Back to Civil Affairs Office for Interviews Today.

Today has come so far. I can tell you how brave and wonderful our little Katie Grace Xi Hua is. She slept in bed with us, stuck to my side, and woke up frightened because I was in the bathroom and she didn’t see me right away so she cried and put on her shoes and grabbed her purse (she loves the purse I got her) and she went to the door of the hotel room. I’m not sure if she wanted to get out of here or didn’t want me to leave her! Bless her heart. She is afraid we will leave her wherever we go, can you just imagine?

But as the day has gone on, we have played and hugged, and we have seen lots of smiles. She seems more comfortable little by little. She still wont let Jacob hold her but allows him to help her with things. She is showing her independent side. When we go walk, ;she doesn’t really want to hold hands unless she is nervous. So I have to keep very near and and eye on her or tell her that we have to hold hands for safety. She holds her purse like a big girl and everyone comments on how absolutely cute she is and how she walks along like a big girl. She is tiny by the way, 2T clothes are falling off of her.

She watches and thinks about every detail of everything. She is detail oriented. When I do something. She will remember and do it the same way. She opens things and throws away the trash. When she plays she is very organized, lining up her color crayons and toys in a line and then putting them all back and closing containers. She can eat and hold utensils and doesn’t spill.

We are enjoying every minute with her and learning about her as she opens up!

Oh, and she also started talking some today when she was playing. Up until then, she has been silent.

We returned to the Civil Affairs Office for Interviews and completed the adoption. I thought she might cry when we returned there but she marched right in and it seemed not to phase her, thank you Lord!

Gotcha Day Part 2! Back in the hotel.

Gotcha Day/Forever Family Day!

Our Gotcha Day was an unbelievable experience. Let me first say that I am keeping this somewhat brief because we have an appt to go to and I wanted to get some pics posted. We have MUCH better videos of our Gotcha moment than photos, but unfortunately, I cannot email them to my daughter to post because they are too big, and I cannot go on youtube here to have here post them from there. I will try and have Jacob drag them into imovie and shrink them. We didn’t have anyone help us to take pics or videos for us, so he had to take a video as they brought her out to us, then we took these pictures about 20 minutes later.

When they brought her out, she walked right up to us. She said Mama and Baba at Ms. Zhong’s prompting. She let me pick her up and hold her. After about a minute, she began to cry at the realization and she became hysterical. We knew this might happen with her being 3, and several other kids in the room in her age group 2 -4 years old were all screaming. We took her in another room and played for a bit with some finger puppets Jacob took out. He really got her to calm a little. She then cried and cried and our hearts broke as she left the nanny and orphanage director. Can you imagine her fear and pain?

She was beautiful and tiny. Ms. Zhong had her dressed in a dress and shoes and had a backpack with snacks an a special photo album of Xi Hua with her friends. Even pics of her as a baby that I have never seen. As we got into the car she cried and then sat quietly. We returned to the hotel and she played with some little coloring books and crayons. She cried again as our guide left, the only other Chinese person in the room.

That evening she and I, Annie, had a lot of bonding time with toys, coloring and taking walks. Jacob blew some bubbles and she liked that. She will let him help her with things but is very wary of him. She is probably not used to having men around at all. She WOULD NOT go into the crib. She screamed and held onto me like a baby kangaroo and I couldn’t peel her off. We took off the front of the crib, because it is low and you can. so it was like a little bed and tried to see if she would lay down there, but no way. She actually wanted to sleep on my chest, but I finally got her to lay next to me on our bed. She is stuck to me like glue, follows me everywhere in the room! She is so precious and we love her and we get a smile occasionally. This is amazing. She is an amazing girl.

The Great Wall.

Visiting The Great Wall is a once in a lifetime experience. I can’t imagine coming all the way to China and not having seen it. What an amazing, breathtaking sight. Due to the mist and fog in the mountain, my camera does not do the true scene justice. The view was so beautiful. The lush green mountains and the winding wall.

