffic....
-- a hamburger at McDonald's hasn't tasted so good since you were 7 years old....
-- you can't see very far in front of you from all the pollution.....
-- it seems like the sun is setting at 3:00 pm because of the pollution...
-- you can't get enough cold water and ice cream to help survive the humidity....
-- you see some amazing parks with lily ponds, flowers beds and rock creations (walls, sidewalks, decor)...
-- you automatically divide 7 into every price you're told to convert from RMB....
-- everywhere you look are extremely tall apartment buildings that look like they are inches apart from the next one....
-- the guy at the table next to you at dinner lights a cigarette while sitting under the "no smoking" sign....
Wow, it's really down to our last day here tomorrow. We flew to Beijing very early this morning and arrived at our hotel about 1 pm. We are located close to the airport but we are tired enough we probably won't even hear all the planes flying over us. We walked down a couple of streets looking for restaurants they suggested at the hotel. You feel mentally challenged trying to match up Chinese characters from a paper to the sign on the front of the stores. We finally found the place we were looking for and went inside. It was like someone pushed the mute button when we entered, and this place was packed. They wouldn't have stared harder had we been aliens from mars. I'm sure it was our stunning beauty that just left them speechless. We worked our way through ordering by pointing and a handful of Chinese words, and a kind waitress who let us know which dishes would be too hot for our wimpy western mouths! The chicken dish looked good, even after we discovered the foot that was in it, much to FuJiao Sadie's delight. Two weeks ago I probably wouldn't have touched this dish with a 10 foot pole, but today I slicked it right up, chopsticks and all.

On the way back to our hotel we passed a shoe store. Apparently the luck was just beginning with the chicken foot in our lunch, because FuJiao Sadie tried on and WANTED a pair of closed toed shoes. Of course they are silver and light up, so what girl would pass them up. We just really wanted her to have something comfy for hiking the great wall tomorrow. I bet she's never owned a pair a socks, seeing as how she'd never have needed them.

Todd couldn't face another day in a hotel so we took the shuttle downtown, followed by a cab ride. This is where the luck ran out and the carsickness began. I guess the luck returned since we had a plastic bag that was highly needed! Poor girl, drug all over China by her rotten parents. We visited Tie'animan Square from a distance of across the street. After all, it's a large cement square, so the picture from afar was fine, safer, and less walking. We tried to go in the Forbidden City, but found out it was named correctly......it's was closed by the time we got there. But we can say we were there and took a few pictures. We visited a beautiful park next door and all together walked at least 50 miles! Again, rotten parents! We didn't improve any and chose McD's for dinner. Needless to say, we had a very happy girl once we got back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we check out of our hotel at 9 am and will go to the Great Wall. Seems like the perfect culmination for a China adventure. Our flight leaves at 9 pm, so we will have another full day. FuJiao Sadie should sleep most of the way the America--we hope! So......15 days, 100's of pictures, countless cab rides, 3 Chinese guides, and 1 new Snyder later, we are coming home! See you soon!

A Day To Remember 9/1/2009

First I want to start by telling everyone thank you for birthday wishes and words of encouragement. I've enjoyed receiving over a dozen emails and they truly made my day. But, even though it was my birthday, today was about FuJiao Sadie. This afternoon we stood with a room full of adopting families in the American consulate, each with an amazing story of what brought them here this day. We all raised our arm to the square, promising we've told the truth throughout the adoption process. They handed each family their paperwork, and that was it. When we land on American soil, FuJiao will be an American citizen. I remember over 6 years ago knowing this day would happen and the culmination of it all was so simple and so full of joy. There were cheers, hugs, tears and a room full of very happy families.

