Happy New Year fom China

It is already 2010 here in China ! We finally got out of our hotel
room last night and walked around town. They still have Christmas
trees up here.
We saw a lot of very expensive clothing shops and interesting restaurants.
So far, we have eaten at KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds because of
Maggie not feeling good. To say we have cabin fever is an
understatement !!
So, we are going to Shamaian Island today and getting Maggie a little
stroller ( She gets heavy in the carrier).
Here are some things we are so thankful for :
- Our beautiful Daughter. We have told her about a gazillion million
times how much we love her. Chuck and I are so amazed at her and
thankful God chose US to be her parents. I can not imagine our life
without her and she has us wrapped around her finger !
- We finally had Starbucks cofee this morning and a Blueberry muffin.
Finally !!!
- Maggie is really playing with her toys and starting to look at us
more and more. She crawled to me when I moved away from her today. I
got it all on video.
- Maggie has a full, round tummy and chunky cheeks again. We are so thankful !
- Chuck and I are sleeping so good - the best sleep we have had in a
LONG time. Maggie is also sleeping so good. No problem in the sleep
area here.
- All the other families arrive today. We are ready for some socialization !
- We have been able to talk to Walker and Will and family/friends
using our Magic Jack. I highly recommend getting a magic Jack if you
are going to China or use long distance a lot. We love Magic Jack..
Buy one today.
- We fly home in 8 days ( and counting !).
Love to all !!!

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Maggie's First Bottle !

Another praise ! We finally received the package from Maggie's
Orphanage with her bottle,formula and cereal. Chuck quickly made her
a bottle and she started guzzling it down. It took her about one
minute to drink almost all her bottle. She is a different girl now -
very alert and playing so good !

We are amazed at the many miracles we are seeing here ! Her tummy is
so full and big now too. She played for a while and even started
looking at us in the eye. This is a big change. The past couple of
days, Maggie has been so lethargic and didn't want anything to do with
us. She is taking a nap now, and I think she is having happy dreams
of a beautiful bottle !!!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement ! We love you.

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Update

Praise the Lord !  We were able to give Maggie about 250 mls of the glucose solution today.  She even stopped fighting with us and allowed Chuck to give her the syringe.  Maggie started actually pulling the syringe into her mouth and guzzling the solution !  We tried to sneak a bottle in, but she threw it up.  The orphanage director is sending a package with her bottle, formula and rice cereal and we should get it tonight or tomorrow.  We are praying she will take her bottle then and she will start to feel better soon.

Our guide - Winsi - is the one that called Maggie's orphanage and requested help.  The Director of the Orphanage called today concerned about her and wanted to see how she was doing.  I am so grateful for everyone that has helped us.  Especially the UAB International Adoption Clinic  (Dr. Chambers and Leigh Ann).  Dr. Chambers said that she has never seen an Orphanage  help out this much. We are making progress but still have a weak and sick baby.  Please continue to pray for us and Maggie.

Update

This has been a really hard time for us. We are so blessed with
Maggie and love her so much, but she is grieving hard.
Our guide called the Orphanage director several times to make sure
we are making her bottles correctly. He is FEDEX-ing us her bottle,
formula and cereal. AMAZING ! We feel so blessed that they are
helping us. The package should be here either tonight or in the
morning. This is God's favor on us !
We talked to Dr. Chamber's ( thanks's to Kim Porter and Leigh Ann)
and she suggested we take Maggie to a Western MD here and have her
checked out. The MD at the Western Clinic said her mouth looked fine
and she was healthy ( no fever). He gave us some vitamins and glucose
solution and we will have to force feed her with a syringe. She does
not want anything near her mouth and is a strong fighter !! We did
get about 30 ml of broth in her this morning using a syringe and
fought her all the way. She is exhausted and weak. Thank you for all
the prayers and encouraging e-mails.
We love you all !

Thank you all so much and keep praying !

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One more thing....

We met these two sweet ladies when we walked in the Adoption Center.
The one sitting on the couch with me is from Anniston, Alabama and an
Auburn fan. It was neat to hear War Eagle in China ( 7000 miles from
home).

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More pictures !

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She's grieving.

Today has been a little tough. Maggie is realy grieving and she hasn't
eaten in over 24 hours. When we try to give her a bottle, she gets
mad and clamps her mouth shut. We know this is very common when
children are grieving, but it is still hard to watch her cry and know
she won't eat. We are trying everything, and know eventually she will
take her bottle and eat. Right now, it is the only thing she can
control and she is letting us know that she is not happy. Please pray
that she will start eating and that we will have patience.
Maggie is sleeping very good and slept al through the night. I've even
been able to sooth her and let her sleep on me for a while. She is so
smart and is starting to copy a few things. We've seen a couple of
smiles today and she loves playing with her toys and Chuck's watch.
The boys saw Maggie today for the first time on Google video chat and
they were so happy and talked to her. She had no clue what was going
on, but it was wonderful to talk to the boys and see them this
morning. I miss them so much !
Walker and Will : Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and love you so
much. I hope you are having a GREAT day and we will be home soon.

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Gotcha Day !

We have Maggie ! It has been an exhausting and very special day !
Maggie is doing great ! We are really starting to see her personality
and lots of smiles and laughs. She did not have a nap today and is
still awake. She is very curious and does not want to miss out on
anything. Sounds familiar, doesn't it Walker ? Maggie came right to
us and only cried a liitle after we met.
She LOVES her daddy and thinks he is very funny !
She had her first bath and did pretty good. Of course, we rubbed her
down with good smelling baby lotion and she seemed to like that.
We are going to try and get her to sleep now and try to sleep a little
ourselves. She is used to a 4 AM bottle, so it may be a long night !
Maggie is much smaller than what we thought. I have not weighed her,
but I am thinking she would be in a 9 months clothes.
Much Love to everyone !!!

