The Smith Family Rocks Blog

1 year Gotcha Day Anniversary

2010-02-15T22:07:00.003-05:00

Fall Vacation

Aubrey's Baptism 2-14-10

We've been really bad about blogging, especially since Becci and I have started using Facebook to stay connected to everyone. But, today is Aubrey's 1 year Gotcha Day anniversary and we celebrated by looking back at our blog. We thought today would be a great day for a blog update.

What a year it has been. Honestly, we've fallen into such a normal family life, that it's easy to forget how we got here. Aubrey continues to amaze us as she becomes more and more the typical American girl. She loves clothes and shopping and is every bit the girly girl. Pretty dresses are the uniform for her, the frillier the better. She will even comment on other women's outfits if she likes them, "Momma, that pretty".

Aubrey is speaking 100% in English and has a vocabulary of about 750,000 words. Sometimes, she tells us stories that use all 750,000.

If you'd like to keep up with us, drop us an email at smithfamilyrocks@yahoo.com or find us on facebook, we post frequently on there.

Our semi annual blog update

2009-07-02T13:24:00.008-04:00

Well, we've been very busy since our last post back in March. We figured it was about time to update everyone.

Not long after we got back from China, we started to work on Aaron's treehouse. He had been asking for one forever, but we never had the time before. As with everything, this project grew in size until we wound up with a guest cottage in the trees. We rushed to get it done in time for Aaron's birthday so he could have his spy themed birthday party with his friends.

Hello, welcome to my place...

Discovering all the great stuff Mommy stashed in the Treehouse for him

Team Cobra..an elite team of operatives

In May, Aubrey started at preschool. We were all nervous about it, but Becci needed to get back to work. After a few trial runs of a few hours, we did our first drop off. It's been amazing to see how well she has done at school. She participates in everything (even nap!) and loves to sing songs. She has even recently started saying that she loves her friends at school. They had an end of year show that was super cute and we got to see Aubrey perform with the other kids.

" sun, sun..please shine down on me"

Aaron wrapped up first grade and finished really well. He progessed so much in the last few months, improving his reading and handwriting and making us so proud.

Tearing it up and fun and friends day

Aubrey has just completely made herself comfortable with her family. Her personality is coming out more on a daily basis as she can express herself better. She is also less prone to knock down tantrums, though still fiesty. She is affectionate and caring to her family and loves to read stories. Her favorite is Winnie the Pooh. She asks for a kiss from everyone each night..."Mama kish, guh guh kish, Daddy kish"

A story with Guh Guh

Aubrey is just crazy about Grandma and Grandpa Francis and loves to go visit, especially in the camper

"Shwim"

King of the marshmellowsKids in the camper
Mama kish

She's a waterbaby, for sure

The bear in our backyard, we usually only have bunnies

Drake keeping an eye on the proceedings

Aaron and Aubrey get along pretty well, though there are daily fights over toy ownership. Somedays are like this

Others look and sound like this

Here..have some water

"Freebird"

Going for a ride at Grandma and Grandpa's

Becci's Brother Rob and his wife Sheri got a new puppy.

Aubrey is unsure of the puppy, Hiro.

Aaron is all about it

In June, we celebrated our first Birthday with Aubrey. She loves birthdays and sings the song all the time. "Happy to you". For hers, she was always pointing at Becci's earrings and saying "happy to you Aubey Chen",

so we got her ears pierced for her. She was very brave up to the point that they did the piercing, both at the same time. Luckily, the piercing place is right next to an ice cream stand, and as always, ice cream makes everything better.

She also got loaded up with lots of fun girlie stuff like a tutu. Aaron made her a magic wand and decorated it for her with beads and sparkles.. she loves it.

"I wish everything was pink"

and she got a new car

It's just crazy to think that we've only been together for a few months now. I can't imagine life without Aubrey, she absolutely belongs to this family. The first few months home had some rough patches, but recently we've hit our stride and newness of it all has been replaced by deep and profound love for our little girl.

Bye for now.

Jim, Becci, Aaron and Aubrey

Our 1 Month (almost) Update

2009-03-31T21:39:00.009-04:00

What an amazing difference with each passing day. Aubrey has really made herself at home here and has made remarkable progress since coming home.

While she still has her moments, as all 2 year olds do, Aubrey's generally in a great mood these days. She and Becci have fallen into a comfortable routine and she loves to be Mommy's helper, cooking, cleaning and especially shopping. She actually asks to go shopping, she says "Mamma Chopping"

We've had several nice visits over the last few weeks, including meeting all of her Grandparents at one time or another.

Pop and Grandma Sue came for a visit a few weeks ago. Aubrey took to Grandma Sue right away, as all kids do.

"Grandma Shu"

The following week, Meem came and spent a few nights, bringing a car load of goodies for both kids. It's amazing how quickly Aubrey will connect with people when she meets them here at our house. She was hugging and giving kisses to Meem within a few hours of her arrival.

"Meem"

Becci's Sister in Law, Sheri put together a great shower for Aubrey and Becci. It was fun for all of the Aunts and Cousins to meet Aubrey, and she did great. I think she likes getting presents..not sure, but it's a hunch.

She and Aaron have been doing some more bonding lately. Aaron has been trying more to engage her in play and they've had some really funny sessions together. Best of all, Becci has started taping Aubrey's arm into the forward position and we are already seeing results. She can sqeeze her arm towards her body when it's taped, even holding a napkin or paper towel there. She is so proud of herself and loves to show us how she can move her arm.
Bits of English are starting to come out more and more each day. Some of her favorite words are Yogurt (big surprise), Drake, later, up, shopping, yuck (from her favorite book, Yummy/Yucky), "there you go" (a personal favorite), "it's OK" (she says OTAY), and the occasional "More Please".

Besides what she can say, she can understand a lot of what we say and has also become quite the actress, acting out scenes from the day. She also loves to dance and sing. She has been singing along with the hymns at church, and sometimes by herself during the sermon. ("Aubrey! shhhhhh!) For dancing, though, she prefers loud and funky.

Here are some more random cute photos:

Update: Our First Week Home

2009-03-14T21:15:00.001-04:00

Sorry, we've been bad bloggers since getting home. As you can imagine, we've been a little preoccupied since we got back.

We've now had a full week home with Aubrey and what a difference a week has made. The first half of the week was really tough. Aubrey's temper seemed to be getting more and more volatile as the week progressed, but the second half of the week has been signifigantly better.

We also had a lot of fun this week as Aubrey has been meeting lots of new people. She seems to do better in small groups at home rather than out in public with lots of people.

Aubrey meets her snowsuit

Last Sunday, we took Aubrey to Church for the first time. She did extremely well, making it through the entire service, playing quietly with a few books and doodling on the program. Everyone at Church was excited to meet her we were beaming with pride to introduce her.

Becci had been considering asking someone from the hospital, maybe a resident doctor, who spoke Mandarin to accompany us to Aubrey's first doctor appointment. She didn't know who to ask, but we really wanted someone to help interperit for Aubrey what was happening. Can you believe that at Church, the Pastors wife came up to us and said, "I'd like to introduce someone to you. This is May Ti." It turns out that May Ti just arrived in town the day before to do an affiliation at the Robert Packer Hospital, in Physical Therapy, part of Becci's Dept, and will be here for about 10 weeks. Though she's from Malaysia, she speaks Mandarin and was willing to go along to Aubrey's appointment. Divine intervention was in full effect that day.

Even with May's help, for which we can't thank her enough, Aubrey's appointment was rough. She did alright until we had to lay her down on the table for Dr. Ahmed to examine her. That's when she went into full defense mode and flipped out. Dr. Ahmed did his best to examine her, but we eventually had to take her to a different exam room to calm her down. The good news is she is very healthy, and the Dr. has determined that "She's a fighter!"

Aaron returned to school on Monday and was treated to some wonderful surprises. His class threw a party to celebrate his return and there were cards and presents for both him and Aubrey. We all walked over to the school to pick Aaron up on Monday and when the kids saw Aubrey it was mass chaos. She handled all the attention pretty well, but had a meltdown after a few minutes. She's weirded out on us at the school pretty much everyday, but Becci is timing it so she gets there just in time to meet Aaron then scoots right out and she seems to be doing better with it.

