Botanical Gardens...Beautiful:)

Today we went to the Botanical Gardens, and had a great time! I took so many pictures..it was beautiful there. Our hotel provides strollers, which has been a blessing. Thankfully Betsy loves the stroller. We walked all over that place for an hour and a half. Betsy pretty much just wanted to stay in the stroller. She got out for a few pictures. I told Todd I would rather her be like that than not want to be in it at all. She got tired of me wanting to take her picture, but all in all was good about it. After we walked around the gardens our group met for lunch. Rebecca took us to a restaurant just outside the entrance to the gardens. It was good...a Chinese fast food noodle restaurant. I can't remember the name of it;) I have not mentioned the toilet situation in China in any of my posts until now! Most of you may know this, but for those of you who don't...they have lots of squatty pottys! I'm not going to go into full detail...just think about it and you will figure it out! Anyway, most restaurants do not have toilets in them. If you need to go to the restroom you go to a public restroom. Let me just say...today I had the worst restroom experience since I have been here!! Betsy needed to go to the bathroom, so I took her outside the restaurant to the public restroom. It was so dirty...she would not go! It took us three times going back and forth before she finally would go to the bathroom. She refuses to use a squatty potty! Thankfully everywhere we have gone they have a regular toilet along with the squatty's. She used the regular one, but I completely covered it with antibacterial wet wipes before she got up there! If your going to China...take plenty of those, and packets of tissues:) Ok...enough of that! We are having a good time, but are getting ready to be at home. We appreciate all your emails, comments, and prayers...can't say that enough! I am posting pictures from today and last night when we went to eat at the Italian restaurant I mentioned a day or two ago. It was really good:)

Ten Ways to Describe Our Sweet Girl:)

I said in the post before this one that I didn't sleep well last night due to a cappucino. Well, after much tossing and turning this is what I began to think about...Betsy! This precious child is a pure delight. Now this doesn't mean she's perfect and there are no issues, but she is a unique little girl. She is truly a gift from God! This is what I came up with to let you know more about her.

 

Brave

Extrovert

Tickleish

Sassy

Yogurt Lover

 

Extremely Girly

Very Smart

Awesome at Coloring

Never Gives Up

Special

Dinner Last Night...More Shopping Today!!

We had a great time last night getting together with the other families staying at The Garden. Before dinner we all met downstairs at 5:30pm to take a few pictures. Rebecca, our guide, had her husband come and take a group picture of all the families. Counting us there are six families in our group. It has been such a blessing getting to know them. Sam and Ellie have made some new friends too! Rebecca said she would get all of us a copy of the group picture. After that we got all the kids together. Betsy did not like the idea of me putting her down for the picture. I thought I was going to have to get in the picture with her. There were two other kids whose parents were having to hold them as well. Finally she decided she would sit with Sam. We snapped away and I got one pretty decent picture. When the picture taking was over we walked over to the restaurant. I said yesterday it was Italian, but I was wrong. We went to a Thai restaurant. The food was good. The menu was extremely large...so many choices. Todd got something really spicy with curry in it. His eyes were watering! After dinner we went to a different place for dessert. It was delicious! I had a cappucino with my dessert, which kept me up most of the night!! Usually caffeine doesn't bother me, but it did last night! This morning we met downstairs at 9:30am. We had to go back to the medical center so three of the six kids could have their arms checked where they did the TB test on Saturday. Betsy was one of the three. She cried when we walked in that room again and the woman looked at her arm. She thought they were going to stick her again...poor baby:(  Our stop there was really quick, and we were on to shopping again!! Today we got lots of good deals on everything from shoes to tea sets...we had so much fun(at least I did...don't know about the boys;) Betsy LOVED trying on shoes! She tried on alot , and never complained. That's my girl!! We are back at the hotel now , and she is taking a nap. We literally shopped till we dropped!

Betsy's First Swim & Shopping!!

