Eating like a pro

She likes food!!! YEAH!!!!

Grandparents

Brian's parents... Pawpaw and Nanna

Debbie's parents... Paw and Granny

They all love O so much and could hardly wait to meet her. O takes a few minutes to warm up. She still has some orphanage behaviors in her when it comes to new people and food. We will be working on these over the next few years I see!!!

Another way to get over Jet Lag

Being outside in the sunshine is also a great way to get over jetlag!!!


O has some cheese going on in this little smile...
Just to think that in about a month or so, her smile will forever change again!!! I love it the way it is!

little O wanting to do what big J does.... it will never change!!!

Jet Lag recovery efforts

J and O both suffered from Jet Lag in a bad way on Friday when we got home...
I thought if they slept at the same time it would be a good thing... I think they
both got too much of a nap....

The red couch

a picture at the famous red couch @ the White Swan in Guangzhou

J and O dressed up in their new China dresses

Home Sweet Home

They're home!  And obviously too tired to tell you so I'm taking the privilege of sharing a few photos we took at the aiport.  We made the 10 hour drive to greet them.  Such fun memories for the cousins, aunts and uncles!

 The two big sisters.

 Happy to see each other.

 Two more happy cousins.

 "Welcome home!"

 Hangin' with Mom and Aunt Sabrina, waving at her cousin.  (Lady passing by watching the party.)

 "Look what I can do!"

 Watching silly big sister and cousins while safe with Dad.

H was determined to connect with O.  O finally let H touch her hand for a couple of seconds.  (On the way to the airport, H had remembered how J pulled her hair the first time they met.  It's all about the memories.)

Headed Home...

For anyone up this late, they should be at the airport right now.  Flight departs in a couple of hours.  They'll be on it for a l-o-n-g time so pray the girls do well (Dad and Mom too)!

They'll be sleeping in their own beds in 24 hours - yippee!!!!

WELCOME HOME!!!!

Room with A View

We are on the 27th floor of a 28 story hotel.  We are the last floor
for rooms.  This is the view from our room of the city.  The other
side has a view of the Pearl River.  (That view is neat because they
have a boat parade with the boats representing different countries
participating in the Asian Games).

Tomorrow we get O's Visa to enter the US.  Once we land and make
it through immigration, she will become a US Citizen.  After we have
it, we leave for Hong Kong to spend one night then board on a big old
jet airliner to come home.

 

 

The journey home is about to begin....

Adoption B*rbie

When you are a guest at the White Sw*n Hotel and are adopting an
orphan from China, they give you the Adoption Barbie...  You cannot
purchase them anywhere since it is a gift from Matel.  They also
sponsor the playroom downstairs and it is full of toys, balls and tv
for the kids (and adults).

happy girl...

when you don't forget to feed her, change her and give her everything
that she wants.....  How some things will never change!!!

Guest bloggers note:  This is just a whole lot of cutenesss!!!!

(I named this photo "O sleeping" when I meant to name it "O laughing".  Aunt S must have been sleeping while typing!)

An Apple A Day

today has been better while staying in the white swan hotel in
guangzhou....  if ever there was a hotel that catered to westeners..
this is it...

When we checked in last night about 1030pm, they had apples sitting in
a basket for you to take one.  Well both girls got one.  O slept with
hers in her bed last night holding it tight and J ate hers this
morning.  O brought me her's tonight and I took a big bite out of
it to get her started and this is how she did.

She has 3 teeth on top and 3 on bottom in the front.  After about 30
minutes, you can see how far she got....  Not too bad for day 2 of
"real food"....

Guang Xi Gardens

We went to this little park/garden to enjoy the morning....  It was
only 90+ degrees with lots of sun.

There was a beautiful 9 story Pagoda, paddle boat rides and some fish
(more pics on that in a minute).

O was very tired this moring so she took a nap on the way there and
one on the way back.  And she is still napping now along with the rest
of the family (yes I even got a 45 minute nap)..

