Christmas is Almost Here!

We are SO excited for Christmas around here.  The first reason, of course, is that we have Jacinda home.  Over the summer, we were preparing ourselves for the possibility that we might not have her home by Christmas.  All the paperwork was just so uncertain at that point.

 

There is a lot that we don't know about Jacinda's first 2 years.  We have no idea if she ever received presents.  So we're a little excited to see her when she opens her presents.

 

Back in December of 2008, before we had Jacinda's referral, I had this conversation on Facebook:

 

12/6/08:  Me – Sherry Barber Wolfe is SO happy Immigration approved us so quickly after getting the new document!!!!!!

12/6/08:  Janna (my sister-in-law) – Way cool Dude! Maybe I'll have another new niece by next Christmas!

12/6/08:  Me – Janna, it will probably be longer than that, unfortunately. But crazier things have happened!

 

I think I need to listen to Janna a little more.  She must have known something we didn't!!!

 

The other major reason we're excited for Christmas is that this is the first year Luke really understands all the hype.  He knows that Christmas is when God sent us baby Jesus.  He knows that we get to open presentqs.  We took him to a store and let him pick out presents for each of us and he's helping us wrap them.  So he also understands the giving part of Christmas.  We let him choose some of his old toys to give away to kids that are in need of gifts this Christmas.  He also helped us put together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  It's really been a lot of fun for us to see him learning about all of this.

 

This is also the year that Aaron and I have been discussing what we want to teach the kids about Christmas and what traditions we want to start and continue in our house.  We really want our kids to know that Christmas is not all about opening presents.  Yes, that's a really fun part of it, but it isn't the most important part.  We want to give them things they want, but we already have so much stuff.  We also want to instill in them a desire to help other people who don't have as much as we do.  And not just at Christmas, but all year long.

 

We'll definitely post lots of pictures of the big day, so stay tuned!

A Little Update

While I have a semi-quiet minute, I thought I'd type out a little update about what we're up to around here. Both kids are eating a snack and playing together and dinner is simmering on the stove - Navy Bean Soup.

The kids and I are settling into a routine during the weekdays. We usually run an errand or two in the morning and then try to go to the park if it isn't raining. Even if it's cold, we bundle up and go! The kids love running around and it's good for all of us to get some fresh air. Then we usually come home and have lunch and the kids take naps!!!!!

The kids still have their moments, but they are slowly playing together better. So that's good news! Jacinda continues to leave a path of destruction wherever she goes. She gets into things that we forgot we had! She undoes everything I do. Or, she makes a bigger mess somewhere else while I'm getting something done!!!! Needless to say, our house is not clean and tidy all the time! We have been having both kids help clean up all the toys every night before bed. So at least the floor is toy-free at some point during the day!!!!

We should be starting her speech therapy soon. She qualified for once a week therapy. Because of the holidays, we don't have a starting date yet, but that should be coming soon.

Update on Jacinda's Surgery Plans

We met last week with the Craniofacial team at our children's hospital. We are so fortunate that we have the Operation Smile doctors here locally. The consult went really well. Jacinda was very cooperative with everyone.

The orthodontist we saw said that her teeth looked great so far. Right now, we just need to do what we'd normally do with a 2 year old, which is brush her teeth. He said we'd need to start orthodontic work probably when she's 5 or 6.

The plastic surgeon was very informative. He said that during her surgery, he would do 3 things. The most important thing he will do is close her palate. Then, he will touch up her lip just a little. He was pretty impressed with her lip repair, though. The third thing he will do is try to even out her nose a little bit. He said that that is the hardest part and that her nose will probably be a bit uneven forever. We don't really care, because that's something you don't even notice unless you're looking really closely.

He also said that we need to meet with the ENT surgeon at some point soon. If she needs tubes in her ears, they will do that during the surgery as well. As far as we know, she doesn't have issues with ear infections, but it's pretty common with cleft kids to have ear fluid issues.

We also met with the team's Speech Pathologist. She doesn't deal with speech really, mainly just with feeding issues. She was very impressed that Jacinda is using sippy cups and not a bottle. She will work with us while we're in the hospital to teach Jacinda how to eat with a repaired palate. She also said that if we need any help getting Jacinda's speech therapy services taken care of, she will help us.

Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3rd. Jacinda will only need to stay in the hospital for 1 night, assuming everything goes well. She will need to be on a liquid/soft food diet for at least a week. She's going to LOVE that part! The good news is that our surgeon does NOT use arm restraints for kids Jacinda's age. It's fairly common for kids to have their arms in splints after surgery so they don't mess with their surgery sites. We were really worried about that and were happy to hear that we won't have to deal with it.

We just had Jacinda's evaluation for Speech Therapy services today (Tuesday). She is developmentally on track in all areas, except speech. In fact, she is ahead developmentally in a few areas, like fine motor skills. She does have delays in expressive and receptive speech. Pretty soon, she will start speech therapy once a week.

It's Official. We've Lost Our Minds

We are currently in Lancaster, PA. Well, near there, anyway. A few weeks ago, I had the brilliant idea to come up here for a weekend. We love this area, Aaron already had today off work, and we could see all the Christmas decorations. So we left early this morning. The kids slept off and on until we got to DC. Just past DC, Jacinda started screaming. At first, we thought she was just tired of being strapped in her seat. Then it occurred to Aaron that the last time she was in a car for that long was in China when she left the foster family and came to meet us. So we're not sure if today's trip was triggering some bad memories or not. We really hope that she didn't think we were taking her somewhere and planning on leaving her.

We stopped just north of Baltimore to eat lunch at Baja Fresh. Yes, we plan our vacations around where we want to eat. More on that later ..........

Our plan was to go to Hershey, PA tomorrow morning and go to Chocolate World. Well, we had a crazy idea to go tonight and go not only to Chocolate World, but Hershey Park as well. It is their Christmas thing, and we thought it would be fun to see Santa and his real reindeer and to ride some rides. Sounds fun, right? Well ..........

It was 45 degrees outside ..... and the wind chill ....... around 39 degrees. Yes, that's right, we walked around a theme park for several hours in 15 mph winds. Fortunately, the kids were dressed approriately, although they could barely walk! They had on fleece pants, heavy coats, hats, and mittens. Aaron and I on the other hand were not so fortunate. Aaron had on jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a fleece pullover. I had on jeans, a light sweater, and a heavy coat. I had left my gloves and scarf at home. The wind was whipping right through my jeans. Needless to say, we were pretty cold. I seriously do not know what possessed us!!!!!! We did have fun, though. Luke thought the rides were just the best thing ever.

After all that, we went to one of our favorite restaurants ever ... Isaac's Restaurant and Deli. It's basically a sandwich place. They have some sandwiches on bread made out of pretzel dough. YUM!!!!! And, it's a great place to take kids. When we sat down, they gave us the standard crayons and kids menu. They also gave each of the kids a small package of pretzel goldfish to much on. Brilliant!!!!!! We ordered and they brought the kids' side dish before the meal! Again, brilliant!!!!!!!! And the best thing is that we had a free sandwich coupon!!!!

Tomorrow's plan is to go to a few outlets in Lancaster, and then we're surprising Luke with his first real train ride!!!!! I think we might be more excited than he will be!!!!!

Oh, and we left our camera cable at home, so you'll have to wait for pictures until we make it home! Our camera is pretty much dead anyway, though. We're hoping it will hold out for the weekend.

Captain Destructo

On a lighter note .......

We have started calling Jacinda "Captin Destructo". This girl is crazy. She tears up everything. She makes a mess out of everything. It's like nothing I've ever seen. Luke was a piece of cake compared to this girl!!!!! We are having to babyproof even more things. More baby gates. More doorknob covers. More everything.

She also never stops! She never sits down and just relaxes. We just follow her around and laugh. I have never seen anything like it.

When she falls down, most of the time, she just laughs and gets up and does it again! In fact, we are getting pictures taken tomorrow, and she has 2 bruises on her forehead!!!!!

As far as how we're coping .... we're hanging in there. The crazy thing is that both kids are better behaved when we're at a store than when we're at home! Seriously. In the mornings, I usually try to take them to run an errand or two, and then we go to the park if it's nice outside. When we're shopping, they are perfect angels. Isn't that the craziest thing?

