Visiting The Orphanage

We are back in our room now after the orphanage visit.  It was a rough morning for Bailey.  When we arrived we met with "Nahnah" and were allowed to take some photos and video of her with Bailey. She also cared for Brinley while she was here in the Guilin SWI.

  We then passed out the candy we brought to some of the children outside.  Bailey had a best friend in the orphanage and we were allowed to go inside a classroom and let Bailey see him for one last time.  Bailey handed out candy to each of the kids in the classroom.  After that we visited a playroom and let Bailey hand out some more candy.  After a few minutes it was time to go.  Bailey had a hard time leaving and cried for a long time.  She cried all the way down the stairs and the entire time we met with the people in the orphanage office.

We were able to take photos of Brinley at the main gate this time.  We don't think this is the gate where she was found but it is the closest we could get to it.

The place where Bailey was found is close to the orphanage so we were able to go there and take some pictures.

Bailey was found beneath this tree in a small village near the orphanage. It is a very busy place in this village so we pray that she was found quickly.

  Then it was back in the van and back to the hotel to relax and calm down.  Bailey has stopped crying.  She's been playing with Brinley and just being a silly little girl.

Li River Cruise

Today we took the Li River cruise.  The scenery was very pretty and the cruise was quite relaxing. See the photo's we posted.  We saw a lot of little fishing villages and water buffalo.

Brinley made some new friends on the cruise.  Three young girls from Guangzhou were seated at our table and they fell in love with Brinley.  They helped her put stickers on her fingers and even tried to braid her hair.

After the cruise we stopped by a small shop to see if they had any bamboo sleeping mats.  The orphanage said they needed some so we wanted to buy some as gifts, but they did not have the size we needed.  We came back to the hotel and rested a while.  We even got in a short swim before we met Bob to walk to dinner.  There's a very nice park in front of the Bravo.  We walked around the park and visited a department store to buy some candy for the orphanage visit and some other items we wanted.  Then is was short walk to the Pizza Hut.  After dinner we took a stroll down what Bob called "the walking street".  Each night vendors set up tents along the street and people walk around.  It was nice and there were a lot of items for sale.  We bought Bailey a "Wedding Ball" so both she and Brinley will have one.  As I said it was nice, but very crowded.  The department store we went in looked like a WalMart on Christmas Eve times 10!

We missed the water and light show at the Waterfall Hotel, but we did see some people singing in the park.  There are colored lights in the trees and decorated boats on the lake at night.

Bailey is getting better.  She still does her "comfort rock" when she's upset or bored.  She may be small and look dainty, but she does have TEMPER.  She wanted our large bottle of aspirin and when Sharon said no, we got a screaming, foot stomping, slap the table, hit the floor fit from Miss Bailey!  We have some video that she should appreciate later in life!

Things have calmed down now.  Bailey and Brinley are still working things out.  Both have a lot of adjusting to do.

We meet Bob at 9:45 in the morning to visit the orphanage.  We'll see how that goes.  Brinley didn't have any problems, but Bailey is older.

Train To Guilin

Greetings from Guilin!  We just arrived in Guilin on the train.  It was an interesting trip.  Bob rode with us and we had a long time to talk to him and get to know him.  Sharon is trying to get him married off and start his own business!  The scenery was very pretty as it was last time.  We were on the top level of the train this trip so we got to see a little more.

Bailey is doing better today.  She sat on Sharon's lap the whole trip (4.5 hours) and slept a good bit.  Brinley slept some, but spent most of the trip playing with her new friend, Bob.  We have several pictures and a short video of them.

We've checked in at the Bravo Hotel and will meet Bob at 2:30 to get some lunch and see some sites.

More to come from Guilin later.

Paperwork & Notary

Bailey Shay is now officially a Millender girl! :)  HOOOORAY!!!  Today we did lots of paperwork and signed many papers and stamped our thumb prints on them, assured several people that we will love Xin Ru and will never abandon or abuse her and now she is OURS!!!

I still can't believe we finally have her with us.

Last night she went to sleep pretty quickly when I laid her down. She was on the bed with me. At around 1 I woke up to her laying on her chest with her knees drawn up and rocking herself  back and forth. She was looking at me but not making a sound. Just looking at me with fear. I rubbed her back and she calmed down and went back to sleep.  Around 5 she woke up again and started doing the same thing.  I picked her up and she started crying and pointing to the door. I scooped her up, ran a tub of water with lots of bubbles and she was giggling before I could even get her nightgown and diaper off of her. Brinley woke up a few minutes later and jumped in too. She's been fine all day. The lady from the orphanange who brought her to us yesterday saw her several times today and she would talk to her but she didn't want to go with her. She did fuss a bit when we did her footprint but only for a second.

