We're Home!

It took about 22 hours from the time we left the White Swan in Guangzhou to when we walked through our front door at 7:00 p.m. this evening.

Matthew got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa Buettner, Grandpa Sieling, and Uncle Mike. It is so good to be home.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this process. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives.

All our love,

Wendy, Rob, Abby, and Matthew

We're On Our Way...

A Quote from Matthew: "That's it! I'm done- let's go home!"

We will be heading from our hotel tomorrow morning at 7:15 am. It will be a long day with a flight from Guangzhou to Beijing and then a 5 hour layover. Then the long flight back to Chicago and finally the van ride to Milwaukee. We estimate we should get home around 8:00pm on Thursday! Yea! We are so excited!

Thanks for taking the journey with us. I know it might not make sense, but having the blog actually helped a lot with not being quite so homesick. I also know I got a little wordy, but part of my reasoning is that this is a keepsake for both Matthew and us. So rather than try to do both a journal and a blog - I just did the blog because then the pictures are included.

We will do one final post when we get home just to let you know that we arrived home safely. Then the best is yet to come because we can't wait to see all of you in person. Don't be afraid to call to come visit!

Well, I'm letting Rob post tonight - I know I ended up being the bloghog! :) But he still let me choose the pictures. So I have to explain that this big one shows Abby and Matthew's favorite game. It's pretty simple, but LOADS of fun! Matthew takes his socks off and Abby tries to get them back on. The game often ends with lots of giggling!

It is Tuesday evening and we are back in our hotel room. We just got back from dinner at the Italian restaurant we ate at a few nights ago. We are not being very adventurous this time. We’re blaming Abby. She is the one from China and all she wants to eat while we are here is spaghetti.

We had a cool trip today to a Buddhist temple. Abby, Matthew, Wendy, and others in our group were blessed by a Buddhist monk. At first, Abby was hesitant. She said, “I don’t want to be blessed by a monk. I want to be blessed by Pastor Kris.” But once we got there, she really enjoyed it. We all did.

I’m sure you all are getting bored of us saying this, but Matthew continues to show us new things he wasn’t doing eight days ago. He continues to get stronger, more verbal, and more interactive. It’s really hard to explain, but we are all noticing it. Today he figured out how to open and close dresser drawers. As soon as he becomes more mobile, we will have to be more conscious of child proofing our house. Abby was easy. She never (to this day) gets into stuff she is not supposed to. We think our luck has run out with Matthew.

Tomorrow is our last full day. Wendy will go to our exit meeting. In the afternoon, Matthew gets sworn in as a U.S. citizen at the U.S. Consulate’s office which is a few minutes from our hotel.

Just a couple of things for the class at College Park Elementary that is following our blog.

A correction to an earlier post. The city of Guangzhou is not an island. But the part of the city we are in is called Shamian Island. This island is surrounded by the Pearl River and the South China Sea. Guangzhou is the capital city of the province of Guangdong. A province in China is like our states in the United States. If we remember correctly, there are 28 provinces in the People’s Republic of China. The Guangdong province is a major producer for China. Its three largest exports are automobiles, clothing, and consumer electronics. The way that we have been getting around is usually by van or bus if we are going somewhere farther away with a group. Mostly though we are able to walk lots of places. But when we go between provinces then we fly.

Brewer Fan

As you can see, he is an early fan. Thanks CP for such an adorable outfit. I just don't get why the people from Chicago won't talk to us anymore!

We had a pretty uneventful morning. Matthew let us sleep until 7:00 am. That was a nice treat. At breakfast we found out that Matthew could use a straw. They have this special kind of yogurt that is extra runny and you put a straw in it. He drank the whole carton! Well, all this extra eating is really paying off because we had his medical exam today and he weighs 22 lbs. Granted our hotel scale might have been off, but I'm sticking to the fact that he has gained two pounds in one week. He is also 32 inches long. We entered his figures into a website and he is under the 3rd percentile for weight and at the 34th percentile for height. We are encouraged by the fact that he has grown 3 1/2 cm and 6 lbs. since his report in October.

