Finally

I finally have found time to update my blog. It has been on my mind every day but just haven't found the time. So here I am now at0 06:00 in the morning.

China was wonderful, China was torture. I have a new appreciation for what it feels like to be in a foreign country and not speak the language or know the culture. I have a new appreciation for home and my family. I never want to be that far away for that long again. I am so glad we were able to use Skype while we were there otherwise I would have been completely home sick and miserable. I love being able to talk to the boys almost everyday and keep in touch with family. I did not have access to my blog and only limited access to email. I could send emails through my yahoo account.

I loved learning about Chinese culture and history. The architecture and art was beautiful. The history is long and complicated full of superstition and excess. Chinese culture of today I could do without. For one shopping is no fun, YES I said shopping is no fun. When you go to a store the sales ladies follow you around and I mean follow you around right behind you trying to get you to buy just about everything, don't worry if you don't see it they will find it. We went to some markets which is where all of the knock off stuff is that they insist is real and want to sell it to you for brand name prices but the key to getting a good price is to bargain. Bargaining in China is more like fighting. The only way you know you got a good price is to make the shop owner mad. Some keys to shopping in China, don't look at an item for too long and what ever you do don't touch it otherwise even if you didn't want it, it will be easier for you to buy it than to walk away. One day while we were shopping we had 3 shop owners begging us to look at there shop while we tried to walk away they are pulling you by the shoulder to come back. I don't deal well with stranger touching me. There is also no rules about waiting in line. Line jumping is a sport in China. There also is no personal space in China if you want to get somewhere you just walk right in front of them no matter how close you get. The best part is the driving. I had heard not to walk out in the street alone but I thought perhaps this was being blown out of proportion but little did I know that it was worse that I thought. There are very few street lights or stop signs and no driving rules. Noone uses turn signals, if you want to get over into the next lane you just go even if there is a car there, they better get out of your way. Even if you need to get over 3 lanes while turning that is ok. Everyone accepts this behavior. Drivers may honk but there is no "road rage". For example, one day our driver need to turn around so he could let us out on the correct side of the road so he went to the next intersection and did a U TURN in the middle of the busy intersection with cars coming at us in all directions I might add that the other cars did not stop they just turned to not hit us and keep going. This was one of the few time I saw my life flash before my eyes.

Now to the part that I loved about China. ANNA. We arrived in China on September 12 and we got her on the 13. She was handed to us in the parking lot of the hotel. (Not how I had pictured)She has amazed us ever since. Anna developmentally was far more behind than we had been told but she is learning very quickly. She does not speak, not even in Chinese, but she is making new sounds every day. She also learning sign language very quickly. Since we have been home she has started walking. She is very curious and loving and is learning quickly. We have many evaluations to go to and lots of therapy and possible surgery in our future. But she is amazing and brings us all much joy. The boys love her. When we used to go out to diner the argument would be who would sit next to mommy now the argument is who will sit next to Anna.

We had a wonderful group of people that we traveled with. All of our groups children were from the Beijing orphange. Beijing orphange has 1300 children in it with 400 nannies to care for these children. 96% if these children are special needs. Anna has a meningocele, there was a 22month old boy in our group that was missing the lower part of is right arm, there was a 3 and half year old girl who has cerebral palsy, and a 7 year old girl with elephantitis of her left leg. It was wonderful to share our experience with them and will be forever friends. We also had a wonderful guide that help us with everything including interpreting, make sure we ate the right food and didn't eat things that would make us sick, she taught us about Chinese history and culture, she got us good deals on the things we purchased, she got us medicine if we needed it. Our experience would not have been the same without her.

We did some amazing things while in China. Since Anna was in Beijing we had to stay longer because it takes longer to get her passport. So we saw some things we otherwise would not have. We went to Tienenman Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall, Lama temple(which is a working Buddist temple), we went on a rickshaw tour, we saw and acrobatic show, went to some beautiful Chinese parks. We ate at many Chinese restaurants and the food was actually really good. We also ate at McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe.

We have been very busy since we've gotten home. There is still alot of paperwork to complete and of course doctors appointments and the jet lag is kicking my butt but I am so glad to be home.