Photo update

Tracy, our translator and guide in Taiyuan

Ge Ge and Mei Mei

Sometimes happy....

Sometimes sad....

Caleb and his new friend Sophia strolling their new siblings

Shamian Island Architecture

Beautiful colonnade on Shamian Island

First Swim

Christ's Church (1865), Shamian Island

It was a standing room only crowd with a dozen or more standing in the doorway who could not be seated

Wholesale Jewelry Mart which seems to have enough stuff to supply the entire world

In line at McDonalds; their sign says a billion hamburgers sold, but I think that meant just that day

Picnic lunch in another great city park across the street from our hotel (Yuexiu Park)

Our Outings on Shamian Island

Yesterday morning we wanted Chloe to sleep for as long as possible after our disastrous evening, so I woke Caleb and we went down for breakfast.  Kevin was staying with Chloe and we were just going to pick her up and go at 8:30 in the same clothes she had worn the day before and that she slept in.  She woke up ok and on the bus I fed her breakfast.  She seemed to be in a good mood. 

The first stop was to take a picture for her US visa.  She did well and then we went for her physical exam.  It was a basic physical exam with height, weight and examining her ears, nose, mouth, heart and lungs.  I guess she passed because no one said anything to the contrary.  Next we had some free time to walk around Shamian Island. 

The Island use to be operated by the British and the buildings and gardens were absolutely beautiful!   This is the place where most of the foreigner adopters do their souvenir shopping.  We were not too much in the mood to shop because it was hot and we were tired, so we basically walked around.  We went to a little park and it was neat because there were all kinds of people around.  There were groups dancing to music and a group singing songs.  It is very interesting to me how healthy the Chinese population seems minus the smoking, which apparently a large percent of the male population does.  I have hardly seen any overweight individuals and definitely no obese individuals since we have been here.  The groups dancing seemed to have a lot of older people and I guess they do that for exercise.

After that outing we went back to the hotel and Chloe took a much needed nap.  She slept about 3 hours.  Then we went swimming.  You know us Eden’s love the water, so this is something important for her to enjoy.  I put on her swimsuit and off we went.  She had her sort of deer in the headlights look that we have seen a lot of, but she did not cry or get upset.  She even started splashing around.  She seemed mesmerized with the people swimming.  And at the swimming pool is where she started to do a lot of walking.  In her province at the park she had taken a couple steps unassisted.  But here she did a lot more walking.  Her development has been amazing.  I love the proud look she gets on her face when she has accomplished something.  The great part is I think Kevin got it all on video!

Last night was super fun to watch.  Chloe has continued to come out of her shell.  She has said very little up until last night and she and Caleb were playing on the floor and she was doing all kinds of baby talk.  She was laughing and they were having a great time.  She continues to amaze us with the things she is learning.  She knows her nose, eyes and her mouth.  She can play a little peek a boo game and do a fake cough.  So cute.  Caleb use to do the fake cough when he was about her age.

Today we went to church back on Shamian Island.  It was a beautiful little church and was packed to capacity.  They even had an overflow room which was full.  It was a Mandarin/ English service.  Some songs were sung in Chinese and some in English.  The sermon was translated for both and the topic was prayer.  It was truly an amazing sight.

The group took a trip to a jewelry wholesale place which had 6 floors of shops all selling a variety of jewelry.  It was kind of boring for Caleb and the other little girl with us.  We tried to find the toy store without any luck because all of the signs were in Chinese.  So instead I suggested we go get ice cream at McDonalds.  I have never in my life seen more people crammed into a McDonalds.  Many were ordering ice cream.  Kevin gets to the front and orders and disappointingly they ran out of ice cream!  What an ordeal.

Now we are back at the hotel.  Chloe attempted to take a nap.  She had a hard time sleeping last night and sort of cried out every 10 minutes or so from around 2am until we finally got up.  Sounds like fun. Right?  Kevin and I have sort of laughed.  Some of the parenting videos we watched talked about keeping things simple for the adjustment period.  Chloe has had nothing but over stimulation since we got her.  Some of the things are even over stimulating to me.  So we are anticipating another long night.

We may go to a park that is close to the hotel this evening and have a picnic dinner.  I will try and have Kevin post some pictures from the last couple of days. 

It’s Not All Roses in China

Friday started off like the others here in China; however it was raining and maybe that was the sign of what was to come.  Chloe was a little more fussy than she had been the couple days before.  Not bad, but it took less to make her upset.  Since it was raining, we just hung out in our very small hotel room until check out and departure to the airport at 3 pm. 

