Six Banyan Tree Temple and Flower Pagoda

We visited the Six Banyan Tree Temple and Flower Pagoda this morning. It was just so beautiful and peaceful. The photos just give you a snapshot of the how simple yet beautiful everything about the area was, yet to be there you can just feel the peace and harmony surrounding you within the courtyard of the temple.   We burned three incense sticks (one for each of us) at various spots along the way and placed them in the giant incense burners. We saw several monks in deep mediation, and many lay people in walking mediation. There were also a few monks engrossed in work practice as well.   It was just so peaceful...if we only knew what craziness was going to be set before us beyond the gate to get back to the White Swan; we probably would have still be at the Temple. (No worries though, we arrived back safely at The White Swan in time for lunch and naptime, it was just a crazy 1/2 hour trying to find a taxi to take us back.)   Thanks for continuing to follow along on this amazing journey!!! ~dee, napping David, and a peacefully napping Ella!!!

Ella and her Man Servant have a conversation.

A Day Off.

Above are a few pictures of Shamian Island and the neighborhood we are staying (right next door to the US Consulate). Very Chinese Colonial and absolutely beautiful. Every morning everyone comes out for exercise, either Ti-Chi or badminton as well as a game much like hacky-sack.

We still get lots of looks, most are very friendly after you make eye contact and flash them a smile. Some just want to give Ella a very obvious look over.

We where taking a day to just relax, of course Ella choose to turn this into a: "How to handle a Rageing, Tired, Grumpy Toddler lesson" Day after we had a wonderful morning with her.

We are getting much better at it! I sort of feel like I'm in the Pit at NASCAR when we see a tantrum coming on. We can get her calmed in about 15 minutes now, definitely room for improvement to work on that time but we are up to the challenge. I imagine once language and communication become a non-factor we will really make headway.

Dee was able to get out for a nice and well deserved Massage after we got Ella down for a nap. Can't beat the price being it worked out to be around 15 dollars for a 45 minute body massage.

Thanks again for following, plan is to hit Six Banyon Temple tomorrow!

~Dave, Dee, and a tired Ella.

Xiangjiang Safari Park

Another wonderful family invited us to join them on a visit to the Xiangjiang Safari Park, which is about 40 minutes outside of the City of Guangzhou. The taxi ride as always was half the adventure! Not many places I know can turn a 4 lane highway into an 8 lane free for all.

The Safari Park came as a highly recommended place to visit while here, and we definitely pass on that recommendation to all the other families who will be heading this way!



It's touted as a children's Zoo, and it doesn't disappoint. Many... many... many baby animals with alot of places to feed every species you see from Giraffe to Monkey's.

As for the Zoo itself, it was very humanely put together with alot of space for them.



For those of you that know Dee well, you know how difficult it was to get this picture. I managed to talk her into getting this close. I was afraid if she got any closer she would be handing me Ella and go screaming thru the park.



A 2 year old just isn't old enough to know how cool this place is, though she did dig the Giraffe's and watching them being fed. I think in this picture she is telling Dad how totally awesome he is. It was something like: "Dad, your totally Awesome". You can see from Dee's look that she was in shock that Ella was able to pronounce and put together such a sentence. Poor Dee, Ella only says "Momma" to her.



I'll let you guess what she is thinking in this picture. But that is the: "You best evaluate your next option very closely because if you make the wrong choice I will let the park know about it" look that we get every so often.

Thanks again for reading!

~Dave, Deanna and Ella-bean

An Ella Song

Here is one of Ella's ditties. We can usually prompt a song by humming along, this one she just started belting out on her own as we where getting ready to go down to the pool.

All of our paper work is now complete. Her Passport is being processed and we should have her visa shortly. We now have 1 1/2 weeks to wait for our Consulate appointment. We definatly will need the time to bond more with Ella.

It's been a rough couple of days but so far all three of us have gotten thru them. She is starting to let me pick her up again, but only so I can hand her to Mommah :) We play lots of kissing games, she has started to feed us and herself, and she is starting to try to put on her own shoes.

