Robyn reminded me that Saturday was two things: First it was the two month anniversary of us meeting our little darling marshmallow and second it was her birthday!

Now, before you go thinking me to be a horrible parent you need to know that I *knew* it was her birthday. We had the parents over, but the party was kinda low-key. Ellery hasn’t been feeling the super-best for the past week and a half or so. It started with her getting a slight cold, which turned into darn-near pneumonia and now the biggest issue is that her little cute tongue is covered in sores and ulcers. And we have no idea why. It’s pretty painful for her to eat, but she still gamely tries to muster up a good attitude. I also notice that she’s got a little trouble talking as well. I think Robyn is debating taking her to the doctor today if they don’t look any better. Whew, you’d think after having two kids prior to Ellery we wouldn’t be the "nervous" parents who take their kids to the doctor for every little thing. But you’d be wrong there.

In lawyer news we haven’t really heard a thing. So, not sure what the deal is with that. Her citizenship seems like it’s going to be a long difficult road.

Apologies for the lack of updates, we’ve just had a lot going on it seems like. I’ll post more when I know more.

And there is no Hep, no HIV, no TB, no other parasites (aside from Giardia - which the wife and I both think we have). We’re going to be waiting a little while on the Giardia test to come back, but I think it’s a sure thing. Since I’ve not been able to eat much of anything for a while now without some rather "unfortunate" side effects.

Anyway, a healthy Ellery means we don’t have to put her down.

Kidding!

One thing that I didn’t mention earlier was how we just barely managed to avoid spending an extra ten days in Guangzhou. Seems we had some paper work complications. Due to an understanding with our agency we thought we had an amended I-600A form, but we didn’t. This form is required for the US Consulate in Guangzhou to give us our "packet" so that Ellery would be allowed into the US and made a US citizen.

And we didn’t have one.

So, the US Consulate and our agency (and our local guy Samson) all worked diligently to come up with a way for us to avoid staying in China for an extra ten days. A B-1 Visa. Which is typically a business-related Visa. Well, that did manage to get us in-country but unfortunately it didn’t allow for Ellery to become a U.S. citizen the second we stepped foot into Detroit.

So now is where the lawyers come in. Seems we have to get one to figure out what to do next. Since Homeland Security in Memphis is telling us that need to keep her here two years and then fill out these other forms. Which means that she’d be an illegal alien for a year? No, not doing that.

I suppose I just needed to spend a whole ton more money on legal fees and I didn’t know it. Since, I’m flush with cash after a trip to China for four people.

I’ll let you know what we find out from the lawyers.

Oh, and the Flu is gone now. Thank goodness, that was a rough patch in my life - let me tell you.

Ugh. Aside from only being conscious about twice a day - I’m having some of the most insane dreams. Oh, and I recommend the Flu to anyone looking to lose weight. I haven’t eaten since… oh… Wednesday. Okay, off to bed to go shiver, sweat and shiver some more.

It was a BRUTAL last few days in China for me. I’ve got the Flu and it was a punishing 17 hours in airplanes to get home yesterday. But, I took a bunch of medication this morning - and if that doesn’t help me soon I’m going to bite the bullet and go to the Emergency Room. I’m just sitting here now praying the meds work.

In other news, seeing Ellery play with all of her new toys and walk around the house is a surreal experience. We sat her down yesterday in the living room with a small pile of a few things and she said “Xie Xie” (which sounds like shay shay) which means “Thanks” in Chinese.

I almost cried.

And speaking of crying, I did, yesterday when a lot of our friends and family were waiting for us there at the airport. My Dad, Wicked Step Mother, Uncle Larry, Aunt Sue, My cousin Melissa (and her two boys which were NOT happy to be there - but were there anyway), The Edwards (Ken was working, but he got his notice in) and The O’Hanlons (who graciously drove our truck to the airport and let me drive it home).

We smelled bad, looked bad, felt bad - but none of that mattered. We were so happy to be home. The emotions of seeing everyone were overwhelming and had I not felt like I was dying already, I would have probably been a lot more overcome. We have days worth of pre-prepared meals and a nice sign on our garage welcoming our dog home (Thanks O’Hanlons!). Our friend Ken (who was working yesterday in the Nashville Tower) made sure to pass along his congratulations, and the congratulations of the rest of the tower as he was the first one to officially welcome us home. The pilot made an announcement to the plane about our family and our trip, we got a nice applause. Again, overwhelmingly amazing friends and family we have. I just want to thank you all for the warm wishes and the good thoughts while we were gone. EVERY SINGLE comment was poured over and appreciated as we battled with home sickness (and regular old sickness as well). In the next few days, providing I don’t die from whatever I have, I’m going to be sharing a few stories of the return and other things you may find interesting.

But now? Ellery is home - and I can hear her downstairs saying “Uh-oh” every few minutes as she is discovering her way around.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it!

It’s been a LONG time since I boarded an airplane via a stairwell and tarmac, but that’s what we did yesterday. The Air China flight was nice, however. Got us here right about on time.

We’re staying in the Victory Hotel which seems to be pretty nice for us, we have adjoining rooms and for the first time the entire trip Maureen doesn’t have to sleep on on a couch or chair. She appreciates the little things.

