The Great Wall and Forbidden City

FYI: you don't just walk along The Great Wall of China, you climb it. And Cameron is feeling it. He legs felt like "noodles" after ascending to the highest visible watchtower.

All that climbing sure works up an appetite!


But after some food and a nap, we're ready to get back to... souvenir shopping.

We never planned too much on any day which left time for "play time." Cameron and Ava didn't waste any time in showing Evelyn what "tickle torture" is all about.

Forbidden City:

Lori had Evelyn glued to her hip all the way up and down the Great Wall and all the way through the Forbidden City. It just worked better that way for everyone. Evelyn never made a peep the whole time because she felt so safe and secure. And Lori didn't seem to mind a bit, even after long, long walking spells.
Springtime at the Summer Palace.

LIfe in Beijing II

"Swim cap required" at our hotel. Benjamin cooperated, but he looked like a 2 1/2 foot tall Marlon Brando. It also let Evelyn try out her swim attire for the first time. She was okay with her suit, but the whole water thing was a little much for her for now.

By this time, we felt that with all the change in environment, especially food, the older kids needed something familiar to relate to. So we went to, of all places, one of the two Walmarts in Beijing. Some stuff was familiar, other stuff - not so much. First of all it is in the basement of a huge highrise building. There is a booth where you can order Chinese pancakes. Its like a big crepe made on a huge round iron. While it cooks you can have it filled with egg, cheese, and other items I can't describe. You can buy live turtles for about $1.50. We got one so the kids would have something else to do when cooped up in the hotel room.

Ava is deciding which turtle to chose. Cameron is showing off a fruit called a "benin" (sp?)Directly outside of the Walmart, there were a couple of men selling DVDs. Twilight, which to my knowledge isn't out on DVD in the states yet, was on sale for 75cents! No, I didn't get a copy.

That evening we took in an amazing Chinese Acrobatic Show. After all this we were all tuckered out and ready to get back to our cozy hotel.

Next Day:

Some of us walked to a nearby park that has the old look-out tower used by the Emperor. It's on top of a man-made hill. It also doubles as a Buddhist shrine. Alongside the steps to the Shrine were some smooth marble ramps. In the photo, Benjamin is in line behind a local girl waiting for a turn on the slide. You'll notice that the girl is dressed like it was the dead of winter when really it is spring and for most people a light jacket will do. We've learned that Chinese people are very concerned about children staying warm enough. Literally, four layers of clothing is very common. A child with any exposed skin at the ankles is a no-no. We've had complete stragers comment on what Benjamin was wearing. Another lady approached us to pull Ava's pantlegs down.

Thursday: Olympic Dreams
Beijing 2008 Olympic Green Park. The "Water Cube" where Michael Phelps won 8 Gold medals. We noticed all the Chinese "tourists" posing with "victory signs" so we thought we would do it too.

"The Bird Nest" Olympic Stadium.

Life in Beijing Monday Mar 23

We have to stay in Beijing for about 9 days to allow for Evelyn's passport to be processed. We're getting out to see the sights as much as possible...with 4 kids :). Monday AM, we had to submit our Adoption Registration through the Beijing Burerau of Civil Affairs. We learned that for all official documentation, the Chinese place a red ink fingerprint right next to their signature. We dipped our fingers in a red inkpad and stamped our signatures. Evidently Evelyn had to sign too. They had her place a full red handprint on the form. That was her least favorite part of the morning.

On the way back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the kids ,we stopped by a supermarket to stock up on some basics. Correction this was not just a supermarket - this was the JIAN HYPERMARKET. Lots of new items. Lori is showing off a dragon fruit. Inside the peel is a soft white mild fruit speckled with lots of black seeds. We chose this over the chicken feet (snack food,yum!).

In the afternoon we all ventured out on a walk to Bei Ha Park which used to be the Emporer's private garden adjacent to the palace.

