Our special PCR

This entry is just to say we love you to Pierce, Christopher and Rachel!

We know this is just the beginning a long journey we are all on together, and you guys have been wonderful to be so excited to welcome Minzi into our family. Mom and dad are so proud of you for being such troopers in all this. We are excited for all the fun and adventures we have to look forward to!

Pierce - don't worry, you don't have to teach her everything, but your job as the biggest brother is special!

Christopher - we know you will make Minzi laugh and will help teach her happiness and joy!

Rachel - you get the special job of being her big sister, we know you will be a great friend for Minzi!

Friday is our final day for paperwork and then all we have to wait for is the plane ride home. We love you and miss you and can't wait to see you soon!

love, mom and dad

Daddy's first kiss

We're really not sure how much she already knows vs. how much she's learning from us. A common theme and concern you read about when a child is in an orphanage is how an instatutional setting is not the best place to foster attachment and emotional development. So far our concerns have subsided with the ease Minzi has been able to attach to us and show emotion for things - both the good and the frustrating (like what we would expect from a toddler with getting, or not, what they want!). The best way to overcome this is just giving lots of affection - hugs, kisses and holding. Our big event for today is that she learned to give a kiss, and daddy got the first one! We are very excited. Love and affection can be a powerful healer even when your first 3 years are unattached to a stable and loving family. But we have also come to understand that she must have at least had good care as an orphan, and have heard many stories about how the Chinese are proud of their orphan care. It truly is amazing how resilient children can be, and how much life and spark little Minzi is showing that she has inside of her. We can't wait to see what her future holds!




Minzi actually used chopsticks to eat her lunch!

So many attendants!

There was not much to report from yesterday, it was a "free day" with nothing scheduled and it was raining outside so we were kind of stuck in the hotel.

We have noticed though that they are very service oriented around here, and not just in the tourist souvenier shops where they are eager to take any money you are willing to spend. We haven't figured out how many staff the hotel employs, but it must be a lot. There are attendants everywhere! Each floor has someone standing at the elevators that pushes the button for you, holds the elevator, and gets anything you need. You step onto the floor and they even point right toward your room - how do they keep track of all that? Outside the front lobby there were 5 people - 1 to greet cars, 1 to take luggage, 1 to hand you an umbrella, and I'm really not sure what the others were supposed to do. There are people standing around various places in the hotel apparently just waiting to help direct you. There was someone even in the bathroom we stopped in. As I walked toward the sink he wiped it down, after I washed my hands it was wiped clean again, and I had a shadow to the door that was then held open for me! The moment you walk in any shop you have an instant friend that will not leave your side no matter what, and even chases you out the door still trying to entice you with something.

All in all the personal attention is sometimes a bit overwhelming, our room seems to be our only retreat. We even once left our room and the floor attendant was standing there and said "can I clean your room now?" - aaaahhhh! There everywhere!

Today we have our U.S. Consulate appointment. Maybe we can find some respite in the friendly attentiveness of dealing with our good 'ol government bureacracy.

Another day down

There's not a whole lot to report from today except that we are one day closer to coming home! It was 40 and rainy today and was a "free day" for all the families. We ended up going to the jade market, which ended up just being a jewerly showroom. I was hoping for a busy marketplace with lots of little stands where I could practice some negotiating skills. Everything we had heard about China was the fun of trying to haggle for things, but I've started to think that this really is more so in the tourist-y areas. I knew we weren't going the direction I was hoping for when the first stop our guide brought us to was a new mall that had a Lamborghini dealership in it. I didn't think my haggling skills were sharp enough to put one of those in my price range.

Minzi started showing more preferences and testing today, as she continually tried a few things like hitting or spitting after we said "no". She also tried to grab things and get away before we could stop her. While normally discouraged at home it is good to see normal toddler tendancies. We would still love to know what she is saying. Minzi was talking at our guide (also a great step), who said it sounds like Chinese but didn't know what she was saying. There are so many dialects that differ that many times they can't even understand someone from a different area. So I guess it's not so bad that we don't understand her since they don't either.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and there are no plans, maybe we'll be stir crazy enough that the crazy part will take over and Alayne will finally try the fried (whole) frogs at the restaraunt across the street.

funny pictures from today

While our attachment development report is about the same as yesterday, she's making progress each day, our group had an adventure into the city today. Our agency rep (who is a local Chinese girl) walked us around into the local area. While foreigners were not completely unkown it is definately not a foreign tourist area, nothing was in English, nobody spoke English, and we got lots of stares. We walked through a local outdoor mall where everything seemed very inexpensive to us, but our guide pointed out some things most people couldn't afford (designer shoes for $20), through a wholesale pearl market, and down some local street shops and the avenue for traditional Chinese pharmacy wholesale goods - this included (to name only a few) countless mushroom types, roots of all sorts, coral, starfish, seahorse and other exotic sea creatures (all dried), and various animals. We think these are mostly used for medicinal purposes, but our guide told us the local saying for the region is "they eat anything with four legs but a table, and anything in the air but a plane". Oh yeah, and mix in just a few western items that we saw (Minzi's first McDonald's experience - we're not sure what "meat" they use here either).


