Like peas in a pod!

Well everyone is adjusting great. Madeline loves the kids as she does them. Hannah and Madeline pal around all day. Hannah now has a little "sis".

Madeline is still not real sure about what she thinks of me. She has her days. I have to say that she eats more than all the kids and she is always the last one to leave the table. She actually has a very good diet. She loves vegetables.

We have taken her to my parents pool and also out on the pontoon on the lake. She loves it all!
People ask me about her personality and I tell them she is already a Bentley (Enough said).

I think I have just about caught up with the jet lag but Shannon is still having issues. It makes you feel like a zombie.

Madeline still is walking around speaking in Chinese but she has already learned some English words.

Thank you to all who have provided meals this week. They have been a real help.

Jay

Home SWEET SWEET Home

Well we finally made it. We got into Atlanta at 3pm and we were so tired and ready to be home. Thank you to John and Jennifer Herring for picking us up. I think if I had to drive to Milledgeville we would have ended up in Tennessee some where, yuck (that one was for Rusty).

We came in the door and the kids attacked us. They were kissing us and hugging and didn't want to let go. I didn't want to let them go either. It makes me think of the song "Don't know what ya got till it's gone" I missed the small things. I missed the big things. I even missed the things that usually make me mad at them.

Madeline loves the kids. Her and Hannah were together all night, having tea parties and trying on dresses. Mine and Shannon's parents were her too and we were so glad to see them.

Parents take my advice. Don't take a single minute with your kids for granted. As I sit typing this I about the soldiers that have to leave their families for very long periods of time. I don't see how they do it. God Bless them!

As I close for the night I just want to say thank you. I cant thank you all individually but you know who you are and I will get to you all. I assume I will not be able to post every night as I have been but check back every so often and we should have some updates.

Thanks for all of it.
Jay

Don't you just love airport delays...

We of course we had a neither delay in Beijing and we missed our connection in San Fransisco. The flight was not bad. Shannon and Madeline slept a good bit but Daddy was awake the whole time. I could not believe I stayed awake for 29 hours yesterday.

So we got the last hotel room available in the San Fransisco area after trying 14 hotels that were all booked. We took a short ride to the hotel. We ordered room service (finally American Food).

I watched Springer and the Home Run Derby while the girls bathed. So we decided to go to bed at 6pm...(bad idea). It is now 10:30 pm and Madeline is ready to start the day and play.

I know that children have wonderful spirits and playful hearts but her parents are like zombies from the "thriller" video. We are so jet lagged that we are just watching her eat cheerios in the dark. I am not exactly sure who typed this.

Anyway, our fight leaves in 8 hours to Atlanta. What a relief it is to be in the Good Ole USA.

Madeline is officially an American citizen!!!

Well enjoy your slumber!

Jay

PS no cute pictures, sorry!

Happy Birthday Madeline!

Well today I visited a seating factory in Guangzhou. It was very interesting to see the manufacturing process is in China. After that we had our oath ceremony at the US consulate and it went very quickly. Madeline was everywhere as the 60 other children sat quietly in their parents laps.

After we got back we cleaned up and all went to Dolche LeVita a beautiful Italian restaurant on the Island. The food was highly recommended. After a short walk we arrived at the restaurant which was very fancy but luckily we had plenty of snack to keep Madeline occupied.

We celebrated her birthday with cake back in the room. Thank you Dan, Carla and Emma for the birthday book. Thank you Mary Lynn for the doodle pad. She loves the gifts.

We are finally packing to come HOME!!! We fly out of Guangzhou tomorrow at 9:30 and we are so excited and yet dreading the flight at the same time. We miss you all so much.

Kids we will call tonight but will not be able to tomorrow at all probably, but we will be thinking of you all the way.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We will see you all very soon.

Jay, Shannon and Madeline

I Love Lucy's

Well we had a another really good day. We are truly downhill from here. Shannon met some wonderful people and has had a great time getting to know other Chinese adoptive parents. There must be 100 families here just this week alone adopting children of all ages.

