Snake for dinner

It is a good thing we will be going home soon because if we stay too much longer there is no telling what we may be eating next!  Guy wanted to try something new before we went home....I guess scorpion wasn't different enough..... so our guide to us to a restaurant that had snake.  Of course none of the other families cared to come with us.  We had fried snake, fried snake skin, snake congee and and vegetables with wood ear mushrooms.  I will miss wood ear mushrooms.  I love them.  Sarah must have eaten snake before because she was very excited when the waiter brought it to our table and she wanted some right away.  The snake was pretty good but there isn't that much meat on them.  The snake congee was very good.  Everyone in our group thinks we are crazy trying all of the new foods but we both find it very interesting to learn about and experience the local customs.
 
Sarah is doing great and we get closer everyday.  I am still not on bathroom duty but considering the squaty potties and am actually lucking out.  I have become used to using them myself but haven't had to master holding a 22 lb child over one. 
 
All of the guides have told us how smart Sarah is.  They say her language is very clear and she is extremely bright.  We think so too but we are her parents so of course we would think it.  It is truly amazing what she can do and how fast she is learning things.  She is such a character and has the silliest laugh.  She is very outgoing and everyone comments how beautiful she is.  She is out with her Daddy right now walking around the hotel and I stayed behind to rest a bit but now I miss them. 
I hear someone yelling Mama at the door!  They are back.  Guy is claiming Sarah drug him to the ice cream stand in the deli! 
 
 

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more pictures

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Good news!

Sarah passport was issued this morning and should be arriving here tonight.  We also had Sarah's TB test checked today and she is ok!  No x-rays needed.
After going for the medical clinic we played in the playground for a bit then walked through Old Guangzhou.  We visited the market place where all sorts of things are sold for Chinese medicine.  It was as crowded as Times Square on New Year's Eve.  Many people here are on vacation for their New Year's on Feb 14th.  It is a big holiday here.  All of the grocery stores are very crowded and it looks like ours at Christmas.  Both Guy and myself had a roasted scorpion. I only ate one....he had three.  I still can't believe I ate it and it was good.....tasted like roasted chicken skin.  I also held a snake when none of the guys in our group would.  I was a bit afraid.  I quess I was in a daring mood today. 
  
 

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Guangzhou

We have been out a little sightseeing in Guangzhou and Shamian Island this morning.  It was raining but warm.  Everything is so fast paced it is hard to really see much.  We visited the Guangdong Folk Art Museum and visited the Goverment shop for some presents for Sarah when she is older.  The island is beautiful and this hotel is nicer than any I have ever stayed in.  We have some free time now to go wander around the hotel and island.  I attached a few pictures but will add more later. 

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Saturday 2/6

We are in Guangzhou.  We left Sarah's hometown on friday, Sarah took her 1st and 2nd plane rides.  She did very well, the first one as an hour and she slept most of the flight.  The second was 2 hours and we played and had lunch, she played with an I-phone that a guy gave her to play with.  He spoke english and helped us with our transfer, he carried one of our carry on bags and got us to the front of the line to re-board the plane.  we met up with on of the families from Beijing at the airport.
 
We had breakfast this morning and met up with the other family from Beijing.  We then went for the baby's visa photo, Sarah and Lilly were very good, the 2 boys cried.  We then went to get the medical exams done.  What a chaotic place!  Babies and families all over the place, Sarah did well, only cried when she having the TB test, we will get the results on Monday. 
 
Still no passport for Sarah.  We will not get any news until Monday.  Go to go, Sarah is waking up from her nap.
 
Love,
Guy, Linda and Sarah 

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Bath time

Today Sarah wanted to take a bath.  She played with her bath toys and washed herself.  Then to our surprise she dunked her head in the water so she could wash her own hair.  Linda and Sarah spend some good quality time after the bath putting lotion on Sarah and sometimes Linda's face.  She only cried twice today.
 
We went for a long walk through town today, Sarah fell asleep after an hour of walking.  I get many looks from the local for carrying a baby on my chest in the baby carrier.  We saw some interesting shops and a market that had meat hanging from hooks, fresh fish that they were killing and black chickens, yes black chickens.  Linda was taking pictures and all of the locals were laughing at her.  You would never see a sight like that in the US with all of the regulations.  3 people had a bathtub size pot filled with all of the chicken organs.  One section had the pig and beef organs, hoofs, snouts and everything else.  They do not waste anything of the animals. 
 
For dinner we went to a small local restaurant that had hot pots.  Ours had shrimp and squid with potatoes and vegetables.  The table has a gas burner in the center and a 10lb propane tank under the table.  The pot sits in the center on the burner and everybody eats from the same pot.  I like that you have all of the 10lb propane tanks under the table and most people are smoking cigarettes.  The food was very good, we also had an order of some vegetable that looks like a cucumber that is 12" in diameter and about 2 feet long, I have no idea what it was, we did see it in the market.  We also had some sort of bread and 3 sodas and the bill was 80 yuan, or about $12 for the 4 of us to eat.  Good food and cheap!
 
Sarah is doing much better with us, I am still on bathroom duty, getting her dressed, bath time etc.  Now with Linda being sick I have to take care of both of them.  Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou for the last leg of our journey.  Cindy brought us our paperwork today and it has Sarah's story of where she was found.  That made me cry, but she is safe now and has her forever family.  The only problem is her passport was not finished.  It should be done on friday.  Cindy said we can get Sarah on the plane using the "Red Book" stating that she is now our daughter and then Cindy will go back to town to wait for the passport and Fed/Ex it to us in Guangzhou. 
 
Love,
Guy, Linda and Sarah
 
PS.  The picture of Sarah is to show my mother that I can dress my daughter!

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Emotional Meltdowns

Today was a day full of emotional meltdowns by Mommy and Sarah......even Daddy helped us cry.  Sarah is bonding with Daddy fast but isn't too sure about Mommy which was expected but still hard.  Sarah doesn't want me to hold her yet and is taking out her frustration on me but she is coming around slowly.  I thought waiting was like a roller coaster but the emotional ups and downs of bonding far surpasses that.  We had some screaming and a full blown temper tantrum when Daddy left for ten minutes.  A cup of cheerios was thrown across the room and she was downright angry with me. I even got a pinch but she also rubbed my arm, let me kiss her and I got lots of smiles and playtime tonight and even got called Mama. 
Sarah got a full bath tonight, hair and all.  She doesn't like the bath but is great afterwards and loves letting Mommy put lotion and chapstick on her.
She is beautiful, amazingly smart and extremely strong willed and even through the emotions and meltdowns the sweetness shows through. She likes to do things herself, is potty trained and very neat and also can have a wicked temper.  She eats very well and we haven't found any food she doesn't like.  She can get around quite well and do almost any task given what a challenges her feet and her small hand would be for anyone else.  And she is picking up words at an almost alarming rate..........I know she is way smarter than I am.  You can say something to her one time and she remembers the next day. 
Her foster Mom did an amazing job with her and I know she misses them dearly and is very confused.  We owe a great deal of thanks to her foster family.
We will send more pictures tomorrow.  I need some sleep to get ready for the challenges of tomorrow.

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2nd day with Sarah

Today was a good day.  We only had a few crying fits today.  We had gone to the notary to have some paperwork finished, Sarah did well. She had a hard time when we left because 2 women from the orphanage were at the notary with us.  Sarah has great table manners,  she eats with both a fork or a spoon.  She tries everything.  At breakfast she ate rice congee with some broccoli in it, a piece of corn bread and 3 small oranges that our guide bought for her. She peals the oranges herself and spits the pits into daddy's hand.  When she is done eating she pushes her plate away and wipes the table clean in front of her.  Before she eats she pushes up her sleeves and when she is done she takes off her bib.  She is learning quickly,  a few english words today. 
Tonight was her first bath, mostly crying, Linda got in the tub to help Sarah but she still cried.  After that she was fine, we put on her PJs from grandma Ross and played for about an hour before reading her a book and getting her to bed.  For those of you who have adopted from China that are reading this you know how hard it is to live in a small hotel room with a new child, and we still have 9 more days.
Again thank you for your emails and your prayers, both are very important to us.
Love,
Guy, Linda and Sarah

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Napping

We have so many stories to tell but we have been so busy and sometimes too tired to write. 
Sarah seems to like us better today, especially her Daddy.  My job is just the amusement and food provider for now with some occasional affection but on her terms.  We did play together for a long time last night and she is already repeating some english words.  Last night at bedtime she kept looking at me and waiting for me to get in the bed too before she would fall asleep.  She slept without whimpering all night and her and Daddy are napping now, again.
We are both amazed at how Sarah has learned to do so much with her little hand and and how well she can walk.  She can peel an small mandarin orange all by herself and separate the wedges.  She is extremely bright, very strong willed extremely neat!
I hope you can all see the pictures I posted.  I can't look at the blog so let me know.

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flight to Yin Chuan

Today we took a flight from Beijing to Yin Chuan.  All 3 families left the hotel at 9 am, all of us are going to different areas to receive our children.  We had the latest flight at 1:35 pm.  We were going to meet our facilitator, Cindy, at the airport.  Our paperwork had the flight at 1:55 as did Cindy, Dion our guide in Beijing had the flight at 1:35.  Well the flight was at 1:35!!!  Cindy got there as we were boarding the plane.  Needless to say we were panicked.  We asked a the guy sitting across from us if we could borrow his phone, he didn't speak english, but he did give me his phone.  Called Dion and he found Cindy in the security check point.  Dion called the phone of the guy across from us and he gave me the phone, very nice people here in China.   Cindy found us very easily as Linda was the only one with blonde hair, we both kind of stuck out as the only 2 americans out of 150 people on the plane.  It was strange when we got up to walk to the bathroom on the plane and everyone looked up at us. We made it to the city and our hotel in about 30 minutes.  They had a crib set up in our room before we arrived. 
13 hours from now we will be on our way to the orphanage. We have a long day tomorrow, 9 am at the orphanage and then pictures and paperwork.  We will try to post tomorrow but we can't promise it.     
 
Thank you again for all of you prayers.

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Great Wall

Hi everyone.  Today we went to the Great Wall, WOW!!!!  What an amazing place.  Linda made it part way up, Steve, Joe and myself made it up to the 4th tower.  This section is very steep but the views were wonderful.  We stopped by the Olympic stadiums the water cube and birds nest for a few pictures.  Then it was on to the Summer Palace where we walked up more steps.  For dinner we went for a Peking Duck dinner.  Linda is not feeling very well tonight, I think it is being tired and a little motion sickness, any of you who have been in Beijing traffic will understand.
 
36 hours until we meet Sarah!!!  

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Our first full day in China

We went to the Temple of Heaven,  Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City today.  China is a beautiful country.  We are eating real Chinese food, big difference from what we get at home.  we also went to the Pearl market, what an experience.  Very exhausting day.  The 2 other families we are with are very nice and we have been having a great time with them.  Our guide Dion is great.  Traffic hear is 10 times worse than in New York City.
 
Linda had her first experience with a "Squatty Potty" today.  This was the topic at lunch with the 4 women.
 
 

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We're in Beijing!

Hi everyone!  We are here safe and sound but exhausted.  The flight was long but uneventful which is good.  Fourteen hours on a plane is a long time.  The temp outside the plane over parts of the trip was -97 F!  Scary! 
After getting to the airport we meet up with two other families, both from PA.  We will be touring with them tomorrow. After a one hour bus trip to the hotel we walked down the street with our guide and had some real Chinese food.
No pictures today...........must sleep as we have been up longer than I can even figure out. 

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No Small Feat

Meeting the packing requirements is no small feat.  Try putting a pharmacy, some small toys, clothes for Sarah is various sizes and weather types and clothes for us for multiple weather types and laptop, video camera and digital camera, etc, etc in two checked suitcases which must weigh less than 44 lbs and two carry ones less than 11 lbs!

Itinerary

1/27/2010   - Fly to Beijing - Departure 12.15 pm - (13 hrs 45 minutes)

1/28/2010   - Arrive in Beijing, our guide will meet us and take us to the King Wing Hot Spring Hotel.

1/29/2010   - Visit the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Shopping at the Pearl Market if time allows.  See the Chaoyang Acrobat Show

1/30/2010   - Visit the Great Wall, drive past the Bird's Nest on the way to visit the Fangshan orphanage an orphan training center that is part of our agency.  Peking Duck dinner.

1/31/2010   - Fly from Beijing to Yinchuan with our guide.  Our guide will take us to check in at the Haiyue Jianguo Hotel.  Try to sleep..........rrrrrrrrrrrrright!

2/1/2010     - 9:00 am  - pick up Sarah at Civil Affairs Office!!!!!!!!
                     2:00 pm  - complete paperwork
                     shopping for supplies

2/2/2010     - Tour city and get acquainted Sarah

2/3/2010     - Visit orphanage Sarah was at before she went into foster care.

2/4/2010     - Tour city.

2/5/2010     -  Pick up paperwork and Sarah's passport.  Fly to Guangzhou.  Guide will meet us and take us to the White Swan Hotel.

2/6/2010     - Sarah gets medical check-up, TB test, visa photo and visa paperwork.

2/7/2010     - Tour Guangzhou

2/8/2010     - Medical to check Tb test results.

2/9/2010     - US Consulate appointment

2/10/2010   - Take oath at Consulate

2/11/2010   - Pick up Sarah's visa

2/12/2010   - Fly from Guangzhou to Beijing.   Depart Beijing for home.  Arrive at Newark  5:35 pm.
                     

Counting down

Twelve days until we get to hold our daughter!

Test Post

This is a test to see if I can successfully post to the blog from an email.  I hope this works as this is how I will be updating the blogger to keep everyone informed where we are at in our journey.
 
 

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Leaving on a jet plane

Our flight to Beijing is booked and the flight from Beijing to Newark with Sarah sitting between us has also been booked!  WooooooHoooooooooooooo!

Shower

Thank you to all of the people that planned, work at and attended our shower/celebration to .  It was a great day and made our dreams of bringing Sarah home seem real.  Everyone was so generous with their beautiful gifts.  I will post more pictures once I have them.

 

Good news!

We leave for Beijing on Jan 27, 2010!  We meet Sarah on Feb 1, 2010!!!  Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou Feb 9, 2010.  Return home Feb 12, 2010.

Must start packing!