Just a quick note and prayer request

Just popping on here to let you know that our precious Jin Bei has had a fever on and off since this morning. This is because of all the shots she got yesterday. We are giving her tylenol to help bring it down. But she has been out of sorts all day. Please pray that she begins to feel better. We had to skip out on touring this morning. We have to head back to the medical clinic tomorrow to get her TB test read. So far, her shot site looks good.

On another note, I forgot to mention how big my girl is. I knew something wasn't right when the clothes I brought for Jin Bei to wear were fitting well or a little loose. So I began to wonder if my biceps were just whipped from toting luggage through several airports over the course of several days. Well, the latter seems to be the case. When Jin Bei's height and weight were taken at the exam, I was watching closely. Her height was 87.5cm, which equates to 34.4 inches. This was exactly the same information given us during our last update. When her weight was taken, I could've sworn the scale said 12kg, which equates to 26.4lbs and was also the last measurement given to us. But the lady wrote down 11.5kg, which is 25.3lbs. Either way, she's pretty close to what our last measurements would indicate. And after wearing her in the carrier for the majority of our time, my poor tired arms have now been rested and can attest that she weighs that much. I am so thankful she now likes to go in the carrier, as she protested greatly the first two days.

Anyway, we thank you for your prayers. I'll try to post some photos later today. We've only taken a few here in the room, as this is where we've been pretty much all day. In a little bit, we are going to attempt dinner at Lucy's on the island with some of the other Rumor Queen families. We'll see how long that lasts. By the way, we are staying at the Holiday Inn Shifu and are LOVING it! Spacious, clean, modern rooms...awesome bathroom, great location. Love it! And since I have a hard time writing a post without photos, I am including a few from yesterday morning when Jin Bei woke up in a great mood.

Travel woes and medical exam

I apologize for keeping you all waiting for the next post. Our last two days have been action packed, as you'll soon see. Yesterday morning started off in typical fashion- meeting our guide Eric in the lobby of our hotel. We loaded up with our luggage and headed to the civil affairs office to get Madeline's passport. Then we had to drive one hour to drop off the Drewes family at the train station so they could catch the 2pm bullet train to Guang*zhou. Then we had to drive another hour to get to the airport. We ate some lunch at the airport, delicious noodle soup for all of us. Then we headed off to the gate. We had about 45 minutes before we boarded the plane. We had to take a bus ride out to the plane. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we began to wonder what was going on. After about an hour of sitting on the tarmac, we saw the beverage cart begin to make its way down the aisle and knew it wasn't looking good. We were also served a snack and started to worry. A few passengers got berate with the flight attendants. We got no word as to how much longer we would have to wait. We were simply told that the bad weather in Guang*zhou was keeping us from taking off.

Two and a half hours later, they are ready to take off. But the container of pringles we gave Madeline to keep her quiet had run out and so did her patience. When I thought it unwise to let her rip all the pages out of the magazine, she threw a first class hissy fit. She tried to glue herself to the wall and the floor. And I felt about all the eyes on the plane staring at me, as my daughter kicked and screamed as if the world was ending. It was quite a sight. Then came the joy of buckling her in her seatbelt, with the hysterics continuing. One of the flight attendants graciously gave us warm water to make her a warm milk bottle. She had one sip, clung to the bottle and then proceeded to sleep the entire 1.5 hour flight.....on my lap. Our guide, Helen, met us at the airport but couldn't drive back to the hotel with us because she had to wait for another family to arrive. Our driver made good timing. We ordered some room service and tried to settling in, around 8pm. We decided that Madeline Bei should be tuckered out from a long day, so we would try to skip the sleeping while standing up part of her bedtime routine. We figured we would make her lay on my chest and cry herself to sleep there. And it worked! She was certainly tired, and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

This morning, we had breakfast with the Drewes in our hotel and then met Helen and headed over to Shaiman island for the medical exam. We got there early and were quite thankful the clinic was pretty empty. We filled out some paperwork and quickly worked through the stations. The first station we went to was medical/surgerical. No sooner did Madeline Bei see the doctor, she started balling. Oh my word. Poor girl. He hadn't even touched her at that point. She cried during the entire exam. Thankfully, she stopped crying for height and weight and ENT.

