Day 9 Medical Clearance

I left off Friday afternoon after Yayun's first McDonald's experience. Needless to say she took a great nap afterward. That evening we ventured out the other side of the hotel to Paddy Fields which is an Irish Pub. I may frequently argue with Steve and Ryan about having Sport's Center on at home but seeing American baseball highlights on the tv was a welcome comfort of home. We have ventured out with strollers and are appreciative when we can readily get where we are going. I have a recommendation that stroller pushing in the streets of Guangzhou could be a new sport. Crossing the street is best described as playing the video game 'Frogger'. Throw in a stroller and the degree of difficulty increases exponentially.

The kids are all sleeping well. Jenna is on a roll away in the family room side of the suite. We have a crib with the side folded down next to my side of the bed. We have encouraged Yayun to climb into bed with us. She will sweetly receive our cuddles and play in the bed but when it is time for sleep she is insistent on being in her own space. Liam is sleeping between Steve and me in the bed. At bedtime, she likes to be in her crib when we read bedtime stories. Clearly this is all so new. She likes to get her baby (from us) and her monkey (her favorite they said from the SWI) all situated as she climbs into bed. She has been so lovingly and tenderly caring for them with her baby bottle and the blanket my dear friend Cherie made for her.

Saturday we got to meet the two other Lifeline families and their newest additions. They are both beautiful families and their girls are precious beyond words. Both little girls seem ready to receive the love their mama and baba have to offer. Many prayers being answered. We headed off for the necessary medical check. We asked our guide to explain to Yayun where we were going. She got quiet after she learned our destination. Once inside, she was a trooper while getting her visa picture taken and while having her ENT check, her general medical check and while getting her height/weight/temp check. Then came the dreaded TB test. When we adopted Liam he had the test under the skin in his forearm where we came back 2 days later. Now they do a blood test. We asked our guide to explain to the workers that Kinley is used to getting/giving blood so could they please explain what was happening. The hardest part is that they take your child from you into a room then lock the door behind them. The curtain is pulled and all you can hear is screams and cries as you wait helplessly on the other side. She emerged with tear stained cheeks but ready to receive mama's comfort. We found it ironic that there is a vending machine on the way out of the building selling bottles of alcohol. Not sure if it is for the parents or the poor nurses that have to endure those cries all day long.

Our guide took us to see some of the newest parts of downtown Guangzhou. While we enjoyed learning some history it was clear our little guys were more interested in the water below. We will be headed back to take a cruise along the Pearl River Sunday night so they will get another chance to see it all lit up. Yayun tells us she has to go potty by grabbing her side the SWI had told us. Well, I forgot to take her potty before we left her medical appt. She was getting fidgety during our tour so I remembered what they had said. Up to this point, we have been taking her reguarly enough before we go anywhere that we haven't had to figure it out. Thankfully I figured it out so we headed for the nearest squatty. Poor Liam has 100% completely boycotted any hole in the ground. We asked where his sense of adventure has gone. It makes me remember back in 2010 when we described him as a camel who could hold it all day long. This boy is Western through and through.

Lunch was low key in our room followed by naptime (daddy too :) I was delegated to attending the paperwork meeting which was less painful than I had expected. Now here is hoping everything was done right. One benefit of traveling during the Trade Fair is that there are only 3 families. Week 1 we had our guide to ourselves. This week we are still such a small group we are all getting great personal attention. Our guide this week with Lifeline is ironically the same guide we had week 2 when we adopted Liam in 2010 through Children's Hope International.

Last night we ventured "across the street" for dinner to Banana Leaf which serves Thai food. On day 1 our guide pointed to the building "just across the street" and told us the restaurant was on the 6th floor. Ha Ha !! There are 2 options to get "just across the street" . . . over or under. Over involved stairs which is what we opted for. We are becoming a well oiled machine with Jenna's help. The building we were going into has no clear front entrance. We were just certain there would be a "main" entrance that was accessible. I am sure if we could read Mandarin there was. However, we don't. We ended up around the back of the building and found an elevator. LOL that it turned out to be the service elevator. No wonder we were getting weird looks as we traveled with other employees and came out into the back of the kitchen. Oops, wrong way. We ventured back around and ultimately found our way to a great dinner with a fun singing/dancing show for entertainment. Jenna was cracking up as they sang and danced their way through a Rihanna song. You will be happy to know that we found a more user friendly exit out of the building which was not too terribly far from the service elevators where we had started.

The evening ended well with the discovery of a great outdoor playground on the 4th floor of our hotel. The kids burned off some of their remaining energy before heading back for bed.

During our medical check the doctor asked if we were pleased with our new daughter and were okay because her papers had said she had delays in speech. Our guide even laughed at that one as he has heard heard talking the last several days. We are trying our best to learn what she is telling us but crack ourselves up as we go through about 4 wrong words before we get to the right one. She has this funny way of looking at us clearly thinking "what are you trying to say". In preparation for Liam's adoption I had looked into ways to help transition to English. With his speech apraxia that didn't end up being necessary. Although saying that, I have to say that he can say a fair amount more in Mandarin than I ever would have guessed! In any case, I am a little at a loss for how best to work with the transition from Mandarin to English for Kinley (although we are still calling her Yayun). I don't even know when we should start using Kinley?? Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I am starting to feel a LOT of guilt about taking her away from all Mandarin. Any St. Louis peeps know of a Chinese school??

Thank you for all your comments and emails. Your encouraging words help make this journey that much better. We would also appreciate some prayers for Steve. He has developed a serious eye condition and we have been unable to get the medication necessary to treat it. He was seen by the doctor and we explained (through our guide) what we knew and needed but didn't receive the medication he needs. We explained the problem again to our guide who told us to "trust the Chinese doctor". We will be making an eye appointment for Steve the Monday morning we are back but prayers for pain relief and better yet a miraculous healing are greatly appreciated.



a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JOEPGKb5nak/UXzRDEy6FmI/AAAAAAAABpA/lCbubXT8CpI/s1600/blog+day+9-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" >
<