Today we had to prepare for our Consulate Appointment.  We had to get Maddie's visa photo and Medical Examination done.  We headed to the medical clinic around 10:00 AM.  Maddie was in good spirits and enjoyed her ride on the bus to the clinic.  We arrived at the medical clinic and had to go up to the 5th floor for the visa photo and medical exam.  Thank goodness, it wasn't like Guangzhou!  They had an elevator - we didn't have to hike up 5 stories of stairs!!!!

 

First up was the visa photo.  Maddie did not smile, but we got through that with ease.  On to the medical examination.  There are 3 stations you have to go through as part of the examination.  The first station we went to was the ENT guy.  Not the most thorough exam, but she passed with flying colors.  Off to station 2 - the heart, lungs, and abdomen check.  We had to to remove Maddie's diaper for the examination.  Thank goodness! She had a wet diaper and it gave us the opportunity to change it!  One of the other couple's son was a "fountain" when he was check by the doctor.  Station 3 was the height and weight station.  Maddie was 11.1 kgs (~ 25 lbs) and 81 cm (32 inches) tall.  We were all done, so we had to wait for the other families.  Maddie had to strut her stuff with her new "squeeky" shoes.  She walked up and down the hall "squeeking" the whole time.  I bet the medical staff was glad when we left!  We finished up around 12:40 PM and headed back to the hotel.  As you can see from the pictures, Maddie was pooped!  She slept the whole way back to the hotel (1/2 hr drive).  Maddie took a nap when we got back to the hotel. 

 

Bill and Reba went out with our adoption guide Jocelyn to a fabric store and Reba got some silk and cashmere material to have a dress made when we get back to the states.  The store did not think they could have the dress made in time.  We leave here on Thursday.  They had a great time shopping, but I think Bill had melted by the time they got back to the hotel. 

 

Heat.....well.....we are located on about the same latitude as south tip of Texas.  I think we are closer to the equator than Hawaii, but there is not a beach in site.   Melting is a way of life here.  All you have to do is come close to an outside door and you think you are going to wilt.  Now have a 25lbs baby attached to you and can we say...wet...sweaty...sticky.  Many of these orphaned children come with very dry skin and Maddison is no exception.  We are having to constantly lotion her up.  The down side is in this heat and  humidity, she just slides through your arms. Add to it her wiggles and you can only imagine. 

 

This evening, we went on a Pearl River Cruise.  We had a buffet diner and then watched the lights of the city.  Guangzhou has the third tallest building in the world - The Guangzhou International Finance Center.  I looked it up on the internet, it has it as the 11th tallest building.  We had a great time and Maddison really enjoyed the lights!  We also, found out she really likes music. 

 

Tomorrow we have a free day and we hope to go to the Pearl Market and get some pearls.  It should be a relaxing day.  We have our travel group pictures at 4:00 and it should be fun to see all the kids in their Chinese silks.  We'll have to include some pictures tomorrow.

 

 

Today was another quiet family day in Guangzhou.  Once again, no appointments to have to run to, just a quick meeting to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Tuesday.  Today we got up and headed down to the China Hotel breakfast buffet.  WOW!  It was great!  The food was very good and it had a mixture of western and Chinese food you could chose from on the buffet.  After breakfast, we caught a cab to Shamian Island to go to church.  While following other adoptive parents' blogs over the last months, we found Christ Church.  We had a great time and the worship service was very good.  Robin was overwhelmed with the service and cried off and on through the whole service.  It was moving to hear the beauty in the voices as they praised the Lord in Mandarin.  Also, Maddison had the opportunity to attend church for the first time at the age of 21 months and in her native country.  In years to come, both Robin and I hope she sees the greatness of the moment and the beauty of the experience with the Lord.  The music was fantastic and I videoed and recorded some of the songs.  Hopefully, I'll upload one when we get home.  It was neat to see all the young people in the audience and the pastor gave a pretty good sermon.  While there, we ran into our WACAP friends from Beijing (Jason, Kam, and their son Gabe).  He is a youth pastor at a church outside of Atlanta, Georgia.  We really had a great time with them in Beijing and it was neat to find them again in Guangzhou.  They are not staying at the same hotel as our adoption agency, so it was good to see them.

 

We had a little time before church so we wandered around Shamian island and well as after church.  It used to be an ex-pat area in Guangzhou, so it has beautiful architecture and a lot of bronze statutes.  They are great for photos.  A few years back, the place crawled with adoptive parents.  Everyone stayed at the White Swan Hotel and the American Consulate was located on the island.  Now, the White Swan is closed and being renovated and the American Consulate has moved off the island.  The number of shopping spots has also decreased.  We had to stop and get "Sqeaky" shoes for Maddie and a couple of silk dresses.  It was so fun to see Maddie light up when she tried on shoes (the pictures don't do justice).  She was so proud of her new shoes and had to wear them to dinner!

 

We caught a taxi back to the hotel around 3:00 PM.  I had a meeting with our adoption group to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Tuesday.  Tomorrow, we head to get Maddie's medical checkout.  It should only take a couple of hours, and the rest of the day is ours.

 

Each of the children in our adoption group are adorable and very special.  Their true personalities are blossoming.  It is interesting how each is assimilating to their forever families.  Yesterday, Maddison decided to stop responding to her Chinese name and now is answering to Maddison or Maddie. 

 

Well, that's all from China!  Thanks for all the prayers!  Maddie is feeling better and she is really coming out of her shell.  She is going to be a handful!!!!  Have I said that before?  Yes and will probably say it again............she is a live wire!!!!!!!  We wouldn't want it any other way.

