Hello Fourth and Fifth Graders!!

Hi Fourth and Fifth Graders!

How are you doing? I miss all of you. I look forward to your meeting Jinnae. I expect that you are behaving well for Mrs. Medema and getting good grades.

I found a bakery here today. They do not sell chocolate just lots of breads, cookies, and vanilla cakes. I found this cookie with a little bit of chocolate on it. I would have bought one for all of you but they would get smashed in my suitcase. I will get you a different special treat. :) Tell Miss Sjaarda and Mrs. Medema I said, Hello! or Ni Hao! (in Chinese). I do not know how to say hamburger in Chinese. I just had to point at a picture so they knew what I wanted.

I will see you in a few weeks once we get back and Jinnae gets settled. Jinnae will have to adjust to our time. She will think she is supposed to sleep during the day and stay up all night. That won't be good for her mommy. :)

I care about and miss all of you.

Good-bye! (Zai Jian!)

Mrs. Pulaski :)

Day 7 - The People's Park

This morning we went on a trip to a beautiful park called the People's Park. It was very nice. Jinnae found her first boyfriend there. A little boy was smitten with her and followed us through the whole park helping me push the stroller and making sure Jinnae was ok. His grandma quietly followed. Then we drove around a lake called Elephant Lake because it is shaped like an elephant. We are going to have a busy afternoon of doing paperwork and packing. We leave early tomorrow morning to the province of Guangzhou. We will try to update the blog once we get there. We are looking forward to staying in the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. They have a room with lots of toys for children. Jinnae will like that. We also hope to do lots of shopping. Please pray that Jinnae's first airplane flight will be very smooth. Love and miss everyone!

Day 6 - A Countryside Village in Jiangxi Province

Today was an eye opening and humbling day. We visited a village similar to the one that Jinnae was born in. The fathers were rice farmers and the mothers took care of the home. The homes did not have running water except for an outside spigot. There was no indoor plumbing. There were chickens and dogs running around. There were no modern farm machines. Oxen and bulls pulled the farm equipment around. As I walked through the village and visited the people, I cried. I am thankful Jinnae's biological mom carried her to term and delivered her. I am thankful that she loved Jinnae so much she made sure that someone found her at the bus station. I know she wanted a good life for Jinnae. I know that she did not want to give Jinnae up but had to due to China's oppressive family control laws. Rick and I are thankful that she is now a part of our lives.

The people were very friendly. They loved looking at Jinnae. They didn't like that I had her in shorts. They believe babies need to be completely covered even though it is 80 degrees and humid. They forgave me though. :)

I am glad that we visited the village. It will be good to be able to share with Jinnae someday the type of home she was born in.

In the afternoon we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch called The Music Cookhouse. All the food choices were on plates in a refrigerated glass case. We looked at them and chose what we wanted. I thought the fish looked good but I knew it wasn't cooked and the head would be left on so I opted for the chicken and rice instead. Rick ate a beef, tomato and egg dish. While we ate, musical performances would occur every 15 minutes. Jinnae loved this! She loves music and watching dancing.

We then rested in the hotel and Vicki was so happy to find out from our guide, Kelly, that there is a McDonald's here and they deliver to the hotel. The cheeseburger and fries were great! Rick and Jinnae just shook their heads at me, they do not care for such food. :)

Tomorrow we will be doing paperwork and visiting a park.

Daddy's Girl

So, tonight on the way home from the restaurant we notice that Jinnae lost one of her shoes. I say, Oh, well, no big deal. Rick goes back and looks for it. He sees it in the middle of the road we just crossed. He runs out and gets it. This normally would not be a big deal but here in Jiangxi there are no rules of traffic and it is more busy than New York City. It is crazy! People are on bikes weaving between traffic, drivers do not stay within the lines, there is no such thing as stopping for pedestrians, u-turns happen anytime someone wants to, no car seats for babies. It amazes me just to watch it from my hotel room window. I think that I am going to see someone on a bike go flying one of these days because they have been hit. Amazingly enough, I have not witnessed or heard of one accident. So Rick saved the shoe, we all celebrated!

