Other Stuff

Map of the area where Jill is staying in Nanjing
The Grand Hotel in Nanjing (5 star) with lots of great restraunts
The basic room Main Restaurant

4:00 a.m., Nanjing, China

The Confuscist Temple Market (at night)
second view
Nanjing Bridge
1st Bridge built over the Yangtze River (from 1997 to 2001)
Nanjing Wall - (details)

We are doing very well. Yesterday, we toured parts of Nanjing. My tour guide, Fred, is from Nanjing and he took pleasure in showing me these historical and proud areas and achievements of his city. Escaping from the modern day city life did me wonders, and it helped Jiliang and I both overcome a little of our cabin fever. We toured the Nanjing Bridge, the Nanjing Wall, The Confuscist Temple Market.

In the morning, we ate our continental breakfast (which was actually a 5 star buffet that you might see in Vegas). Jiliang would not speak to anyone. She does not talk in public, even to me. I told Fred that she talks so much to me at the hotel. Of course, it is in Chinese, so I cannot understand. She was not eating, nor was she the previous morning. I think that is not a morning person, but neither am I. I feel happy that she talks to me. I am only trying to determine what is going on in her head.

As soon as we sat down, the waitresses brought Jiliang a sweet roll. Shortly after, the waitresses noticed that she was not eating, so they brought her rice porridge and started to feed it to her. I said, “Congee!” They did not know that word and brought me a sign that said rice porridge. When Fred showed up, I explained that she had some diarrhea the previous night. The waitresses they brought more food on platters: meat sausages, ham, noodles and more. I felt for my poor little girl and prayed that she did not get sick. Fred told them to hold off on the meat and explained that he needed more rice and noodles, because she had a few bouts of diarrhea. They were so sweet and heartfelt. They listened to Fred. By the way, Leah, I am using chopsticks now. Jiliang can use them too (she is learning). I tried using chopsticks years ago with no success; but I just picked them up a day ago, and I am using them well. I think I am doing it backwards, but I am at least doing it. :-)

Nanjing is a large, historical city for China. Fred was able to share the sentiments, pride and history of Nanjing with such honor. Hearing him speak about China reminds me of why I fell in love with China in the first place. What I admire about China is their dedication to hard work, family and education. Housing is pricy in China, as it is in many places. The Chinese people spend everything else they have on their children’s education, medical and bare necessities. They want the best for their children.

When we were at the Civil Affairs Office yesterday, I saw many beautiful children with various special needs. Many of these children would be cast aside in Chinese society. Without judgment, I feel that many Chinese people could not be able to give these children the full lives that they so deserve. They may not be able to provide medical care to a child with a heart defect, or give a child with a special need the advantage that they need to be successful in China. Chinese families give so much to their families, leaving so little for other pleasures that we take for granted in other parts of the world.

I have been privileged in my own life. I have never wanted for food, housing or transportation. I came from a middle class family and both of my parents were hard-working Blue Collar workers: factory workers. They gave everything that they had so that my sister and I could lead full, happy and successful lives.

These last few years, my husband and I have struggled to make ends meet. When T.J. had colic and I had medical complications in 2004-2005, I eventually left my full-time dispatching job in 2005. I did so to take care of our son and to have surgeries to recover from child-birthing complications. I went back to college, we started an international adoption; thus, we struggled more. It eventually led us to a place where we had to struggle financially and work multiple jobs. Honestly, I was a little angry about it. In reality, we were still rich, compared to many people who share this earth with us. We had food on our table, a roof over our heads and wonderful medical insurance. We had our families to guide us. Now, more than ever, I have my faith to comfort me and pave the way for me. We are so blessed. Truly, I feel that everything in life happens for a reason. I believe that I needed to understand what it felt like to want to know my daughter’s needs. I am still learning, but I feel that I can parent her differently than I may have if I had gotten her when she was a baby. When you believe that everything happens for a reason, it is uncanny how your journey suddenly starts to make sense and everything seems to have a purpose.

