Orphanage visit

First of all, no pictures in this post. My iPad is hard at work uploading every picture we took at the orphanage today, and at the rate it's going it might be 5am before its done, so I'm cranking this out quick on my phone. If you know me, you know that 9pm is my bedtime when I'm at home, and it's already after 9 here, and I'm beat.

It's hard to know what to say about today. I could write about how awesome the bullet train was. And it was awesome. We traveled part of the Beijing-shanghai line, and it's almost as fast as a plane but far easier and cheaper. But it doesn't feel right to be prattling on about technology or the subway worker who showed us pictures of her baby then proceeded to chastise us because Rose was only wearing three layers. And my first experience with a squatty potty, which happened with a baby strapped to my chest and no tissues? That's a story I'll tell you later.

Todays visit hit us hard. The first room we went into was filled with preschoolers who will probably never have parents. They were sweet little ones who flung themselves at our legs. One little girl demanded that Michael, our guide, pick her up. We walked down cold halls into rooms filled with too many kids and not enough adults. The adults who are there do a great job. It's obvious that they really love these kids, but they need moms and dads. To see room after room of babies flat on their backs, and to know that until three days ago your baby was one of them, is more than a little heartbreaking.

After that, our guide took us to Rose's finding place. We've been sheltered so far in China. We've visited tourist attractions and places like the Aqua City mall, which reminds me a lot of the Galleria in Houston. But Rose's finding place felt about a million miles away from the China we've experienced so far. We turned onto a side street, then onto a smaller side street, and then into an alley, and then we came to the spot where she was found late at night, at two days old. It's impossible for me to look at the spot without thinking what could easily have been if no one had heard her cries on that April night.

And in happier news, Rose and Eddie are quickly becoming best friends. He's rolling her around on the bed and throwing her up in the air an eliciting the biggest belly laughs. It's wonderful to see them warming to each other so quickly. She's cooing all the time and has basically perfected the art of sitting, which she wasn't doing when we got her three days ago. She delighted everyone on the train; they clucked their tongues at her and she laughed and waved and clapped her hands.

All is right with my own little world, but I'm not sure I'll sleep tonight thinking about the ones we left behind at the orphanage today.

Tomorrow Ed leaves for home. The girls and I will head to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), a city about an hour from Hong Kong. The American consulate is there so we'll spend five days engaged in visa-related stuff. Should be fun.

On a final note, Annie is getting used to the staring and is far less paranoid than she was three days ago. That's a good thing because her bodyguard is leaving in the morning.

Pictures tomorrow-- I promise.




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These are a few of her favorite things

With our guide out on an orphanage visit with one of the families in our group, we had a kick back day near the hotel today. The farthest we've ventured was the mall next door, where a custodian chastised us for the inch of skin showing above Rose's ankle. Rose had her first swim in the pool with Daddy and Annie, which was much less traumatic than getting into and out of the swimsuit. We're also getting to know her. She's been laughing and cooing and entertaining us all day.

She's not a huge fan of toys, instead preferring zippers, watches, rings, and any small mobile device. She got really excited and started kicking her legs when Annie started Angry Birds, which leads me to believe that the ayis in the orphanage introduced it to her already.




She's already sporting ice.


What time is it? It's time for lunch.


She loves that finger. She sticks it way up in her cleft.


Hello?

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What a difference a good night makes

We've had her first giggles and smiles this morning and Rose learned how to clap her hands. When Rose is happy, we're all happy.


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It's Official!

First of all, the big news, Han Hui Jue is officially Rose Huijue Miner. We returned to Civil Affairs today for the signing, where baby-related chaos ensued with seven adoptive families all there at the same time. There were seven kids, fourteen parents, six siblings and a grandparent, plus the orphanage directors and nannies and government officials. It was a party. I have a few pictures, but it has been a really long day, so forgive me for being too lazy to transfer and post them.

Our really long day started around midnight when Rose woke up, stuffy and crying. She was stuffy and wheezy when we got her, but she seemed okay last night. I fed her part of a bottle and she fell asleep, then woke up ravenous at 5. She took a bottle, then had a bowl of rice, then demanded another bottle. Then she ate some congee at breakfast. She fell asleep on the way to civil affairs and slept the whole way through her adoption.

