At the Wild Good Pagoda

Today’s outing was to a pagoda that, I guess, is very famous in China–called the Wild Goose Pagoda (not sure why it’s called that– I didn’t see any geese there). It’s famous for three reasons–two of which I forget, but the one I remember is that the pagoda tower leans due to an earthquake centuries ago. Okay, sure, sure…so like, the leaning tower of Wild Goose Pagoda, is how I can think of this.

Anyway, Mark has posted pictures of our outing. Some of them are pretty cool–although, maybe you’ve already seen them because now that I think of it, Trisha (my sister) commented on how nice Savannah’s new dress looks, and she only just wore that today. So, if you’ve seen them, cool, if not…well they are there if you want to.

On the Jade front, everyday has been a little bit better. Her personality is really starting to come out and we are seeing that she is a strong baby girl. She loves, loves, loves to play and her laugh is so infectious! We have loved watching Savannah and Jade play together. Savannah really loves to play with her and if she can’t (because it’s nap time or something) she’s really bummed. It’s been so fun seeing our family begin to feel more and more gelled together with our new little one. We thank God for this time where all we have to do is work on becoming a family together–it’s good.

Tomorrow night (8:00 am Friday EST, for those in the US) we will be flying south to Guangzhou. On a Skype call tonight my mom said there is some kind of tropical storm that may hit there–hopefully not. But Guangzhou (Shaiman Island) is a wonderful place to stay (although maybe not in a storm, since it’s right on the coast). Adoptive families always look forward to Guangzhou because the Shaiman Island is so laid back and beautiful (Mark and I both said the first time that it reminded us of Savannah, Georgia when we were there last). Because we will be flying late, we may not be able to post tomorrow night. But it is possible that we may post during the day tomorrow.

Okay, love you all!

Melissa, Mark, Savannah and Jade

Today our guide (Kathy) took us to see the famous Terra Cotta Warriors of Xi’an. For those of you who do not know, they are 7000 plus earthen warriors made for the 1st emperor of the united China’s tomb (well, the surrounding area of it anyway–his actual tomb has not been excavated due to lack of technology to preserve after it is excavated). Emporer Qin (CHIN) ruled from 246 to 221 BC, and his clay warriors were only just discovered in the 1970s. It’s a pretty interesting story, which I’m sure all of you will just run out and Google about as soon as you’re done here. Heh heh heh.

Anyway, we went to see the warriors today and it was pretty cool. The pictures help to tell the story much better than words, however, I feel I must mention that in the photos today, there is one photo that is not Kosher and definitely not vegan! So, if you are squeamish about pelts of any sort (especially those of the “pet” variety) you may just want to have a buddy with you to tell you when to look away or something…I don’t know (okay, Jaime, this means you….seriously…get a buddy to help you.)

Later on this evening we went back to our room, after some more time in the Muslim District (didn’t get enough of it when we were there last time…) Savannah and Jade were having a ball playing around the room. This is a big deal because this is the first time Jade has walked around the room to play (usually she doesn’t want to walk, only stay in one place). But she is venturing out more and she and Savannah were having a ball. I was on the floor playing with them too and once when Jade came by laughing, I swiped her up and gave her a kiss. She didn’t cry (I think because she’s always in a good mood when she’s playing). I pretty quickly put her back down, but was glad to see this small step forward. Earlier in the day I tried to pick her up and she cried pretty hard and I had to give her to Mark, so I’m glad to see a little progress on the picking up front. For all of our sakes I am hoping that before we come home I will be able to hold her (because if not, she’s going to have a very miserable time–and so will I and Savannah–when Mark leaves for work that first day). But we thank God for the little steps forward.

With love to you all, and thank you all for all of the comments you have posted! I love seeing them all and reading them. I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to respond to each one, but it just seems like there are not enough hours in the day to get done all that we want to! How can that be? Huh. Anyway, we love you all and are so encouraged by your comments. ;o)

With Love,

Melissa, Mark, Savannah and Jade

Just wanted to remind everyone that there are some video’s posted in the gallery.  I’ll be using the pre-fix of J2J so they are grouped together.  Love the Break Through Day video.  We’ll be heading to the either the Wild Goose Pagoda or the Terra Cotta Warriors site this morning.  Then lunch and a nap.  After the nap we are heading back to Muslim street for more shopping.  Yesterday we picked up a beautiful scroll.  A shop keeper gave us a private viewing of Xi’an university professors and students work.  Melissa and I debated over two different scrolls.  I’ll post a video of the scroll we opted not to get.  The quality is simply amazing.

