Happy Holidays to All!

We have been having a busy and fun Christmas. Grandma Mary and Grandpa made the trip out here to visit and enjoy our chaotic holiday. We've been to some great parties and sat down for a chat with Santa (Rachel was not fond of Santa). The International Adoption Group party was particularly special this year with Rachel being able to spend time with some of her fellow adoptees. God bless you all as you venture into 2008!

A Visit with Cousin Jason

We took Rachel on her longest car ride since we adopted her. We all went to visit Jason at City of Hope Medical Center about 1 1/2 hours away. Rachel slept most of the time in the car. The grounds at City of Hope are beautiful with lots of space for the kids to run. Jason is on the mend and really seems to be in a good place both spiritually and physically. He enjoys feeding the tree squirrels. The photo is of Jason feeding Rachel the peanuts he keeps on hand for the squirrels... sorry squirrels. The boys liked picking apples just their size (we're still eating them). Rachel liked the putting green next to Jason's cabin.We tried not to wear Jason out so we left before dinner. We hope to have Jason home for Christmas. Keep those prayers coming.

Fall fun!

Finally our mornings have a chilly bite in the air. The kids enjoy "seeing their breath" when they head off to school. Halloween went by in a flash (especially for Captain Hook, Peter Pan and "Stinkerbell"). We had a quiet Thanksgiving with Colette's brother, Uncle Curt, and his family. Aunt Simone cooked her turkey in a brown paper bag, greased with Crisco on the inside. It tasted awesome. Rachel just toddled around while the boys played "boy stuff". Jeff wasn't too thrilled when Colette informed him that the Christmas lights go up this weekend (it's never too soon for Xmas lights according to Colette). Happy fall and almost Christmas to everyone.

Smokey Days and Walking Babies

We have been closed in the house with the air filters blasting Sunday-Wed. The fires aren't close but the Santa Ana winds blew the smoke and ash all the way here. Today seems clear enough to let the kids outside for a bit. While we've been closed in Rachel has been walking all over the place. She's toddling back and forth between us and soooooo proud of herself. She also cut 3 more teeth bringing the total up to 4 up top and 4 down below. Now she really can say "cheese" in the 100's of photos we take of her.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

On October 2 our baby will be one. My how time flies when you've only been with her for 1 1/2 months. She's healthy and happy and full of spunk (a good thing in a house of men). She's starting to take a few assisted steps. Oh, and she LOVED her birthday cake.

Happy birthday baby Rachel!!!!!

A Home Under Siege...

We call her "Baby Godzilla". She's adept at taking down large cities (Lego creations) in a single wave of her arm or swish of her backside. That's right folks, Rachel is on the move. She still whines when Colette leaves the room. But now she can find her. She's crawling and pulling herself up to stand. She was just waiting to achieve all the important milestones in front of us... her forever family. We think she says "Dada" and "dog". She knows baby sign language for "more" and "up". She waves bye bye and hello to everyone, claps her hands, and gives slimy kisses. She a little sponge when it comes to mimicking us. Just a note: Jeff's freaky leg bites are healed and he is now able to resume working on the house (shown here sealing the new tile with Rachel helping). He probably should have milked his injuries a little longer to avoid getting back to reality.

Our Nephew Continues His Battle

If you haven't read about our nephew, Jason, please see previous posts regarding his battle against Leukemia. He was just admitted earlier this week to City of Hope in Duarte, CA to continue his battle. This will be a very tough time as he will undergo radiation, then more chemo then on Wed., September 5 Jason will receive a bone marrow transplant from his sister, Nicole. Please pray for them both to find strength this coming week. Jeff and I haven't been able to spend nearly as much time with Jason as we would have liked to this summer. We get very nervous about giving him germs from our little germ carriers at home. We know, however, that he knows we love him, we're praying for him and we know he can beat this disease.

We are so grateful...

We are grateful for friends and family who came through for us this summer. We feel truly blessed by those who have touched our lives and continue to do so. Thank you to those who helped us in big ways and those who lent a hand to make our lives just a little easier, less worrisome and so enriched. If we forget to thank you please know that your generosity and caring ways are not forgotten... we're just a little sleep deprived.



