Learning About Dirt

Hope you all are enjoying your Memorial weekend as much as Nathan is. Today, we went to the park and had a little picnic. Of course, food was involved, so he was a happy camper. Then he played on the slide and baby swing. Later, we thought we'd plant some flowers and see if baby Nathan could play in the dirt while we planted. He didn't really understand what dirt was at first....but, he sure is cute! :)





After daddy showed him what to do with dirt, he got into it big time! :)

Didn't take him long to enjoy...

This photo pretty much sums up the day :)

Happy Memorial Day to all!

More China pictures

Hello,
thought you guys might enjoy some of these pictures from our trip - finally. Sorry for the delay and look for more soon. :)


This is the line waiting to get into the clinic for the "medical exam" of Nathan on Shamian Island.This is beautiful bone carvings. I loved these. I'm trying to remember what museum they were from but can't remember now.

This is the usual stance of baby Nathan while we were in China - glued to BaBa. Either in his arms or attached to his legs... :)
This is the view of our hotel from the park nearby in Wuhan.

These beautiful children were smiling and giggling after I took one picture of them and then just wanted me to take more and more. They jabbered away to us and this was one time in China when I wished I knew what they were trying to tell us.
Another view from the park by our hotel in Wuhan.
That is it for now. I'll try to post more in the coming days.

A bonsai tree in the bonsai park. I didn't realize that bonsai just means tree in pot, not necessarily a little tree.

Nathan hugging a big rock at the Bonsai park.

All three in front of a big rock at the Bonsai park. Nathan loved all the big rocks, of course. He is so funny. He won't smile for anything out in public and is probably just overwhelmed. But, in the hotel room he comes to life.

I am sorry for the dark video yesterday. I didn't even think it posted until my sister said something about it. I took it with the camera in our dark room at night. I'll try to take one outside later if it isn't raining.

Hope to post later....US :)

About Huan Huan

Tonight at dinner Huan Huan was standing near Jin Yan (Helena) from the same orphanage as him. All of a sudden, I realized that he was talking to her and they were carrying on this little conversation together. I motioned for our guide Christina but she said they might be speaking a local dialect because she couldn't make it out. It is so funny because we know he talks because he sometimes talks in his sleep, but we obviously can't understand him. Also, at naptime today he woke up halfway and to get himself back to sleep it sounded like he was singing himself a little song. Cutest thing ever, but also broke my heart because he had to self-soothe. I was laughing and crying together. We haven't heard anything from him verbally other than "at" which is what he says when he wants something and points to it, but we don't know if that is a word or a grunt.

More tomorrow. Love to all...

This picture is for Becky. This lady is weaving a silk rug on a big loom at the silk factory. Their things were beautiful.

Huan Huan before bedtime getting a little snack of banana from baba and wondering what mama is doing.

Baba and Huan Huan napping - worn out!It was cloudy today and rained tonight. We took a tour of the Provincial Museum of Hubei Province (picture above of group there), then ate a really good lunch - the best Chinese I've had in China, so Nathan comes from a good province for food apparently! Tonight, we ventured out alone in a taxi (we were brave) to get to Pizza Hut. I haven't made it to the Mc Donald's, but I will in Guangzhou if not here.

Oh, for all those inquiring why no pictures of me (Mary) and always Matt holding Huan Huan. Basically, #1, he loves Baba a lot! #2, I am the one with the camera and Matt has the camcorder. We will try to remember to take more with me in them. :)

Tomorrow is a Bonsai park. That should be pretty. Goodnight.

Hello all! Wednesday was a free day. Pictures are posting a little faster tonight so here we go! Picture #1 is obviously the Great Wall.

Picture #2 the Chinese Walmart (Carrefour) - this picture is for Melissa. :)

The next picture is Nathan at the park by our hotel. #4 is this nice man and his little boy that we met in the park yesterday and then again today. He is very nice and speaks pretty good English.

#5 is Matt feeding Nathan mashed potatoes at KFC! He was so excited he kept rocking in his seat. We were excited to drink COLD cokes with filtered ice in them! Oh, and we had pizza hut last night. Never tasted so good!

Going to bed now. Pray for Nathan's cough. Love to all!

