MAYLIN2007

We are home! Sorry it took so long to post, but that jet lag thing really knocked us for a loop. Maylin Nini is really adjusting well. She finally is adjusting to daddy and the house. The first day at home was hard. The carpet scared her and the the overall newness of things. She feels comfortable now and feels at home. She loves to play the piano and is enjoying crawling and learning her way around her new house. She spent some time outside. She doesn't like the feel of grass and doesn't like to swing, but she loves the slide. "Do you think I can get anymore of that good stuff?" A pony tail. A future Mozart. Checking out brother's things.

I was just looking over our blog. It looks a little sketchy. Internet trouble etc. I hope it will still allow me to help tell my daughter her story and the story of Maylin Jia. I can't even type that name without tears. That was tough. I realize not much has been said about her on this post for a while. I hope everyone knows that it was not of our choice. You do things to show repesct when others give a request, even if it is to someone else's culture. But, please know..our hearts are still broken. Our hearts still mourn and feel guilt. A day does not go by that Maylin Jia is not loved, or thought about. We worry for her future. We worry if we did the right thing. I hope everyone understands.

Wow! We can't believe it is here! We arrived in LA tonight. Glad to be home and Maylin Nini is an official citizen. We were sad to leave China, but love America! Blogging was a pain, as most of you noticed. Found out that the Chinese Government periodically blocks Google. They impossed a block the day we got Maylin's referral. The only way we were able to blog was Jay remote controlled a client's computer in Utah and bounced off that. It was slow tho'. We have learned that Nini loves to dance. She loves mom the most, has fun with the kids and tolerates dad. She loves to rub mom's hair...just like Alex did when he was little. She loves Chinese fried noodles and can really suck them threw her little puckered lips. We have taught her Patty Cake. She is very smart! She has some serious Mongolian Spots. Her shoulders and whole bottom are Mongolian spots. We can't wait for you all to meet her in person. We are home tomorrow, Thursday. Looking forward to our own beds a...

The Passey's left us a few days ago. It has been quiet without them. We can't wait to meet up with them again. We leave in 30 minutes to finalize the Chinese side of the adoption. Her passport is supposed to be done. If all goes well we will leave tonight for Guangzhou to fit days and days of shopping into one. We will post when we get there. Thanks all for posting! We love hearing from you. We miss all of you! We are all doing great. Tired, but well. Keep up the comments, it is so fun to hear from home.

Today we drove to Nini's home town. She is from Xiantao about two hours from Wuhan. It is a smaller city. Including the outskirt villages there are 1.2 million people. She was abandoned in front of the orphanage. The orphanage is located on a tiny street with lots of open markets. Our car barely fit down the street. The orphanage was really nice and the director was kind. He even went with us to have a blessing for Nini at the local Buddist temple. We all went to lunch afterward. The blessing was nice. The monk was so excited since we were the first westerners to bring our baby back for a blessing. He said a lot of local adopters bring them back and he was happy to see us. Here is Nini on a stool at the temp The monk is sprinkling us with water from an evergreen bush. He blesses us with happiness, wisdom and patience. The orphanage director and staff at the orphanage. Her finding spot. We also bought her something from her city. We got her a Nini which is the name of the olypmic B...

,. Love the hair? \ Asleep. Two socks on one foot. Not sure shy she wanted it that way?! Miss Personality! Noodles anyone? Downtown Wuhan. Need a lift? Cool Cat at the Hubei Museum

Yellow Crane Tower The Internet is very slow I will post more when I can get a better connection. I have blown several transformers from the Hotel and I think they must also be blocking my access so be patient. Where there is a will there is a way. Laurel is asleep (midnight) so your getting me. Jay

***Jia Kang or Maylin's delays were not getting better. If anything they were worse. I couldn't sleep all night. I kept thinking about it and worrying something was very wrong. In the morning I called our adoption agency and they told me not to sign anything until we could have her looked at. I was just sick inside. The children were sobbing. I just knew if there was something really wrong, I couldn't keep her with Austin's poor health. After a doctor's visit, where they told us she had severe brain damage, Jay and I had 2 hours to decide if we would keep her or not. It was the most awful decision I have ever made. We decide it was best for our family, the kids, since we did not know what her delays would be, that we give her back. We were all devistated, especially Alex. He cried and cried and promised to steal and bike and find her to bring her back to us. We tried to explain to him that with Austin's health and Kenzie's mental issues, we couldn't take...

Our first moments together...cheek to cheek! This is the building were we got her. Don't ask me what it says. I just know its the adoption building. Alex and his sister. She was a ball of laughs and noises when we got her. She scratched Alex's face pretty good. We will have to clip her long nails. Sisters. Daddy and baby. The spot on her forehead is makeup. The Chinese do this as a decoration of beauty. The foster family put it there for us. Back to the hotel. Our first family photo. Meet Princess Maylin. Read below for more details of the day: The orphanage loved the eagle scout items. They said there are a lot of older special needs children there, that would love the things. Austin was thrilled and got his picture with the director. Maylin was so happy. Since we got her back to the hotel we are noticing that she is delayed. We can tell she spent a lot of time laying down, which surprised us for foster care. They say her family had a special needs 3 year old too who did every...

Tomorrow is the big day! It is Maylin's birthday and GOTCHA DAY! This is our adoption specialist and guide, Judy. We get the babies at 10:30 tomorrow! Our hotel has a whole floor catered to adoptions. It is all decorated in baby designs. Thanks to all sending comments. We appreciate your support. Baby pictures tomorrow! A crib! We go to the Carrefour...like a Walmart. These are Asia fruits. You wouldn't believe the stuff. The meat department was intense. Live frogs, turtles, fish. People would take nets and fish their fish of choice out and then take it to the butcher and he would cut it up for them. Nothing like watching a jumping frog get butchered. Wuhan is most famous for duck neck. There was a big bowl right next to this bowl of duck feet. Very interesting.

The cloisinaie factory in Beijing. This man carves the jade at the jade factory. I can feel the burn. What an amazing experience. Alex, Jay, and Austin made it to the 7th check point, which is as far as you can go in this section. Laurel and Kenzie made it to the 5th section. Our legs were shaking the whole way down. It took about 2 hours. We also went to a jade factory. It was neat to watch them carve and polish the jade. We also stopped at a cloisinaie factory. One step of this hand made process takes 3 days. The workers get paid about $350 a month. We had spaghetti tonight! It never tasted better. Tomorrow we leave for Wuhan! Can you tell which one is the real Teracota Warrior?

The day included a tour of the Bell Tower that would be rung everyday to tell people the time. This was before watches. We also went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. How amazing! This is the Forbidden City. The most amazing thing were the Chinese people and how they reacted to our kids. We couldn't move without throngs of people all over our kids. They would touch their hair and shake their hands and want their pictures with them. The were so amazed we had 3 kids with 3 different hair colors. They especially liked Alex's blonde and Kenzie's red hair. It took forever to get anywhere because of this. The kids were thrilled. Our guide said a lot of people haven't seen white people except on TV. Also, their hair color was new to them. A lot couldn't believe how tall Alex was. This is one of the MANY pictures taken with one of the kids. We visit a local silk factory. We watch them soak the silk cocoon and spin it. It is so neat. They even let us try pulling th...