Abby and I finally braved it and tried out the pool (they only have outdoor). We had been told that it was as cold as Lake Michigan. We decided to find out for ourselves. It was cold....but Abby is such a water bug that she didn't mind that much. The area around the pool is really pretty. There are all kinds of flowers and palm trees and the pool has a waterfall. If you didn't know any better, you would think that you were on a tropical island.

One of the big deals in the adoption world is getting group photos on the red couch at the White Swan. It is quite a feat to get a picture with all the children in the photo and with as few tears as possible. We were able to get Matthew without any tears, but he needed his thumb. The other photo shows the whole group. I know I keep mentioning how different this trip was, but last time our whole group was together in Beijing and then Hunan and then Guangzhou, so by the time we did the red couch photos we knew each other pretty well. There are people in this photo who we just met today, so it's just a different experience that way.

All for now.

Abby the Big Helper

As you can see, Abby is such a helper with Matthew. Here she is feeding him pumpkin soup. Right after the picture was taken he grabbed the spoon from her and she realized just how strong he can be! Tonight we had our first meal at an Italian restaurant - it was delicious! The chef is really Italian. Not sure how you end up in China with an Italian restaurant - I am sure there is an interesting story behind it.

We spent the morning at the hotel with quite a bit of time spent in the playroom. Matthew stood on his own for like 4 seconds. Might not seem like very long, but again huge steps for him. It is so exciting to see him getting stronger everyday. Honestly, he eats like a little piggie, but we let him because we know he can use it all.

Our excitement for the day was going to the Jade and Pearl Market. Inside the Jade market there are over 1,000 little shops all selling jade. It was overwhelming to say the least. Raymond , our guide said to bargain down - to start at under 50% and then you can work your way up to 50% of the cost. He said not to be embarassed to say no and leave and then they might call you back and reoffer. I have no problem saying no and walking away, but it is a little harder when you want Abby to pick something she likes and then you end up walking away. We bought her one jade heart to wear on a string for a necklace. I was not interested in pearls so we went to the second floor where they had other kinds of stones - I got a few things, quite cheap in American dollars and I bargained and never paid full price. I was helping Mom bargain and the woman would not go lower so I told Mom to walk away. Then I felt kind of bad because the woman didn't call us back and then we thought about the price and it was like $3. But you get into the bargaining and then you want them to go for your price.

Matthew was so content all day - he went in the stroller and was happy for the 2 + hours that we were at the markets. He woke up this morning in the best mood and it just stayed all day. He took one good nap - we usually have to wake him up after like 2 hours, so that he isn't up all night. He seems to like his new squeaky shoes and did quite a bit of walking in them today.

We were riding the elevator up to our room this morning and we saw a family get on and they were eating ice cream bars, so we asked where we could get some later. We got off the elevator and then Rob said, "Was that boy wearing a Brewer shirt?" I realized he was and it hadn't even occurred to me for it to be weird- not an uncommon sight back in Milwaukee. Luckily we ran into them tonight again and it turns out they live in Elkhorn, but they used to live in Tosa! It's a small world!

3 1/2 days to go!

Sorry for the view - for some reason the posting will not let me put spaces betweent he paragraphs. :(

Don't Let This Innocent Look Fool You

Happy 39th anniversay to Grandma and Grandpa Buettner!!! We had some ice cream in celebration of your anniversary! Matthew thought it was a little too cold!

I can not tell you how happy we are to be in Guangzhou - for many reasons: it means we are closer to coming home, Abby gets to meet up with some of her friends again, and we are not the only Americans adopting children. It has been good to see the people we met in Beijing and to meet their babies. Then we are also sort of part of this group that arrived last night for events planned together if we want to participate. But one of the families from Beijing (the ones with twins) remembered that we were coming and asked Kathleen (our new guide) to give us the name and room numbers for that group too. Although having our own personal guide and tour guide back in Jiangsu is almost unheard of and we enjoyed it very much, there is just something about being here with other families. Abby was jumping up and down when she saw Maddie at breakfast this morning. They went to a Safari and we were stuck back here to do paperwork. (But it sounds like we got the better end of the deal. Because it was a Saturday, I guess it was so many people that you had to almost just shuffle along.) We now have a "playdate" for Maddie and Abby scheduled for tomorrow.

