Dr. Pepper and Baseball!

October 14, 2005

Well, Dad made it just fine to LA, and got here in time to watch some baseball (Go Cubbies in 06, or 07, etc.) and drink a DR. PEPPER. Sorry Marla, your time will be here soon. Hope everything is going well in Guangzhou with Lingling. At the Nanning airport they had a mixup of gates and I, and about 10 others almost got on the wrong plane to Shanghai! That will be a funny story I can tell for years. Well, I am going to go try and get some rest. Tell LingLing that her Daddy Loves her and will see her at the airport in a few days.

Love, Derek

Last Day in Nanning

October 14, 2005

I can't believe our time here is already through. Now on to Guangzhou for the visa and lots of shopping. We're all packed up, and Ling Ling is bouncing off the walls. I'm having quite a time getting her down for a nap right now, I think she is excited and nervous about what we're about to do. I'm certain she's never been on a fei ji (airplane) before so today should be a real adventure for her. I think we're about to move into the phase where she starts testing us with some of her behavior, we are starting to see a little more mischief each day. So far though, she is still minding pretty well and seems to understand when we mean business and when we are being playful and silly.

I will post again when we get to Guangzhou provided I don't have any trouble getting us connected to the internet! And I will endeavor to do as good a job as Derek at posting pics. Please keep him covered in prayer for his journey home, he will arrive in LA at 6pm (8pm TX time) Friday evening and then will fly back to TX Sat morning.

Jakob and Jaden, Mommy and Mimi love you and miss you!! Daddy will be home soon!

Love to you all,
Marla, Derek, Mimi and Ling Ling

Fun facts about Ling Ling

October 13, 2005

There are several things I keep forgetting to mention that I wanted to share about our Ling Ling. First, she seems to be truly
ambidextrous. We have seen her eat with both hands, and last night she was coloring with both as well. She would switch from hand to hand depending on which side of the page she was coloring on. She seems to prefer her right for actual writing, but uses both easily for everything else.

She knows the ABC song and can count to 5 with ease in English. She was apparently learning these in school here and nearly knocked our socks off last night when she busted in the ABC song without prompting. She loves to sing and dance, and knows the words to almost every song on the Chinese children's CD we brought with us. We have some excellent video of her singing quite boisterously.

She likes to squat by the side of the sink when she brushes her teeth. Now this is a sight to behold, she gets up on the counter, squats down, with a cup of water in one hand and the brush in the other and rinses and spits about 20 times for one brushing session. I have to get that on video soon, it's quite funny.

She knows how to braid and could probably be doing a better job of her own hair than I am doing now. She can sit for half an hour at a time and style her Barbie's hair. She pulls hers back and puts it in a ponytail when we take it down for the night if she's trying to color or play because it really seems to bother her if it gets in her face. She's got the most gorgeous head of hair I think I've ever seen. It never tangles, even when soaking wet. I think I'm going to need to take a class in how to style it and will definitely be getting up a little earlier just to have ample "hair time". :)

Lastly, she's already lost her first tooth!! It looks like it just came out a few days at most before we met her. I am glad to know we won't be missing any more of her milestones.

Love y'all!
Marla

Visit to Nanning SWI and foster mom

October 13, 2005

Ni Hao again,
The morning went great at the SWI. Ling Ling's foster mom was very sweet and brought us a picture of her that was taken the morning she came to us. She asked us to send her lots of pictures, and we assured her that we would. Ling Ling was thrilled to see her, and gave her lots of hugs and kisses, but also seemed eager to tell her goodbye at the same time. Derek posted several pics of them together in today's folder. A group of children (mostly boys) with various special needs came by to say goodbye to Ling Ling and they were so precious. Of course, the sight of them started my tears (and Mom's too) and we pretty much didn't stop crying the rest of the time we were there. The foster mom started to cry as we neared time to say goodbye, and that was difficult for me. Ling Ling just happily yelled goodbye to her as she ran off to play in the playground nearby. She didn't shed a single tear, and almost seemed relieved in the van on the way back to the hotel. I guess today was her first true realization that she is staying with us forever.

