Home Sweet Home

We arrived safely home this morning, even a few minutes early on a Northwest flight from Tokyo. We had a delay leaving Hong Kong, so it was pretty tight making our connection, but we arrived in the nik of time and were quickly off for our finally leg of a long journey.
We lost internet service shortly after arriving in Hong Kong due to a earthquake in Singapore that knocked out the internet service. This did not make our children happy at all. All of a sudden they lost connection with friends, boyfriend, and girlfriends. We could not even check email. It is amazing how much having that connection helped keep us grounded with the security of home. However, we all managed to survive.
We left you last when we were celebrating Christmas in Guangzhou. We had a nice quiet day, filled with our last walking spree down our favorite streets, a final foot and back massage ( we really wanted to bring them home with us ) and a cruise on the Pearl River to see the lights of the city. The cruise was fun, we sat on the top deck, the lights of the buildings and the other boats on the river were beautiful. The next morning we boarded a train for Hong Kong.
The train was a nice break from the flying and we enjoyed the comfortable seats while we watched the landscape of southern China pass by. It took us about two hours to arrive in Hong Kong. We were met at the train station by Mario. Due to a long story, our hosts in Hong Kong were out of town, and they insisted we stay at their lovely town house on the back side of Hong Kong island and have their driver, Mario, take us anywhere we wanted to go. We quickly discovered we were in a gated community of very expensive town houses with no resturants or shopping within walking distance. Mario took us to the small town of Stanley that was not far away. The town was small but filled with resturants and shops. We went our first late afternoon in search of dinner and grocery store. We couldn't figure out why it was so crowded. We were used to crowds by that point, but it seemed strange that this small town would be filled with people, and this time a rich variety of all races and languages. It wasn't until the following day that I realized it was Boxing Day, which is a holiday in HK. Jeff and I discovered we were at the end of our energy level and although we did not want to lose a precious day of sightseeing in HK, we decided we had to have a down day on Wednesday. The kids were actually pleased as they wanted to head for the beach and have a day soaking up the sunshine ( it was just right, sunny, but not too hot ). As Jeff and I enjoyed a quiet day of resting and reading, the kids laid on the Stanley beach, soaked up the sun, and Adam swam in the water protected by netting so the sharks could not come into the swimming area. I had remembered sunscreen, which all but one of my children used, and Meng came back with her first sunburn, having insisted she did not need the extra protection. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.
Thursday we were ready to go again and spent the day in the city. We rode the Star Ferry, something I have wanted to do for many years since reading TaiPan, and Noble House by James Clavell. Never dreaming I would ever really be able to make this dream a reality. Having only one day we just hit the high tourist attractions, of course, including riding the tram to Victoria's Peak. The view was beautiful! We really enjoyed our short time in HK, there were very few stares, and most people spoke English. If we looked a little lost, someone would notice and ask us if we need directions. The skyscapers were everywhere, and it amazed us to see so many tall apartment buildings in such a small area. People, people, people everywhere.
So we are at the end of this incredible journey, we felt like we were gone for a long time, and although we were ready to come home, it was hard to leave. This was a trip we will always remember, we had so many new experiences, and had so much fun with the new friends we met. We will post more pictures and I will have the girls post in the next few days as well. Thanks for sharing this trip with us, Vicki

Trina Blog

today is our last day in Guangzhou, which makes me sad because i think this ismy favorite place so far. Last night was insane! it was christmas eve here, the family and i decided to do to some last minute shopping since it was pretty much the last shopping day we had. when we go to the mall at night everything is liteup so we decided to go one more time. I dont think i have ever really been in an area so crowded, we tried to take a taxi back to the hotel which is normally about a 5 minute or less ride, which ended up being about a 15 minute ride, and the guy couldnt even get us all the way to the hotel we got about half way and then it took us a half hour to walk to the hotel. there were people lining the streets with glow sticks and santa hats, a couple people were wearing devilhorns which confused mom and me. children were chasing each other with sillystring and tired toddles yawning in the arms of parents. There was music blaring and lines down the streets for the restaurants. Mom and i were enjoying all of it but were excited to think about getting to the hotel where we were sure no one would be other then the other people staying there. but as we got closer we realized that the hotel is exactly where everyone was in fact going.confused and curious mom and i decided to wade thru the sea of people and see what all the fuss was about, we figured maybe there was something going on that we didnt know about. But no, 10 minutes of following led us to the lobby (a normally 5 second walk) to see that everyone was crowded around the giant christmas tree and waterfall that had been there since the day we checked in.... parents with children placed their kids in front of any christmas tree they could find and, as if they were trained young, every child sported the"victory" sign, even those as young as 2. it was pretty entertaining to watch.So that was our christmas eve in china. Christmas is a much calmer event, which includes lounging around the hotel, wondering the market shops with dired snakes and live scorpians, places where mom tells dad to walk up with meng and i so we dont get kidnapped, and of course massages.... oh and how could i forget the presents, but we have plenty of time to so those since we are doing it mom's way (one present every couple hours or so) so i hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! and merry christmas!!

