Rafting on the Yellow river

Today started off a park near the bank of the Yellow River.   IT is a very fast moving river.  The first attraction was this huge water wheel that shows how farmers use the wheels to get water from the river into their farm land.  This fully functioning wheel was built in the '80's as a replica to show how water was moved from the river.  

At the edge of the river were sheep skin rafts.  These are actually whole sheep skins that have been oiled and then inflated.  They are tied together and held by ropes on bamboo poles. People used these rafts to transport produce and themselves up and down the river and in the countryside. These rafts may be one of the coolest things I"ve ever seen. Look below, You can kind of see the actual individual sheep.

 So, guess what you can do here? yes, ride a raft down the Yellow River.  David and Trent took off on the adventure.  After you get down to a certain point a motor boat comes and picks you up for the ride back to the dock. Kaylee wasn't feeling well and I wasn't about to take the baby down the river.  That would be a news story waiting to happen.

Next we went to a local museum.  I really wasn't expecting to much from it. But I was wrong.  IT was a really nice museum that had lots of cool pottery and artifacts.  This elephant-like dinosaur skeleton was found in Johanna's hometown in 1973.  All of the pieces were there in a river bed, except for a few of the tail bones.  Our guide was very eager to show us this exhibit.

This horse was discovered by local farmers in the 1930's.  it was part of hundreds of other

 horses and chariots buried in a tomb.  The locals were about to melt theses statues down to make bullets for fighting against the Germans, but some scholars begged them not to because of their historical value.  This is the most famous one of the horses and it has traveled to museums all over the world. It is also the trademark symbol for Johanna's province. 

So after our history lessons we went to eat lunch at Pizza Hut.  Oh boy was it good.  David said I think this is our first meal in a week without a Lazy Susan.  If you've been to China you'll understand.

This is a view from out our hotel room.  During the day it's not much to look at but at night it is very pretty.  Doesn't beat the view from the side of the crib though.

We spent a relaxing day at a local park and Zoo.  It was nice to stroll through the gardens and see all the activites that the people are participating in early in the morning.

















But after a few minutes we seemed to be the attraction more than the activities.  Nevertheless, we had a nice morning.

For lunch we went to try the Famous Beef Noodles of Lanzhou.  Any time we googled famous things to do and see here the Beef Noodles were at the top of the list.  We quickly agreed.  They reminded us of Kung Fu Panda's Dad, he owned a noodle shop in the movie.

 Kaylee was hoping that we could get a picture of Johanna in her zebra outfit with a real Zebra.  But by the time we got to the Zebra, Johanna was  snoozing.

Then the rest of the afternoon, we spent time getting to know our baby girl better.  She is doing so well.  WE know so many of you have prayed for her and we can see the evidence of those prayers.  She is very happy.  She can get up on all fours and semi-crawl and she can pull up and take a few steps if she's holding your fingers.  She had one tooth erupted on the bottom and one more about to break through.  She can blow some serious bubbles and gets pretty vocal at times.  We are enjoying her so much!

We got the best night sleep since arriving.  We had to leave to go to the Civil Affairs OFfice at 8:15 so I had to wake everyone up to get going this morning.  We went to the portrait studio to have Johanna's passport photo taken and other pictures for her documents.  Then we spent the morning doing all the red-tape paper work.  She is now officially ours.  We are so excited!

After it was lunch time and we ventured out to a restaurant on our own.  We even ordered without help.  Everything tasted great.  We were feeling proud until the last dish arrived.  It was a huge plate of sauteed jalapenos and a few pieces of sliced beef. I don't think even a Cajun would have tried this..

This is the orphanage director who drove over 8 hours.  He was very nice and we are told a retired military captain.  

After lunch we spent some down time while Johanna took a nap.  Then went to the police station to get her passport. Across from the police station was a lovely park with beautiful topiaries.  We only got to walk around for a few minutes but will try to go back there.  These 2 girls were in the park.  I heard one of them say I am from Ch!na I am Ch!nese, you are from America you are American.  So I asked them if they would like to practice their English.  They were very excited.  Both girls were 12 years old and spoke very good English.

