We're home!

Wow, I've never had such a long travel day in my life...and I've been to China 4 times before this! Actually I should probably say "days" because we travelled for 32 hours straight. We ended up driving home from Cleveland (a lovely 4 1/2 hour trip) because there was weather out East and our plane wasn't coming in. In the end, our plane did end up beating us by about an hour but it was worth the gamble to drive because otherwise we would've had to stay over night in Cleveland and then come home in the morning. It's 3 am and Katrina can't sleep. We're all completely exhausted and fatigued so hopefully the next few days will bring lots of sleep and patience. Joe immediately found Katrina's John Deere in the garage (a little Gator that she can drive) and wanted to try it out. He is currently sleeping on Jacob's bottom bunk. We're a little nervous leaving him down there but I think we'll hear him if he calls out. We're looking forward to a night in our own bed with no kids around! I think the kids are all ready for some space too.

Last Day

The last day of our trip finally arrived. I think we found the perfect way to end. After a leisurely morning we strolled down to breakfast. After breakfast we called our new friend/independent cab driver who took us from the train station to the hotel yesterday. He was kind enough to take us to the other side of HK Island to a place called Stanley. Guy and I had fond memories of Stanley when we were here before we picked up Katrina. There is a great market there...miles and miles of fantastic deals. Unfortunately shopping with 5 children is not always so fun-especially in the winding alleys of a HK market. It's just as well because we could've all gone home with new wardrobes if we'd had all day to shop, then we'd have to buy more suitcases, then we'd be over weight at the airport and have to pay an over weight fee. So I guess it all worked out all right after all. Also, we didn't lose any kids in the market so that's good! We headed to the beach after shopping. There were only a few other people there and the water was fantastic. We thought ahead enough to have packed our swim suits (thank goodness). We spent about 3 hours hanging out at the beach swimming, playing in the sand, catching fish (with ziplock bags--man, those things are good for so many things!), and finding shells. It was just right. Joe played in the water with us, caught fish with Jacob, and happily played in the sand. We showered off at the beach, air dried, and had some delicious dinner. After a bus ride back to our hotel we packed things up again and we're ready to go home! I think Joe understands what's happening tomorrow but how do you explain to a 5 year old how long a 13 hour plane ride really is? We're hoping all goes well. He is so excited to go to Michigan he couldn't get to sleep tonight. He went to sleep wearing the Superman pj's we bought him at the market today and sucking his thumb (he may need some dental work).
Thanks for checking in with us and reading our blog.
Zai Jian!

miracles

This is an evening to remember! I was able to view our blog, I was able to open flickr in English, and I was able to add pictures to flickr! Wow!! Please check out our new pics!!!!

Hong Kong

Well...we finally made it to Hong Kong today. The trip is winding down.
We left from Guangzhou this morning around 10:15 and had a 1 1/2 hour train ride to HK. The train ride was quiet and relaxing. It was a beautiful day which we were all happy about b/c we had a lot of rain in Guangzhou. We had a late lunch after getting to our hotel and then had some "quiet time". I think the adults took naps while the kids played--but they played quietly enough for us to sleep so that was considerate of them! We spent the afternoon and evening taking the tram up to Victoria Peak here on HK Island, taking the Star Ferry over to the mainland for supper, and taking the ferry back over and then a taxi to our hotel/home sweet home. There is a laser light show here each night at 8:00 (I guess that's HK for you!) which we were able to see on our return ferry trip. It was cool!
Everyone is doing well. This is our 4th hotel so considering that, I'd say the kids are doing extremely well. Every day has been an adventure and they have been real troopers. I'm so proud of them. Joe is doing quiet well. Traveling is just so much different than being at home. It's his 3rd hotel with us. He must be wondering what is going on. I've asked several people to explain to him in Chinese what is happening when and where. We have a paper chain (one of our kids favorite things-we always have them for countdowns to birthdays, trips, whatever) with an airplane on the last day so he can count the days. But still...he is 5 years old. He has continued to be whiney and wants to be carried all the time. Poor Guy has sore shoulders from carrying him around on them all day long! We are planning to make the most of tomorrow here in HK. Hopefully the weather stays nice. Friday morning we'll have breakfast here and then head over to the airport for the very, very long trip home.
The kids miss Sadie most of all and are also anxious to sleep in their own beds (the beds at the White Swan in Guangzhou were like rocks!) and have a little more space than a hotel room.
I'm going to try to get to our flickr site once again. I think I did get a few pics up last time.
Our hotel here in HK has nice-n-fast internet. Just like home! Also, I'm posting this FROM OUR ACTUAL BLOG!! I haven't seen it in weeks! Thank goodness for Hong Kong!

