We Made It

I can't say our trip back was uneventful or flawless but we made it nonetheless. We almost missed our flight from Beijing to Chicago by underestimating the immigration and security process at the airport. We then managed to leave our diaper bag at the security checkpoint, which caused major panic as it contained Aubree's immigration file and without it she would not be able to enter the US when we arrived in Chicago (not to mention diapers and all her other stuff). After a mad scramble we recovered the bag and were able to board the plane. We had a close connection time in Chicago for our Omaha flight and after going through immigration, retrieving our luggage, clearing customs, rechecking our luggage, riding the train from the international arrivals terminal to the main terminal, going through security and of course having to run to the furthest possible gate away from us at that point we were able to watch our plan backing away from the gate. Luckily we were able to catch the last flight from Omaha to Chicago that day a few hours later. We still have many family and friends at the airport to greet us but the home coming was watered down a bit since we arrived after 10pm instead of 7pm. Some friends of ours from church who adopted from China a year ago were at the airport and they posted some great pictures on their blog. You can find them at http://smithtigers.blogspot.com.

I can not express the joy we have in our family right now as I watch Aubree get to know her new brothers and sisters. Life is good.

Coming Home

Well we are on the eve of returning home and I am out of time. Looks like my blog is current up through Easter but there is much more to share about this past week in Guangzhou, so I will have to try and finish it while I am getting over my jet lag this weekend. It is just after 11pm on Thursday evening and both Lila and Aubree are down for the count. We have to meet our driver in the lobby of the hotel at 6am and depart for the airport. We will be flying to Beijing and then connecting to Chicago and on to Omaha. If all goes well we should be arriving in Omaha around 7pm Friday evening. From start to finish we will either be in an airport or in an airplane for 26 hours straight, but we are much more confident that Aubree will do well than when we first met her. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes our journey is almost complete. I leave you with some of my favorite pictures I have not yet shared and I promise to complete the blog through our return home shortly. I also plan on posting to it periodically for a while after we return so everyone can see Aubree in her new home with her new family. The Peterson family has truly been blessed.

Saturday In Guangzhou

Aubree at her medical exam

She was not happy with the nurses

Ken and Lilly Pacioni with daughter Gia

(Portland, OR)

Steve and Liz Roman with son Lucas

(Pennsylvania)

Gary and Nancy Frank with son Benjamin

(New Jersey)

Peter and Joanne Richardson with son Daniel

(New York)

Sam and Mary Jane Shafer with son Noah

(Nashville, TN)

Our first full day in Guangzhou began by heading down to what was touted as the best breakfast buffet in China. We had been told by everyone this was going to be the best food of the whole trip. As it turned out it was about the same as what we had been receiving in Guiyang only with the added bonus of about 500 people trying to eat versus about 25 people at the Sheraton. So it was basically the same food in a much more crowded place. Not that we are complaining as breakfast still turned out to be the best meal of the day and it was nice to eat with the other families we had first met in Beijing. Our first stop of the day was to meet up with all the families in our group and to head over to the medical center on the island. All the children had to have a medical exam that included a general check up, weight and height measurements, temperature and an exam by an ENT doctor. Luckily for Aubree being younger and not part of the special needs program she did not need to receive any shots.

Next stop was lunch at the infamous Lucy's Bar & Cafe. We tried the cheeseburgers and fries and found them to be not too far off what you could get back home. The place is not very big but they play American rock and roll and the walls are covered with pictures of American movie stars and posters. In the afternoon Aubree and I took a long nap while Lila went down to the meeting in the Holt office and started all the immigration paperwork. We are learning that most days require some paperwork to be completed and most of the reason for having to be in China this long is due to the need to wait on bureaucratic processes. I guess we can feel fortunate we are actually being fast tracked as I believe most people wait several weeks for these same processes. It is also nice to have the time to bond with Aubree and each day we are making more progress. She is even starting to warm up to me a little bit as she now often reaches for me when I walk behind her and Lila. She wants to hold my hand while being carried by Lila...it is very sweet.

