Home at Last

Now that things have calmed down a little here at home. I need to post about our travel home and how we're doing.

The girls traveled remarkably well on the 18 hours of plane flights. We had bought Abigail her own seat on the plane, mostly just to give us extra room. We never dreamed she'd actually use it. We held Natalie the whole way home from China last time.

But there Abigail sat upright in her chair playing with her toys, the airline magazine, her feet and shoes contently. When she wasn't sitting, she'd stretch out across the chair to sleep. She never really cried, only fussed a little when hungry. We held her for short times. We were so lucky.

Natalie also handled the flight well. We sat her by the business man who was lucky enough to get the 5th seat in the row we almost totally occupied. But Natalie either watched plane's kid movie Monsters, Inc. or slept. She slept alot which she is paying for now.

While the girls were grand, their parents were ill. Who would have known that it would be the Italian restaurant that we ate at with our travel group as our last meal together that would do us in? Really, after chicken heads and feet, pigeon, etc., it was ravioli that made us incredibly sick, particularly me (Allison).

When I ordered ravioli with eggplant, the waitress indicated that I should not get eggplant, but spinach. I said okay, but then she brought out eggplant. It tasted kind of funny, but alot of foods in China taste different. Doug took a few bites of my meal. Back at the hotel the night before we left, let's just say I regretted eating it time and time again in between trying to finish packing. Doug took a few bites of my meal and later started to feel ill on the plane and spent more time in the tiny bathroom than anyone would want.

We did have a couple of close calls on making our flights. The closest being our flight from Beijing to Chicago. We had to run to make sure we wouldn't miss it. We were slowed down by an air-conditioner malfunction that delayed our first flight, then we had to find our stroller that they checked and put in the over-sized baggage area and we also had to get boarding passes for Abigail because they wouldn't get hers for the whole way through while checking in at Guangzhou. So after running to get in line to board, we were sweaty, exhausted and still feeling ill.

Another close call came in Chicago, when the immigration officer said, "You might not have time to make your next flight, but it's okay they'll get you another one." Oh no, we weren't going to let that happen. We rushed through customs, rechecked our bags and made it to our next gate in time. Only thing is when we got home one of our bags was not so lucky and arrived home 2 days after we did.

We arrived home to Welcome banners and messages on our garage windows written by Natalie's friends, Lily and Leah who were also adopted from China. Their mothers, Beth and Carol, had even brought basic foods like eggs and milk, and some not so basic like brownies and doughnuts!! Mom had spruced up the place including new curtains for Abigail's and Natalie's rooms!!

Our first night home was also unbelievably well. I thought we'd be up all night. Abigail and us parents were in bed by midnight and slept until 6 a.m. -- more sleep than I anticipated. Though Natalie, who slept more than any of us on the plane, stayed up until 6 a.m. and slept until 1 p.m. when her cousin arrived. Abigail fit in 2 three-hour naps that day, so we got more sleep too.

Mother's Day was spent with Abigail getting to know Grandmom, Grandpa, Uncle Jimmie, Aunt Jessica and Danielle. She greeted each person with a smile and was okay with letting them hold her if Natalie or I were nearby. It was a perfect Mother's Day now home with our second darling daughter.

Abigail never seemed surprised or taken back by our 15-year-old lab/greyhound mix Lucy. She even reached her hand out to pet her. But when she got a feel of her nose she did startle. Neither one seems to mind the other being in the room.

The sleep has been off for all of us since that first night when we were exhausted. The girls are waking up about 2 a.m. thinking it is morning and then crashing again about 5 a.m. But then I have to turn around and send Natalie to school.

Abigail seems to be getting caught up on her sleep today. She's been waking at 7 or 8 a.m. every morning even while home. But this morning at 11 a.m. she was still asleep and I had to wake her. I guess she's making up for lost sleep.

Abigail becomes more alert every day. She's waving at all of us. Last night at Mom and Dad's she discovered that she had squeaky shoes on and would stomp her feet to make them squeak. I did have to hold her up. She has also started clapping her hands.

Her newest word is repeating over and over again "Ma Ma Ma". She got to using it the most when Mom came over to watch her so I could take a nap. But now she's saying it constantly. She spurts out an occasional "BaBa" (Dad in Chinese) and one time said "Na" for Natalie. But mostly it's an ongoing chain of "Ma"s.

So we're adjusting to being home. The bags are all unpacked except for the keepsakes. The baby items have all been retrieved, and I've almost figured out how to use most of them again.

Abigail still seems to take everything in stride. She is curious, looks around to see where everyone is going, etc. But mostly she smiles, babbles, plays, eats and sleeps. She still seems very content even though she's in new surroundings.

We are very blessed and lucky to be at home with two wonderful daughters!

