One week home

We've survived our first week home ... it's been a rough one, though! I'm pretty sure that we underestimated the effect the jet lag would have on Anna. She has really had a hard time sleeping!! The first 5 days she was awake on and off from 8pm to midnight and awake and pretty upset from about midnight until 5am, then would crash for a few hours. Greg and I were on survival-mode until about 2 days ago, when Anna finally started adjusting a little and we all were able to get a little more sleep. I'm hopeful that in another week or so she'll be fully adjusted. Then we can start slowly getting her used to her crib ... she is in a pack-n-play next to our bed right now which is where she seems to feel most secure.

Other than our sleep issues (and cutting 2 molars), Anna seems to be adjusting to her new home. She is enjoying playing with her toys and exploring her new environment. She's getting more curious about our cat ... and our cat more curious about her. We have yet to introduce her to the dogs, other than through the back door glass. We'll work up to that ... two 70lb dogs probably look like horses to her!

Greg starts back to work next week and Anna and I are going to miss him greatly!! I couldn't have survived this week if he would have gone back to work already.

We wanted to thank everyone that has helped us survive this first week - all of the food you all provided was appreciated more than you'll ever know. It was so nice not to have to worry about cooking! Thanks also for your thoughts and prayers during this journey and we ask that you continue to pray for Anna as she continues to adjust to her new home and family.

Here are some pictures from our first week home. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound. Anna did pretty good considering we were all awake for 24 hours. Thanks to our family and friends for the awesome welcome home at the airport! It was so good to see you all! We are glad to be home and now trying to get our days and nights back to normal. Here is a little video of Anna enjoying her room and toys.

Made it to Hong Kong

Hi, sorry, no pics to post. We made it here, the train ride was nice ... by the time we made it to our hotel it was around 7:30 and we just ordered room service and got Anna to bed a bit ago. We'll check out at 9am and head to the airport. It's still weird to us that our flight leaves Hong Kong around 11am on Friday and get to Chicago around 11am, still on Friday ... jet lag, here we come! Better head to bed now, good-bye from China!!

Love to all,
Greg, Laura, and Anna

Last night in Guangzhou

We can't believe this is our last night here ... tomorrow we'll take the 2 hour train ride to Hong Kong and Friday we'll fly home! We've been pretty busy the last couple of days just taking in all we could before we head home. We have really enjoyed our time here and as anxious (minus the flight) as we are to come home, we are sad to leave. Our time here has been so special and we have made some great friends too!

Today we had our swearing-in ceremony at the US consulate. We were there with about 30 other adoptive families ... as impersonal as that sounds, we were a bit choked up thinking of the culmination of events over these last many years that brought us to that moment, standing there with Anna in our arms.

We'll leave you with some pictures and we'll try to post from Hong Kong tomorrow, but not sure how much time we'll have (Blogger has apparently been having some technical difficulties with video and pictures). We won't get to our hotel until the evening and our flight on Friday leaves around 11am. We ask for your prayers during our 14 hour flight to Chicago! Thank you all so much for you support, words of encouragement, and prayers.

We joked that this is China's idea of adoptive parents ...

For a laugh ...

Squeaky Shoes ...

Medical Exam

This morning we met our guide, Judy, after breakfast to fill out some paperwork and then she walked us to the building to do the medical exam. It was pretty basic stuff, Anna did okay ... cried a little when the were checking her out, but we were in and out within 20 minutes. She weighed in at 19.1 lbs...little squirt!

We met back up with the couple we were with in Beijing. They are staying just 2 rooms down from us. After both of our kids wake up from their naps, we're going to make a Starbucks (it tastes just like home...only way more expensive, but worth every penny!) run and head to a park to let the kids play...their little girl is 2 and they also have their son here with them who is 6.

Tomorrow is our consulate appointment. We don't have to go, our guide does it all for us...once she is done there, she is going to take us and they other family out for some touring. The weather here is great - sunny (and smoggy) and 70 today and the humidity feels like home, just ask my hair!

The streets outside our hotel are facsinating! We walked up and down them last night and today and still haven't been able to process all we've seen!

