swimming and Sh*imian Isl*nd

PROGRESS!

We have had a MUCH better day with both girls today!  We had to ride the dreaded bus that takes you ....well you never know!  Sometimes you get stuck with a needle, or handed off to strangers, or poked and prodded....sometimes it's fun.  BUT miss Screech......DID NOT, i repeat....DID NOT screech!!!!!!!!!  YAY!!!!  She is showing us how sweet she is going to be when she learns that shreiking and fitting get her nothing, and she might lose what she has!  She did wet her pants in the middle of the mall.....but she didn't shreik!.....and we did have to use the NASTIEST bathroom EVER!!!!  The entire bathroom was wet!  Walls, floor, counter.....and squatty's to boot!  There was NO WHERE to set anything down, and NO soap, and NO toilet paper or paper towels, or hand dryers!  Wren, bless her little heart,(she is SO smart and helpful) held the napkins and Iley's shorts (luckily we had just purchased each of them 2 pairs to go under dresses as leggings are too hot, and they are NOT modest!)  They will drop their drawers half way to the bathroom in the middle of the restaurant or where ever and waddle in with their dress around their chest and there undies at their ankles!  and mom, you thought I was bad!!!  you aint seen nothin yet!  I'm guessing they lined up this way at the orphanage!LOL  oh my...never say never!  Then The girls and i got lost in a maze of little back alley shops while trying to get back to the guide and Troy! and NO one spoke english.....so I did my best pantomime to show that i wanted to go out to the big part of the mall.....ummmm  no response but a puzzled, polite, she's crazy look......ok, how about UP, i need to go UP....the escalators are in the middle of the mall....finally they got a ah hah look and pointed us out!  Then I started praying big time cause i was still just as lost as before!  I actually think I came out on the opposite side of the mall.  But we wandered around.....and I prayed......and we went up and down the escalators several times.......then I stepped out side, and oh glory!!!!!!!!!  there was one of the other families!!! and the guide!!! BUT.....miss Iley had to GO POTTY AGAIN!!!  We are in what appeared to be either a circular parking lot, or a car lot?  The guide said just use the drain...but an assistant waved her hand and said no no, and pointed us to a 5 gallon bucket!...uh huh! I held her over the bucket....SWEATING BULLETS....it is SO HOT and HUMID here!  We are about done, when I feel a tap on my arm and Wren is standing there with her pants around her ankles! If one goes...they BOTH go! Sigh!!! I. AM.  SICK.  OF. POTTY BREAKS!!!  Wren knows what several signs mean, but we have to force her to look at us and use them.  She DID point to a flower today and sign (a semblance of) flower!!  It was in the right area, with 2 fingers:):)     I was thrilled that she did it unprompted!  She wants us to understand her so bad, I feel like when she figures out she can get what she's needing by signing, she will ask for more signs..........I HOPE:)  We went to the same restaurant for lunch that we went to last night........lets just say it's best to take a Native with you!!! It was MUCH better!  Most people probably lose weight when they go to china......we will probably gain!  We love the food:)  We haven't died or even had a stomach twinge from our street vendor adventure either, it
 was quite good in fact:)

We visited some Chen family temple or something today....lets just say we had less than reverent attenders!!!  It is So humid, poor Iley was literally DRIPPING sweat!  It was running down her cheeks, and her head was soaked!  We thought of you Sherman!

Just wanted to say thank you for your special prayers Denise C.:):)  They are working!LOL 

They are both mesmerized by Barney cartoon at the moment! I have a new LOVE for Barney:)

 The reason we need shorts!

 

 Chap stick!!! a girls best friend!:)

 

 Sleeping Beauties

I will try to post JUST pictures in my next post!

  Not sure what the plans for the rest of the day are, but just wanted to thank you all for the "Iley" prayers!  So far they are working miracles! The guide even commented that she wondered how her 60+ foster grandparents kept up with her!  Good thing she oozes charm!

Medical Exam OVER! Whew!