She regresses every so often, but usually a nap fixes everything and we get to start over.

I'm trying to get Mommah to take a few hours to get a massage, she definatly needs a break. For now she is just out walking around to do some window shopping and reading in the quiet of the lobby while Daddy watches Ella nap.

Thanks again for following along! Can't wait to get home :)

~Dave, Dee and a napping Ella.

Elf and the Shoemaker

Do you have a Shoe Elf helper living with you?    When I got out of the shower last night David and Ella were chatting up a storm about the shoes in the shoe cabinet. Little did I know that we had an organizing elf in our midst? You must understand that an elf's organizing skills are vastly superior to just us mere humans.     You can clearly understand the how's and why's of Ella's shoes being out in front and only one to a pair at that...well of course it makes it easier to view what is most needed at the time. I mean c'mon an elf is a busy little person and does not have time to dilly dally amongst decisions of which pair of shoes to wear. If you pick out one from the pair, then of course you just grab the match from the back of cabinet. You can see from her position in front of the cabinet she is making such a decision and it isn't one that can be made lightly either.   So there you go. When you are looking for a pair of shoes in your closet and you seem to be befuddled as to finding it's partner, then you just need to thank you local Shoe Elf, because after all they are just trying to help us big people make decisions quicker and more logical than one could on their own.   ~dee, David, and Ella Elf

The Mommah/Daddah/Ella game with Floppy Hat.

Well at least it started out as the Mommah Daddah Ella game. Now she sort of just skips around. It started out with her just saying Mommah every time we would go down the hallway to our room. It evolved into this.

We are making alot of head way with her walking. She is getting much more confident going on her own and is starting to be able to get up on her feet on her own. Still is taking a bit of work. She doesn't have the strength yet to hold her sippy cup, not that I mind holding it for her :)

We had another melt down when we happened to give her a toy that her Nanny sent along with her. I wasn't here for the initial event, but it was a doozey. We are now just putting away all the toys and other reminders away for a while.

She is a happy chatter box though. She is VERY into shoes which Dee is very happy about. I'll post a video or pictures of her doing her Shoe inventory.

Tonight we go over more paperwork, but we should have the weekend off to do some site seeing. We plan on hitting a few of the local Buddhist Temples as well as seeing some of the outdoor markets.

~Dave, Dee, and Ella the Bella

Ella Wars II: Return of the Jawa

Part 2 of the on going Ella Wars Saga.

Ella Wars: Revenge of the Jawa

So far not a bad day! Only one meltdown. You can't really tell when they will come, but it only takes about 30 minutes to recover with alot of cuddling. Best we can tell is it's her grieving. One moment she will be giggling, playing, and a very happy little girl; the next moment she will give you "the look" that has shattered our hearts into a million pieces (The look a baby gives complete strangers), then completely will collapse and just cry.

We had a great time at the pool today. She very slowly started to kick her feet, splash with her hand and then gave us some smiles. Hopefully bath time will go a little more smoothly tonight.

This afternoon we only have one appointment to check her TB test results. No bumps so she should be good to go!

Thanks again for following along!

~Dave, Dee, and the Jawa Ella.

The truth is out, Ella is a Mommah's Girl.

There are several milestones to look for and work towards in regard to Attachment and Bonding when going about building a family the way we are.   We hit a big one yesterday when I reached down to pick up Ella as I always have and she cried out, turned to Dee and thru up her arms for Dee to pick her up and comfort her.  Dee was more upset then I was. Though I miss carrying her, Ella is finally starting to realized that we aren't some strange looking folks that may disappear from her life.   It's not that I don't have my own Roles to fill according to Princess Ella (who is slowly turning into an Empress).   1) Daddy may kiss me at his leisure, but only I choose if I shall kiss him back. 2) Daddy may feed me and run off to get Mommy and Me more juice.  I show my appreaciation for his servitude by waving him off cutely and greeting him with smiles that almost break my face. 3) Daddy best serves me as my playmate.  He is pretty good at inventing games but I reserve the right to change the rules to serve my needs. 4) Daddy may hold my hand on long car rides, but I shall look disinterested and distant until the moment he try's to take away his hand, at which time I shall show my displeasure loudly.   ~Dave, Dee and Prin...... Empress Ella Chao Qiao

Squeaky Shoes!

