Three years ago

on July 9th, we boarded a Delta plane - final destination: Guangzhou, Guangdong, PRC. We landed at 6:30 am on July 11th, were met by our guide, Ellen, and whisked away to the White Swam hotel. She gave us some pretty good advise "you rest today because tomorrow baby comes and you no sleep". On July 12th at around 9:30 am Qing Zu Hong was placed in my arms. I remember this like it was yesterday. She was perfect and tiny and ours. The same day we completed the adoption and promised to always love, care and provided for Mary Austin Zuhong. Three years - it seems so short and so long all at the same time. I cannot remember life before her and cannot imagine my life without her. She amazes me everyday and is growing into a bright, bubbly and beautiful girl.

While we were in China, we posted to a Yahoo group that we formed for our trip. What follows are some of our posts from China. It is amazing to read these because they make it seem like yesterday that we were there with her!

Enjoy! Following the posts are pictures of Mae from 2004 to today!

Sunday the 11th:

We arrived this am after a very long trip! Flight from La toGuangzhou was very nice and I am now spoiled - business class is certainly a step up! All luggage arrived safe and sound as well.After a shower and rest we are set to meet our guide, Ellen, for a quick tour around the city.We will be united with Mary Austin at 9am tomorrow am. this wouldbe 8pm central time on Sunday night! We are so excited and will post more once tomorrow is here!many thanks for the messages and prayers! We truly appreciated all of them and yes, Rick, you only wish you had this many friends!

Love to all!

Julie and Tripp

ps - Mimi and Pop give the 'girls" a kiss for us even if they arehaving so much fun they have forgotten all about us!

Sunday the 11th (pm)

just some quick thoughts and observations

*business class is the way to go if you can do it!

*the China Southern stewardesses are like synchronizedswimmers - during flight emergency instructions they were very serious but they moved like graceful swans!

**We did not fly across the Pacific instead we flew up the westcoast - Cynthia we flew right over you - across Alaska intoRussia and then down - Anna and Rob we flew right over Sashaand sent love down to her!

**The weather is not as hot as I imagined - just like Birmingham really. However, not alot of AC outside the hotel and that is the difference!

**Our guide is wonderful. she thinks we are "really really rich" We are just not the way she thinks we are! She told Tripp he made alot of money (She heard us tell the notary our combined income). he tried to tell her about student loans and she wondered why "parents did not pay for schooling" Hmm...What upMimi and Pop??!! Just kidding. I think you paid for several of those 5 degrees hanging on the wall!

**Went to a department store - very depressing. Like a really old discount store. Got a cheap stroller though

All of our love

julie and tripp

ps - thanks for all the well wishes

Our post after Gotcha Day:

Click here

Tuesday/Wednesday
Yesterday we went to Mary Austin's orphanage. It was approx 90minutes north of Guangzhou in Qingyuan. Our taxi driver had a hardtime finding it and we got lost a couple of times. When we finally got there, they were building a new road so we had to walk about 1/4of a mile to get to the building. It was nice but not as nice asthe pictures and while we are glad that we went, it was verydepressing. We did get to see her crib and many babies and children. They gave us a map of where she was found which was about100km north of Qingyuan. The air quality is very poor and julie has a cold so the rest of Tuesday was spent in the room and around the hotel.

Balch andBingham could have alot of business if they opened a Guangzhou office! There was an 8 unit power plant in the middle of the city right next to one of the largest apt buildings we saw.

Today we had 3 milestones. We had our first poop much to the relief of everyone, we went swimming and we got our first real belly laugh. We have a water baby! She loves the pool and splashed andkicked the entire time. She also likes her bath. We were told that she did not like a bath but was okay with someone wiping her nose.Seems that this is actually opposite!

It rains everyday here with temps in the 90s. Michelle your wimpy Denver butt is going to melt! On packing suggestions - All Aveeno products. mary austin has excema on her face and her skin is verysensitive. We even have to rinse out the wipes before using them onher butt. And Mary Austin likes the bottles with the smaller nipples the best.

Tomorrow we hope to post alot of pictures. They are being developed now and will be ready in the am. there is no one hour photo here!

Until tomorrow, all of our love

julie and tripp

Thursday

Today (thursday, Ellen took us sightseeing. we visited a folk art museum and a 1300 year old buddist temple and the Orchid park. Julie is now better and Tripp has the cold! Once we got back hetook some sudafed and rested and mary austin and julie went shoppingfor a bit. We were quite the pair. Everyone wanted to stop us andwe had our picture made with some Chinese tourists who then made me write down our home town and state. Interesting!Tomorrow we visit the doctor if we can get her passport in the am.If not then we will go on Saturday. It will be interesting to seewhat she weighs - it is not much! We will try to post more tomorrow.

Until then, All of our love

julie, tripp and mary austin - we neglected to sign her name to theprevious posts! a grevious mistake!

ps - Mimi and pop please tell Bess and Jenny that we miss themterribly and cannot wait to introduce their new baby sister tothem!

Friday

more pictures for you to see. all in her pink seersucker monogrameddress that was wrinkled in about 5 seconds!

