It has been a long time ............

Well, I haven't posted for quite some time. I simply wanted to wait until I had something new to say.

Our little granddaughter will turn 5 next month. This is very difficult for us to believe. To say that this has been four of the most wonderful years of our lives would be an understatement. This little girl is absolutely amazing. Okay, I will admit that I am partial, but I am not the only one who thinks that way. Everyone who meets her is instantly in love.

Saturday, March 21, will be a big day for all of us. We leave for Disneyland. She is the world's biggest "Mickey Mouse" fan. In fact, when I tell her that she is goofy (silly), she instantly tells me, "no, I am Mickey Mouse"! We all can't wait to see the saucer-sized eyes when she gets her first view of Disneyland and the Disney characters. She will come unglued.

I will come back and write about our trip in its entirety when we return.

Anniversary .......

Well, here we are at a very significant anniversary. It is the day that we left on our trip to China, three years ago. What an exciting time it has been for all of us.

This little girl has brought us more joy than we ever could have imagined. As she will tell you in no uncertain terms, she is pretty, smart, happy and loved. The most significant of all of these attributes is the "loved". There is no doubt in her mind that she is loved. Not only has our family fallen completely in love with her, but everyone who comes in contact with her.

I have been hoping to hear from other grandparents of Chinese grandchildren. It would be great if we could communicate with one another to compare notes.

We are in the process of planning a trip back to China next year. Our granddaughter will be five years old and her parents want her to see her home land. Her dream, while she doesn't fully understand why, is to walk on the Great Wall. She has seen picture of all of us there and wants to see it for herself.

I'm back .......

I hope everyone has had great experiences with your China adoption. For those of you who are still in the planning or waiting stage, I would be pleased to help you in any way that I can. I said that I would place comments on my blog, but I have since reconsidered that idea. I am concerned that this has kept folks from leaving comments or asking questions. I will simply answer your questions or concerns without posting the original comments.

It would be wonderful if I could hear from all of the grandparents who have Chinese grandchildren and from those who will have soon.

In honor of my beautiful granddaughter .......

who will turn 3 years old tomorrow. Happy birthday!!

She has absolutely been the joy of our lives, since bringing her home from China two years ago. It is impossible to know all of the feelings that you can have when a baby comes into your lives. We have had two of the best years you could ever imagine.

Of course, she is Pappa's (her name for me) girl. This even makes it more special. I even get a bit embarrassed, because when I am around, she wants nothing to do with mommy, daddy or Juma (her name for my wife - prn: joo ma). Where does this come from, we have no idea. I tell my wife that she has a nickname that no other child has ever called her grandma.

I would like to hear from all of you who have Chinese grandchildren. Do you feel a special bond with China and the Chinese people. We all do.

As I said in a previous post, we have become friends with some people who own one of the Chinese restaurantes in town. They still have family in China. One of the young mothers, who has a 5 year old daughter, thanks us every time we see her for giving our granddaughter a loving, caring family.

What's the new format?---------

Well, after giving it some thought, I have decided to change the format from one of me doing all of the talking, to one of giving you a forum. I know there are some of you who would like to express your feelings on the subject of China adoption, but don't for whatever reason, start a blog. So, I will do that for you.

If you have something to say or have a question, simply leave me a message in the comments section and I will move it to the main body of the blog. This will allow for you to be heard on the subject.

China is one of, if not the most, mysterious places in the world. This intrigues me greatly. To think while I was there, I was able to go places where until less than five years before, no non-Chinese person had ever been. I actually felt like an explorer.

For someone who made the statement numerous times that I didn't care to go to any place outside the U.S., to say I will go back in a heartbeat, speaks volumes. Yes, I know, I now have a distinct reason to return. This simply makes it that much more exciting.

Would I do it again? ---------

Well, I just changed to the new blog format and got a pleasant surprise. Several folks had added comments. I am sorry for not recognizing them sooner, but like I said, I just this minute saw them for the first time.

To all of you, thank you for your kind words. I do hope this blog helps at least one person.

I hope that those of you who were going to China, had a great adventure. To those who are in the waiting process, be patient, it is more worth the wait than you could ever imagine. In fact, please let me hear from all you about your situation. I would be glad also, to answer any questions that you may have.

Now, for the answer to my question, "Would I do it again"? In a heartbeat. However, it may not be for another grandchild. The Chinese government is in the process of changing the rules for adoption. Our kids won't be eligible any longer. This does not mean that we won't go back. Quite the contrary. We are planning a trip in the next two years to take our granddaughter back to see her home country.

Since I came to the end of the journey in China, I have not decided how I want to proceed. However, I can tell you that we thank God everyday for this darling little girl that he brought to us in such a wonderful way.

As I said at the beginning of this blog, we are the proud grandparents of eight other grandchildren. However, those of you who are gparents, know what I mean when I say, "the baby is always special". Well, that goes double for this one.

First of all, we are now linked to the Chinese people in a way that I can't explain. We have several Chinese families in town and we definitely have special feelings for them.

One of the families owns a Chinese restaurant. Since this is and always has been, our favorite international cuisine, we have taken her there many times. One of the family members has become our good friend. She is the mother of a young girl, two years older than our granddaughter. She thanks us every time we see her for loving her, our gdaughter, the way we do.

Soon it will be Chinese New Year. Each year, those of us who have Chinese kids in our families, get together to celebrate. Because our town has several colleges, we are fortunate to have a Chinese professor who attends our celebration. He always gives us greater insight into the Chinese people and their culture. It is a high point of our year.

I will attempt to post more frequently. I have been trying to determine the best way to proceed as I said earlier. I will come up with a format.

Where were we.......

When we last met, I had been singing the praises of the "White Swan Hotel" and rightly so! It was definitely one of the high-lights of our trip.


We didn't have long in Guangzhou, but this was the part of the trip for which we had been waiting. This was where our little "China Doll" would become an American citizen. Daddy and Mommy would have to go to the American Embassy and take an oathe to receive her papers. This would allow her to enter America with us.

The only glitch in our entire trip happened at the Embassy. Grandma and I had participated in every step of the process to this point. Here, however, we were unable to go into the Embassy with our kids. We had not been told that we would require our passport to enter. We didn't have them with us, so we had to wait outside. It didn't take long for the ceramony, but it would have been nice if we could have participated. Be sure you take your passports with you to the Embassy!


We did some sight-seeing while in Guangzhou. One of the high-lights was the Six Banyan Temple. The Flower Pagoda is a major part of the Temple. It is the type of structure that you would expect to see all over China, but don't. This picture actually doesn't fully show its granduer. It is a working Buddhist Temple. Some of the families in our group had their babies blessed by the Monks.

Another of the interesting sights that we saw was the Chen Family Temple.

The Chen Family Temple was built as a collective effort by the Chen families from 72 counties all over Guangdong Province at the end of the 19th century during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. The temple was built to honor and worship their ancestors.

It was also used to house Chen family members who came from all over the province to sit for the imperial examinations.

It is like walking through a living museum. It has been completely refurbished back to its original condition.

We, of course, ate as much of the food as we could in our limited time schedule. I still could have eaten much more. It was everything that I had hoped.

Well, the day came for us to leave this beautiful and mysterious country. It was with mixed emotions that we prepared for our departure. On one hand we were leaving with what we had made the trip for, a beautiful baby girl, but we were leaving her country behind. I can't begin to explain the wave of emotions that were flowing through my body.

Would I do it again? In a heart-beat!! In fact, that will be the topic of my next post.