SLEEPLESS IN L.A.

URGHHHH!!! Hi everyone. Bet you didn't think you would hear from me again so soon, did you? After I sent my last post, I rocked a cranky Abbie to sleep then settled myself down for approximately two hours. That's when Abbie decided nap time was over and was ready for lunch. Thankfully, I brought some ramen and baby food with me from China! The three of us have been up since 1:45AM. At 5:00AM, I gave up and ordered room service oatmeal for Abbie and I. I had no idea what quality children's television shows are on all night. At 3:00AM, we enjoyed The Wiggles, Pokemon, and Pooh and Friends. Good times. Here's a picture of what Little Miss Happy Pants looks like at 2:00AM! Well, I guess it is actually 4:00PM where she is from. Switching her to our schedule is not going to be fun. Have a great day! I am sure I will be in a coma around 4:00PM. Loves and kisses, Tracie, Ericka and "Little Miss Benadryl Doesn't Work on Me!" Ha ha!

AMERICA!!

Hi Everyone!

Greetings from Los Angeles! It seems like I just blinked my eyes and woke up in the United States. The plane ride was very fast and Abbie slept the ENTIRE flight! Woo hoo!! She woke up just in time for breakfast and has been a wild and happy girl ever since. Even though it is 11:42PM in Utah right now, we of course, think it is 1:42PM in China and are WIDE awake. Urgh! We have to get up in six hours to get to the airport to catch our flight home. We may not be pretty. Ha ha! Today (yesterday??) was our U.S. Consulate swearing in ceremony in Guangzhou. Everything went off without a hitch and we were soon on a long van ride to the airport. I say long because today/yesterday is the Chinese Moon Festival and everyone was trying to get home to their families to celebrate. You think traffic in the U.S. is bad? I have NEVER seen traffic like what I saw in Guangzhou. 100’s of people were waiting at one stop for a bus. What should have been a 15 minute ride took 2 hours to get to the airport. Good thing we left early! We also took our traditional red couch photo with the children from all different provinces, but with three things in common: 1) they are all loved very much; 2) they all have special needs that are seen as beautiful by their families; 3) we are all united as one big family forever because of Children’s House International Adoption Agency. On the flight home, I awoke to three boxes of moon cakes, courtesy of China Southern. Very thoughtful. Funny, I just took a bath and my nightgown smells like the musty, musky fragrance unique to China. It brought tears to my eyes, because I love that crazy, crowded country as my own, but am so grateful to have my beautiful Abbie home as one of the newest Americans! I will miss the Heinz Tremella Lotus Seed and Lily Paste baby food and the White Swan Hotel breakfast buffet. But, it will feel so good to be home to my family and see the first reactions when the little sisters meet each other for the first time! Thank you so much for following our incredible journey. Safe travels to our friends, old and new, as they return to America. I will continue to post notes along the way about Abbie, her surgeries, and our family. Our love to you all! Tracie, Ericka and Abbie and the entire Linne-Laughlin Family of seven.

OUR LAST POST FROM AMAZING CHINA...

Hello Everyone:
It is with a terribly heavy heart that I write my last post from China. I am so happy to return home to my family, but a part of me always feels saddened when I leave China. While I am sitting here typing, Abbie is clomping around in my high heeled sandals. Some things that she does reminds me so much of Lucy. Tonight we went on a beautiful dinner cruise down the Pearl River. The neon lights on the high rise buildings on each side of the river are absolutely spectacular. On the bus ride back to the hotel, Connie sang a beautiful Chinese lullaby as an Autumn Moon Festival gift to all the babies. Her voice was absolutely amazing and brought tears to my eyes. Just like my experience adopting Lucy, it is always hard for me to leave this phenomenal country behind. It feels like a second home to me, which since I am blessed to have two Chinese daughters, it really is my second home after all. After Connie brought tears to our eyes, she convinced Andrew and Ericka to take the microphone and sing songs for the babies. A stunned Andrew Thompson worked his way through a couple of verses of “Wheels on the Bus” and Ericka’s voice rang lovely with a sweet rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” She and I then sang a duet of “You are My Sunshine.” This is my favorite children’s song and I have sang it to each of my sweet babies – all five of them! Some of you may recall that I was in China last February/March during Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and the Lantern Festival. This was an experience of a life time! Interestingly, tomorrow, the day we leave China, is the Autumn Harvest (Moon) Festival. It is a very important day for the Chinese and a day where families all over China get together to feast and celebrate their togetherness and blessings. According to the internet: “The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese. The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.” I cannot wait to get home and share my special White Swan sweet moon cakes with my family! Tomorrow, we will take our traditional “Red Couch” photo with all the CHI families in our group. Unfortunately, right after the photo we will head to the U.S. Consulate for our swearing in ceremony, then straight to the airport. You will just have to wait until we get to Los Angeles to see the pictures of all the sweet babies and children with special needs in our group. These children are amazing and because of the kindness of many organizations and individuals, these children have an opportunity for a full and blessed life in the United States, with families who will love them for who they are unconditionally. I love China, I love my family, and I love you. Thank you for sharing this special journey to Abbie Le Qian with us (and wish us luck on the long plane rides!) May this Autumn Harvest Festival find you surrounded by the sweet and unconditional love of your family. Always – Tracie XOXO

