6 months ago today....

The months and days seemed to interminably CRAWL by the three plus years we were on our journey to Brielle. And now... zippola!! 6 months have past since Director Fu placed sweet little petite timid pale itchy Brie in my arms. Six months!! Can I just say that God blessed me with exactly what I asked for. He does cool things like that all the time! We have thoroughly enjoyed our daughter every minute she has been with us. Her little personality definately keeps us on our toes, and it is such a joy to experience what new things she discovers each day. I fell in love with her six months ago, but somehow she fills my heart more & more as the hours pass. I still sit back in amazement that we really do have her ~ finally! Happy Anniversary Yingtan families!!

A New Year...

Happy New Year Family & Friends!

It's hard to believe that 2008 has come and gone. Last year at this time I was almost totally obsessed with reading Rumor Queen and anything I could get my hands on relating to our China adoption. Little did I know that at this time last year it would still be another 6 months before we would be united with our baby girl. God's timing is always the best, but it is so stinking hard for me to be patient most times. These past 5 months have literally flown by. Brielle has changed so much from the first few weeks we spent together. She was so thin with barely any hair on her noggin! And her skin was so rough and covered with rash from lack of care. Over these months she has put on a few pounds and has grown over three inches! Her hair is coming in and she has a mouth full of teeth. Brie has quite the sense of humor and knows just how to play her parents already. Her language is slowly picking up. She parrots everything but is very selective as to when she wants to put those words into action on her own. Last weekend we had a girls slumber party and she had a great time with Emma & Olivia! She loves reading books and playing "kitchen".

We had a fabulous first Christmas together and Uncle Cy, Aunty Dawn, and Kali came and spent a week with us. Seeing those two little girls together is what we've been waiting to see for a looong time. I've posted a few pictures of the past few weeks.

Hugs and kisses to all of our Yingtan Sister Families. We miss you lots and would love to see recent pictures of the girls.

Daddy's girl!

Before I post a word about Brielle today, I need to apologize to the bloggers (or lurkers) who have been reading here and were offended with photo captions I posted. First of all, I LOVE my daughter and the country from where she was born and the Chinese culture. I never meant to "make fun" and intentionally hurt anyone. I have removed the wording which depicted dialect for fear of insulting anyone else. However... I do not blog for anyone but my family and friends. They know me and understand my humor. So for those of you who felt it necessary to let me know how you felt, thanks, but doing it anonymously does not allow me to contact you directly. Oh well.

Now that that is out of the way.... Brielle certainly has become a little Daddy's girl of late! I have had to work early and extended hours the past week which has afforded Brie and her Dad a lot of one-on-one time. Wow... she wants him by her side every minute now. Yesterday at church Rob dropped Brie off at Tots Landing and she screamed (literally from what I was told) when her Dad handed her off the to women working in her classroom. I wondered what was taking him so long as I went ahead and saved us seats in the auditorium. Finally, he had to get one of the Dad's who was working the registration desk to get her at which time she quieted right down.
I was totally expecting that to happen while we were in China... not four months later! I promise I'm trying to be the best mom I can be to her (although the ticked off lurkers would totally disagree with me on this right now!) But she is in LOVE with her Dad for sure.

Yesterday Olivia and I had our first one-on-one time since we returned from China. We went to see Madagascar 2. I think I laughed more than she did! We enjoyed popcorn and skittles and shared a drink! It was wonderful as I do miss spending time with the girls. Then we went home and played with Brielle who had napped almost the entire time we were gone. I wish weekends would come around alot faster than they do!

Not too impresed with the costume bit

Halloween was very low key for us here in our cul-de-sac. I went out and purchased way, way too much candy. Whole candy bars for my neighborhood kids and not a ONE showed up at the door. We only had four groups of kids ring the doorbell. I'm guessing parents are getting their children involved with community/church gatherings on that night versus letting them go to run from door to door as we did as kids. We had a shooting here in SC! Can you believe that? Some poor kid and his brother were trick-or-treating with their father close behind them and they get shot when they went to the door of a home! Young son and the dad were treated and released but the older boy was shot above the eye and died! I understand why parents keep their kids from getting out now. Problem is i now have all this chocolate and sugar filled treats in my pantry that is constantly calling my name!! I need to bring it in to work to share with everyone.

