It seems like it has stopped raining since yesterday and the agenda for this morning is to meet
in the lobby after breakfast and drive around the countryside first. We drove around what is the rural areas around Changsha. Lots of run down building, and shops. Looked a lot like driving through little bitty towns but the farmland was divided in to small squares across the
countryside and mostly they were growing water rice. Nelson told us that is was not much different that the rural area he was born and raised. Like our trip to Jamaica is was very humbling to see how people live in other countries. Nelson tells us though lots of people think
that is is simply enough in life to have 3 squares a day, and something to do, and roof over your head.
After we drove back into the city we went to the City Wall park. It was on the agenda for yesterday however it was raining so we choose today. Its was such a lovely park. Lots of fresh flowers and greenery. They had stone sculptures and stone tablets that told more history of the
area and chinese people. Some of the shrubs were molded into the shape of 2 long chinese dragons facing each other. It was Chinese Kids day today(actually June 1st) but some celebrate it today, so there were probably a hundred or more kids at this park. They were so curious of us. As we walked passed each group of kids as they sat on their matts eating lunch they would call to us "Hello", and "How are you doing". They were especially interested in the boy and girl of the other two families in our group, as well as those who cared the babies. Brilles is 8, and Sara is 10, and the kids all gathered around them to get their picture take with those two. It was just amazing. As I walked up a set of stone stairs to one of the buildings, I was
stopped by a tv channel crew filming a segment about the park and I think the Childrens Day. I
had Aubree in the hib hammock at the time and said hi to them, and just couldn't quite make out what they were asking. I quickly called to Nelson to come and translate. At this time Lor had come around to us also, nelson said they had asked "Why did we bring our daughter to the park". We told them that we wanted to explore and learn more about Aubrees culture so that we can understand her better and help her understand her culture in the future." As we wound around the park we double backed the way we came and went up into a small treed area where we could hear music and singing. There we found man and 4 ladies musicians. One of the ladies was like the conductor, while another sang. The man and other 2 ladies played these instruments that
like a bell or horn shape at one end, and at least 1 string if not 3 that went up to a small ball that they held in one hand. The other hand held what looked a lot like the ribbons you use
to play a violin. It was very beautiful. Nelson told us more than like they are simply retired
folks that like to make music for themselves and others to enjoy. There were no tip jars like you commonly would see in the states. Also on our walk we saw a few people doing Tai Chi, very graceful they were. As we were leaving a few more children had ran up to one of the Jims and was wanting to have a picture taken with our families group children. I had forgot to mention,
on the first round through the park, a chinese girl had come up to each of us holding our babies and given us an oreo for them, as she was being prompted to do so by her teacher.
One of our group members asked Nelson what he has lined up for work after we left next week. He said starting around June 11th he would be guiding 10 families for the other agency he works for to come to china to get their children. He said he as worked with as many as 12, and of course even 3 as our group is. He Son and wife start to wonder when he stays home for more than a few weeks before heading out to help other families navigate this countryside.
I wanted to mention also. The last couple of days have really made us understand how easy we can have it in the states. Each day we have to boil at least a gallon of water to have
drinkable hot water for the baby's formula and cereal as well as cleaning of our utensils, bottles, etc. The water is very bad here, even in the hotel, that even the locals don't drink it, most have filtered big office bottles in there homes. We have been eating good breakfast in
the hotel the last couple of days, going out with nelson in the morning. Skipping lunch for the most part and eating a protein bar and some small cookie/snacks around the room, then going to the hotel restaurant buffet at night. For $15 USD per person for the buffet you also sure get
quite a variety. I mean where else can you go to get sushi, or nice little filet mignon steaks, as well as all the watermelon you can eat. Not to mention, you have Oxtail soup, or turtle soup. Yes I looked and there was a real turtle/shell and all chunked up in the soup. As well as live baby eel cooked to order, or steamed baby turtles, or even a eel head dish. There is quite a variety and we have tried many, or at least Lor and I have. The grilled eel, as well as eel soup is very tasty. We also miss popcorn, or even some other snack we take for granted. I mean
there is a few things in the room like pringles and coke from the expensive room bar, but there
is not like a vendo machine I normally would see even in 4/5 star hotel like the Dolton we are in now. Even though I did not "get" or enjoy the movie "Lost in Translation", I do understand it a bit more taking in deep in a foreign country were very few people understand anything but
their native mandarin.
