after 1 1/2 weeks home.....

Will discovered PillowPets. He saw a commercial and went around the house patting his chest saying "pi-yo" and it finally dawned on us what he was talking about. :-) So of course we headed right off to Walmart to let him pick out his own.

 It's been so nice out so we got the kids out on the trampoline. Yay! They love it. Will keeps getting Joshua to take him out there during the day.

We Are Home!

Friday night at 10:00 pm we finally were home. The worst part of adopting, for me anyway, is the LONG trip home. Sitting on an airplane for 15 hrs with a new child. A layover in NJ that lasted 6 hours. Then a teeny tiny airplane that had to circle for an extra 1/2 hour at Mitchell Field cuz it was foggy/snowy/rainy and there was a slowdown with the 3 planes in front of us.


BUT


We are home! It's been fun getting William used to things we do here. Including dogs (!) , weird food, people coming and going. Now we shall start with doctor appointments. And I want him to meet our family and friends. He is just a joy to have in our family. Liberty is such a wonderful big sister. M,J, and J love him too. The boys think he is hilarious when he gets in his "acting up".


We had such a nice trip. We were there, in Guangzhou, with 8 other Madison Adoption Associate families. Our guide Connie was absolutely FANTASTIC! All of our appointments, re: our kids physicals, to all the paperwork, to the actual CA, she took care of. We had alot of good food. We got together at Lucy's Diner for meals sometimes. It's a little diner type restaurant that they "try" to make American food. We enjoy the effort and can eat relatively familiar food. :-) Libby and I were big on their grilled cheese. Mmmmm.

Connie took the group out to a traditional Chinese restaurant, and she ordered for us what she thought we'd like. She asked if it was ok to order their famous roasted pidgeon (squab? or something like that). So we had that, of course tea, fried rice, spicy chicken dish, fried pork and scallions (it looked like deep fried bacon), and some other dishes i don't remember. There was orange slices and guava slices for dessert. All very very nice.

Life is good!

Sometimes I wonder how/why God has blessed me so greatly. I have such a great group of people in my life!!!

What day is it even??????

Last day here. I wasn't sure if it was Thursday or Friday, but it's Wednesday. hehe. Must be because of OMOT syndrome ( old mom of toddler).


We are off to take the Red Couch photo then to dinner.

William got a haircut today. The gal was just trimming a tiny bit, and Brian motioned to cut of his Elvis sideburns, and she said "oh, girl?" lol Poor Will!

CA today....all done!

This morning was our consulate appointment. It went so smoothly and quickly. First we took the oath, the the gal called our name and she went through our paperwork. That's it. They tell you there is an interview, but it was absolutely nothing. She asks friendly questions like how is he doing, and that type of thing. Nothing at all. We're done! Will is ours! He is definately going to be a wonderful addition to our family. :-) The big kids love the whole skyping thing. :-)
We get his visa tomorrow and then we are going by van to Hong Kong on Thursday morn, and our flight leaves from there Friday morn. So it is looking like we might walk around HK Disney, the free part tho!
Then HOME! Yay!!!

We are here in Guangzhou!

We are here safe and sound. Brian is here safe and sound! Yay!
Here are some pics....1st one is Lib and Will in Nanchang. We took a long walk. It was nice
2nd one is Brian and the kids. It makes it so much more relxing for me with him here!
3rd one is at the Safari Park. It was so cool! The animals come right up to your car.
Gotta go to the playground now. Everyone is tugging on me. :-)

Update From Bridget

Meeting William

With the orphanage director

Boy, is Will keeping me on my toes! He never stops! :-) He is so incredibly smart too! Wow. He knows quite a few songs in English. Old MacDonald had a Farm, Where is Thumbkin, Jesus Loves Me (he sang himself to sleep with that 2 nights ago), The Wheels on the Bus. The kids take a long play bath every night and we all sing the songs he knows. 

Libby has been very needy as well. I'm pretty exhausted. 

Tomorrow we go to Guangzhou. I am not looking forward to another flight. But at least my hubby will be there.

Oh yes, and he sings the ABC's with sign language! PHF really is impressive!

Today in the swimming pool, a man came up to us and pulled out Williams diaper to see if he was a boy or girl! Heehee, I do just love these people! :-) We took a long walk today, down our street. We were looking for the Walmart, but never found it. Lots and lots to look at. Lots of guns being sold :0, as well as wallets and jewelry, and eggs boiled in tea on cloth laid down on the sidewalks. People stop and stare at us. :-) They literally walk right in front of us and turn to stare right at our faces. lol, it's actually very sweet. I feels very safe, except for the cars driving down the sidewalks and such!

Our 1st Hitch

We have hit the first, and hopefully the last (yeah, I'm sure!) hitch in our travel plans. We head out to the airport tomorrow morning around 4am and the weather just said that the fog will be so dense from tonight at 6pm, until tomorrow at 6 pm, and there will be many plane delays. So my darling husband has been scrambling around finding us a way to O'Hare in case of a cancellation. He is my hero.