tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90012622012-02-16T03:12:19.510-05:00What started out as a first attempt at blogging has turned into a site where we can share our two journeys to China to adopt Jeremy and Leah. Who knows what the site will be used for once we are settled back home with three fantastic children, but I'm sure that just like the former family dog the site was named for, it will be exciting. Thanks for stopping by.Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-43612563624175264582009-11-07T12:23:00.001-05:002009-11-07T12:23:20.979-05:00

The Smiths enjoyed the 1st sunny day of soccer in over a month. Dad got a new cell phone (a distant cousin of R2-D2) and figured he'd look into how the camera and internet worked. If he can take and post pictures all at once, perhaps this site can get an update or two before the next overseas adoption.

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-23924909587898807562009-02-26T17:38:00.004-05:002009-02-26T18:04:30.524-05:00

Sorry for not posting in over a month. Unlike Sara and Renee, blogging really isn't my long term thing. You'll notice that Jeremy got nothing after our return flight in 2005!But since Sara harassed me personally, I figured I'd go ahead and confess. We were jealous when we saw that Mya had to go to the emergency room to have a Lego extracted from her nose, so we staged a fall from the booster seat

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-6151941685632290022009-01-24T10:53:00.004-05:002009-01-24T11:47:05.016-05:00

You may be wondering what the Smith family does now that life is back to "normal." Here is a glimpse into our lives:When Angela is not making breakfast, doing laundry, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, changing diapers, preparing lunch, holding Leah, reading to Jeremy, teaching the boys, taking a shower, or sleeping you'll find her on the computer. If she's not preparing the taxes, answering email,

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-61822846813202893312009-01-15T21:31:00.006-05:002009-01-15T23:01:57.264-05:00

Alas, we have no pictures to share with you but I'm overdue for an update so I guilted myself into providing some sort of an entry. I think everyone in the Smith family has finally settled into a routine although Dad had a hiccup about a week ago that left everyone reeling for a couple of days.Eli has been a fantastic eldest brother from the day we arrived back in Charlotte. We rarely have to ask

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-33494575887349852352009-01-01T06:38:00.005-05:002009-01-01T07:18:20.792-05:00

Our dog, Zeke, made it about 3 hours into the new year. :(This board's name comes from our first family dog, Kira, who we put to sleep in 2007 when she developed health problems that were affecting family life. We still had Zeke, a shepherd/collie mix at the time. His health has been declining lately and we were worried that he might die while we were in China. Fortunately he did not present a

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-43878117024641273312008-12-28T00:26:00.004-05:002008-12-28T01:57:26.235-05:00

I had this great idea for our trip home on a long Christmas Day -- I should keep a notepad handy and jot down all the memorable moments of our trip so I could make an entry on the blog to capture the ups and downs of our journey. Of course, as an elite procrastinator, I neglected to follow through on that great idea. By the time we arrived home and I found time to write an entry, I had forgotten

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-75161597096910334022008-12-24T00:05:00.003-05:002008-12-24T00:20:16.505-05:00

We needed one more post to include a few more random pictures from the past couple days in Guangzhou!Leah loves her faux milk. It comes in a "juice box" container and is covered in Chinese characters. We *think* it is like coconut flavored Nestle Quik, but we're not entirely sure. We are worried that we are now out of the stuff and preparing for a long flight home. We sure hope apple juice is an

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-51029307918126737462008-12-23T23:30:00.013-05:002008-12-24T00:29:15.677-05:00

We're back from the US Consulate and we are cleared to bring Miss Leah Yajiao Smith back to the USA where she will become a US citizen when she steps off the plane in Chicago, IL. I guess she and I will both be able to claim Chicago as our "hometown" now.Earlier this morning, we called our guide to let her know about Leah's overnight fever. We met her outside the hotel clinic at 8 AM where a

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-90286232582071362262008-12-23T15:43:00.002-05:002008-12-23T16:09:55.450-05:00

Did we mention how this journey has been a breeze compared to our last trip to get Jeremy? Leah likes both of us equally allowing us to split parent duties as necessary. She is eating well and varied enough for now unlike Jeremy who ate nothing but watermelon. She has done well around the other children and hasn't really experienced any serious side effects of the adoption process -- no night

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-60681189220412007942008-12-21T03:37:00.005-05:002008-12-21T03:59:14.977-05:00

Last time we were in Gaungzhou, we paid one of the local shops to make two name paintings for Eli and Jeremy. Now that we have Leah, we decided we should continue the "tradition" and get a similar painting for her. After browsing the various stalls, we found a style that seemed to match the previous ones the best. Without thinking, we walked up to the stall and placed our order. We were careful

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-26982587672473232232008-12-21T00:56:00.004-05:002008-12-21T01:10:35.973-05:00

