What should we do today?

Today we had no plans so we kind-of took it easy this morning- breakfast in the restaurant, letting Rylie play in the playroom, and calling home.  Nick sounded better.  Alex said "Hi Mom" and then "Bye" and Julie's mom sounded pretty sick!

We kept looking out the window and the rain was getting worse by the minute.  But we needed to get out!  We've walked around Shamian Island a lot and wanted a change of scenery.  So we decided to try to walk back to the Pedestrian Street our guide had shown us.  As you can see below, we made it to Pizza Hut (through the medicinal street, past the scorpions, snakes, and roosters, and down a few more streets that all look the same- but we remembered the way).  We did not see one other foreigner all day and I'm pretty sure no one spoke English.

 

We managed to order some delicious pan pizzas.  Ryan had pepperoni and Julie had Hawaiian.  Rylie loved both of them!  We also ordered a weird little sampler platter.  After lunch, we walked all around the indoor shopping area and then decided to head back.  We didn't want to get stuck on the backstreets of Guangzhou after dark.  We'd never find our way back!  Also, we were getting lots of stares and people taking our pictures so we were ready to be back to Shamian Island.  We did check the sausage line.  Once again, the people were lined up down the street to buy sausage.  And we smelled this sausage at Wal-mart.  Terrible!

Back on Shamian Island, we took a few more pictures with the statues.  We love the history and architecture of Shamian Island. 

We decided to go visit Judy's shop since it is very close to our hotel and we had not been there yet.  We ended up talking to Judy for a very long time.  Rylie had fallen asleep and took her nap in the stroller most of the time.  Judy is a Christian and told us how God has changed her life since she became a Christian.  She told us she use to be very angry but then Steve (I think) from Texas came and told her all about Jesus and about the Bible.  She became a Christian and reads the Bible all the time now.  She is from a different province about 10 hours away and comes here to work.  She only gets to see her eight year old daughter 2-3 times a year.  And her family is not Christian and it is difficult for her. 

Judy had Chinese/ English children's books and made Ryan read the whole thing to her.  She was very impressed with his Chinese.  We bought another Chinese outfit for Rylie but not the one below.  We also bought a very cool weapon for both the boys but I won't say what it is here in case they see this.  We will wait and surprise them!

Here is Rylie modeling one of the Chinese outfits we bought for her.  It is a little tight around her tummy, lol.  But she was very happy to wear her dress and get her picture taken. 

We were hungry tonight but didn't want to spend more money or leave the hotel in the dark and rain so we are eating all of our leftover snacks- granola bars, nuts, and crackers with peanut butter.  Rylie is eating noodles and playing with stickers.  She had the first pretty major meltdown this afternoon- nothing compared to what Nick went through.  We don't think we did anything to upset her but she started crying uncontrollably.  We tried to comfort her as best we could and also let her cry a little.  We know as much as we miss home and our kids, she has to be missing everything she has left behind.  It breaks our hearts. 

Rainy Day and Monday!

I love these photos of Ryan and Rylie together!  There isn't a whole lot to write about today.  We did go back to the medical clinic to have Rylie's TB test read.  We were nervous because it was red and raised but they said it was fine!  It took forever because of the traffic.  We met another family who has an eight year old son named Max and adopted a six year old son named Ben.  They were a very nice family from Michigan.

We also went back to Lucy's for lunch today- in the pouring rain!  But our hotel let us borrow nice umbrellas.  We had the weekday lunch specials so the price was very good and the food was pretty good.

We spent the afternoon watching The Lorax on the computer with Rylie.  It was in English but she watched most of it and seemed to enjoy it.  We went on one more walk after the movie and Rylie fell asleep so we decided to relax at Starbucks.  It was much less crowded today so we sat for a long time and talked.  Honestly, it is nice to not be able to ever check our phones or facebook and just have to connect.  Another family came in who we had met at breakfast.  They adopted two children on this trip from Henan but these two kids are their 19th and 20th.  They have 4 biological children.  They've been to China, Bolivia, and Guatemaula.  Amazing!

Rylie woke up in Starbucks and was very quite the rest of the evening until we got back to the room.  We got her out of the stroller and she kept whimpering a little as if she was going to cry.  We couldn't figure out what was going on.  She finally got happy again and started eating her noodles.  We are wondering if she had a bad dream and got disoriented.  She is a very happy little girl but we expect her to grieve losing her foster mother and everything she has ever known. 

