Looking for our Adoption Info???

I have closed the original two blogs for the adoptions and have consolidated all the information here.

So if you are looking for information on D's adoption from China, you can find it by either searching under the "D", "adoption" or "China travel" labels.

To help you narrow it down...

Information about the process can be found in February, March and April 2007

Information about our trip to China can be found under May 2007

So if you are looking for information on K's adoption from Ethiopia, you can find it by either searching under the "K", "adoption" or "Ethiopia travel" labels.

To help you narrow it down...

Information about the process can be found in May and June 2008 (including our pre-adoption trip to Amsterdam)

Information about our trip to Ethiopia can be found under July 2008

I can't believe it's almost over

This is going to be our last post from China. We are almost finished packing the luggage (and all our "treasures"- we had to buy another suitcase to get them all home) and are about to close the computer and cram it into our already full carry ons.

Today was a busy day. We started the day at the 6 Banyan Tree Buddist Temple. It was a peaceful oasis in the middle of the busy city. They did a Buddist blessing of the babies which was pretty cool, although we have no idea what was said during the blessing. Afterwards we came back for more shopping and lunch.

The big event was issuing the visa and taking the oath at the US consulate. There were about 50 families with us (from many different agencies). One at a time each family had to go up to the window and they looked at copies of our passports and D's passport and determined we were the people on the passports. Then we waited while they checked everyone else. After everyone's identity was verified, we all stood and took the oath that everything we said on our paperwork was true. Then they issued the visa and immigration packet to us. It was a surprisingly emotional moment. So we now have yet another packet of paperwork that we can't lose (or even open) before we get to the US. It is in a sealed envelope and is to be opened only by the immigration officer. i wish we could have taken pictures during the event- but camera (and every other electrnic device) are banned by the government (the US government just to be clear)

The kids ended our trip with more food from Danny's Bagels. D really loves mac and cheese!!! That's my girl.

Our flight is scheduled to arrive home at 9pm- Hopefully we will see some of you there or in the near future.

Well, this has been a most amazing journey and while I am ready to come home, I am sad to see it end. China is a truly amazing place. Our next post will be from HOME!!!!! We hope you enjoyed following our journey and check back as we will continue to update as we work with the cleft team at the hospital and throughout D's surgery process.

Red Couch and Squeaky shoes

We really aren't doing much here, which is actually kind of relaxing. Our day started out with B. going to the "Paperwork meeting" to ensure that all the USCIS paperwork is filled out and filled out correctly.

Yesterday we went to the Pearl and Jade Market here in Guangzhou. For those of you who are waiting to travel and are interested in jade pieces- prices are better at the jade market, but they have very few things beyond jewelery. At the Beijing jade factory they had statues and incense burners and bowls etc as well as jewelery. I would get those in Beijing, but wait to get jewelery until GZ. This is where we got our first real taste of haggling. The shopkeeper would put a price in the calculator, I would clear it and put in another price, they would clear it and offer another price and so on until you agree or you walk away. I thought I was going to hate it- but it actually was alot of fun. I was able to get several pieces for good prices.

For dinner, we ordered Danny's Bagels, which is an Italian restaurant in GZ. The food is pretty good, western and they deliver to the hotel. The kids were so excited they want to order every night we are here. D had her first mac and cheese and ate like a piggy. She seemed fine so we are thinking her "tummy problem" the first night after the ice cream wasn't really a tummy problem but a stress reaction from all the changes.

Today was finalizing our arrangements to leave for home and then we had the famous red couch photo. There is a red couch at the hotel the every travel group uses to pose a picture of the babies. You can only imagine how easy it is to get a bunch of babies ever looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling. But it wasn't as bad as I had feared thanks to a bag of Cheerios that our guide Phoebe brought with her for baby distraction. After that it was time for SHOPPING SHOPPING SHOPPING!!!! We have been buying all kinds of stuff- I may have to buy a suitcase to haul it all home in. X. got his first pair of squeaky shoes which he loved. We finally had to take them away so he would go to bed

we made it to Guangzhou (at midnight)

We left Xi'an on Friday. So let me set the scene. It is 5 pm and we leave for the airport- the kids haven't really napped because we had a late lunch with the other family. We get to the airport, check in and find our gate. To get on the plane we have to get on a bus, drive out the the airplane on the tarmac, and walk up the steps into the plane. We have 3 kids, 7 carryons (one with our paperwork that we can't put in our luggage just in case), 2 strollers and a car seat- all that has to get on the bus and up into the plane in a crowd of people. We don't know exactly when we are going to be getting on the bus so I can't start to feed D (cause once she has the bottle there is NOTHING that can get it away from her), there is no place to eat for the boys AND then the flight was an hour late. OF course, speaking no Mandarin made it hard to find out what was going on so we just had to wait in the gate until the plane boarded. I realize that the agency scheduled our flight out late in the day to ensure that D's passport was finished- they weren't sure if it would be finished before the end of business on Friday. But who schedules a flight for 3 kids under 7 at dinner time???? We didn't get to Guangzhou until 11 and didn't get to the hotel until 12:15- ugh!!!!

