today we got to go to Jun's town of Anyang,  where she has lived since being found 7yrs ago.  we had to apply for her passport.   we should receive them on friday before we leavve for Guangzhou Anyang is where the An in her name comes from,  An XiangJun    for years they have labeled the orphans by naming them after the city they are foundin,   but they have recently changedc that rule (i hope its true)  as in china name is everything and An is not a "name"  so automatically when grown it labels her an orphan,   so it stigmatizes the kids by labeling them.    they are now supposed to be using "real" names

  i kind of wish we could have gone to the orphanage after having to drive all that way but after asking 2x  and not getting an answer i gave up.   thought maybe its for the best.  

for those who know i am the carseat crazy mom :-)   they don't use them here let alone SEATBELTS!!!!    i am wearing thin on kids moving around thinking they can walk, stand etc in a moving vehicle.    breathe   :-)    

   i think these are rice fields,   the further we got from zhengzhou the more farmland we saw. 

the kids are all doing good,   Eisa complains that she doesn't want to sit near her but is really being helpful with her.   kestrel has stepped up alot too, 

because of her needs  Jun has spent 7yrs in the "younger baby" room,  so we see lots of fun baby behaviors,  screeching when she doesn't like something,  etc    but she's smart as a whip,   she's learning the word  NO  :-)  or i am learning bu xing!    gavin seems a little oblivious to her but gage likes to make her smile/laugh 

after calling her Jun for 10mo and even though we named her Meisa,    (Maysa)  and they called her XiangJun,   we've settled on Jun     she's starting to answer to it so i think it is sticking.  if  at a later time she wants something else that's fine but i think she'll always be Jun to us. 

tons of new buildings being built in Anyang,  i didn't realize it was such a growing? city    Kaye were these here last june??  


ok so now for the highlight of our trip,  1hr into the return drive i notice we are swerving more than the ride up (front end seemed loose :-)    everyone is napping so i am watching and the driver's eyes are CLOSING!!!!   yes he's nodding off,  rubbing his head, face and nodding again.  i ask another mom to watch (in case its my paranoia)   and NOPE he's nodding off.    so    we calll our guide who calls him and that works for 10min.   so we tell him to pull off and he points and nods NO going straight!   we finally spot a rest area and tell him GET OFF      got him a sprite and it wasn't long before we hit heavy traffic and it got him alert.    SCARY

today we finalized the adoption to make it legal,   this is the cover the certficate comes in.  below the boys are holding the certificate. 

there is a lap pool and a kiddie pool,   they are enjoying both. 

some more photos from beijing

its very surreal adding another this way,   very different than i imagined.  THEN she doesn't speak english  :-)   so communication is rough.   i tried studying mandarin before i left but it was HARD,   i am actually picking it up quicker (just words)  here.   i am trying very hard to be able to at least communicate with her.   but know i won't be fluent. 

 wow what an amazing scary day!!   here she is coming in ,   we arrived at the civil affairs about 9:45 and 2 kids were already there.  the rest of us waited as they came in mostly one at a time.   she had to ride for 2.5 hours to come to us.  


our first glimpse of her was her pointing at the kids and grinning ear to ear!   she recognized them from the  photo album we sent her in dec.   i have to admit i got a little overwhelmed and scared at the the reality of her needs ,  they appear to be a little more than we realized (we knew that was a possiblity) but on a plus she IS potty trained like they said so that's a relief.   she has a sore on her foot where she isn't walking correctly,  can't wait to get her home and to specialists to try to help her.  pretty sure she needs a walker,  might have to alter one for the farm to have bigger wheels to help her manuver.  

 the kids have been great and are really excited to finally have her with us.

 she's very into her baba already.  enjoyed bossinghim around and making him carry her.

 

we tried going to the kiddie pool but she's not ready,  she loved her bath though,  so go figure.    she was very wound up at the delivery but has settled down thru the day.   she LOVES food  :-)  it was crazy to see all the crying babies with their new parents.   all so beautiful.     she never cried,  and has been super resilent so far.  she's a little bossy but gives in quick if we are firm.  paul has already roughhoused with her and though a little nervous she loved it and had great giggles.       

today we only signed temporary papers for 24hours which basically lets us change our minds if we want.  interesting,   i can't imagine turning back.   tommorrow we go finalize it and of course go to walmart.   oh and by her measurements she's eisa's size,   reality,  same height but way thicker :-)   hoping the girls clothes i brought will fit.  

we are sitting around the room in nervous anticipation.    we leave in 1.5 hours

we flew to zhengzhou  (jenjo) this morning,  so exciting to be in her province.  i must say it was amazing to have a guide,   at the airport she handled everything and just pointed where to go and what to do.  

OH almost forgot,  encountered our first squatty potty today!!!   kestrel saw it and said "oh brother"   i thought that was a weird reaction til paul told me she used one the day before.   so as it sounds you don't sit you "squat" over a hole in the floor     :-)  

 we meet Jun to tomorrow at 11am.  it can't come soon enough.

  we  ate a late lunch and hanging out in our room at the crowne plaza.  very nice rooms,   we get to stay for 5 days so nice to unpack a little

there are 12 families with us,  we are really enjoying getting to know them all.  

 l we drove past the water cube and birds nest from the olympics.  that might have been fun to see up close. 

                                        kestrel took this photo at  the Jade factory

Gavin got to put on the armour and have his photo taken 





Here you go Madie!!!   we miss you!!

                this doesn't do any justice to how steep it it,  but look how kestrel is holding on 

    we climbed the "easy" side,  HA  hate to have tried the hard side.  we made it up to about 3 or 4 towers. 

 have to love my kids,  after we got to the bottom  "   LOOK DAD,  moms leg is shaking!!!   OH now the other one!!!!   

we also went to acrobat show but i thought we couldn'[t take photos so i left my camera.    sorry we missed a day,   it was a way too long of a day and it wore us out.  Eisa is missing naps so still on tx time,  bed at 5 and up at 3  fun  fun  

touring beijing day 1

had lots of fun today!  got to ride in rickshaws thru the Hutongs and toured a Hutong.   visited Tianamen square and the Forbidden city.   the kids did great again with tons of walking. paul and i are enjoying the food,  but  other than breakfast (great big breakfast buffet)  the kids aren't eating real well,  so getting grumpy by the end of the day. 

                                                do you see her cub playing under her foot?  

gavin is taking tons of photos with his camera so can't wait to see the trip thru his eyes.  we have 12? families in our group so lots of neat people we are getting to know.  some have brought their kids ( or some of them)  so the kids are enjoying some new friends. 

 silk factory,  here the ladies are stretching the silk to make a quilt.

tommorrow is the Great Wall.  have always wanted to see it so can't wait .   can't believe we meet Jun in just a few days,  seems unreal after the long wait!!      we are exhausted still from traveling,  the kids are passing out at dinner and falling into bed :-)