Happy Easter!

Sunday March 31, 2013
     He is risen! I sure did miss hearing this today at church. This is the first Easter Sunday I have not attended a worship service since I have been married. The first thing I thought about today was how grateful I am to be able to be in this place at this time. We have been blessed beyond measure on this wonderful day. The day Christians celebrate the risen King, our Lord. I want to say a special hello to all of our church family and hope you enjoyed a wonderful church service where we have the freedom to worship. We hope everyone will enjoy Easter with their families and friends.
     Olivia is feeling much better today. She was able to get out of bed without feeling "woozy".  We brought her some breakfast from the buffet downstairs but she only ate an apple. We were supposed to tour today but Terry stayed in with the girls and the other family and I decided we would just do a little shopping instead. Liv was able to eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and a slice of pizza for dinner. So far, so good. Thanks for the prayers. We have our Consulate appt. tomorrow morning at 8:30 am.
Here a few pictures from today....

   

Olivia is down with the bug...

Sat. March 30, 2013
     Well, Olivia is sick. We overslept this morning due to the wonderful blackout curtains in this awesome hotel. We have been waking up every morning in Jiangxi around 6:30 or 7. We never had to set our alarm because the sun was so bright in our hotel room.  Here, that is not the case. We only woke up this morning because housekeeping rang our doorbell.  It was 9:30 and we had an appointment for Sophia's medical exam and visa photo. We were suppose to  be in the lobby at 10:30.
Olivia was moving mighty slow and said she was feeling hot. I gave her tylenol, we didn't have time for breakfast and headed out the door. We made our appointment, went to the grocery store and came back to the hotel. She fell right to sleep, woke up 2 hours later and was feverish.  I gave her some sprite and advil. Within an hour, she was vomiting. I was so hoping the rest of us would not catch the bug, but so much for that.
      We have been in the hotel room the rest of day. It rained and stormed most of the day anyway.
Here are a few pics of our day....

Heading to Sophia's medical exam

No crying yet...

Still ok....

Not so bad...

It takes 3 nurses to weigh a baby!?!

Forget this, I'm outta here.....

all better sitting in daddy's lap

waiting....

Hey! Walmart Great Value brand ;o)

Another one down...poor sick baby girl :(

ready for bed

Taxi's, buses, vans and planes oh my!

     I hate motion sickness!! I have been dealing with it the entire trip. I have tried to sit in the front seat of all the vehicles we have been riding in. The taxi's in China are the worst. They would be awesome Nascar drivers, weaving in and  of traffic coming within inches of every car they pass.  Thank God for Meclizine. Today we had our flight to Guangzhou. It was delayed, which meant no lunch. We finally board the plane and thankfully Sophia slept the entire flight. She only woke up while we were boarding the bus to get to the terminal.  She was facing out in the carrier and proceeded to scream and try to turn her head around to make sure I was still back there. I assume she saw a sea of chinese people and wondered where her blonde white mama was.
    We checked in to our last hotel! The Garden Hotel is beautiful. So many different types of gorgeous flower arrangements. We decided on the "Tekila" mexican restaurant. NOT so good. Terry's  mexi-burger was raw in the middle and Olivia's meal was never served.  We are sure missing Guiseppes and El Caporal!!! Our friends, Adam, Stacie, Riley and Maggie head home tomorrow. Stacie came up to our room tonight to meet Sophia. Getting ready for bed as we have Sophia's medical exam and visa photo in the morning. Night, night from Guangzhou, Guangdong China. ;)
Here are a few pics of our day...

 She sleeps with a blanket in her mouth LOL!

 Waiting for our flight from Jiangxi to Guangzhou

 Hanging on my mama's leg

 My big sister loves to hug me ;)

Thank you Matt and Donna for my ladybug outfit ;)

 Lily (our adoption facilitator) in Guangzhou

 My family is crazy....

MMmmm, a see-through shower...

A Day at the Park

Thursday, March 28

     Today in Nanchang, we took a cab to the "Peoples Park". It was very lush and green.  Olivia was able to do a little pitching practice. She actually drew a little crowd. I sat with Sophia and Terry was catching her pitches. Echo, our facilitator, wanted to give it a try too. She was hilarious. We also sent out some laundry to be washed today. It was AWESOME!! I wish I had laundry service at home. Put it in a bag, the lady comes to get it and the next day, your laundry is delivered, washed dried and folded. We received most of Sophia's official documents today and the rest will hopefully be ready in the morning before our flight to Guangzhou. 

