God is good. :)

Today was another good day.  Very relaxed and laid back.  Tomorrow we leave Nanjing.  I'll be sad to leave our guide, Min.  She is awesome and very personal.
Today our guide called our friend that Brian and I met on the airplane from Beijing to here, Nanjing.  I wrote about her in an earlier post.  Well, Min called her and asked if she would like to see us again, and she did.  So, the girl we met came to our hotel!  Our guide/translator came down here and we were able to talk a lot.  It's so amazing to Brian and I how God puts things like this together.  It wasn't by chance that we sat together on an airplane, talked and instanlty connected.  I told Brian it makes me wonder what God is up too. Our friend kept saying she wants us to come back to China, and she be our guide.  She promised to work on her English and be able to speak it very well when we come back. :)  She brought us a gift.  Our guide told us her gift was a very big deal, and something VerY special.  It is a jade looking stone that came from Tibet.  It has a seal on it that was placed there by the head....uh, shoot, I can't remember!  All I know is this thing is a big deal, and very special.  This was very, very nice.  When it was time for her to leave she was about to cry.  She said she still wants to see us again.  How special is it to come to another country and become connected to someone we can hardly even communicate with!!!  God just amazes me!  We feel so Blessed that we were able to meet this girl and become friends with her.  We now have her address, phone number and email, so we will all be able to keep in contact.  It just floors me how this all worked out.  I just can't describe how happy Brian and I were to be able to see her again.
As for Miss Alli Ying....she is still doing great.  She's already becoming rotten! :)  She is so sweet and happy and we are amazed at how she seems to be adjusting to us.  She is very much a "routine" baby.  I'm sure thata comes from being in an institute.  She really seems to be a happy little girl. Today she gave me lots of kisses, then she would look at Brian.  Granny & Grumpy sent us some Oreo's.  Grumpy said he wanted us to start her off right....so Brian gave her one today.  She was funny.  I had to change her clothes after she had it.  We got pictures of her first "Oreo Face." lol  Too cute!
We went shopping in a few shops today.  Our guide went with us to help us bargain.  By the time we left she said she was going to start taking Brian with her....he was the king at bargaining with these people! LOL   I told her back in America it's called "being cheap!" LOL  Brian had a lot of fun with that and talking the people down.  We did get some good deals on a few things for the kids. :)
We leave here tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I can download tons of pictures tomorrow.  I know you all are eager to see Miss Alli.  Love to you all.
Amanda & Brian

Wednesday in Nanjing

Today was a very relaxed day for us, and we needed it.  Yesterday was a bit rough for Alli.  After we left the registration office she was pretty fussy for the rest of the day.  Our guide agrees with Brian and I.  We think seeing her nannies was too much.  We think she was worried they were taking her.  She drank a bottle yesterday morning when she got up, and wouldn't take one the rest of the day.  I know she had to be hungry.  She woke up this morning around 4am.  Around 5 I finally had an idea.  I got a straw and fed her from that.  Not her sipping out of it, but me plugging the top and draining into her mouth.  She drank the whole bottle....so guess what?  This is the only way she will eat now! lol I'm thinking her Daddy started this when he gave her coke from McDonalds yesterday...yes, she LOVED coke!!!! (Grumpy, you will be proud!)  She absolutly LOVES gerber bites.  She eats those all day long.   She has been SO much better today.  She's back to the happy baby she was the day we got her.  Laughs, smiles and plays!!  She took a 3 hour nap, so I took advantage of that time, and took one myself!!!  It felt SO good!
We had to go into the drug store today for some cream to put on her face.  She has exzema really bad. (sp?)  All the ladies were talking too and about her.  Alli got a little fussy in there.  Our guide told us she doesn't like strangers and she is bonding well to Brian and I.  She does like our guide too, but she has also been with us from the first day, so Alli is used to her.
We went on a boat ride today.  That was neat.  Its crazy walking around and having people take your picture.  We were standing in line getting our boat tickets and a couple came up to me.  The girl wanted her picture made with me. I guess us Americans look funny. :) lol  We get a lot of smiles and thumbs up from people when they see us with Alli.
We got to eat at  Pizza hut for dinner tonight.  Yummo!  Pizza and Coke...I was a happy woman!!! :)
Our experience here so far has been great. We are enjoying every minute and trying to take in as much as we can.
We miss our babies back home....I can't wait to have all 4 of my babies together!  When we skype, the first thing they want is to see Alli.  They are very excited and anxious to meet her. It's very sweet.  I love skyping with them.  It has made our seperation much, much easier. 
God has been so good to my family and I can't thank Him enough for His MANY Blessings.  Thank you again for the many prayers.  We love you all. We can't wait for you guys to be able to see in person this sweet little girl our family has been Blessed with! She is absolutly precious!!!!  And, we think she is going to fit in perfectly with her brothers and sister.  It's like she was made just for us.....amazing!
Shopping day tomorrow, so I better go rest now.  :)
Love you guys,
Amanda & Brian
I SOOO can't wait to download pictures for you guys.  Alli looks so different than she did the day we got her...even that afternoon she looked different.  Amazing what a bath and a great outfit will do for ya! ;) Oh, and a hairbow!!!! ;) lol 