Rylie is running around the room now finding hidden food and feeding her bear.  She laughs at everything Ryan says or does and when he sits in the chair, she goes and sits with him.  The funny thing is she always tells him to scoot over because she doesn't have enough room.  He always says "I'm a lot bigger than you" but she thinks she needs just as much room. 

She has started to repeat a lot of words and will always say in a nice gentle voice, "Babba"; and "Babba, please" and bat her eyes at Ryan.  They told us she can say Mommy but it comes out more like Nah- Nahhhhh- and very loud. 

We cannot wait to head home- only three more days in Guangzhou.  Thursday night we head to Hong Kong on the train!!!!  We miss Nick and Alex so much.  Rylie watched videos of her brothers dancing tonight and loved it. 

Snakes and scorpions and dried worms, Oh my! (Sunday, November 25, 2012)

We went to check out a new market for Ryan today- the Chinese medicinal street.  Very intersting for a Pharmacist.  Our guide was very informative and told us what Chinese doctors would recommend for any ailment. 

Our guide Helen was kind enough to take a family photo of us.  Most of the people we walked past looked at us twice... not many foreigners on these streets.  Actually, I don't think we saw any.  Rylie has her bear riding in the stroller.  He goes everywhere with us.

Many stores had snake skins available for purchase.  Helen said the Chinese people will buy these to use in a soup to treat various sicknesses.  She also showed us dried worms that are very expensive.  She said they are used to treat cancer.

This was the scariest part of the day- live scorpions and snakes for sale.  These were actually sold for food along with the turtles.  Some of the scorpions were walking around on the ground and the girl selling them had to pick them up and throw them back in. 

More dried snakes

This is Julie relieved that we made it past the medicine shops and to the pedestrian street.

A very Chinese-looking back alley

This guy was trying to sell something.  His horn was very loud.

Ryan walking and talking with our very informative sweet guide Helen.  She has an eight year old son- same age as Nick- so we have a lot in common.  She mentioned that Chinese people want to have more children but cannot because of one-child policy.  They love children but know it is very expensive to even have just one child.

This is a very nice pedestrian shopping street.  It was early Sunday so it was not crowded yet.  Helen said it would get much much more crowded by the afternoon.

On the way back to our hotel, we walked through the pet market.  There were dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, and fish all for sale.  The puppies were very cute of course and Rylie really liked them.  She really liked the cats, too. 

We have a great playroom in our hotel so we spent some time there in the afternoon.  We also went to the Italian Resturant down the street for dinner.  It was a strange experience.  There was only one other couple in the restaurant and the waitresses stood and stared at us the entire time.  Also, they kept asking us if we still wanted the chicken wings because apparently they had them then they didn't then they did again.  We really had no idea what they were saying but when they would say "it's okay?"  we would just nod our heads.  We did get the chicken wings and Rylie loved them.  Ryan had the spaghetti carbonara which was pretty good.  Julie had the mushroom lasagna which was very good.  Rylie ate mostly bread and a few of our noodles and lots of the chicken. 

Good day in Guangzhou

We started the day pretty early and headed out for the medical exam.  It went great!  Rylie seemed to enjoy seeing all the doctors and getting measured and weighed.  She has grown since our last update- which I could kind-of tell.  And as much as she has been eating since we got her, I think the growing will continue.

Rylie getting her height (32 inches) and weight (23 pounds) at the medical clinic.

Of course, she did cry a little when she got the TB test but she stopped very quickly.  Our next stop was Walmart!  We stocked up on snacks and things we can eat in the room to try to save money on meals.  We also got more bottled water and diapers and wipes.  We passed on the bags of chicken feet and fish bones. 

Our guide took us to the bank to exchange more money and then we headed back to our hotel.  We decided to take our laundry to one of the little shops close to our hotel.  Our guide said we would pay a lot less than having the hotel do it.  I tried to wash things myself but it is so humid that I never could get things to dry. 

We eventually found Jenni's and gave them our laundry.  Plus we were able to get squeaky shoes for Rylie.  She put them on and was happy with wearing them so we excited.  She has insisted on only wearing the shoes that came from the orphanage. 

After we bought the shoes, we went to Lucy's for lunch.  It was soooo good.  Rylie was happy because we had some crackers we had bought at Walmart for her.  They looked like goldfish crackers but didn't taste like them.  Rylie loves to feed both of us.  Of course, this is good for bonding so we usually eat whatever she puts in our mouths even if she licks it first, lol.  But I just couldn't do it with these crackers. 

