Happenings at the Smith household

We have had Madilynn home for 3 weeks and 3 days. I can hardly remember what life was like without her. She is doing very well. She eats fair, sleeps well and gets into everything!! She keeps her mommy hopping! Her follow-up appointments have shown nothing that we did not expect. She will be following up with a neurologist for her repaired meningocele and will be having a kidney ultrasound done because of her history of urinary tract infections. We will keep you posted.

Ashley left for college in OK city, Tyler starts college at Colorado State University tomorrow, and Jordan and Kyndal started school this week. My mom has been staying with us for a few days which has been very special. She has enjoyed her grand children, with Kyndal and Madilynn keeping her very entertained; tea parties are a favorite! Randy also started back to school keeping very busy himself. I am really enjoying my time off, spending extra time with the family. I am trying to get some house projects done but have not had a lot of luck with that! Mmmm-maybe it has something to do with chasing a two year old around the house!:)

I am very busy, but very happy. Life is good!! I will try to continue with updates.

Glenda

Shopping Day

Today is a day I have been looking forward to. SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!!! Guangzhou has many little stores with really good prices. I was able to find pretty much everything I was looking for. I hope to pick up a couple more things tomorrow. When you enter any of the smaller stores you will be surrounded by the workers encouraging you to buy. They are very helpful, but can be a little pushy at times. You have to learn to say "no". Overall, the Chinese people have been so friendly and kind. I have had a couple really go out of their way to help me. After a good nap for Madilynn, Ashley and I went to Starbucks-my favorite!! It tasted sooo good. For dinner we took a taxi to a seafood restraunt located 25 minutes away, there we met Wang Ling, Paul's fiance. She treated us to a seven course meal which included fish, chicken, pork?, brocolli, soup, beef with veggies, and for dessert watermelon and some kind of pastry. Madilynn is a picky eater, but tonight I have never seen her eat so well!! We all ate till we could hold no more. Wang Ling was a pleasure to get to know. She speaks some English, so we were able to communicate with her. We had a very enjoyable evening! We headed back to the hotel after supper. Madilynn had such a good day today. She definitely is a child that does much better if she gets her sleep. I have had trouble posting pictures here. I will post some more when we get home. Only one more day in China. I am glad to be going home, but there is a part of me that will really miss the Chinese people, their culture, and their country. Goodnight.

Glenda

Were in Guangzhou!!

We had a full day. We arrived in Guangzhou at around 2 PM. We were taken to the Victory hotel by our guide, and a few minutes later taken to get Madilynn's picture. This was followed by her medical exam. She weighs 10.1 kg. Everything seem to check out OK. Madilynn at this point is beside herself from lack of a nap, crying loudly at times to remind me of this! We all three went back to the hotel. Ashley and Madilynn stayed while I went off to do 2.5 hours of paperwork. I was so glad when we were finally done! Back at the hotel Madilynn was able to get a nap in. She is now much happier. We all were very hungry so we went to Lucy's to eat supper. They had very good food! Afterwards, we were able to get a little shopping in. Guangzhou has a lot of neat little shops to browse in. Randy called soon after returning to the hotel. I sure do miss my family!! I can't wait to give everybody a hug! Two weeks is a long time to be seperated. Paul's fiance, Wang Ling, also called. We are planning to get together for dinner tomorrow. I am real excited to meet her! We then went to bed for a much needed nights sleep.

Glenda

Received Madilynn's Passport

It was very exciting receiving Madilynn's passport. She now can leave China! Soon she will receive her visa and then we will be able to take her home. Yeah!! Today is our last day in Jinan. Our guide, Rose, did a great job showing us around the city and taking us to a variety of places to eat. I now have a little idea of what the city is like that Madilynn was born in. Maybe some day she will want to come for a visit. I posted a few more pictures taken of the surrounding areas of our hotel. Ashley and Madilynn are sound asleep. I better go to bed myself. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Glenda

Today was another free day. Rose took us to a city park. We arrived by taxi and then took a little boat ride to get to the park itself. It was very beautiful and well kept. The pictures will speak for their selves. We also heard some music with some very interesting instruments. Many of the people are so kind. We saw 4 brides and were able to get some pictures. Many families were walking around enjoying their selves. Except for the heat, we had a very nice time. After taking a taxi back to our hotel, Cristen, Rose and I went to pick up Chinese take out to eat in our rooms. Ashley, Madilynn and I took a nice afternoon nap. For dinner we went to the hotel buffet. We then went on a walk to the town square. People were everywhere! Activities were going on all over the square with many families just enjoying being together. We saw kite flying, skating contest, dressed up dancing groups of children, acrobatics and much more. After about an hour we headed back to our room. Tomorrow will be our last full day in Jinan.

Glenda

Free Day

Today we had nothing scheduled. We spent the afternoon in our room organizing, hand washing laundry and taking a nap. For supper we went to Pizza Hut with Christen , Connie and Jacob, Afterward we walked around Jinan seeing many people, shops and traffic everywhere. Crossing a street is taking your life in your hands. There are many cars, bicycles, motorcycles and people coming from all directions-you better watch out! I posted a few pictures from our day. Time for bed. Goodnight.

Glenda

Visit to Orphanage

Today we went to visit Jinan SWI, the orphanage Madilynn lived in for two years. The building was modern and the grounds were well groomed. As we walked up to the building we could see some children waving to us from a 5th story window. As we walked into the building we saw some remodeling projects going on. We took the elevator up to the 5th floor. As we stepped off the elevator we were greeted my many children. They were smiling and talking to us eager to have their picture taken. Madilynn right away saw some staff members and children she recognized. When she saw her nanny she said Ma Ma and went right to her. She showed a lot attachment to her . She did not want to come back to me. I understood. After all this had been her care giver for two years. We were shown her bed, her classroom, and the eating area. Of course we had to take lots of pictures. During the visit Madi was passed around to staff who seemed very attached to her. I felt like there were people here that really loved her and that her care was adequate. We took some pictures of kids that were going to their forever home soon. We left our donation and said our goodbyes. I was glad I had the oppurtunity to visit my daughter's orphanage.

Glenda