The Gift of Friendship

Monday, August 3rd 10:30 P.M.

We are finally home. We made our flights and all went well. We have rested this afternoon, but I still don't think we are completely caught up on our sleep. We arrived home to a beautifully decorated front porch complete with a huge pink and green banner that read "Welcome Home Isabel.".

Our family has experienced so many "firsts" this last twenty days. For so long we thought that by adopting we might feel that we missed out on all those baby firsts; first steps, first words. But we definitely don't feel that way now. Our "firsts" are just different. You will never know how much pleasure we experienced watching Isabel explore her new home. We know that shy little girl enjoyed exploring her room filled with clothes and gifts from family and friends. We can't help but think she is having Christmas in August.

The Chattanooga airport homecoming was a wonderful experience today. We were met by several of our friends. We had no idea how Isabel would react but I think she could completely understand the love and friendship that was expressed to both her and her parents. I can't tell you how happy we were to see familiar faces.

I will never be able to tell you how much our friends and family have meant to us during this trip. It has always been difficult for us being away from our family. However, for this trip, our friends had to play the leading role in helping us out. I know that our family would agree that saying thank you will never be enough to express our gratitude. We still haven't read all the posts. We now understand how all our prayers were answered; we were not alone in our prayers.

Tigger sends her love to all and for those of you know our "sweet kitty." You will be shocked to know that we think she and Isabel will get along just fine. She has not hissed one time. The Crews family and Dr. Lisa have completely spoiled our kitty.

We will continue to post to keep you updated on Isabel's progress. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. The Pridgen family has a long way to go, but hopefully with each passing day Isabel will make progress.

We will close by saying a special thank you to Gary, Kim, John, and Kara Crews. They have helped us so much. They took care of "sweet kitty", filled our refrigerator with food, set up our blog, and were our connection to home. But we have to say that Kim did bring us both to tears this afternoon with a present that she left for us. Kim painted the sweetest canvas with her "kids" design. This poem is a the top of the canvas.

The Family Portrait

Once upon a time a Canvas was set.
Long before we ever met,
God placed it on the Easel. He waited.
A special Portrait would be Painted.

He set aside a Palette of Colors,
He knew just how to use them.
God waited till the Time was right,
then He began to choose them.


Placing His brush upon the Canvas
God painted an image Extraordinaire.
The details seemed faint at first,
but the Picture was truly there.

A Portrait of a Family;
a child, a mom, a dad.
This painting had something Extra,
God used everything He had.

His Palette was full of Colors,
He knew just what it would take.
Each Stroke was deliberately brushed in place.
A Special Portrait He would make.

He blended dark shadows with subtle hues of Gold.
Using the richest colors, a picture began to unfold.
One very special child, two fathers and two mothers.
The image began taking shape with such beautiful colors.

Splashes of Love outlined colors of Pain.
Shades of Joy and Sadness
were mixed throughout the Picture,
among Stripes of Sorrow and Gladness.

The Portrait was finally complete,
He gently framed it with His Heart
He hung it in the Halls of Faith . . .
A Priceless Work of Art.

She was worth the wait!

Hugs and kisses to all.
Will, Marla, and Isabel

Change of Address Notification

Sunday, August 2nd 11:00 P.M. EST

This blog entry is to notify you that the Pridgen family, formerly of Rocky Face, GA, now reside in Chicago, Illinois at the Hilton Hotel. When Isabel starts to school, if I'm correct, she will be registered as homeless.

As you may have gathered we made it as far as Chicago. All this started with that "little" door problem in Beijing. We have been shuffled to every airline. We have discovered that all airlines far over booked and evidently only send one flight per day to the southeast. Our bags are getting better assistance than we are. We were told that they made it to Chattanooga!

You may be asking yourself how could they possibly miss their flight when they were at the airport. Yeh, well we would like to know that, too. When we got to Chicago everything was going fine until we discovered that our gate had been changed and then later we found that they really didn't book us on that flight anyway. We were booked for August 3. Now if you are really confused do not fret. We truly have no idea how this happened nor do the people at Northwest, Alaskan, or American Airlines. Each time we share our plight to the attendants they say "you started from China?"

We can only wonder what Isabel thinks about her parents not being able to make it home. We just hope she understands. I hope, if nothing else, she can understand by the expressions on our faces. She even laughed a little when we were going through it all today.

With everything that has happened today we have had a wonderful evening. We have a very nice room at the Hilton. On a scale of 1 to 7, we give the Hilton 7 chinese lanterns. (The Sino-Swiss received 2 lanterns and our hotel last night we rated at 3 lanterns.). We all three played Nintendo 64 for the first time and we ordered a pizza from room service. Great evening, but best of all Isabel smiled all evening while she was playing. Seeing her smile made this day all worth it.

She was worth the wait!

Hugs and kisses to all.

Will, Marla, and Isabel

Sleepless in Seattle

Time-Can't do the math-
6:30 A.M./P.M.
(The sun is shining if that helps) Date-The Friday that keeps going
Really Saturday, August 1st

Mood-Tired, hungry, and we are afraid Isabel is eyeing new prospects for parents.

