Summer Palace

This morning was a morning off for everyone expect four families that had to bring their children for medicals. This was for sponsorship families only. Thank God we are bringing Jane home as a Canadian Citizen and not a permanent resident. I would not have been looking forward to that 1 hour bus drive to and from there this morning. Thank you Ekie O’Rielly at Senator Fabian Mannings office for facilitating that for us. If Ekie for Senator Manning had not sent several emails, made numerous calls and took a personal interest , Jane would not be coming home until maybe Dec or Jan at the earliest. Thanks again Ekie!!

Here we are. Jane’s hats and headbands are a real hit. The guide calls her fashionable girl!

So...we got to take it easy. We went out for a stroll, had some McDonalds and went to barter at a local market. No great deals there though. We all went, it was 5 floors and I was a nervous as the boys were scattering to look at things so we didn’t stay long.McDonald’s doesn’t taste the same here but we are getting pretty tired of Chinese food so we went for something a little different.

At 1 pm we went to Summer Palace. This is a palace here in Beijing. It was nice but there was a lot of walking and the boys found it all a bit boring. There were peddlers every few feet who were very persistent you buy a Panda hat. Jack was again mobbed by young girls hugging him and having their picture taken with him. They were over the moon when he handed them a Canadian Flag pin. The Canadian memorabilia is a real hit. We gave out a bunch of flags and flag pins on the Great Wall yesterday too. The girls were actually jumping up and down they were so delighted.

I'm ready to go!

On the way to Summer Palace with my baby girl and littlest boy.

 

 

John at Summer Palace

Jack

Jacob

Josh

Manmade lake over 2 kms at Summer Palace.

 

Vivian- our guide

Very detailed work here

Dragon boats.

It was another nice day. We have 3 days left and then, finally, we bring Jane home.

Jade Factory/The Great Wall/ Cloisonné Factory

Today was a very busy and expensive day for the Brentnall family.

Our first stop was the jade factory. Here we learned about different grades of Jade.

 Our guide told us that Chinese daughters expect to receive a jade bracelet from their mother and mother in law on their wedding day. So, what do you think I had to buy. Dave’s own words,” Now get her something good.” So, I did! We also bought a jade happy family ball. It is a beautiful piece of art that is hand carved. It symbolizes family love, a big family, happiness and luck.





The Jade Factory.
 Notice the man sitting to the left outside the glass craving jade.

After the Jade Factory it was on to the Great Wall of China.
 All I can say is what an amazing experience.
It was unreal.
We had two choices. The less or more challenging walk. We took the most challenging.
The steps were very uneven, narrow and the incline very steep in places.
 Beijing had it’s first snowfall of the year while we were at the top.
It was very cold but oh so beautiful.

Our view of the EASY side!

The Brentnall's at the very top!

 I thought this slogan for the games was also very fitting for us.




Another view of the wall

Dave and another physician in our group with their babies,

 having a look at the Medical Post at the top of the wall.

 

Jacob on the wall

John running on the wall!

Josh on the wall

Jack on the wall

Mommy at the top 

 This man chiselled a picture of the great wall for Jane.
He added her Chinese name and English name. A great keepsake.

Next it was on to the Cloisonné Factory for shopping and lunch.
 This is an ancient act of decorating metalwork.
It is common in jewellery, vases and Christmas ornaments. Many China treasures here!




 
Jake put his hat on Jane. Too cute!







After we left here we drove to the 2008 Olympic site.
It was just dark and the cube looked amazing.

Then we when back to the hotel.

 We were all pooped.

I am so glad I asked that the children not be given homework during the trip.

There would honestly be no time to do it.

So..it was another wonderful day.
We climbed the wall, we bought some Jade and Cloisonné
and we watched our little girl brighten up even more.
I am sure she has gained weight already.


Bonnie

Beijing Day 1

This morning was tons of paperwork. All 17 families are back here in Beijing now. Most of the babies are doing marvellous. Jane had her passport photo done, getting ready for Canada. In the afternoon we all when to the Beijing Zoo. That was a hit. We had a great afternoon. Most people went for Chinese but I was dying for a quarter pounder. Poor Dave went out to get us something and came back with nothing only frustration. DIRECT QUOTE-“I tell you what, I’m getting pretty sick of people not having a clue what I am saying.” Hee hee!! I had a big tuck bar for supper. Tomorrow, The Great Wall. I can’t wait!


