Click here to go straight to travel pictures!

We are hoping to travel in June 2007 to bring Ian home.

Here is our paperwork timeline.

Our letter of intent was sent to China on June 16, 2006.

We received our preapproval from China to adopt Ian on October 27, 2006.

We sent our documents to China on December 15, 2006.

Our documents were logged in on January 19, 2007.

We received our letter seeking confirmation to adopt on May 17, 2007

We received travel approval on June 11, 2007.

Please continue to check back for updates and keep us in your prayers.

June 13, 2007 Wednesday

Well today has been a whirlwind. We didn’t have final travel plans until 10am this morning. Ian’s province (equal to our states) does things differently than other provinces and requires you to stay a minimum of 3 days longer. Before you can travel you have to have your consulate appointment verified with the U.S.Consulate and we didn’t get that until last night during the sleeping time for us. China is 12 hours ahead of EST. We left home at 3:30 pm heading for Orlando, FL. We fly out from Orlando at 9:00 change planes in Chicago and on to Hong Kong. We are going to spend the night in Hong Kong then take a train into mainland China (Guangzhou) where we’ll stay for the entire stay. We get Ian on Monday June 18th at 3pm (China time) so everyone please pray for a smooth transition for him, Aysia, and us. We will try to update daily as long as the internet connection cooperates so check back.

June 14-15, 2007 Thursday/Friday

Today was long. We boarded our plane in Orlando at 8:30am and started our journey. Aysia has been such a trooper. She enjoyed flying and looking out the window (which she had to share with daddy). We got into Chicago and found our next gate so Aysia and I waited at the gate while Chris went to get us lunch from McDonalds(not our favorite place but you take what you can get). We were blessed with being upgraded in our seating to premium economy which gives you 5 extra inches of leg room and trust me you appreciate it if you ever fly economy for 12 to 14 hours. Aysia wanted the window seat so she could see out during take off but fell asleep before the plane every backed away from the gate. She didn’t like waking up 1.5 hours later but got happy pretty quick when they served mashed potatoes for lunch. I was so glad to see those mashed potatoes. God can provide even tiny blessings for the tiniest of His children. (For those of you who don’t know mashed potatoes is probably Aysia’s favorite food.) The flight to Hong Kong was 14 hours and 33 minutes. Very long and the first 3 hours were hot. I got a short 1 hour nap to be awakened to cold apple juice running down my pants leg into my shoe. Aysia was dreaming and kicked it off the tray onto me. I did squeal but I didn’t see anyone turn to stare so maybe I wasn’t too loud. Aysia ended up getting about 4 to 5 hours of sleep before I woke her because I want her to sleep tonight. We landed in Hong Kong and took a metro type train to Kowloon Station and caught the free shuttle bus to the hotel. The bus ride does let you know you are in China. I told Aysia to hold on tight because they drive faster and crazier than mommy. We made it to the hotel and checked in. We bought our train tickets to Guangzhou for tomorrow. So we should be in Guangzhou tomorrow afternoon about 3pm. The train ride is about 2 hours and I tell you about it tomorrow night. Our first real accident happened. Aysia was walking (not hopping or running) into the tile bathroom that has an unlevel and caused her to trip and hit her mouth on the toilet. Scared me to death. Blood everywhere but we have all our teeth and a very swollen bottom lip. We have put some ice on it and she has fallen asleep but has been sucking on her blanket. Please pray it heals fast and we don’t have any problems with it. Oh, she also had a nosebleed on the plane so if anyone is traveling soon with a child prone to nose bleeds take precautions. Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and we look forward to getting Ian on Monday.