We got an email from a family that has almost the identical port wine stain that Madeline has. We are not sure how she found us but God definitely had His hand in this. They have gone through laser treatments and said we could contact them anytime we wanted about questions.

As you can see from the pictures above Madeline is warming up to us nicely. I am sure when we get home she will warm up to the children, but it may take some time.

Lucy's is the place we eat just about every meal except breakfast (Starbucks). She has a very American menu and all the adoptive families flock there.

Tomorrow is Madeline's second birthday so we will try something special. We also have our swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate. I will be visiting a seating factory the first half of the day here in Guangzhou.

Thank you all for your prayers. We are so grateful for our family and friends. God definitely has blessed us. Thank you Joe for being apart of our family. You will definitely bless whoever is lucky enough to hire you in the future.

Hannah, Hayden and Camden we cant say how much we miss you and we will see you very soon.

Love

Jay, Shannon and Madeline

Food for thought...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDM36xryMHc

Here in Guangzhou they say that people will eat anything that swims in the ocean except a submarine, anything that flies in the air except a plane and anything with four legs except a table.

Right down from our hotel ia a resturant that had a showroom and you get to pick what you want to eat before you are seated. Kinda like a fresh buffet. Anyway I thought you would like to se your choices for the evening.

Great Day...

We had a very good day here in Guangzhou. We started our morning off at Starbucks with 2 caramel mocha, a blueberry muffin and a ham and cheese croissant.
We loved it! Just like home. Then we walked the streets and shopped for gifts. There was a couple getting married and we stopped to watch them for a bit. We shopped in several stores. When you walk down the street these very friendly local people walk up to you and start up a long conversation as we walk. The ask about where we are from and about our baby and how pretty and handsome we are and then they say "Oh please come my store, much discount for you and your pretty baby. Our store cost low and we have many pretty thing."

These people are marketing masters. They make you like them and feel sorry for them. We went in several stores and bought items and I made them give me Handsome American Boy discount. First customer of the day discount and the "Oh I don't need that and walk away discount".

We went to the Christian church here and it was bursting with locals. As we entered the courtyard I could hear the music director singing "How Beautiful". We sat in the very last chairs in the back because it was so full. I have to admit I was overcome with emotion and tears as I heard the whole congregation singing along with him in English. The church was so full that people flooded the hallway and the courtyard just to hear God's word. It was a Chinese/English service so there was a translator.

How awesome it was to see God's presence at work in China. People over here are so excited to share the message of Christ. It wasn't very long ago that people were severely persecuted for worshipping God. I am sure there are some places that still do. Here is a link of a short video I took in the service http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBxpo2dzUQM

We came back to our room and had peanut butter sandwiches and apples. We are now ready for a nap. It is raining very hard here as it does almost every afternoon in the tropical climate.

Karen Minton, if you read this THANK YOU so much for the videos of the kids. You don't know how much that made our day perfect. Tell Chris thank you for making the video viewing possible.

Hannah, Hayden and Camden we love you so much.

Jay, Shannon and Madeline

Better days ahead...

Well we had our first full day in Guangzhou. Everything was pretty good except I had to spend 2 Hours filling out forms for the US consulate. I was about to go "postal" on the guide. I could have filled it out while I was looking at the walls in Fuzhou.

Guangzhou is very beautiful. it reminds me of Charleston or Savannah. It is located on the Pearl River. You can see some of the night shots above. It looks like Las Vegas at night. The parks are very beautiful.

It is very funny, as we walk around town all we see is American couples with Chinese babies and children. We have met alot of people here and it is nice now not to have the stares from locals.

We had dinner tonight at a place called Lucy's. It is a place that serves American food. We were having a nice dinner until Shannon opened the Ketsup bottle and it shot out everywhere. Madeline was covered, Shannon was covered. Shannon was not very happy to say the least.