Brielle was a butterfly for Halloween. She wasn't thrilled with all the paraphenalia. She proceeded to rip off a fuzzy antler on the borrowed costume minutes after we dressed her in it!! So now I need to glue it back on somehow. I guess she related it to the bows I still try to keep in her hair that she repeatedly pulls off. ;)

I am trying to teach Brie some sign language. The whiny little noise she makes over & over & over when she trys to communicate with us had led me to try something...anything... to keep her from doing it. This morning I ignored her whine for something she didn't have and suddenly she started signing for something to eat!! Needless to say i was thrilled and immediately rewarded her!! Now if I can just get her to sign for potty we'll be in business. She is still doing pretty well with that. Consistency with attempts is the key.

Every day with her is so amazing. Even when she keeps me up at night I try to savor every minute because I know too well how temporary this too will be!

She Walks!

On our third month anniversary of Gotcha Day ~October 22nd~ our little peanut decided she would quit messing around with scooting and sliding and decided to boldly step out and WALK. When I picked her up from the babysitter yesterday afternoon, Brielle walked all the way across the living room to me with a "Hi Mom" look on her face! I loved it. I had only seen her take a few shuffle plop steps before this. It was amazing to see how much balance she had. Her next demonstration was toddling over to her Dad who was at the opposite end of our kitchen. She kept it up to get the applause and I can say she slept so well last night that I had a hard time to wake her this morning . It is so fun to see the changes she experiences every day! I can't believe it has already been three months since she was placed in my arms.

It's Already October!

I'm sorry we haven't posted anything in so long...

What a totally incredible Summer this has been. God is so amazing! Talk about miracles ~ We experienced many throughout this adoption process and most recently our trip. One thing is for certain.. He keeps His promises, and Brielle is a living testament to that my friends!

I've been simply stunned at how many people we had reading our blog while we were in China! People I do not even know have told us they followed our blog. Now that we have been home for 10 weeks, I can reflect on our journey with great joy. We looked at our trip photos for the first time the other night. Rob's mom and stepdad were here visiting from NY and got to meet Brielle for the first time. Telling people of our journey seems so amazing to me now that the psychotic rollercoaster of emotion is out of the picture! And now that we have bonded as a family so much more so than when we were in China, reflecting on that time there has taken on a whole new meaning for me.

Brielle has brought so much joy to our family and friends in the short time she has been with us... If I would have had a glimpse of what a complete blessing she was going to be to us the three year wait would have been much more difficult than it was! Does that make any sense??
Anyway we LOVE every little chinese inch of her!

She is finally starting to fill out a bit and her hair is growing! Just within the past few days Brie is actually letting me put bows in her hair. She now has 14 teeth... maybe more I'm afraid to feel around back there for fear of getting bitten! She knows the concept of brushing her teeth; however, it's NOT her favorite thing to do. She is very good about going potty tho! Believe it or not I started sitting her on the big potty with a training seat as soon as we got home only because I knew she was used to "going" on those chairs at the orphanage. Low and behold... she goes! 1 & 2!! Now.. I dont force the issue, and it may be a while before she can tell me..but she's well ahead of the curve. Brie has taken three or four steps on her own. She is still doing the "Lt. Dan" scoot as Rob calls it vs. crawling! That's awful isn't it? But she moves pretty quickly.

Brielle had a great time with Olivia and Emma on her first visit to a pumpkin patch. She found a pumpkin and wouldn't let go of it! Too cute. Enjoy some updated pictures.

Life is good.

We made it home!!

Wow.. i think we were in airplanes for 1.5 days...can I tell you how many times our bags were searched and passports were shown to get out of China??? Tooooooo many. Brielle was a very good girl. She wasn't the wormy screecher I was dreading she would be. She actually slept as much time as she was awake. We flew from Gz to Beijing and had a 4 hour layover..I now know why so much time is needed between flights. Tip to those who plan to leave very soon.... go with the flow and don't let things bother you ! We then had 13+ hours in the air to NJ and another layover which ended up being 2.5 hours longer than we anticipated. NO baby food or liquid is allowed through so we could only carry formula powder... so Ihad to find fuit Sat night at the airport to feed Brie. Anyway ... we survived!