After the stations, we had to wait our turn for her TB test and vaccinations. We learned she would need 4 shots plus her TB test. Our guide, Helen, was so gracious to hold Madeline Bei for us while she screamed loud enough to wake those of you on the other side of the world. As soon as she was done, though, it was as if she never got any shots. She handled that part well.

After the medical exam, we dropped off our laundry at one of the shops on the island. Then the Drews headed back to the hotel, and we headed over to the White Swan for lunch. When we adopted Caleb, Patrick would bring lunch up to the room from the Deli Shop just about every day. So we wanted to have lunch there today to celebrate our precious son. We all enjoyed our meal, which was like $10USD for all of us. When we finished lunch, we walked over to Starbucks to grab a nice coffee. Then we met our driver and Helen and headed back to the hotel.

As soon as we hopped in the van, Madeline fell asleep in the carrier. Much to my delight, she slept in the carrier for 2 hours. I sat in a chair at one point to rest myself. But as soon as she woke up, the hysterics began. She wouldn't even let me console her. It was clear that she was not happy about how the morning went. She cried for quite a while before she would let me console her. And then to make matters worse, she needed a bath. This would be bath #2 in 6 days. She cried the entire time. Poor girl. Then mama had to take a shower, and the crying continued. Thankfully, Patrick and Caleb left to meet Helen and go over some paperwork for the consulate. Then little Madeline Bei decided she liked me again and wanted me to hold her- standing straight up, no propped up legs or sitting or anything comforting. Oh yes, we were back to square one. Lovely.

Despite the on and off rain, we decided to meet up with another family with our agency and have dinner on the island. We had a nice stroll through the pet and spice markets. I really enjoyed it all. Once at the restaurant, Helen did a great job ordering food. It was nice to finally meet Christine and Rick after emailing for so long. Their little boy Christopher is a doll. I just wanted to scoop him up. Madeline wouldn't eat any of the rice or noodles. So thankfully, Patrick brought her a can of pringles. That did the trick. She sat pretty quietly until she decided she wanted some of the 7 Up we were all drinking. Call us bad parents but we gave her a little in her bottle. She began babbling quite loudy, just laughing and enjoying herself. Whenever I have to relieve myself, I have to bring Madeline with me because she'll have a meltdown if left alone with Patrick. So the two of us scooted off. I have to tell you that I have mastered the Ch*inese way of helping baby pee pee over the squatty potty. Madeline is so proud of herself when she goes. It's really quite precious.

We opted to take a taxi back to the hotel, as it was dark and getting late. I strategically placed Madeline in an outfit for dinner that I knew she could wear to bed, barring any food accidents. We all got cleaned up and ready for bed. Patrick decided he wanted her to go to sleep without her shoes on, for the first time...because when she kicks while sleeping, she'll do less damage. I was floored when she didn't pitch a fit over this. Then I stood her up on the bed for a bit without holding her, and again, she didn't cry. And then, by an act of God, our little girl let me lay her on my chest to sleep....WITHOUT CRYING!!!! I couldn't believe it. After all that she had been through today, she just went to sleep without drama.

Tomorrow we will head to the Chen Family Temple. We went there a few years ago with Caleb's adoption. But I think we will go again so we can hang out with our travel group. We haven't decided yet. Anyway, enjoy the photos. I tried to post a few more to make up for the delay in posting, but blogger and my internet connection weren't cooperating. Until next time...