That evening we all got together for a group dinner at the Italian restaurant on Shamian Island. By the way they call it an island because it is bordered by the Pearl River on one side and a canal on the other side and around the ends, so it is technically an island although just a few yards separate it from the rest of the city. We all sat together and were excited to eat some great food as this place was very nice. Once again the food was not like you would expect back home as the sauces were not very tasty and we have learned that there is very little high quality cheese here. Everyone had a great time getting acquainted and I took the opportunity to go around to snap some pictures of each family. We had a nice walk back to the hotel and once again everyone decided to call it an early night. Turning in early became the trend not only because we had little ones that needed to get to sleep but we also had tired new parents that were still adjusting to watching little ones all day. Aubree and I had another breakthrough at dinner as we were feeding each other noodles. Lila laughed because she knows how much of a germ freak I am but I didn't seem to mind having Aubree feed me with her slobber coated fingers.

Lila and Aubree playing at Lucy's Bar & Cafe'

Guangzhou Here We Come...

Leaving the Sheraton

(Our guide Michael (left) and our great host Daniel (right))

Aubree's first plane trip

Aubree and Dad's iPod

Time to catch a quick nap

We woke up very excited this past Friday (April 2nd) as we knew it was time to leave Guiyang and head to the last leg of our trip in Guangzhou. We had one last breakfast buffet and then spent the rest of the morning packing. We had learned from another family that had been to Guiyang in the past through a comment they left on our blog that there was a Papa John's in the city. So, we decided that would be our last meal in Guizhou province. I jumped in a cab and handed the driver the name and location of where I wanted to go that was written in Chinese. I paid close attention on the way there knowing that I might have to walk back if I can't find a cab. The Papa John's was pretty similar to what you would get in the states but it was more of a sit down place. Placing my order was not too difficult because the menu was in both Chinese and English. However, conveying that I wanted a pizza with different topping on each half was a little more difficult. Once I got the pizza I started looking for a cab but could not get any to stop as they appeared to all have passengers already. So, I walked further and then tried again. I did get one cab to stop even though he already had one passenger. I handed him my paper with the instructions and he looked at it and then shook his head "no" and gave the paper back before taking off. I suppose he was willing to take me if I was going in the same direction as his current passenger but that was not the case. So, I kept walking and decided I could hoof it all the way back, which turned out not be too bad of walk but the pizza was pretty cold when I got back. We enjoyed the pizza as it was pretty similar to home but not quite the same.

We had a late check out at 3pm arranged by Michael and took all our stuff to the lobby. We ran into Daniel, who was one of the waiters in the hotel restaurant that was very kind to us during our stay. Daniel could speak some English and he helped us a lot with food choices for Aubree. He told us it was his last day on the job as he had landed a better job, but was glad to have met us. He gave us his email address and said he wanted to keep in touch. We took a group photo in the lobby with both Daniel and Michael, before saying our final good-bye. Michael had one last stop for us on the way to the airport. It was a museum that had lots of information about the province and the local area. We learned a lot about the Miao minority, which we believe Aubree may be one. The Miao is one of the largest minority groups in China with about 1.9 million of them in the country. They also are the most dispersed Chinese minority around the world because many of them had migrated to Vietnam and Laos many years ago. Some ended up fighting with the US and South Vietnamese while others fought for Chinese backed North Vietnamese. When the war ended those in the south had to seek refuge in the US and Europe. These Miao people were referred to as Hmong people when the migrated to the US. Many of them still live in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

We then headed to the airport and Michael helped us get checked in. Once again we had no difficulties with our luggage (weight) or our carry-on baggage. I would say the restrictions we were warned about were not nearly as strict as we were told. We provided Michael with a gift and a tip has this was customary and headed through security. Once we were at our gate we were united once again with the lady from Colorado that had adopted the 5 year-old boy as they were flying to Guangzhou as well. We had a nice visit and enjoyed watching her son get excited for his first ever plane ride. We boarded our plane and although the flight was very full, we bought a break and had an open seat by us. It was not a long flight but I had my first break through with Aubree when I discovered that she liked listening to music on my iPod. She was growing much more comfortable with me, but I still had a long way to go. Once we arrived in Guangzhou we had to wait for our guide as he was late to pick us up. While we were waiting I had more progress with Aubree as I was able to make her smile and giggle by doing silly things. (I am sure as a grown man I looked pretty ridiculous but I didn't care what anybody else was thinking, I was just thrilled to be making my baby girl smile.)