We had met 2 other families from a different adoption agency in our hotel.  One family was from Austin and they were adopting 2 girls.  The other from New Jersey and were adopting one girl.  They were on our same flight to Guangzhou.  Since our flight was not to leave until 6:35 we had some time to kill in the airport.  It really was not too bad because the other two families had boys Caleb’s age and he was able to hang out and play with them.  Chloe did great while waiting.  I guess we should call that the calm before the storm.

We loaded the plane for a 6:35pm departure.  The airplane rows in China are very small with minimal leg room, much smaller than on US planes.  Since Chloe was less than 2 she did not have a seat and was a lap child.  So, the 4 of us squished into a pretty tight space.  They closed the door and we sat and we sat and we sat some more.  They made an announcement that we were delayed by air traffic control without any specific time information.  The next thing we know they are bringing out the food cart and start serving food.  Kevin and I look at each other and say “This is a bad sign.”  We ate and then some people tried to get off the plane.  That caused a bit of a fuss, but then the pilot said we were cleared for takeoff.   All was well.  Chloe likes to eat so again she ate more of the meal than big brother and seemed content.  By now it is after 7:30pm and we are finally ready to take off.  Chloe did well during takeoff.  But then she started getting tired and we don’t know if her ears were hurting or what but then the crying began.  Yes, we were the ones on the plane you cringe at when you see coming especially if you are sitting right in front of us. And the crying went on and on about 2 hours of the 2 ½ hour flight.  Since, Chloe has taken a little longer warming up to Kevin, she would only sit with me and let me hold and rock her.  I was standing in the aisle with the seat belt sign on and turbulence trying to do anything to calm her.  She would quiet down and then when I would sit down, the crying would start again.  It was inconsolable, loud crying with screaming and tears running down her face.  My back was hurting, my emotions were mounting.  I felt helpless… I could not even say anything to her to calm her down that she would understand.  I tried to sing songs, talk in a quieting voice, but nothing would work.  In China, the way they console children is with food.  I’m sure we were bothering just about everyone around us and maybe even those in the back.  A lady came up and started talking to Chloe in Chinese and she quieted down.  She gave us some low sugar digestive seaweed crackers, sounds delicious doesn’t it?  She would not take them.  But for a moment while the lady was talking to her, she would calm down.  Kevin and I had been sort of laughing because what else could you do?  But then I hit a breaking point and I started to cry.  I think it was a combination of emotions.  With the travel, stress of Gotcha Day, living out of a suitcase, and then mostly that I was her mother and could not console her.  Poor Kevin, here is his new daughter inconsolably crying and then his wife.  Finally she calmed down for landing.  After landing we just sat in our seats and waited for the entire plane to de-board.  I felt dejected and exhausted.  Then we walked off the plane.  It was the kind you had to walk down stairs to get off and there at the bottom is a bus waiting to take us to the terminal.  The bus is packed full of people from the flight and they are waiting on us.  Are you kidding me?  I almost could not take it. 

But thankfully Chloe and I held it together through baggage claim and the drive to the hotel.  We did not get checked in and to our room until midnight.  We were exhausted and Chloe still had not slept.  We got to our room and there was no crib.  Seriously?  What else could go wrong?  So, the four of us slept in the king size bed.  Then at about 1:30 am the inconsolable crying started again.  It was awful.  I was trying to keep Caleb from waking up so I went into the bathroom.  This scene also ended with me sitting on the toilet trying to rock Chloe while I’m crying.  I think Kevin was feeling just as helpless as me so he decided to take things into his own hands and took her (which she did not like because she is not his biggest fan) and started to walk around the hotel.  I sat on the toilet just crying.  Kevin brought her back and after about 1 hour of crying she went back to bed.  But then, it seemed with every turn she would whimper and I could not sleep because I was on high alert that the crying would start again.

We did make it through the night.  Unfortunately, we had to be up and meet our guide at 8:30 this morning to go do her physical exam.  That basically meant Chloe would be going on about 7 hours of sleep.  We were expecting a horrible day, but she did great! 

Now, I want to brag on Caleb.  He has been taking everything in stride.  What a trooper!  He has just been going with the flow and not complaining about anything except maybe “I’m hungry.” He did great on the plane and just read his Harry Potter book.  He did not seem to let the crying phase him.  He has been extremely helpful and is being a great big brother to little Chloe.  What a blessing.   