Guangzhou (or at least Shamain Island where the hotel is) is so totally different that anywehere else we have been - There are few cars and the island has a European restort feel to it. I like the slower pace, but am glad we got to see other parts of China as well. Plus there are American families with Chinese kids everywhere- it is kind of an amazing sight. All these little ones and their new families. On Saturday, D had her visa photo taken and her immigration medical exam. Both were fairly quick and easy- although D didn't like the medical exam. It is nice to be in a group with other families also. We had a group dinner at a Chinese restaurant and it was some of the best food we had. the kids were excited to get rice again. In Xi'an they don't eat rice as it is too dry in the area to grow it. Dumplings are a mainstay there and the kids aren't big fans of dumplings. They were very excited to see fried rice on the table.

Nothing too exciting

Our last few days in Xi'an have been spent mostly hanging around the pool and hotel. We have seen most of the famous sights and quite frankly, the kids need a break. McDonald's continues to be a favorite spot for food for them. B. and I went to the grocery store without our guide yesterday and managed with no problems. Afterwards, we took advantage of the fact that the boys were with Grandma and Grandpa to run a get a couple more "treasures" (as the boys call them) to bring home. I had seen a tea pot in a store in the Muslim quarter the night before and inquired about the price. The shopkeeper said something in Chinese and a guide that was in the store said "800". I decided not to get it, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted it so B. and I went back to get it during the day. There was a different shopkeeper there and she quoted the price as 600 so I was able to get the that one and another set for 700 (what I was planning to pay for the first one.) Now I am not sure why the price changed but I am begining to think that the guides get a cut of whatever we buy and the additional 200 would have gone to the guide who happened to be in the store. Often after we make a purchase Kaige has to go back to the store for some reason.... I am not sure I care that they get a cut- it is just rather interesting. My bigger frustration is with the act of haggling- I don't particularly enjoy it and am one of those people that either I want it or I don't and in many of the exchanges we have done we are talking about haggling over 100-200 yuan which is like 20 dollars- so it is not a big amount of money anyway. I guess if I was buying something more expensive I would be more motivated. It is part of the culture though and when in Rome...

We took D to the pool for the first time and little Miss I hate the bathtub LOVED the pool. We are hoping to get back today before we leave. The pool here is a heated indoor pool that is in a solarium type room. Yesterday the outside temp was in the mid 90s so the sun beating through the windows in the roof made the pool area easily 120 degrees (the tiles on the floor were too hot to walk on barefoot) and the pool was hot tub warm which is probably why the kids loved it. It is supposed to be cloudy today so hopefully that will keep the heat down alittle

Our agency had another family arrive yesterday. They are fabulous people. I had talked to the mom a couple of times via phone or email. Their daughter and D were roommates at the orphanage and we have lots of photos of them together from their lives there. The girls seem to recognize each other, but weren't overly excited to see each other (but what did we expect- they are babies) The other family lives outside of Chicago so we hopefully we be able to get together occasionally to keep the girls in contact with each other. I kind of wish we weren't leaving today cause the trip would have been much more fun with another family

We got all of D's finalized paperwork yesterday including her passport so later today we are on our way to Guangzhou- our last stop before finally being able to come home. We are ready to get home. D seems to be getting sick, she coughs and cries all night long but seems fine during the day (other than being over tired) and there is nothing that seems to really help her. I gave her half a dose of cough medicine last night and she coughed less, but cried more so the net gain in terms of sleep was zero (although she seemed more comfortable)

Our next post will be from Guangzhou

More sightseeing

Monday was another on our own day so we walked down to this park about 5 minutes from our hotel. There is a little playground with little carnival rides. The kids really enjoyed the park. -although at several points I realized that we had a crowd of people around us watching the Western children play. We have also gotten several comments of surprise about having 3 kids. It makes me appreciate that we have the ability to have more than one child without risk or penalty. D wasn't as thrilled to try anything out at the park as the only place she wanted to be was on my lap. She did take her first Merry go Round ride and she enjoyed it for about the first half- then she wanted picked up and held. In the evening we went on a quest to find more of the asthma medicine the orphanage had been giving D but it appears to have been imported by a foreign doctor who was working at the orphanage so we are still trying to figure out how to get more. We aren't sure that she really needs it- but until we have her examined and diagnosed at home we don't want to take any chances. We went to dinner afterwards and as always the kids' favorite part was the ice cream at the end.

