Wednesday Packing Up

Not much exciting going on here. Weather continues to be ugly although we are leaving today and the sun is shining. I asked a shop person when it stops raining here. She told me it rains most of the summer and the mugginess never ends.

It is around noon Wednesday and we are packing up. We check out at 2pm and head to the U.S. Consulate shortly after checking out. After our appointment we are headed to the train station for a 5pm train to Hong Kong. We ended up taking the train again when we found out the bus ride was 3 hours and we would have to change buses at some point plus it was over twice as much to take the bus. Bob is going to help us check our luggage on the train so we won't have to handle it til the end. We will then take a taxi to our hotel which is attached to the airport in Hong Kong.

Patrick is very tired of being in the hotel. The honeymoon is over. He is in to everything and does not like the word "no". He just goes back to whatever you told him "no" to and laughs. We still can't complain..he is still a happy guy and doing well. I think he's as ready to get out of here as we are.

So we are out of here in a bit....headed home. This is a wonderful place to visit but there's no place like home. I'm not looking forward to the plane ride, jet lag, time difference, etc. but we'll get through it. Here's to a quick, peaceful (with Patrick sleeping most of the way :-) flight home.

MB

New Friends

Another family from our adoption agency have arrived here in Guangzhou. They just got in from Hubei province with their newest daughter Aliviah who is 2o months and very cute. Gail & Steve Maag are from Michigan and they are here with their other 2 adopted daughters Abby (6) and Anna (5) plus Steve's mom. Gail & I have corresponded via email when we were notified our Consulate appointments were on the same day. They have 2 grown children and now their 3 girls from China. We have had a great time shopping and eating out with them. Katie is especially happy to have the girls here.

Today (Monday) is Patrick's physical exam which is required by China to depart the country. It's a basic exam and usually doesn't take that long. You basically move from station to station complete the process.

Not much new here. Patrick continues to do well. He had a bit of a cold but that has cleared up. He is trying more and more to repeat what we are saying. He tries very hard to be understood and get the sounds right. He still does a lot of very serious jibber jabber like he is trying to tell us something but we can't figure it out. He can be a wild boy when he gets wound up. I can see Hailey telling him to settle down and behave. Josh will have to teach Patrick to take care of his toys. Patrick likes to try to kick and jump up & down on whatever he's playing with at the time.

We complete our U.S. Consulate paperwork today with Bob. He then takes it to the Consulate tomorrow. If all is correct we hear nothing. Then Wednesday at 4pm we have our Consulate appointment where we do the oath in a group that all our paperwork is true, blah, blah, blah then we are free to leave. We are going to take a bus from Guangzhou to Hong Kong vice take the train. The train was a great experience but we could not find elevators and we had to schlep our luggage up and down escalators. This was difficult to do especially since Katie had to handle her own luggage. It would be even more difficult to do with Patrick so we are opting to take the bus this time. The bus will drop us off at the Hong Kong airport where our hotel is located.

I have attached a video of Katie blowing bubbles and Patrick going crazy over them.

Happy Memorial Day! I hope your weather is better then ours.
MB

Saturday in Guangzhou

We had some sun yesterday so we ventured back to the department/grocery store we visited earlier in the week. It's kind of like a Walmart. We have gone everywhere without our guide Bob. It's pretty easy to get around here. We picked up some necessities (pull ups, snacks, etc.). Of course Katie had to get a new pair of shoes. We ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken which was located right next to the store. It ain't like home is all I can say. I ordered a chicken sandwich and I guess it was some kind of veggie chicken sandwich. It's easy to order over here as they have plastic menus with pictures and the words in English. You just have to remember to order your drinks without ice or there will be gastric problems later. Patrick had his first taste of mashed potatoes with gravy and he loved it. He had two orders. He is still picky with food. I don't think he got a whole lot of variety in the the orphanage because of his cleft palate. He will try most things but shake his head no if it doesn't interest him. He has really been sticking to rice and noodles. Getting back to the hotel from the department store was a different story. It took us about 45 minutes in the blazing heat to get a taxi. I fell down on my job and did not write down Bob's phone number in case we needed him. We finally made it back to the hotel. Bill now has Bob's phone number with him!

Patrick is still doing well. He has had a few hissy fits if something doesn't go his way but in general he's very cooperative. He loves being in his stroller. He climbs in and buckles the seat belt. Safety first with him. He loves riding in the car or van. He continues to be a gabby guy. He talks to us and we have no idea what he is saying. If he needs or wants something he gets his point across. He is a great sleeper...12-14 hours a night with a couple hour nap during the day. He is well regimented with his schedule from being in the orphanage. We still haven't decided if we're going to visit his orphanage on Monday. I teased him today at breakfast and waved bye bye pretending I was leaving. He cried big time. I felt bad for teasing him. He is well bonded to us know. It's amazing for such a short period. For these reasons, we hesitate to go back to his orphanage.