I wanted so much to see the Real people of China, because to me they are so beautiful. When we drove back streets of Nanjing, I was able to capture the essence of the Chinese people. I am referring to the ones who carried the heavy loads of goods on their bikes just to sell enough to feed their families for a day. I took numerous pictures of the impoverished areas of China and it humbled me, and made me realize how blessed I am. It is no different than an American family who works hard to put food on their table, but in China it is right there in the open. I thought the people were beautiful and the sights off the beaten path were picturesque. It warmed my heart to see such hard work and dedication.

The Confuscian Temple Market was a magnificent sight to see, because of the Chinese New Year decorations. I was so excited, because it looked like the China Town that I have always longed to see. Even as a child, I have been attracted to Chinese lanterns, Chinese Dragons, Pagodas and many other Chinese symbols. I feel like I waited my whole life to experience this part of China, and I did today. It was so magnificent. I will share many pictures of these sights as soon as I can.
I have been eating Chinese food for most of my stay, and it has been very enjoyable. I have to admit, however, that I have been eating food at a Chinese Five Star Hotel but I am trying to protect my body from the unknown. I have tried many foreign foods and true authentic Chinese foods. I am not, however, trying anything raw.

However, today, Fred suggested that we eat at a McDonald’s at the Confuscian Temple Market, and I gladly obliged. I ordered a cheeseburger for Jiliang and I. Honestly, I get a little carsick, and after being in cabs, on a city bus and a subway, I just wanted what I wanted. Walking it off and eating always cures that. Somehow, Fred managed to order one Cheeseburger for “the baby”, a chicken sandwich and a fish sandwich. Fish or chicken just didn’t sound good at the moment. I told Fred that I really wanted a cheeseburger and that I could pay for it, so he got me one. He asked if he could take the other sandwich home to his family, so it didn’t go to waste. In retrospect, I felt a little bad about that.

We went to the Confuscian Temple and Jiliang came alive. It was very colorful and there were many artistic animations and statues. It smelled fragrantly of inscence. I thought that Jiliang was going to climb over this little fence to the crafted flowers. She smiled and ran around. Yet, she ran up to a statue of a student of Confuscious and I feared that she was going to bend the hand off of it. That could have been very bad and unlucky I guess.

There was a man at the temple writing poems about one’s name. I had him write a poem about Gao Ji Liang (Gow Gee Lee On).
This is the poem he wrote for her in about one minute, translated into English by my guide, Fred:

There is clear water running on the high mountain.
The lucky star flares on the whole world.
The girl is the most outstanding in the study career.
She definitely will be the high ranking official in the future.

We ended our temple experience by sitting for some folk music entertainment. I videotaped it to replay for her back at the hotel.

Jiliang reminds me so much of Scott, it is funny. She is also very much like T.J. in her mischieviousness, as he was as a three year old. She was a perfect angel all throughout the tour. No three year old that I know would have ever lasted that long on a tour. The Confuscian Temple market was the end of our tour. After seeing the temple, she became more comfortable with Fred, as she has with me. She decided to be very naughty. She held each of our hands and would lift her feet and swings from our arms. We were all tired, and nearing the busy street. I asked Fred to tell her that if she didn’t stop and walk, that he was not going to hold her hand. She loves Fred. I don’t think he understood, but we arrived to the cab shortly enough.

Fred had to gather some paperwork from me to schedule my intercountry travels. While we were taking care of business matters, Jiliang spilled her bubbles for her singing Happy Lamb bubble blower all over the chair in our room. After Fred left, I called the front desk to ask for some assistance. I felt really bad and didn’t want it to leave a soap stain. They said up an attendant. I said, “I’m sorry” in English and showed her the bubbles. She motioned as if to say, “No problem”, shrugging it off. She smiled and flipped the chair cushion over, looking at me as if to say, “See, no more problems.” We laughed, I thanked her, and all was well.