We had a long van ride to the Shamian Island to the infamous White Swan Hotel. It was getting late and we were tired so we quickly checked in and made our way to our room. We instantly realized that we had been spoiled by the Sheraton as the White Swan was nothing special. The rooms were very small, the beds were like sleeping on the kitchen table and the bathroom was the size of a linen closet. This place might have been something in its day but it was very tired now. Lila and Aubree crashed and I went exploring the hotel grounds and the nearby area. I found Lucy's Bar & Cafe, which we had been told had good American food so I stopped in and had some fries and a coke. It had been another long day so I headed back to the room. Life was good.

Killing Time in the City

All dressed up for the day

Look at me I am standing!

Work'in on Walk'in

See I can do it!

How dare you make me exert myself this way!

Jiaxiu Tower

The national entrance to the bridge leading

to Jiaxiu Tower

Lila and Aubree on the patio of Jiaxiu Tower

(The Sheraton is the tall pointed building to the right)

The gardens and palace on the other side of the bridge

Lila enjoying a break with the tower in the background

Can a girl get some privacy on the potty please!

I can't crawl but I can do a great belly laugh!

Growing more and more comfortable by the day

On Thursday, April 1st we were really getting tired of being in Guiyang and just wanted to move on to the last leg of our trip in Guangzhou. We once again started out the morning with the breakfast buffet. It was this morning as I sat there sipping my coffee, with my fancy linen napkin in my lap, staring down at a plate of food that had become way too familiar (fourth day in a row), and hearing the player piano playing the same old Elton John song echoing through the five star lobby that I thought to myself this could be the Hotel California. When you first arrive you think you are in paradise and by the fourth day you are waiting for someone to walk up and tell you that you can check out anytime but you can never leave.

Aubree was all decked out in her latest outfit Lila had purchased (I think we are on a pace of about two new outfits per day). On our way back to the room from breakfast we continued with our routine of having her try to walk the long hall to our room. They told us Aubree could crawl and walk but we are very skeptical as she does not appear to have much leg strength and her desire to be carried and held at all times probably means her foster mother rarely put her down.

We got back to the room and started packing for our next adventure with our guide Michael. This one was not too major as he was simply going to walk us down to the city's pavilion we had been looking at from our room window since we arrived.

We had a nice walk down to the pavilion that we learned was actually called Jiaxiu Tower and was over 400 years old. We entered through the national gate entrance and enjoyed learning more about the history of this structure from Michael. We were able to take an amazing picture of Lila & Aubree standing on the patio of the tower with a spectacular view of the city in the background. We then ventured the rest of the way across the bridge to the other side of the river and entered a royal palace and garden. There was a lot of history with this place but frankly neither Lila nor me were paying much attention. We did learn from Michael that the location of the tower, the river, the mountains and the other buildings in the area were consider to have very good Feng shui and therefore the apartments in this area were very expensive. On the way back we stopped to watch an outdoor performance going on in the park as quite the crowd had gathered. We asked our guide what was going on and he said it was a special promotion being put on by the city to encourage the citizens to help clean up the city and the river. The last stop was a local restaurant that Michael said we would enjoy. It was the middle of the afternoon so they were not open at the time but he took us in and showed us around and made a reservation for us. It looked quite interesting as there was a series of small canals that ran through the restaurant past all the tables. He explained you paid one price and then as plates of food floated past your table on small little boats you just helped yourself. It sounded like and interesting experience but neither Lila nor I could imagine that we would actually enjoy the food, so we tentatively said we would come back for dinner.

Once we were back to the room we again sat Aubree on the little potty we purchased at the local Wal-mart and told her "niao niao" (kneow kneow), which means to pee and sure enough she had herself a nice little tinkle like she had done a few time before for us. Yes, at 14 months our little girl is potty trained. We are told she can go number two on the potty as well but so far the diaper has handled those duties We finished the day by working with Aubree to try and crawl, but all she could do was push herself up on her arms and scoot backwards This was great fun though and she laughed and laughed as she tried.

