Gotcha!

It's 9:30 and do you know what I'm listening to??!! My new daughter laughing at my husband's antics in the bedroom when she's supposed to be sleeping. This is a miracle, guys, because up to now she's been one terrified kid! This was our day: we got to Kunming at about 11:35 am and met Jerry. He told us we would get Judi at 2:30 and that (get this!) they were bringing her to our hotel room! Then we discovered we needed the government fees in 4700 RMB so we had to rush to the bank and then went to eat at the BlueBird Cafe (it's great by the way!). We had a good lunch for about 200 RMB and it's right outside the hotel.
At 2:25 Jr and I looked at each other and couldn't remember if they said to meet in the lobby or they were coming to the room; I was so nervous I couldn't sit still! Finally, a little after 2:30 Dad went downstairs and sure enough here comes a knock on the door. They walked in with Judi; she is absolutely precious! She came in very nervous, remember we were told she knew we were coming and was ready??!! I don't think so! She sat on our couch but wouldn't let me or anyone touch her. She played with the stuff we gave her, but when the first lady left she started crying. She stopped again and kept playing but wouldn't maintain eye contact. Finally, we all came over to the desk and signed some stuff and the last lady and our guide slipped out. Judi didn't notice at first, but THEN she did. What ensued next was the temper tantrum of all eternity! She threw herself at the door, screaming and crying. She was also reaching for the door knob and the thing that locks the door. I stayed next to her, but she tried to slap and kick me away; I said "bu" at this point and she stopped trying to do that, but didn't stop screaming. Finally, about 30 minutes later, she wound down and settled back on the couch. Everything we gave her, she stuffed in that one corner of the couch and put a pillow over it. She's got a cold, too, and is on some kind of Chinese herbal medicine and guess what, amoxicillin!
After a while, she lay down, but suddenly popped up and looked at the window. She crawled up over the couch, laid across it and the window sill (we're on the 12th floor) and screamed for her nanny. I can safely say there appears to be nothing wrong with her intelligence! The things she can do are amazing! She does everything herself, even made up and took her own medicine; but she finally did let me put her water bottle top back on.
We had Dad and Jr go out and bring back food and I got her to eat a little; she kept going back to our couch and laying down. Then about 8pm we had a breakthrough! I got our Jazzy and her's matching pajamas out; it took a while, but she finally chose to change. She came to us in beautiful clothes, but 4 layers! She took all her own clothes off, but let me help put the jammies on (Yeah!!!). THen we laid the girls down in their sleeping bags. I got on the computer and all of a sudden I heard something incredible; she was laughing! She hadn't even smiled up to then! I snuck in and Jr was making her laugh by pretending to snore funny. Then they got into a pillow fight, Jazzy woke up, and now it's 10:30pm and we're all playing! She's still a little leery of me, but that will come; she appears to be a Daddy's girl right now. We're going to try to get these firecrackers to bed cause we're wiped; a long, emotional, up and down day! By the way, Judi's got the cutest little voice!

A Day in Nanning........

We had such a wonderful day today! We got up leisurely, meaning we stayed in bed until about 7! Jr took Jazmin down to eat breakfast while Dad and I slept in. We went back to the People's Park and today, Saturday, there were all these cool stalls with food, trinkets, games, basically a whole carnival complete with amusement park! We never saw any of this the last time we were there; it was lots of fun!
Then we called our guide and went to see Qing Xiu Mountain and the Buddhist Temple. The Buddhist Temple was very beautiful and Jazmin wanted to know who Buddha was so we talked about how some people believe in Jesus Christ and lots of Chinese people believe in Buddha.
Jazmin has acclimated great, though is still tired out by 8pm. But she's up for anything and enjoyed our day thoroughly. We took our guide and driver out to a nice restaurant and Dad had fun trying out the local beer. He's having a great time and is glad he decided to come.
Now, one point I need to make: at 9pm Jr and I went to have a Chinese massage. I recommend this only if you enjoy GREAT PAIN!!!!!!!!! I am still so sore today no one can touch my skin. The little Asian women who did mine must have gotten a kick out of beating the crap out of the chubby American woman!
Now it's off to bed and to prepare for tomorrow, Gotcha!

Posting from Nanning, China!

