Greetings again from lovely Guangzhou!

Not much going on here... we went on a tour this morning of the Chen Family House- father and i found it of utmost excitment as I'm sure you can imagine :). Mother really enjoyed it and purchased several things to give Jade on her future birthdays.  Jade is doing well... she is the only one of the babies who has not yet had to visit the clinic except for her manditory physical which we had yesterday.  Father went on a 5-hour each way trip to Jade's orphanage yesterday. Through this experience, he has decided that he sould drive more agressively. On one huge 4-lane-going-one-way highway there was a lone motorcyclist going the opposite direction as the rest of the traffic. The traffic in general never ceases to amaze us... there is a definate lack of simple "rules of road" besides using the horn at every possible oppertunity.  (He did take some video footage of the countryside and the outside of the orphanage)  We are doing well but cannot wait to come home! There are only 2 American restaraunts nearby and they are getting kind of old :). And living out of a hotel is not that much fun either- especially when there is a giant conference occuring on the bottom 3 floors.

Have a fantastic day,

Kelsey (J & J are out walking and mother is back at the hotel doing more papers)

Hello All,

We're all doing well. Jade is really coming out of her shell: she has started to giggle and smile and make noises. She is really a shaker and a mover and we will have our hands full. She also has quite a temper and does not hesitate to let us know when she is not happy.  Today Father went to see her orphanage and the countryside: it is 5 hours each way- we sent the video camera along so hopefully we will have plenty of footage of the "real" China and where Jade spent her first year.  The weather is still wonderful. We are doing quite a bit of shopping as all the name brands are cheap and she doesn't fit many of the clothes we brought... and we are going to stock up on the very popular squeaky shoes.  Sorry, but we are not able to read your e-mails... maybe tomorrow? I am going to try and enclose a couple of pictures that we took on Gocha Day. Exciting things are happening... we will tell you more when we get home. Keep praying.

Can't wait to get home and see you all again!!!
Lorenna, Kelsey and Jade

Greetings again from beautiful Guangzhou!

Yesterday at 3-ish we met Jade! She slept thru the whole ordeal- and finally woke up as we got onto the elevator to go down to the bus to go back to the hotel. She has 4 top teeth, 4 bottom teeth, one molar and one coming in. She can stand on her own, can almost walk (but cannot crawl) and is lacking in the hair department. And of course she is very cute. She is very petite... perhaps 15 pounds. She drinks from a cup but is not interested in anything solid. As for the rest of us,  we just enjoyed a lovely meal of chicken (deep fried!), a chicken burrito, french fries, onion rings and a hamburger outside under an orchid tree. Alas, we are really suffering :).  In an hour or so mother and kelsey will depart for a shopping "adventure". In our next update we will hopefully have some pictures for you to enjoy.  Thank you all for your prayers- she slept all night except for a short time to have a bottle and then went back to sleep. The gotcha ordeal also went very smoothly with minimal crying (hardly any at all).

Have a lovely day!

Jim & Kelsey (Lorenna & Jade are at the hotel resting...)

Greetings from Guangzhou!

We made it! We just watched some people skin a snake for lunch to eat along side some lovely black mushrooms! Yum! But then we visited the 7-11 just down the street and got a small bowl of icecream and a diet coke so we shall survive another day.  The weather is pleasant: sunny and about 80 degrees.  We are going to meet Jade in about 3 hours- and have been looking at the wide variety of squeaky shoes that we will have to purchase for her soon. Mother & Father are a bit nervous... :)  We'll hopefully post pictures and more details in the very near future!

Have a lovely day,

Jim, Lorenna & Kelsey