Let me start off by saying I am sorry for any typo's, run on sentences, or incorrect grammer! LOL:) I read over my post from yesterday, and could not believe the mistakes. When I am doing this Betsy is usually taking a nap. If I have any technical problems, which I have, sometimes she is awake and I'm typing as fast as I can! Yesterday Sam and Ellie wanted to go swimming. We knew Betsy had never been near a pool since she has lived in the "city of snow and ice" her entire life! When Sam and Ellie were putting on their bathing suits she didn't want to put hers on, so we just took it with us. When we got to the pool and she saw how much fun Sam and Ellie were having she wanted to get in the pool too! There was a smaller pool, so we went over to it.  She had the best time! After playing in the pool they decided to go play on the playground. They went back and forth from playground to pool. It was a fun afternoon:) Today we went shopping. We bought pearls, jade, and luggage. We also went into the cutest little store and bought lots of things made from silk. Everything was so cheap!! I followed the advice from a few friends and if I thought I wanted it I bought it:) When we got back to the room Todd took Sam and Ellie swimming and Betsy took a nap. Tonight we are going out to eat with all the families that are staying here. There is an Italian restaurant nearby, so we're going to try it out! Will let you know how it goes...that's all for now.

Goodbye Harbin...Hello Guangzhou!!

We are officially settled in to our new home for the next several days...The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. This place is wonderful:) Let me go back and tel you about our last night and day in Harbin...then I'll fill you in on what has been going on today. Thursday night we decided we would venture out and try a local favorite restaurant about one block from our hotel. The name of the restaurant was The Dumpling House, so you can imagine what they serve...that's right dumplings! The family we met while in Harbin said it was great. We decided since it was our last night there we would try it out...kind of a farewell to Harbin meal. We walked to the restaurant, and quickly realized we were in trouble. We had no one to translate, and the entire menu was in Chinese! Ok now I know what you are thinking...well, you are in China what do you expect? Usually there are at least pictures! haha:) Guess what? No pictures...Todd remembered that the Vaupel familyhad their guide with them to help...great! Well...long story short, I found a sweet waitress who had a hand held translater in her purse. She got it out, I wrote down beef, pork, shrimp, and vegetable, and we had a delicious meal! After that we ate ice cream and went back to the hotel. The next da (Friday) we ate breakfast, packed, and went to take a few pictures before we had to leave. Teresa saidshe would be in the lobby at 12:10pm, and we would leave for the airport. Our flight was scheduled to take of at 2:30pm. We met Teresa in the lobby, took a few pictures with her, and we were on our way! When it was time to say goodbye to Teresa we were all a little sad...especially Ellie. We enjoyed getting to know her, and she was with us when we got Betsy. We exchanged email addresses and plan to send her pictures of Betsy with our entire family once we are home. When we got on the plane Betsy DID NOT want to be buckled in her seat! Todd just held on to the buckle part. A few tears were shed, but she was over it soon. Next, she had to go to the potty. The plane was just starting to level off. Todd got up and took her. She was fine until he flushed...the noise scared her to death!! After that she would say she needed to go, but when we would get up and take her she would cry and not get on the potty. She refused to go for the next 4 hours! She would cry, but would not go. When we got to Guangzhou and got with Lily, our guide, she talked to Betsy and told her not to be afraid of going to the potty on the plane. She said she and Rebecca, our other guide, would talk to her again before we leave. Please pray this is not an issue on the way home. When we got to the hotel Todd went to Subway to get dinner and the kids got their baths. We went to bed after that...so tired! We love our new hotel!! It is a very large suite...plenty of room. Today we went for Betsy's medical exam. We met Lily and Rebecca and five or six other families from the US in the lobby at 10:00am. We got on a bus and went to the medical building. Betsy did fine until the TB test. She did not like it at all and cried big tears...breaking my heart! The good thing was that she let me hold her, comfort her , and was happy in a few minutes. I'm not sure if I have said exactly what her special need is lately, but it is Nystagmus of the left eye. Basically that means there is a shaking of the eye The doctor said he could hardly detect any shaking. If you are looking at her it looks like she has a lazy eye. Her vision is poor in her left eye because her right eye has compensated for the left eye for so long. She will need glasses when we get home. We will take her to the eye doctor as soon as we can. We have met some great families, and know we will enjoy our stay here. However, I am missing my little boys at home, and can't wait to see them! We love you Hugh and Henry!! See you soon:)

from Meia (now in Guangzhou)

Heard from Meia earlier and she said to do a quick post....here is what she said:


"We made it fine...all is well...got in around 7:00pm...to hotel maybe 7:45...It is awesome here!! Probably the nicest place we've ever stayed...Betsy did ok...had some tummy issues:( scared of potty in airplane! Anyway...just wanted to let you know we're good, but very tired...10:30 here. Meia"


Jennifer M