Yesterday ......

Yesterday, I was beginning to seriously doubt that we could handle this parenting 2 toddlers business. It was a pretty rough day.

I should warn you here that this post is not going to be all sunshine and roses. Just trying to be real ...... If you don't want to read about the hard part of adoption, stop reading now.

All day long, both kids were screaming. Luke was crying because he fell down (very dramatic these days). Luke was pushing Jacinda down for no reason. Jacinda walked into the corner of the table, so she was screaming because of the huge bump on her forehead. Jacinda was pulling on the cat's tail. One thing after the other. All.Day.Long.

Also, many other things happened ........ I found out I need a root canal. Our buddy, Steve, tore down what was left of our old fence. One of our neighbors freaked out because their dog got out and Steve brought it back. We had NO clue they had a dog, otherwise we would have told them. Lots of drama.

By the end of the day, I was DONE. I was really starting to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into. After Luke had pushed Jacinda down for about the 100th time, he went to his room. Aaron went up to talk to him and finally got the truth out of Luke. Luke was wondering if we could take Jacinda back. It was the first time he's said something like that to us. So they talked about it and we all went to bed.

This morning, Luke fell down or something and was crying. Before Jacinda came home, he totally would have just gotten up and been fine. Since she's been home, he cries at the drop of a hat. So I took him into my lap and asked why he was so sad all the time. He said, "Because Jacinda is here and I'm not the only kid any more." (Aaron had said something like that to him last night.)

So Luke and I talked about a few things. First, I told him that Daddy and I love him just as much as we ever did. Second, I told him that we're a family, and families work things out. I told him that this is hard for all of us. But that we would all work together and figure things out and be happy. He seemed to be satisfied with that discussion.

We, of course, knew that there would be some transition time for all of us. I don't think we realized it would be this hard. Luke is used to sharing, but he's not used to sharing HIS stuff, and HIS mommy and daddy. I'm not sure we realized how hard it would be for a 3 year old to have his entire world turned upside down.

Today has been better. Hopefully yesterday was just a bad day. I'm SO thankful that Aaron is working only part time this month. It's been so helpful to have him home.

Adjusting .........

We've been home just over 2 weeks now. We're pretty much over the jet lag, finally. Adjusting to life as a family of 4 has been pretty difficult. The kids love each other, when they're not fighting over anything and everything. Right now, they're both laying next to me on the bed and they're kicking each other for no reason. And now they're both screaming.

Luke has been handling all of this as well as a 3 year old can be expected to. His whole world was just turned completely upside down, and that was after mommy and daddy were gone for almost 3 weeks. So he's had a hard time. Sharing toys is pretty hard for him. I mean, he's had to share before at church and school, but not so much on his home turf.

Jacinda screams. A lot. We think it's largely because she can't communicate with us. She doesn't say anything at all due to her cleft palate. Part of it is probably grief from her world being turned upside down, too.

They're actually better behaved when we're not at home! Of course, that might be due to the large amounts of snacks they get while we're out and about!!!!! We've also been spending lots of time at our neighborhood park. The weather has been nice lately, so we've been trying to get out and enjoy it.

But we're hanging in there. Aaron is working part-time this month, so that's a huge help. He goes into the office in the mornings and then comes home at lunch. He's able to help me get the kiddos fed and down for their naps.

Pictures from our trip are HERE.

That's it for now! I must attempt to put kiddos to bed!

We are Home!!!!

A lot of you know this already, but we are home. The journey home was quite eventful, and I don't want to relive it here! But we made it home!!!!!! It was SO nice to sleep in our own bed that first night!

We missed Luke so much. It didn't really hit us how much we missed him until we saw him again. We could tell he really missed us, too. I feel like we missed a whole chunk of his life, which makes me a little sad. I think he grew a lot, too! I don't remember him being so big.

Jacinda is a dream. She is just perfect for our family. She and Luke so far have been doing great with each other. They both have had their moments, but overall, things are going really well. This morning at breakfast, they were eating next to each other and no adults were at the table. Jacinda started crying for her cup and we asked Luke why he took her cup. He said because she was playing with it and not drinking!!!! Mr. Bossy! It was pretty funny!