We ventured on to eat dinner in the hotel again. Jiliang is really showing her Chinese culture about layering clothing. She insisted on wearing her new pajamas under her outfit. She ended up with four shirts, two pajama pants, a pair of jeans and a coat. Yesterday, I did not tolerate it as much. I encouraged her to peel off the layers. Today, she cried for me to put more on. I realized today that it was truly important to her, not just as a cultural thing, but at an insulator for her too. That is what she is used to wearing. I can gradually change that, but it is not fair to her to change things so quickly on her. That is all she knows. Therefore, she looked like the child from The Christmas Story as we went to dinner.

There is another adoptive family staying next door to us in the hotel. We see them every time at breakfast and dinner, which is peculiar, because we have never eaten at the same time.  Their little girl is crying a lot. Whenever I see her with them, she looks so happy and she is absolutely glowing and smiling. She has a special need too, which is a limb difference. She is beautiful beyond words. They expressed that she cries at night. She does not want to go to sleep. She will only fall asleep if one of them is holding her. I told them, “Maybe she is afraid that when she wakes up, you will not be there.” I can tell that she loves them both very much. It is their first child, and I told them that my first child was colicky and I understood that it was very hard. I assured them that it was very normal and that it would get better. They are very nice people. I told them that I would love for our girls to play together, but explained that Jiliang had been coughing.

Fred has an eight-year old daughter. He asked to bring his wife and daughter to meet Jiliang at our hotel in the evening. I happily accepted. His beautiful daughter, Tiana, had just finished a violin lesson. She came to our room and met Jiliang. The family brought two puzzles, a Chinese Snow White book and a dog toy for Jiliang. His daughter played her violin for us and it almost made me cry. I thought that it was a thoughtful gesture of kindness.

Jiliang was so tired that evening. She is an outdoor girl. When we get back to the hotel in the evening she cries. After Fred left, she knew what was next: bedtime. Last night, she tried to dispute bedtime. I pointed to the bed and she got as far away from me (literally on the edge of her side) as possible. She cried a most grievous cry. She didn’t want me to hold or kiss her. She just cried herself to sleep.

Last night, she cried before I even sent her to bed. I tried to look at a book with her, so she could attach bedtime with something happy. Honestly, I think she was just overly tired and needed sleep. She cried a sad cry and slowly started to fall asleep. It was painful to see her sorrow, but I felt comfort in knowing that she let me hold her, stroke her hair and kiss her as her cries went into dreamland. I slept too at 8:30 p.m., which is why I am up writing in the quiet, wee hours of the Chinese morning. My little Angel sleeps softly as my fingers hit the keyboard.

God Bless you All! Keep us in your prayers. I will be in touch.

Jill :-)

6:00 a.m., Wednesday, Nanjing, China

If you are looking for info on Gaoyou - here are two links that are full of interesting facts on the area that Jill is at:
Half the Sky in Gaoyou
Gaoyou - Wikipedia

Here is Jill's post to me today - it is a long one....


Hello everyone,
We are doing well in China. I haven’t been able to write as much, because I have Jiliang now. She is also very enamored by my computer. I am shocked that she is letting me type now. On the first day, she was comforted by the video of her orphanage staff on video. Now, she likes to see pictures of herself, Mama, China, Baba and T.J. (da gu gu?). Every time I get the computer out, she thinks it is for her.

She is like a typical 3 year old, testing me and vying for my attention. When she wants my attention, she plays her Ling doll. She presses the buttons and waits for me to say the Chinese words. She gets upset when I say no to her. She cries, and I try to keep a straight face and point to what I want her to do and make sure she follows through. Yesterday, she threw something on the floor, next to the trash, and I told her to pick it up. She wouldn’t do it, so I gently did a hand over hand with her and said, “Yeah, nice job.” I know that was to get my attention, because she is an utter neat freak.

When Jiliang woke up on our first morning together, I was getting my hair ready in the bathroom. She ran out of bed and ran into the bathroom. She just looked at me, like, “Okay, it is you.” I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She went to bed in the butterfly pajamas that T.J. colored for her. When she woke up, she had blue hands. I looked at them, and she had a look on her face like she was going to get reprimanded for getting dirty.

I put her new red coat on her. She let me. She cried when I put her red hat on her. Then, she followed me to the door and down the elevator. She barely ate at breakfast – maybe one bite. When we were in the cab, I asked Fred to tell her that she was staying with me. I think that he was confused.