Good news and bad news. The good news, we are in the United States. The bad news, we are on the wrong side of the United States. We are once again stuck in Seattle. Again today.....oops... wrong...I mean yesterday, we were up at 4:30 for an early flight from Beijing to Tokyo (three hour flight). "Little" door problem at the beginning of the flight, but we were only delayed for a few minutes. However...when we arrived in Tokyo we were delayed four and a half hours with the same "little" door issue. Door never closed so we got new plane with door handle and we left Tokyo at 7:30 P.M. on our ten hour flight to Seattle.

And you remember this next part from the first leg of our trip. We missed all our connecting flights. Once in Seattle we had two hours of waiting to get Isabel's paperwork processed. With the two hour processing time our bags went through customs without us and were heading toward Chattanooga. Crazy lady at the ticket line had the nerve to ask where we had been and why we weren't with our bags. I guess she finally got the message when our heads almost spun around and Will and I simultanously said "we have been in immigration and customs" .....like we could actually go somewhere else.

Needless to say our day was going less than perfect. We went to dinner and it was not good. Isabel did not eat, which was a first. We checked into some hotel we've never heard of (a quarter star up from Sino-Swiss.) We've had no sleep, a child that we think is regressing from about ten words a day to may three. I've had about seventeen hours on a plane to think about how difficult this is going to be. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that there are times when we wonder about just what have we gotten ourselves into.

However, after dinner I noticed that this hotel has a business center. Thought I would look at the blog. Deanna had mentioned that people could make comments so I took a look. Well, I was overwhelmed by the words of our family and friends. It was truly the answer to my prayers from many hours earlier. You would not believe how your kind words lifted my spirits.

Heading home tomorrow. If all goes well we should be in Chattanooga 8:45 P.M.

She was worth the wait!

Hugs and kisses to all.

Will, Marla, and Isabel

Back to Beijing

Friday, July 31st-3:00 P.M.

Well....we are back in Beijing. We were up this morning at 4:30 for a 10:00 flight. Isabel did well for her first flight ever. She walked on the plane, sat down, went to sleep, and woke up when we landed. I don't know why Will and I were worried. In Beijing we got off to the plane and were supposed to be met by a driver to take us to the hotel. Didn't happen. Evidently the driver was late. Not good when you don't speak Chinese. We were able to phone one of our guides, Susan and she met us.

Now we are at the Sino-Swiss Hotel. Not remotely close to a five star. If this hotel is any indication of lodging in Switzerland we won't be vacationing there anytime soon. When we arrived, the guide closed Will's hand in the car door. I thought he had lost it, the fingers that is. Will did not say a word. Later he told me he didn't want to cuss in front of Isabel. Needless to say it is very swollen and we can't find ice.

9:30 P.M.-Well we're still going. We've just returned from a wonderful afternoon of sight seeing. Susan our guide bought Will an herbal pain reliever for his finger. She said it was to stimulate blood flow. Will was putting it on his fingers and accidently poured the bottle all over his shorts. We all got dizzy on herbal fumes.

We climbed the Great Wall of China 362 steep steps straight up to the first watch tower and 362 straight down. It was a most awesome site. The pictures will never do it justice. When we reached the tower there was a nice cool breeze blowing. We could have spent the afternoon there but we were off again. Next we went to the Olympic stadium, the "Bird's Nest" and the "Cube" aquatic center. From there we went to Tian an men Square. Being at the places that we've only seen on TV is amazing.

Will and I have been awe struck by the magnifcent sites we've seen but Isabel has reacted just as a typical eleven year old whose parents are dragging her around to boring museums. I know that she will eventually appreciate that she has seen many of the significant sites from her homeland. Right now I think that this shy child is doing all she can to process how her life has changed in the past twelve days. We have been amazed at her strength. It truly breaks my heart that at eleven years old she has not had a family to love, guide, teach and protect her. She is so brave. Would I have had the strength to endure all that she has, probably not. Please keep Isabel in your prayers that she adjusts well to her new life in America with her new family.

We ended this eventful day with a traditional dinner of Beijing Roast Duck. Other dishs included shrimp, very spicy potatos and an even hotter rice dish. When we got back to the hotel we discovered roast duck on Will's back. Obviously have not mastered chopsticks.

She was worth the wait!

Hugs and kisses to all!

Will, Marla, and Isabel

U.S. Consolate

Thursday, July 30th 6:00 P.M.

Today we had an easy day. Isabel slept in until 7:30. I know that this has been such a crazy week for her so we were happy to have her get a little extra rest. We headed out this morning to do a little shopping. We needed a suitcase for Isabel and just picked up a few small things.

We were amazed at some of the prices of things that we've seen. I almost hate to tell you the prices, it may upset you. Two things that we really wanted but they didn't work out. North Face jacket...thirty-five dollars. Of course...... did they have Isabel's size?...no. And the kicker, sorry Mark, a set of Callaway golf clubs and bag, two hundred sixty-five dollars. I know Mark, you're never going to let me live this one down.