We had an awesome greeting after midnight at the Charleston airport by a big crowd of family and friends! We didn't get home until 1:30 am and talked until 3 am with Kris and Whitney. Brie fell asleep and so did we and we all slept until 12:30PM TODAY! It was wonderful. A comfy bed! Another tip to nexters... bring a pillow or at least pillow cases to have something from home to help you sleep. Pillows are terrible at White Swan and beds are rock hard no exaggeration!

I'll post pics tomorrow as Olivia is spending the night tonight and she keeps begging me to go to bed!

Love to all,
L, R & B

Hello one last time from China........

Well we have had one beautiful last day in Guangzhou. First, Brie slept well last night as did Rob. I was up all night (anxious about this long journey ahead of us with Screech :) but...we had a wonderful breakfast and time at the pool with our friends. Then we went one last time to Lucy's for burgahs and fries and back to the hotel to pack whilst little one snoozed. At 2:30pm we had to meet the gang in the lobby to pack on a huge bus with a couple of other adoption groups to go to the American Consulate to swear in and get the babies passports. It was intersting to hear where everyone was from and the different occupations of the families. Many were first time adoptees many for their second or third child and two families were adopting their 5th child!! wow is all i can say. My hats off to them. There were many teachers, a pediatrician, surgeon, aerospace engineer (our group) even a rock star! :) Each morning when we went to breakfast the place was filled with families from all over with their children.. We've talked to many people this week, very interesting. We met three couples from RI! All over the USA and abroad.

After the swearing in, we received all of Brielle's documents and passport and when we touch the ground in NJ, she will be a US citizen!! She is now offically Brielle Tian Meade.

When we returned we freshened up a bit and walked down the river to a great Italien restaurant. We sat and enjoyed a fabulous last meal together, drank wine and laughed alot. Outside of the restaurant, Kerry and I had the girls in their strollers and this guy and his girlfriend walked by and asked where we were from. He continued to chat with us for some time. What a hoot! He is from Las Vegas and told us he was also here to get his China Doll. She was hanging on his arm - many years younger than him. He told us all about the website he met her through and how he's been to China 5 times this year to try out girls to be his wife! 79 years old. I posted a pic. She did not understand one word he was telling us. It sort of capped the evening!

We have washed Brie and Daddy put her down for nighty noodles. She's spawled out on my side of the bed! :)

I'm going to post a few pics and we are going to finish packing and jump on the brickpile. Literally all the beds we've slept in from Beijing, Nanchang and here are so stinking hard it hurts your bones. Can't wait to get in our bed!!

Thanks for being with us on the wonderful journey to our little girl. From your sweet comments, you've felt my joy & blood, sweat and tears as there have been many peaks and valleys over these two weeks. I would do it all again. China has been fascinating and heart breaking all at the same time. And we've made some terrific forever family friends in the process.

We love you all ~ we'v e missed you..& we've even missed work if you can believe that.
We're on our way home in a few short hours!!

G'nite from Gz,

The Meades
L, R & B

Star Bucks saves the day...

Hi gang,

We found a Starbucks as we were walking the streets yesterday and stuck our head in to find they have wireless internet. We were so full so we didn't stay yesterday...but today has been a real test of patience so Rob decided to send me here to get out of his hair for a few minutes. Plus the internet is free here and expensive at the hotel...China ain't cheap. And the White Swan is very expensive. A cheeseburger is over $20! and the lunch and dinner buffet is like $40 - $60 pp. Needless to say the cashola is running low.

Brielle has been very whiny today..she has this little screach when she is trying to communicate what she wants.. and after being cooped up in a hotel room for two weeks we are on the verge of being totally batty... so ready to come home!! I bought an extra suit case today for us to pack our little souvenirs in. I think we've probably been in 50 stores here... some places have better prices on some things and higher on others. They don't really bargain as much as I would have liked. But you know me the bargain queen! I have only bought one thing for me - A Beijing ballcap to wear when I get off the stinking plane after travelling a zillion hours. The water here is so bad you never really feel clean even after taking a shower and it does a number on your hair! No control. ;)

We've not taken any video or pictures today. I think we're photoed out. I do have some from last night but I didn't download them because my battery was dead. Sorry. I'll download tonight and post tomorrow.