We celebrated with a Chinese dinner fit for a newly adopted girl and her birthday celebrating mom. We are heading to Beijing tomorrow, which means our journey towards home begins, and this is cause to celebrate as well. We've checked out of our hotel since our flight is early in the morning. Our first flight with FuJiao was an hour, this one will be 3 hours, followed the next day by the biggie from Beijing to LA.
FuJiao and Todd have had a great time today "fighting" with swords. She's quite the Kung Fu girl. It must have been something she played with her friends. We keep saying she really likes her dad, she just won't admit it! He's fun for spinning her around, sharing chocolate, playing swords, singing songs, counting to 10 in Chinese and English, and buying barbies and movies for the plane rides....but he's still not for holding hands. Even with the cold shoulder he often gets, Todd is completely wrapped around her little finger.

Today's pictures are little things about FuJiao we love and will always remember. The silver sparkly shoes, which are already wearing out, that she refuses to take off. We'd have had to change her name to Dorothy if they were red. Her bracelet which has Guanyin on it--a female budda figure often left with children, as she is the guardian of women and children. Her necklace has a shape that represented wealth in ancient China.

Todd looked at me today and ask what my next wild hair was going to be. I told him I didn't think I could top this one.

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Thus far, I have let Nikki tell our story. She writes it up, and then I correct it for content before publication. But today, I would like to add a few observations and thoughts.

The past several days have been a tremendous roller coaster of emotions that can't be described. First, the "Gotcha Day". I didn't know until August 24 at about 2:30 that this has a dual meaning. We "got" FuJiao Sadie, but at that moment, she also "got" us ... hook, line, and sinker. The rest of that day was enjoyable, but awkward as we got to know each other better. Beginning the following day, FuJiao took to her new mother and distanced herself from me. Given all the logical explanations for this, and knowing we should be happy that she was attaching, this was difficult for me. Each day she has opened up a little more toward me, and I think it's safe to say at this point that I am her second favorite. Through this, however, we have learned that she is very apprehensive about new situations and new people in general. She hesitates going onto a playground if other kids are present, and she shies away from questions that inquisitive Chinese ask her on the street or at restraunts.

Our days here in China with FuJiao have been easier than expect by all measures. Our most difficult days likely lay ahead as we adjust to our American life style. I specifically expect attending kindergarten will be a difficult milestone. With the completion of our adoption today, we have a sense of relief, satisfaction, and gratitude. For the simplicity of today's ceremony, it brought a lump into my throat and a tear to my eye. We cannot wait to return home and share this treasure with everyone.

Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On 9/1/2009

I'd just go to bed tonight, but Todd insists somebody out there is still reading this thing! I do appreciate emails that have been sent thus far, so I will write a few lines for the die hards!

When you don't share a language with your child, you learn to pick your battles. When jean capris are the only clean clothes available, you pray a dress-loving Chinese girl wants to wear them. We were lucky, and she looked like an all-american girl today in jeans and a red, white, & blue shirt. Sorry no pictures for proof, you'll have to take our word.

We did a little shopping around the island area, and Nikki got a massage to work out kinks from long airplane rides in time to get new kinks from approaching airplane rides. It was about an hour long and cost 100 yuan, which is about $15. I'm not sure why somebody didn't tell me about this deal in China last week! Although he worked my neck over pretty good, so I may be a bit stiff tomorrow.

A stop at the playground, a little more shopping, lunch , and naps all around. Call it lazy but I think jet lag and homesickness hit at 10 days, so here we sit passing another day. FuJiao wasn't as happy today either. When we are in the hotel room she wants to leave, and when we leave she wants to go back. It wasn't anything in particular that seemed to set her off, maybe quieter moments when she is left with her thoughts. At six years of age you can think you want a family, but you wouldn't know all that implies. I wonder if she is happy with her choice. I wonder if she dreams of her orphanage family. I wonder how old she will be when she likes pizza. I wonder what she is saying when she talks on her play cell phone. I wonder what she will think of our food at home. I wonder when she will ever be ready for school. I wonder how it will feel to be 37!