Caleb playing with the Drewes
The look says it all
Waiting for her shots
Getting her height and weight checked like a big girl
All done with her immunizations and enjoying her chocolate lollipop

Caleb enjoying lunch at the Deli Shop at the White Swan Hotel

Happy when she's holding something

Yellow Crane Tower and the joy of summer travel

We were so grateful that the weather cooperated for us so we could visit the Yellow Crane Tower yesterday. Well, I guess I should clarify that "cooperated" would be no rain. But my goodness, it was hot. No different than a summer day at Disney...lots of people and being hot and sticky. We had a lot of stairs to hike (just like you said, Melissa). And that is certainly made more challenging when you are wearing a little munchkin on your chest in a carrier. While Caleb does great climbing up stairs, he's still apprehensive when climbing down. So Patrick had to carry him on and off.

After climbing about half way up the tower, Madeline decided she didn't want to be in the carrier anymore. While that made us both cooler, it meant I had to carry her in my arms the rest of the way up. And that was not easy. At each level, there were balconies to walk on and look out over the city. Madeline really enjoyed standing on the decorated "guardrail" (for lack of a better word) and looking out. I was afraid she was going to loose her bracelet or sippy cup a few times. But it was clear the little munchkin has no fear.

At one point, a young lady with her daughter (who looked about 7 years old) asked me if Madeline Bei was my daughter. I told her yes. Then she saw Caleb and asked if he was my son, to which I also said yes. I told her that Patrick and I adopted both of them. And she told me we had much kindness. I could tell that she really adored Madeline (whom we're still calling Jin Bei). She followed us around for a bit. Then all of a sudden we had a crowd of people around us, wanting to take pictures of Madeline Bei and give her candy. Later Patrick told me that they were really wanting to take pictures of her shortened arm.

When we had hiked high enough, we decided it was time to head back down. But Patrick had already headed down with Caleb to take him to the bathroom. So I carried my precious girl all the way down to the bottom. I haven't had a work out like that since I use to go to the gym! At the bottom, I chatted with our guide, Eric, for a while. He was very curious about whether or not we are going to get Madeline fitted with a prosthetic arm. He seemed to think it was best for us to do that for her quickly. But since we don't plan on doing that, I tried my best to listen without poo pooing his suggestion. He had also picked up on the fact that something wasn't quite right with Caleb's left hand. He asked me if we were going to have surgery for him. So I explained that he had a birth injury, and we've already done one surgery and are considering another. He was happy to hear about all that we have done for Caleb.

We eventually caught up with some of the Drewes family. I learned that somehow I walked past Patrick and Caleb. So Eric went back to get them. In the meantime, my precious girl started tapping her little hiney and saying "pa pa". At that point, I knew we couldn't make it back to the bathroom. So I dropped her pants right there, hoping and praying it was just #1 and not #2 (because she says it no matter which one she means). And to my great relief, it was just #1. All I had on me was a paper towel to clean my eye glasses with because Patrick had my bag. Oh well. Sometimes you do what ya gotta do.

Once again, after we got back to the hotel soaking wet in our own sweat, we headed downstairs to have lunch. Although we order Jin Bei some mashed potatoes and mashed carrots, she wouldn't touch them. Instead I was greatly relieved when I decided against the Tai*wanese beef noodle and got a BLT with fries instead. That little girl of mine sat so quietly on my lap and just ate most of my fries! She's really trying hard to keep up with cousin Leah. I think the two of them are going to have french fry parties instead of tea parties when we get home.

