Monkey Joe's

On Wednesday we were already going a little stir crazy so Harrison and I took the girls to Monkey Joe's.  He definitely got a workout since Jia is not strong enough to climb up the slides.  At one point he even put her on his back and climbed up the rock wall type ladder.  She had a great time and they both slept on the way home.  Harrison wanted to do some back-to-school shopping as well.  That didn't turn out so well, definitely won't be taking both girls shopping at the same time again.

When Jia became a U.S. citizen...

Jia became a United States citizen when she first entered the country.  She was quite excited as you can tell--she was sound asleep on the plane when we landed.  This is her first picture as an American!!

The Longest (Best) Day Ever- Friday, July 23

I think I have been putting off blogging about the day we left China and arrived home because it is just too painful to re-live.  But, for my daughter I will put it all down as one day I want her to know every detail about our journey to bring her home.

We were told by our hotel that we should take the 7:00 or 7:20 shuttle to the airport to catch our 9:15 flight out of Hong Kong.  We were ready at 6:40 called the bell hop and I headed down to check us out of the room.  However, by the time our luggage was brought down the shuttle was full so we would have to wait.  The hotel was only 5 minutes from the airport so we asked how much a taxi would be when the hotel so graciously offered us their courtesy car.  Awesome, no crowds, no pulling our luggage around.  We arrived at the airport 5 minutes later and unloaded our luggage.  Kirk tipped the driver and off he went.  As we were walking into the airport I reached for my small bag to get the passports out when I realized it wasn't there.  PANIC!  It was in the van!  I was beside myself and I thought Kirk might have to slap me to calm me down--he's so calm. 

He parked the girls and me inside the airport with all the luggage and took off.  I sat there with ALL of our luggage, both girls, no phone, and no money and waited and prayed.  I went from calm to almost vomiting.  Finally, (about 20 minutes later but it seemed like forever) I see my wonderful husband coming back with the bag and he's dripping in sweat.  He was able to catch a cab back to the hotel and get right back in with the same driver who had the bag.  We were so thankful! 

We then got in line to check in for our flight.  When we get to the counter and give them our passports they inform us that Jia is booked only through to Detroit.  After looking at our tickets, passports, etc. they discover that Jia's ticket is booked as Li Xiao and her passport says Li Xiaoyan.  They charged us $75 to change the ticket!  At that point we were just ready to get on the plane.  We then went through a passport check and security before heading to our gate.  Kirk headed off to get food only to find out we had to go back through security just before we got on the plane and they made us throw away the drinks he had just purchased in the airport!

This is just the first 3 hours of a 28 hour day!  Finally, we got settled in for the 15 hour flight to Detroit.  Jia was in an incredible amount of pain and screamed for about 10 minutes several different times.  They each slept for about 3-4 hours of the flight.  Kirk and I slept none.  We arrived in Detroit a few minutes early and breezed through customs and immigration (thank you Jesus).  We then realized we had a shot at making an earlier flight to  Charlotte.  The flight was delayed due to thunderstorms so what was supposed to be a 5 hour layover ended up being only about 2 hours (again, thank you Jesus). 

We arrived in Charlotte 2 hours early!!!!!  We were so happy to see our boys and Jia bonded with them immediatley.  However, our lugguage didn't make it so after eating dinner at Cracker Barrel we headed back to the airport to get our luggage which was on our original flight that was supposed to land at 7:00.  When we returned to the airport we found out our original flight had been delayed as well so they decided they would bring us our luggage, it was finally delivered to our house around 2:00 in the morning.  The girls slept in the car from Charlotte and were wide awake when we got home.  By the time we went to bed Kirk and I had been up for about 29 hours.   For some reason our bodies just don't recover like they used to in college!

So now I have re-lived that horrible day that was actually a wonderful day because it was the day God brought my entire family together for the first time.  The first day that we were officially a family of six, a family with four wonderful children that test me, bless me, drive me crazy, worry me, love me, and remind me every single day just how much our Father loves us.

Sunday-Tuesday

The first few days at home have been pretty good.  We continue to struggle with jet lag somewhat.  I have been getting up at 5:00 and Kirk and the girls are getting up between 5:00 and 6:00.  Jia continues to explore the house and is learning her boundaries.  She is absolutely TERRIFIED of our dog, Boomer.  She doesn't even like to see him looking through the window.  Hopefully, we can get her past that in the next few weeks.  She has calmed down considerably and is feeling better also.

Finally! My favorite blessings!On the way to churchAbby, aka Cinderella, and Mei Mei

Thanks for my cake Aunt Jennifer!                     Noah, taking a break from those crazy girls.