Thanks to all of you who have left comments.  We enjoy reading them all. 

One Serioiusly LONG Gotcha Day!

Our day started early by leaving the hotel at 5:30am for our 7:20 flight.  What we didn't know until we arrived was that our flight was delayed until noon.  (There had been some bad weather during the night)
So we found a Starbucks and waited somewhat patiently.  We knew that the director would be coming with Johanna from almost 8 hours away.  We finally got on the plane at 1:00 and took off about 2:00pm.  As we boarded the plane a man stood giving out about $50 each for the trouble. 

Once we got to Johanna's province our guide told us that the director has been stuck in traffic all day.  There was an international marathon today and it blocked up traffic for miles and hours. 

So we got some dinner, went to the grocery store for water and snacks, and waited, and waited, and waited.  The waiting in our room wouldn't be so bad if we werent all trying to keep our eyes open.  And we all had such butterflies in our stomach wondering what she is going to be like.

Finally about  10:15 pm we heard a knock at the door.  And when Johanna was brought in, we were overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed with Joy, Thanksgiving to our God in Heaven and with her sheer cuteness. 

Now that it's 1am, I better get some sleep.  It's been a long travel day for everyone.  BUt definitely a day we will never forget.

Touring day 2

Yesterday we visited the Temple of Heaven.  This is where the Emperor would go to offer sacraficies and prayers to the gods.  THere was a room where the Emperoro would choose which god he was praying to and hang that god's plaque inside.
Then we did some shopping at the pearl market.  Which has a full floor of electronic equipment.  David and Trent had a really good time with that.  Kaylee and I had fun in the purse and jewelry section.  We had a great lunch.  We laungh about the menu because it is like a yearbook.  It is huge and there are pictures of everything.  Thankfully our guide explains a lot of it and we don't happen to end up with ox tongue on our table.  WE eat family style at most meals and I really enjoy getting to taste a little bit of everything.  Last night we had "fried Milk"   They were about the size of twinkies and tasted very sweet. 
The last thing we did was the acrobat show.  We were very tired but the acrobats did a great job of keeping us awake.  The grand finalewas a big metal cage.  Men drove motorcycles into the cage and it ended with 8 men driving motorcycles inside at the same time.  Trent really loved that.
We raced to the airport for our 7:20 flightto Johanna's province and found out that it has been delayed until noon.  There was a lot of bad weather in the area last night.  So now we are waiting in the airport but at least we found a Starbucks. Today's the big day. Please pray today for her transition!
 For now, enjoy some pics. 
Yes I know it's in Chinese so if you can remember where your log in and password is you can log into this site as well.  My computer translates it to English.  I'll try to not do it this way again.
http://www2.kachayu.com/snapfishcn/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8667411009/a=55362322_55362322/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/

The Great Wall

Today's tour included A hutong Tour and The Great Wall.  We took Rickshaw's into the old historic portion of Beijing.  This was where the officials of the dynasty lived.  They were built very close to the forbidden City so that they could get to the Emperor quickly.  This particular house was part of the Olympic home stay and the family that stayed there was from France and that swimmer won Silver in the Beijing Summer games.  The owner was quite proud. 

Then we drove to the Great Wall and rode the ski lift up to the wall and then took the alpine slide down. 

We've had fun catching up with our guide Angela.  She was our tour guide 4 years ago with Zane.  SHe is now married and expecting her first baby. 

We are adjusting to the time change slowly.  The sun comes up at 4am and usually we crash about 8pm so we're up and ready to eat breakfast by the time the restaurant opens at 6am.  A 13 hour time difference is really hard to change.

I'm trying to link alll the day's pictures to a Snapfish account.  I hope this works.  If not, someone please email me and let me know. 

