Spencer talking on the phone

Coming Home

Flight Schedule
29th - Leave Guangzhou at 8:30am flight 10 North West
Leave Tokyo 3:40 pm flight 26
Leave Detroit 3:12 pm flight 285
Leave Memphis 7:30 pm flight 5722
Arrive in Pensacola at 8:55 pm all on the 29th

"Xue and Da Ling sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!" Grace and Spencer are good friends and we are already planning their wedding!! Thought you would get a kick out of this one.

Kim

Nihao y'all! And Merry Christmas!

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Nihao y'all from Southern China. It is Christmas day but it sure does not feel like it. Dad and I have both been very sick since we got here. I had a cold that turned inot a sinus infection and had to start on antibiotics. But we are feeling a little better today. We had lots of paperwork to do yesterday and a medical exam and that all went well. We then had a group Chrismas dinner at a Thai restraunt which was fantastic. Tonight we go on a cruise on the Pearl River. Spencer is doing well. He has not cried again about going home. He is FULL of energy and keeps me on my toes. The plane ride here was fine except he does not like to buckle up and he keeps asking to go potty (I think only to flush the toilet) So hopefully the long flights home he will be OK. Our coordinator told me that Spencer's foster Mom called the night that we left and apologized for being so upset when we met her. She felt that she ruined our visit. She did not. She wants me to come to her house next August for the Olympics and watch the soccer games which are in Shenyang. They were very sweet and I wished that I could have talked with them more. I do not blame her for being so upset. I was very emotional myself. I thank her for loving him as much as I do and taking care of him and I will always tell him about her. Any way, I hope you are all having a great Christmas and talk to you soonb. Kim and Spence

pictures

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Friday

Friday we went to get our passport photos at the police station. Remember how I mentioned that we were lucky to have avoided any accidents? You guessed it. We had a fender bender at the police station but it was minor. Then 15 minutes later a car slammed on brakes in front of us and our driver had to lock his up. Yipes! We all went flying as there are no seat belts but we were all OK. We then went to Beiling Park and skated on the pond on these little wooden sleds. It was so much fun and Spencer loved it. The snow was powdery and Spencer and Gracelyn got in a snowball fight. Unfortunately we all have terrible colds now. The smog was so bad yesterday. Spencer has a cough that kept him awake most of the night. I only had a few hours. Every inch of my body is in pain. I think even my hair hurts!! I gave Spencer cough medicine but it has done nothing to relieve it. We leave for Guangzhou today so I am worried about how he will handle the flight and the bathroom. He reuses to sit on a potty. We will see. Kim

Thursday

Thursday we went to the orphanage. Spencer and Gracelynn were both talked to about we were just visiting to pass out candy for their friends. They were both happy about that. When we got there I was told that Spencer's foster family was there and wanted to meet me. I decided that if it meant that much to them then it would be OK. Other wise they would watch from somewhere we could not see them. We went and passed out candy to some children and then went to Spencer's room. We met the Foster family there. They were both so gracious. The Father was very proud of Spencer. He asked us to come to his home but I thought that would be too confusing. The foster Mom was sobbing the whole time and we hugged each other. Of course you know I was crying too. Spencer cried for just a second I think mostly to being overwhelmed at seeing them. But he was happy. Then we were trying to see Spencer's bedroom and the other rooms and the whole time the Foster Mom was trying to hold Spencer and pull him towards her. I did not want to fight over him so I let him go but I was so uncomfortable. I wondered what all he was thinking. Then we heard Gracelynn crying about saying goodbye to her Nanny so I made eye contact with the other family motioning that we should leave. They were thinking the same thing. When we got outside the Foster Mom hugged him one more time and Spencer looked at me and waived goodbye to me. That almost broke my heart but I knew that he loves her. He did not get upset when she handed him to me. To be honest, I think that Spencer really has no idea what is going on. He is just going with the flow. The first couple of days he was so happy but since then I find him zoning out and becoming quiet. Yesterday he pulled me to the hotel door and said something about going home. I told him no and he cried and cried. I believe he is very home sick. I will post picture from the orphanage visit soon. Oh, one thing was that the nannies in Spencer's room made him a sail boat out of wood and it has his name on it. Really neat!