After lunch, we headed back to our room and determined that today was going to be bath day for Jin Bei. I cleverly gave her a new toy (the stacking cups which we hadn't taken out yet). It was just enough to keep her from getting too anxious. She didn't fuss (all 8 cups in hand) when I put her in the baby tub inside the enormous bathtub we have in the room. I finally got to wash that hair of hers! Woopie. And her neck...oh my goodness, even Eric commented on how dirty it was. I tried to get her to sit so she could play with her cups better in the water, but she fussed. I continued to fill one of her cups, and she would dump it out. She actually laughed and enjoyed it. And when I picked her up to take her out and dry her off, she whined! So we made great progress there. I also attempted to take a shower (and wash my hair!) while she was awake but she cried the whole time she watched me. She only stopped when I finally turned the water off. I was also determined to dry my ratty hair. And I thought it would mean another meltdown. But she saw Caleb playing on the huge window ledge in our room and actually asked Patrick to put her up there. So I finally got to wash AND dry my hair. Wow, I felt like a new woman. LOL. Madeline actually did quite well while we were packing. She played independently with her toys, engaged Caleb in playing with her too...scared the dickens out of Patrick when I told him she was using her teeth to pop off of the cap to the lip balm. Then she proceed to drop it in the toliet. But after what happened with the chapstick and big Hannah on Caleb's adoption trip, I knew I had to fish the lip balm out of the toliet in order to avoid another meltdown. It was quite funny. She was totally unphased and went on like nothing ever happened. Oh the things we do...

Anyway, we finished packing up and are bracing ourselves for potentially the greatest tantrum of the ages on our flight to Guang*zhou. We will first head back to the civil affairs office to pick up our documents. We will then drive one hour to the train station to drop off the Drewes. We will then have to drive another hour to get to the airport for our 3pm flight. The flight will only be 1.5 hours. But then we have another one hour drive to the hotel. So....all this means we expect to have one precious yet cranky girl to love on and cuddle with all day.

I just have to say how much we love our precious children. Caleb has been the best big brother. He still wants to be held in the carrier every time I hold Madeline in hers. But he plays so well with her and loves to get her to laugh. We are so so very blessed. We can't believe our trip is half way over. Next post will be from Guang*zhou!

This was taken in the front of the tower, however one of my lenses stopped autofocusing. So I had to give my camera to our guide Eric with my fixed lens....really, the tower is behind us but not visible. This is our first family of four photo, drenched beyond drenched in our own sweat

A very important statue you'll have to ask Patrick about
My two favorite guys
A beautiful lotus bloom
Playing on the bed
Playing with the light switch
Sheer sweetness

Our first free day

Once again our morning started off with our precious girl waking up all by herself at just the right time. I quickly scooped her up, so her whimpering lasted but a few seconds. Since bedtime has been tramatic for her, we decided we would try to do some version of a bath in the morning. Patrick first poured the bath for Caleb. We decided to let Madeline Bei watch Caleb having fun in the tub first. He managed to get her to smile. But that was about the end of the bath time fun. I wanted to try standing her next to the tub and just give her a bird bath. But the tears began to flow. As usual, she let me undress her and didn't protest. But the crying continued. I quickly cleaned her neck, arms, legs, and feet but she still had her pj bottoms and diaper on. So that was as good as it was going to get.

Breakfast was improvement over the previous day. We didn't even bother asking for a high chair. She sat in my lap and ate well. She LOVED the watermelon and bacon and fried egg. When she was finished eating, she actually got down off my lap and walked around our table a bit. We're happy to see this little bit of progress.

We met our guide, Eric, and the Drewes crew in the lobby at 9am to head out to the Provincial Museum. I put Madeline in the carrier. So of course, Caleb wanted to be in the carrier too. Poor Patrick's back is going to break. Wearing 47 lbs on your chest for long periods is the stuff military men are made of, not civilians. We knew Caleb would be jealous of Madeline being in the carrier. But there is only so much Patrick can take.

Our guide, Eric, did a great job explaining the exhibits to us. It all was really quite impressive. But twice I had to excuse myself from the group because of "potty emergencies" for Madeline Bei. First time her diaper was wet. Second time, she told me she had to go "pa pa" but when I put her on the squatty, she just went #1 again. That was our first time doing the squatty potty for Madeline. And she did great. She clapped for herself, as she's seen us do for her. It was precious. While walking through some of the exhibits, she actually let me put her down and walk. So again, we felt like we were making progress. At one point, Madeline and I got separated from the group as we got in line for one of the exhibits. And as we waited for the rest of the group to catch up, several Ch*inese ladies walked by us and stroked Madeline's cheek. Patrick even told me that he saw several people staring at Madeline's arm and then look Caleb over to see if he was missing part of his arm too. We clearly got a ton of staring. Nothing bad...just curious.

We decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Shortly after we ordered, Caleb had to go potty. So he and Patrick excused themselves. Well, Madeline was bound and determine to find them. I pointed to Caleb's backpack to help her understand that Caleb was coming back. But she decided she was going to bring it to him. Thankfully there was only one other patron on the restaurant because she dragged his backpack everywhere calling, "Ge ge (big brother), Ba Ba" over and over and over. It was so cute, except she kept tripping in her shoes. While Caleb and Patrick were still away, Caleb's giant bowl of noodle wonton soup was brought out. Madeline quickly climbed into his chair, picked up a fork and tried eating his bok choy! When that proved to be too difficult, she just lifted them out and proceeded to just grap it with her hand and shovel it in her mouth. I tried to tell her it was too hot and blew on it. So she quickly blew on it and shoved it right in anyway. No sooner did Patrick and Caleb return. And since Caleb is not a big fan of greens, we took them out of his bowl and gave them to Madeline. She ate the whole thing! I'm happy to see she's not just a fry and bacon kinda gal. After eating she hopped down and walked around our table. In fact, twice she did somersaults on the floor and thought it was hilarious. It was a good lunch for everyone.

We continued to get stared at as a little later we all ventured to the Carrefour for a bib (somehow we managed to forget Madeline's bib at home) and a pair of shoes. (Melissa, I was surprised the Madeline was wearing different shoes than Iris. But these shoes were clearly brand new, just like her clothes.) Anyway, Patrick convinced Caleb to be a big boy and walk the 10-15 minutes to the store instead of being carried. Although there was a breeze from the rainstorm that had past through earlier, it was easy to get sweaty quickly. It was actually hotter inside the store than outside because of that breeze. Caleb had several workers approach him and just start talking in Ch*inese. He would just turn around and look at us and say, "What'd she say?" One lady even walked over to him and tapped his head. It was clear she thought his two crowns on the top of his head were cute. Much to our surprise, the shoe shopping experience went well. In hindsight, I think it's because Madeline was in the carrier. But anyway, one of the workers just undid the velcro on Madeline's shoe and tried on a new one. It fit, so we bought it and got out of there.

Once back to the room, Caleb began to play with his new toy contruction tools we bought him at Carrefour, like 10 pieces for $1.50! At one point, Madeline scooped a whole bunch of them up. But she eventually gave them back to her brother. With no nap, we knew she was tired and cranky and thought it would be best to keep her in the carrier until she fell asleep. And it worked! I slowly transitioned her to the bed, as we've been doing. It was the first night without a bedtime meltdown. Caleb was thrilled, as were mommy and daddy.

Rain or shine, we will head out to the Yellow Crane Tower today. I have really been wanting to go here since we first accepted Madeline's referral. So I really hope the rain will hold off. Please continue to pray for our little Madeline Bei, as she gradually lets more and more of her guard down.

She is officially ours

Finally letting me sit down and hold her, after much crying
Caleb playing with the Drewes crew
Beautiful little girl in her Mommy's lap
The stickers she was playing with eventually made it on to her face, too cute
Playing with her bracelet



Loving her bubbles
Checking out the cartoon that Caleb is watching
This time, I thought I would share photos first and get to blogging about our day second. And that's because 4am is about the only time I have to blog. Night time is so rough for our little girl, which makes it rough for mommy. So thanks for your patience as these photos are coming later than I'd like.