At the Civil Affairs Office, we arrived before the Gaoyou staff got there. I could feel Jiliang’s heart beating through all of her layers of clothes and coat. The place was full today. Everyone was very nice. The Gaoyou staff was shocked at her happy disposition with me. The ladies were afraid to let her see them, and I encouraged them it was okay to enter. They said that Jiliang is not usually comfortable and open with strangers. She backed away from THEM today. They each wanted to say goodbye to her. It was very sweet. One of the ladies told me that Jiliang was afraid to go with her, and when she held her, she wanted me. They explained that she was staying with me, and then she warmed up to them. They said, “wow” when they saw how she was sitting happily with me. It was obvious that they really loved her and wanted the best for her. The Orphanage Director gave me a book about adoption from Gaoyou, which I wanted to buy; however it is in Chinese. It was sweet. He also gave me a postcard book from places around Gaoyou. I will cherish that. I gave them their gifts and a specially wrapped gift of Cathy Luick’s handmade Jiliang earrings. They were touched that I had a special gift for her.
They told me that the two marks on her stomach area were from a recent heart monitor she had before they brought her to me. They also told me that she loves picture books and loves to ride a bike. They were so happy that I bought Jiliang a bike! I have to laugh, because it was one of the few things that I knew about her and bought it to make her feel welcomed. If they only knew how hard the wait was.

I did discover that she had NOT had any heart surgery in China. I thought she had a partial intervention or stint. I also found out that her bald patch is part of her birthmark or scar. Her hair is not going to grow back. I will buy some hat for now. However, I spend the afternoon with her without any hat, and got a lot of unnecessary stares, glares and smiles. That makes me sad for her. You want to spare your children any unnecessary stares and pain. Scott is totally okay with it. He said, “Let’s just worry about taking care of her heart first, and then we will worry about the hair.”

On day one, she didn’t eat much. Yesterday, she didn’t eat much at breakfast, before the adoption. After the adoption process, she was told that she was mine. She has been eating and drinking non-stop. She ate with chopsticks at lunch and I was so shock I started to cry and laugh at the same time. We had the embarrassing hands-down-the-pants moment at the 5 star lunch buffet. I don’t blame her. She insisted on dressing herself, but had her underwear and leggings on backwards under her pants. Then, she picked her nose at the table and I showed her how to use a tissue. I showed her how to “blow” her nose in the hotel. At the restaurant, they gave her a highchair, but I insisted she NOT have the tray. I am probably breaking a ton of social rules. That doesn’t seem appropriate to eat off of a try. She made no mess at the table! What got on the table, she cleaned up immediately. She used every napkin at the table to touch up her face. She also wanted to learn how to use a toothpick.

In the afternoon, we went for a walk around the block. It is safe her, but there is not much to see. Each building has a guard, and there are police everyone. After we went around the block, I am assuming it is because the entire street we on is nothing but banks. There is no shopping nearby. Fred took us to the grocery store the day before. He told us we could walk there if we needed something. He also mentioned that the streets in China were kind of “like playing chicken”. It’s true. With a child, I have no interest in playing chicken with cars, bikes, mopeds or busses. He also mentioned that traffic has no direction. Drivers go the opposite way on the road. Drivers cut up what appears to be sidewalks and skinny one-lane alleys (but they make 2 lanes). I feel like I am in Chicago (minus the language barrier), not Nanjing in China. I am truly a country girl and have never been a city girl. My sister Leah reminded me of our Boston trip. At first, I was so disappointed in Boston, and by the end of the trip, I missed it, and looked back and wished I had enjoyed it more.

As for Jiliang, she has been calling me, “Mama” since day one. She is sweet, funny and mischievious. I am having trouble getting her to say any English words. She cries when she wants something or can’t do something. Unfortunately, it is the same cry for everything, so often it is something as simple as her pant leg being bunched.

