Day 11

Our last full day in Nanjing. And, we're ready to move on, for a lot of reasons. Each day we've been here, we've had fun experiences and made memories. And, today was no exception.

We met our guide this morning and she took us to the local lake. Lots to see and do there. We didn't know what to expect, but  we had a great time. When you first walk through the city wall gate (part of the same ancient wall we toured the other day) you see a lotus garden. There were thousands of lotus plants lining the bank of the lake, with their huge green leaves and their bright pink flowers. We took lots of pictures of the lotus flowers, because they were so beautiful and unique.

As we kept walking our way around the lake, we saw people flying kites, and we saw some bumper boats. Elliott was desperate to do the bumper boats, so we paired up and rode. Each boat could only handle two riders, so Elliott and Kris rode in one and Hannah and Calla rode in one. We decided that Anne would wait behind with Ruthie. Just as Kris and Elliott were climbing in, Ruthie came running up and wanted to get in the boat with the boys. So, she sat in Kris' lap through the whole boat ride. We didn't expect her to do well once the bumper boat left the dock, but she did great. She had fun seeing Hannah and Calla in another boat (and bumping in to them). She seems to be getting over her fear of Kris a bit. When she's tired, she still only wants Anne, but in her good moments she is really a lot of fun. As we were walking through the park, Kris leaned down to take a picture of the two of them together. She absolutely loves seeing pictures of herself on our iPhones. Kris took the picture and said "selfie!" As he stood back up, she repeated "selfie!" Add that to her growing list of English words she's learning. 

After the boats, there were a lot of other fun things to see at the lake. It was hot, but we walked around and saw some more old ladies dancing (our guide said they were square dancing, and it was very common, just as we had seen outside our hotel last night), we saw some street musicians, and we saw some really unusual rock formations that occur naturally at the lake. We also saw an area where people come and write their wishes on a red ribbon and tie it to a tree. Families will do that on Chinese New Year and then come back the next year to reflect on the year. The trees were absolutely full of red ribbons. It did make us stop and think about what a significant year it has been for our family, and what God might have in store for us over the next year. 

Another interesting area they had at the lake park was a bunch of hand written papers hanging from trees. There were a lot of older people milling around and reading the papers. Our guide told us that the papers were basically personal ads. Older people will look through the ads, trying to match up their children to get married. We thought it was funny that only the older parents were out looking for matches, and none of the children themselves.

As we headed back to our hotel, we decided to get a bite to eat. We put ourselves in the hands of our trusted guide, and she took us to a fast food Chinese place. Not sure what it was called, but the sign said "Style." It was a buffet-style place, where you got a little meat of your choosing, and little veggies, and a little rice or dumplings. Anne and Kris both agreed that it is really hard to order food here. For one, it it difficult to recognize what kind of meat you are looking at, and for another, you can't really tell what it is going to taste like just by looking at it. So, we got a few things that looked appealing, or at least that looked more appealing than the other options. Kris grabbed some meat and our guide said, "Are you sure you want that?" Not sure what it was, but we think it must have been oxtail. That is our best guess. At any rate, it was better than the chicken that Anne got. Even Ruthie wouldn't eat that. Still, it is hard to complain when lunch for 6 costs only $6.00.

After lunch it was nap time, and swimming for the older kids. Ruthie took a long nap, so we all got some good down time. We hung around the room for a while, and noticed that it was raining. That dampened our plans to go back out and explore the city. So, we wandered around the mall for a bit and got some dinner to take to the room. 

We spent the evening having more fun just being together. Ruthie is a blast. Full of energy and spunk and silliness.

We'd appreciate your prayers for our travel tomorrow. We'll leave here in the afternoon. We'll spend the morning packing and getting ready. Conveniently, our pastor told us what verses he'll be preaching on, so we'll spend some time in the morning reading and worshipping as a family. That helps us feel connected to our faith family while we're away.

Day 10

Hard to believe we've been away from home for 10 days. At the same time, though, it feels like we've been away from home forever. 

