Day 12 - Guangzhou Zoo

On Sunday, we started out our day at 6:30AM when the announcer for Guangzhou Marathon started talking.  It turns out 30,000 runners showed up for the race and the starting line was 2 blocks from our hotel. Not sure where all of those people were staying, but we were really happy we were able to get a reservation at the hotel we were in.  God was faithful to work out all of the details of our trip, just like we knew he would!  Thank you again to everyone for your prayers!

Starting line of the GZ Marathon

After watching all of the marathon and 1/2 marathon runners race down the street, we headed up to the corner office in the executive lounge on the 20th floor of our hotel.  One of the "privileges" of Marriott Platinum status at this hotel is a free one hour reservation of the meeting room.  Matt thought there would be no better use the secular meeting room than to host a Sunday morning church service for the Marquette family.  We had a wonderful time praying together as a family and watching Konnect Kids on the projector screen.  Our "meeting" was topped off by Claire going to ask the staff to get everyone hot chocolates.  We also had a little time to have a mock business meeting.  Each of the kids was given a task ... Claire had HR responsibilities, Micah was in charge of logistics, and Nathan chose finance.

Future business leaders!

After church we ventured out in our first taxi ride to Guangzhou zoo.  We had one mission there ... buy Maelee some popcorn (she never got any at Disneyland and had been asking for it ever since), and feed the giraffes.  We were pleased with the cool weather, the close proximity of the hotel to the zoo, and of course the giraffe feeding.  It was also nice to see they improved their panda exhibit.  The sun bear is still extraordinarily thin as are most of the other animals.

Oh, and Nathan has a newfound hatred of people taking his picture without his permission.  Let's just say he wasn't in a good mood after we got done trying to take a family photo in the middle of the zoo.  I'm sure we looked like quite a circus when we balanced our camera on top of the stroller and tried using the timer function of our new camera to snap about 20 photos.  It turns out it is really hard to get our family of 8 to all look at the camera at the same time and smile and make sure your face is showing and not do anything inappropriate!  We may just have to cave and learn how to use Photoshop.

Family photo fun take #1

Family photo fun take #2

For dinner we headed out on foot for a leisurely stroll to the American restaurant we ate at last time we were in Guangzhou.  It turned out to not be so leisurely and took our family over an hour to walk there.  #Shouldhavetakenataxi.  This was the most expensive meal of the trip, but it sure beat out McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and the no-name Chinese restaurants everywhere.  We ordered milkshakes for all the big kids.  We also enjoyed burger sliders, chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes, chicken fried steak, BBQ pork, and really good french fries.

Nathan's first smile in over an hour

View of the Canton tour during our walk

Day 11 - Doctor Appointment Day

Saturday in Guangzhou is doctor appointment day.  This is the day you have to take your new child to the medical exam.  They get taken out of your arms into a room by themselves, they get poked and prodded, and then you get to pay $300.  This is one of those experiences you endure because you know the end goal (i.e. United States visa) is greater than the trial.
While Deanna, Nathan, and Ella were at the doctor appointment, Matt and the other kids ate Starbucks for breakfast.  $3/muffin seems pricey, but it doesn't seem so bad when you can feed your whole family breakfast for under $20.  After breakfast, Matt and the kids headed to the Chinese grocery store in the basement of the mall next door. More to come on that later ...

In the afternoon, Hannah threw a WWIII kind of temper tantrum.  This probably had something to do with jet lag, lack of sleep, being in a foreign country, being back in her "home" country, and life transition with her new sister.  At any rate, it lasted for a good 45 minutes and was complete with lion roars, baby tears, and a lack of English communication skills.  The interesting thing is that Ella instinctively went to Hannah to comfort her.  She simply got up, toddled over to Hannah's chair, climbed up on it, and gave Hannah a big smile.  When Hannah got down to go stand in a different corner, Ella got down and went to be at her side.  It was a very big surprise to us and a demonstration of high functioning in a girl that we have yet to see do much besides suck her finger and drink from a bottle.

After Hannah felt better, we brought everyone to the pool.  Later we did Chinese laundry in our bathroom.

Our next big day is our visa appointment on Tuesday and then our flight home on Friday!

Nice doctor

Ella did not like the ENT

Ella trying to comfort Hannah

Ella loves to rock and bounce on the balloon

Time for Hannah and Maelee to go swimming, too!

Deanna did an impressive job running the clothesline ...

... but there was a lot of it

She had to crawl her way out through the wet clothes

Day 10 - Goodbye Zhengzhou, Hello Guangzhou!

This was our last day in the capital city of Zhengzhou (pronounced Jung Jo).  Deanna spent most of the morning packing all of our suitcases back up.  Then, around 12:30, we headed for the airport.  We were thankful that the highway was open this morning.  In fact, the air quality was so good that it was upgraded to "Good".  What a difference a few days can make!

The flight went smooth enough.  Ella did great on the airplane.  We had another Ford Transit 15 passenger van pick us up at the airport in Guangzhou.  We had just enough space for all of our luggage + us + the driver + the guide.

When we checked into the hotel, we were happy to find that we had our connecting rooms set up and both rooms were fully paid for with Marriott points.  Big thanks to our friends at church for donating points to us so we cover our entire stay on points!  What a huge blessing.

Jammin' with the bluetooth microphone in the van

Flight number 4

We are Marquette!

