Sunday, December 23rd

Today was the first day that we were able to begin touring and not simply traveling to get to our destination. We started out with the absolute yummiest buffet at our hotel - and it was even better than we remembered! The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou is the hotel we stayed at when Ailee first came into our family in 2012. Walking into the hotel was a rush of emotions and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories. It has also been fun to tell Ailee stories about the first week we spent together as a family and show her, in person, what and where we are talking about. 

The table where we ate breakfast when
we were here in 2012...

Maelyn is in love with pho soup for breakfast!

After breakfast we went to the zoo in Guangzhou. We wanted to give the kids something to do that would grab their attention and allow them to get rid of some of the energy they built up after days of travelling and not being able to run around. 

The zoo has undergone a lot of changes since the last time we have been there. The zoo looks fantastic! The kids had a blast interacting with the animals - there were minimal crowds and the animals were awake and active, as the weather wasn't too hot.

The kids also had time to interact together and it was great to see them enjoying each other’s company.
 

A Canadian classic...

I just love these brooms....

The two biggest highlights of the zoo was being able to see the pandas and feeding the giraffes. The kids – and the adults – adored being able to feed them leaves and even pet them a little. What an experience!

After the zoo our guide, Michael, brought us to a restaurant for a meal. It was our first meal as a whole group and Maelyn was dying for some authentic Chinese food. The restaurant was busy and noisy, but it was located in a beautiful area and the staff were very friendly. The food was delicious!

Once we were done lunch, we went for a walk around the area. It was beautiful and we had fun taking pictures, watching the locals get ready for a festival in traditional gowns, and even having our pictures taken by many, many people. I cannot tell you how often we have been stopped to have our group picture taken or to have someone join in our group for the shot. We have rolled with it and hammed it up for the cameras to keep it lighthearted. Ailee despises the attention and Maelyn adores being ‘famous.’

It was then time to part ways with our group. Our family was heading towards Zhang mu tou overnight,  to visit Ailee’s finding spot and then Dongguan, to visit the orphanage and her nannies. The rest of the group was heading back to the hotel to rest and then do some touring the next day.

Our drive to Zhang mu tou was about 2 hours long. The girls chilled with some iPad time, while Paul and I dozed in the van. Once we got there, and with the help of our guide, we were able to locate Ailee’s finding spot. We spent some time as a family talking about her first family and the love they must have felt for her to leave her in a spot where they knew that she would be found and cared for. We then headed to our hotel, which I was a little worried about – with it being a little more remote than Guangzhou.

I shouldn’t have worried – this place was phenomenal! We had to drive up a long mountain driveway to get the front of the hotel. There were fountains, trees, and lights everywhere! They were decorated for Christmas and it looked beautiful! When we got into our room, a staff member bought us up a tray of fruit. It was awesome! The kids played well together in the room and then it was bedtime.

Can't wait until tomorrow!

Getting to China!

Phew! It has been a looooong night/day of travelling. But - I am happy to say that we have arrived safe and sound and ready to begin our journey!

It has been a feat to get around airports, shuttles, trains, and taxis with a group of 13 people, but we have managed quite well. We are working well as a group and the kids are really enjoying being together.

Maelyn didn't sleep a wink on the fourteen hour flight and Ailee slept for about two hours. Maelyn has been battling a pretty bad cold and is super congested. There were times on the flight where she felt miserable and it was hard for her, but she didn't complain as much as she could have. All five kids in our group would often ask how many hours were left, but overall, they coped with the fourteen hours in flight like troopers! Although, twelve hours of iPad time may have helped with that! :S

This time we flew with Hong Kong Airlines and we loved it! Super friendly staff and they had a bar area in the plane where you could stand and stretch your legs, read a newspaper, or swap travel stories with other people on the plane. They also had a snack station where you could help yourself to food and drinks. The kids loved that part! The leg room wasn't the biggest we have seen, but we all managed.

We landed in Hong Kong and then made our way to the train station. We loved our cab ride! The views were spectacular and the kids kept shouting out when they wanted us to take pictures of what they were seeing. Paul and I both agree that on a return trip to China, we have to spend more time in Hong Kong - it took our breath away! Our train ride to Guangzhou was also quite easy and the train was very comfortable. You should have seen our group of thirteen getting off the train with all of our luggage!!

The girls are both very excited to finally be in China!

