Blog moved

The Petrie children in China

Sydney and Jordan goofing around

Jordan Petrie, age 2

Hi,

Well, we are home from China. Problem is/was that China does not allow access to blogs. When we first started, we could post, but not "view" the blog. Then all of a suddent we could no longer even post. So.... we chronicled our trip on a Yahoo Group instead.

If you are interested in viewing the group continuation, please feel free to go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jordanpetrie. Once on the site, you can click on JOIN NOW. (you may require a yahoo id and password, and be certain to set up a Yahoo Profile too so you can go to the Group site and read the posts/view the pictures.

Sorry for the confusion that this caused. We were disappointed the Chinese don't allow blogs. Someone called it "China's Great Firewall".

Thanks for all the kind words

Hey, thank you for all the comments and email notes. They mean everything to us.

Sydney, Jay and I have been up most of latter part of night. Still having trouble getting turned around in time (kids). Jordan woke up once and did NOT want to back in crib. Cried and cried. So she is sleeping in a bed with pillows all around her. Jeff is sleeping in room with her.

Sleep score Jeff 10 hours, Lori 4

Love, the walking zombie Lori

She's very tiny

Hi again,

Thought I'd post some more details. Before we went to get Jordan, Sydney fell into a deep sleep and awakened grumpy. Remember, our body clocks are so off. Sydney felt like it was the middle of the night, I'm sure. So she pouted in most of the gotcha pictures. Jay on the other hand, never took a nap. He did OK during gotcha.

We came back to the hotel, and Anli followed us to the room to go over paperwork necessary for tomorrow. By then Sydney lightened up and was very interested in giving Jordan a bottle and changing her diaper. Anli went over Jordan's schedule. I am not sure how accurate it is.

Jordan is very small - easily fits into 18 mo. clothes... they may be a little big on her. She came wearing normal strap-like black shoes - and her feet and hand looks just like the picture (funniest thing!). She walks normally and seems just fine. She is very alert and likes to mimic us - especially with the kissing gesture. She is very happy, and not fussy (yet). Don't worry, it will only take us a few days to make her into a high-maintenance Petrie kid - ha ha.

She does not have all of her teeth, but I haven't counted them. I do see her gums in lots of places. She seems like a typical institutional kid - a little glazed over and quite a bit behind in terms of growth. And with that comes developmental delays too - but not in the "smarts" category.. just behind. She will catch up in a matter of months. She is clearly bright. They let her hair start growing, but it still has the bald spots from too much crib. I guess you could picture about a 15 mo. old instead of a 25 mo. old.

Meryl, she has eyes that remind me of Zoe.

Well, we did end up going to restaurant for dinner, and Jay literally fell asleep on the floor of the restaurant. (it was 6:15 pm). We are still jet lagged and tired. We let him sleep on the floor (we were the only customers in the restaurant, and floor was carpeted... I'm still trying not to think about the germs LOL).

Both Sydney and Jay are in bed, and Jeff and I are enjoying private time with Jordan. She is adorable. She has not cried one ounce. We are hopeful she will tire soon, so we can rest our weary bodies, too.

We'll take more pictures tomorrow. Love to all of you!!! We miss you. Mandy, thanks for emailing comment... hope the animals are OK. We are glad you are there. Everyone... THANK YOU for making this trip do-able for us. Lots of love,
As always, Lori and family

We have her!!! Welcome Jordan Petrie...

Gotcha Jordan Jennifer Mian Petrie! Age 25 months

The moment we have waited for .. she's healthy and beautiful. We met Anli in the lobby of our hotel at 2:30 and took a bus about 15 minutes away to the Guangdong Adoption Affairs office. We went up to the 5th floor of a business-type building and into a "reception" room with a few couches and coffee tables. Anli took our passports and went to check that she was there. She came back a few minutes later and said, "get ready" (meaning cameras etc.), and "they will bring her in here in a minute". So Jeff readied the video camera and Anli took the digital camera in hand.

A man brought Jordan Mian into the room.. and there she was. He handed her to me first. She snuggled a little, and she smiled a little. (she's tired) We tried putting her down next to Sydney and Jay on the couch.. .and she started to cry a little... wanted to be held. Other than that, she has snuggled and smiled. She has not made any attempt to talk. She is soo, soooo sweet.



Back in the Room Pictures:

Not quite gotcha... will get her in about an hour 1/2

Snacking before breakfast

Snacking

Believe it or not, I can post to the blog, but we cannot "see" it...some internet glitch. So I will do the best I can to get pictures in here and hope that they turn up for you. Just a couple pics of Sydney and Jay this morning....

Will post and add pictures after we have her! Happy Halloween! Love, Lori & gang

Time turn around

It's 12:35 AM now, and of course Sydney and Jay are awake! Remember, day is night, night is day etc. with a 13 hour time difference (we are ahead of you). Kids napped after breakfast yesterday, and we all napped for a couple of hours. Then Anli joined us. She is the facilitator that we have known through all these adoptions, and she, with her husband Lifeng, work together with the families. So we have Anli for this trip - for now! It is so neat to see her - and she is about 5 months pregnant...very exciting. (story there.. another time)

We went over the schedule a little with Anli yesterday, and then we all took a walk to little grocery store around the corner to stock up on juice, water, and some snacks. Once back in the hotel, we said good bye to Anli and then ordered pizza for dinner. Just too tired to negotiate a restaurant - or talk everyone into trying something different. We went to bed at about 7:00, so that's why kids are up. I stuck a DVD in the player and hope it will give us a few more hours of rest.

We meet Anli at 2:30 PM to go to the Adoption Affairs bureau to meet Jordan. We will have her from then on. We do go back on Thursday to finalize the adoption. Then on Saturday/Sunday Sydney and I are planning to go to Jinjiang. So that's the schedule for now.

We will post pictures tomorrow. Our double stroller has been the best thing we have brought with us so far. It's helped going to airport - or taking walk - anywhere where kids need to stay with us - or keep up!

Oddly, I cannot view this blog.. but I can post. Good night all! Or should we say good morning?

Love, Lori