We happened to be in the room when housekeeping came by today to clean the room. I managed to snap a couple of pictures as she was making up the bed which confirmed our suspicions from last night. We thought the mattresses were a bit stiff, and now we finally see...under (the) cover:

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-57327265022816123402008-12-20T21:31:00.005-05:002008-12-21T01:12:57.234-05:00

We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday afternoon after a 2-hour flight. Leah only cried once early on when she was frustrated about the window being too small to see out of. After a few Cheerios, she wound up falling asleep for most of the flight. There was some crying on the bus ride to the White Swan hotel, mainly because we were out of coconut milk and past the normal feeding time.Things improved

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-78046682312567499772008-12-19T16:17:00.005-05:002008-12-19T16:44:14.231-05:00

Here is the picture of our travel group, 1444, taken in the lobby of the Crown Plaza Hotel in Zhengzhou. For now, we'll let you try to figure out how to separate the 11 families and 11 adopted children (note that there are more than 11 Chinese children in the pic -- many families like us are returning for a second time!)Several members in our group commented on the pro-life message on the back of

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-30734380063967118422008-12-19T01:30:00.006-05:002008-12-19T02:45:02.044-05:00

I'm not feeling the blog vibe lately. But since the only thing I'm in the mood right now to do is not possible (fly home and enjoy some "boy" time with Eli and Jeremy), I guess I'll try to touch on some of the highlights of the past couple of days.Zhengzhou is certainly a beautiful city as far as cities of China go. It offers blue skies and tree-lined streets. The temperatures are fairly mild and

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-15915973623565273722008-12-17T07:21:00.002-05:002008-12-17T07:25:54.970-05:00

This is a real news article in a real newspaper. I may not eat anything in Guangzhou now. Click on the image to see it at full (legible) size. The worst part is the quote from the anonymous government official who claims to not have authority to do anything, but does control the dog population in similar affairs...

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-84129488992732555852008-12-16T23:52:00.003-05:002008-12-17T06:49:41.265-05:00

(I made two posts today. Scroll down for pictures...)Things Leah LikesHearing Eli & Jeremy when we call home - her first smile was the night we called homeStacking blocks - they double as a toy and a container for foodTaking a bath- First bath tonight and not a single tear from undressing to done. The boys still cry when they get their hair washed...Apples - she is an efficient applesauce

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-78020381860989729392008-12-16T23:18:00.006-05:002008-12-17T07:20:39.808-05:00

Our daughter came with a linebacker's clothing. We saw other children in the park today wearing similar outfits. Rather funny looking to me, but I think they thought I was just as funny for wearing a t-shirt in the middle of December. Hey, it was in the 60s for crying out loud!The last of the grimy clothes she arrived with. It took a couple days to get it all out of sight without Leah falling to

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-11513865606023503022008-12-14T22:50:00.005-05:002008-12-14T23:43:43.585-05:00

Let's be honest. You don't really care about what Angela is eating for breakfast or the difference between jade and jadite. You could care less that we are considered heroes in this foreign land for climbing some 8500 steps, or that our air travel had its ups and downs. In fact, you really don't care too much about Angela and I other than that we stay safe so that we can bring Leah home. No

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-35094733773675986552008-12-14T03:47:00.009-05:002008-12-14T07:33:20.106-05:00

We skipped our update yesterday because we were too tired after a second day of touring the sights in and around Beijing. By 9 AM we were back on the road with our first stop being the jade factory where we learned how to spot fake jade (real jade is cool to the touch, has a high pitched tone when struck, and is translucent with visible "veins"), and encouraged to spend our life's savings on jade

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-31023726841707372822008-12-12T05:44:00.010-05:002008-12-12T06:58:00.717-05:00

After a full night's sleep, we awoke around 6 AM ready to go. We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I enjoyed a nice meal of fried eggs, bacon, coffee and an apple. Angela went with the Muslim noodles, black pickled eggs, Chinese dumplings and wontons. To each his own I guess.After breakfast and a check-in with grandpa via Skype, we met the rest of our large group in the hotel lobby to head

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-91381020777713402762008-12-11T06:48:00.008-05:002008-12-12T05:10:02.891-05:00

Money wasn't pouring in quite as fast as we had hoped so we trashed the decoder ring idea. (You can decode the previous entry's title by substituting letters for numbers (A=1, B=2, C=3...).Our journey began at 7:30 Wednesday morning. Scott Bruno graciously (was) volunteered to provide personal taxi service to the Charlotte airport. We started our trip off right by ignoring the suggestions to

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-56429590995518495072008-12-11T06:38:00.003-05:002008-12-11T06:47:42.038-05:00

Due to strict governmental controls in China and the anticipated heavy traffic we expect to see on this site over the next few days, we have decided to implement a special code for our blog entries. You can get a decoder ring from Red-Brown Industries for 70RMB (made in China) to read the title and future entries..

