Latest News

Hello Everyone,

So sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. We've just been s-o-o-o busy. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Many of you have asked if I had any more information about the mysterious lump under Allison's chin. We finally found out what that was and it's a bit unusual. It's a congenital defect called a thyroglossal duct cyst. This is something Allison was born with. When the baby's thyroid gland develops in the womb, it starts out at the base of the tongue and then travels down the thyroglossal duct to its permanent place at the base of the neck. Once this takes place, the duct is supposed to close up and go away. However, in some people, parts of the duct remain. Then when the child gets an illness like an upper respiratory infection, the pockets formed by the duct fill up with fluid. This creates the cyst. Allison will most likely need surgery to remove the duct. In some rare cases, the child can have an ectopic thyroid which means the thyroid has never descended to its proper position. However, children with this condition often show symptoms of hypothyroidism. Allison is not exhibiting those symptoms so I'm hopeful that she won't end up having this condition. I will need to take Allison to a doctor who specializes in treating this condition for further evaluation. The good news is that it isn't posing any immediate risk to her health and she has otherwise been very healthy.

The other big news is that Allison is now officially a Texan! We completed our re-adoption and are awaiting Allison's Texas birth certificate. I completed this process myself without an attorney and it turned out to be a much bigger ordeal than I anticipated with a few weird twists and turns along the way. (I had been led to believe that it would be a relatively simple process taking only one day by some other adoptive parents who had done it but it all depends on the county you're filing in.) For example, after I filed my "Application for Order Recognizing Foreign Decree of Adoption" with the district clerk's office, I received this bizarre certified letter containing a "Notice of Filing of Foreign Judgment." The notice made it sound like I had filed a judgment against myself on behalf of the Peoples Republic of China for a bad debt and was suing myself for unspecified "arrearages." It indicated that I was acting as an attorney simultaneously for the Peoples Republic of China and myself. Well, I freaked out a little bit when I got this and was worried about what process I had inadvertently set into motion. I went down to the district clerk's office to try to sort the mess out. After some huddling at the back of the office, an employee came up to me and said, "I'm really sorry for the confusion Ms. Kairies. We didn't mean to alarm you." He then went on to explain that whenever someone filed something, they were required to send out a notice by certified mail to all involved parties. They didn't have a form for an "Application for Order Recognizing Foreign Decree of Adoption" so they just used the closest thing they could find. Sheesh!!! How hard can it be to make one?! Or, at the very least, you'd think they could put a post-it note on it explaining.

I then had to schedule a court appointment with the court manager. If you ever have to do this let me give you a piece of advice - schedule the appointment at the end of the week. Otherwise, you'll end up sitting through the arraignment of every ne'er-do-well in town that was picked up over the weekend. I had an 8:30 a.m. appointment but sat there for three hours while alleged drug addicts, child abusers, drunk drivers, parole violators, theives, and the like were arraigned. When we finally got to my case, I was informed that I would have to pay an ad litem appointed by the judge to review all of my adoption documents. I would need a positive recommendation from the ad litem before she would issue the order. This ended up taking several more weeks. Finally, after another trip to court I got the court order I needed to file Allison's birth certificate paperwork with the Bureau of Vital Statistics. What an ordeal! However, having a Texas birth certificate will make Allison's life much easier in the future as she won't need to attempt to get a birth certificate from China.

Allison has really changed a lot since coming home from China. She is now crawling and pulling herself up on the furniture. Needless to say, she is into everything! She is very close to walking and can walk along the edges of furniture while holding on. She has tried to stand up in the middle of the floor but hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of it. She looks like she's doing the "downward dog" yoga pose and hasn't yet figured out that she needs to bend her knees so her seat is over her heals. She then walks on all fours in that position! It's hilarious. Allison has also passed a few other toddler milestones like discovering that she can spit out her already chewed up food or her milk and play with it. So much fun!!! She also really enjoys picking up food that she can squish (like watermelon), letting the juice run down her arms, and then putting her hands in her hair. We've ended up in the bathtub quite a lot lately! One day after admonishing her for her sloppy behavior I asked her what she had to say for herself. She looked at me and said, "Uh oh!!!" You've got that right! I can hardly wait to see what's next!

Shopping Girl!

Here are a few new pictures of Allison. She loves going to the grocery store and riding in the shopping cart!








She has also recently figured out how to roll onto her tummy. I put her in a seated position against these pillows and a few minutes later found her like this! It won't be long before she's on the move.

