Pictures from Ophanage

Well, today (Monday) we got the pictures from the orphanage. The adopting parents send money for a disposable camera ahead of time so the family can have a little history of thier new family member. We were pleasantly surprised, considering some of what we have seen since we got here and some of the stories we heard from the families who went to the other provinces. The Chinese have these facilites that serve as both orphanages and nursing homes, run by the government. We heard that there were about 300 children at this orphanage. These are the best photos we have of Carlee Mei before we got her.

We continue to learn of the Chinese culture. We've had our fill of Chinese food but have another week til we fly home. Fortunately, there is Lucy's, a restaurant right outside the hotel that is geared toward Americans. While you sit and eat your cheeseburger, you listen to Elvis, Elton John, etc. It's a comforting feeling being on the other side of the world. Carlee Mei Mei, as we have been calling her as Mei Mei means 'little sister," continues to amaze us. Charleen and I have been taking her down to eat about 7:30 each morning, leaving the Jei Jei's upstairs asleep in their room (sleeping in til 9 or so is a wonderful thing, especially for Jamie at 16). She has been eating good (and pooping good, too), enjoying scrambled eggs, tots, watermelon, etc. This morning while we were feeding her, she was getting kind of fussy, wanting to hold the spoon. So, we let her have it. She immediately grabbed it, turned it in the right direction and started shoveling the food in! We didn't know what she had learned in the orphanage, but have realize that with things like this they must have had a good structure/routine. When it's time to get dressed, she puts the legs up in the air to get the pants on, extends the arms for the tops, and already knows what "bye bye" means. As soon as one of us mentions it, she goes over to her stroller and climbs up in it and its patiently as we prepare to go. Again, she is adapting to us amazingly. It is becoming hard to imagine life before her.

We have grown to know the other couples/families in our group through day trips for medical exams, the zoo tours, etc. We realize every day that we are blessed to have our 3 girls as every other family in our group could not have children and elected to adopt, some vs. fertility treatments. There are two Chinese men in our group, both born & raised in the US but raised speaking both English and Chinese. One of them, Victor, along with Jason and I, took a cab into downtown Guangzhou today (Sunday), my first ride in a taxi ever (I've led a sheltered life) to an electronics mall. It was huge. Hailing a taxi was an event. If it wasn't for Victor, I never would have attempted a trip like that. He was able to communicate with the drivers. I've mentioned how crazy the drivers are here. I guess it's probably like driving in a place like NYC where there are so many people crammed into such a small area. However, I think people here are actually more rude when it comes t driving. It's a constant merging of vehicles. You never get above maybe 45 mph, tops. Most of it is more like 20 - 30 mph. We've been seeing all this going on since we got here but riding in a cab the size of a Carolla vs. sitting up high in a big bus is a whole different experience. Needless to say, my first taxi ride was a memorable one. The other guys got a kick out the fact that I had never ridden in a taxi before.
Carlee Mei looks and acts like a 2 year old. However, she is no bigger than some of the babies that are 1. She is so petite. We don't think she will get above 4' 6" when she is full grown. We met a young lady in one of the stores yesterday who is full grown and is a little smaller than Rebecca Lynn who is turning 12 in February. Carlee Mei has a beautiful smile that just melts us all. But she also has a strong will. Kind of ironic that we could adopt a child and still have one with a strong will. We have all enjoyed reminiscing about each of the other girls and things they did when they were little. I won't mention any of them as it's one thing to talk and laugh among family, and it's another thing to put it in print on the www.

The hotel we are staying at is really nice. The girls think it is so cool to come back from dinner and have their beds turned down and chocolates for each of them. Boy are they going to have a big wake up call when we get back home. They have a separate room from us and Carlee Mei so they have been able to have their room a mess with stuff everywhere and Mom not telling them to "pick up your room." Again, January 7 is when it all changes back to what we call "normal."
There is a Starbucks a block from the hotel, one of the things that has pricing equivalent to the US. But it's a nice treat every couple of days for Charleen and the girls to get a taste of back home. The rooms have TV with a few English stations on them so we can watch CNN, a movie channel, and have seen parts of a few bowl games. Tomorrow (Monday) is an open day with nothing planned except meeting to finalize some paperwork.

It's still neat to think of our official adoption day being Christmas Day. My life long best friend, Jeff, celebrated his 50th birthday on Christmas Day this year. Her officially joining the Berg family on both Jesus' birthday and Jeff's 50th makes it all the more special day.

We will continue to keep you posted every day or two.















Amanda & Rebecca Lynn atop the temple














Amanda posing at the top














Rebecca Lynn posing at the top




















Carlee Mei had had enough














Even the newer apartments had clothes hanging out on the small porches. It's obviously part of the way they live. Clothes dryers are not common.














Propane Gas delivery in Guangzhou. The way people drive here makes us all nervous just riding by one of these guys thinking of what could be a big disaster. I don't think they have OSHA, personal injury lawyers, etc. here.




















Carlee Mei riding on the bus with Jei Jei (big sister) Jamie Lou.
















Carlee Mei back at the hotel. She is changing our lives. This 2 weeks together will be a great bonding experience for us all.

We took a trip to see a Buddhist Temple today. It was interesting to learn of their culture and that the Buddhist religion originated in India and came to China about 2,000 years ago. The majority of their nation is Buddhist with Islam (northwestern area), one I can't remember, and Christianity rounding out the top 4.




