This morning we went to wal-mart of all places :) I was talking to a family that was here to get their second adopted baby and they had mentioned to me that there was a walmart about a $1USD worth of taxi fare from the hotel. So I mentioned it to the other families and Nelson decided he would take us there. Now driving to the walmart was even part of the experience. You would definately miss it if you didn't watch out, and the parking is underground. The store is lodged up on 2 floors of some other building in downtown Changsha. You will never in your life go to another walmart (actually a super-walmart) that had the variety of fruits, vegatables, meat and candy that this one did. There was dryed and 6 other different ways to prepare WHOLE mind you, duck. When I say WHOLE I mean the head was still attached if not the feet, and it was cooked and then cut down one side and then flatted with all the insides taken out. They had diffent parts of duck for sale like we have chicken. Lots of fruit was available, different shapes and sizes. We picked up some more formula and cereal for the rest of the trip as well as some to give to the the orphanage, as well as some apples, and shoes we found for Aubree.
Aubree continues to blossom, she is making very good eye-contact with us, especially during feedings, and her mom. She really doesn't want anything to do with GaGa or BaBa if MaMa is in the room or with in ear-shot. Distraction of cereal and baby cookie do help, as well as sometimes being carried or playing with toys. She really doesn't not cry that much, and whines very little for things she wants. She is starting to figure out how to slap things, and recoqnize our voices, as well as figuring out the cups. Her favorite toys are the colored Keys, and teething butterfly.
That late morning we went to a small shop that Nelson knew about to buy of few clothes if the children needed them. Lor found a small feeding bowl set with spoons and a large baby bowl since all the clothes we could find were too small for our daughter. Other the two families I
think found at least one outfit. Since we were just waiting for the other we though we would step outside since the store was not very big and very hot inside. I was just about to get a picture of the store, it was called el-Phants I think, a poor beggar came up to us and kept
poking us to turn around and acknowledge him as well as throw him a few yuan. About 30 seconds later Nelson is motioning us to step back inside. After a few minutes the poor street person
tried to enter the store to persue us, and one of the attends of the store was in his face the moment his foot hit the threshold. I don't know what exactly what was said but she was
physically pushing him out. She finally grabbed his bag he was holding and lead him back outside and down the street. He was no were to be seen when we started to leave the store but popped up and followed us about 1/4 of a block before giving up.
On our way back we found a restaurant we wanted to try and Nelson said he was see what he could do, as well as we stopped at a small very small convience type store and bought bottled water and ice cream bars.
Later that evening we went to the restaurant we had scoped out earlier. It had a combination of
western and Chinese food on it menu. The service we pretty good, although very slow getting the food out especially all at once so people could eat at the same time. All three of us had the sirlion steak which turned out to be a great choice. The soup it came with was excellent. It was like a Corn stew, I think was just cream or milk, butter, a pinch of pepper/salt and some corn kernels. Each plate came out sizzling and the waitress would lift the table cloth over us to protect us from splatter as they put in down in front of us. We got essentially 2 deserts. One was a bowl of mostly watermelon, and other fruit. They we got another bowl of just watermelon that was topped with a scoop of ice cream. Each person got a different flavor. Just like the other parents we poked the table food into Aubree and she just eat pretty much what ever we gave her until she was full as a tick then that was it. The bill per family came out to about 160 yuan which I thought was very excellent for in our case 3 people and a baby. You got more than enough food. We definately though that we would be essentially on some type of diet on this trip not knowing what to eat, but all the food as been great and the portions have been double if not triple what we expected.
Aubree had really taken her mom especially in the morning. When she first wakes up she is very croggy like her mom is and just wants to sit and cuddle on her moms lap while she gets a back rub. Meanwhile BaBa gets the bottle and some baby cereal around for baby to have her initial breakfast. As we are discovering she really prefers to have her cereal first and wash it down with the bottle.
