Friday Evening

Well, the four of us are home for the evening. Ken's culture results from the ER visit on Wednesday evening were supposed to be back today, but they didn't arrive - they ought to come Monday instead. They did not find any complications with the clot in his arm when they did the Doppler. They are now running multiple antibiotic IV meds in hopes of getting things turned around. The doctor took the packing out tonight. He cleaned the wound and re-dressed it. If Ken responds to the medications, he could be discharged on Monday, but it won't be sooner than that.

In the meantime, we will brace for an ice storm expected to reach our community during the night tonight. If it is as they forecast, we won't be leaving home tomorrow to go see him.... In fact, we won't be going much of anywhere. We will keep you posted on how things are going. Thanks again for your warm wishes and prayers!

Friday the 30th

Elle had a tough time going to sleep last night, and now, she doesn't want to wake up. Once we can get her around, we will head to see Daddy. Its about a 70 minute drive. The weather is supposed to turn really terrible later tonight, so we'll want to be back home before dark. He is to have a doppler done today as the swelling and infection is in the same arm as his blood clot (which happened several years ago). They want to be sure that there aren't new blockages and that the old clot is not becoming problematic. He says they have done two of the IV doses now. The swelling has now progressed into his fingers... I wanted him to give me good news this morning when we talked, but he didn't have any....

Please keep us in your prayers - it certainly is not the way it the way we had imagined life to be once we got home from China. Please pray that the antibiotics begin to work and that there is no long term damage to the tissue. We are grateful for your words of encouragement, prayers, and offers of support as its been a trying 36 hours, with a long ways still to go.... Thanks!

Now we need Daddy home.....

Well, my dear husband has been hospitalized. They are doing IV antibiotics for the horrible infection and swelling in his arm. Its likely that he will be there through the weekend. Poor guy - he still has not slept in his own bed since we've been home. He even slept on the couch last night so that nobody would bump his arm.

The first photo is the way she slept last night when she refused to get into any of the beds. The other photo is of her eating her first hamburger - tonight! She loved it, until she found a pickle. That makes Big Brother Bryant and Uncle Rodger very happy.... They don't like pickles either!

Back Home

We arrived here at about 1:15am. We had intended to spend the night in Denver, but upon arrival at DIA, we needed to take Ken to the ER. After an hour in the waiting room and a very unprofessional experience, we headed on home. We had not even gotten his vitals taken. We were sitting in a lobby with patients actually licking the nitro out of the bottom of the bottle as they waited to be seen. Staff behind the desk were laughing, taking personal calls, and reading e-mail jokes out loud. It was terrible. No wonder people in big cities die while sitting in the ER.

We drove about three hours and saw a doctor.... and then, when they were done with Ken, we drove the rest of the way home - as long as we promised to take him to a local physician today. We have an appointment for this afternoon, so we hope to get him on the mend soon.

Elle spent her first night at home in the recliner, because that was where SHE wanted to be. She's still snoozing even though all the lights are on... tired girl after a LONG day yesterday. We thank you for all your prayer and support. Bringing-E-Home as been crossed off our to do list! She is home!!

Longest Day of Our Lives

We are in Denver! We left the hotel at 5:20am on Wednesday morning, flew on three planes, had to re-do our seats because the flight was changed, got searched a million times, and I'd have to guess at least 20 hours have passed, but, its STILL WEDNESDAY and only 2:30pm. Elle did very well on the flights with only a few meltdowns.

We have some business to attend to here in town this afternoon yet, but we INTEND to head home tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers - Elle is almost home!

Last Post from China

We are mostly packed and I think all the tasks are done. Everyone is starting to wind down for the night - and we will have bellhops ringing our doorbell at 4:50am to take our suitcases down. Then, we are off to America! The past two weeks have been slow, but fast. We feel blessed to have spent time here in our daughter's native country, but we are anxious to get back to our own home! Here are some photos from today. Enjoy!

Consulate Swearing and Visa - TIME TO COME HOME!