When she woke up, she was miserable. Grabbing at her ears, crying, shaking her head no. It was pretty obvious that our girl had an ear infection. We got some drugs into her system, and she fell asleep again, and slept right through our trip to Purple Mountain, which is like a national park honoring Sun Yat Sen, a revolutionary leader. We didn't get any pictures there, but the trip was Annie's worst nightmare. She's been very nervous ever since I mentioned that people might try to touch her hair. Purple Mountain is a popular tourist destination for Chinese people, and I think we were more interesting than any tomb or mausoleum. "Corn Lady"
(so named because she was eating an ear of corn) followed us for at least fifteen minutes, sometimes giving me less than six inches of personal space. When we stopped so the more intrepid people in the group could hike all the way to the top, a group of old ladies with ice cream plopped down right next to us and stated until we finally left. Dozens of people took out picture. Now I know what the elephants in the zoo feel like.

Anyway, Rose is still miserable, but she's sleeping. She's refusing to eat or drink anything and it's pretty heartbreaking. I hope the antibiotics kick in and she starts to feel better. I'm gearing up for a rough night. Poor baby.



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Introducing Rose!

I was prepared for tears. For silence. For a girl retreated within herself. And maybe that will come tomorrow or the next day or when we get home. I was not prepared for an easy afternoon with a little girl who came to us quietly and curiously, who laughed with us when we stripped her down to her t-shirt and blew raspberries on her tummy, who took her bottle while she looked into my eyes and played with my hair, who loved her bath, and fell asleep snuggling with her daddy. I know that some days will be hard, but today was blissful. We felt your prayers and thank you for them.

And with no further ado, I'm delighted to present our first pictures of Rose.















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Five hours

We made it through our last flight, got settled in Nanjing, braved the crowds at the mall to get big jugs of water, and got unpacked. We wanted to die, or at least to sleep for three days straight, but instead we went downstairs, made friends with the two other families from our agency, and ate the most un-American American Chinese food ever. We fell into bed, too tired even to wash the smoke from our hair and prepared for the nerves to take over and keep us awake.

Nine hours later, with the light beginning to peek over the apartment buildings, outside our window, we woke up. We ran, ate breakfast, and are now contemplating braving the streets. In less than five hours, we'll meet our girl for the first time. I expected to be a great big ball of nerves right now, but I feel strangely calm. Maybe it's because China seems so far outside my comfort zone that in comparison, a baby feels easy. Of course, I know I won't feel that way in 24 hours, but it will get me through this morning.


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Book Review: The Wedding Letters by Jason Wright (Whitney Finalist)

Title: The Wedding Letters
Author: Jason F. Wright
Enjoyment Rating: 6/10
Referral: Whitney Finalist
Source: Electronic copy
Books I've read this year: 40

This is the second year in a row that Jason Wright has had a book selected as a Whitney Finalist in the General Category. Last year's finalist, The Cross Gardener, was one of those books I wanted to chuck against a wall. If I hadn't been reading on my brand-new iPad, I very well might have chucked it. It was sappy, it was overly detailed, it had angels-- in short, it was everything I disdain as a reader. Yes, I recognize that I'm revealing my prejudices here.

And those prejudices continued into this year. I was NOT excited when I saw that another Jason Wright book was on the list of finalists this year. I purposely put off reading The Wedding Letters until I'd read all of the other General fiction finalists. But yesterday I decided I wanted to close out the category, so I picked it up. This morning, 326 pages later, I finished it.

It wasn't bad. In fact, I kind of enjoyed it.

The plot: The book is a sequel to The Wednesday Letters, but my impression is that it takes place several decades after that book, in the current day. Noah Cooper (possibly a baby in the first book, now a college senior) runs over Rachel one day while she's out on her bike. It's love at first sight. He take her home to meet his family in Western Virginia, where they run Domus Jefferson (worst B&B name, ever!) and they love her too. Noah proposes just a few months after they meet, Rachel accepts, and then she finds out some troubling information from her past, and she does a runner. Since the family (who has decided to sell the B&B) already has the weekend blocked off and the caterers booked, they transform the weekend into a celebration of the family's 40+-year history of running the inn.