Jacinda goes to see our pediatrician tomorrow afternoon for a checkup. I'm sure he will tell us that she's doing great. She's definitely tiny, though. But her cleft palate is not affecting her eating and drinking at all, so that's good. Speaking of that, her consult with the cleft team is December 1. We will meet with a team of surgeons from Operation Smile. Our insurance will pay for everything, but the doctors at our children's hospital are the ones that work with Operation Smile. We are confident they will take very good care of her. We're probably looking at her palate surgery early next year. Then they will redo her lip repair after that at some point. We'll get a lot more information at that Dec. 1 appointment.

Just wanted to check in and give you all an update. We're recovering from jet lag ... Aaron and Jacinda seem to be handling it pretty well .... me, not so much! But we're hanging in there and adjusting to life as a family of four!!!

Day 15 – 10/22/09 – Last Full Day in Guangzhou

The good news is, we got Jacinda's visa today after all – a day early.  The bad news ….. we still can't leave yet.  There's no way to change all our travel arrangements to leave a day early.  So now we have most of the day Friday to kill here in Guangzhou.

 

Then we leave late afternoon for our train to Hong Kong.  I'm not sure if we'll have internet access at our hotel in Hong Kong.  So if you don't hear from us for a couple of days, that's why.  We leave Saturday morning our time (Friday night Eastern time) to head home.

 

Thanks for all the good wishes and thoughts.  See you all soon!!!!

Day 14 – 10/21/09 – Next to last day in Guangzhou

This morning, we had to wait around in our room in case there was an issue with our paperwork.  There was an issue, but it wasn't our fault, so our guide said she told the US Consulate to fix it!  I guess we'll see!

 

This afternoon, all the families in our group loaded up in a bus to go to the US Consulate.  We had to swear that all the information we had provided was accurate.  We also had to turn in Jacinda's application for her visa to get into the US.  She'll travel to the US on a Chinese passport, so she needs a visa.  That's the whole reason we spend a week in Guangzhou.  Apparently it takes that long to issue the visa.

 

In the room at the consulate, there were probably over a hundred people, all adoptive families.  The lady at the Consulate gave a little speech about what the Consulate is there for.  Then she had the nerve to say that all the babies were getting restless!!!!  REALLY??????  Then she got around to the swearing of the information.  Then she told us congratulations and that we could go home!  In actuality, we can't leave until we have that visa in our hands!!!!!!  It was all quite humorous.  Well, the kind of humorous that if you don't laugh, you'll cry!

 

The good news (if there is such a thing at this point) is that our Consulate Appointment ended up being a day early.  The bad news is that we don't get her visa any earlier.  So now we hang out for 2 more days waiting for her visa so we can leave.

 

We've been really frustrated the past 2 days with all the paperwork.  Apparently the US Consulate changed some things around.  So we have felt really out of the loop as far as what we need to do and what is happening.  We're not sure if our agency isn't communicating with us very well, or what.

 

Tomorrow, we have one last paperwork meeting.  We'll find out all the details of how we actually get Jacinda's visa in our hands.  We'll also find out the details of how we're getting to Hong Kong on Friday and then leaving for the US on Saturday.  We arrive in Norfolk Saturday night.  We are SO ready to be home.  It's been a great trip, and of course we're thrilled to have Jacinda.  But we're done.  We're mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.  Home is sounding very good to us.

Day 13 – Part 2 – Lost in Translation

Tonight we went on a cruise down the Pearl River, which is the 3^rd longest river in China, according to our tour guide. We had a great time, although the weather wasn't the greatest.  In the basement of the boat, there was a museum.  The vase in the above picture was there with the description in the picture below it.  Some things definitely get lost in translation here!!!!

Day 12 and 13 – 10/19 and 10/20/09 – STILL in Guangzhou

Monday

 

Jacinda started being fussy today.  We're not sure if it was because of the shots or if she's just adjusting to us.  We went to a huge park in the morning and it was beautiful, but very hot.

