Sightseeing in Guangzhou

The kids slept in the living room, Jessie on the couch and JD on the chair and ottoman.  Both said they slept well.  We got up around 7am and went down to breakfast.  Breakfast had a good mix of Asian and Western foods.  The coffee was just okay, maybe it will be better tomorrow.  After breakfast we headed to the Garden Hotel to meet up with our WACAP guide Elsie and another family.  We visited the oldest Buddhist  Temple in Guangzhou.  It was interesting enough.  My daughter asked our guide why do these people worship a statue.  I'm eternally grateful that Jessie lived with Donna awhile and attended church and has read her bible through twice!!! 

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JD playing Hackey Sack in the park with an expert!!!

 

Yummy!  We so love eating Mexican food in China!!!

 

After all the sightseeing we went back to the hotel and well...as you can see...

HAD A BLAST IN THE POOL!!!

 

 

 

It started raining so we went inside for the rest of the afternoon.  Jessie has been making a kinda whimpering puppy sound.  I try to talk to her and she just smiles.  I'm sure she has to be overwhelmed some, but she sure hasn't shown much yet.  Maybe she is not feeling all that great because of her shots.  Please continue to pray for the rest of our journey and especially Jessie as she make this big change.

 

Medical day

Our day started early.  We left the Crowne Plaza at 5:30 at grabbing some coffee and pastries from the buffet.  We got to the airport to find our flight was delayed for 3 hours.  When we finally arrived in Guangzhou we went straight to get Jessie's medical appt. done.  She had blood drawn for the TB test and had to get 2 additional shots.  She was not liking it.  She kept asking why she was the only one getting shots. Honestly, I hate shots but would have taken them for her if I could have.  She really really didn't want to do it.  I think I saw a look of "maybe America is not all it's cracked up to be if I have to get these shots to go".  I did not like seeing tears in my girls eyes. 

We are staying at the Holiday Inn Shifu and now that we've had McDonalds all seems to be ok.  Jessie is back to our smiling beauty!!! 

Our room at the Shifu is way larger than my last apartment  (Thanks Poppy and Opa!!!) 

Tomorrow is a half day of sightseeing and possibly a visit to Shamian Island.  Enjoy the pics.


It's tooo early!!!

 

At the airport

 

My girl's first flight!!

 

Opps, we are still at the airport!!  And it's a long wait!!

 

Ok, back on the airplane!!

 

Jessie being tested on math, reading and writing!  She passed of course with flying colors!!!

 

Temp and blood pressure check

 

ear check

 

eye exam

 

Slight change in plans...

Got a call from our travel coordinator that we have to leave tomorrow morning instead of Friday.  Because Jessie is an older child she needs the TB test and it takes 2 days until it can be read.  It must be read before our Consulate Appt. on Monday.  So off to the airport at 5:30am in the morning, then straight to her medical appt.  Not a big deal, we are ready to get to Guangzhou anyway.

We had a nice relaxing day today.  First a late breakfast, then to the pool.  Jessie is such a fast learner.  Todd showed her something and before you know it she is sailing across the pool.  Okay, maybe not across the pool, but she is doing better and better.  She will have to have swim lessons when we get home, simply because she doesn't have an ounce of fat on her and goes straight to the bottom!

And look what I got her to put on today Momma Donna!  It was a little small but she didn't mind!

Ok and to end my post I have to tell you about the 75 minute foot massage I just got!!!  Thanks Bob for the mad money!  It was only $23 and worth every penny!  I soaked for a little bit then had 30 minutes on each foot! Heaven on earth!  For any future travelers it was the Healthy Massage located in the back in between the Holiday Inn and the Holiday Inn Express.

We will post again from Guangzhou!

It's official....Jessica HuiHui Nichols!!!

Yesterday Jessie was officially ours!!!!  This was the morning paperwork!

After the morning stuff we took a 2 hour drive to the city Jesssie has lived in.  First we visited the apartment where she stayed the last six months. We visited with Donna and her family for a while.  It was great to see them and Jessie's room.  

After we left Donna's we went to lunch.  JD is always willing to go eat Chinese food, because he likes fried rice, but not much else.  Guess what they didn't have....NO rice...what!!!...a chinese restaurant without rice!!!!  Luckily I had a some sort of Jenny Craig bar in my purse.  The rest of us gorged on dumplings.  They were terrific!  We also had stir fried cucumbers...one of my new favorite dishes!!!  I could have ate the whole plate but I had to share!!