INTRODUCING HIS HIGHNESS - MAO MAO!

Lucy Doll - these pictures are for you!! Mommy knows how much you love your Mao Mao. Here he is eating his dinner. Mommy loves his cute, fuzzy little "er duo" (ears.) Dang, are these critters cute! Love you baby! See you soon! Kisses, Mommy XOXOXOXO

LAST FULL DAY IN CHINA

Hi Everyone: Today is our last full day in China. We have been here so long that it doesn't seem real that we will be on a plane headed for the U.S. with a wiggly three year old tomorrow night. Right now, Connie, our Guide, is at the U.S. Consulate on our behalf. We have to stay in our room until she calls and tells us we are okay to leave. This is just in case the Consulate has questions regarding any of our paperwork. Once we can leave, I am thinking of one last trip to the walking mall and then a hike to pick up our laundry. There is nothing better than coming home with clean, folded and packaged clothes from a trip! Abbie has been in a really great mood today! I dressed her in her pretty tulle strawberry dress and took some very sweet pictures of our happy girl. She looks like a little mermaid! We visited with “Jan”, the attendant on the twelfth floor who LOVES Abbie – and Abbie loves her! They are so sweet together. Jan gave Abbie some baby wipes and she first cleaned herself, then helped Jan clean her workstation. I think I will be able to give Abbie some jobs to do when we get home. She is an expert duster! Ha ha! We are still waiting for the Panda pictures. Marry sent me four separate emails with pictures of the elusive Mao; however, when I opened them up, I found very lovely pictures of Marry’s family instead. Oops! I think she meant to send those to someone else. Someone is going to be surprised when they open up 25 pictures of pandas instead! At breakfast, a family was feeding the Koi (Ericka accidentally called them Cod. Ha ha!) in the pond and they were jumping and swimming in a big bunch for the food. They were such a magnificent medley of orange, red, white and black. It was quite a beautiful site! Because it rained so hard yesterday, it cleared the air. When I got up and looked out the window this morning I was VERY surprised to see a mountain range! In total, I have spent one month in Guangzhou at the White Swan and never even knew there were mountains! Reminds me of the February inversion in Utah! Ha ha! Tonight we will go on the Pearl River Delta dinner cruise. I am sure I will have more lovely pictures to share. Have a wonderful day and see you on Wednesday! Love always, Tracie, Ericka and Abbie. (P.S. Connie just called. Everything is okay and we are free to leave our room. Woo hoo!!) (P.S.S. Ericka says "Hey" to Taylor and she misses you!!)

SAFARI HO!

