HOME SWEET HOME!!

We are home!! Sorry I haven't updated in the last few days! We had a few crazy travel days (one day traveling to Hong Kong by train, and then the LONG. LONG flight home!), and we were both pretty exhausted! But, we made it home safe and sound, and Miss Ellie is doing great. She is having a little more trouble adjusting to the time change than I am,  and still only wants to sleep on Mom's shoulder, NOT in the crib. She did have a good long snooze on her Uncle Mike's chest yesterday, and also found cousin Tommy a comfortable resting spot (see pic!). Now if we can only get her to love sleeping in her crib! :-)

Thanks for all the prayers---it was a great trip. I feel great, and am so excited to begin my life with my little girl! See you all soon, I hope!

Well, today we finished all of our paperwork at the U.S. Consulate in China, and our guide will pick up Ellie's visa and immigration paperwork in the morning. We are all clear to come home!! Yay!

It was cold and rainy here today, so we were pretty hotel-bound, unfortunately. Ellie and I had fun playing with my computer :-) and with a FABULOUS bubble-making toy that Aunt Michelle bought for her.  I snapped a couple of picture while we were playing--I love the last one.  Should be captioned: "MOM, why are all my sleeves so long?!"

We are waiting for Aunt Ann Marie to arrive any minute now.  Tomorrow we are having lunch with friends from the states---a wonderful woman from Utah who is here adopting her fourth child! Two of her teenage children are with her, and they are coming by so we can all go to lunch together. Then tomorrow night, our whole group is going out for a last dinner together in China---authentic dim sum. Apparently dim sum in the states really isn't authentic. I am not asking any questions about what MAKES it authentic, because I heard something today about it including cow's stomach. Will definitely stick to the noodles :-)

We take the train to Hong Kong on Wednesday, and then HOME on Thursday!!!  I have really loved my time in China, but wow am I ready to come home!1

Today we spent the day touring Guangzhou. We visited the "Ten Families Museum," which is an art museum converted from a Buddhist Temple. The temple itself is amazing to see--such intricate art. Ellie was napping during the visit (apparently she shares her mother's attention span for museums :-), but then we went to yet another Walmart, and on to a jade and pearl market. Walmart was Walmart---oh, except for the whole fresh chickens and pigs feet in aisle 4 :-), but the jade and pearl market was very cool.

Our guide here explained to us that jade is a very special and traditional stone for the Chinese. As our guide today put it, "Most Chinese women would prefer jade to diamonds, that's how precious it is to us." There is a wonderful Chinese tradition that when a woman has a first daughter,  she buys a jade bangle and wears it every day until that daughter marries, and then the jade bangle is passed on to her. Wearing the jade is a symbol of good luck for your child. Although our guide didn't say it quite this way, the mother wears the jade as a sort of prayer and blessing for her daughter.

So, yup, we all bought jade bracelets. :-)

I did take pictures today, I swear! But, unfortunately the camera is on a table about six inches from the head of the crib where the little munchkin is finally sleeping right now. Since it took me two hours to get her to sleep,  I don't dare try to move the camera for fear of waking her! :-) 

Tomorrow we go to the American consulate to finalize her visa (which is the LAST, LAST piece of paperwork we have to do---hooray!!!), and tomorrow night, Ann Marie arrives. Ellie and I will be very happy to see her!! Three more days until we are home!!

Today Ellie had her medical examination to clear her to come home. It was uneventful, and she took it all like a champ. I have discovered she actually LOVES the stroller---loves being able to see everything going on from her "perch." :-) After the medical, we went strolling around the island for about two hours and did a little shopping. Shamian Island, which is part of Guangzhou, is really beautiful, and it was nice to be able to walk around without fearing getting run over! :-) Our group had dinner at an authentic Chinese restaurant, which was very fun; fortunately our guide wrote down in Chinese all of the menu items she thought we might like, so all we had to do was hand the waiter a piece of paper. :-)

Mommy again failed at being a good photographer today :-) but tomorrow we are touring, so I should be able to get some pictures!

