The last post was a long one.... click on "read more" at the bottom

Ingrid is home!!!!!

We made it home and Ingrid is doing beautifully!!!! What joy we have with her in our home, in our country, surrounded by so many people who have fallen in love with her from the moment they heard about her.  God has blessed us beyond what we could imagine in the gift of this little girl.  Here are some pictures with stories...

The day we departed the boys slipped a piece of paper under the hotel door of Sam's room that said,

"come and swim with us one more time before we get on the plane to go home.  meet us at 12:30 at the pool." 

(They had gone swimming before with Sam and gave him a skipping swim ball to keep.  He slept with that ball each night). Sam is four years old, adopted by a wonderful woman from Tennessee.   He has one leg amputated just below the knee and his other leg has a very small foot with some fused toes.  Right now he walks using the stump on one leg and the small foot on the other leg.  He will get prosthetics when he gets home.  The boys want to follow Sam's story so we hope to stay in touch.  We are encouraging Bjorn, who says he wants to be a surgeon, to do one of his physics papers on how he would make prosthetics for Sam.  Sketch the idea, learn about the bones and muscles involved, and then figure out the physics to making it effective.  Here's a picture of the boys in the pool.  Our goal was to tire our boys out before a long plane ride home, but that goal turned into something much bigger- they fell in love with this little guy.

The first leg of the flight to Tokyo went great.  Obviously this is Kris writing again, because she could move freely throughout the plane, read a magazine, sip coffee.  Matt had Ingrid clinging to his arms, chest, legs, lips, ears, leg hairs, magazines....

In Tokyo Ingrid started to want to walk more and babble.  She wanted one person at a time to give her just one of their fingers and let her walk all over the airport.  A few times she'd stop and hug, but she was on the move.  The boys and Kris could walk with her, but she would scream if we tried to hold her too long.  Matt's arms were safe and loving to her.

 

 

The boys attempted to sleep by putting their hoodies over their heads and slump over the tray table.  Kris slept and walked and Matt held Ingrid.

How are they both sleeping?

On our way home!!

We are now on our way to Hong Kong and then will board a plane for home!! We are so excited to finally bring Ingrid home!! We will land in Minneapolis on Wednesday at 1:00!!!!

Our flight info.

We are not sure that we will have time to blog from Hong Kong so here is our flight information if you want to meet us at the airport. We have been asked by some if it's ok to come to the airport and we say "yes!" we'd love to see you! We arerive Minneapolis
Delta #622 from Tokyo at 1:00 pm. We will have to go through customs first.
Yipeeeee!
Wahoooo!
Whoopie!!!

xoxooo

Oskar's post

It's Oskar.
I like donuts.
I like Ingrid.
The End
by Oskar

Leaving for Hong Kong today!!!!

Yesterday we all went to the consulate in Guangzhou.  They had us all approach the counter with Ingrid's paperwork (passport, immunization records, and all kinds of official paperwork), take an oath that all the documents were true, and then they sent us on our way.  We receive her visa, and between the visa and her Chinese passport we can start our trip home!!!!

Ingrid has been busy....walking with her special backpack, facetime with grandparents, bathing and sleeping!

Ingrid has another day of swimming!  We love the sign by the pool... this happens often!

Ingrid loves her play time too.  As we leave mainland China this afternoon we are in awe of God's blessing to our family in the gift of this child.  All of these children here with special needs are perfect in God's eyes and we are all blessed by our time here in this country.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

Funny Moments Written by Ike

These past two weeks we've all had lots of laughs and giggles. (Ingrid has her little own little chuckle too)!

*When we first got her us boys gave her some toys.  She started to throw them which led to a laugh.  My parents reminded me I was a huge "chucker" also!

*One night in Nanchung we were heading to a water-light show.  Bjorn and I were sitting together in the van with the window rolled down.  There was traffic and a lot of people were on mopeds.  So, Bjorn and I decided to start annoying them.  We would yell at them and say "Call Me!"  or "Hi" and look at their reactions.  We laughed so hard. My mom and dad were not happy with us so when we got to the hotel we ran to the elevator so we wouldn't have to get "the talk". The plan lasted until we found out we had no room key.

*The first day in Guangzhou Ingrid had a lot of energy, so I put her on my lap.  I started to cradle back and forth and we both ended up on our backs!  Then she grabbed her legs and crawled her hand until she touched her butt.  When she slapped her butt she looked at me and kept doing butt slaps.  It was really funny.