Sunday we decided to attempt church.  We were amazed at how well the girls did.  Kirk's brother and sister and their families visited Sunday night.  Jennifer made a cake for Jia which was super cute and thoughtful.  Monday I survived the entire day at home!  Our friends the terKuiles visited.  Tuesday we ventured out for a little while and had more visitors, the Randletts, the Glovers, and the Baldwins.  Jia is very friendly and sweet to everyone who has been by; we are thankful for such wonderful friends and family.  We have been so blessed by all of the food from our church!  It is so nice to not have to worry about dinner every night.  I've gotten slack about taking pictures but will try to do better the rest of the week.

Backtracking- Thursday, July 22nd- Train to Hong Kong

I know this probably isn't very interesting but I need to post it so have it written down for the future.  On Thursday Kirk took the girls to the hotel playroom so I could pack.  We went to Subway for lunch which wasn't the greatest since we can't eat the veggies, just bread, meat, and cheese.  It was nice to spend a little more time with some wonderful friends, the Jacobs. 

After lunch we loaded everything up and went to the consulate so our guide could pick up Jia's passport/visa. On the way there Lille Mei fell asleep on my lap and must have been really tired because she wet all over me. What a way to start our journey home! After digging through my suitcase I was able to change and we headed to the train station. The train station was quite an experience. We had to carry all of our luggage a very long way and there were tons of people pushing through security. After at least 1/2 mile of walking and close to an hour of waiting, we boarded the train to Hong Kong. The ride was smooth and comfortable. The girls colored and ate snacks most of the way. After about 2 hours we arrived in Hong Kong, gathered all of our luggage, and headed outside to the taxi stand. Who knew that there would be many people in the line for the taxis? After about an hour we got in a cab with a driver who didn't speak English. He finally pulled into a hotel and had the bell boy translate for us. After another hour we arrived at our hotel, the Marriott. We ate dinner in the room, bathed the girls and were in bed (very soft beds by the way :) by 10:00.


 

The girls were examining the baby before we left the room.At the train station saying goodbye to our guide, Elvin.On the train

More Pictures from the Airport- Zeke's Camera

Saturday, July 24- HOME!

We arrived at our house around 9 p.m. last night.  I have never been so happy to be home.  The boys and my mom met us at the airport, what a sight for sore eyes!  (I will post details about the trip home later.) The girls have had a really good day exploring the house.  Every toy they have has been played with but the hit of the day is SHOES!  Jia loves all of the shoes- flip flops, church shoes, crocs, dress-up shoes, you name it she's worn it today.  Lillie Mei has claimed Nana as her own and has made sure she had her attention all day.  Jia has bonded great with the boys and they have been wonderful at keeping her entertained.

We all slept until about 7:30 and then napped again in the afternoon.  We had dinner delivered by Donna A. from church.  It was delicious and soooooo much better than Chinese food!  The Chinese people don't have dessert so the peach cobbler was especially appreciated! We are hoping to get the girls in bed in a little while and will hopefully be on a regular schedule (whatever that may be) soon. 

At the airportThe house was decorated!High heels, PJ's, and a baby carriage

Heading to Hong Kong

We don't know if we will have internet access in Hong Kong or not.  We are leaving in one hour and take the train around 4:00 to Hong Kong.   We will spend one night there before flying to Detroit at 9:00 Friday morning.  We land in Charlotte at 7:00 p.m. Friday!

Wednesday, July 21- Red Couch and Swearing In Ceremony

Today after breakfast we met with our entire group for the traditional red couch photo. This is something many adoptive families do during their stay at The White Swan Hotel. I am attaching several pictures. Our group is made up of 6 families. One other family is from NC, two from SC, one from Michigan, one from Indiana, and our family. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and hope to stay in touch with them. We all used the same adoption agency, Christian World Adoption and have amazing stories of how God led us to our children.

We also went to the U.S. Consulate for the "Swearing-In Ceremony". Jia will become a U.S. citizen when we land in Detroit on Friday. No pictures are allowed in the consulate but I took some before and after the ceremony. My mom made the dresses the girls are wearing and at the bottom they say "Mei Mei" which means little sister and "Jie Jie" which means big sister. I had someone stop me tonight and ask me where I bought them, I told my mom she should start selling them!

Tonight we had Papa John's pizza for dinner which so nice then we walked to Starbucks for dessert, another nice treat. We have started packing because we leave at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. We pick up Jia's visa at 3:00 and then head to the train station. We should be in Hong Kong around 6:00. We spend one night there before heading out Friday morning.

Thank you for your prayers. Jia had a much better day, the medicine seems to be working. I also met a lady tonight whose daughter has the same condition. She has been home 2 years and is doing really well, it was very encouraging. It looks like we will be heading to Cincinnati ASAP to meet with the doctor's there.

We were also blessed today to find out that our church has set-up meals for more than a week after we come home. What a wonderful help that will be! We would just request that no one makes Chinese food! Love you all!

My beautiful girls, just missing my handsome boys!

Sisters!!!!

Our entire group.