Today while I was doing paperwork Rob, Grandma, Abby and Matthew went to the Swan room. It is a big playroom that has toys donated by Mattel. We found out something new about Matthew...he can get to where he wants to go. We had noticed that he had no interest in crawling and we had seen him do some rolling and a little bit of scooting. Well at the playroom, he scooted backwards for like 6 feet! And apparently he was fast! Watch out TomTom and Frankie!

We also did some shopping at the local shops. They will give you a umbrella stroller to use for free and all they say is -"please bring it back before you leave." These are things that would not happen in the U.S. These local shops do have things figured out - they lure you in by asking about your baby or complimenting your children. Then they give you something for free, hoping that you will do business with them. We turned the corner and saw a shop called Jordan. Both Rob and I remembered the shop from when we were here 5 years ago. As soon as I saw the shop owner I recognized him and remembered visiting with him. He did both Abby and Matthew's name in calligraphy for free. We did buy a few things from him - such as squeaky shoes (they squeak with each step). They should be an incentive for walking. At other places we also got a Chinese outfit for both Abby and Matthew - we will try to get pictures of the two of them tomorrow. We bought a second outfit for Matthew but he might have to grow into it - but it is very cool with Chinese characters and tigers.

Being back in Guangzhou and at the White Swan has brought back memories for us of our first trip. The White Swan is a 5 star hotel (not a place we would normally be staying!) and the service is outstanding. There is a free breakfast buffet - and let me tell you, the food is incredible. You name it, they have it. They serve both Western and Chinese food. The great thing about the buffet is that there are so many options for trying new foods out on Matthew. He really likes most things we have given him. He is a stinker though - if you put it on the table or in his hands he will throw it to the floor (along with anything else that might be within his reach). But if you feed it to him he will eat it willingly. And if he wants more and you are not feeding him fast enough he will grab your arm with what I refer to as the "pinch death grip" and pull your arm towards him. Rob thinks that since I will be off I should have time to make a buffet every morning when we get back. He's a dreamer, isn't he?

Now promise not to be too jealous, because I have heard that it has been cold and rainy there, but today it was in the 80's and tomorrow it is supposed to be 85. Got to love that - and now it is okay to not have Matthew dressed like the Michelin tireman. He does look a little smaller without all those clothes on. But when we initially weighed him in Nanching he was 20 lbs. We think his cheeks look a little fuller. We will try to weigh him again before we leave. He has also gotten stronger! - his head was a little on the wobbly side that first day, but not anymore. He can also sit up from laying down just by using his stomach muscles, which he could not do. And he can stand and walk (holding on) for longer periods of time. He still loves the glasses game and he is not partial to Daddy - anybody wearing glasses is free game! He also loves my curly hair and luckily does not pull too hard on it. He will imitate things that you do (i.e. he figured out how to undo the velcro on his shoes). And for pat-a-cak he likes to take your hands and make them clap together.

A special thank you to Maddie for taking such good care of TomTom and Frankie! We really appreciate knowing that you are taking care of them and giving them some attention. I think they will be in for a big surpise when we get home.

Someone had asked about the time difference and I believe it is 13 or 14 hours difference so when it is night here it is morning of that same day (i.e. Right now it is 9:15 pm on Saturday, so it would be like maybe 8:15 am on Saturday there).

Okay now to answer the questions from Ms. Koniar's class - quite an inquisitive bunch :)

Yes, there are islands - in fact we are on an island right now - Guangzhou. They do have governors of each province. They also have a president whichis often referred to as the Chairman - the current one is Chairman Hu. I would like to find out more about the schools too, but one thing that I did find out is that education is very important to them - in the elementary schools they go to school from like 7:30 to 4:30 and at the high school level they go to school from 7:00 - 5:15. (Those poor teachers...) Yes, they do have police cars. The cars have the same red and blue lights on the top.

