Shanghai for two nights

Tuesday, April 24 – Off to Shanghai
We left Hefei today. It was very hard for Anna Brooke. She cried and didn’t want to go. Please continue to lift her up. Six year olds shouldn’t have to feel all that she is experiencing. However, we know it was all part of the Master’s plan.
If there hadn’t been a loss, we wouldn’t be a family. For that , we are thankful!
Shanghai is unreal. There are so many huge buildings. All have their own unique design. Our driver dropped us off at our hotel. We all go in… after quite a while at the desk, Dwain tells us we are at the wrong hotel. There are 2 hotels with the same name. We call the driver, load up and go to “our” hotel AGAIN. When we arrive we know there has been a mistake. This is a Chinese hotel, not a western one. Dwain goes in and finds out it’s only a 2 or 3 star hotel. Not really the place we want to stay with the kids. Dwain gets on the phone with his friend and asks her to find us a nice place! Margaret, his friend get us 2 rooms at The Regent. This hotel is unreal! Not quite the Hampton Inn we are use to. Margaret says it would costs $350 per night to walk in and get a room. Thankfully she got us a much better price online. Margaret brought us dinner and we had a nice visit with her. Now we are off to bed!

Wednesday, April 25 - Another AWESOME Day!
Good news! We are on China time! Sarah Hope and Jonathan slept until 6 and Anna Brooke made it until 7. Hopefully the days will be easier now. We have had such a fun and special day. We left this morning and went for a little sightseeing. Dwain took us to ride under the river.
The kids loved it,there was music and a laser show. We then went to see the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Kim and Anna Brooke went all the way to the top. Dwain and I stayed and went to a coffee shop, the younger 2 were asleep.
Next we met Victoria and her husband works in China. Her family is American. We were able to see some wonderful “projects” they have going on. She took us to a great restaurant in an “ex-pat ghetto”. There we met Carol. Carol and Victoria have organized a group of 25 ex-pats. These ladies go and visit the orphan children that come to the local hospital for surgeries. These are surgeries that Love Without Boundaries provide. These ladies have decorated the babies rooms. They hold and play with them. They also provide food and a much needed break for the ayis. Ok, I have to stop and brag a bit. Dwain and Brad connected these ladies with LWB! Carol and Victoria took us to the hospital to see 14 babies! A team of neurosurgeons from UCLA are there performing life changing surgeries. The girls were quite taken with the babies. However, Benjamin was a family favorite. He was born with fluid on his brain and has an enlarged head. His fingers are also webbed together. Benjamin is so bright and cheerful! Sarah Hope loved him and said she thought he wanted to be in our family! He will be having surgery tomorrow to correct his problem and reshape his head. Please keep him in your thoughts. Our family knew LWB was a great organization. However, it is awesome to see the little lives they are changing! Sarah, know the $ your books are bringing in is going to excellent use!
From there we went to Victoria’s home. Wow! It’s a beautiful home with a great backyard along the river. The kids LOVED playing with their children, aged 11 and 8. It was nice to see them play. They really haven’t had the chance to do that since we left home.
Kim leaves tomorrow. She has been such a blessing to us. We are really going to miss her. Dwain says reality sets in tomorrow! Well, it’s time to go. I’ll close with a quote from Anna Brooke, “Mama, it’s been a really fun day!” Sure is nice to hear her say that after she has had such a tough few days!

Hefei - Day 4

Monday, April 23 – Wow! What a day!
I hope I can relate all of today’s events without crying. It has been quite a day. This morning we visited the Dong Xi vegetable market (Anna Brooke’s finding place). Many of you may remember our visit in 2004. We actually met the lady who found Anna Brooke when she was a baby. We took a picture of the lady with us today. We had no idea if she was still there. Maggie showed a man the picture and he pointed to a side section. Dwain immediately spotted the lady. By the time we made it to her there was such a crowd that we could hardly move. She was thrilled to see Anna Brooke again. She told us a gain about finding Anna Brooke. She also said there was a note, but she didn’t know what it said (she can’t read or write). We were able to get her name and address. We will send her some pictures so she can see Anna Brooke grow. We love this market! The people are very poor. However, they are so happy and friendly to us. We were able to thank the lady for her part in our daughter’s life. We told her she was a part of our family. She hugged us and had tears in her eyes. We had almost made our way out to our bus when she appeared again.

She gave Anna Brooke a bag of homemade muffins she had made and was selling. With one last hug and a wave she disappeared again. We are so thankful and blessed to have found her again.

Next we headed to Hefei SWI, Anna Brooke’s home for her first 13 months. They were excited to see her again. We gave them a photo album, some of Anna Brooke’s stationary and a suitcase full of school and craft supplies. They then took us to see some of the orphanage. We went to see Anna Brooke’s room. Good News…it is now a play room which means there are not as many babies as there used to be. Actually there are now 400 children (500 when Anna Brooke was there). Half the children are healthy and are with foster families in the country side. The remaining 200 are special needs and stay at the orphanage. We were able to visit Sunbeam village, started by Half the Sky. This provides Foster Care for special needs children. The family’s have 6 children to care for.