With full bellies (except for JD) we headed for the police station for passport stuff.  They took Jessie's picture with a dark jacket on and tiled her hair back.  She was not happy with that pic at all.  Daddy told her it was one picture and it would be ok.  She still didn't like it but accepted it and went on.  She makes me feel so motherly because when someone ask her to do something she always looks at me first for approval.  I get to tell her yes it's okay and she goes on and complies.  I'm just wallowing in motherhood and loving it!!!

We still had more to do.  We then went to the notary office.  Lots and lots of notary work.  We were there for soooo long.  They kids were getting ansy and wanting to play around in the small office.  Oh well. After that we were able to go to Dico's ( like McDonalds) to get JD something to eat and head home. It was a quiet ride back, we were all so wiped out.

Today is a free day and the kids are wanting to go swimming again.  I'll send some pics of our fun restful day later

We left the hotel at 9am and return back at 8pm.!!!  Wow it was a long day!!!

This is just a random picture of the 2 brushing their teeth together before we left. 

It's morning time for us!  We had a great night.  Everyone slept well.  At breakfast Jessie was working on her English figuring out what meal we were having. Lunch?  No this is breakfast.  Then she said breakfast, lunch, dinner.  She amazes us with her English.  She doesn't think it's good, but we think it's wonderful.  She is so diligent at learning and speaking it.

Today we finish up some paperwork and then head to Eagles Wings to visit and see where Jessie has lived the last 6 years I believe. We will be gone all day and will try to post some pics tonite.  Thank you everyone for your prayers and support and good wishes.

Oh and we skyped with Bellajune last night and my baby has lost her first tooth.  She was sooo excited.  I'm guessing the Taiwanian tooth fairy may have visited last night.   Not sure.  Thank you all for taking care of my baby back home.  It really is a blessing not to worry about her while we are here.

Well I better go and braid my daughters long hair before we head out.

Family of Five

God is so good!  We had another amazing Gotcha Day!  Jessie has been so brave all day!  She did really wonderful at the Civil Affairs office, although she is a little shy...ok she is very shy.  But she has warmed up to all of us, especially JD.



Us at the Civial Affairs office

Tackling the Great Wall

What an incredible day today was.  We got up early, not that jet lag could help, and drove first to a jade factory, and then on to a section of the Great Wall.

The beginning of the Great Wall climb

This was the starting point of our Great Wall adventure.  You see that little building all the way at the top of the mountain.....well I'm pleased to say the both JD and Robin made it all the way there - and on her birthday too.  GO ROBIN!!!!            

As for me,                       no I did not make it all the way there.

About half way - our bus should be down there somewhere?

Robin and JD climbing the step of the Great Wall

JD is behind the tree.

Some parts of the wall were flat, most of it was steps - STEEP steps and of different heights.
We got our work out for the day.

Almost the top.

Yep, I see our bus.....AW MAN, you mean I have to climb all the way back down there.  The climb down the steps was not as bad as I was fearing.

Tomorrow we take the train to Zhengzhou.

From Beijing

So today was our first real full day in Beijing - and what a day.

We visited a Silk factory and they showed us how silk is made from the worms.

Visited Tienamen Square - group shot

At the Forbidden City - big place

We arrived in Beijing last night after a VERY long trip.  The plane ride on United was fine, it was just LONG!  We arrived at our hotel around 5pm and crashed.  We were up around 4am.  Now we are headed out to meet our group and do a tour of the Forbidden City, Tieneman Square and an acrobat show.  We will post pics later.!  I miss my girl at home and can't wait to see our new daughter in 3 days!!!

On our way

Houston to Chicago

Chicago to Beijing

Here we go!!

The Next Adventure. . .

We are on another adventure, sorry for not updating the blog for this part.  We are about to travel back to China and get our newest member of our family, Jessica Hui Hui Nichols.  This time we will be going to Beijing for a few days and then to Zhengzhou where we get Jessie.  Within one calender year we will have grown our family twice.
Jessica is 12 years old, an instant teenage family.  LORD HELP ME!  She has been a part of a foster family who are American but work in China for an organization called Eagle's Wings.

Stay tuned....there's more to come.