Ryan drinking the iced lemon tea at Lucy's

Rylie enjoying lunch at Lucy's (another adoptive family in the background)

After lunch, we took a short walk back to our hotel and went to the playroom for three hours!!!!!  This may not be the fanciest or biggest hotel but we are really happy we stayed here.  The playroom is great for Rylie.  She had a lot of fun.  We decided to go for one more walk and maybe stop by Starbucks.  It was very crowded so we skipped that and just did some more shopping while Rylie took a nap in the stroller.

Ryan posing with the statue outside of Lucy's

We ended the night by eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the room.  They were delicious.  Now we are trying to all stay awake and keep Rylie up so we can skype with the boys.  Of course, it is Saturday morning in Missouri, so I'm not sure we will get to do that.

Last day in Fuzhou

Today was our last day in Fuzhou!  We were sad to tell our guide Penny good-bye.  She was the best!!!!!  We hope to be able to keep in contact with her through e-mail.  We told her that we appreciated her being so open about her life and she said that one of the reasons she wanted to do this job is so she can find out more about people in other countries and also so she can tell them about China and the people there. 

We did one more looooooong walk through the park today and decided to take a little detour.  We got some good pictures but were glad to get back to the park! 

We met the police officer at 3 p.m. at our hotel to get Rylie's Chinese passport.  We took a picture with the three of us holding her official adoption decree.  I can't wait until we can get a picture of all five Pruetts. 

The newest member of our family

We headed to the airport.  Once again, things went very smoothly with our flight.  Rylie did great.  She ate her cheerios most of the time and seemed very happy on the flight. 

Rylie looked so tiny in her seat on the plane.

Our guide in Guangzhou is named Helen.  She is also very sweet.  We are staying at the Victory Hotel which is on Shamian Island.  Things have really changed here on the Island.  The White Swan is closed down for remodeling and a lot less adoptive families are staying here.  We think the hotel is really neat and we love being on the Island. 


We got to bed late but all slept good!

Thanksgiving in China!

We are THANKFUL the rain slowed down today.  We were able to get out and enjoy the day.  It was slightly drizzling all day. 

This morning, we skyped with Nick and Alex, Grandma and Grandpa Pruett, and Grandma and Grandpa Bradley.  They couldn't see us but we could see them and Rylie was laughing and smiling at everyone. 

Our guide Penny met us in the lobby this morning to look at our paperwork.   We double checked all the English portions to make sure our information was correct.  Everything looked good so we now have a stack of documents proving that Rylie is our daughter.  We left to see The Temple at 9:30 with Penny and our driver. 

Penny is a very good guide.  She gives us good information and is very sweet and helpful.  We are very THANKFUL that she was our guide this time.  Having a good guide makes all the difference. 

She took us to the oldest and most beautiful Buddhist temple in the city of Fuzhou.  It had a very high pagoda but she said it is only opened on Buddha's birthday.  Penny said her family is Buddhist and they have to go to the temple on Buddha's birthday.  She was very informative about the temple and her beliefs.  There were monks at the temple and there were a lot of people offering incense.  Ryan broke the rules and took pictures of the Buddhas.  I was confused because there were all these different Buddhas for different things.  I guess whatever you are having problems with you find the Buddha that deals with that and that is who you worship. 

I am THANKFUL that the God I worship is not made of jade, bronze, and something else I can't remember.  Although they were beautiful, I am sure they cannot even compare to the glory and splendor of the true God of Heaven.  And our God came to the earth as a man.  We know Jesus is real and alive and we can worship Him forever. 

We asked Penny if our driver could take us to the WanDa plaza after the temple.  It was only 11:00 a.m. and we didn't want to be stuck at the hotel for another day.  She said they could take us and we could find a taxi to take us back.  We had a card in our pocket from our hotel that said in Chinese, "Please drive me to Lakeside Hotel".

WanDa plaza was great!  I am THANKFUL for McDonalds and for H & M and (although I hate to say it) Walmart.  Rylie slept for about two hours in her stroller while we shopped.  BTW, she loved the chicken nuggets and fries at McDonalds.  She is much daintier than the boys and dips her fry very carefully in the ketchup and eats slowly.  We spent a long time at Walmart buying some more Coke Zeros, noodles and milks for Rylie, books for the boys, another suitcase since we can check another bag for Rylie, and a Snickers bar!  We also took some pictures of some very interesting things which I will do my best to post and caption here. 

We got lots of stares and people stopping to talk about us.  We did not find anyone who spoke English and never saw any other Americans or Europeans.  Everyone is very friendly though. 

