Memories for Maelin

Perfect Fit

2009-03-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect match than what God gave us. Rylan, Keelan, and Maelin are getting along great. They have bonded well, and they love playing together. Kala took some pictures last night of the kids together that I have posted below. In some of the pictures they are packing Easter eggs with candy for Keelan's pre-K class. I will continue to post pictures frequently, so keep checking. I hope to get some pics of the whole family soon. Have a great week!

Sorry...No Pictures yet!

2009-03-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Friends and Family,

I realize it has been a while since I posted, and I'm sorry. Let me catch you up as to what has happened since my last post. I appologize that we don't have any pictures to upload yet. I will get some of the kids together and post tomorrow night! :)

On last Wednesday, China time, we had our American Consulate Appointment where we received Maelin's passport with immigrant visa. At that appointment we were "sworn in" as her parents with a large group of other adopting parents. There were tears and cheers! It was a great moment just like the birth of a new child. We were supposed to leave immediately after the appointment to go to the airport and catch a plane to Beijing, but we were informed that our flight was delayed 2 hours due to weather. So, we left Guangzhou at 8:55 for the 3 hour flight to Beijing. We didn't get to sleep until a little after 1:00am on Thursday. We got up the next morning at 7:00 to get ready for the trip home. The trip was LONG to say the least, but Maelin was an absolute doll the whole time. Thanks for all of the prayers. It has been amazing to see God at work throughout this whole process. He has taken care of all of the details.

We got home late Thursday night, and the kids were already asleep. We didn't let that stop us from giving them a huge hug though. :) Friday morning was better than any Christmas morning ever! The kids were so excited to see her. It was amazing to have our whole family together. Maelin is really adjusting better than I thought she would. She likes to play with her new brother and sister, and the feeling is mutual. She let all of the grandparents hold her the first time they asked and was happy about it. Friday she had a doctor's appointment where she got 5 shots and a TB test. She also had 2 large surenges of blood drawn. She cried but was a trooper. Saturday, she ran some fever due to all of the shots, but we had to go to Lubbock and do some shoe shopping for church on Sunday. All went well in Lubbock. We got her some tennis shoes and dress shoes. We also got the girls matching Easter dresses. They are so cute together! She cried when we dropped her off in the nursery this morning at church, but we were told that she only cried about 5-10 minutes. After that, she played with all of the other kids and had a great time. We took her into the church service, and once again she was an angel. The kids have played this afternoon and are really bonding. This experience has truly been a blessing. If God tells you to do something, DO IT! Otherwise you will miss out on blessings.

Pictures tomorrow. I promise!

Daddy's GIRL!!!

2009-03-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe I won't go that far, but I got to hold her many times today! She wanted my approval for everything she did. When she did something funny, she made sure I saw. Wow, what a difference from 2 days ago. Although, she wanted mommy to cuddle with after nap time.

Like I said in yesterday's post, we did not have much to do today. We waited around for our guide to call us and let us know if there were any questions with our paperwork. There was only one little problem. When the guide pre-filled in some of the medical papers for the previous day's medical exam she wrote down that Maelin's special need was that she is allergic to meat. In our part, we said she has phenylketonuria (PKU). We had to go back to the doctors office to correct the form, which took about 10 minutes, and that was it. So, today we had a lot of free time. We played at the park, we walked around the hotel, and we walked through some more stores. Let me rephrase that, we walked through some of the same stores again. Maelin really wanted a little toy cell phone that we saw, and we bought that for her. It was only $1.50. She loves the thing, but I am ready to throw it away. It is loud!

I am running out of things to write about other than we are ready to come home. We miss everyone sooooo much-especially Rylan and Keelan! Maelin is really showing us her personality now. It is so wonderful! We are so blessed. All three of our children really make us proud.

Tomorrow starts the long way home. Rylan, we need you to show us one of your short cuts. We don't have our consulate appointment until tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. After that, we go straight to the airport. Our flight from Guangzhou to Beijing leaves at 6:55pm and arrives at 9:45pm. A guide will pick us up from the airport and take us to the hotel which is about a 30 minute ride away. We will stay the night in Beijing and go to the airport the next morning. Our flight from Beijing to San Francisco leaves at 12:40pm and arrives at 9:04am. We get there before we leave! HA! The flight is about 11 and a half hours. We will go through customs, claim our bags, and check-in for our day of flying Southwest home. Our Southwest flight out of San Francisco leaves at 2:25. We get back to Lubbock at 9:40pm! We are not looking forward to the process of getting home, but we are ready to be home. Denver City motto, "Whatever it takes!" Have a great Tuesday everyone!

The Infamous Red Couch

2009-03-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

The White Swan Hotel has an infamous "red couch" that has been used for years for photographs of the adopted children in your group. Our group consists of us and one other couple, so Maelin is in the photo with the little boy the other family adopted. His older sister who was adopted from China several years ago, also wanted in picture.

