June 2005

An Carson’s Trip Report

An Carson (7) travelled to Changsha, Hunan with her sister and her parents to meet her brother Tie. An offers this trip report.

I missed school at the end of June but I wasn’t sick. I went to China with my sister, LiYan and our Mom and Dad to meet our new brother. When we got to China, it was hot but we had a beautiful, cool hotel to stay in. I noticed that almost everyone was Chinese like me. Everyone talked to me and were surprised that I didn’t speak Mandarin. We saw so many and did such fun things I wished every day could be like that. There was one sad day. It was the day my brother, Tie Jian came. He cried and screamed so loud when the orphanage people left him. He was so scared, I cried with him. Then he brought me some water in a plastic cup. He didn’t want me to cry. After we got to the hotel, he had so much fun with us, I think he forgot about the orphanage. My favourite things we did were going shopping, having really good chicken in sauce when we went out to dinner, going in a white duck boat in a river in Beijing, going to the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. I also loved the Chinese acrobats. On the night before we left, we saw the Mask Guy and I loved that too. That night was also my 7th birthday and we had a great time. I was sad to go, but it was good to get home. This fall, we are all taking Mandarin classes so that next time we go to China, I CAN speak Mandarin.

-- An

Some Say, “Eight is Enough”

Our 3 1/2 year old son, “Yao Tie Jian” joined the Carson family this past June. He is our 8th child, and our 3rd son. Our  two youngest daughters, An and LiYan travelled with us a few days ahead of the group, and I would have to say that our journey to Tie Jian and our actual trip were almost magical. Prior to meeting their new brother, the girls developed a very deep relationship with each other.

Our group was composed of a group of amazing couples from Alberta and Manitoba, along with big brother Eli, who were there to bring home their infant daughters (sister) (six and 7 months at referral!!) 

The weather, although hot was perfect for sightseeing, snapping photos, and imprinting memorable scenes in our minds. Of course, Yulin was attentive to the group and loving with our children. Somehow, she will be able to remember each new child’s name and habits, so that in future, she’ll have a tale to tell them about “When you were little.”

The group voyage was smooth, mostly illness free, and almost without incident. (We’ve forgotten about the 2 hour delay on the runway prior to taking off for Canada).

Each babe is perfect, and every family is certain that they came home with the cutest, most intelligent child in the bunch.

Dianne Carson