I think we are going to an Italien

Fun time in Gz!!

Today we went on a sightseeing tour to another temple and the most awesome pearl and jewelry factory that makes jewelry and ships it all over the world. Laura Fail would have thought she died and went to heaven! We tried to get pictures, but once again we just couldn't capture it! unbelieveable...everywhere you looked were piles and piles of any kind of stone, turquois, coral, gems, pearls in heaping bags everywhere!! We did not have the time to really search all the vendors. The tour guide only took us to one vendor, and I felt very rushed and overwhelmed. But anyway it was loads of fun! Then we bought Brie her first hapy meal! Sorry Sher, you and the girls can buy her the next one. She loves McNuggets! Tonight the Breshears and we had the most awesome dinner on earth. We ate outside by the river and enjoyed everything from beef and fish and pork,all kinds of fish, mussles, oysters, you name it ~ it was a smorgasborg of everything... we enjoyed the meal over a couple of hours...then topped it off with ice cream sundaes. Yes!!!! I've gained weight now for sure. Guangzhou is terrific. Two more days and then we start our journey home. We have paperwork to do frist thing in the morning and then we may journey up and down more of the side streets here..We have enjoyed the gorgeous pool here for the pat two afternoons. Those pics tomorrow. :)

Time to get little one to bed. She didn't have a nap this afternoon. Hope all is well back home. Love the Meades

We made it & Guangzhou is wonderful!

We are at the White Swan hotel and it is beautiful here!! We are on the 12th floor and the view is great. The hotel is on a river and when we got here last night music was piped into every floor...the same music that was playing outside to the laser light show from the buildings across the river. I will shoot some video tonight. We got here around 8:30pm. The girls did very well on the flight here. We lucked out as there was no one in the wondow seat so we were able to put Brie in between us and she had a geat time...well she snacked the whole time so that was fun for her. They all get so antsy. The guys ran back out as soon as we got into our rooms to get take out from Lucy's! American cheeseburgers and french fries with real ketchup!! They were wonderful. Brielle had a long night which means sodid mom and dad.. Her tummy was upset and her rash was really bothering her. The crib is very small and narrow. The first time she flops around it wakes her up. Thankfully we swapped rooms with another single girl who got a king sized bed so it is big enough for Brie to get in the middle.

This morning we went to get their medical exams. Brie weighs 15.6 pounds. She's the tiniest of all the girls. The each of the rest weighs between 18 and 21 pounds. They've been eatng up a storm since we got them so in no time they'll be good to go. We did get a prescription cream for Brie's rash. Hopefully that will help her tonight.

Brie is taking a nap now and Rob is with the rest of the Dads filling out required forms for the Consulate appointment tomorrow.

We saw alot of wonderful things this morning. I will try to quickly post a few pics. We have to pay dearly for internet here, so unfortunately, I do not know how many more times we'll be blogging. We wanted everyone to know we made it here ok and that Gz is clean and pretty from what we've seen so far.

After breakfast which was so delicious we walked down to a photo shop where they took headshots of the girls for their clinic paperwork. Then we went to a hospital of sorts for the exams. It didn't involve a whole lot...weight, measurements, overall body check, temperature, etc. no bloodwork or shots or anything really. I was glad to get her rash checked out but they just keep saying it is heat rash.

On our way to the clinic, there were a few nannies taking a class of children to the park. I think they were maybe 3 and 4 years old. They were all holding on to a long strip of material to keep them in line. Dressed in beautiful red outfits, they stopped and the children waived and said "Hollow" !! It was adorable. Then we saw alot of adults playing something like badmitten?? LOL ! however you spell it.. with their feet! They play in groups of four. Many were exercising - tai chi and using like playground equipment for adults!

I think we paid alot more for the few things we did buy in Beijing and Nanchang. There are several shops right across the street from the White Swan that we checked out on our way back to the hotel. We bought a stroller because the carrier gets so so hot in the afternoon. It was 155 yen which is about $23 and then we got two pairs of squeaky shoes and one outfit for Brie. I will have to go back when I can "barter" more aggressively and also when I have money. Rob had left me with only 6 yen when he left to do the paperwork so I only looked. It's probably a good thing because then I can compare more places before making decisions on things.