What a headache!  Ugh!  The medical exam place was crawling with adoptive families all needing to see the doctor!  Our amazing guide Kelly is SO organized:)  She had to get 6 families, with 8 kids to go through the general exam, where they weighed and measured them and had them trace a circle and triangle with their finger???? listened to their chest and looked BRIEFLY at their medical papers, then we went to the ENT where they peeked BRIEFLY in their ears, and gagged them with a popsicle stick....which....surprise surprise..made Iley SHRIEK!  She did not appreciate any of the doctors!  Then we had to go to get them a TB skin test.....NOT FUN!  They both held pretty still, Iley CRIED and CRIED at the top of her lungs as normal, and hers even BLED a little...horrors!  A kind other mother, offered a band aid which brought the decibel level down a couple of notches, but not off for another 10 minutes at least.  Wren looked at me in HORROR when they stuck her!  It was dreadful!  Then she didn't want me to touch her for several minutes!  She just cried big SILENT tears........which is MUCH more heart rending than miss Iley's shreiking!!  She just makes us want to thump her noggin!!!  I'm betting that the workout she's given her lungs this week will stand her in good stead with heart surgery!  She exercises her lungs more than any other muscle/organ in her body...........unless it's her bladder!  I have NEVER seen two kids Potty more often!!! and if one goes....they BOTH go!  I have to admit i have succumbed to the Chinese way of bathroom breaks.........you simply find the nearest bushes, foilage, trash can, grate......hold them by the legs, and prop your elbows on your knees and shake them off when they're done!!!  Oh my goodness!!! I had to laugh when i thought about what my father would say to this!!!LOL  Sorry Dad!  Bathrooms are few and far between, and we really have no choice when they are dancing around holding themselves...for the ,3,000th time(it seems) for the day!

Don't look now......but they have been playing HAPPILY TOGETHER in the tub for at least 30 min!!! Every time they act like they are ready to get out I give them something new to play with!! first a small shampoo bottle (two of course) then their polly pocket dolls.....then body wash for the polly pockets...but it's about bedtime, so I need to quit stalling them and get them out before they are frozen wrinkled prunes! (Wren keeps adding cold water...it's frigid!)  It's a small glimpse into the future which gives us hope that we may actually have some semblance of a normal life again in the future!  We get a bit nostalgic occasionally about the EASY life we had.....but then we get a sweet unprompted kiss from Wren, and a cheeky, dimpled, cocked headed, grin from miss termagant, and we remember that we are working for the KING of KINGS, and these two lives have been changed, (along with ours:-0) They are settling down a little, and are much more relaxed.  We are SO thankful for nice weather! (hot and humid, but not raining)  If we had to stay cooped up in this little room with them both all day......someone might die:(LOL  probably ME!  We have about walked our, and their, legs off!  We push them in the strollers to the park and let them play on the play ground, and walk/run/hop/drive the strollers crazy(nearly taking out several innocent pedestrians) down the lovely walkways:)  Then we walked all over the little streets and alley ways.......Marking our territory like a bunch of puppies!  Then we braved a restaurant alone....where we ordered from pictures on a menu, and hoped for the best.  We got fried rice, candied potatoes(very strange, more like hard tack candy on them!) fried pork pieces with a glaze on it, and some kind of fried leek cake.  The girls loved the rice and leeks!(I thought of you Grandma D. as Wren was scrapping every last crumb of leeks, onions and garlic off her plate!)  They wouldn't touch the potatoes or the pork! They both drank their hot green tea like little Chinese princess's!  We had walked them and us to the restaurant, and they were BUSHED.....so were we but there's no rest for the weary!  We ended up carrying them most of the 4 blocks home.  Miss screechy was very subdued, and hardly made a peep!! Blessed relief!!  She's been playing NICELY for a WHILE:):):):):)  That deserves a LOT of smiley faces!