Today was our first full day without a guide. As we were thinking about it last night, we weren't sure what we would do with ourselves all day. But this morning we walked down to the Confucian Temple area and did some more shopping. Anne has a killer sense of direction, and she decided to take us down a different street. It is fascinating how you can get just one block away from the high end, highly Western style mall and end up on a street where people have duct taped their belongings together and are crammed into tiny little spaces. China continues to surprise us. I am glad we brought our kids so they can see how other people in the world live. There seems to be a high value on not throwing things away, but instead reusing and repurposing them, even past the point where it would seem sensible. This seems especially true among the older people. Their bikes are worn and rusty, with broken wicker baskets taped on to the back. Their brooms and mops are so old as to seemingly be ineffective, but still they use them. There is a sharp divide in China between the "haves" and the "have-nots."

Once in the market, we found a different side street than we had been on before, and some different shops. I say "shop" loosely, as each stall is about 6' X 8' with stuff all over the walls and hanging from the ceilings. The Nanjing area is known for a few specific things, and they are all for sale in this market. Wooden fans like you typically associate with China are famous here in Nanjing, as well as a certain type of tea called Yuhua Cha. I'm told it is one of the finest teas in China. People here carry around bottles of this green tea in the same way Americans drink water. Everyone you see, young or old, is carrying this tea and drinking it. The leaves are pretty big, so in the bottom of everyone's bottles are big leaves that look like green beans. We haven't tasted it yet, but that's on our list.

After our shopping trip, we were hot (it is almost 100 degrees and very humid here), so we went swimming at the hotel. Ruthie eased into the swimming a bit more today, and let Anne hold her in the water and walk around with her. Yesterday, she kind of "endured" the pool, but today she was smiling a bit.

We picked up some fried rice for lunch (it is hard to say no to lunch that costs $2.00 for all of us), and ate in our room. Ruthie took a nap, and we spent much of the afternoon hanging out in the room. Kris got some work done, and the kids played. We put some music on after a while, and that really got Ruthie going. I wish I could describe to you how silly she is. She is just about the silliest person we've ever met. We've tried to capture on video her silliness, and this is the best we can do:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21147169/IMG_1340.MOV

One other interesting thing she does: laundry. We've been washing a few things in the hotel tub, and Ruthie is helping. She will stir the clothes around in the water, beat them on the side of the tub, and then wring them out. She's obviously done this before.

Another fun thing she's doing is learning the kids names. She calls them by their names (or at least close to their names) and she calls Kris "ba ba," which is Chinese for daddy. But when she wants Anne's attention, she'll call her "Anne." Weird. We're trying to reinforce "mommy" as her name, since we discovered what she is saying.

She still is very chatty, which is fun. We've tried to figure out some of the things she says, but there's a few things that we don't quite get yet. Maybe our guide will help us tomorrow, if she says them then. (One funny thing that happened yesterday: when we were walking up the steps of the city gate, the other couple who was with us has their grandma on the trip with them. Grandma was taking her time climbing the stairs, and Ruthie turned around and said in Chinese, "Come on, grandma!")

We decided to eat dinner at the hotel's restaurant, since it would be easiest. They have a buffet even at dinner, so we took advantage of that. It is kind of nice, because you can be a bit adventurous in your eating, and if you don't like it, you can always get something else. It's a win for our whole family.

After dinner, we went out of the hotel to explore some of the night life we've seen outside our window. There were huge crowds in the street and in the intersection where our hotel is. We saw what looked to be a poodle owners convention, we saw people selling all manner of cheap junk, and we saw some older people writing calligraphied Chinese characters in water in the sidewalk. There were also a group of older ladies line dancing to some loud music. Now we know the source of the music we can hear each night.

So, that's the story on today. Ruthie continues to be more and more at ease with us, and we are falling more and more in love with her and with her silly expressions and her fun personality. We're praying that all goes well in a few days, as we add one more kiddo to the mix...

Day 9

We've heard from several folks how much you're enjoying our blog updates. I'm glad that we are able to keep everyone updated. We're having fun making memories, and glad you can all live vicariously through us. We really do value your support and find joy in the knowledge that so many people care about us.