Bushels of medicinal items


what medicine is dried seahorse?


The local streets


A touch of western in the modern mall


Next to McD's, what's a city without this place?

Pictures from yesterday

Yesterday (Sunday) we met our group from our agency. There are four other families, one from Michigan, one from Utah, and two from Minnesota. We went over paperwork, took group pictures, and then went on an excursion to get the children's visa pictures taken. Our guide Molly is a college student here, studying English. She has lots of energy and does a good job keeping us together. We took pictures of the kids on the infamous "red couch" in their traditional Chinese clothes.

Breaking Through

Today was a fantastic day. Besides going from the horrible travels yesterday to the almost idylic, resort-like little island today, it was a great day for Minzi to break through her shell and show us there is truly a 3-year old inside her.

Our first day with her was with a quiet and somewhat non-responsive little girl. Her initial smiles and noise we think were really her defense mechanism when she is uncomfortable. Today, we had a giggly, crawly, and grabby 3-year old on our hands. At first she just sat where you put her and walked if directed; today she climbed up on the bed and crawled around on her own and wandered around (still staying near us) without holding our hand. Her first days she just squaked a few noises with forced-looking smiles; today she talked real regular (Chinese, we think) words and even started mimiking some of our words while seeming to comprehend what they are. She said "ma ma", "da da", "cup", "uh-oh"; while not prolific for a 3-yr old, it showed us she's starting to try. And it's only been 4 days. Her first day she would hold something if we put it in her hands; today she grabbed at things she wanted and even crawled over to get it. She even tried to grab at things she wanted in a store we were in. Normally not what we want, but a good sign.

So all in all we are seeing amazing transformation before our eyes, fast enough to put us in awe. It really shows us she is a perfect addition to our family. It doesn't matter whether you are privileged from birth like us or our kids, or start out life all alone, we all have the same needs and are responsive and show love and comfort the same - we're all one in God's eyes.

Pictures from Nanachang

Here are the pictures that I wanted to post. I am not sure if I mentioned they don't have sand, salt or plows for the roads. They use the Chinese military and bring out dirt shovels to scrape the ice off the roads.

Freaky Barbie

Well we found a cultural phenomena gone awry. We actually knew about this beforehand, but still found it quite humorous. The final leg of the process for bringing your child home is paperwork at the U.S. Consulate in China. So you stay at this hotel where most every adoptive family stays, so after several days of being in a Chinese city where nobody speaks english and you see very few non-Chinese, your hotel is overrun with non-Chinese (mostly, but not all American) toting Chinese babies. To top off the experience the White Swan Hotel has seemingly partnered with Mattel and give you a gift - a blonde barbie doll holding a Chinese baby. I'm not sure if it's humorous or disturbing.

What a day!

Well, I said that Guangzhou was the "finish line".... this was the worst race of our lives! I am not sure how to sum up today... but I will try. First, I want to explain to you that there are definite cultural barriers in the factors from today as well. The Chinese people very much want to tell you what you want to hear, not always the complete truth, this is very hard to see through.

Our rep. called us this morning to ask if we could meet her 15 minutes earlier at 9:15 because the highway was shut down and we would have to go a different way to the airport. We met her and she told us she was having a hard time getting a driver to take us to the airport... finally at 10:00 we were walked outside to a van to take us to our 11:30 flight, or so we thought. We quickly noticed that there had been an ice storm, yes, that's right my Texas, OK, and VA family, and apparently here they don't know what to do with ice, either! So, we started off to the airport, what's a little ice to a MN family! It took us 3 hours to get to the airport! We had to have two guys push our van up an icy bridge because we couldn't get the traction. We were taking the side streets because they closed all of the highways, then they opened the highway and we turned around to get on. There were car accidents all over the streets just left from the night before. Yes, we were praying quite a bit on this ride! Oh, and no we didn't miss our flight because they CLOSED the airport! So we finally go to the airport at 1:30 walked in and saw the two busloads of adoptive families from the hotel we were at going as well. We all looked at each other, sighed, and said, there is no way we are going back out there! Our rep. helped us get our tickets, along with the other group's rep. They gave us our tickets, said you are leaving at 3:30 (which we knew we weren't, there were no planes landing!) and left. So, none of us knew Chinese but we all stuck together! They kept pushing our flight time back and finally we boarded the plane at 5:30. We all got in our seats, heard all of the announcements... then, the flight attendants came out and started serving our meals, and we were still at the gate!! We knew this couldn't be good! I am still not sure why they fed us then, but we finally took off about 7:00. The rest of the trip went as planned which was fine with us! So now, everyone is asleep here but me (Alayne) who just needs to feel some sort of accomplishment for the day! Minzi held up through all of this just great, better than Joel and I at times!

