Lions and Ligers and Bears, Oh My!

Since today was a totally free day (no government/adoption related activities), we hit the zoo. 

It was so much fun getting out and letting Amanda run around - all while seeing lots of brand new things! There were of course TONS of monkeys (which were a huge hit - Amanda loved watching the chimpanzees play), tigers and bears. Jason's and my favorite animal had to be the liger, though. Seriously, we really had no idea they actually existed! ;) Well, they do - and it was HUGE!

Apparently they only live in captivity - the two species don't ever actually cross in the wild. Huh - who knew??

Amanda's little pointer finger was going CRAZY in the zoo! Whenever she sees something new or that she's curious about, she points at it. Well, that was just about everything we saw today, so her finger must have been getting tired! 

Amanda repeated the names of all of the animals we saw- she got really good at saying "tiger" and "panda"! 

Overall it was a really fun trip, with only some small challenges when she wanted to go a different direction than we did - and we would expect nothing else from a nearly three-year-old! The excursion ended with Amanda's first real ride on BahBah's shoulders as we walked back to the van. At first she was pretty wary, so she kept a death-grip on Jason's ear, just in case. 

And yes, she sucks her thumb, just like her Mama did. ;) 

We got to watch the NYC ball drop on TV this afternoon at 1:00 pm here - so Happy New Year to EVERYONE now! ;)

Uneventful!

After such an emotional day yesterday, I'm pleased to report today was relatively uneventful! We met up with two other families this morning and headed over to Shamian Island to get Amanda's requisite medical examinations and TB test done. It was really all more of a formality, so we were in and out pretty quickly (especially considering there were at least 50 other families at the clinic with us!). We then walked around a bit down the quiet tree-lined streets, played for a while on a playground (sliding was GREAT fun!) and then headed to lunch at Lucy's (a very popular Americanized restaurant for adoptive families!) On the drive back to the hotel, it was Jason's turn to have Amanda fall asleep on him. BahBah was loving it!

We had the afternoon to ourselves and we realized that we're quickly running out of entertainment options  to fill our last week here. However, we did discover a toy store at the top of the mall across the street today, so that was a big hit! We've been filling a lot of our "free time" here with meals out... we've tried many different places including several Chinese restaurants, Italian, and even Pizza Hut and McDonalds! I'm going to have to figure out a way to get back on a regular diet pretty quickly after I get home - the jeans are getting snug! :) 

It was fun hanging out with the other families today and hearing their stories. They both have actually adopted before, so it's been really interesting to hear their past experiences and how their current one compares. Their children are all just beautiful. It's such a joy to see how different the kids all are and watching their personalities come alive under all this new attention. 

Amanda is learning more and more every day. She loves to give kisses all the time now and even repeats back to us "Waw eye nee" (Chinese for "I love you"). But even better, today she started saying it in English too - "I sha yo". ;) She's amazingly well potty-trained - even though she's had diarrhea until today, she's been completely clean and dry except at nap time and bedtime. But, this had also led to some interesting public potty experiences. As I mentioned before, that can be an adventure. Typically there are only squatty potties, so it can be a challenge helping a little three-year-old get out of one pant leg (without her foot touching the not-so-clean floor) so she can squat over the toilet without messing up her clothes. It's been a big learning curve, but I think we've got it down now! 

It feels odd that it's New Year's Eve here and will officially be 2012 in just a few hours - hard to believe we'll be ringing in the New Year before our boys!  Our celebration will consist of some wine, a DVD episode of 24, and sleeping in a room with our sweet baby girl. Low key, but likely one we won't forget! Happy New Year!