We were among about 52 other families taking the oath today and receiving our children's visa's from the US Consulate in Guangzhou. We gave a brown envelope that is sealed and stamped. When we arrive in the US, we'll go through the line labeled "non-US citizens" and they will open it for us and complete the documents so that Elle is a citizen of the United States. Since both Ken and I came, she is a citizen from the moment we enter US airspace, which is cool!

It has been an amazing journey - we leave tomorrow morning at 5:15am for the airport. We catch a 8:25am flight to Hong Kong. We land their at 9:05am and then, wait until 12:50pm for a flight to Denver. We have a brief stop in San Francisco to go through customs and immigration, but ought to land in Denver by 2:26pm. Its a fourteen hour (plus) flight, but it will take less than three hours clock time. We aren't sure how Elle will do on such a long, boring flight. It got to be a bit much for us as big people when we came, so I am sure she will probably struggle with it some too.

Yet tonight, we have to re-pack our suitcases, return my international cellular phone, check all the drawers in our room (as Elle likes to hide things), empty the safe of all our important documents, and get some sleep. The boys didn't want to be in the room for Elle's bath (always lots of screaming), so they left to go play ping-pong and pool in the game room.

Look out America, we will be home soon! I am needing a big glass of cold, iced tea. Bryant wants to go for a 4-wheeler ride. Daddy wants to get started decorating for Christmas. Alex misses his friends. Poor Elle, she has no idea what's in store for her, but neither do all the people at home who are anxious to meet her. She is a fun little girl who certainly will brighten up all our lives!

Thanks for sharing our journey - we are ready to bring E home!!

Jumping Over Bryant

See, she is a wild, little girl!

Squeaky Shoes AND Noisy Toys

There are squeakers in the heels of her shoes and she has a noisy toy. JOY!

School Children Saying Hello - Tuesday, 27th

Together for a Week Today

Sometimes, its hard to believe that we only met ElleAnna a week ago today. She sleeps all night long and is a good eater. She is mostly potty trained, but not completely. She loves books and gives high fives. She clearly prefers Ken and Alex. She usually screams if either Bryant or I try to pick her up but we can help her with things, so we are hopeful to be in her good graces someday.

What to say about today.... well, ElleAnna's paperwork went through the Consulate Appointment with no problems. We spent the morning in the room with Elle showing us her funny side. At about 12:20pm we went for lunch and some shopping. At 2pm, all the families met in the lobby and we walked to the open market where you could buy almost anything (yes, those are dried sea horses in the bag) as well as some shopping centers. At 4:40pm, we all went to the White Swan for the Red Couch photos. Someone will need to tell Granny that she has her first mending job for Elle who managed to pull the edging off her dress in two places already.

We ended our day with a meal as a big group. Elle started out doing well - actually sitting in the high chair for the first time, but she started to meltdown, so Momma bit the bullet and carried her back to the hotel. With all Elle's screaming, its a miracle that the police didn't get called.... She wore herself out and after her bath (always an unpleasant experience), the guys arrived. She was glad to see Daddy to save her from Mean Momma! Today, Elle only wanted Alex. Poor guy broke his back carrying her all day long.

Tomorrow, we leave here at 2:40pm to head over to the Consulate building together. All total, about 50 American families will take the oath tomorrow so that our children can have citizenship when they arrive in the United States. We are not allowed to take cameras or electronic devices into the building, so we are sad that we cannot share the event with you. They will give us her passport back with her Visa stamp in it so that she can enter the United States with us. We need to get our plane tickets from Guangzhou to Hong Kong straightened out (the names aren't right), but otherwise, it looks like we'll be good to go. We leave the hotel at 5:30am on Wednesday for the flight back home, so tomorrow night will mean lots of packing!

The photos here are from our adventures today. We hope that you are enjoying being a part of our journey!

Looks Like She is Stuck With Us....

We heard nothing from the Consulate today, so we were told that we can be assured that everything went fine.... That's hard to believe, but we are hoping it is true. We will go to the market in a few minutes with the group, and then, this evening we will go to the White Swan Hotel for Red Couch Photos of our new daughters. We did break down and buy Elle a pair of squeaky shoes today... sorry to everyone at home who will have to endure them when we get back! She likes them... :-)

Monday, November 26 - CA

Its 11:14am and no call from the Consulate so far.... We are still praying that they just sign off on her documents and we can move forward without any problems. If we haven't heard from them by 12noon, we are free to leave the room and can trust that all was completed according to schedule. Its strange to hope for "no news" and "no phone calls".

