Guangzhou! Yeah!

We left Tianjin this a.m. It was a sad day to say goodbye to Shaun and Kim. They have done a wonderful job in taking care of Sammy. They really showed us life in Tianjin and we had some great experiences that we would never have had with a typical guide. We ate some of the most delicious food we have ever had! Our last night in Tianjin we took a LONG walk and enjoyed the great community that the Chinese have with each other and had "chware" (phonetically spelled of course) which is lamb on a stick...the street food vendors make it every night and serve it until well after midnight. SCRUMPTIOUS!

Kim and Shaun take Kung Fu lessons with and instructor named Chen. Below you will see Bob doing Kung Fu. Chen was very impressed with Bob's strength and he had so much fun but he is a bit sore today. Sammy loves it too and tries to do all the moves.

The photos of Sam in the chair are in our room at the White Swan hotel here in Guangzhou. He loves the room and loves the little crib they have for him...we will see if he actually sleeps in it later! :) Coming to the White Swan Hotel is a bit like home at least it is familiar (we are eager to hit Cedarville and hug on those other Kinney Kids) and we know a lot of the local haunts. Sam is VERY impressed with the HUGE fish in the indoor water lagoon. He yells "WHOA!" when they get close to the edge.

The photo of Sammy and all the kids is at the airport in Tianjin. Sammy is VERY friendly and obviously attracts a crowd. While we waited to go to our gate Bob and I played with all those kids and they are adorable. They stare at us and ask questions in Chinese that we cannot answer but they don't care. Sam dances and talks and they all just giggle.

We are so thankful for our time here in China and look forward to going stateside very soon!
Love to all!

Wednesday in Tianjin

Another day in Tianjin City. We have been on the go all day every day and today (Thursday a.m.) we do not have appointments, etc. today so we are relaxing a bit. Tianjin City is highly polluted so the horizon is always gray and overcast even when the weather is good. They do not get direct sun most of the time. We miss the sun.

We did lots of paperwork at the notary and police department and waited and waited for each step as the Chinese are not in a hurry! Sam is easily entertained so that is good! We had lunch at a local restaurant and the pictures show Bob eating one of the restaurant specialties... crayfish! Yes, Nate, crayfish JUST like the ones you have been catching in the creek! We also had a meat that was on the backbone of an unknown creature...that is what Kim is holding over the sleeping Sammy! :) The Chinese eat a lot of very interesting foods! The markets are amazing and the veggies and fruits are DELICIOUS!

We took Sam out to play and he was mesmerized with an ant and followed it all over the play area. There is little grass in Tianjin and in most places children are not allowed to play in the grass. Sammy loves to be outside and loves older kids...he is going to love all the open space at home and especially love his older brothers and sisters!

Please pray for Kim and Shaun as they have been great foster parents to Sam and it is hard on them to see him go. Their work here in Tianjin is a good one! We are going to Shaun's office to meet his co-workers today.

We don't know when we will post to the blog again but will definitely have internet when we get to The White Swan in Guangzhou on Sunday. Thank you for all the great e-mail! It makes us feel closer to home. We were talking this a.m. that at this time next Thursday we will be flying into Dayton, Ohio! We miss home!

It's OFFICIAL!!

It is official...there are FIVE KINNEY KIDs! We went to all the mandatory appointments and signed lots of papers and took lots of photos and Samuel Enoch WenBo is officially a Kinney! Sammy clapped and said, "yeah!" Another little boy, Joshua, was adopted from Tianjin today as well and he will be three on August 24th. His parents are Chinese Dutch and so very happy. Joshua kept saying to Sammy, "this is my Daddy and I cannot wait to go to my new home."

Sam is a bundle of two year old energy and speaks both Chinese and English. He works a crowd every where he goes and always ends up with little trinkets and Chinese cookies from the store keepers and wait staff here. Bob and I are thoroughly enjoying running the streets of Tianjin. Wild taxi rides and the food is AMAZING. Shaun and Kim have shown us their world and after living here for over four years they have many friends and know the places to eat, shop and hang out. We love this country and its people.

Beijing

We had a VERY busy day today simply being tourists. The Jones family, Sharon, Lisa (12) and Julia (9) came with us to tour The Great Wall and The Forbidden City. Truly amazing places to visit. Hanging out with Lisa and Julia made us very homesick for the Kinney kids! The girls are adorable and so much fun. They said Bob had to have been born in the Year of the Monkey as he is so silly and they were absolutely right!
Beijing is heavy into preparation for the 2008 Olympics. There is construction EVERY WHERE and the hotels have already been booked for over a year for the weeks surrounding the Olympic events. We posted a countdown photo we took right off Tianneman (sp?) Square today.

We are excited as we will meet Sam tomorrow. We leave Beijing bright and early to take the train into Tianjin.

The Amazing Race!!

