Touring around

We visited a park today.  People were practicing their calligraphy on the tiles.  One man wrote a greeting to us: "Welcome to China!"

Chinese checkers anyone?  Our guide said it was Chinese chess.  The pieces looked too heavy to move.

We enjoyed the sunshine and the solace from the bustle of traffic.

Mike was comfortable without a jacket.  The locals thought he was a bit nuts to be in short sleeves in winter.  We were stopped by well meaning people concerned that Marisa was not dressed warmly enough.

Our group at the entrance of the park.  The stone formation behind us was created from rocks pulled out of a lake.

Marisa sporting her cute new outfit from her auntie.  She is such a happy girl who likes to wear bows in her hair.  :)

Oh happy day!

Today has been a great day.  Everybody is feeling good- Hallelujah!  Thank you for your prayers for Mike; he's back to normal.  Please check his blog (Dysfunctional Dozen) as he's also posting now and then.  Sometimes we are using his posts for this blog also when we're thwarted by technology.  It's been hard to log in and sometimes impossible.  What is working best is to email my sister and have her post things for us.  Today I got a good enough connection to log in on my own but I'll leave the picture posting to her.

It's been a leisurely day as there were no appointments to attend.  We visited a local tourist attraction- a pavilion that was built in 637...we think.  We watched a short production with traditional Chinese drama and music.  Marisa liked the music and bee-bopped in my lap.  As usual, our group drew a lot of attention and people wanted to get their photo taken with us.  I've had several people comment on the color of my eyes.  While the general population finds us interesting, we're completely taken with our daughter.  She's busily babbling to her daddy as I post this.  We've been having such a good time together today.  She even initiated the game of peek-a-boo and would cover her head with a blanket and then pull it off while grinning and giggling at us.  It's amazing and wonderful to see her connecting with us.

Time to head for dinner.  Pictures should be posted soon.

Here are the promised pictures:

 

Beyond Measure

One moment we didn't have a daughter, the next moment we did.  There aren't words to describe this experience.  We have been blessed beyond measure!

Marisa and Mike are both sleeping right now.  It's been hard to find time to post to the blog, and when there is a chance...I'm too tired!  Mike got sick from something he ate yesterday.  Please pray for him; he's been miserable today.  Marisa is doing well considering all that she has been through in the past 24 hours.  There have been many tearful moments, like tonight when we gave her a bath.  She's also getting some new teeth so that has added to her distress.  However, she is smiling and laughing already- which is much sooner than what we experienced with Kieran.  She babbles and interacts with us; of course we are smitten with her!  I read a board book to her that has texture on the animals, like faux fur.  She was fascinated and rubbed the fuzzy spots on the pages.  We are having so much fun watching her discover new things like that.  Another new experience for her was dinner.  Our group was desperate for an American meal this evening, so we had McDonald's.  Marisa loved the fries and the burger.  She's officially an American now.  :)

Time to get some rest.  We're still waking up crazy early, like 3 am.  We are looking forward to getting home and back to a normal schedule.

Gotcha!!

Well everyone, after five years of waiting, the day is finally here!  We finally met our daughter, and she's even more perfect and beautiful than we could imagine from our referral pictures!  Every family in our group was blessed to meet their perfect, beautiful little miracles today - and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  Our little girl has a lot of thick hair that even curls a bit at the nape of her neck.  She's tall for her age, and has very long, delicate fingers.  She has a hilarious habit of puckering her lips at you when she doesn't want to eat what your'e offering, and just like her big brother, she strokes her cheek with her 'soothie' (a soft blanket for brother, a soft shirt for her) to comfort herself.  Also like her brother, she was a bit stubborn in her first few hours with us - lots of tears and struggling against feeding, changing, etc., but by dinner time she was settled down enough to eat well and even smile and babble at us a little.  What a day!  Thank you to all our friends and family who've been praying for us and supporting us in myriad ways through this long process.  Thanks for sticking it out with us - we can't wait for you all to meet her!

Did I mention how perfect and beautiful she is? Sorry the picture is so small, we'll have more coming soon! :)

It'll make a man out of you!

Apparently, whoever was in charge of promoting tourism around the Great Wall of China decided that climbing the wall is the ultimate test of manhood.  At the visitor center, there were all manner of signs claiming that only "real men" can ascend the wall; or that because you set foot on it, you're now a "hero of the Great Wall."  To underscore that, they immediately want to take your picture before you climb, placing the photo in a modestly priced album complete with certificate of authenticity validating your newfound heroic manhood. A more transparent hook for gullible tourists, you'll never find. Being completely comfortable with and assured of my own manhood, I would never need to purchase such a blatant ego booster.  Knowing I climbed the wall is enough.

But the album was nice. 

Good thing I had exact change.

Here's a couple of shots that I snapped (in a very heroic and manly fashion) with my Ipod & some Amy got with the good camera. 

 View of the parking lot from the highest point I reached before my knees and lungs went on strike (but I'm still a man!)

One of the other dads in our group eyeballing the route down

We made it to the tower just right of center. Quite a manly feat! That doesn't explain the multitudes of Chinese octogenarians and stiletto-heeled young women who were coming down from higher than we went, but never mind that. 

More of the wall from the visitor's center

Guard house/latte shop.  My manly knees need an espresso with double foam, please...