Score! leftover cupcakes from Aaron's party

Her pretty dress from Sister Anne and Aaron's class that she had to try on immediately

By midweek though, Aubrey started to level out some. She's had good days all along, but her breakdowns were more frequent and severe earlier. Now she seems much more willing to let things go without a fight and is exhibiting more typical levels of toddler disagreeability (my word). She will still throw knock down tantrums, but further between incidents, Thursday was completely tantrum free, and seems to recover much quicker.

Her vocabulary is growing, too. She's been starting to call me Daddy occassionally, we're getting sporadic Thank you's and Your Welcomes, she's working on ABC and 123. Every now and then she'll pick up a word that she seems to like and use it a lot for a while, like "later" or "No, no, no", today I got a super clear "stop it" and after playing a DVD bingo game, she said Bingo a bunch of times. We are also hearing "Apple", "up", "down", "Grandpa" and "Dow Jones Industrial Average" (not really)

Becci has been very busy altering Aubrey's clothes, and has developed the technique for shortening her left sleeve. Most mornings, Becci will dress her, then take out a pair of scissors and cut the left sleeve off of her shirt, which Aubrey thinks is the funniest thing ever. She seems to really enjoy watching Becci sew and seems very happy to have shirts that don't impede her arm from being out. She's also discovered that she loves pigtails. We had a few nice visits this week. Our good friends Jodi and Tom stopped by. Wendy and Tammy from the studio and Tammy's son Chris came over for a while last weekend and got the full debriefing on our trip. We also received a wonderful visit from my Grandfather, Pop Pop as Aaron and Aubrey know him, and my Aunt Joan. They brought some great presents for the kids, including a handmade doll crib along with the doll and some beautiful hand made outfits for the doll that Joan crocheted herself. Aubrey is smitten with the doll and squeals everytime the doll opens it's eyes.

Her favorite activities at home so far are swinging on the swingset, but it puts her to sleep everytime..., playing in the toy kitchen and the real kitchen. She loves to help set and clear the table, and will spend an hour washing 3 or 4 dishes in the sink. She also likes to help cook and helped make brownies yesterday.
We're feeling very encouraged by her progress the last few days and can't wait to see what happens over the weeks to come. Stay tuned...

We're Home!

2009-03-07T14:15:00.009-05:00

Sorry for the delayed post. We've been working on getting ourselves over the jetlag and it' s been a rough adjustment for all of us. We've managed to get about 75% back to the right side of the clock, falling asleep at like 6pm and waking up at 4 or 5am.

Here's the recap of our voyage home:

We started with a 2.5 hour flight from Guongzhou to Beijing at around 11am that went really smoothly. Somehow, we were booked into business class for that flight, and we really enjoyed the extra space. Aubrey did pretty well with the seatbelts until landing time, but otherwise it was the smoothest flight of the return voyage.

Next, a 4 hour layover in Beijing. We killed time at the Starbucks and just walking around until boarding time

So long china

Finally it was time to board and we got settled in for the long flight. Luckily, we were on a flight that was 75% empty, so everyone got to stretch out. We used the entire center aisle for Becci and the kids and the two side seats for me, so we had bunches of room. The flight was 13 hours long and the kids were able to sleep for more than half of it. We also flew back through 13 time zones, so we actually landed in D.C. at the same time we took of from Beijing. In D.C. we cleared customs and Aubrey became a U.S. Citizen, then on for one more 1.5 hour flight to Binghamton.

Hello U.S.A.

Becci's parents met us at the airport and Aubrey made it clear immediatley that she was going to be Grandpa's girl. She immediately let him hold her and spent the next few days on his lap. We headed back to Becci's parents house and started loading in the needed luggage. Without thinking, I put Aubrey down on the floor where she was quickly greeted by a big kiss from Star, Becci's parent's Golden Retriever. She wasn't expecting anything like that to say the least and she freaked out. We had never seen her so scared and were concerned that she may have a serious aversion to all dogs forever. Luckily, after a good nights sleep and some cautious interactions, she seems to have no fear of the dogs now.

Before bed, Aubrey enjoyed a bath and let Grandma read her a story. We spent the whole day Thursday at Becci's Parents place. We love spending time there (we actually like to call the place our favorite Bed and Breakfast), and Aubrey seems to love it there as well.

Grandpa doing Bolioliolio Tickles

Aaron caught up on his couch potato-ing

Aubrey definitely has a great sense of humor and loves anything bodily function related. Her favorite toy at Grandma and Grandpa's was the yodeling/burping beer mug brought back as souvenier by Becci's Aunt and Uncle (Hi Sharon and Dale!)

Friday morning after breakfast, we pried Aubrey off of Granpadpa and headed home. We couldn't wait to put our travels behind us and get settled in. Upon our arrival home we were greeted by some very thoughtful gifts and well wishes from our amazing friends at the studio.

Our awesome welcome home banner by Wendy

Aubrey had a good exploration of the house and got to see her room for the first time. She immediately fell in love with one of the Chinese outfits given to her by some friends at Becci's work, and had to have them on. Then the tea parties started...

Drink this

other tea party guests

Then it was time for a serious going over of the toy area. Some favorites included dress up, the piano and of course, the whoopee cushion.

So far, so good. We're trying to get on some kind of a schedule and are starting to try for naps. She took one today after an epic battle, but she needed it badly. We are sooooo happy to be home and look forward to getting around to see everyone. Thanks to all of you who followed along and sent messages. We'll continue to post stuff here as time allows, but mostly we'll be busy raising two wild children.

We'll see you soon!

Our Final Day in China

2009-03-03T09:24:00.009-05:00

Today was our last full day in China. We were scheduled to meet our guide Kelly at 2:45 pm today, so we had the morning and early afternoon to ourselves. We had lunch at the cafe down the street from the hotel and enjoyed the view of the Pearl River.

Aaron helping his little sister...such a gentleman

China is all about the old and the new

I was flirting with Becci here...

Aaron checking out some Tai Chi

We traveled by tour bus along with about 2 dozen other families to the American Consulate in Guongzhou to finalize Aubrey's exit paperwork. After a short wait, we were all asked to stand and take an oath that all the information we had provided was true, and that was it...she's ours forever. She will actually become a U.S. Citizen as soon as she touches U.S. soil, sometime tomorrow in Chicago. It was unexpectedly emotional to recite the oath and come to the realization that we've made it. Aubrey is officially and legally our daughter now.The Smith's outside the Consulate

the Smith girls on the bus afterwards

We really wanted to celebrate our last night in China with some traditional Chinese food in a nice restaurant, but circumstance conspired against us. For whatever reason, Aubrey was cranky around dinner but we decided to try anyway. The restaurant that was recommended to us just seemed unfriendly and Aubrey was restless, so we left after only having tea...45 Yuan for tea, we actually ate for entire days on this trip for less than that.

A short walk to burn off some energy and we wound up once again at the Thai Restaurant. The food is excellent, inexpensive and it always happens to be in the right place at the right time, so why not? Tonight was very good with Green Curry Shrimp, Roasted Duck (a favorite with the kids) and water spinach. Not all of us loved the water spinach

Finally, it was back to the hotel for the traditional Red Couch photos. Adoptive families that stay at the White Swan all do this..dress the kids in traditional Chinese outfits and takes photos of the kids as a travel group and alone on one of the many red couches in the hotel. Aubrey was just in love with her red dress and shoes from the moment she saw them. In fact, we thought we might have to let her sleep in them, but she forgot about it after bath.Enter the Dragon

Aaron, Aubrey Chen and Bo

How cute is this?

Our Family

After the photos, we bid farewell to Allison and Bo, our travel partners for the last several weeks. We wish them all the best and hope to stay in contact. Becci and I...mostly Becci got us all packed and ready to go. We purchased two additional suitcases while here. One to replace Becci's that came apart on the trip over and one for souveniers and presents. We are all super excited to get going..even Aubrey was talking about the airplane ride tonight. I don't think she realizes that it's over 20 hours start to finish on three seperate airplanes, but whatever...it'll be great to be home.