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-17086389134229719822008-12-07T03:36:00.003-05:002008-12-07T03:45:12.009-05:00

Previously I posted a picture of Leah that we received last summer around the time of her first birthday. I have joked with people that is an "institutional" photo that make Leah look a bit mean. Granted, the paperwork suggests she has a stubborn streak, but I believe she is much nicer than that picture on the black couch leads us to believe.But never fear! I have finally found the newest

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-26419451802669538692008-12-06T19:08:00.006-05:002008-12-07T03:47:08.191-05:00

So you'll know what's happening and what's coming up, I'll share an edited version of our itinerary:12/10 - Leave US for Beijing.12/11 - Arrive in Beijing. Spend a couple days getting accustomed to the time change and touring.12/14 - Arrive in Zhengzhou.12/15 - Gotcha Day! Welcome to the family, Leah.12/16 - Finalize adoption. Ya Jiao Dang becomes

Angelanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-49040434068802891552008-12-05T12:53:00.006-05:002008-12-05T13:02:12.629-05:00

When we went to China in 2005 to adopt Jeremy, we were in Hong Kong, Nanning and Guangzhou which are all southern or coastal cities in China. Even though we visited in late November, temperatures were in the 70s much of the trip and I happily wore shorts most of the time. This was especially helpful because we had limited ourselves to one checked bag and one carry on bag between the two of us

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-61409592787264273102008-12-03T06:27:00.005-05:002008-12-03T06:56:04.810-05:00

Final approval is in and it looks like we will be leaving for China one week from today! At this late date for securing tickets, United was the only airline offering tickets for less than $2,000 a piece and only one stop. Now when we ask family for money as a Christmas gift, you'll understand why a check in an envelope looks so much more festive than a fancy, gift-wrapped box.On December 10th we

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-56285140794051922122008-12-01T08:08:00.003-05:002008-12-01T08:18:43.081-05:00

Just testing to see how blog posts work when connecting to my home laptop from a remote location. It certainly won't be good for playing Puzzle Pirates but I think general typing and internet access without Chinese government restrictions should be doable. The question yet to be answered is whether I can load photos from the local machine via the internet connection on the remote machine? If it

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-26761941403972551812008-11-07T00:38:00.007-05:002008-11-07T01:49:45.129-05:00

I was just checking in to see if the blog was ready for our next trip to China to adopt our daughter Leah. We spent Thanksgiving 2005 in China when we adopted Jeremy, and it appears that there may be a good chance that we will be spending Christmas 2008 in China this time around. I wonder what Our Lady of Lourdes on Shamian Island does for Jesus' birthday?When we flew overseas last time, we

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133510690001265642005-12-02T02:05:00.000-05:002005-12-02T03:13:55.020-05:00

Ahh. Final post before heading for home. The title is fitting as last night was apparently the conclusion to a week-long tourism expo here in Guangzhou which wrapped up with fireworks shot off of three barges anchored in the Pearl River directly behind the White Swan hotel. We sat at the window of one of the other families' rooms from our Nanning group (see below) to have a 13th floor, first row

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133332322332304132005-11-30T00:54:00.000-05:002005-11-30T01:32:02.580-05:00

At last we are reunited with the Brunos. We arrived in Guangzhou on Monday evening after a very troubling plane ride. Seems Jeremy was beyond his tolerance for lack of sleep but couldn't drift off due to the excitement of the terminal and the turbulence on the plane. The only quiet time we had was when he stopped to inhale before unleashing the terrors of hell a bit longer. People stared which

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133072665402265432005-11-27T01:14:00.000-05:002005-11-27T01:24:25.416-05:00

(Editor's Note: Clicking on picture below will open larger version in new window.)Freedom at last! Of course, I don't have a car, I don't have ESPN, I don't have a reliable internet connection, and I don't speak Chinese so I really don't have anything, but I DO have peace and quiet, at least for a little while.Angela had a stroke of genius at beakfast this morning. Amidst the screaming of Jeremy

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133002618165474502005-11-26T05:51:00.000-05:002005-11-26T05:56:58.166-05:00

Saturday's outing was to a Buddhist Temple and Pagoda all within Green-hill Park. The Pagoda was nine stories high. Eric did it carrying Jeremy all the way. It was a beautiful view. The picture above shows the Buddhist monks praying in front of the statue of Guayin, one of four Buddhist gods. He is the god of mercy. At the Buddhist Temple we were offered a blessing for the babies. They required

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133002296386973032005-11-26T05:49:00.000-05:002005-11-26T05:51:36.386-05:00

Friday we went to a big mall. We left without buying anything. Eric reminded me that with all the necessities we've acquired, formula, extra diapers etc. we'll have to buy an extra suitcase to haul it out of here. Lunch was at KFC. It tasted a little different but good.

