That was the subject line in the email that we sent to family and friends after we received our daughter, Gracie. I wrote about our adoption journey up the point of seeing Gracie for the first time in person and you can read Part One if you like.
Well, I believe I left the story at the point of the elevator opening and seeing the orphanage officials walking out with Gracie in their arms. Although I recognized her instantly, there was something different in her appearance….she had no hair. Well to be honest, she had very little hair…..it was obvious that her head had recently been shaved. It really didn’t matter, I was just so happy to see her finally in person.
The nanny from the orphanage walked over and handed Gracie to me….
Gracie was wearing the outfit that we had sent her a month ago. She was obviously not sure what was going on. She had spent over 3 hours in a car in order to get to the hotel we were staying at and it very well may have been the first time she had ever been in a car.
We each spent a little time checking each other out. Gracie had never seen anyone who wasn’t Asian before. She did not try to get away from me and she did not cry. She was just taking it all in.
Her dad and I were just so thrilled to finally have her in our arms. But, Gracie probably thought I was the strangest person she had ever seen….blond hair, blue eyes, white skin and a big nose (more about that later in the story).
We spent some time there with the orphanage director and her nanny asking questions through a translator. It was obvious that they were happy she was being adopted. Her nanny was eager to show us how Gracie could walk a couple of steps, which she did, but she fell down after taking 3 steps….her club foot made it difficult for her to walk normally.
I was eager to take Gracie back with us to our hotel room and as we said our goodbyes to the orphanage officials, her nanny shed a few tears. Back in our room, I took off her clothes which were much too hot for the month of August. She was in good condition and only had a little heat rash behind her neck. Up until this point, I had been the one to hold her, but now it was her new dad’s turn.
As happy as we were, I could only imagine the turmoil of feelings that Gracie must have been experiencing. She had just been dropped off by the only caretakers she had ever known and left in the care of complete strangers who looked so different from anyone she had ever seen.
As I held her that first night and fed her a bottle, Gracie reached up and grabbed my nose and held onto it for a few minutes. I was surprised at first…I had never thought of my nose as abnormally big. But then when I thought about it, she had probably never seen a nose that sticks out – most Asian noses are somewhat flat. Soon after she let go of my nose she went right to sleep.
After waiting 15 months of waiting, we just wanted to keep holding her that night, but we finally put her in the crib. Guess what? She slept for 11 hours 🙂
We had to spend a few days in Hangzhou, which is the provincial capital, in order to finalize the adoption in China and get her Chinese passport so that she could travel to the US.
The next morning, Gracie woke up a little disoriented, but was otherwise happy to get her bottle of rice cereal. We were rather shocked to discover that at 20 months of age, she had only eaten milk and rice cereal.
We gave her a bath and I finally got to put on one of the dresses that I had bought for her. We spent the morning filling out paperwork and finalizing her adoption. Then a trip to get her passport photo as well as our first family photo was the extent of what we did this day. It was important to spend a lot of one on one time with her to help with the bonding process. At this stage, she was more likely to want to be with an Asian person because they looked more familiar and so our guide took care to stay in the background for all of us in the group. She spent much of the day working on our paperwork.
The next morning, something special happened. The kids were on the floor playing while us mothers were talking as a group nearby. Gracie’s almost bald head was popular with the other newly adopted kids in our group because they liked rubbing her head.
Well, Gracie stood up on her own and walked a few steps towards me and then crawled the rest of the way over and stretched out her arms to me so that I could hold her. It was the first sign that she was beginning to bond with me…it made me want to cry with happiness.
Our remaining days in Hangzhou were spent applying for an expedited passport and then sight-seeing while waiting for the passport to be ready.
We were very fortunate to be staying in Hangzhou as the area is so beautiful. We toured West Lake.
Yes, that is a golden water buffalo in the lake.
Guess what we found next to the lake….
Gracie sleeping in my arms at Starbucks.
Starbucks!
We were having a wonderful time touring around West Lake, but Gracie evidently wasn’t too interested as she promptly fell asleep…
Our adoption agency organized a tour of a local orphanage (not Gracie’s) that they ran. I had been looking forward to visiting an orphanage since Gracie’s was too far away for us to visit. This orphanage was the role model of what China wanted other orphanages to follow and so they often sent employees there to be trained. My husband stayed back at the hotel with Gracie because we were afraid that she would be alarmed at finding herself in another orphanage.
Fun with dad playing on the computer in our hotel room.
This was a very special visit and I saw many precious children. You can click on the photos below to enlarge if you like.
This little albino boy was adopted 2 years later.
The babies in cribs were lying on bamboo mats to help keep them cool.
Precious little girl.
Have you ever seen so much hair?
The orphanage doctor showing our guide a little girl who was failing to thrive.
Playroom (we had to wear booties over our shoes to keep the floor clean.
**Unbeknown to me, my future son is in the yellow/green/red jumper.
I met a little friend…Chen Bo who wanted me to stop taking pictures so that he could crawl into my lap.
Saying goodbye….
I had a wonderful time visiting the orphanage and my heart ached for all of the children who had no parents. But, I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and be with Gracie again.
Gracie quickly began to bond with us and became more extroverted. She began walking more and was able to stay on her feet longer. She loved it when her dad would ‘chase’ her down the hotel hallway. *You can see that she walked on the ankle of her right foot. It was amazing to me that she could walk at all.
We were enjoying our time in China very much. We did seem to attract attention wherever we went because foreign tourists did not travel to this area often, so we encountered stares almost everywhere we went. The Chinese people were not being rude….it is not considered rude to stare in China. Also, the culture is more of a inter-dependent culture, where our western culture focuses more on individualism. As a result, it was normal for Chinese women to come up and make sure that our children were dressed appropriately for the weather (they are affectionately known as the ‘clothing police’ in the adoptive community).
I had a great time shopping.
I tried to ignore the stares though.
The Chinese people we met were extremely curious about why we had Chinese children with us. The fact that Europeans and Americans adopt from China was not well know inside of China. They were courteous and wished us well when we explained that we were adopting Gracie. Because of their inter-dependent culture, sometimes strangers would come up to Gracie and hold her club foot in their hands in order to figure out what was wrong with it. Now, in America, I would have politely told them not to touch my daughter. But, it is different in China where they were genuinely concerned and it was not considered rude to take matters into their own hands to find out what was wrong with her.