Some final thoughts on our trip

This truly has been the journey of a lifetime. Most importantly, we have our Aubrey now and we can begin the process of blending together as a new family. Overall, we greatly enjoyed the time here, China is an amazing and interesting country. Like anywhere in the world, you meet all kinds of people. We encountered a few people that would be considered rude by any standard, but met many more people that were friendly, gracious and generous. Some stand out in our memories, like Mona, the Nanny that placed a frightened Tian Chen in our arms for the first time and tearfully prayed with us for a safe and happy life together. And Apple, the angel we met on our last airplane ride that soothed Aubrey the entire flight. And our guides in Beijing (Grace) and Guongzhou (Kelly) were more that we ever hoped for. They are so patient with the kids (and parents) and we are thankful that we had the chance to meet them. We exchanged many smiles and laughs with people, caused a few scenes and even created a few crowds as people gathered to see Westerners with a Chinese child. Aaron was like a big deal here, getting countless photos taken with giggling Chinese mothers and their children.

China is so big with so many people (1.3 billion) that it's impossible to say that you've seen in all or that you understand the people in such a short visit. Imagine being from another country and spending a week and a half in Detroit (Shiajiazhung) then a week in Los Angeles (Guongzhou) and then trying to decide what the U.S. is like.

A quick thanks to Becci's parents, Bob and Ruth for taking care of Drake for us while we were gone, we can't wait to introduce Aubrey to Drake (and Higgins, of course, the family cat) Also thanks Wendy and Tammy for taking such great care of the studio while we were gone, we couldn't have done it without you.

We'll post some updates once we get home..thanks for sharing our journey with us and we'll see you soon.

Jim, Becci, Aaron and Aubrey

The Market...Like Wegman's With Scorpions

2009-03-02T22:45:00.010-05:00

Today we visited the local outdoor market, one of the largest in Southern China. It's like a combo shopping district/flea market/street fair that runs in sections. We started in the herbal medicine section which stretches for several blocks. Along with every type of root and dried flower imaginable, there was also lots of animals and sea life in various stages of deadness/driedness used in traditional medicine.These scorpions were alive for maximum freshnessNext was the Pet and Pet Supplies section:

Aaron making friends with a giant chicken

After the market, we spent some time hanging out at the hotel. We discovered that Aubrey share's her Mommy's love of boots. Becci bought Aubrey a doll in traditional Chinese dress that she seems to really love. I'm the Momma

For dinner, we headed back to the Thai place, Cow and Bridge. Actually, we were hoping for something different, but Aubrey was starting to fall asleep, so we quickly settled on Thai, but not before she conked out as we were sitting down. It worked out pretty well though and we enjoyed one of our most peaceful meals in weeks. Me trying to chew quietly

Aaron and Squid

Bedtime was awesome. After baths and a snack, the kids settled into bed pretty easily slept soundly. Actually, the entire day was great. Aubrey is getting more and more at ease with us, and we're developing a better level of communication through gesture and bits of both languages. She recognizes some English already, like "shoes" and loves to say Hello and Hi. She is the giggliest kid and loves to rough house. She never gets tired of being tossed around and just squeals with laughter when she's having fun.Tuesday we head to the US Consulate along with about 30 other families to have Aubrey sworn in as a U.S. Citizen, our final step before coming home. We will be leaving China Wednesday Morning, so there's only one more post from China. Thanks to everyone who has emailed over the last few days, it's great to hear from home. If you haven't yet, please drop us a quick note, we'd love to hear from you before we leave. The link for email is at the top right of the blog.

A Special Request

2009-03-01T20:24:00.002-05:00

With just a few days left, we would love to hear from you! One of the highlights of our days has been to receive email. It really brightens our days to know you all are there and we are definitely feeling homesick...so drop us a quick note. Thanks and we can't wait to see you all.

At The Garden

2009-03-01T10:12:00.005-05:00

Today we spent some time at a beautiful garden and grounds in Guongzhou. It was one of the prettiest places we've seen yet:

Let's jam...know any AC/DC?

After our visit there, we just spent the day at the hotel. The kids got to hang out in our room our in the play area again, while Becci and I took turns grabbing a nap...everyone is feeling a bit run down by now and getting very anxious to get home. We're down to a few days now.
Giddy up Giu Giu

After dinner in the room, we headed out for a walk and wound up at the local playground. The kids had a great time and we got to chat with some other adoptive families. It's actually amazing to see how many Americans are here adopting. I couldn't count them all at breakfast, maybe 2 dozen families in the restaurant just while we were there. Right now, about 8000 children per year are adopted internationally from China, with the vast majority coming to the states.Tomorrow is our trip to the huge outdoor market we've been looking forward to. There should be lots of exotic foods and stuff to see, so we'll post a bunch of photos tomorrow.

Shop 'Til You Drop

2009-02-28T10:00:00.012-05:00

We have a diverse and interesting group of readers of our blog, but I bet none of you can say you started your day by putting tights on a monkey....but I can."hmm, I bet these would go on that monkey"...and with some help from Daddy

He's smiling, but I think it's because he's embarrassed

Before we get to the day's activities, a quick side story:

Yesterday, Becci bought Aubrey four super sweet little dresses to wear. She also picked her up a pair of "squeaky shoes" as an alternative to her beloved red boots. These are the boots that she was given to wear on Gotcha Day, and she has barely taken them off since. The squeaky shoes, in addition to being pretty and more comfortable for the weather here, also offer an incentive to walk since they make noise.

We've also made the conscience effort to let Aubrey's left arm out, which can be a bit startling for people at first. As she has very little control over it, it tends to just move around as she moves. There's no sense being shy about it, and if she is to learn to use her arm, it has to be out. The combined effect of the squeaky shoes and her arm has to be seen to be fully appreciated.. It's hard not to smile at this:

Today was a scheduled sightseeing day, mostly steered towards shopping for souveniers..which was fine as we really weren't able to shop for momentos and gifts in Shiajiazhung. Becci, always the thoughtful shopper took care of most of our planned items today, as well as some special surprises.

We started our day with a visit to the Chen Family (no relation) Temple and Arts Center in Guongzhou. The temple is awesome and one of the few historical sights in the city to escape the Cultural Revolution during Mao's rule of China. At that, it's only just over 100 years old, but it is stunning.squeak, squeak, squeak

He's carving Aubrey's chop, a stamp with her name in Chinese characters

The view behind the temple

After the Temple, we visited a local Jade market for some shopping. Aubrey and Aaron enjoyed the fish in the little pond more than shopping.

Aaron was also quite intrigued by the "Snake Wine"

Don't worry, I didn't make him drink it

Then it was on to the Pearl Market, really kind of a mall with endless pearl dealers. Becci found some beautiful pearls for Aubrey as a gift when she gets older and the prices were amazingly inexpensive.

Dinner was low key, we went for leftovers in our room from our Italian last night and Chinese lunch today, creating a "Chi-talian" feast.Ravioli with chopsticks? Now that's Chitalian!

This evening we took a stroll around the island, stopping off for a quick (at least an hour) peak in one of the shops, then on to Starbucks for coffee for us and cookies for the kids.The island at nightCookie Monsters

At bedtime, the kids were so good tonight, Aaron asking to sleep in Aubrey's bed, and her being into the idea. We had a fantastic day with her today and Aaron has been patient well beyond his years...We are so blessed.

Finally, a quick look around the hotel lobby:

Let's Get Physicaled

2009-02-27T08:45:00.010-05:00

The view out our window

Our first full day in Guongzhou was a great one. We had a wonderful day with some required activities in the morning then free time to explore all afternoon.

We started with our first trip to the legendary White Swan Breakfast Buffet and it was all it's cracked up to be. Mostly real western food like scrambled eggs and bacon, with enough eastern flavor thrown in to make it interesting, like the ever present noodles and the very interesting Fried Milk...prove positive that you can fry anything.