More video

We made it safe to Guangzhou last night. Thanks to Grandpa Jerry for reminding us that our digital cameras have a video option.

We will post more later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_md_t4XkFA

Happy Birthday, Abby!

It is Friday morning and we just finished breakfast. We are packing and will catch an afternnoon flight to Guangzhou, our new home for six more nights.

Today is Abby's 6th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Abby!

We will post again when we get in Guangzhou.

The Truth About Matthew

Okay, so if you remember the report from the orphanage said that Matthew was a quiet boy. Hmmm...today we saw the other side of him (both in excited situations and sometimes when he was upset). Tonight he cried and then SCREAMED when we put him down for bed, which he has not done the last three nights - he always goes to bed and doesn't mind putting himself to sleep. So it is good to see this feisty side of him, because he was almost too laid back.

This morning I was able to lead Rob and Abby to the same "supermarket" that TingTing had taken us too. I don't mean to brag, but I was pretty impressed with myself, because normally I can't find my way out of a paper bag. Unfortunately the reason I took them back there was because our video camera died! I know - we are getting requests for more video and we have no way to do that right now. We ventured to the Orient Department Store. We kind of knew we were out of our league when we walked in and they were all high end name brands. We walked past a purse store called Fendi (I don't know why Rob had heard of this brand before and I have not, but I am not a purse person...) The one purse that we looked at in the window was like 90,000 RMB which is like 13,000 American dollars. This doesn't seem possible, but the exchange rate is 6.8. So when we saw the video cameras and saw that the lowest was $1,000 we decided to wait for Guangzhou where the prices should be cheaper. (And yes we did try Walmart again but no one could speak English to help us and there were not any in the Electronics Department).

Tonight Helen took us to dinner at a Chinese restaurant - this is something we have been too chicken to try by ourselves as the menus are not always in English and we don't always know which restaurants are considered safe to eat at. (i.e. we ate lunch at Papa John's -I think if it was just Rob and I we could be much more adventuresome, but there is always the factor of trying to find something for picky Abby to eat, and we know she loves pizza. She also has discovered she loves the egg over easy at the free breakfast buffet and has one every morning. We ordered four dishes and then shared them (chicken with pinenuts, asparagus, and two different beef dishes) and pumpkin soup for Matthew - he LOVES soup, which will be an awesome way for me to get veggies in him when we get back. He will get excited and kind of bounce in between bites. Some of the items on the menu that we avoided were: duck tongue, ox tail consomme, and stewed sharks fin.

We have learned a lot about the Chinese culture and history from TingTing and Helen. At dinner Helen said that they always watch American movies because they have a happy ending. We asked her about Chinese weddings as there have been two at our hotel, both in the middle of the week. She said that it goes by the lunar calendar and the bride and groom would choose a day based on good luck. Because of Western influence brides often will have a white dress rather than the traditional red. But at some point during the night they will have to wear a red dress.

We are pretty excited that this is our last night in Nanching. We are ready to move on to Guangzhou. It has been a little hard for us to be the only family adopting from Jiangsu province. When we came for Abby, there were 17 families in our group and there were always people to talk with and we could let the babies play together. So we should be able to meet up with the families we met in Beijing - they will all be at the White Swan too. In fact, I do feel a little bad for them as they have been staying there this whole time and then one more week. That is a really long time to be in one place when you are anxious to get home and introduce your baby to everyone. There is one couple here who are going to be first time parents and they are getting twins. I am curious to see how they are getting along. Also in Guangzhou I think they are used to a lot more foreign adoptions - so even though I said we are starting to get used to it, it also starts to get a little old. They do not try to hide their curiousity as they stare and then talk wildly to who they are with (sometimes along with some pointing). They will completely turn their bodies to watch you as you walk past. Today when we were visiting a historical site, Rob who was walking with Matthew in the baby carrier was asked by two different people to have their picture taken with him. I think he felt a little like a celebrity.

