Today was our trip to the Great Wall of China. Julianna was determined to climb the wall herself. Absolutely determined. She fussed if anyone picked her up and said, 'Nana Do it'. She was quite the attraction, climbing the stairs on her own, but she made it to the second tower and got her 'Hero' certificate. When we got to the tower, a lady cheered for her.

Keith, however, could not climb at all. He really struggles with stairs and the Great Wall stairs are uneven and super steep. He and Daddy made it to the first tower, but part of that is graded incline rather than stairs.

Today was PawPaw's birthday. I had a nice picture of them climbing the stairs together, but Julianna deleted it.

I guess the soldiers needed caffeine while on duty.
This is a photograph of the stairs. You can see the places that are worn down from years of steps. I thought that was pretty cool, all the centuries of feet walking over the wall.

On the adoption front, Keith is legally ours in the eyes of China. Our adoption certificate was issued by the Civil Affairs Office today. We apply for his passport tomorrow. I find myself spending a lot of time trying to judge his vision. His left globe looks smaller than the right, but for the most part, his gaze looks conjugate. His left eyelid does not open as much. He does have nystagmus when he does not have anything to focus on.

Random Thoughts

Here are a few random thoughts while we are waiting to go to the Great Wall.

Keith did not know we were coming to adopt him. He received his care package and photo book when he met us. They had opened them, taken out the cameras and taken photos of him around the orphanage, but he did not receive anything until we showed up. They brought him and his stuff down together.

I did quite well guessing on clothes sizes (size 5, for the curious), all except the socks, which are too small. We have not been able to find socks, even at the Carre Four. He is in serious need of medium white socks (hint, hint).

The Ladies Bible Study at church was doing Esther when we left. I was thinking about it this morning, how the ladies were taken in for 'one night with the king' and then a decision was made about their acceptability as queen. Well, we received Keith on Sunday and on Monday we went to Civil Affairs and had to decide if he was acceptable for our family. In less than 24 hours, we had to figure out if he would fit in our family and if we could deal with his medical issues, which are clearly more severe than we were told. (Which leads to a side note of, how could they not notice his vision impairment? It took us less than five minutes to realize he holds things one inch from his face to see it, yet his medical report states normal vision.) Anyway, the bible study was really focused on the sovereignty of God and His timing in everything, His unseen hand orchestrating events. I also listened to a sermon podcast this morning and one phrase really stuck out 'trust the process', trust that what God is doing is His perfect plan, even when the way seems wrong. I guess both of these kind of gelled in my brain this morning and reminded me that even though things are worse than expected and the road is quite hard right now, it is God's sovereign plan and I need to trust Him that the process is right.

How's this for embarrassing?

Today we went to Carré Four, a french Wal-Mart type store, to shop for the kiddo. We were done before the other family, and were waiting in line to check out behind a few other customers. Now, checkout is very busy at every store we've been to so far in Beijing.

Well, Pawpaw and Grandma had picked out a toy for him, a little remote-controlled car. When Paw paw separated the things they were buying, the car went with him. Well, not knowing about the whole "pay before you play" rule, Keith thought he was being robbed and started wailing. Loudly. We have no idea what he was saying but he got a lot of attention from the crowd. Eventually he got over it... when I gave him the Transformers toy that we bought for him.

Then, out on the sidewalk/shopping cart area where we were waiting, he decided it was a good idea to drop his pants and pee on the ground. I mean, he DROPPED HIS PANTS and PEED ON THE GROUND. Suddenly everyone in our party except me (daddy) was a few steps farther away, and the little old ladies that are always standing around in these places, apparently guarding China from indecency (or maybe just gossipping), started laughing at us. "Well," I thought, "go ahead and laugh at your chinese custom of letting kids pee anywhere, we Americans have all our teeth."

No pictures of any of this, of course.

Now, it's almost bath time for him. It went okay last night, but we've been scolding him for lovingly hitting and pinching his sister. He's not real happy with me at the moment.

It is very hard to get two kids in the same picture, both looking at he camera and smiling at the same time.

