Sunday afternoon (click images to enlarge)

Houston ... we have lift-off ...

(turn up volume for the full experience)

Home 1 Month

One month ago today we landed on U.S. soil and Anna became an official U.S. citizen! Life as a family of 3 has started to become normal for all of us ... we have routine, and routine is good! Anna continues to amaze us in all that she has learned since we have been home. She is one sharp little peanut!!

Here are some random shots from the last week or so. Notice Anna's cool new ride from Grammie (thanks Grammie)!

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Chinese New Year!!

Anna made her debut at church today and she did great! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

One Month!!

Our Forever Family Day was month ago today! It's hard to believe a month has already passed by, but at the same time it feels like Anna has always been with us. We still have much to reflect on about our time in China and plan to share more with you over the next few weeks.

I know it's really all about the pictures though, so here are a few shots I snapped yesterday morning

Big progress in a week

Anna really made a lot of progress this week! She is now sleeping in her crib (without us sleeping on her floor)! She is almost adjusted to the time change, she's still waking up around 2am or so for about an hour every night, but that so much better than being awake from midnight to 4am!!

This week Anna had to start her immunizations and also had to have some blood work done. She was terrified of the blood draw, it was so hard to watch her get so scared and upset. She is one tough cookie though! The doctor thought she looked great...the little quirt is in the 15% on the American charts, which is really pretty good, we didn't know if she'd even make it on the American chart!

We continue to work on our bonding and attachment. She is really doing great considering all of the changes she has been through in her 13 months. She is getting comfortable in her house, loving meal time, getting more and more curious about the cat and dogs, and learning that mommy and daddy will always be there for her.

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):