Then tonight as I am boiling water and cleaning bottles in the bathroom, Jinnae is whimpering in her crib, not a full blown cry, just a whimper. I shout from the bathroom, she is fine, let her be.

The crying stops.

When I come out the above picture is what I see. They are both naughty. Rick said, I just couldn't resist, she looked so cute.

Yep, definitely a spoiled, daddy's girl. :)

Day 5 in Jiangxi Province

This morning we went and visited a temple here in Jiangxi. The main religions here are buddhism and taoism. There was also a statue of Confucius and two of his students. He encouraged education. The tour was interesting.

This afternoon we had a nice time as a family. Jinnae enjoyed putting on her bathing suit. She said, I will look good by the pool, but I'm not going in!

We are headed out to another Chinese restaurant tonight. I am planning on a plate of rice. The food in this region is very spicy. In fact, they say the girls in this region are "spicy" with attitude, too. I guess we will have our hands full with Jinnae.

It has been a great day!

Day 4 with Sweet Pea Jinnae

Today we went to Teng Wang Ge. This is an ancient, 1000 year old building here in Nanchang, Jianxgi province. It is a huge building with beautiful paintings and architecture. When we climbed many stairs to the very top floor, there was a live show to watch of singing, playing of instruments and dancing. Jinnae really enjoyed the show - especially the singer. When the singer moved, Jinnae followed her with her eyes and head. We are going to look for a CD with Chinese music on it for her.

We bought Jinnae a beautiful silk dress here. It is for when she is older. It is fun trying to pay for things here with a different language and money system. The people here know what it means when I say "how much?" So they follow me with a calculator and when I point at something and say "how much?", they type it on the calculator. They type in how much yuan. Then I either say yes or no. It works well. :) To figure out the yuan you do math in your head. One yuan is about 14 cents. I am trying to get faster at figuring out the price of things but I am married to a math genius who always shouts out the price before I can figure it out!

After visiting Teng Wang Ge we went to some local porcelain shops. Porcelain is a tradition and industry in this region. We bought Jinnae a couple pieces to give as gifts from her homeland when she gets older.

We got back from touring around 2:00 pm today. We then ordered Pizza Hut again and we all took a nap. I think jet lag caught up with Rick and I today. Jinnae was a little off schedule due to our long tour. She was exhausted and went down for a nap at 3:00 pm. She got up at 6:00 pm and woke Rick and I up. I can't believe we slept so long! I guess we were tired! We then gave Jinnae a bath. She hates baths. She screams and cries the whole time. I hope we can get her to like water since we live on a lake and Grandpa Gerst wants to take her for boat rides.

I even sang to her and showed her how fun bath toys are. She was not interested in anything but getting out. Oh well.

Jinnae's cold and cough is better today, thanks for your prayers.

Day 3 with Jinnae

Today we visited a park and a lake here in the province. The China Police Force was lined up on the road on each side leading to the park. I wondered what was going on, so I asked. They said the police are practicing for when the Olympic torch comes through there in a few weeks. I felt sorry for them in their dark green uniforms with hats. It was 80 degrees and humid.

We found out we could rent a stroller from the hotel for 70 cents a day so that's what we did. It has been nice to have, and Jinnae loves it. Today was her first stroller ride. She was more intriqued with the stroller then the scenery. We had a beautiful walk at the park and lake. Their was a nice brick path and lots of flowers.

When we came back, we had lunch in the hotel. They gave us a translated menu which was nice. I was excited to order a chef salad until I saw all the ingredients. It had ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, eggs and ox tongue! I went for a cheeseburger instead. The cheeseburger was beef with onions mixed in it. It tasted more like meatloaf but it was ok. The fries were good.

Jinnae likes to eat congee or steamed eggs when we go out. Congee is like a watered down rice. Steamed eggs are really soft egg whites with no yolk. (Hey sister, figure out how to make steamed eggs by Mother's Day! Love ya!)