As we headed out, our guide asked if we'd like to pick up a stroller. They are offered for free by several of the local shops, so we figured why not try it, expecting that Aubrey would hate it...well, she didn't. In fact, she immediatley wanted the seat belt on and was thrilled to be strolled around like the Queen of the Rose Bowl Parade all day. Nobody was happier than me to have a day off from carrying her.

Aubrey's new wheels

Our first scheduled activity was to get Aubrey's passport photo taken. This is like the fourth time she's been photographed since we've been here, but whatever, she best get used to it.

"you know, my daddy is a photographer, too."

Following the photos, we walked a few hundred feet to the Physical Examination Center where they performed...you guessed it, a physical exam of sorts. Aubrey was super brave all the way through, putting up with quite a bit of poking and prodding at her left arm.

Not even this scared her

While we were waiting around for some paperwork, I snapped a few shots of Aaron.. I really liked this one: Aaron..international man of mystery

The Island is like the home of wedding photography in Guongzhou, with a huge studio called Famous Photo located here. I saw about 5 photo sessions going on today. Aaron's was the best.

We headed to Lucy's for lunch, a Chinese version of an American restaurant with outdoor seating and some nice views. On the way there Aaron took over driving duties.
Nobody was into my suggestion for lunch...

After lunch, we checked out the children's play area in the hotel (sponsored by Mattel..seriously) and it was great. It's just a huge, clean room with loads of toys and a tv/dvd set up and the kids went nuts for a few hours.

well...not just the kids For dinner, we checked out the also famous La Dolce Vida, the Italian restaurant that everyone raves about, and it was excellent. Unfortunately, we had pushed Aubrey past her tired point, so dinner was a little rough, as was bath time, but that happens. The walk home was beautiful.Tomorrow, we get off the island to visit the giant outdoor market in the city. Stay tuned...

Hello Guangzhou..Hello Sunshine

2009-02-26T10:14:00.008-05:00

We arrived safely in Guangzhou (pronouned Gong Jo) around 4pm this afternoon and it literally felt like we stepped into a new world. After a week and a half in cold, grey Shiajiazhung, it was like the part in The Wizard of Oz when it turns all Technicolor.

We were pretty nervous about the flight today, given Ms. Aubrey's dislike of seat belts, but the morning started off great. Everyone was up and ready to go, Aubrey was excited about the "Faygee" (airplane) and was in pretty good spirits, goofing around with the other kids at the airport.Once on the plane, she was doing alright sitting next to me until seat belt time. As expected, she threw a fit, enough to bring over a flight attendant with every snack she could grab to try to pacify her. Just when it was looking like it was going to go very, very badly an angel arrived. Becci was seated next to a young woman that spoke some English who offered to help out, so with some seat switching, we got Aubrey in between Becci and our new friend "Apple". This girl was amazing, she talked and played with Aubrey for the entire 2.5 hour flight, soothing her and interperating some of it back to Becci. It made the flight so enjoyable for everyone, including Aubrey. When we landed, she told Apple, "I wasn't even scared". She must have enjoyed it because she has been miming the airplane story ever since we landed. She'll "whoosh" and pretend her hand is a plane.

That left Aaron and I some much needed boy time to play some checkers..(he whooped me fair and square) and to enjoy our airplane lunch of pork balls (try to say that without giggling) and a package of "delicious pickles".

His enthusiam disappeared when he actually tasted the "delicious pickles"

Once we hit the ground, we were immediately met by our awesome new guide, Kelley. She got us to the hotel, which is unbelievable. The White Swan hotel:(http://www.sinohotel.com/english/hotelinfo/guangzhou_white_swan_hotel.html)

It's located on an island on the pearl river in one of the most beautiful spots in China. Most of the buildings on the island were built by Western nations more than a hundred years ago as Embassies, etc., so the whole island has the feel of Savannah or New Orleans. There are tons of shops and restaurants, many of which cater to all of the adoptive parents staying at the White Swan. Every international adoption has to pass through Guangzhou to visit the U.S. Consulate, and most stay at the White Swan...so many in fact that it has the nickname the White Stork. We'll be taking lots of photos here. We finally feel like we can relax a bit and actually enjoy this portion of the trip.

For dinner we did the local Thai place..very good, pricier than we got used to in the last city, but everything here is.

That blur headed towards Starbucks is me

After dessert at Starbucks it was back to the room for bath and bed. Tomorrow is Aubreys physical exam and then some shopping. Bye for now.

Last Day in Shiajiazhung

2009-02-25T09:49:00.006-05:00

We're all packed and ready to head out to Guongzhou first thing in the morning. It's been 10 days in Shiajiazhung and we are so ready to go. We had a free day today, so after breakfast we strolled to the park with Allison and Bo. (btw, if you enjoy our blog, you can check out their blog as well. We've been together in Shiajiazhung and it's been great to share the experience with them. Their blog is: http://www.bohawkins.blogspot.com/ ) Aubrey is like two different kids inside our hotel room and out. Inside, she is becoming more animated and outgoing daily, but outside, she withdraws and becomes super clingy and irritable. We assume that she just doesn't know what to make of it all, but we keep working on it. We are very interested to see how she does in a new location. Up to this point, I think she thinks that we live in this hotel.

Bo loaned Aubrey a toy that requires walking, so she actually let her prized red boots touch the ground for a while.

In the park, Becci and Aubrey joined in with the dancers and attracted the usual attention.

Becci and Aubrey trying to blend in

"Say, you're not from around here, are you?"

Meanwhile, Aaron continued his quest to climb every piece of playground equipment in the park. Afterwards, we spent a fun afternoon at the hotel...Aaron spent several hours on homework..(Hi, Sister Anne if you're reading!) while Aubrey and I played in the other room.

For dinner, we went for the street vendor buffet. A few blocks from the hotel, I found a bigger, crazier Food Alley. Tonight we had these really tasty wrap things from this lady:
As I walked on, I saw something with tentacles being cooked, so I ran over and grabbed a few on a stick..Becci is a sucker for food with suckers. It turned out to be octopus and it was awesome.

Pretty sure this was dead before he started cooking it

Then, I hit this guy doing a Middle Eastern style meat on a stick thing that was one of the most delicious things I've ever had.

Add to that some roasted sweet corn, some noodles from the store and dinner is served...I'm really going to miss the food here.

Insert corny caption here

This has been an emotional week for us, full of lots of highs and lows. We are all anxious to get home so we can begin to establish some sense of a normal routine, but we'll always treasure this first week with our new little girl.

Next post is from Guongzhou..we're nervous about the flight, Aubrey has put up a real fight over any kind of seat belt. So far that hasn't been a big deal since seat belts are rarely found and even more rarely used in cars, but on the plane she'll have no choice. Wish us luck!

Stir Crazy in Shiajiazhung

2009-02-24T10:26:00.006-05:00

Well, we've been in this provence for about a week now and I think we're all about ready for a change of pace. We are definitely grateful for the time to bond as a family, but everyone is getting a little bored of hotel life.

Today, we got out for a few hours to the Hebei Provence Museum, which was unfortunately under construction, so mostly it had photos of the stuff you'd see if you came back later. Also, nothing fails to attact a small childs attention much less than pictures of stuff. Aubrey was on excellent behaviour, as was Aaron which was great. She was a little restless and played the Mommy carry me for 2 minutes..now Daddy...now Mommy game, but otherwise did great.

Aaron thought some of the stuff was pretty cool. He had a really good question about this one:

"Why do these guys have frying pans on their heads?"

"Museum? Let's run!"

Main Entrance to the Museum, under construction but cool

The rest of the day was just spent hanging around the room. Thank God we went for a room with extra space. The kids have some room to run, which I couldn't imagine life without. Aubrey had a good day and did a lot of independent play and interaction with Aaron. In true Aubrey fashion, it's interaction on her terms, but it's great to see. She will occasionally get one of us to sit on her lap, which is always funny and a challenge since she's so tiny:

We had our best bed time yet! The kids had a few hours to just play and be goofy and Aubrey has finally come to view the bed as an exceptable place to hang out, so she spread all of her toys out and went to town.

A quick primer for this video...Mei Mei is little sister and Giu Giu is big brother.

