Addie's Adventures

We made it home

2006-09-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

We made it home. The trip was interesting to say the least. The trip was almost 22 hours with about 19 of that being in the air. Let me just say that there are very few people I would wish that experience on. Sorry, there are no pics with this post but we have to find the disc to install the drivers to download the pics for this site on this computer. We will get that done and try to post some recent pics in the next day or two. Addie and I are still on China time and that means our days and nights are mixed up so we are trying to adjust to that. It is good to be home.

Kevin

Good bye China

2006-09-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

We are saying goodbye to China. None too soon. This will be my last post from China. It is noon in China and as you can see Addie has gone down for her afternoon nap. We have a wake up call for 4:30 in the a.m. and our bags have to be ready to go at 5:00 so I will have to pack tonight after Addie goes to bed. We leave the hotel at 5:45 a.m. and our flight leaves Guangzhou at 8:30. From there we go to Tokyo, from Tokyo to Detroit and Detroit to Huntsville. Our trip will be somewhere around 22 hours so please pray for us during this time, we will really need it. I want to say thanks to everyone who has posted comments, e-mailed or prayed for us during this trip you have really lifted my spirits many times. There is no way I can thanks to everyone for everything ya'll have done for me and my family but I do want to say thanks to Tom and Laura Morgan. My journey has been much easier with your help. The computer has been a life saver. Thanks to my wonderful wife Leann, knowing Ellyse is taken care of and doing well is a comfort to me. Thanks to everyone. A note for anyone meeting us at the airport: We really appreciate you wanting to meet Addie but there are a lot of bonding issues to deal with when a child has been in an orphanage so no one else will be able to hold her or touch her except me, LeAnn and Ellyse. We don't want to offend anyone but we have to do what is best for Addie. If you are coming a long way to go to the airport you may just want to call us when we get back and come by the house to see her. Thanks again to everyone for everything. Your thoughts have meant more to me than you will ever know.

So long from China,

Kevin and Addie

hey

2006-09-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

hello everyone,
we went on the river cruise tonight. it was nice. all along the river there are lots of buildings lit up in different colors. the colors change and move. the bridges are lit up too. we have our consolate appointment tomorrow. we get babies visa and then we are free to go! none too soon i can tell you. i am too old for this. i think i mentioned earlier about the lady with the broken leg. i got her full story today. during her first week here when they were in her child's province they were touring a rice paddie. she fell in a hole or something and broke the bone in her upper leg. she dropped the baby and the baby went in to the water face down. she reached out and twisted to get the baby and broke her leg a second time. they had to make a splint for her leg and carry her out. she had to go immediatley and have surgery. to make matters worse she is here by herself. they have hired a student to push her around in her wheelchair. i do not know what they will do about her going home. she definately needs all our prayers. looking at the pics. one is the girls in our group in traditional chinese outfits on the red couch. left to right is addie, annali and alaina. in the other you can see this child has some monkey toes. well see yall soon.

kevin

46 hours to departure

2006-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

hey everyone,
we did not go to the toy market today. the other families were still a little sick or recovering from being sick. i decided to stay in the room and let addie get a good afternoon nap, it has been a few days since she had one and i can tell a difference. i have thanked the Lord many times for allowing me and addie to remain healthy so far during this journey. i will post some pice tonight.

Kevin

Things I miss

2006-09-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

I miss water you drink from the tap, a soft bed, streets that don't smell like the french quarter and most of all the rest of my family. O.K. enough whining. I have eaten at Lucy's the last three nights. It is a place that serves some western food. Tonight I had the chicken fried rice, it was good but my stomach feels a little funny now. My stomach would probably feel real funny if I had eaten at the other place pictured. You may have to look close but you can make out some type of bird hanging in the window. I really feel ripped off, talk about false advertising. I went in to this one store and I did not feel any over 1.75 times as happy. I think it is a plain case of false advertising. Tomorrow we are going to the toy store. It is apparently a whole mall of nothing but toys. If no one else in my group goes I probably will not go. The way things have been going I may be the only one left healthy. We are also going on a river cruise tomorrow night. Addie and I are both doing well right now. She now has 11 teeth and I think I can feel 2 or 3 more coming in. At this rate she will have a full set before her first birthday. Did I mention she can snore loud enough to wake the neighbors. Go Saints and Roll Tide. Ya'll start praying right now about my trip home Thursday. Thanks.