Lots of folks requesting Video and I suppose we can't be all greedy with our Ella time. Sharing is Caring and all that.

This was while we where on a walk around the White Swan Hotel after Ella got her new Squeaky Shoes. She wasn't hardly as impressed with them as we where.

~Dave, Deanna and Princess Ella Chao Qiao.

Floppy Hats and Sneaky Smiles

Dee made me tear myself away from Ella to make a post to the Blog.   Floppy Hat test run #1 was successful. She was the big hit at Breakfast yesterday as all the other Mommy's and Daddy's looked on in awe.  Several of them expressed their amazement that she was willing to put anything on her head.  Score!   Yesterday was pretty tiring with all the government visits, interviews and processing.  I was MUCH more grumpy then Ella was and I needed a nap more than anyone.  She is now officially our Daughter in the eyes of China!!!  She also had her physical.  She was cool with it up til they had to weigh her.  That was defiantly not cool in her book.   Ella however is NOT cool with bath time yet.  Total meltdown but after awhile she resigned herself to it.  She did enjoy being dried off of course and all the snuggling that took place after.   So far she only talks to me, and only when Dee is out of sight.  She clamps up as soon as she returns even though Dee can hear her in the other room.  I think I have Dee convinced we are just sharing secrets.  I'm really going to try to get a recording of it just to see if she is actually talking in sentences or just chattering away.  Whatever she is saying she is very convinced that she is the authority on some important matter... very serious.   She is a total Momma's girl though :)  Daddy can't even think about picking her up unless Mommy hands her to Daddy.  After that though its cool for Daddy to walk around with her.  She totally Rocks out as we walk around and I make drum beat sounds.  Tried dancing with her last night but she was having more fun watching Mom and Dad make fools out of each other then joining in.   That's all I have for now.  We only have one appointment today to get her Passport started.  Other then that we might try out the pool and some walking about before it gets too hot out!   (Someone asked about Video's.  We can, but our bandwidth here isn't very stable or hard core. I'm going to try to get a few together to post soon!)   ~Dave, Dee and Princess Ella Chao Qiao

Thank you Guo.

I have to take a moment here to express my deepest and most sincere gratefulness to the wonderful young woman who cared for Ella before us. Its abundantly clear that she gave Ella a lot of Love.  Ella had all the things we sent her, and she pointed at us when we arrived at the Government Office.  She knew who her Momma and Baba where.  There was grieving, and I'm sure there will be more.  But Ella's personality started to shine thru last night and I have a feeling I'm never going to ever stop smiling again. She gave us a book of pictures of all of Ella's friends.  She gave us a box of her favorite cookies, and she gave us a little girl who hums and sings.  Ella is a very happy little girl due to her Love and care over the years we were unable to hold her. Thank you Guo.  We will make sure Ella never stops Humming and Singing. ~Dave, Deanna and Princess Ella Chao Qiao

Playing, hugging, kissing, and sleeping!!! Our first night!!!

Ni Hao from Guangzhou!!!! (First, thank you for all the wonderful and kind messages you posted, we continue to feel your love and support even though we are on the opposite side of the world.)  Whew…we had a pretty good first night. We played, hugged, kissed, and we even got a few giggles and hums out of her. She really enjoys mimic type games. She really got into a peek-a-boo game with David (The peek-a-boo game is also called the Catch the Hidden Mystery game. Before we left we asked a wonderful co-worker of David's to translate a few questions that we could ask the Nannies about Ella when we met them.) and she also likes the "Uh-Oh Game!" with me. She started repeating what I would say when she heard me say "Uh-Oh!!!" when something would fall and I would say "Uh-Oh!!"  She is just the smartest girl ever. After we played for a bit we realized we needed to feed her. We ordered room service (Oh, I forgot to mention that we are staying at The White Swan hotel and it is beautiful…those following that have been here, understand what I am talking about, those that have not, that is for a separate post!!!).  She ate a lovely meal of fried rice, watermelon, cantaloupe, and oranges, and washed it all down with an apple juice/water combo mix (We tried both the bottle and a sippy cup. She is still trying to figure those out, but really likes the fact that David or I are happy to hold her and the bottle/cup for her.) Once our tummies David had another play session with Ella (I had about an hour of Ella time all to myself when we first arrived at the hotel, since one parent needed to complete some paperwork with the adoption facilitator here.) while I tried to unpack and get things ready for today (Official Appointment and Family Photo Day). Finally, around 8:00p.m. we decided we were all exhausted so we gave Ella a sponge bath and put her in her jammies, then all of us snuggled into one of the small (just bigger than a twin size) beds in the room. Yes, all three of us arranged in crazy positions…we just didn't want to leave her side for one moment. It didn't take her very long to calm down, she played quietly with her stuffed giraffe for about a ½ hour and then fell asleep and has been asleep and snoring ever since (it is now going on 3:30a.m.). She is just the most adorable thing ever (Don't all parents say that about their children though?) We love her to pieces and would do anything in the world for her!!!  It is amazing how all the wrongs of world can be made right by the smile and love of a child…your child. ~dee, David, and Ella

While you were sleeping...on the other side of the world...we had an emergency "E" Day!!!!

What is an emergency "E" Day you ask??? Well, of course "E" stands for "Ella!!!" It really wasn't an emergency more like a surprise!!!!   Our guide Sim picked us up at our room Monday morning before we left for Guangzhou and he stated that he had some exciting news to share with us. He stated that we would get to meet Ella today...Monday!!!!   We left the Beijing Airport at 10:15a.m. arrived in Guangzhou at 1:30p.m. and met Ella at 2:30p.m.!!! Needless, to say it has been a whirlwind of an afternoon!   We are over the moon excited and in love.    The transition was a bit bumpy at first but, we seem to all be finding our place. Ella keeps glancing at us out of the corner of her eyes every so often to see if we are still here and other times she will stare at us intensely trying to figure out who in the world we are to her.   More updates to follow either later tonight or tomorrow...we need to go love, play, kiss, and hug Ella now. ~dee, David, and Ella

T minus 42 hours... Oh and we saw the Great Wall.

The title pretty much sums up our current state of mind.  The country and people of China continue to just blow us away with its Beauty and their friendly faces.  But we can't think of anything else but Ella at this point.  It's like being served a really good entree, but you know that behind the curtain your favorite desert is just waiting for you.   Today we got to walk thru the Olympic Village and all the venues.  We also visited Ming's Tomb and the Great Wall.  Dee kicked my butt on the Wall and she left me in the dust.  We continue to be a big hit and both of us were asked to pose for pictures several times which we gladly did!   Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou where we will meet Ella on Tuesday (Monday for you North American's) and finish up with the US Consulate over the next 2.5 weeks.   We are ready, fully in our hearts and our minds.  We know how difficult it will be for her as she Grieves for the loss of everything she has ever known, but we are ready to help her thru that with our Love and our greatest dreams for all 3 of us.  There are going to be some difficult months ahead as she learns to trust us, to love us, to see her as her parents when she has never known what a parent is.   But we are ready.  How Lucky we are.

Breakfast Report #1

As they say... when in China...   While its no Eggs and Corned Beef Hash, it sure was yummah!   I did without the Congee today, I went with what looked like Hot and Sour Soup which turned out to be more like Egg Drop Soup.  Dipping the Pork Dumplings in it was just out of this world good.  After a quick look around the room to make sure I was doing it right I dug right in.   One thing that is taking a little getting used too is the fact that Lady Gaga is considered good Breakfast Music.  Dee was in her element though as she swayed and hummed along across from me :)

Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and The Summer Palace

WOW!!!! What a day we had on Saturday (I think the date for the blog show up as Sunday, but we did all of the below yesterday (which was Saturday)).   Sim, our Beijing guide, picked us up after breakfast and our adventure began.   Our first stop was Tiananmen Square which was amazing. As Sim so eloquently and delicately put it "Tiananmen Square is where many political events have happened over Chinese history." We were able walk about the square, see the building where Chairman Mao's body remains on display for the Chinese people to pay respect, and learn that each year the poster of Chairman Mao is replaced on his birthday as a sign of respect.   Next, we traveled to the Forbidden City. Upon entering the Forbidden City a PRC soldier tapped me on my shoulder so that I could have my backpack scanned. That was interesting...picture hundreds of people trying to get through a narrow corridor to enter the Forbidden City with an x-ray scanner machine present and at the same time going against the flow of people traffic and then making it to the other end so that you grab your bag before it may have help and leave with someone else. It was certainly an interesting experience.   After that experience we walked among the hundreds and thousands of domestic and international tourists trying to glimpse at the rich past of Chinese culture. The structures of the Forbidden City are amazing...well for that matter the Forbidden City is amazing. It is ENOURMOUS. There are dozens and dozens of buildings, of which only several were used during certain times of the year.       After the Forbidden City tour we traveled to eat lunch just which was just outside The Summer Palace. We enjoyed a good variety of Chinese yum yums, and had our first Chinese Diet Coke, not quite the same as at home but, a tasty carbonated caffeine infusion nonetheless.   Once lunch was completed we went to tour The Summer Palace. There is a lot of history (of course) with regards to this amazingly beautiful palace. There are not as many structures (but absolutely stunning gardens, bridges, and a boat made of marble) as at the Forbidden City. There is also a long corridor from one end of the property to the other end. We walked along the outside of the semi-enclosed corridor to be closer to the lake and enjoy a cool breeze.   At the end of the night we enjoyed a Flying Acrobatic Show put on by performers who are from the Sichuan Province (remember the horrible earthquake last year). The show was a bird theme. You would be so proud of me...and yes, there were real "charming" birds that flew around here, there, and everywhere.   When we arrived back at our hotel after the acrobatic show we were starving, so we decided to try the restaurant at the hotel. Well...that did not go very well for a multitude of reasons. Let's just say David and I enjoyed a wonderful steaming cup of Jasmine Tea, a few bites of pickled spinach, and a peanut. The entire menu was in Chinese without photos (so we were not even able to point to anything), add that to the fact that we had been going strong since 4:00a.m. I think at that point we (really just me) were just done. We came back to the room, took our showers, and were in bed asleep by 7:30p.m. (which is probably why we woke up at 3:00a.m. this morning).   So all in all it has been such an amazing trip so far!!!   Let's see I think there were a few questions written in the comments section, I will try my best to remember them right now:   ~We haven't met Ella yet. We are still in Beijing and will travel to her province (Guangdong Province) tomorrow (Monday) and we met her on Tuesday and she will be ours forever after that. (There is paper work to take care of on Wednesday and all next week, but she will be with us from Tuesday, May 25th onto FOREVER!!!)   ~The weather has been pretty good so far. It was pretty warm and humid while we were touring today, but we just kept drinking water.   ~Everyone has been so nice, but interested in us. We are constantly sneaking peeks of folks checking us out. I keep telling David they are looking at him because he is bald and he keeps saying they are looking at me because I am blonde and have freckles. The kids are the best though. They look at us, giggle, and then pull their families over to take a look at us. I think we have also been the stars in several photographs.   Alright, that is all I can remember for now...I think I need to go back and take a nap before breakie at 6:30a.m. We will be touring The Great Wall today (Sunday) and a few other places too!!! ~dee and David