June 16, 2007 Saturday

Today started out uneventful enough. Aysia thought we should wake up at midnight last night to eat and again at six o’clock this morning. Good thing we went to bed by nine last night. We walked around the block basically looking at the stars walk of fame in Hong Kong. At about 11:00 we took at taxi to the train station. When we got in the taxi Aysia asked why we were getting in a police car. I quickly explained a taxi ride to her. We got to the train station and ate lunch (at McDonalds again), did a little looking around in the shops, and waited for our turn to board the train. At 1 o’clock we boarded the train for Guangzhou but we didn’t know for sure Judy (our guide) had received our message about what time to meet us there so we had a back up plan in case. Fortunately we didn’t need it as she was waiting for us with a van. She had a few new pictures of Ian on her camera for us to look at on the ride to the Victory Hotel. The plan is still for us to get him on Monday. She says that the nannies say he is an easy going baby that doesn’t fuss much. Lets hope they are right but I’m not holding my breath. Check in at the hotel went easy enough and we are in a small room with a king size bed. Aysia says she doesn’t mind sleeping with us and Ian has a small crib. We have seen a few adoptive couples staying here and on the street. There was a cute set of twin boys with cleft lips (already repaired). We were headed out for dinner but Aysia fell asleep so we had to stop to borrow a stroller first. We tried out a restaurant that we didn’t eat at last time we were here. The food was good but we were the only ones that weren’t locals. They had a good time laughing at Chris use chopsticks. We are back in the room and are turning in early because Aysia is still asleep and will probably rise early like last night. I have included a few photos on the next page.

June 17, 2007 Sunday

I just wanted to give a quick run down of today. Today was a day of rest. We didn’t do much but walk around the island and have tons of shop keepers trying to get us to buy something in their shop. We did buy Aysia a new outfit, a toy dragon, and a sweater. The reason for the sweater is that the fashion police always manage to catch me. Last night Aysia feel asleep on the way to eat, well the waitress brought me a scarf to wrap around her arms and legs because the air conditioning was on. Chris wasn’t to happy about it but I did lay it on her and reminded him that they don’t mean to be rude. They are just concerned. So we purchased a sweater in case we run into this again. We stayed in the room a lot as it rained today and we changed to a larger room because the other was very small and with a 3 year old and a 2 year old it was about to get even smaller. Tonight we went on a dinner cruise in the Pearl River. Not much to really write home about but Aysia enjoyed the lights and the ice cream. I’ll post pictures in the morning and tomorrow evening I’ll post about Ian.

June 18, 2007 Monday

Well we got him!! We’ve had him about an hour. He’s doing great. He hasn’t cried yet. He walked out, looked at us, and mom was ready with apple juice and Aysia had a toy train. He’s doing really good. We’ve already changed his wet diaper and it’s funny. He lifts his bottom for you to change his diaper and puts his foot out for you to put on his shoes. The shoes he had on were too small so fortunately one pair of slippers I brought does fit and he was glad to put them on. He is drinking well from a Nuby sippy cup. I’ll post more later but I knew everyone would want to know some news.

June 19, 2007 Tuesday

Hello, Ian is doing very well adapting to us. He didn’t sleep real well last night but other than that he’s doing good. We went to finalize his adoption today and tomorrow we apply for his passport. He will still be on the bottle but we are going to be using cleft lip/palate bottles. It does take him quite a while to get one down. He is a good eater and likes spaghetti and mashed potatoes. He doesn’t like anything cold though. They believe in China that children are to only drink warm liquids including water so everything has to be a room temperature for him to eat or drink it. Aysia is doing good. She wants to sleep next to him, eat next to him, and help him with everything. Its really quite cute to watch. We went swimming and Aysia was very cautious but not Ian. We did let us hold him as the water was up to my shoulders but he kept splashing and putting his face in the water. They had a good time. Aysia doesn’t like it when we get on to Ian. Its okay if we say no but if our no leads to a small temper tantrum then she’ll tell us to be nice to him. She is probably going to mother him to much. Ian fell asleep about 7:15 so we are turning in early too. I’ll post the few photos we took in the morning as I usually have more time in the morning because either him or her will be up early. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and we are enjoying the emails.