Kevin

back from shopping

2006-09-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hey, Those of our group that were not throwing up or worse or both went shopping today. This pictue is us eating at Pizza Hut. Not as good as the pizza hut at home. The other pics are of the inside of the mall and looking down a street with shops. When you are in a shopping area all the shops of one type are grouped together. One whole floor of the mall might be jewelry while another floor would be children's clothes. When we were in Wuhan two whole blocks were nothing but cell phone stores. Addie fell asleep while we were shopping so that ruined her nap for the afternoon. She is in the floor playing right now. She can spot a piece of fuzz on the floor ten feet away and makes a bee line straight for it. Tomorrow our guide takes our paperwork to the consulate and hopefully I will get Addie's visa Wednesday. That is the last thing I need and then I am free to leave. I just hope I do not join the others in my group who can not stay out of the bathroom. 77 hours and 15 minutes and I should be landing in Huntsville. See a'll soon.

Kevin

Sunday Night

2006-09-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, Here are some pics. The first one is in front of the Swan Room. This is a large room, in the hotel, that Mattell Toy Co. furnishes with toys for adoptive families to use. You can also see Addie out for a night on the town in Guangzhou. Yes she is napping on the floor, yes it is probably nasty but I was not going to take a chance on waking her up after she finally decided to take a nap. She tends to fight sleep and I did not want to give her the chance to go another round, I was afraid she might win. Fortunately she likes to ride in the stroller. She will sit in it and not fuss at all as long as I am pushing her around. There is a lady here who has broke her leg since getting to China and getting her daughter. She is in a wheel chair and has a Chinese lady pushing her around. I feel sorry for her on the plane ride home. When I dread the flight home I know that it could be worse. Tomorrow our guide is taking us to some shopping area away from the hotel. I think it will be a cheaper area to shop. Laura, if you want me to get Sarah Ann some of the snacks you can e-mail me a picture so i will know what to look for. That is how I got more formula. Since I can not read the package I took a picture of what she was using with the digital camera and showed it to the lady at the store. This is a very touristy area. When I was shopping all the ladies in the stores would ask where Addie was from and by some strange coincidence every one of them was from the same province and same town. Strange how that happens. Well, I am off to bed.

Kevin

5 more days

2006-09-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello, We are back from the zoo. It is a nice place. You can see me and Addie at the fish exhibition. These gold fish are called Panda fish. She fell asleep at the zoo for a little while and I am afraid that ruined her afternoon nap. I am going to try to get her to go to sleep. Roll Tide. Good to have a Tiffin again.

Kevin

Bath day

2006-09-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

It was bath day in Guangzhou. She takes a bath really well. In Wuhan I had sat her in the sink. Here the shower has a hand held nozel so she stood in the tub and held on to the side while I used the nozle to wash her. This worked much better than sitting in the sink. As you can see by this pic she is able to sit us by herself. Her crawling is getting better every day. From what I can remember about Ellyse at 10 months I do not think Addie is too delayed. She now has 10 teeth and at least 3 more coming through. She has them and is not afraid to use them. One song they will never sing about her is "Baby's got back" (takes after her daddy I guess). You older folks may have to find someone younger to explain that one to you. After her nap today we played in the room for a few hours and then went for a walk around Guangzhou. After supper we went to a grocery store and picked up some stuff. We got a 28 pack of pampers, a coke, 6 batteries, formula and wet wipes for about $15.00. It was a little rainy today, hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow at least while we are at the zoo. Hope everyone back home is doing well. I guess I should explain about the red couch picture. When you adopt from China you spend the first week of your trip in the province your child is from. The second week you come to Guangzhou. Everyone who adopts stays at the White Swan. They cater to adopting parents. So it has become a tradition to place your child on the red couch at the White Swan and take their picture.