I'll start where we left off yesterday. Madeline Bei woke up at 6:45am, which was perfect timing so we could start our day. She whimpered a bit, but that whimpering turned into cryin as soon as I tried to change her very wet pull up. We knew that we couldn't bring her back to the civil affairs office in the same clothes she came to us in. So we would have to attempt a clothing change. She cried really hard but didn't protest. She even helped me by lifting her arms and such. It just broke my heart because I could tell she was complying but didn't want to.

We all got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. Although the waitstaff brought us a high chair, she would have nothing to do with it. So instead, I kept her on my lap and fed her. She did just fine like that.

We met our guide, Eric, in the lobby at 9am and headed back out to the civil affairs office to finalize our adoption. We knew that heading back there was going to be difficult because Madeline would see Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma again. And it sure was. As soon as we walked in, she caught a glimpse of Mr. Yang and errupted into tears. Mr. Yang reached for her, so I handed her over to him. She calmed down a litle bit. Then he decided it was best for me to hold her and try to stay hidden. She was crying so hard that the officials decided to let us go first, to get it over with. With eyes in the back of my head, I could see all the frowns on the other adoptive families' faces as they heard our daughter wailing. She cried hysterical the entire time, as Patrick answered our questions during the interview. We had to remove her right shoe to get a footprint, and I thought that was going to be the end of it. I just held her as the officials and Eric worked to make the documents official. When we were finished, I walked back to the waiting area and could see Mr. Yang peeking out behind the front door. He certainly didn't want her to see him. But we wondered how long he was going to stay outside and wait to catch one last glimpse of her.

While I continued to hold her while standing (she won't allow me to sit), Caleb played with the Drewes kiddos. I know I said it earlier, but I'll say it again. I am so thankful they are with us on this leg of our the trip. They have been so great playing with Caleb and keeping him away as Madeline cries her eyes out.

She eventually settled down, and yes, let me sit once she stopped crying. I gave her my iphone so she could listen to some songs and look at the pictures. Then we had another little "I guess these folks aren't so bad, and I might let them into my world" moment. She started pointing to each of us on the photos and repeating our names. When I pointed to Caleb playing in the play area, she motioned to go over. So we cautiously did just that. She watched her brother play and just relaxed. She finally let her guard down. She just loves her stickers and her bracelet and had fun playing with them on my lap, as the others played around her. We even got some smiles.

When it was time to head back to the hotel, I was relieved that Mr. Yang was no longer waiting outside the door. As much as I would've liked to talk to him one more time, it would've been to painful for Madeline. And we just got her relaxed. So I was relieved. Once in the van, I thought we could try to get a laugh out of her. I pulled up her shirt a bit around her tummy and told Caleb to try to tickle her. And that was when we got her first laugh. Caleb was so thrilled to win the contest I created yesterday when I challenged us all to be the first to make her laugh.

Once we got back to the hotel, Patrick set out to get lunch for us, as I watched the kids. We all played with the bubbles, which Madeline really enjoyed. She even decided it was safe enough to take off her shoes. Yes, she took them off all by herself. Baba came back with McDonald's and congee. Madeline ate her congee and even tried some burger meat and, like her cousin Leah, fries.

I got Patrick to blow up the beach ball and asked Caleb to roll it to Madeline. Boy, did she light up. She laughed a lot and really enjoyed it. She also kept enticing me to tickle her. So I naturally obliged. It's with moments like these that she sees we're okay, which makes Caleb's little ears happy. She has even let me out of her sight while in the room. So once in a while I can go to the bathroom without a meltdown. She's also allowed a few pull up changes without crying or whimpering. In fact, she's even give me her "signal" to poo poo which is "Pa pa" as she taps her hiney. (Patty, I was surprised to hear that this was different. But it works!)