Hi, once again! We made it to Guangzhou late Thursday evening and talk about wiped out! Our last flight was 4 hours of which Jaz slept the whole thing. I kept trying to wake her up so she'd sleep that night, to no avail. She went to sleep great, but was up at 3:30 raring to go. I tried to keep her quiet and she was really great about not making any noise. We got up at 6 for breakfast and scooted off to Nanning.
What memories when we landed! Nanning is where we got Jazmin, and the ride to the hotel was fascinating as always. We pulled up to the hotel and I saw Jazmin again as a sweet,scared 17 month old; now she is an energetic 5 year old coming back to see her country. The whole way to the hotel last night she kept saying "My China!". Today, she is just soaking it all in. She's finally getting a little more comfortable with all the people staring at her and us and trying to talk Chinese to her. She's saying "ni hao" and "zaijin" to everyone instead of being shy.
The "baby" restaurant is still there, right next to the Majestic hotel we're in; we ate lunch for 77 yuan or $11.50 US dollars that included spareribs, rice, fruit salad, and some yummy type of potato pancake. Then we walked behind the hotel to People's Park, a huge lake with walkways, statues, and places to stop and feed these HUGE koi fish; Jazzy loved that part. There's an amusment park I think we'll check out tomorrow. On the way back in to the hotel, we saw several adoptive families with their babies. Oh, so cute, and one of them, an 18-month old,w as absolutely breathtaking! It brought back such memories of our first days with Jazmin; I was even able to offer a little advice as they are experiencing a problem similar to one we had with Jazmin.
Haven't been able to phone the kids yet as it's only 2:48 am in Missouri, but Jessica passed her Constitution test! Yeahh for her! And we've been texting, they seem to be enjoying their time with their friends.
Will post again on our adventures tomorroow!

1 down, 8 to go......flights, that is!

We're in Dallas! just waiting for our next flight to Tokyo that leaves at 10:10. Jazzy did great on her first flight (that she remembers). She said "awesome' at least 5 times on takeoff, then promptly fell asleep for the whole thing! Now she thinks the Dallas airport is pretty cool. So fun to see these things through the eyes of a child; reminds me to look at things with wonder and awe instead of thinking like an ! i think we actually didn't forget anything either, which is just simply amazing for me! We rushed out of the house so quick, i was sure we had. Then we got to the airport in KC at 4am! Got to do electronic check-in and no fees for checked bags; hooray! And even my heaviest bags came in at only 35 pounds, so way even under China's restrictions. i could have sworn they weighed 100 lbs, since i can barely lift them, that's sad, i'm such a weakling!
Well, i'm off to explore with Jaz; will post again soon! And Tina, if you're reading this, hope you're feeling better and on your flight!\

3 more days!!

Only 3 more days to go..........I'm starting to finally get excited and not just stressed out! Got most of our packing done and I think to a manageable level of suitcases (i'll post a picture when it's all together!). Jazmin is all excited about staying in the hotels; I hope the long flights don't mess with her too much. But she's such a trooper, I think she'll do alright.
Our travel came in quite a bit higher than expected, but after some slashing and negotiating, it came down. At least I don't feel I have to mortgage one of the kids to go now! The biggest bummer is we had to take out the side trip to Jazmin's orphanage, due to the extra cost and incredible hectic pace it would have put us at. Now we are just staying in Nanning for a couple nights to recuperate and show Jazmin the places we went with her as a baby. I think that'll mean more to her anyway.
Jessica and James are just psyched as all get out to go to their friends' houses; almost to the point they're pushing us out the door early! I will miss them so much! I was never able to get webcams for everyone, so will just have to rely on Skype and pictures; hope it all works out.
Today, I just have to go to church, go to work for a few hours, work more with the kids' on their science projects, and go over our adoption paperwork packet. Just another typical day!

We got TA!!!! on February 6th........

Well, I'm a little late, but we did finally get TA (travel approval). This means we are now officially approved not only to adopt Judi, but to actually enter the country to pick her up! It's been a frantic few days waiting for CA confirmation, which we got today. Now I'm having the dickens of a time getting airline flights; hopefully we'll get that settled tomorrow.
Now for the bummer; my dad's basement flooded tonight; a backed up drain or something. He's not sure he wants to go now; he feels like he can't take a chance on it happening while he's gone. I don't blame him there, but I still want him to go; maybe we'll try to get him to go for at least a week, then return home early. Why does stuff like this always seem to happen at the worst possible time??!!
On the home front, the kids are super-excited about us leaving, because they get to stay with their friends; a neat change of pace for them. Jazmin has the date we leave, Feb. 25th, circled on her little calendar; she can't wait to meet Judi. I just hope she handles the long flights alright. She's always up for an advnture, though.
Well, I have to go, just waiting for Jr to call and tell me what's going on with Dad's house; he went over to help suck up the water. Ta, ta for now!

Hmmmmm

I was going to post something stimulating and interesting, but nothing happened today! I grabbed the kids from school, ran to piano lessons, dance lessons, and karate lessons, and met up with JR for (gasp!) a fast-food dinner at Arby's. Got home at 7:30 and read 3 books to Jazmin to fulfill her Book-It for January, got James to start on his weekend homework, and plugged myself into the computer. Tomorrow I'm going to sell my car (anyone want a 1997 Geo Metro with only 39,000 miles??? - great price!) and start counting down to Monday when the CCAA opens up again. We are hoping they come back raring to go and plop our TA in the mail ASAP! To all my good buddies waiting with me, this week'll be over soon!