A Long Day

Yesterday, my mother, Sierra and I left our beloved Texas for Florida for two weeks. Sierra will be seeing a neurologist here.

We arrived at the Austin airport with no problems. We found our gate with plenty of time to spare. Since we did not buy a ticket for Sierra but had her as an "infant in lap" I didn't know if we would have an empty seat to put her carseat in. About 40 minutes before boarding time, I went up to the lady at the desk (not sure what they are called)...

Me: Excuse me, do you know if there are any empty seats on the plane so that we can put my baby's carseat on one?

Her: No, I don't know.

That was all. She didn't bother looking it up or anything. The past times we flew, the ladies at the desk were so helpful. They would look up to see if there were any empty seats and then move us to the empty seats. This lady was very unhelpful.

I went back and sat down until boarding time. They began boarding and my "friend" started mumbling into the microphone who could board. They got through the first class and the platinum. Then they began boarding groups. We were group 4. There were several passengers near us that were very kind and told us to go ahead and board since we had our hands full with the baby and stroller. They said that the airlines let people with small children pre-board. With there encouragement we went forward.

Me: We weren't sure if we could board since we have the baby.

Her: No. Just because you have a baby does NOT mean that you can pre-board. That would just slow things down.

So we went back to the line. Several of the other passengers were rather indignent and surprised that we were treated like that. It wasn't just what she said. It was her whole snotty attitude that really upset us.

We finally made it down to the airplane. We asked the flight attendant if there were any empty seats. She was VERY nice and went out of her way to help us. She even helped carry the carseat to our seats. It was nice to have some kindness shown toward us after the other lady was so rude.

Our first flight was late in leaving. Once we landed in Dallas, we had to hit the ground running to make our next flight. We were some of the very last to board, but we made it.

We arrived safetly in Tampa, picked up our rental car, and headed to the hotel.

We were in our hotel room when around 1 am we heard a car screech and several loud thumps. We looked out the window and saw a very damaged red minivan swerving through the parking lot at high speed. We were so afraid that it was going to hit our rental car! A minute later, a black mustang, which was also damaged went racing through the parking lot. I went outside to see what had happened.

Apparently two women had invited a man into there room (who knows where they met him). They said that they didn't know him. A lady knocked on there door and said, "I know my husband is in there!" She punched the lady who answered the door. Then she took her van and rammed it into her husband's car. She hit it so hard that it slammed into the truck next to it, which slammed into the van next to it. He took off too. I don't know if the police ever caught them or not. I sure hope so. We didn't sleep well the rest of the night. We're so thankful that they did not hit our rental car though!

Today we checked into the Ronald McDonald House. It is very nice! I'll write more about it later.

Sierra's Story with News 8 Austin

Last Sunday we had an interview with News 8 Austin. It was really neat because that was the first source of media to actually contact us without us having contacted them first. They heard about Sierra from some other stories and asked if they could come out and do a story on her.

If you scroll half way down the page and click "play" the video will come up.
http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&ArID=241973

News Story

Here is the latest news story that KWTX did on Sierra. Stephanie Franks has done a great job with all three interviews!

Tomorrow we have an interview with a tv station out of Austin.

Safari Park!!!

Okay, I know it was a while back that I said I would put pictures up from the Sarafi Park. Well, here they are. This was one of the most fun things we have ever done. It was definitely worth going to see!







Below is a picture of one of the most popular exhibits. She almost stole the show from the animals. We considered asking the Safari Park how much they would give us to put her on display.


Below, Sierra is with one of the animal exhibits. DOGS! Only in China would you see dogs in the zoo.



Hehehehe......everyone in China was amazed by Sierra's hair. Everyone including the animals.


See this cute little guy? It is called a Red Panda or Lesser Panda. It didn't look like a panda at all. It looked more like a red raccoon. We were able to pet and feed the Red Pandas. They were so cute!





This is a Lemur. They were not as sociable as the red pandas but we were able to pet and feed them as well.

That is an elephant walking down the street. For 100 yuan (about $12.70 USD), you could have an elephant ride. It looked like lots of fun, but we didn't feel like spending that much at the time.


But, we did feed the elephants. I thought he would take the carrot off of the stick with his trunk, but as soon as he saw it he opened his mouth up wide.


It is somewhat hard to see with the lighting, but Sierra and I are sitting next to a monkey. She has her hand on it's head.

TIGERS!!!!

Okay this was the most fun of all! There was a tiger pen. See that cage in front of the tiger? The tiger was not in that cage---we were! They had a little truck with a cage on the back. We got in the cage and the truck drove into the tiger pen. There were dead chickens tied to the sides of the truck. The tigers came up and ate the chickens off of it. We were about 2 feet away from these tigers and we even got to reach out and touch their paws. Below are some video clips from in the tiger pen.

Heading Home

The safari park we went to on Saturday was tons of fun! It was like nothing in the US. I will write about it and put up pictures from it after we get home.

Speaking of home, today we are heading home! YAY! We've had a great time here but no matter where you roam, there is no place like home.

Counting Down

Sierra is doing much better. She just had that one rough day but the next day she was fine.

She is continuing to improve in her sitting, which is very impressive.

We have enjoyed our time here but are very ready to go home. We will be flying out on Monday, May 4th.

Prayer Request

Sierra isn't feeling too well. She started spitting up yesterday morning. She was fussy all night. Today she started spitting up and vomitting. They went ahead and started giving her fluids so that she won't get deyhdrated. Please keep her in your prayers and pray that whatever she has will pass quickly and that she will not get worse.