Time to Venture Out in Guiyang

Ready for a day in the park

Qian Ling Park

(I will give you one guess why Aubree is crying)

The gondola ride

Picture from inside our gondola

Don't feed the monkey

Just monkeying around

Entering the Buddhist temple

The world's cutest little sister is wiped out

Another great view from our room at the Sheraton

Okay I finally have some free time to catch up on the blog, so I am going to take us back in time to Wednesday, March 31st. Aubree once again slept all through the night which was truly a blessing. We headed down to our breakfast buffet where the staff was getting to know us by name. Our plan for the day was to visit Qian Ling Park which our guide Michael said was one of the best in the entire province. Lila was starting to have her doubts during breakfast that she was going to be able to endure carrying Aubree all day at the park. After some debate she decided we should probably go as this was suppose to be the best weather day for the remainder of our stay in Guiyang. Michael met us in the lobby and we jumped in a taxi and headed to the outer edge of the city. Guiyang is amazing because the entire city is completely surrounded by mountains, something we are not use to seeing in the U.S. It was about a 20 or 30 minute cab ride and let's just say I would never attempt to drive in China as their appear to be no real rules of the road. We were really surprised not to witness any accidents.

We arrived at the park and saw that it was going to be truly something special as it was really a valley that headed back into the foothills. The flowers were beautiful and there were people everywhere. Immediately, Lila and Aubree were swarmed by people almost like celebrities. The crowd was mostly made up of older women and a few older men. They all wanted to look at Aubree and were making all types of comments. We asked Michael to interpret and he told us they were saying things like, "What a beautiful baby" and "Baby has beautiful skin" and "Baby is very fat" and "Baby does not look like the mama". Michael said he wanted to take us to the top of the park but we need to ride the gondola as the walk would be too long and too steep even if Lila wasn't carrying a 22 pound bundle of joy. Before we jumped on the very questionable gondola, Michael warned us at the top we would see many monkeys. He said these were wild monkeys and not in cages. He warned us not to try and feed the monkeys like others because they would get aggressive and could attack us, possibly biting or scratching us. We jumped on the gondola and headed to the top and began to make our way to the top of the park. When we arrived we were greeted by many monkeys, both large and small. They were everywhere around us, in the trees, on the ground, on the railings and on the buildings. A man was selling bags of peanuts to feed them but we took the advice of our guide and just watched others. Some of the feeding was pretty peaceful as the people would hand a peanut to the monkeys, but we also saw them get aggressive jumping up and snagging the entire bag out of someones hand as well as stealing anything else they could get from the people. They also would come up and grab people by the pant leg and yank to get their attention. This concerned me as I was wearing shorts....Yikes! One lady had a candy sucker in her hand she was about to unwrap and eat when a monkey jumped up and grabbed it from her. We watched as he sat and peeled the wrapper off just like a person would do but instead of sucking on it he just started biting into it.

We then started to descend down a trail through the trees in route to one of the most famous Buddhist temples in the area. We were a little nervous to walk into the forest because the trees were full of monkeys and they followed you hoping you might decide to feed them. We eventually made it to the temple and Michael began to educate us on Buddhism. He explained that this temple was over 800 years old and he began to explain what Buddhism is all about. We saw a burial ground for the monks who had come and gone. Before we entered the temple he explained to me I could not take any pictures or use my camcorder in most areas inside the temple and I certainly could not take pictures of the Buddhas. I did get to take a little video footage inside but I was careful to ask Michael for permission before I did so. There were several structures inside the walls of the temple and most were the homes to one Buddha or another. There was a large cauldron full of ashes and burning incense. There was another large water tank that contained a few decorative vases of varying size inside and the bottom of the tank was covered in coins. Michael explained this was like a wishing well but you had to drop the coins in so they landed in one of the vases in order for your wish to come true. He gave Lila and I a bunch of coins and we tried our luck. Lila and I were quite good at it much to the amazement of some of the locals around us at the tank. When it was time to head back down we found out we needed to climb back up to where the gondola and dropped us off. I was worn out climbing the path back up and poor Lila was carrying Aubree as she still would not come to me without screaming hysterically. We did make it back to the top and enjoyed the relaxing ride back down the gondola. The view was spectacular and I was able to see that further up into the park their was an amusement park with a Ferris wheel and everything. We had enough though so we decided to head back to the hotel. On the way out their were groups of school kids (probably middle school aged) all decked out in their school uniforms. I got the camcorder out and started to take video of them. They all got really excited and started to smile, wave and were saying "Hallo", "Hallo", "Hallo"...it was very cute.