We had a really good day. We have one more day under our belt. We are going to go to church tomorrow. There is a Christian church here within walking distance.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon,

Jay, Shannon and Madeline

Medical Clinic Day

Today in Guangzhou we made a visit to the medical clinic for visa release. I would like to say it was a pleasant experience but that would be lying. Madeline did not want anyone to touch her much less do a mdial exam on her. She was screaming and kicking and trying to do anything she could do to get back to Shannon. We have to hold her down alot and she didnt like that at all. After that we were pretty spent. I went walking through the streets of Guangzhou and it is very nice. Alot of shops and street vendors line the streets.

If anyone would like an imatation of a luxury item just let me know. We have found great gifts for the kids. We are hoping Guangzhou will not be as boring as Fuzhou.

We are getting very homesick and miss family and friends. It feels a little better to have only 5 days left but we need them to fly by.

Have a wonderful day.
Jay and Shannon

Guangzhou...

The Bentley Family would like to apologize to everyone about no recent update. Please seek immediate medial attention for withdrawl symptoms. The Bentley Family is in no way obligated to post everyday. Legal action against the Bentley's will be dealt with swiftly and effectively. Any such actions should cease and desist.

Sincerely,

Ken Nugent
Bentley Family Attorney

Ok with the legal stuff out of the way I can officially give you an update. We had a very long day yesterday. We left Fuzhou about 3 pm and had a hour ride to the Fuzhou airport. We stopped by McDonalds on the way to get Madeline some fries. We sat in the airport for 3 hours but it was ok. We had our American friends with us the whole time. They were on the same flight. The flight was nice and short. Madeline did very well with her first flight. She talked to the Man next to Shannon almost the whole flight. We landed in Guangzhou about 10pm and had a hour ride to the Victory Annex Hotel. This morning we will go to the medical clinic and have Madeline checked out fro release. We will have some pictures today. We love you all.

xoxoxoxo Kisses and Hugs to Hannah, Hayden and Camden

Jay and Shannon

Nothing...

I know this will be a let down to all who have become addicted to my sharp wit and intellect but nothing happened today. We had a free day to just rest and it has been the longest day of our lives. We were almost stir crazy.

This morning we tried to brave the breakfast buffet of sliced pig tongue and frog pancreas congee.
Congee is like cooked rice and milk. Nasty!

We finished out legal documents and stared at the walls. It was raining so we couldnt do much. So we ordered Papa Johns. It wasnt as good as home but it will do. Madeline ordered for us and she ordered a 9" cheese pizza and a live goat. We ordered a large supreme and a coke.

She really enjoyed the pizza. She must have been a garbage disposal in a former life because she eats all day. She really has a strong personality. I try to talk chinese to her but all she says is kung pow chicken and stuff like that.

We did get together with the other couple here and spent a few hours with them so that was nice. We went for a walk after the rain stopped and braved the crazy traffic.

Madeline had a pretty good day only one "postal scene". Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou for our final 6 days. Guangzhou is supposed to be more western.

We miss you all and love you much. Kisses to Hannah, Hayden and Camden.

To warm your heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggdhVHuoaME
click on the above link and I bet you will smile...

American boy want to supersize?

Yes we found a Mcdonalds today and I got a double cheeseburger and 2 supersize fries.

Well let me go back to the beginning...
Today we went to a tea house in Fuzhou City. It was very small and we sat on stumps of wood at a carved wood table. It looked like something that the 7 dwarfs would have dinner at. The lady seen in the picture apparently thought we spoke chinese because she rattled on about the history of tea.

Do you know that tea doesnt grow in bags and that they dont add sugar to it!!! What the heck!
All kidding aside it was very cool to see how to make tea in China. They take tea very serious. It takes 14 steps to prepare tea. I told them it took us 3 steps. Boil water, chunk in 3 tea bags and add water and sugar. Oh yeah 4th step add ice...you should have seen the shock and horror on their face. They tried to call the Tea police but I talked my way out of it by buying 80 pounds of ginsing tea. The experience was cool but I kept looking for a packet of equal or splenda.

