Our days

The first few days everyone was on a different sleep schedule, but I think I can safely say we are all back on "mei guo" time.  The girls have slept through the past 2 nights!  (Praise God!)  TingTing has brought a bit of schedule to our lives.  We normally are a bit more fly by the seat of our pants, but she is use to routine and makes sure we follow it.

Breakfast (By 7 am she's ready, I've been able to push her back to 7:30...)
Brush teeth
Get dressed
Play (We've been outside in beautiful fall weather.  She also LOVES to color.)
Lunch (about 11:30 am)
Brush teeth
Rest (They nap about 2-3 hours!)
Play outside on trikes and wait for Baba to come home from work.
Dinner
Brush teeth and get in pjs.
We either read or let them watch a few minutes of tv.
Baba reads 3 books.
Sleepy time!

September 17, 2012--Our first day home

Not what I expected to report our first day home--my precious friend Brook came and got the boys and took them to co-op this morning, Troy and I hung out with the girls and at their request, we took them to dance class!  TingTing did GREAT!  Oh to see her smile and dance.  She really tried hard and we're so proud of her.  

I don't feel like I've written much about her specifically this trip.  Honestly I think it's because things have gone so well, too well maybe.  Other than 3 tantrums and having no stamina, she has done really well.  She's always coloring me pictures, she'll sit on my lap, she's telling us she love us (a bit early, but....), she likes to be read to (Llama, Llama Red Pajama is her favorite.), she likes to sit by herself and color....  she likes to write words--she'll ask me how to spell things and she knows most of her letters!  She'll even ask me if it's a big A or little a.  

I won't lie, it's not all a bed of roses, but so not what I was expecting.  I keep waiting for the explosion. She is rigid in her schedule of eating, sleeping, and showering but she's doing better at letting me explain the plan to her or distract her.  I'm firm and try to be matter of fact with her, that seems to avoid tantrums.  Ex. she didn't finish her breakfast and I felt it was a power thing so I put it in the fridge.  Mid morning she said she was hungry and I just pulled it out, heated it up, and put it in her spot and walked off without looking back or leaving room for an argument.  I am glad that we made the decision the first day to immediately start to parent from a position of authority.  With Shaoey and Grace they were younger...I feel that we were able to be a bit more lax at first, but with TingTing I sensed an urgency to make it known that we were the parents.  I remember telling her on day two that there's only one queen in the house and it wasn't her.  

 I keep thinking of what a brave little girls she is, to leave all she's ever known for the last 7 years. 

Thank you, God, for this precious gift! 

September 16, 2012...headed home

Today's the day, the unending Sunday.  We left HK at 8:20 am Sunday, September 16th.  We arrived in Lafayette at 8:20 pm Sunday, September 16th.  I wish I could say it was just 12 hours, but our long flight alone was 12 1/2 hours...  So from the time we left our hotel until the time we got home it was about 28+ hours.  

Passing the time at the HK airport by playing Uno.

We have arrived at Atlanta and gone through immigration, customs, redropping our luggage and CRASHING!  The kids were zombies after the flight.   It's official--she's a U.S. citizen!

Awww, such a sleepy girl.

Here we are!! We're at the Lafayette airport waiting for our gate checked luggage.  Time to meet friends and family!

In the van on the way HOME!

September 15, 2012--Lantau Island

Wow, I don't know that words can do justice for today.  We had an amazing day! We hopped in a couple of taxis to pier #6 to catch the ferry to Mui Wo (moo-ey woe) to visit some new friends.  

I guess I should back up just a bit.  While we were at SFCV, we met a couple and their son--Debbie, Bob, and Robert.  They live in Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong and have visited SFCV several times in the last few months.  We told them we were headed to Hong Kong after our adoption trip and they gave us advice and invited us to visit.  I'm not sure if they actually expected us to take them up on it, but we did and we had the BEST time!  We are truly blessed to have met them and spent precious time with them.

We made a last minute decision to visit with them and made plans to meet.  We postponed breakfast and took the ferry to the island. We grabbed some McD's while we waited for Bob to meet up with us and give us a tour of Mui Wo.  What an adorable and wonderful village!  We can see why they live there!

Bob gave us a tour of the village and shared their story of how they came to live in this slice of heaven and their dream for the future.  After the tour, Debbie and Robert and Patrick joined us as we took the roller coaster ride, oops, I mean the bus to Tai O.  Tai O is known as the Venice of Hong Kong, a village on stilts.  Patrick is a friend of Bob and Debbie and just happened to be staying with them this week.  Patrick is trilingual and just happens to have done a research project on Tai O so he made a FABULOUS guide for us, such a delight.  The scenery getting to Tai O was amazing!  Winding mountain road, gorgeous views, water, small villages...amazing! 

After we got off the bus, we took a quick boat tour of the city and went then to see if we could spot the rare pink dolphins which are known to live in the sea at Tai O, but no luck today.  We headed back to shore to explore the village on foot.  We stopped for a quick snack of dau fu fa (aka tofu fa) a Chinese dessert made with very soft tofu and served with sugar and a clear syrup.  Troy loved it, but then again he's eaten ostrich kidney, chilled jellyfish, pufferfish, chicken feet, and roasted pigeon on this trip.  We walked the streets of the village, bought the girls each a freshwater pearl bracelet, and headed back to the bus for a funfilled ride back to Mui Wo.  

Back in Mui Wo; Troy, Bob, and Connor headed into town to pick up pizza for dinner while Debbie and I and the rest of the children stopped at the open air market for some fruit to make smoothies and then took a wonderful walk to their home (no vehicles allowed!).  They are blessed to live in a beautiful home ON the beach.  The kids played for a bit while we visited and made smoothies.  The guys came back with the pizzas and we ate on the front porch overlooking the beach.  After dinner, we took the children to the beach to put their feet in the water.  It was then time to say bye to our new friends.  I truly pray that we will see each other again some day.  It was really a day to remember.  (Thanks, Bob, Debbie, Robert, and Patrick!)

We took the slow ferry back to Hong Kong to finish packing as our flight leaves at 8:20 am.  I can't believe the time has come to leave China.  We're just not ready.  It holds such an important place in our hearts.  We LOVE being there.

If you look closely, you can see the water buffalo in the background.  They wander the island, sleep on the beach, and make themselves at home.

Ummm, this is a prison!  It looked so much like a resort I wondered what I could do to get in!

Our first view of Tai O

Can you spot the "man's face" in the rocks?

Dried everything!

Dau fu fa

mooncake molds

We saw them wandering right alongside the road!

View of ferry from beach

Our precious little girl...she has done SO well!

Our last view... we weren't ready to leave.  I could see us having a place here!

Pizza!

The ride back was quiet, children were tired and we were lost in thoughts.