Mommy Brain Failure

On Thursday, Allison and I traveled to Houston for her appointment at the Texas Children's Health Center for International Adoption. We got to our hotel about 6:30 p.m. and Allison was starving. As soon as we got to our room, I opened up some baby food and gave her a chicken and vegetables dish followed by blueberries and applesauce. As she was nearing the completion of her meal I suddenly remembered that the hotel clerk had told us to be sure to put our parking permit on our car dashboard so our car wouldn't be towed from the lot. I had been so focused on getting Allison something to eat that I had forgotten about this so I quickly put her in the stroller and wheeled her down to the parking lot to take care of the matter. On the way down, a number of people commented on Allison saying, "Oh my gosh! Look at that baby's face." I, of course, beamed presuming they were commenting on her cuteness. I smiled back and waved and encouraged Allison to wave and say hi. It was only when we got to the car that I actually took a good look at her and realized that she had this awful smattering of orange colored chicken and vegetables coated with blueberries and applesauce all over her face. In my haste, I had forgotten to wipe her face off. Well, this just struck me as hysterically funny and I began laughing like crazy in the parking lot as my puzzled child looked on. Seriously, I was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face. Allison looked at me as if to say, "Okay Mom, you've totally lost it."

On Friday we went to Allison's doctor's appointment. I can't say enough good things about the Texas Children's Health Center for International Adoption. They were WONDERFUL! We loved Dr. Montgomery! She was so good to Allison and so thorough in her evaluation. I would highly recommend this clinic to anyone with an internationally adopted child.

Tough Medicine

I have discovered that my daughter HATES going to the doctor. Even entering a room that has the appearance of being a doctor's office causes her to start panicking. For example, when I take her into the ladies room and change her on one of those Koala Bear changing tables she freaks out and starts crying. (Too much like an examining table.) On Monday, I took her for her first pediatric appointment and she screamed bloody murder for most of it. You probably could have heard her a block away. Actually, I pretty much agreed with her assessment of this doctor. Neither one of us liked her too much.

This afternoon, I took her for an ultrasound of the lump under her chin. The folks in the radiology department were really wonderful with her but she wasn't having any of it. We had to tip her head back so they could get the ultrasound device under her chin and she cried the whole time. Unfortunately, the radiologist couldn't assess the blood flow because the crying interferred with the test. It was Allison's nap time and since they didn't have any appointments after her, I suggested that I try to walk the halls with the stroller like I had done in China and see if I could get her to fall asleep. Then it would be easier to get a good reading. HA! My daughter is way too smart for that. She immediately sensed that there was a plot going on and fought sleep with every ounce of her being. I tried walking her in the stroller, giving her a bottle, rocking her - you name it. No dice! I even tried boring her to sleep in a dark room. At one point she looked at me as if to say, "Sheesh Mom! What do you think I am, an idiot?" We finally gave up. The radiologist suggested that we come back in a couple of weeks and possibly consider some sedation. So much for an $86 co-pay. Of course, the minute I put her in her car seat, she promptly crashed!

We'll see how she does at her appointment at Texas Children's Health Center for International Adoption on Friday.

Allison Arrives at her new home...

Allison arrives to find her new pink bedroom...

They're Heeeeeere!

Hi folks,

Well, Joy and Allison have finally made it back to the states. Allison travelled like a trooper and Joy is ready for an extended nap. (I haven't had the heart to tell her that's probably a ways off yet.) Anyway, some of us went to greet them at the airport and I managed to get a little video. Then we took Allison home to her new house where I snuck a little more footage. Allison is awfully cute....

OUR TRIP TO GUANGZHOU

On Friday, our group boarded a plane for Guangzhou which is where the American Consulate is located. This is where we will complete our adoption paperwork before flying home. Guess who was a total charmer on the airplane! Allison delighted our seatmates by playing peek-a-boo and being generally cute. You would not recognize her as the same child from Monday. She is trying very hard to talk and babbled throughout the flight. Not a single tear was shed for the entire flight. There is actually hope that I can get her home without the other passengers on the plane wanting to stow us in the luggage compartment with the cats and dogs. We're staying at the Holiday Inn Shifu and it's really nice! If you're looking for a great place to stay in Guangzhou, stay here! The rooms are large and luxurious. Guangzhou is a real trip! After arriving at our hotel, Allison and I went out with our guide to order a quick bite to eat. The area surrounding the hotel looks like a cross between Times Square, a shopping mall, and a street fair. There are all sorts of tiny little mom-and-pop shops and restaurant sitting side by side with more modern stores and restaurants. Everything is all lit up and there is a huge TV screen in one area. Outside the hotel, there are all sorts of street peddlers who have set out their merchandise on the sidewalk. Everything is a juxtaposition between old and new. There are modern new buildings side-by-side with buildings and streets that appear to be very old. The place is packed with people enjoying the weekend. I'm looking forward to exploring this place more. Looks like Allison will have more rides in the stroller!