Next we went to the Buddha Temple of Fuzhou City. It was very beautiful and there were alot of people praying to a golden statue of a really fat dude in a diaper. The architecture was amazing and the gardens were beautiful. As we walked in they were selling liche fruit and Madeline went crazy eating them like a silly monkey in a liche tree. It was very sweet and we bought her a bunch of the small fruits. We walked around and saw all the different temples all in all it was a really great experience.

After that we went to a mall of sorts but every store sold Shushan rocks. There was 12 floors of rock stores hundreds of them. I thought to myself, I dont wanna be in the rock business. The stone is very popular. I think people sit around and stare at them because the tv shows over here are insane. I would rather stare at a rock too.

By this point Madeline was getting cranky and "showed out" so we hurried and left and went through a drive thru McDonalds. We were all so happy. Madeline had her fries, momma her chocolate shake and daddy his cheeseburger.

It was a pretty good day. Now everyone is napping. Apparently an ancient chinese secret is holding french fries while you sleep wards off evil spirits.

The Orphans...

Today we went to a beautiful park in Fuzhou City that was over 1600 years old. It was kind of like central park and six flags all mixed in one. There were beautiful trees and flowers and people everywhere just enjoying life. We walked for about an hour. People stare at us alot. I am not sure if it is because we are Americans with a Chinese baby or because of Madelines port wine stain. I just stare back and smile like a crazy person.

After the park we went to the orphanage where Madeline was abandoned. They showed us the gate where she was left and then we toured the inside. I wish they would have let me take photos inside but they said no.

It was very heart breaking to hear all the cries as we entered the building. We went up a flight of stairs and walked to the second floor where the babies were. The conditions were good and the rooms were clean. The sad part was all the babies were in their steel cribs and laying on plywood.

They did not have mattresses for any child. The babies smiled when we talked to them and some would turn in their cribs to watch us walk through the room. I met a baby girl and talked to her and she smiled a lot at me because I am handsome American boy!

I wanted to smuggle her in my backpack and take her home too. She really touched my heart. Shannon met a little boy with a cleft pallet and lip and we would smile so big at her. The would watch us through the windows as we walked from room to room.

Madeline was very sleepy and was getting restless so we left and took her back to the hotel to take a nap. I gave her an oreo and she was content watching some crazy Chinese cartoon. she fell asleep holding the oreo.

The picture above of the building with the gate is the orphanage she was left at. The woman actually left her right outside the gate.

To Hannah, Hayden and Camden...

We miss you so much...It actually hurts we miss you so bad. We just wanted to tell you we love you and are thinking about you all the time.

Hannah...I miss you laughing and your crazy dancing. I miss our kiss good night and one extra hug..

Hayden...I miss the moments first thing in the morning when it is just me and you on the couch and your good morning hug and kiss.

Camden I miss your morning bed head and your big hugs and kisses. I miss watching you play punch kick and dance boxing.

Mommy and I love you more than you can imagine.

Daddy

God is soooo good...

Well I have to tell you all that yesterday was awesome. We slept well and napped good...Madeline sleeps very well. We went to do all our paperwork yesterday and that was so good to get out of the way.

You know, God knows what we need when we need it. Yesterday when we went into the lobby we saw another couple with a Chinese baby and we spoke to them and the were from New England. This was their second trip and they were actually 2 doors down from us in the hotel. We met with them last night and had some great talks.

It was really nice to meet someone who was going through what we were. He had a personality like mine. The have 5 kids 2 that are adopted from china. We are going to breakfast with them this morning (right now it is Tues 4:55 am).

Today we are going to visit the orphanage and go to a park. I am not sure how our reactions will be. I am sure it will break us down.

Madeline like here mommy...Shannon went out of the room last night to get something and Madeline got upset and cried reaching to the closed door saying "mama"....that was huge

God you are so awesome!

We love the comments...you just do realize how much the help us.
Jay