Ok I"m going to stop here and post some photos. Hugs to everyone back home and other faithful blog readers. Life is wonderful with Brielle and we can't wait for you all to meet her.

All our bags are packed...we're ready to go....

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeello from Nanchang for the last time.

We got Brielle's passport this morning! Yay....she can now leave this province with her parents.
We had to review several documents that will be presented at the consulate appointment in Gz... making sure every bit of information is absolutely correct or else it is major problems!
LiPing also gave each of us an 8 x 10 photo of when the children were handed off to us on Gotcha Day! None of us even realized anyone was taking pictures! Imagine that! I was so thrilled to recieve that as Rob was shooting video of the event. Thus the reason it never made the blog. Each picture is wonderful as each child was looking directly at their new moms. It really gives me goose bumps to look at it! :) okaaaaaaay i tear up ..a little.

We also received a bag of "Sniks" as LiPing put it - snikky snacks for when we get to hotel tonight. He said the restaurant will be closed, and he didnt want us to get hungry. Apparently it will be somewhere around 9 pm by the time we get into our rooms. The snacks included one can of pringles, chocolate covered (debatable) ? chinese moon pies (yard saling food, sher!), onion vegetable crackers, rice puffy cookies for the babies and some rabbit taffy?? An odd mix of sniks for certain! You'd THINK I would have lost a few pounds on this journey but, heavens no, still my chubby self! :) At least we've been healthy! Some of the other families have had some serious tummy issues! I've doled out many a tum.

We took one last trip to the grocery store after breakfast to get a few supplies for the trip today, other than that we've been right here in the rooms...going back and forth visiting each other...pacing around trying to make the time pass by.

I played charades a few times here with the girls in the hotel gift shop. Last night I was trying to find a deck of cards. Finally got her to understand and she said OOHHH COD..! she ran around the corner and brought back a birthday card. :) A few more hand gestures and she dug up a deck made in USA! Sweet.

We have to pack up the lap top so I'm going to end here and post a picture or two.

Congrats to all of my January RQ buddies who received their TA this week! You're almost on your way to your girls. Maryann (Mikeandmare) I'm thinking about ya... getting excited for you!

Have a geat Monday everyone. Loveage to all. L,R & B

ps Sorry..Pictures will have to wait until we get to the White Swan. The USB cord is totally packed up.

Great night on the town~~

This will be short because we need to get baby nighty night. We piled in a cab, Kerry, Brian, baby Easton, Brielle, Rob and I, and went uptown to find the two story Pizza Hut....We saw a new side of Nanchang and the girls were so well behaved. Brie had her first taste of spagetti! We had to get a number outside like at a steak house and wait and wait for a table. The place was huge. We had a great time chatting with a girl from South Africa who is here for one year ..yikes.. and another young Chinese girl who spoke a bit of English. We did lug the video cam, too, so we were able to get a bit of city life. Pizza and spagetti were good and we topped it off with Haagan Daz. Full bellies and now we are calling it a day. Love to you all. Tomorrow am we pack up and get ready for the final chapter of China.

God bless!
LR&B

I want to be a rock star!

Good morning USA! Pops here. I just wanted to let you all know that Brie and I are jammin to Third Day while Mom gets ready for another day in beautiful downtown Nanchang. It promises to be as hot today as it has been. One thing I've noticed is that you never see any service trucks running around. I know for a fact that 3/4 of the A/C in this country is broke, so ship my stuff over here and we will berth Coastal Air Solutions International! NOT!!

You all pray for Mom as she had a pretty rough day yesterday. We are both anxious to get this precious little package home. Brielle and I enjoyed our day getting to know each other some more. We had coffee in the lobby, went swimming, visited a few shops and picked up her new outfit. If she doesn't hurry up and put on a few pounds she'll probably be able to use it as her prom dress. She is eating well and I'm sure once she gets home and experiences a few McDonald's drive thus with Olivia and Emma, everything will be good.

