There's No Place Like Home

Sorry it's been awhile since we last posted. Our last day in Guangzhou was a bit rainy. Our friends, Joe and Lisa, had a small flood in their room before we checked out. The water from their room was making it through the wall to the carpet in our room.

To kill the time we shopped a little and hung out at Starbucks. We found a store called A Gift From China that uses it's profits to support the orphans in China. They had a lot of items not seen in all the other stores. We left for the airport around 6 p.m. About ten minutes into our ride to the airport, Tony realized we had left our camera in the hotel lobby. We had to pull of the highway and wait for the bellman to bring the camera via taxi. Luckily we weren't too far from the hotel.

The twelve hour flight back to Los Angeles was uneventful....thanks to Benedryl. It was nice to see a lot of our family at LAX. John-Luc and Jax had an instant connection. John-Luc loves being a big brother. We spent the night close to the airport and headed to Denver on a 6:28 a.m. flight. DIA was still recovering from the snow storm. There were a lot of people waiting for flights. Morgan Zhao and his family greeted us at the airport. It was a great moment to see Jax with Morgan and his family. We truly appreciate all that Morgan did to make this adoption happen so quickly. He had a few late nights calling China on our behalf.

Jax seems to be slowly getting use to life in America. He loves to eat so we have to be careful not to feed him too much. Nights are the hardest so right now we have him sleeping in our bed. Home schooling has not been too difficult. He enjoys playing while we get through our schooling. He loves to be with John-Luc and Morgan. When I put him down for a nap or to bed for the night, he cries and keeps saying things about his sister and his brother. I can only really understand the sister and brother part. The last two days I have showed him the picture of his foster family. He takes the picture and points to the man and woman, says a few things and then hands the picture back to me. I'm not sure if this is a good sign.

Thanks again to everyone for following our journey. Right now everything feels different and new, but I know soon we won't remember life without Jax. Morgan loves to have Tony tell her about his journey to China to bring her home. I hope in a few years Morgan can help Tony and me tell Jax his story.

2400 Year-Old Dead Guy

Thank God it's Friday and we're finally heading home! Since it's a slow news day here in on the island I thought I'd blog about the 2400 year-old dead guy we saw yesterday.

In 1983 while building the Guangzhou China Hotel, by accident construction workers made an incredible find when they unearthed the tomb of King Nanyue. Remarkably the tomb was fully intact and had never been disturbed and was later declared one of China's major historical sites.

After an 8 month legal battle, the China Hotel developer was understandably required to build his hotel next door. After unearthing many treasures, a museum was built on top of the original site with many of the artifacts put on display throughout the museum.

Here's the entry to the original resting place of King Nanyue. He was buried with his cooks, concubines and slaves. They estimate he died between the age of 40-45. If you worked for the king, it was in your best interest to keep him alive as long as possible as your employment and life ended with his.

Sorry for the poor photography, but although time and water disintegrated much of the body and original silk thread, here's the reconstructed jade shroud that covered his body.

Here's all that remains of the King.

These are a few of the musical chimes/bells found in the tomb. In all 10,434 historical relics were unearthed at this site.

Just a few final thoughts/comments. Although very long, the trip was a success and Jax is gradually getting use to his new family with each passing day.

Our only disappointment was getting rained out on the day we had scheduled to visit Morgan's orphanage. The orphanage director was very kind and said that Morgan has an open invitation to visit as long as she works there. Even thought it's not what we had hoped for, we are sending "then and now" pictures of Morgan and two other girls from that orphanage we intended to deliver personally.

Well, that's it from China. We're going to pack then do a little shopping to kill more time. Thanks again for following our journey and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Take care and hope to see you all soon!

The Harbours

Life on the Island

Life on this very tiny island seems to provide a small glimpse into the many interests and activities of the Chinese people. In a city of over 12 million, available space is a rare and valuable commodity so it is easy to understand that you simply find a spot then do that thing you do.

Anyone for fan dancing?

Combo children's playground and 24 Hour Fitness Center . . .

As a Chinese native, Morgan

has a free lifetime membership.

Don't mess with her, she's got a sword and knows how to use it!

These guys took me for $50.

Ballroom Dancing anyone?

A very expensive purse rack.

By the way, have I mentioned that we want to come home? Fortunately we finally leave tomorrow evening. In our final blog from China tomorrow, I'll talk about the 2400 year-old dead guy we saw today.

Also, we changed the blog settings so it should be easier now to posts comments. Speaking of which, we've greatly appreciated each of the posts and comments and thank you for your love and support throughout this very long and difficult process. Hope to see you all soon.

The Home Stretch

With the finish line in sight, these are the "dog-days" of Shamian Island. Similar to my trip here some 5 1/2 years ago for Morgan, by now you're so anxious to go home a 12 hour plane ride sounds very inviting. A physical and US Consulate appointment are the only required items remaining before we bid farewell to China.

