Katie and Chloe - Day 1

We're All Back Home

After leaving Guangzhou on Wednesday, we took the train to Hong Kong. We arrived late, but from what we could see, the city looked really nice. We were only spending one night there though until we came home. We checked into the hotel and quickly went to bed. Katie decided that she would like to get up that morning at 3:30. She stayed up until 6 when our alarm was set for 6:30. Needless to say, we started our very long day early!

Our flight from China to San Francisco went pretty well. Katie cried a few times, but she stopped very quickly. It was such a long flight though. It was even longer when we had over an hour of turbulence. With very little sleep on top of the turbulence, we weren't feeling the greatest by the end of the flight.

In San Francisco, Katie officially became a U.S. citizen after going through the immigration line.  We quickly got onto our next plane to come home. By this time, we were all tired - especially Katie. She had a tough time on that flight, but did much better when I walked with her up and down the aisle of the plane.

Once we got home, we had some nice surprises. First, Katie didn't mind her first trip of her life in the car seat. She just quietly fell asleep. Second, when we returned home, Jennifer's friend, Michele, had nicely decorated the outside of the house to welcome us home and had made dinners for us to last us at least a week. (Can't thank you enough, Michele!)  Third, my cousin had finished decorating the nursery for me. Thank you Garyldine!  Fourth, I had a gift box waiting for Katie from my older sister, Debby! Thank you for your generosity, Debby! Finally, Katie got to meet the pets. We were so happy to see that she immediately loved Bingle and Chloe.  In fact, she was so happy with them that we wondered if she had possibly been around pets before. I can't imagine it though. We thought that Chloe's barking would scare her, but the barking makes her laugh every time she hears it - even if she's in the middle of crying!

Now, we're all working to re-adjust to the time change. Jet lag isn't a whole lot of fun, but at least when we're wide awake from about 9:00 p.m to 1:00 a.m., we all have company to talk to!  Hopefully, our internal clocks will adjust soon.

We're all very grateful for the experience! First of all, we were glad to finally meet Katie. On top of that, we met so many nice people in our adoption group, and so many wonderful people in China. Finally, we were so grateful for those of you who followed our story and offered your comments. It was nice to get a piece of home through your messages while we were so far away!

Last Full Day in Guangzhou

Year of the Tiger Carving

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll be taking a train to Hong Kong.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to a park in Guangzhou. We expected that it would be like the park in Nanchang, but it was more like a flower garden. It was beautiful and relaxing there. We were so glad that we went.

This morning, I had my appointment with the American Consulate to finalize the adoption papers for Katie. All the babies dressed up in nice dresses for the appointment. Katie got a lot of compliments in her dress. She was in a cute ladybug dress that my cousin is responsible for. Thanks, Garyldine! We were not allowed to take pictures in the Consulate, but we said a pledge that we were honest inall of our paperwork and then it was just a matter of signing the final form. We are also waiting for the Consulate to get Katie's Visa. It will be ready tomorrow. We tried to get a cute picture of Katie in her dress. She was very distracted by the ladybug appliqués on the dress however, so a lot of the pictures have Katie pulling her dress up to get a closer view of the bugs!

This afternoon, we went on a walking tour through a traditional Chinese medical and food market. I wanted to bring dried seahorses and live scorpions home for everyone, but I didn't think I had enough room in my suitcase! Our tour ended at the Pearl Market, where I bought Katie a string of pearls for when she was older.

Tastes like chicken

After the tour, we had the choice to wait 15 minutes to take a bus back to our hotel or to walk back. We decided to walk back. Unfortunately, we missed one turn and ended up walking a couple of extra miles. Oh well...more of China for us to see.

Mattel Playroom

Chen Family Temple and Red Couch Photo

THE BARBIE ARRIVED!

Today we went to visit the Chen Family Temple. It's not a religious temple but a place for the Chen family to practice arts and education. We saw a lot of beautiful carvings from all materials, including jade, porcelain, bone, and wood. The day started out with a pouring rain storm and when we reached the temple the humidity was overwhelming. Even a member of our group from Florida thought it was oppressing. Even if we were just standing, we were sweating. While we were there, Katie met a new Chinese friend who made her happy by fanning her and singing her lullabies. When we returned, we had to get ready for the red couch photo. That's a tradition for families adopting from China. The parents put the babies on the red couch to have a picture taken together. Poor Katie was squished in the corner so we're not sure if I'll be able to see her face. She was doing fine until she got an elbow to the nose. The tears started then, but she had lots of crying company. She's now recovering with a much-needed nap. Nobody puts Katie in the corner... After a hard day

Guangzhou

We made the flight to Guangzhou without any problems. Katie slept through the whole flight from take off to landing. I am finding that she sleeps whenever she's in motion, whether it's the bus, stroller, or plane.