Ruthie is totally living up to her middle name, Joy. She is so fun and full of joy. She laughs a lot and she is making us laugh. At dinner tonight, Anne said it is kind of like living with Boo, the little girl from Monsters, Inc. who talks in gibberish. She is very chatty, and doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that we can't understand or speak Chinese. That is not stopping her from telling us what is on her mind and ordering us around like the princess she is.

This morning, we had our guide help us send some of our clothes out to be laundered. The hotel laundry service is quite expensive, so they said they could get us a better deal with a local launderer. Knowing that, we only packed clothes for about a week. Last night, Anne washed some of our stuff in the bathtub, but as it dried, it was stretching out and getting crunchy (not good qualities in underwear), so we decided to have it done. Most of the things we've done in China have been pretty cheap (since 1 US Dollar = 6 Chinese RMB), but not laundry. It ended up costing us $70. But, it is worth it since we don't have to have crunchy underwear or carry an extra suitcase. 

Right before the guide was in our room sorting out the laundry issue, Anne and Ruthie had been coloring together. Ruthie kept drawing circles and saying the same word. She showed the guide, who told us that she was drawing apples. So smart! She was also able to recognize her shapes and colors. 

After we got the laundry sorted out, we went out to see the Nanjing City Wall. The wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty and was built in the 1300s. Many parts have been destroyed, and some have been rebuilt. The city gate we went to was very impressive. As we were walking up the steps, Ruthie was counting in Chinese along with our guide. Pretty smart 4 year old.

On the way back from visiting the wall, we stopped to do a little bit of shopping with the other American couple who is with us. We found a few souvenirs, and we stopped at a convenience store to get swim caps. The hotel staff at the pool said we needed them if we wanted to swim. All they had was 6 caps, so we bought the store out, strangely, they were the right size for us all.

After Ruthie's nap time we went down to the pool and swam for a bit. She's not fond of swimming, but she did get in the water with Anne's help. She still is pretty leery of Kris, but we're learning that is common for an orphan who has never been around men at all. We know she'll come around, because in her happier moments she is slightly comfortable with kissing Kris and holding his hand on the escalator and that sort of thing.

After swimming we relaxed for a while, and Ruthie watched TV. Mostly, she just likes flipping around the channels and being in charge of the remote. Anne had some fun with her and the remote control, which you can see in this video: 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21147169/IMG_2175.MOV

We ventured out for dinner in the mall (since we had eaten lunch from the marketplace in our room), and Ruthie had us in stitches. She's silly, expressive, and loves playing with the kids. Her personality has won us over, so we can see why the orphanage enjoyed her so much. We've had a lot of fun with her today, but we are ready to get her home and settling in. 

Side note: We love reading the comments you are all posting. When someone comments, we get an email, so we can read the comments, but we're not able to respond at this point. But, keep 'em coming, as it is encouraging to us to know so many folks are praying for us and wishing us well.

Day 8

Today started off early again. Every time Ruthie awakens from sleep or from a nap, it is a bit like starting over. She is weepy and seems a bit disoriented and closed off. But, after a few minutes, she warms back up. 

We had another fun breakfast at the hotel. Ruthie enjoys leaving the room, and loves to see herself in the elevator mirror.

After breakfast, we went to the Nanjing massacre museum. Nanjing used to be the capital of China, and in 1937, the Japanese attacked Shanghai and then moved up the river to Nanjing. When they reached Nanjing, they attacked the city from 3 sides, bombing extensively and killing 300,000 innocent people in the process (more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined). It is one of the most atrocious acts in wartime history, and countries all over the globe spoke out against what had happened. I won't go into much more detail, because you can google it to find out more, but it is essentially the Chinese holocaust.

The museum was very well done, and was incredibly moving. I think, too, we all needed some emotional release. One of the most fascinating aspects of what we read at the museum said that the Japanese media was in a frenzy to cover the advance of the Japanese troops into China. As a result, many of the Japanese soldiers were particularly interested in doing "heroic" things so that they could bring honor to their country through the media. So, on some level, the over-hyped media coverage was to blame for the extent of what happened. A fascinating commentary for our times.