I came down with a little bit of something yesterday too, that’s why this post is late. But, I’m trying to stage a quick recovery because I was just called by our local guide (Sampson) who told me that the US Consulate wants to move our appointment up to today! That means that we get to have Ellery be official (with the US) one day sooner. The only problem is that Robyn and the kids are all out shopping (as I lay sleeping in the bed). So, we’re going to have a quick lunch, a little nap for grumpy bug and then off to the Consulate!

I’ll post more later, just wanted everyone to know we’re here.

We’re really starting to get a little sad at the prospect of leaving here. Our guide, Sarah has really been amazing and more helpful than we could have ever hoped for. She’s been a dream.

On our last day here we went to the Tea Museum. Tea is a very important product in this portion of China and there is a nice, large museum devoted to its history. We toured that museum (and took lots of pictures) and then went to her friends house again, since it’s right next to the museum, for some more fresh tea. We sat and ate sunflower seeds and enjoyed the day out on their front porch. It was very relaxing and very nice.

We then asked Sarah and our driver, Mr. Liang to join us for lunch at what Sarah said was the nicest restaurant in Hangzhou. It was on the water and at one time (not so long ago) served lunch to former President Nixon. We ordered the shrimp, a river fish, a beggars chicken and some friend rice. There was PLENTY of food and the best part? It was cheaper for all seven of us to eat there than it was for five of us to have the western buffet here in the hotel! The local food was excellent, and prepared (and served!) with care and pride. I took some pictures of the restaurant because it was so beautiful on the inside. Then we walked through a garden we found on the way back to the hotel. I took a lot more pictures in there, since it was just so stunning.

If we’ve learned nothing else in our time here, it’s that Hangzhou is some place we would like to come and visit again. The people are wonderful and the sights are inspiring.

We’re packing now and preparing for the early departure in the morning. Plane leaves at 9:30, so we’re going to be heading out of here at 7:30. I’ll fire up the laptop again once I’m there and let you know about the plane ride to Guangzhou (a short two hour trip).

Wednesday we’ll be four short days from getting back home! Yay! Did I mention that we’re really starting to miss home now?

We decided to give the kids a little treat and be typical Americans and go for some regular American fare. Connor and I decided to head up the street a little bit and get some pizza. Turns out that it was a passable version of US style pizza. The crust was spot on, the cheese was different, not bad - just different. The ham on the ham and pineapple pizza was awesome. So, all-in-all a good experience on our next-to-last night here. Tomorrow I think we’re going to the Tea Museum and then maybe to lunch at Sarah’s friends house (provided it isn’t raining) and then we’ll be packing like crazy people for the flight to Guangzhou. 9:30am flight. Short flight too - only two hours, yay! And with that, it’s about 8:00pm here. Robyn just laid Ellery down after her bath (crying, but better this time - we think we’re figuring it out!) and we’re going to be heading to sleep soon.

Robyn just reminded me of a moment I need to mention. Earlier today Ellery was running, well, running how she runs - kind of like a drunken sailor (think: Jack Sparrow) and she ran into the bedroom here, where I was uploading pictures and I was “booping” her on her butt. Which is poking as she is running away screaming in laughter… Anyway, one time she ran up to me and I said “Give Ba Ba a kiss” and made a kissing motion - and she walked up closer to me and SHE GAVE ME A PECK ON MY CHEEK! I’d like to point out that I was the VERY FIRST to receive this gift. Right after that Robyn called her into the other room and asked Ellery to make her day by giving her one as well - and she did! Then Maureen and Connor got pecks on the cheek as well. It was a very sweet thing for her to do and it made us all warm and happy.

Robyn also just pointed out my grammar. I’m going to apologize now for the “shotgun style” I’m using. It’s how I get my thoughts out - and I don’t have time to make second and third passes over it like I would if I were writing something for work. Sorry it’s annoying, but when I sell my first book the grammar will bees perfects, I promises.

See that? Humor right there. It’s late, and the humor is getting worse.

This morning we got up late and had breakfast disturbed by a ummmmmm, what’s a nice way to describe it…. number two moment. So, we quickly left breakfast to go downstairs to our room. After a quick change we met Sarah to go to the passport office (we were trying to pickup Ellery’s passport), but it seems that it wasn’t ready yet, so, we’ll go again in the morning.

We then went to the mall, not the touristy mall, the REAL mall. Where the locals go. Which was nice. We had some nice people come up to talk to us, one really nice older gentlemen who spoke perfect English. Robyn bought Ellery a few outfits (wow, it was like being at home!). Anyways, we boguht some lunch there at the mall and brought it back.

The blog is now current! Yay!

Currently it’s 2:33am at home, but it’s 4:33 here. So, we’re about to be thinking about dinner time. Then we’ll have a nice bath, and off to bed. Ellery has been making her displeasure with her nightly bath be known, but Robyn has been a trooper about just getting it done and letting Ellery be mad, but still understand that a bath must be taken.

Not sure what we’re going to do for dinner at this point, but we’ll figure something out. Right now the kids are in there playing with Ellery as I am typing this and Robyn is figuring out how to repack for the flight to Guangzhou.