At one point, I wanted to take a shower. So we were going to let her stay right there in the bathroom with me. But as soon as I turned the water on, she began to cry. She eventually fell asleep on my lap while we were playing on the bed around 5pm. So I moved her over and finally took my shower. Caleb also fell asleep on the bed watching TV, as Patrick once again headed out for food. When Madeline woke up, she was whimpering but settle down once I held her. Patrick had returned with some noodles for her. As she sat on my lap, he thought he would try to feed her. Twice she turned her head away. So I went back to feeding her. She ate a fair amount. But she is clearly not overeating.

After she finished eating, we played a little bit. And then I thought I would try to rock her to sleep in bed, instead of the chair. No such luck, she cried hysterical if I wasn't standing up holding her. I can't even prop my foot up on a chair or something. It's like a switch. My poor arms couldn't take it anymore. And although she already indicated she didn't want to go in the carrier, I determined I had nothing to lose at this point. So I put her in it, and she didn't cry! Score one for mommy! I was so relieved. So I rocked her in the carrier. But the one I was really rocking to sleep was ME because I had been up since 3am. I told Patrick I was falling asleep as I rocked her, so I tried to lay down with her. More tears and crying came. She didn't resist me as she laid on my chest, but she never stopped crying. Caleb eventually woke up. And Patrick decided he wanted to be playmate #1 and put her on the floor next to him. He gave her a bottle of orange juice, and she finally stopped crying. They played with her Mickey Mouse phone, and she smiled for him. She even took her shoes off!!!! Eventually she had a poop in her pull up. But as soon as Patrick tried to change her, she started crying again. So I hopped down out of bed to do it. She stopped crying, which relieved Caleb. I put her on the bed between my legs, and this time she didn't cry. She eventually fell asleep sitting up, again. So I waited to lay her next to me with my arm under her. I was eventually able to pull my arm out from underneath her without incident.

And so it goes. We love this little girl so much. And despite the tears shed, we know she made some progress. There are moments when she settles down and realizes we're okay. And she has fun with us. But then she remembers this is her new reality that she never asked for and longs for her past. Please continue to pray that she thinks Daddy is okay and that she'll let me console her while sitting down. Today, we're heading out to the provincial museum. It rained a bit yesterday. So with rain in today's forecast, this is what our guide, Eric, suggested we do. We're looking forward to another exciting day with our two precious children.

Gotcha Day photos

Here they are!!!! The photos you all have been waiting for. Our precious girl is so beautiful, scared yet so brave...and much bigger than we thought. It was hard for Caleb to hear Madeline cry. So he spent time hanging out with the Drewes family when it got rough. We were so thankful for their presence. It made quite a difference for Caleb. We are so in love with our girl! Enjoy!!!!!!!

Our final family of 3 photo, anxiously waiting to be united with Madeline
Our precious girl walks in to the room with Mr. Yang
Our scared little girl with Mr. Yang
Left to right: Eva, our guide Eric, Mr. Yang with Madeline and Mr. Ma

Drinking apple juice back in the room

We are finally a family of four!!!!!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. We have finally been united with our precious Madeline Bei!

We have had such a busy day, which is why I am just now getting to type this post at 3:00am Ch*in@ time! I will do my best to recap everything. But let me just start by saying we are in love!!!!

We met our guide, Eric, in the lobby of our hotel at 2:00pm and headed off to the civil affairs office. The office didn't open until 2:30pm, so we had a wait a little bit before we could go in. We sat down and proceeded to fill out some paperwork when in walked the Drewes' daughter Jing. She is 6.5 years old and was so brave. We were able to capture some photos and video for them. I know they were so thankful. We went back to filling out our paperwork. And just as we were finishing up, our "little" Jin Bei walked in with Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma. She looked so beautiful in her new clothes. She did well taking all the toys we offered. But as soon as we tried to walk over to the play area, she clung to Mr. Yang. She wanted nothing to do with us. We gave her cookies and apple juice, which she willingly took. But she cried on and off durin the duration of our stay.