The Nanning SWI is located in what seemed to be a very poor area of Nanning. The SWI itself was pretty nice, and the caretakers were all very kind to us. We got to see the classroom where Ling Ling went to school and several of her classmates. She seemed very happy while we were there and was eagerly telling everyone she saw goodbye. Her foster mom had given her a bag with jelly candies in it, and as we left, she passed out the candies to all the children who had come to see her off. She was careful to be sure she did not miss anyone and it was honestly the most precious display of kindness I think I have ever seen. Of course, that made me cry too, so I was practically a blubbering idiot by the time we left. :) I am so thankful that we were able to visit the SWI and most of all that her foster mother saw how happy she was with us. It was difficult to even come up with words to say to her, how on Earth do you thank the person who has cared for your child and loves her as much as you do? We will be forever grateful for her kindness and love for Wen Ling and hope that we can stay in touch with her for many years to come.

We opted for lunch in the hotel today and Ling Ling, Daddy and Popo all had burgers and fries (I went for the pizza!). Ling Ling ate every fry on her plate and even some of Daddy's and Popo's too, but wasn't too impressed with the burger. She also ordered a Coke (a habit that will soon need to be broken) and we had a difficult time getting her to lay down for a nap. She's going to be quite shocked when she gets home and sees that her choices of drinks and snacks have narrowed considerably. ;)

I hope you all are enjoying the pictures, Derek is doing a great job of getting them downloaded quickly for me. As you can see, Ling Ling is not at all camera shy and insists on a "peace" sign in almost every shot. She inspects each picture on the digital camera as we take them and most of the time even directs who is going to be allowed to be in the picture with her. We can tell she is used to being in charge and are in for some interesting times when we get home. Though we never understand exactly what she is saying to us, often her tone and mannerisms are such that she gets her point across with very little difficulty, especially when she is unhappy with something we've said to her. We battled a bit over what she was wearing today and I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when she finally gave in and put on the dress I picked out. I had to really work hard at not laughing out loud when she rolled her eyes after I told her how pretty she looked.

We don't have anything really planned for tomorrow except the flight to Guangzhou in the afternoon. Derek leaves about an hour before mom, Ling Ling and me, and then he will head for LA at 9pm. Please pray for safe travels for him, and that Ling Ling isn't too upset by him leaving. She and I have definitely bonded more in the last few days, she even wanted to lay next to me for a while before she went to sleep last night, but I think Daddy is still her favorite.

Thanks for all the support, we love your messages!! And yes, I think a road trip to Texas will be in order for several of you very
soon. :) Also, Lorrie, we dropped off Alycia's gift today at the SWI, so hopefully she will get it very soon!

Love to you all,
Marla

Love this picture of Jacey and her Mumu

Wednesday continued...

October 12, 2005

Hello again,
Derek and Wen Ling are napping (yes, she still naps), so I thought I'd write and share a little more about her. Jane asked her this morning why she was crying last night, and she said it was because she missed her foster mom. Jane reminded her that we will be seeing her foster mom tomorrow and Wen Ling replied "I'm going to tell her that this (pointing to us) is my mama and baba now." We asked Jane to tell her that it is OK to cry and miss her mom and that she didn't have to try and always be such a big girl. She just smiled and said "OK." We can tell she is trying to be very brave in front of us. Last night before she cried, she got up and shut the curtains in the room (to make it darker) and hid under the covers. It nearly broke my heart to hear her quiet sobs, but it is good that she is letting her emotions come out. We just sat with her, rubbing her back and arms and told her we loved her over and over. I can't even imagine going through such changes at such a young age. She is our little trooper.

We took a taxi (not nearly as scary as the ones on our first trip) to an open market today and shopped for a little while. We bought Ling Ling a cute pink Mongolian princess headband and a few other things for her hair. Mom and I both picked out pretty bracelets for ourselves, and I bought Jaden a very cute purple jade bracelet too. The market had all sorts of interesting things, including live fish, turtles, rabbits, parakeets and Ling Ling wanted us to buy her a bird and a fish! Jane had to explain that we couldn't get those on the fei ji (airplane), but that we had a fish at home she could see. She was satisfied with that and we moved on. :) I'm really surprised she hasn't asked for more than she has when we have been shopping. She tried to sneak a few small things into the basket yesterday at Wal Mart, but really hasn't asked for much. She even told one man at the market today, "No, I don't want that, I am just looking." There will be a lot more for her to choose from in Guangzhou than there seems to be here, so we will do the bulk of our shopping there.