And now I am exhausted, so I will try and post in the morning our day today, which after yesterday was a wonderful gift from God. 

One Less

It is morning here. Chloe is still asleep. Not much new is happening since the last post, but I had something I wanted to share. A friend of ours shared this video with us. It is a Matthew West song titled “One Less”. Chloe is one less. Thank you God for this miracle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SDwZL5zGL8

Also, the following is one of Dad's favorite short video clips. It shows Caleb being so tender, loving and caring to his new little sister.

Two videos

Here are the two videos we were unable to upload to the blog earlier today.

An event four years in the making!

Chloe's Friends / Mascara Alert

Chloe

Chloe is doing great and much better than I had ever even anticipated. She seems to be warming up to us more and more and every few hours more of her personality is showing. She will mimic what you do. We brought some puppets and Caleb was playing with her and she took a puppet and put it on her hand and was playing like Caleb was. She has great fine motor skills. She can feed herself independently. A funny thing she does is after she takes a bite she holds her hand out for me to wipe it clean. I guess they encouraged good hygiene at the orphanage. We started teaching her a couple baby sign language things yesterday. By the afternoon yesterday she was already doing the sign for more when she was asking for more food! Today we started milk and by dinner she was using it for her milk. I am absolutely amazed. She also seems potty trained. They really work on toilet training starting at one year of age here. She has barely wet a diaper and is dry throughout the night. I was getting a little worried and Kevin said why don’t you put her on the toilet and I did and she went. She did it again this evening.

We went to the Chinese market today to buy a stroller. Chloe was not a huge fan of the stroller and cried a bit when we put her in it. We went back to the park this afternoon and had to stop numerous times because she started crying and wanted out. By the time we finished at the park, we walked back to the hotel and did not have to stop once. Then tonight when we got back from dinner, she went to the stroller and wanted to get in and go for a ride, so Caleb pushed her up and down the hallway! New experiences for her are frightening, but just like this she adapts well and then enjoys it.

She is also starting to move more. At first all she did was sit. Yesterday she started to crawl into my lap and move a little. Today I thought I would see if she could walk. So I stood her up and held her hands and she could walk assisted. She even took a couple steps unassisted at the park. She is so funny because you can tell she is so proud of herself. She just smiles and giggles when she is doing something new. Tonight she walked from dinner, up the elevator, down the hall to our room while holding onto mine and Caleb’s hand. She even started kicking a ball. Again you could tell she was so proud of her accomplishments.

As I said before, we are turning a lot of heads given Caleb’s blond hair and blue eyes and it seems every day people stop and want to talk to us or take his picture. Sometimes they talk to us and we have no clue what they are saying. But you can also tell by body language and such when people are talking about you even if you do not understand the language. In the elevator yesterday there were some ladies talking about Chloe’s cleft lip. Many people stare and point to their lip. Today at the park I am not exaggerating when a group of about 15 or 20 people gathered around her staring at her and talking about her lip. I’m not sure if they are not use to seeing children with disabilities since many are abandoned and put into orphanages or what. I’m not sure if what they are saying is good or bad, just interesting that they make such a big deal about it. We had a man come up to us on the street today and tell us his son had the same problem and they got it fixed and it looked great.

This evening she has started to kiss us on the lips. It is so sweet. I don’t know if she’s ever kissed anyone before, but I am overwhelmed with the love she is showing for us already. But then it makes me feel a little sad. I am sad for her birth mom and dad. She is a great outgoing little girl that seems full of personality and love and they are missing out. When I think about that it brings me to tears. I know they did what they thought was best for her but as a mother it breaks my heart that they will never get to know her. I know God has an awesome plan for this little girl. I am excited to see how the next hours, days and years unfold.

Photos at last

 It was very sweet, Caleb anxiously looking out to the street for Chloe while we were waiting in the Civil Affairs Office

(Should be a movie clip here, but will try later)

An event four years in the making…

 

 Hello Western Hemisphere, my name is Chloe Ann Guo Die

 One relieved mother

 Ge Ge (Big Brother) & Mei Mei (Little Sister)

 Happy family together at last

 I like to eat more than my big brother

 With staff from the orphanage; making it official at the Civil Affairs office

 Street life in Chloe’s hometown of Datong City

 Daytong City’s wall / They know how to build a good wall over here

 Chloe’s Orphanage

 This complex houses orphans and senior citizens without families to care for them

 Chloe with the nannies who cared for her

(Should be a movie clip here, but will try later)

                                                Chloe’s Friends / Mascara Alert

 Market in Taiyuan; Shopping for a stroller and shoes

 Check out my new wheels

Street life on the side streets of Taiyuan

Chloe Ann Guo Die is Ours!