Through our guide, Eric, we found out that Madeline Bei was in foster care. We found out what she likes to eat: everything! Mr. Yang poked Madeline's arm and basically said, "See?" LOL. It was pretty funny. We had previously learned that Madeline was found with a note. So we inquired about receiving a copy of it. They told us how to bathe her and when to put her to bed at night. Mr. Yang told us about how she was very spolied in the foster family because she was the only child at home. He also said that we should continue to hand feed her and hold her a lot, which is exactly what we planned on doing to foster attachment anyway. We received a very nice photo album of Madeline. It contained many photos of her from when she was a newborn. It was quite surprising to see such young photos of her. We will surely treasure this album. Just like when we adopted Caleb, I made a photo album for Madeline of our family, her house, and her bed. Well, Mr. Yang liked it so much, he asked to keep it! How could we say no? LOL. So I guess I will just have to make her another one when we get home. Mr. Ma gave us the orphanage's address and email so that we can share photos of Jin Bei with them. They want to pass the photos along to the foster family.

Mr. Yang and Mr. Ma decided it was time for them to slip away. And well, Madeline Bei was not going to let them go without notice. She start crying pretty hard. She wouldn't let me pick her up; it was like her feet were cemented to the floor. I asked Patrick to lift her up, to which she replied with kicking and screaming. He eventually set her down, and when I reached out my arms to hold her, she reached back for me. That was basically the beginning of a very clingy night for our precious girl.

Before heading back to the hotel, I was in desperate need of relieving myself. There was no way Madeline Bei was letting me leave her with Patrick. So I took her to the bathroom with me. As soon as I squatted over the squatty potty, Madeline squatted too. I finished my business and then motioned for her to use the potty. She looked at me confused, but then when I picked her up, I discovered why- she already peed! So I had to head back out to get her a pull up to put on. Good thing her top was long because I didn't pack a change of clothes!

We drove back to the hotel, which she did well with. We got up to the room, and I decided to let her explore a little. She found the phone on the nightstand. And we were quickly reminded of Caleb's affection for the same thing. So we unplugged the line from the wall and let her push the buttons. Caleb was such a great big brother, blowing bubbles and showing her how to pop them. She smiled a lot at that. She let me give her some stickers. She loved to hide one of them in the crease of her left arm, like playing peek-a-boo.

But then, she would look around the room and become overwhelmed with all that had just happened in her little world and would begin to cry. All I could do was hold her and tell her not to cry in my lousy Mandarin. She would continue to cry on and off for quite some time. Patrick ordered room service. And she let me feed her congee. He ordered me a burger with fries. And since she was quite curious with what I was eating, I shared my fries with her. She ate them up. She eventually had a little poo poo in her pull up from all that apple juice and eating. Let me tell you, she was NOT a fan of having that pull up changed. As I sat in the chair next to the bed with Madeline Bei in my lap, she clung to my iphone while it played some soothing tunes, Caleb's point and shoot camera, and her own little Mickey Mouse play phone. Around 6:30pm, she began to cry nonstop. It wasn't until 8pm that she had finally cried herself to sleep....only there was no way she was letting me put her in her crib. I tried three times. But her sleep was so hypervigilant, there was no way she was sleeping anywhere but next to me. The crazy thing is that Caleb had already fallen asleep in the bed, right next to Madeline, as she exercised her vocal cords. Well, Patrick said, "I guess we're a real Ch*inese family" as all four of us settling in to bed for the night. We put Madeline to bed the same way she was when we left the civil affairs office- no bottoms bracelet and stickers and shoes all on.

Around 3am, Caleb woke up and shortly after, Madeline woke up. But to my surprise, she didn't start crying. She laid in the bed watching us and playing with her stickers and bear. One of her shoes had partially fallen off, but when Patrick tried to take it off, she quickly put it back on. Then she felt safe enough to fall back asleep....which is why I am just now getting around to sharing about our day. I will share the photos you are itching for in the next post. I want to get this one on the blog before I loose my connection!