Happy Birthday Eliza!

Eliza's 1st Birthday with her family!

(But she's actually 3 today)

I can't believe that a year ago Eliza was in China celebrating her birthday at her wonderful orphanage and we were at home wondering if anyone would wish her a happy birthday. We were so worried about her and anxious to get our TA so we could go get her. I'm so thankful that she was so well cared for during her days at the orphanage. I know she was loved there and that has made all the difference in her life now that she has her forever family.

Getting Ready for Christmas!

One of our favorite traditions is putting up the train under the tree. The kids all love it! (Especially since it's cargo is candy!)

Can you believe this is what we were doing on the 5th of November? (Back when it was in the 60' and 70's.) It's definitely winter now!!

Give Thanks!

Turkeys at Sundance-

We were going for a drive past Sundance and Mike spotted this large herd of wild turkeys. I've never seen this many wild turkeys together.

The other day, as we were preparing for Thanksgiving, Olivia said "Mom, when are we going to give thanks?" I replied that we should give thanks everyday but we are especially thankful at Thanksgiving. I thought it was such a sweet, childlike question that I had to share!

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday and often not given enough thought, in my opinion. We love the wonderful food and being around family but it's also nice to remember how much we are blessed with and, as Olivia said "give thanks"!

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Today is Olivia's 7th Birthday!
We love you!!

(Now I need to go bake the chocolate cake for our family party tonight.)

Time to Catch Up!

Kirk, Zach and Shoji playing air hockey.

The week before Halloween, we hosted a Japanese student from Osaka. Shoji is about a year older than Kirk and was here with his fellow students for their 9th grade graduation trip to America. We wanted him to have some "western" experiences that would be different from what he might experience at home. We went to Bridal Veil Falls, rode through the canyon and even went horseback riding, thanks to Mike's friend from work. I think he had the most fun just being with our family playing games or watching a movie. We also carved pumpkins for Halloween. He said he didn't know much about Halloween so I doubt he's ever made a jack-o-lantern before. We really enjoyed having him stay with us and hope we can see him again.

Shoji and another student at Bridal Veil Falls

Shoji's favorite restaurant of his visit: Fuddruckers

Kirk and Shoji had a great time playing tennis. They were very evenly matched (neither of them are pros- lets just put it that way). It was nice that we had such beautiful

weather for his visit.

Autumn in the Mountains!

I love the beautiful views we enjoy this time of year. Unfortunately, it won't last long...and we've already had snow in the higher elevations! We try to spend as much time as we can outside now before it gets too cold.

Next week, our student from Japan will be coming to stay. He'll only be here for a week so hopefully we can pack lots of fun in and show him a few of our favorite sights.

Other news: Zach is getting glasses!! He had an eye exam last week and boy has he changed since last year. I about died when the doctor had him try to read some of the letters with his left eye and he couldn't see any of them. Well, he definitely needs glasses now. But as the doctor said, when you have parents who are near sighted and you're a big reader, it's not really a surprise.

Fall Photos...

We decided to spend Sunday afternoon taking some pictures outside.

Kirk took the picture of Eliza in the hammok. It shows off her beautiful little face.

Silly, Sweet Sisters!!

I took these pictures after church one day in our front yard.

Today, I took Eliza for her check-up at Primary Children's Hospital. She had a CT scan and everything looked great. In fact, the neurosurgeon said just to continue going to the pediatrician and as far as he was concerned, he saw no reason for her to have anymore scans or visits with him. Yeah!!

We're Back!!

Kirk, Eliza, Zach and Olivia

Red Butte Gardens, Univ. of Utah

(a week ago, while Grandma Carol was visiting)

OK, so summer was not a great time for me to blog! With all of us at home, swimming lessons (a whole month of them for three kids!), Zach's play at the Scera (The Music Man, more about that later) all of Kirk's scouting activities, and not to mention the huge backyard project we've been working on, I've rarely had a moment to sit down at the computer. Now that life is getting somewhat back to normal, I've decided to try to blog again and improve the site at the same time.

Come by again soon as I try to add more to the site and fill you in on some of our summertime activities!

I'm on my way!

Eliza looks like she's rushing to an emergency with her play pet carrier. Actually she's probably trying to get away with Olivia's puppy before she catches her.

Kirk and Olivia playing the Nintendo DS. (Something I swore I'd never buy but decided to get one for him for Christmas to take with us to China. We knew how bored he would be without enough books to read. )

Memorial Day BBQ

Cousins came over for a BBQ on Monday. Eliza is sitting by one of her favorite cousins, Isaac. The weather turned out beautiful and we had a wonderful day! (Don't look at the weeds...that was the part of the yard I didn't get to yet.)