OUR TRIP TO POYANG

On Thursday, we made the three-hour drive to the town of Poyang to visit the orphanage where Allison is from. Much to my surprise, she handled the car ride fairly well. She was content to sit on my lap and play with toys and other suitable objects plucked from my bag. She is in a very tactile stage of development where she likes to feel different textures and shuffle objects between her hands before throwing them on the floor. One of her favorite "toys" was a crinkly wrapper that made noise when you scrunched it up. We got a lot of mileage out of that.

The trip to Poyang took us through the Jiangxi countryside. Before we knew it, we were driving past rice paddies where we saw farmers plowing fields with water buffalo pulling the plows. The area was dotted with similar looking three story multi-family brick houses that were located right on the rice paddy. They had garage-like doors on the bottom floor and, presumably, living quarters on the upper floors. There were all sorts of people riding motor scooters and bicycles, sometimes carrying amazingly large loads on these vehicles. It wasn't at all unusual to see the entire family on a single scooter. The drivers were a bit wild, passing anyone who was slow by driving down the middle of the road. There was a lot of honking and a lot of weaving from one lane to the other. Our group had a near death experience with a wayward cow that ran right in front of our van. Thanks to our skillful driver, we avoided a calamity.

The town of Poyang is much bigger than I thought it would be. It had several busy city streets with a wide variety of stores and restaurants. The orphanage is located in a complex of similar looking buildings that appear to have been built relatively recently. I'm not sure what the other buildings are used for. We didn't get to go inside the orphanage. We just saw the front porch area. There were several baskets and small beds with tiny, swaddled babies in them.

Shortly after arriving at the orphanage, the source of some of Allison's distress became clear. Upon hearing that we had come, her beloved nanny came running out to greet her. It was very obvious from their interaction that she was very strongly bonded with this woman. As the nanny showered her with hugs and kisses, Allison became a joyful child, smiling, laughing and babbling in the nanny's arms. The other nannies came out to dote on her too. It was very clear that she had been well loved in this place. No wonder she had cried so hard. The nanny brought Allison over to me and started patting me on the shoulder while saying to her, "Good mama, good mama." When it came time to leave, Allison became distressed again and cried very hard. The nanny cried too. It was very difficult to watch. I had had some reservations about bringing Allison back to the orphanage because I was afraid it would confuse her but meeting her nanny and seeing them interact so lovingly was priceless. I am incredibly grateful to this woman for all that she has given my daughter.

After visiting the orphanage, we went into town to a restaurant to have lunch with the orphanage staff. It was quite an extravagant meal served family style with dozens of dishes placed on a lazy Susan in the middle of the table. In China, it seems commonplace to leave the head of the animal on the dish so that you know what you're eating. We had an eel, a duck and a fish peering at us throughout the meal. Personally, I thought most of the dishes were delicious if you could manage to ignore the heads! There were also plenty of fruit, vegetable and noodle dishes for the faint of heart. There were several toasts offered to the adoptive parents by the orphanage staff and we, of course, responded in kind by offering toasts to them. During the lunch, Allison was still a bit out of sorts after seeing her nanny and was only content sitting on the lap of a Chinese woman. They were kind enough to indulge her, feeding her bits of watermelon as a treat.

After lunch, we went to see the finding places of our children. I was able to take some pictures of the small hospital where Allison was left. After that, we headed back to Nanchang. I was afraid that I might be back to square one with Allison after visiting the orphanage but she was fine in the van. She babbled and played all the way back to Nanchang and only got a bit fussy at the very end.

WE GOT THE BEAT!

Allison seems to be coming around. There wasn't nearly as much crying this morning and she was content to sit in her stroller while I ate breakfast at the buffet. After breakfast, our group went to the Nanchang People's Park. Allison loved being outside in the stroller again and happily played with her feet and cooed in the stroller. The park was really beautiful with a large trees and a goldfish pond. In one section there is an amusement park with rides. One of the rides had music playing over the loudspeaker with a strong beat. As soon as she heard it, Allison began to dance in her stroller, bouncing up and down and waving her arms to the beat. It was really cute! Seeing an opportunity, I decided to try to give her a bottle there and she took it without resistance. The hunger strike is slowly but surely beginning to wane. She also started to babble baby nonsense syllables (ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, tsa-tsa-tsa, etc.)