A special hello to Mrs. Koniar's class - Thank you for the great note. I will for sure bring Matthew to visit you - it might be a little hard to bring Abby as she will be back in school too. And I can definitely bring some money in to show you, along with some other interesting things that we might find in Guangzhou.

P.S. We come back on the 20th, so we are halfway through our trip and missing all of you like crazy!

Message from Abby to Mrs. Schmid's class 3

Dear Mrs. Schmid's class,

I am having a great time in China. I saw the ribbon dance yesterday. I saw a lake in China. I tasted a candied crab apple. It tasted sweet on the outside and sour on the inside. We have Matthew now. I love my brother.

Love,

Abby

A Walk in the Park

Apparently I must have done a good job picking pictures and posting yesterday, because I got the duty again tonight. And according to the comments and some emails we have been getting we have some devout followers and self-claimed stalkers :) - so I don't dare miss a night.

Today was the perfect day. This morning we had a different guide (TingTing) who took us to Xuanwu Lake Park. We walked along the City Wall and although it was not as amazing as the Great Wall - it was quite a sight to see - it is over 600 years old. And it overlooks a beautiful lake. Then we walked along the lake for a couple of hours. Matthew fell asleep, but Abby walked the whole way! It feels like she is growing up so much on this trip. We are so glad that we brought her along on this trip - she is experiencing so much. At the park she got to see women doing the fan dance, which is a dance that the older kids do at Cricket Academy (the Saturday Chinese class that she goes to ). When we were in Beijing she saw the ribbon dance which is the dance that she does and they were even playing the exact same song that she dances too. That was pretty cool. She has also been using some of her Chinese (hello, thank you, you're welcome, good-bye, numbers, some animal names, etc.). A few times people have assumed that she could speak Chinese fluently and started asking her questions and then she got a little bewildered. But Helen, our main guide said that her pronunciation is very good. I am including a few pictures from the park because my mom has been our main photographer since our hands are a little full. She has done an outstanding job and has taken most of the pictures we have posted.

Then Ting Ting took us to a Western restaurant. Matthew was hamming it up the whole time. He truly is quite the character and a meatball just like Abby! The waitress brought us three plastic dishes for him to play with and he was putting the cup in his mouth without using his hands and putting the plate on his head. He has a great sense of humor and thinks that he is riot. He even snorted once and Rob teased that maybe he was related to me! We think he probably already has our number because the orphanage said that he could feed himself his own bottle and we have yet to see him do that - I try by putting the bottle down and making him pick it up and he will grab my hands and put them on the bottle. If I don't - then he cries. And you know how moms are about that - and Grandma Buettner would say, "Oh no, real tears." Also if you stop feeding him with a spoon or stop doing something such as rubbing his back or patting his tummy, he will grab your hand and put it back where he wants it to be. Seems pretty smart to me.

After lunch Rob was brave and agreed to keep Abby and Matthew back at the hotel while TingTing took us "shopping". Oh my gosh - I don't even know if I can describe the "supermarket" that she took us to. It was like several supermarkets put together, part of it was underground and then another part was seven stories of stores. Mom and I were completely overwhelmed. There was no way we could have found this place by ourselves. Ting Ting said she even gets lost in the market sometimes. It was like nothing I have ever seen before!

Okay last piece of news and this is really for Grandma and the aunties (read ahead at your own risk): Matthew is eating great! We get a free breakfast buffet at our hotel and it has both Western and Chinese food. He LOVES rice congee and sweet corn congee. (It's like a watery soup. The rice congee is really bland and the corn congee is a little salty.) But I don't think he has really even spit out anything that we have tried to give him: pineapple, ham, muffins, bread, chicken, etc. Oh and he had his first (and second) BM today. Hey, I warned you that it was for the relatives - but that is huge news in our world!