Adoption Day - May 6, 2008 Wuhan

It's adoption day! Yeah -the picture posted.

Today was adoption day and he is ours now. We love him to pieces. So sweet and the most beautiful eyes with many expressions. It is taking a very long time to post pictures, so this is it for now.

Today we signed the official papers. We even put our fingerprints on them and they took a footprint of Nathan's foot (which he did not like). Tomorrow we get a free day (much needed) and then we will do sightseeing on Thursday and Friday. It is just amazing here. I wish I could have posted pictures from the great wall, but they would never post. Maybe I'll try again later.

Thanks again to Melissa for this wonderful laptop. Without her we would not have been able to communicate with everyone, which has been so great. If anyone wants to email us, please email to marygerteisen@yahoo.com because we aren't able to view this blog from this province.

Our group of people we are traveling with are all amazing families and we are so blessed by that. See you next post! :)

Love,
Matt & Mary :)

Baby Nathan Day!

Hello all!

Our God is so awesome and knows exactly the plans He has for us! When we looked into our baby's face today, we knew God had picked him out especially for us - just like every other adoptive parent says.

Here is the day (shortened). This morning we got up at 5 am to get to the airport for our 7:45 flight to Wuhan, Hubei. It was a hard flight only on our ears, but fast (only 1 hr. 40 min.) from Beijing. Please pray for my ears and sinuses. My allergies are still raging.

But, on to what you really want to hear about - baby Nathan! We arrived in Wuhan around 9:30 and got to the hotel I think by 10:30 or 11:00 am. We had time to unpack, get our stuff ready, eat lunch and leave for the Civil Affairs office at 2:30 pm to meet our baby. I was so grateful for our family coordinator's advice to basically not expect the day to go at all like you think it will. There were 6 families at the office waiting for babies, and our director was late. So, they gave the babies to the families and Matt & I, and April & Jeff B. had to wait another 1/2 hour for ours.

Needless to say, it was worth the wait! Baby Nathan is the sweetest thing ever! I will try to upload some pictures now because I know that is what you really want and I will write more tomorrow. Love, us :) (Incidentally, I am unable to see my blog today and I assume it is because we are a different province, but I am not sure and will ask others tomorrow about theirs.)

The pictures did not work so I will try again tomorrow morning. I am so sorry. Goodnight.

Beijing Sunday, May 4

Hello all!

Wiped out and no time to post. We have to pack up tonight and have our bag ready by 10:30 for the airport. We can take NO liquids and NO meds, so please pray all my asthma meds make it okay in the checked luggage. We'll try to blog tomorrow - Nathan day!, but we might not be able to.

Love, us :)

Beijing Saturday May 3

Hello to all. We had a fun day of sightseeing at Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the summer palace, the silk factory and the pearl factory. And, a wonderful lunch and dinner, trying new things, some of which we had no clue what they were but we were adventurous and ate them. It rained pretty much the whole day and downpoured hard the whole time we were in T Square and the Forbidden City. So, not so good pictures from there, but we still had a great time just realizing where we were! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 80 for the great wall, so look for some good pics.




Now for today's pics! You can click on them to make them larger. These were the cutest girls at the summer palace who just kept staring at us (Americans) and smiling. They were fascinated. I had to take a picture so, of course, they got shy. :)

This is the view of Lake Kumming (I think) from the Summer Palace.

I thought this sign was funny and no one knew what they were really trying to say. It was posted above a stall in the ladies bathroom.

I LOVED these little dragons. They were on the edge of every building inside the forbidden city, but I never got a chance to ask Sherry (our guide) what the significance was. I'm sure I'll find out later.

This is me in front of the Forbidden City, standing in Tiananmen Square (in the rain):) You can see Mao's head right above the umbrella.

Mom, if you click on the little comment part on the bottom of this day's post, you can write to me.

Love to all!

Matt & Mary

We Are Here!

We made it after a very, very, very long flight. It's 11:30 pm on Friday here in Beijing so we are going to bed for our 7am wake up call. Here are a few photos. Matt and I at the airport and the first squatty potty I saw (didn't use) at the Tokyo Narito Airport. I was so relieved when I saw the regular stall. :) Talk to you all tomorrow and thanks for all your prayers.