Holiday Time With LiLi

LiLi is enjoying life as an American girl . Each day she get a new present. Some are for Chanukah, other are early Christmas presents or late birthday presents. She must think that america is all about presents (isn't it?).

Her words are coming quickly. Yesterday she said "see BaBa soon". She is in day care with a three year old friend. She love to say her name , " Asssshley"

BaBa asked MaMa for some money for lunch.. Just then LiLi came running up with something in her hand.. a penny!!

Each day a new door is opened.

This will be a wonderful Holiday with LiLi ..she glows with excitment and you can't help but catch it!

Pictures

LiLi loves to watch educational televsion. Every morning we wake up and sit together watching 64 Zoo Lane and Ebb and Flo . There is a giraffe on 64 Zoo Lane and when Lucy slides down her neck she says wheee!!. She is amazing in her ability to learn. She understands so much .. will run to pick up the phone and hand it to you ..helps clean up, holding the dust pan.. Signs and says I love you in the crib at night.

They say each child is meant for you ..you just have to wait for her. I don't know if that is correct but we do know that we couldn't love LiLi more . She is the cutest .nicest child we could ever imagine. If you are hurt she makes a sorry face and ooawh..says more to anything she wants more of.. knows where her treats are in the refrigerator.. grabs your hand and puts it on her clothes to tell you she spilled water on her ... grabs a cane and hangs from it ..feet in air ..she is so strong..so athletic.. loves to step up on a book to practice, can walk up the stairs (with help from her hands) ..and on the scale to weigh her self

She is a gift from God no doubt

Lili at Play

LiLi is doing great at home. She had learned many English expressions.. including cat bird and shoes . She loves 1..2..3 pop up and will hold us down to pop up with her.. where are your shoes LiLi.. she runs to find them .. Came home last night and removed my pants .she was behind me with my shorts.. put the pillow behind my head when I exercise. loves to sit next to us to watch Teletubbies .. pats the couch if we are not there..check out pictures at
http://johndubrule2.spaces.msn.com/

Life At Home

LiLi is settling in to life in America . She likes to see people and asks for the strolller which she calls walk.

We used to watch the Teletubbies and now it's LiLi's favorite show.. She likes the hypnotic windmill and the laughing baby.

She got a present of Mickey Mouse and loved it .She tried feed him Cherrios. A true American girl.

Home

LiLi arrived in her new home last night. We were worried that our rambuncious cat might frighten liLi. He ran under the bed and hide almost immediately when she came in. So much for that problem.

We were lucky on the flight home. The flight attendant asked the person next to us to move and we had three seats across. Charming LiLi made friends with a lady on the flight. She told LiLi in Mandarin to kiss her mommie and daddy and LiLi did. Only our second kiss. Lili also decided tht she was going to feed us and not the other way around. She took her spoon and fed her parents some ice cream. Maybe she can get a job and we can play with toys all day!!

LiLi met her Grandma, Aunt, Uncles and cousins and was given a big welcome to the family in NY.

We are happy to back in Florida now safe and sound.

Life at The White Swan

The White Swan is the hotel where many families stay before they get their visa at theAmerican consulate here in Guanzhou. LiLi passed her medical exam today so everything is going smoothly. In the room LiLi loves to play on the king size bed running from Pam to me and falling down and getting tickled. She rides piggy back on us. She loves to be lifted in the air high and get a wheee from her Ba Ba. Mama lifts her up to the window and night where she can wathch all the colorful boats on the river. The hotel gaved her a Barbie doll with an Asian baby. We found out that dada din't mean Papa but doll.. she missed her doll

In a nearby park there are old couple learning to Salsa, a whole group of ladies praticing a kind of fan dance, snapping their fans. They grabbed Pam to join them.

As fun as it is here we are ready to come home.

Telephones and Bellybuttons

LiLi has learned to use the tv remote. If she doesn't like the channel she pushes buttons until she finds the one that makes the channel change. She has been doing this for a couple of days. This morning she held the remote up to her ear like a phone and said Wai--hello. The she punched a bunch of numbers on the remote and held it to her ear again and started talking.

She likes bellybuttons. She pulled up her shirt and was looking at hers and started giggling. Then she pulled up my shirt to look at my bellybutton.

All the wait staff at the hotel gather and around her and talk to her and giggle when she responds. Our two social workers Echo and Mary seems to love her . They talk to her in Chinese and the three of them giggle and smile

Sometimes LiLi sings a soft song . We don't know what it is. She likes books. She likes to flip the pages like a deck of cards. She found a pen and pretended to write in the book.

Today is our last day in Kunming. Last night we sat in an beautiful outdoor restaurant by the side of a lake and ate dinner. Of course the waitresses loved LiLi. We have enjoyed Kunming but look forward to Guangzhou where buying things for LiLil will be easier. Next blog from the White Swan Hotel.