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Church, Tian'anmn Square and The Forbidden City

This will be a quick post. We are about to start packing up our
suitcases because tomorrow we fly to Gaungzhou and meet Maggie !! Only
ONE more sleep. It doesn't seem real.
We startd the day at a church service for non-China residents. We had
to bring a copy of our passport to the church to show that we are not
Chinese citizens. The church rents out a Chinese theatre and it was
very nice. We really enjoyed the praise and worship and the message -
very good !
Next, we went to The Olympic Birds Nest where some of the Olympic
games were held. Pretty cool ! Then, we went to eat at another
western Chinese restaurant. After that, we got back on the bus and
headed to Tian'anmn Square and The Forbidden City. We saw some
beautiful Chinese jewelry from One of the Dynasties ( I am tired and
can't remember which one !). The most interesting thing was we saw
the well where The Dragon Lady
( one of the China Empress') threw a Concubine in. Crazy.
The weather was a little colder today and we froze again. I am
getting real good at layering and bundling up and ready for a much
sunnier and warmer Gaungzhou ! We leave at 5:30 AM to go to the
airport and I am ready !
Please be in prayer for us and Maggie as her world as she knows it
will be turned upside down - for the Better - but she will not know
what is going on.
Please e mail us and say hi - we love getting all the e mails and
calls on the Majic Jack. We might not return your call for a while,
but it is so nice to hear everyone's voice. I can't read the Blogger
comments, so I will have to read them all when we get home.
Love,
Kathy and Chuck

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The Summer Palace and The Great Wall

We met most of our group this morning at breakfast. Some of the
families are flying in today and we will meet them later. It has been
so neat getting to know all the families and talk about our little
ones.
We started the day off at The Summer Palace and it was freezing !
Chuck got some beautiful pictures of the different architecture and
paintings. We had our first group picture there too.
Next, we went to a Jade museaum and learned all about Jade. Very
interesting ! Then, we went to a Chinese dinner ( more American than
traditional Chinese) that was served family style. All the food was
placed on a lazy susan and shared. Everything was delicious and not
too different than what we are used too except the fish was served
with the head and all - YUM !
We drove about an hour north to The Great Wall. It was really much
colder there ! We climbed a portion of the Wall and the mountains
around it were beautiful. It was quite a hike up and the steps are
very uneven. There were many Chinese woman in high heels - very
impressive.
Last, we drove back to the city and had a traditional Beijing Roasted
Duck dinner also served family style. The duck is served with
"pancakes" and you assemble it like a fajita. I wasn't to sure about
the duck, but all the other food was very good and a lot like our
lunch.
: Walker and Will - We miss you so much !! I hope your having fun
playing with Brantley and Olivia. Two more sleeps before we get Maggie
!! Wow !

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Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping !

Today is much colder than yesterday. It is 10 degrees F. Also, the
smog is not so thick and the wind is really blowing. But, you get a
little used to it and we have many layers of clothes on which really
has kept us warm. We mostly stayed indoors today and will tour more
outside on Sat. and Sun.

We are just about over the Jet Lag. I can tell a big difference in
how I feel today. Yesterday, I was ready to go to bed at 3 PM and we
finally crashed at 7:30 PM.

We went back to the Pearl Market and the Toy Market. I felt a little
braver and really bargained for some cool stuff. The sales people are
very pushy to get you to buy their goods and some even tried to pull
us over to their stalls. It was kind of crazy at one point ! We felt
like the Seagulls in Nemo - Mine, Mine, Mine !!!

We found some great Chinese Lego sets - COGO- and bought a set for
Will.(Sorry Will, no Batman Lego sets). We also got Walker some great
stuff too.
Chuck had fun looking at all the electronics again and I loved the
apparal Market.

Tonight, we are going to the Kung Fu show and it will help us to stay awake.
Only 3 more sleeps till we get Maggie !! Can't wait !

Merry Christmas !
Kathy

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Day Two in Beijing

We started the day with a huge breakfast at the hotel. It was yummy
and we were starving. Then, we got all our winter clothes on and
headed out to the Temple of Heaven. It was really cold, but not
unbearable. Tomorow, we will layer our clothes a little more though.
The Temple was beautiful, but our favorite thing was to watch the
people in the park. It is such a different culture here. Everone
exercises and plays games in the park - all ages. They look so
healthy and fit and I wanted to dance and exercise with them so bad,
but we just stood and watched them. It was really something different
and very cool ! Everyone here has been so nice and courteous.
After the Temple, we walked over to the Pearl Market. Chuck had a
great time looking at all the electronics, binoculars and scopes ! We
only looked at one level of the Market and we plan to go back tomorrow
to find some pearls ( for you Diane !) and look around a little more.
It is fun to haggle over the prices and see how low you can get them.
I saw a lot of MAC make-up too ( not sure if it's real though ?).
So by now we were starving - again. We saw a cute bakery right as we
were dropped off at the Temple and fell in love with it. The Chinese
bakery called -"Weiduomei' reminds me of the pastry bakeries we saw in
Switzerland. They had so many different kinds of goodies ( salty and
sweet) and everything looked good. There were woman decorating
elaborate cakes and making breads. It was very chraming ! We bought
six different pastries for lunch ( three were cheese and meat and
three were sweet). They were so yummy !! It only cost us $4.00 too.
Now, we are trying to stay up and not go to sleep untill later. The
Jet-Lag is bad and we are really feeling it now. Tomorrow , we plan
to go back to the Pearl market and some other smaller Markets nearby.
We might try to see a show too and just take it easy. Saturday and
Sunday will be a very full day of touring so it will be nice to get
reasted up.
Enjoy the pictures.
Merry Christmas !
Kathy

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