Now It's All About The Visa 8/31/2009

The wait for FuJiao's visa is all that's left! We got her TB test results today, which were negative (this was the thing that worried us the most before we came), and we filled out the paperwork for her visa application. Sarah, our guide, will file all our papers tomorrow and let us know if everything is ready to go.

Sarah also took us to visit a tomb that was discovered years ago. A man was wanting to build a hotel and hired a Feng Shui person to find the best location in the city to build the hotel. The man picked a location and when they began digging they found a tomb for an emporer that dated back 2000 years. With history going back so far I don't know how Chinese children ever pass history! You could go down in the tomb and then they had a building with many artifacts on display. FuJiao kept telling Sarah the things were too dirty and all black.
Afterwards we walked to a beautiful garden full of plants we've never seen. Even with the cars honking outside the gates, it was still peaceful and so serene. FuJiao does great when she can get outside and run around a bit, even if she tires quickly. When we got back to the hotel we went and looked at the pool. Apparently her lack of desire for swimming hasn't changed.

We did a little souvenier shopping for the kids and went to dinner. Sarah wrote down the name of the green bean dish we liked for us, but it wasn't quite as good this time. We still ate it up. When we were almost finished eating, FuJiao ask me for something, so I had the waitress tell me what she wanted, and it was some more vegetables. Not knowing what to do we ordered her another dish, which was a bit pricey, but the smile on her face was worth it. It was a veggie we've never seen that smelled like peas and Todd said tasted like asparagus. She ate 2 bowl fulls and gave us a big thumbs up over it. (We were thinking she would be ordering more chicken feet.) Pretty odd for us to have our kid ordering big dishes of leafy green vegetables. I swear she will eat anything.

We bought a few things on the way back to the hotel, and the shop owner gave her a play cell phone. She's been talking on it in chinese all night. Todd's trying to video her talking. I wish I could understand her. We have so many things to tell each other and sign language can only go so far.

She is quite shy, even with people who can speak with her, and often they have to ask questions a couple times to get her to answer. She likes to laugh, but can pout with the best of them. She loves dresses, and it was nothing short of a miracle we got capris on her today. All the rest of her clothes were dirty, and we were wondering what we'd do if she refused the pants yet again. She wasn't familiar with snaps but figured them out quickly. She still refuses to think about tennis shoes when Sarah questioned her about them again today. She is my shadow and has her moments when she warms up to her dad, but still prefers no physical contact between them. I keep wondering if she thinks our lifestyle involves sitting around a hotel room waiting for the next meal time--real life is going to be a shock. Todd and I have gotten past the novelty stage of China and are starting to miss real life routine. I can't wait to see blue sky again and use water that doesn't smell bad. It makes me sad how she may feel in a couple of weeks, when the novelty of Nibley wears off, but she doesn't have the choice of going back to a familiar life. She is strong (a characteristic we will appreciate more when we can explain ourselves better),and we hope she will learn quickly how much she is loved.

White tigers, Koalas, and Pandas, Oh My! 8/30/2009

Today was sight seeing, and we chose to visit the Safari Zoo. It took a while to drive there, but was well worth it, at least for Todd and I. FuJiao wasn't quite herself, and we are guessing it's from all the shots she had yesterday. She wasn't too interested in the animals until she got a little lunch in her, and then she perked up some.