I was reading in a newspaper here that the poverty level for China was recently raised to about 1200RMB per year (about $156 USD). Although the required physical on Monday cost me 500RMB, it did get us to the front of the line . . . so money talks even in China.

I vividly remember the physical they gave our kids here in 2003. It basically consisted of a temperature reading and hearing test administered by an elderly nurse wearing a mirrored eye-monocle shaking a tambourine. Not much has changed in about 6 years although the toy keyboard on the desk was an improvement.

This final week we're touring many of the same sights I visited back in 2003. After the physical on Monday, we were taken to a museum called the Chen Lineage Hall. The Chen's were a very wealthy family in Guangzhou and built this home about 120 years ago which was taken by Mao then subsequently donated it to the city. It's currently undergoing a much needed exterior renovation.

While here in 2003, Stacee's sister Kathy, my mom, Morgan, me and many others from our group visited the Xiang Jiang Safari Park. Or what I affectionately to refer to as the Xiang Jiang death march as it was August and happened to be the hottest day of our trip topping 100 degrees with 95% humidity. Although the park was very beautiful and there was much to see and do, I don't think I was conscious for much of it.

So today (Tuesday) we decided to tempt fate and venture off to the safari park once again. Stacee's sister emailed me prior to going and said "bag the park". Boy what a difference 30 degrees makes. Although it's been in the mid to upper 80's here, today it was 70 degrees tops and was the absolutely best temperature anyone could possibly hope for which made for an absolutely great day at the park. Look, Stacee's even wearing a jacket.

Back on that fateful August 2003 day with the sun blazing down on my poor orphaned daughter's head rather than spending 5 bucks to buy her a hat I improvised and stuck a diaper on her head - it was a guy thing and made sense at the time. As payback I told Morgan she could take a picture of me with a diaper on my head. She thought it was pretty funny, so here you go (we're even now Morgan).

Other than a diaper on my head, here's a few of the things we were able to enjoy today:

White Tigers . . .

Bears playing basketball . . . (special note: the bear was 0-3 during the show so the unhappy trainer made him stay after and work on his jump-shot)

That's us holding a baby white lion . . .

Morgan with a few of her new friends . . .

Performing elephants . . .

And finally performing tigers . . .

Well, it was quite a day and we had a lot of fun. Tomorrow it's off to the US Consulate then we're done with all of the red tape and paperwork.

To Cody and Ellie Jo - Morgan was really moved by your message and cannot wait to see you and tell you all about her many adventures here in China. Thanks for your prayers and very special note of encouragement.

Survivor: Shamian Island China

Tribe: Harbour family members Tony, Stacee, Morgan, and Jax.

Underestimated member: Jax-he may be little but he's the only one who can understand the language and ask for a western-style toilet.

Challenge one: Make it up the street without being enticed to enter an overpriced Chinese trinket store.

Challenge two: Enter an overpriced Chinese trinket store and exit the store without purchasing a knock-off Coach bag for $10 dollars.

Challenge three: Leave Shamian Island with as little yuan as possible and still have enough money to make it to the airport.

Since our last post, we received Jax's China passport and hopped on a short flight to Guangzhou. Our next order of business is the "medical exam" and applying for Jax's visa to the U.S. We are staying at annex of the Victory Hotel on Shamian Island. The rooms are bigger which is nice with two kids to entertain.

This morning we took our laundry to "Sherry's Place." Tony really liked the two women who ran this store when he was here last. He couldn't remember where the store was, so we just started walking up the street in hopes of finding it. One block up from our hotel we ran into one of the women, Daisy. She took us to their new location and introduced us to her new coworker, May. Sherry has since gotten married and is now going to college.

Most everything is the same as Tony remembered. There is significantly less people here adopting, which means there are a lot of small trinket stores trying to get your business. There is also a noticeable increase in price. Our awesome facilitator, Judy, said that in 2006 China saw a noticeable increase in consumer pricing. Thus the days of $2 dvds are over. Tomorrow Judy will be taking us off the island to get some better quality and pricing.

Freak Show Hits Martyr's Park

Yesterday (Thursday) was a free day so we jumped in a cab and headed over to Martyr's Park. I would best describe this as Central Park meets Dave and Busters, meaning it's large, beautiful and has a little of everything, including lakes, boats, beautiful trails, a carnival, amusement rides for kids and adults, food courts, fishing, flower gardens, Sr Citizen American Idol contestants, etc.

Upon our arrival we were immediately mobbed by a hoard of 200 middle-school kids all trying to sell us Chinese newspapers. After plowing our way through them, we entered the front gate and started our 1/4 mile walk to a Chinese memorial located in the middle of the park honoring various hero's who died during WWII.

Being the only "white guy" there, I drew some attention. I felt much like Sheriff Bart from Blazing Saddles riding his horse into the town of Rockridge for the first time. It confused them even more to be there with my English speaking Asian wife and daughter. Although there are many European looking people displayed on billboards and store windows, to actually see one in person is an entirely different story. So basically I was the freak show and could have set up a booth in the carnival area and charged admission.