Disappointment

Today was rather disappointing. They were going to do a lumbar puncture on Sierra. The doctor tried but was unable to because Sierra's spine is so curved. He had the head doctor try and he also was unable to do it. They said that in children so young, there is a very small area in which you can try. They didn't want to try too many areas because they wanted to err on the side of safety and not risk hitting a nerve. They said that if we ever bring Sierra back when she is a older they would have a better chance of doing the lumbar punctures.

We were very disappointed that they were not able to do the lumbar puncture since it would be more effective than the IV, but the doctors here are so good and we trust their judgment. When they brought Sierra out after the two lumbar puncture attempts I expected her to be all upset. She wasn't. She was lying there peacefully with her eyes wide open and listening to everything. I'm glad it wasn't traumatic for her.

They are going to give the last two treatments to her by IV. The good thing is that since we have already begun seeing a few results (sitting and standing) it looks like the stem cell treatments will continue to help her improve.

Overall, we are very disappointed but know that it is in the Lord's hands. We are grateful for the wonderful doctors here and continue to trust God with Sierra's life and whatever improvements He allows her to have.

A Whole New World

We try to get out of the hospital almost every day except for the days that Sierra gets her stem cell treatments. About once a week we take a driver. That can get expensive though so the other days we usually just go on a walk. The first week and a half that we were here, going to the RT Mart was fascinating. It soon became about as exciting as a trip to Wal-Mart. We also walked down another street that has the Papa Johns and the People's Square.

Yesterday, we decided to take a different route. Instead of going south towards RT Mart or south east toward Papa Johns, we went north. Our walk started out about like all the others. Then we came upon a side street that had some shops. Being eager to explore, we turned down that street. It was a rather narrow street that was full of life.

It was bustling with people, coming and going. The sides of the streets were lined with people selling just about anything you could imagine. There was lots of produce. There were watermelons, pineapples, honey dew melons, apples, oranges, corn, green beans, snap peas, peanuts, etc. The produce looked fresh (not the wilted stuff you buy at Wal-Mart....I plan on going back and buying some once we use up the stuff we already have.)

Some other sights we beheld were people sitting around tables playing games, a baby riding in a basket tied to an elderly lady's back, a scrawny dog looking for scraps, and lots and lots of scooters and bicycles. There were also cars going down the street tooting their horns to clear the way. At one point, there was a traffic jam. There were two cars going opposite directions with hardly any room to pass. They sat there as if they were playing chicken for the longest time. A man dressed in a suit was on a scooter behind one of the cars. He was NOT happy. I'm not sure exactly what he was upset about but he went on and on making his displeasure clear to all. Finally the cars decided to squeeze by each other. There was about 2 inches between their mirrors and I am not exagerating.

In addition to all the produce, there were bakeries and electronic stores. There were a few stores where women were making shoes. We were the only caucasions on the street. This was by no means one of the touristy markets where we had been before. It was enthralling. Many people smiled at us. I was pleased that no one seemed to mind having their picture taken. I think they felt like a celebrity. One man was fascinated with us and our picture taking that he was holding his hands up like he had a camera and showing me what to take pictures of. He was thrilled when I would take the picture he wanted and then show it to him.

Of course the people, like everywhere else, had to get a good look at Sierra and exclaim about this "Waa Waa" (baby). One lady tried to lift her clear out of her stroller. Luckily Sierra was strapped in. One man with produce pointed at his bananas and said, "banana." I'm guessing that was about the only English word that he knew so he was putting it to good use trying to sell us a banana. We didn't buy the banana but we did buy two big pieces of pineapple on sticks. They were about 1/4 of a small pineapple. They were deliciously sweet and cost about $.25 each.

As we continued down the street we saw a covered market area off to our right. We ventured in. These vendors sold FRESH fish and meats. So fresh that most of it was not dead yet. There were cages filled with ducks and chickens and tubs of water with fish, turtles, and eels. At the booths with ducks and chickens there were men in the process of killing and plucking the birds. Then they would set them up on the table to sell. Or if that wasn't fresh enough, you could just buy the live bird and take it home to butcher yourself. One man I saw walked out of the market carying a plastic bag with two live ducks poking their heads out of it and enjoying their last ride. If you didn't want the whole chicken, there was a pile of chicken legs on the table that you could purchase. Yum! Yum! (Oh since I am on the subject of chicken legs, the little convenience stores have an isle of snacks. You know how you can buy a pickle in a bag at a gas station in the US? Well here you can buy a pickled chicken leg in a bag!)

In the covered meat market, there was a man who had 4 dogs! Unlike the scrawny starving mongrels we've seen roaming the streets, these dogs were well fed. He had two German Shepherds and two Collies. You could tell that he really loved his dogs because they were well taken care of, well fed, and seemed happy. That was an unusual sight.

We exited the meat market and continued down our street. It wound around and ended up on one of the main streets. It was almost like a hidden little world in there. You had to know where it was (or like us stumble upon it) to get there. It was very fascinating and we felt like we got a much better picture of what China is really like rather than just the touristy stuff. We are eager to do more exploring and find some other streets like this.

The Blog

As you may have noticed, I've spent the last few days bringing both this blog and my blog into the 21st Century. The top feature on the right is the date and time currently in China for your reference.

Next is a link that says "Tweet this". This is a shameless plug asking you to promote the blogg on your twitter account.

Below that are the subscription boxes - one for subscribing by email and the other for subscribing using an RSS feed.


The rest are pretty standard widgets that have either been there or don't need further explanation. Also, check out my personal blog at http://jasonjfedelem.blogspot.com/.