One older woman scolded me when we were walking with a sleeping Gracie in her stroller. You see, Gracie’s head had rolled forward and the stroller did not adjust back, so there was nothing that I could do. Well, while this well-intentioned woman was scolding me, I just picked up Gracie’s head and put it back up and then it promptly rolled forward again and I just shrugged my shoulders and walked on 😉
I must admit at this point, that I am not an adventurous eater. But, I did find many foods that I enjoyed in China. Not this one though….my husband is the adventurous eater in our family and enjoyed eating a little bit of everything.
Our group ate a wonderful dinner at restaurant and we were so excited to have Gracie try some of the different food (she had been limited to rice cereal up to this point). She seemed to love the peas and kept eating them. We were so happy to see her eating other foods. Later that night as my husband was leaning over to put her into the crib, a pea dropped out of her mouth. Further exploration found over 17 peas stuck inside of her cheeks.
Because Gracie had spent her life in an orphanage to this point, she was delayed in many areas which we had expected. One of the problems we discovered was that she did not know how to swallow solid foods.
Our travel group ready to leave from the Hangzhou airport.
Our time in Hangzhou was coming to a close and the next part of our trip was upcoming. I was a little nervous about how Gracie would do on an airplane, but she did very well. We said goodbye to our guide and flew with the rest of our group to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) in Southern China.
Some of you may remember me mentioning that I am a wimp about hot weather when it is coupled with high humidity. Well, when we landed in Guangzhou, it was even more hot and humid then where we had come from. But, it was so beautiful! * It smelled like the ride “Pirates of the Caribbean” at Disneyland.
We stayed on a small island in Guangzhou known as Shamian Island. Filled with European Colonial architecture and beautiful, formal gardens, I couldn’t wait to explore more.
The United States Consulate was located on the island at the time and this portion of the trip was focused on completing our immigration paperwork and securing a visa for Gracie so that we could travel to the States.
Our hotel was a 5-star hotel and the primary place that adoptive parents stayed while waiting for their child’s visa. It was beautiful inside….
I remember walking into our hotel room and telling my husband that we had better enjoy this stay because we were highly unlikely to ever stay in another place as nice. *The foreign exchange rate at the time made it very affordable to stay there ($1 = 8 yuan).
In our new hotel, Gracie played for hours with the plastic spoon and cover of my airplane lunch – she was absolutely fascinated. We were coming to see what her delays where. She would spend time in front of the mirror and would tap it with her fingers. It was obvious that she had never seen herself in a mirror before. She also liked to eat Cheerios, but she could not pick them up with her thumb and forefinger. **A few years later a visit to her orphanage showed us how deprived she had been of sensory input. I will write more about that at a later time.
We enjoyed our time on Shamian Island with walks, shopping and hanging out with the wonderful people in our group.
One afternoon when we returned to our room in the hotel, we saw that Gracie had received a surprise gift….
Yes, that is a Barbie doll. Notice she has a Chinese baby she is adopting. All adoptive families receive a complimentary “Going Home Barbie” and each year there is a new version.
Our hotel had new hallways for Gracie to explore with her dad.
And to be chased again….
All to soon, our time in China was coming to an end. Our group gathered in the lobby to take a picture of all of our adopted girls.
Gracie is on the left.
Two of the girls had been adopted a few years before.
It is amazing how strongly you bond with other families when you share an experience like this. Most of us are still in contact with each other 7 years later.
I was so excited to be going home to my other daughters and couldn’t wait to introduce the entire family to Gracie. The flight was a long one and Gracie did well for the most part. We landed in Los Angeles and went through immigration in the airport. Once we handed them her visa – she was an American citizen.
Just outside of immigration was a bunch of people just waiting to see Gracie for the first time and welcome her to our family.
All of a sudden this little girl who had been abandoned as a baby, not only had a mom and dad, but two sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles waiting outside the gates to welcome her to the family.
*************************************
If you would like to read more of what happened after we adopted Gracie, you can read Part 3 if you like. This post is already so long and although many of you mentioned that you didn’t mind the length of my previous post, you probably would like a little break from reading 🙂
I would like to thank you all for your kind comments. Gracie has enjoyed having me read your comments to her. She has been such a miracle in our lives and I enjoy sharing her story whenever I can.
WE GOT HER!!!
AZ Plant LadyThat was the subject line in the email that we sent to family and friends after we received our daughter, Gracie. I wrote about our adoption journey up the point of seeing Gracie for the first time in person and you can read Part One if you like.
Well, I believe I left the story at the point of the elevator opening and seeing the orphanage officials walking out with Gracie in their arms. Although I recognized her instantly, there was something different in her appearance….she had no hair. Well to be honest, she had very little hair…..it was obvious that her head had recently been shaved. It really didn’t matter, I was just so happy to see her finally in person.
The nanny from the orphanage walked over and handed Gracie to me….
Gracie was wearing the outfit that we had sent her a month ago. She was obviously not sure what was going on. She had spent over 3 hours in a car in order to get to the hotel we were staying at and it very well may have been the first time she had ever been in a car.
We each spent a little time checking each other out. Gracie had never seen anyone who wasn’t Asian before. She did not try to get away from me and she did not cry. She was just taking it all in.
Her dad and I were just so thrilled to finally have her in our arms. But, Gracie probably thought I was the strangest person she had ever seen….blond hair, blue eyes, white skin and a big nose (more about that later in the story).
We spent some time there with the orphanage director and her nanny asking questions through a translator. It was obvious that they were happy she was being adopted. Her nanny was eager to show us how Gracie could walk a couple of steps, which she did, but she fell down after taking 3 steps….her club foot made it difficult for her to walk normally.
I was eager to take Gracie back with us to our hotel room and as we said our goodbyes to the orphanage officials, her nanny shed a few tears. Back in our room, I took off her clothes which were much too hot for the month of August. She was in good condition and only had a little heat rash behind her neck. Up until this point, I had been the one to hold her, but now it was her new dad’s turn.
As happy as we were, I could only imagine the turmoil of feelings that Gracie must have been experiencing. She had just been dropped off by the only caretakers she had ever known and left in the care of complete strangers who looked so different from anyone she had ever seen.