What a wonderfully exhausting day!  Yesterday was a great day.  It was extremely long and exhausting but well worth the effort.  The first thing in the morning we went back to the civil affairs office to complete some paperwork.  I signed a lot of documents, all written in Chinese, so I hope I was signing the forms completing the adoption!  It took about 30-45 minutes and now it is official, Chloe Ann Gou Die is ours!  What an exciting moment. 

After that we took off on our all day journey.  We are traveling in basically a mini-van and it would take us 4 hours to get to her city.  It was just us, our guide and the driver.  We drove through some absolutely beautiful country.  We drove through some mountainous areas which is definitely a stark contrast to the city.   There seemed to be some little villages along the way but I could not tell if people lived there or it was deserted.  We arrived at her city, Datong.  Again it looks like any big city in America with amazing numbers of high rise apartments.  Our guide had told us about 2 million people live in Datong, the second largest city in her province.  Here too, they are doing lots of construction.  There are cranes everywhere building more high rise complexes.  We went to a government office there and literally took less than 15 minutes to complete her passport paperwork.  I didn’t even sign anything there.  It is kind of funny to drive 8 hours round trip to do 15 minutes worth of work.  But the pay off was getting to see her orphanage.  It was amazing.

We got to her orphanage and the road was closed.  There was a big hill to get down to her orphanage.  Our guide looked at us and said “We have to walk.”  Kevin looked at me and said, “Are you sure you want to do this?”  Of course I was sure.  We were this close to seeing the place she has been raised and we could not give up that opportunity.  So with heavy back packs on our backs and a 20 pound bundle of joy in our arms, we walked down the hill. 

This is what Kevin wrote in an email he sent yesterday about the orphanage and I definitely could not have said it any better.  “Today is a little bittersweet.  Chloe is officially a member of our family, but we are taking her from her culture and a home where she is loved.  We have such a small adjustment to make but Chloe has to adjust to everything (people, language, food, smells, traveling). 

We toured Chloe’s orphanage and we thank God that He has provided for her.  It seems Chloe was in a foster care family for the first several months of her life.  Then she moved to the orphanage which our guide says is among the best in all of China.  It was started by outside donations several years ago which established a very high standard of care.  With the country’s growing affluence, the government now operates it.  It is as nice a facility as you will see in the States.  There was a play room, music room, therapy room, sensory stimulation room, dining room and even a swimming room with two whirlpool spa like tubs.

All the nannies knew all the children by name.  Of course they knew our little Die Die (sounds like dee a (short a) and is what they call her which means little butterfly), as did several of the children who were there and called out to her.  She was among the youngest so she probably spent 9- 12  months at the facility.

There were 40 other small kids there waiting for adoption or to be moved back out to foster care when they start primary school.  The children were so precious and sweet; very friendly and wanting to engage.  Many had cleft lip and some were repaired.  Others had a range of disabilities.  There seemed to be as many boys as girls.  I wish we could have taken them all home.  It is our prayer that all of these children find loving homes as quickly as possible and we thank Him for watching over little Die Die long before we knew her.

Thank you for years of prayers and support- God heard our cries and has blessed us beyond measure.”

Now back to my final thoughts.  Wow!  What an amazing day.  Chloe is so smart and observant.  And I think is she finally warming up to us.  Yesterday afternoon she would smile at us if we smiled at her.  Also, at the orphanage the nannies would hold her and then she would reach her arms out to me to take her back.  It warmed my heart.  I think she knows she belongs to us. We started using some baby sign language and we were using the sign for more.  Next thing we know she is using the sign for more for more food!  I was amazed.  She is learning so fast.  And we found out she loves to eat and is eating more than Caleb.  Our guide said that she will eat everything on her plate because that is what the nannies encourage at the orphanage. Kevin and I laughed.  I wonder if they tell the children to eat everything on their plates because there are starving children in the USA! Ha!Ha!  She still is a little timid about things and prefers for things to not change.  If we change her position or something she fusses just a little bit.  We went to a traditional Chinese market this morning to buy a stroller.  It was interesting to see.  She didn’t like the stroller at first, but then was ok.  What a great job for big brother to do is push her down the street.  We have a down day of rest and relaxation today and I feel like we need it.  I don’t think we will do much.  We may go back to the park this afternoon if feeling up to it.