Yesterday, she had an upset stomach or bathroom issue after she woke up from a nap that I made her take against her will. I am assuming that she overate or ate some Chinese food at lunch that her little body was not used to. It could have been stress too. I gave her a bath to calm her down. That is what I learned from T.J. She calmed right down. However, her little toes had a purplish tint to them. That is the heart condition. It scared me. Luckily, she is totally potty-trained. She has never had any bathroom accident, and I think she would be mortified if she did. She is fine now. However, I think that she has croup. I found out that there is a clinic here in the building. I might take her there. However, I know that croup is benefited by fresh air. She gets a physical too, in Guangzhou, so I might wait it out, but I don’t want there to be any delays in getting her home.

Yesterday, we had the bathwater back up in the floor, and they came to snake it out. In this building, you cannot let the bath water out fast or fill it up too much.  In the evening, the most God-aweful smell was coming from that drain at 8:00 p.m. It smelled like vomit. I called because I was afraid it would back up. They put a chemical in the drain and were so nice about it. They probably thought I was crazy. It was warm outside, so I had the window open. Jenny, the hotel person, who is sweet as can be, asked if the baby would be okay with the window open. In China, they layer kids like crazy and worry about the babies getting “chilled”.
This morning, we are sight-seeing. Fred explained to me yesterday that typically only babies and toddlers use a stroller. I don’t think that he understands that she has a heart condition. Yesterday, when we walked around the block, I picked her up so she wouldn’t step in something wet. I heard her panting softly, like a child with asthma, minus the wheezing. If we do a lot of sight-seeing today, we will take it easy, and try to get a stroller. If not, I will carry her, because she is so light. If it’s too much, we will call it a day.

Today, my little Chinese alarm clock woke me up at 6:00 a.m. God Bless her. She whimpered, like, “I don’t want to go back to bed”,  so I said, “Let’s get up.” She started her morning drinking a bottle of water. Then, she colored in her Elmo coloring book and blew bubbles out the window.
For Scott, stock up on bubbles, oranges, bananas, pears, Ramen noodles, Skittles and hats or cloth headbands. She hates the hard headbands I got her. I think they hurt her head.

As for me, I am looking forward to getting out of this hotel. And honestly, I am homesick. I miss my husband, I really miss T.J. dearly, and I miss the comforts of my own home, even though I often call it a shack. It is home. I can’t wait to get Jiliang home. She is going to love T.J. “Mama”, she says, as she just peeled a banana herself. She is so self-sufficient. I can’t wait until we can talk to each. Hopefully it will help having T.J. around. However, she does sound cute in Chinese. I told the orphanage lady that she talks a lot in Chinese and she was surprised and said, “She only talks to people she is familiar with”. That melted my heart, of course. I will leave you with this: She sounds like the little girl in Monsters, Inc., who I always thought had the cutest little girl voice.

Jill :)

Presenting..... Jiliang our daughter!

Gotcha Moment with Jiliang









1) At the Store - she was quiet and not very happy looking

2) Watching the computer on the bed - her Gotcha moment

* she is so smart! she learned how to hit the space bar and mouse to replay the video over and over. Everytime she got close to the end of the video she would hit the mouse or keyboard.

3) Her new doll

** I only show you the photo's of sorrow #3 - so that you can appreciate the depths of her trust in me...she took a huge leap of faith in opening up to me. I had to earn her smiles !!












1) First Time Smiling (I cried when she smiled) :-)


2) She is showing off her artwork


3) She will love to do art with T.J. on his easel !! I am soooo excited !!
(it was so worth the wait to see her smile)

Warming up and the smiles get bigger and bigger!!

Sorry it took so long to get these out. I didn't have a chance to send them during the day and was going to wait until she went to bed. Then, I fell asleep. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and decided to it then. It has taken me a while to write this and try to upload the pictures. However, I am having trouble uploading pictures here, due to the internet connection. I took over a hundred pictures. I wanted to upload them to am going to upload them to Snapfish to post pictures and videos, but may not be able to do that until I get home. Let me send out this message first and then I will send pictures next. She is a doll!