Worshippers at the Buddhist Temple. There was incense burning everywhere and ash floating in the air throughout the place.




















Amanda posing



















Jimmy looking up at the temple. It's a long way up. NO WAY I'm going up that.





















One of the Monk's that live there




















Buddha offerings include...



















pyramids of Coke! No one could really give me a good reason for it.














Part of the tour arrangements includes a Monk blessing the babies. They ask Buddha for a long, healthy life for each of the babies. We were going to participate but Carlee Mei started to pitch a fit right when we were entering. Therefore, we are not in the picture. We figure that she already knows she's a Southern Baptist and is ready to know Jesus!














9 stories up at the top of the temple, Amanda & Rebecca Lynn look down to dad who is safely on the ground (one of those dots you see on the ground). They had a good time but I was sweating bullets worrying about them falling.

The Zoo and other things

We have had several interesting things happen so far.

• We went shopping at the local Carefour store, a French version of a Wal-Mart, and were checking out when the alarm went off. We had purchased bottles of water at the Garden before we went there and they tripped the alarm. Well, it's not easy to explain to people that speak nothing but Chinese. I immediately told Amanda to get Kelly, our guide who is Chinese. While she was looking for her, I was diligently trying to explain that we had paid for them at the garden. No luck. Flashes of a bad movie start going through my head. I've got to quit watching those Bourne movies. Kelly showed up and explained what happened and all was OK.


• We have met several young ladies working in the local stores. They have such an interest in the US. They all know the exchange rate and can see me calculating in my head whatever number they gave me divided by 7.25 . One asked me about "Friends" saying she loves that show and wanted to know what percentage of the US lived like that. It gave me a chance to talk with her about the US being a Christian nation, Christmas, the Bible (and how it guides us in our lives) and more. I did acknowledge that there is a percentage of the US that does live that way but she could obviously tell from talking with me that all men are not young and handsome like Chandler but she did have a problem understanding the difference between Charleen and Jennifer Aniston (I should get some points for that one). It is sad to think that with the West influencing the Asian nations more and more that a 22 year old thought we all lived like that. A friend of hers had gone to NYC and came back to tell her that we all live like the cast of "Friends." Another young lady told me she got saved 2 years ago after someone gave her a bible. We all had good conversation with her.


• One day, a bunch of the couples in our group were in the play room together where you have to take your shoes off. Later in the day we were at the doctor when Jason looks at me and said "I think you have my shoes." They looked a lot like mine and I took them by mistake. Needless to say, my girls and the rest of the group have been riding my case about that ever since.


• Carlee is such a joy. She is definitely 2! She is sooooo cute. I started playing with her right away after we got her. One of the things I did was when she reached up and grabbed my nose I made a honking sound. She later grabbed my ear and I said "hello, hello." Well, she thinks that is hilarious and now wants to play that game all the time. I'll be walking with her, her head down on my shoulder, thinking she is going to sleep when her little head pops up and she grabs my nose. Charleen is about to stop letting me try to put her to sleep as it doesn't work well when I do it.


• Some of the families that initially flew to other provinces showed up today. They had horrible stories to tell of what it is like in those areas. One of the babies ended up in the hospital as she had pneumonia. The stories of the hospital with it's filth and much worse living conditions than Guangzhou made us feel fortunate that Carlee was here in a good orphanage and that we had good places to eat this past week. Those stories are the ones where the people see the conditions and want to take all the children with them. Each recognises that they are saving one more life (hopefully for eternity) by their actions.

We have one more week here and will be hearing more from those that just jointed up with us again. I'm sure I'll have more stories to share. Hope all are doing well back in the US. We are getting emails at jdb113@gmail.com. Thank you all for your continues prayers and support.

Waiting to see Dr. for medical approval. All went well.

Carlee Mei with her hands full. Like most 2 year olds, she is exploring a lot and anything within reach becomes her newest item to examine.

Shopping downtown in Guangzhou.

Carlee Mei with Ba Ba

Carlee Mei is in to everything. We are definitely going to baby proof the house as soon as we get home.

Normal apartment living in Guangzhou. There are older apartments everywhere like this. It's normal to see clothes handing on the porch, drying.

Then to the Rolls Royce dealer.

Charleen, Amanda & Jamie outside of Lucy's, a restaurant just outside the hotel that specializes in American food. Except for the fact that all of the employees are Chinese you would swear that you were in a local family restaurant in the US.

This is a familiar scene in Guangzhou where a nice looking building is constructed next to something that looks like it's about to fall in. Guangzhou has a lot of new construction taking place replacing these old buildings. Another common site is the multi story buildings that are partially built and abandoned. We have seen several of these

Scaffolding on the side of a building built from bamboo. It's amazing to see buildings 30+ stories high being built with bamboo scaffolding. But it's the norm.

Panda Bear at the local Zoo. A Panda Bear here is the equivalent of seeing an alligator at the zoo in Florida I would think.

Amanda with the kangaroo. She's the only one I could get to pose with it.

This is a Camel (duh!)

Jamie behind the aquarium

Carlee Mei enjoying the zoo. She knows when it's time to go as she climbs up in the stroller and sits patiently.

Inside a local McDonald's. It was time for a fountain Coke with ice in it, something you can't get anywhere else. Primarily because the water system here is not great so you can't drink the water, resulting in them not serving ice in drinks.