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8662724009/a=55362322_55362322/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Made it

We made it to Beijing.  When we were leaving San Francisco the captain of the plane pointed out that Air Force One was on the runway.  It was pretty cool to see that.  We also saw The Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. 
We've been up a long time but are trying to stay awake another couple of hours to get our body adjusted.  Now that we are settled in our hotel room it is becoming more difficult by the minute.

Busy day tomorrow.  We hope to post some pictures as well.  The internet connection is slow.

A few interesting things our guide told us.  Yesterday was the first of a 3 day exam for 10th graders all over China.  I had heard of this test before.  This is the test that will determine if students go to college or trade school.  ONly 10% of all 10th graders will be able to attend college.  It all depends on this test.  During these 3 testing days traffic is diverted from around the school.  People are asked not to honk their horns and try to keep quiet around the schools.  We also, saw all the parents standing outside one of the schools waiting for their children to come out. 
Also, the population of Beijing is up to 20  million. Amazing!

Ready or not

Here we go!
We caught our first flight from Houston to San Francisco.
Now we are headed on to Beijing.

This precious little girl was on our first flight. I imagine Johanna might look something like her in a few years.

Again?

Why are you adopting AGAIN?
I get that question a lot...maybe not in words but many times in looks.  It's a look that has a small bit of pity and a large bit of "she's crazy" in it with a tad of "glad it's you and not me"
It's a hard question to answer in words... but When God calls you to adoption, you get a glimpse of His heart... He sends you to those His heart is broken for. God breaks your heart for what breaks His and He puts a deep love in your heart for them as you begin to see them through His eyes.
 My heart is now broken for the orphan, so how can I NOT go when given the opportunity?
I look at two of my children daily and wonder...what if? 

a few new owls...

 

Getting ready

Last few preparations

Ty is Seven

 

Ty Turned Seven this month.  He requested a Lego birthday party and we had a great time getting ready for it. 

Trent counted out a bunch of legos and had the boys guess how many were in the jar.

Kaylee created the Lego Vending machine.  The boys hunted for gold coins around the yard and then put them in the vending machine to receive a special treat.   They then put their prize in the yellow, blue and red bags that Mia had carefully decorated to look like a lego.

We had a Lego tower building competition.  Ty and Nathan tied for the tallest tower.

Then each boy had their own bucket of new legos to build any kind of car and we raced them down a ramp.

 

We had cake and ice cream.  Zane made the cute lego piece that was on top of the cake.

No lego party is complete with a cookie in the shape of the lego man head.
The party was a lot of fun but man was it Loud, did i say loud?
I meant LOUD....I have never had a party this LOUD before, and we've had Fifteen middle school boys here at one time.  I still am in shock over the volume of these boys.  I just kept thinking in my head.  I once taught 30 seventh graders at one time and I can't handle these 8 boys.  Wow!

Did I tell you it was LOUD? because it WAS!!!

That was then....

This is now.....

Mia C (L) and Mia W

 Mia W (L) and Mia C.

We met some incredible people in China seven years ago.  We were a part of a very large travel group and one of the couples that we got to know very well were the Clarks.  Coincidentally they were also adopting a "Mia" 

Fortunately we have stayed in touch and just last week Mia, Her mom Julie, and their little brother Eli came over for a visit.

 We were so excited to see them and the kids played and played and played. 

 Of course, I had an even better time getting to visit with Julie.  Julie is moving to DC very soon and I hope that we get to go visit with them again.  This time at their house......

This Weekend's flock

I got a few new owls this weekend for Johanna's quilt.  Some were even delivered in person.  We spent a nice Mother's Day weekend with my mom and David's mom at our house.  We had a great lunch and watched the kids swim at time trials.

In case you are wondering what's up with the owls, I am making a Good Wishes Owl quilt for Johanna.  I asked a few "likely willing" participants to make an owl that I will eventually piece into a quilt..  If you are reading this and would like to particpate I have more patterns available.  I would like as many as possible from our friends and family. Just let me know.