Today is my birthday...part of the celebration was breakfast at the White Swan Hotel which is the other popular hotel here in Guangzhou for people adopting. It's a beautiful hotel and we stayed there the other 3 visits here. The rooms there are very small which is why we opted for the Victory Hotel this time plus it's pretty expensive. Anyway, the breakfast buffet at the White Swan is huge and delicious plus expensive ($72 for the 3 of us with Patrick being free). We really enjoyed it. The Victory Hotel has a buffet but nothing like the White Swan.

Hailey and Josh continue to do well. It is great being able to talk to them everyday. We can't wait to see them. It is very hard being away from them.

I've included some photos of this morning at the White Swan Hotel.

MB

Day 4 Let the Sun Shine In....Not!!!

Peace everybody...

Being silly again...

It's Thursday here and we had a bit of sunshine yesterday and today, just a little bit. It's difficult to be out running in the rain with a 3 year old in a stroller so we head out of the hotel whenever weather permits. We went on an adventurous walk through the pet and medicine market here in Guangzhou. It's a pretty good hike from our hotel and the weather cooperated for a while. In the pet market they have hundreds and hundreds of any kind of pet animals including puppies and kittens. I don't know who buys them because you really don't see that many dogs and cats here. Someone must be buying them. We ended up at McDonald's for Patrick's first taste of the stuff. He seemed to like it. It mostly stayed in his mouth so that's a good sign. We ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel because it ended up raining again.

Patrick continues to do well. He's testing the waters to see how much he can get away with but he is beginning to understand "no". We went shopping yesterday and he did a great job of going with the flow. We finished the Chinese side of our paperwork yesterday by applying for Patrick's Chinese passport. We had to go to the local police station to do the application. Katie had to use the restroom and she had her first exposure to a squatty potty. For those who don't know, it's basically a porcelain potty you stand over and do your business. She was appalled by the site of the potty. She had to go bad so she did use it, she wasn't happy about it though.

Bill continues to do what he does best here...sleep. I have never seen someone who can sleep so much. Katie is still having fun. It has been pretty boring with the weather but she's been a trooper.

We finally got access to English TV after three days of mourning for the victims of the earthquake. Bill is a happy man having TV and movies to watch.

Hailey & Josh are doing great. We sure miss them. Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

L, MB

Day 2 in Guangzhou

Patrick slept about 13 hours the first night. We had to wake him up. He woke up in a great mood. He didn't act strange or scared to be with us. He is really a happy little guy.

We went with Bob to do our adoption paperwork and it was uneventful. It took a total of about 15 minutes. We then went to the a local department store like a Chinese Walmart. We bought a stroller but so far he would rather push it then ride in it. There has been not crying except when we tried to get him to ride in a cart at the department store.

Patrick seems very content. He is very smart. He wants to repeat everything we say. He can say basic words and he is difficult to understand but at least he is trying. He had his first bath and loved it. He talks constantly when awake. I think he will give Hailey a run for her money since she never stops talking either. At bedtime, he laughs and talks himself to sleep plus sucks his thumb. Last night we listened to about 30 minutes of jibber jabber until he fell asleep. He did take a nap in the afternoon without a problem. He can dress himself and will got potty when prompted. He does wear a pull up just in case. He went #2 on the potty and we were very excited. He loves books and likes to be read to. In all, I would say we are still amazed at the transition. We are very lucky but I know we are in the honeymoon phase.

Patrick will try any food. He is a chow hound. He can really eat. Like I said his cleft palate is huge. He does OK eating but sometimes he puts too much in his mouth and has to bring it back out. Yuck !

We haven't really done a whole lot of anything but walk around and some shopping. The weather continues to be crappy. It is still raining and per the weather report it will continue to rain. It is hot and muggy. The AC in our palace of a room is excellent!!!

We do more paperwork today. We are contemplating going to Patrick's orphanage for a visit on Monday. He is doing so well we are not sure if we want to take him back there.

Katie and Bill are doing fine. Bill is caught up on his sleep for the rest of his life. We go out, we come back, he sleeps. We eat, he sleeps. He watches

TV, he sleeps. Of course during this sleeping time there is snoring to go with it. Speaking of TV, China has blocked the English TV channels (except for CNN)due to 3 days of mourning for the earthquake victims.