Eliza's Visit to the Hospital

Eliza just returned home from the hospital last week after a 12 day stay due to a shunt infection. She had a shunt (a small tube which takes care of excess spinal fluid) put in last year in China and we have been taking her to Primary Children's Hospital to have her evaluated. I went with her for a follow-up appt. just to go over her x-rays with the neurosurgeon. While I was there, I asked why she had a problem with the skin healing at the site of her shunt on her head. They immediately had a test run to check for infection and said it would probably be a few days before we had any results. One hour later we were called to bring her back and admit her to the hospital!
The shunt had to be removed so she had surgery the next morning. It went fine but she had to stay in the hospital a minimum of 10 days while she had the antibiotics and was attached to an external shunt since a new one can't be put in until the infection is gone. Since she was so high functioning, the neurosurgeon decided to test whether she even needed the shunt. Amazingly, she didn't have to have the second operation. As the doctor said, " That's the luckiest shunt infection ever." She seems to be problem free and we are so grateful for how everything turned out.
We managed to be there for her waking hours but it wasn't easy! We also were able to come up as a family on weekends and Mondays. Thank goodness for friends and family who helped out during this time.

Spring Vacation!

Tuzigoot , Montezuma's Well, Waputki Natl. Monuments, Grand Canyon and the Deer Farm

I'm trying to catch up on the last month or so but we had such a great time in Arizona, I didn't want to miss putting in some pictures.

Temple Day

March 27th was a very special day for our family! It may have been cold and windy outside but we felt warm and calm inside the temple as we all gathered to have Eliza join our family forever. Eliza and Olivia are wearing dresses I had made from some beautiful Chinese silk we brought back from Beijing. My black silk dress was from Beijing also but I had it made there by a tailor who our guide set up to come and measure me right at our hotel. Definitely clothes for special occasions only! This was really a wonderful day for us and truly made our adoption process complete. We love this amazing little girl and are so happy to be blessed by her coming to our family...forever!

Fun at the Farm!

Zach found his twin! Who needs a haircut more?

Kirk loves to help Eliza.

Olivia dancing and singing as usual!

Grandma Carol visited at Easter. As you can see, we had a bunch of fun at the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm. Eliza loved feeding the animals and riding the ponies. We all had a good time.

Is it Springtime Yet?

I love to be outside!!!

We've had a few nice days to play outside. Eliza loves riding bikes and we go out with Olivia and the boys quite often. The sand box finally dried out enough to play in and she had a blast! She loved digging with a shovel but didn't want to get sand on her hands.

Zach trying to hold onto to Eliza...not for long!

Eliza and Olivia love their matching dresses!

Here I come mom!

Eliza loves our kitty "Phantom".

Pictures at home...finally!

Homemade pizza with Olivia and the boys! (They're busy eating at the counter.)

I need to download some more recent pictures, but these will do for now. It's been so long since I've added pictures that I almost forgot how!

We've been busy with school and doctor's appointments lately but things are starting to settle down. Eliza just loves her brothers and sister. She stays pretty close to me most days (as in within two feet of my every move!) but she's happy and she always has a nap! She made quite an impression on the parents at Kirk's jr. high last week during parent/teacher/student conferences. People wait outside the rooms in chairs to visit with the teachers and sometimes it takes quite a while. Well, Eliza had on her squeaky shoes and the three of us went down the halls with her shoes drawing parents and kids attention alike. When they looked at her she would wave and say "hi" in her cute little voice with a big grin on her face. She loved it! Fortunately, the visits with the teachers didn't take long and they enjoyed meeting her and finding out that Kirk really did miss all that school for a reason! Kirk continues to dote on Eliza and always says how cute she is, how much he loves her, etc. She has a loyal fan in her "Gur-ga" as she calls him. He's so proud of her. Zach and Olivia fight over who gets to sit by her in the car, as do the kids in Olivia's kindergarten carpool. One day her little friend says "How come Olivia always gets to sit by Eliza? That's not fair!" Another child in Zach's carpool can't stop saying how cute she is and how lucky we are to have her! I never imagined how much all these children would love her without reservation. It's been wonderful to feel so much love and acceptance for this little girl of ours.

Eliza gets excited when Mike comes home and yells "ba-ba"! He takes her to nursery at church and they get to leave early so she can come home for her nap since church is from 11:00-2:00. Mike usually has lunch all prepared for us when the rest of us get home. I will miss it when she stops napping and probably so will somebody else!

I'll try to start updating this more often and add some more pictures when I can. My computer time is usually in small chunks. (I told Mike I need a laptop like his we took to China!)