more from Vicki

Beijing felt like New York City, Hefei felt like Iowaand Guangzhou feels like Los Angeles. We aredefinitely more comfortable here than any other placewe have visited. We enjoyed Beijing, but were readyto leave the high energy, we enjoyed Hefei but feltlike striped cows in a city where only polka dot cowslived, and in Guangzhou we pretty much blend in witheveryone else. I can feel all of us relaxing, andhaving the boys finally join us has also helped. The kids decided not to share a hotel room with momand dad, they claim we snore, but hey if that is whatenabled us to have our own room, it works for us. Thekids are all sharing the room next to ours and makingthe small space work. There are hotel girls in the hallway and they alwayspush the elevator button for you, and we havedeveloped this game of standing before differentelevators ( there are six ) and seeing whose elevatorarrives first. The girls think we are crazy, but itis a fun game. They know us, if I come to the roomand ask if the kids are in, they know right away ifthey are or not. We are leaving tips for the maidssince the kids room is such a mess. They deserve morethan we are leaving for them, that's for sure.Today we all had massages, Jeff experiemented and hadthis fire back massage that Kathy mentioned. Theytake fire and put it in these bamboo cups that then goon your back for about 10 minutes. It was prettyinteresting, he said it felt pretty weird and now hisback itches, but it has made his back feel better. Myguy did an incredible job on my back and feet. Onehour for about $9. It is a steal and we will probablybe back there again before we leave. Tonight we had dinner at a great seafood resturant,where you pick out your own dinner, while it is stillswimming. We were pretty unsure, but trusted Kathy tosee us through. We had wonderful shrimp, crab, clams,oysters ( not my favorite ) and as always our standbyof fried rice. We have found the fried rice to beconsistantly good, and it has become our stable mealthroughout our journey. Dinner for eight of us wasabout $22. Because it is the first day of the WinterSolstice it a day of celebration here so the resturantwas full of Chinese families.The White Swan hotel has lived up to everything I haveheard of it. It is lovely, we are on the 27th floorand the view is great. The breakfast is very good, noone has gone swimming yet ( the water is cold ) butthe pool is really looks fun. We see adoptivefamilies everywhere, and it is hard not to melt overall the children and babies. Kathy leaves us tomorrow to return to Beijing. Wehave really enjoyed spending time together. We feellike best friends, but soon we will be talking viaemail every work day again. Tomorrow we have thelocal guide our agency has been using, his name is Boband he is very nice. I have lost all track of eachday's schedule, since I don't think we have stuck toone yet, but knowing the kids I am sure that shoppingwill be part of the day. We keep telling them to getit all out of their system since Hong Kong will be tooexpensive for shopping. We will try to get some morepictures posted soon. In the meantime here is apicture of a bunge jump that Katrina and Jeff did inBeijing, hence the sore back for Jeff :) MerryChristmas to all, we love you and miss you, Vicki,

more from Meng

Guangzhou seems to be my favorite city that we'veexplored so far. The warm weather with the safestreets seems to put everybody in a better morecheerful mood. My brothers have been a non stopterrorizing machine to me myself and I but I guessthat's what there purpose of life is. Today everyonegot a full body massage except for my mom because shescreams and cries with the slightest bit of pressureso instead she had the foot massage. It I have to sayfelt wooonderful. Although my sister and I were put inan awkward position when they started to massage ourbutts.. but other then that it was an enjoyablemassage, even my mom was at ease with ONLY twoscreams! Then for dinner we went to a sea foodrestaurant where we picked out our own crawlingdishes. But knowing us cautions Americans, we stuck tothe traditional crabs, shrimp, clams, and oysters. Itwas delicious!

