Day 2 China

Today was a very quiet first day. I stayed in the area and just looked around and shopped a little. There is a ton of shopping here some I will wouldn't be able to afford in a million years (the Louis Vuitton store is in the shopping mall connected to my hotel). But I just did the local shops and I was able to pick up a few gifts today for friends and family. I also ate McDonalds for lunch. Yep I am in China and ate McDonalds. My guide was only with me for a brief time today so I was solo and had no idea where the good local restaurants were. There do not seem to be many people around who speak english so it would be really hard to go into a restaurant and have no idea what you are ordering. There is also a KFC and pizza hut in the area. KFC will only be eaten if I get desperate. I did eat dinner at the hotel tonight and that was good but it definitely was not as cheap as McDonalds. I will say a Big Mac combo cost me a whopping 19 yuan, actually is was $3.19 in US money much cheaper than in Dallas GA. I was excited about my shopping. I found a kitchen apron with Keith's name in it. It seems that there is some popular dog something or other and they go by Oscar, Keith, and Bobby so it has a picture of 3 dogs with each name on it. Keith's dad is Bobby so it was kind of a hoot to find an item in China that had both their names on it. I also picked up these lotions for 3 of my students. I happened to do this project with my kids in school where they had to open a business in Africa and create a product from a resource. Anyway they choose petroleum and were making lotions (yes there is a small amount of petroleum in some lotions). They had used a picture of there product from some hand lotion that came in a bee that they found on the internet. So I was in this shop and low and behold there was the lotion. I had to get it for the girls and can't wait to give it to those student when I get back. That was really it for today. In a little more than 12 hours I will finally meet baby girl. Hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight.

My hotel

Street vendors

Yep it's universal

I thought it was funny that they sold TV's on the street

In Hohhot China

After 32 hours and several hours of sleep I can officially say I am in Hohhot China. It is hard to believe in a day and a half we will finally have baby Taite. This has certainly been a long road.
I guess to tell about my journey I started with a 15 hour flight into Seoul, Korea. The flight was not bad at all. I did get stuck in front of a guy who licked kicking the seat but in between that I did manage to see some zzzz's. I then had an 8 hour layover in the airport in Korea. It is one of those places that if you are going to have to have a layover you will be happy it's there. I just hung out, got some homework done, and did get to have Starbucks (Yeah). It was an exceptionally clean and very friendly airport. While I was there they also had a cool royal family processional reenactment that I got to see.
The next flight was from Seoul to Jinan China. The flight was fine but I will definitely say the last leg of my journey became very boring and blahhhh. Jinan China started out with an extra baggage fee (yep) because I couldn't check my bags all the way through I got stuck because in country China flights only allow one 44lb bag. Since I am traveling without Keith I had to take a second bag for Taite's things. Then when I went to go pay the fee they didn't take debit cards and no one spoke english. Then for an international airport someone would need to explain to me why they did not have a currency exchange because I couldn't pay the fee in US. They then sent me to the ATM and it was all in Chinese. How do you withdraw money if you cannot read the screen? Finally the lady came back over to help me and I paid the stinkin' fee.
When I finally got around to waiting for my in country flight it was delayed. After 24 hours of travel I was not happy about this. Then I had to go use the bathroom and of course it was the hole in the ground potties in the bathroom. I highly recommended finding an alternative route to other areas in China rather than hitting up Jinan international airport. So I hit the gate and wait to get on my flight. Some guy sits down behind me and begins to eat the most foul smelling food I had ever smelled. Finally after several hours in this less than fun airport I had to do the Asia let's all run to the check in to get on the plane deal. I am not quite sure why in Asia they refuse to call people by rows and everyone does the mass exodus to the gate but it was awful when Keith and I went to Vietnam to get Lennah and things certainly have not improved in Asian boarding scenarios since then. Everyone pushes regardless if their are eldery or children; it is absolutely the worst boarding process ever. Then everyone is stopping to put up their carry ons on the plane and blocks the aisles. Common sense people board the back of the plane first and then move towards boarding the front of the plane's rows. Hopefully at some point Asia will get the memo on how to board flights.
Finally after 32 hours my plane finally landed. Thank goodness my guide was there when I got out. She seems like a lovely lady. I am staying at a really nice hotel in Hohhot and was amazed at how beautiful the city was as we drove through it. Hopefully this week there will be some great sighseeing. Whew at least I am finally here.