The zoo was very big and very nice. Lots of the old favorite animals as well as new-to-us kinds in cool habitats. The fun part was how they let you feed the animals. You can buy leaves for giraffes, bananas for elephants, etc. and you are close enough to feed them. The giraffes are used to pulling leaves off trees so they'd pull pretty hard and rip the branch right out of kids' hands. FuJiao is so small we figured they'd eat her right along with the branch! They were giving elephant rides, which we passed on, but we did pay to feed the baby tiger! It seemed like the chance of a lifetime, even if it did last about a whole 30 seconds. The only things going through my mind were "look at the paws on this thing", "hurry and take a picture", and "sounds like the bottle is empty and I'm scared for what they do when they run out of food!". It was crazy, but very cool! The koalas were all sleeping (big surprise there), except they'd wake up long enough to stretch and fall asleep again mid-stretch. They have the only know koala twins at this zoo. The pandas were awesome! They just sit there with their fat bellies chomping down bamboo. They are very playful with each other and just fun to watch. It was neat to see so many pandas at one time.
After walking around the whole zoo we took a train ride, which was way better than any we've been on. It's actually almost like another zoo. Cars can pay to drive through as well There were tons of animals you didn't see in the other part of the zoo. We really liked how they'd throw food to the lepards, tigers, wolves, etc. as you drove by so they'd run and play. It was much more exciting to see active animals at the zoo instead of sleeping ones, with the exception of the koalas!

There was a big thunder storm starting when we got on the train and while we were going it really started to pour. It was easy to see why everything is so green here with the amount of rain that came down. Cool plants in this area include banana trees, bamboo, and many tropical flowers. This city is called the flower city and even though it's a big, dirty city you still find many flowers. The pillars of the overpasses are sometimes covered in vines and there are miles of highway with a flowering plant along the tops of the barricades.

We headed home and were all very tired. Dinner, showers and we are ready for bed.

Well That Was Easy 8/29/2009

Morning started with the world spinning at the proper speed for Nikki, which was a relief, followed by a fantastic breakfast buffet of Chinese and "true" western food. We probably had a sugar rush from French toast and syrup! This area is swarming with adopting families, and it's fun to swap stories and feel the energy and excitement of those sharing similar experiences. Where is she from? How is it going? How old is she? We are all bias and think we have the cutest kids in all of China!

Our friends that we met in Nanning brought FuJiao's passport with them yesterday evening. After picking it up this morning, we headed for visa pictures and the medical examination. We were ahead of the crowd at the medical clinic and got through the four stations quite quickly. The place is small and became very crowded with adopting parents and children--quite a mad house actually. The exam included basics of height (about 43 in) and weight (35 lbs.--she's a skinny one), eye chart, ears, throat, etc. Then we went for the TB test and 4 vaccinations. There wasn't even a single tear or squeal from this girl. She's a tough one. After vacinations, we had to wait for 30 minutes to see if there were any reactions, and it appears the TB test will be negative as well (it's already disappeared).

While we were waiting I gave her some paper to draw, and she proceeded to write her numbers 1-5. I've tried getting her to write Sadie, and of course the "s" is a little tricky. She seems happy to learn and continues to copy words in English. She's quiet with our new guide Sarah, but warmed up more even today. Sarah is quiet and softspoken.
After we took care of the days work we went to lunch, then rested a while. We are the only family Sarah is working with this week, so she's probably more free than usual. She met us and took us for a walk through an area where they have wholesale ingredients for herbal medicine. I don't think we could have named a single thing on that street, except little dried seahorses. Even Sarah couldn't tell us what a lot of things were. Then we walked through the commercial shopping area. Tons of shops, tons of people, tons of great....junk! The chinese salespeople are very pushy and love to entice children into their stores by holding up things and telling them to have their parents buy it for them. Fortunately FuJiao isn't really interested in most of what they have and is good to just keep going with us.

Well that's about it for today. With all the screaming kids we've seen today, we were relieved we didn't have one of them! The hardest part of this has been the sitting around time. There's only so much shopping Todd is willing to do. Shocker! We wonder what FuJiao thinks of our lifestyle, and hope she understands we don't just sit around all day waiting for the next meal! I think she likes going outside where it is so warm because we seem to be freezing her inside with airconditioning. Her other favorite is laughing at her dad when he falls asleep and starts snoring, or recalling the picture of her mom's "BIG" behind in an unfortunate picture Todd took of our backsides as we were walking up stairs. My ego wasn't improved any after having to buy an XL shirt today. At least we know she likes to tease and have a good time. Tomorrow is sight seeing--maybe the zoo if it isn't raining!