Our guide shared with me that to this day, many Chinese dislike the Japanese. She said that in Nanjing, no one will buy a Japanese made car, or will support Japanese businesses. 

After leaving the museum, we traveled to a jade store. They pulled out all the stops for the American tourists, setting us up in a swanky back room, serving us tea, and then telling us all about new jade, old jade, and Jadeite. Of course, jade is very popular in China, especially for women. Interestingly, jade is not native to the Nanjing area, but Nanjing is known for intricate carving. That is a skill that was honed here, and apparently they still do a lot of hand carving here. The store was fun to look around at, because of all the carved pieces. We ended up getting small jade animals for each of our kids, and they have enjoyed them. Ruthie in particular keeps showing us her necklace that we got, so that is fun. It was also fun to bargain with them over the price, since that is not something we get to do every day.

At the store, many of the young ladies who worked there were fascinated with Calla's hair. They asked us a lot of questions about her and about her hair. Of course they asked about Ruthie, too, and the store manager told us, "You have a good heart."

By the time we were done there, Ruthie was pretty tired. The other couple we were with wanted to go to the IKEA and eat lunch there, but we didn't think that was a good idea. Our guide was going to take us to a local Shanghaiese restaurant with dumplings and noodles, but the other couple didn't want that.  

Because the kids were tired, we settled on going to the market in the mall (the same one having the American Food Festival) where they will cook you fried rice to order. This worked out well, especially because our guide offered to help us order. We got some rice and fried dumplings. On the way back to our room, we walked through a different part of the mall (did I mention how big this mall is?) and we walked past a Subway restaurant and a Papa Johns (didn't see that coming). So, we treated ourselves to Subway for dinner, since the kids like that. We got sandwiches and chips. All the flavors of chips here are much different than in the US, but the Subway had "Texas Barbecue" flavor Lays, so we couldn't resist. We should have resisted, in hindsight.

After Ruthie's nap, we ventured out of the hotel. We are walking distance from a Confucian temple, so we went to see that. Our guide said that it is not really a temple in the true sense, but it is more of a gathering place for shopping and that sort of thing. And, she was right. It was basically an outdoor mall built around an old temple building. The building was pretty, but the shops were mostly junk. There were a few interesting stores, but not many. Still, it was nice to walk around and kill some time in a place that was not the mall. One store that caught our eye was a store that sold leather bags and belts, called "Mexican." The sign even had a picture of a guy in a sombrero and pancho. Weird.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Anne doing laundry in the hotel bathtub and Kris working. Elliott continues to watch Chinese cartoons on TV. Ruthie followed Anne around the room like  a little shadow, but was less clingy, so that is good. She let Anne give her a bath for the first time, so we're glad about that. Some other fun things we learned about her today: we taught her to say "belly button," in English and she keeps saying it over and over for fun. Several months ago, we mailed her a care package with a few things, including a board book called "The Belly Button Book." We've been reading it to her at bedtime and nap time. She also enjoys fist bumps and high fives, with all of us. She gave us all kisses (though Kris' beard kind of surprised her). And, she loves seeing her pictures and video on our iPhones. As we wound down into bed, she went around kissing all of us and high fiving and fist bumping us all. Then, it was like someone flipped a switch and she was out.  

Random travel tip: simplynoise.com is a fantastic website for when you are sleeping away from home. It is just a white noise generator that helps everyone sleep. Especially when there is a weird Chinese concert happening on the street outside your hotel.

Day 7

We all got a good night's sleep the night before. We woke up about 5 am, so that is good. Ruthie slept in a King size bed with Kris and Anne, and she took up most of the bed. She slept sideways, she slept upside down, she was all over, and we were on the edges of the bed. She also kept smacking Kris on the back in her sleep. Not sure why, but I'm guessing that is not a good sign...:)

She was pretty disoriented when she woke up. She took a good hard look at all of us, and seemed to be thinking "Oh, It wasn't a dream."

After a bit, she warmed up enough for us to go downstairs to breakfast. She lit up pretty well when we got there. She is a good eater, and we're glad about that. We had fun while we ate, because we taught her to clink glasses and say "cheers." She laughed at that and wanted to do it again and again.