After Walmart, we decided to go the WanDa Department store which was six stories of everything you can imagine.  We need more clothes for Rylie so we thought that would be the best place.  Big mistake.  No one spoke English.  We didn't understand how to pay.  It was a total disaster!  So we headed to H&M, found super cute clothes, and had no problem paying (and it turned out cheaper than the WanDa).  BTW, we tried to buy her a sleeper and more pants at Wal-mart but all they had was super thick snow-suit type clothing and split pants. 

We finished up our visit with another trip to Starbucks.  The Earl Grey Latte is amazing.  Ryan had a Cafe Mocha.  Rylie had a milk we had bought at Walmart and some crackers.  She made a huge mess but she was happy.  Then we just had to grab a taxi and head back to our hotel before it got dark.  Easier said than done!!!!

I guess everyone was getting off work and off school so it was very busy outside.  There were lots of people lined up for the bus and heavy traffic.  We were standing on the side of a very busy six lane street but the scooters don't just drive on the street- they drive everywhere.  So we were avoiding scooters and bikes and trying to flag down a taxi.  We finally got one to stop and showed him our card that said where to take us.  He read it and said no.  Then drove away.  So we stood for a few more minutes and another one stopped.  Same thing.  We were starting to get a little nervous.  Finally, a taxi pulled up and said yes!  We were happy!  We piled our stroller, Rylie's pink backpack, and our H&M shopping bag in his front seat.  Then we piled our red suitcase from Walmart and our other backpack in the backseat and all three squeezed in.  It was a very exciting ride and the whole time we were hoping he would actually take us back to our hotel. 

Obviously, we made it back to our hotel and came upstairs to drink our cokes and eat pringles and noodles and a snickers for supper.  Rylie got so excited when we got back to our room and started running around and laughing and playing with us. 

It's a long post but I have to end by saying that we are so THANKFUL for our three blessings from China- Nick, Alex, and Rylie!  They are each so unique from one another and each so special.  We are thankful for our parents.  We could not have done this trip without their help!  We are thankful for everyone who has helped us out in so many different ways and especially for those who have been praying for us and for the boys.  We know God has protected us and provided for us every step of the way.  Happy Thanksgiving from China!  We can't wait to be home.  One week to go...

Can't get the pictures to load right now but will try again later.

Wednesday

Long, boring day but we did get a cute picture of Rylie in her Green Bay Packers outfit! 

It poured all day so we stayed in the room and took a nap and ordered room service.  We had good bonding time playing with Rylie in the room but we all got a little stir-crazy. 

Tuesday

This is Ryan.  It is Tuesday here in Fuzhou, China.  We are having a great trip so far.  Rylie is doing really well.  Last night she slept almost 12 hours!  She is very happy, and it feels like that she has been with us much longer than just two days (that's a good thing).  We have been eating breakfast in the hotel.  Rylie is eating very well.

Today we went on a sight-sight seeing trip. 

We went to an old district of Fuzhou.  The main street in this district has been restored to the original architechture of Fuzhou.  Along the street are many shops and restaurants.  The shops feature many traditional trades of the Fujian province (calligraphy, wood working, lacquering).  There were many beautiful items for sale.

The greatest part about today is that I finally got my Starbucks fix.  I think our guide, Penny, doesn't quite understand American's fascination with coffee.  I got a wonderful cafe mocha, and Julie had an Earl Grey tea latte.  There was a British woman in there talking loudly on her Bluetooth.  She kept saying "bloody" this and that.  It was quite amusing hearing that in China.  We enjoyed going into the shops and hearing about some of the history of the area from our guide.

Our guide really opened up to us today.  I asked how old she was.  She is only 23!  She was explaining more to us about the one child policy in China.  She was an only child until her parents decided to have another child when she was 11.  Her family was from the country.  Her parents decided to move to the city of Fuzhou so she would have better opportunities for education.  That is the case with most of the families.  Their best chance to get a good education and have a good career is in the urban areas.  I also was handed a flyer by someone on the street.  It was all in Chinese, so I asked Penny what is was.  She said it was advertising apartments.  Apparently, I looked like the type of person who needed to buy a place here.  The downside is that real estate is not cheap here.  It costs about 15,000 yuan per square meter.  That means the average family apartment (about 1,000 square feet) would cost about $750,000.  So I guess I won't buy a summer home here after all.  Most young men here will strive to buy an apartment.  They can't really get married until they have a stable residence and employment.  Penny said that she would really like a boyfriend and feels like she is getting too old to get married (keep in mind she's only 23).

This afternoon, we are probably going to find a place outside for Rylie to run around.  She is very content with about everything we have done so far.