I mentioned yesterday that it is hot here. Today's high was suppose to be 77. Those of you who know Julianna well, know she hates socks, pants and being hot. I felt proud to have her in a sweater for part of the day. Unfortunately, it is cultural to have babies bundled up in many layers. I got scolded by a older lady today for bare legs. And she was adamant that I was risking a cold by letting her run around half-naked. Keith agrees with them and has spent a good deal of time trying to get her to put on socks and sweaters. Usually when she is sound asleep. I think his first English phrase will be "She's fine, leave her alone."


You'll notice in these photos he is wearing a coat. He has on a long sleeve shirt and tried to find a sweater as well. We had to put all of his clothes out of reach, mainly to keep him from dressing Julianna.









They also have on matching backpack harnesses to try to keep them from running away.

the view from our hotel room

Hey kids, Daddy here.
I thought I'd provide some pics from our hotel room, like I did last time.

These are crappy iphone pictures, taken from the small crack that opening our window makes. The curious thing about our view is, you can even see the smog at night.

check the map on the right of the page to see the location of our hotel, the Poly Plaza. it's a performing arts theatre, mall, nightclub and other stuff as well as a hotel. there are bars and restaurants in the building as well.

Tomorrow we've been promised a trip to the Great Wall. hopefully we'll get lots of good photos then. It's Pawpaw's birthday!

After his first bath (by us). Watching Chinese kids tv in his jammies (and shoes). It's a possession thing. All he has ever owned, he was wearing when we got him. Shoes are especially imporant to him. He slept in them last night. Slept in his clothes in fact.


-- Posted From My iPhone

About Keith

Here's some observations about our son.

He is normal size and weight. I pick him up from time to time, when walking in the streets for instance, or just to hear him laugh. I don't think he got picked up much in the orphanage, not since he could walk for himself. It seems like a new experience for him.

His general eyesight is much worse than I (daddy) thought it would be. He slows down when we come to a different sized patch of pavement or flooring because he can't tell if it's a step down or not. He really hesitates to get on an escalator. We've started saying "step" when there is a change in his path. He also likes to get really close to the TV. anything that interests him must be examined at the tip of his nose. We may be talking legal blindness. But we won't know if it can be corrected until we get to the states.

His brachial plexus injury does not affect him in the least. He can't raise his arm at the shoulder, but the elbow works fine and he has strength and dexterity in his hand, as well as blood flow—if you walk holding that hand it gets just as sweaty as the "good" arm.

He is super sweet, especially to girls and younger kids. Julianna has to bear the brunt of this side of his personality. If she is upset, the normal family routine is for mama to hold her. Now you can add big brother coming over and offering her comfort in chinese. Loud chinese. And offering her a toy, by tapping the object on her body somewhere, preferrably the head. Nana does not respond well. The funny thing is, he isn't getting the picture. He simply does his duty to her whether it makes her cry louder or not. Hey, its worked his whole life up till now.

He is an easy kid to love, he has a heart of gold. Completely unselfish. He hoards food, but that will pass when he figures out that he won't starve with this new family of imbeciles who can't even talk right. He calls me Baba, talks to me constantly in Chinese. The want to attatch is clearly there. He hasn't mourned or grieved his loss yet, I don't know if it will even happen. I retract that, I know it will happen—when is the question. He may not "get it" yet. But, as with Nana, love will be the key. This time around it's Daddy doing the heavy lifting. Boy, is he heavy.

Today was paperwork day for the adoption. Keith is constantly trying to take care of Julianna. He thinks she needs to wear more clothes and shoes. He is forever bringing her socks and sweaters to put on. We are absolutely roasting here. We checked out the weather channel before we left and expected a cool spring, but it is hideously hot. I don't think we will need a single sweater and I so carefully packed and repacked them all.

Julianna tolerates Keith. I don't think it will really set in until we are home that he is here to stay.

Sorry, no pictures today.

There's been a change of plans

We had a completely uneventful trip to China. No rain, no missed planes, no lost luggage. Quite pleasant, other than the 15 hour plane flight over the Pacific. We were looking forward to nice hot showers before going to the orphanage to meet the children, but our guide met us with the phrase, There has been a change of plans. We went straight from the airport to the orphanage, smelly clothes and nappy hair, to meet the children. There are three families in our group. One family is also adopting a five year old and they are friends. I'm really too tired to think right now. But all is well here right now, especially since we have stocked up on Coca Cola.