Kevin

Found a few more orphanage pics

2006-09-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

I found a few more orphanage pics on the other card. There is a little better pic of AnnaLi. That is here nanny holding her. You could tell which nannies cared for which babies because they followed us around the whole time and kept wanting to hold one particular child. You can see the whole family of each child in the group picture. The family on the far right is the Weeklys. They have a daughter age 4 who is a little camera shy. She was also adopted from China. Hope to post more tonight. I found the pics do better if you upload them first and then add the text. Maybe I can post larger groups of pics now since I know that is what you all really want.

Kevin

Orphanage pics

2006-09-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

These are a few pictures from the Orphanage, I did not take many I did more video there. The little girl with the bow is AnnaLi Weekly from Huntsville and the girl without the bow is Alaina Pryor from Birmingham. Both of these little girls families have been great to help me at and I have really enjoyed this trip more because of them. Like I said I did not take many pics because I was using the video camera and switching back and forth was a pain because I was holding Addie at the same time. Amazing what all you can do with one hand when you have to.

See ya,

Kevin

It is Saturday, I think

2006-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hey,
It has been a busy morning. We went for our physical, that went o.k. Addie weighs 17 and 1/2 pounds. She did well for the most part but when you are in a small area with about 125-150 babies it can get hectic, she was ready to go at the end, it was lunch time and she wanted a nap. When we got back I had to feed her lunch and then hurry down to complete some paperwork. She fell asleep while we did that so it made it easier. She slept really well last night. She went to sleep about 9 and did not get up until 5:30. I gave her a bigger bottle at bed time and that eliminated the middle of the night feeding but led to her waking a little earlier. When we got back from the medical and I was rushing to feed her and giver her a bottle to go do the paperwork the bottle liner busted and went everywhere and most of you know what dried formula smells like, well Chinese formula does not smell any better just sweeter. I stink. When we got in last night and were registering a couple of busses pulled up, there were at least 50 babies in that group. Apparently they were arriving all day because there are babies everywhere. In the room of adopting parents they leave a Barbie holding a tiny Chinese baby for you take home. It is cute. No more appointment today and tomorrow a.m. we are going to the zoo. In the pics you can see it was getting pretty rough around here, I had to resort to shackles. The other pic is of coure the long waited for RED COUCH PICTURE!!!!!

See yall soon.

Kevin

At the White Swan

2006-09-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

I made it back to Guangzhou and I am in my room at the White Swan. We got to the hotel about 9 p.m. and I have just finished getting Addie down and unpacking. Tomorrow we go get her Visa pic made and then get her physical. I am going to give her some tylenol before we go for the physical just in case she has a little fever. The pland ride was somthing. She was not bad, just acitve. Holding a 10 month old in a tiny plane seat is like giving a cat a bath. I think she made have need for some Benadryl before we head back to the states. Probably more than one dose for a trip of around 22 hours. At least it is quicker going home than coming. It took us 28 hours to get from huntsville to here. We got our adoption certificate today. I was ready to leave Wuhan. The polution was really making my sinuses act up. It does not seem to be as poluted here. I hope not anyways. I will try to post a couple of pics. I am tired and going to bed. Next Thurs when I head home ya'll may want to think about having one of those continuous prayer vigels. If the 1 hour 20 min. flight today is any indication of the trip home I will be ready for a straight jacket when I get there.

Kevin

Orphanage

2006-09-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

I guess since I traveled half way around the world to go to an orphanage I could at least try to tell you a little about it. I was glad I went. For anyone adopting I would recommend going to see your child's orphanage if you get the chace. You could tell the children were cared for and that their nanny's loved them. The staff seemed to be working the best they could with what they have. I doubt orphanages are at the top of the list during budget time. The facility was clean but was well used. As I said the food was very good. At the orphanage Addie was in, the children under age 3 go home with the staff at night and are only at the orphanage during the day. Every facility is different, the director has a lot of discretion on how he runs his facility. The director at Addies seemed to really care. I have some video and a few pictures from the places they would let us use our cameras. I have had a few comments from people doing the paperchase, good luck, I know it seems like it will never happen but it does. Before long you will be sitting in some hotel room in China. I will be happy to answer your travel questions when you get ready to go. I know it helped me to be able to ask someone questions and get advice on what is helpful during the trip.