As I held her that first night and fed her a bottle, Gracie reached up and grabbed my nose and held onto it for a few minutes. I was surprised at first…I had never thought of my nose as abnormally big. But then when I thought about it, she had probably never seen a nose that sticks out – most Asian noses are somewhat flat. Soon after she let go of my nose she went right to sleep.
After waiting 15 months of waiting, we just wanted to keep holding her that night, but we finally put her in the crib. Guess what? She slept for 11 hours 🙂
We had to spend a few days in Hangzhou, which is the provincial capital, in order to finalize the adoption in China and get her Chinese passport so that she could travel to the US.
The next morning, Gracie woke up a little disoriented, but was otherwise happy to get her bottle of rice cereal. We were rather shocked to discover that at 20 months of age, she had only eaten milk and rice cereal.
We gave her a bath and I finally got to put on one of the dresses that I had bought for her. We spent the morning filling out paperwork and finalizing her adoption. Then a trip to get her passport photo as well as our first family photo was the extent of what we did this day. It was important to spend a lot of one on one time with her to help with the bonding process. At this stage, she was more likely to want to be with an Asian person because they looked more familiar and so our guide took care to stay in the background for all of us in the group. She spent much of the day working on our paperwork.
The next morning, something special happened. The kids were on the floor playing while us mothers were talking as a group nearby. Gracie’s almost bald head was popular with the other newly adopted kids in our group because they liked rubbing her head.
Well, Gracie stood up on her own and walked a few steps towards me and then crawled the rest of the way over and stretched out her arms to me so that I could hold her. It was the first sign that she was beginning to bond with me…it made me want to cry with happiness.
Our remaining days in Hangzhou were spent applying for an expedited passport and then sight-seeing while waiting for the passport to be ready.
We were very fortunate to be staying in Hangzhou as the area is so beautiful. We toured West Lake.
Yes, that is a golden water buffalo in the lake.
Guess what we found next to the lake….
Gracie sleeping in my arms at Starbucks.
Starbucks!
We were having a wonderful time touring around West Lake, but Gracie evidently wasn’t too interested as she promptly fell asleep…
Our adoption agency organized a tour of a local orphanage (not Gracie’s) that they ran. I had been looking forward to visiting an orphanage since Gracie’s was too far away for us to visit. This orphanage was the role model of what China wanted other orphanages to follow and so they often sent employees there to be trained. My husband stayed back at the hotel with Gracie because we were afraid that she would be alarmed at finding herself in another orphanage.
Fun with dad playing on the computer in our hotel room.
This was a very special visit and I saw many precious children. You can click on the photos below to enlarge if you like.
This little albino boy was adopted 2 years later.
The babies in cribs were lying on bamboo mats to help keep them cool.
Precious little girl.
Have you ever seen so much hair?
The orphanage doctor showing our guide a little girl who was failing to thrive.
Playroom (we had to wear booties over our shoes to keep the floor clean.
**Unbeknown to me, my future son is in the yellow/green/red jumper.
I met a little friend…Chen Bo who wanted me to stop taking pictures so that he could crawl into my lap.
Saying goodbye….
I had a wonderful time visiting the orphanage and my heart ached for all of the children who had no parents. But, I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and be with Gracie again.
Gracie quickly began to bond with us and became more extroverted. She began walking more and was able to stay on her feet longer. She loved it when her dad would ‘chase’ her down the hotel hallway. *You can see that she walked on the ankle of her right foot. It was amazing to me that she could walk at all.
We were enjoying our time in China very much. We did seem to attract attention wherever we went because foreign tourists did not travel to this area often, so we encountered stares almost everywhere we went. The Chinese people were not being rude….it is not considered rude to stare in China. Also, the culture is more of a inter-dependent culture, where our western culture focuses more on individualism. As a result, it was normal for Chinese women to come up and make sure that our children were dressed appropriately for the weather (they are affectionately known as the ‘clothing police’ in the adoptive community).
I had a great time shopping.
I tried to ignore the stares though.
The Chinese people we met were extremely curious about why we had Chinese children with us. The fact that Europeans and Americans adopt from China was not well know inside of China. They were courteous and wished us well when we explained that we were adopting Gracie. Because of their inter-dependent culture, sometimes strangers would come up to Gracie and hold her club foot in their hands in order to figure out what was wrong with it. Now, in America, I would have politely told them not to touch my daughter. But, it is different in China where they were genuinely concerned and it was not considered rude to take matters into their own hands to find out what was wrong with her.
One older woman scolded me when we were walking with a sleeping Gracie in her stroller. You see, Gracie’s head had rolled forward and the stroller did not adjust back, so there was nothing that I could do. Well, while this well-intentioned woman was scolding me, I just picked up Gracie’s head and put it back up and then it promptly rolled forward again and I just shrugged my shoulders and walked on 😉
I must admit at this point, that I am not an adventurous eater. But, I did find many foods that I enjoyed in China. Not this one though….my husband is the adventurous eater in our family and enjoyed eating a little bit of everything.
Our group ate a wonderful dinner at restaurant and we were so excited to have Gracie try some of the different food (she had been limited to rice cereal up to this point). She seemed to love the peas and kept eating them. We were so happy to see her eating other foods. Later that night as my husband was leaning over to put her into the crib, a pea dropped out of her mouth. Further exploration found over 17 peas stuck inside of her cheeks.
Because Gracie had spent her life in an orphanage to this point, she was delayed in many areas which we had expected. One of the problems we discovered was that she did not know how to swallow solid foods.
Our travel group ready to leave from the Hangzhou airport.
Our time in Hangzhou was coming to a close and the next part of our trip was upcoming. I was a little nervous about how Gracie would do on an airplane, but she did very well. We said goodbye to our guide and flew with the rest of our group to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) in Southern China.
Some of you may remember me mentioning that I am a wimp about hot weather when it is coupled with high humidity. Well, when we landed in Guangzhou, it was even more hot and humid then where we had come from. But, it was so beautiful! * It smelled like the ride “Pirates of the Caribbean” at Disneyland.
We stayed on a small island in Guangzhou known as Shamian Island. Filled with European Colonial architecture and beautiful, formal gardens, I couldn’t wait to explore more.
The United States Consulate was located on the island at the time and this portion of the trip was focused on completing our immigration paperwork and securing a visa for Gracie so that we could travel to the States.
