Catching Up

It has been a few days since I have been able to post. The weather here is unbearably hot and humid. I ended up with a 2 day migraine. YUK!! Anyway, here are some cute photos of Lukas and his friend Megan. We are having a great time here, but really anxious to get home to see Mari and settle into a routine.

We are going to the US Consulate today for the official swearing in ceremony. Then back to Shamain Island to pick up all our things we ordered. We will be leaving this hotel in the morning and taking the train to Hong Kong. We will stay there for the night and then we will be homeward bound.

Are these two just too cute?

We love you and miss you Mari!

Vicki, Don & Lukas

We're in Guangzhou!

WOW! What a difference a new hotel makes! This ol' internet junkie was having withdrawals with the poor internet service at the hotel in Xi'an. Here...we just plugged in and are set to go! So look for more frequent updates and photos of our little man! He is just the cutest doll baby! And the greatest giggler in the world! He is headstrong when he doesn't get his way, but is easily redirected. Travels well. He usually sleeps in the van. We were wondering how he would handle his first plane ride. This was only a 2.5 hour flight and quite confining. He got a little agitated at the beginning but settled in quickly and slept for the rest of the ride. Hope the flight home goes as well. I did go out this afternoon and purchase a traditional chinese baby carrier. They are a kind of front carrier that will help me keep my hands on him when he is sleeping on my lap. I was kinda dozing myself on the flight and felt my arms dropping from him a little. Hopefully this will solve that problem.

We are going out to eat at the Guangzhou Chinese Restaurant. It's kinda a local hangout...like the "WestEnd" of China. I hope the food is good cause we are hungry! Missed lunch today due to traveling.

Here are a few pics of Lukas as we were traveling to our new hotel. Isn't he just the cutest??

We love you Mariella!!!!!

Don, Vicki & Lukas

Visiting the CWI

We were blessed with the opportunity to visit the place where Lukas spent his first months of life. We were not allowed to do this with Mari so we were happy to know we would be able to record some of this for Lukas to see when he is older.

I knew I would need to guard my heart when I saw all those little faces, but I didn't expect the intesity of those feelings.

When we got there the children were playing outside. We were spotted immediately as was the bag of lollipops we had brought. I was rushed by tiny little hands reaching out for a treat. I tried handing out a little more than candy and started giving them all hugs. Do you think China would mind if I just brought a few more kiddos home with me?

Because of the recent earthquakes, the children are not staying in the main building (the pink castle). We were directed to a smaller out building where they had set up temporary shop while repairs were being made.

We were able to meet Lukas' best friend Aaron. Aren't they just the cutest duo?

We met most of the nannies and got to hold lots of little ones. They did let us go up into the mail building to see the room Lukas was in. There was a makeshift infirmary there with a few sick babies. Sick or not, they need to be cuddled. And I just couldn't help myself.

I am trying to get all 250+ photos uploaded to Snapfish so I can share with the other waiting parents, but apparently it is blocked here at this hotel. I will get it up when we get to Guangzhou. We are leaving in the morning and hope to be settled in by the afternoon.

More news then!

Mariella, mommy and daddy miss you so much and can't wait to see you! Big hugs and kisses to you!

Mom

Introducing Lukas!!! (finally)

Well, first I have to apologize to all of you that have been dying to see and her about how we are doing since we received Lukas.

Internet service here in this hotel stinks! Apparently the fact that I have Vista is causing great concern among the computer specialists here in the hotel. I also have wireless capabilities on my laptop. Apparently not a good combo that is met with alot of "ohh and hummmm" from the hotel staff.

Anyway, after lots of work and creating a new gmail account, I was able to get on here. That was last night. I made this glorious post and then all of a sudden it vanished. It was long and quite profound. After a full day of touring I just can't muster the strength to do it again. I am afraid to get to involved in my postings and then lose them so I will cut to the chase.

Lukas is just a doll baby! A BIG doll baby. Although he is nearly 17 mo old, he acts more like a 10-11 month old. He did take his first step on March 31 and he is doing good, but still has that new walk bob and weave action going on. And he babbles non-stop when we are NOT in the van. For some unknown reason, just as soon as we enter the van, he assumes this position of plastering himself to my chest and sticks his thumb in his mouth. He will not move until we get out of the van. And usually drifts off to sleep.