Katie is having a fine time. She is sending and receiving email form her class. She is ready to do some serious shopping. I told her to slow down since we have a week to go. I am fine but could be ready to go home tomorrow. We miss Josh & Hailey terribly but speak to them on the phone daily.

So life is good...now if it would just stop raining.

MB

Here's Patrick trying to use chopsticks.

Patrick Boyle

First things first...I got our room straightened out. We moved to the other hotel building and life is good. Our room is huge and has a nice separate sitting area. It is a bright and cheery room. The assistant manager at the other building was glad to see us go. I know he thought I was a royal pain in the you know what.

We got to the government building where Patrick was to be a little early with no sign of him. We sat & waited and watched other families start their adoption life together. I have to say I was pretty calm. Finally Patrick's nanny brought him into where we were sitting. He is smaller then I thought he would be but just as cute as in his photos. He did not cry initially. His nanny introduced us and he just took it all in. Katie entertained him while we filled out some paperwork. He cried a couple of times but only briefly. We finished our paperwork and Bob said it was time to go. By this time we had Patrick about 30 minutes. His nanny left while we distracted him. He looked for her briefly when we started leaving but never cried. He sat with Katie in the van we rode in. He did great on the ride back to the hotel. He got out of the van willingly with us and Bob. We said our good-byes to Bob and went to our room. Patrick held my hand on the way to the room. And the rest of the day went well with no crying. I would say the day went amazingly well. He laughed, yelled and acted like a typical boy. Cheerios were a big hit with him. His cleft lip repair looks good. His teeth don't look that bad either. From what I can see of his palate, it looks pretty big. It runs the entire length of his mouth. He seems to be a happy little boy.

Our sleep awake time is still pretty screwed up. We were all exhausted from the day and we decided to take a little nap at 530 pm. Patrick took his shoes and socks off and got in bed with Bill. He is a gabby guy so he will get along great with Hailey. Bill said he sucks his thumb. He is somewhat potty trained. If you ask him if he has to go, he will go for you. Everyone is still asleep so we will all be up in the middle of the night again (830 pm).

So far so good today. We go to do our paperwork tomorrow at 10 am.

The photos were taken in our hotel room. Notice the peace sign in the photos.

MB

Blog Site

Well it looks like I can post to the site but I cannot view the blog site itself. I will continuing posting but cannot guarantee what things may look like especially when I post photos. I also can't read comments so please email any comments you have.
MB

Guangzhou

It looks like our blog site is blocked here in China. I had heard this can happen. I am trying to post this going in the back door. I hope it works.

We made it to Guangzhou via the train. It was a nice ride. Katie was intrigued by the country side. Bill made a new friend on the train. He ended up sitting next to an American guy from San Francisco who was of Chinese descent. The guys family owns a manufacturing business here so he travels here quite a bit.

Our guide Bob met us at the train station. He is a young guy, very nice. He works for our agency and another agency. He dropped us off at the hotel and told us he'd see us tomorrow at 3pm. We go to get Patrick then.

Now for our hotel, the Victory. This is the first time we have stayed in this hotel. I have read good and bad about the hotel on my Yahoo China groups. We chose to stay here because they have suites and the rooms are larger then other hotels. My mother would appreciate my behavior. She taught me well. We got to our room and it is not a suite as we had requested (and paid for). It was a small business room which means it is a hotel room (with basically 2 over sized twin beds) with a small workspace to fax, compute etc. I would be tight for 2 adults and 2 children (with probably one child screaming :-) It was not what I requested. Normally I would go with the flow but to think we would spend 11 days in the room, I was not happy. I call Bob who said he will contact the desk. I went to the desk and told them I did not care for the room. They sent me to look at other rooms on the same floor but they were just normal size rooms. Back to the desk again. Now they send me to another room on a different floor. It is a suite (smoking yuck, old) with a separate living space but just a king size bed in the bedroom. I go back to the desk and state my case again. They have another portion of the hotel about 3 minutes away, I can walk there to see the rooms there but it may cost extra money. I am still not happy. By this time Katie is with my complaining of a stomach ache. I tell the desk person I will stay in the room for the night but want something different tomorrow. I really tried not to be a angry American. We have never had this room problem before so...I will see what I can do tomorrow with Bob's help. Suffice it to say, it was a long hot, day.

I am going to try to post this...say a prayer.
MB

Hong Kong Disney - Off to Guangzhou Today

I am up at the crack of dawn (0400 Sunday) again while my travel mates sleep away. I have never done well with the time change. Bill can sleep whenever and however. Katie has been able to do the same.

