Chicago!

Clara and Josh are safely in Chicago. They are very excited to begin this chapter in their lives. We wish them well and miss them already. I'll add pictures as I get them.

Clara and Josh's Wedding

Clara and Josh met in 10th grade and began dating. They graduated high school in June of 2004 and were married in June of 2007. The wedding was beautiful and they are very happy! As they say...a picture is worth a thousand words.

Our Journey to Mae

Mark and I have always talked about adopting a child one day. So, for our 19th wedding anniversary we sent our application to our agency. We were married at 19 years old, and were celebrating being married for 19 years, so it was very special for us. After much research, we determined that adopting a little girl from China was best for us to pursue. The dossier preparation began. We spent 5 months completing paperwork, attending meetings, hosting homestudies, basically, making our entire life an open book to two governments. We sent our completed dossier to China in July, 2005. We received our Log In Date from the China Center of Adoption Affairs on August 24th, 2005. The wait to be matched with a child began. Finally, on November 3rd, 2006 we received our referral for our beautiful daughter. Her name was Nan Xian Xi, she was born on October 14th, 2005 and was placed in the MaoNan orphanage in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, on October 16th, 2005. We were then scheduled to travel to the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China on December 19th, 2006 and would return to the USA on January 7th, 2007. Mark, Pamela, and I began packing our bags. Once we arrived in China, we were taken to our hotel and had 3 hours to unpack before going to the Civil Affairs Office and getting Mae! There were 9 other families in our group. We had a quiet 30 minute bus ride to the Civil Affairs Office and waited in a room while the babies arrived and were being fed in another room. The babies had a 5 hour train ride from the orphanage, so they were hungry and tired. We were the second family to receive our baby. Mae came to us very tired, shy, and sick. We took Mae back to the hotel, changed her, bathed her, checked her from head to toe, and tried our best to soothe her. She was not very happy at the time. I believe she was grieving. She finally went to sleep and woke up in a bit of a better mood. She was very congested and lethargic. We took her to the doctor and was given antibiotics for ear infection and medicine for upper respiratory infection. She slowly began feeling a little better. She attached quickly to me and was basically attached to my hip for the 18 days we spent in China. She also attached quickly to Pamela. It took her a little longer to accept Mark. Our guide had a tour of some sort scheduled for our group for every day that we didn't have a government meeting to attend. We chose not to go on all of the outings because Mae was so sick and I felt is was more important to bond with her. I'll post some pictures of the tours we did attend and sights we saw while in China. One of our favorite restaurants was the COW and BRIDGE. We quickly learned to eat the local cuisine and not opt for the "American" dishes. They were just not the same as home.

This is a street market that we walked to from our hotel. Very interested markets, selling everything imaginable.

People would gather every morning in the park and exercise.

Mark went with our group and visited a village, while Pamela, Mae, and I stayed behind. Mae still wasn't feeling well and the bus ride was long. We all took the tour to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple. Having a long history of about 1,400 years, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees is one of the four best Buddhist temples in Guangzhou and located on the Liurong Road (meaning the Six Banyan Trees Road). It has a rich collection of cultural-relics. The three biggest copper Buddhist statues placed there are among the biggest and most ancient Buddhist statues in Guangdong. The middle one is Sakyamuni, to the left, the Amitabha and to the right, the Apothecary Buddha. They stand for present, past and future. Six Banyan Pagoda. The Six Banyan Pagoda is where Buddhist relics are placed. Its roofs curve upwards and look like dark red flower petals. The tip of the pagoda is like stamens, while the whole construction looks like a huge stigma high in the air. Therefore, people like to call it the Flowery Pagoda. Mark and Pamela climbed the pagoda. The Monks performed a blessing for the babies.

We skipped another day of touring to visit Mae's orphanage. Another family staying at our hotel made the arrangements ahead of time to visit the orphanage and asked us if we would like to go along. I'm so glad we did. We had a 4 hour van ride to get there, but that gave us the opportunity to see more countryside. Visiting where Mae spent the first 14 months of her life and meeting the people who cared for her was priceless. The director met us outside and posed with us for pictures. He them escorted us inside and to his office. We were given time to ask questions to him and the nannies. Then we saw several baby rooms, the playroom, the kitchen, and Mae's crib.

The playroom consisted of one slide and we never saw it being used.

After visiting the orphanage, we were taken to Mae's finding spot. She was placed under a tree by a Medicine Company and in front of an outdoor market. She was wearing a t-shirt and was wrapped in a towel. We think she was placed there so she would be found quickly.

We were then treated to a Dim Sum lunch with the Director and staff from the orphanage. It was a very nice lunch and we were able to get a lot of questions answered. I brought a book along and asked the director and nannies to write a little something in it for Mae. They were all happy to write in it. We later had the writing translated by our guide. We were treated very well.

The next day, we had to take Mae for her physical. She still had an ear infection and some chest congestion. As you can see by the pictures, she was not happy about this at all! She screamed the whole time.

Here are a few a few pictures of Mae while in China! She loved the croissants.

Bonding with Daddy! It took Mae a little longer to accept Mark. Feeding her was a great way for Mark to bond with her.

This little boy was trying to convince this sheep to go down the escalator to the subway. It was a very funny scene. Packing to go home! Our agency gave us the shirt Mae is wearing in the suitcase picture. It says "Homeward Bound". We had a 15 hour flight from Gaungzhou to Los Angles. Our flight was a late flight, so Mae slept for about 8 hours of it. Considering the fact that she had ear infections, she did great on the plane.

Since Mark and I both traveled to China, Mae's adoption was completed in China. When our plane touched ground in LA, she immediately became an American citizen!! We had a layover in LA, then a 5 hour flight to Charlotte.

Pamela and Mae listening to music at the LA airport. Clara and Heather picked us up at Charlotte airport very early in the morning. Grandma and Megan stayed home and made us a huge western breakfast. I can't tell you how good the food tasted! We couldn't drink the water in China (unless bottled) and could not use ice. The milk there was always served warm and did not taste like what we were used to.

We are home and Mae is perfect. Megan was waiting by the front door to meet her new baby sister.

Mae playing in her room with Clara and Pamela. Lots of toys and attention for her here!

September 2008!! What's happening now with our family? My next couple posts will be about two major events in our lives. The adoption of Mae, and Clara's wedding. After that, I'll try to keep things up to date. Mark and I have been busy remodeling our basement. It's coming along albeit slowly. Mark has worked in the city for the past year and loves working downtown, however, he will be starting a new position next week and will no longer be in the city. I have been trying to keep up with Mae. She sure keeps me on my toes! Clara and Josh have been planning their move to Chicago. They are very excited! The plans are starting to come together. They have secured an apartment and will be moving the weekend of September 27th. We sure will miss them, but wish them the best of luck. We're looking forward to visiting them and seeing Chicago. Megan is busy with work and school. She is a junior at UNCC this year and is doing great. She is a server for P.F. Changs as well. Somehow, she still finds time to volunteer for several organizations. She works close to us, so we get to see her often. Pamela graduated high school this year and started college last month. She is also a server, but at Kabutos. She lives in the apartment attached to our house. She helps a lot with Mae. Mae attached quickly to her "LaLa" while in China. I think it is safe to say that Mae has LaLa wrapped her finger! Mae will be 3 in October. She is doing great. She has come very far in the past (almost) 2 years. We are so fortunate to have her in our family!