Our view from the hotel

Day 9 - Orphanage Visit

We started our day with a trip to Starbucks.  The 3rd graders were having Donuts with Dad back home, so Claire and Micah decided they should have some "daddy time" at breakfast as well.  We had Starbucks muffins and gazed out the window while we ate.

 

After breakfast, we piled into the van for a 1.5 hour car ride.  Today we were visiting Ella's orphanage.  It is in a town called Xuchang.  Thankfully the air quality has improved up to "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" and the highway is open again.


We had a nice time at the orphanage meeting her nannies and playing with the kids.  You can't help but get a feeling like you want to bring them all home and rescue them from institutionalized care.  We took lots of pictures and hope to pay it forward by sharing them with other families waiting to go get their own kids.  Especially memorable for the day was a little boy with Down's that Nathan fell in love with.  He even asked me if he could print out a picture of the boy and keep it in his room so he could remember him!

Ella's Bed (middle right)

Ella's Nanny

Ella's Play Room

We got back from the orphanage around 2PM.  Our guide Danielle took us all out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant close to the hotel.  Nathan and Claire ordered white rice and plain noodle soup.  Hannah had "popping" rice (fried rice), Maelee and Deanna ate something called "pancakes" (fried thin bread) and Matt and Micah had some noodle dishes.  We all got to eat our fill and it was nice going somewhere besides Pizza Hut and Burger King.

After lunch we decided to take the kids to the grocery store to get a few treats.  The rule was everyone could pick two things.  Have you ever gone to the grocery store to get a "few things" and ended up with a lot more?  We ended up buying way more and filled the whole cart.  Yikes!  Favorite snack of the day was a 1L of Fanta soda that Nathan got all for himself.

After gorging on our snacks back at the hotel, Matt took the big kids to play ping-pong in the gym while Deanna started packing.  For dinner, Deanna "cooked" Italian noodles in the hot water maker and warmed up sauce in a hot water bath in the sink.  The kids thought it was delicious!

Maelee and Ella looking out the window together

Home brew noodles and sauce

Tomorrow we plan to travel to Guangzhou.  We are looking forward to moving to the next phase of the process and slightly warmer weather.  Please pray for clear weather and no flight delays.  Please pray that we get Ella's passport tomorrow.  We need that in order to get her visa next week.  Also, please pray that we can get get all 6 suitcases packed back up in time to leave the hotel for the airport.

Day 8 - Adoption Day

Adoption Day was a little anti-climatic.  We had three appointments today: one at the civil affairs office where we got the adoption decree, one at the notary office, and one at the police station where we got Ella's passport picture taken.  Each stop was about a 20 minute car ride and a 20 minute wait.  The first two stops went by smooth as silk.  The last stop was in a tiny, crowded office after lunch and our kids were losing it.

Adoption Certificate Ceremony

Our first official Chinese meal ... Micah is learning Chinese food in China tastes different than American Chinese food

 

After the police station, we came back to the hotel and Matt took the older kids swimming while Deanna took a rest and the little kids watched Dora the Explorer on DVD.  Since we didn't have swim caps, we had to buy them at 58 Yuan (~$8.50) each.  The pool was nice and the kids swam for about an hour.  The only rule of the pool (other than you must wear a swim cap of course) was a sign that simply stated "No Spitting".  I've heard stories of Chinese pools where loogies float on the water surface.  This pool seemed to be OK from that perspective.

Play time with the girls

Check out those swimming caps!

After the kids went to bed, Matt ran across the street to a restaurant called Highway 5.  It was supposedly a Western (i.e. American) restaurant.  Thing is, there was only one American in that whole place ... Matt.  He ordered a cheeseburger with no vegetables.  He got a two patty beef (beef steak?) and the consistency was nothing like ground beef.  The best part of the whole meal was the french fries!

This meal comes with fries, ketchup, and gloves!

Day 7 - Let's Go Out

Today we had a weather miracle.  If you looked up at the sky and squinted a little, you could almost make out a blue sky.  The Apple weather app somewhat confirmed this by upgrading the air quality report from "Very Unhealthy" on Sunday to only "Unhealthy" today.  In addition, the temp was supposed to be getting up to 48 deg F.  We were ready to get out of our room and enjoy the day!

We started our day at Starbucks for breakfast and then headed to a small "park" a few blocks from our hotel.  In case you didn't know, a "park" in China is really just a green space with some walking paths.  In your lucky, you may find some exercise equipment.  If you are extremely lucky, you may even find something for children to play on.  We brought our own fun by means of a zoom ball (remember those from the 90's?) and a frisbee.

Since the park went well enough, we decided to amp up our adventure rating and try to take a subway ride.  Thankfully, we were able to find elevators and/or escalators everywhere we needed to go today.  That was a huge blessing.  All too often you come out of a subway to find no elevator or escalator and have to haul a stroller, a child, and a bag up 3 flights of stairs.

We spent the rest of our afternoon eating lunch at Pizza Hut, searching for an upscale grocery store called "Better", and playing at a bigger park with exercise equipment.

Tomorrow is Adoption Day where we officially adopt Wan Ying into our family!

Momma got the formula mix and temperature right!

What is this thing?

I don't like it

That's better!

2 Strollers, 2 Adults, and 6 Kids ... ready to go!

Zoom ball

First subway experience in Zhengzhou

These ladies at Better wanted to know all about our family and take a picture with the kids

Looking cute

The tower looked straighter in person

Exercise park ... woo hoo!

Maelee and Ella on the teeter totter

Nathan's turn to help with the laundry