LIFE AT HOME…

We’ve gotten lots of requests to update the blog; sorry it’s taken so long…  We’re all doing well, other than struggling with jet lag so if you need to reach us, between 12:30am and 5am are the best times right now!  We’re just hanging out…. watching Cupcake Wars and blogging;-)

This was Emmy at the dinner table last night…we COULD NOT get her to wake up… until today at 2am, of course!

A HUGE thank you to Sara Partyka for having the house beautifully decorated, delivering groceries on behalf of the Wrights, a Coke in the fridge (serious true friend!) and the most amazing chocolate cake ever waiting…  She put a little chocolate blue BIRDIE in a nest on the top of the cake…. we managed to consume this during our late nights!

Also a HUGE thank you to Kelly Wright for stocking our fridge for us; what a blessing that we haven’t had to run to the grocery store!  And sweet Jenna, your decorations for Eli’s room are very much appreciated;-)  THANK YOU to the Wrights, Browns, Moleskis and Coes for dinners this week…. I cannot even tell you how grateful we are to you!  And, especially to my sister for staying with us all this week… we’ve been calling her the live-in nanny as she’s done ALL of our laundry, run errands, entertained the girls and focused when we couldn’t!  PLEASE don’t leave…..

Eli’s doing awesome!  He’s struggling a little with jet lag too but is very easily comforted by us and goes back to sleep quickly.  We took him to the dr on Wed and he had a clean bill of health.  And he also had his first haircut with us….  His tongue is out because the girls kept giving him licks of a candy cane and that was his sign that he was ready for another lick!

Eli has a love affair going on with Jan Coe, but truly, who doesn’t?!?!  He highly enjoyed being held by her and cried when she and Dwight left.  Probably not what we’re looking for from a bonding/attaching perspective with us, but we totally get his desire to want to spend more time with Mrs Coe;-)!

He seems to like his room and toys…. still very much enjoys food, kisses with an open mouth, tongue extended (similar to his father), has fun playing in boxes, loves interacting with his sisters and is intrigued with looking out the window while riding in his car seat.  Overall, life is good and we’re very thankful at this especially appropriate time of year!

SITTING, EVER SO PATIENTLY…

We made it!! We’re currently in Chicago waiting for our connecting flight to Detroit at 6:30pm.  The flight was uneventful, which is always good;-)  Thank you so much to everyone who covered us in prayer; we’ve felt it the entire trip!  We praise God for the amazing opportunity to adopt Eli and look so forward to raising him to know and love Jesus;-)!!  

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE….

Well, I'm (Dani) sad to say that we're at the Hong Kong airport getting ready to fly to Chicago in a few hours. I tried my best to convince Jody to rebook our tickets to Australia or New Zealand but he's a party pooper and said no;-) We're only 7 1/2 hours from both; when's the next time that's gonna happen!?!? I think I could go into full time world travel with the fam!

On a much more serious note, we would completely appreciate your prayers for travel mercies, safety, patience and joy;-) We leave here at 11:15am and land in Chicago at 12:30 same day;-) We're getting back the day we lost on our travels here!

We weren't able to blog last night due to internet connection issues so I'll throw yesterday's events into this one, just for fun! We took a glass-bottomed cable car to Ngong Ping 360 which is on an island called Lantau. This island houses the largest Buddha statue in the world. We also looked at a monastery, which was beautifully decorated with gorgeous flowers and intricate building details. Awesome adventure!

1) Mom was freaked out a little with the glass bottom floor;-)
2) The girls were not, however…:-)
3) the cable car floor
4) Eli's "the look"…
5) entrance to the big Buddha
6) crazy amount of stairs up to the Buddha
7) Mom, Eli, Lex & I at the top
8) Eli enjoying his first popsicle (a red bean one)…. that's why they're all so thin here!
9) the monastery

Much love to all~ The Medfords

A NIGHT OUT IN HONG KONG…

We went to a great sushi restaurant tonight with a conveyor belt that circles around with some of your options;-) Kids thought this was wonderfully fun! Not super cost effective as they didn't really understand, or care, that taking items off the belt meant we were paying for, and eating, them;-)! After that we walked through Kowloon Park and went to Temple Street's Night Market that had a bunch of vendors, food & merchandise. Lots of fun!

HONG KONG WATERFRONT…

This morning we ventured out of the hotel for breakfast… took us awhile but we found a fun little spot that could've, atmospherically, fit in Seattle 😉 After that we walked along the waterfront and since it's Saturday here there was a lot happening! An art exhibit, some bands, weddings, etc. Em did a little dancing and totally boosted the self esteem of a young Chinese boy band… she's also been in love with all the brides here and their beautiful dresses so she finally got the nerve to walk up and hug one;-) This bride totally made her day! Jody had fun practicing his new found hobby of photography, thanks to Chris Cook and Prem & Cheridy!!, and enjoyed taking pictures of the rest of us who were getting asked for "autographs" and pictures from the locals;-) Eli chilled out in the stroller most of the walk with some sightseeing (aka pointing out all the boats) and then a nap. We came across ANOTHER Starbucks (quite popular here too!) BUT this one served iced Chai tea lattes! The first one so far!! Again, it's the little things in life… Then Emily piggybacked me home this time;-)

more from SHORT AND SWEET…

for some reason the 2nd part of our post didn’t post last night so here it is….