 

Today was the day that both Aaron and I really got homesick.  We're ready to be in our own house, cook our own food, sleep in our own bed, have ice in our drinks, and see Luke!  We're also ready to introduce Jacinda to the rest of her family!!!!

 

Jacinda is really starting to show her personality to us.  She's from the Hunan province, and the girls from that province are known as spicy girls.  She certainly is spicy!  When we take something away that she can't have, like a cord, or something sharp, she stomps her little feet, crumples up her face and cries.  It's actually really cute, and we have to try not to laugh!

 

She is also continuing to warm up to Aaron, but still on her own terms.  She'll play with him, but will rarely let him carry her.  When she does, it's only for a few minutes.  But we're getting there.

 

Tuesday

 

We did a little shopping today, but it started to rain.  This afternoon, we did some group pictures with all the families from our adoption agency.

 

Tonight, we're going on a river cruise with all the families.  It will be pretty late when we get back, so we'll blog about it tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow, we head to the US Consulate to do some paperwork.

Day 11 – 10/18/09 – Guangzhou

We slept in this morning, which was nice!  Then we did a little shopping here on the island.  The shop owners are all really nice.  We bought a few little things, but are still shopping around for the bigger things we want to get.

 

This afternoon, we went to a couple of jewelry markets.  We bought a few little things.  We just really wanted to get out and see the markets.  It was fun, but we were so tired and hot by the time we got finished!

 

Tonight, we went to a German restaurant.  We've never eaten German food before, but it was really good.  It was funny, because the song Walk Like an Egyptian was playing while we were eating!  So we're listening to Walk Like an Egyptian while eating German food in China!!!!!  Too funny!

Day 10 – 10/17/09 – Guangzhou

We made it here late last night. Jacinda was a champ on the flight!!!!!  She did great.  There was no food to be found in the Changsha airport, so by the time we got to our hotel in Guangzhou, it was 11 pm, and all 3 of us were SO hungry and thirsty.  So we took a couple minutes walk to a 7-Eleven.  However, this 7-Eleven was about 1/3 of the size of 7-Elevens in the US.  There were about 30 people crammed in there and it was crazy.  So dinner was Ritz crackers and Coke at 11:30 PM.

 

We're here for a week.  This is where we do the US side of the paperwork.  Jacinda is legally ours, but we can't bring her into the US until we get her Visa, which will happen this coming Friday.

 

So this morning was very drama-filled.  Our group has 14 families and things were CRAZY today.  We met at 9:30 to go get photos taken which will be used for the Visas.  Then we all went to the International Clinic.  The kids have to have a medical exam.  Jacinda did great for everything except when they measured how tall she was.  It was all so chaotic, that I didn't even see how much she weighed or how tall she was.  Everything was fine and then she had to get shots.  We had to wait for about 1 ½ hours while they determined what shots she needed and while everyone who arrived for the shots after us got called back to get the shots before us.

 

I'm not trying to start a debate about vaccinations, but Aaron and I are both really upset at the way vaxes are handled in our country.  With Luke, we delayed some vaxes until we were comfortable with his development and his age.  Well, with Jacinda, we don't get that luxury.  With the older immigration process, adopted kids don't need vaxes until they get to the US.  With the newer process (lucky us), the kids have to get vaxes before they can come into the US.  There is legislation being worked on to fix this, but it's not there yet.

 

Jacinda had to get 6 shots today.  Yes, I said 6.  We have several problems with this.  First, we've built up some trust with her, and now we both have to hold her down while the nurse takes 15 minutes to give her 6 shots.  It was torture for all 3 of us.

 

Second, 6 shots is TOO MANY for a little body to handle.  It just is.  It makes us angry that our country requires the kids to have that many shots so quickly.  It's bad enough that we have such an aggressive schedule for newborns.  But now my little one has all kinds of medicines in her tiny little body and who knows what effect it will have on her.

 

After that, Jacinda slept for 4 hours.  Aaron went to do some of our paperwork while I stayed with Jacinda.  We're both still pretty steamed about the whole situation.  Needless to say, she won't be getting any more for a very long time.  I'll be staying home, so there's no need to get them for school or anything for a while.