Our hotel was a 5-star hotel and the primary place that adoptive parents stayed while waiting for their child’s visa. It was beautiful inside….
I remember walking into our hotel room and telling my husband that we had better enjoy this stay because we were highly unlikely to ever stay in another place as nice. *The foreign exchange rate at the time made it very affordable to stay there ($1 = 8 yuan).
In our new hotel, Gracie played for hours with the plastic spoon and cover of my airplane lunch – she was absolutely fascinated. We were coming to see what her delays where. She would spend time in front of the mirror and would tap it with her fingers. It was obvious that she had never seen herself in a mirror before. She also liked to eat Cheerios, but she could not pick them up with her thumb and forefinger. **A few years later a visit to her orphanage showed us how deprived she had been of sensory input. I will write more about that at a later time.
We enjoyed our time on Shamian Island with walks, shopping and hanging out with the wonderful people in our group.
One afternoon when we returned to our room in the hotel, we saw that Gracie had received a surprise gift….
Yes, that is a Barbie doll. Notice she has a Chinese baby she is adopting. All adoptive families receive a complimentary “Going Home Barbie” and each year there is a new version.
Our hotel had new hallways for Gracie to explore with her dad.
And to be chased again….
All to soon, our time in China was coming to an end. Our group gathered in the lobby to take a picture of all of our adopted girls.
Gracie is on the left.
Two of the girls had been adopted a few years before.
It is amazing how strongly you bond with other families when you share an experience like this. Most of us are still in contact with each other 7 years later.
I was so excited to be going home to my other daughters and couldn’t wait to introduce the entire family to Gracie. The flight was a long one and Gracie did well for the most part. We landed in Los Angeles and went through immigration in the airport. Once we handed them her visa – she was an American citizen.
Just outside of immigration was a bunch of people just waiting to see Gracie for the first time and welcome her to our family.
All of a sudden this little girl who had been abandoned as a baby, not only had a mom and dad, but two sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles waiting outside the gates to welcome her to the family.
*************************************
If you would like to read more of what happened after we adopted Gracie, you can read Part 3 if you like. This post is already so long and although many of you mentioned that you didn’t mind the length of my previous post, you probably would like a little break from reading 🙂
I would like to thank you all for your kind comments. Gracie has enjoyed having me read your comments to her. She has been such a miracle in our lives and I enjoy sharing her story whenever I can.
Gotcha Day….Part 1
AZ Plant LadyFor many of you, the term “Gotcha Day” may be unfamiliar. It was to me a few years ago. But now, that term means a lot to me and reminds me of the joy that entered into my life on that day. For those of you who have read my blog for awhile, I mostly write about gardening subjects but occasionally I do share a bit about my personal life, especially when it concerns my kids.
I would like to share with you a special story of an event that happened in my life 7 years ago. I promise that I will include pictures of beautiful landscapes and gardens as they have a part in the story.
On a Friday morning, just over 7 years ago – my husband and I had just woken up and were looking forward to leaving for our trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom that evening. But, there was another reason that we woke up filled with anticipation….we were due to receive a phone call that would change our lives.
We were waiting for a call from our adoption agency telling us about our new daughter. Fifteen months earlier, we had made the decision, along with our two biological daughters, to adopt a little girl from China. And so we dove into the paperwork and necessary preparations in order to adopt a little girl. This phone call would put a face on the child that we had envisioned in our hearts for over a year.
I knew that she would have almond shaped eyes, light brown skin and dark hair, but I could hardly wait to hear about the little girl that China had matched us with. That morning, found us in our pajamas, nervously waiting for the phone to ring. It seemed like it would never ring, but then it did! It turns out it was a salesman….talk about a let down 😉 Thankfully, it soon rang again and we were hearing the wonderful details about our new daughter.
Her name, Chen Xia, meant ‘rosy clouds’. She was found in front of a government building when she was just 3 days old, with a bottle, a spare diaper and a note indicating when she had been born.
Each additional tidbit of information we received helped to make her seem more real to us. The adoption agency then told us that they were going to email us her photo. My husband and I hovered over the computer, waiting for our inbox to tell us that we had a new email. A couple of minutes later, “we got mail” and we clicked on the photo and waited impatiently as her photo slowly downloaded (7 years ago, we had dial-up internet connection so photos downloaded slowly).
Our first view of Gracie
I can hardly describe the feeling when you first see your child for the first time, but it felt the same as when the nurse placed my newly born babies in my arms. It is a life-changing experience. This felt exactly the same way. You know how you love your kids no matter whether they are handsome or pretty, but you are still hopeful that they will be? That is what we felt and were happy to see that she was pretty. Her name was going to be Grace ChenXia Johnson (Grace is both my mother and sister’s name).
After seeing her photo, I wanted to jump on a plane to China that day instead of traveling to Europe. But, there was paperwork to be completed – mostly us agreeing to accept her as our child and then China issuing travel documents….a process that would take a few weeks. We emailed our friends and family with her picture and information and then finished packing our suitcases, printed out pictures of our new daughter to take with us and left for the airport to board a plane to Europe. I must admit that I hardly slept on the plane and kept looking at her photo 🙂
Once we returned home, we set to work on getting everything ready for her. We painted her room, started packing and of course, went shopping for little girl clothes.
The photo we had of Gracie was taken when she was 16 months old and we were pleasantly surprised to receive an updated photo of her, a few weeks before we were due to leave for China. She was obviously wearing a dress that was too large for her, but we found out later that they saved this dress to put on the different girls whenever they had their picture taken.
You may notice that one of her feet is turned in. Gracie was born with a club foot. We knew about this and had indicated to China that we were open to adopt a child with certain special needs, including a club foot. *You can see that she is leaning against the wall because she could not stand up on her own without falling down.
After months of waiting to travel to China….actually it was only a few weeks, but it seemed like it took forever, we were ready to go. My husband and I flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles and spent the night with my parents who lived there at the time. The next day my dad drove us to the airport and we boarded a plane to San Francisco. There, we met up with 4 other families who we would be traveling with who were also adopting from the same area in China.
We went through a marathon series of flights. I used to think the 11 hours it took to fly to Europe was long, but not anymore. We flew from San Francisco to Seoul, Korea where we had a 4 hour layover.