WALK-A-BYE BABY!

Day two in Nanchang started out much the same as the first. Allison appeared startled when she woke up in unfamiliar surroundings and immediately started to cry. She continued to cry and scream for three hours solid and nothing seemed to calm her down. She would momentarily stop crying if I held her and walked around but the minute I stopped moving, she would scream and cry again. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life! She continued her

'hunger strike" and refused to take a bottle. I put her in the stroller and took her down to the breakfast buffet to try to get a quick bit to eat for myself and she seemed momentarily distracted watching the waiters and waitresses. But the minute I got up to go get my food and was out of sight she screamed like crazy and she didn't calm down when I came back. I gulped my food as quickly as I could so we could get out of there.

About ten o'clock we went for a walking tour of a local temple with Allison in the stroller. Once we were outside, she turned into a different child. She loved watching all the people and was clearly entertained by the sites. She happily played with her feet in the stroller and would wave her arms and legs up and down when she got excited. One of the older children on the tour began playing peek-a-boo with her and entertaining her with silly faces and, lo and behold, she actually SMILED!!! When we got back to the hotel, she fell asleep in the stroller so I wheeled her down to the buffet to enjoy a peaceful lunch. Thankfully, she slept through the whole meal. When she woke up later on, she started in with the crying again so I took her back outside and we spent the afternoon strolling the streets of Nanchang. We managed to get off the beaten path onto the side streets and were able to get a taste of local life. Allison was as happy as can be in the stroller. We certainly attracted a lot of attention from the local population. Several people came up to the stroller to faun over her and expressed curiosity over a Caucasian woman strolling with a Chinese baby. Some of the local school children came running up to me to test some of their English.

After a couple of hours of walking around, I was too tired to go any further and took Allison back to the hotel. Before I left for China, I was lamenting having to give up my workout routine for two weeks as I had been quite diligent about it. HA!!! I'm on the Allison weight loss plan. I am so stiff from walking Allison all over town! Once back in the hotel room, Allison got fussy again and started crying. I think she hates our hotel room. Thankfully, her paperwork was right about one thing, she is a deep sleeper. This kid sleeps like a log. Once she's out, she's dead to the world and will easily sleep until 7:30 a.m. or later if I keep the blinds closed. She usually takes a really great nap too. Thank goodness!

ALLISON KAIRIES AND THE TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY

Hi Everyone,

On Monday I arrived in Nanchang and received Allison. I wish I could say it was one of those idyllic Hallmark moments with angels parting the heavens and singing the praises of motherhood but I'm afraid it was the "gotcha day" from hell! Now, let me say from the outset that I had no expectations that today would be a bed of roses. I had read enough to know that gotcha day is often traumatic for children and that they may respond to this trauma in a variety of ways. But I was really taken aback by the sheer intensity and duration of my daughter's distress, which was compounded by our arriving late in Nanchang.

If you read my previous entry you know that the snowstorm in Beijing caused our Sunday evening flight to Nanchang to be cancelled so we had to catch the early bird flight the next day. Our wake up call was for 5:00 a.m. When we got to Nanchang, our new guide, Mary, told us that we would be getting our babies shortly after we got to the hotel, and she wasn't kidding. We were led to our rooms and literally had 15 minutes to get settled before going down to the lobby to get our children. I had no time to unpack my baby items, make up a bottle, or get ready for the child. We were told we'd be doing paperwork that afternoon at Civil Affairs so I had to use my precious 15 minutes to assemble gift bags for the officials. I was rushing as fast as I could and had not even gotten the gift bags together when I got a phone call asking me to come down to the lobby right away as the babies were waiting.

Well, as you can probably surmise from the title of this message, Allison was NOT a happy camper. She was crying really hard, and pretty much screamed and cried non-stop for the rest of the day. She was not at all happy about the sudden change in her life circumstances and wanted everyone to know it. This child has a set of lungs on her that would put any professional wind player to shame! I took her back to my hotel room to try to calm her down. I was holding this thrashing, hysterical child while trying to fish through my luggage one-handed to pull out bottles, formula, diapers, etc. It suddenly dawned on me that I had not read the instructions on how to prepare the formula so there I was with my crying child trying to figure out how many scoops to put in the bottle. It was just AWFUL! Sensing that I might be a bit overwhelmed, Mary followed me back to my room to help. After a lot of awkward fumbling around, I finally got the bottle ready but Allison was too upset to drink it. Mary decided to give it a try and rattled off a string of words to Allison in Chinese trying to coax her to take it but she just cried even more.