It's final....She's officially ours!

Well, it's final.  Jiu Ying Zhang is now officially Alli Ying Ashworth, and is OUR baby girl!!!
I feel like I have so much to say, so bare with me as this may be scattered and bounce back and forth.
Today we went to the adoption office, which is where we got Alli yesterday.  We had 24 hours with her to make sure this is what we wanted before finalizing the adoption.  When we got there her orphanage director was there.  He came straight over and wanted to hold her.  I thought that was sweet.  We passed her off, and I think she started reaching for Brian, which is a first.  She still doesn't understand the "reach" thing yet.  Before long two nannies that cared for her came in and wanted to hold her.  Alli started crying when they took her from us.  I thought that was a very good sign and so sweet.  She wanted her Mama and Baba (daddy in chinese).  We got her back and then they got her again.  I was excited to have an opportunity to take some pictures with Alli and her caregivers.  When I got Alli back, one nannie tried to get her to come back and she turned away really fast, wanting to stay in my arms.  That made me feel good.  I think it's a good sign of her bonding.  Brian and I have an opportunity to  visit her orphanage, but we are going to pass that up. I think seeing her nannies and them making a big deal over her was traumatizing enough. We don't want to do that to her again.
We got the chance to ask the director lots of questions today.  I think that was neat. He was the one who gave her her name.  We asked why he chose it.  Jiu, which means 9 was picked because she was born in 2009.  Ying was picked because it means Flower or Hero.  I like that. :)  He gave us a gift for Alli.  A beautiful Jade pendant and necklace that is her zodiac sign.  Jade is to the Chinese, what diamonds are to us Americans.  This will be a very special gift for her when she gets older.  He also told us they are having a very nice photo scrap book put together, it just wasn't finished yet.  He got our address and is mailing that to us when it's done.  I'm really excited about that.  He has asked us to keep them updated with pictures of her.  Her nannie said she is very sad Jiu Ying is leaving, but she's  very glad she will have a good home. :)
We got to skype with my babies at home and they were able to see thier sister for the first time.  It was a very sweet moment.  Alli kept reaching for the screen and looking at them.  Can't wait to have them all together...and I can't wait to get my hands on my 3 back home.  I miss those babies so much!!
Alli is sleeping away right now.  She's the most precious little thing.  Here are the answers to a few questions you all may have.....
She's not walking yet.  I think her leg muscles need to get a bit stronger.  She likes to hold my fingers and walk around like that...lots of that will surely help.
She has 6 teeth! Her lip repair looks great.  She has a little scar where it was fixed, but they did a great job.  Her palate is open.  I don't know enough about that to say if it's bad or not.
Hairbows...YES! She's had a hairbow in since we got back from getting her! lol  She does not mind them, but does not like hats.
She tries to do what ever we try to get her too.  She has started waving her hand when we say Hi.
She responds to her Chinese name Jiu Ying, but is starting to pick up on Alli. I"ve found myself calling her both. 
Her nick name at the orphanage was "Ying-ze", is what the director told us.
I can't think of anything else right off the bat.  My mind works slow on litlte sleep I guess.  Brian and I have been waking up at 3am China time everymorning and still have to get up on China time. :)  We are doing great and enjoying this Country.  It's really a great place.  Maybe, just maybe I will master chopsticks before we get home.  If not, I may just be really skinny when I get home! lol
I miss COKE AND TEA! :) lol  they have coke here, but it's not the same, and it's with no ice.  it's not bad, just not the same.  Sweet tea, negative.  they drink hot tea flowery tea, which is not my cup of tea. ;)
I better go rest while she's alseep. Love you all!
OH yea, the nannie in the picture we have of her with the cake we sent is the same Nannie we got to meet.  I thought that was very neat.  We got a lot of pictures of them together. :)

We have our GIRL!!!!!