June 20, 2007 Wednesday

Well today went well. We took the kids to the park this morning after breakfast but they couldn’t play because of all the adults doing tie che (not the correct spelling but it sounds this way). Basically its a form of exercise that looks like karate in slow motion. We did eventually find a spot that we could let them out of the strollers and Aysia blew bubbles. Ian was amused and we drew a crowd. Its not uncommon when you are out and about to draw a crowd. Sometimes its people who want to practice their English or just talk and then sometimes its someone trying to get you to come in the store to shop. I’m personally sick to death of shopping. The little guys took a nap from 11 to 1 then we rushed downstairs to eat a little lunch before going to apply for Ian’s chinese passport. We hope to get it back on Monday. After this we went to see an unearthed tomb basically. Apparently they were digging and found “king of a dynasty” as they refer to him buried with his belongings and 15 people (concumbines, cooks, guards). They’ve built a museum around the actual dig site and it showcases the items found. It was pretty neat. After this we returned to the hotel and I had to go pick up our laundry. While I was out I found some Skippy peanut butter. We had already found bread and jelly but we were missing the peanut butter. I was excited needless to say. We didn’t eat it for dinner but we will for lunch. We ate dinner at a Shunde style restaurant. Ian is from Foshan Shunde orphanage. He is considered from the town of Shunde. It used to be a seperate town than Foshan but Foshan has surrounded it kind of like Valdosta has surrounded Remerton for those of you from Valdosta. The restaurant is next to our hotel and we would hate to go home and not taste the flavor of food from his city since it was so close. The staff at the restaurant spoke little English and us very little Chinese but with the help of pictures we ate a wonderful dinner. The only thing Aysia wouldn’t eat was the fish and in her defense she was sitting next to Chris and they served it with the fish head facing him. Ian and I did eat it and it was very good. We weren’t brave enough to eat the eyeballs though. Tomorrow we visit the zoo and Friday we visit the orphanage and a Shunde school.

June 21, 2007 Thursday

Today was entertaining but HOT! We went this morning to the zoo. We got their and started off with the monkeys. They had quite a variety of monkeys but no chimps. We got to see a panda bear in his cage and sleeping. I think its too hot for him here. Their natural habitat is further north and in the mountains. Aysia enjoyed the elephant and hippo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hippo or rhino in a zoo before. We weren’t there very long as it was very hot and Aysia and I were both very red faced.We left there and went to a local mall called Grandview Mall. The prices for things there are comparable to back in the US. We did eat lunch and it was very good. Aysia had her first meltdown today. She was tired, hungry, hot, and wanted her mama. She started crying and so mama carried her for a little ways and she sat with mama for lunch. By the end of lunch she was loving being a big sister again and feeding Ian. Once back at the hotel and finally getting Ian to sleep, we had a little girl time shopping. She got a pretty new pink dress. We went into another shop to by somethings for a friend back home and she fell asleep. So we came back to the hotel so she could finish her nap. Ian woke up and is playing with daddy. He is really more of a mama’s boy right now but does like daddy too. Tonight we are planning on staying in for dinner (noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches).

June 22, 2007 Friday

Hello, today was long especially since Ian didn’t sleep well. We left this morning and headed to Foshan Shunde. First we visit an elementary school that goes up to grade 6. The kids were so cute. They were so excited to see Westerners and practice their English. We felt like celebrities.  Aysia got nervous and I had to hold her most of the time. The classes have between 40 and 50 students in each class. Good thing they are better behaved in public school. Here if a child misbehaves the school has the right to kick a student out and then the parents would have to pay for private school.  Its a little different but most things are similiar. After the school we headed to the grocery store and bought lots of diapers and snacks for the orphanage (thanks to those who gave money for us to buy things for the orphanage). This orphanage is unusual as for they like to use disposable diapers for the babies instead of split pants and strongly encouraging potty time. This does take from their budget so by purchasing diapers, the money they would have spent can go towards something else. Then we went on to the orphanage. The director and staff are very nice and truly care about the children but I’m so thankful my kids are out of that situation.  Ian was withdrawn during our visit and very fussy all the way back to the hotel. He wouldn’t let any of the nannies hold him and they said that I’ve spoiled him. Once back at the hotel though he turned back into the smiling funny little guy we left the hotel with. I think he was worried about getting left again. We let Aysia finish her nap and then had a dip in the pool. They both enjoy that. Then we had dinner by the river. It was expensive so tomorrow we need to eat Peanut butter and jelly again. Tomorrow Ian has to go for his medical exam required by the US in order to enter the US.