Yes. He is a thumb sucker. It is so cute. But he definitely prefers momma over daddy right now. He will allow Don to hold him for a tiny bit then it is back to momma. He does tolerate the stroller to some degree, but prefers to be held. Great for my back during a day long tour at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum!

Anyway, enough rambling. Here are some pics of our boy!! Enjoy. I will post again when I am able.

These two are from today as we were touring. The sunglasses and hat lasted long enough for the picture.

We love you Mari and miss you so much. Big hugs and kisses for you!!! XXXOOO

Mommy, Daddy & Lukas

(also, please refer to Ken & Leslies webpage for more in depth descriptions of our day www.webpages.charter.net/laked95 Ken does a great job on it!)

The GREAT WALL and Sacred Garden

I will once again send you to the Ken & Leslie's site as they are able to post more freely and have more pics of our adventures today.

http://webpages.charter.net/laked95/

We received a very special gift today. You all are aware of the earthquake situation here in China. We have been very concerned about the safety of our children and was able to receive some contact from a volunteer in Luke's orphanage. This morning I opened my eamil to three pictures and a very short little movie of him. He is so adorable. This pic was taken just about 8 hours ago.

What a day today! We have had such a great time in Beijing but wow, is it ever exhausting! I am only able to post this at about 3 am since when we came back to the hotel at about 8 pm, I crashed! Don did the same thing the night before and I was the night owl so I guess it was my turn.

I am still having technical difficulties with blogger even though I have someone in the states to help me, I even have a tough time getting the email to go through and send pics. I will do my best here (this is my third attempt) My first two posts ended up in cyberspace!

We climbed the Great Wall today! Man oh man alive, what an experience! I can hardly wrap my head around the fact that we are going to be view and standing on one of the great wonders of the world!!! Who would have though that us small town folks would be doing that!!! It is truly breathtaking. It was very hazy today, but still so very unreal!

We also visited the Sacred Gardens and Ming''s Tomb. Mari, can you guess where this picture is from? Yes...mommy and daddy are standing next to the same camel that is one of the clues on the map in Big Bird in China!

We are leaving today for Xi'an. This morning we will be going to the Summer Palace. Then a small tour on a rickshaw (FUN FUN!!) and visit a local Chinese home.

Our wonderful tour guide Maggie, will get us to the airport and make sure we are pointed in the right direction. Next time I post, we will be in Xi'an where Lukas is and be ready to meet him on Sunday at 3:30 pm. (2:30 am Saturday for those of you back home) So when you wake up on Sunday morning, hopefully you will see pics of Lukas in our arms!

Mari, we miss you so very much! Love to all of you!!!

Vicki & Don (aka mommy and daddy)

WOOHOO!!!

I have figured out how to post to my blog. I won't be able to see it or review it so please bear with me and my exhaustion.

What a day we had! Got up and enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel and then met out guide Maggie (who by the way is adorable) to start out the day at the Forbidden City. What a huge place! And the architecture is breathtaking. Maggie was spewing more historical information that I could digest. This girl really knows her stuff.

Next we moved on to Tiananmen Square. More history lessons. Everything in China is old. Not in bad repair old, but historical old. They have trees standing that are 500+ years old. Wish I had their green thumb!

We are having a great time sharing this whole experience with our dear friends Ken & Leslie. They are also adopting a little girl, Megan. We feel very blessed to be sharing this special bond with them again. Our older girls (both 4 yrs old) were adopted together 3 years ago and are from the same orphanage. Megan and Lukas are not from the same orphanage, but are from the same city. We will meet them both on Sunday.

I am having trouble getting the pictures to post, so I will end here.

You may be able to see more by visiting Megan's family journey at http://webpages.charter.net/laked95/

I'm sure Ken was able to get more pics and info up on their site.

We love you and miss you Mari!

We are in Beijing!!!