 

We went to an Italian restaurant tonight with another family that we've made friends with.  They have a little girl who is turning 3 soon, and the little boy they're adopting has a cleft lip and palate like Jacinda.  So that was fun, but dinner with 3 little kids was a lot for all of us to handle after the day we've had!!!!!

 

Tomorrow we're taking a trip to a Jade and Pearl Market.  Should be interesting!!!

Day 9 – 10/16/09 – Changsha, headed to Guangzhou

Fairly boring day today.  We spent most of the day organizing and packing all of our junk.  We met our guide this morning at the last minute because she managed to get Jacinda's passport and all of our paperwork early.  So we have all the important stuff.  Now we're just waiting around until 5:30 when we check out and head to the airport.

 

So a few things we wanted to mention …….

 

Jacinda has been soooo cute today.  She has been walking around the room playing and singing!  It's the cutest thing!  She also kissed us both for the first time today.  She puckers up and her whole face scrunches up!

 

One thing we haven't mentioned is that she's pretty close to being completely potty-trained!!!!!!!  They do that pretty young here.  Works for us!

 

We may not get a chance to post tonight when we get to Guangzhou because it will be pretty late.

Day 8 – 10/15/09 – Last Full Day in Changsha

Jacinda was feeling much better today, so we ventured out for a while this morning.  Our guide took us to an Embroidery shop.  The Hunan province is famous for embroidery.  It was amazing!  They use silk threads to embroider pictures.  It's unbelievable!!!!!  We saw some amazing pieces of art.  They said some of the pieces take several women years to finish!

 

Then we walked around a HUGE park for a while.  After that, we visited a historic university. The buildings were beautiful.

 

Jacinda is getting more and more comfortable with us each day.  She actually let Aaron hold and carry her for a few minutes this morning!  She's taking longer to warm up to him, but we're getting there.

 

We have most of the day here tomorrow to hang out and wait.  Our guide will be busy doing all of our paperwork.  We will check out of our hotel at 5 pm, and go pick up Jacinda's passport on the way to the airport.  Our next stop is Guangzhou, which is where we do all the US paperwork.  We'll be there for just about a week.  We arrive home Saturday night, 10/24/09.

10/14/09 – Random Observations About Jacinda

So.  Do you want to hear some crazy stuff?  We're not sure Jacinda could be any more like Luke if they were biologically related.  Examples:

 

-       They both LOVE blankets.  We gave Jacinda one as soon as she came into our room and she crumpled it up and put it to her face EXACTLY like Luke does.  She hasn't let go of the blanket since she got here.

-       They are both great eaters.  She will eat anything we put in front of her.

-       They both move around a lot when they're sleeping.  Also, they both take FOREVER to really wake up.

-       Huge, brown eyes with long eyelashes.

 

Every day we find more and more things and it's kind of eerie.  If we had any doubts as to whether she was the right one for our family, we certainly don't now!

 

A funny story …. She loves to imitate us.  So tonight we were at the hotel restaurant for dinner.  When the basket of bread came, she snagged a roll before the basket hit the table.  While she started eating her roll, I was putting butter on mine.  She then grabbed a knife and started trying to put butter on her roll!  It was too funny!!!!

Day 7 – 10/14/09 – Another Day in Changsha

Interesting day today.  We had to take Jacinda to a Chinese hospital.  She is fine, but let's just say that's an experience we NEVER want to repeat.  It turns out that she has an infected ulcer in her throat.  The entire visit, including several medications only cost $21!!!!!!!!  And, the entire visit only took a half hour!  Some differences than American health care … there is NO privacy at all.  They took her temperature right in the lobby, which was more or less outside (the buildings here are SO different than the US).  When we went into the room with the doctor, there were other families there seeing her.  Of course, we couldn't understand anything, but everyone else could hear everything that was being said.

 

In the picture, the white thing on her forehead is something the Chinese use for fevers.  I have no idea what's in it!

