Last Day...Last Post...Yea!!!

This is our last post from China. We leave the White Swan at 5:30am (4:30pm your time)for a long trip home. The was the nicest day we have had in China. It was about 70 degrees and beautiful. We did have a scare at the consulates office as we awaited Emma's visa. There was a computer problem and only 8 out of 55 visas came through. We were one of the lucky 8. Everyone will have to stay another day or possibly two. It has been a nightmare for our coordinator Jeane who is wonderful. There was an outside chance that more would come but there were no guarantees.
We arrive on Northwest at 7:30pm on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who sent posts and emails. It really kept us going.

Rainy day in China

Good Morning Everyone

We woke up this morning to rain and it has not stopped all day. We have been couped up in the hotel almost all day and it has been quite boring. Our guide did take us to a Jade store and a supermarket. Wal-Mart doesn't seem so bad after all. We ate dinner at our favorite place..Lucy's. Laura is shopping now despite the rain. She is a shopping machine.

Emma is coming into her own and she is eating like crazy. She cries between each bite or drink. We think she probably didn't get much to eat at her foster home. Tomorrow is our last day and we leave early Thursday morning for our long trip home.

Medical Exam Day

We had Emma's exam today and she passed! Now once we get our visa we are good to go! With clothes on and the scales bobbing, they told us she is 16.4 pounds. She and Ellie were the same weight! We think Emma is smaller..it's hard to remember. She is making strides every day. She gets the giggles when we hold her hands to stand up. She can sit up for short periods of time before she tips over..she gets a good laugh out of this too! We are enjoying how peaceful and beautiful the island is compared to Nanchang! We found a new restaurant that we hadn't eaten at on our previous visit. Getting closer to our trip home! Goodluck to the girls and boys track teams! Fire up!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Today was the first Ellie and Mommy outing. We went to the museum and then to the pearl market. The pearl market was great~we got Ellie and Emma a strand of pearls to be given later in life for a special occasion. It was amazing to watch them string the pearls and knot in between each pearl. They would talk to us as they did it..without looking down! People we were with spent tons here. I'm not a real "pearl" person, but did take advantage of it. Our guides took us to a certain store that was very reputable and would not raise the prices for Americans.

Everyone we meet thinks Emma is younger than 9 months. She still smiles and giggles a lot. Today she sat up several times for about 30 seconds before she tipped over. Today she ate noodles chopped up and bits of bananas. She is figuring out that food is good and squeals until we give her more. I'm putting eggs in her congee..she is finally figuring out the spoon. She sucks her thumb throughout the night and when she wakes she waits until we get up before she makes a sound. I'm sure this will change soon!

Tomorrow she has her medical examination. We weighed her on the scales and she is 14.5 pounds. We will see how close we are tomorrow at the exam. I think the size of her head makes it look like she is heavier than she is! :) My camera was on the wrong setting today so the cute pictures I took, didn't turn out..UGH!

Happy Easter Everyone!

We made it to Guangzhou

We finally made it to the White Swan and it is a wonderful place. We had pizza delivered and it was great. We went to a shop called Lucy's to buy a stroller and Lucy remembered us from 3 years ago. There was a picture of my buddy Tim from Louisville with Lucy in her shop. We never thought we would be back here. This place will be fun.

Emma cut her second tooth yesterday. It is amazing how she has changed in just one week. Happy Easter to everyone. We are headed to bed...

Heading out!

Well, we leave in 20 minutes for our last leg of the trip..We are excited to get to Guangdong..that is where Ellie was born. AND the shopping is great!! It is beautiful here today. The beggers are out in force today! One shoved his cup in my chest! Well, I'll post some pics real quick. HOpe everyone is doing GREAT!
Love
The four of us!..

Ready for our next stop..Guangzhou

Hi All...

We finished the next step in paperwork and we received her Chinese passport. The picture on the bus is of her new passport, you can tell she was quite excited. The province of Jinagxi is known for their handcrafted porcelain so went to a market area where the bartering began. I am not sure how people are going to get all of their purchases home.

We made our daily trip to the fast food area where I got picked for about 1000.00 yuan (about 120.00US) at McDonald's. Live and learn. We leave for Guangzhou tomorrow at noon. It will be nice to get to warmer weather. We have less than a week and we will be home..start the count down. I want ice.......