In the midst of this melee, Mary mentioned to me that the orphanage had noticed that Allison had a palpable lump under her chin. I felt it and thought that maybe it was a swollen gland from a recent infection but Mary told me that it had been there for two months. They didn't know what it was. Allison had not been examined by a doctor and, to the best of their knowledge, had not had any recent infections. Great. Not only was my child traumatized, she had an unknown medical issue. As I was standing there trying to figure out what to do about this unexpected development, Mary asked me if I wanted to have a Chinese pediatrician come to the hotel later that evening and examine Allison. I decided to do that and told her yes. Just before she left the hotel room, Mary told me that we would be doing our adoption paperwork at Civil Affairs and to be ready at 1:30 p.m. She told me to stop at the hotel restaurant and have lunch beforehand. Well, I wasn't about to take a hysterical, screaming child to a restaurant. What ambiance for the other restaurant patrons! Needless to say, there was no lunch. I didn't even have a chance to use the restroom.

When Mary left my room, I managed to get Allison to fall asleep briefly. She was completely exhausted. But I had to wake her up fifteen minutes later so we could leave for Civil Affairs. This certainly didn't help her mood. She screamed and cried the entire afternoon, through all of the appointments. When we had to take the family photo for her Chinese paperwork, some other adoptive parents had to stand behind the camera and make faces, sing songs and clap to try to get her to stop crying long enough to snap the picture. (Did I mention that the other babies at the Civil Affairs office acting like complete angels? Much to the delight of their new parents, they were being all cute and charming.) I had to write a statement on one of the forms saying why I wanted to adopt but I barely remember what I said. It's all a blur. During one interview I was asked if I was satisfied with my child. I numbly replied yes. The absurdity of this question only occurred to me later. There had not been adequate time to really assess my child. In her heightened state of distress it was impossible to ascertain her true physical and emotional health.

While I was being interviewed and paying my fees, some of the nannies from Allison's orphanage tried to play with her and get her to take a bottle. She cried and screamed even for them and still wouldn't eat anything. They later told our guide that Allison had cried for the entire three-hour trip from the orphanage to Nanchang. At one point, we were supposed to present our gifts for the various officials. In the confusion, I had brought the wrong number. We made do but it was embarrassing.

As we left the civil affairs office, the stress of the day overwhelmed me. I couldn't hold back the tears. I was totally exhausted from the early morning flight, starving, needed to use the restroom badly, and Allison was still screaming bloody murder. I was especially frustrated that we hadn't even had an hour to get settled in our hotel rooms before receiving the children. The other adoptive parents felt bad for me and tried to help. Once we got back to the hotel, one of the other adoptive moms came to my room to try to help. She quickly identified one possible source of Allison's extreme discomfort - teething. Her gums were red and swollen and you could feel several teeth coming in. We got out the Baby Orajel and the infant Tylenol and that seemed to help a little bit.

Later that night, the Chinese doctor came to my hotel room to examine the lump under Allison's chin. She was U.S. trained and worked in the pediatric intensive care unit at the local children's hospital. She said it was most likely a lymph node that became enlarged after an infection or a salivary gland blockage. She didn't think it was serious and thought that it was safe to wait until I got home to have her seen by a doctor in the U.S. Allison didn't have any fever or other signs of a current infection. While she was there the pediatrician did an examination of my daughter's level of development. She expressed skepticism at her given age, noting that her size and development was more consistent with that of a much younger child. She is quite tiny for a fourteen month old and is drowning in her 18 month-old clothing. One of the other babies from her orphanage, who is supposed to be three months younger, is actually bigger than Allison. Neither of these girls are sitting up by themselves, crawling or walking.

After the doctor left, I decided to put Allison in the stroller and walk the halls of the hotel to see if I could get her to sleep for the night. The motion of the stroller was about the only thing that seemed to sooth her. After about an hour of walking up and down, she finally crashed. I let her sleep in the stroller for the night. I wasn't about to try to move her. Thankfully, she slept through the night.

Day Three and Snow!