After a while, we just all got in bed and turned out the lights. Aubrey offered up a round of goodnight kisses to everyone and after a little while of tossing and turning, she konked out.

Tomorrow is our last full day here, then on Thursday we fly out to Guongzhou. The weather there is more like Florida since it's south China, and it's a more Westernized city. That can be good (Starbucks!) and bad (pricey), but we're ready for the change. Shiajiazhung has be pretty good to us. It's huge..something like 9 million people, yet considered a small city. One of our favorite things has been the local park, which we love. On our first visit there, I felt like we had stepped into a China themed Disney park. It has kids and Tai Chi, a guy playing beautiful music on a violin and a group of people dancing and singing.

My other favorite is what I'm calling the food alley. At night, it's like a scene out of the movie Bladerunner, just cart after cart after stand of amazing foods. I'm not entirely sure what a lot of it is, nor would I eat the majority of it for obvious health reasons, but what we've sampled has been fantastic. I look forward to going over there and grabbing a few things. Plus, that's where the world's greatest Wonton Soup comes from. Now when I walk in, the young guy behind the counter smiles real big and holds up 2 fingers, as my usual is two big jugs of shrimp and pork Wontons. Check out this link if you want to see what I'm talking about:

http://www.likealocal.cn/archives/11

We'll post a final time from Shiajiazhung tomorrow, then we're off to Guongzhou

Aubrey Chen Loves Yogurt

2009-02-23T09:35:00.003-05:00

The Park Dance- by Aaron Smith

2009-02-23T07:44:00.009-05:00

Aaron is taking care of today's blog post..take it away Aaron:

About 600 people were dancing on a flat surface to hip hop Chinese style.

Aubrey was warm as a little lady bug and I was froze to the bone! Mostly Daddy and Mommy carried Aubrey the whole time because she would not walk. There was about 70 people surrounding us because they wanted to know why we were carrying a Chinese baby around.

The market was so busy and I got really cold. I saw about 3 million people selling and buying food. I saw celery, baseball olympic socks, potatoes, chicken heads, one hundred bikes, and about 30 cars, and 10 markets selling noodles.

We ate noodles from the market and mommy and Daddy got me KFC for dinner. (begrudgingly!!!!!! says mom). I took a bath with Aubrey and she made a tornado out of the water throwing it in my face! I watched Mulan While Aubrey checked everyone's bellybuttons to see who had the deepest.

Then I talked to Grandma and Grandpa on Skype. Now I'm going to bed.

The Ups and Downs of Being Two

2009-02-22T08:02:00.014-05:00

As to be expected, Aubrey is having her fair share of ups and downs. Today was filled with lots of fun and giggles, contrasted with full blown tantrums that must have people in the neighboring hotel rooms to request to be relocated. We struck some success today with the tried and true method of letting her go until she gets tired of it, then she reboots and is all ready to be goofy and lovey.

Today looked a lot like this:

followed by this:

Becci and I both get to points where we're at the end of our ropes, so we switch off taking turns working with her. Then during the quiet times, we remind ourselves what we're asking of this precious little girl. Everything she's ever known has changed, her new family speaks about 10 words of Chinese, and she's 2 years old. All things considered, her progress is miraculous, and there is no denying, she is a special little girl. Her laugh is painfully adorable, her eyes are full of wonder and trust and her determination is well beyond admirable. No doubt, this girl is a fighter, just the way we like them in this family.

Today was a free day on our agenda, so we took it easy. A slower paced breakfast, complete with chewing and tasting for Becci and I, followed by some down time in the hotel room. Aubrey let loose over something or other, the above footage was from that session. Afterwards, she was in a super funny mood and we couldn't resist a photo of the aftermath She was so sweaty and messed up, she looked like she had sprinted here from across town.

The kids enjoyed some down time in the room:

Whatcha listening to big brother?

Quick! Get the Camera

Momma and Babba need that more than you!

We finally found the Survival Chinese book that we thought we lost in Beijing...only a week too late, but still a huge help. Aaron worked so hard on his homework, he had to take his shirt off..

I may look sweet, but I'm fiesty

In the afternoon, we went back to the local park with Allison, Ryan and Bo. Aubrey wasn't up for much, she was pretty tired and eventually fell asleep, but Aaron was in heaven, enjoying a few rides. China has...let's say a different measure of safety for just about everything, and children's rides are no exception, but he had a blast and got to blow off some excess energy.

"safety belts and smooth, rust free edges are for sissies!"

And we found our next family vehicle

"Yeah it looks cool, but can you get two kids and a Golden Retriever in it?

Afterwards, we went out to dinner with The Hawkins at the traditional Cantonese restaurant in the hotel....Duck's Tongues or Chicken Feet, anyone? Then back to the room for bathtime
Every beautiful girl has a nightly beauty ritual
Aubrey had Jello and an Oreo for a snack..she hasn't figured out how to eat jello with chopsticks...yet.

The Hawkins bought a copy of Bolt that the loaned to Aaron for the evening..Aubrey wasn't interested.
In Chinese, Bolt is "Lightning Flash Dog"

"Whatever, I want my music back on!"

So..another day closer to getting home, and another day closer to unraveling the mystery that is our new little girl...One thing's for sure, we love her to pieces.

Ice Cream Makes Everything Better

2009-02-21T07:44:00.006-05:00

Today we went to visit Baoduzhou, an ancient mountaintop village that is part of the Great Wall. This location has miles of reconstructed wall, so it was rebuilt recently, but the setting is amazing, as is the village itself. We took a cable car ride to the top and the views were spectacular, even with the ever present haze of China's air.

our hotel...just kiddingAubrey was in an odd mood all day today, cranky one minute and playful the next. At around eleven, she had a bit of a fit. She was hungry, but had also just seen this guy:I don't think she liked him very much.

A quick snack and she was ready to go

...for about a minute, then she fell asleep on my shoulder. I carried her at least 400 miles today.After our field trip, we went back to the hotel for lunch

Becci enjoyed an exciting game of Soduku... And then we had our major meltdown of the day. After a quick incident where I said no about something and she decided to do it anyway, I tried for a "time out"...she was not familiar with the concept and expressed her disapproval by coming unglued. But, after some soothing and time, she came back to Earth.

After a major tantrum, everybody needs a drink:

But look at me, I'm so darn cute...why can't I tear all the tissues out of the box?

Dinner tonight was another trip to the Wonton place, some stuffed flatbread from the street, and to make everybody's day...ice cream!

Finally, a movie that captured the attention of at least one member of the audience, and it's off to bed.
We have free days tomorrow and Monday...bye for now

Bumpy Start...Smooth Finish

2009-02-20T08:26:00.008-05:00

It seems that with each passing day, Aubrey becomes every bit more the typical toddler. Along with that comes the usual stuff, but as she integrates into our clan, her behavior seems so normal, even when not what we were hoping for at a given moment. Also par for the course with two year olds, she is a joy to behold and getting more comfortable with us by the moment. We started with a really exciting occurance today.

As we were preparing to leave the room for breakfast, Aubrey reached her hand out for someone to hold on to. In this case, though, it was Aaron...a first. They walked to the elevator, on the elevator and all the way to the restaurant holding hands, and then back again after.Aaron was just as shocked as us, but thrilled to have her warming to him.

After breakfast, we headed out for a tour of the local botanical gardens. It's off season now, but we could tell the place would be amazing in bloom. There was also an indoor area that the kids really liked. Aaron received a bubble shooter gun as a gift from our guide Michael, and that's where we hit the bump. Aubrey of course wanted to play with it, too. The problem is that she wants to do everything herself, which in this case would involve opening the bubbles upside under her chin...clearly a messy method. So we had to intervene which set off the water works. It's fine, we are so used to causing scenes in China now that it hardly phases us.

first shoulder ride...not so sure about this

Say: "botanical garden!"

After a short cool down/temper flare up in the car, she decided she was cool with it, or forgot what had upset her in the first place, and set about being an angel for the rest of the day.