We are loaded in the car with a list of last minute to do's. It is going to be a long crazy day. Julianna had an absolute meltdown this morning over the one fancy dress I packed. She got French fries and sprite for breakfast, just to keep some calm.


-- Posted From My iPhone

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I'm torn between disbelief and fear. The next 22 hours will go way too slow and way too fast.

Today my two favorite past-times--laundry and packing, collided. I packed almost everything today as it came out of the dryer. We are down to the electronics and the toiletries. I have also decided to make another one of those crazy mommy dictums--no one is allowed to get any clothes dirty between now and our return from China.

We are getting down to the little things. The thousand little things it feels like. We picked up the money at the bank today. We also got a second car seat. It is now in the car and the car suddenly looks so very small. As I was installing it, I was thinking about one of my many parenting delusions--no food particles on the floorboard. I do seriously hope that the addition of a second child does not exponentially increase the rate of particle acquisition.

I really should have redone the photographs. Hair bows? Baby spoons?

We have hit the doldrums. Not much is happening right now. We are basically waiting for a stiff breeze to come along and whip us into action. Every stitch of canvas is hung and the watches are getting restless.

And now my naval analogies are done.

The wait to travel has just been too long and has given me way too much time to obsess over little things, like the packing. With our first trip, I had one list, that I actually lost right before I packed, but fortunately found. This time, I have a whole bunch of lists. There is a master list and series of by-suitcase lists so that when I finally do finish packing I won't have to think about what to put where. I also have a food list for my sister and a shopping list for perishables. I have a list of what everyone is wearing on the plane. Well, everyone except Daddy, who has thus far told me khaki pants.

This, however, I think may have sent me into packing insanity. It is a list of the contents of the suitcase.

I am forcing myself to take a packing moratorium. Daddy will be pleased with my moratorium since one day this week I actually packed all of his clean underwear.

I was laying in bed this morning thinking about updating the blog, trying to remember which picture was next and my brain completely freaked out. We CANNOT be going to China next week. No, No, NO! We can't. We just can't. Where did all the time go?

I think the sea horse is upside down.

With our first adoption I was quite obsessive with a pictorial countdown. I went all around the house photographing various items and posting daily. It's bad being the second child. No one has time to collect up all that stuff and thoughtfully photograph it all.

The big question for the day is should I count like a non-transplanter, where there is no day zero and today would be:

Or like a transplanter, where we would fly out on day zero and today would be:

I found out today that for the in China flights, we can only check one bag and have one carry on item. Since we did not do in China flights last time, it was a surprise. So, I decided to do a dry run on the packing to see if it would all fit and if we needed to revise the three packing lists I currently have. Here is the starting point, minus Keith's clothes, which have been packed for a couple of weeks and repacked about five times now (twice just today).

And here is the finish point. Keith's suitcase is actually in the bigger one. Now I don't want to have to unpack it all, but unless I do some speed laundry, someone will be short undies real soon.
This is a bit of nostalgia. It is my attempt to get Julianna's clothes packed for our first trip to China. Sarah had other plans. It is bittersweet to see all those little clothes packed up for our first adventure in parenting.

This is going to be one of those boring, no photograph posts. We finally have our travel dates. We are departing March 13. I've decided to step up my packing list extravaganza and make a packing list for each item of luggage, as well as a master packing list. Life is always better with lists.

Today is a big day in Julianna's life, although she does not realize it. Today, she has been a part of our family for 22 months and one day. That means it is one day longer than she was in China. For the rest of her life, she will always be defined as a daughter and sister, someone who's family loves her very much and she will always be cherished.

She and I celebrated with a trip to the mall. We went to her favorite store (the princess store, as she calls it) and she got to select an item, which of course, was a new dress and shoes. Then we looked for purple sandals and no other color would do. She actually passed up on buying shoes rather than settle for non-purple sandals. We ate at her favorite restaurant, the Golden Arches. I also purchased her a necklace for when she gets older to commemorate this day.

We are so very blessed to have her in our lives and today I am feeling very fortunate to be able to hang out with such a great kid.

Happy Chinese New Year. Our agency did not receive travel approvals and they do not anticipate any arriving before Feb 5.

Julianna has a new word set: "I threw down (up) the mac and cheese".