"Another Day In Paradise"

Remember the Phil Collins song "Another Day In Paradise"? "Oh, think twice, it's just another day for you and me in paradise" were the words of the chorus. That's the song that was playing on the radio as we drove away from Amanda's orphanage today and keeps running through my head as I reflect on this day. We thought long and hard before deciding to bring Amanda with us to her orphanage, but we think it ended up being a very good decision and experience for all of us. It was important for both of us to see firsthand where she spent the first few years of her life. Dongguan City Children's Welfare Institute is one of the best orphanages in China according to our guide (who has over 13 years of experience with orphanages all over the country). Here's the front of the building -

We first visited the "Sunshine Academy" Preschool, which was brand new and beautiful. It's only two months old, and that's how long Amanda had been there. The classroom was bright, clean and colorful with lots of toys and books. The teachers and kids were all excited to see Amanda when we walked through the door - and the kids especially loved it when she began to hand out candy! The director of the school was telling us how "verbal" she is and how she's always friendly and loves to be around people (yup, we've seen that!) Another director at the orphanage said she's happy and loves to be loud, thrown up in the air, and has a "very higher voice" (yup, we've seen that too!) However, Amanda was very quiet for the most part while we were in the preschool, but still interacted with her teachers and friends. She didn't act upset or scared, just more quiet than usual.

We got to see where she slept - on the lower bunk next to a window, in a room with 6 sets of bunk beds, all donated by a local construction company. It was bright and clean and looked like a really great place (relatively speaking) to be. We also saw their bathroom - complete with both western-style kiddie toilets (on the right) and Chinese squatty-potties (on the left):

We then headed over to a different building to meet and take pictures of a little two-year-old boy whose parents are part of a Yahoo group I subscribe to for that orphanage (they should be getting him in a little over a month!). It was an older building and felt far different. It was darker and far less stimulating than the preschool area. There were no toys in the room, and a TV on the wall was blaring when we walked in. The kids looked much more frightened and stoic than in the preschool area. After I got some pictures and video of the little boy, our tour was over. Amanda also had a much harder time there. She didn't readily go to the people working in that room - and when she did the one time, she started crying. Jason quickly snatched her back and was able to immediately calm her down. The biggest positive from the entire orphanage experience was that she clung to us and sought us for reassurance. We left shortly after that. As I walked out of that room, it hit me that a room like that was where Amanda likely spent the other two and a half years of her life. It was heartbreaking and about all I could do not to break down and cry. Gratefully as soon as we were out of the room, Amanda was back to her sweet, smiling, giggling self - even giving BahBah unsolicited kisses! As we walked out of the orphanage gate, we took video of the surrounding area, as somewhere in that vicinity was her "finding place." Even though Amanda had no idea of the significance, it really meant a lot to me to see where she'd been left - right outside the gate of one of the best orphanages in China. I imagine her mother knew she'd be well taken care of there and decided it was worth the risk of being caught, which speaks volumes for the love she must have had for her daughter. God gave us a great charge when He placed her with us - what an incredible gift!

Here's a picture of us outside the gate - as you can see, she was all smiles again. ;)

As I'd mentioned before, as we drove away from the orphanage, "Another Day In Paradise" was playing. It's a song about how we go through our days enjoying our comforts and conveniences, while ignoring  the poverty that surrounds us. It brought tears to my eyes as I thought about how only 80 of the 800 kids in this orphanage get adopted each year. And how grateful and blessed we feel that we're able to adopt even one.

After an emotional, yet overall positive day for all of us, we got back in the car for our hour-long drive back to the hotel. And the best part of the whole day (maybe the whole week?) was Amanda falling asleep on me. Heaven. ;)

Busy Day!

What a great day! Amanda's loving to Skype with her brothers - although like any nearly-three-year-old, she gets easily distracted!

Our day was full and busy! After our morning Skype session and breakfast, we headed out to Baiyun Sun - or White Cloud Mountain for some hiking. It was beautiful to see a mountain right in the middle of the big city of Guangzhou. And it was a LOT more strenuous than we'd expected! It was about two hours to get to the top of the mountain - lots of stairs and uphill climbs, which at times got challenging for us with her on our back! But it was well worth it! Here's a picture of us at the top of one of the trails, "Changshou Road" which means "Longevity of Life" - we're hoping all the exercise helped that cause! ;) (And by the way, before anyone starts thinking Jason was a slacker for letting me tote our 30-pound daughter around all day, he actually carried her most of the way up - chivalry still lives!)