We met a beautiful girl maybe about 13 or 14. She has to use crutches to get around. She showed us a notebook full of beautiful drawings. She loves to design fashions. Her art was unreal! We were all quite taken with her. Kim was especially interested in her. I’m going to contact Half the Sky and find out if she is in their big sister’s program. She definitely has talent.

It was a great visit. We are thankful that Anna Brooke was at that orphanage. However, we are so thankful that we were able to become a family and she wasn’t one of the children left behind.

From there we went to Meishe’s school. The children were so excited to see us. Actually, that’s an understatement. I have never seen kids so excited! We were the first foreigners the teachers or kids had ever seen. They all had us little homemade gifts. They were so proud to give them to us. They sang some songs for us. We gave them a lot of schoolsupplies. They had never seen glue sticks or washable paint before. A special to Josiah, Titus and FBC… You made some children very happy! We then headed back to the hotel and crashed. We went out to eat that night. It was a very special day. Please remember our big girl. I won’t go into details. I will just say she now understands adoption and the loss that has happened. She is grieving her birth parents. Please lift her up! Thanks!

We are still alive!

Dwain left the cord to our computer at the apartment in Beijing. So, we have had very little contact with the outside world. However, the cord arrived today in the mail. Yeah! I will be slowly updating the blog in my spare time. Here goes….

Saturday, April 21 – To Maggies’ House We Go
Today we went to Maggie’s home. The girls were excited to play with Meishe and her toys. Jonathan really liked her husband. I think he was also quite taken with Jonathan. He was much better this time. Last time we were here in Hefei he was recovering from a motorcycle accident. After visiting for a while we went and met Maggie’s mother-in-law for lunch at a local restaurant. The same one as last time. However, there was no hot pot (ox stomach cooked in duck’s blood…yummy!) this time. At home I wish I had more time to eat. However, when we are at local restaurants here, I’m so thankful my 3 children keep me busy helping them eat! The busier I am, the less time for me to eat WHATEVER it is they are serving. Anyway, we enjoyed our time together. That evening Kim, Maggie, and I went to a local shopping area. It was so hot and crowded. Remember, this is Saturday night in China. When we got back everyone was in bed. It’s only about 6:30, guess it will be another early morning. Tomorrow we are going to see Granny Zhang and Qiao!

Sunday, April 22 - A Special Visit
We woke up early again this morning. For the second morning in a row we ordered room service…cheese pizza! Who cares if it’s 4 am in China, it’s about supper time at home! We took the kids swimming around 7 am. After that we cleaned up and went to the breakfast buffet around 9:30. It rained all day. We just played and rested the remainder of the afternoon. At 5:00 Qiao and her little boy arrived. Qiao is Granny Zhang’s daughter. She is the one who handed us Anna Brooke the day we got her. We were excited to see her, however we were also sad because Granny Zhang wasn’t able to come. She had hurt her back and couldn’t come. We were able to call her and talk to her a little. We had a fun visit with Qiao and her son. She was very happy to see Anna Brooke. She gave Anna Brooke 2 sets of beautiful earrings. Anna Brooke loves them and keeps asking when she can get her ears pierced. It was a special evening and we feel blessed to have spent time with Anna Brooke’s “extended family.” Tomorrow will be a busy, emotional day. We go to the Dong Xi Vegetable Market, Anna Brooke’s Orphanage, and Meishe’s school. We miss you all!

Updated News Flash - 2nd tooth pulled in one day!

Anna Brooke has now lost four teeth!

Will the tooth fairy find us in China?

NEWSFLASH....Anna Brooke lost her third tooth today! Her first top front tooth was pulled by Dwain at 5:30 am this morning. The other one is ready and she is going to let Kim pull it tomorrow. Granny and Linda where are you when we need a tooth pulled? Anna Brooke has decided she likes the tooth fairy better than Chinese traditions. In China they throw the tooth up on the roof for good luck, or something like that. No money, what a rip off!

Well, we made it to Hefei yesterday. It was a short flight, but a tough one. All the kids ears bothered them. Anna Brooke had a hard time. Her allergies are terrible here. In Beijing there are some kind of trees that have things that fall and make it look like it is actually snowing at times. That plus the pollution is giving her a tough time. I guess all of that made her ears worse. She was looking pretty bad at the end of the flight and feeling like she would throw up. Maggie, our dear friend, was waiting for us with flowers in hand. Her daughter Meishe was with her. She is 5. She calls Anna Brooke her American sister. She was allowed to leave school early to come meet us. Her Grandma had bought her new clothes and shoes for our arrival. We came to the hotel and slept for a few hours (we had been up since 3:30). We then met Maggie and she took us to see the new section of Hefei. What a ride, a hot bus and lots of bumps equals a family feeling yucky! The new area is nice, however it was farmland. The local residents were forced to move. Maggie told us that they were given new homes that were the same size as their old ones. I said that they must have a hard adjustment. She says most are happy because they have a new home and a bathroom. Hope they are.

