Day 9 – Saturday, November 26, 2005 – Yanbian to Changchun, Jilin

We wake and get ready for our hotel breakfast buffet. This buffet is amazing! So many Chinese dishes that we do not have time to try (our desire to try this morning). The first blessing of the day is that Juan Juan finally decides to eat more than just clementines, bananas and yogurt. She digs into her steamed eggs! YEAH! Jenny and I leave the rest of the family at the breakfast table and we head outside to meet the head director and the 2nd director for our trip to the foster family home. The home is in an apartment building that is probably half way between the hotel and the orphanage (maybe a 10 minute drive at most). The foster mom meets us outside and walks us up the 3 or so flights of stairs to her door. We remove our shoes and step inside. It is a beautiful home with wooden floors. I recognize the sofa from photos of Li Juan taken inside the home. There is a big plate glass window in the living room with lots of light shining into the room. I know Li Juan was happy here. Her foster mom is a dear Korean woman with a husband and a 16 year old son. We did not know that Li Juan had a foster brother until today. I am allowed to video the house to show Juan in the future. The foster mom shows me photos of her family and I ask questions about Li Juan. Jenny has to interpret all of our communication so most is rather brief. This visit is very special. This lady was Li Juan's mother for over a year. I cannot begin to imagine how hard it must be for her to have had to say good-bye to our sweet daughter! It is an emotional visit that is very good. It gives another view into Li Juan's life that will help us in the years to come as we share with her about her life story. After our visit we head back to the hotel where we find the girls and Ben playing outside the hotel in a little field. Juan is obviously enjoying being outside and is laughing and running around. It is so good to see her happy and beginning to come to life more and more each day. The 3 directors return to pick us up to go to the airport for our 1:30pm flight to Changchun. As we wait at the check in counter with many other people, the sign begins to flash that our flight is delayed until 3pm. We say good-bye to the directors and thank them again for all they have done for us and for allowing us to come and visit the orphanage. We think we are only the 2nd adoptive family to ever visit the Yanbian Social Welfare Institution. We head to the coffee shop and find 2 couches where we can sit and wait for our flight. The only food is Korean noodles and we order some. The girls eat crackers and snacks that we have in our back packs. Jenny is able to communicate that we would like a teapot full of boiling water so we can make our own tea (Typhoo) and we buy a cup of milk for our tea (it comes and it is hot milk - I also got hot milk the other night at KFC when I ordered it with the girls kids meals). It is an interesting tea party mix - British tea (complete with sugar cubes) and Korean noodles in a Chinese airport. The flight does leave at 3pm. But before we leave we find some good books about Yanbian and the Changbai Mountains that are in Jilin Province. We also have our bags searched when Jenny leaves us to go check one of our carry on bags. We make it through and board our plane. If we weren't noticeable before with one Chinese daughter, we now "stick out like sore thumbs" with two! * We are teaching Jenny about American colloquialisms/slang expressions - so this is another for her benefit! J * Some people are beginning to ask questions about the girls and some think they are twins! We arrive back at the Changchun International Airport and once again take a taxi ride. That is one of the most exciting adventures of a trip to China! Those of you who have experience this can relate - and those of you who haven't must come to China to find out for yourself. Jenny takes us to the mall right next to our hotel and we eat dinner at the food court. A combination of Chinese dishes (noodles and cabbage, eggplant, rice and egg, soup, tomato and rice) and Subway Sandwiches fill our bellies. Jenny and Emma head off for some shopping while Ben and I drag the girls away from a small fishbowl with goldfish and frogs in a mall store - off to baths and bedtime for the little girls! Another amazing day has come to an end. We are so blessed. Each day we are learning more about Juan Juan and we are seeing her laugh and become more and more our little girl.