See ya,

Kevin

Things you forget

2006-09-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hello,
One of the things you forget about if you have not had an infant around the house for a while is the importance of a good dirty diaper. Unless you have lived it you really can not understand how otherwise rational adults can be consumed by the bowel movements of infanst. There has been much conversation in our group today about who has not pooped who has and when. I had fogotten that part of being a parent. On to a more acceptable topic. Before we left for the orphanage this a.m. Addie and I walked across the street (it took me this long to get up the courage) to a large park. There were probably 30-40 kites being flown. Most of the people flying kites were men in there 50's to 60's. The kites were mostly homemade and really something to see. In some places 2 or 3 people were working together. They put a lot of time is some of those kites. On one side of the park some employees of a business were doing pre-work exercises. They really get use out of there parks and public places here. The orphanage was about 2 hours away. As haphazard as traffic is in the city it is very controlled on the highways. I think we drove about 50 miles an hour and there was not much traffic. There were people sweeping the sides of the highways and the onramps all along the way. I really do not know how to describe the orphanage. The people were very nice and we were served a meal that was probably the best meal I have had since we got here. I think this was probably the most authentic Chinese food I have had. I am leaving to go back to Guangzhou tomorrow so I may not post anything but I will if we get settled in early enough. I am going to try to post a couple of pics here and then a few more on another post. I have had a hard time getting them to post lately.

kevin

Good Morning

2006-09-06T15:04:00.001-07:00

Good Morning,
It is a little before 6 a.m. here in Wuhan. Addie is still asleep so I thought I would post something since we will be away from the hotel all day. Today we go to the orphanage. I am a little nervous about meeting the foster parents and Addie seeing them. It will all work out though. The reason I am up and she is not is that I try to get up about 30 minutes before her so I can get my shower and get her stuff out, it is easier if she is not helping. I was thinking about some of the things I have written and just wanted to say that I hope no one thinks that any of my comments are meant in a deragatory manner. I am in no way making fun of China or its people. I am just trying to point out the differences and how odd some of them seem from an Americans perspective. The vast majority of the people here a kind and helpful. They are very proud of their past and honest about short comings. This may be a communist country but let me tell you it is every bit as much a capitalist market as anywhere. Addie is waking up, I hope to put up a few pics of the orphanage tonight and of course one or two of Addie.

Kevin

Of course there is no place like home.

2006-09-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Problems with pics

2006-09-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Having problems uploading pics, I will try to post a couple of Addie and then I am going to bed. I will try the other ones tomorrow with shorter text.

kevin

Another day behind us

2006-09-06T06:19:00.001-07:00

Hello,
It is Wednesday night in China about 9:30 and Addie has gone done for the night. She does pretty well about sleeping through the night except for one quick snack. The weather was beautiful here today, mid 80's with a little breeze and not much humidity, the nicest so far. The breakfast buffet is always interesting. All the dishes have the name written in Chinese and then in English below that. The most intersting this morning was "pig belly in chili oil" If it had said spicy bacon I probably would have gone back for seconds. It really did not look too bad. There is always a side table with several different dishes, one is "Cong Che" Spelling? It is basically runny grits. Also on that table is some type of pickeled insect pod. I say it looks like a butterfly cocoon but Chris thinks they are silk worm pods. Also on that table is some type of pickeled egg that is dark translucent gray. On fear factor they have something that looks the same and they call it hundred year old eggs. For those of you that have always wanted to know there is no thirteenth floor in Chinese buildings either, 11, 12, 14, 15 and so on. In an amazing revelation Addie has already learned to speak English. Everything she touches goes in her mouth. I say no, don't put that in your mouth and she does anyways. She picked up the teething ring and started to put that in her mouth and I told her she could put that in her mouth so she promptly threw it down and stuck the remote control back in her mouth. She understands she just has the meaning of yes and no backwards. I am going to enclose some pics of local stuff in this post. There are lots of buses. Some are electric. The are attached to overhead wires and have to stary directly under the wires. That is the reason for the bus pictures. The others are just stuff i saw on the way to McDonalds. I will post Addie pics seperately. Thanks again for all the supportive notes and your prayers. I know God is blessing me through your prayers granting me patience and good humor and patience and patience.