So many people go there to climb, exercise and get fresh air - and we were definitely the only non-local folk there, so we got lots of smiles and attention! As we were resting on some benches on the way up, some really nice people started talking to us about Amanda. Through our guide, Jack, they told us how smart and very special she is, and that it's definitely fate that she's with us. And because her ears are "big", that means she's lucky! ;) Jack told them that we're definitely the lucky ones to have her- and it's true! They were so sweet and even gave her an orange to eat. I think one of my favorite parts of the whole interaction was when one of the women bent down to talk to her, she got really quiet and shied away, looking to me for reassurance and how she should react. A great sign that she's really starting to bond with us!

We saw some really beautiful scenery on the way up - I took a million pictures, but will only post one to give you a taste. ;)

After lunch (noodles, spicy beef, broccoli and tea) at a restaurant near the top, we then headed back down. We let Amanda walk for a bit - actually, MADE her walk would be more accurate. She kept putting her arms up to be carried, going between me and Jason. When she finally figured out neither of us would carry her, she stopped walking and made a pouty face, waiting to see what we'd do. Once we got about 20 yards away she finally realized that we meant it and came running, all smiles again. She's really starting to test the limits and boundaries with us - just as you'd expect with any child her age! So we're actually pretty pleased with it. ;) All that walking must have really worn her out, because on our way down she totally passed out asleep on me.

To end our outing, we made a trip to the Pearl Market and had some beautiful fresh-water pearl jewelry made for her to have once she's older. We're hoping it will be something she'll come to treasure as part of her heritage.

Amanda has picked up so much in such a small amount of time. She's caught on very quickly to anything we've taught her - she's got the bathroom routine and washing hands DOWN! (Which in public, is a HUGE adventure - I'll post more on that cultural experience later.) She says "all done", "baby", "BahBah", "MaMa" and signs for please whenever she wants food off our plate. ;) She speaks LOTS of Chinese - today she said "Those are cats over there" while we were eating lunch. A pretty good sentence for her age! She tries repeating just about anything we say and knows to look to us whenever she needs help. We've been beyond pleased with how quickly she's picked everything up. It really feels like she's been with us for so much longer than just 4 days. Her laughter is absolutely contagious and we can't get over how many different facial expressions she makes. We love her so much already!

True Colors

Today's been another full, enjoyable day! Amanda is really beginning to show her true colors! Today was a day full of running, laughing, pitching a few fits (usually over food or not going where SHE wanted to go), and lots of squealing with joy! She loves to run anywhere and everywhere we'll let her. She also is a bit obsessed with escalators (points excitedly and makes a beeline toward any that come into sight) and loves to go out on excursions (if she feels like we've been in the hotel room too long, she walks up to BahBah, puts up her arms for him to pick her up and then points at the door!) Any time we're somewhere new, she's always quiet at first, just taking everything in with her wide, curious eyes.

Our morning began with another delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel-

and then after many escalator trips in the hotel lobby we headed over to get Amanda's picture taken for her Chinese passport (which we're told is only used for our trip home and after that she'll need a US Passport as she'll officially be a US citizen). The wait was a little longer than we'd expected, so we had lots of opportunity to let her run around and laugh and squeal loudly - VERY loudly! Goodness, that girl's got some lungs! ;) We've decided with her love for laughter, her crazy amounts of energy and general loud behavior, she'll fit RIGHT in with our boys! God sure knew what he was doing when he matched her with us!

After that we headed to the Chinese version of Walmart, Carrefour. It was fun to see all the Chinese New Year decorations going up. And the magnetic people-mover conveyor belt system for moving people and carts between the floors was really ingenious - and Amanda thought the ride was pretty fun!

They had an amazing selection of cooked food there, so we chose to grab some potstickers/dumplings for us and a giant meat-filled bun for Amanda to eat later (all for the bargain price of about $2.20!). We then headed to our guide, Jack's, favorite local teahouse. 