Video of Matthew and Abby

Boy, I hope this works. Here is some video we took of Abby and Matthew yesterday.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y2HL25FZp8

Day 2 with Matthew

After our morning at Civil Affairs and Wal-Mart it was nice to just spend time back at the hotel. So here are some pictures we got this afternoon after Matthew's nap. Abby has found that she can be a big help and has discovered that she can be tolerant of Matthew pulling her hair and putting his feet on her shoulders because as she stated: "He doesn't know any better." She has been repeatedly telling us that if she shows Matthew how to treat others than he will learn how to treat others. Abby is enjoying her time here, but is experiencing some feelings of homesick as we all are. She says she misses Grandma and Grandpa Buettner, her two cats and her friends.

Matthew was much more vocal today with some shrieks and squealing mixed in with babbling. When he cries, it is only for a second and then he stops - he likes to suck either thumb to calm himself. He is laid back yet persistent if he wants to accomplish something. He is already showing more signs of wanting to walk today - walked all around Grandma's room and then made me (Mom) walk him up and down the hallway. He shows signs that he wants you to let go, but he is not quite steady enough yet.

I know this picture cuts off part of Matthew - but the look on Abby's face is priceless.

Message from Abby to Mrs. Schmid's class 2

Dear Mrs. Schmid's class,
I got Matthew! I love him very much. Sometimes I make him giggle. I'm having a lot of fun with him. Are you thinking I'm having a lot of fun in China?

Love,

Abby

More on Gotcha

I know Rob already posted about Gotcha Day, but I have to add that we were so impressed with the orphanage staff workers. We got to meet 3 of the workers and the orphanage director. They spent about 45 minutes talking to us yesterday (through translation by Helen, our guide) and then today we went back to Civil Affairs to do paperwork and they were there again. They talked at least another half hour with us today, telling us more about Matthew. The woman that you see in one of the photos was a caregiver. It was apparent that she loves him very much as she kisses him a lot and holds his hand. She made him the overalls that he is wearing and embroidered I Love China on the front and then in Chinese characters put the name of his province and the name of his city. She also made the little red shoes that you can see in the pictures. She said she wanted him to have something to take from China. I wanted to make sure to let her hold him again today, because I could tell that she was going to miss him. They were very open to my suggestion that we could email them updated photos of Matthew. In fact they repeatedly stated that they would be very much appreciative if in a few months time we could email them photos. I am going away from the whole situation feeling very good about the care that he received and they feel strongly with the more attention that he can receive with our family that he will continue to make faster progress. Both Helen and the orphanage workers thought they could see a difference in him in just this short amount of time – that he is more alert and interactive.

He came to us with three layers of clothing. It is the cultural norm to dress children in many layers, no matter the weather, but particularly in the colder months. Now that we know his size we went to Wal-Mart today and got some heavier clothing so that we can dress him in layers when we go out and about. Already today the caregiver unbuttoned his coat to see what I had put on him to make sure that he was dressed appropriately. She nodded her agreement on the warmth of the coat that we had put on him.

He came to us with a bit of a cold so he is now taking a good 2 hour nap. We will post more later.

He slept well

We are leaving in a bit to complete Matthew's adoption. He slept through the night.

Here are some more pics.

G O T C H A ! ! !

GOTCHA!!!!!

It is about 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 10th. We are in the city of Nanjing and WE GOT OUR BOY!

How we first met him happened a little bit differently than what we had thought. We left Beijing this morning and caught a two hour flight to Nanjing in the province of Jiangsu. We landed about 11:15 a.m. and had planned to meet our escort, Helen. The plan was for us to go to our hotel and get Matthew around 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Affairs.

After we got our luggage, we then went on to find Helen. It didn’t take long for her to find us first. She told us that Matthew was there at the airport and we could meet him right now. The party that brought Matthew to Nanjing included the Director, who was catching a flight soon after we were scheduled to land.

So while elated, stunned, and completely unprepared we met our son for the first time. He looked great! As you will see from the photos, he was well bundled up. The overalls he is wearing were made by orphanage staff members. Wendy and I got to hold him for a little while and he smiled for us. We were only able to meet for about ten minutes. We also could not take him into custody until the scheduled meeting in the afternoon.

