Recovering...

Lillie has done well since her surgery. She slept a lot on Saturday. She does not like the "Nonos" (arm restraints). Neither do we! But with a mouth full of stitches, it is important that she NOT put anything in her mouth. She has been confined to an all liquid diet. So, we have been eating soup and baby food. That's as creative as I can be! We love her so much and hate it that she had to go through all of this, but I still say this is better that not doing it and /or staying in China!

Surgery Day

We left home early (before 4 a.m.) this morning to make it to All Children's Hospital in St. Pete. Lillie was scheduled to have surgery at 7:30. Everything went well, we arrived on time and everyone was very nice. They gave Lillie a lil teddy bear that has a Tampa Bay Bucs logo on it. Even though we are NOT Bucs fans, it was too sweet to see her cuddle the bear.

It was very hard on all of us to see them take her away. They took her before they gave her any meds to calm her. She looked back and cried for us, and I thought "oh no! She will not trust us!"

The surgery itself lasted a little over 2 1/2 hours. Dave and I were exhausted and the nurse had to wake us up in the waiting room! When I finally got back to see Lillie in the recovery room, she was a mess, and I felt HORRIBLE! She calmed down when I sag "Jesus Love Me" to her. But it was obvious she was in pain and VERY uncomfortable with all of the wires and things attached to her. She was sent up to PICU as a precaution. It was a long day, but we got her comfortable (as comfortable as one can be with their mouth full of stitches, hooked up to numerous machines, and a big stitch through your tongue and taped to the outside of your cheek) and then started thinking about us.

We were told that a Ronald McDonald House was located in the hospital and everyone told us that at least one of us should check in to it and get a good night's sleep. Dave and I decided that he would stay in the "House" and I would sleep on the pullout in Lillie's room. The room at The Ronald McDonald House ended up being a real blessing!! Not only was it a room, but they have a kitchen stocked full of food for the guests to use, and so Dave and I had dinner and breakfast there. Dave stayed the night there as planned, and then he came in the morning to relieve me and I was able to go there and take a well needed nap.

In the mean time, Lillie was slowly getting better, and by 1:30 Friday we were on our way home! I forgot to mention that my sister Kathy came to the house and stayed with the kids and dog and took them to all of their usual activities, so I really could concentrate on Lillie and not worry about home. When we got home tonight, some good friends made us dinner and brought it over. Lillie was very sleepy. She slept all the way home, and has slept all evening as well. It is so good to be home.

3 Weeks have FLOWN by....

I cannot believe that it has been more than 3 weeks that we have been home with our lil girl! You know what they say when you are having fun...well we have been having lots of fun!!

The big kids have started back to school along with their extra curricular activities which means we have been one busy household! We have settled into a very nice routine with Lillie. It is obvious that she is happy and enjoys her family and her home. We have not ventured far from home, however, because as it turns out we are able to have palate surgery on Thursday September 16 which means our lil girl cannot get sick!

Day 14

Today we were able to shop a little again on Shamian Island. I was still kind of sick. Dave and Lillie stayed back at the hotel and I went with the rest of the group. Susan, our guide, felt sorry for me, and since she was by herself, she offered to go with me. I was thankful, and we were only there for 1 hour and 15 minutes. As soon as I got back to the room I was able to take a nap. Sweet Lillie laid with me! She has really warmed up to me, and I am more and more in love with her! I can't wait for the rest of my friends and family to meet her. Especially Payton and Kelsie! I know they will adore their little mei mei (Little sister)! After my nap I was able to take a nice long shower and then it was packing time and off to the Guangzhou airport. Two of the six families traveling with us stayed behind (they were a day later on all of their paper work, because their province required them to stay longer). It was a 7pm flight that lasted 3 hours. We meet our guide, Winston right away and he had hired a small bus. With some great thought and muscle power of the daddies with us, we all made it on the bus! There were 18 of us in all and let me tell you, none of us were traveling light! We made it to the hotel in Beijing just before midnight and I was able to Skype the kids! I had missed them the day before and they were kind of worried! Anyway, Lillie did well on the flight, there were a couple moments when she was crying (screaming) but all in all she did VERY well! Of course she did not sleep one bit, but it was ok! Needless to say, she feel asleep on the bus ride to the hotel and was down for the count! That girl can sleep when she sleeps!! On the bus ride home I started telling everyone what I was going to get as soon as we reach the US! A slushy with ICE!! Actually anything with ICE sounds so good!! And BBQ sauce! Anything with BBQ sauce! And yes, I am going to appreciate the air even in Newark! It smells so bad in China! Even my banana at breakfast tastes like the dirty air smells in this place!!Dorothy had is right, "There's NO place like home!"

