The girls had a great day today.  It was a snow day, and Moriah stayed home.  She was not feeling well, though, and Debbie took her (and Hannah) to the doctor.  It is a virus, so nothing to be done.  At least they got lollipops.

I am going to resurrect this blog.  It will have no politics, just news about Moriah, Hannah, Debbie and Charles, and our lives together.

Speech therapy started for Hannah 3 weeks ago at Nationwide Children's Hospital.  Hannah can make most sounds, and has a big vocabulary, but her mind set up "rules" as she grew with a cleft palate about certain sounds.  For example, she can make a "p" sound at the end of a word (hop, for example), but cannot say "pop" because she will not make the "p" sound at the beginning of a word.  And, for some reason, she will say "apple" properly, but cannot say "backpack".  Go figure.

Otherwise, the cleft palate repair has been much easier than we feared.  Yes, the surgery in May was traumatic and the next three weeks a challenge as she was on a restricted diet.  Yes, at times she is still overly clingy to her dad (me).  But, all in all, she is a charming girl.

November 5, 2009 (continued): Our understanding is that the oldest religion in China is Taoism. Part of that religion required the Emperor to perform an elaborate ceremony, 3 times a year, at the Temple in his capital. The current Temple seems to have been built (and rebuilt/restored many times) around 1420 in Beijing. We have many pictures of this glorious building, but were unable to go inside. The tour guide was very helpful and friendly, and her English was very good. We returned to the hotel around 3:30, shared our pictures of home and you with her, then went to visit Bryan and Kathy.

Bryan and Kathy, along with their 3 children, live in the northern part of Beijing. The taxi ride, in rush hour, took over an hour, but only cost about 11 dollars. We had no idea where we were going, but had Bryan talk to the taxi driver twice using the cell phone we rented in China. Their apartment was very pretty, and they had dinner for us. We got to visit their newest baby, Trevor, and play with their 5 year old (Jeannie) and 3 year old (Darren). The return home was much quicker, and we got to bed after emailing many of our family and friends back home.

I was planning to post to my blog, or post to my page on Facebook, but China restricts access to those pages. Therefore, I had to send emails, and pictures, to folks. Tomorrow, on to the Great Wall of China!

Here is what I would have posted had I been able to...

November 5, 2009

Had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, then met a guide named Nancy for a tour of the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. The trip to the summer palace took about half an hour, through a very crowded and foggy/smoggy city. We are amazed at how many people live in Beijing (approx. 17 million). The Summer Palace is where the Chinese Emperor and his family moved in the heat of the summer. Originally outside the city, the area is still an oasis of parkland and beauty in this city. The longest corridor in the world, over ½ mile long, was originally built so that the Emperor, or his concubines, could walk along the edge of the lake, sheltered from the elements. Every post and beam is individually hand-painted with images, including 999 separate images of cranes. We also saw beautiful statues, rocks, and buildings, and a 100-meter-long marble boat built by the last Empress of China.
We “enjoyed” lunch at a restaurant meant to replicate the Chinese Emperor’s palace. It was included in the tour, but the food was unremarkable, the plates were inexpensive plastic, and the décor seemed a bit overdone. Anyway, on to the Temple of Heaven.

Back from China

We're back with Moriah Elisabeth Ao Hui Pockras. It was quite an adventure, and I will post more later. She is quite the girl. The transition was easy, and she has been a joy. God has richly blessed our family!

Leaving tomorrow for China. I guess that is why I am posting at 4:00 a.m....too excited to sleep. Keep us in prayer for a safe journey and a peaceful, joyful, and loving meeting with our daughter. We will be with her for 12 nights in China before we return home. God blesses adoption; Jesus was adopted by Joseph, and it is by God's grace that all of us are adopted into His family.

Thanks for all the support, gifts, advice, and love. We have less than a week before our "forever family" is united. Words from the Methodist hymnal come to mind:

"This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
This is my song O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine."

You don't have to go to New England to see beautiful fall images. These are from Ross County, Ohio, and were shot last week. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the colors that God gives us here in south central Ohio.