So we checked into our hotel, had a leisurely lunch, and relaxed until it was time to head to Children’s Affairs. Around 3:00 we met Matthew at Children’s Affairs. We had the opportunity to sit down with two of the orphanage staff members and ask them a lot of questions. They were very helpful and provided a lot of great information about Matthew.

While we gathered information and filled out forms, we got to get to know Matthew a little better. So far we know he has a great smile, he is easy going, and he is a sweet little boy. We also learned that his favorite game is “Grab Daddy’s Glasses Off His Face.” When he is successful at this game, he finds it quite amusing.

Like we stated in an earlier post, this has been a long and strange journey. Over the past two years there were many moments we wondered if this day would ever come. Those anxious times became a distant memory once we got to hold him in our arms. He is beautiful and everything we had hoped for.

Abby is handling the attention shift like a champ. She was sad when the orphanage staff wanted our picture with Matthew, but without Abby. Afterward, she whispered in my ear, “Why couldn’t I be in the picture?” I told her the picture was for Matthew’s orphanage and told her it would be the last time she could not be in the picture. She seemed o.k. with that.

Enjoy the pics. More to come.

A note from Abby to her class

Dear Mrs. Schmid’s class, I am having a great time in China. I walked on the Great Wall. Today I am getting Matthew. I met 6 friends. From, Abby

Orientation and new friends

So – it is only post 2 and it is me writing tonight (to be posted tomorrow) because Rob and Abby are already in bed even though it is only 7:00. Our days have been long and though we are sleeping longer through the night it is not the same kind of sleep as we are used to and we are still making up for some lost sleep.

This morning we had an orientation meeting with 10 other families. At the end of the meeting, our guide put an updated picture of each child on the screen to see if we could identify our child. Matthew was one of the last ones to be put up and as soon as it was on the screen, Abby yelled out “There’s mine! There’s Matthew! There’s ours!” She was elated! At this meeting we also got updated information about Matthew. Just a few highlights: It says that he likes to sleep with the lights on and that he gets up somewhere between 12-2 am to have a bottle. He still takes a bottle with formula mixed with rice cereal which he can hold himself. He also eats a few types of solids.

The update says that he is a quiet boy and that he likes to be held, especially by his favorite caregiver. He likes to be outside and he likes to play with car toys and toys that make noise. (Luckily I brought two of the cars from my friends at College Park – he will love them!) It also said that loud voices scare him sometimes, so we will see what he thinks of Abby, because she can be LOUD! His nickname is Li Li (prounounced Lee Lee).

This afternoon we went to Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven. At the orientation meeting, Abby met Maddie, who is also 5. They were inseparable all day. Maddie kept asking, “Can we have a playdate in China?” They ate lunch at the same table, sat on the bus together and toured around all afternoon together. It is taking time, but we are starting to get used to the looks we are getting to be Americans walking around with a Chinese girl. Maddie’s dad was feeling a little uncomfortable as Maddie is American and the Chinese were curious about her and would want to take her picture and touch her face. At our meeting we learned that this is culturally normal, that because Chinese people are used to living in a country with so many people and not much space, that you have to get along well with your neighbors (a.k.a. not the same concept of “personal space” that we have).

We broke down tonight and ate at McDonald’s. We have had quite a bit of Chinese food and it has all been very good, but I can’t say that Abby has been crazy about it. She hasn’t really been too crazy about the “American” food served at the breakfast buffet either, although she had two helpings of French toast with some kind of chocolate sauce drizzled on it this morning. (Don’t worry Grandma Buettner – we have been feeding her snacks that we brought.)

We are reliving some of our memories from our first trip and thinking fondly of Hunan 8. There are some things that we forgot about – that you sometimes need to bring your own toilet paper and that you might need to use a squat toilet (it’s just what it sounds like). Abby is a pro at them now (with my help). Something new that we learned is that in some older parts of the city, where people might own their own homes they don’t have toilets in their homes, but rather must share a public restroom with their neighborhood. So that would be like our whole block (and probably more) sharing the same bathroom. I guess we would get to know each other even more than we do now!
Well, the next time we post we will have Matthew – we are getting excited beyond words! Get ready for some new pics! Thanks for the comments we have gotten – because even though we are on an adventure of a lifetime it is great to hear from y’all back home. We are constantly converting our watches to what time it is in Americ

Sunday morning

It is early Sunday morning in Beijing.