Once back to the hotel Aubree was ready for a nap so we put some comfy clothes on her and she cashed out on the bed. It had been another long day for all of us so we relaxed before grabbing a late dinner and we all turned in early.

Happy Easter!!!

Chocolate!

Thank you Easter Bunny

What do you mean I can't eat the chocolate?

Our church away from home

Easter morning in Guangzhou

My very first Easter service

Little did we know services would last 2 hours!

Happy Easter

God Bless You

The news that Christ has risen is alive and well here in Guangzhou China. Well once again I have fallen behind on my blogging duties but instead of trying to catch you up in chronological order I thought I would post about our Easter morning here. We woke up this morning and found that the Easter bunny had paid a visit to our room. Aubree had a new outfit, some chocolates (we are letting her know that you can actually eat them as it would not be good for her at this age) and a special Barbie doll that is holding a little Chinese baby girl with a little sign that says "Going Home". We took a moment to make a Skype call back home to say Hi to the kids and grandma has we wanted to be the first to wish the a Happy Easter. We were very happy to hear that they all carried out the family tradition of coloring eggs together. Lila and I are really starting to become homesick now and Friday can't come soon enough. After the call we went down to enjoy breakfast only to find the very large Chinese tour group staying in the hotel had descended on the buffet as they had done the day before so we decided to wait. I made a run to Starbucks as I received and inside tip from one of the other dads that it wasn't very far away. Eventually, the dining hall cleared out and we had a very nice breakfast. Aubree can really put away the food as we have started to ween her off some of the bottles she had been accustom too with her foster mother. She ate oatmeal, banana bread (a whole slice!), some egg and some watermelon. We then had to hurry up to our room to get dressed for church as we were heading over with another family in our group.

The church happened to be just a block away from the hotel so we walked down together and gathered outside with a very large crowd waiting for the service in progress to end. The name of the church is Christ Church Shamian (we are on Shamian Island). Eventually we entered the one room church and it was a packed house. There were mostly Chinese folks in the congregation but several westerners. It was obvious that most of the westerners were either there completing an adoption like us or they were back visiting with their adopted children from 10 to 15 years ago. We have seen several families here that are on heritage tours to bring their older adoptive children back to China for a glimpse at their history. We even met a couple last night in the lobby that were American but had been living in Ireland for the past 20 years. They had their 12 year-old adopted Chinese daughter Kimmi with them and they were back for a heritage tour. Kimmi wanted to hold Aubree but settled for playing with her while Lila held her. Aubree really started taking to Kimmi and it was very special to see them interact. The father asked me where we were from and when we told him he could not believe it. He told us his sister lives in Omaha and also has an adopted daughter from China. (This was our official Wow! It's a small world moment).

The church service was close to two hours but enjoyable. It was the only service of the morning that was bilingual in English and Chinese. It was amazing to see all of these Chinese people sharing in the good news, considering Christianity is definitely a minority religion in China. Lila and I got a chuckle as the pastor told a familiar joke in Chinese that was translated by a lady standing next to him at the pulpit. It was the joke about the couple traveling in Jerusalem when the wife suddenly past away. The local officials asked the man if they wanted to bury her there in Jerusalem as it would be less expensive than transporting her body back home for burial. The man decided to have her transported back home much to the dismay of the officials. They asked him why he would pay more to have her transported home. Of course, we knew the punch line and it was funny to hear the Chinese speaking part of the congregation reacting to the punchline before it was interpreted for us English speaking folks. For those of you not familiar with this joke the man stated the reason why he didn't want to bury his wife in Jerusalem was that he had heard 2000 years ago a man was buried there and after three days he rose from the dead and he didn't want to take the risk of that happening with his wife. We were treated to Holy Communion and I know for as long as I live this communion will be remembered as a very special one to me. We sang some familiar songs like "He Arose" and the children's choir sang "Amazing Grace" in Chinese, which I captured on video and have included a clip. They also sang another song but this time in English was truly amazing. There was an older youth choir that performed a couple of songs, in addition, to a band of string instruments that performed a couple of beautiful pieces.

We wish all of our family and friends a very happy Easter, we miss you all and look forward to being home soon.