We actually took the cable car up to a certain section of The Wall and then continued up from there. The wall was very steep and difficult to walk up. Some people were helping very old parents up that wall like it was something they had dreamed of doing and now they finally were there at 80 +

We are so glad we did this! Oh and yes, and for my friends from work who are following along, yes, we are doing a “Hoop Step” on The Wall! That was not easy because people in China STARE at me and my blonde hair as if I am an unusual fascination. So I kept telling Jacob, “you know that idea we had about doing a photo of the Hoop on the The Wall, I just cant’ because the people won’t stop staring at me!” So we almost didn’t do it, ;but there was this little “off shoot” wall of the The Wall and not as many people were there so we did it and another post from the Hoop show. The people stared more, LOL.

Touring Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City.

Beijing has so many wonderful things to see, but it is quite smoggy. So most of our photos look like this. We first stopped in Tiananmen Square on Saturday. There were a lot of tourists on a Saturday in August!! We moved onto visiting the Forbidden City, a vast complex of historic rooms halls and courts where the Emperors of the Ming and Ching Dynasty lived and held court for many centuries. Really beautiful and fascinating! The lion you see below is made of pure jade.

Beijing Shatan Hotel.

We arrived last Thursday. This was our Hotel, the Shatan. We enjoyed our stay and the staff was excellent! Just trying to catch up with posts now that my sweet daughter, Christina has agreed to post for me from home. I am emailing everything to her and then she is posting for me! I love you Tina!!!

Beijing Fare.

We enjoy trying many foods here in China. Well I should say Jacob enjoys trying many foods and I am stick with what I think I know! We had the BEST dumplings and green tea at The Dumpling House! I could’ve eaten there everyday! I didn’t really love the night we had noodles because the bean paste the put on top of the noodles has a stale grease taste and it is served cold, but Jacob liked it. Jacob also ate the “Flavored Donkey Meat” and the “Edible Tossde Fungus” at the breakfast buffet. I had to pass on those..... but loved my colorful light breakfast.

Trying Again

Ok, so I am trying AGAIN. Now I am only sending 2 photos. If this works, I will have to post about 5 posts per day with only 2 photos per post, ugh! Oh well, if it works, alt least it works. The last email did not post the photos with it even though I made them smaller. I hope this works. These are of our Hotel in Beijing. The Shatan Hotel. We really liked it there and the staff was really helpful!

WHERE ARE WE ????

We are here and I really hope this posts. i should have taken folks advice and found an outside source to blog through as my email posts have not been sending at all. I am trying again and shrinking my photo sizes. We were in Beijing for 2 1/2 days and had a rough start. We did enjoy our Hotel and walking around Beijing. See pics. More pics to come. We did end up touring yesterday and saw many wonderful places which I will post about shortly if this post actually works. We are in Guangzhou now today and tomorrow......IS GOTCHA DAY!!!!! OR FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!! Or whatever Happy sort of day you like to call it!! We can hardly believe we will hold our little Katie Grace Xi Hua tomorrow at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LEAVING IN THE MORNING!!!

We are heading out in the morning! I will be blogging along the way as best as I can! Love y'all! Can't wait to get our cute lit' bug!!!

CAN I GET A WHAT WHAT (or a Whoot Whoot!! FOR THE PACKING WOES??!

I have packed, downsized and re-packed 3 times, and... I am about to do it again. Someone emailed me today and said she will go to China with just carry-ons. Another told me she had 2 full limit large check-in suitcases. I am somewhere in-between.

I have to have 8-10 gifts to give. A gift/donation bag for the orphanage. Clothes for Xi Hua. Some small books and toys for her to stay occupied, especially on the flight home. Medicines, mini toiletries, my small amount of clothes. Something nice to wear for court days, which means one nice pair of shoes.. this adds up!!

Ok the good news is.............. We are leaving in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are coming baby girl!!!!!

SURPRISE LITTLE LAST MINUTE UPDATE ON XI HUA THIS MORNING!

I was so happy to wake up to an update on Xi Hua from the orphanage this morning!! 2 photos and her growth. It was just what I needed to get me through this last minute packing, paper gathering, house readying, kids' activity signing up-ing, and yes, still working! I love these precious photos. She has gained a pound, yay for 24 lbs!

Email Posting Test 4

Ok, so test 3 didn't work with trying to post 4 large pics by email so
I will try 3..