Fun facts about Ingrid:
1.  She likes to be held.
2.  She's hyper.
3.  She smiles a lot.
4. She's curious.
5.  She likes to punch and throw.
6.  She is flexible.
7.  She likes toy cups.
8.  She tries to take any food she sees.J
9.  She likes to touch.
10.  She likes to be copied.

By Isaac

Ingrid gets her Chinese passport

In China's eyes Ingrid is our child.  Tomorrow  it will be official in the United States as well!!

Touring in Guangzhou

Breakfasts here at the China Hotel have been a favorite!  Ike loves the French Toast, Bjorn the steamed dumplings, Oskar pancakes with chocolate syrup, Matt the coffee and made-to-order noodles, Kris the mango and star fruit, and Ingrid.... she is eating up a storm!  At the orphanage they told us she was eating only formula with some cereal in a bottle.  For us she is eating watermelon, biscuits, dumplings, congee, and more!  We are hoping to put a little fat on her sweet little body!

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We went with all of the other families from our agency to the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum today.  The boys did great running around looking at bone carvings, watching an artist paint with his fingers, see jade and scrolls and beautiful art work amidst a gorgeous open area with wonderful architecture.

Next we went to a supermarket for water and noodles and to see if they have any pants or shorts that may fit little Ingrid.  The 12 month size shorts slide right off her little body!  

 Ike buys a basketball for $5 and the boys all play outside in 90 degree heat with extra high humidity. They love it!

 Bjorn gets a chair massage much to the stares and smiles of the Chinese women around him!

Ike spins the wheel to win something?

She is absolutely coming alive around our family!  She smiles and adores her brothers!  Every second she is trying to get down and run or walk somewhere.  She is not very stable on her own so we are right next to her and many tumbles have already happened.  Ingrid doesn't seem to know how to crawl, how to get from laying down to sitting, nor does she go from sitting to standing on her own.  She is walking and saying little babbles, hugging, and when she looks at you your heart melts!  Each day she is eating new foods.   It's so fun to see her coming alive and starting to trust each of us.  I am still not her favorite, but she lets me feed her and she will walk with me and she watches me everywhere.  I even see her sneak a smile at me!  Matt and boys can take her anywhere, and starting now to be a little concerned about teaching the boys how to hold this little peanut!

We made it to Guangzhou!

We made it to our last city in China!  Ingrid spent the afternoon learning to use her legs a bit more and napping!

We left Nanchang really excited about our next city, but sad to say goodbye to our guide, Ann.  She is 21 years old, a university student majoring in English, and she taught us so much about this country.  She explained how women in the southern part of China are much smaller than the women in the north.  Her examples included pointing out the size of the meat eaten in Beijing vs. Nanchang.  In Beijing the meat is cut in huge chunks, but in Nanchang the portions are much smaller.  She pointed out phsyical characteristics of the land, economic differences, cultural differences within the country and so much more.  We have exchanged emails and hope to stay in contact.

Ingrid takes her first airplane ride!!

Today we took Ingrid along with all the other U.S adoptee parents here to get a medical check.  It was crowded and hot and Ingrid slept through some of the exam.  It was an extremely brief check, but so far she seems to be in good health.  She is limber and skinny and oh so cute!  She is warming up to all of us- little steps at a time and what a joy she is!!

She had such fun playing with her brothers.

Our day

Ingrid spent the day on Matt's hip, chest, lap...anything near him.  She even will walk without holding anyones hands to get to him!  She looked at me when Matt said "mama" today but she still will scream if I take her away from him.  Right now my job is to be the one to feed her (until today she really wouldn't eat much of anything for us), bathe her, change her, and continue to whisper in her ear.  The boys get to play with her.  She is learning slowly to trust us as we saw her cling to Matt even more, let the boys get near her and be silly with her, and I can make eye contact with her without her crying.  Baby steps for a child who didn't really get to go through baby steps.  She went swimming today...

We went to a fun place for lunch with our guide, Ann.  Two sides of a pot that cook in front of you.  We had dumplings and a flower vegetable, mushrooms, meats, and more.  Almost like a fondue.  Then we toured a bit around Nanchang.  Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou- the last city before we coming home.  Apparently Guangzhou is a bit more western.  We have truly enjoyed the people in this city- kind people with a rich, proud heritage with their whole focus on family.

We've had a great time in the city of Nanchang

Teng Weng Pavillion in Nanchang.  

Oskar had had enough touring!