We have now settled into The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. This is the hotel where we stayed for a week when we adopted Ailee in 2012. It is the place where we first spent time as a family - which is very important to us and it means a lot to be surrounded by so many memories.

Tomorrow we are headed to the zoo, a buddhist temple for a blessing and then out for a big lunch. That afternoon, our family will be driving with our guide to Zhangmutou, where Ailee was found. We will meet the police officer that found her and brought her to the orphanage. Ailee is BEYOND excited to be in her 'her area' of China and focusing on her beginnings. We can't wait to help her build her appreciation of her first home and build positive memories of such a wonderful place.

Searching...

This is a post I have thought long and hard about - to share, not to share - I wasn't sure what to do. In the end, I am going with my gut instinct and what works for our family.

Every child is different and unique - and this also applies to how a child reacts to being adopted and their desire to know about their past. Some children want to know every detail that they can find about their past and others prefer not to know. Maelyn has always been the child that wants to know - needs to know - as many details as possible.

We have always been open in every way possible about the adoption process with family and friends. We truly believe that it normalizes a sometimes 'different' process. We have taken the same approach with our kids. We have always been open to discussing their first families, time spent in the orphanages, and anything else they have been curious about. Over the past few years, Maelyn has started to ask about searching for any clues to her beginnings. Knowing that we would be making the trip back to China, we started this search in January of this year.

In keeping with respecting Maelyn's privacy, I will not share this post in its entirety. As a family, we discussed how we would handle sharing the story of our search. Many families choose to keep it private, but we knew that that wouldn't work for us - we do not want the story of her search and the resulting events to be kept a secret, but to instead be integrated into our everyday lives. What this means is that I will post this blog from my perspective only. When the girls meet important people in their lives, such as their nannies and foster families, I will not post about the girls' reactions, feelings, or emotions. I will post my interpretation of the events and share photos that Maelyn feels comfortable sharing.

***

In January we connected with a searcher that is well-known in the adoption community. After weeks of gathering the necessary paperwork, we sent them to her so that she could begin the search. Her cousin and work partner was able to spend a few days in the small town where Maelyn was found. We were fortunate enough to visit this area in 2012. Our searcher noticed that a signature on a piece of paperwork we sent to her was the signature of a doctor. He spent a few days visiting the hospitals and searching for the doctor. At the last hospital he visited, we were very fortunate and amazed that he was able to find her and that she was willing to speak with him about Maelyn. In the end and after a few conversations, she was able to share with us some important and identifying information about Maelyn. We now had the names of Maelyn's birth parents!

The odds of locating a birth family in China is quite low and not an easy process. We never expected to be able to find any information on her first family, but to be able to let her know that we did everything we could to find out as much as we could about her beginnings. Now, we knew that we would be heading down a different path and we were thrilled for Maelyn that there was a possibility that she might get some of the answers she was looking for.

Armed with this information and on another visit back to the town, our searcher connected with a police officer who was able to direct him to the home of Maelyn's birth parents. The next morning, he went there to introduce himself and the reason for his visit. In Canada, we were waiting anxiously to see if this connection would become a reality - and it did!

We now have frequent contact with Maelyn's birth parents and her three sisters - aged 19, 15, and 8. While we are in China, we will be meeting the family and will be able to spend a few days with them. Our connection has been very positive - better than I could have hoped for - and we cannot wait to be able to meet our extended family in person.

We are also fortunate enough to be visiting other important people in the lives of our children - the doctor and police officer that helped us located Maelyn's first family, Maelyn's foster family that she lived with for two years, the police officer that found Ailee and brought her to the orphanage, and both of Ailee's primary caregivers in the orphanage.

Again, the reality of knowing Maelyn's birth family is not something that we will keep secret in our family. She should feel free to share about her family at any time. This is our new normal and we believe Maelyn is blessed to have two moms, two dads, and a lot of sisters! We all share Maelyn's love and take great joy in simply expanding our family.

What a trip this will be!

Preparing for our trip...

We are in the final few days before we head to China and I can hardly believe it! We have been planning this for such a long time that it is hard to believe that it has finally arrived. 

There has been so much planning that has gone into this trip - from the very detailed itinerary to the seemingly endless paperwork, visas, vaccines, packing, etc. It will all be worthwhile in the end!