The Zen Chopstick master...she tried to eat ice cream with them later. Aaron occasionally resorts to other noodle eating methods

We had a nice, lazy afternoon. Daddy actually managed a nap...I'm nursing a little bit of a cold at the moment. Mommy and Aaron worked on homework while Aubrey Chen played around the room.

Around 5:00, we went for a walk to the local park. Aubrey fell asleep just as we were getting there, and the camera battery was dying, so we didn't get many photos. Aaron had a blast there though and we all can't wait to go back. It's a beautiful park and practically a snapshot of all the most interesting stuff in Shiajiazhung. (I am attempting to spell the name of this city differently each time I type it, I think this time it's actually spelled correctly) The were kids and kites, people doing Tai Chi, and guys doing this thing with a whip and spinning a top with it. It sounded like a gun each time they would whip their tops, about the size of a coffee can. We're going back on Sunday, so we'll get some photos then.

Can you spot which one of these is not a Monkey?

Finally, it was time for dinner. Dinner can be a bit of a challenge, we don't always want the expense/public scene of eating out, but in room food doesn't really cut it, so we improvised tonight. I went out to see what I could find and had quite the adventure. Shiajiazhung (sp?) is huge, but not like Beijing. English is not spoken as frequently here, and there aren't nearly as many western visitors, so really outside the hotel, you're on your own language-wise. Occasionally you'll get lucky, but not often. After a few failed attempts to decipher all Chinese menus, I got off the main street onto a side street that is literally one street vendor and small (tiny) shop right after another. There is just food and people everywhere, but nothing is labeled and some of it looks like a case of food poisoning just waiting to attack. I wound up at a place that had Wonton in English on the sign. It was a little stand with a few tables and not a word of English anywhere. After a few minutes of desperate miming, I left with a bag of something. I wasn't sure what was in it, but it smelled great. Emboldened by my success there, I bought a bottle of Tsaoting beer (excellent, by the way) and some potato chips at a market, an ice cream treat (wrapped, so safe) for the kids, and a few ears of roasted corn from a guy cooking it on the street.

Back at the room, we unloaded the bags to see what I had done. What I had purchased, was about a gallon of the best Wonton soup we've ever had, made with fresh cilantro and shrimp. The whole meal was super tasty, and cost about 35 Yuan, about $5 US, for the beer, chips, corn and soup.
More later, we're on our way to a Mountain/scenic area about an hour outside of the city tomorrow.

The Kids Being Funny

2009-02-19T10:45:00.002-05:00

What a Birthday for Becci

2009-02-19T09:14:00.007-05:00

Today was Becci's birthday! This morning she said all she really wanted was a good day with Aubrey. We just got the kids to bed and I'm pleased to report that her birthday wish came true. Today was the best day with Aubrey yet. As she gets more comfortable with us, her personality is shining through, and what a character she is.

We started today with a trip to a park in the city. This was formally the Shaizaizhou zoo, but they relocated the zoo a few years ago and now it's just a park with some beautiful walking paths and structures. It also snowed today, the first in a while from what we understand, so people were out and about enjoying the snow. Ryan and Allison that we are traveling with have dubbed it Snog, half snow half smog, as it's brown before it hits the ground.

By the time we were done walking, Aubrey was out cold on my shoulder. When we got back to the hotel, I went to lay her down and she was suddenly wide awake. We were expecting that overly tired toddler crankiness, but what we got instead was an entire afternoon of the goofiest, funniest little girl. She has some cd's with Chinese Nursery ryhmes on it, and it turns out she already knew Old MacDonald, at least the E I E I O part, which she sings with great enthusiasm.

we eat oodles of noodles

Who can resist jumping on a hotel bed?
This evening, we went to the Korean restuarant located in the hotel. The food was excellent, however we haven't gotten the hang of ordering yet. This is our second attempt at Korean and both times we've ordered enough food for 2 families. Even still, with a table full of noodles, sweet and sour prawns (shrimp), eel, octopus, roasted sweet potatoes and a sampler of pancakes, the bill was 280 Yuan, about $40 US.

Aubrey was worn out by dinner, so was a bit fussy, but we still had a good time. After dinner, we picked up dessert at the pastry shop in the lobby. This is a four star hotel, and three pastries came out to about $4 US.

Before dessert, it was bath time. Aubrey is insane about baths. She washes herself so thoroughly, including hair, and just loves the whole thing.

Finally, dessert in the room to top off our birthday celebration. Aaron and Aubrey are both pretty into dessertOur kids know how to party, but sooner or later, it's over

We just can't get over today. It's such a relief to feel her bonding to us and feeling safe with us. It's not all smooth sailing, she has to be on me at nearly all times, and not just on me, but held and walking around. Not sitting, not laying down, standing or it's cranky time. But still, she is doing great, trying out new words and just being a beautiful, clever kid. Becci is trying to assess what she can do with her left arm, which has two fingers. She has some muscle control, but can't flex the fingers. What she can do one handed though is amazing. Dressing, putting on socks and shoes, brushing teeth, she's unstopable.

More to follow...tomorrow is a trip to the botanical gardens.

2 steps forward, 1 step back (is still forward)

2009-02-18T08:40:00.008-05:00

What a challenging few days we've had. It didn't take long with Aubrey to realize that we were underprepared with our Chinese language skills. We can only imagine what she is going through, and we've had a few rough patches the last few days. The good news is, we really feel like we turned a corner today, and what started off as a pretty rough day ended as our best yet. So even though it's two steps forward, one step back, it is still forward.

Yesterday, Tuesday was a hard day on everyone. We departed from the hotel at 7:30 after a hurried breakfast to get on the road for a trip back to Lang Fang, the town that Aubrey is from. We needed to get some piece of paper stamped in some office there, so we had to travel 4.5 hours each way in a van for an appointment that lasted about 20 minutes. 9 hours in a bouncy, Chinese van took its toll on everyone.

While we were in Lang Fang, we decided to pay a visit the the park where Aubrey was discovered. Lang Fang plaza is a beautiful, open park area next to a busy street and lots of shops. This location was obviously picked so that she would be discovered quickly.

Next to the park, is a McDonalds, where we went for lunch. Many of you know about our disdain of fast food in general and McDonald's specifically, so it's odd that we traveled 8000 miles to go to McD's when we won't go to the one a mile from our home, but you've got to eat.

We caused a bit of a stir while we were there. People were fascinated by us, particularly Aaron. He's kind of a big deal in China! People want to take his picture and pat him on the head. He's really cool about it but a little shy of all the attention.

Aubrey also had a bit of a meltdown toward the end of lunch, and we left in a bit of loud rush to get out the door. The ride home brought on another, slightly worse tantrum in the van that left us all a bit dazed. It's typical toddler behaviour, nothing shocking, but the language barrier adds a level of diffuculty, but we're working it out.

Today started off rough.. she seriously woke up ready to rumble. After a prebreakfast battle, we headed to the local shopping area with our guide. Just a few minutes after we got there, I needed to run back to the Hotel, and took Aubrey with me. She has been latched on to me hard for the last few days, to the point where I pretty much can't put her down or she loses it, so we're together most of the time. On the way back to find everyone, she was sort of on the verge of an explosion when something amazing happened. She started to ask for Momma. When we did finally find Becci and Aaron, she went straight for Momma, and was good to go. What followed was a super pleasant day of smiles and laughs. She's been saying things over and over again enough that we're putting together a very basic vocabulary, which helps tremendously. Plus, she's dropped some English on us to our surprise. Just mimicking, but still awesome. She told Becci "thank you", plain as day and has said her English name "Aubrey Chen" a few times. Best of all, she'll give kisses to Becci, and I got a couple today, too. It's really cool when she says something in Chinese that we can catch, like "I nee Baba", roughly I love Daddy.

Tonight ended with a meal with fellow traveler/adoptive parents Allison and Ryan and their new son Bo at a hot pot restaurant, the type where you cook your own meals at the table. Not exactly the most child safe way of eating, but fun nonetheless. A long day of play and no nap caught up with one of the group...it seems like one of us is always falling asleep at dinner.