Waiting for the CA - Tomorrow

Well, today was spent seeing sights around Guangzhou. We ate breakfast and left the hotel at 9:30am with five other families. The streets here aren't quite as crazy, but still crazy enough. We first went to the Temple where we were blessed by a Buddhist priest. It was neat to know that they love their children enough to wish them well with their new families. After that we went to a Government store where they had jade, pearls, silks, and other fine items. We headed to a beautiful park after that.

When we got back to the hotel, everyone went their separate ways for the rest of the day. We walked around and did manage to find lots of neat things, but bought very little.

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Tomorrow is our Consulate Appointment or CA. Our guide has all of our paperwork and documents. She will take it to the US Consulate at 10am tomorrow to present them with the items. We are to remain in our room until 12noon in the event that she needs to call us to clarify anything. She believes it will go smoothly, but did warn us that there could be a problem. Last Monday, when I first helped ElleAnna go to the bathroom, we found multiple scars on her right, upper leg. It seems that another child at the orphanage kicked her and severely broke her femur in June of this year. The injury has healed, but obviously was not on any of our paperwork in the referral packet and it was a total surprise to us. We have accepted her this way, but the US Consulate may have questions about that. If they do, we pray that they can be satisfied just with Ken and I telling them that its ok, and then, they can proceed with her Immigration and Citizenship paperwork, with no delays. Please pray that for us and ElleAnna as well. We don't want any hassles about this unexpected issue as we love ElleAnna just the same.

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Right now, Elle is taking a nap. After she fell asleep Ken went to play pool and ping-pong with the boys who left a little while ago. Elle doesn't like me very much, but if she is asleep, she will never know that her daddy is gone.... Maybe someday she will decide that I'm ok.... I hope so....

Sunday, November 25

Today we are going to tour in Guangzhou. We will go to the Six Banyan Temple to have ElleAnna blessed. We will tour a Provincial Art/Crafts Store also. We'll take lots of pictures to share. Here are a few photos from yesterday. The first few are from a park along the island's edge. The last ones are from on top of the hotel. Elle was videotaping the boys in the pool (on the 8th floor of the hotel, outside). The water was REALLY cold. They want to try it again today, but we'll see.

Recent Photos

Here's some photos - This one is ElleAnna after a long day with her new family.

The next three photos are of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang. It was a wee bit cold there on Friday! The dog statue has a legend - you rub his head for good luck and his tail to have no regrets. The gold dragons on the building are to provide safety.

The framed photos are made with BIRD FEATHERS and nothing else! They were amazing. Expensive too, but super cool. I have no idea how many feathers were in each.

The photos after that are of the Emperor's tomb in Shenyang. ElleAnna doesn't mind the cold too much, but we wimpy folks found it very chilly.

Then, you will see Elle in a John Deere baseball cap. You can see the climate change in the photo from out front of our Guangzhou hotel. Its green here and no snow! The photos of the three kids were taken in front of the hotel. You cannot have her say "cheese" because as soon as she realizes you are going to take her photo, she dives for the camera in hopes of you showing her the photos on the screen. What a drama queen!

The photo of the herd of people was from this morning's medical exam. What a zoo, but it was fairly speedy.

The last photo is my favorite. She didn't quite realize that I had the camera, so I snagged a shot of her. As soon as she saw the flash though, she came running to see if I had taken a picture of her. Too funny! Look out Bill Clarke!








After the visa photo this morning and her physical, I did the paperwork with our guide for the Consulate Appointment on Monday. She will take care of this, but we had to give her all the information, photos, and documents (not to mention some more cash). We are done for today now, so are heading out to find some groceries and lunch. Tomorrow is sight seeing here in town, which will be fun too. The boys are dying to try out the pool - its outside and on the 8th floor. I'll take photos for you as the view is breathtaking and amazing - not of the boys, of the city! :-) I doubt that Elle will be interested in the pool as a bath is terrifying enough.

Take care and I'll post more later!


Michelle