Kevin

2006-09-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

OOPS, here are the pictures from Ellyse's birthday party

2006-09-06T00:36:00.000-07:00

try again

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLYSE!!!!

2006-09-06T00:26:00.000-07:00

Today is Ellyse's birthday. She is 5 years old. The prettiest 5 year old I have ever seen if I say so myself, she must get her looks from her mother. These are pics from her birthday party we had the Sunday before I left.

Pics

2006-09-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here is what you have been waiting for. More Addie.

Just another post

2006-09-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
Addie is down for her nap so I thought I would put up some pictures and let you know what we have done today. This a.m. we went to a museum and did a little shopping. When we got back to the hotel our group decided to walk down the street about a mile or so and eat at McDonalds. Best double cheeseburger I ever had. Addie is truly my child, she loves some McDonalds french fries. You would expect to encounter some challenging things when you come to China who would of thought that two of the toughtest would be crossing the street and getting on the elevator. There are about 8 million people here in Wuhan and I had to fight about half of them to get on the elevator at McDonalds. The other half were trying to run me over on the way back. The only thing scarier than beingin a car here is being a pedestrian. Someone told me there are more pedestrian fatalities in Beijing than any where else in the world. I can certainly believe it. There is a trip to the orphanage tomorrow and I was going to stay here and walk around while because it is 2 hours there and 2 hours back, plus I am not sure about Addie seeing her foster parents right now but I have about talked myself in to going. I think I would be sorry later if I did not go. Well, I will post some pics on another post.
See ya in 9 days.

Kevin

Pics for Tues

2006-09-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here you go!!!

One day closer to home

2006-09-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

It is Tues night about 8:30 and Addie just went to sleep for the night (I hope). She had a long nap this afternoon. She has several teeth coming in and I think this is making her a little grumpy at times. She already has 8 teeth and a least 4 more coming in. Those 8 are sharp let me tell you. I thought she was going to take my finger off. My fault for sticking it in there I guess. I was trying to rub some oragel on her gums. I gave her a bath tonight and washed her hair. This is the first time I had really examined her all over with no clothes on. I noticed some marks on her lower back, rear end and feet. Some were darker than others. They looked like someone had beat her over a period of time. I thought "When she gets her physical next week they are going to think I beat this child" So I wrapped her in a towel and ran down to the Pryor's room in a panic. He is a pharmacist so I thought he might have some idea what it was. Ms. Pryor came to the door and I asked her to look at the marks, she told me they were call Mongolian Marks and are common Asians, especially Asians that are darker complected. Their daughter has the same marks and she thought the same thing I did but someone else in our group told her what it was. Tomorrow we are going to a museum and to do a little shopping. I am going to try to save all my purchases for next week so I do not have to carry extra stuff around for another week and a half. I will post some pictures in a following post. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

Kevin

The jacket

2006-09-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

I forgot to say something about the jacket. I commented yesterday on how hot it is here and in one of these pics she is wearing a jacket. The high today is the chilly mid 80's and the wind is blowing. When we went to breakfast I had Addie in a long sleeve onsey and long pants. The lady at the desk chastised be because it was cold out today. When we met in the lobby to go to the office today I took her jacket to put on her. As I was putting it on a lady came over and helped me and put her blanket in her lap and then pointed at her head and said not enough. It was like having granny right here with me. When we got to the office 30 minutes later her little shirt was soaked through. The Pryors had there baby in a very reasonable summer outfit with shorts and they were sent back upstairs to get a jacket and a blanket to wrap the baby in. Everyone who speaks English officer advice on what you need to be doing with your baby at that point. She is sleepy, she is hungry, she is cold, although you never here she is hot which is usually the case. Yesterday we were given instructions not to keep our air conditioners on all the time because the baby will get cold. Well, that explains the jacket.