Overall, it’s very similar to DisneyWorld in FL.  Food choices were interesting.  Eli seemed to enjoy himself immensely… his favorite was the Lion King show.  I thought it might have been overwhelming but he was still clapping 5 minutes after we left the show!;-)  He loved the characters dressed as animals.  He also liked Toy Story Land… super cute area!

SHORT AND SWEET…

Returned from a long day at Hong Kong's Disneyland! Took three different subway lines and popped out right at the Disney entrance;-) Check out the final subway- Mickey fest! Menckes, totally had your fam on our hearts today!!

VICTORIA’S PEAK…

Hello! Today we spent most of the day at Victoria’s Peak on Hong Kong Island.  Super awesome time!  We took a tram up the mountain, which was very steep, observed from the top floor, had lunch at a quaint little restaurant, walked around the mountain, literally, and then rode back down.  Jody was able to capture some great pictures from the top;-)…although not the best ones of us due to the angle of the sun-too bright!  Smog is a HUGE problem in China & Hong Kong so that was a bummer today… we couldn’t see all that far because of it; you’ll be able to see it in the photos;-(  They have a great subway system here so we rode that back to our hotel tonight.  They’re not all that into handicap accessibility here so using a stroller can be difficult; I can’t even imagine how someone in a wheelchair gets around… at each turnstile in the subway we had to lift the stroller up and over because it wouldn’t fit through!  Such tourists!!;-)

Another interesting thing about China is the level they go to to decorate and “celebrate” Christmas… it’s pretty over the top!!  We were so surprised when we first landed in Beijing- the airport was completely lit up, with huge, beautiful Christmas trees everywhere.  Each hotel we’ve stayed at has been decorated to the nines, huge gingerbread houses, Christmas music playing everywhere (hotels, restaurants, buses, etc) and yet they completely leave Jesus out of it;-(  One of our translators said they celebrate Christmas as a time to be with family and friends. Interesting…

Today was also the first day we’ve been able to access Blogspot & actually see our blog since we arrived in China and we were sad to see the descriptions under all the photos didn’t come through!  You must be wondering what, or who, in some of the pictures!! Sorry about that!!

Had a great day with Eli today… he started signing ‘all done’ today and pointing to his, and my, eyes, nose and mouth;-)  Forgotten how exhausting the repetition of an 18-month old can be;-)!  There are also a million buses in Hong Kong so he’s constantly pointing and saying “bus!”  He’s in his glory!

HONG KONG OR BUST…

Well, we made it! After an interesting train adventure with 3 kids 8 and under, a mother-in-law and a huge language barrier we hit Hong Kong;-) Unfortunately we don't have much to comment on yet as we didn't arrive until later this evening so only experienced the pool…. tomorrow will be the day! Jod's got us cruise director-ed our time here….

Parting Guangzhou was bittersweet… more so for some than others;-) Although we were excited to see another Asian city, it was sad to leave our new found friends… the bond you create with these families is lifelong! I cannot speak highly enough of our agency, Chinese Children Adoption International out of CO; they didn't miss a beat and our translators in each city were beyond wonderful… we really could not have traveled throughout China without them! Found a very pleasant surprise while packing up today… we were required to bring specific gifts for six different officials, orphanage director, etc and several of them were American made chocolates… somehow I counted wrong or messed up but we had an extra box of chocolates that we highly enjoyed today;-)!

Jody and Gigi are ready to come home but the girls and I are ready to travel the world;-)! Not sure what Eli's vote is yet… Today Eli was screeching way too loud so I put my finger to my lips and "shhh-ed" him and he did it back to me…. I thought it was very cute but then thought "Hmmm, he must've been told this a few times at the orphanage" ;-)! He's speaking 'mama' very clearly, also 'bus' and 'up' but not quite as enunciated…. he's almost got 'dada' for Jod;-) Found out tonight that he doesn't enjoy whitefish and rather than throwing it on the floor, something we've been working on;-), he handed me these items instead… baby steps are good!

A BEAUTIFUL DAY…

We had a beautiful weather day here in Guangzhou! We took a cab to Shamian Island to have lunch with our friends, the LaCroixs (at a Thai restaurant!!) and enjoy the day. There're lots of little shops, some restaurants and a kids' park along the Pearl River…. I suppose it's similar to our Mackinaw Island; a little slower than the typical Chinese day. Another fun thing about the island is that brides and grooms go there to take their wedding pictures, prior to the wedding/reception so that they can show their guests their photos. We saw about 20 couples getting their photos taken, plus it's a hot spot for model photo shoots too. The girls enjoyed seeing all the beautiful dresses!

The kids highly enjoyed being outside, running and playing on the playground equipment. Eli really liked going down the bigger slides with the girls;-) Lots of smiles today!! He had a hard time going to bed this evening…kept calling out "mama" & holding his arms up…. not sure if he was referring to me but it worked…totally got him up and worked in a few extra snuggles!

Tomorrow afternoon we head via train ride to our final Asian destination: Hong Kong! Enjoy today's smiles…