Stephenie

So good to be home!

What a relief it was to get home after three weeks of traveling! It was quite a trip but I really was anxious to be home and see Zach and Olivia. It was a sweet reunion. We have been home over a week now and this is the first day I've actually checked my e-mail. My focus has been on family and home. We've been to the doctor twice, once for Eliza's checkup and two days later when Kirk had the flu (he had to miss two more days of school,yikes!). Otherwise, things are pretty much back to normal. Eliza is doing fantastic! She acted like she already knew Zach and Olivia. I guess sending the little photo album was a good idea after all. It didn't take long for our children to fall in love with her. Just like we read in the first information we had on Eliza: "You can't help but love her." We weren't sure if she would sleep in a toddler bed, but she's done just fine. At first, she would stay in bed and cry for someone to come get her. Now, she usually follows Olivia out of the bedroom in the morning with a smile on her face. She loves our food, especially fruit and bread and especially anything Mike cooks. Really, she hasn't found much she hasn't liked so far! We are teaching her to say "please" rather than yelling for more of what she wants. One thing she doesn't like is plain milk. I finally gave up and started putting a little chocolate syrup in so she would drink it (this was after days of juice and water and lots of wasted cups of milk-warm, cold or powdered, she hated it). Oh well, at least she'll have the calcium she needs!
The kids love to make Eliza laugh, especially Olivia. What a great big sister she has become! Zach and Kirk are so good to her and are always saying how much they love her and how cute she is. She calls Mike, "Baba" and is always so excited to see him. Although she has some strong-willed toddler moments, I think she is adjusting very well. Hopefully, all will go well when we visit the Children's Hospital on Friday. Her health and abilities are right on for her age, except for speech but that is already improving. We would like to keep it that way.
Thanks to all our friends and family who have been there with us on this journey. I have a feeling this is just the beginning! I will try to post some pictures soon.

The Apallo Bruger Party

The Apollo Burger party , funny name huh. Well when they got back the next day we went to Apollo Burger I got a Jr. burger (dad calls it a baby burger) so did Kirk and Olivia, mom got a hamburger with some goo and gunk (so did dad but he put more gunk and goo) and Eliza got a Jr. burger (Kirk was going to eat one half the big half but he got full). She did NOT like it at all !!! but nothing a good (or should I say bad?) tantrum we were the center of attention for a little while. But then came, ba ba ba ba the FRENCH FRY yuck whats all that red stuff look to mommy, but daddy takes the yellow thing in the red and eats it, I want some. "Ahh" .YUM MORE. I want to dip it. Yay. the end

Home at last

Our flights were great from China to Japan and we were 60 minutes early coming in. Then we flew from Tokyo to Minneapolis. This flight was 30 minutes ahead of schedule. However we had to sit at the gate for awhile because there were two sick people on the flight. The only flight that mattered was the one to Salt Lake. Obviously that was the one that was delayed by over an hour. In all the way through all the cities the people were nice. Except in Salt Lake. When I was trying to get our bags I had the misfortune of having all of our bags being among the first 15 or so to come out from four flights. There was a throng of people waiting and I had to push my way through them to get our bags out. One oaf was on his cell phone and complained loudly how I should say excuse me. Since I had said that and it was pretty obvious that I had three large bags I was pulling through, I thought he was a real jerk. Oh well, it's nice to be home.

BTW, they really do get on the intercom and ask if there are doctors on board. One lady was coughing up blood. The other guy was pooping bloody stools. They were both just a few rows from us. Oh, hurray! They had to bring paramedics on board and Customs to get them off the plane before everyone else. Then people within one row of them had to fill out extra paperwork. We were beyond that, at least.


Security is interesting between the countries. We went through the Chinese security then the airline checked our bags one more time before getting on the plane. Then in Japan we had to go through security again and the airline security again before boarding. In the US, we got off the plane and went to the Immigration line for Homeland Security. As I was getting into line an officious lady asked me, "Sir, are you an immigrant?" Of course I replied that I wasn't, but before I could continue she told me that I was in the wrong line! I then finished my statement that my new daughter was an immigrant and she stalked off. Actually, the rest of the process was very nice and the people were efficient and pleasant. We had to have our bags go through the normal screening again and move our bags across the aisle to the airlines again in case we were selected for inspection. We weren't so it was fast. I think they looked at the four of us and figured we didn't have any contraband or extra stuff.