I've seen some other bloggers do a "day in the life" photograph series, so I thought I would do a "day of dresses" photo series. We start with the happy princess running to the wardrobe to select her first outfit. She is wearing her jammies. Disney knows how to make money.
First up is the Belle dress, complete with Belle shoes. She will walk around in this one saying, I look like one of the princesses (Azalea Trail Maids).

After Belle came our Barbie and the Diamond Castle dress. Mattel has not quite mastered the money making potential of dress-up clothes, so she is wearing Minnie Mouse shoes. This was just an amusing side point in the day. Not sure why she likes to lay down here, but she does. She will even get her blanket and Miss Kitty and pretend to nap. Now we switch to Snow White, with shoes and wand.

And finally, our ballet outfit. This one was mommy's choice, not hers. But ballet class does have a dress code.


With regards to Keith's adoption, we are still awaiting travel approval. Next week is Chinese New Year, which means unless it was mailed today, we will not hear anything for more than a week. We were in the same position with Julianna's adoption, awaiting travel approval when china went on vacation for CNY. It is a frustrating position, knowing you are so close and having them basically shut down for a week.

These are from the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. It is a fabulous museum for children. The airplanes are all hands on, which is fantastic for a plane lover. It was wonderful.

We are once again in the waiting phase--waiting for our travel approval. Right now it feels so close, yet so far. And just to remind me of the theme of our adoption journey, tonight's sermon was on perseverance.

I mentioned a few posts back that I'm not sure what to do with the blog anymore. Our pastor has have quite a few sermons lately about how everything we do should honor God. It made me start thinking about the blog and what I say on it, as well as what I don't say. I think I need to take a different direction with what goes on the blog, try to make it more about my faith and the strength I find in it.

Drum Roll Please....

It finally came, our approval from China to adopt Keith, who currently resides at Beijing Social Welfare Institute. He will be five next week. Whoa. In six to eight weeks, we should finally be on our way to China.

For Christmas, Julianna wanted dress-up clothes--Snow White dress, Belle dress, Aurora dress, and so on. She also wanted shoes, gloves, earrings, necklaces and chap-stick (this is what she calls lipstick).

Paw Paw made her a wardrobe for her new outfits. She has been changing three or four times a day. She looks at the wardrobe and says, "I have choices".

'Nuther baby also got dresses to match Julianna's.

You'll notice she is sleeveless. It was hot on Christmas.

I've been working on Julianna's life-book, which invokes a lot of nostalgia. It seems so amazing that this wonderful child is in our lives. She has changed us in so many ways and we feel truly blessed. There are lots of ups and downs, but life around here is wonderful.

This is the earliest photograph of Julianna. It is her finding ad photo, and was taken in either September or October of 2005, when she was around three months old.


This is September, 2008.

She is so grown up.

Yesterday Julianna declared she wanted to listen to her Ariel CD while she napped. No problem, pop it in the CD player and she's set. Wait, do we own a CD player? Let's see, five iPods, three iPod docks...Is that a record player? CD player, CD player, ah, there is one. Unplug it, move it to her room, pop in the CD and listen to the singing....

Here it is, December. I've been at a loss as to what to do with the blog lately. Julianna has reached the point that she knows when we are talking about her and seems upset when I relate her latest escapades to others. Plus, I'm not sure which direction I want it to go. In some ways I think I tried to imitate other blogs rather than striving to make it my own. So for now, I think I'll be posting infrequently, although, we plan to post daily from China, when we finally get to travel.

Well, finally I am posting the Halloween pictures. Her Royal Highness had a good time at our Church's fall festival. She got to jump and jump and jump. We did very well in the candy department, in that she came home with three lollipops and one small bag of M&M's. Someday she will figure out that candy is to be had for the asking. May that day be many moons away.


There was a cake decorating contest as part of the festival. The guidelines were to bring your favorite pumpkin creation. Around here, our favorite pumpkin is the one a fairy godmother turns into a carriage.

Julianna and I had quite the conversation yesterday morning, like around 9 am:

J:Want candy
Me: You may have candy after your nap.
J:No after nap. Want candy.
Me: I'm sorry, that's the rules. You can have candy after your nap.
J:NO, no rules.