Today was a GREAT day! The day started with Maelin's doctor visit. She did great. She never cried. Thanks for the prayers. God is good! We finished at the doctor's office at about 9:00am and had the rest of the day to ourselves. We finally finished all of the shopping we needed to do. Thank the Lord! We ate lunch again at the Italian restaurant. It really is so good. I would compare the pizza to Luigi's in Midland. Yes, it is that good if not better, and it is a good place for Maelin to eat. They have a grilled veggie plate that she really likes. She is all about the food. She eats non-stop. I have pictures of her eating an apple and some low-protein cereal.

I went to bed a little depressed last night because she still doesn't really like me, but today was GREAT! We played a lot. I tickled her, she let me lift her out of her stroller several times, and just before bed she said, "Whoa eye knee-I love you!" I needed that for sure.

Another great thing about today is that we are that much closer to coming home. We have enjoyed our trip here very much, but we have had enough. WE ARE SOOOOOO READY TO COME HOME!!! We miss our children very much! Rylan and Keelan, we will see you Friday morning when you wake up!

Tomorrow will be a pretty much boring day. We have to wait around by the phone for our guide to call and let us know if the people at the American Consulate's office have any questions with our paperwork. If all is good, we have a free day again. A part of me thinks that this process could be shortened, but we can't control it.

Familiar Faces

2009-03-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

No disrespect to the Chinese people, after all God gave us one as our own child, but it was nice to see some "big nose" people today. "Big nose" is the term Chinese people use to describe westerners. All visas for Chinese children going to the U.S. have to be applied for and received here in Guangzhou, and our hotel is a popular hotel that many agencies use. So, we have been able to visit with several adopting families today. The other family in our group is from Iowa. They are a lot of fun to hang around with; we had a blast today. I wish we could bring them home with us as well. Keelan would love their 6 year old daughter. I have a picture of Maelin with their daughter on today's post. We started the day with an excellent breakfast buffet in our hotel. I have a pic of Maelin eating her favorite fruit-watermelon. In fact she is holding it out for me to see with a smile on her face. Then we, along with the family from Iowa, went with our guide to the Chen Family Temple. The Chen family was a very wealthy and powerful family many years ago in the Guangzhou area. They donated the money to build this temple. I have a picture of one of the huge doors below. We also got to see some embroidery artwork by some famous modern artists. I have a picture of a piece of artwork below, that I wasn't supposed to take-shhhh don't tell, that is all hand made embroidery. Our guide told us that it takes up to five years for the artists to complete one piece! After the tour we shopped, and we shopped, and we shopped. We also ate at a very good Italian restaurant close to the hotel. Maelin had grilled vegetables and a fruit plate. She ate very well! She loves grilled zucchini and grilled eggplant. Tonight for dinner we went to Lucy's again. It is just easy to find stuff for Maelin to eat there. Walking back to the hotel this evening, Maelin fell asleep in her stroller. I am going to finish this post and then we are all going to bed. Maelin has her medical exam tomorrow. Everyone start praying now that she doesn't freak out. We were told by the nannies at the orphanage that Maelin doesn't like nurses or doctors. It should be interesting! That is all that is on the agenda, so I am sure we will do more shopping tomorrow as well. Y'all know Kala! Have a great Sunday everyone. I wish we were there for church. I really have missed that! Rylan and Keelan, Maelin still looks at your pictures every day. She is ready to see her guh guh and jie jie! We love you and miss you!

Also, the area around our hotel must be a popular place to take professional photographs. We saw several "photo shoots" today. I included a photo of a girl doing a photo shoot not far from our hotel. She was in a beautiful red dress.

Praise the Lord for Lucy's

2009-03-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

We started the day off in Hangzhou. Again, we had breakfast at the hotel. After that we got in the van to go to the airport. Our flight was delayed after we got in the plane. We had to say out on the run-way for 20 minutes before we took off. Maelin was very good the whole time. By the way, she snacked the whole 45 minute ride to the airport and pretty much the whole flight as well. I think she is going to want to eat when she is nervous. She was not happy when we left the hotel. She knew we were leaving, and it wasn't until about an hour ago that she came out of her shell again. Our flight was bumpy the whole way to say the least. The fasten seatbelt sign never went off for the 2 hour flight. Maelin had to go potty while on the flight, so we had to disobey that rule. I didn't eat on the flight because I wasn't feeling well, but God is good. We made it to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is not nearly as beautiful as Hangzhou, but it is nice. Our hotel is much better though. Once we checked into our room, our guide took us and another family from Iowa on a tour around the area of our hotel. She showed us different restaurants, shops, a convience store, and a place where we can get some fruit for Maelin. After the tour, the other family wanted to go eat at "Lucy's." It is an American style bar and grill. After we ate, the general concensus at the table was "Praise the Lord for Lucy's." The food was good and just what our western tummies needed. Maelin had steamed rice and a fruit salad. Kala had a club sandwich and fries. I had a cheeseburger and fries. Kala and Lori, the mom from the other family, are going to go get massages at a massage place not far from here after the kids go to sleep. I hope Maelin doesn't wake up while mama is gone, because she will scream until mama gets back. I don't have any pictures of Guangzhou yet, but I have a few from the ride to the airport in Hangzhou. I have added pictures of the beautiful medians along the road, and of the stop light. The stop lights count down so you know how much time you have. Great idea! I also got a picture of some of the homes that I talked about earlier. They are 3 and 4 story single family homes. Oh yeah, I have included a few of Maelin as well. Rylan and Keelan, we miss and love you very much. I am sorry we didn't get to talk to y'all on the phone this morning. We will try again tomorrow. Have a good weekend, and be good in school next week! Wreck 'em TECH! Sorry about the spelling. Spell check is not working at the moment.