We got home a little after 9 and unloaded all the stuff we had. Eliza was pretty outgoing after a few minutes with everyone. She was very interested in, and scared of, our cats. She would pat them if we were with her. She was very sad when grandma left. She wanted to go with "Nana". We'd shown her pictures we had of many people and I guess she remembered that grandma. She slept with Olivia in her new room and is still asleep now. It was an exhausting day for all of us. I went to have a bath and then wanted to watch TV for a few minutes. Stephenie said that the TV was off and the remote in my hand when she came to bed. I was very tired.

Oh, this morning I listened to our voicemail messages. It appears that we were supposed to have some kind of pre-trip interview with the social worker. CHI and he called to set it up. The problem was that they called after we left. CHI, at least, should have known when we were leaving. I left a message with the social worker that he could call us now that we were back. I haven't heard from him yet.

Goodbye China

I am getting ready to shutdown my computer because the bellboys are supposed to be here any minute. We have finished packing and we're just waiting for them. We'll leave the hotel in under 30 minutes to come home. It's been a great experience but we're ready to get on the airplane and fly for 18 hours and being in airports for another 6 or 7 hours. See everyone soon.

Last hours

It is about 6 pm here and we have finished using up the last of our Chinese money. It must be time to come home. We have to finish packing tonight. Our wakeup call is for 4:30 am and the bellboys will come for our bags at 5. We will leave the hotel at 5:30 for the airport and our flight leaves at 8:30 for Tokyo. I'm excited to come home, but I think the flight is going to be very long. Everyone but me is going to the Cow and Bridge for dinner tonight. I'm not sure my stomach is quite up to that yet, so I'm going to stay in the room and watch TV and eat a bagel. Maybe I'll get some ice cream also.

This is probably the last post until we get home. As soon as we get settled in a bit I think we'll need to have a coming out party for Eliza. Kirk and I think that we will need to have an Apollo Burger when we get home and Steph is salivating over going to Mi Ranchito again. We have plans to eat at Chili's in Minneapolis with another family that is flying with us. They are from Pleasant Grove and we knew them from before we left. We met up with them here in Guangzhou so it's been a lot of fun. We also have met another family from Washington state and two families from Philidelphia area. Everyone but me is eating out tonight; I like to fly on a fairly empty stomach and not feeling well seals the deal for me.

Since I'm rambling here, it must be time to be done. See everyone in Utah real soon.

Forever or is it a second all in two days...

Forever or is it a second the title tells all , in one view 2 day ONLY TWO DAYS the other 2 days 24 + 24 hours = 48 hours that's a bazawezigillonvongupre minuets and querpllintorhipnofgerfnightall seconds aah I've gone mad (or is it all this math ?). Well I'm mad and that means, good bye

Montezuma and the U.S. Government

Well, Eliza is now our daughter. We went to the consulate today and swore that the Chinese writing was correct as far as we knew and so that is now done. Tomorrow we get her visa so she can travel to the U.S. When we get into Minneapolis, we go to the immigrants line for her. She is a citizen after we go through the port of entry there. We get a packet that the officer in Minneapolis will open and we can't open it under penalty of them being very irritated with us. We were supposed to do the ceremony tomorrow, but they changed it at the last minute. We will go to a Buddhist temple tomorrow and everyone gets their baby blessed by the monks there. Afterword we go to the toy market. It is supposed to be very interesting with a lot of toys from all over and very cheap. We'll see.

We took Eliza to the nurses station to get some medicine for her cough and earache. They mixed things up right for her and we put four things together and give it to her 3 times a day. She should do good with these.

I've been in the room all day today. See title for details. The food on our cruise on the Pearl River hit four of us a bit hard. Me in our group and one person each in two other families. Stephenie isn't feeling perfect, but she has nothing to really complain about (other than me). We hope to get everything done and packed tomorrow night and we'll be leaving on Thursday morning (Wednesday evening back in Utah). We will be home Thursday night. Our flight comes into Salt Lake City at just after 7, so we hope to be home by 9.

It's been fun here, but I think we are all ready to come home and get back to our schedules. At least, we're ready to come home and see our house and family. I'm not sure about work and school.

Another day in paradise...