First night as new parents and I think we are doing awesome. She such a beautiful baby. She seems to be openning up and blossoming to us with every waking minute. We had a great breakfast, and she ate like a trooper all the watermelon and other chinese breakfast items She could get her hands on. The other two families seemed to be a little more stressed out and a
bit unsure, even though they were the ones that had each raised a previous child approximately 6 years beforehand. They didn't seem to be what we considered crucial for the first 48 hours if
not the coming weeks for raising these precious ones. One example was holding their babies away from them rather than toward them to feed them. Holding them towards you helps the attachment and bonding so that the child can get comfortable with her new parents and surroundings.
First things on the agenda today was to go the the notary office to sign papers, and get our family picture taken. This paper is very important in that it makes the children legally our own in the eyes of china, but also must have the paperwork written to a T. If say the spelling is wrong as we wrote it, and different than our passport that would be bad. We would have to fly back to Changsha and redo thiz paperwork if they fail at the Chinese consolate in Guangzhou. So we triple check and such to make darn sure they are correct. Without it we can not get Aubree's Visa.
So far Aubree has let each of us hold her, and carry her around although she does prefer mommy. She is a very energetic baby. We were told that she was able to say "ma ma", and "Ba ba" (daddy), and that she could walk with hand holding assistance. We have not seen her do these things but we know that is going to go through a grieving period and adjustment and that we may not know or see her open up and show what she can do for days if not weeks. We will just have to see. She has how ever showed us that we can sit up very well, though we have to help her get into the position.
I am in a bit of shear awe. We got up and around about 7am this morning, and grabbed some breakfast in the hotel. We had our bags packed and checked by 8:30am.. Nelson driver took us to the airport for the 10am flight. Every airport we go through Lor and I have said to ourselves is are so thankful that we went carry-on only if at least only to get here and around the country. Now it might be a different on our way back when we leave on the 4th, but by that time the bags we would check would not be as important to make it back to us in a reasonable amount of time. Anyhow, we made it on the plane and into ChangSha around noon. We were able to catch a meal on the plane which was very nice. As we continue to say the food is very tasty, different but tasty. After about 45 minute travel to the hotel room we were in the city of Changsha, only
hours away from meeting our daughter for real for the first time. Once we were in the room, it
seemed like we had meer second until Aubree would be there and we had so much to do to be ready for her. Since we were going to be staying here a week we needed to unpack and get the toys and diapers ready and accessible, and boom there she was!. Nelson had told us that the nannies would come from the orphanage and present the babies to us, practically at our hotel room door and he was right. At just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon Lily, Aubree, and Maya were presented to our family travel group in the elevator lobby outside of our rooms on the 31st
floor of the hotel. Nelson translated the routine that each nannie had written up for the orphanage for each child. When they slept, when they ate, how much they ate, etc.. Was all very decipline, but seemed very carrying nannies. The Assistant director of the orphanage was also
there. We exchanged gifts for the nannies/AD, and the babies. Such an emotional moment. In all the commotion I had to quick run and get my camera to help capture the moment. I just could not believe it. After over a year of work, this was the very moment that Laurie and I had wished and wished, and prayed to happen, and it was right in front of us now.
After listening to the nannies and saying our good-byes each family went back to their rooms to start the new bonding and just sit in awe of their new baby girl. As it turned out, Aubree was
the the biggest of the bunch, and we think it was because she might have been a favorite at the
orphanage. It was so hard to put her down, to start checking her over, give her and bath and try to figure out how to make a bottle and cereal for her first meal with us. Not to mention that the formula and cereal were in chinese and the pictures just didn't quite show everything.
My first bottle, ended up being to cold and not thick enough for Aubree's tastes but I the hang of it pretty quickly.
Aubree was a good baby from the start. We all went do for supper the first night and she let us plunk food into her with little fuss. She didn't care for the bath to much, screamed a bunch but has since go the hang of it. We did our best to keep Aubrees eye contact and special points
in holding her facing us to help make sure she was seeing just who was her new parents. Nelson
had us all gather in our room to sign a document that said that we as parents would take full temperary responsible for these children on behalf of the orphanage for that night, until we
were able to go to the notary and sign the official documents that switches guardianship soully to us and thus in the eyes of china the children become ours!
The first night was what I hope is whats to come but we understand and are ready for anything. Aubree's first night with us turned out great. She went to sleep very quickly and slept the whole night. Only crying in the night when she has kick her covers off and needed one of us to lay them back on her. The other 2 families babies turned out for the most part as far as sleeping
during the night. Nothing seemed to be wrong physically with any of them, as Lor and I were
pretty much ready for any ailment, but I'm not sure that the other families were quite as preparement. I know for sure they did not do practically any research on tending to an adopted chinese baby, let alone what to expect and things to do.
To help us understand more of Chinese culture we went to the Chinese museum to help see artifacts from the past. One in particular was this museum that a had a large portion of space devoted to pieces found from one dig site. I wish I could remember the name of the mummy that was the highlight of the exhibit. They had her body preserved and on display as well as each of her organs in a seperate see through container. Half the building of the museum was actually built in the form of the original dig site. It was a multi-layer almost reverse pyramid hole. The lowest layer had a number of compartment that were formed by huge wooden forms. These planks of wood were like 3 feet wide by 40 feet long and 6 feet tall EACH. The middle compartment then held the tomb which also had a tomb inside a tomb about 4 times over until you finally were down to the container the mummy was in.
This morning the only thing on the agenda was to finish an Academy. It was not exactly what I was expecting although what we saw was quite fasinating. I was thinking of something more modern and full of students wandering about. To a point as we drove to the location we saw quite a few students,as well they were celebrating a part of childrens day. The part of what I would say is the campus was then something quite a bit more old. I likened it to the forbidden city were their was huge doors and gates that lead to more buildings and rooms and yet deeper gates and doors. Like the forbidden city each gate/door had the markers on each side and so many pilar ends shown. That was to show what was in that partciular area as well as status I remember right, though I could be off. They say that Caligraphy was of high study here as well as philosophy, and astronomy, and I belive a few other diciplines. Those studies were considered ones that you needed lots of time to master and only those of wealth and status we known to afford that kind of time.
I do not think I really have mentioned much about the traffic in Changsha or china in general yet. I have seen quite interesting driving and traffic in our limited overseas adventures in Jamaica, and Ireland and let me tell you the traffic in china is 10 times scarier. As I said in the past there are no lines or queues in china only groups of identities.. In this case cars, motorcycles, bikes, pedistrians simply go when they want. They just find holes among each other and take it no matter the speed or risk of injury. We only saw a few real traffic jamming accidents which is surprizing with the closeness in which everyone drives. Traffic signals, pretty much even officers in the middle of the street crossings were mere suggestions. Normally if you establish some eye contact with an approaching vehicle as you are crossing the street they will yield to you enough to give you some time to get accross. In China you simply an obstacle that must be avoided even if my mere inches and at the same or more speed then when you first noticed them. Meanwhile motorcycles and bikes are intertwining among everyone in all directions. Just incredible.
Today is the big tour day. After a very hearty most chinese breakfast we took about an hour drive to Teinanamen Square. I had my GPS with me and think I managed to take a picture in the
right direction of what I suppose to to have found at least 1 cache. We stayed mostly in a
group if for nothing else than to act more as an defensive line. There were many "vendors" that were come up to you and as you to buy their 20 foot long kites or Geniune/imitation Rolex's. If
you responded to them, just to say "no" they they would follow and hound you until you buy or
as our guide Nelson instructed us to do is completely treat them as they were invisible. As
Nelson would be giving us some history about a part of the square occasionally a local or two
with just stop, stand and listen to him as we were. I thought that was interesting.
We continued through the square and then went to the the Forbidden City. As you recall not to
long ago as the chinese years would go no foreigner were allowed to enter the city. It was a
fasinating to see how they lived, and how the emperor was treated. There were special entrances for different levels of social class and some sets of steps only the emperor or royality could use. As the story goes their are 9999 rooms and I don't know how many buildings. It seemed just as you entered through one wall with building in it, you would come to another wall but it didn't seem like the area in the next section was any smaller. Nelson said that the city was about .5 x 1 acre in size.
We went to the friendship Store for lunch and again we were treated to so much food we didn't
know what to do with it all. It was served family style and very good of course. I have picture
of lunch which included a whole fish that was cooked and then smothered in a spicy red sauce
and slit down the sides so you could grab chunks off to eat. After lunch we roamed around the friendship store and looked for things to buy. They had changed since last Nelson was their in that they no longer did the 'bargaining' to buy thing to buy, you simply paid was it was listed at. The prices were a bit expensive but not to bad. They had a website so we though we would
wait and maybe buy off the site rather than try to buy something there and lug it home. Besides we figured we had a few more chances to pick up items to remember our trip and for things to give aubree as she grows and learns about how she found a way into our family.
In the afternoon we went to the climb a portion of the Great Wall. Much of the Great wall is not open to the public and is not mantained by the government. A few portions are for historic and tourism attractions. We went to a spot and had around 2 hours to climb up and down. Most of
us climbed some of it, and about half then climbed to essentially the top or around 7 torrets high. I went to I think around the sixed torret then I took a fork in the trail and went down to a what is essentially a gazebo. That portion of the trail was completely empty and quite tranquil. Even in the 75+ degrees and 80%+ humidity. I took a gps waypoint at each torret on my
way down and by the time I got to the bottom my legs would shaken violently if i would just
stand there. I had to either keep moving slowly around or take a seat and rest. La got me some
more water and gave me a seat. La and her mom went to the first landing before the first torret, and at most of the other families and children climbed as much as they could. Sarah
actually climbed past me as I had was making my way up and pretty much passing others.
We also went and visited a pearl factory. They showed us they made the fresh water clams
produce pearls for making jewerly. They would gently open the clam and irritate the membrane by cutting slits into it. This makes the clam start molding the pearl. The demostrator had us
guess hold many pearls were in it, and there turned out to be a good dozen of about a pea sized. We each got one so remember the demostration. They then showed us the seperating of quality as well as drilling of the hole for necklaces. After the tour was through, they showed us to the showroom. Lor found herself a specatular set of pearl necklace and earrings. They are
quite lovely, and i doubt I could have found better quality for the price.
Finally the last night we were in Bejing we attended a small showing of an acrobatic show. I bought a cd of the music they played for 30 yuan and took a could of photos and small video clips. Overall it was an excellent show. They jumped through hoops, and balances many many
dishes and umbrella. Their were bicycles, and contortion's too. We all though it was very
entertaining..
Today we visited the orphanage were are children had been sent to wait for us to come to china to pick them up. Pictures can not begin to describe it. On these particular day they would only
allow pictures to be taken of the outside of the building. We happen to have a few pictures we
go from others of the main mainhall that we walked passed and more than likely that picture was not suppose to have been taken. We were show into the play room on the 3rd or 4th floor and for
the orphanage it was ok. We also say another room where they had some carts they would lay some of the children down for naps or they had metal bars in the the room close to the ground
were they could practically holding/pulling themselves up. As I mentioned the pictures before,
as we walked passed this halway, there was just a sea of little babies in walkers roaming the halls like bumper cars. We really werent allowed to pick up any of them, but we would rub their hand or face as we walked by. None of them really made a effort to ask to be held by raising
their arms but they seemed in good shape. Lors mom, her and I were pretty much expecting to see
what we saw, and I reiterate the pictures just do not do the mood and presents for being there.
It tugged if not tried to rip on our heartstrings to see these children waiting and wanting to be in happy homes, and I cannot imagine what i might have been like for the other 2 families in our group that had not did diddly for research and understanding of the conditions these children have to endure to make it be the few that are adopted. It was very hard for lor and I to understand how they could live with such blinders on, and be obviously to the kind of knowledge and things you know and know about to help raise a child that comes from these situations.
After getting a few pictures of the outside of the building of the orphanage that we were allowed to, we set out to got visit the Embroidery institute. Just before we left, we saw a group of kids not much older than 3 years old. There were about 6-8 of them, each following the one before and holding each others shirt tail. One even wore a superman top. It was very cute,
but you only wonder if they poor little kids will find their deserved homes. The Embroidery
Institute was the next stop and I believe it is a common stop for most guides/adoptioning
families/tours to take. I think we happen to arrive a bit early because they actually ran up before us to unlock the doors, turn on the lights and air conditioning. We wondered around a
few rooms looking at some very well made pictures. I mean they looked like photographs and paintings but they were embroidery. So very small stitching. I can't even imagine how they can do all that painstaking work. We then found our way to a room that looked a bit like an art room, in fact their was about 2+ dozen woman in the room all working on an embroidery piece.
Some were at architext type tables each side of the outside of the room by the windows, and then in the middle about 12+ woman were all siting around this huge piece they were doing. It was on lines of the last supper in size and depth but was oriental in style. It was probably about 20 feet long and 6+ feet height. I can only think that would end up taking these woman a year to finish it day after day.
The afternoon was free for us to relax and explorer if we wanted. Most of the time and other days we had free afternoons were spent in the hotel room because 1) we were trying to bond and figure out how take care of the little beaners, and 2) we were pretty tired trying to save up
some energy for a usual group supper if we could get everyone together. We also tried to get the girls to take an afternoon nap.
We made it! We have made it through Guangzhou. We were the only ones of the 3 families in our
group that went CCO, so we have had to wait for them at the baggage claims, otherwise we have
just breezed through. We found our guide to make us through the airport and to our connecting flight back to Bejingi. Yes we actually kinda overshot to guangzhou. He gathered us up paid the airport fee and got us through, passed all the fruit, and electronics vendors. Lots and lots of people, and watch out for the traffic, Good Golly!, the cars have the right of way and they
definately do not stop. We kept up with our guide Nelson in Bejinji but the couple behind just about lots there kid for getting run over. Wow what a country and the adventure is at the foreign beginning.
After our wonderful guide picked us up at the airport, Nelson took us to a fabulous restaurant called the "Red Chicken". The served "Dim Su" or family-style. All the food is on a lazy suzan and you just pick and choose what you want. 2 of the 7 dishes were just a tad spicy but very delicious.
Later in the afternoon we travelled down around the old city. We went what is known as bar
street and all jumped on 2 person rick-shaws(sp?) Me and Nelson were on the first one, then Lor and her mom, followed by LuAnn, Sarah, James, and behind them Dora, Brilles, and the other James. W pedal down around a very small and old part of the city were the locals live not much different than 100 hundreds of years ago. I mean they have some modern amentities like
fridgerator, microwave and such, but more of the small houses wer not much bigger than about
400 sq total. To give you an idea, there was a common room-much like a living room when a bed for their son. Then another room that was more or less storage and living space that connected to a postage stamp bathroom/shower combo and combination washer/dryer. Finally there was a very poor kitchen of about 6 x 6 feet with 1 gas burner. We had another guide that rode his bike beside us and then would tell us about each part of the buildings and what they symbolized. He was quite young but very knowledgeable. The real highlight of the tour was we were able to enter a locals house and have tea and candy and be able to ask her questions of they live and what they do. It was quite fasinating. She was a very sweet lady, she lives with her husband
and 25yr son that was still single :) but owned a car/wash repair shop.
We got our picture taken on rainbow bridge. Where a good rain when the hazy and humidity were low you could see the summer palace from that spot so the locals could be one with their leaders.
We have deplaned from our flight from LAX. Just after take-off at midnight we were treated to a nice hot washcloth to clean our faces and such, then a drink. At around 3am LAX time we got a full meal like it was our supper. Lor and I had a fish dish, and Lors mom had the pork. It came with a choice of roll, another drink/refill, a fresh fruit cup, and salad.