Hi Everyone! Today, we braved a soggy and hot tropical rainstorm to go to the Xiangjiang Safari Park in Guangdong. I did get a really cool souvenir umbrella out of it. I was also really impressed with the many types of animals that resided in the park. The habitats were natural and the animals were almost close enough to touch (if you really want to touch a Yak.) They had rare White Tigers (bai hu) and Bengal Tigers (la hu) and some bizarre critters that looked like “Goatelopes.” Seriously, they looked like white goats with moose antlers! Very odd. They had Giant Salamanders, Giraffes, Hippos, White Rhinos, Koalas, and PANDAS! Yes, the black and white love of Lucy’s life, her beloved “Mao Mao”, "King of the Bamboo forest," was actually at the Safari Park! It was a great exhibit and explained all about the life cycle and eating habits of Ming Ming the Xiong Mao and all his buddies. All together, I think we saw five very chubby and happily munching Pandas. Wow, are they cute!! My camera is going wiggy again, so Marry took a bunch of pictures and I will download them for Lucy as soon as I can. I also bought a cheap instant camera at the park and took a bunch more pictures for Lucy. She will go nuts!! Some of my other favorite shots were of the two humped camels and the roaring lions. Another great part of the zoo was the nursery for baby animals. They had the sweetest baby tigers (white and orange) and fuzzy little monkeys. If it wasn’t raining so bad it would have been fun to take Abbie on the wonderful children’s rides. Lucy and Gracie would have LOVED the cool carousel! We also passed the monumental home to Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who we were told is the "Father of Modern China", equivalent to our own George Washington. When we returned to the hotel, I immediately hopped into a hot bath to soothe my sore and banged up knee. Abbie loved the animals at the zoo, but wasn’t too thrilled with mommy today. Probably, because I had to play the role of the bad mommy, who took her to the doctor for dreaded breathing treatments. Mommy bad - big sister wonderful! I am currently enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet while the girls play in the Swan Room. We only have one more full day on the island, including our dinner cruise, and then we leave on Tuesday. It’s hard to believe the end is finally here. It is always with mixed feelings that I leave the incredible country of China, and the birthplace of my sweet Lucy and Abbie, behind. Here are some pictures to prove that the doctor’s office is not Abbie’s favorite. Hopefully, I will post some pictures from the Safari Park before I hit the hay. See you all soon! With loves and kisses. Tracie, Ericka and Abbie (who I think might be part Golden Monkey. Ha ha! Just kidding!) XOXOXO

THE CLUTZ!

Hi Everyone – Greetings from beautiful Guangzhou! It has actually been sunny, with a semi-clear blue sky and perfect temperature! If I could be guaranteed days like this everyday, I would move here. At Noon, Connie took the Guangzhou families for a special Cantonese dim sum lunch. Ericka and I adore the Chinese broccoli and I can never get enough of the sesame seed and lotus paste desserts. They are so delicious! Honestly! I couldn't get her to eat the chicken feet though. Abbie is quite the eater. She packs away two to three bowls of beef congee per meal, mounds of banana bread, all of my tea and Sprite and whatever else she can get her hands on. Unfortunately, she is the human squid baby and if she can get her hands on the plates and cups, she tends to throw them across the room. We have been rained with many flying forks, knives and broken dishes. Not a good habit! P.S. the sleeping picture of Ericka in her cocoon is especially for Taylor and Skylar! He he! I purchased some moon cakes to bring home so we can celebrate the upcoming Autumn Harvest (Moon) Festival as a family. Today, we spent three hours doing our paperwork for the U.S. Consulate. I think things would have gone quicker if the other families would have paid attention. Connie commended me for being respectful and listening. My paperwork was apparently perfect! We had a nice dinner with Scott, Marry, Kaia, Beckett and Scott’s mom. However, on the way to the restroom to take Abbie potty, I slipped on the tile floor and wiped out. Because I was carrying her, my poor left elbow and right knee took a beating. All 120 lbs. of me! I completely freaked out the waiters and waitresses, but am okay. Just another day in the life of “Completely Clutzy Tracie.” For those who know me well, you know that I am accident prone and ever make it through a whole vacation without some sort of injury! Being Super Mom, I have always protected my child during a fall. I am proud to say that Abbie is injury free! Unfortunately, she is still raspy, so when we got back from dinner I took her to the White Swan Medical Clinic for a follow-up. The doctor is so nice. Marry also took Beckett for a follow-up on his intestinal issue and they also learned their 3 year old Kaia has mild Bronchitis. All the kids are on some sort of medication. Abbie is back on antibiotics and expectorants. I have to take her in for one more breathing treatment before our 9:00 AM safari tomorrow. Ugh. Otherwise, all is quite well and Abbie continues to live up to the fact she was born in the Year of the Monkey. She wears me out with her endless energy! Realizing that I will never manage the airport, I purchased Abbie a stroller for only $15.00 U.S. dollars! She promptly christened her new ride with her leaky diaper. Ericka was a doll and spent hours in the play room with Abbie while I did paperwork. I really appreciate her help and it only cost me five rolls of Mentos. I think the Linne-Laughlin and Stewart families are ready to come home now. It's hard to believe that in just three days we will be leaving China. Pray for us. We will need it with the three year old wild monkey girl on the plane. Despite my silly stories about Abbie, she is a sweet, sweet soul and just seems to enjoy life. Her personality will guarantee her a fun life and will add so much joy to our family of seven! As I type this note, she is asleep by my feet. Sweet dreams mommy's baby doll and everyone else in the U.S. - it's time for me to hit the hay. Loves and kisses! Thank you Heavenly Father for all of your blessings upon us.