We walked to the park with another couple that adopted an older boy from a different province that had been in foster care for 2 years, and bounced around caretakers for most of his life.  They had an awful gotcha day!!!!  The dad got BIT hard on his shoulder, the guide got bit, and they had to close the consulate office and almost force him out of it!!!  So THANK YOU for all your prayers, and most of all Thank you LORD for a wonderful gotcha experience.  Thankfully this is the other family's 3rd adoption, so they know that when they get him home it will get easier.  I will say again, on their behalf and ours....the language barrier is HUGE!!!  We feel your prayers and are SO grateful for each and every one of you!  Please pray for Iley to become more content!  She can literally cry/screech...no tears... for an hour straight!  EVERYONE knows when the Deatons are coming!  WHEW!  Between times she is a delight:)  We just can't wait to see it more often!  I think she was extremely spoiled, and everytime she cried or fussed she got her way.....it's not working for her and she doesn't know what to do! (and yep kids...she's got Dad's "mean mug" more than a few times...It doesn't even phase her!)  We are quick to praise her and tell her GOOD GIRL, when she is nice......or quiet for a few minutes:)
I MUST get them out of the  tub!  they need to be in bed and so do we!  Sorry no pictures from today, I ran out of time!  Blessings, and MUCH love to each of you!  Suzy HUG my boys for me and tell them I miss them all !!!! Big and small.........welll......smaller:)

Orphanage Visit

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  Wow, we were nervous about the orphanage visit, but  it went  awesome!  The bus ride over was ROUGH!  Iley was OUT OF CONTROL!  bouncing, FUSSING, screeching, flopping, and then Wren decided it must be a good way to get attention so she joined in too.  Mom had had ENOUGH! so i got the bright idea to strap them into seatbelts in the backseat:(  Wren went balistic!  Iley just screeched (nothing new there) But they did settle down, so I unbuckled them. (no one buckles up in China!)  The rest of the ride went ok.  When we got near the orphanage Wren started to recognize things, and lighting up....we were even more nervous!  When we got out at the orphanage, she saw Ms. Zhong the adoption coordinator, and the nanny that brought us, and promptly turned around and started to crawl up my legs!   She clung to my neck with a death grip.  She was glad to see them, but would NOT go to any of the nannies, not even her favorite one!  Iley was even less sure of what was going on and was VERY subdued and worried!  She clung to Babba.  She had started at the orphanage, then went to foster care....then was brought back to the orphanage and left for a week, then she came to us.  Poor baby was just so confused:(  There is no air conditioning in the orphanage, and Troy and i were wrestling the girls, the camera, the cam corder, the bag of snacks for the kids...........we were SWEATING!!!  Wren had a grand time being the one to be passing out the snacks:)  She handed them out to every one, turned around and waved BYE:) ok, we can leave now;)  We toured the orphanage, which was nothing new to us as we have seen many pictures of it already.  We didn't get many pictures of the inside (no time!)  But did get several pictures of the kids on our list.  Most were in school or foster care:(  sorry everyone waiting hopefully!  I will try to get the pictures up soon!   Iley was eyeing some blue stuffed character and pointing to it so Ms. Zhong gave it to her:)  She really is very nice, and seems to  care a lot about the kids!  Alot of the nannies and staff came up to Wren to tell her bye, and even though she wouldn't go to any of them, she finally did give them hugs from my arms.  Several times Ms. Zhong wanted to take pictures of us as a family, and Wren would always smile HUGE, and grab Troy's neck to pull him and Iley into the picture:)  Kelly, our guide said that Wren was very popular at the orphanage.  All the nannies wanted to know if we were going to try to do something to help her hear.  WE HOPE SO:)  We are trying to teach her as many signs as we can.  She's not too interested right now, she just wants to look, look, look at everything!  She doesn't miss ANYTHING!  If we have done something, one way once, she thinks it has to be done that way the next time. 

The kids at the orphanage were all so sweet!  They were all very interested in what we were doing and wanted their picture taken.

Pictures Later, the natives are getting restless!!!

Zoo & Mexican Food In China!!

