Here I Go - Again

I haven't blogged in such a long time - so long in fact, that I couldn't remember my password to sign in!  I haven't updated the cookie blog either.  And the 365 project blog....forgetaboutit!  Such a bad, bad blogger!

OK, so I DO have a reason for starting back up again with this sad little blog.  We are planning on going to Ch*na this summer for a birthland tour, and thought this would be a good way for friends/family to follow our trip.  Our daughters, Allyson and Claire, are so excited about their return trip!  Look out Ch*na, we're coming back!!  :-D

China Heritage Tour

We recently received the flyer announcing Dillon International's 2008 China Heritage Tour. (Permission received from Dillon prior to posting this on my blog.) :-)

If anyone is on the fence about if/when to take their children back to their birth country, I highly recommend going...and doing so before the children are teenagers. Emily was 10 when we took her to China in June of this year (you can read about some of our trip in the June archives).
Emily was at a really good age to understand what was going on, without all of the "emotions" that usually come during the teen years. Our return visit to the orphanage and finding site is something we will always treasure. We really enjoyed being able to experience our return trip with other adoptive families as well.

We can't say enough good things about our tour experience. The Dillon staff member (Rebecca) who accompanied us on the trip was so wonderful and even lent a shoulder when we (the adults!) needed our cry time. OK, I'll admit it, it was the parents who were emotional when we visited the orphnaage and finding site...but the kids handled it very well! :-) Emily announced again yesterday that she is looking forward to going to China again soon.

If interested in learning more about the China Tour, you can visit the Dillon site here.
Note: I'm not being paid to advertise for this agency....I'm just a happy customer who has been blessed by adoption. :-)

A Few More Photos

China vs. U.S.A.- Emily's thoughts

I would definitely choose to live in the U.SA. than China. China is a wonderful place, but I like much more things in the United States than I do in China.The things I really missed were..... My SOFT bed, my 3 dogs, my sisters, the food- especially MEXICAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I missed using water from the faucet and regular toilets!!! As you can see, I missed ALOT of things! I missed a lot more, but I can't think of all of them right now. Something I really like about China is that when you shop in China you can bargain. I wish we could do that here. Than I wouldn't be so concerned about money. I also like that there are a lot of interesting places you can go see. Unlike here, where we just go to the park or something like that. Another thing that I really liked was the hotels that we stayed in. They are VERY nice. Except the breakfast wasn't very good usually. I am never going to complain about where I'm living again!! The houses there are just so different from here. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad to be back home!!!! When we got into the XNA airport, I was shaking because I was so anxious to get home.
I know I'm totally changing the subject, but I forgot to tell you about the meals in China. Or, let me put a little more detail into that subject. It was DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't actually try everything but everyone who did said it was bad. For our last meal with the group, we ate DUCK, DUCK, and MORE DUCK!!! I didn't eat any of the "side" dishes of duck, but I did try the main duck. didn't want to eat the duck, but I wanted to be able to say that I've eaten duck. It was okay, but not that good. Some of the other dishes of duck was lemon duck, fried duck, peeking duck, and SO much more. The food that THE CAT names in HONK JR. is actually real!!! Ever since I've gotten home, a lot of people have been telling me that I'm invited to their house to have dinner and their main dish is going to be DUCK!
When my parents take Allyson and Claire back in a few years, I hope I get to come too because I think it would be cool to come back to China when I'm a teenager.
~Emily Rodgers~

Reflections

We've been back home in the USA for a week now. By about the 5th or 6th day home, we were finally feeling rested and back to "normal" (well, as normal as we get anyway! LOL). I truly love being in China and around its people, but I must admit it's great being "home" again. Some of the things I missed and tend to take for granted:

1. my kids! wow, a phone call just doesn't do it...and it always seems they've grown so much when we return
2. tap water - just knowing you can turn the tap to get a drink if you're thirsty is such a good feeling....oh and brushing our teeth with tap water - ahhhh! Having to swish your toothbrush around in a small cup of bottled water just isn't the same.
3. my semi-soft mattress - the beds in China are HARD and left clothing seam lines impressed on my skin. After a few days, my sides felt bruised. I'm a big dummy though because I knew about the beds and should have taken a small inflatable air mattress.
4. air conditioning! Although most buildings in China have a/c, it just isn't the same (they don't keep it as cool), so I was still sweating.
5. blue skies - because there is so much pollution, it's rare to see a blue sky.

I am also thankful....for so many things, but here are just a few:

1. God - for without him, I wouldn't have these 3 little blessings I call my kiddos.
2. my kids! I love, love, LOVE them and am SO lucky to be called mom many times a day.
3. my dh - yeah, he's impatient, but otherwise a pretty great guy and a wonderful dad.
4. the USA - we are SOOOOOO fortunate to live in such a place believe me!
5. Dillon International - such a great adoption agency
6. Rebecca Hackworth - she's a wonderful example of Dillon's commitment to helping children
7. our travel group #1 - the Wood and Gary families are such great people to travel with....they'd have to be for putting up with our crazy clan for 2 weeks!! :-)
8. Bridge of Love Adoption Services (BLAS) - they did a wonderful job of putting our trip together, and did so many wonderful things to welcome our children "home" to China

Gosh, there are SO many other things and people that I'm thankful for, but I'm running out of time and need to get to the dentist's office this morning. Hopefully, Emily will jump on in a bit and write down her thoughts.

Heading Home!

We actually slept in since we didn't have to be at the airport until noon. We left Beijing around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, June 18th and arrived in San Francisco in the afternoon on the 18th (hey, how did we manage that?!). Our bodies sure knew we missed a day there somewhere!

One dad in our group kissed the ground when we landed in SF...too funny! Would you believe that the food choices on the flight were either fish or DUCK?! There was NO way we could eat more duck, so we chose the fish....also a bad choice.

We had really great connections in San Francisco and Dallas so we didn't have to sit in the airports long. Emily spotted a Subway in San Francisco so we grabbed a sandwich before boarding our flight. Wow, I've never seen that kid eat a sandwich so fast!! LOL Randy was glad to have a Diet Coke too. Can't believe I forgot to take a picture though!

We made it home around 10:00 p.m. - we were greeted by our two little munchkins at the airport.

The jet lag has set in, but I've finally managed to get the blog updated a little. Will try to add a few more thoughts about the trip in the next few days.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our one year anniversary....one year that our dossier has been logged in and waiting in China. Not that we're particularly happy to celebrate "waiting" for so long, but we have faith that things will work out and we will be referred the child meant for us. It's looking more and more like a late 2007 or early 2008 referral now.