All day today she's carried around a lollipop Marty bought for her yesterday. She's finally eating it right now and she is just as happy as can be.

Brinley goes back and forth between wanting to baby her and wanting to be the baby. That was expected.
Bailey is very ticklish and she has the funniest little giggle!  I still can't believe how tiny she is. She is wearing a size 12-18 months dress right now. I never thought it would fit her but they didn't have an 18/24 months when I bought it and I wanted her and Brinley to have matching dresses. I thought I'd have to put shorts on with it.
She and Brinley are both very silly when they get wound up!
Last night Bailey was standing in the window waving at the traffic 9 floors down and saying "Ni Hao! Hello!".
She repeats just about anything we tell her.

She is wearing size 6 shoes.

We will post more photos in a bit.

Thank you so much for all of the emails and messages!
Every single one of them means so much!!

GOTCHA! :)

We've made it to Nanning and it is about 1:10pm. We meet our guide Bob in the lobby at 3 to go and meet Bailey.  We will post again ASAP!

LOVE TO ALL!!!!  :)

It's now 4:54pm in Nanning and we are back in the hotel room with our new daughter, Bailey!  She is a lot smaller than we expected.  Things went as well as can be expected since Bailey is a little older than Brinley was.  There were a lot of tears when the SWI workers left the room. Brinley did okay until we got in the van, but then she got upset since Bailey was upset and we had a full fledged cry fest on our hands.  I think Bailey was a bit confused when Brinley started crying because she got quiet!  It's calm at the moment. She is now playing with Sharon and Brinley on the floor.  I think Bailey is trying to see just how many pony tail holders one little Chinese girl can fit on her arm! We can tell Brinley only has older brothers. She's a little on the rough side with her new sister.  I'm sure Sharon will post more later.

Mama's turn:
Bailey is definitely smaller than I thought she would be. She weighs close to 23 pounds and she comes up to just about Brinley's ear.
This poor baby absolutely grieved and was gripped with panic when she realized that she'd been left alone with strangers. When we got to the room she laid down on the floor and started rocking her tiny body back and forth and just cried her little heart out.

We've made a lot of progress since then. She's had a good bath that she absolutely loved and is now squeaky clean!  She and Brinley are playing and running around now. They are moving all of their toys and books from the bed to the little table.

I just leaned down and said, "Mama ching-uh?" and she leaned her cheek over for a kiss. Now she is sitting on my lap giving her baby doll a bottle.

She is just as sweet as can be!  Brinley is doing her best to be a great sister. So far she's only pushed her down one time! lol

Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers!!!

The Great Wall

We went to the Great Wall today.  I made it up to the first landing.  I looked up that mountain of steps and declared that I'd just wait right there for everyone else. Marty, Chris and Leslea kept going.  Leslea went to the next level and came back to wait with Brinley and me.  Marty and Chris kept going and made it up to the FIFTH tower before they ran out of time and had to come back so that Leslea and Chris could catch their flight to Inner Mongolia.  (They are on the plane now!)
So, Marty went up to the fifth tower and I had to do something spectacular too so I fell down the last two steps of the Great Wall.  ouch.  It was pretty embarassing when the little Chinese ladies were trying to help me up!  LOL  I am fine.  Just sore in my arms and shoulders where I tried to catch myself.
We visited a jade factory, and a cloisonne factory today.  We had lunch at a local restaurant. Everyone said it was good.  I only ate rice and watermelon. I'm just terrified of being sick again like I was before when we were here to adopt Brinley.  So far, so good.  Brinley does have some upset tummy today so we didn't take the rickshaw tour as planned and honestly we are tired of touring and really just want to get to Nanning tomorrow so that we can finally meet Bailey!
We've had Subway for supper. Brice, we got Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki like you like but it tastes a bit different here. It was good though.
Marty and Brinley are sound asleep on the bed and I could easily pass out too but I just have to wait for Chris and Leslea to post that they have Olivia. I have only known this couple for a short time but their love for each other and for Olivia is so touching. I can't wait to hear that they have their daughter later tonight.  I have been focused on Leslea meeting Olivia all day today to keep my jitters away about us meeting Bailey tomorrow! LOL  Of course, Bailey is on my mind constantly!
We leave this hotel at 5:30am to fly to Nanning. We will receive Bailey tomorrow evening. With Brinley it was 4:30 so we guess it will be around the same time for Bailey.  We will know more tomorrow after we arrive.
Please keep us in your prayers!!! Thank you so much to all of you who have been emailing us! We appreciate hearing from you more than you will ever know! It means so much to hear from friends while we are so far away!
Hugs and love to all from Beijing!