Hard to believe we're heading home Friday! (click to enlarge pics)

A little video for you...

This afternoon in our hotel...

In Guangzhou

We made it in about 8 last night. Anna did pretty good on the flight, a littel fussy at the end, but it was time for bed. She had the whole plane in the palm of her hand ... and she was loving it. When it was time to unload, we were in the front and got stuck as the rest of the plane flooded the aisle, so we decided to wait until the end...meantime Anna pretty much said bye to every passenger as the passed. Seriously, it was hilarious, we were standing across from the flight attendant and Anna was holding her hand out to all who went by as if to say "Thanks for flying China Southern".

We are at the Holiday Inn ShiFu and our room is much bigger than the last one, which is nice as we were beginning to feel a bit cramped. We're going down to check out the breakfast buffet and hopefully meet up with the other couple that we were with in Beijing. Their daughter is 2, so hoping that she and Anna can play together.

Love to you all ...

Green Lake Park

Yesterday and today the weather was beautiful here in the afternoon - temps in the upper 60s and sunny. We spent both days walking around Green Lake Park, which is about a block from our hotel. It was absolutey fascinating to watch all of the people dancing, singing, playing games, etc. We get many "looks" from the locals when they see us and then see Anna, but once you smile and nod your head, pretty much all of them smile back and many will stop and talk to Anna ... we got several thumbs up from the Chinese grandmas in the park. Kunming has stolen our hearts, we will be sad to say farewell tomorrow ... but we are also anxious to leave because that means we are closer to coming home.

Our flight to Guangzhou leaves at 5:15pm tomorrow, it's about a 2 hour flight - prayers that Anna does okay!

Here is a sampling of Green Lake Park (click to enlarge):

Anna 101

In honor of Anna's 13 month birthday today, we thought we'd tell you a little more about our girl.

- She has the best smile and is very playful!

- She is very observant and alert.

- She is very willful and strong.

- She likes music and loves to dance!

- She's a great eater!

- She's a daredevil and gets a thrill out of almost falling and likes banging her stacking cups together.

- When she's getting sleepy, she pulls on her ear and sucks her hand. She can go from wide awake to fast asleep in 5.4 seconds!

- Girl loves her some cheerios and yogurt melts!

- Feisty ... and a bit of a temper!

- She really like other kids

- Loves to cruise

- She loves shoes and hats!

- Beautiful, thoughtful eyes

- A mover and a shaker!

Day Out

This morning we headed to Anna's orphanage around 9am. We were still a little leery about how Anna might react, but on the way there she fell asleep in the carrier, so we thought it would work out just fine for her to visit.

We were greeted by the orphanage director (we had met her already as she brought Anna to us on Monday), she is friendly and seemed very fond of Anna. The other couple that is here was on the visit with us as well. We were told that there were about 600 children there, but only 100 of them actually lived in the orphanage, the rest were in foster care. We found out that Anna had only returned to the orphanage 2 days before we met her. The orphanage was very clean and the nannies were all very friendly...in fact when we entered the living quarters, about 5 nannies came out and surrounded Anna going on and on about her. We don't know everything they were saying, but they all seemed to love her and Anna did great with it all (the carrier really makes her feel secure)!

After the visit, our guide took us to a traditional Chinese tea house where we were about to sample several local teas. It was a really neat experience!

We found a play area in the lobby of the hotel and met the other couple for a play date late this afternoon. After dinner tonight we decided to give her a real bath...Greg inflated the ducky tub we brought and she loved it! After bath, baby had bottle and baby fell fast asleep...it's 9pm now and she has been asleep for about an hour! All in all - a great day here in Kunming.

