We are home!

Hello everyone,

We made it home! The flight was very long and we were so glad to finally arrive in Oklahoma City! Maya did pretty well on the flights, but it was a long and exhausting experience. Maya was officially a citizen when we landed at our first American airport, so Detroit was it! I am including some pictures of our Detroit layover. I think Maya looks pretty good. You will notice that Allen and I are NOT in any of these photos. We did not look nearly so refreshed, that is for sure!

We spent last week trying to get Maya adjusted to Oklahoma time. This was very challenging for the first few days. As we were trying to get ourselves in order and things put away, Maya was up all night! She is finally sleeping at night and we are too. This is  a big relief for all of us!

We have also had a lot of fun introducing Maya to family and friends. It has been so interesting to see how much she has changed in such a short time. She has begun to be more inquisitive about toys and what things do. She is also starting to be more vocal and opinionated about what she wants and what she does NOT want.

We have brought her with us on various shopping trips and outings and she has done really well. I have been looking forward to bringing her on the Walk for the Cure for some years now and she did this and enjoyed it. Photos are on Mom's camera...

Physically, she is changing too. Her body is becoming so much stronger. She is very close to crawling and will probably crawl any day now! I hope I don't miss it - I went back to work on Monday!

This weekend, Allen's folks are visiting. We will take photos and add an update!

Thanks so much to all family and friends. This has been such a memorable experience and I have enjoyed sharing it with all of you! I am so glad that so many of you have enjoyed reading the blog!

Karen. Allen, and Maya

We are coming home!

Hello everyone,

This is just a very quick post to let everyone know that we had our appointment with the US Consulate and now we are leaving for home early tomorrow morning. We have had such a fantastic trip that is full of amazing memories and unique experiences. It really has been a trip of a lifetime! But having said that, we are ready to come home and see everyone and introduce Maya to all of you!'

See you all back in the States!

Love,

Karen, Allen, & Maya

Swimming Pool at the White Swan Hotel

Hello everyone,

Our hotel has a beautiful swimming pool and we took Maya yesterday and had such a great time that we are going to go again today. The pool is outside and the landscaping around the pool is just lovely. We are right on the Pearl River, so it was nice to see the view from ground level that we are used to seeing from the 14th floor.

We weren't sure how she would take to the water since she was so afraid of bath time for so many days after we met her. Well, that is all in the past and she took to the water like a pro. We took her out in the water and let her kick and splash. She really enjoyed it when Allen bobbed her in the water. We are going to go today with several other families. We have met many very nice families on this trip!

Trip to Buddhist temple...

This morning, our outing was to a Buddhist Temple. A Buddhist monk blessed all of us and said special words for the babies. I bought Maya a jade pendant yesterday and had that blessed as well. It was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful temple. What a way to start the day!

As you can see, Maya was quite taken with the monk and he was very kind and posed with all the babies.

The temple was breathtaking. I could have spent a long time there just taking in the beauty.

We then went to a park that was beautiful in a sculpted Disneyland kind of way. It was only ten o'clock in the morning, but already getting quite hot and the humidity here is really high as well. The baby was fussy and Allen was frustrated because she would not drink any water and she was sweating a lot! I only took a few pictures since most of the time we were trying to feed Maya a bottle and trying to get her to drink water. You should have seen the different types of cups/bottles and all were pretty much rejected! We didn't stay long as we were not the only family with a meltdown baby!

We had a lovely day. We have two more days here and then the long trip home. We look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Love, Karen, Allen, and Maya

Here we are in Guangzhou

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a couple of days since I have updated this! We traveled from Chongqing to Guangzhou. Maya did pretty well on the flight. It was 1 1/2 hours so it was kind of a test run for the long trip home. We are here on Shaiman Island at teh White Swan Hotel. It is very pleasant here and we have a great view of the Pearl River! For us landlocked folks, this is fantastic!

Yesterday, we went and had Maya's passport photo taken and had her medical examination. She was asleep for most of it. We had to wake her up for the passport photo and she was very upset about this! You can imagine the photo! She promptly went back to sleep and slept through part of her physical exam as well. It is very warm here and extremely humid and I am sure that doesn't help anything. Guangzhou is very different from Chongqing and equally interesting. There are lots of touristy shops so it will be fun to hunt for souveniers. It is easy to walk around and there are so many things to see.

Today we went to the Chen Family Temple and this was very interesting. We are resting now as it is the very hottest part of the day and then we will regroup and decide what we want to do later. There is a playroom here as well as a pool and I think we might explore one of these with Maya.