Royal Reanactment in Korean Airport

Yeah Breakfast in Korea

Jinan airport. Yeah it looks nicer here than it really was.

One week

One week from tonight. I leave to get our baby girl. I am scared, nervous, excited, and just about every other emotion you can have right now. I have never been away from the kids or Keith for two weeks so I am so worried and already missing them. I am worried that they may miss me too and that is a long time for kids to be away from their momma. I am nervous about flying (yep I do get a little anxiety over flying). I am also terrified about adopting a toddler since it is an age we have not experienced. Lennah's adjustment was a piece of cake. I think Keith and I just went into fell throttle mode of becoming parents. It seemed so natural. Delylah adjusted great, I think I had a harder time of adjusting to two children under two and the worries that you might not love your other child because you loved your first so much that you thought you could never love another (so not the case because our love grew for our kids even more). Everyone is always concerned about adopting older kids but honestly I don't even think going from two to five kids that were older shook us up. Yeah they had adjustments and bumps in the road but they knew what was going on. Heather, Logan, and Zach spoke english, they were from America and not leaving every comfort they know behind. They also got the luxury of meeting us before they became apart of our family. So in a sense they have had a pretty easy going adjustment for being older children. Taite is two so I think her transition may be the hardest yet. At two you still can't fully verbalize everything you want or need and you get frustrated. Well I am worried that this may be magnified because not only can you not fully express yourself but you do not speak a lick of the language ther person who is taking care of you does. She is going to go from bonding with me for almost two weeks to come home to a house full of strangers who want to dress her up, carry her around, and play with her because they have been loving on her picture and want to be the big brothers and sisters they have been for a year and she has had no clue about them. She also will have to get used to noise from 3 loud barking dogs and a cat (yep it is certainly a loud house).
Yep! I think we have a bumpy road ahead. I know God does not put more on us than we can handle and he will certainly see us through but we already know that we love her. In just a little more than a week she will officially become Taite Annabelle Paulsen and a new chapter of her life will unfold.

Travel Approval

On Wednesday we received travel approval for Taite. It seemed to be the last step in all of our hurdles to get our little girl. We are still waiting for the consulate to confirm our visa appointment to go pick up our girl. We are also running into some snags with an issue with the way Keith's middle name is spelled on some paperwork. Hopefully all of these things will come to pass on Monday and everything will be secured that I can leave on March 21st to bring home our little girl. We need big prayers this weekend that everything will work out.

We did also receive what will hopefully be our last update on Taite yesterday. She is still doing well and hopefully she will flourish once she gets home.

Happy Birthday Logan

Yesterday was Logan's birthday and we started the celebrations last weekend. On Sunday Logan wanted his friend to come over, share some cake, and have some guy time at the movies with dad. I think it was a great way to spend a 14th birthday. It is also great to see that Logan has made a great friend and that they have a lot in common.
We also decided to drag on the celebration since school was out this week and head up to the Smoky Mountains and hit up Wilderness at the Smokies. Keith and I had taken Lennah and Delylah there several years ago so I thought the big kids would love it. Unfortunately Keith had to work so I was solo handling all five kids but it went well. I was surprised that they didn't give me too bad a hard. Heather, Logan, and Zach virtually went off and did a lot of rides alone while I of course watched the little kids. Teens never want to hang out with the parents. Lennah and Delylah had to spend time juggling between whose turn it was to pick what activity we would do next. Lennah hates big water slides while Delylah loves them so it is a chore to call back a big kid to watch Lennah while I take Delylah down a slide but it worked out well in the end. Zach also cracked us up because he went on the surf rider and lost his shorts on the ride. We all cracked up. He did manage to get them back on and he was laughing along with everyone else over the mishap.