After once again partaking of the "boundless food supply" in the Capital Dining Hall our group set out for the Great Wall. Michael and our driver met us at the hotel. One the way, we visited the Olympic area and saw the famous Birds Nest and the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals. The weather was cold and snowy. I was really glad that I had invested in a winter jacket before leaving for China rather than winging it with the lightweight barn coat I usually wear in Corpus Christi. It was freezing! As the day progressed, the snow kept coming down harder and by the time we got to the Great Wall, the steps were treacherous and icy. We decided not to climb all the way up but did go up far enough to get a good view. The two boys in our travel group were from southern California and had never seen snow so they had a blast. They decided that the Great Wall made for great sledding and slid down portions of it in their jeans, leaving a bluish streak in the snow. I couldn't resist joining in a couple of impromptu snowball fights with them. After lunch, the snow started coming down even harder and Michael started making calls to find out about our flight to Nanchang. Our 4:55 p.m. flight was cancelled and we were tentatively rebooked on a 10:00 p.m. flight. Michael was told to call back around six o'clock to see if we would be able to get out so we had a few hours to kill. We went to a Beijing shopping mall. This was an interesting experience. If I hadn't known that I was in Beijing, I could have been fooled into believing that I was in a mall in any American city. All of the stores had English names, all the models in the adds were westerners, and even the music playing over the loudspeakers was American. Only the bottom level gave an indication as to the true location. There was a Chinese grocery store and several food and specialty kiosks that catered to the Chinese population. After killing time at the mall, Michael told us our flights had been cancelled due to the snow so we headed back to the hotel for another night's stay.

Day Two

The hotel we stayed at in Beijing was quite luxurious and nice by western standards. The rooms were large and comfortable with all the amenities you'd find in better hotels in the U.S. It was an international hotel and I was relieved to see that all written materials were in both Chinese and English. However, it didn't take long to realize that nobody there really spoke much English. When I called down to the desk for a wake up call, they had to get a couple of different employees on the phone to figure out what I was asking for. One night I ordered room service and they had to send someone to my room so that I could point to what I wanted on the menu. I brought a little electronic translator with me to China and it proved to be a life saver in more than one situation.

We started out our first full day with the breakfast buffet. It was really weird. It seemed like more of a lunch spread with stir fry type dishes, salads, and noodles. They did have someone making fried eggs so I decided to go for those, along with several other "mystery" dishes. Have you ever tried to eat a fried egg with chopsticks? It's an interesting experience, let me tell you! On each of the dining room tables there was a sign that was translated into several languages. The English version said, "Boundless food supply Capital Dining Hall. The place wasting everywhere asking you to take a meal if a few many times bringing about is added collect 30 yuan of cost fee." Okay! Glad we got that straight!

After breakfast, we met up with Michael and our driver, Mr. Hua (pronounced Hoo - Ah with the accent on the first syllable) for a day of sight seeing. When driving through Beijing, one of the first things that strikes you is the vast number of huge apartment complexes. Some of them are just enormous, like small cities unto themselves. I have never seen so many apartment buildings in my entire life. There was block after block after block of them. This is the apartment capital of the world! With the population in excess of 17 million I'm sure they're needed. Beijing is a very modern city and everything seems to be on a grand scale. The main street, which leads to Tiananmen Square, is a wide street lined with luxury hotels, large government and business buildings, and upscale shopping. We spent the morning touring the Forbidden City, followed by lunch at an upscale Chinese restaurant. We were led to our own private dining room where Michael ordered us Peking duck and several other dishes.

After lunch we went to a large park to see a famous Taoist temple. This was one of the more interesting parts of the trip as the park is a gathering place for Chinese citizens, particularly seniors. We saw groups of people gathered about for various recreational activities including dancing and singing. There were large groups of people singing folk songs at the top of their lungs! There was also a huge row of ad hoc poker games. In our travel group there is another family with two boys ages seven and ten. Everyone was fascinated by these American kids. It seems that there were quite a few people who had not seen many Caucasian people before and some even wanted to have their picture taken with them.

We wrapped up the day with an acrobatic show. They were really entertaining but I don't think this was their "A" squad. One of the girls, who looked no more than nine or ten, fell off the top of a pyramid of acrobats and lost her headdress. There was another act where two male acrobats were on a contraption that looked like two hamster wheels, one balanced on each end of a long arm that spun around in a circle. As they ran in the hamster wheel, the whole contraption spun around like a ferris wheel. At one point, one of the acrobats got on the outside of the wheel and started running. He nearly fell off several times, leaving the audience gasping. I don't know if that was part of the show or if we had just witnessed a near-death experience. The show wrapped up with thirteen female acrobats riding on a single bike. Don't try that at home folks!