We are finally here after 36 hours traveling! Our flights out of Dayton were cancelled due to storms in Chicago so the amazing race began when they asked if we could get to Columbus to catch a 6:20 flight to Los Angeles. Dad had dropped us off at the airport so we ran (I do mean RAN - Greg, Bob's running exercise REALLY paid off-he was pulling two large suitcases) to get a rental car and head to Columbus.
We made it with a bit of time to spare and managed to make our connecting flight into Guangzhou. We met up with Jeri and Adam (9) in LA and then Sharon, Lisa (12) and Julia (9) here in Beijing. We have an adorable guide named Sylvia.

We had a wonderful and traditional Chinese meal this evening. Being in Beijing it featured fresh Peking Duck which is very good. We also discovered that Lychee fruit are in season in Guangzhou and they are DELICIOUS! They were served on our flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. They were in season when we were in China in 2002 to bring Madeleine home. After dinner Bob and I took off to check out the streets of Beijing and they are HOPPING! To cross the street we have to negotiate four lanes of traffic and it is quite a feat to get across.

We sure miss our four short people! Thanks mom and dad for taking such good care of them!

In VERY good hands...

Well, off we go to China! It has been a hectic and busy week but we are ready to go and bring home sweet Samuel! Saying goodbye to the kids is the hardest! They are going to have such a wonderful time BUT Mom and Dad are going to be a bit heart sick for them!! We have had many tearful moments thinking of being away from them for two weeks!

What a blessing it is to know that they will be in the loving and capable hands of Gram and Gramps! They will also be staying with Uncle Grant and Aunt Tami, Caleb and Grace for a long weekend and the kids are so excited to embark on this adventure! Please pray for the kids to not be homesick and for Gram, Gramps, Grant and Tami as they care for those Kinney kids!!!!! We are happy to be able to spend some time getting to know Sammy before bringing him home.

Thank you so much for taking such wonderful care of our kids!! We love you!!!

Dear little ones...

Our agency, Christian World Adoption, has connected us with two other families who will be traveling at the same time as we are. Each of these families have home grown children and adopted daughters from China. Jeri and John will be welcoming home their son, Ezra, (first photo on left) who is eight years old and lives in Anhui. They have a 9 year old son Adam who will be traveling with Jeri. John will stay home with Jani who is two. Sharon and Gary will be bringing home, Wei Long, (photo right, age 7) also from Anhui . They have two grown children and Lisa(12) and Julia (9). Sharon is traveling solo as Gary is home to run the family business. Sharon, Lisa and Julia will be arriving in China on Tuesday 7/18 as they are touring the girls' home provinces and orphanages. It has been fun getting to know these dear families via the internet. Bob and I will be meeting up with Jeri and Adam in Los Angeles and then Sharon and the girls in Beijing.

We are looking forward to meeting these dear sons of China.

Itinerary!

July 20 - Leave Dayton Airport to Chicago
Chicago to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Guangzhou, China
July 22 - Guangzhou to Beijing (a little sleep/a little sightseeing)
July 24 - Train to Tianjin and meet Sammy!
July 25 - Paperwork and visit Civil affairs
July 26 - Sight seeing and playing with Sam.
July 27 - Sightseeing/visit orphanage
July 28 - Pick up Sam's passport
July 29 - Sight seeing
July 30 - Fly to Guangzhou
July 31 - Sam's medical appointment and Visa photo
August 1 - Apply for Sam's Visa - Madeleine's FIFTH birthday!! Happy Birthday Baby!
August 2 - Pick up Visa and leave Guangzhou on the night flight to LA! (Sam is a U.S. Citizen!)
LA to Chicago
August 3 - Chicago to Dayton. Arrive in Dayton at 11:05 a.m! Home sweet home!!

Fudge anyone??

Sam "assisted" Kim in making some fudge and she snapped this photo of him in the kitchen.

Sam is sick with cold and fever. We are praying he will recover quickly. We hate to think of him having to travel not feeling well with all the changes and new experiences coming his way.
He is in good hands!!

Hat???

Kim sent this cute photo of Sam in a VERY BIG sun hat!! Thought it was so cute! He is such a little dude! We are getting VERY excited about our upcoming trip. TWO WEEKS from today we will be winging it to Tianjin!

FLOWER GIRL HEAVEN!!!

Cousin Micah (first photo left-at rehearsal) and Shannon (the lovely bride) invited Emma and Madeleine to be Flower girls in their wedding. They were married July 1st. What a wonderful time! The girls were thrilled with the role and took it VERY seriously! They were amazing! They enjoyed every minute but the highlight was dancing and dancing and dancing! They especially enjoyed cutting the rug with their handsome Daddy and Gramps!!
Thanks to Cousin Howie for taking such good care of Nate and Mitchell while we were in Toledo! The boys said their "Star Wars weekend was Rockin'!!" OH, thanks to Cousin Aaron too...who knows more Star Wars trivia than Mitchell!!!

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Micah Barcelo!! We had an awesome weekend!

SAM TURNS TWO!! YIPPEE!

Today is Sam's second birthday and we are celebrating! The kids wanted to send a photo to him in China so we took one and e-mailed it with HAPPY DAY greetings!! Cousin Caleb was over shooting baskets with Nate and Mitchell so joined in on the fun!!