I have some great pictures I will post tomorrow from the ice storm, it's too dark in the room now. So good night from Guangzhou, we will now always have one of those really good travel stories to tell! Alayne

Daddy's big accomplishment!

Slowly, we are breaking through in seeing Minzi's personality. She has been good with me (Alayne), but sometimes a little hesitant with Joel. We were walking to breakfast this morning and Minzi took Joel's hand to walk. She has always taken my hand, but this was the first time she accepted his. She will not walk anywhere public without a hand, and she holds on TIGHT!! Here is the picture!


Our representative brought us Minzi's Chinese passport today! We will be leaving for Guangzhou tomorrow morning (U.S. Friday night). Whooo!! People around here call Guangzhou "the finish line"! We here it is more "Western"... can't wait to eat something besides rice and "mystery meat"! Although the pastry chef here at the hotel is really great!

Another day of learning

We had another really good day. Minzi slept well last night. We spent the morning playing in our room just learning a little more about each other. We went out with our rep. after lunch to do some shopping. Wow, a two hour trip felt like a whole day when we were done. We took a taxi to a local shopping area with lots of porcelain shops and a nearby Walmart. Riding in a taxi here can be quite an experience! Let's just say... lots of cars, lane markings completely optional, people walk wherever they please and oh yes, add lots of bicycles and fast scooters in there too. It is best just to keep your eyes shut until you get there!

Minzi did great, she just keeps on smiling and we are slowly starting to see glimpses of her trusting us and feeling more comfortable. Here are some cute pictures from today.

We miss you, Pierce, Christopher and Rachel!

Thank you for all of your comments, we really enjoy reading them and it keeps us encouraged!

Love, Alayne and Joel

Minzi pictures

Well we got her, and it was a whirwind day. She didn't cry at all when left with us, and Alayne even got her smiling pretty quick! But we could tell she was still hesitant about her new surroundings. She was very quiet for the most part, but by dinner Alayne got her to start talking a little and pointing to things. We could tell it was a glimpse of her personality showing through when she was feeling a little more comfortable. All in all she has been great today, but we know there is a way to go for her to make this transition. Here are a few pictures from the day.











They don't heat buildings here (except hotels)(and it's 35 deg outside) so they dress their babies up in many layers. She came wearing 4 sweaters, 2 coats, 4 pants, 2 socks, scarf, and a hat! (they wear winter coats in the office buildings)

travel pictures

Here are a few pictures of our trip. Pierce would have loved the airport!

our Northwest 747 at Tokyo airport




the view out our Beijing hotel window



getting onto our flight to Nanchang

Here and waiting

Well we made it to China and are at our hotel. We have about 1 hr until Minzi arrives! We are very excited and don't know what to do with ourselves for the next hour. The orphanage director and local China adoption center worker will be here and we will get a chance to talk with them about her. This will be nice as many people travel in a group and don't get that chance.

Our travel was uneventful, but quite long. We left Sunday morning and finally got to the adoption city Tues. afternoon, with an overnight stay in Beijing due to flight timing.

We are in the city Nanchang for several days while processing Chinese paperwork. Nanchang is in central eastern china. It is about 35 deg. and drizzling so it is not very nice out. We will be left to find things to do inside the hotel. Which, incidentally is the only heated building around. They don't heat homes or stores. We went to the market yesterday and it was as cold inside as out!

We have made out flight reservations!!

We leave on the 20th from Minneapolis at 1:10pm and arrive in Beijing on the 21st at 9:15pm

We will fly back on Feb. 3rd Leaving Guangzhou at 8:30am and arriving into Minneapolis at 10:55am (on the same day!!)

We are so excited, this finally feels real!! Now it is on to packing and arranging information for Pierce, Christopher, and Rachel.

Our little girl

Here is some information about our new little daughter to share. We chose her off of our agency's special needs list in October. We had her medical information reviewed by many doctors and confirmed that this is the child that God has chosen for us. She was born on January 21, 2005. Her Chinese name is Tong Min Zi. "Tong" was given by the orphanage director from Tonggu county (all of the children have this name given to them from this Social Welfare Institute). "Min" means people, and "Zi" means purple, or sophisticated. She is from Tonggu county in the Jiangxi province of China.

We've got a date!!

Our USCIS approval finally came through!!

We are so excited to meet our little girl!

January 20th leave for Nanchang City in Jiangxi, China
January 23rd We get Minzi!!
January 29th fly to Guangzhou
January 31st U.S. Consulate appointment
February 1st Get Minzi's visa
February 2nd fly home

We still have to get confirmation of the consulate date, but I was told things were pretty solid, here!! Yeah, we leave in 12 days!

Our new page

Welcome to the Boelke Family Website!!

This is where we are hoping to post about our journey to China and let people write messages back!