It was really an amazing experience! He gave us a lot of history on the Chinese teas (I bought some 14-year-old delicious black tea - it apparently gets better with age!) and Amanda even got to try some! Later, after nap time, we decided to try out our Boba carrier and venture out into Guangzhou. Amanda loved riding with her BahBah,

but we think she might have loved riding with Mama even more since she could sit so much higher and see so much more! ;)

As we got further and further from the hotel, we decided that the area where we're staying is like "Western-Town" (an American version of Chinatown). Just a few short blocks away were more traditional Chinese shops, selling fruit, stationery, and tea. We peeked into a courtyard between some apartment buildings and saw families and friends playing ping pong and exercising together. It was so much fun seeing a little more "Chinese" China! (Jack frequently tells us that Guangzhou is not "China";)) 

Overall, we had another great day! We're missing Austin and Jackson terribly, but Skyping is really helping. We just can't wait till Amanda can meet her brothers in person! And here's one more pic of Amanda, just because I can't resist. ;)

"Cam... What IS this place??"

If you've seen the Modern Family episode where Cam takes Mitchell to Costco for the first time, you should be able to relate to this analogy. Mitchell walks around in complete overwhelmed awe of the unexpected delights that Costco had to offer - cheap diapers, an excellent wine selection, and the paper shredder he always wanted. Well, today was much like that for Amanda. Whether we carried her or she walked, no matter where we went she observed everything with big, wide curious eyes and a ready finger to point to anything she found new, exciting, and different. Our adventures today began at the Civil Affairs Office again where we completed our final interviews and notaries with the Chinese government to finally make Amanda officially "ours"! Then after lunch and naptime we headed out to explore the hotel - the grounds are beautiful! After that was a trip to the Friendship Store supermarket, and later dinner at the Banana Leaf restaurant. A very eventful day! 

We've discovered a surefire way to get Amanda to pitch a full-blown tantrum: take away food. This morning she was enjoying a huge, delicious pear (see picture), but it was time to leave for breakfast before she'd finished. When we took it away we got a taste of her first fit of crying (see picture). However, as soon as I whipped out our handy Simple Chinese Language phrase book and told her "Chir fahn bah" (let's go eat!), she immediately calmed down and was back to her sweet, good-humored self. And boy does she love to eat!  She's willing to try nearly anything once and now signs please whenever she wants anything off our plates - great progress! 

Another big success for the day was bath time! We'd heard that often the kids will have trouble, so we were careful to ease her into it. No need - she LOVED it! She quickly discovered the fun of splashing (the walls, herself, Mama and BahBah/Daddy!). I think it's become one of her favorite activities (next to coloring and making us laugh!) 

Amanda's feeling more and more comfortable with us, fussing when she doesn't get her way, testing the limits at bedtime, and grabbing for whatever she wants. She also asks us for help, looks to us for reassurance when she's uncertain, gives BahBah a kiss when he asks (!!) and grabs both our hands as we walk so we can swing her (which results in her beautiful laughter!) We're loving every minute of getting to know our daughter!

Wow... Just, wow!