On a funny note I bought Spencer some tennis shoes that light up. He loves them and keeps checking that they are lighting up. He put them at the side of his bed when we went to sleep but I noticed he kept looking down to make sure they were there. So I put them by his pillow so he could see them. He puts them there every night now. :-)

Wednesday

Wednesday was supposed to be touring of a forbidden city but with Spencer's fever we opted out of that. Also the couple traveling with us, their little girl was having a terrible case of constipation and was hunched over in pain. She is better now. She is 3 years old as well and she and Spencer are friends from the orphanage so that has been helpful. She is quite stunning! Her parents are terrific and I am so glad we all have traveled together. The dad is a musician and he brought Spencer a harmnonica which he rarely puts down. Spencer also drums on everything. He find either pencils or chopsticks and drums. He says nihao (hello) or zhigen (goodbye) to everyone he sees. Including his own reflection. He touches everything. Everthing in the room has been investigated and moved. I find something new on the top of the lamp everyday. He insists on helping the cleaning lady make up the beds. He pushes every button in the elevator. He turns the lights on and off. He picks up the phone and pretends to talk to someone on the other end. Basically he is a 3 year old boy! He slipped in the bathroom on the wet floor and bumped his head so now if he sees any water on the floor he announces that to me and grabs a towel to wipe it up. I had to go do paperwork the other day and was gone for just about 15 minutes and while I was gone my Dad said he waited at the door pulling on the handle. He had a huge smile when I returned. So I try not to leave his sight if possible. He has trouble eating. He gets choked easily. It may have something to do with his palate and I will have to see about it when I get home. He will be eating watermellon and get choked. Rice or anything will choke him. It happens at least 3 times per meal. Part of it is that he shoves so much food in his mouth. That has tapered down now. The first meal we had he ate his food, my food and part of dads. We keep telling him to slow down. he will get on to Gracelynn if she does not finish her plate. He loves dumplings, bean curd, tomatoes, watermellon and french fries. He does not like shrimp. Bu Yao! He has flat out refused me on brushing his teeth. He cried and stomped his feet and told my Dad I was trying to make him brush his teeth. My Dad told him to mind me and he looked so defeated and just sobbed. He will not let me put the tooth brush near his mouth. He took the tooth brush out of my hand and threw it. Yelling Bu Yao the whole time. That means Don't like. I find out yesterday that he has never had he teeth brushed. I wonder if he does not like people touching his mouth. He will not let me put chapstick on his lips either.

Times is getting short so I might have to finish later. Kim

Tuesday

I am posting each day to catch y'all up. Tuesday was paper work. LOTS of paperwork. The notary was there. The adoption office is located on the 6th floor of a hotel. He did the paperwork and asked us to review it before he gave it a serial number. I did. After he sealed it my representative from our agency noticed the additional 4 digits at the end of my zip code and questioned that. I tried to explain what they were for although it does not even make sense to a US citizen what they are for so it took a while as to why it was there. I never gave them the 4 digits as I would not even know what they are. I assumed it was on everyones which is why I did not question it. A huge heated discussion started between our rep and the notary as he said Guangzhou my have issue with it. So he was mad at me for not noticing and had to call in for another serial number and reissue our adoption certificate. Those darn 4 digit codes are going to haunt me forever and my coworkers know what I am referring to here! :-) Anyway it made for a long day as we then missed our Police station appointment for Spencer's passport photo. The businesses close at noon for lunch and do not reopen until 1:30. So we had to go back at 1:30 and wait in line with 700 other people waiting to get some type of photo. Fortunately we were ushered ahead of everyone else. We did have lunch with the orphanage director who is a wonderful lady. Very professional and polite. She knows each of the children personally. She gave me a gift from the orphanage. One was a certificate that thanked us for our donation and what it would do for the children in the orphanage. The other was a purple crystal that was heart shaped and engraved with the orphanage name and also a pouch of dirt from the orphanage so Spencer will always know where he came from. That night Spencer woke up with a fever but has not had one since. he does have a cold though.

Kim

Update!