Things Looking Up

***I found a second post that did not make it from China. I couldn't see Blogspot to check my posts. China had social networking sites blocked. So I thought I had shared our first sign of good news about our paperwork when really it didn't make it to you at all. Sometimes I'd figure out I had trouble posting and e-mail my dear friend Beth who would tell me if it showed up on the blog or not. But toward the end I was too busy to do that and thought I had fixed the problem which was obviously not the case.

So this post is from Monday, May 5th after we stayed up half the night because it was Monday morning at home, and we had to make phone calls to get our paperwork crisis resolved. Here I tell you how we attempted to do that. I also love the first photo of Abigail, so I had to share.



Monday, May 5th

Our paperwork issue seems to be taking a positive spin. The National Visa Center replied to an e-mail saying they had cabled our approval to the U.S. Consulate. But now we have to wait until morning here in China to make sure they got it. Getting it from place to place seems to be the issue.

After repeated efforts to contact somebody at Louisville CIS, we kept hitting a dead end and couldn't talk to a human being.

So, after being fingerprinted in Louisville four times, we know from experience that Mitch McConnell's Louisville office is three doors down from the Louisville CIS office.

For backup, tonight we got hold of Mitch's office staff and a very dry but nice guy named Matthew Brotzge said he would check into the situation today and get back to us before he leaves for the day (which will be about 5 a.m. our time).

Anyway, so for the moment, we are counting on Matthew to go next door and "rattle some cages".

Hope we hear something good in the morning. We are one business day away from our consulate appointment here.

Doug sure was rubbing on the make-a-wish ball in the mouth of the lion statue at the Folk Art Museum (a former temple) today. He said, "Oh, I know what I'm going to wish." I probably do not have to explain that it was to go home on time!

Meanwhile, the other adoption preparations, appointments, go on. Tomorrow morning, Tuesday a.m., we take the babies for their medical exams.

Abigail is doing great! Everyone comments on how happy she is and how much she smiles. Tonight Allison put a big flower in her hair, and she was causing lots of oohs and aahs and smiles.

She is grunting in between spoonfuls of food and between bottles. I accidentally only packed 4 oz. bottle liners and must stop in the middle of her feeding to prepare the next bottle much to her chagrin. She wants food, and she wants it now!

Natalie loves hanging out with the other big sisters. She and five-year-old Kaylee, spent much of the evening jumping on the hotel beds, which was big fun!

The girls have a common thread, we learned tonight. Both Natalie and Kaylee were born in Guangdong Province where we are now. We are back together with the other two families we traveled with in Beijing also.

In just about every picture I have of Nat from today she's holding up a peace sign. She's picked it up here in China. When we see the Chinese taking pictures of each other, they flash this sign. We asked our guide about it. Evidently they don't think of it as a peace sign, but 'V' for victory. We asked the meaning of that, and she said it's just popular. I got the idea it was a fad, but we're still trying to figure out what victory they are referring to.

We love Guangzhou, but we were here today for the hottest day of 2010 (most humid too, I'd say). I can't tell you the exact temperature because I still can't convert Celsius. But I can tell you that all of us were dripping with sweat. We only have a couple of shorts packed for each of us, but we'll make do.

Well, we're hoping for a middle of the night phone call or e-mail with good news. I'll post when we find out if we're all clear to go home on time.

It's Official!

***I just realized that one of my last posts did not get sent from China. I wrote this the two days before we left -- Thursday night, May 6th. It has the long-awaited red couch photos that everyone has been asking me about.

We've had some questions about the other babies, too. In the red couch photo from left to right are very outgoing and active Josie, 9 months, who always kicks her legs and waves her arms (her birthday is four days after Abigail's); very happy and social Porter, 18 months who always liked wave at us and visit Abigail (his cleft lip will be repaired in the United States); Abigail, 9 months and smart Erin, 22 months, who had already learned to say please and shook her finger 'no' in China (wearing the traditional outfit from her province in Inner Mongolia). One of the hardest parts of the trip is leaving families and their babies with whom you've formed a bond.

We are home now and things are going pretty well. I'll have to post more about that and our flights which Abigail and Natalie handled really well later -- still unpacking and trying to get organized tonight. (Delayed from planned organization by Abigail, who woke at midnight and thought it was daytime. She's back to sleep now.)





Thursday, May 6th

After loading 3 tour buses of American adoptive families from the White Swan Hotel, we arrived at the U.S. Consulate to sign papers and take the group oath. The appointment we feared we would miss has now come and gone without any more snags.

All efforts are on finishing shopping and packing as we leave out at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. Somehow we gain a day and arrive in Louisville 8:30 p.m. Saturday night.

Yesterday morning we took our red couch photos, another sign that it is almost time to go home. Every travel group who stays at the White Swan gets their children together on the red couch for a group photograph which is not as easy as it seems. Abigail was all smiles in the beginning (of course, this is the photo I posted) but by the end she was wailing and in tears -- no morning nap and too many camera flashes! With Natalie's travel group, we had to get 13 babies to sit still on the couch -- no easy feat!