Dawn in Seoul Korea as viewed from inside the airport.
We landed in Shanghai and met our Chinese guide who would guide us through the adoption process. We were all so happy to have finally landed and I was thrilled to see that our luggage made it too. We got ready to board the private bus waiting for us and I immediately noticed how humid and warm it was outside. It felt very ‘tropical’ for this desert dweller.
My husband and I along with our weary travel group, ready to board the bus.
Now, our journey was not over yet….we still had to travel 3 hours by bus to the city of Hangzhou. I really didn’t mind the upcoming ride because I was extremely curious about China and wanted to see more of the countryside and cities.
The countryside was very green and small farms and tall homes dotted the roadside. The homes were usually 3 stories tall as up to three generations of a single family would occupy one home.
Our guide told us many interesting things about China along the way but she also had additional information about our children and when we would get them. All of us were supposed to get our children the following day, but there had been a change in plans….two of the families were to receive their new daughters that evening – after traveling for over 24 hours! As excited as I was to get Gracie, I was relieved that I would be able to get a good night’s sleep first.
The city of Hangzhou
We arrived in Hangzhou late in the afternoon. As we drove through the city streets, I had so much fun seeing the things that were the same as back home….
Pizza Hut
Seriously, KFC is hugely popular in China.
Along with those that were a little different….
“Fire Fighter Bicycles”
Dangerous position for a workman leaning up against wires in the middle of an intersection….OSHA would be literally speechless.
There were many stores that I was anxious to explore later….
Our hotel was located by a beautiful lake (West Lake) which was quite famous in China and a tourist destination.
Part of the lake was covered in lotus.
Well, we got to our hotel and checked in. As we opened the door to our room, the reality that we would have a new daughter in less than 24 hours really hit me….there was a crib already set up for us. I spent some time unpacking and as I put away the little dresses, diapers and socks, I could hardly wait to meet Gracie the next day. After unpacking, we went to take pictures of the two families as they greeted their daughters for the first time. I was so excited for them and I had a hard time taking pictures because I kept crying. Their daughters were 3 & 4 years old and just darling.
The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel with the other families and were eager to see the new little girls who were somewhat shy and withdrawn, which was normal. Since the rest of us were not to receive our children until 4:00 in the afternoon, we decided to walk to the local grocery store and stock up on some baby supplies and snacks.
Okay, at this point I have an admission to make….I thought I would have no problem with the summer heat – I mean I live in the Arizona desert, right? Wrong! I am absolutely a wimp when it comes to humidity and you know what? It makes the heat so much hotter and uncomfortable. As our group walked to the grocery store (we all got lost for a while so it took longer), it was in the 90’s, which when it is dry, is not that hot. But when you couple that with humidity of at least 80%…..well, I thought I would die. I have never felt so hot in my life….my husband and I got very light-headed and had to stop inside a jewelry store that had air-conditioning for a few minutes. I think the sales clerks were hoping that we would buy something since I kept looking at the jewelry so they wouldn’t think we were only taking advantage of their air-conditioning 😉 The other families in our group were from Ohio and Texas and did so much better with the heat & humidity then we did. It was kind of embarrassing 😉
*I must say that this about warm, humid climates….they are absolutely beautiful with all of the greenery. If I must be honest with myself, I would probably acclimate to the humidity if I lived in that type of climate and love it as much as I do living in the desert 🙂
Okay, back to my story…..as 4:00 got closer, I began to get nervous butterflies in my stomach. The clock seemed to move so slowly. Finally at about 3:45, we went to a meeting area at the hotel by the elevators with the other families and waited for the orphanage officials to bring us our children.
Just when I thought I would die of impatience (it was only 3:55), our guide received a call from the orphanage officials bringing Gracie to us stating that they would be late due to traffic. I was disappointed, but it meant that we could help take pictures of the two other families who were receiving their children at 4:00 (their children were from different orphanages).
It is such a privilege to be present at the birth of a child and it is the same when you are there when a family meets their new adopted child. I was so honored to be present when the other families in our group met their new children. I was busy taking pictures for the other families when I saw the elevator open and then I saw Gracie…..
I realize that this is an extremely long post and I will write the conclusion in my next post. *I do appreciate you taking the time to read about our adoption adventure. I will never get tired of sharing it with others 🙂
A Hidden Surprise in a Most Unexpected Place…
AZ Plant LadyAs gardeners, most of us are used to finding surprises in the garden. Some are welcome and some are not. Yesterday, as I walked outside in my front garden, I was greeted by the following sight….
Aren’t these flowers just beautiful?
I would love to share with you the story of how I discovered the plant the produces these very pretty pink flowers…..
Fresh out of college, armed with a degree in horticulture my first job was to manage the landscape areas and trees of a golf course. On a good day, I would have a couple of crew members along to help as long as there was not too much to do on the golf course. The golf course itself rested around a desert mountain and the grassed areas actually made up a small part of the golf course. Landscape areas flanked the golf course while the surrounding hills remained untouched.
Golf course feature area with Ironwood trees (Olneya tesota), Little Leaf Palo Verde (Parkinsonia microphylla), Bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea) and Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa).
Unfortunately, some of the ‘untouched’ desert areas were designated for future homes and were due to be cleared. Before an area was to be cleared I would venture out with my crew and harvest what cacti and native plants that I could. We would then replant them around the golf course.
Much of the native desert in our area is covered by a low-growing shrub known as Bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea). Certain times of the year, it is leafless and ugly. However in the rainy season, they are covered with sage green leaves that you can see in the photo above.
It was during the month of April that I glimpsed a spot of pink underneath a particular Bursage. As I walked closer to it, I found a little cactus, covered in rings of pink flowers.
Finding surprises
Known by various names such as Pincushion Cactus or Arizona Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria grahamii or Mammillaria microcarpa), I was so excited with my discovery. Armed with a pick, my foreman and I quickly dug it up in order to save it from the coming bulldozers. We then began to look to see if we could find more of these little cacti in areas soon to be bulldozed.
If it had not been for the fact that they were flowering, it would have been much harder to find them – they only grow to about 6 inches tall at maturity. But I started seeing glimpses of pink everywhere. We started walking all over the desert areas slated to be leveled for homes and were able to save countless little cacti.