Kevin

Still nap time

2006-09-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello,
I posted those pics first because it uploads a lot faster if you do not have a lot of text with the pics. This morning we went back to the local adoption office. We reviewed and completed some paperwork. We came back and ate some lunch and Addie just laid down for her afternoon nap. She took a long one yesterday, we will see today. She gets a little fussy at sleep time and this causes her nose to run then when I try to clean her nose she gets mad and gets even stuffier. Don't even think about using the snot sucker thing. She is small but suprisingly strong. She does not like to lay on her back which makes it difficult to change her diaper. Tomorrow we go sight see and shop some. This province is known for turqoise so we will probably get a little piece for her to have later. Hope everyone at home is doing well.

See ya,

Kevin

Nap time!!!

2006-09-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

I will post pictures on this post and write on my next.

Good Morning

2006-09-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

Last night went well. Addie slept all night. I slept about 6 hours, best yet. She went to sleep at 8 and got up at 2 for 1/2 a bottle and then slept until 6 this a.m. We are about to leave for an appointment and to do some paperwork. I will post some pics tonight.

Kevin

End of another day

2006-09-04T05:28:00.000-07:00

We made it through our first day together and I have to say it was much better than I thought it would be. She is a real trooper. Other than being a little fussy this evening and not wanting me to clean her nose she has been friendly and playful. We had several intense game of peek-a-boo. The managment had to call up and ask us to keep it down. She likes for you to hold her up in the air. I was in the restaraunt holding her over my head and the waitress came by and said "too high". We just laughed. She had some scrambled eggs for supper. Her schedule got thrown off a little today. She usually eats lunch at 12:00 but she fell asleep on the way back from the office today about 11:00 and i did not want to wake her up. She slept while I carried her in and laid her on the bed. I had to wake her a little after 2:00 so we could go downstairs and do some paperwork. We will be able to stick to her schedule tomorrow though. She usually goes to bed at 9:00 but we were laying on the bed playing and she got still so I called LeAnn and while we were talking she rolled over yawned and was out like a light. That is the picture where she looks like a rag doll. I put her in her crib and she never woke up. I am going to wash the bottles and stuff and head to bed myself. They say she gets up at 2:30 for a small bottle. I have not done that in a while.

Kevin

And then there were four

2006-09-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

I know you are not interested in my ramblings, just baby pics. I will just say it went great, way better than I ever hoped. The trip to the office wiped her out or they medicated her or both but she fell asleep on the drive back. She is beautiful. I will write more about the trip later.

Kevin

Gotcha Day!!!

2006-09-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,
Well, it is finally here. Gotcha Day! For those of you not up on adoption lingo, Gotcha Day is the day you finally get your baby! We go to some office today at 10:00 a.m. to meet the people from the orphanage and get our baby. The babies will travel 2 to 3 hours before they get there. I am sure they will be in a good mood after that trip. I hope to have pictures posted in 6 or 7 hours. Keep me in your prayers today.

Kevin

pics for previous post

2006-09-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

having a little problem posting pics, try again.

tomorrow!!!!

