Becoming a Gilkeson

Our girl Jada is adjusting so well. There are tough moments, but they are few. She is the bravest little girl I've ever met! Even the older kids are doing great with adding a sibling. We feel so blessed and are so thankful.

Practically twins!

Still. so. ornery.

Entertainment during the sermon: adorning one's self with stickers

Ge Ge Grant and Jada

Ready for a Nerf War!

Eating ice cream with chop sticks

Merry Christmas!

Everyone has watermelon for Christmas breakfast, right?!

Inside our hotel

The Christian Church we attended on Shamian Island

Merry Christmas from China!



Christmas Eve

We had the medical check on Shamian Island today.  Jada was a trooper.  She is a brave little girl.  She went through it all without a tear.  She smiled and giggled even.  She didn't even cry when they injected her for the TB test. 

For supper we had Papa John's pizza with a bunch of new friends in their hotel room!  I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of that!  We have been blessed by the support and encouragement of the others around us.  Not to mention we love getting to know the other kids!

Dec 23rd On to Guangzhou

We left Hangzhou and flew into Guangzhou.  The trip went smoothly...amazingly well now that I think of it.  Thank you God!

Dec 22nd Water Town and Dragon Well Tea

We draw quite a bit of attention with our little pink girl.  Little old Chinese ladies have fussed over whether she's dressed warm enough, pulling on her pants and looking to see if she has more layers.  Why oh why didn't I bring her snow bibs?!

This is a very old town outside of Hangzhou, which they regard as the Venice of China.  This was a great tour and we even got a boat ride.

Dragon Well Green Tea Farm

We were welcomed into a farmer's home and given some green tea to try.  It was very interesting and the tea was okay...but I was more impressed by the jasmine tea served by Mr. Wang in Beijing.

Another adoptive mom with us who drinks a lot of green tea loved it.  So if you like green tea, it's the first picking of Dragon Well Tea that you want!

By this time I was just praying we could get Jada home to the hotel without her getting carsick again!

Dec 21st

Mischief.  Orneriness.  They ooooze from these pores.  She's just as silly with us as if she'd always known us.

December 20th Ningbo and Enmei Orphanage

Skyline of Hangzhou
We were told these are farmers' houses!  Slightly different from home!

Today we made the adoption final!  Our hotel was in Hangzhou (the capital), where we finalized the adoption (first stop), and we had to travel to Ningbo to apply for Jada's passport.  On the way we picked up the orphanage assistant director who took us to lunch at a farmer's home/restaurant, then we got to visit the orphanage!  We took so many pictures, and I have many to share!  ;o)  We got to take pictures of her classmates and they allowed us to see her room, her classroom, watch a music class and take pictures on the playground!  It was very rushed because we had to get to downtown Ningbo to apply for the passport after that.  It all went very smoothly, but Jada got sick several times in the van from motion sickness.  It didn't help that she has a rotten cold with a very runny nose.  We got home very late.  It was a successful, good, and hard day.  We are still thanking God for His care and provision.