The park was very pretty with lakes, bridges, and Buddha shrines. Cameron got to ring the bell 3 times for 2 Yuan (about 30 cents) The kids did great but definitetly felt the fatigue on the way home. On the second full day in China their internal clocks were still telling them it was supposed to be middle of the night.

Evelyn has been remarkably comfortable as she gets to know us. Its a lot to take in all at once. She rarely cries and when she does its brief. Naturally, she has grown most comfortable with Lori who has been rebuilding her child-carrying biceps muscles. But even on the second day, Evelyn has started to respond well to all the kids despite how overwhelming and overstimulating they tend to be. What makes this all the better is to see Cameron and Ava so excited about having her around. Once again they have opened their arms to a new sibling and have smothered her with attention. Benjamin is more clueless about what is really going on. His feelings go from curious and friendly to having his status threated by another baby is his mothers arms. Overall, he has been a good traveler. It helps that he doesn't have to be buckled into a car seat each time we go somewhere.

Great News about Evelyn

Evelyn was born with cleft lip and plate. But in can come in a range of severity. From the limited medical report and a couple of basic photos from several months ago, all we had learned was that she had a unilateral (onesided) cleft lip and palate. Now that we can see her for ourselves, her cleft lip has been surgically repaired and it appears that her cleft palate is only partial and does not extend all the way back through the uvula to her throat. Inside her mouth she only has a cleft through the dental ridge area where the teeth form. This is wonderful news!!! It means that she may avoid a lot of the troubles that a full cleft can produce in the future, i.e. difficulty and delay in speech, more difficulty eating, and risks for ear infections and hearing problems due to pinched eustachion tubes. Eventually, she will need to at least have bone grafting in the area of the cleft as well as some dental work and (naturally)orthodontia.

We feel very blessed and grateful to God for this news. We are also very thankful for the hospital and surgeon who repaired her lip. To look at the pink portion of her lip you wouldn't know that there used to be a fissure there.

We have Evelyn!!!

Hi! We're in heaven! Evelyn is an angel! ...but let me start from the beginning. The flights went well. We couldn't have done it without my sister, Debbie. That extra pair of hands to carry things, and extra pair of legs to chase after Benjamin were life savers. All the food and the individual TV monitors for every seat on the airplane were also a big help/distraction. Our guide, Cathy, and our driver met us at the airport, no problem. They've both been so helpful taking us everywhere we needed to go and translating along the way.

This morning we went to pick up Evelyn. We actually got to go to her orphanage here in Beijing, which is not the norm for most of the country. It's fairly new and I'm happy to say, very nice. It also has 700 children --newborns to 18 years old. The governments helps the older kids go to college or trade school if they're not adopted. That's reassuring.

Evelyn was carried in by one of the directors. She was calm and looking around. She gave one nervous little cry when the director handed her to me, then she saw the other three kids around me and decided I was o.k. Cameron and Ava were dying to hold her. When I passed her around she really seemed to like them both. It was very sweet. The older two took to her immediately

She has had her cleft lip repaired and I think she's beautiful!

She has been so sweet and calm about everything. I gave her a little bath back the hotel and afterwards I was putting lotion on her and started kissing her tummy. She giggled and smiled for the first time. We're so in love with this cute girl!

Benjamin seemed most interested when Evelyn was sleeping in the crib we have in our room. "Its-a-baby! Baby sleeping. See! See! Baby sleeping!" So far not too much jealously.

Evelyn has let me feed her snacks, two bottles and stir-fried rice without any complaints. She seems to like food in general. She's petite but seems quite healthy. So far she's rather quiet and just takes everything in. We're very grateful that our prayers for her well-being have been answered.

We have a date with Evelyn

We are now officially ready to travel. If you ask Lori, we were officially ready months or even years ago. But its really happening now! We have tickets and are scheduled to depart for Beijing on Friday, Mar 20th. 14 flight hours and 15 time zones later we arrive in China. On Sunday, March 22, we will be able to meet our little Evelyn for the very first time. After about 3 weeks, we'll bring her home where we have a special place set aside for her in our home and in our hearts.