We are going to try and post some pictures and maybe even video, but it is much more difficult to post pictures than anticipated.  Thanks again for the comments and support.

And Then There Were Four…. Gotcha Day

I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him.   
I Samuel 1:27

She’s here!  I can’t believe it but she is finally here!  And she is absolutely precious. 

So let me tell you how things unfolded.  As I told you, we were suppose to get her on Monday July 25^th.  We later found out through one of the staff in the China office of our agency the reason for the change in date.  There is another family from another agency getting a child from the same orphanage this week.  They are getting their child on Wednesday (today).  So, they wanted us to wait until Wednesday so they could bring both of the children together.  Our agency told them that they could not make us wait until Wednesday, so I guess the compromise was Tuesday.  But interestingly enough, Tuesday was 3 months to the day of our referral day on April 26^th.

We were suppose to leave at 2:30 p.m. and get to the civil affairs office by 3:00p.m.  We had no other things planned for yesterday but getting her.  So can you imagine trying to kill time in a small hotel room waiting for the big event.  We got a call at about 12:30p.m. that said there was a bad accident on the highway and they were not leaving until 1:00pm.  It takes 4 hours to get from where she was to us.  So our time was changed to 5 pm.  Bummer.   More waiting.  Kevin had suggested we get out and do something to kill time.  I really was not in the mood to go exploring with such a big event looming.  We watched movies, read books, Caleb played with his trains and I did Suduko puzzles.  Finally it was time to leave.  We loaded up in the car and headed to the civil affairs office.  We were put in a room and sat and waited.  The room had a wall of windows.  Caleb sat at the window looking out.  He kept saying I’ll watch for her and I wonder what kind of car she will come in.  There were two workers there.  We waited with nervous anticipation, and then our guide said that the traffic was bad and that they were going to be another hour to hour and a half.  So we headed back to the hotel.  No Chloe.  We decided to eat dinner at a restaurant on the lobby floor.  The walls are made of glass so we could see out into the lobby.  We ate with nervous anticipation.  I think it was good my seat had its back to the lobby or I may have driven myself crazy watching for her arrival.  Kevin and Caleb then said that the guide went outside.  Caleb was  saying, “I think she may be getting Chloe.” Kevin was trying to explain that there could be a lot of reasons why she went outside.  Then maybe after about 5 or 10 minutes, Caleb jumps up from the table and starts yelling “She’s holding Chloe!  She’s holding Chloe!”  And he jumped up out of the chair and ran to the lobby and over to the worker who was holding Chloe.  In walked our guide who was holding the hand of a little boy about age 2 and two orphanage workers, one was holding Chloe.  Chloe started to cry.  I’m sure it was overwhelming to see us running toward her.  We went to the elevator to come up to our room.  Kevin of course had to pay the bill.  We just sort of ran out of there.  We came up into the room.  She was crying a little bit, but the guide told us she had not eaten since noon and it was a little after 6 p.m.  So we got her some crackers and snacks along with the other little boy.  Then we gave her a bottle.  They did not bring her bottle and she was not able to suck anything out of the one we had.  So, I put it in a cup and with a little help she drank it right down!  Then she was content.  A little shocked I think, but had stopped crying.    She just attentively looked around and took in everything!  She is very observant.  We were able to ask the workers a few questions and then they left with the little boy.  Our guide stayed for a few minutes filling out paperwork and then she left.  Then it was four.

I’m sure Chloe thought we were crazy.  We were snapping pictures and videos one after the other and trying to say some words in our broken Chinese.  .  She has had such a stunned look on her face.  I think she is doing amazingly well.  She is cautious and seems sad anytime we change anything.  (like someone stepping out of room, changing her position etc.)  Caleb gave her his gift, a pink hippo snuggie, which she has been holding on to and slept with.  Caleb even made her smile.   Caleb started to play a kind of peek a boo game where he would crouch down out of view.  We would say  “Where is Ge Ge?”  which means big brother in Chinese and he would pop up and she would smile.  It was so cute.   She did not like her bath too much.  Then it was time for bed. She slept great.  Not so much for me.  Like any new mother with every move or sigh I would look into the crib.  But she did fine. 

Now we have a busy day.  We go back to the civil affairs office to complete some paperwork.  Then we have to take a 4 hour drive back to her city to complete her passport documents.  We are hoping to visit her orphanage while we are there.  Then we have a 4 hour trip back.  Yes, I know it seems crazy that she just came from there and now she has to go back, but that is how they require it for her city.   