So, that's it for now. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers, they mean so, so much to us, so keep them coming and we'll keep posting. There are a bunch more photos below...

first photoshop lesson

sleepy kids

becci taking care of laundry

goofy kids

Gotcha Day (and the day after)

2009-02-16T07:22:00.013-05:00

Sorry for the delayed post...Gotcha day was literally one of the most exhausting days we've ever experienced.

It started with a 90 minute car ride from Beijing to Lang Fang, where Aubrey was. She was actually at an excellent foster home for most of her life called "Living Tree", a Christian based program, and was extremely well cared for. They brought her back to the actual orphanage on Saturday for Gotcha Day.

When we arrived, it was just surreal. We were led into the orphanage by our guide and as we were walking past the day room, we actually spotted Aubrey for the first time. We couldn't wait to meet her, but we were all very nervous as well. After a short while, one of the Nannies tried to bring her in to see us, but she was so scared she clung to the doorway of the room and wouldn't come in.

Our first real look at Aubrey:

After a few tries, a truly amazing Nanny named Mona got Aubrey to come to see us. Actually it was Aaron who spoke to her first, giving her a new Curious George stuffed animal.

The transition was tough, with lots of tears and crying, but we eventually got through the process and got her into the car with us. Mona offered a prayer for Aubrey (she is known here as Tian Chen) that made us all fall apart. Even though it was in Chinese, we could feel how much she cared for Chen.

(Tian Chen with "Mama" at the orphanage)

Once we got on the road, we went for the old "bribe them with food" trick, and that seemed to get her to open up.... A bag of Cheerios, plus Mommy figured out she was ticklish, and things started to get better.

Becci and Aubrey in the car just minutes after leaving the orphanage.

Once we got back to Beijing, we had a few hours to kill, so we went for a walk and had Korean for lunch. We found out that Aubrey loves to be outdoors and to walk.

"Babba" and Aubrey on the train

Then it was on to the train stations...this was no lie the most insane place I've ever been. We had two families, with both our kids, all our luggage and 5 million people all cramming to get onto a train at the same time. Once we got on board, though, it was a very pleasant two hour ride to our Province..Shaizaizhoung *I'm spelling that wrong, but I'm way to tired to look it up right now.

Then to a new hotel, a quick dinner from the local KFC....they're on every corner, like Starbucks in NYC, and our first bathtime with Aubrey. We've discovered that she is unbelievabley independent. Don't even think about trying to do something for her if she can do it herself, and in most cases, she can do it herself. She bathed herself, top to bottom, then again, then again, and again until I finally drug her out of the tub fighting all the way.

After the bath, she got her new PJ's and we spent a long night getting her to sleep.

In the morning she got dressed in a new outfit....pink is definitely her color, and we went off for another long day of paperwork and traffic chaos on the streets of China.

All in all, it went great. Aubrey is stunningly beautiful, smart, strong and soooooo stubborn... a perfect fit.

We're all exhausted, so we'll sign off for now and update again probably tomorrow. (Aubrey just fell asleep on my lap as I'm typing this.)

bye for now

Big Day in Beijing

2009-02-14T08:21:00.008-05:00

What a day!

It started with a bang...literally.

It looked something like this in our room at 6 am:

The staff at our hotel were very friendly, and reset the circuit breaker promptly!

After we got that worked out, it was off for a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and off to visit the sites in Beijing. Our guide for Beijing, Grace took us first to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City:

The Forbidden City has been the center of Chinese Government for hundreds of years and was truly an amazing site. Following about 3 hours there, we stopped for lunch and headed for the Great Wall. Without a doubt, the Wall was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Aaron loved it and kept pushing our group to go on to the next tower, and the next.

Becci, Heidi and Melissa from our Travel Group:

Finally, it was back to the Hotel and out for dinner with the group at a Thai restaurant. The food was great, but one of us didn't make it through dinner:

Aaron fell asleep at the table during dinner. He was just awesome today. So, now we're headed to bed, too. Tomorrow (sunday) is the big day. We have a 90 minute car ride at about 7:30am to go to the Lang Fang orphanage, and we'll meet Aubrey Chen by late morning. We just can't wait.

We'll post again as soon as we get settled into the next hotel.

We Made It

2009-02-13T06:09:00.002-05:00

So, it turns out that the Earth is huge..and it takes a really long time to get to the other side of it!

After 8000 miles, three planes, three onboard meals, one busted suitcase, several shuttles and18 hours of flight time, we're in Beijing.

As you can imagine, we're a bit jetlagged at the moment. We got to meet Grace, our first guide in China, after a little bit of wandering around and made it to the Hotel. We've met 2 of the 3 other couples that are in our travel group and all seem very nice.

We're going to conk out now, the hotel is beautiful, right in downtown Beijing. It's very modern and upscale. Tomorrow (Sat.), we go on a whirlwind sight seeing tour, stopping at Tianemen Square, the forbidden city, The Great Wall and the Olympic village.

Oh, the suit case thing is actually a real bummer. The zippers on Becci's suitcase are missing...never to be seen again, which renders it completely useless. So, we're improvising for a few days until we can pick up a replacement.

More later...bye for now.

And They're Off!

2009-02-11T06:55:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe, but it's time to go! We get on our first flight out of Binghamton Thursday morning, connecting in Washington DC for a flight to Chicago, then transfer to a third flight to Beijing.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers, we'll post as soon as we get settled in Beijing.

Remember, if you want to leave a comment on the blog, click on comments under a post, select Name/URL, and post your comment. Or, if you'd rather, just send an email to:
smithfamilyrocks@yahoo.com

Stay tuned!

A Special Thanks...

2009-02-08T20:22:00.002-05:00

So, I just wanted to post a quick note as we begin final preparations for the trip. For nearly two years now, we've been working on our adoption. Through it all, one person has been absolutely amazing, and that's my beautiful wife, Rebecca. (she's going to shoot me when she reads this!)

Endless mountains of forms...financial forms, applications, home studies, passports, visas... the list just goes on and on. Imagine spending two years at the Department of Motor Vehicles, that's what the last two years have been like for Becci. She didn't always enjoy it, in fact at times she really had to force herself to keep going. It has not been uncommon to be up working on some important form at midnight on a weeknight, with a 5AM alarm clock set for work the next morning, and it's always been Becci to make sure it got done.

Someday, we expect that Aubrey will read back through these blog posts. It's important for her to know that her Mommy worked tirelessly to get her here, that even when she was exhausted, her Mommy never was too tired to keep moving us closer together. Filling out some immigration form in triplicate may not be the most glamorous task, rarely do you get a pat on the back for a "great job on that financial statement", but that's what this "paper pregnancy" has been about, and we couldn't have gotten here with out Becci. I can't thank her enough, and I can't wait to see Mommy and Daughter together. It's been a long time coming, and nobody deserves the joy of new parenthood more than Becci.

We love you...
Jim, Aaron and Aubrey!

Our Itinerary

2009-02-02T21:53:00.004-05:00

We received our finalized itinerary today, for anyone who'd like to play "Where in China are the Smith Family", this will be a helpful guide. Take a look at the agenda for Feb. 15!

Beijing:
Accommodations:
Poly Plaza
Phone: 0086-10-65001188
Address: 14 Dong Zhimen Dajie (South), Dongcheng District, China
02.14
9:00am
Sightseeing Tour to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square

02.15
7:30am
Family Smith goes to LangFang WI to meet child and visit orphanage by car, and then back to Beijing.
4:41pm
Families go to Shijiazhuang by D527.

Shijiazhuang
Hebei Century hotel
Address:145 zhongshan Xilu , Shijiazhuang, Hebei
Telephone:0086-311-87036699

02.15
6:41pm
Take families to hotel.
02.16
9:00am
Do relevant paperwork.
02.17
7:33am
Family goes to Langfang to do paperwork for passport, and then go to Shijiazhuang by train .
02.18
10:30am
Shopping for child.
02.19
9:00am
Sightseeing tour to the Diyin Temple.
02.20
9:00am
Sightseeing tour to the Arboretum.
02.21
Free day.
02.22
9:00am
Sightseeing tour to the museum.
02.24
9:00am
Sightseeing tour to the Tianguishan .
02.25
3:00pm
Get children’ passports.
02.26
11:30am
Families fly to Guangzhou with CZ3132.