Like we said in the previous post, the flight was long. The direct flight from Chicago to Beijing was about 13 hours. Abby was a great traveler. She kept herself busy and was a real trooper. She by far got the most sleep out of the four of us. Abby slept about three hours. Wendy, Grandma Sieling, and I got about an hour combined.

We got into Beijing around 4:30 p.m. and got to our hotel about 7:00 p.m. To say the least we were exhausted. We went to bed around 8:00 p.m. and woke up about midnight. Between midnight and our 6:00 a.m. wake up call, sleep was intermittent. Abby and Grandma could not fall back asleep, so they had tea parties with raisins and played games. We are staying in the Peace Hotel in downtown Beijing. This is the same hotel we stayed at five years ago.

On Saturday morning, we met up with about twenty other people, who are also here for adoptions, and began our day of touring. This time around is a little different than when we were here five years ago. We will be with these families through Monday, then we travel to various provinces to get our children, and than arrive in Guangzhou on different days.

With Abby, we had a travel group of about sixteen families. All of our children were in Hunan Province, so we traveled together on tours in Beijing, traveled and lodged together in Hunan and Guangzhou. Most families in this travel group (“Hunan 8’) have kept in touch over the past five years through e-mail, Christmas letters, and an annual reunion. We are the only family going to Matthew’s province, Jiangsu. So we guess it should be pretty easy coordinating reunions for the Jiangsu travel group.

On the plane ride, we met a nice couple from Louisville who is adopting a daughter through another agency. Wendy spent some time on the plane talking with the mom and Abby played with their four year old son, Nate. We will try to connect with them in Guangzhou. We also are getting to know a family from Chicago that is with us during this time in Beijing. They have two little boys, ages 5 and 8 that are entertaining to Abby.

Beijing has changed a lot in five years. Lots of new construction, even more traffic less bicycles, more wireless devices, and lots of lights at night. Our guide told us Beijing has about 15 million residents and about 5 million registered automobiles (Wisconsin’s population is 4 million). Traffic is beyond description. During the week they restrict by license plate numbers who can drive which days of the week.

The tour of the Great Wall was, well, great. Abby was so excited on the trip to the Wall. We were, too. Wendy and I did not see the Wall the last time, so it was a first for us all. It was cooler yesterday (mid 40’s). As we arrived at the Wall, Abby was so excited. From the parking lot, it is a twenty minute uphill walk to a lift that takes you up to the Wall. You are bombarded by souvenir vendors as you make your way up. We also learned there are more vendors on the way down. The best way to describe the experience with the vendors is to say it is like camping during peak mosquito periods. Abby had the best phrase to deal with the vendors: “Whatever it is…I don’t want it.”

But the Wall was worth it. We spend an hour actually on the Wall and Abby had a blast running up and down different sections. Hopefully, we can get some pics posted today.

After the Wall, we had lunch at a tourist trap connected to a pottery/porcelain factory and then proceeded to an older section of Beijing being preserved by the Government. Abby fell asleep on the bus ride back. We could not get her up, so she slept through the rickshaw ride and the tour of the traditional Beijing home.

When we got back to the hotel, we were able to get Abby somewhat conscious and just ate at the hotel. Abby kept falling back asleep at dinner, so we got her in bed around 7:00 p.m. I am writing this around 4:30 a.m. and Abby is still asleep. Hopefully, she will be adjusted to the time. I think we will all feel less like zombies today.

Today we have a three hour orientation and then we tour Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city.

We will try to post again tonight. The tours are nice distractions as we wait to meet Matthew, which will happen tomorrow.

We made it!

Hello from Beijing!

We made it! The flight was long, but safe and uneventful. It is Saturday around 6:00 p.m. and we just got back from tours of the Great Wall and Beijing.

That's all I'm going to post right now. The technology is giving me some problems that I need to figure out. More to come.