Natalie loved getting all dolled up like her sister. Jack, a very outgoing salesperson in a local shop, set us up with matching outfits and even dug and dug in a bag of shoes until he found some big enough for Natalie. The shops specialize in baby sizes.

Later that afternoon we visited the Six Banyan Temple where a chanting monk blessed the babies as all the families kneeled. Abigail was big-eyed watching with curiousity.

Natalie was eager to light incense and bowed three times for what the Chinese consider their three lives -- the past, the present and the future. She also tried and tried to throw a coin into the urn so she could make a wish. She got a little boost by getting on her dad's shoulders.

I just tried to get a decent picture of Flat Stanley in front of the temple, because I knew the kindergarten at my school was depending on me. The bad news is that I forgot to take Flat Stanley with me for the optimum photo shoot -- the Great Wall. Well, at least I got a photo in China.

We stopped by the government store which we were told would have quality souvenirs, but didn't see anything very different from what's in the souvenir stores outside our hotel. Abigail who used to just keeping to herself is getting very alert and was reaching out toward the shelves in this store. She did get a hold of a box of chopsticks which were wood, thank goodness.

We told our guide that the girls (the big sisters) love noodles so she drove us way across the city to a Noodle Factory. The girls got to watch them make long noodles, dumplings, etc.

The bad news was that we had to dish out and then eat the long, slippery noodles with chopsticks -- no forks. They did help us dish them out as soon as they saw how inept we were at this. Near the end of our meal they finally brought us a ladle for dipping out noodles. The noodles were very thick and doughy, but tasty.

But what made the biggest impression was the heat. By the end of the meal, we were all sweating profusely and even noticed Chinese people fanning themselves. When we got there the restaurant was empty, but by the end of our meal it was full. Helen explained that on the first few hot days of the season, the air conditioning is not working well yet. We all left overheated and with whiny, sweaty babies. Of course, Abigail did eat her whole bowl of steamed egg.

Tonight Helen called in an order to Papa John's for us and pizza never tasted so good.

Now we are preparing for the trip home. When we brought Natalie home, she slept on all the flights except the one from Cincinnati to Evansville, which was so short it didn't matter. But we think Abigail is going to be a different story. On our hour-long flight to Guangzhou from Nanchang, she wanted to be on her feet with me holding her up and looking around. She did not even want to sit down. She is much the same way on the buses -- very alert, wants to stand or reach for things. If she does get tired, she can't get comfortable and arches her back and cries.

We're working on strategies for the flight home. We hear the 7-Eleven across the street has goldfish crackers and meltaways, baby snacks. I'm going to pick up a few new baby toys at the shops. We'll need a few more ideas. We'll only be on the planes for a total of 18 hours!!

Ready for takeoff?

Well, not really. But we've got to get there. Cause we are about to exit China!!

Easier said than done, though. Once we leave the hotel at 7 a.m., we will spend about 25 hours in airports or on planes before we arrive in Louisville.

First we fly Guangzhou to Beijing, which will take about three hours flying time. Then the big hop, Beijing to Chicago, will take 13 hours. Then Chicago to Louisville will take about an hour.

Add in the couple of hours early we have to arrive at the first airport, plus layovers and we will spend more than full day acting like a much less cool version of George Clooney in "Up in the Air." (with a seven-year-old and a baby).

We take off on our first leg at 10 a.m. Saturday, but because we cross back over the international date line, we arrive Louisville at about 8:30 Saturday night

Oh well, we can't wait. Not for all that time in the planes, but to be home! It will be heaven to see our family, our dog, our home -- with Abigail no less. Woohoo!

Not to mention how wonderful it will be to have drinks with ice!

In the meantime, we had one last group meal with our 4-family travel group tonight. One of those families will be on the plane with us tomorrow. The other two are flying a different route on a different airline.

Oh well, I need to go help Allison pack. It is getting late and there's still much to do.

Looking forward to seeing you all back in the U.S.A.

Girls, Pearls, Malls and Markets

 

Today was a pretty neat day. As you may have already read, we have been assured that our missing Visa 37 -- I still don't even know what that is, to be honest -- is now waiting for us at the Consulate here in Guangzhou.

Hooray! We can proceed on our journey back home to the U.S. as a family of four with big sister (jie jie) and little sister (mei mei)!!

And yep, the four babies in our travel group all did well at the medical examination that is required for their entrance into the U.S.

After coming "home" from the medical exam and taking a nap, we headed out to a huge shopping mall. Unlike malls in American, this one doesn't spread out, it goes up. I think somebody said it had eight floors. We visited a couple of stores there: pearls, CDs and luggage. The women in the group REALLY liked the pearl store. Natalie stood by at a counter full of sparkly beads where she got the workers to string her a little bracelet.