 

 

And now the garden with the fish...

 

Beautiful Building with some fish until you start to feed them....
when that happens JAWS comes to mind!!!

 

Little Miss

Everyone is still asleep but me. It is 4am in China but most of you
are getting ready for dinner.  Today we will be going to a beautiful
park for 1/2 day then back to the hotel to rest.

We found out yesterday that O has never eaten anything other than
a bottle.  Not even rice cereal in her milk.  We will be working hard
to get some meat on her bones.

Her cough is getting better with the anitbiotics we brought.  She has
4 new teeth coming in so that explains her low grade fever. I put some
orajel on her gums last night (after much screaming b/c she does not
like it when you touch her mouth) and she became a drool factory...  J
thought that was really gross!!!

We get to see more and more of her personality each day and she is
really a ham.  When you hold her she will look into your eyes and
blink and if you blink back, she smiles and keeps on blinking.  She is
babbling just a bit but loves it when she makes a noise and you repeat
it back to her.

Freeland Family Day

Today at 3pm we met Mei Ze for the first time. She has grown so much
since the photos that we have of her @ 8 months old.

She has very long fingers and feet.  She is wearing the 18 months
clothing snuggly and will ease into the 24 months for sure soon!!!

She is walking but will for sure need some pt to get some things
straightened out.  She crunches up her toes on her left foot when she
walks but once she stops, she relaxes them - interesting!!!  She is
very inquisitive.  She wants to know whats going on everywhere.  She
likes her stacking cups and putting things into them .  She loved
using her spoons as drum sticks.  When she gets done with something,
she likes throwing it...  so far it as not been at anyone but her
aim is getting better.

J is over the moon for her...  She was the target on several occasions
but J has chalked it up to "she does not know better"!!

We have some official paperwork to do tomorrow morning then we are on
our own for the afternoon.  I am sure that her personality will shine more and more everyday as we
get to know each other better.

She is eating from a normal bottle even though her lip and pallete are
not repaired.

We will post more tomorrow...  We have had a big day here in China and
are going to bed now!!!

Guest Blogger's Note

Brian, Debbie and J are in Ch*ina!  She tried to send the Disney photos herself but it didn't work.  She emailed them to me.  Please forgive the smallness of size.  I copied/pasted from the email.

They enjoyed Disney with friends from home who are also adopting.  How cool is that!?  So they didn't walk up to strangers just for a fun photo shoot.

Their internet service is not as good now.  D will email me when she can then I'll post to the blog.  The big day is almost here!  I know they appreciate your prayers during this very exciting time for their family.

~Sabrina (the very excited aunt!)

We Made It...Barely!

Only by the grace of God!!!  We have made it to Nan*ing...  

We made the train by 7 minutes and our flight to Nann*ng by about 15.... J was such a trooper!!!  She also experienced her first squatty potty!!!  Details more!!!

We ate in the hotel restaurant and are now going to crash hard in the bed.  

J is already out!!

We have a leisure day tomorrow so i will be able to unpack some, get organized because we had to shove everything in the closest bag to make it to the train station on time.... 

(posted by Sabrina, guest blogger and very excited aunt - Debbie sent us this email at 8:40am Eastern time which is 10:40pm there, I think)

Double Take

I have never in my life seen the likes.... a 2 headed turtle... there was more that this one, as a matter of fact,
they were everywhere... Oh yeah and I was not supposed to take photos of them either!!! Oops!

Now this one, you were free to take as many pictures as you wanted!!!

Noah's Ark

This Park has lots to see and learn. There were several interactive exhibits well worth the time...

WE all are still suffering from jet lag but hopefully we will stay up extra late tonight to get a full nights rest....

This is a biblical replica of Noah's Ark. It is huge, especially for its time, but is still smaller than todays modern Cruise Ships...
There were several levels to visit and shows to see. It was neat that they all spoke of the Bible and it's Truth!