Oh my goodness...what a basket of emotions I have been today!  We got to the office to recieve our children.  We were all sitting on the couch and our translator looked out the window and said "There is Jiu Ying"  Brian and I jumped up and when I looked out the window and saw my baby girl, I lost it.  Tears started flowing and I was a basket case.  Her Nannie and the Orphanage director came in and straight to us.  She handed Alli to me.  I can't describe that very moment.  I was in tears.  Brian tried to talk to her, then she started to cry, sort of.  Not a loud cry, but a scared cry.  He got a rattle out and when he made noise she got quiet and watched him.  After about 15 minutes of us talking to her she started smiling.  She LOVES her Daddy!!!  He held her and started playing with her and Alli was laughing so hard.  It was amazing!!!  I have tons of pictures of Alli and her Daddy!! (will upload them once I get something to download them with!!!)  Alli is the absolute sweetest baby!  We got to ask the Nannie and Director questions and he said "She's very active!" lol  He said she can not say anywords, but that was because of her cleft lip.  We left the office and went to the grocery store to get diapers and formula.  Alli was a champ.  Smiled and laughed and played with us the whole time.  We got back to the room, played with her for about an hour, then took off the 4 layers of clothes she came to us in.  Brian and I gave her her very first bath.  She loved it.  Splashed and played in the water for awhile.  Got her out, and dressed her in her new clothes, threw in a hairbow and she looks like a whole different baby! Smells like one too!  She has played and played and played some more.  I went to the bathroom and she started crying....I layed on the bed playing with her and was saying "Mama"  Alli started moving her lips as she watched mine carefully and finally she moved those lips with some noise and said "MAMA"  Brian was sitting at the computer, jumped up and said "You've got to be kidding me!!!"  Now she keeps saying it over and over!  She is so happy. We were playing on the floor and I could tell she was SO sleepy.  she laid beside me, sucked on part of her fingers and fell asleep.  She's in her crib now, and we keep going over there just to stare at her.  We still can't believe we finally have her.  As Brian said earlier, "Our family is complete."
Thank you all for the many prayers that you have been saying for us, Alli and our 3 other babies.  We can surely feel them, and I really think Alli can too.  She is an amazing little girl with a beautiful smile, laugh and personality.  We can't wait for you all to meet her and see this little girl who is bringing us so much joy.  I can't wait to get her home to her big brohters and big sister.  They are going to have so much fun with her!
I'm hoping I will be able to download the pictures from my camera soon from someone elses'.  I forgot my cord at the house.  A friend (another family here) did take pics when we recieved Alli, so I am going to add those for now.  Hopefully more soon.  She doesn't even look like that little girl now.  Amazing....God is amazing.
Oh yea, the rattle Alli is holding is the one Brian played with to get her quiet and she loves that thing.  She didn't put it down until we got back to the hotel. :)
Much Love,
Amanda & Brian

                                            Brian, Alli, Mr. Danny and DannyLynn (sweettest couple!!)

Getting Alli in the morning...

Well, we flew out of Beijing today and into Nanjing. First off let me say that our guide in Beijing was amazing.  He has an amazing testimony and he made the first part of our journey here in China a great one.
The flight to Nanjing was great.  God amazes me at how He works little details of our daily lives out that we sometimes over look as being God.  Brian and I sat in our seats and waited to see who would fill the empty seat beside me. ( I gave Brian the window seat b/c he's never flown before this trip, and the whole way here we didn't have the opportunity to be by a window)  So, this beautiful Chinese girl sat next to me.  I gave her a few minutes to settle in and before our plane was even moving Brian and I had already started conversation with her.  We asked if she spoke any English and her response was "Very little."  Well, if you know Brian and I then you know that is all it takes for us to talk to you! :)  We talked the entire trip.  We got out some of Alli's adoption papers and she read some of the Chinese to us.  She helped with pronunciations and told us about Alli's city.  This girl who can hardly speak my language, and myself had an instant connection.  Our entire plane was quiet, with the exception of the two of us laughing.  When we couldn't understand each other we shared in amazing laughs.  Her name translated in English means "Snow", which is SOOO much easier to say than her Chinese name!!  She gave Brian and I her name, email and phone number and asked us to please call her if we need help with ANYTHING while we are in her city.  She made sure we had someone meeting us at the airport and everything.  After we got our luggage we exchanged a brief hug and she said she really wanted to see us again before we leave.  So, Brian and I are going to have dinner with our new friend before we leave Nanjing.  It just floors me how God works and puts little things like this together.