Ok, I have been scolded for not posting to the blog but bonding time has been priority. I only try to get on the computer when Spencer is sleeping and that is only when I am sleeping. He does not like his naps. He say Bu lei!! Not tired! So I will try to recap each day...
Monday - I mentioned I think that he came right to me and called me mama. The director of the orphanage brought us a large package with the photo album we sent him along with the toy we set and camera. She also had a cd of photos from the orphanage that the nannies took. A notebook with all of his reports in it, mostly medical I think as it is all in Chinese. (Linda you have a huge job translating to do when I get back) Also all of his artwork. And then a surprise. He had a foster family that he stayed with on the weekends. They sent a large photo albulm of the sweetest pictures on Spencer. They must be wealthy as the house was all in antique chinese arcitecture and decoration. Even a Chinese warrior suite standing up in the living room. Any way Spencer looks like a little emporor in these photos. They also sent their contact information including an e-mail address. I found out that Spencer is called Da Ling. Pronounced dahling which sounds like darling. It means Big Ling. he is a hoss for sure. And he is all boy. Runs, kicks hands on the hips,walks like a boy and even hocks and spits a loogie (I am working on curbing that one as he spit one on my breakfast plate the other morning) When we got to the hotel room he had fun playing with his toys and that night he slept with me and insisted on sleeping on me actually. He stared at my face and wiped my hair from it and rubbed his hands all over my face like he was studying it. I said wa ai ni which is I live you and he said it back and kissed me. How sweet is that?

A New Day Has Come

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Yesterday was wonderful. Spencer walked in the room and saw me and smiled. I kneeled down for him to come to me and he ran to me and immediately wanted the Mickey Mouse I brought for him. I picked him up and he patted me on the chest and said Mama! He is such a sweet boy and a happy boy. He is so full of energy but in the curious way. He wants to check out eveything. I am off to do paper work now but will post more when I have more time. Kim and Spencer

Pictures from Beijing

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Dec 15 - Today we arrived in Shenyang. It is even more cold than Beijing. The traffic is rediculous. Apparently the traffic rules are really just a suggestion. We managed to escape about 10 fender benders on the way to the hotel. The Intercontintal Hotel is fantastic! Very upscale. Tomorrow I meet Spencer for the first time. Please pray that he is able to handle it. To think how brave a 3 year old has to be to trust us. No 3 year old should have to think of the things he has to. I wonder if he is as nervous as me! I will send pictures as soon as possible. I meet him at 9:00 am which is 7:00 pm Sunday, Pensacola time. Kimmy

Great Wall today

Dec 14th - We received a call in the middle of the night that our luggage had arrived and the airport was sending it over to the hotel for us. So I am thrilled for that. Today the last of the families in our group arrived and we went to the forbidden city and the Great Wall. I bought a coat last night so I did not freeze today. There was some snow on the Great Wall. We had a great time. We also went by the Olympic stadium to see how that was progressing. We were given our instructions for tomorrow and we met our guide Lina. She is from Liaoning and knows Shenyang well. We pack up and leave for the airport at 10:30 am and the flight to Shenyang is only about an hour. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow as I may have more time. Today's schedule was realy tight. Talk to you tomorrow! Kimmy

Pictures form today

Temple to Heaven and Hutong tour today

Today we went to the Temple to Heaven and then a hutong tour and had tea with a family that lives in one. Great fun. Guess what? It is colder than a well diggers butt here! There is snow on the ground. I have great families that I am traveling with. Great personalities and we are having a great time. Several of the families have taken pitty in our no luggage situation and have asked us to come shop their luggage for things to wear. So I have had makeup and hair products from Jeanie and a coat to wear from Sandi. Thanks so much as I was freezing all day! Went to a Carrefour tonight and bought a jacket and other essentials. I did find out that my luggage has been seen in Tokyo today!! That is a good sign that it may show up. Today we also visited a pre-school and the 3 year old class sang us songs. Too precious! Hopefully I will have pictures soon. Tomorrow is the great wall so I will post more then. Love ya! Kimmy

We are here! Luggage is not!

We made it here after a terrible day of plane issues. Mechanical delay in Pensacola made us miss our flights. They rerouted us through another city but of course the luggage did not make it. I did get on the flight to Tokyo in business class since that is all they had. My Dad had to sit in the back of the plane. Anyway, I will tell more later when I get a converter as mine is in my luggage along with everything else I own. Let's hope it makes it here soon.

Kimmy

When Love Takes You In

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Flight from Pensacola cancelled!

Today we arrive at the airport at 4:30 am only to find that our flight has been cancelled due to fog. Interesting that Delta, Continental and United were boarding as normal but Northwest was affected by the fog. They could not get us on any other flights today so we are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning at the same time. Cross your fingers that the fog lifts. Kimmy - ps - travel insurance comes in handy :-)

Picture of Spencer in Reuters!

