More pictures of the orphanage

The "high speed" internet access we have in China only allows us to send 2 pictures at a time, and I realized that I hadn't posted any of the orphanage pictures we took. We sent a camera to Madelyn's orphanage immediately after we got her referral in June. We are having those pictures developed today. She and Molly are so cute together. They share toys one minute and fight over them the next. Molly has done so well as a big sister. She and Randy's dad play constantly and chase each other all over the hotel. We are very thankful that Randy's parents came with us - they have been a huge help with the girls.

All of our consulate paperwork was approved this morning, so after our appointment tomorrow afternoon we will be on our way to Hong Kong and then home!

3 more days!

After a fun day of shopping with the girls, we have only three more days until we are home! We have a free day tomorrow, our embassy appointment on Friday afternoon, then we catch a train to Hong Kong and spend the night. We will leave for home early Saturday morning (China time) and return home around 6:00 in the evening on Saturday (Amarillo time).

Madelyn's upper body strength is increasing every day. She has learned to pull up in less than a week, cut 2 teeth, and really, really wants to walk. She can't crawl yet (her arms aren't strong enough) so she may do things a little out of order. We are amazed at the progress that all of the babies in our group have made in such a short time. They all look fatter and so happy with their new families.

We can't wait for all of you to meet Madelyn - she is a cutie!

We are in Guangzhou!

I don't think my last post went through - so here we go again! We are finally at the White Swan Hotel and on normal beds. Guangzhou is such a wonderful relaxing place to be. It is a lot like New Orleans. We have Madelyn's medical exam this morning, and then we can shop all afternoon for clothes for the girls and squeaky shoes for Madelyn. Everything is so inexpensive here. Outfits for the girls are all $5 and shoes are $6.

We are all doing great but getting a little homesick. Molly misses her dog, Missy misses her friends, I miss my coffeepot, and we all miss Michael and Matthew and our friends and family.
Molly seems to like being a big sister. She told me this morning that when she wears a red shirt she REALLY feels like a big sister - ??????

I will post pictures later this morning!

6 more days and counting!

We only have one more night on rock hard beds and then we will be in the wonderful White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou! We will pick up the baby's passports this afternoon, and then we will have a birthday party for one of the babies who will be one on Tuesday. We are traveling with such a sweet group of people from all over the United States. We have three single moms and another family with 8 children. We have families from Wisconsin, New York and Tennessee. We are all very ready to be home - just 6 more days!!!

Madelyn is definitely allergic to anything with perfumes. Her face is not any better, but now that we know what is wrong, we will be much more careful about what we use on her. She has a reaction to our diaper wipes, the hotel sheets, and anything else with a scent. The cream we got at the Chinese grocery store was very scented and was no help at all. She is so healthy and happy - she just looks awful!

She loves to try to walk. We spend most of our day walking her around the hotel. She has no interest in crawling, and didn't even pull up on her arms until a couple of days ago. We can tell that her upper body strength is improving rapidly, and she is already saying "Da-da" and "Ma-ma." We think she is a genius!

We love you all, and will see you soon!!!!!

Our orphanage adventure

Sorry about not posting yesterday. We had a long day as we went to Madelyn's orphanage which is almost 4 hours from Nanchang. What an experience! Our wonderful facilitator, Guilan, worked for three days to get us a good van to travel in. When we arrived in Taihe, Madelyn's orphanage director took us to the Civil Affairs building and treated us to an authentic Jaingxi province meal. We were offered black skinned chicken stew, frog legs (spotted skin still attached), dried pork, fish stew, and a lot of rice and vegetables. The ever-adventurous Stricklands stuck with the rice and vegetables. We then went to the very poor orphanage where Madelyn lived for almost a year. We were shown Madelyn's bed which was in a small room with 10 other small beds. No mattresses - only a reed mat. Most of the children were sitting on small bamboo potty chairs. We didn't see any toys at all. The director and the nannies seemed very happy to see our girls, and were very affectionate. Madelyn has developed a very red rash on her face due to the hotel sheets. The nannies were very upset about it, and I was told repeatedly that she never had a rash when she was with them - sigh!

Madelyn did not smile at all while we were there. She had a very worried look on her face, and she screamed when the nanny tried to put her in her old bed for a picture. She was very relieved when we got back into the van to leave. We also visited the clinic where Madelyn's parents left her when she was 6 weeks old. We knew that she had been left with a note, and the director let us take a picture of it. We also have a video of our facilitator reading the note that her parents wrote. There was not a dry eye in the room when she finished. Basically it said that they loved her very much, but due to some unfortunate circumstances they could not afford to keep her. They hoped someone would take pity on her and take her to their home and love her forever.

We left the orphanage with such mixed feelings - so happy for our girls, and so sad for the children left behind. The orphanage director seems to be very determined to have as many children adopted from his orphanage as possible. Over 100 children have been adopted from there in the last 3 years.

We feel very blessed to have gone to the orphanage and to Madelyn's finding site. I know the pictures we took will mean so much to her in the years to come.

We will leave for Guangzhou in 2 days. We like Nanchang, but it feels like we have been here forever. Our hotel beds are rock hard, and none of us have slept very well.

We miss you all and will post more tomorrow!

New Pictures! :-)

Here are some new pictures. I'll let Mom do the writing when they get back from the Nanchang Zoo! Have a great day! :-) -Missy-

Pictures of Madelyn!!!

We have Madelyn!!!! After enduring an excrutiating 2 and a half hour wait on the runway in Beijing, we arrived in Nanchang 2 hours late. We immediately went to the Civil Affairs office and got our tired babies who had been waiting for us for hours. Madelyn has been such a beautiful sweetie! She lets everyone hold her and has only cried during her bath. She is so content and happy. Molly has done very well with her, and has had only one "melt-down" when I was holding the baby and couldn't hold her. We all slept well, and woke to another busy adoption day. This morning we went back to the Civil Affairs office and completed her adoption and passport information.

We are still having battery and adaptor problems, but we finally found a three pronged plug for Missy's laptop. She is charging it now, and we hope to post pictures later in the day. We also can't find a hotel employee who speaks English well enough to give us directions on how to call home from our room. Sorry Michael and Matthew!!!!! (We love you!)

We are so blessed! Madelyn is beautiful, happy, and healthy. Molly wants to go home everyday, but she has done so much better than I ever thought possible. Keep praying that we all stay healthy, and that Molly continues to do well.

We miss home very much, and will post more later today or tomorrow!