So someone pinch me because it does not seem real!  We are excited to start this new chapter in our life.  Praise God for this amazing gift!

Photos Exploring in Taiyuan

Our Hotel in Taiyuan

 Chloe’s Crib / Don’t tell the consumer safety bureau

 Kim & Caleb found the Oreo’s at the market

 We loved the “Texas Grilled BBQ Flavor” chips

 Jinci Temple Complex

 1,000 year old carved wood dragons / Why does my wood fence only last 20 years?

 1,200 year old pagoda

 Taiyuan city park

 Taiyuan buildings bordering the park / Note the construction cranes

 Boat ride at the park

 Captain Caleb at the helm

Nothing like Pizza Hut at the end of a day of touring / We didn’t order it with octopus, though you could

Our Adventures in Taiyuan

We are in Taiyuan, the capital city of the Shanxi province which is the province Chloe is from.  It is a city of about 3 million people.  It looks very much like New York City to me, with lots of high rise apartments.  The streets are always bustling with activity with people, bikes, cars and buses.  They have some really neat looking suspension bridges.  There is a ton of construction going on here which of course is interesting to my husband the real estate guy.  There seems to be cranes everywhere building huge high rise apartment complexes.  It is kind of mind boggling to think that that many more people will be moving into the city. 

In the morning yesterday, we toured the Jinci Temple with our guide.    Here is a little history about it from Wikipedia:  Jinci Temple is Shanxi’s most famous temple complex. It is located 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Taiyuan at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain at the Jin Springs. It was founded about 1,400 years ago and expanded during the following centuries, resulting in a diverse collection of more than 100 sculptures, buildings, terraces, and bridges. The best known structure at Jinci is the Hall of the Holy Mother, which was constructed in 1032. It has carved wooden dragons coiled around the eight pillars that support its upward-curving double-eave roof. The complex includes a classical garden with a 3,000-year old cypress dating from the Zhou Dynasty. Next to Jinci is the Wang Family Hall, a private villa built in 1532 for Wang Qiong, a high ranking official during the Ming Dynasty.

Out by the temple is seemed a little more remote.  There were significantly less people than the tours in Beijing.   Caleb was only asked to take his picture once there.  He is such a good sport.

In the afternoon, we decided to venture out by ourselves and explore the area around our hotel.  There is a big park a few blocks from our hotel.  It is like a mini Central Park.  There were lots of walkways, a large pond/lake and an amusement park.  We were definitely the only foreigners in the park which caused a lot of head turning.  They had little boats you could rent to tour the pond.  We decided that would be a fun thing to do, so we found the boat rental place.  Unfortunately, the worker there did not speak much English.  There were both motor boats and paddle boats and we wanted to make sure we got the motor kind.  With some pantomime and her saying numbers in English, we were able to determine that it was 50 Yuan for 1 hour with a 50 Yuan deposit that was returnable if we were back in one hour.   While out on the water, we again caused a lot of head turning.  All the boats going by would look at us sort of strangely and then say hello.  It was fun.  After we were done we went to a drink stand to get some drinks which again they did not speak English.  We just had to point to tell her which drinks we wanted.  Then when we asked how much she could not say numbers in English and so Kevin just gave her money that would be more than enough and she gave us change.  We thought it was funny because the drink stand was red with a big Coke sign and they sold Pepsi!  We had looked all over because I am having a hard time finding diet Coke (I guess that is something I should have packed!).  Last night we decided to go eat at Pizza Hut that we saw on the way to the park.  Again, they did not speak English.  They serve way more than pizza at the Pizza Hut there.  They also had a bunch of unusual looking pizzas like shrimp on pizza.  We were able to order by pointing to things on the menu.  The food was very good and tasted just like in the USA.   

So today in about 4 hours we get Chloe.  There is a sense of nervous anticipation.  I still can’t believe this is real.  We are so excited about the future but feel a little nervous about how this encounter will go.   I know this is one step out of a lifetime of memories.  I am reflecting again that the day we met Caleb (when he was born) it was not a good day, but yet look how wonderful our life is now!  So I know whatever happens today (whether good or bad) will eventually turn into something wonderful.  We just need to be patient and let this miracle work in our lives.  Thanks for all the prayers, support and words of encouragement!     

I am hoping to post some pictures again, but had some trouble the first time. So if I can’t do it, I’ll send them to my Dad who uploaded them last time.