Ellie is doing just great! I was getting full belly laughs from her today, and she is now eating just about anything I give her (mostly noodles, eggs, veggies, and fruit). She is only about 16 pounds, according to the scale they weighed her on today---so we'll be trying to give her more solid food when she comes home. She was still only on rice formula at her orphanage, but this girl wants to eat! I gave her some mashed banana this afternoon, and she was practically diving in the bowl! :-)

Ann Marie comes on Monday, and we head to Hong Kong on Wednesday. Then, home on Thursday!! Definitely looking forward to coming home!!

Today we traveled from Ellie's home province of Nanchang to Guangzhou, where the American Embassy is in China. Here we will spend our last few days in China finalizing Ellie's visa paperwork, and having her sworn in as an American citizen. She then automatically becomes a citizen the moment she touches US soil.

So yesterday (Friday in China) was a travel day. We had to take an hour and a half flight, which was Ellie's first plane ride.  Aunt Michelle went home to the U.S. this morning, so Mommy and Ellie were solo travelers (along with the rest of our agency group, thank goodness, because Mommy needed some help lugging Ellie AND all our luggage! :-) Yikes!) It was a LONG day, to say the least. The flight was cramped and crowded, and Ellie was overdue for her nap----all of the ingredients for a very unhappy baby who howled for almost the entire flight.  I felt bad for our seatmates :-)

No pics of today's adventures, since Michelle was gone and Mom had her hands full! Someone in our group took a picture for me of Ellie's first plane ride, so we'll have to get that later for our memory book.

Guangzhou is lovely, and we are staying on Shamian Island, a little resort-type area that was really built around the American adoption industry in China. It's in south China, so it's nice and warm (70s), and has a very Western feel, with lots of restaurants and shops (even a few 7-Elevens and a Starbucks!). It almost feels a little like south Florida. 

Happy Thanksgiving from China!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! It's almost 4:30 p.m. here in China, and we are getting ready to go down to the hotel restaurant in a little while. All six American families here are celebrating our Thanksgiving dinner together.  It might be a little like that scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" (those of you who remember that movie will understand my reference :-), but we are happy to be celebrating together on a day when we are SO thankful for the new additions to our families.

Today we traveled to a nearby park for a long walk. It was a beautiful park with trees and flowers, koi ponds, rides for children, and lots of sights to see. During the day, apparently the park is used extensively by senior citizens for exercise and dance classes (we observed one that looked like the Chinese version of Zumba :-) and if you look closely at my pictures, you will see that two of the college-age sons of one of the families in our group got to join in the dance action!). There was also a large pavilion with over 100 people playing mah-jong!

My beautiful little girl continues to open up more and more every day---we got lots of smiles and laughs today, and she is COMPLETELY fascinated with the computer! :-) She is doing just great! We did have a little bit of a sleepless night, however---she is definitely teething, so she napped in her stroller through most of the park walking. She is just so wonderful, though. I cannot believe how blessed I am!

On this Thanksgiving day,  I do not think I have ever been more grateful for all of you, for my family and friends who have supported me in this crazy journey! I love you all and wish you the most wonderful Thanksgiving ever!

We had such a great day today!! Ellie woke up happy as a clam; all of yesterday's crankiness was gone. We Skyped Pete and Margaret and she got to say hi to her cousins, and then she played for awhile with her favorite toys. Nope---not all those adorable Fisher Price toys and cute baby things I brought--my daughter's favorite toys are the iPhone and laptop! (and randomly, the bag of  baby wipes! :-)

We joined our group to tour the Pavilion of Prince Teng in Nanchang. Apparently it is one of the Four Great Towers of China (and we walked up the stairs all the way to the top, so I can attest to its "tower" status!), and it dates back to very ancient China. The pavilion is amazing--beautiful, ornate mosaics, art and sculpture on each floor, along with ancient Chinese poetry. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens and is on the banks of the Gan River. It was a yucky day---rainy and misty, so we couldn't get great pictures, but it was a beautiful sight! On the top floor we watched an artistic presentation with cultural dances and songs. Ellie liked the dances and bright colors---the songs, not so much :-) One of the singers was very loud and sharp, and my little critic was holding her ears! LOL!

We had lunch with our group at a lovely, Western-style restaurant---very fun! Tomorrow, our group is planning to have Thanksgiving dinner together in our hotel restaurant. They are wonderful people, and I am so grateful to be sharing these two weeks with them!