 

 

Guangzhou

We made it safely to Guangzhou.  Wow, the heat and humidity is amazing! We caught the 12:50 PM flight from Zhengzhou to Guanzhou and arrived around 3:00 PM. Our guide Jocelyn met us at the airport and by the time everyone got their luggage, we made it to the hotel around 5:00 PM.  Everyone was famished and we met and went to McDonalds for dinner.  It hard to admit, but McDonalds kind of hit the spot!

 

Maddie did great on the airplane.  We kept her up and didn't let her nap on the way to the airport.  By the time the plane took off, she was pretty sleepy.  She slept most of the way from Zhengzhou!  Praise the Lord!!!!  She woke up about 30 minutes before we landed and had a bottle and some food!  By the time we landed, she was in good spirits and was a happy girl all the way to the hotel.

 

After McDonald's, we hit Starbuck for a cup of coffee.  It really hit the spot to have a "Big" cup of coffee.  For the last couple of weeks, a tiny expresso was all we were getting in the morning!  Sure felt good to have a good cup of coffee.  Maddie is starting to warm up to me.  I'm no longer the outcast, but as you can see, she even lets me give her a kiss and a bath!!!!  Life is good.  Well, its getting late and tomorrow is an off day.  We hope to go to church tomorrow on the island and just take it easy.  We have some paperwork to complete in the afternoon, else the day is ours.  Thanks for all your prayers!  Maddie is doing fantastic - she is going to be quite a handful!

 

 

Zhenghzou

Today was another easy day for us in Zhenghzou - no appointments or any places we had to go.  We got up around 6:30 AM to try to get ready before Maddie woke for the day.  We both got showered and dressed before Maddie got up around 7:30 AM.  She has been a great sleeper!  She goes to bed between 8:30 & 9:00 PM and sleeps through the night.  So far she is having peaceful sleeps and hasn't been waking up with any nightmares as some people experience with adoptive children.  This is an answer to prayers!

 

We went to breakfast around 8:00 AM and had a fun time enjoying Maddie and spending some time with the other members of our adoption group.  It is so amazing to see how each one is changing before our eyes.  Kids who were terrified a couple of days ago are starting to show their little personalities.  It was fun just talking and not having anything pressing to do.  We headed back up to the room around 10:00 AM and Maddie had fun playing with bubbles.  Everthing is so new to her and is exciting to see her expressions!  Maddie took a nap around 11:30 and once again slept for about 3 hours.  When she awoke, she was hungry and we fed her lunch.  Did I say this girl likes watermellon?  My goodness, she can't get enough of it... breakfast, lunch and dinner!  Thank goodness for the 3 hour nap, we were able to get everything packed for tomorrow - we head to Guangzhou tomorrow to finish the US adoption paperwork!

 After lunch, we headed to a park close to the hotel.  It is a beautiful park and very peaceful.  There were a lot of older people walking around the park and we had a good time just relaxing and walking around. After the walk we headed to dinner in the hotel at Mama Mia's.  We had pizza!  We are now back in the room relaxing.  Tonight we received Maddie Chinese Passport.   We are all set to head out tomorrow.  Maddie is in bed and we are about to do the same!  Not sure if we'll get to post tomorrow since we are traveling.  Hopefully, I'll be able to blog again.  Gina has been a life saver!  THANKS GINA!!!!

 

Today was a quiet day in Zhengzhou.  No appointments or trips scheduled!  It was quite a nice day to just relax and spend some time with Maddie.  Maddie is very easy to put to bed.  We spend a few minutes playing after her bath and then sit her in her crib and she will play for a few minutes and then fall asleep.  Last night (after the long day at her orphanage and travel) she slept for about 10 hrs!  Robin and I got a good nights sleep!  We got up and took our time getting ready for the day.  We spent a few minutes on Skype with my folks and brother back in Idaho.  They really enjoyed seeing Maddie.  After that, Robin and Maddie had a fun time trying on bows for Maddie's hair.  They settled on a orange outfit with matching head band and flower.  We headed down to breakfast around 9:00 AM and Maddie decided she liked Corn Flakes like Grandma Lockman!  Grandma was thrilled!

 

We headed back to the hotel room and spent some time getting ready to head to a park to walk around.  The other adoptive parents in our group told us about a park near the hotel and how nice it was to walk around.  Before we could leave, Maddie was getting really sleepy....  it has been a hard few days!!!  We laid her down for  a nap and 3 hrs later she woke up!  Poor little girl, must have been really tired!  Maddie was hungry so Robin fed her lunch - noodles and watermellon!  These are her favorites as you can see in the pictures!  After lunch, we walked around the grassy area between the buildings around the hotel.  Our guide Yisha called a meeting at 4:30 PM for us to go over paperwork that we had received back from the notary, so we couldn't go far.  After the meeting, we went out to dinner with our new friends Scotty and Tiffany Chabert from Louisiana.  We had so much fun with them!  They adopted a little boy and he is so cute.  The Chabert's also have their two teenage kids with them as well.  Maddie was so funny at the restaurant!  What a change from a few days ago .... from a quiet child to a wild toddler!  She had everyone in stiches!  It is going to be interesting to see her real personality.  If its anything like tonight, WATCH OUT!  We are making great stides on the daddy front.  I was able to hold Maddie at the restaurant and she even gave me a kiss tonight!

 

Well, that all from China tonight!  It was a great day and Maddie is starting to open up to us.  She is also feeling better so thanks for all the prayers.  Keep praying that she will continue to bond with us.