Her personality is starting to come out and she is feeling comfortable expressing what she wants and what she doesn't want! Her legs are geting stronger and she rolls over like a real champ. We are looking forward to seeing her crawl. She is just not quite there yet. She is starting to laugh at silly things and also when she is pleased with something. Today, we took some of the hotel banana bread on our outing for a snack for her and she was all smiles over that. Thumbs up for banana bread! You can better believe that we will bring some on our trip!

I am posting some pictures taken yesterday of Maya in the crib playing yesterday. She prefers this crib to the one in the Chongqing hotel. She can see out of this one and dosn't mind sitting in there when we are getting things read to go. I know that many of you have been waiting so see her smile! Here she goes!

It is ironic that as I post these happy pictures, Allen just took Maya on a stroll throught he hotel because she is fussy and we have tried everything else...

We are still learning about this baby and parenting, that is for sure!!!

See all of you soon!

Love, Karen, Allen, and Maya

Play date and other stuff

Hello everyone,

On Wednesday, we went for a brief outing to an old part of the city. This is a part of town where the old architecture is preserved. It is a very ancient market and I could have spent all day there! There were lots of shops and just all around fascinating people watching. The Chinese people are very curious about this group of Americans with Chinese babies and our guide has prepared an explanation in Chinese that we wear in a lanyard. This has been very helpful when people approach out of curiousity. We have received a very positive response from the Chinese people when they read that we are adopting these children. The area that these children are from is a very poor area. I wish that we could have visited Xiushan, but it is about seven hours away by train.

We made a few small purchases - Allen found a Chinese yoyo and was delighted! I think he likes it better than his old one. (This is for the yoyo enthusiasts at Science Museum Oklahoma!) That made his day! We also bought a little bracelet with a bell for the baby and a few other things. There will be more shopping in Guangzhou!

In the afternoon, we had a playdate with all the babies. Nearly all the babies in this group are from the same orphanage and are roughly the same age. At the orphanage, they are divided according to age and so these babies all know each other very well. It was interesting watching them play.

Just as the nanny said, Maya is reserved and plays by herself most of the time. In one of the reports it was mentioned that she is not a trouble maker. I can see this - she plays quietly and thoughtfully. She is very interested in things but not at all pushy. So far, she is cautious and very happy to sit and examine a toy. We are trying to encourage her to crawl by putting things out of her reach.

We all had a great time watching the babies. They all are doing so well and it is amazing to see how they have changed in just a few days. More later!

Love, Karen, Allen, and Maya (Zhen Zhen)

Chongqing Zoo

Visit to the Chongqing Zoo



Today we went to the Chongqing Zoo. This was a great experience. I will let the pictures tell most of the story!

Of course, we were ready to see the pandas and were not disappointed!

Aren't these cute phone booths?

The pandas were eating breakfast when we visited. There were six or so pandas out enjoying their bamboo this morning.

Here is Maya in her stroller. Her personality is starting to show although we often see this serious face! She has been eating really well for the past two days.

Here at the end of the trip she was asleep. After the zoo, we all went for an excellent Chinese lunch and she had her formula/rice cereal, congee and quite a bit of steamed egg. She is currently sleeping after our zoo adventure.

More later!

Love, Ksren, Allen & Maya

Scenes from Chongqing

Hello everyone,

It is Sunday here and the weather is grey and spitting rain. Allen is taking care of some paperwork and Maya is taking a little nap. We all slept really great last night for the first time. We were really exhausted last night and all went to bed early. Maya is starting to show a little more trust in us and warm up a little. We have been laying on the floor and she has been practicing rolling over and is getting better at this! She can raise up on her arms but can not quite get her legs under herself to crawl just yet. She has been doing lots of kicking on her back and hopefully she will gain some more strength in her legs.

I have been waiting for a sunny day to get some good pictures, but we have not had one yet. It is very hazy/foggy/cloudy here. This is so different from home. I have not broken out my sunglasses yet! We have walked a little around the hotel and discovered some interesting things, so I will post some pictures from the other day.