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133002152668854652005-11-26T05:46:00.000-05:002005-11-26T05:49:12.670-05:00

On Thursday we met with the orphanage director and finalized the adoption with the government officials. With the orphanage director we exchanged several gifts. We were called first, I handed over the nanny gift, the foster family gift and then the bag that was holding the orphanage director's gift ripped open at the bottom and two pounds of Hershey's chocolate spilled all over the floor. I felt

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1133001995231164422005-11-26T05:43:00.000-05:002005-11-26T05:46:35.246-05:00

Wednesday morning we had a meeting to complete the adoption paperwork. We learned what the order would be when the babies were handed over. The four babies from the Yulin orphanage came first, then us, then the six babies from Beihai.After the business meeting we took a shopping trip to the city's Super Walmart. It covers two floors of a building but doesn't have nearly the amount of products we

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1132837081112421482005-11-24T08:00:00.000-05:002005-11-24T07:58:01.126-05:00

Thanksgiving Day is coming to an end here in Nanning (we had leftover pizza from Pizza Hut), but I wanted to get the pictures up from yesterday when we received Junjun. Clicking on the image should bring up larger version in a new window. Additional images from "Gotcha Day" can be viewed on our Club Photo album. Angela claims she will post with all the details later. Currently her and Junjun are

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1132702664531753042005-11-22T18:36:00.000-05:002005-11-22T18:37:44.556-05:00

No post yesterday -- still trying to adapt to Hong Kong timezone. The day started at 7 AM by sharing breakfast with the Brunos. Hong Kong is quite the cosmopolitan city and it shows in the breakfast menu. Along side all the "American" norms of ceral, eggs, pancakes, and orange juice, there was also sushi, bean curd, tofu, and prosciutto (looked like raw bacon to me). Angela, with her iron stomach

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1132503369603055472005-11-20T10:44:00.000-05:002005-11-20T11:16:09.666-05:00

We arrived in Hong Kong Sunday night at 7:30 PM (that's 6:30 AM EST). The flight was LONG and as usual I was unable to sleep on the plane, even after taking an Ambien pill donated by friends. I thought I'd be OK since they had the video screens built in to the back of the seat in front of you, but alas, one of the movie screens (showing The Island) was blanked out. "Oh well," I thought, "No

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1132501213506247462005-11-20T10:40:00.000-05:002005-11-20T10:43:50.286-05:00

(Editor's Note: I'm nervous as I write this because Angela has reminded me of the stickler that Fr. Reid is for grammar. Please accept my public confession should I misspell anything, or stick a semicolon where it doesn't belong!)I remember as a child, waking up at 5 AM on Christmas Day because I was too excited to sleep. I HAD to be the first one downstairs to see if Santa was good to us. (Yes

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1131505782250220652005-11-08T22:10:00.000-05:002005-11-08T22:14:05.400-05:00

The plan is to take our camera and laptop to China (the picture is of the hotel we will be staying in when we first meet Jeremy) so that we can upload pictures to share our trip with everyone. We will be uploading our bulk pictures to the ClubPhoto website which is where we have been going to print professional-quality pictures for the past few years. At 19 cents per picture with no minimum, we

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1131193914711572752005-11-05T07:30:00.000-05:002005-11-05T07:33:54.933-05:00

As we prepare for our trip to China to pick up our son, we are getting everything in place on the internet to document our trip and keep in touch with family and friends. Most likely you are visiting this site as a result of following a link from an email from Eric or Angela. We will be trying to update this page while overseas to share our trip with everyone. We also plan to upload the pictures

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1131108492057271712005-11-04T07:41:00.000-05:002005-11-05T08:14:57.473-05:00

   I just discovered Picasa, a photo organizer piece of software offered free from the best search site ever. It interacts with Blogger to auto-upoload images from your collection at the same time that you make a blog entry. And everything is amazingly user-friendly. I'm trying this software as a trial to see if it will work on my laptop when we head to China to adopt our second son, Jeremy

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1100129591026709612004-11-10T18:30:00.000-05:002004-11-10T22:45:28.160-05:00

I was listening to talk radio on the way into work this morning and this guy calls in with an idea for getting a more accurate vote count. He suggested implementing turnstiles in the precincts, and then voters would simply walk through the turnstile for the appropriate party member. Assuming someone was there to guarantee no one could spin the stile without a body going through to stack the vote,

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001262.post-1099888129618287812004-11-07T22:30:00.000-05:002004-11-07T23:29:40.756-05:00

My wife's a Dave Ramsey fan so we watched the story about him on 60 Minutes tonight. I agree with his overall message of living debt free, but differ with how one should go about achieving that lifestyle. I was the epitome of the typical American before I met my wife. I was a college kid from a middle class neighborhood who rebelled against the norm and got my first credit card as a sophomore.

Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05877874036249921443noreply@blogger.com0