A young man wanting to practice his English approached us for conversation. I tried getting his thoughts on Jay Cutler wanting to be traded from the Bronco's, but acted as if he had never heard of the Bronco's or Cutler. I had to show him that American men are very shallow and can only converse on American sports so I quickly ended the conversation and we moved on.

After stopping for an ice cream, we headed over to the amusement park area where Morgan got to blow off some steam by bouncing around on an inflatable castle. After shooing away a half-blind lady begging for money, we found a very informative sign to help guide us through the maze of rides. Please tell me if you can understand any of these.

Morgan then took me on an elevated plane ride around the park. I quickly learned not to walk under this ride as evidenced by the young men spitting down on the people below. Nice to know that Chinese and Americans have some things in common.

What made the rides even funnier was the fact that there is zero safety or ride enforcement. Kids would push and shove their way onto the rides. The safety straps were a joke and never used. Kids on the log/water ride would stand up in the boat to see how far they could rock it back and forth. While doing this I was jokingly using my "Disneyland voice" saying "please remain seated until the ride has come to a full and complete stop . . . or until you've capsized the boat, whichever comes first".

Not knowing when these rides last had their last certified safety inspection, we decided to leave the amusement park and walk around for a while longer, then head back to the hotel for a little time in the pool. Jax has never been in a pool, but we put his swimsuit on and tried to at least get his feet wet. Morgan on the other hand is a human fish and swam many laps.

Today is another free day while awaiting Jax's passport delivery tonight. So with a lot of time on our hands I may inflict my own version of Chinese torture on you and continue to blog all day long . . . sorry, I'm not that cruel.

This morning at breakfast we met Dave and Paula from Iowa. It's always nice meeting other "freaks" from America here in China. They have a 4 year old adopted Chinese daughter and 7 year old bio son back home. They're here to adopt a 5 year old Chinese boy that suffers from febrile seizures.

I think we're going to head out to a lake this morning then come back for another dip in the pool, then go bowling on the 7th floor. They don't have a bowling alley, we just thought it would be fun to bowl.

Tomorrow we head back to Guangzhou . . . it will be nice to have the distraction of traveling and going somewhere different.

On the Road to Hengyang City

Yesterday was a full day. First off I opened my mouth and commented to Tony about the lack of humidity. So of course when we woke up yesterday it had rained and the humidity felt about 98%. We spent the day traveling to Hengyang, where Jax was born. It took close to three hours to get there. It was a beautiful sight with all the rice fields. It is the beginning of rice planting season so there were people and beasts of burden out in the fields. The also grow a yellow flower plant so there were fields of yellow everywhere.

Traveling on Chinese highways is a very different experience. You're given notice of about 15 feet that your lane is closed for repair. We also learned that the "emergency lane" is in reality a secondary passing lane. Forget traffic citations because there are no rules.

Hengyang was an event. The Mission Viejo Development Company would probably just go in, level the place and start over. There is truly no rhyme or reason to the streets, buildings, etc. Once inside the city, it took us about a half hour to find one street. It was basically an alley, and the street sign was placed about 20 feet away from the intersecting street. Our guide probably asked 6 people where the street was. We drove by it three times before the driver saw the sign.

We had a late lunch at a noodle place. I was a little scared about the health standards, but the food was really good. This morning I still have my stomach so I'm happy. Tony felt like a rock star with everyone staring at him. It was funny to see the looks on people's faces.

Morgan has been having a great time. This morning she said she enjoyed being here. Anna has been teaching her some Chinese songs, so hopefully she will remember them and teach them to Jax.

Jax is still getting use to us. When he is tired he starts crying and saying the same thing over and over again. Not knowing what he was saying we asked Anna to ask him what he is saying. She starts talking to him by saying mommy said you were crying last night. Much like Bart Simpson he denies everything by answering, "No, I wasn't crying". So she says it again and he says "No!" Finally, he starts saying the all too familiar phrase. With Anna there to interpret, we learn he's saying that he wants to go back.

Although it's difficult to hear your child say that he wants to go back, it was at least comforting to know that he was loved and treated very well by his foster parents. So on the way home from Hengyang he starts crying over and over again Chinese, "I want to go back! I want to go back!".

We got back to our hotel and once we opened the door to our room, Jax, sitting on my lap, starts crying and unloading on us in Chinese. He probably cried and yelled at us for for about an hour. After letting him vent, Tony took him to the playroom for a bit and then they came back. Now completely worn out he went straight to sleep and slept the whole night.

This morning he seems happier, but still a little sad. He laughs easily and is into everything. He loves to sing and he talks nonstop when he is playing by himself. He's starting to interact with Morgan more.

Today is a "free day" so we're off to Martyrs Park, which is a park commemorating those that died during WWII. We may try to take a dip in the pool or try out the bowling alley on the 6th floor of our hotel.