We ate a delicious Chinese lunch at Food Street, a giant restaurant where you just walk around and point to what you want. We ordered 3 different noodle dishes, a fried eggplant, corn cakes, jello, 2 cokes and milk and the whole bill was $12! We are still amazed how inexpensive things are here. Nanning is a very beautiful city and is much less polluted and congested than Changsha in Hunan (where Jaden is from). I can't wait to go the park this afternoon with Ling Ling and take some pictures there. Everything is so green and lush here, sometimes I forget we are in China, it looks more like a tropical island than a big city.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. I think Derek posted more pics this morning, and we will add more to the folder today after the park. You will notice that Derek and I will be in more of the photos and that is at the request of Jaden back home. She likes the pictures with Mommy and Daddy in them best. :)

Thanks to Karen for the quick reply about the Mandarin words, you'd think I'd have learned more before we came. She is doing much better today about staying with us, and I think is even starting to understand some of the commands in English. We have started calling her Wen Ling (instead of Ling Ling) when we mean business and she is responding well to that. I'm not sure how soon we will start to call her Jacey, she has a little trouble pronouncing it, so we will probably just start to gradually work it in. We're really going to just leave it up to her.

Thanks for all the messages from home, we miss you all!

Love,
Mama, Baba, PoPo, and Ling-Ling

Beautiful park near our hotel










Love to watch her color with both hands

Is she cute or what?

Good morning everyone!

October 12, 2005

Hello again,
Well, another day is beginning here in Nanning. Today we are heading to a market to do more shopping and then we'll take Ling Ling to the park near our hotel to play. Last night, we saw her first tears, just after we went to bed, and aren't sure what brought them on. We assume she was missing her foster mom, but are going to have our guide ask her about it today. We expected that she would start to grieve at some point, and are happy that she feels comfortable enough with us to show such emotion. This morning, she is her normal smiling self and is sitting with Baba on the bed right now watching Chinese cartoons.

We completed all the notary and civil paperwork yesterday, so as far as China is concerned, she is officially a Westbrook now!! Now we just wait for her passport, which we will get Friday before we leave for Guangzhou.

I can't tell you all how blessed we feel to have this little girl, she is just so precious. Her personality is amazing, and she is so strong and brave for a child who is only 5 years old. I only wish we could understand what she saying when she's going on and on about something. Her little voice is so sweet and she sings very pretty as well. She likes to sing songs while she plays with her new Barbie, which she picked out at Wal Mart yesterday.

Well, I need to hit the shower so that I will have time to work on Jacey's hair before we go eat breakfast. She is definitely used to having it up, and even asked me to pull it back before she would brush her teeth this morning. I'm going to get really good at pigtails and braids eventually!!!

Love to all of you,
Marla, Derek, Mimi and the beautiful and amazing Ling-Ling

PS- Lorrie T-the orphanage gave us pics of Jacey and the first two in the album are of her and your Alycia (Yong Jun) together. They look fairly recent, and I promise to scan them for you when we get home! Alycia is beautiful!!

Joy Orton-We need your help with a few words!! Would you please send us the pronunciation in Mandarin of "wait" (or stop), "sit down", "eat" and "slow down"? We keep asking our guide, but can't always tell exactly how she's saying them. Jacey is so fast, and has memorized our hotel so well, that sometimes she takes off for the elevator before we even have a chance to get off the van out front!! We need a few words to yell in Chinese, hehe!!

This is so fun!

October 11, 2005

Ni Hao!! Well, it's another fun day with Miss Ling-Ling by our sides. We're just about to head out to Wal Mart, but I wanted to
write and tell you more about her. She acts as though she has been waiting for us all her life, and is completely comfortable with us in every way. She slept great, and in her own bed (yippee!). She is still very much attached to her Daddy, but did not seem to mind when he left a little while ago to get money, so that made me feel good. She is so smart that it actually scares us a little! She is excellent at repeating English words and is already working on her letters and numbers. We gave her a Magna Doodle today, and she has been drawing all day. She is very witty and funny and gets a kick out of just about everything. Right now, she is turning out the light on Baba while he is in the bathroom and giggling like crazy. I can't wait to see her in Wal Mart, I only hope that Derek got enough money at the bank!! :)

Ok, off to shop now! We will write again very soon! Take care and we love you all!!

Marla, Derek, Mimi(PoPo) and Ling-Ling






Wrote her name