Thank you to our families. You did a beautiful job decorating our house with so much pink we thought the Pepto Bismal factory exploded. Also thanks for loving our boys when we were too far away to physically do so. They had a great time with you and they are still divulging your family secrets to us at the dinner table.



Thank you to our friends who helped us with the final push for our final house inspection. Jeff had injured his back and in order to switch the bedrooms around (thus making room for a baby) we had to depend upon your help. Rachel's room is beautiful and so is our new master suite.



Thank you to friends who helped pull the weight while we were in China. T-ball Coach Bruce went above and beyond the call of duty (we hope the six-pack helped). Play dates with friends were a great distraction for the boys.

Thank you for the post-adoption support. Thank you to our MOMS Club friends and EPC friends for the great dinners some of you provided. Rachel is still working through her "Velcro Baby" issues and it's impossible for Colette to cook hot meals with her hanging around (literally).



Thank you to our neighbors who had to find new and creative ways to keep Hazel the Beagle from jumping the fence. If Jeff builds the fence up any higher, we'll have to get another permit from the city.



Thank you to all those who made donations. To Faith and Hope and Ryley for all your girly hand-me-downs. Rachel loves wearing all things pink and lavender and your old clothes are perfect for her. To our MOMS Club friends who donated supplies for Rachel's orphanage in China- the director was so grateful. And other friends who answered so many of our S.O.S.'s for baby stuff and tiny clothes (we think she's gained 3 pounds since we received her- all that yummy American food and proper nutrition do wonders you know).

The past few months have been an emotional blur for us. Without the support of family and friends we would have really struggled through the tough times. We feel so blessed by all of you and your influence in our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Colette, Jeff and Clan

First Day of School

We were all really looking forward to the first day of school. The boys each entered their classrooms like old pros. Julian has Gabriel's teacher from last year so he's very familiar with the routine etc. Gabriel has many of his favorite classmates from last year in this year's class. Unfortunately, now Colette has several hours in the morning when Rachel's main source of entertainment is gone. Maybe she'll warm up to the dog.

Rachel is settling in...

Rachel acts like she's always been here. She even lets Colette out of her sight when the boys really distract her. She LOVES all the food we have given her. She's almost starting to crawl and her chest congestion sounds a lot better.

Images of China

Here are some additional memories of our trip to China...

Trying to get the family back on track

Yesterday was Gabe's 7th birthday. He lost his 5th tooth in the middle of the night. His favorite birthday gifts were Star Wars Legos sets. Rachel is still getting up and staying up in the middle of the night. We're trying to keep her and us awake as much as possible during the day. She still is wrestling with her cold. Jeff is recovering from a minor medical procedure... long story short- he got bit twice on the knee by an unknown Chinese bug and the bites became inflamed and infected to the point of needing to be drained by our doctor. We'll get the results of the culture tomorrow. Grandpa and Grandma Mary did a great job holding down the fort while we were gone.

Home at last!

Guangzhou, China to Hong Kong to San Francisco to LAX plus a 1 1/2 hour drive and... we're home. It was so wonderful to be picked up at the airport by Colette's brother, Mark and family. They brought our boys along too (see photo). So much love for such a little girl. So the good ol' USA has a brand new citizen...

Rachel Celeste Xinjin (Shin Jin)

Health Status: Eating American food and loving it. Photo is of her having her first cold pizza (at 2:00 a.m.) with daddy. Has a chest cold and ear infection.

Happiness status: Very pleased with her entertaining brothers, not too sure about the dog. Very displeased that our little house is so vast and mommy keeps hiding somewhere in it ( to do laundry and such).

Sleep Status: What sleep? Jeff and Colette take turns as much as Rachel allows. It's 1:00 a.m. here but she lets us know that it's day time in China.

Thank goodness she's cute... even at 1:00 a.m.

Blessed by the monks

We took her to a Buddhist temple to be blessed by the monks. The temple was beautiful and so was the ceremony.

The Many Moods of Mei Mei

She has gained 2 pounds since we got her. She's also getting stronger and more vocal... in a good way.

Showing off her 2 teeth (and a noodle stuck to her cheek).

She was not thrilled with wearing the pretty purple shoes we bought her.

Happy with daddy... aslong as she's looking at mommy.

Ready for a swim. Thanks for the swimsuit Amber.