 I hate to admit it, but this is kind of feeling like a vacation...  We are really missing Nick and Alex.  We got to talk to them on video Skype this morning.  Rylie loves seeing her brothers on the camera and thinks they are hilarious.  The boys bought her a stuffed panda bear to give to her when we arrive at the airport.  I am still trying to figure out how to get a stable VPN on my computer so I can consistently get on Facebook and our blog.  So if any of you techies have any advice, let me know.  Luckily, Julie's sister Jackie has been nice enough to copy this and update our blog for us.  Thanks for reading! 

She is officially our daughter!

Today was a busy morning!  We did everything we needed to do to make Rylie officially our daughter.  She did super.  I took three bags of stuff and I think the other families brought almost nothing.  But I knew what to expect- wait, wait, wait. 

She liked the congee and watermelon for breakfast.

We went to the Civil Affairs office first and had to wait until the other families had met with the official for their interview.  We get asked over and over why we are adopting, why we are adopting from China, and we have to promise repeatedly never to abandon or abuse her and also tell them how much money we make and tell them how we plan to provide for her medical needs and education needs. 
We got to talk to all the other families a little more at breakfast this morning.  The other little girl was still crying a lot and Rylie thought that was pretty funny.  Ryan said she is just like her mom cause she cries when people are laughing.  She chowed down on watermelon for breakfast and ate a little congee. 

Rylie loves to give Daddy high-fives.

It has to be about 70-75 degrees here but everyone is dressed like it is about 50 outside.  So I put Rylie in tights, leggings, socks, and a long-sleeve shirt.  Our guide sent us upstairs to get her a jacket- which I didn't have.  So I had to add another shirt over the top of her shirt. 
We had to put a red fingerprint on all our signatures for the adoption decrees and then they had to get Rylie's whole handprint.  She didn't want to put her goldfish crackers down so that was a little difficult.  But they looked at her and explained and she listened and did what they asked.  She is easy-going and pretty happy all the time. 
The orphanage staff was amazed at how well she was doing with us.  They said they are so happy for her and that they gave her the beginning of life and now we will be babysitting her for the rest of her life.  Everyone was amazed at how well she is doing and they all think she is so cute.  She is kind-of the star of the group.  I mean, I might be a little biased but even our guide said I think she is an extraordinary girl. 
We next went to the notaries office.  There is no way I can explain the parking lot but it took a long time to get out.  Our guide said she would never drive in China.  She said the drivers do not listen to any rules except the ones in their own minds.  It is fun to be back in China and experiencing all of this.  This is by far the nicest and the cleanest city we have been to in China.  The weather is beautiful and there are not piles of trash and horrible smells. 

Once we finished at the notaries office, we headed to Walmart.  We bought a jacket for Rylie and more thick leggings so we do not get in trouble by the guide for not dressing her warm enough, lol.  We also bought a stroller.  We tried to put her in the cart at Walmart but she started to cry so I carried her the entire time.  Ryan went and got pictures of all the interesting stuff.  Our guide was so funny asking us how things are in America.  I told Ryan to take a picture of the giant bins selling rice and she said "this is not how you buy rice?"  People were buying huge quantities of rice.  I said no we buy a little bag of rice about this size.  Anyway, Rylie seemed to like the stroller so hopefully we can take her for a walk in it this afternoon.
We also bought coke zero, lots of water bottles, crackers, bananas, oranges, noodles, and diapers.
Ryan just said to Rylie "Thank you" and she repeated him.  That is the first thing she has repeated to us. 
We are really having a wonderful trip.  We are feeling a little more tired today but the most difficult part is over- at least in this city.  The next three days we will tour the city so we should have lots of interesting pictures and stories.  Today we are going to go for a walk and then maybe find somewhere to eat supper.  Our guide said we can have McDonalds or Pizza Hut delivered to our room.  I said I was surprised they would deliver McDonalds and she said "They don't deliver McDonalds in America?"  We said no but we have a drive-thru so she thought that was pretty cool. 
We have been very blessed with a sweet guide.  Our driver has managed to avoid any major accidents although there have been close calls. 

This is the official red fingerprint to make Rylie our daughter.

One more note- we heard Gangnam Style playing in Walmart and Ryan said something about it.  Penny, our guide, said "Do you know Gangnam Style?"  She said it is very popular in China.  We said it is very popular in America too.  She said do people like it because of the words or is it the beat.  I said, "No one has any idea what it means."  She was about to tell me what it means but got interrupted.  I will have to ask tomorrow. 

One more cute picture of Rylie before we show you the weird stuff from Walmart.