When we started planning our trip we opened it up to any other families or friends who wanted to join us on our adventures. Luckily, a few families were brave enough to sign up! 😆 We will be traveling with our good friends Dave, Lori and their daughter, Ella. We have traveled together before and are so happy that they could join us. Ella is almost a year younger than Maelyn and they are both from the same orphanage. Mark, Doug and Audrey's son, is also from Maelyn's orphanage and they, along with their daughter Marissa, will be joining us as well. Tyler, Doug's oldest son is coming along, as well as our good friend, Nancy. In total, we will be a group of 13!

Below is an outline of our itinerary:

	Activity
Day 1	·      Fly from Toronto to Vancouver, then Hong Kong
Day 2	·      Take morning train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou ·      Meet The guide at the Guangzhou train station and take van to the Garden Hotel ·      Settle into hotel
Day 3	All families participate in the following activities: ·      Buddhist temple blessing ·      Guangzhou Zoo ·      Lunch at PanXi JiuJia （GuangDong DimSam） ·      Visit the Lizhiwanyong (next to the LiZhiWan park) to explore the old part Guangzhou ( Green/Gravelle family joins if there is time) ·      One guide goes with Gravelle/Green family（2.2人) to Zhangmutou and stay overnight ·      Send other families back to hotel
Day 4	·      Gravelle/Green family and guide will be in Zhangmutou and finding spot (as well as police station to meet the officer who found Ailee) ·      Dongguan for orphanage visit. Have lunch in Dongguan then take van back Guangzhou ·      Visit Civil Affairs office where they met Ailee ·      One guide with Lawrence/Shell Family, Tyler, and Nancy visit the Chen family temple, Five Ram (symbol of Guangzhou) park and ShaMian Island
Day 5	·      Take morning train from Guangzhou to Guilin ·      Meet the guide at the train station, have lunch and take van to the hotel ·      Visit Reed Flute Caves in the afternoon
Day 6	·      River cruise along the Li River, simple lunch on board. Leave hotel at 8:00am ·      Shopping on famous Yangshuo West St ·      Drive back to Guilin
Day 7	·      Take train from Guilin to Shangrao ·      Settle into hotel ·      All stay overnight in ShangRao tonight
Day 8	·      Orphanage Visit -all families ·      One guide with Gravelle/Green Family - Foster Family Visit after the orphanage visit ·      Other guide with the Schell & Lawrence families to go to finding spots
Day 9	·      If there is something left to do in ShangRao, we have time in the early morning ·      All families then drive to Wannian County with both guides just before lunch time, Lunch in WanNian ·      Gravelle/Green’s and Nancy meet with birth family (both guides go with for this visit) ·      Other families rest at the hotel ·      All meet back at the hotel for the night ·      Stay overnight in Wannian County
Day 10	·      Go to the hospital to briefly meet and thank the Dr. ·      Go to the police station to briefly thank the police officer that helped us ·      Gravelle/Green’s and Nancy visit with birth family with one guide ·      Other guide takes the Schells, Lawrences, and Tyler to Xianren caves
Day 11	·      Drive from Wannian County to Nanchang ·      Visit the Teng Wang Pavillion ·      Take a picture of the Gloria hotel where we met the kids ·      Fly from Nanchang to Beijing ·      Settle into hotel in Beijing
Day 12	·      Visit Tiannamen Square & Forbidden City ·      Temple of Heaven ·      Shopping at the Pearl Market o   watch a pearl demonstration o   go to a silk demonstration ·      Acrobat Show
Day 13	·      Drive( 1.5-2 hours) to MuTianYu section of the Great Wall ·      Shopping at the Silk Market ·      Drive by the bird nest for picture taken
Day 14	·      Hutong tour-visit an older home in Hutong ·      Tea room in Bell Tower ·      Visit the Summer Palace  ·      Peking duck dinner
Day 15	·      Leave hotel and transfer to the airport morning flight from Beijing to Hong Kong ·      Settle into Disney hotel
Day 16	·      Disneyland Hong Kong ·      Flight back to Canada

The weather we will encounter will be quite different in each province that we are visiting. We will be in warm, summer weather while in Hong Kong, with an average of about 25 degrees. In Guangdong, Guilin, and Jiangxi, the temperature will be around 14 degrees. Then, in Beijing, the temperature will be very similar to the climate in Canada. Packing for such varied temperatures can be interesting!