Guangzhou
White Swan Hotel
Address: No. 1 Shamian South Street, Guangzhou, ChinaPhone: 0086-20-81886968
02.26
2:15pm
Pick up families with CZ3132 and then send to WS hotel.
02.27
10:30am
Doing Medical Checkup and taking child’s visa picture.
02.28
9:30amm
Sightseeing tour to Chen family’s Temple .
03.01
2:30Pm
Sightseeing tour to Yuntai park.
03.02
9:00am
Guide goes to American Consulate to hand in family’s document.
03.03
3:00pm
Families go to American Consulate for interview and get visas.
03.04
11:45am
Send family #1 away with CA1352, and arrive into Beijing at 2:45pm.

Aaron, the family Rockstar

2009-02-02T21:37:00.003-05:00

For anyone who hasn't seen it, Aaron had the most amazing Halloween costume this year. He wanted to go as a rockstar, and his favorite band is AC/DC, so he went as Angus Young. The costume was a huge hit and even won Judge's Choice at his boy scout pack meeting. Well, Becci decided to enter his photo in a contest for The Woodstock Trading Company, a cool music/t shirt site. Well, he won and is featured on their newsletter, both in print and on the web.

Here's the caption:

NEW LIL ROCKER CONTEST: 4-6 YEAR OLDS Meet Aaron. He's our first Lil Rocker winner for the 4-6 yr age group.
Enter your Lil Rocker dressed in "Rock & Roll" gear for rockers 4-6 years of age. We will notify winners every month and will use our age categories for 3 months. (Next groups: 7-9 year olds.)

That's our boy!

The Red Thread

2009-01-24T22:37:00.003-05:00

One of the most consistent and reassuring themes that we've encountered along the way during our adoption journey is the legend of the red thread. The legend goes:

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,regardless of time, place, or circumstance.The thread may stretch or tangle,but it will never break."

Though originally told in regards to the relationship between man and woman, the red thread has become popular among the community of adoptive parents of children from China.

The red thread is an beautiful way to visualize complex and wonderful feelings that come with adoption. We had viewed the profiles of several other children during this process, all beautiful children, all in need of a family, yet the connection wasn't there. Then, one day, we open an attachment to an email and there she is...our daughter, no doubt.

Every other adoptive family we've had the pleasure to meet or read about has expressed a nearly identical experience..."when we saw him/her, we knew".

We love Chen, every bit as much as if we were waiting for her to be born next month. With the same certainty that we knew we loved Aaron, we already love this little girl. We take pride in the little we know about her accomplishments, cheering as we read about her independent streak, we feel sorrow for the sadness she has endured in her life to this point and we rejoice in the love that we have deep in our hearts for her.

So is there really a Red Thread beyond all the Red Tape? We certainly think so!

A Hug from God

2009-01-20T14:10:00.004-05:00

As part of our journey to Chen, we've had to face some obstacles, not the least of which has been financial. We decided early on that the cost, while steep, mattered very little. We're not ones to place too much emphasis on having the biggest house (as anyone who's visited us can attest!), or the fanciest cars, etc., so with some creative juggling, we knew we could find a way.

Recently, we began the process of applying for grants to help offset the cost of travel and fees. There are some wonderful organizations out there that exist to offer help to families like ours. Whether we are approved for any funding or not remains to be seen, but just today we received a most generous gift.

Upon hearing of our quest for funding, the Athens United Methodist Women have contributed to the cause with a cash gift. This was a most unexpected and thoughtful act on their part, and we are just so grateful. When I mentioned this to Wendy, my wonderful assistant at the studio, she said " You just got a hug from God!"

How true.

If you'd like to help, check out our cafepress store by clicking the link at the top right of the blog. We have shirts, bags and more with the Chinese characters for "Forever Family", as well as the always awesome Aaron Rocks shirt! A portion of each sale will help offset our travel expense.

Thanks to all of those who have supported us along the way.

Our Journey to Chen

2009-01-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

Our Journey to Chen....

We were a perfectly content family of three. We couldn't have felt more blessed and satisfied with our lives. We discovered early in our relationship that children would be impossible and then the impossible happened. God gave us Aaron. The pregnancy was scary but beautiful. Aaron brings great joy to our life. Long ago, however, a seed was planted in my heart to adopt some day. I'm not sure where it came from but it came to life the more I watched Aaron playing alone. Don't get me wrong, its great being Aaron's playmate but its not the same for him. He began asking and then our hearts began longing. We researched many options to adopt. China seemed to fit our desires the best. And so it began... the exciting yet annoying archeology of our life. Digging up every major and minor piece of our life to compose a story of our ability or inability to be parents. We even combed the pages of Adoption For Dummies to make sure we didn't miss anything that we should be prepared for. We reviewed the costs of many agencies and their overall reputation for success. I literally had to take days off of work to spend time gathering information to prove we were who we said we were. The home study was a strange series of events that left us wondering if we were forcing our destiny where God did not want us to go. Sure, we enjoyed having the opportunity to talk about ourselves and how wonderful our family is and show off the tiny little house we have worked so hard at making comfortable and fun, but we had everything stop when our 1st social worker got fired. Then we had to find another social worker. He was fine except he kept misplacing our paperwork. Upon completing our home study in Oct 07 (we started it all in Jan 07) he informed us that his office was closing and he was out of a job! Our home study was going to be "sitting in a box somewhere." China received our dossier (that's all that paperwork in a small manila envelope) and filed it away December 25th, 2007 where it was not going to even be looked at again until 3-6 years later. We had no idea it would take that long. When we started, the referral time was 18 months. We waited and waited and decided to pursue a special needs child as this was originally what we had planned anyway but our home study agency encouraged us not to. July 19, 2008 we got a call and email with a profile of a child. I tried to open it at work but it wouldn't work. Jim had already seen it but was waiting for my response. It took no more than a second to fall in love. She is beautiful! We had reviewed other children's files but did not have this feeling. We hoped we would. We knew it was meant to be. I was surprised and nervous about Jim's reaction to her special need but he was so excited that I knew she was right for us. Chen was born with a congenital arm deficit of her left arm. It is a small appendage that is approximately 1-2 inches below where her shoulder is. It appears to have a small finger on it. Aaron's reaction was more of my worry. His first words were "OH my goodness! She's so cute! When can we go get her?" Even in her pictures she seemed spunky, content, but also had that longing in her face. So here we are. Its so surreal. I feel like I'm playing house again. Our lives are ready to change. We couldn't feel more blessed.

An Update...Finally

2009-01-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who has been checking and waiting for an update. Not much happened for a few weeks and then Bam, a bunch of new developments.

The biggest news of all is that we have a confirmed travel schedule. We leave February 12 from Binghamton, fly to Chicago for a plane change and then off to Beijing. On Sunday, Feb 15, we have "gotcha day ". From there, she stays with us for the remainder of the trip, a total of about 3 weeks, during which we'll have various appointments to arrange for her Visa and custody paperwork. We'll have a considerable amount of down time as well and are looking forward to doing some sightseeing while we're there.

In addition to the finalized arrangements, we also got a surprise gift, an updated report and photo of Aubrey. She's grown so much since her last photos, so we were stunned to see how big she's gotten. And of course, how beautiful she is.

The update was loaded with interesting info. She seems to be thriving as the report says that she feeds and dresses herself and even "cuts the nails herself". She is also a big help with the other children, often carrying 3 diaper bags herself.." 1 in her hand, 1 under her chin and 1 more with her teeth. Obviously, this little girl is determined and resourceful, a perfect match for our family.

We'll post more as time allows during the preperations for the journey.

We got the call

2008-11-17T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's official, we're going to China to get our little girl! After nearly two years of preperation and waiting, we got the call today that we've been approved to adopt Dang Chen, or Aubrey Chen as you will all know her, and that we will be traveling in roughly six to eight weeks, sometime around the new year. We couldn't be more excited, or more nervous. Aaron is so psyched to become a big brother and will be traveling with us to meet his new sister.

Stay tuned for regular updates as we know more.