One thing we happened upon Thursday morning was a park just up the hill from the hotel. We heard lots of chirping, so we followed the sounds and came upon a park that was built on terraces on a hill. People bring their pet birds in cages to the park and hang them up in the trees so they can enjoy the morning. People had gathered to exercise and enjoy the morning. We wandered aroung a bit and then a gentleman directed us down the stairs to another terrace where people were doing ballroom dancing. Needless to say, when I was invited to participate, I jumped right in and danced with two grannies. Allen has pictures and we will share them at some point. Ireally had so much fun dancing with the grannies. The gentleman pushed Allen in to dance and he was a good sport and danced a little and then the gentleman cut in to waltz me around. It was really fun! Talk about something I will always remember. Now that Maya is adjusting, I think we will go back. I would love to try the tai chi. It is so interesting how everyone exercises in the morning. We walked the other way from the hotel this morning and another square was full of people practicing many other types of exercises. It is very social and everyone seems to have a very good time. It started raining today, so that shortened everyone's session,

The picture here shows Allen going downstairs to another terrace at the park. The dark objects on the left are bird cages coovered with cloth covers. The bowls are full of different kinds of birdseed. Everyone we met at this park was so friendly and welcoming. We are definitely going back when the weather is better!

We walked another way from the hotel and I have some pictures that make me appreciate all the building codes back home. This is a picture taken on the way to the park. Check out this wiring! You can't really tell fromthis picture, but this is hanging really low to the ground. I couldn't touch it with my hand, but it was pretty close! There is wiring like this all over the place. No wonder there is evidence of lots of building fires. It looks like even in the event of a fire, portions of the damaged building are still used and life goes on. Here is one of those buildings. It is right across the street from our hotel and I can see it from above from our hotel window. The building is still in use and there is a cafe right under that corner that is burned out.

Later today, we will go on an outing to celebrate the Moon Festival. Hopefully the weather will clear... The baby is starting to stir from her nap, so I am going to cut this short.

Dad, I have sent you some e-mails. Have you received them? Just let me know yea or nay. And thanks again for getting the crib ready!

Love you all,

Karen, Allen & Maya

Friday and Saturday

Hello everyone,

Lots has been happening here in China. Let me begin by describing yesterday. We got up early and fed the baby and took her to breakfast. All of us sat in one section and fed the babies congee, which is a hot rice cereal that babies love. Everyone compared notes about making it through the night. Most babies did pretty well; lots of first-time parents didn't know what we were doing! Ha!!

We went then on a 30-minute trip to the Chongqing Municipality Adoption Office. The ride through town was so interesting. Chongqing is a mountain city with windy roads and buildings built right into the hills and retaining walls. The city has built up and there are many levels of shops and housing all on top of each other. Life spills onto the sidewalks and there is so much to look at as you ride through the town. I am surprised there are not more accidents as there seem to be few rules of the road. There are motorcycle taxis that zip in and out of traffic. Carrying things from place to place is an exercise in creativity, that is for sure! The city is a grey and hazy city. We have yet to see a sunny day and that is so different from Oklahoma!

We arrived at the office and that was an interesting place. The adoption office shares space with the office that oversees marriage as well. When we arrived, there was a bride in glittery wedding dress and tiara with her groom processing their paperwork. There was also a young bride that was marrying a much older groom - think Anna Nicole... We had photos taken and processed fees and such and then it was time to take the adoption oath. We entered a chapel-type room that was all decorated in red. There was music piped in and it was the Wedding March! Each family was called up and took an oath to raise and educate their child and seal it with red fingerprints. We also included Maya's fingerprint. Poor little girl -she slept through the entire ceremony, including the fingerprinting!

Here we are posing as our new family! The white paper I am holding is the official paperwork declaring us to be a family and the red box is a gift from Chongqing Municipality to Maya as a rememberance. Remenber, the Wedding March is continually playing!

After this, we returned to the hotel and had only a few minutes before we were to meet the two head nannies from the orphanage. They met with each group and described the routine of each baby and were there to answer questions that we might have. They told us that Maya is introverted and that she plays well alone. She is very generous with the other kids and she meets new people well. They described their seven hour journey to Chongqing and said that she was the calmest of all the babies during travel. They showed us the best way to rock her to sleep and said that she enjoys bits of egg white! It was very interesting observing the nannies describing each baby. Although Xiushan is a very poor area, it is clear that these babies had very good care at the ophanage. All of the babies in our group are with in a few months of each other in age.

Yesterday evening, our guides had arranged for us to meet as a group and go out to an authentic Chinese dinner. It was great to have someone order for us and we had a variety of delicious dishes. The event was supposed to celebrate the first birthday of one of the babies, but she was too upset and cranky to attend. Her cake portion of the party has been postponed until 4:00 today. That is in about two hours, so hopefully she will be able to come today!