     We did find out today the little miss has a TEMPER.  She has not been to fond of getting a bath but tonight she loved it.  She splashed around, played with her toys and laughed and giggled. When I tried to lift her out of the tub and hand her to Terry  she started bucking and screaming. Took awhile for her to calm down. We finished packing for our flight tomorrow. So, we are 3 flights down and 3 to go! Can't wait to get home to a refrigerator that is COLD and ice I can actually not be afraid to drink.

Here are a few pics of our day....

us ;)

blonde lady with Chinese baby always draws attention

a little pitching practice

beautiful scenery

Echo trying her hand at pitching

lots of fish

listening to Daddy

toys in the window

luv'n the tub before the tantrum ;)

helping Daddy pack

A little of this and that...

Wed. March 27
        Happy Birthday Emily! Even though we are far away I thought of you today. We love you Em Bem. Hope you have a wonderful #13!!!

     Today we just took it easy.  Terry is on the mend. He is feeling much better and has kept his cookies down for at least 18 hours now. He stayed in most of the day and rested. Ate some crackers for lunch and drank little bits all day. Olivia and I did a little shopping this afternoon with Echo. Jiangxi is known for its porcelain, so we purchased a tea set for Sophia's  "hope chest".  We wondered around the city, answered a lot of questions from local Chinese. They thought it rather odd that Olivia could speak English. LOL! They would stand close by and listen to our conversations with Echo. Olivia was able to practice a couple of chinese phrases we had been working on. We came back to the room and then left again for dinner.  Tonight we tried chinese "KFC". My chicken sandwich patty was full of veggies and was rather tasty. Liv's chicken bites were very spicey and Terry didn't eat alot but said the couple of bites of his sandwich was ok. Every time we have ventured out, the same little man has been cooking tofu and it is the STINKIEST STUFF I have ever smelled.  I thought 'chitterlings' smelled nasty but this stuff is far worse.  Every time we walk by now, Olivia announces "OK, HOLD YOUR NOSE"!!!! Olivia has been itching to try the hotel swimming pool, so, we went down after dinner to let her swim.  Sophia did NOT like the water at all.  She was cute in her bathing suit and swim hat though. Olivia got a kick out of that. ;)
Here are a few pics from the day....

 Thanks aunt T.T. for my backpack!, I love it :)

 I love looking out the window

 2 bathing beauties

 Check out our "required" swim caps"

 Our fish

 rocking the swim wear

 "hollywood"

Not all fun and games....

Tuesday, March 26
     Terry woke up this morning not feeling so well.  He said he was a little "achy" but we both thought it was just the hard mattresses.  After breakfast, we all got in the van and headed to Sophia's orphanage (Yifeng SWI) 2 hours away.  It was a very bumpy ride to say the least. Terry ended up in the back. We arrived at the orphanage, they offered us tea and we met Sophia's foster mother who actually is an elderly resident at the orphanage. As we were walking out, all of a sudden Terry turned white as a ghost and headed for some shrubs. After he tossed his cookies, they offered him ginger thinking it was motion sickness. The orphanage director insisted on taking us to lunch. Shortly after arriving Terry was sick again and again and again.  He did not eat lunch at all which was probably good because most of this meal did not look very appetizing. The director wrote Sophia a little note for her scrapbook wishing her a wonderful life in America.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to Nanchang. Our guide, Echo, gave up the front seat of the van for Terry which was good because we had to stop the van for Terry to be sick again. I am pretty sure he has the flu or some sort of bug. He has the chills and feels pretty bad. Us girls decided we would venture out on our own tonight for some more McDonalds. We will probably be cancelling our  side trip to Hunan tomorrow to see our friend Amy and to visit Olivia's orphanage.
Please keep us in your prayers. We need quick healing for Terry, and for Sophia, Liv and myself not to catch what Terry has.
Here are a few pics from today...

 Bedtime

Yifeng orphanage director

O

 Walking by the wicker stroller in most of Sophia's pics

 Sophia's foster mother

 Sophia's crib

Lunch with director and staff

 giggles with big sister

 playtime

sisters