Yesterday, Katie passed her medical exam. The final step is the American Consulate then the paperwork is over and we can focus on coming home.

Guangzhou is very different from Nanchang, especially with cars that obey the traffic rules. We tried Lucy's last night. The menu is similar to an American restaurant but isn't quite the same taste.

The White Swan doesn't have wi-fi so we are currently out in the pool area where there was a network available so updates may be a little less frequent if I don't feel like typing in the rain.

Marci with Michael, our guide

Nanchang Park

Today's sightseeing adventure was to go to a public park in Nanchang. We really wanted to find the large group of people doing Tai-Chi in the park, but we must have turned the wrong direction. We did see a couple of Chinese women dancing in the park and an older man exercising. They looked so graceful! I wish I could be that way, but I'm still bumping into things as I cross the room! The park was really pretty, but it's 92 degrees and very humid today. We were sweating with each step! It sounds like weather here is a lot different than the weather at home right now!

After the park, we went to another famous Chinese restaurant here. I was adventurous and moved beyond the fried rice. This time I tried an eggplant dish, a lotus flower dish, some Chinese noodles, and some green beans. They were all really good. I'm not as adventurous as some, but I'm getting a little braver!

Unlike the first few days with her, Katie is really learning to entertain herself. She has discovered that she has two hands that work together, and she giggles every time she clasps her hands. A lot of the orphans also have really weak upper body strength. When we first met Katie, she couldn't sit up by herself, and she has gotten pretty proficient with her sitting. She only falls over every 2 minutes or so instead of every 2 seconds. She has a book that she loves too. If anyone is looking for an engaging book, Katie highly recommends Peek-a-Boo Forest!

Katie is getting her first tooth. That explains the excessive drool!

Paperwork tomorrow followed by a late trip to Guangzhou.

Sightseeing

Today we went to the Teng Wang Ge pagoda in Nanchang. It is one of China's four pagodas, and it dates back to 1363. We took an elevator to the top of the pagoda, which was six stories high, and then we were able to walk down the stairs and see the rest of it. It's amazing to think about how the people in that day and age were able to build something like it. It was beautiful. We especially liked seeing all of the bonsai trees out side.

As we were walking on the outside grounds, I got a lot of Chinese visitors. Americans, in general, get a lot of looks from the Chinese people. Michael told us that a lot of places we go to are tourist spots, and a lot of the people there are from rural China. They always are curious about the people visiting. In addition to the common curiosity, I have to wear a paper around my neck. The paper has the Chinese story of what I am doing here. When the Chinese people see the note, many of them come up to me to read it and to visit Katie. They are all so friendly and wish both Katie and me the best in their broken English or with the thumbs up signal.

Katie continues to change each day. We are seeing her develop the skills that we didn't originally see only a few days ago. We see more smiles, and we hear more talking and giggling each day!

Walmart China

After filling out the final paperwork to get Katie's passport yesterday, we headed for Walmart China to do some shopping. Just like at home, I was exhausted when I walked out of Walmart! Unlike being home, Walmart here has some very unique shopping choices. A lot of current China fashion would fit in with America, but there were a few interesting t-shirts to choose from that wouldn't be very common there. In the food section, we smelled some smells that we didn't think we had ever smelled before. We could have picked up some live turtles, toads, or eels for dinner, but we chose not to.

Speaking of food, the other night we were hungry and didn't want to take Katie to a restaurant, so my mom ordered room service for us. She called and ordered three servings of fried rice. (Yes, we're still being very brave with our food choices!) Jennifer and I heard the lady on the other end repeat the order. Between my mom and the lady, the order was said at least six times. Finally, someone came to our room with our dinner and started to get our food out. Curiously, the fried rice looked just like french fries and ketchup! We ate the sort of warm french fries as we dreamed of fried rice. We found out the next morning that a man in our group had been eating in the restaurant that same night. He had ordered french fries and was served fried rice! It was funny.

Katie gets happier every day. Both Katie and I have colds, but my mom and Jennifer are still holding in there! Think good health!

I appreciate all of the comments you are leaving on the blog! I am reading them every day. I just haven't had the chance to respond with my business, but they mean a lot to me!