This afternoon we had an appointment with the U. S. Consolate. It wasn't a big deal, really just a formality. We now have Isabel's Chinese passport and everything we need to get her back to the U. S. She becomes a U. S. citizen as soon as we land in the states. We were also given the super-important "brown" envelope containing all her vital information complete with instructions not to open. Evidently it is only to be opened by the U. S. customs officals.

Tonight we will pack and head back to Beijing tomorrow. After our three hour flight we will have a day of site seeing. They have arranged for us to do the tours that we missed the first day due to weather delays. It will be nice to do this with Isabel. If there hadn't been that storm in Memphis on day one we would not have had the opportunity to experience this with Isabel. Funny how little things like this have a way of working out.

Foods we skipped in Ghangzhou.
"I know that YOU may eat these, but we didn't."
Eel festival
Black Fungus
Spicy Chicken Feet
BBQ Dried Squid

She was worth the wait and is our new hand to hold.
Hugs and kisses to all!
Will, Marla, and Isabel

Chinese Hospitality

Last night our Thai food was wonderful. Maybe we just hadn't had authentic Thai food before, but it was delicious. A funny thing happened at dinner. Susan our other guide ordered a dessert for the group. It was very pretty, but we had no idea what it was. When we asked, she told us that it was a very traditional Thai dessert made with taquilla. Will and I looked at each other and told Susan that we thought that maybe Isabel was a little too young for taquilla. Susan said no, no it's fine for kids, "no problem." After more discussion about the merits of giving alcohol to children, we discovered Susan meant tapioca. A bit different than tequilla. Some things get lost in translation. The group got a big kick at Susan's expense. So needless to say our groups favorite dessert is now "Taquilla Squares."

This morning David took us to Guangzhou Park. Yet again, another amazing adventure. Armed with camera, video camera, and backpack the Pridgen's are such tourists. I'm sure Isabel is already completely embarassed by her parents. I guess she just needs to go ahead and get over it. I'm sure this won't be the last time we embarass her.

This beautiful park is located right in the middle of the metropolitan city. We spent about two hours hiking through it. The park is almost completely shaded but Will and I sweated through our clothes. Not a drop of sweat on Isabel....always seems fresh as daisy. We thought the south was humid, evidently we didn't know what humid was. South China in summer is in a league of its own.

After the park David took us to his house for lunch. We met his beautiful wife Gigi. Gigi and her mother made a huge lunch for us. We had chicken, fish, squid, pork, greens, eggs, and of course rice. After lunch we sat down for hot tea and Gigi entertained us with traditional Chinese music. Gigi is a professional musican and is extremely talented. David has been a true blessing during this entire trip. He and his family have shown us sincere hospitality and given us an experience unlike any others in our group. We will never forget him or his family and it feels like we have made a true friend. We don't have any way of repaying him but perhaps one day he can travel to the states. We would welcome David and his family anytime.

We're headed out now to get Isabel something for dinner. Will and I will skip dinner after our filling lunch. We have to get back early so that we can work on our English and be ready for our favorite Chinese soap opera at 8:00. I don't know what we will do when we come home. Maybe David can email us and keep us updated on our soap.

She was worth the wait and is our new hand to hold.
Hugs and kisses to all.
Will, Marla, and Isabel

Rainy Day in Guanghoz

We just returned from having lunch at.....Subway. Yes, good 'ol Subway. The only other American restaurant here on Shamain Island besides Papa Johns. Isabel seemed to be ok with it. I thought it was great and you didn't have to eat it with chopsticks. Tonight we are having dinner with the group at a Thai restuarant. I'm not a big fan of Thai in the U.S. so we'll have to see how that goes. I'm sure it will be great.

This morning we went with several in the group to a wholesale baby clothing place. We went along because we thought it might have other clothes for older children. The group divided up and shopped for about an hour. This was probably not our favorite place. It was a little hairy. We had been warned about pick pockets. We didn't stray too far from the main drag. Since we are obviously American we do get lots of looks. Many people come up to us and ask for money or try to sell us misc. stuff. Yesterday while we were with David at the movies a woman came up to Will asking for money and would not let it go. David started screaming at her and she screamed back. Finally Will and David both screamed and she left us alone. It was quite funny. All in all I feel very safe here in China, but we are always very careful.

When we were coming back it started raining harder than I think I've ever seen it rain. Within just a matter of minutes the water was up to peoples knees. Guangzhou has no drainage system. I feel very sorry for the people walking and on bikes. Today I phoned home and spoke with my mother. It was a quick conversation but it was good to hear her voice. Luckily we've had the blog so that our family could keep up with us daily. I know that our family is worried but at least this way since they can't be here with us we can let them know how we are doing each day. We will be forever grateful to John and Kara Crews for helping us to set up our blog.

She was worth the wait.
Hugs and kisses to all.
Will, Marla, and Isabel