Better night

We had a much better night here in Kunming. As I type this Anna is still sleeping and has been sleeping soundly for almost 9 hours straight now. Yesterday changed things up a bit and it seemed to help. The first big change was I started "wearing" her yesterday - the first time was as we went down for breakfast and she was asleep w/in minutes and woke only toward the end of breakfast and let me feed her some eggs and rice. After breakfast we walked to Wal-Mart with our guide, Anna stayed away while we were there, but was asleep again on the walk home and allowed us to lay her down once we were back for a little bit. She played, fairly happily all afternoon. Our hotel had a fire drill (yes, a Chinese fire drill) at 2:30pm, so we went on a walk with another couple to a nearby lake...she slept in the carrier the whole time. So, when it came time for bedtime, we decided not to even put on her pj's, but instead we just put her in the carrier and decided to walk to hotel until she fell asleep, ... she was asleep within 30 minutes and let us put her down when we got back and is still sleeping peacefully. Praise God!

This morning we are meeting our guide in the hotel lobby at 9am and heading to the orphanage. We are hoping this won't be upsetting to Anna. We are still deciding if we want her to go in or not. We're still when the took her back to the orphanage from her foster family, we'll find out today.

After the orphanage visit Helen, our sweet guide, is going to take us a traditional Chinese tea house, we're looking forward to that!

We'll leave with a couple pictures - one as she was bundled up for our outting yesterday and the other of her sleeping this morning. We will try to update again this evening. Words can't express our thanks to you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Prayers Please

No pictures this time, just a request for prayers. Anna seems to be having some serious bouts with grieving, particularly during nap/bed time. She has been mostly very content otherwise, but during these times she makes it clear that it is not us she wants (at least not yet). We were aware that this was likely to happen, but it is very difficult to watch and not be able to do anything for her. This is also obviously affecting sleep time for all.

We know that we have your prayers already and have felt those prayers. Please continue to pray for Anna and for wisdom and strength for her new parents. On a lighter and more rejoicing note, we just had our first poop! :)

Thank you all for all of your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement. We hope to update you soon with more pictures (sorry no video, having trouble uploading) ... and perhaps some progress with the transition of our new family.

Love,
Greg & Laura

Our First Night

Well, we survived our first night. It was a long, sleepless one though. After having such a great day yesterday, poor Anna had a pretty rough night last night. We think she was grieving pretty hard when it came time for bed. She cried on and off pretty much until about 4am until she finally let Greg put her down. Before that we had her in bed with us and she would almost fall alseep and then she'd keep looking up at us, as if she was just checking to see if we were still here...heartbreaking! We all slept for a few hours after Greg put her down.

This morning, though, she woke up a happy, smiling girl. Please pray that she has a better night tonight. Today we are going to Wal-Mart with our guide - although Greg already made a trip there early yesterday evening with an adoptive father from Holland (they met their son at the same time we met Anna). Anyway, today we're taking the camera to Wal-Mart - Greg said it was picture worthy!

This afternoon we might venture out to Green Lake Park with the other adoptive couple here. It's supposed to be really nice. Either tomorrow or Thursday we'll get to visit Anna orphanage, although she wasn't there long, she went to live with a foster family last September.

We'll leave with a few pictures from yesterday (click to enlarge) Oh, and from what we've seen Kunming is beautiful, the temps are in the 60s and really pleasant, also much less smog that Beijing.

Too Good To Be True

We promise to get you more later, but wanted to get a quick post out ...

How could we possibly describe this day? We met our Anna and she is even better than our dreams. Things happened very quickly (more details later), but couldn't have gone more perfect. She didn't cry, she didn't even fuss or wimper ... she smiled.

Enough talk ... here are a couple of pics from the first time holding our beautiful baby girl ...

Quick update from Kunming

We made it to our hotel in Kunming about midnight Sunday night. We thought we'd go ahead a post a few pictures from our last day in Beijing...Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Temple of Heaven. They were all amazing! We really enjoyed Temple of Heaven as there is an area when you walk in that all of the retired people gather and play hackysack, sing, dance, etc...it was awesome to experience that!


Our flight to Kunming took off at 8:10pm and we landed around 11:30. We are at the Grand Park hotel and it seems very nice. We are meeting our guide, Helen, in the lobby at 8:30am and heading to the civil affairs building where we will do some paperwork and MEET ANNA!!!! So, it sounds that will happen fairly early in the morning. Not sure of our schedule after that, but as soon as we get back here and get a chance, we will post pictures!


Here are a few pictures from our last day in Beijing: