9-24 - Final Post

Christy, Olivia and I have spent the past 3 days sleeping as much as we can and we are still exhausted. The fact we all still have colds has not helped us to get acclimated to the CST timezone. Olivia has been sleeping pretty well, Saturday night she decided to wake around 3:00 am so that made Sunday a very long day.

I guess this will conclude my postings to this site as there is not much more in the way of adventures that we can share with you. Of course I could always post the adventures of the bathing ritual, which by the way Olivia still hates. We are certain someone will be calling DHR every time we give her a bath, she screams like you would not believe. I am certain you do not want to hear about the replacement of the car seat from my vehicle and placing it is Christy's. Surely it will be a smooth transition - yeah right, you may want to re-read the original post about installing the Lazy Boy!!! I have decided to wait until Monday morning to do this as I did not want to ruin the weekend with another frustrating episode of NASA engineering deciphering.

Again, we enjoyed being able to provide all you with an avenue to share our adventure. It has certainly been one we will never forget and one that we look forward to sharing with Olivia as she gets older.

9-25 Video - Olivia

Pictures

9-24 Video - Wuhan Park

While in Wuhan I came across this park where each morning you would find a lot of people exercising, mostly older people. The exercise ranged from routine stretching to eloborate dancing with fans. Some of them would be performing with swords, I tended to stay away from them.

I took this video and some pictures. This park was one of my favorite places in Wuhan. The people were so nice to me there.

9-21 - Home, Finally home

They say there is not many things better than a good night sleep in your own bed, especially after a very long trip. Even more especially after sleeping what equated to concrete slab mattress for two weeks. Well...I will have to tell you later just how good it is as I fell asleep on the couch! I can tell you the couch slept GREAT!!!

Just wanted to send out quick post to say that we made it back to Alabama yesterday around 9:30. When we got home there were pink ribbons on the mailbox and a Welcome Home Olivia sign on the house. It was really nice, we have got the best neighbors and friends you could ever have. Inside the house friends had left lots of gifts and flowers for Olivia. It was very surprising and much appreciated.

I will provide a better post later today (Friday), I just wanted to say thanks for all the kind comments left on the website. We were not able to read them while in China so it was fun to sit in LA and Atlanta and read all of them. I am glad a lot of you have enjoyed the website it was fun for Christy and I to do. I have a couple of videos I will post as well as some additional slide shows. We hope you enjoy them.

9-20 Arrived in LA

To be perfectly honest, I do not know what day it is and really what time it is. I have given up on trying to convert timezones, I made it simple and set my watch on EST and I just back out an hour for Alabama. The flight from Guangzhou was the most gruling 13 hours of my life, Olivia refused to sleep. Thomas was so good that he even got us one of the two available bassinets. The mistake that was made is when Olivia finally fell asleep in the bassinet I looked over to Christy and said "this is going to be great". Famous last words! About 15 minutes later Olivia decicded it was time to wake up and of course she needs daddy to hold her. In case you are wondering this is when the 13 hours or torment began. No sense attempting to explain all the flips, turns, screaming, looking aroung - I really do not think you would fully appreciate the moment unless you were there, much like the guy behind me that moved....twice! She just did not have it in her to be still and quiet.

We will be boarding in a few minutes heading to Atlanta and then on to Alabama.

9-18 - Spent the day in the room

Today was a day of much needed rest. Christy and I are both fighting a cold and it has been very draining. This morning Thomas went to the US consulate to obtain the travel Visa for Olivia, we will get to pick it up on Wednesday at 3:00. When we pick it up we will have a swearing ceremony for Olivia, I believe it has to do with her impending US citizenship. Once the plane touches down in LA, Olivia will be a US citizen.

We did take a taxi into town to visit a electronic mall, this place was like a Radio Shack on steriods. There was nothing that you would not want this place did not have. It had so much that you could not take it all in. Everything from circuit boards to stereo cable. Lots of stuff!

I will most likely not be able to post anything until we get to LAX as we have a 5 hour layover there. We are scheduled to be in Birmingham on Thursday around 9:00 AM.

Thanks for all of the kind comments, I have not been able to read them, but some of my friends have been sending me notes about what has been left. We look forward to getting back in the US so we can read for ourselves.

Medicals and Dinner

Check out my Slide Show!

9-17 - Shamian Island and Medicals

September 17, 2007

It has been a couple of days since I wrote about our adventures, mainly because I have been a little under the weather. The pollution in Wuhan finally got the best of me on our last day there. The flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou was not very eventful; Olivia did not make a sound but was very bored and had to be moving the entire flight. She has bonded to me the most so I was responsible for holding her the entire 80 minutes it took to get to our destination. She only weighs 15 pounds, but she is strong and very fidgety. She also has a bit of stubbornness with a determination to do what she wants on her terms and time table. No wonder she has bonded to me more so than Christy, she is a mini me!

Once on the ground in Guangzhou we made our way to the White Swan which is located on Shamian Island. Actually it is not really much of an island as it only has a moat around the perimeter, it is still downtown Guangzhou. However, the “island” is well secured to keep out a lot of the locals that take advantage of the tourist. There are a lot of specialty shops here and negotiating skills is a plus as seldom is items priced. General rule is you pay 70% of what they ask for. If I felt better I believe I could negotiate better, but at this point I will just pay what they want and move onto the next shop. On Tuesday we are going to a place off of the island called “electronic mall”, it is suppose to be place to find the latest electronics and DVD’s.

Guangzhou is a lot like Beijing and Wuhan, lots of traffic and lots of people. However the pollution here is nowhere close to what it was in Wuhan. You can actually see a blue sky and clouds here in Guangzhou. It is still very hot, yesterday we went to a park and within 30 minutes we were miserable. The heat was unbearable. There were a lot of couples there getting pictures made for upcoming weddings. The girls were in full length wedding dresses and they had to hate it, the guys were equally uncomfortable. I told Thomas those men did not what uncomfortable was until they have been married for 5 – 10 years. Christy overheard me and of course I got in trouble.

Today we went to do medicals for Olivia. Not much of a physical, just ENT and weight, height, heart rate and a general look over by the doctor. She got thumbs up and they said we needed to put some pounds on her, no surprise to us and no problem for me to do that. I will be introducing Olivia to Krispy Kreme and Little Debbie once we get back to the states. On Tuesday Thomas will go to the US consulate and apply for Travel Visa for Olivia. That is the last step we need to go through before we can leave, which is Wednesday evening.

I continue to be impressed at just how nice the people of China are to us and each other. Every where you go you will see people walking hand in hand or arm in arm, mostly girls but a lot of older people too. When I am out an about they always smile and make an attempt to say hello. I have discovered a lot of the information I have read / heard about China is not correct. Once you have visited here and walk amongst the people you discover they are very kind and hard working people.

9-16 - Guangzhou Park

9-15 - Last Day in Wuhan

9-14 - Yellow Crane visit - photos

9-14 - China's little people - photos

9-14 - Yellow Crane Pagoda - photos

9-13 - Orphanage visit - photos

9-13 - Random pictures

9-13 - Orphange Visit

September 13, 2007

Today Thomas and I went to the orphanage which Olivia was discovered. The location of the orphanage is about 2 hours from Wuhan, actually located in the rural / farm land of Hubei.

On the way to the orphanage we got into an accident as a driver pulled out in front of us and we struck him around the front tire / fender area. Just a fender bender, but within about 2 minutes there was a crowd of 30 observers. The police came, citations written and we were off again.

Once at the orphanage I was shown the location Olivia was discovered. It was on the steps just outside the iron gates that block entry to the courtyard. We made our way inside where I was given a tour and lunch was provided. I was allowed to walk around and take pictures of the buildings and courtyard, but was asked not to take pictures of the few children that were around the facility. Apparently, in the past people had taken pictures and posted them with negative comments about adoption proceedings at other orphanages. Now all the directors have been advised by CCA to not allow pictures of children in the facilities. There are 127 children at this facility ranging from infants to 17 years. Some / most of the children have some type of disability. I met one little girl that had brain surgery as well as another that was operated on to allow her to walk. The stories from the director are very compassionate. You can tell from the way Ms. Li describes the children she has very sincere dedication to her work and her facility.

After the tour we made our way back to Wuhan and the hotel. Chris, Olivia and I took our afternoon walk where we found a really good bakery. We also went to a local store and purchased some snacks and drinks. It is hard to describe how difficult it is to buy stuff when you have no idea as to what the label says and nobody can explain it to you. It is a true leap of faith. I had Olivia in her carrier, but I broke a rule, and had it as a backpack. She likes it better that way as she can see more of what is going on, she also gets to pull my hair and ears this way. We had so many people come up and rub on her and say “lucky baby”. Christy and I still feel a little guilty about taking Olivia out amongst everyone, but when we do we are all very well received. Not to mention Olivia loves going for walks so she can look at everything. She is so inquisitive.

9-12 - Temple Visit photos

9-12 Temple and Bath

September 12, 2007

Today was a free day as we did not have anything scheduled. We started the day off with a very upset Ms. Olivia. It just happens she is teething and it is not good. We are doing all we can to comfort her, but it is not enough. We have some “baby Orajel” that we brought from home and that helps, but Olivia doe not like having it applied. On top of that she has a little bit of a cold, which is hard to believe as this is one of the hottest places in China. Thomas told us we need to leave the room tempature around 28 Celsius, which is just above sweat level 1, we had to drop it to 22 and it is almost comfortable, but still warm.

Today I got introduced to fatherhood; actually last nite was my christening as we went to dinner to a really nice restaurant downtown. Ms. Olivia insisted I hold her as she did not want to sit in the high chair, during which when I was not paying attention…Olivia decided she wanted to play with my chopsticks as I was about to take a bite. She grabbed the chopsticks and the fish with red sauce landed on my chest and made its way to my lap, leaving a trial of red sauce all the way. No big deal. This morning we changed her diaper and since she gets so upset when we do that I decided I would hold her for a couple minutes, well she proceeded to pee all over me. No big deal. Then to top that she decided to spit up all the cough medicine we gave her for the cold she has. No big deal. Not a good day for me, great day for the in house laundry service. That is a big deal! Cost a lot to have laundry service in hotel!

This afternoon we decided to walk to the Buddhist Temple up the street about 20 blocks. We strapped on Ms. Olivia and off we went. We got to the temple and after about 2 minutes of attempting to get in we discovered we had to pay for a ticket. I have decided it is easiest to open my wallet and just hand Yuan (money) over until they indicate it is enough. Once in the temple we were amazed at the 600 year old artifacts and copper / gold structures. The entire complex was filled with incense where locals had come to pray and light incense. Of course we made our way to the top where there was a tower, another wallet presentation to determine cost of entry and then into the tower we went. Of course they failed to mention, not that we would have understood, the passage ways were designed for 4’ tall individuals and the steps matched those of the Great Wall. Olivia in tow I made my way to the top, if nothing else I am going to leave China with a daughter and hopefully 15 pounds lighter. By the time we got to the top I was soaking wet and Ms. Olivia was equally unhappy. The view was worth the climb.

Back to the hotel we decided no matter how much she hated it, Olivia was to get a bath. We made one attempt already and we just could not go through with it as she was screaming her head off. This time the screaming was still there, but we just ignored it and let the soap do the work. She was a pretty smelly baby before the bath, now she is just a pretty baby!

Tomorrow Christy will have to stay behind as the orphanage Olivia came from does not allow the baby to come back. So Thomas and I will be making the 2 hour journey to the country side where Olivia was abandoned. We want to take a lot of pictures of the orphanage and the place at the gate where Olivia was discovered. This way we will have them later on when and if she ever inquires.

9-11 - "forever family day" - video

9-10 "Gotcha Day" - Pictures

9-10 Gotcha Day

Well it is official or at least in regards to possession it is, we have a daughter. Her complete name is Madilyn Olivia Han Whitener, we will call her Olivia.

We started out with B’fest with Thomas, went back to the room and prepared some documents and rested for the 3:oo meet and greet!

Our driver picked us up in front of the hotel and once again we took our fragile lives into the dangers of the Wuhan travel. Amazingly enough we made it to the government affairs building without a drop of blood or ding in the fenders. We made our way into the building as we climb the staircase to the second level we could hear babies crying – that is when it hit us. Chris and I both were able to contain our emotions and we kept on climbing to the top. Once at the top of the semi circular staircase we saw two ladies and a baby. Not sure if it was our baby, Thomas asked which foster home and it was confirmed it was Olivia. Then the emotions were fully out of control. We could not approach her yet as the officials have not given permission to do so. As we made our way to the room we watched Olivia fade away around the corner, oblivious to what was about to happen.

Once in the room, we met two other couples. One we had already met as they are in the same hotel. They are from Baltimore and have adopted little 4 year old girl with underdeveloped legs, her name is Amelia. She is very pretty, I will post a picture or her as well. She is not able to walk as both of her legs are not functioning from below her knees. The family lives close to John Hopkins and believes surgery may help correct some of the deformities. They have two other daughters adopted from China, both of them were special needs as well, Mary and Lucy.

After sitting in the room for what seemed hours while the official finished with the 3rd couple which was adopting a little boy. Then to conserve time they combine Olivia and Amelia’s placement proceedings, which by the way only resulted in a couple of signatures. We did get to spend a lot of time with Ms. Li the Orphanage Director. She gave us so much information. Afterwards we had to go by a market to get some formula Ms. Li recommended. That was an event. Everyone was looking as I was carrying Ms. Olivia, I am sure they were curious as to why this guy had this tiny baby. Luckily, Olivia was not crying as she had not cried or made a sound up to this point. We made our way through the market with Thomas leading the way. People would come up and ask if it was my baby and I would say “yes – I am ba ba”. They would smile and then move on. Some of the older would come up and say “lucky baby”.

All was good until we discovered Christy had to go back in the store to get a curling iron, seems the one she brought did not agree with the 220 volt system they have her in China. Keep in mind this market had 4 floors; food is at the top and curling irons on 3. I stood outside in the lobby on 3 while Chris and Thomas went in for the iron. There I took my position at the top of one escalator and the entrance of another – hundreds of people walking by pointing and talking about me an Olivia. It may have been because of the death grip I had on her or the fact she really does not look a lot like me. Nonetheless, everyone was very nice and just smiled and made there way onto what they were there to do.

Then to the hotel, change clothes and wet diaper – that is when we discovered Ms. Olivia has a voice. She also has two bottom teeth; we noticed them when she was screaming at the top of her lungs. When we do something she does not like or she does not want to do, she will shake her head in a NO movement. It is pretty cute. More later….

9-8 - Arrived in Wuhan

Today is Sunday and we left Beijing via plane to travel to Wuhan within the Hubei province. The Hubei province is well known for high humidity and extremely warm weather. When we arrived at the Wuhan airport we were welcomed with the high temperature. It is very obvious Wuhan is far less advanced than Beijing as the vehicles are a lot more dated and architecture is not as stylish. The one thing that remains a constant is the driving habits, however here in Wuhan they drive a lot faster. As we made our way from the airport we past through a lot of Wuhan. The amount of people here is remarkable as population exceeds 7 million. Beijing has 13 million people, but Beijing is 3 times as large.

We got to the hotel and checked in. When we got to the room the first bit of reality hit us as there was a crib in the room along with other baby related stuff. We do not know why that was a surprise to us, but it did kinda make you say “hmmm”. We finally got to unpack as we will be in this room for 6 nights as we process the paperwork locally for the adoption. Once the bags were unpacked, I thought I would go our exploring. I made my way to the sidewalk and made a trek along the same path the other 5,000 were making. I passed a lot of shops and places and lots of people. Every now and then I would stop and take pictures of people. Most of them seemed OK with it as they smiled and waived. According to Thomas the tour guide, there are not a lot of westerners that come here and I may have been the first Caucasian they have ever seen. According to Thomas, the median monthly income for people in this region is less than $150 US dollars per month.

After you walk around as I did, you see there is a need for adoption here in China. The children I came across seemed happy, but seeing the older generations you can tell the lifestyle is not that great. Hard to explain unless you have actually seen how it is here. After visiting Beijing Christy and I felt bad about taking a little girl away from her culture. Now that I have seen Wuhan and the poverty that exists, I feel better knowing we will be giving Olivia a better chance in life.

Tomorrow is the big day as we have an appointment to get Olivia at 3:00 PM (that is 3:00 AM EST). I do not expect to get much sleep tonight, but I did not expect to anyway with this bed we have got. The room we have has 2 full size beds and the mattress on both is as hard as concrete. I jarred my neck when I set on one for the first time.

Check back on Tuesday as we will have pictures of “gotcha” day aka “forever family day”.

9-7 - Great Wall

Today started early for me as i thought I would get up and run 5 miles on a treadmill. Well I did 3 on the treadmill and a couple on the sidewalks of Beijing. The weather here is great - if you could only breathe it would be better. The pollution is pretty bad. After the run, Christy and i met for a fantastic buffet style b'fest. Needless to say we put a hurting on them as we both skipped dinner from the nite before.

Thomas (guide / picture taker) met us around 9:30 to go to the Great Wall. I forgot about the Wall expedition this when I decided to run this morning. Anyway, onto the Wall we went. We loaded up in a "chariot of death" and then we made our way into the world of shameless and reckless driving. Luckily we made it to the Great Wall in one piece and all the fenders were still on the vehicle. Amazingly enough!

Christy got a little car sick on the ride, but she was a trooper and made an effort to climb the wall. Thomas laid out a challenge to go to the top as most tourists only go half way. That was all it took. When Chris decided she had reached her stopping point she gave us the proceed at on risk statement. So Thomas and I were off to our on personal limitation / cracking point.

They do not call this the Great Wall for nothing. At some points the steps are literally straight up. Needless to say I dropped Thomas after another 200 yards. Which Thomas admits he is lazy, but he did make a good effort. Of course, I thought quitting was a good idea as well, but I made my way on to the top where you could go no further. Thank goodness as I was borderline cardiac arrest.

After I carefully and cautiously made my way back to the bottom where I met Christy and Thomas, we left the wall to have lunch. Great restaurant but way to much food.

Back to the hotel where Chris rested and Thomas went walking around dwtn Beijing.

Tomorrow we leave by plane to go to Wuhan, Hubei. There we will finally get to take Olivia into our family. I think the time we get her is scheduled to be Monday @ 3:00PM.

Enjoy the pictures. It took a lot or work and sweat to get them.

9-02 - Baby seat from %#@#

Well....where to begin....

On Wednesday Christy and I will be leaving to start our journey to China to complete our 32 month adoption process. We have not seen any updated pictures or progress reports on Olivia, but we trust she is well. In 8 short (not really that short) days we will be in Wuhan, Hubei to welcome our daughter into our family. Of course, we are getting to China a couple days early to do some sight seeing at the Great Wall and Tianaman(sp?) Square.

The primary reason for this posting is to tell you about my adventure installing the baby seat in my vehicle. Not as easy as one would think. I believe some of the difficulty could be assigned to the fact Christy purchased a seat designed by NASA engineers which will inevitably be used on the space shuttle in the future. This x%#$* seat frustrated me for 30 minutes while attempting to install it. I am not sure if it was the overly large snap that is part of the seat belt OR possibly the fact the anchor slots designed by the NASA engineer are smaller than the opening of a 12 ounce soda can. Of course, not helping the situation, the retention system on the seat belt pulling all the slack up and then not releasing it unless you completely de-lace the belt from the undersized slots. It is no so much that the slots are difficult or the slack keeps getting taken up, it may be the fact the seat is the size of most Lazy Boy recliners. This seat has more pads, cushions and straps than a NFL lineman. The five point harness looks like something out of NASCAR, it even has what appears to be a HAN's device. I am quite certain Ms. Olivia will safe in the cocoon of protection that comes with this.......baby seat.

This seat is rated up to 65 pounds, so I do not feel that I will be removing it until Olivia graduates grade school. Christy will have to come up with her on device for the Mercedes as the Tahoe has a permanent fixture going forward.