I received an e-mail yesterday from a woman who found this picture while browsing Reuters photos. http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1143
When you go to this link find picture number 12 of 55. It is a picture of several little boys sitting on potties all in a row. The 2nd from left is Spencer!!! It was taken in May of 2007. Kim

I transformed us into elves today!

This was silly so I had to post it! Go to this link to see us as elves.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9633729620

Kimmy

Itenarary for travel

Here is our itenary:
12/11/07 Leave for Beijing with stops in Memphis, Detroit, Tokyo then Beijing
12/12/07 arrive in Beijing at 9:55 PM
12/13/07 Tour the Summer Palace
12/14/07 Tour the Temple to Heaven and a Houtong Tour
12/15/07 Tour Great Wall/Tienemen Square, Forbidden City
12/16/07 Fly to Shenyang. Liaoning
12/17/07 GOTCHA!!!!!!!
12/18/07 Adoption for Spencer
12/19 and 20th Free day -
12/21/07 - complete paperwork
12/22/07 - fly to Guangzhou
12/23/07- free day
12/24/07 - medical exam
12/25/07 - CHRISTMAS!!!!!
12/26/07 - American Consulate Appointment
12/27/07 - Take the Oath at the Consulate and fairwell dinner
12/28/07 - start packing
12/29/07 - fly home, stops in Tokyo,Detroit, Memphis and arrive in P'cola at 8:55PM

All about Shenyang!

Spencer's birth place is Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province. It borders North Korea and Inner Mongolia. Population is 7.2 million. The primary ethnic group is Han Chinese but Shenyang is also greatly influenced by the Manchu, Mongolian and Korean ethnic groups. Archaeological findings show that human beings resided in present day Shenyang as early as 7,200 years ago. WOW!

Still Waiting.....

I still have not received travel approval from China. I hope to get it this week. The longer it takes the more my plane tickets are going to cost and the more likely I will be spending Christmas in China. I really didn't want to spend Christmas away from Peyton but on the flip side I would be spending it with Spencer. Anyway, to pass the time I am posting some facts about Shenyang, my baby boy's birth place. Kimmy

LOA Received on 11/01/07

We received our Letter of Acceptance from China on 11/01/07. We signed it immediately and it is already back in Children's Hope's hands. If the process unfolds normally we would expect to receive travel approval in 4 weeks and leave 2 -4 weeks from that date. Christmas holidays are definitely going to play a roll in when we leave. Keep your fingers crossed it is before Christmas. Kimmy

Check out my Slide Show!

Chicago trip

Pensacola Seafood Festival

Sunday we went to the Seafood Festival and it was so HOT and HUMID! Peyton and I met up with Jen and her son Kyle. We had fun despite the heat. I think the highlight for Peyton was when it rained cats and dogs on us right before we left. She laughed all the way home about the wind blowing the umbrella out of her hands and I had to chase it! I am glad I could entertain her!

Autumn Moon Festival Pensacola

We went to the Autumn Moon Festival Saturday with the local Chinese Americans group. We had a good time and Peyton realy enjoyed the Moon Cakes!!

The wait continues....

I am 6 months into my paper chase now. In the adoption community I am what we call "paper pregnant". Funny thing is that I should travel in December if all goes well and that will make my total wait time 9 months! So it really is like being pregnant (except I can still see my toes!!)

I should get another picture soon!

 
There are a couple of adoptive parents who will be traveling to Shenyang in November who offered to take a picture of Spencer for us. One little boy being adopted on that trip is one of Spencer's class mates. I am hoping to keep in touch with this family so Spencer and him can stay in touch.

Referral picture

 

My little Chairman Mao!

Happy 3rd Birthday my baby boy!

"Sheng Ri Kuai Le, Sheng Ri Kaui Le, Happy Birthday dear Spencer, Sheng Ri Kaui Le" Mommy loves you and thought of you all day.

visitor map

Official Log In Date 08/15/07

We were notified by our agency, Children's Hope International, that our official log in date was the 15th of August. For special needs adoption the time frame between log in and travel is usually 4 months. That makes it likely that we will travel in December. Due to the holidays it may be January though. Cross your fingers that we get to go in December!!