We then walked back to the hotel, probably about a mile's distance, and went through the heart of the Qing Ping market, which is famous as the place in China you can buy just about any kind of exotic natural product, be it animal or plant, alive or dead.

In the market you can buy dogs, cats, birds, fish, roots, herbs, spices and even a few pretty crazy things. Helen repeated several times that the animals for sale were for pets. The dogs were dolled up with bows and fancy collars.

Our last trip to China we were highly discouraged from visiting the Qing Ping market due to a couple of SARS cases still lingering in Guangzhou. According to an old saying, the Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes and anything with four legs, as long as it's not a table. Protein is hard to come by here.

We saw two different guys with what they claimed were tiger paws for sale. They didn't look fake. As a matter of fact, they looked pretty gross. Who knows.

Also for sale, live scorpions for scorpion soup (is supposed to be very good as a way to get "heat out of the body," according to our guide) as well as snake skins, rare worm roots (good for the lungs, says Helen) and just about anything else you can think of. Ginseng by the bale. Dried sea horses as far as the eye can see.

Abigail sat upright in her stroller taking it all in as we went through the bustling market. Natalie asked our guide Helen very specific questions about which of the foods for sale she liked to eat. She was really working hard at figuring it all out.

We got back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit and all went out to eat at a Thai place on the island called the Cow and Bridge with the other families in our group. Very good food, and young Abigail devoured an entire bowl of chicken congee even after slurping down a whole bottle. We chose to use chopsticks for the entire meal even when forks were sitting right there on the table.

Natalie and Abigail were both angels today. Even through all the shopping, walking and the waiting at the medical exam, they were real troopers -- no baby tears or whining. People continue to comment on how constantly happy and content young Abigail is. Allison and I just keep knocking on wood.

Tomorrow we take the infamous red couch pictures with all the babies in our group. Then in the afternoon it's off to the Six Banyan Temple and the government store for "authentic" souvenirs.

Thanks to everyone at home who offered to help us with our paperwork ordeal. All of our efforts paid off! We'll be coming home soon!!

The Eagle has landed!

Very good news!! Helen got a phone call about a half hour ago from the U.S. Consulate here in Guangzhou, and they report that they have possession of our "Visa 37" approval! (I still want to see it to believe it, but I feel relieved enough to have hugged Helen - doug)

This wonderful news came on our return trip from the medical clinic, where all the babies in our group passed their exams wth flying colors.
Getting there was a small adventure as we had to walk to the other side of the island, which is completely torn up with construction. At one point, we had to walk over a thin board that was covering a trench, and I honestly didn't think the board would hold us. I heard it crack when I walked over it.

Anyway, we are on lunch/nap break before more activities this afternoon.
Just wanted to share the wondeful news. Thank you everyone for your offers of assistance and prayers. We were truly worried that we weren't going to get to head home on time.

Now, Lord willing as my mother used to say, we are just days away from a big trip home.

Tomorrow we go the Consulate. If we don't post before then, we will let you all know how that goes.

Better in Guangzhou

Our paperwork problem has not been solved as it is still the weekend in the U.S. But we arrived in the paradise of Guangzhou this afternoon where our new coordinator who also goes by the name Helen reassures us that our problem has happened to families before and gotten fixed in time to go home as planned. She reassured us that our adoption agency will be able to fix it.

She should know she deals with the Consulate all the time. She even went to one of the Consulate member's houses in the middle of the night to get a family out of the country for a family emergency. We are starting to feel better.

We still plan to make lots of phone calls tomorrow night (Mon. a.m. in U.S.) to make sure this gets settled. We'll call the Louisville CIS, National Visa Center, USCIS Customer Service line and even Mitch McConnell and Ed Whitfield if we need to do so.

Shamian Island is Guangzhou really does feel like paradise compared to where we've been. It's like Florida with its weather and palm trees. The island was built when the European Consulate was located there. All the buildings have an European influence. The island is calm and peaceful even though there is some construction going on to prepare for the Asian Games in November. Best thing yet, motorcycles and motorbikes have been forbidden to prepare for the games. There are very few cars on the island. We can walk around the island's park, stores and restaurants safely.

Also comforting is the large number of families here at our hotel adopting from China also. Everyone wants to stop and look at each other's babies and compare stories.

We even ate an the American restaurant tonight called Lucy's. As soon as Natalie sat down, she said, "I'm eating some meat!" She ordered a hamburger which was rather large and ate every single bite.

Natalie seems very at home here. She wants to know what we did here when we adopted here. It is good for her to be in the province where she was born.

So we're happy to be back here, but still on pins and needles about this visa revision that needs to be sent from Louisville. We're hoping for the best.

We'll send more photos tomorrow.