Orphanage Trip

It has been a long day for us. We went to Emma's orphanage in Heng Feng which is about a four hour bus ride from Nanchang. Emma spent most of her time in foster care and not at the orphanage. It is a new building and it seems to be very nice. We were allowed to visit the caregivers and babies. They do not have heat and that is why they are always so bundled up. They were all in baby beds and they could not move because of all of the layers of clothes and blankets. It was sad. They are all so precious we wish we could bring them all home. Again, we don't realize how lucky we are living in America.
We did get to see the place where Emma was found. The picture of the wall with two logs was where she was found. It was quite emotional!!

A day at the pagoda

We just got back from the pagoda that is right by our hotel. It was beautiful! The local people are constantly staring..it is such a site! THe pagoda was built by the prince to go "clubbing" at! The pagoda was burned down 18 times during the different dynastys and was most recently rebuilt in 1989. It was more beautiful than any we had viewed in Guangzhou.

Here are some more pictures of Emma. She gets prettier each day. We are hoping that she is strong enough to sit up before our journey home. We can tell she was never placed on her belly. A doctor checked out some of the other girls in our group last night that aren't doing so well. She told us that all our babies are malnourished..which we knew..and that they were delayed. We didn't have this with Ellie, but we know that this is normal when adopting from China. Jiangxi is a very poor province. Most adoptions come from this province due to it's poverty and high population.

Miss you all!

Tuesday night

This is a picture of Emma's foster sister. They are really cute together. They look a lot a like! They enjoy being around each other.

We ordered in pizza with most of the group tonight. I met a lady that lives in the Presidential Suite upstairs. Her husband is a big-wig with Ford Motor Co. She has had us up several times. Her place is unbelievable. They have the whole top floor to themselves. She made a call and had her assistant order the pizza for us and then her driver to go pick it up. She is really nice and she told me that we can see American Idol tomorrow..one day late! I'm so excited!

I'm really wanting news about the track meet!! Please...let me know! Our e-mail is fitnails@sigecom.net. I can't stand it that I'm not there. It bothers me more than I had thought it would. Emma is really laid back so I think she will have to make track practice a few times with me! She only fusses when the bottle is empty. It takes her about 30 seconds to realize there will be no more for a while and then she is fine. She doesn't eat the table food that the others eat. I'm hoping by the end of our trip that she will begin to eat some different foods. The orphanage reported a lot of facts to families that definitely were not true. I'm sure she hasn't eaten food at all and the fact about loving a bath we found is completely false!

Hope everyone is doing great and that my track girls are relieved that their first compeition is under their belt! Keep working hard!!!

More Pictures

Day 2.....

We completed more paper work at two different places today and we think she if officially ours, we think. We were treated to a trip to a Chinese Wal-Mart. That was quite an experience. Emma continues to be very sweet and happy. She just beams when Ellie is around. We had some excitement this morning around 2:30am when the building next door was on fire. It was really rocking. By the time I got down to take some pictures they had it under control. It was an amazing stop considering the equipment they have and no LDH(large diameter hose). Thanks for all of the nice comments and we miss everyone.

End of Gotcha Day!

Well, she is a doll. She smiles and laughs most all of the time. I've never seen such a happy baby..she must know she is going to be an American! Jianxgi is the REAL China experience. We can't wait to get to the White Swan! We saw a funeral out on the sidewalk yesterday~it's quite different here.

Ellie has been great with Emma. Emma just adores her and lights up whenever she comes around. Ellie is wonderful with her and has done all of the feedings, but one!! Emma is a thumb sucker and has 2 teeth coming in. Some of the others in the group are running fevers and have other minor problems, but Emma is great. She does have a bad rash on her head and face, but it seems to be getting better. She was layered in so many clothes I think she has a heat rash. All of the babies have horrible diaper rash. We hope that in a few days all of these minor problems will be cleared up.

We are pretty tired and are hoping that she will sleep well tonight since she didn't sleep all day! She is just taking it all in. She is very curious and alert.

Happy Birthday Aunt Judy and Marybeth!

We can read your commnets in Jianxgi! We can finally see the blog!

We miss you all and AMERICA! We don't realize how lucky we are!!!

She is here!!!!!

We just got back and we have Emma in our arms. We are so excited and just can't stand it. We think she is just beautiful. She has not cried yet and she smiles and laughs. She does have red bumps all over and we hope it is just from the heat. Other than that she looks very healthy. She loves just loves Ellie...yea, and Ellie has been great. She is going to be a great big sister. For some reason we can view the blog right now. We have to get some paper work done so I will post a little later.