Hi Everyone!
It's Sunday night here. This morning we attempted going to an English service at the local Catholic Church but then when we got there there wasn't really an English service after all. We did sit in the church and have our own little "thank you God" time. Today Joe was not such a happy boy. Let's see...some words might be whiney, cranky, spoiled? The poor kid, I can't imagine what's going on in his head but today was definitely not his best day yet. He wants to be carried all over but he is really heavy! He must be about 8 or 10 pounds heavier than Katrina but they are about the same height.
We did do some shopping around the hotel today and found some good bargains. We also went to the "walking street" here in Guangzhou and it was crazy!! Shop after shop after shop after alleyway and stair cases full of absolutely everything. It was a very fun cultural experience but pretty tiring too.
It was a little rainy here today so we're hoping for some more pool-friendly weather tomorrow.
That's all for now.
I'm going to attempt adding pics to the flickr site but I don't really know how to change the screen to English so I'm not very hopeful I'll have any success!

Guangzhou and swimming

Well, it's Saturday night here in breezy Guangzhou. A typhoon hit the cost north of here so we're getting the left over wind, which is nice because it cools things off a bit. We arrived here yesterday after a very long day of travel....again. We took off from Changchun on what we thought was a 5 hour flight to Guangzhou. Much to our surprise, they announced the landing after only 2 hours! Hmmmm we thought, where are we landing?? Turns out we had a stop over in Hangzhou. After 40 minutes on the ground and some people getting off and on, we took off again for another hour and a half to Guangzhou. Life is just full of surprises!
The biggest news here is that we got Joe in the pool!!! Hooray!!! Jan talked him into taking his socks off the afternoon we arrived (not sure he ever really had bare feet before) and he even let her dip his feet in the pool. After dinner last night we put a swim suit on him and he actually went in. He liked it so much it got a little dangerous (b/c he cannot swim!). Today I went in a shop in the hotel and bought him some swimees (arm things) and off he went. I think he was in the pool for 2 hours this afternoon and loved every minute of it. How cool is that?
The other news is that he passed his medical exam with flying colors but wouldn't smile for his visa photo because he was mad we wouldn't buy him a truck. I told Guy there is no way I can take him in Target when we get home because he wants us to buy everything he sees and gets very pouty, even fake cries sometimes, when we say no.
Everyone was once again over-tired tonight so hopefully we'll have a quiet night so everyone is rested up for tomorrow. We plan to go to an English service at a local Catholic Church and then probably do some shopping and swimming in the afternoon.
After an excruciating paperwork checking session this morning I think we have everything in order to complete the adoption and get Joe on the plane with us!
Thanks for your comments. Gabby, I'll make sure Margaret reads yours tomorrow morning.
I hope some of you were able to view the pics my awesome niece Tammi set up. I'm going to try again tomorrow with the whole picture thing. There are many more English speakers/understanders around here.
Take care everyone and thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Pictures!

Hi everybody - since I am the DeVries' house and dog-protector for the time being, I have somehow also gotten the privilege of figuring out their picture situation. Ann finally figured out how to post a few pictures on to Flickr. Instead of adding more pics here and making this page load slower, I added her captions and will direct you to the flickr site for the the pictures of their adventures in China. Click here to see pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13880587@N04/. There are already some great ones of Joe!
Sharing the adventure,
Tammi Talen