2006-09-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

Hey,
It is Sunday evening about 8:30. Alabama time is 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Just remember i am 13 hours ahead. I was hoping Tom would teach Sunday school with a web cam but I don't guess that is in the renovation budget. Good news Tom and Laura, your computer made the trip in great shape!!! your luggage, well..... On to a happier topic. I have really enjoyed reading everyones comments, thanks, they mean alot. Today I did not do much. We did walk down to a store where I bought a stroller and a watch. The hotels do not have clocks in the rooms so the only source of time I have is the computer clock. Wuhan is known as one of the 3 furnaces of China and it is not for industrial reasons. The heat is unbelievable. Fortunately the air conditioner in my room works well. You see many things in China that are odd to someone from the states. I am on the seventeenth floor and my window opens. When you look at all the really tall buildings half of the windows will be open, I guess this is due to a lack of air conditioning. There has been no seat belt in any car I rode in. Lots of things that we would consider safety hazards. I assume they do not have a problem with frivoulous law suits. There are two stations on my television that have english speaking channels. One channel is HBO and the other is ESPN. They are different than those stations in the states though. I have enclosed a few pictures. In them you will see mom and big sister at Ellyse's b-day party which was Sun. before I left. They are anxiously waiting for me to get home so they can see lil' sister. You will also see Chinese arobics, Chinese badminton(using a bike for a net) and Chinese supper. Yum, Yum (You really need to click on that picture so you can see it up close). Unfortunatley my picture of the water beetles did not come out well. I guess I will run now. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Thanks again for the comments and your prayers. Remember tomorrow is a big day so keep me in your prayers at church. Miss you all.

P.S. Tom and Laura, the luggage is not in bad shape it just looks like someone worked on an engine and used the luggage to clean their hands. I really appreciate the use of your computer it has made me feel closer to home and family.
Kevin

update

2006-09-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Good morning,
I read what i posted last night before I went to sleep and discovered it did not make much sense. To try to clarify a little. When I arrived in Guangzhou I went to the White Swan and spent the night. Then around 2 o'clock the next afternoon I went to the airport and flew to Wuhan and I am staying at the White Rose. I will be here until Fri. when I will return to Guangzhou for 6 or 7 days. I slept pretty well last night. I woke up at 2 and watched television until 4 and then slept until 6. I then got up and unpacked. I tried to get the Alabama game on the internet radio but never could get it to connect. Oh well, I will try an ESPN site to get scoring updates. Tomorrow morning is the big day. It is very exciting. I will post something tonight about what we did today. I think we are just going to get whatever baby supplies we need this afternoon and then going to eat somewhere. The whole currency thing is really strange. Last night the supper buffet was 128 RMB which I thought sounded rather expensive. It is actually only about $16.00 and there was a lot of choices. I had some currency exchanged yesterday, $500.00 u.s. was about 3,900 RMB. Well, I am going to try the breakfast now.

see ya,

Kevin

bad news

2006-09-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,
I am in Wuhan. Finally. The bad news I will not get Addie until Mon. a.m. at 10:00, this will be 9:00 p.m. Alabama time. I got in to Guangzhou last night at around 11:00 after traveling only 28 hours. The White Swan is a very nice hotel. I had a chance to walk around in Guangzhou this morning for a couple of hours. Very interesting. While I was eating breakfast I was looking out at the Pearl River. There is a lot of boat, barge and tour boat travel. After a while I noticed there were three people swimming in the middle of the river. I got to looking and people were everywhere. I took a picture and you a can see the boats but you can't really see all the people in the water. I asked the guide and he said they do it for exercise. Some of the large boats would only miss them by 20 feet or so. It was a strange site. Speaking of near misses I had a 45 minute ride from the airport I will never forget. I will touch on that later, I am not emotionally able to think about it right now. I am posting a few pictures of the hotel and the hotel grounds. I will post more tomorrow.

Computer Simulation

2006-08-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the day. There has been a lot to do in a short time but I think I am ready. No detail has gone neglected. We have even gone so far as to have a computer simualtion of what I might look like with Addie in a snugglie. I do not think she will be this hairy but you never know. Actual pictures of Addie will probably first be posted Sunday before lunch Alabama time.

See ya.

Waiting to Travel

2006-08-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
I am Kevin Strickland. This is the Strickland family blogsite. Currently our family is myself (dad), LeAnn (mom) and Ellyse (five year old daughter, big sister). As you may have guessed we are adotping a beautiful little girl from China. Here name is Addison Xin Strickland. I will be posting here during my trip so friends and family can keep up to date on what is going on with Addie and myself. Please keep me in your prayers during this journey.

Note: If you are critical of spelling or grammar stay away from this site. I am not doing this for a grade and many post will be made in a sleep deprived state.