This is ‘untouched’ desert and part of the Tonto National Forest. The low shrubby plants are what Bursage looks like before they leaf out. The small cacti often hide underneath.
Nowadays, whenever I visit a client whose homes are surrounded by native desert, I often look to see if I can find any of these cacti. I love to show the homeowner the surprise that lurks beneath their somewhat boring Bursage.
You do have to look closely, especially when they aren’t flowering.
It blends fairly well doesn’t it? Actually, it is hard to believe that the ugly, leafless Bursage has anything of value underneath. The cactus is rather boring when not in flower. But just wait until spring and summer arrive….
Back when I worked at the golf course, my boss gave me permission to take a cluster of little cacti home to plant in my garden. **Note, this is a protected species and cannot be removed unless on private land with the owner’s permission.
I planted my Fishhook Cactus over 10 years ago and each year, the clump grows larger and produces more flowers.
Finding surprises
One of my favorite things about my Fishhook Cactus is that it blooms repeatedly in the summer months in response to the rain. Once it has finished blooming, small, bright red fruits are formed that are edible – they have a tart taste.
One of the common names, Arizona Fishhook Cactus, comes from the fact that their spines are hooked.
My garden has very few cacti and this one is my favorite. When the day comes that we move from our home, I will dig up my favorite cactus and take it wherever I go 🙂
Sunset in the Garden….
Double S FarmsThe sun has set in our vegetable garden. For the past few months, our sunflowers have brightened up the garden with their sunny faces.
Sunflowers Garden
It seems like just yesterday that my daughter, Ruthie and I planted the seeds (actually it was March). We planted them near the fence so that it would be easy to support them once they grew tall.
Once planted they started to grow quickly…
I couldn’t wait to see the blooms begin to form…
It seemed to take a long time…but with flowers so large they probably can’t be rushed.
The unopened blooms were far more interesting that I had imagined. There were so many sepals (leaves) around the bloom and I could already imagine how beautiful it would be.
I wasn’t disappointed….
Did you know that sunflowers point east towards the sunrise? As the sun moves during the day, they follow the sun. However, once the flowers mature, they stay facing east. I need to remember that when I am lost next time and will hopefully find a sunflower growing somewhere (not too likely).
We enjoyed the bright sunny face of our largest sunflower until she began to droop and fade….
You can see why we planted her against the fence. It provides the perfect support for the large flower, now full of developing sunflower seeds.
It is now time for us to cut off the spent flower and continue to let the seeds mature.
I must admit that I am kind of sad to see her life end, but I am grateful for the time we had to enjoy her sunny beauty. My kids aren’t sad at all….they can’t wait for the seeds to be ready for us to roast and for them to eat. I will save a few seeds to plant again for next season.
I can’t wait to grow sunflowers again. They are such a great plant for the kids to grow because the seeds are large enough for them to handle easily, the plants and flowers grow so large and you get to enjoy sunflower seeds at the end 🙂
All Grown Up….
Double S FarmsIt is hard to believe that their story began just this last February. To be honest, I have been fascinated with their progress and eagerly awaiting the day when our patience would be rewarded.
Of course, I am talking about the newest residents of Double S Farms…Ramona, Flo, Lucy and Effie.
It seems like just yesterday that a box arrived in the mail for my sister, Chicken Farmer.
I was almost as excited as she was and they weren’t even my chickens.
Aren’t they the cutest balls of fluff?
During our weekly dinners at Double S Farms, we would all look forward to seeing how quickly they were growing.
Ramona, Lucy, Effie and Flo
As we got to know them better, each of their personalities became more defined and we enjoyed watching their antics.
For example, did you know that chickens like macaroni and cheese? Especially when it has fallen to the ground from a child’s dinner plate.
They enjoy playing in Little & Littlest Farmer’s sandbox.
They love raiding the vegetable garden and eating the watermelon, until my mother, Pastor Farmer put an end to that 😉 They are now banned from entering the vegetable garden.
Ramona standing guard to the entrance to the chicken yard.
Their mornings are spent foraging by the fruit trees and along the foundation of the house, hoping to find some juicy insects.
Flo, hoping that dinner is served outside, so she can sneak some bits that fall to the ground.
Later in the afternoon, they head for the chicken yard and stand underneath the misters, which help to cool them off.
Littlest Farmer and Effie
I know that it isn’t a good idea to play favorites, but admittedly, Effie is our favorite chicken (but we don’t let the others know this because it might hurt their feelings). She loves people and even lets the boys pet her. Once she crawled next to Chicken Farmer and laid her head in her lap and promptly fell asleep.
What’s not to love? Now, Effie may not win any beauty contests, but she has such a sweet personality that it is easy to fall in love with her.
The chickens are all close friends and as evening falls, they venture into their coop without being told and settle upon their roost for a good night’s sleep.
Now as much as we have all enjoyed my sister’s chickens, we have been patiently (okay, impatiently) waiting for them to begin laying eggs. My sister had put plastic Easter eggs in the nesting boxes hoping the chickens would get the hint about where to lay their eggs.
Well, a few weeks ago, she went outside and guess what she found?
Okay, hopefully you can tell the plastic egg from the real one on the left. Isn’t it pretty?
In the last couple of weeks all four are now laying and last Thursday, my mother sent home a special surprise for my kids who love eggs….
Effie and Lucy lay the blue/green eggs and Ramona and Flo lay the brown eggs.
Of course, I had only minutes to take this picture before the kids had me making eggs for their after school snack.
They were delicious….
*Please don’t tell the “girls” but before this experience my only thoughts about chickens were how I was going to cook them for dinner and how many eggs I would need to bake with. Who knew that chickens could be so interesting?
You can see more of Double S Farms by visiting my sister’s blog Finley and Oliver.
The Aftermath….
AZ Plant LadyYesterday evening, I started to see the signs….
Gusty winds, thunder clouds, the smell of rain in the air and raindrops starting to fall. A monsoon storm was on it’s way.
Monsoon storm, Clouds gathering over my house and Eucalyptus tree.
When I first moved to the desert southwest from California, I was quite surprised that it rained in the desert frequently in the summer months. Where I came from, summer rain was quite rare.
Another surprise awaited me when I experienced my first monsoon storm….flying dust followed by high winds, thunderclouds, lightning and torrential downpours – these were definitely things that I had not experienced in California.