Not much new here. We visit the doctor tomorrow (Saturday). Atyphoon is about to hit Hong Kong (not a strong one) and will give us some rain until about Sunday. That is fine with us - will make it a little cooler. the food here is actually really good. We have not had a bad meal yet. Now we have avoided the "exotic" menu items like pigeon, yes,suzanne, I swear! they have them hanging in the windows of the restaurants with all the feathers off and smoked! Perhaps they got them from the outdoor dining at the hospital! Coo..Coo..

All the drinks have pop tops as in "stepped on a pop top, blew out my flip flop.."

We walked around a park this am. all the older Chinese were outdancing and doing Tai Chi with swords and fans! Pretty neat. We watched them for a while. Very graceful!

Will update everyone tomorrow after seeing the doctor!

Until then...All of our love jules, tripper and mary austin

love to bess, jenny and honey! Steph - tell Sheffield thanks fortaking such good care of honey!

Saturday - Post from Tripper

While Julie's chatting with a couple from Chattanooga here in the "free internet coffee shop," I thought I'd update you all on our dinner last night. Our guide pointed out this place the first day we were in Guangzhou and said "good food. Cantonese. very reasonable." Well, I'm not sure she was right about any of them -definitely not the first. First thing, we walk in through what appears to be some sort of seafood market. In front of the large tanks with live fish, eels, lobster, crab, etc., are baskets of deadand dying things - everything from water beetles to sand worms. Our waitress led us into the restaurant, which was furnished nicely enough. When we sat down, we realized that, unlike all of the other restaurants we had eaten at, we were the only non-chinese people there. Shortly thereafter, we figured out we were the only english speaking people, too. After the waitstaff frantically scampered around for a few minutes, they finally found someone who we could communicate with - barely. At last, we ordered our meal. Julie - a chicken dish - and me - grouper (or so we thought). When it arriveda nd we dug in and knew we were in trouble. Neither dinner was bad,but neither was very good either. After eating about half of our dinners, we used the baby as an excuse to get out of there. We are convinced Julie's "chicken" was actually one of those pigeons we saw hanging in the window yesterday and my "grouper" was something with a lot of bones, maybe coy. No kidding, Suzanne. Fortunately,neither of us got sick. The best meal of the day is still breakfast. We usually skip lunch because the weather is so hot, we don't feel hungry. We have to drink our drinks warm because the ice will make you sick. Soft drinks and beer are safe, as long as you wipe off the bottles first. Cokes and diet cokes (or as they call them in China, Coke Lite) in the hotel restaurants cost about half of what our room does, but the 7-11 across the street sells them for 2.50 yuan($0.45). I can get a half-liter of chinese beer for less than that,so guess what we're drinking.

Until tomorrow, cheers! Love to all,Tripp, Julie, and MA

P.S. Went to the Dr. today. Said MA is "perfect." In fact, one ofthe Drs. carried her around the clinic showing her around. 15 lbs.,26 inches long.

Monday or Tuesday - Post by Tripp

We're down to our last couple of days in China. It's been an unforgettable experience, but we're all ready to come home. I don't care how much you love someone, ten days in a hotel room in a place no one understands you gets to be tiresome. Our consulate appt went fine - much ado about nothing, really. About 50 families in theroom, raising our right hands, swearing everything we've said and written on all of our forms is true. The end of the biggest bureaucratic process I hope I'll ever have to endure.

Yesterday, we left the confines of Shaiman Island (where our hotel is) and struck out through the streets of the real Guangzhou. I felt like we'd stepped back in time a couple of hundred years. Old asian people selling everything from giant mushrooms, to dried frogs, snakes, and sea creatures. Plastic tubs full of live scorpions and spiders (for soup, of course). Bubbling pots of who knows what - some smelled great, others nauseatingly foul.

Today we went to Sun Yat-San's memorial - he's the revolutionarythat overthrew the last emperor in the early 1900's. Big buds with Lenin and Stalin. Outside were a large contingent of disgruntled Chinese farmers who had their land taken recently by the Government for a power project (three gorges dam). They were less than happy and were handing out straw farmers hats with derrogatory writing ont hem. Ellen (our guide) said we could take some of them, but we should wash the writing off before going through customs. I'd hate to get detained in a Chinese jail on our way home.

On my way to the coffee shop this morning, a store owner that we'dpassed at least a couple of times a day for the past week came out and greeted me. When I told him we'd just bought a bunch of stuff from him yesterday, he appologized and said that "you all just look so much alike, I all the time get confused." I got a big kick outof that.We'll post more pictures when we get home. It just takes too long to post them from here. We're looking forward to seeing everyone ina couple of days. We'll try to post again tomorrow before we leave.

Love to all.Tripp, Julie, and Mary Austin

Gotcha Day - Mae and Daddy! We still have this outfit. I gave her SWI some clothes to replace it so I could keep the outfit she came to us in! I have plans to shadowbox it.
Adoption annoucement photo

Birmingham Botanical Gardens - July 2004

July 4, 2005
Ballerina girl - July 2005

Mae and I took a "mommy and me dance class" I was HUGELY preggars wtih Jane and it was alot of up and down on the floor but we both loved it!

Atlanta Georgia Zoo - August 2006

We took Mary Austin to the Sunset Safari - Asia - that the Atlanta Zoo has. It was so much fun! The next day was a visit to the Aquarium. This weekend was just for her (Jane stayed home with my parents) to celebrate her adoption day.

Birmingham Zoo - summer 2006
Lake 2007 - Fun in the sun!

July 9, 2007 - All grown up