Getting Close

We are getting so close to bringing Taite home. We had a little hold up with the consulate but I got an email tonight saying that our article 5 was picked up and that now we are waiting for travel approval. So it looks like March I will be heading to China to pick up our little girl. We have been working on finishing Taite's room and it is looking pretty good so far. It will look even better with our little one inside of it.

Christmas

/> We spend so much time getting ready for Christmas and then it is gone in a flash. This year was a great Christmas for the kids. Before Christmas we did the usual tradition of driving around and looking at Christmas lights and getting milkshakes. It is a strange tradition since most people have hot chocolate but one year when Lennah and Delylah were little we stopped at Steak and Shake to pick up milkshakes while we were looking at lights and the girls never forgot about it so we have to go all the time. The bigs ones also fell in love with this tradition so we have just went with it.
We also hit up Pettit Creek Farms this year to check out the lights. We hadn't done that one since Delylah was really little; mainly because Lennah got bit by a camel when we went there and she had never forgotten about it. Well low and behold she still remembered and did not want to go anywhere near the camels this time.
Christmas morning was the usual mess. The kids get up at the crack of dawn and wake up the whole house (my parents always spend the night on Christmas eve). Everyone was so happy that they got what they asked for and I was happy that I was able to get Heather the laptop she was begging for a great price. Santa even left some gifts for Taite under the tree that we are saving for her until she gets home. Overall it was a great holiday that is now over. Tomorrow I head back to work and the kids go back to school on Monday.

Happy Birthday Taite

Taite is 2 years old today. We wish we could be with her and we could be celebrating together. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Little one you will be home soon!

Growing Up and Catching Up

 Most recent photos of Taite

It has been awhile since I last posted so I figured I would play a bit of catch up. This month has been super busy; as well as last. Between Thanksgiving and birthdays, then to top it off we have Christmas ahead we are zonked. I guess I will back track to Heather's birthday since I now realize that we never put it up. Heather turned 15 on October 15th. We had a small quiet day at the house to celebrate since she still only has a small cluster of friends. She was just happy that our family was there to celebrate and she finally got a cell phone. It took me awhile to give into the electronics but I figured that it would help her mature a bit and at 15 she is growing up. I think I have a hard time with the big kids growing up because we have only had them a short while and it seems like we will blink and there time with us will be gone. I don't mean their time with us as if they were going away I just mean there time living with us and us guiding them into adulthood is happening so fast. We also got to spend some quality mom and daughter time watching Breaking Dawn 2. We may be years apart but at least we both share the same love of twilight.

We also celebrated Lennah's birthday right before Thanksgiving. It is hard when you have a December birthday and you have to work around holiday parties and such. Now that big girl is 6 she was very adamant about having a birthday at the American Girl store. We figured we would keep it small and she got to take two of her friends with their moms. It was nice to have an intimate birthday party rather than a bunch of little kids screaming and hollering around the house or at Chucky Cheeses.

Today Lennah also lost her first tooth. It seems as if not only are the big kids growing too fast but the little ones are doing it too. I still think that she is just a baby toddling around the house. In addition to losing teeth she also reads me books at night. Lennah has been doing awesome in school and is on first grade sight words in kindergarten. I feel so useless now since the kids can do so much on their own. It is bittersweet to listen to your kindergartner read you Pete the Cat when just last year you were reading books to her to put her to bed.

I also had Delylah's Pre-K conference today. Like Lennah she is ahead in school and doing awesome. Since she has been so far ahead we now work on kindergarten sight words so she will have a jump start in school. It was amazing to hear all the wonderful things her teacher had to say about her. While hearing this and being a teacher it is also sad to know that so many kids at there go home from school and their parents don't spend the time working with their kids to ensure that they have a successful school future. I guess I should not be surprised so much because I heard stories from the big kids about how when they were younger no one was there to support them and ensure that they were on track; let alone ahead. But I still wish more parents would take the time even if it was five minutes just to hear about their kids day. I know nightly we sit down, no matter what, and the kids go around the table telling me how their day was. When I talk to my middle school students and I ask them if there parents eat dinner with them most tell me "no" that their parents just watch tv while they eat. It is so heartbreaking.

 Logan's artwork from school. We think he did an awesome job

Happy Birthday Heather!