Today we are going to the vegetable market, Anna Brooke's finding place. Will probably be very busy because it is Saturday. Should prove to be quite the experience. We hope the lady that we met before will be there. (She is the one that found Anna Brooke as an infant.) Later today we will go to visit Maggie's home. Hope all is well at home. We miss you. Keep us in your thoughts! Heidi

Busy Day

Today has been a busy day. Sarah Hope and Jonathan finally went back to sleep at about 6:30 this morning and slept for 2 more hours. Anna Brooke never went back to sleep after getting up at 3:30. She lasted all day until we got back and crashed at 5 pm. (We all crashed!)





We went to a local mall to a Starbucks (Kim HAD to have some coffee) and then went to a local restaurant for lunch, great food! Yes, they even had veggie dishes that I loved! We then walked around Tian'anmen Square and took pictures, showed Kim the entrance to the Forbidden City, and walked through some beautiful parks. Once again Jonathan caused a scene wherever we went. I think his picture is on every cell phone in China by now.



All the young girls want to hold him and have their picture made with him. Our family even caused an accident today. Two older ladies were looking at us and had a bike accident! Thankfully they were going slow and weren't hurt. We heard them laughing.



After all that we went to the Pearl market and then home. We were so tired and running behind so we skipped the Great Wall. Hopefully Kim can visit there before she goes home. Tomorrow we leave here at 7:30 am and fly out at 10:30am to Hefei (Anna Brooke's hometown). We can't wait to see Maggie and her family, Anna Brooke's Granny Zhang, and visit the orphanage. Got to go finish packing.
Heidi for the gang

We're here and up at 3:30 am

We're in China. While walking outside Anna Brooke said she smelled a Chinese smell. Those of you that have been here know the smell. It's one you don't forget! The kids were great on the way over. They actually slept some off and on. Dwain and I were both able to get about 2 hrs each too. Our first night here the kids woke up at 1:30 in the morning.

They played until about 4 and then went back to sleep. We had to go to the local police department yesterday and register to let them know we are staying in an apartment. All went well, Jonathan charms all, he waves and blows kisses. He says hey and even hello in Chinese some. Of course they are all taken by the girls too and can't figure out why they don't respond when they talk to them in Chinese. Last night we went to the acrobat show.
All of the kids loved it. Sarah Hope keeps asking if we can go back. When we returned the girls quickly changed into their bathing suits and entertained us all with their acrobats.




Our apartment is large and nice. When Dwain told me we were staying in one that is usually for students coming in and out I thought he meant the whole complex was English speaking....WRONG, however their is one American family on the next floor. Many of the apartments are businesses. It is pretty quiet at night. Except for our kids playing in the wee hours of the night. Washed my first load of clothes tonight, holds about 1/2 the amount ours does. Dwain and the kids hung them out in the glassed in area. They have been warned that their clothes will now be very stiff and scratchy. No dishwasher here, except tonight Kim and Anna Brooke washed them well. We have to use hot, CLEAN water from the water tank to wash everything. We never turn on the facet except to wash our hands (then we use Purell after washing our hands) or clean out the sink. So, everyone at home, go brush your teeth with the water from your facet , smile, be thankful, and think of us!
Well, guess I had better go and see if anyone is ready to go back to bed. Tomorrow is busy, taking Kim to the Pearl Market, Silk Market, Forbidden City, Great Wall, and who knows what else. Friday morning we fly to Hefei. Take care, we miss you all. Keep the thoughts coming for us! Love, Heidi

2 more days

Just 2 more nights before we head out. Our flight leaves RDU at 7:40 am Monday morning. We'll miss Grandma, Grandpa, Grannie, YehYeh and all the rest of our family. This is a picture of Jonathan from last week.

I just returned from San Antonio Thursday night after attending the Joint Council on International Children's Services National Convention. It is also included a medical convention on Wednesday and our M.D. friend Brad Davidson from Hershey was along. It was great to visit the Alamo, but also to meet folks from all over the country, many who are leaders in orphan care around the world. We held the Global Orphan Care Initiative quarterly conference call on Wed. afternoon and then Paul Singer gave the JCICS keynote address on Thursday morning before I headed back.

Looking forward to visiting many of our friends in China! We will also be carrying supplies for LWB (cleft lip bottles), 2 schools (thanks for everyone that donated stuff) and several orphan care projects. Hopefully Heidi will keep you updated here and I will try to take a few good pictures!

Planning for China trip

Today we are working on our plans for our China trip April 16 -May24. We are making a list to plan what gifts to take for Anna Brooke's and Sarah Hope's ayis in Hefei and Fengcheng.