Disney yesterday was very nice. It's a smaller version of Disney World. You could do the park in one day. Since it was Saturday, it was very crowded. The weather was nice...about 78 and overcast. Space mountain was about the largest attraction at the park. The park is not as high tech as Disney World. We lasted about 6 hours before the jet lag hit. We saw the attractions we wanted to see and headed back to the hotel for the pool. Katie did well. She said it felt strange being around so many Asians. When boarding the bus from the hotel to Disney, the driver tried to put her with the Chinese family ahead of us. She grabbed onto my hand to let the driver know she was with us.

Hailey & Josh are doing well. We have spoken to them everyday. We are using Skype for calling home. It is great. You basically call via the computer and it is cheap. We have called home about 5 times and have spent a $1.50. It's amazing.

We head to Guangzhou via the train today. Guangzhou is about an hour and a half train ride from Hong Kong. Our guide Bob is to meet us at the train station. I'm sure we'll go over what is to happen tomorrow. I heard via a contact from Patrick's orphanage that we get him at 2:oo pm on Monday. So onto the next part of our journey....
MB

Arrived in Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong after a long flight. Although we have done this before, it does not make the flight any easier. It seems every time we have done this journey, the plane ride becomes a time to reflect on what is going to happen to this child that is about to come into your family and how the dynamics of your family life is about to change. Jeanette, Pat, Lisa and Joanne you know what I'm talking about. You've waited so long for this time and have fallen in love with a photo. Sometimes you forget that this child comes with a lot of baggage and you imagine how you want it to be not how it will be. I have to say that we always have gone into this experience expecting the worst and hoping for the best. OK enough about the deep stuff.
Katie did really well on the flight. She slept much more than Bill and I. She was OK until we thought she lost her Nintendo DS. All 3 of us were crawling around on the plane floor looking for the game. We finally found it at the end of the flight in her carry on bag.
We are settled in at our hotel in Hong Kong Disney. It was dusk when we arrived at the hotel so we didn't see much of the park. The hotel is very nice. We do the park tomorrow.
So far so good. I'm off to bed.

MB

(The photos above are the view from our hotel room)

MB

Updates - Long Overdue

We finally received our Letter of Acceptance from China on April 4th. This is basically us telling China we officially accept Patrick as our son. This means they overlooked Bill's cancer history and we can proceed. On May 2nd we received our travel approval. At this point our adoption agency is able to make our American Consulate appointment. Luckily we were able to get an appointment pretty quickly. Our entire trip is scheduled around the Consulate appointment.

Here's our itinerary:
Depart JFK NY May 15.
Arrive Hong Kong evening of May 16.
Spend 2 nights at Disney Hong Kong.
Depart May 18 for Guangzhou by train.
Receive Patrick May 19.
Depart Guangzhou on May 28 back to Hong Kong.
Depart Hong Kong May 29 in the AM.
Arrive JFk May 29 1:10PM.

Katie is traveling with us and she is very excited. This is her first trip back to China. It should be a very interesting experience for her. We will post photos and updates here.
Now the hard part, packing and getting ready to go.

Maribeth

The Boyle's are going to China again!

Early last year I did what I was not supposed to do...I began looking at lists of Waiting Children at various agencies. In the mean time, I read a message about a little boy whose papers were about to be returned to China. He had been promised to a family but something happened and the family had to withdraw from the adoption. He was with Harrah's AIM in Texas. I saw Xin Xiou Liang's photo and it was like being struck by lightening. He was so cute (as you can see by his photos) and had such sad eyes. I was lucky enough to get photos and video from a family that had traveled recently. Bill & I discussed Liang (well OK I twisted his arm again) and he agreed that we should pursue him. With all the changes going on with China and their adoption program last year, Harrah's warned us that we may not be approved because of Bill's previous cancer history. It did not matter that we had completed 2 adoptions without any difficulty since his cancer and that he has been cancer free for over 7 years. Harrah's said that they would strongly advocate for us so we sent off our LOI around last year this time and began the wait. Happilly we were given pre-approval last March and began our paperwork. It was a long and bumpy road to complete our dossier. Finally on January 16th, 2008 our dossier was sent to China and logged in on January 25th. Katie, Josh & Hailey are very excited about having Patrick as their brother. Josh is especially excited as he thinks there are too many girls in our house. He is anxious to have Patrick and not sure about sharing his room & things with him. So we are in the waiting phase at this time. Letters of Acceptance are taking anywhere from 60-180 days. We are thinking positive and hoping we are on the 60 day track but who knows.