We've also discovered that she really loves looking at her reflection. Our hotel elevators have a mirrored ceiling, and she has had a lot of fun looking at herself.

After breakfast, we went to the same office as yesterday. We had to finalize and notarize some adoption paperwork. We were pretty nervous, because we knew her nanny and the orphanage director would both be there. We thought she might melt down again.

As it tuned out, she did great. She clung to Anne even when she saw the nanny, and didn't cry at all. When the director asked her, "Who's got you?" She told them "Mom and Dad." She also said she loved her siblings. She loved the van ride there, and was really excited to see bikes and scooters. That is convenient, because there are about 6,000 bikes and scooters per block here in China. After we registered her and got the official paperwork, we went back to the hotel. We had some more fun, dancing together. She really seems to have a fun personality. She's talking to us, even though we can't really understand her. We did get her to repeat a little bit of English, and it is fun to hear her say things. 

(Random side note: As I'm typing this, the kids are watching TV. Elliott is interpreting for everyone, telling the other kids what is happening on the TV show they are watching. After a few moments, Hannah said, "Wait a minute. How do you know what is going on? They're speaking Chinese!")

After eating a snack in our room, it was time for her nap. She and Anne napped together, while the rest of us hung out in our adjoining room. When she woke up, she was again pretty withdrawn. But, after a bit, she warmed up again. We decided to walk down to the pool to see what she might think of that. She seemed excited enough, so we went back to our room and got our suits on. She let Kris hold her in the pool for a bit, and she loved seeing Elliott and Calla swim under water. She got surprised by another person splashing near us, though, and that was the end of swimming. She sat on the edge of the pool and was very quiet. She seems to have two basic moods: giggling and chatty, or stunned silence. 

After swimming, she was pretty quiet for most of the afternoon. She is clingy to Anne, which is good, we think. She also likes watching TV. Or, more to the point, she likes being in control of the remote and flipping around the channels aimlessly. Finally, everyone settled in to coloring in coloring books, and that was a fun, satisfying activity. She really enjoys the kids, which is great. If they weren't with us, I'm not sure how she'd be doing.

One thing I forgot to mention from yesterday was our trip to the grocery store. At the mall attached to our hotel, they have a small market. We went there because the other couple who is adopting told us they had goldfish crackers there, and we thought those would be appealing to her. And, our other kids love goldfish. The market made us laugh because they were having an "American food festival." They had a big display at the front of the store, with canola oil, canned chicken, Snapple, and Budweiser. We got a kick out of that.

We ventured out to a restaurant for dinner. We used our Google translator app to look up how to say "steamed rice" in Chinese so we could order it for the kids. Surprisingly, it worked.

Ruthie had fun using the mall's escalator. The kids taught her to say "Whee" each time she got on. We walked around the mall for a while, just killing time and being out of the hotel room. It is a bit of a two edged sword, though, because when we are out, people stare at us. I don't know if it is a cultural thing or what, but people have had no qualms about staring, pointing, and talking about us. I suppose we need to get used to it eventually, and right now there are a lot of reasons for people to stare at us, but it still stinks. Anne and Hannah are at that point in the culture shock cycle where the newness has worn off and they are ready to go home. The staring doesn't help. It's difficult, but we are praying that God gives us all the stamina we need for the rest of our trip.

After dinner, we had a pretty mellow evening. Ruthie was feeling pretty sad, and just wanted to lay with Anne. It is hard to see any of your kids cry, but especially one where there is a language barrier. But, we know it is a process, and we are grateful for the progress we are experiencing. She has repeated some English phrases, and she even called me "Dad" when she wanted to get my attention. It's the little things...:)

Photos

I'm attempting to attach some photos. Just click this link and you can open about 5 photos:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21147169/New%20Folder%20With%20Items/Archive.zip

Measles Update

We got news this morning that our son has indeed been vaccinated for measles. So, that is a real answer to prayer. Our only concern at this point is whether Ruthie has been vaccinated.

Thanks for praying.

It is hard to believe that what we did yesterday we will do again next week. So many emotions!