The First Entry from China

Hi Everyone,

Greetings from Beijing! I got here last night after what seemed like an interminably long flight and have already had quite a few amusing experiences in the process. When I checked in for my flight in Corpus Christi, I was told that my bags would be checked through to Beijing but that I would need to I would to stop at the Air China counter in San Francisco to get my boarding pass for that flight. When I got to the there, the Chinese clerk asked for my passport in a very crisp, no nonsense tone that signaled that she meant business! I quickly pulled my passport out of my security wallet and laid it on the counter as instructed. After inspecting my visa, she demanded to see my baggage claim check in the same abrupt tone. My baggage claim check? Where in the world had I put it? Had I even taken the boarding pass sleeve with the claim check sticker off of the last flight? I started frantically searching the pockets in my backpack as the clerk looked on in obvious disapproval. After what seemed like the longest couple of minutes, I located the crumpled boarding pass sleeve in the bottom of my backpack and placed it on the counter for the clerk to inspect. After examining the claim check to make sure everything was in order, she gave me a look that said "crazy American" and handed me my boarding pass. My passport was checked a couple more times before I got on the plane.

Once I got to the gate area, an employee from Air China came over the loudspeaker and announced that passengers were allowed to hand carry only one bag. Those with more than one carry on bag were instructed to see the attendant at the counter immediately. Uh oh! I had my backpack plus a tote bag that I had stuffed my winter jacket and gloves into. I didn't want to pack those items in my suitcase in case I got to frosty Beijing and my luggage was missing or delayed. Plus I thought I might want the jacket to use as a blanket or pillow on the plane. After my experience with the first Air China clerk I wasn't about to approach the counter again so I decided to just wear my jacket on the plane and stuff the tote bag into my backpack. I quickly rearranged all the items in my backpack to accommodate the tote and my hat and gloves. It was really bulky but I managed to get everything in. However, when they called my row to board, I realized that I was one of the few people who had taken this rule seriously! All of the Chinese passengers blew off the announcement and headed to the plane with multiple bags in tow. Nobody said a word about it. Once I got to my seat, I took off my jacket, repacked it in the tote and stuck it in the overhead bin.

On the Air China flight, I really felt out of my element as I was one of the few people on board who wasn't Chinese. I had the good fortune to sit next to a delightful young Beijinger named Melody who was a graduate student in the United States. Her family was originally from Hunan Province but she had lived in Beijing for many years. We had several nice conversations about China and Chinese culture. She also introduced me to a very interesting new food that she had brought on board as a snack, spicy mango. It was, well, interesting! Very interesting. It was dried mango coated with the same spices used to make spicy Chinese food. It was a strange combination but it kind of worked. If you'd like to try this food Melody says you can buy it at World Market.

We landed at the new Beijing international airport terminal. It was built for the Beijing Olympics and it's HUGE! I can't even begin to describe how enormous this facility is. It required a train ride to the passport check area and yet another one to baggage claim. Now that I think about it, the word "huge" could be used to describe a lot of aspects of Beijing. I was met at the airport by Michael, our Beijing guide, and others in my travel group. We had our own private driver and mini-bus for the weekend. Michael turned out to be an amazing guide. He was just fantastic and took great care of us throughout our stay. Not only did he give us great tours of the sites, he took care of all our practical needs where language was a barrier. When we got to the hotel Michael asked if anyone wanted to get some dinner. I was the only one who was interested so, after stopping by an all night convenience store to buy bottled water, Michael and I went to a casual Chinese restaurant by the hotel. Michael asked if I liked spicy food and I eagerly replied yes! He recommended the kung pao chicken and since I'd had it before in the U.S. I felt pretty safe in ordering it. Michael ordered some for me along with a Coke before leaving for the evening. When the chicken came, it was s-o-o-o-o spicy. Seriously, this stuff could peel paint! If someone in China asks you if you like spicy food beware! It's about ten times hotter than the U.S. version. My solitary Coke wasn't nearly enough to quell the burn through even half of my meal. With Michael gone, I didn't know how to order anything else to drink. Fortunately, I had the bottled water I had just purchased and opened it to douse my burning mouth!

Anticipating return...

And, just to show that Joy is prepared for Allison's voyage home...here is the car seat waiting in my car for the airport pickup...and yes, I know it's not installed properly yet :) I have to do a little research....