June 23, 2007 Saturday

This morning we went to Ian’s physical exit medical exam. Ian had a fever of 102 before we went so we gave him some tylenol and it was down by the time they checked it. They did suggest starting him on antibiotics because of his cough and chest congestion. He had fever Monday night but not since then so we were just waiting for the medical exam. After he had fever this morning, we planned on starting him on antibiotics when we got back but we thought he probably had an ear infection causing the fever. His ears are clear but its his chest. Please everyone pray for healing as he is cranky and only wants mama. Also he wants to be held constantly too and his temper tantrums are more frequent. I think a lot of it has to do with him not feeling well. We got to meet the other families traveling with our agency but their children were in different provinces. We stayed in a lot today because we had to complete paperwork for the consulate. Then we went to dinner together. The food was good but Chris wasn’t overly full so we ran to the corner store for junk food. Chris had KFC flavored potato chips to eat. I stuck with something familiar like Oreos. He said he saw hamburger flavored chips too. Not much to write about today. Ian is asleep and the other 2 are watching Stuart Little II. Tomorrow we go to the Pearl Market, a jade store, and see a museum. We didn’t take but 2 pictures today. Sorry, we’ll do better tomorrow.

June 24, 2007 Sunday

Last night everyone slept well. Ian went to bed at 9pm and slept til 7:30am. I actually had to look at him a time or two to make sure he was okay. Today we went to the Pearl Market and the Jade Factory here in Guangzhou. Aysia was in heaven. She got her some new jewerly. Some pretty jade earrings, a purple crystal bracelet, a pearl ring, some pearl earrings, and a ivory ring necklace. When we got back to the hotel she had to try them on with her pink princess dress and take a few pictures. She is so much fun. Ian wasn’t too impressed with the jewelry but he tolerated it all. He enjoys his sunglasses and doesn’t take them off either. After shopping we went to a Chen family museum. This is part of Jackie Chen’s family ancestry. It was short but interesting. Then we came back to the hotel and layed low. Its so hot and we had sweated enough this morning. We ventured out for dinner and that was about it. We got the kiddos to bed about 9:30 and I hope to soon follow. Tomorrow we go to White Cloud Mountain.

June 25, 2007 Monday

Well today makes 13 years of marriage for us. Chris tried to have flowers delivered to our room but they didn’t show so our guide will have to check on that for us tomorrow. Today we went to Six Baiyun Temple. You can have your baby blessed there but we didn’t have our children blessed. This blessing is from a monk and we have the true and living God to bless our children so we passed. We did have one family decide to have their child blessed and it was interesting to watch. We left there and went to White Cloud Mountain. It was quite lush with greenery everywhere. From the top you can see all of Guangzhou. We cheated and rode up in a golf cart and took the tram down. It was extremely humid and hot. This time we weren’t the only ones sweating. It seems like only the westerners sweat and the Chinese look cool but they were even sweating today. We left there and had lunch down town and it was delicious. I feel like a bottomless pit most days. I don’t know if it’s the carbohydrates in the noodles or the fact I may not eat as much with chopsticks as I do with a fork. Chris has improved greatly with his chopsticks. He actually surprised our bus driver today by using chopsticks instead of a fork. We got back to the hotel and all took a nap. Then it was time to walk and eat dinner. Aysia got a new outfit because her clothes that she was going to wear tomorrow got a banana squashed on them in my backpack. Everything else has been sent to the laundry and won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow nothing is planned so we’ll see what we come up with to entertain us.