Tuesday we visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a Buddist temple. The boys continue to be photographed frequently by people at the tourist attractions. While we get looks and stares everywhere we go, the only place people want to photograph the kids is at tourist sites. We think that many of the Chinese there are tourists from parts of China that Westerners don't go to. It is possible that some Chinese have never seen a Westerner except on TV- and there are very few Western children here that we have seen (especially young ones) which makes the boys even more interesting. The Pagoda was pretty interesting but the kids really wanted to see the dancing fountain in the park out front. Unfortunately, the schedule of the fountain show has changed and now they are doing it at night so we may try to go back on night before we leave. B. and Kaige had to go to the notary office this afternoon as there were some typos on our paperwork that needed fixed. We are still hoping to get her passport on Thursday, although as long as we have it by Friday before we leave for the airport we are okay. We took the kids to a dinner theater show about the Tang Dynasty. It was pretty cool, but they are all getting very tired of not being home so they did not enjoy it as much as we thought they would.

D did better toady- she actually rode in the stroller (okay fell asleep in the stroller) which gave my arms and back a nice break and she let me leave the room a couple of times to see what her brothers were doing in the other room. Of course, B. wasn't there so I don't know if that helped her feel more comfortable. She was a little more interactive and smiled a couple of times today.

the Velcro Baby Cometh

Sorry it has been 2 days since I posted but D has become quite the velcro baby. I can't put her down or get more than 6 inches from her without her having a total meltdown. This makes typing (along with everything else) rather challenging. It is really a good sign that she has begun bonding with me but it is challenging nonetheless. She became so upset yesterday when I went to take a shower that she cried until she threw up. We will work through it- it will take some time.

On Saturday, Kaige had some work things to do so we ventured out without her. We went to the Bell and Drum Towers and were able to tour them. While we were waiting on the street for Grandma and Grandpa we had many Chinese women come up to fuss over the boys. One began to talk to D (who was facing away from her) and when D turned to look at her the woman was shocked to see she was Chinese. We were finally able to explain we are adopting her and will take her back to America with us. Everyone is so nice and despite the fact we don't know a word of Mandarin they are very patient with us while we muddle through. We had lunch at McDonald's which was the high point of the kids' day. For dinner, Kaige took us to a dumpling restaruant, which was not the high point of the kids' day (they ended up having peanut butter and crackers in the room) After dinner, we walked down the Muslim street, which was full of culinary delights that we were not nearly brave enough to try. I was able to get 2 tradiitonal teapots, one for us and one to save for D. I love walking out at night- the city is so alive but, except for maybe a pickpocket or two, very safe for us. There is a real sense of community here- I wish our neighborhood was like that.

On Sunday, we went to the Provincal museum to see artifacts dating back thousands of years. Then we went for a walk on the old city wall. The Xi'an City wall dates back to the first emporers and is the best preserved city wall in China. It really is kind of cool. It is much wider than the Great Wall and we were about the only people walking on it (of course that might be becasue it was 95 degreres and sunny) We walked along on side ot the wall before getting too hot and heading back to the hotel and pool.

Hopefully, we will getting our forms back from the notary today and we will be close to receiving her passport. While we are having a nice time and learning about China and this area- we are ready to head to Guangzhou and then home.

Terra Cotta Warriors

Today was our first day in a while with no adoption formalities so we went out to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. They are pretty amazing, although I am not sure that X. and D really "got it"- they did like to look at the Terra Cotta Horses however. After we saw the Warriors, we went to the Masoleum of the First Qin Emporer. The kids continue to attract attention where ever they go- they are still being good sports about getting their photos taken with complete strangers.
At the top of the masoleum is a open area from which you can view the surrounding countryside- and have a snack. D gets her first taste of ice cream- which she loved!!!- Although she had a rough night so hopefully she is not lactose intolerant. We will be forgoing any more ice cream until we can get that checked out at home.
Some of the translated signs are rather funny- including the tourist center of the parking lot!