updates

Hello everybody. This is Jill posting a message for Sandy and Paul.  Sandy has asked me to update the layout of the blog for her. She found it too painful to get on the blog she had created specifically for Lily.  I have made some changes that she asked me to make. I know I have not done as good of a job as she would herself. But, I did the best I could with the limited conversation we have been able to have about it.  She asked me to change it in order to still honor Lily and I hope I have done that for her.  We all love Lily very much and we hope she gets the care she needs.  Sandy has been a guardian angel to Lily.  Thanks to Sandy and Paul, Lily will get the special care she has been needing for quite some time now.

Sandy and Paul have been presented with an opportunity to adopt a little girl while they are in China.  After meeting with her, they decided to proceed with the adoption.  I will let her give you all the details when she has time.  But we wanted to let you know why the look of the blog has changed dramatically.

My last post for awhile

As some of you know we received Tong Min Meng, and Paul had suspensions that something serious was wrong due to her acting like a new born baby. She couldn't hold her head up and wasn't very responsive to us. Without going into all of the problems we became aware of we were advised to take her for an evaluation at the children's hospital. We have been through an emotional roller coaster with finding that her medical condition is very serious. She has mental and physical needs that Paul and I can't meet. Our heart is torn apart once again as we had to turn her over to get her the attention that she needs. With much thought and emotions we are considering a new referral but we aren't sure if we can go through this any more. We want you all to know that we have to make a decision that only we can live with. I'm at a loss for words for what to say to everyone that has supported us. We couldn't do this without you and hope you will pray for the baby we just had to give up. We should hear something about the new baby and then make our decision when we get to that point. We may come home with just Paul and I. I'm praying for answers and peace with our decision.

Sincerely,
Paul and Sandy

Pictures

Here are some pictures. Lily has a cold, and so tiny. Seriously like a 4 month old baby. I will post later when I have more time, we are off to do paper work for the rest of the day.

So sweet and beautiful, she's everthing I imagined and more.

We are in Nanchang

We left Beijing this morning around 11:00am, and had about a 2 hour flight. We are now in Nanchang. I guess what we would call the State where Lily lives. This is mainly farm land on the outskirts of town. The people work in rice fields in the summer and grow some fruit in the spring and fall. The difference in Nanchang and Beijing is huge. I thought that the driving in Beijing was bad and then we had to ride here. It's rough on the streets. They are so populated that it's dog eat dog. A 2 lane road with lines turns into 4 with the crazy driving. It's very stressful to walk and drive. You just might get hit by a bike rider if your don't watch out where you are walking. The Chinese people don't believe in lines for the bathroom, luggage, or anything for that matter, they just shove and push to get where they want to go. You must stand in front of the door of the stall that you are going to use. We have found that there is no road rage here. People just honk and push and no one gets upset. It's very different than what we are used to, but I we are adjusting. Lily will be leaving her home tomorrow morning around 6:30 or 7:00am. She will arrive at our hotel around 11:30am. It's a 4 hour train ride for her to come here. She will be so stressed. Leaving her surrounding with a complete stranger and then to us. I've been told that we won't meet her foster mother because of the emotions that she will have. She may associate us with her loss. I have been very emotional today knowing what she is about to go through. It going to be so scary. Our new representative told us that the ride to go back to her home province is very long. Four hours there and four hours back. The other couple we are with has decided that they aren't going to go. I'm still undecided on what to do. I want pictures of her home town and the hospital she was abandoned in front of, but I'm wondering if she will be up for the trip. We are going to try to make her as comfortable as possible so why would I do that to her plus the long trip back to the states. I guess we will decide after we see how she does. So I took some pictures of the hotel, they have prepared our room for Lily. It's hard to look at the crib now empty, but after today it will have her in it. I can't believe it's so close. We are very excited for her to come but sad that she has to leave everything she has known and loved. I can't really explain how I feel so I will leave it at that. By the time we get home I hope she loves us. It helps that Candy and Kevin are here with us. I look into her eyes and see the same feelings that I'm having. I hope to be able to post tomorrow or at least put up some photo's. We are finally going to meet our baby girl. Please keep Lily in your prayers. Love you all for all of your support. The comments are so refreshing. It's like God is speaking to us through your words, telling me everything is going to be okay.

The Great Wall!!

We did it, we went on our tours today starting at 9:30 am and made it back to the hotel by 6:00pm. We went to the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. It is beautiful here. The Great Wall should be seen in person, the pictures aren't enough. The Summer Palace was beautiful so I will throw some of those in. We also went out to eat with our representative and she ordered for us. Finally some great food. We just haven't been able to order much of anything because of the language barrier. I promised that I would not go on and on about food like some do, but I was getting pretty hungry. We also did some shopping for the first time at the store inside the restaurant. They had the real Jade. I bought some gifts for Lily, I'm so excited. You just wouldn't believe the Chinese people that want my picture taken with them. It's very odd. The other couple that's with us has an 8 year old boy and they like to get his picture and stare at him, but they also like me. I seriously think it's the hair. They will shove Paul out of the way to get him out of the picture. It's crazy. So I'm going to post one of the pictures that we took of them with me. It is strange to be a foreigner, although I have experienced that in Germany, just not quite as bad. Chinese people all have dark hair and eyes, German people didn't. I think that this is my chance to see how Lily will feel when she comes home with us. So I'm embracing it.

Today

We are going to the Great Wall and Summer Palace today. Yesterday was a lot of walking and I think today is going to be more. We had a great time at the Olympic park, this is a holiday week for the Chinese and Beijing is packed. We are getting people that want their picture taken with us because we are foreigners. Seems weird to have your picture taken with a perfect stranger but we are going with it. Our tour guide says this might be the first time they have ever seen an American. Wow. Just to let you all know we have managed to fry my flat iron, and as much as I have looked for a new one, they are scarce. Then I started thinking that the Chinese probably don't have to straighten their hair very often. So my hair really is getting wild. Sorry Lily all of our pictures are going to be of me looking like the 80's... Glasses are not an option at this point. I have to wear them. I'll try to post tonight when we get back from the Great Wall. I had some news on Lily. We won't be getting to meet her until Monday, not sure why but thats what our representative said yesterday. One more day without her.

Forbidden City Olympic Park and Acrobat Show pictures!!!