Visiting Rose

We left last Thursday to go see our baby Rose in China. She has been staying with an American foster family who live in her birth city. We have been in e-mail contact with her foster family and it was so amazing to meet them and spend time with them over the weekend. And.. here are a ton of photos from our time in Xining...

We took the train to China, then a 5 hour domestic flight to the province where they live. It is on the Tibetan Plateau... 

 Xining is not a very international city, so we stood out and the boys got lots of looks and touches! We had a very Chinese breakfast in the hotel... I've never had my OJ hot before... {the Chinese don't drink cold beverages... although some more international places serve both,.... not so much here!}

 After breakfast we went for a walk and bought a few snacks!

 The fruit stand lady gave the boys big cherry tomatoes...

 We also found some yummy fried bread...

 and then... we got to see little Rose. We met at the Children's home with a social worker to make the connection... then headed back to her foster family's home. Our hotel was only a block from there apartment so for the rest of the weekend we were able to just walk back and forth...

 They live on a university campus, with a great little grassy area in front... we spent a lot of time out there. 

Rose is responding to sounds, so we know her hearing aid is working, just not sure of the of the quality and loudness of what she is hearing.

She is a very active 11 month old. Crawling and pulling herself up on everything. She is a bit reckless and takes lots of risks, when moving around and finding support.. she does seem to recover quickly from spills though, so we think she will fit right in with the boys.

 she loves to have her foster sister brush her hair and put cute bows in it. It was really fun to watch.

 she is still working on tongue control. her jaw issues make her mouth on the smaller side which makes it harder for her to keep her tongue inside. Teeth will help with this, but so far no teeth!

 she is a very happy girl!!

 she took a nap at the park in my arms..

 There were bumper cars at the park and the kids all had  blast!

 Rose is a very blessed baby to have two families who love her very very much! Here are all 5 kids... her two foster sisters and two future brothers. I made the kids shirts!

 and the whole crew!

 We tried to get a good family photo.. this is about the best ;o)

 Later that evening we had an early birthday party for her. The kids all got really into decorating the house... The boys and I had painted the sign and brought it with us.

 Rose was into the balloons!

 Rose was really into her little cake...

 busy busy girl... I was tired just watching her... our house is going to need some baby proofing ;o)