*The Sonoran Desert has two rainy seasons, one in the winter and one in the summer. Because of this our desert has the most animal and plant species of any North American desert. We have over 2,000 native plant species alone.
Although I love monsoon storms, I would dread going to work the day afterward because I knew that there could be a lot of tree damage to deal with due to the high winds…especially on the golf courses. I would have to personally check all of the trees…some were completely blown over with roots sticking out and my crew would quickly cut them up. Other trees would half in and half out of the soil and I would have to decide if we could save them or not.
One summer brought a severe micro-burst over the area where I worked and the damage to the trees on the golf courses were thankfully, minimal, except for a large Saguaro cactus that was lost and just a handful of trees.
However, it was the damaged trees that I saw as a result of the storm in the residential areas that was shocking.
There were the trees that had been completely blown over…
Fallen Mesquite
Fallen Palo Verde
Fallen Ironwood
Some trees were completely snapped off at their base….
Palo Verde
Some trees that completely lost their head…literally.
This Palo Verde snapped off halfway up the trunk.
Some trees looked like they were swallowing up homes….
Although we did suffer some losses on the golf courses and landscape areas, the homeowners were hit the hardest in regards to damaged trees – mostly because their trees were either somewhat top-heavy or had not been pruned recently, or pruned correctly.
You may be asking, what can I do to avoid having this happen to my tree? Well, there are some steps that you can take to help prevent wind damage, BUT even if you maintain your trees correctly, wind damage may be unavoidable. Following these tips will increase your chances of escaping severe wind damage, but nothing can totally prevent it due to circumstances beyond your control.
First, you may notice that all the trees in the pictures had a single (standard) trunk. Imagine holding a lollipop at the base of the stick. The top of the lollipop is quite heavy, isn’t it? Well, this is the same for many single trunk trees. Many desert trees such as Mesquite, Palo Verde, Sweet Acacia and Ironwood are available in both standard (single) or multi-trunk forms. In my opinion, multi-trunk trees are more attractive in addition to the fact that they are less likely to suffer damage from wind because the weight of the branches is more evenly distributed among multiple tree trunks.
Second, proper pruning will help your trees to weather the storms. I would always schedule our annual tree pruning to be done before the monsoon season would begin. The International Society of Arboriculture has excellent information on how to prune mature trees which can be found here. Trees add lots of value to your house – not just aesthetically, but in dollars as well. So, it is worth the investment to hire a Certified Arborist to advise you on the correct way to prune your trees. Most also offer pruning services for your trees as well. *You can find a Certified Arborist in your area by following this link.
Last, make sure that your trees are watered correctly. Trees need to be watered deeply, so that their roots will grow down into the soil. Repeated shallow watering results in tree roots that are close to the surface and are not able to anchor a tree against high winds.
As I write this, I see storm clouds gathering to the east. I am hoping for a nice rainstorm tonight, without the high winds 😉
“Raise Your Hand If You Have Ever Killed a Plant”
AZ Plant LadyI asked this question years ago, to a room full of people as I was giving my first landscape presentation. I was quite nervous as I began my presentation, but once I asked the question, “Raise your hand if you have ever killed a plant,” almost everyone raised their hands. A few people also laughed when my hand also went up and I immediately felt a little less nervous.
I think it would be very hard to find anyone who has a garden who has never killed a plant, don’t you? Over the years, I have heard many stories, some very humorous about mishaps in the garden which ended with dead plants. I would like to share mine with you….
Over 18 years ago, we moved into our new home in Phoenix. It was a small, older, ranch style house that had quite a few roses and a lot of room for a garden. I was so excited to have my own piece of land to grow plants in, I could hardly wait to get started. I sent for plant catalogs and couldn’t wait to select what I would grow.
I selected a beautiful Clematis vine and some Shasta Daisies. It seemed like it took forever for them to arrive in the mail. As soon as they arrived, I opened the box and was a little disappointed at how small the plants were. But, I planted my Clematis and Daisies and had visions of how wonderful they would look once they started flowering.
*Courtesy of Wikipedia
You may notice that the picture of the Shasta Daisy above is not mine. There is a good reason for that….I killed all of my Shasta Daisies. You see, I decided that the tiny plants that arrived in the mail needed a little help growing. So, I gave each 2″ plant a handful of lawn fertilizer.
I was sure that the added fertilizer would work miracles and I couldn’t wait to see how much faster they would grow. Well, most of you are probably already laughing at my mistake, but I was so surprised when I went out into the garden the next morning to find little brown, dried out plants. So, lesson #1 that I learned was to read the directions on the fertilizer bag and that more is definitely not better when it comes to fertilizer. I burned my little plants by adding too much fertilizer.
So, now that I learned my first lesson, I was sure to fertilize my new Clematis vine carefully.
*This is my photo, buy NOT my Clematis vine. I took this photo in a garden full of flowers in Wales.
Again, I do not have a photo of my Clematis vine flowering for one very good reason….it never flowered. It did grow foliage, but after a year, it was only about 3 ft. high and kind of sad looking. Lesson #2, just because a plant says it will grow in zone 9, does not mean that it will thrive in my desert climate. The USDA Plant Hardiness zones is based on the lowest average temperature of a given region. Phoenix is in zone 9. But, the zones do not take into account the heat of a particular area. It turns out that Clematis does not like the intense heat of our summers and as a result, mine never flowered.
And so, a recap of what I learned….
First – a tiny amount of fertilizer goes very far and amending the soil with organic matter is preferable. I now only fertilize when a plant that shows a specific nutrient deficiency (I make exceptions for citrus trees and roses, which fertilize regularly).
Second, just because a plant looks pretty in a catalog and says it grows in zone 9, it doesn’t mean that it can handle the heat of our summer. Sunset magazine has created a new hardiness zone map that factors in many different variables of a given region: low and high temperatures, humidity, soil type, length of growing season and rainfall. You can access this information, which covers all regions of the United States. *Many nurseries and those in the plant industry in the western US use the Sunset zones instead of the USDA hardiness maps since they are much more accurate.
Well, for those of you who may be new to gardening, I hope my experiences will help you so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did. Many beautiful plants are very easy to grow in our desert climate….you just have to do a little research to find out which ones.