Today, we started the day with feeding Maya from a different bottle - a Chinese bottle and this was much more happily received! She has eaten very well all day today! Allen took one bottle away from her today to shake it up better and she protested loudly. This was the first time that she has done that and we took it as s sign that she is starting to settle in.

After breakfast, we went shopping at Wal Mart which was interesting. It was early in the day and already crowded by Oklahoma standards. The traffic was also compounded by a Cao Nguyen type of bad traffic flow problem. Our guide said that it would be mobbed this afternoon since everyone would be getting ready for the Moon Festival.

Allen and the baby are now napping on one of the beds! I think Maya is starting to settle in a little. This has been a very big change and I know that it has just worn her out! I think I might take a little nap before the second attempt at the birthday party!

I will share more as we take ineverything! I hope all is well back home.

Love to you all,

Karen, Allen, and Maya

more pictures!

Hello again.

I am going to try to add pictures and then the text. Here are some more photos of our day for you to enjoy. We really had an amazing experience. We will add more soon.

Love, Karen, Allen, & Maya

We have the baby!

Hello everyone,

We are so sorry that we are just now posting. The travel was very long and then we had some time that we spent figuring out the technology here in China. I won't bore you with the details about that but will get right down to yesterday's experience. We had a meeting yesterday morning to give us an idea about what to expect. There were 14 families that received their babies yesterday from Xiushan.

When it was time, we all went downstairs to a conference room. Chairs were set up all along the periphery of the room. We all were just waiting for 30 minutes or so. We were all so excited and nervous all at the same time. Finally, the nannies and babies came into the room and then it all happened so fast. Our guide called out the babies' Chinese names one by one in a pretty swift succession. We were about 2/3 of the way through and Maya was handed over to us just like that!

She is a very brave little girl and handed the hand over without crying. We took her over and held her and got to know her. She took to Allen really well, investigating his beard right away. She looks very healthy and her weight is around 20.6 pounds according to updated paperwork. She was dressed in a cute pink outfit - check the pictures!

The head nanny was there and took a picture with each baby with us. She clearly was very familiar with each baby. We will have a chance to speak with her this afternoon to ask some questions about each individual baby. When we were having our picture taken, she told us through the guide that Zhen Zhen is not afraid of new people. Good thing for us!! (Doubling the first name is a sign of endearment and we are also calling her this for some time to make her more comfortable with us.)

We took her back to the room. I went back to the conference room to take care of the paperwork and Allen played with the baby. When I returned to the room, he was clearly having fun with her - making funny sounds and tickling her tummy! She was starting to warm up and making little sounds. Then Allen went downstairs to sign the paperwork and it was my turn. We played a little with the stacking cups and I bounced her on my lap and she liked that. After a little while, she just melted into me and just seemed to relax into sleep. I just laid back on the bed and let her sleep on my chest for 30 minutes or so.

The rest of the evening was spent playing with her and just trying to get to know her a little. The only real stressful part of the evening was when we tried to give her a bath. She was really scared of the water and we abandoned our attempt pretty quickly. We will try again. Over all, I think she did very well.

We changed her into her jammies and tried to feed her. She finally did take some water and formula and also enjoyed some Cherrios. She is sleeping right now and it is the middle of the night in China. I woke up and with everyone asleep, I thought I would get this post up as I know so many people are waiting for news.

I am going to add some pictures. I am sure that I will get more at some point because everyone in the group was taking pictures of everyone else and we are going to share them at some point. I will also add some from Allen's camera tomorrow.

Wow! What an amazing experience! More later...

Love, Karen & Allen & Maya

Testing 12345

Hi everyone,

I am doing a practice post from my laptop!

The name has finally been chosen!

Well, it took an ultimatum from the adoption agency to get us off the fence about the name. We have had such a long time to wait and we have "tried out" several names. So, after holding everyone in suspense for three years, here it is: Maya Zhen Voyles. We really like the name and hope that everyone likes it as well as we do! 

testing 1234

Okay, that was painless. Now I am going to try to include our referral photo. This is Xiu Hua Zhen. She was born on October 17, 2007 and is currently in foster care in Xiushan, Chongqing Municipality. We are still deciding on her western name. I know... we have had three years to pick the name and here we are three weeks out and it is still undecided!

We leave on our trip on September 8th and will meet her on September 11th. We are getting excited about our trip!