In Guangzhou... a new world

We are staying the the White Swan Hotel. The locals call it "The White Stork" Hotel because of the large numbers of babies who stay here on their way to new homes. It's a beautiful hotel to the point of being very opulent. Mei Mei likes her crib here- tight and cozy I think. The food is very good near the hotel. We are busy completing our final paperwork and while we wait for the paper work to be returned we take more tours and shopping excursions. Mei Mei's health and happiness seem to increase by the hour. She seems to have more color in her cheeks and even seeks out Jeff for play (as long as Colette is holding her). She finally rides in the stroller without much fuss and sits (more like slouches) in her high chair at meals. She's started to feed herself - before she wouldn't touch the food and had to be fed everything. Our room looks out over the Pearl River. Quite a beautiful view, especially at night.

Our adoption group took our famous "Red Couch" photos of the babies. Mei Mei is on the far right, top row. Eventually all the babies started crying. We took the photo of Colette and Mei Mei before the group photo (no one was crying yet).

Also took a photo of Colette's daily breakfast. It tastes alot better than it looks.

More later... love to our boys.

C&J

More on Mei Mei

We have decided that Mei Mei's developmental age is about 6 months. She can't yet crawl but is pulling her legs up under herself to get ready. She acts like she's spent most of her young life lying on a bed- her hair is worn off on the back of her head. Her head and torso are still wobbly. Her cry is very young sounding. Colette has been putting her through "baby boot camp" to strengthen her muscles and give her confidence to try new things. Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie can take over Baby Boot Camp when we get back home... they're professionals after all.

The boys said they're having a great time. We hope some one's making them eat vegetables.

SOS out to our MOMS Club friends... we are having problems accessing e-mail here. We couldn't find our exersaucer. I think we loaned it out to someone. We'd appreciate a loaner if anyone has one to borrow.

Mei Mei Warms Up to Jeff... forcibly

We've been taking some excursions while we wait for Mei Mei's Chinese passport to be processed. We took her to a beautiful Pagoda near our hotel. She let Jeff carry her for a long time as long as she could still see Colette. She loved the noise and the heat (she's used to it being quite steamy). That same night Colette became very ill with food poisoning. So the next day Jeff had to take the baby on tours while Colette recovered. Mei Mei wasn't too pleased at first and then gave in and started to have a good time with Jeff.

We've noticed so many contrasts in this city. Dilapidated buildings are right next to beautiful ancient structures and beautiful modern structures.

Mei Mei was born in the year of the dog. So we took a picture of her with her doggie.

Take care. Tomorrow we leave for our final stop in Guangzhou to get her visa.

Colette, Jeff and Mei Mei

Walmart and Chinese Adoption Finalization

This morning our guides took on a shopping trip to Walmart. We all needed to buy clothes since the babies are a lot smaller than we expected. We also needed diapers and Chinese formula. Colette had Mei Mei in the front pack. We were treated like rock stars with sometimes 6 salespeople trying to help us at a time. They were all very kind and would really try to take us to exactly what we were in search of. The Chinese children pointed at us and called us "foreigners". Many Chinese women spoke to Colette and Mei Mei and touched Mei Mei as we shopped. It was a very fun excursion.

Then our guides took us to the Civil Affairs building to finalize the adoption. We had to answer some official questions and promise to never abandon our baby. It was very hot on the top floor of the building (during the whole trip it's been 99 degrees + 99% humidity... day and night). The photo is our guide Lewis fanning Mei Mei to cool her down before our meeting with the officials. After our interview they gave us a porcelain vase to give to Mei Mei when she's older. Her province is known for exquisite porcelain.

So according to the Chinese government she's officially ours. Now we have to wait a couple of days to get her Chinese passport. Meanwhile our guides have planned a couple of tours for us one of which will be a tour of a countryside village typical of this area.

We also called in a Chinese doctor to listen to Mei Mei's rattling chest. He said it's a typical cold and gave us Chinese anti-virus serum to give her. We'll see if it helps.

Mei Mei will still only go to Colette. She wants to be physically touching Colette at all times. So Colette has to do many things with Mei Mei on her lap... she also hates the stroller and highchair (it appears she's never used either before). She screams when Jeff walks close by. Jeff holds her when she's sleeping to give Colette's arms a rest.

Kiss the boys for us. We miss them so much and we can't wait for them to meet their Mei Mei.