All the children.

Jia struck this pose when she realized I was taking the picture!

Starbucks frappucino is good in any country!

Tuesday, July 20th- Consulate Appointment and Dinner Cruise

Today was our consulate appointment which involves us staying in our room while our guide goes to the appointment.  We have to be available if there are any questions about our paperwork.  If the phone doesn't ring by 11:30 you know you are free and clear.  Our phone didn't ring!  One more step down.

After lunch I went shopping with a lady from China who got us incredible deals on pearls and jade.  It was a lot fun and a very nice break for me.  Kirk took the girls for me and they went to a bookstore where a family with our group was looking for some books for their older daughter that they adopted. 

For dinner we went on a cruise of the Pearl River.  The food was disgusting but the views were very pretty.  However, when we went to the top of the boat it scared Jia and she cried/whimpered the rest of the time. 

I have a hard time getting the captions under the correct pictures but most of these are from the cruise.  Jia loves to make the silly face that she is making in the one picture and yes, that is Kirk eating a chicken foot!

She is having a really hard time medically right now, nothing serious but very painful for her. Without sharing too much, please pray for her and her pain.  I think we figured out what was wrong and she seeems some better today but last night was rough on her.  Please also pray for the rest of our journey as we have a very long flight home on Friday.  We will leave our hotel in Hong Kong around 7 a.m. Friday morning our time and arive in Charlotte 24 hours later at 7p.m. Friday night (7 a.m. Saturday morning to our bodies).  We miss you all and cannot wait to introduce you to our little whirlwind, Jia!

Monday, July 19th-Part 2

Other than the medical exam, today was another uneventful day.  We shopped some, reviewed all of our paper work with our guide, and went to dinner then to bed.  Jia has now started teasing us when we say "I love you" in Chinese.  She says it back but then makes a spitting sound like, whatever.  She says "Wi I ni, Mei Mei," which means I love Lillie Mei but makes the sound when she says it about one of us.  She also started dancing which is hysterical.  She laughs all the time. 

We are still calling her by her Chinese name with Jia at the beginning or the end so we say Xiaoyan Jia or Jia Xiaoyan to get her attention. The best way to explain how to pronounce her name is Shou as in shout and yan with "a" sounding like the "a" in tall. I have just called her Jia a few times and she has responded so hopefully we will drop that soon.  Her legal name after we land on Friday will be Jia-Li Xiao Wilkerson. 

Sorry I don't have pictures.  My camera batteries keep dying and Kirk fried the re-charger.  I have to buy some tonight.  I will hopefully have pictures from Tuesday because we are going on dinner cruise.  Pray Jia doesn't climb over the rail, not kidding, she is a whirlwind!

Sunday, July 18th- Yuntai Garden

Today we got up and ate at the White Swan's incredible breakfast buffet.  It is wonderful and has everything you could ask for, American and Chinese (except doughnuts for some reason).  Jia normally eats congee for breakfast, a soupy rice concoction with very little flavor.  Then we give her some banana bread and fruit.  Today she decided everything on our plates looked better than congee so she ate several different foods.  She loves watermelon and bananas.  The fruit here is wonderful.

After breakfast we headed to the Yuntai Garden which is very pretty but it was so hot we didn't stay very long.  We had to wait for the rest of the group so we bought the girls bubble guns and they were quite happy.  Afterwards we had lunch with the group and went back to the hotel.  At 3:00 we went to a pedestrian shopping street.  I have never been anywhere so crowded.  Imagine the crowd when you leave a large concert or sporting event at a coliseum.  That's how packed it was except we were trying to all stay together.  Our group now has 5 families/16 people so it was very hard to stay together.  We were able to go to a department store and get some things we all needed from diapers to clothes and toys.

Afterwards we ate at a Thai restaurant called "The Cow and Bridge".  I ordered something that turned out to be really spicy but the food was great.  We did a little shopping afterwards and the girls were asleep by 9:00 or 9:30.  I really enjoy these uneventful days!

Jia continues to tease us by saying "Mama boo hao"! She makes us laugh every day. God gave her an incredibly joyful heart. While Lillie Mei is learning to share, Jia is used to it and automatically gives things to Lillie Mei. While shopping many of the stores give the children little gifts. Today Jia got 2 Hello Kitty hair clips. Her hair is super short but I opened them for her and put one in her hair. As I was getting ready to put the other one in she shook her head and said, "Mei Mei". I pray that continues once we get home.

Lillie Mei is having more and more mini-meltdowns.  Nothing horrible but I think she is so ready to come home.  When we were on the plane to  Guangzhou she said, "Who are we going to get?"  Of course, I emphatically replied, "No one!  Why do you want another sister?"  She said she did--crazy, crazy girl.  She really misses the boys and told them on skype that she was going to give them big hugs when she gets home, which is only 4 days away!!!!!