Just because I'm giving the book a (grudging) thumbs up doesn't mean I don't acknowledge some problems with it. First of all, it seems to be a conscious imitation of a Nicholas Sparks novel-- an epic romance against all odds, complete with grand plot twists. Wright acknowledges this several times. I think he refers to Sparks novels at least twice. I'm not much of a reader of Nicholas Sparks either, but I have seen The Notebook, and I think that Wright needed to spend a little more time really building up the love/drama/sexual tension between Noah and Rachel so readers would really want that dramatic ending. I knew it was coming, everyone knew it was coming, but I wanted to want it more, cheesy as it may be. And the details-- I don't need to know that Noah's truck is gold or that he buys a Diet Sierra Mist and a Kit Kat when he goes to 7-11 if those details aren't relevant.

My prediction is that The Wednesday Letters will win the General category. It's definitely inspirational fiction, as are all of the novels in the bunch this year. Once I stopped trying to read the books as literary fiction and started trying to accept them for what they were, too many details and cheesy endings and all, I can see that this story in particular, is very likeable and that many readers who want a good story and don't want their ideas or their intellect challenged too much as they read will love the book.
but for what it sets out to do, it does it well.

Going Transatlantic (Hong Kong airport)

Annie snapped this picture of me and Eddie sometime during our 14 hour flight last night. That's me under the blanket. It was freezing on the plane and the minor asphyxia that came from breathing in my carbon dioxide helped me sleep. Annie said I got some really weird looks.



Right now we're eating waffles with chocolate syrup and drinking "coke light." We're also experiencing the emotional lability that comes with two little sleep. Crying one second and laughing our heads off the next

My biggest word of advice? Even if you got what you think was a paper ticket from your travel agent, be sure to check in online 48 hours before departure. We didn't and when we went to get our boarding passes we'd been bumped from our seats together to sitting in three separate middle seats. We used Annie as our excuse to get seated together, but we ended up in the loud seats right near the galley. Oh well. We survived. But Ed is threatening to upgrade to business class for his trip home. A 6'4" frame doesn't do well in an economy seat.

Hope to check in once we've made it to Nanjing.

Tomorrow is Rose day! Can hardly believe it!

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Book Review: Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen

Title: Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #1)
Author: Rhys Bowen
Enjoyment Rating: 7/10
Referral: The same friends who introduced me to Maisie Dobbs told me to read this
Source: Audible for iPhone
Books I've read this year: 39

What do you get when you cross Maisie Dobbs with Bridget Jones? Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, 34th in line to the British throne, penniless, and boy-crazy to the max. Georgie moves out of her brother's cold and gloomy Scottish castle to London, where she reconnects with old friends from school, gets bossed around by her great-aunt (the queen), finds a dead man in her bathtub, tries to find a suitable job, and finds herself in all kinds of trouble. Although the book's title posits Georgie as a spy, she's actually kind of an anti-spy-- she keeps getting in terrible situations and narrowly avoiding death. The actual mystery of who killed the awful man who wanted to take away the castle and then kept trying to off Georgie isn't all that suspenseful (I had him pegged from the beginning) but the writing is fun, and Georgie is a great character. I love the way that Bowen uses actual historical characters (including the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson) as significant characters in the novel. The history feels well-integrated and I didn't care too much that the mystery wasn't that mysterious. I'll keep reading these.

San Francisco (Day 1)

This morning I woke up with a cramp in my leg at 4:15. My alarm was set for 4:45 and I thought I'd get a few more minutes of sleep, but I woke Ed up when I ran screaming from the bed and then it was all over. No more sleeping for us.

Then I ran 19.5 miles. Last long run for who knows how long. I'm lucky to have the best running buddies. All three totally spoiled me with baby hair bows, toys for the plane, and fancy chocolate.

Then we had to say goodbye to these sweet faces.










The flight to San Francisco was uneventful, aside from the guy sitting behind us who talked the entire two hours at full volume. Annie did homework.




Once in San Francisco we took BART downtown, then hopped on a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf.



The Powell-Hyde Car


Where they ten the cars around.


On the cable car


Lombard Street


Alcatraz

And then we ate:



Waiting for cioppino


Worth the trip!

Today has been great-- totally relaxing and fun. Even if the rest of the trip is insane, today was a wonderful start.

Next up: Hong Kong!

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