Please pray for another good day of bonding with Jade.  We are also getting her on a regimen of expectorant which should help with the runny nose and cough.

Gotta run to breakfast now.

Hugs and kisses from Mark, Melissa, Savannah and Baby Jade in Xi’an

Break through day

Well, you may have noticed that we didn’t post on the 11th. It has been a pretty rough transition with Jade grieving for her caretakers, fighting a cold, teething, and bonding primarily to me (Mark).

Today we did some shopping, first at Walmart (I’m sorry Ruben, if Meijer had a store in Xi’an you know I’d be all over it) and then onto a department store for shoes for the kids (there is one other family with us from Great Wall). So at Walmart we got some essentials like diaper wipes, a new Barbie for Savannah (these are essentials, people) and some expectorant for Jade. We gave her the first dose around noon. At 3pm we toured the Muslim district which was fabulous. Guess who came out of her shell? Ok, that was pretty lame rhetorical question. Jade surprised us all with laughs and giggles. Of course, earlier in the day (when we were planning to take a nap–but Jade had other plans) Melissa was able to be with Jade for a bit without her crying. So then she took it a little further a little later by playing with her and her toys and doing zerberts on Jade’s feet (which she smiled about). So, I guess you could say the stage had already been set by the time it was time to go to the Muslim district (which was right after this play time with Melissa).

I resorted to carrying Jade in the sling as my right arm was about ready to fall off. So, as we shopped on Muslim street in Xi’an I began dipping her up and down, HUGE smiles and then some giggles. As the afternoon wore on more and more giggles, and not just from me interacting with her. Melissa and Savannah broke through and were giving her zerberts on the feet (no, that’s not gross, her feet have never touched the ground since we received her!) Anyway, I’m posting some pictures of our time shopping and playing with the stacking cups on the bed when we got back. Can you say 180?

Jade’s improvement has been remarkable to watch today. We are thanking God for his work through all of your prayers. Today was a good day and we feel so blessed!

Blessings,

Mark and family

Yesterday, June 11th, we got our little baby, Jade Choujia Elenbaas.  We haven’t been able to post until now because Jade has had a hard transition and she has been so sad. This, of course, takes the energy out of you trying to help a little baby through a transition that, really, there is not much you can do to help their grief. We knew in our hearts that the transition for Jade would be difficult as her report indicated that she was very close to her caretakers and that she was a quiet girl. So as you’ll see (or may already have seen in the photos) she had a hard time with coming to us. We took our time and let her warm up to us for a while as her caretaker held her and we gave her Cherrios–which she loved! When I (Melissa) did take her she just cried and cried for about 15 or so minutes until she finally cried herself to sleep. Every time she woke up she would cry again until she was asleep. After a photo session (that did not really go well, but we had to do it for the adoption paperwork) we figured out that she liked Mark better than me, so we let Mark hold her and she stopped crying. Savannah also could make her stop crying as she did little things to entertain and cheer up our little baby. Savannah is very good at playing with Jade and getting her things that she needs. She is such an awesome big sister! She is really helping out in so many ways.

Jade is getting more used to us, but today we had to go back to the registrars office and finalize the paperwork and the nannies were there too. She became sad and upset again after a while of being there and seeing them. So, we feel this set us back a day with Jade, but she is getting much more used to us. She still will cry sadly all of a sudden at times. We do not know if this is her grief of her loss, or her hurting teeth (she’s a drool baby right now and we know she much be teething). She only wants Mark to hold her and clings to him the whole day, but she does not cry when she looks at me anymore (like yesterday for a while), and sometimes she doesn’t mind if I touch her little hand. But if Mark puts her down (especially when she is tired) she will cry–not always, but very, often. If she is set down with Savannah on the floor and some toys to play with she likes that and Savannah loves to play with her this way. I myself am just biding my time, as I know that worst case scenario is that it takes until we get home for her to bond with me. When we get home Mark will be going back to work, so she will have no other choice but to begin the bonding process. I hope, and pray that she will begin before that. ;o)

Okay, this is all I can think of for right now (I’m sure there are a ton more things to say, but my mind can only do so much at 9:20 at night–not that this is late, but with all the emotional strain, it’s just all I can muster for now). We love all of you and can’t wait until we come home to see you all.

Oh, and for Faith–the weather today was nice…not too hot at all and even pleasant for walking! Thanks for your prayers! ;o)

Love you all so much…Oh, hope you are having a good anniversary, Mom and Dad, in Macinaw!

Melissa and family