We have arrived SAFELY!!We are in Beijing and all is well. No earthquakes or anything felt here, although there have been quite a few reported aftershocks in Sichaun. All the kids in Xi'an CWI (where Lukas is) were evacuated. Babbies were wheeled out 12 to a crib. It happened right after morning nap so kids were alert and ready. They enjoyed their snacks outdoors until the "all-clear" was given by local authorities. It is reported that everyone is safe and unharmed.Beijing is amazing! Very big and pretty! Our guide told us that there are 18 million people in Beijing and 1.2 million are coming in and going out of the city daily. That's alot of people. But they are very well organized!We went to bed around 10 pm Beijing time. Don't even know how many hours we were up, but I woke up at 2 am and couldn't go back to bed. I should be really tired at the end of the day after touring.Today we are going to Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. In the evening we will be attending the Chinese Acrobat Show.The main thing is that we are safe and having a great time so far. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Earthquake News

As most of you have heard in the news, there was an earthquake in China. It measured 7.8 and has been very devastating. The actualy epicenter was about 300-400 miles SW of Xi'an. It sseems from what little contact we have had, that Lukas and the other children are fine. Another concern we have is the 80 ton toxin spill at a chemical that is near Xi'an.

We are still on schedule to leave tomorrow morning for Beijing. Not sure what our trip will be like, but we are prepared for it. I'm sure there will be aftershocks for most of our stay there.

We are anxious to get Lukas in our arms and hold him close. Please pray for us as we travel to the unknown.

We will do our best to post updates and photos as long as we have access.

Vicki

Our ITINERARY for our trip!!

It really is official! We are going to China!


May 13, 2008: Fly St. Louis to Chicago, Chicago to Beijing.

May 14, 2008: Arrive in Beijing at 3pm, picked up at airport by travel guide

May 15, 2008: Visit Tian'amen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Chinese Acrobats Show

May 16, 2008: Visit the Great Wall, Ming's Tomb, The Sacred Road

May 17, 2008: Visit Summer Palace and then leave for Xi'an, Sha'anxi at 5:40pm

May 18, 2008: GOTCHA DAY!!! We will meet Lukas and hold him for the first time!!!

May 19, 2008: Finalize the adoption and make it legal!!

May 20-23, 2008: Tour the orphanage and the city where Lukas is from.

May 24, 2008: Fly from Xi'an to Guangzhou.

May 25, 2008: Shop and tour!

May 26, 2008: AGAIN! Shop and tour!

May 27, 2008: Visa appointment with U.S. Consulate.

May 29, 2008: Travel by train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, spend the night

May 30, 2008: Fly from Hong Kong to Chicago (flight# 0896, arriving 2;20pm)
and Chicago to St. Louis (flight #5387, arriving 6:11pm)

We are traveling with United Airlines.

It has been a real challenge to get all these plans made, but we did it and now I must move on to the packing. I have one suitcase opened with everything packed inside, but then at some point, I just started tossing other things on top of the packed things and now Mari is quite worried that it won't all fit. This morning she told me that I just MAY need 2 more suitcases!! How right she may be!

I am now at the point where I start widdling down and removing things that I THOUGHT were a necessity! Those suitcases are heavy!! And since Don will officially be the "pack mule" I am trying to make it a bit easier on him. I am not lots of help with my shoulder and am resting it up as much as I can so I will be able to carry Lukas around.

We got an update on him as of May 4. He is 25.5 pounds and LOVES to be held!!! They also say he has 14 teeth, but I can't imagine a 16 month old having that many teeth!! Guess I will have to watch my fingers at feeding time!! Anyway, no bottle--just a sippy, but he does drink formula. I am kinda hoping that he will take a bottle again since it is such a great way to bond. I think I will pack a bottle or two just in case.


5 days from now, we will be jetting our way across the ocean! Mari is so excited to meet her brother and "in theory" she thinks it's great!!! It may be an entirely different story once she realizes he is sticking around!!!

We are so excited and frantic all in one! We will be posting as often as possible.

Mariella's pre-K class is going to be following along on our journey and incorporating it into their day!

Also, Laura (oldest daughter and caretaker of Mari while we are gone) will be sharing with her 4th grade students!

Ok, now back to packing! ;)

Vicki