The flight was 14 hours and 25 minutes, and we got another 2-3 drinks, as well as breakfast at around 5am LAX time which I think was around 8am the next day China time. Yes fun with the time-zones. At breakfast you got your choice of either a western-which had an omelette, fresh fruit, cold cereal and WHOLE milk. Or you could be adventurous and pick the Chinese traditional breakfast. I got the choice and tried the chinese--but Lor and her mom were given western. So mine had sort of a rice porage of sorts, very good. Also had a 2 egg noodle rolls, and a ragoon type of thing with i think a sausage meat in it but I gave that to lor to try so I don't know for sure. Also got fresh fruit. So far we have been on two Boeing 777 planes. Quite huge. Some how, not sure other than I think we got there first to confirm the tickets, but we got bulkhead seats right behind business class. The seats were most excellent. Everyone got their own lcd monitor where you could watch either an assortment of chinese programs, or a few cartoons, and even Mr Bean. Their was also a channel that showed two different views of the exact location of the airplane at any given time. It showed the running attitude as well as airspeed, so you
always knew where you were.
We have made it 2 planes down, and 2 left to go. Uneventful plane ride from Des Moines to Denver. We tried to catch a earlier flight to LAX, by getting on standby to a plane leaving a hour before our scheduled one. With some delays with the storms we had around the midwest the last couple of days, in the end we were right back on the plane we should have been on in Des Moines. I forgot to mention, that in DSM we had the check-in guy give us a about 45 minute earlier flight too. So the plane that left DSM went to Chicago then to denver and on to LAX. We went straight to Denver, the other plane caught up with us, and we grabbed that to LAX. No harm done I guess, we ran around to a couple of gates but ended up right were we started :)
Sitting in the DMZ food court I have tried in vain to pick up a WiFi but didn't manage to get one. Very low connects, and just could not keep long enough to grab mail. Will try again later. Meanwhile we have until 8pm LAX time (2hours) to wait until we can even check-in with China Southern and get our seat assignments for our next flight. Then we have another 4 hours or so before that takes off. We started our adventure at around 11am for our first flight, and our 3rd flight will push us over the 12 hour mark of airports as we leave at midnight.
Everyone is holding up well, and trying to figure out if we are hungry or what to do. More later..
We made it..
We are here in china and have our baby, I will try to start getting posts/pictures out as I can. Finally got broadband working in the room and don't know how flaky it is..
Aubree! Mama, Pater and Gammy, and all heading out tomorrow in our journey to YOU!
I am so excited! We wont get to see you until Tuesday, but at least we will be closer to you :)
Cant wait to see you Peanut! Love you!
As you can see we have made a little bit of a change to the China Blog.
Partly because blogger.com has become a little bit, how shall we say like AOL, Lor has requested that we move the blog back to something with a little more power.
We are now running the blog from within Movable Type 2.661. Its actually the version before they went a bit mainstream with their 3.0 release.
AnyWhoodle.. We have also updated for you Aubree, in honor of us recieving our Travel Approval to come get you.
Unfortunately we should have gotten the approval documents like yesterday or so, however, someone either can't read or can't write, so it ended up in Denver. You know denver zip starts with an 8, and iowas is with a 5, so i suppose it would be fairly easy to do.
So things are progressing, and we should getting our iterinery toot sweet!
The Visas are here! The Visas are here!
Aubree! We just got our Visas back - hurray! One step closer to you darling!
love you puddin! :* [ ]
Still no travel approval...
We still havent gotten our Travel Approval to come and get you sweetheart.... Mama is very sad :( Our agency told us Saturday that we probably wont get our TA until May 11 or 12 - the labor week holiday is slowing things down I guess. At least I have your pictures to keep me company - I've got your sweet little face hanging above my computer at work so I can look at you all day :)
I bought two new books today about China to keep me busy while I wait - one is a Rough Guide to China that is going to be very awesome now and for when you get bigger and want to learn about where you were born. The other is a look into the social customs of China - I think its very important to study this before we go so we can be the best we can in following the customs of your native land.
Oh! Speaking of pictures - Pater put your four little pictures out on the online gallery for everyone to see. Your Auntie K has been wanting to see pictures of you since we got your referral and Pater just got the computer up and running again :)
So very much looking forward to holding you in my arms honey - Mama loves you bunny :* [ ]