Another day in China.  The girls are doing a little better each and every day.  The language barrier, the age, the energy, all play havoc on Mamma and Babba, but we are doing better each day.  Wren is sleeping with Judy and Iley with me.  Wren finally slept quietly most of the night.  Not so much for Iley.  She sleeps, but she flips, flops, twists and turns.  I just try to give her as much room as I can and we get through. 

Yesterday was a big day, Kelli, our awesome guide, took us to the zoo.  It was so interesting to watch the girls.  Wren was fascinated with everything.  Iley on the other hand, screeched at everything.  If something moved. she screeched.  She was okay to be there, riding in her stroller, but don't have her look at anything. They had a place where you could feed the giraffes branches.  Wren was right in there.  She loved it....Except for the time the giraffes long black tongue touched her.....she wasn't too sure about that.  We went with the other Great Wall couple that adopted in this province.  Their little girl, Caroline, is in this first picture with Wren.

 I think they were looking at a lizard or snake of some sort.  As you can see, Iley is nowhere to be seen.


Off to the orphanage visit. Please keep us in your prayers.  I think we are bonding well enough, but one never knows.  I wanted to post more, but the girls won't allow it at this point.  Love to all!!

We are alive........barely:)

If I ever said i was busy before......I lied!  Wow!  Talk about two little tornados.  They want our attention constantly, to show us something or for reassurance.  I KNOW you all want more pictures.but they take about 5 min. each to load, and it's just hardly possible:(  SORRY.  Wren is very mild and gentle for the most part, and Iley is a little stinker!  She's adorable, don't get me wrong, but she will do things just to be ornery!  Wren wants to please and is very unsure of everything, and looks for our approval.  Iley is always BUSY and LOUD:)  Everyone knows when the Deatons are coming down the hall!  The communication barrier is HUGE!  Think of it like babysitting some one else's kids who are very active.....and a handful......and you have no idea what they want or are saying, and they don't know what you are saying! Then put all that in a hotel room in a strange country! this is HARD!  We are not sorry! but we are exhausted:)  They sleep all night....but it is fitful, and we are always aware of them.   They are absolutely adorable:)  Each day gets a little easier.  We are thankful that they are not screaming and crying, but seem to just roll with things.  There have been a few minutes of tears, but no fits yet.  Please continue to pray for all of our health, the girls seem to have a cold, and We REALLY don't need that to deal with on top of everything:(   Please pray that we will have the wisdom to know how to best bond and make them feel our love, and care.........and that we keep our sanity!!:)   We went back to the civil affairs office yesterday, and they seemed VERY nervous!  Wren does a little teeth chatter thing when she is nervous, and gets a fixed eye look.......sort of like she of checks out.  She also got her pictures of her nanny out while there and pointed at her and out the window.  They wanted to move our orphanage visit up to today, instead of tomorrow, but we said NO.  She isn't ready yet.  So they left it at Friday.  Please pray that they will be bonded with us at least some before that day!  Last night Iley wanted to sleep with Dad, so Wren and I slept in the other bed.  Iley always ends up cross wise, and Wren was up 4 times last night to go to the bathroom.  After the 4th time....20 minutes later, she wanted to go again.  I said no, and pulled her back up into bed.  She settled down for a while after that. I think we got a little sleep.
They are coloring at the moment, and Iley just broke two crayons:(  She's a mess.  An adorable one, but a stinker.  Her foster grandparents were in their 60's, and she is slightly spoiled! 
More later!  We are surviving:)  But boy do we love America!  Can't wait to get home.  China has it's charm, and we are being treated very well, but it's just not home.

Ash, Thatch, Harrison, Sherm, Kyndahl, Suzy, and all our family.....xoxoxoxo

 This hotel has a beautiful garden with a fountains, a stream and bridges.  Judy and the girls went off walking in that and allowed me a few more pics.  The one above is the first HUG!! Next is the first SMOOCH!! and then all of us together with Miss Zhong and the nanny that came along with the girls.  Gotta go the girls are getting tired and hungry.