PART II...

Part II of September 21st! First, I am so excited that Scott, Marry and their beautiful family made it in safely. It felt fabulous to give Marry a huge hug! Speaking of HUGE, you should see Beckett. WOW! He is very tall, very chubby, has the most beautiful big eyes and an absolutely adorable smile. Check out the pictures of him! After another wonderful dinner with the Thompson Family at the Thai Cow and Bridge Restaurant (where I had another mango Hello Kitty pudding), we then went shopping and to the park on the island. It was packed with very friendly people playing and exercising. Abbie was an absolute maniac on the slides with her buddy Liam!! I am so glad because Gracie and Lucy love the park too! One lady at the park said, “Oh, she must be a monkey girl. Monkey people are so happy.” How did she know? Ha ha! That’s my girl! Abbie also made friends with two really sweet older girls. They loved to pick her up and help her onto the slide (even though Abbie doesn’t need any help at all.) I wish I could take them home too because they were so sweet! Abbie goes easily to other people. This is good on one hand, but not so good on the other. It’s going to be interesting trying to teach a three year old that they cannot just go to anyone. Especially Abbie, because she just loves people! The more attention she has the happier she is! I also went for a 45 minute full body essential oil massage and got talked into the full body scrub, full body paraffin wax (and I do mean FULL body - yikes!) and the full body essential oil massage. Almost three hours later, I was so hot, sleepy and slippery that I could barely walk to dinner! Pinky, my Chinese massage therapist was awesome! I really do love China because of the people. Words cannot adequately describe how kind these people are. Everyone, young and old, man and woman, talk to Abbie and are genuinely happy for us. It is a feeling I will carry in my heart my entire life. We also received Abbie’s Chinese passport today and will finish our consulate paperwork tomorrow. Connie promised she would take us all out for dim sum. Yummy! Love you all! I am off to bed now. Sweet dreams! :)

TOO POOPED TO PARTY!

Hi Everyone:

We must be worn out from yesterday’s festivities! Abbie slept for twelve hours and would have slept more, but we had to wake her up to go down for breakfast before they closed in 20 minutes! Now she passed out and is sleeping on the floor in front of the TV. She never takes naps! She is one pooped out little pickle! As we were in the play room earlier, I reflected on all the places I have been in China. The list is quite impressive, but there are SO many places I haven’t been and really want to go. I have been to the following provinces/large towns: Henan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, Beijing and Shanghai. I have spent the night in the following towns and been to many more in between: Beijing, Bei Wu, Shanghai, Qing’Lu, Jian’Ou, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Zhangzhou, Kaifeng, Liangcheng, Nanchang, Fuzhou (Fujian), Fuzhou (Jiangxi), Linchuan, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shantou, Chaozhou, Xiamen and Hangzhou. Wow! Someday, I would like to take the girls to the Panda Preserve, Hainan Island, Macau, Xi’an (Terracotta warriors) and to some of the western provinces like Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Guanxi. Maybe a tour down the Yangtze River. For now, I will settle for our upcoming Pearl River Delta cruise/dinner and trip to the Safari Park. Scott, Marry, Kaia and Beckett get in today, so for now, I will leave with you a few pictures to tide you over. More to come!

More Silly Pictures From Ericka's Special Day!