As Kirk said, this is quite a different place than we've seen before here in China. We've had a full but fun day today. It has been especially fun because of the other families who are here with us. After being in Xi'an with hardly anyone who speaks English, we are really enjoying being with Americans. Our Beijing friends, the Hartwells, are here today and we had a great time seeing them again. We met the other families and headed out this morning on a large bus to a local shopping mall. Kirk was not excited to have shopping as the destination but he was a good sport and helped push Eliza in the stroller. One of the other families is from Utah, two are from Pennsylvania and the Hartwells are from Washington state. There is even one 13 year old in the group, unfortunately for Kirk, it's a girl. But she's very friendly and nice as most everyone we meet here has been. We still can't get over the palm trees, flowers and warm weather. We all survived the shopping and went to a dumpling restaurant afterwards. Several of us moms went to the shops here on the island while the little ones napped in the afternoon. We found a few fun things for gifts mostly. Melissa, from Utah, has been here for a while and knows all of the shopkeepers names and helped us get some great bargains. Of course, I was very happy to have a few hours of shopping on my own. In the evening, we went with the Hartwells to the popular local cafe, Lucy's. It is a nice place to go to when you want a break from the usual Chinese dishes. Although, after last night's meal with the other Utah family, I may need to have some spicy Thai food tomorrow! I have a feeling I could talk several others into going there again, Kirk especially. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the park next to the Peal River. They have a sound system set up with music and a light show on the hotels and waterfront. It was quite a fun way to end the day.

Eliza likes it here, especially with places to walk or use the stroller so close by. She also has fun at the hotel's play room. Since the White Swan caters to adoptive families, they have a huge play room with many nice toys and plenty of room for busy little ones. Tomorrow we have her medical exam and some paperwork in the morning.

We are almost done and can't wait to get home!

Zachary Paradise (Guangzhou)

Guangzhou has everything that Zachary could want. There are many reasons why. One is the warm climate that we've enjoyed. Palm trees are all over. The coolest it has been in Guangzhou for a long time is 45 degrees. It will get up to 75 tomorrow. Another thing is the amazing Gymnastics Park which my mom, Eliza, and I visited. It is built for bigger children and adults, but we enjoyed it. There are tons of exercising devices that are good for exercising including a back massager. Zachary would also like the amazing hotel we are in. The lobby is massive with a giant 3 story waterfall, and two swimming pools. A zoo is on the other side of the river, since we are on Shamian Island, an island in the Pearl River of the coast of downtown Guangzhou. We haven't visited it, but it is supposed to be better than the Beijing one. Some things that Zachary wouldn't beg for that are probably interesting to other people is that Guangzhou looks a lot like Brazil. There are palm trees, colonial architecture, and it's warm. If it weren't for Chinese writing, flags, and people, it would be hard to tell that this is in China. This place also has stuff my cousins would like: an amazing Thai restaurant. It has all of our favourite curries, and the people there speak English. The menu is in English too. Guangzhou is the best!!!

P.S. The pictures will show you what I mean when I say that this isn't Chinese looking

Last stop

Quick post to say we made it to Guangzhou. We got Eliza in Xi'an on Sunday and then had the Chinese paperwork to do in her province. We got her passport and documents on Friday before we left for Guangzhou to do the US paperwork. We need to have a medical exam for her and then get a visa to allow her into the US. Our consulate appointment is on Tuesday. She flies to the US with her Chinese passport and a US visa. She becomes a citizen when we touch down in the US.

We got into Guangzhou about 10:30 and we were mostly settled into our hotel room at midnight (Saturday morning). That is about 9 am Friday for those of you in Utah. We are really tired and so we will put in more later. It is a beautiful city from what we have seen and it is about 70 degrees during the day and it is very green.

One week and we're home!

Eliza with her royal hand holders!

Not that anyone's keeping track...OK, I am anyway. It is hard to be away from Zach and Olivia for so long. Now that we have Eliza, I feel ready to get back home. She is a delight and has warmed up to us fairly quickly. When we get home if she isn't having too hard of a time, I hope we can have family and then friends come and meet her. Kirk says we should have a party-with food of course!

Mike and Kirk have covered yesterday and today very well, so I'll just add a couple of things. When you are a tourist during the low-season in this area, you are one of a very few. At the little town we went to yesterday to see the Buddhist temple site, we were the only obvious foreigners in the whole place. Eliza fell asleep on the way there, so I was able to sit with her and watch the local people trying to sell incense to the visitors. If you look at the picture on the left, most of the people standing around are the local salespeople. It was rather entertaining to watch the women run after the unsuspecting visitors. These were some determined ladies and they would try any tactic to make a few yuan. Some would even stick the incense in the crook of the persons arm and then try to make them pay for it when they had trouble giving it back! To me it was kind of funny, but then again they are just trying to survive. The town was obviously poor and the temple was the only reason for visitors to come there. I was a little nervous to venture out of the van, but this time I was approached by a lady who was just interested in me having Eliza. Sometimes we get tired of the people selling us things, but most people we meet are extremely nice.

One thing this trip has taught me is how blessed we are in our country! We have so much! Seeing people scraping by to make a living and driving around dusty streets in their ramshackle bikes and even wooden carts has been a real eye-opener to me. Be grateful...

Tomorrow night we will be in Guangzhou! White Swan here we come!