June 26, 2007 Tuesday

Well today we had no plans and we took advantage of it. We slept, ate, swam, ate again, slept, ate again, and are turning in for the night. The kids are doing great. They’ve played well together today. Ian is definately bonded with mama, as everytime I left the room he would look for me and then start to cry. We ordered in from Danny’s Bagel tonight. The kids are in bed and we’ve been working on trying to get earlier flights home. We purchased the adoption fares to save money and to allow us to change our return date without penalty. They only problem is they only have 3 seats available on any of the earlier flights. We were supposed to return on July 3rd but found out this evening that we can leave as early as Friday June 29th. Our problem is we can either spend about the same amount of money on plane tickets to leave out of Beijing on Friday or stay til July 3rd and see Hong Kong. Its hard for me to pay more to leave earlier than to stay and pay for hotels and site seeing. At least the extra money does pay for seeing something. We’ll let you all know what happens. I’ll post photos tomorrow as its after midnight and we have to get up early in the morning.

June 27, 2007 Wednesday

This morning we went to see the “blue house”. It used to be a home of someone(I can’t remember the name) but once he died they remodeled the interior and made it into an auditorium for concerts and plays. Its quite lovely. We then went to do some shopping at a local clothing market. We were hoping to get some really good deals but once they saw westerners the good deals left the building. At one point our guide Judy went ahead of us and found some shoes that Aysia liked and the lady said 15 yuan (about 2 dollars) then when we walked up she changed her price to 20 yuan which is almost 3 dollars. It bothered our guide more than us but we did buy the shoes. They are like jelly shoes with Hello Kitty on top and lights on the bottom. It made Aysia’s day and they would have probably been more in the US anyway so we bought them. It was an experience. We had lunch at a Shunde Restaurant (where Ian is from) and the food was good. Its hard to eat yourself when both children want mom to feed them. They had both been asleep until the food came so they were a little fussy having just woke up but food always helps fussiness. Once back at the hotel we called again to see about changing our airline tickets. Some of you must have been praying for this because it has worked out. We leave tomorrow evening for Beijing and the on Friday at noon we start home for the US. We will land in Orlando at 11:08pm on Friday. We will spend the night in Orlando and drive home Saturday. Today when we called United the cost to change our tickets was nothing but the night before it was going to cost us about $750 more. We still have to pay for tickets to Beijing from Guangzhou but the cost of those tickets are equal to the cost of the hotel for 4 more nights not including food. We are glad to be coming home and look forward to seeing everyone. We know Aysia travels extremely well but please pray for Ian as he’s never flown and he will be travelling for over 24 hours by the time we check into Orlando. We didn’t want to fly straight through but that’s the way its going to work out and we are a little nervous about his behavior and his ears on the flight. We’ll update the site as best we can but the next 2 days may be difficult with us traveling.

June 28, 2007 Thursday

Today was a good day. We packed everything up in our room and waited for time to go pick up Ian’s passport with his US visa in it. We got it and took an oath that all the information we have provided is true. Then we raced to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing. We said goodbye to Judy(who was very good to us and I think Aysia will miss her a lot). We arrived in Beijing and checked into our hotel room around 11:30pm. We got baths and turned in at midnight. We will post photos when we get home.

June 29, 2007 Friday

Well we arrived at Beijing airport at 9:30 am China Time to discover that only Ian had a seat on the plane. It took about 30 minutes to get it all worked out but we did manage to all get on the plane bond for San Francisco. Ian and Aysia both did great on the flight. Aysia took one nap and Ian took two. The only problem was I couldn’t leave Ian with Chris to go to the restroom even. He would let everyone know how unhappy he was with his mama gone. We landed in San Francisco at about 8:45 am on the same day. How weird is that! We got here earlier than we left Beijing. We’ll post more as we go. We should get into Orlando tonight at 11:08pm and we’ll be staying the night.

June 30, 2007 Saturday

Well our flight from San Francisco landed in Orlando at 1:45 am. We got to bed in our hotel at 3:30 am. We were up and headed home at 11:30 am. We got home about 3:15 pm. We are so glad to be home. We had some family come by to visit. Ian and Aysia did so well during our travel. Both handled the long day of travel unusually well. They napped when needed and the long day has helped them switch over to our time zone. Thanks to everyone for your prayers during our travel. We will continue to update our website with family photos as we go on with life as usual.