After lunch, our intrepreter asked if I would like to go for a foot massage with her. I said sure. It was not only a foot massage but a leg, arm and back massage for forty-five minutes. It was wonderful! The only crazy things were that the water they brought in a bucket for me to put my feet in was boiling hot! I couldn't stand it. My interpreter, Kelly, wasn't phased by it at all. She told the girl working on me that I needed some cold water added. All the workers began to giggle and laugh. They thought I was a wussy American. Then when she began to massage me, it killed. I had to ask Kelly to tell them to do it softer. They laughed again. How can a 90 pound, 18 year old girl massage so hard?! When it was softer, it was wonderful. I'm glad I could entertain them. The massage costs five dollars. I tipped them well.

This evening, we tried out another local Chinese restaurant. The food was very spicy here. Once again I opted for the rice and Rick had a feast.

Jinnae still has a cold and cough. She was not her silly self. She was much more serious. She even took a 3 hour nap. I hope she feels better tomorrow. We are giving her medicine and a pharmacist in our group will give us an antibiotic, if it doesn't get better. All the babies in our group have colds.

I took the picture of the bathroom faucet for you to notice the two thermos by it. We have to boil any water we drink, brush teeth with, clean bottles with, etc. I am so thankful for clean water in America.

We look forward to more exploring of the province tomorrow.

Day 2 with our precious daughter

Jinnae is down for the night, so I get a chance to post. Jinnae has a little bit of a cold and cough. We gave her some medicine.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments from everyone!

We are unable to call due to technical difficulties and e-mail is somewhat difficult here but we are thankful we can post on the blog and keep you updated.

Today we went to the notary office in the morning and had a quick interview. Everything went well. Then we went to the Wal-mart here. Rick would rather shop the local places but we were able to get things we needed like formula, diapers, and diet coke. Yes, Vicki needs diet coke even though it doesn't exist in this province. I have had to settle for something similar that tastes like Coke Zero.

Wal-mart was an adventure. Everything was written in Chinese of course. Also, Jinnae is a little entertainer. She coos and smiles at everyone so they come over and visit her. Then she starts jumping up and down and really puts on a show. The people here are so friendly.

In the afternoon, Jinnae took a nap and played. This evening we went to a Chinese restaurant. Rick loved all the choices of different foods. I ate a plate of rice. Jinnae enjoyed steamed eggs. She couldn't get enough of them. We went to dinner with other adoptive parents. For 15 people to eat there, it only costs $26.00 in American money. Amazing!

Jinnae entertained there as well, and many of the locals stopped us on the way out because they thought she was so cute. (and is :)) All the locals tell Rick and I thank you for adopting Jinnae, that she is a very lucky girl. I cry at their kindness. You just don't see this type of friendliness all the time. Even though there is the language barrier, we understand each other. Our interpreter Kelly, has been great! One of the pictures is Jinnae with Kelly.

Hello to all of our families, friends, MCS staff and students, and Mrs. Medema and the fifth graders. Love and miss everyone. See you all in a few weeks with our new addition.

So Far, So Good.....

So far, so good......

We even got Jinnae to settle down and sleep this first night at 8:00 pm. We hope she sleeps through the night. Her foster parents say she usually gets up around 6:30 am. It has been a big day!! After we received Jinnae we had to do some paperwork, then went back to the hotel and did more paperwork with our guide, then went to the Visa center and did more paperwork.

We ordered Pizza Hut tonight. It tastes similar to America except there is no sauce. Rick also ventured out and bought baby formula (the kind Jinnae is used too) and interesting snacks at the local grocery. He is enjoying cucumber potato chips right now.

We have an appointment tomorrow morning with the notary and then we will have the rest of the day free. We are planning on sight seeing and going to Wal-mart. Jinnae makes our world much more fun. She is very outgoing. She loves going places and entertaining everyone with big smiles, clapping her hands, and little kicks. She has already begun attaching to Rick and I. She gets very upset if one of leaves the room. This is good. Life is good.

Here is beautiful Jinnae!

We picked Jinnae up at 10:45 am this morning. We had to wait as the babies were brought in. I recognized our pumpkin right away. We are so happy! She is little. Once Rick held her, he wouldn't let her go. :) He just left to do some more paperwork, so now I get a turn. Jinnae is content sitting on my lap playing with a teether and a rattle from Grandma Pulaski. Post more pics soon when her hair is done!