In the beginning, she grieved and rejected me for about 6 hours and wanted to leave me for every Chinese person she saw. She did not speak, just a soft whimpering grieving cry. She is a food hoarder. Presently, it is 2:43 here and she is sleeping. I wanted to write, post and send pictures earlier, but have not had a chance. Once she turned into a smiling, happy child, she was wound up and I could not get her to sleep until 10:00 p.m. China time. So much for her 8:00 bedtime.
She had a bald head and an unclosed fontanelle, both of which concern me for her sake. However, both are things that I knew about and that Scott and I are both okay with. I don't know why her head is bald. It is possible that she may have had a recent procedure or IV fluids in her head, would would explain the two round red marks on her thorax and the red spot on her head (it looks like a possible IV injection site). However, we are open to the fact that she may have a bald spot from her birthmark. Either way, she is so beautiful to me and Scott.

She turned into an active, smiling, happy child and a little mischievous too. This happened after 4 p.m. and I got her at 10 a.m. I will place a post for you to post. Here are a few pictures. She is beautiful and I am in love with her. She likes me now too, but it was not love at first sight for her towards me. LOL. At least I was prepared for that. Her nanny was not there, and she was very attached to the other caretakers and director. The director emphasized that she was very "smart", and he is very correct. They spent a lot of time with her and I could tell that she was attached to them and they truly loved her and wanted the best life for her. They left a pretty green sweater for her, and it was a security sweater for a long time. I think that her nanny may have given it to her. Her actually nanny was not there. I don't know why, but she did know the other people well. If her actual nanny had been there, I don't know how I would have gotten her out of there.

After getting her at the Civil Affairs office, our guide, Fred, took us to the Chinese Supermarket. It was neat, and they had two floors and an escalator where you drove the carts up. Certain things in the store are consigned, like the fruit, certain cereals, jewelry, souveniers. You have to pay for them separately. When we got to the checkout line. I would never have known. I kept asking her which things she liked and she just accepted each thing and put it in the back of the cart. It was a very neat store and played Chinese New Year music throughout the store.
She had several layers of clothes on. She was sad to see "Uncle Fred" leave the hotel. She was sweating from head to toe. Slowly, I peeled each layer away. She was most reluctant to let go of her red shoes. I gave her a bubble bath, and she didn't mind. She washed her little self with a washcloth. I brushed her hair and she liked the Panda barrettes at first and wanted all 4 in her hair, but they barely stayed in. Then, she pulled them all out and put on her red snowhat. It was a sad moment for me, because I realized that she has been taught to cover up her bald spot, even though she may not know why. I don't know how to deal with that if her hair doesn't grow back, because I think she is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, bald spot and all, and I don't want her to develop a complex. At the same time, I don't want her to get stares. As a parent, I need to learn the best way to parent and love her in that aspect.

When we got back, I showed her some bubbles and she learned to blow bubbles really quick. Unfortunately, the bubbles were cheap Valentine knock-outs, and don't work when they get halfway empty, but she is not easily discouraged. I found that she LOVES coloring. Afterwards, we went back to coloring. I started to watch her Gotcha video. She heard the nannies talking and leaned over to watch. I downloaded it for her.

Also, around 1:00 we ordered room service. The girl could not take my order over the phone, because she spoke very little English. She was so sweet and sent a staff member to personally take my order. Jiliang was sad when the attendant left. Then, she started to color and seemed a little more content. However, when the attendant brought the food, Jiliang when she walked out the door. She tried to open the door to leave with her. She didn't want to eat the dumplings or rice that I bought her. They were wonderfully palatable to me while she chose to color!

She became very sad, especially when I folded her coat. She thought I was throwing her coat away! She cried and grieved. I lost it and I cried, because it was heartbreaking to see her grieve. At one point, I held her and I could feel her heart racing. It was scary. Luckily, that was short-lived. I showed her the video of her Gotcha Day. She was comforted by seeing her nannies. She yawned and yawned, and it was around her normal nap time. I laid the laptop in the bed. She laid down and watched, but did not fall asleep. I wanted to sleep. :) Then, she continued to eat these orange cookie-crackers. I was afraid they would make her sick. She was still grieving, and she ate each one slowly. Then, I made her put them on the nightstand. She didn't like that. She was clinging to them, because it was her security blanket, so to speak. She understood. Every time she would finish a cookie, she would cry, and I would give her another, one at a time. She got over that.