Well, it's now 6:30 am on the 27th in China and we're just waking up - at least Jason and I are (crazy jet lag!) Amanda is passed out asleep next to me (I grabbed her to cuddle when we woke up) so I have a few moments to replay yesterday's events. After a leisurely morning of hitting the Friendship Market (a giant mall with HIGH end stores like Cartier, Gucci, etc., and a supermarket on the 4th floor!) and having a delicious Chinese meal of fried rice, vermicelli and tea, it was FINALLY time to get Amanda at 2:00! I'd been expecting many (as in, 30-40) families to be at the Civil Affairs Office, also waiting for their children, but surprisingly (I guess because we're here at Christmas!) there were only 6 other families. We barely had a moment to sit down before it was time for her to walk into the room and become ours! I caught a glimpse of her through the doorway curtains and had to hold back the tears of joy - she's beautiful!!! Then she came out to us and we were even more blown away. She gave us each shy smiles and stood for a few moments, wary of what was going on. But then I gave her a doll and she was all smiles from then on. We only sat and chatted with the orphanage director for a few moments, but she was able to give us much more than I'd hoped. Amanda had been attending the new "Sunshine Preschool" in the orphanage, so she gave us many samples of her "artwork", as well as a really sweet, wonderful letter from her teacher - something I think she'll come to treasure. It was certainly more than I'd expected to know about her time in the orphanage.
> 
> Our trip back to the hotel with her in my lap (no carseats here) was smooth as she looked out the window, pointing at everything and just talking away (no idea what she was saying, but she's very verbal!) She walked into the hotel holding Jason's hand looking at everything in total awe (and confusion, I'm sure!) Once we got into the room, we began to see her real personality - she's amazing! She's so very curious, exploring everything - not in a haphazard way, but with great attention to details. And once she sees something she wants, she makes a beeline for it, grabs it and won't let go (short of us prying it out of her fingers - very typical 3-year-old!) Amanda LOVES to draw and color. We probably spent well over 2 hours just sitting on the floor coloring and playing with the markers and crayons. Who knew markers could be so entertaining?? And our favorite thing we've learned about her so far - she LOVES to laugh! She has a a great big belly laugh that gets her going so much that she often will fall over when she's dying of laughter! We've found so many ways to get her laughing: making faces, tickling, playing silly games with the markers - just about anything as it doesn't take much! 
> 
> Finally it was bedtime, which went quite well. She almost cried as we laid her down in the crib/bed at the foot of our bed. But Jason and I stood/sat right beside her with our hands on her chest and forehead, she began to suck her thumb and then went right to sleep! We all had a very big day yesterday, so we all slept very well. Overall it was an incredibly smooth first day. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers - they worked!!!

Merry Christmas From China!!

Merry Christmas from China! We're here and getting settled in to our beautiful digs for the next two weeks - the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. Our trip here was thankfully smooth and uneventful! All bags made it here, fairly unscathed, and we made all of our connections - a success! We were initially a little concerned about how our connection in Beijing would go, since we had to pick up our bags, get through immigration and customs, and then check in for new boarding passes and re-check our luggage. But as we were waiting for our bags to come out, we kept hearing an airport worker asking everyone something about Guangzhou (our final destination). I flagged her down and she graciously told us to get our luggage and follow her. So we did - and thank goodness!! She was like a little guardian angel running (literally!!) us through the Beijing airport, from one end to the other, through customs without incident, all the way to the check-in counter. It was a 10 minute RUN through the airport and we were soooo grateful to her - we still only had a few minutes to spare before our flight began to board. God was watching out for us!

Christmas in China is a lot more Christmas-y than expected! Our hotel has an enormous tree beautifully decorated and displayed both in the lobby and outside. Christmas music plays in the elevators. We've even been told "Merry Christmas" several times today. ;) So, although we're missing Austin, Jackson and all of our family terribly today, we've had many great reminders for what today actually is. And even if the Christmas celebration is completely secular here, they're also great reminders of the true "reason for the season". 

We leave tomorrow at 2:00 to finally meet and get our precious Amanda - we're crazy with excitement and anticipation! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - I can't even imagine how bewildering tomorrow will be for her. We love her so much already and hope we can somehow convey how safe and cared for she'll be with us. We will begin to know more tomorrow (!?!?!)!

So tonight, to celebrate our Christmas in China, I think we'll hit an Irish Pub! Who'd have thought???
Merry Christmas!

Journey to Amanda - Welcome!

We've started this blog to share our thoughts, emotions, and experiences through our journey to adopt Amanda Fei Porter. She has already blessed us in so many ways and we haven't even met her yet! She will be three years old January 26th, 2012 and we'll be traveling over Christmas to bring her home. Words cannot even express our level of anticipation, joy and excitement that the time is nearly here! Throughout this process we greatly appreciate all thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement - we certainly couldn't do this without the incredible support of our wonderful friends and family. Enjoy!