I would like to offer one last bit of advice….wherever you live, don’t rely on the plants you see offered in the big box stores – they are notorious for selling bright, flowering plants that will soon turn brown and die after you plant them. This doesn’t mean that you have a black thumb….it means that some of the plants that they sell do not necessarily thrive in your climate.
Now, I would love to hear your stories…..have you ever killed a plant?
Flowers From Abroad….
Flowering Annuals, Garden Travels, PerennialI absolutely love to travel and one of my favorite destinations is Europe. Unfortunately, I have not been able to visit in recent years, but my daughter and her husband were able to travel there this summer and visited three different countries – France, Germany and Italy.
Love to travel
When they returned, I couldn’t wait to hear about their adventures and view their photos. I was particularly touched by the fact that my daughter took the time to take some pictures of some of the beautiful flowering plants they saw in Germany.
I just love window boxes….don’t you?
The reason it meant a lot to me is that my oldest daughter is not particularly into gardening – but that could be because she lives in an apartment and has no space for gardening 😉 So, the fact that she took the time to take photos for me to share with me meant a lot.
I do not know what all of these flowering plants are and would love some help with identifying some of them 🙂
Geraniums, Verbena and Chamomile? Don’t you love the stone planter?
Germany has a special place in my heart because years ago, my grandparents were transferred there for work when I was young. As a result, I spent two summers in Germany as a child along with my parents and siblings.
We spent our time in Frankfurt where my grandparents lived. I remember the large field of strawberries that were grown in the back garden and the struggle keeping the rabbits away. But mostly, I remember how delicious the strawberries tasted.
Lobelia I grow this beautiful annual in the winter months.
A couple of times a week, a local farmer would drive up our street and open up his van which contained a plentiful harvest of all sorts of fruit and vegetables. Wouldn’t it be great if the farmer delivered produce straight from the farm nowadays?
Okay, I just love this photo of little garden gnomes.
I find it interesting how certain smells can bring a crystal clear memory to my mind. To this day, the smell of bus exhaust reminds me of a cobblestone street in downtown Frankfurt.
These were my daughter’s favorite flower that she saw. Any ideas what type of flower this is?
On my kitchen wall is the beautiful cuckoo clock that my grandparents brought back from Germany. Growing up, we loved hearing it cuckoo on the hour and dancing to the music that played afterward as the tiny figurines twirled in a circle.
Isn’t this a beautiful flower? Any ideas what it is?
Our cuckoo clock has not worked for many years and I keep meaning to get it fixed so that my kids can enjoy it as I did as a child.
Beautiful red roses.
Both my husband and I have some German ancestry and I hope to be able to visit there again and experience the beauty that Germany has to offer.
Are there any places that have a special place in your heart for, or that you yearn to visit someday?
A Welcome Retreat…
Arizona, az plant lady familyThis has not been a very fun summer for me or our family. We have been largely confined to our home as our son, Kai, recovers from hip surgery. I have written about his journey which you can read here if you like.
Well, we received some great news from the doctor 2 weeks ago…Kai was allowed to start to walk again. Yeah!!! Although it has been slow going, he is making great progress – he has already ditched the walker the doctor prescribed and insists on walking by himself, he goes to PT twice weekly and is making great progress. We have been waiting for this moment and decided to take some time to go on a little vacation before the kids start school.
We do have a favorite vacation spot up in the Arizona mountains called Williams. Williams is a little town, just east of Flagstaff and is situated right on Route 66 and is the gateway to the Grand Canyon. We are blessed that my sister-in-law’s family has some cabins up there that they graciously allow us to use.
We couldn’t wait to go, especially the kids. We wanted to do something special for all of them – Kai because he was such a great patient and his sisters because they were so helpful to him and didn’t mind the extra attention that he got. And so we packed up our van and started up the mountain.
Now all of us love to fish, so we dropped our bags off at the cabin and drove to the lake to start fishing right away. My youngest daughter, Gracie, caught a fish but we had to leave soon after we arrived because a thunderstorm moved in.
The next day we went to one of our favorite lakes and started fishing. The morning was windy and we didn’t catch a thing, not even a nibble. I was ready to quit after 4 hours, but my husband talked me into staying for 15 more minutes. Well, guess what happened?
Kai caught a fish and the wind calmed down. Over the next 2 hours, we caught 18 rainbow trout between the five of us – Kai caught 6!
Arizona mountains
We threw some of them back, but came back to the cabin with 13 fish which I cooked for the kids. As for me, I caught 5 fish and 2 severely sunburned feet 😉
Although we were only able to spend two full days there, it was just what we needed as a family to refresh and rejuvenate before school starts again in only 5 days….
**I do want to apologize for not posting, visiting and commenting as often as I would like, but my life has been quite crazy this summer. I am thankful that school is starting again and my life will get back to normal 🙂
July’s Monthly Garden Bouquet (MGB)
ArizonaHello Everyone! It is hard to believe that it is already time for July Monthly Garden Bouquet (MGB). The summer seems to be flying by. Soon my kids will be back in school and I will be able to get back to blogging more regularly and commenting on your posts 🙂 I miss my normal routine and my life seems to revolve around my kids 24/7. Not that that is bad, mind you….I love my kids a lot, but I am looking forward to having a little time to do the things that I enjoy.
The bouquet that I created for July is made up of Lysiloma leaves, Bougainvillea brachts and Yellow Bell (Tecoma stans) flowers. *Did you know that the colorful magenta ‘flowers’ on the bougainvillea are not the flowers? They are actually brachts that form around the tiny, cream colored flower in the middle.
I must confess that it took me awhile to decide where to take the picture of my bouquet and I finally settled on the lawn in our back garden. I love how the color green can make me feel like the temperatures have dropped a few degrees.
July Garden Bouquet
As you can see, my bouquet is rather simple like me but rather colorful at the same time.
I would love to see your July bouquets. The guidelines for MGB are very simple….
1. MGB is held the third week of each month and bouquets can be submitted during a 7 day period (or even later if you like).
2. Create your own bouquet as fancy or simple as you like.
3. I would appreciate it if you would provide a link back to my post inside of your MGB post, but it is not required 🙂
4. Add your link to Mr. Linky below and that’s it!
I cannot wait to see what bouquets you create from your summer gardens.
Have a great week!