At the Notary in China

A Chinese Baby Stroller

Laundry Line on a City Street


Praying to the Pants God

My First Full Day

I didn't write much about "Gotcha Day" yesterday, so I'll start there today. We flew into Nanchang early in the day. It is a lot different from Beijing. A lot more bicycles, a lot crazier traffic including more horns, a lot more poorer areas. Traffic is interesting in China. I think I have figured out that if you want to do anything when you're driving, you just honk and do whatever you wanted to do whether or not there is a car, bus, bicyclist, pedestrian or anything else. I'm really surprised there aren't more accidents. For as crazy as we thought the traffic was in Beijing was, the traffic in Nanchang is ten times crazier.
Our guide told us that the babies would be brought to the hotel by the orphanage director and nannies at about 3:30, and they would be brought to our rooms. At 3:15 the phone rang, and it was my guide, Michael, telling us to come and meet the babies at the elevators. Very quickly, I was handed Katie. At first, she was quiet and just seemed curious about me. Then the crying started. A lot of orphans go through a grieving process, where they grieve for the sights, sounds, and smells that they are used to in their every day lives. It's actually a good sign when the babies go through this process, but it is not always easy to go through it with them. She cried and cried. It helped when Michael came in and talked to her in Chinese and played with her for awhile. I also discovered that it made her very happy to look at herself in the mirror. I even got a few smiles and giggles out of her by letting her look in the mirror. Jennifer also helped calm her down with her iPad. She has an app on there for cats, where the cats can chase butterflies and fish and other things. Katie found it pretty entertaining for awhile.
I had to go fill out paperwork with Michael at night, so my mom watched Katie. By the time I came back to the room, Katie had calmed down a lot and had even played. The Grandma magic had worked.
I expected Katie to continue crying today. Michael said that the first three and four days can be hard. She slept all through the night though except for waking up for a very short period because she was cold, and she woke up pretty happy today.
We had to go early today to formalize the adoption with the Chinese Government. Michael had told us to make sure to pack a bottle since we would be there for awhile. I was so organized. I pre-packed the formula and rice cereal, and I got the inserts for the bottles. It wasn't until I was on the bus headed for my appointment, that I realized I forgot the bottle itself! I felt pretty bad, especially when we got to the office and it was so hot and humid inside. All the other babies had bottles to soothe them, but not mine. Luckily, she had eaten right before we left, but still, I didn't win any parent awards for that!
Once we were done there, we were free for the afternoon. We had a good afternoon. One funny habit that Katie has is to wipe her own tears off as soon as she cries by moving her head very quickly side-to-side on my shirt. Unfortunately, she does the same thing with any snot too. I'm already used to it though and have learned to try to beat her to the job. It was pretty funny though when I finally plopped Katie in Jennifer's lap today, and one of the first things Katie did was to wipe her nose all over Jennifer's shirt.

Tomorrow we're off to explore the China Wal-Mart. I hear it's an adventure!

Gotcha Day

I'm too exhausted to go through all the ins and outs of today so will say it with pictures as soon as I can. I'll write more when I have time.

Touring Beijing

It was a very busy day today! After being up for 25 hours yesterday, we were told to meet our group down in the lobby at 8:00 a.m. this morning. We went to bed, and Jennifer and I woke up with a knocking at our door. Our mom told us that it was time to be in the lobby and wondered why we weren't ready. It took me a minute to realize it was still dark outside. Jennifer told her that it wasn't 8:00 a.m. yet, but my mom was sure it was. Our clocks said it was 10:45. After checking the computer to see that it was indeed only 10:45 P.M., my mom went back to her room for a few more hours of sleep! Traveling across the world does something to your internal clock! It gave all of us a good laugh though, and my mom realized later that she had dreamed looking at the clock that said 8:00.

So when 8:00 a.m. actually came, we went with our group to Tiananmen Square followed by The Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square went pretty quickly, but The Forbidden City took a long time! The hardest part of that tour were the waiting parts, where we had to wait for tickets, wait for our group members, etc. It's easier to be walking the entire time, but the buildings were beautiful and intricate.

After those tours, we headed to The Great Wall of China. On the way there, we stopped for an authentic Chinese meal. There was quite a bit to choose from, but I stuck with dumplings and rice. They were both good and it gave us a chance to get to know our fellow travelers better.

Finally we made it to The Great Wall. We were told that people who make it to the top of the Great Wall are considered heroes. Jennifer and I hiked up. We don't know if we actually made it to what they considered the top, but we're just going to pretend were heroes anyway.

On the way back to the hotel, we drove through the Olympic Village from the Beijing Olympics. It was fun to see some of the buildings in person that we saw during the Olympics.

Tomorrow is the big day! We'll be leaving for the airport at 5:00 a.m. Then we'll have a 2 hour flight to Nanchang and meet Katie at 3:30 p.m.!

Our Beijing Arrival

After a lot of last minute packing, our 16 hour journey which turned into 18 hours, is finally complete and we are safely in Beijing. It was interesting going to our first Chinese market where neither of us spoke the other's language but somehow we walked out with what we needed, leaving the raw tongue and meats behind.

.