First Morning in China

There just are no words to describe just how wonderful this city is.  The city is so alive.   We got a few hours of sleep and woke up to the sun just starting to peek in the window.  We got ready as fast as we could and headed out to explore.  Our hotel is right by the Diplomatic District of Beijing, and we walked past many Embassy's with young and very serious looking PRC Soldiers standing guard, though I did get a smile out of one as we walked by... I didn't have the guts to ask him if we could take a picture of him, but I will try to work up the nerves tomorrow.   The park was just bursting with activity at 5:30am.  Folks out walking their doggies and their birds!  Yes... I said birds.  Folks were fishing along the river, swimming in the river, and as we walked by many tried to sneak quick yet polite looks at Deanna.  We got a lot of BIG smiles and lots of Ni Hao!!!'s.   I think we are both in love with the city.   Breakfast was great!  I got to try my first bowl of Congee with lots of other stuff I can remember the name of.  I observed a few other more experienced folks so now at least I know I should have been dunking my pork dumplings into the Congee.  I'll be sure to take pictures tomorrow for you Foodies! :)   We are now headed down to take our first tour of the City.  Xie Xie for following along so far!   ~Dave and Deanna

Ni Hao Beijing!

Touchdown!  Its 11:30pm here in China and we are finally settling in.   The flight over was long of course, but we couldn't stop glancing at each other and cackling with glee.  The plane was very old school, I'm talking 70's with the retro seats and no air vents, but the seat belts worked... sort of... as long as you held on to them tightly.  The staff was awesome, all smiles.   The Beijing Airport is just unbelievable.  I've never been inside a space so huge or so vastly beautiful.  The customs fella wasn't too into his job at 10pm though.  He just grunted a bit and waved us on.    We were met outside customs by Sim who will be our guide while in Beijing (I'll get a picture of him tomorrow) and Mari who is doing all of our inter China Adoption paperwork.  They are both SO nice!  We couldn't see much of the city at night as we drove in, but boy we sure did get to experience the traffic!  Oi!  I've got divots in my arm from Dee digging into them with her nails.   We are heading off to bed after a quick shower and hopefully we will get a bit of sleep in there as well.  We are looking forward to Tiananmen Square in the morning as well as getting to know the other 2 couples in our travel group that are still waiting on their luggage to arrive (All ours got here in one piece).   Thanks for following along!   ~Dave and Dee

Our Chariot Awaits

See you all on the other side of the Pond!

Standby in San Francisco

We made it! ... almost!   Last night's flight from Detroit to San Francisco was pretty entertaining.  Deanna got to carry on a 3 hour conversation with a fella who wanted to tell us all about all the cars he ever bought and sold over the past 4 decades after I told him I worked for Ford Motor Company.  Thankfully I planted Deanna next to him and I stuck my nose into my book, but Dee wasn't so lucky.  At least she learned a lot...   After a pretty restless night's sleep we got up and headed off to meet a few good friends for Breakfast that live in the San Francisco area.  It was GREAT to finally get to meet so many friends that we never had the chance to meet in person yet have known for years!  The San Francisco Parking Authority also enjoyed passing out several tickets to our friends as the parking meters only accepted enough coinage for 1 hour... We owe you Ladies another Breakfast or two.   We checked in for our Flight to Beijing 3.5 hours early!  Only to find out our flight has been delayed several hours.  Ah well, that gives us plenty of time to pace back and forth, update our blog and obsess about whether if we still have all our paperwork that we have checked 235346326 times since leaving Detroit.   We are just so excited, we can't stop smiling and pinching each other to be sure we really aren't dreaming.   Tomorrow we will be walking around the Great Wall of China!  Woot!  Oh wait… we are going forward in time as we pass over the Date Line… so it's actually tomorrow already, so two days from now, not counting the day we skip, subtract the 12 hour time difference… then… what day is it?   ~Dave & Dee

Packed and Ready to Go!!!!

All packed and ready to go!!!   2 suitcases and 2 backpacks filled with all kinds of things that we need, think we might need, not sure if we will need, and probably will not need but packed them just in case we would need them.

Packing, Packing, Packing!!!!

Who would have thought that packing for 3 people for 3 weeks was possible in 2 suitcases!!!!   All thanks to David and his superb packaging abilities!!!! I guess being a CAD designer has it's perks when it comes to utilizing all the space that you have available.

The countdown has begun!!!!

Woo-Hoo!!!

T-3 days till we leave!!!!!

Packing, packing, and more packing!!!!