Day 13

Today it was more waiting and waiting in the hotel room until our 3:30 oath "ceremony" at the US Consulate. We couldn't take a camera or phone into the US Consulate. Lillie was so sweet, she even raised her right hand and held it up like everyone else in the room! She looked adorable! She really is smart!! I would estimate that there were 100-125 people in the room, probably 50-75 families. We all swore that the information we provided in our applications was true. The officer that we swore before told us that there were 3,000 adoptions form China into America last year. She estimated that 66% of the adoptions completed in 2010 would be Special Needs. After that we went as a group to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the hotel next to ours. I was starving and the food was soooo good! Then…2 hours later I was as sick as a dog!! In fact it lasted all night! YUK! I was swearing that I would NEVER eat Chinese food again! Anyway, the good Lord decided to see me through it!

Day 12

All I have to say today is "Hooray!!!", 12 days are done!! We are so ready to be home! Our Consulate appointment was today, but we didn't have to go. Our agency rep went for us, and she was back right away with our official paperwork, saying Lillie is ours! This afternoon we went to a wholesale market that was 8 floors, it wasn't easy to shop with Lillie and Dave, so we just looked at all of the people and all the stuff, and there was a lot of stuff! We have been able to establish a great little routine with Lillie. She is such a great little girl!

Day 11!!!!

Yeah! 11 days down and 4 to go! Today was a free day to explore the area! As a group we all went to Shamian Island to pick up our laundry and to shop for about an hour. Let me tell you one hour is NOT enough time to shop! But we were able to pick up a few things. The real reason we came back to the island was for 2 of our families in our group have their TB test results read. Both girls passed, one had to have the x-ray because her skin test came back positive. After Shamian we headed to the pearl and jade wholesale. We had heard that a nice pearl necklace that costs $1000 in the US was about $200. And a jade bangle (that is very popular) sells for $300....we didn't get any of either. It's hard to shop with a toddler, in a busy market where the sales people speak a foreign language the currency is foreign and the desire just isn't there, so we just went a long for the ride! After that we were able to come back and freshen up at the hotel. Our guide told us to confirm our tickets home, so I did that while Dave took Lillie up to the room for a nap! We met again as a group and walked one block to a museum. This museum was entirely for a tomb that was found in the 80s, and it was built right over the excavation site. Since I love history I really enjoyed the museum visit. It amazes me how people buried their kings. It also dawned on me, that a lot of other people were buried with the king. At this site many of his concubine and servants were also buried with him. Again I was amazed at all of the ornate tools, jewelry and daily living items that were made and used 2000 years ago. I couldn't help but to think about how plain and simple and borrowed the tomb for the KING OF KINGS was. It doesn't matter what material things we gain in life, we cannot take them with us. How wrong this king was and the people who worked so hard on the items that were buried with him were! I saw beautiful items that were once beautiful thousands of years ago and are now rusted and corroded with years of weathering and I am so thankful that my treasures are stored up in a place where moth and rust cannot reach! On a Lillie note, she continues to show herself more and more to us. She is so sweet and has gotten more comfortable with me. In fact, she even reached for me on the bus today, Dave said it was because I had her cup, but I know she wanted me! I held her close and was singing softly to her when I realized she was singing too! What a precious moment! Her little voice was so sweet. She is a verbal child, but she is not saying any words, in Mandarin or English. China continues to amaze me: the old mixed with the new...every where you go!