KK, Brielle is not walking yet; waiting on her big brother to teach her. As far as talking goes, she just kind of grunts when she wants something. Mom does a pretty good job of interpreting that as that's pretty much how I communicate with her. That's what she tells me anyways.

Lots of hugs and kisses to you all. We miss you guys like crazy. Olivia and Emma...get the ice cream ready cause Pops is coming home soon!

:)

Tingyan Orphanage Day Today

Well today was a very exhausting day...emotionally mainly. Unfortunately I do not have photos tonight to post of what we witnessed today because I only shot video. Not very good video at that, but I did get some that hopefully Kris will be able to transform into something! Only one parent was allowed to go today. They did not want the girls going in this heat as it was a 2.5 hour bus ride! So Lisa, Brian, Brent and I made the trip while the others hung back with the girls. I was excited and very saddened all at the same time. It was nice to be able to ask as many questions as possible to the orphange director and the nanny that actually took care of Brielle. But I doubt that all of her answers to me were translated as spoken. It makes you wonder how much is filtered out by the adoption administrators..

This welfare institute is a combination of an old folks home and orphanage...for anyone who needed someone to take care of them. (Brie is on my lap and is hel[ping me type now...) It was sad. We were first taken into a room - a conference room that had a huge table. We sat around and they served us fruit. Lychee, grapes and watermelon. We could then ask questions about our girls and we were also told that we would be shown exactly where each girl was found and then we could photograph it!

Next we were then taken to a small room that had about 6 cribs in it and 6 little wooden chairs that the children are placed in all day. They are fed in these chairs and are made to go potty in them as well! The nanny showed me Brielle's crib and in it I found a straw mat, a blanket, flat small pillow, old torn towel and a large old stretchy shirt of sorts. They kept talking about "Tianyu" as being a very active girl and when I asked about the garmet the nanny showed me she would 'wrap up ' Tian in it and put her in bed. .. like a constraint?? and at that point I got pretty sick! Then Bruce said "oh to keep her warm". Yeah right! Why would you need that with this big thick blanket?? Now we can understand why these little girls fear going to sleep at night. The first two nights with Brielle was smooth and last night we experienced what some of the other parents have said ...that their girls wake up suddenly and cry. They do not like being in the cribs! I can totally see why. Off of the crib area was a little kitchen galley and another adjoining bedroom. I guess the nanny stays in there to sleep? Bruce told us that the orphanage was recently without water for three months!! I shudder to think about what kind of water was literally carried in to that place...Did they even get baths?? Did they feed them this water too?

We were then taken into another small room that had 4 children in it. Two special needs kids and two cute little ones that looked about 6 or 7 months old who were ready to be adopted out. One of the SN children was albino and his skin was so chapped with a bright red rash it had to burn! All of the girls were delievered to us with rashes and skin issues. Most is clearing up but whenever they get hot they break out in wheply things and they get very itchy.

The countryside was amazing. We saw many Chinese working with oxen in the rice fields and oyster beds along with masses of ducks that they raise. They eat alot of duck here.

After leaving the orpahage we went to the finding spots. I had a vision of a windy, rocky dirt road where Brie was dropped off; however, it was quite the opposite. She was left on the side of a road at the entrance to a shopping strip on a cement sidewalk actually. By a mall of sorts.... hmmm. How odd. I took footage of that as well.

Daddy and Brie had a great day together. Rob didnt take any pics though so I snapped a couple after dinner! Gotta scoot and give Brie a bath. Onlu one more full day here tomorrow and then we pack up and head to Guanzhou on Monday afternoon. Thank God! Ready to be home with all of you.