Bonnie

                                                        Could you be any sweeter??

                                   The Giant Panda at the Beijing Zoo.

My baby boy next to the peacocks.

Someone thought this big bear may be thirsty for Pepsi.
I don’t think this is allowed but it sure was funny!

                                  
                          
                                               Our little girl cracking up at silly mommy!

                                                                      Look at those eyes!

The superstar himself. Jack draws quite a crowd with that blonde hair. People are patting and touching his head the entire time.

                             

Just fell asleep. She loved her day.

Saying Goodbye To Changsha



Our beautiful daughter

 Isn’t this precious! We are convinced people
think Jacob may be Justin Beiber.
So many people want their picture
 taken with him.



 Milky Time!
We cannot keep Jane fed, very hungry girlie.



 Outside our hotel~ The Dolton

Changsha 

 Children going to school.






 Jane has her boarding pass, she is ready to go.
Bye Bye Changsha.



Back in Beijing.
It is much much colder here so Mom
had to bundle me up.
Aren't I the cutest little thing.







Today was just more paperwork,
lunch, a little walk with
the family and off to Beijing.
The family walk didn’t last
long as the boys started to complain that I was going
to want to go in every shop.......true!
So, Dave took them off to lunch
and then Jane and I joined
them after we bought her some
Chinese/English board books for her.
Several people pointed to her uncovered arms.
That is very taboo here. It was 25*,
the poor kid was sweating.
After lunch we all checked out and headed to the airport.
When we got there, we all crashed. So tired!


Bonnie



Visit to Jane's Orphanage



The road leading to Jane's orphanage

Arriving at the orphanage

                                                         

A full view of the orphanage where Jane spent her first year

This is the main entry gate

                                            
                                                                  

This is Jane’s main nanny. When we pulled in she was hanging out one of the windows, the next thing I know she is running down the stairs calling out to her, “SHOU YU SHOU YU.” Jane was so happy to see her. She had big smiles. Her nanny was wiping tears from her eyes and so was I.

Can you feel the Love????

                                                     

This lady is one of the officials in the orphanage. She would take Jane everyday to feed her and play with her. Jane was very special to her. She was waiting outside for us to arrive. She could not wait for me to get out of the van with Jane. She was tapping on the window. I had to pass her out through the window to her. You could tell Jane adored her.

                          
                                                                     

This is Kayla with ICC-International China Concern. She was nice enough to update me on Jane while I was waiting. She has been in China 8 years helping the “most vulnerable” at Jane’s orphanage. If you are going to donate overseas this years or if you can afford to do so please donate to her project in Hengyang. This is where Jane got her start. Here is the web site.http://english.chinaconcern.org/

Just before we left, standing at the main gate.

This is the hospital where Jane was found. The other girl is the secretary at the orphanage.

                                                                                                                                

The director of Jane’s orphanage met us for lunch. He seemed like a very nice, kind man. He asked us if we liked her and thanked us for adopting her. We could not believe he came out to lunch with us. Amazing!

This is the doctor that cares for Jane when she was first brought into the orphanage. She came to the restaurant as well with the physical therapist. Both of them came running in shouting “SHOU YU SHOU YU”. This is what Jane’s nickname was. It means small rain. Jane was again delighted to see her.

                                                                              

This pretty lady is one of the therapists at Jane’s orphanage. She works 5 days a week there doing range of motion exercises and other physical therapy with the children. Jane was very happy to see her. The women was very taken with Jane. She dropped into the restaurant to see her. The love was obvious.

                                                                            
                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
There you go. That’s all I am going to share. This is Jane’s history, her story. I want to tell her every detail. I videotaped almost 2 hours of the city, the people, and the orphanage. It was a very emotional day. I felt very privileged to have been permitted to do all the video recording and picture taking. That is very rare.


Bonnie