Adam's post

it has been a very interesting couple of days. the flight over was
uneventful but very long. ben and i checked into the white swan around
midnight over here and were so tired we just crashed and went to bed.
the next morning after a very tasty breakfast ben and i were invited
to go visit some garden with another family. after that we went to
this huge toy market that had hundreds of shops with all kind of toys.
then we came back and walked around the island and got some lunch
which was very tasty and not mcdonalds. after lunch it was time for a
nice little nap until our parents arrived. we were then able to go out
to dinner with two of the families and kathy. bob met us after dinner
and took ben trina and i shopping where i got a nice pair of pants.
then we dropped trina off at the hotel and had bob show ben and i some
of the night life and boy was it exciting. however the next morning
was not. i spent most of the day until around 4 in bed recovering and
then went out shopping with ben trina and meng and picked up all kinds
of trinkets. today we went to some temples and took lots of pictures
then ended up going back to the toy mall and getting some swords
although i am not sure how we are going to get them home because they
wont fit in our suitcases! anyways that is all i have for now.
Adam

Buddist Temple

so today we went to the buddist temple, and... another temple, and then to a toywhole sale market. The buddist temple was pretty cool, we all learned thecorrect way to pray with the insense. (light them, face the God, and bow threetimes while praying, and then place the insense in the ashes while still facingthe Gods.) we went to the God of the children, and you pray for your childrenwhether you have them now, or if your asking for them. i asked for some in thefuture, but when i went to put the insense in teh ashes while facing the God'sof course, the God i believe blew the smoke in my eye. Mom and Kathy say thatmeans the God heard my prayer, but im convinced he just spat in my face... iguess we'll find out... not for years to come tho.Later today we are going to get massages, i can hardly wait. These beds arekilling me! its like sleeping on the floor, not to mention i am sharingbasically a twin sized bed (in a 5 star hotel.. makes you wonder) with mysister, who likes to spead out, AND hog the covers. But i guess thats justsibling stuff, and it kinda works for me anyways because i get the pillows andthe size with the wall so at least im not falling off the bed, and at night iget too hot anyways...i think we are going to do MORE shopping later today, im pretty sure i havenever done so much shopping in my whole life, as i have on this trip! wish meluck!
Trina

Meng's post

The past few days we explored alot of my past from my village to the orphanage. Both were great experiances, I didnt get all the answers I hoped to get but for starters even enders, it was great. None of it jogged my memory but it gave me an idea of how I once lived. All the children in the orphanage were adorable and I wanted them all. The children all seemed to be taken good care of with healthy chunky bodies, warm clothes, and attention from the care takers. As much as I enjoy it over here in China it still doesn't beat home sweet home. Already I have started a count down till we are home and is missing all my friends and cat! It'll be nice to get back to places where you can understand what people are saying to you! So many people have automatically started talking mandarin to me, which makes sense because I am chinese but it does get tiring saying I don’t speak mandarin "wo bu shou zhong guo" all the time. I have worn pointy high heels every day in China except for I think maybe two days, and I think I left one of my pairs back in Beijing! It is a sad day for everyone… anyways Im now off to start my packing since tomorrow I will be leaving for Guangzhou, Im actually excited to see my brothers, It'll be nice to see other family other then just my mom dad and sister. Not that I dont love them but after spending day after day with them the different mix will be good!

Katrina's post

Yesterday we went to Meng's orphanage. We got to see the babies who were all so adorable and i want to take them all home with me... but mom said i couldnt. The toddlers were so cute! a few of them would just run up to you and give your legs hugs. its so sweet! its hard to imagine why some people wouldnt want such sweet children. its so sad that none of them have homes, at least not yet. One boy i fell in love with in particular. and Heritage actually has his file! i wanted him so badly, i dont know his name but he is almost 4 and he is in special needs, but i wanted to being him home, but im not allowed to! we saw two other girls who are getting adopted and get to go to their new homes in a couple of months so it was excited to see them, one of them even spoke some english. she was a nice girl! the other one wasnt too sure of what was going on. i think we may have frightened her some. but she got presents and i dont know any child who doesnt like gifts.

Today we went to the "flower and bird market" It was out side and the little stores sold pretty much exactly as the title of the market, birds anf flowers. some of them sold some art, and big rocks which personally i cant imagine anyone being able to get back to their house, or what in fact they plan to do with a huge rock.

there were alot of fish, and birds of course, we felt bad for them because they had so many to each cage or tank they could hardly move. There were puppies there too which was the same, too many dogs for one kennel, and same goes for the rabbits and kittens. the kittens we saw had flees, and i felt so bad for them. mom told us to look at the sky if we couldnt look down, which i suppose is pretty good advice. There were lots of clay pots and some were way taller then my dad and hes over 6'!

tomorrow we fly... again... to Guangzhou and meet my brothers. right now they are still flying.