I tried to fold her clothes later in the evening, and she didn't know what I was touching them for, and cried and clutched them. Especially her shoes and green sweater.

She recognized my husband and son in different pictures. She was looking at a photo of T.J. and said, "Ji Ji" and I rejoiced thinking that was her nickname. Then, she said, "Baba" for all Scott's pictures and Ji Ji for all of T.J.'s pictures. She said "Baba" on the phone to Scott, which about made him melt. He can't wait to meet her! "Can you come home sooner?" he asked.

Suddenly, she came out of her shell. She grabbed the bubbles and SMILED. I got it on camera. She smiled more, she giggled! She kissed her Ling dollie that speaks Chinese. She colored. She blew bubbles out the window and laughed and hammed it up while I took photos. When I didn't take photos, she nudged my camera to say, "Get a picture of this!"

I tear up writing this, because I feel so unbelievable happy that she found happiness. When you see her sorrow, it brings deep joy and privelege to see her elation. She even picked up the phone to pretend to play phone and I wondered if she was trying to call "Baba" Scott, because it was right after we got off the phone with him. By the way, she was all smiles on the phone with you, Scott.

The rest of the evening was spent playing, blowing more bubbles, investigating food in the room. She peeled about 4 oranges herself. Each time, she would give me half of the peeled orange. She likes bananas too. However, she didn't like the banana chips I bought. She LOVES chocolate. She put my Dove chocolates in her Panda sweater pocket and gave me an equal amount. I am not sure if that was intentional or not.

We went for a walk in the hotel and investigated each floor. She stayed near me. At one point, I thought she was going to race me, so I started to run and play, and she thought that I was going to run out of her sight and fear struck her face.
She opened up a lot and is speaking a LOT of Chinese. I thought she was quiet. :) She is a sweet, wonderful, active, mischievious, SMART girl. She picks up things very quickly. If I demonstrate something once, she will do it. She understands so much. She absolutely LOVES her Chinese Ling doll. Thank you Katherine St.
Clair!!!!!! She loves to hear me talk in Chinese! After she warmed up to me, she was elaborating on what the doll said in Chinese, very fluently. She looked at wait and waited for me to speak the Chinese words and would prompt me to do so each time. I wonder if she is thinking, "Okay now, you are going to learn MY language."
She is such a joy. She has so much personality, love, tenderness and MISCHIEVIOUSNESS. She will fit right in with her big brother, T.J. He is the king of mischieviousness.

One more thing (although there are so many things I could write about her and about today), the ophanage staff took pictures on one of the disposable cameras - approximately 17 pictures. They gave me a receipt for the cake and I thanked them. They said that they told her she was being adopted and explained it to her, and also show her our pictures. They explained that she was getting a big brother and that he was looking forward to meeting her.

I will write more as soon as I can. Please know that we are both very well. Please pray for her safety and smooth travels. Please know that I feel very safe here in China. We will be going back to the Civil Affairs Office in the morning to finalize some adoption paperwork for China's side. I will also be telling them that I want to keep her. It seems a little silly, because I adore her, but that is the procedure. When she sees her orphanage staff tomorrow, she may grieve some more. I can handle that, although I pray that she copes well for her sake. I can't imagine her grief. On Wednesday, which is the day after tomorrow, we will be sight-seeing in Nanjing.

Thank you and God Bless You All!!!!
With Love,
Jill :)

one more update from Jill

Hey everyone! I am getting Jiliang in at 10:00 a.m. or 9:00 Michigan time. I received a faxed copy of my TA at the hotel from Scott. Scott and my sister are going to work together to make sure the TA original gets in the mail Monday morning. Hopefully that works, but either way, I am bringing Jiliang back to the hotel after I get her! So excited. Thanks for your prayers. They are carrying me through. I will post pictures of us, even if it has to be after she goes to sleep.
Love,
Jill :)