We Are Parents of LiLi

it Happened we made it to Kunming and found the most wonderful little girle waiting for us . This morning we became her parents. It was a joyous moment. Made even more joyous after the rough first day . She is very smart and so wanted to stay with her care takers whom she slept with and called mother and father .
We thought we had torn her away from them . This mroing though LiLi looked at Pam and said MaMa and gave her a kiss. Pam could have died..

Here We Are in Hong Kong

We arrived last night in Hong Kong after a 16 hour flight. All in all it wasn't that bad. Hong Kong is so modern. We literally were through customs, on the train to Kowloon and in our hotel in one hour. It's all so tomorrrow here. Giant skyscrappers, tons of people speaking all languages. Hong Kong island from Kowloon at night is stunning. Kowloon park near us was muy interesante with lots of people practicing Tai Chi in a totally beautiful setting of trees flowers and birds in an urban oasis

We met our social worker Mary and got a big surprise. ten more pictures of LiLi. She even cuter now and she is walking!!. After we went to the famous bird marker where they sell thousand of bird and people bring their birds for a walk..
it's world cup time here and everyone is so into it... an easy way to start a converstaion

Tomorrow we are going to Hong Kong island to visit Aberdeen and the ' Peak' and maybe taste some dim sum.

Sunday is the big day.. only two more days and its seem so real now.

The Night Before

This is the last night before we leave. Last night a tropical storm blew through our area. There' a storm going on in the house today as we get ready. So much to do and to get ready. Here's LiLi' room the night before we leave

Next stop Hong Kong

Journey Is Set

Our journey to LiLi is now set. We leave for Hong Kong on Tuesday , June 14th. Here's the link to our hotel which was set up by ISS, our Chinese social workers. http://hongkonghotel.marcopolohotels.com/
We thought that we might be in our typical budget hotels but as you can see this will not be the case.
We leave for Kunming on Sunday the 18th and will get LiLi at 4pm.. Father's Day!!!! We are so excited and at the same time a bit nervous about being first time parents.

Looks like the hotel there will be very modern. Antoher red thread . Our friends daughter Lisa is studying in Kunming and will come visit us. http://www.harbour-plaza.com

After a week in Kunming where we will adopt LiLi it's on to Guangzhou and the famous White Swan hotel. http://www.white-swan-hotel.com/eng/Public/index.asp

We leave Hong Kong for NYC on June 30 and LiLi will be home in St. Pete on July 2nd.

Last night we made our final pre-LiLi trip up to BabiesRus. We bought a rocker for reading with LiLi. What stories will be readthere? What moments shared?

Are we ready to be parents.? Yes..Sunday will not come soon enough.

Travel dates Sets

We have made our travels. We go from Tampa to Newark then direct to HGK. We arrive midday the next day. We're to stay there until the 18th when we meet our group in the airport and travel to Kunming, the capital of the province of Hunnan. Maybe we will meet our daughter then which is Farther's day.

We stay there a week to complete the adoption. Then it's off to Guangxou and the embassy where we have a June 27th appoinment and have to wait for our visa. We return to Hong Kong by train.

We visited Hong Kong in 83 and will be happy to see that city again. ..Take the Star ferry

So exiciting a day

Travel Approval

Today was another exciting day. We received our travel approval to go to China. We were caught off guard at how quickly this happened. In fact we were on the telephone with Dr. Dumois, a special doctor who reviews medical records for international referrals, when we got the news. Pam was so excited that she started to hyperventilate. We had to spend much of the rest of the day putting together our application for a visa to China. That involved getting photos, money orders and solving the Fed-Ex puzzle. Along the way we heard many stories, sometimes frightening , of others who had adopted from China. Seems like everyone here knows someone who has done this.

The whole time a bright glow inside us moved us forward. Just three more weeks until we travel.

We are one step close to holding our LiLi.

Referral Day

After a long journey on April 28, 2006 we received our referral. Here she is. The name the orphanage gave her was Dang Fu Run. We think she is the first girl to be referred from Baoshan City Yunnan Province. We tentatively named her Lili. The next day we went to Oaxaca, Mexico. This trip was previously planned to distract us from the anxiety of waiting and possible disappointment should we have to wait another month. In restaurants Pam will go to "powder her nose" and the food will come while she is gone. When I made the plans for the trip we both knew this was our way of making the baby come.. It worked.

On November 27, 2004 after spending a week-end with our cousins and their children we were feeling a bit low because here we were 51 years old and had no children of our own . That morning we listened to Scott Simon tell a story about his daughter http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4189029 .He had adopted a child from China and he was older than we were!! It occurred to us that we could do this. That night I researched the web to find adoption agencies and information. It was exciting..Was it real? The next day we told our friends Charlie and Marijke . They were the first to congratulate us. It seemed real.