Monday December 18th

Today we were able to visit the Hefei orphanage. This is a well known orphanage in China and was established in 1949. Meng lived in this orphanage from fall of 1994 until January 1996 when she came home. The orphanage buildings and grounds have been improved since Meng was here. The Hefei orphanage was the first orphanage the government of China allowed the Half the Sky Foundation to come into and build an outside playground. They have also build inside play rooms and trained the nannies in the caring of the children. Today we saw evidence of a modern and very busy orphanage.

We were graciously allowed to visit the playrooms of the toddlers and they were too adorable for words. They were shy of the strangers in their room, but soon we had smiles, they were especially drawn to Katrina and Meng, who were loving every minute. There were several nannies in each playroom, which were heated and each room had an air conditioner for the summer heat. The toddlers were still all bundled up with layers of clothing. When you have your child, remember that they are used to being overwarm, and they seemed quite comfortable with all their layers.

We were then taken to the rooms of the 2 - 4 year old children. They were all in separate rooms with the 3 - 4 year old children in classrooms. These little ones were more brave and several of them came running up to us with big smiles. The teachers were very proud of the children and very careful with them. The Assistant Director escorted us on the tour and it was clear she knew the children and she was very loving with them.

After our tour of the younger children’s rooms we were taken to a meeting room and Meng’s file was brought to us. It contained every letter and picture I have sent to the orphanage during the past years. It even contained the letter I had written to Meng while we were waiting for her to come home. Her orphanage file was very small, and it only contained the information we have already received. We had hoped there would be pictures of Meng when she was at the orphanage but there were no pictures we have not already received. We were brought fruit and bottles of water, and the Director of the orphanage came to visit with us. She remembered Meng,and was so happy to see how much she has grown and how happy she is. She is a very busy woman, as she is in charge of not only the orphanage but also the elderly home that is also located in the orphanage buildings. It was nice that she took the time to come and talk with us.

The orphanage was very clean, and it was very apparent the children are well taken care of. We wished we could have brought them all home with us, well, maybe that was not Jeff’s wish, but their little faces and smiles will stay with us for a long, long time. Meng has only a few memories of the orphanage, and did not recognize anyone today. However, this was one more day of visiting her past, and putting pieces into the puzzle of her years before coming home. It would have been so nice to have seen and visited with the older children, but they were all in school. Our guide, Cathy told us the if the children do well in school, the government will pay for them to attend the local high school, and if they do well in high school, there can be funding for them to attend a university or trade school. If not, the orphanage personnel will help them to find a job.

We could have stayed much longer at the orphanage, but we were disrupting their schedule, and it was time for us to leave. It was hard to drive away, and all I could think of was how much I love my job to be able to work hard to have as many as possible of these children to come home to families. For although the orphanage was taking very good care of these children, it should only be temporary until each child has a loving family.

Saturday in Hefei

Today was an amazing day as we visited the small village that we think Meng spent her first three years in. We had been told by the orphanage when we adopted Meng that she had lived with a foster family in the country for three years and was brought back to the orphanage when she was three years old for school. After some searching on the internet I think I found the village where the foster family lived. Today we visited that village which turned out to the 16 small villages linked together. There were concrete buildings along the road where people live and some had small stores. Behind the buildings was farm land. There was one main road and I must say the driving here is pretty intense, Beijing was like watching a dance of cars weaving in and out of the lanes, here it is fend for yourself and cover your eyes! We saw many people out and about since it is Saturday, an open air market, big cows on the side of the street, skinned chickens hanging upside down, stray dogs, many bicycles, more motorcycles, many sweet babies and children all bundled up with many layers of clothes to protect them from the cold. Also many beds hanging outside to air out.
This afternoon we found the street where Meng was found and the police station she would have been taken to. The street is being resurfaced and was closed, but we were able to get a few pictures. The new building in Hefei is everywhere. They are definitely trying to build up a new city here. Many torn down buildings, with people living on the ground floor. You can tell the city is trying to become more modern, but getting outside of the city you still see old buildings.
Tomorrow we are visiting a thousand year old city about a hour and a half from Hefei. It should be interesting to go again out of the city. This really feels like the China I have imagined. We have such a better picture of Meng's life in her early years. This is the visit that we planned the entire trip around and we have not been dissappointed.
On Monday we will visit the Hefei orphanage. We are very excited to see the orphanage and the Heritage children. We hope to get new pictures for the families and to pass along messages from their waiting parents.
Christmas is in Hefei too, music in English is playing everywere. Well, it is time for dinner, the girls are tired of Chinese food and will be happy to travel to Guangzhou where there is more Western food. Jeff and I are enjoying the new tastes and the ample food for about $15 for everyone.
Vicki