Love ya'll...
L, R & B

Today's Events ~ Temple, Park & Porcelain

Bruce told us we would do a little sightseeing today. He didn't tell us where we were going until we were all packed in the shuttle bus. Wow is it hot today. Soaked is a pretty accurate description of all of us by the time we got back to the hotel. Our first stop was at a Buddhist temple. Interesting. Haven't seen or smelled that much incense since high school! But these cats had incense on steroids going on over there. Anyway... we prayed and went in to check it out. Monks were chanting and scuffling around the big Buddha. They literally circled us. Some would come in and kneel in front of the Buddhas, and then go to each of the other statues and bow in front of them. Then we went across the street to a pretty nice park. Bruce told us that many Chinese find puppy love there! okaaaaaaaay. We went and sat on a bridge to catch a breeze and one sweet Chinese lady came up to us and stared and smiled at Brie. She told me (via Bruce's translation) that i really needed a red bow in her hair not white! Red is good luck in China...and she pretty! :) Off next to the porcelain shop run by the Chinese govt. Gorgeous things in there! Wish we had more room to carry things back, but we still have 44 lbs. weight restriction. And then there's the cash restriction ...haha! So we looked and enjoyed trying to bargain with the locals. Just riding all over the city is such a treat. It is amazing what you see. Wish I could capture it on the camera. We haven't taken much video because it is so stinking hot to carry the extra weight and then pull it out to shoot stuff. It's crazy to see Cartier sitting right by an ally where a local may be selling garlic cloves out of the basket of his bike! And people...LOTS of them are everywhere going in different directions. No one waits in a line here...they are constantly merging. Whether in restaurants, at street corners..even at the elevator...if I was standing 10 minutes to wait to get on and the doors opened ~ 5 would jump out of nowhere and jump on ahead of me! I guess that is not included in their Miss Manners book of etiquette here.

As we were getting off the bus Bruce tells us that Liping has made dinner reservations tonight for the group at a Chinese restaurant! That sounded so funny to me. Guess you had to be there.

Rupert & Brie are sound asleep right now. Rob loves the fact that we must have quiet time for the baby. So I'm getting caught up on email and such.

Our travel mates have been a lot of fun! The babies are all adorable, and we hope that we can get the girls together again in the future. Thanks for checking in on us. Our trip is at the halfway mark. I'm still in shock to be here and to have our sweet little girl with us. All the little personalities are starting to come out now. But they all have the same fears and insecurities! We get to visit the orphanage tomorrow. We are all both anxious and fearful of what we may see.

Have a great day!

Until later........ L, R & B

A few more pics from last night

Hi all...we are on our way to breakfast again... Brie had her first poopie this morning! Big news on the 15th floor. She is the last of the 6 to make "it" happen. Here are a few shots from last night. We had Pizza Hut pizza and it tasted like filet mignon!!!

Off for sightseeing this morning...

Hugs to all,
L&R&B

Yo Murphy and Nikki

Are you two still out there? Aunt Lydia thinks you are just dogs, but I beg (beg,,,get it?) to differ. Murph, I hope you are well and you haven't drunk all the water in the pool. Nikki, your new sister Brielle scratches as much as you. I guess I'll have to issue both of you Prednisone in the mornings. I know it's hot there, but it's hotter here so quit your whining (get it again??) We will be home soon, so keep the hoodlums out of the pool, keep barking, and keep it real!

Pops.

A day off for bonding ~ Day 6 in China

Today is a very lazy day. We got up a bit later than usual and meandered down to breakfast at 9am. A few other families did the same thing. It is so blazing hot here that we haven't even ventured out of the hotel. We came back to the room after breakfast and put Brielle down for a nap. That lasted for about an hour. Then we spent a good bit of time at the pool. We had the place to ourselves for about 30 minutes and then a few of the other families joined us. Then a pile of older boys came in and the noise was so bad we could barely hear each other talk! The pool is on the 4th floor in a glass room with a view of the river which is really pretty. Unfortunately we are in the old part of Nanchang, and we are surrounded by pretty shabby establishments. It is dirty here with many old, run down buildings. We did see a nicer part of the city yesterday when we did the official adoption in the center of Nanchang. Brielle was playing contently in her crib with toys and decided she was sleepy. She scratches her head which is funny because Rob's feet get itchy when he gets sleepy too! It is so amazing to see how each child is the perfect child chosen for each couple! Brielle definately feels like ours already. She fell asleep on me within 5 minutes and is now cuddling her ladybug blanket that her sister, Sherie, gave her! Too cute.

We are meeting Kerry, Brian and Easton, a wonderful family from Montana, in a little while to go check out some of the local shops.

Hope all is well back home!

Hugs from the Meades

A few more pictures from tonight...