You Burn...You Buy

2009-03-20T03:30:00.001-07:00

First of all, I would like to appologize to Matt and JoEllen. I borrowed your title and some of your writing for today's post. Today started just as all of the others while here in Hangzhou-breakfast in the hotel. Again, Maelin ate a lot of watermelon. We waited around in our hotel room until it was time for Veronica, our guide, to pick us up and take us to the silk museum. While we were waiting, I was lying on the bed on my stomach and Maelin started playing with my hair. She also tried to stick her hair clip in my ear. OUCH!(see pic below) At 9:30 Veronica took us to the silk museum. Hangzhou is also known to have some of the best quality silk in China. After learning more than we ever wanted to know about silk, came the instruction on how to distinguish real silk from fake silk or polyester. Our "instructor" told us that you can't tell by touch or sight. The only real way to tell the difference is with the burn test. He pulled out a lighter and lit a piece of polyester on fire. It only took a few seconds before it started to burn. The smoke was black. He pulled out a piece of silk and ran the lighter over it for about 10 seconds and it didn't burn. He pulled a few threads of silk off of the fabric and burned it. The smoke was white and smelled like burned hair. He said that is the only way to tell the difference. So, he said when you go out to buy silk, take a lighter and perform the burn test; but, beware "YOU BURN, YOU BUY!" Then, he went on to say you can risk that our just buy your silk here where you know it is real silk! They know how to sell here. We looked through the silk store, then it was time to go back to the hotel. We ate lunch, Maelin took a nap, and mommy and daddy packed for our departure to Guangzhou tomorrow. This afternoon, Veronica came to our hotel to bring us the laundry we had done and fill out some paperwork. We also had her translate the note her birth mother left with her when she was abandoned. This is the translation in it's entirety: "Born on October 4, 2006 at 5:35 am. We name her WenWen. She got a PKU from birth. The treatment a year costs 7000 Yuan. May need 10 years of treatment. She is taking different formula which can get from the hospital. It's better to take her to the hospital again to recheck. We lover her so much. I am a common laborer. I can't economically afford her treatment. I hope you are a loving person. Please keep her, lover her. She is very smart, cute, and a very thoughtful and loving baby. She can go to university if you could control her sickness. Thanks for your big heart." We were in tears when we heard these words for the first time. It was obvious that her parents loved her very much. When all of the paperwork was done, we came back and finished packing. I went to McDonalds to get our dinner, and now we are getting ready for bed. Guess what, Maelin wants to play. She loves bath time right before bed and talks the whole time. We can't understand a word she says, but it sure is funny! (Meme and Pa, we need to borrow your bath tub every night until we get in the new house) After I finish this post, we will be going to bed for the night. We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow to finish the adoption on the U.S. side and get Maelin's visa. We love you all and miss home very much. Maelin told Veronica that she wants to play with kids. Get ready Rylan and Keelan. She wants to play! God bless!