On a different note, most of you know i'm not really an emotional person, but today has been different.  As we started to land in the Capital of Alli's province my emotions started to rise.  I tried to take everything I could in.  I've about lost it and cried a few times, just thinking about how our life is all about to change.  I'm about to have a new daughter.  A daughter who was hand picked for our family, thousands and thousands of miles away on the other side of the world.  Again, God amazes me!  We met our guide, Min and she brought us to our hotel here in Nanjing ( a very nice 5 star hotel!)  It's beautiful here.  As Brian and I are getting settled our doorbell rang and it was housekeeping.  They came to set up the baby crib in our room.  Wow, it's really hitting home.  We went to have dinner with our guide and the other 2 families here in the province with us and she went over the things we will need in the morning.  We will be getting Alli at 10:30 am.  I still can't believe this day is really, really here.  My emotions are going wild and crazy. I'm nervous, anxious, frazzled, but most of all, ready to see this beautiful little girl that I've loved for so long, yet never even met.  It's so hard to explain how I already have such a love for her.  I picture us with her all the time.  I day dream about us sitting in church together as a family or in a restaurant eating dinner.  I picture her on Graci's hip as she tries to mother her, or BaiLee as he carries her into the restaurants. (this is what he's been saying he wants to do for months now) or Ethan as he lays in the floor and plays with her.  It's all about to be a reality, and no longer a daydream.....my heart is full tonight as I anticipate the arrival of my daughter in the morning.  Alli Ying Ashworth.....
Love you all.....goodnight.  This mommy had a diaper bag to prepare. :)

Our last day in Beijing

We visited the Great Wall of China today.  Wow is all I can say.  The place is absolutly beautiful.  I can understand why it is one of the 7 wonders of the world.  However, what a stinking workout!!! I couldn't make it to the top! It was still an amazing view from where I got. The steps are all uneven, which makes it very difficult!
We also got to visit the Olympic center.  That was pretty cool, too.  Brian and I are having a great time, and really enjoying getting to meet all these great new people! Everything is so different, and we are taking it all in.  It's still so surreal that we are really in another country! It's funny because they like to take our picture.  I guess we are just as different to them.  They like to have their picture made with Brian, because he is so tall.  That's strange and funny....lol The driving here is so different then in the states.  It's very crazy, but they reallyn drive better than us Americans!!  The traffic is crazy, but we have not seen the first accident.  I can't wait to share our experience with all our friends.  We miss you guys so much! 
We leave Beijing in the morning and will go to Nanjing.  We will get our sweet Alli on Monday morning!!  Ahhh, we can hardly wait!!!
I have SO many awesome pictures to post.....enjoy.  We are still in awe at the fact that we are in a different country!  Which has been an amazing experience, and the people are all so friendly. :)
Love you guys,
                                               This is at the Great Wall...and it's FREEZING

                                                            BEAUTIFUL view!!

                                                              The Great Wall of China

                                 The view from where we got, I'm in this picture, struggling to get up! LOL

                                                Where the Olympics 2008 were held

                                                               Great picture of Beijing

                                          This was part of our lunch, and YES, I tried the fish!!

Day One in China

Today was cool.  We got to go to the old part of Beijing, the way they used to live.  We visited one families house.  We were able to go inside and ask her questions.  That was pretty cool. It's awesome to experience another culture.  Everything is so different.  The resteraunt we had lunch in was good.  our guide had all of our food ordered so when we got there they brought it all out.
We visited the forbidden city today.  The place was huge!  It was really neat hearing our guide tell us the history behind it all.  Makes me wish I would have paid better attention in history class. :)
The traffic here is crazy.  I think the motto should be "Move, or be moved!!!!" Our bus driver could whip that bus around like it was nothing.
Brian and I are having a good time. He's crashed on the bed right now! He said today "All of this is cool, and I'm enjoying getting to see it, but I'm ready to get my little girl!"  I couldn't agree more! 
Tomorrow we get to tour the great wall of China!  How awesome!!
I hope to figure out a way to post pictures.  I'm SO smart....I didn't bring the cable that connects my camera to the computer... :(  UGH!  I pray someone has one I can use, so I can empty my disk and take tons more pictures!
Love you guys!!

                                              The Forbidden city...