Joy is on the way to China...

Hi all,

Well, it was a VERY foggy morning yesterday as I took Joy to the airport to start the long trip to China. I was worried she may not get out but since I haven't heard anything I'm assuming flights have gone as planned (domestically anyway...)

We left for the airport at 4:45am and since it was really dark and foggy, my outdoor shots didn't turn out...but I do have this photo of departure readiness...hope all is going well...

Mary T on the Meatball Chronicles

Hello Everyone!

I'm going to be posting updates for Joy from China as she sends them via email. I'm also going to document the airport departure and arrivals...only a couple of days left until Joy departs to pickup the meatball!!

Leaving On Thursday!

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to post again. Things have been a whirlwind since I got my referral. I just found out last week that I'd be leaving for China THIS WEEK! I've been running around like a crazy person trying to get ready. There's so much to do! I first go go Beijing and spend a couple of days getting over jet lag and sight seeing. Then I fly to Nanchang which is in the province where my daughter is. I should meet her for the first time on Monday! After various appointments with civil affairs officials, Allison and I will travel to Guangzhou for our appointment with the American Consulate. We also will visit the U.S. Embassy and attend a ceremony there. Allison will get her visa to enter the U.S. From there we head home.

I will be sure to post lots of pictures and stories of our adventures so please check back soon!

More About Allison

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and good wishes! I've got some more information about Allison to share with you. Her Chinese name is Bo Dong Ying and she is currently residing in the Boyang Social Welfare Institute in Boyang County, Jiangxi Province (aka Poyang Social Welfare Institute and Poyang County). All children from this SWI are given the surname Bo which refers to the name of the county. The name Dong Ying means "winter cherry," a beautiful plant native to China. Boyang County is located near Lake Poyang, the largest fresh water lake in China and a natural habitat for half a million migratory birds. According to her paperwork, Allison was left at the gates of a local hospital on December 24th, 2008. A physical exam determined that she was a brand new baby at that time. The pictures you see below were taken last summer so she is a bit older now. Here are some other characteristics that were noted in her records:

She is a deep sleeper. (Yes!!!)
She is fond of listening to music.
She is fond of playing with toys.
She is fond of playing games.
She laughs aloud and has a ready smile.
She is active and restless. (Yikes!)

Allison's medical records were reviewed by the Health Center for International Adoption at Texas Children's Hospital and I'm happy to report that they have placed her in the "low risk" category for medical issues. I just signed the "Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter" today so it's official! I can't wait to go and pick her up!

Her name is...

Allison! I'm still pondering the middle name. You'd think that after nearly four years of waiting I'd have this all figured out but I'm still mulling it over. I'm waiting to see what her Chinese name is. The Fed Ex man is supposed to come today with a package containing more information about her. I can't wait!

She's Here!!!

Hi Everyone,

After 1,396 days of waiting I finally got the call from my agency today! I can't believe it! I'm still waiting on the translation of my referral documents for more information but HERE SHE IS!!! Her birthday is 12/24/08 and she is from Jiangxi Province.

Welcome!

Hello everyone!



Welcome to my blog! I know many of you have been following my very l-o-o-o-o-n-g adoption journey so I thought I'd create a blog to keep you posted. You're probably wondering about the name of my blog. Well, that's a funny story! About a year ago, I was waiting backstage with Hong Da Chin, my international flute student from Malaysia. Hong Da was going to perform for our faculty convocation and our piano faculty member Shao-Shan Chen was going to accompany him. Both of them speak Chinese. While we were waiting, Shao-Shan asked me if I had heard anything from China about my adoption. In preparation for my anticipated trip, I had been studying a little Chinese from a web site called chinesepod.com. I had recently finished a tutorial about babies and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to show off my new found vocabulary. I mentioned that I was still waiting for the referral of my "bao-bao," the Chinese word for baby - or so I thought! Shao-Shan and Hong Da looked at each other and started to smile. Shao-Shan said to me gently, "Joy...you realize you just called your baby a meatball." "Meatball!?" I exclaimed bewildered. Shao-Shan explained that I had used the wrong tones (voice inflection) when pronouncing the word and that had changed the meaning from baby to meatball. (Chinese is a tricky language!) Well, after I told this story to friends the term "meatball" stuck. People would ask, "So...have you heard news about The Meatball?" So, there you have it! Welcome to The Meatball Chronicles! As soon as I have some news about my baby (I'm sticking with English from now on!) I'll be sure to post it here.



Thanks for visiting!



Joy