Tea Mountain

2009-03-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

We went to the breakfast buffet this morning in our hotel. Maelin found a new favorite food-watermelon! She ate 6 wedges of watermelon, half of a Mandarin orange, some low protein cereal, and some pretzels! She was a hungry little girl! After breakfast, we had about an hour and a half before our guide came to pick us up. We went back to the room and looked through pictures of family back home. She gets really excited when she sees a picture of Rylan (guh-guh big brother) or Keelan (gee-eh gee-eh big sister)! She really likes the picture of Raider (our pet chihuahua) too. She is going to love him, but he is going to hate her. He is an old fart that doesn't like to be bothered by children. He will be protective of her though. At 9:30 this morning, our guide came to pick us up to take us to Tea Mountain. Hangzhou is known for having the best green tea in China. It is very good, and very expensive. It is known as Dragon Whale tea. Tea Mountain is very beautiful as you can see in the pictures below. After walking around a bit and taking pictures, we went inside for a tea tasting and sales pitch. On the way back to the hotel, our guide stopped to get us some more dumplings for lunch. It was our request. Seriously, they are the best thing we have eaten in China. If the restaurant were in Denver City, we would eat there at least 5 times a week. Plus, enough dumplings to feed Kala and I only cost us $2! Our guide ordered for us and I waited for them while she went to another restaurant to get some rice and bean sprouts for Maelin. Our guide, Veronica, is so sweet. She is always looking out for us. In fact, at the restaurant last night, she insisted on us sitting where they really didn't want us to sit(that area of the restaurant was not being seated in yet) because they don't have non-smoking sections in restaurants. If we sit where nobody else is sitting, no smoke! This was the Texas Roadhouse of fish. As you walk in, you can go by the fish tanks and select the fish you want to eat. I posted a picture of it below. As you know, Kala ordered the duck-head and all. Enough about that. After lunch today, we walked down to the market by ourselves to get some more water and cokes. We also had to get a couple tea thermoses. Yes, we bought some tea. I'm telling you that lady at Tea Mountain was a good salesperson. I offered her a job at Electric Motor Repair, but she turned it down. Too bad, sales might have gone up by 50%. My girls, minus Keelan, are taking a nap right now. Our guide is at the notary's office picking up some of our documents that we will need for our Consulate appointment in Guangzhou next week. That reminds me, we come home a week from today. We are half way there! I hope everyone has a good Thursday, we have. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We love you all. Rylan and Keelan, we miss you very much; and we are ready to come home and see you.

Promoted to Caretaker!!!

2009-03-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

I got a promotion today. Yesterday I was merely an annoying acquaintance, today I get to be a caretaker. Maelin let me help with her shoes, wash her hands, open her Play-Doh, and put on her jacket. I also get to play Play-Doh with her. (I make better things than mommy) She still won't let me hold her or hold her hand, but I will take whatever I can get. It was a huge day for our relationship. She loves her momma. She would not share her pretzels with me or our guide, but she would share with momma.(low protein pretzels we brought with us) She loves to eat! She loves rice, broccoli, congee, and fresh mandrine oranges. She is also a neat freak. I don't know how that will fit in with our family, but we need all the help we can get. She doesn't like to be dirty. She constantly wants to clean her hands and face. She picks up after herself. When she gets tired of playing with the Play-Doh, she puts it back in the containers. I have to put on the lids for her, which makes me feel like a million bucks, and then she puts the Play-Doh up.

We slept later than usual this morning. After we got ready, we went downstairs to the breakfast buffet. There was not a place to sit, and they were out of congee for Maelin. Plan B: We walked across the street to McDonalds. We had packed some low protein cereal for Maelin to eat as a snack later in the day, so she ate that and some of the hash browns. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a good western breakfast. Then we splurged and went next door to Starbucks. At 9:30 our guide met us in our hotel lobby to take us to West Lake. It is the largest fresh water lake in China. It is a beautiful place. We got to see koi, pigeons, a peacock, and beautiful flowers. I took a million pictures-some of which I posted below. It was so relaxing. The rest of the day was free time which we spent in the hotel room for bonding. Tonight we went to a seafood and duck restaurant. Kala wanted to get out and try something new. Well she did. She had the duck. The plate came out with some duck meat and the duck head on it. She ate the meat. Maelin had rice and broccoli. I drank a sprite.(I am glad I packed the beef jerky) Now we are in our room playing games on the bed. She is happiest right before bed time. She has laughed a lot this evening. We go to a local tea farm and museum tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures below. Until tomorrow, God bless! We love you all!

P.S. I wrote more about what happened yesterday. It is posted below all of this, so please read on.

Yesterday...Continued

2009-03-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went back to the Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption in China. From that point, we are officially the parents of Sun Meng Jie-Maelin Brooke Parker. After that, our guide took us to apply for Maelin's passport. First we had to take her passport photo; then, we went next door to fill out the application. Basically the rest of our time here in Hangzhou is just hanging out and taking in the city while waiting for her passport to be processed. We then came back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to visit the Hangzhou Children's Welfare Institute-her orphanage. We were thoroughly impressed! The campus was beautiful with many new buildings and beautiful landscaping. We got to meet the head nanny and the lady in charge of the foster families. We were given a few treasures! They created a book for Maelin with pictures of her and the orphanage. We got a copy of the note that her birth mother left with her. It was obvious that her birth mother loved her very much. We will get it translated and post some of what it said later. The lady in charge of the foster families told us that Maelin's foster family planted a garden just for food for Maelin. They loved her very much. In fact, the last night they had her, they couldn't eat. All they could do is cry. Maelin tried to comfort them and told them, "Don't cry. I will call you!" We were told that Maelin knows their phone number. She is such a sweetheart. We looked in the "protein book" at the food that they had been feeding Maelin all of this time. GOD IS GOOD! They were taking excellent care of our baby. She is very healthy. When we finished our visit to the orphanage, our guide took us to eat. The restaurant had fish tanks in the floor. It was recommended by a friend. Thanks JoEllen and Matt. The food was good and Maelin had a chance to show us her art talents. (She scribbled on a place mat.) Then came the best part of the day-getting ready for bed. It seems that Maelin is most comfortable in our hotel room. It is the only place we get to see her personality and her quirks. She was playing on the bed before we went to sleep and really started giggling. It was great and warmed our hearts to hear her laugh. We hope she begins to open up to us a little more each day. Thanks to all of you for your comments. We love reading them so keep them coming please!

P.S.-Maelin must have had a boyfriend at the orphanage. When we walked in the room with all of the children, a little boy, who has a heart problem, came up to her and started kissing her on the cheek. He kept saying "Welcome back Meng Jie!" Many of the children came over to her and played with her hand calling her by name. It was so sweet!

Worth a Thousand Words

2009-03-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

It is going to be all about the pictures today. The Tylenol PM is kickin' in, so I will write more tomorrow. We had a good day today. She even let me carry her from the lobby to the room tonight! :) I'm not saying that she liked it, but she didn't cry or scream. Huge progress! Like I said, I will write more later. I have provided a caption for each picture. Our love to all!

Getting ready to go to sleep. The best time of the day today. Huge smiles and laughter!

Another pic before bedtime.

The main building at the Hangzhou Child Welfare Institute.

The children Maelin stayed with for a little while in the orphanage. All but three have been matched with families.

Another building at the Welfare Institute.

Maelin's first kiss. This little boy loved Maelin. He kept telling her "Welcome back" in Chinese.

The same little boy.

This is the building that Maelin stayed at during her time at the orphanage.

Concentrating on writing at dinner time.

Just hangin' out in the room.

This is where Maelin was abandoned.

Family Complete

2009-03-16T03:31:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! I woke up really early because I couldn't sleep. Once Kala woke up, we got ready and went down to the breakfast buffet. We recognized a few things: watermelon, toast, and fried eggs. We both got a glass of "orange juice" which was actually warm, yes warm, tang. After eating our breakfast, we came back to our room to gather our things and go down to the lobby to meet our guide. She took us to the Civil Affairs office where we would become the parents of Meng Jie (which we have been mispronouncing all along), or Maelin. I would try to type in a pronunciation, but there really isn't a way to spell it phonetically. The ladies bringing Maelin got caught in traffic, so we had some time to start some paperwork before she got there. When they brought Maelin in the room, they handed her off to Kala. She immediately started crying and throwing her head back. She was not happy. After Kala held her for a while and while I was filling out more paperwork, she stopped crying and played with some tissues. When I say played, I actually mean that she just kept herself occupied to avoid thinking about what was going on. When I had completed my part of the paperwork, Kala had to hand Maelin off to me so she could do her part. Same thing happened-she started crying and throwing her head back once again. Kala finished quickly so she could take Maelin back from me. We thanked the officials and left to go to the store to get a few things for Maelin. Then we headed back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Maelin is trying really hard to understand what is going on. She has been reserved all day. We haven't seen a smile yet, but we expected that. She doesn't want much to do with me yet, but we expected that too. She has kept herself busy playing with some wrappers off of plastic coke and sprite bottles. She doesn't want any of the toys we brought for her, just the wrappers. Typical kiddo! One thing that did surprise us was how good she did during bath time. She cried for just a second when Kala first put her in the water, but got comfortable rather quickly. We are in our PJ's and watching TV right now waiting for bed time. Now for what you actually logged on for:

Rylan and Keelan, we can't wait for you to meet Maelin. We are going to show her your pictures and videos every day, but she still may be shy at first. We love you and miss you very much. We are glad you are feeling better. Be good for Gramzie!

Hopefully we will get some pictures of her smiling soon!

The Stork is Coming!

2009-03-15T03:12:00.000-07:00

Our day started off early. We woke up at 4:45 so we could be ready to meet our guide in the hotel lobby at 5:45 to go to the airport. She led us to our gate for our next plane ride to Maelin's home town, Hangzhou. It was about a 1 hour and 45 minute flight. Our next guide picked us up at the airport and had a van ready to take us to our hotel. During the 40 minute ride to the hotel, we took in the beautiful city that Maelin calls home right now. Kala and I have never been to such a beautiful metropolitan city. I mean it, this place is gorgeous! The wide, curbed medians are full of well kept flowers, trees, and green grass. The homes are single-family homes that are 3, 4, and even 5 stories tall. They look like small apartment buildings. These homes that I am speaking of were actually in a suburb we drove through. In the downtown area, most people live in apartments. These apartments sell for about $250 to $300/sq. ft. Hangzhou is a very wealthy town. In fact, our guide said that this province is known for beautiful, smart, and wealthy people. After walking around today, I see what she means. Everyone here is very pretty. The children we have seen today all look like dolls! When we got to the hotel, our guide helped us check-in. Then we went up to our room, and I'll let the picture tell the rest of the story.

Yes, that's right-a crib in our room! (I think she will be a little too big for it though. We will cross that bridge tomorrow night.) We are excited and nervous. God has gotten us this far, so I know he will equip us to take care of Maelin. Please pray for a smooth transition tomorrow for Maelin. Her world is going to turn upside down.

After we dropped our stuff off in our room, our guide took us to eat dumplings. Kala and I each got 6 chicken and vegetable dumplings and a coke and it was $2! The dumplings were out of this world good. We did dinner on our own, and if we would have known how to order for ourselves, we would have gone back to the "dumpling place" for dinner. We will eat there again before we leave. I hope more than once. Dinner was at good ole' McDonald's. It was our first trip to a US chain since we have been here, so I think we are doing pretty good.

Tomorrow we will meet our guide at 8:40 in the hotel lobby to take a 20 minute van ride to the Civil Affairs office where we will get Maelin. We should become her parents sometime between 9:00-10:00am here or 8:00-9:00pm Sunday back in Denver City. I am sure we have a pretty emotional day ahead of us tomorrow. So, I'll give you a couple of guesses where Kala is right now. She is at the spa getting a 70 minute massage for 52 yuan or about $8!

Just a couple of interesting things we have noticed here in China. 1. Just as you walk in the door of your hotel room, you have to put your key in a slot to turn on the electricity for the room. This would be a nice feature to add to homes. I think it would be much more energy efficient. We keep hearing about unplugging your unused appliances to save electricity, but this takes all of the hassle out of it for you. 2. We noticed that the hand washing sinks for restrooms were actually outside of the restrooms in some restaurants. You walk in, do your business, walk back out to wash your hands and leave. Much more sanitary. After you wash your hands you don't have to touch anything in the bathroom-no door to open.

Below are a couple pictures of part of the Hangzhou skyline as seen from our hotel window.

Exhausted!

2009-03-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

We started off this morining at 9:00. First we went to Tian An Men Square. After that we continued to The Forbidden City. Both were very beautiful. Next was lunch, and again, I din't eat. Then we climbed a little of the great wall. Our next stop was at the sight of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I am falling asleep writing this, so I am going to bed. I have attached some pictures below. We leave out of the hotel at 5:45 tomorrow morning to get on our plane to go get Maelin!!! I'll write againg tomorrow.

Rylan and Keelan, we miss you guys so much. We can't wait to get home to see you. Be good and we hope y'all get to feeling better.

Morning Sickness

2009-03-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

Kala was all excited that our third child would not cause any morning sickness. (or so she thought) Kala got sick during the landing and used the famouse puke bag located in the seat-back pocket. In her defense, the "landing" was more like a semi-controlled fall; but God has a sense of humor. The flight to that point was great. We got a little stiff, but it was better than I anticipated.

Upon arrival, we went through customs and met our guide outside of baggage claim. She had a van ready that took us and two other couples to our hotel. After we checked-in, she led us to McDonald's and Wu-Mart.

We bought some bottled water and snacks at Wu-Mart then back to the hotel. We ate dinner at a restaurant in the hotel-well, Kala ate. I took one bite and that was enough! The China diet begins. My part, try new stuff, and don't complain if I don't like it. We are here to have a wonderful time, and I am going to try and not be negative about anything-including food. :)

Now we are back in our room about to call it a night. After all, we have been awake for over 21 hours straight.

Rylan and Keelan, we love you and miss you very much. We are soooooo sorry that y'all are sick with the flu. Gramzie, we are sorry to leave you with sick kids.

The picture below is the view out of our hotel window.

And We're Off

2009-03-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers! They are needed and felt. We are very fortunate to have the support of our friends and family.

The day started off early in Denver City and we ended up in San Francisco with stops along the way in Lubbock, Albuquerque, and Phoenix. After we got settled into our hotel, we looked for a restaurant on yelp. We found a seafood restaurant that we wanted to try in San Mateo. We took the 7 mile taxi ride to the restaurant, Kingfish. Their motto: "Eat like a king, Drink like a fish." Well, we did the first, and not the last. It was a great dinner. We followed the meal with a movie, "Taken" at the theatre behind the restaurant. The movie was pretty good too-a great way to celebrate Kala's birthday! Now we are back at the hotel to settle in for a good nights rest. (Yeah, right)

Please continue to pray for us and Maelin. We are just beside ourselves--this is really happening!!! :) When we get to Beijing, we will update ASAP. Until then, God bless.

Our Itinerary Is Set

2009-03-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Our life for the next two weeks:

March 11--Drive to Lubbock and get on a plane to San Francisco (a few connections along the way) Stay the night in San Francisco

March 12--Leave San Francisco on a 12 hour flight to Beijing

March 13--Arrive in Beijing, check-in to our hotel, do a little sight seeing

March 14--Tour The Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Tian An Men Square

March 15--Leave Beijing on a 2 hour flight to Hangzhou, check-in to our hotel, check out Maelin's hometown

March 16--Gotcha' Day!!! We get Maelin at about 10am, do some paperwork, and get to know her

March 17--Morning-shopping for Maelin Afternoon-Visit the Hangzhou Child Welfare Institute(orphanage)

March 18--Sightseeing tour to Xihu

March 19--Sightseeing tour to a local museum

March 20--Do INS form and get Maelin's passport

March 21--Fly to Guangzhou and check-in to our hotel

March 22--Sightseeing tour to Chen Family's Temple

March 23--Go take Maelin to get her official photo and get a medical exam

March 24--Give our documents to the American Consulate

March 25--Go to American Consulate for interview and get Maelin's visa later in the afternoon. Fly to Beijing in the evening. Stay the night in Beijing

March 26--Leave Beijing for San Francisco, arrive in San Francisco and change carriers to fly to Lubbock. Arrive in Lubbock at 9:40pm. Drive home from Lubbock!

March 27--Sleep in!!! Yeah right! Introduce Maelin to her new brother and sister!

Please keep up with us on our journey by visiting this blog daily. I will update with stories and pictures. We look forward to reading your comments. Please also remember us in your prayers!

Happy Birthday Kala!

2009-02-13T17:43:00.001-08:00

Kala's birthday is March 12th. We leave for China to go get Maelin Brooke Parker on March 12th-happy birthday Kala!!! That's right, we finally have a date for travel. After over 2 years of waiting for our family to be completed, we will get to see it come to pass next month. We actually will fly out of Lubbock on March 11th to San Francisco. We will stay the night in San Francisco then get up the next morning and board a plane to Beijing. The flight will be just under 12 hours.

Temporary Itinerary

March 11--Lubbock to San Francisco
March 12--Leave San Francisco
March 13--Arrive in Beijing
March 14--Tour Beijing
March 15--Beijing to Hangzhou
March 16--GOTCHA DAY!!! (get Maelin)
March 17-20--Paperwork and touring Hangzhou
March 21--Hangzhou to Guangzhou
March 22-23--Tour Guangzhou
March 24--American Consulate Appointment
March 25--Back to the American Consulate to pick up passport with visa and to take oath
March 26--BRING MAELIN HOME TO HER FOREVER FAMILY!!!

Okay, now imagine packing for this trip and only getting to bring one bag each. ONE BAG-MAX 40LBS.!!! Maybe that wouldn't be a problem for most of you, but we are the type that travel with everything and the kitchen sink. One piece of advice we have gotten is get out everything you want to pack and only pack half of it. Pray for us!

Is there such a thing as good stress? I say yes! All of this preparation for travel is stressful to say the least; but in the end, we get Maelin.

In all seriousness, please start to (or continue to) pray. Here is the list of things I would like you to pray for:

1. Pray that Maelin will have a smooth transition from foster family to us
2. Pray that we will be able to take care of her diet while in China
3. Pray that the trip can be more about bonding-sightseeing than paperwork
4. Pray for safe travel
5. Pray that I stay awake driving home from Lubbock on the 26th!(our flight arrives in Lubbock at 9:40pm

Thank you in advance for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated! The next month and a half are going to be exhausting, emotional, fun, slow, fast, and most of all a blessing from God! Happy Birthday Kala!

Well, More Waiting :-(

2009-01-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

I received an email from our agency this morning stating that they did NOT get our travel announcement in the mail today. That means that the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) did not get it done before the national holiday for the Chinese New Year. All of this means that we won't even have a chance of getting our travel announcement until at least February 5th. Our agency is currently trying to schedule travel 3 weeks after receiving the travel announcement, so the earliest we could travel is now February 26th. More than likely though, we won't travel until sometime in March due to guide availability.

Pros:

1. Our house will be closer to completion
2. The weather will be a little warmer in China by then

Cons:

1. WE HAVE TO WAIT EVEN LONGER TO GET OUR MAEMAE!

It ultimately boils down to God's plan and timing. We are so blessed to serve a God who looks out for our best interests in all situations! So, we will continue to seek His will and pray for patience while He irons out the details.

The Past Week

2009-01-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

The first thing we did last week was sign our referral and overnight it back to our agency so they could send it back to China. Once that was done, Kala started working with an online company who takes care of care packages for your child. We sent her a pillow with a picture of our family on it, a teddy bear, some fruit, and other kid stuff. That company offers other services that we ordered as well. They have a list of 12 pre-made questions that they can send to your child's orphanage/foster home for the caregiver to answer, and they get the answers, translate them to English, and send them to us. We also sent a disposable camera to her foster home for the caregiver to take pictures of Maelin, her home, and other things Maelin enjoys.

We have also been questioning members of our yahoo group who have already returned with their children. We have learned all kinds of valuable information like: Take small plastic boxes filled with snacks and drinks for the trip. Once the boxes are empty, fill them with your purchases from the trip. Don't play peek-a-boo with your new child because "boo" in Chinese means NO! They have given us tips on where to get our laundry done while over there, where the best and cheapest places are to eat, and where to shop. The group is really beneficial, and we are blessed to have them to answer questions for us!

I am sorry if this post is all over the place; I am trying to get it done quickly! I'll update when we know more.

Also, quite a while ago we were questioning Keelan about what she was going to call Maelin. She calls Rylan bubba, so we asked if she was going to call Maelin sissy. She responded, "No, I am going to call her Mae-Mae!" Well, we found out this last week that Mei-Mei in Chinese pronounced (may-may) means little sister! Doesn't God have a sense of humor. It is awesome to see God's hand in all aspects of this adoption!

It's official, she is ours!!!!

2009-01-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

The year started off better than we could have imagined. We got the call from our adoption agency saying that they have our LSC a.k.a. referral. We should travel in late February or early March to go get her. We are so excited! We are in Kermit right now and don't have any of her photos with us, so I will post pictures of her when we get home.

FAQ

2008-12-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Why adoption?

A couple of reasons...First, that is what God said! Next, Kala hates being pregnant, and for good reason. She is sick the whole time to the point of dehydration. Last, with every child we have, there is a 25% chance that child will have PKU. (But you are adopting a child with PKU! Hold-on, will get to that in a second)

Why international adoption and not domestic?

Once again for multiple reasons...First, that is what God said! Next, the laws protect the adoptive parents more with international adoption. I have a friend in the Dallas area that adopted a 9 month old boy from a lady who signed over all rights. Nine months later she filed with the courts to get the baby back--AND WON! It devestated my friend and his wife. After having "their" child for a little over 9 months, the courts took "their" baby away. Kala and I couldn't handle that.

Why China?

China has been running an international adoption program for a long time now. The process is fairly consistent and is not filled with the corruption that some other programs are. We researched other countrys' programs, and based on babies health, process, travel time, and cost, we decided on China.

God or Coincidence???

2008-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

As I posted in the first blog, God first told me we were supposed to adopt back in October of 2006. Maelin was born in October of 2006! She will be 2 and a half when we get her.

From the beginning...

2008-12-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

We are Brad and Kala Parker of Denver City, TX. Back in October of 2006 our church showed a video during the service to promote "Operation Christmas Child." God started tugging at my heart telling me that giving to children less fortunate during Christmas is a good thing to do, and I should; but he wanted me to do more. He wanted our family to take one of these children in as our own. Okay, God has a sense of humor...I knew the toughest part was going to be telling Kala what God had told me. I spent many a night praying for God to prepare her heart for the news. He took care of it. She didn't immediately jump on board, but after some prayer, research, and consideration she was ready to get the ball rolling.

We started by researching the different countries from which we could adopt and there are a lot. After more prayer and research, we decided on China. We chose our agency, Great Wall China Adoption because some friends of ours had used them and had nothing but nice things to say about them. Next step, the paper chase. I don't even want to look back at that frustrating time. It is a lot of work, but we knew it would be worth it. We sent in our paper work on 3/19/07, and it got logged in with the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs on 4/4/07 which is our log-in-date or LID. At that point it was out of our hands. We just had to sit back and wait, and wait, and wait.

As the wait continued to lengthen, our agency started sending out emails with information about kids with special needs who were available for immediate adoption. On September 26th, 2008, I got the email and started looking through the children on the list. I noticed a little girl who has phenylketonuria (PKU) just like Rylan our oldest. Kala was gone to a teachers' conference in Lubbock, so I sent a text telling her we need to act now if we wanted to get her before someone else got her. I was hoping and praying that she had her phone on and within a few seconds, she texted back ACT NOW! At that point, I contacted our agency and notified them that we wanted to apply to adopt her. Now there was more paperwork that had to be done in 48 hours. We got that done and submitted our Letter of Intent or LOI on September 27, 2008. Next we had to wait on our pre-approval or PA, and it took longer than what was being averaged at that time so we started getting a little anxious. It arrived on November 7, 2008 which brings us to where we are now, waiting for our referral or LSC. I'm not sure what LSC stands for.

If I had to give an estimate of when we will travel to go get her right now, I would say sometime in March. We will be in China for two weeks. We are so excited and ready to go get her. Once we receive our referral, I can post more information about her and a few pictures!