 

Since she wasn't feeling well, we've just been hanging out in our hotel room.  Our fabulous guide talked to the hotel people and asked them to turn our A/C back on!  We LOVE her for that!!!!!!  (I suppose I should explain what the guide does …. Our adoption agency provides us with a local Chinese person to help us with all the paperwork and anything else we need.  She speaks GREAT English and has been a  great help to us.  We called her this morning to take us to the hospital and we are SO glad she was able to come with us and translate.)

 

Another thing I wanted to tell you all about is the beds in China.  We had heard about the hard beds in China …….. the bed in our hotel in Beijing wasn't too bad.  It was a little firm, but nothing out of the ordinary.  But our beds in Changsha …. Different story.  The first time I sat on the bed, it shocked me because it was so hard!  Seriously, they should have just skipped the bed and put the pillows on the floor.  It's that hard!!!!  I think my hips and ribs are going to have bruises from it!!!!!

 

Another interesting thing to tell you all about is that we have gotten lots of stares from the Chinese people here in Changsha.  We think it will be better when we get to Guangzhou, as there will be more adoptive families.  But here, there aren't too many of us, so I think that's why we're getting uncomfortable looks.  I don't think the people here are upset that Americans are adopting babies.  I just think they don't see too many of us here, so they're interested.  Also, this city is NOT a tourist destination at all, so the only white people they see are adoptive families.

 

We uploaded a couple of videos.  You can see them at http://gallery.me.com/scbusf.  Just scroll down to the Movies section.

 

If Jacinda is feeling better this afternoon, maybe I'll write more!

Day 6 (part 2) – 10/13/09 – Pictures

Here a few pictures from yesterday.

One is when she was getting her footprint taken at the Civil Affairs Office.  One is when she actually sat in Aaron's lap for the first time!!!!

Day 6 – 10/13/09 – She’s Officially Ours!

The first order of business today was to go to the Civil Affairs Office and do more paperwork.  After we finished, the government officials declared Jacinda to be officially our child!!!  So now she's stuck with us forever!

 

After that, we did a little shopping at the Whacko Market ….. that's really the name!  It's sort of like a Wal-Mart, a little of everything.

 

For the afternoon, we stayed around our room for a while and played and got to know each other a little.  Jacinda took a really long nap!

 

After the marathon nap, we decided to venture out to Wal-Mart.  That was an experience, to say the least.  Wal-Marts here are just as disgusting as in the States!!!!  But we got a few necessities, so it was worth it.

 

We're finding that going out makes Jacinda really overwhelmed.  She's probably never been to a store before yesterday.  She's probably only ever been to a hospital.  So our adventure to Wal-Mart was a little too much for her (and us!).

 

So tonight, we had Pizza Hut delivered to our room.  Her first taste of pizza!

 

I have to tell you all that I'm a big wimp.  Since it's fall here, the government dictates that the air conditioning be turned off in the hotels.  So our room right now is at 80 degrees.  It's been raining out all day and our window is open, so it's nice and humid in here, too.  I miss my A/C!!!!!!  It's close to 90 in the next place we're headed.  If we don't have A/C there, I'm not sure what I'll do.  Find somewhere to buy a really big fan, I guess!!!

 

Tomorrow, we have a tour of an embroidery factory planned.  That's about it.  There's a bowling alley in our hotel, so we might check that out.  We're basically hanging out here until Friday, which is when her Chinese passport will be ready.   We have no more paperwork to do until we get to the next place on Saturday.

Day 5 – 10/12/09 – We’ve got her!!!!

So we arrived in Changsha in the Hunan province around 11 am this morning.  The plan was to check in to our hotel, then leave at 3 for the Civil Affairs office to pick up Jacinda.  When we got into the car to head to the hotel, our guide tells us there has been a change of plans and that Jacinda will be brought to our hotel room around 1 pm!!!!!  So we get to the hotel and unpack a few things and then wait.  And wait some more.

 

Jacinda Kai-Li Wolfe arrived at our hotel around 2 pm this afternoon.  Kai-Li is a name we heard here and we just love it.  It means beautiful and victorious.  Pronunciation .... Kai rhymes with pie and Li is pronounced Lee.

 

So she got here and she was NOT a happy camper.  At all.  She was screaming.  Apparently, she'd been screaming most of the day.  She settled down fairly quickly, though.  She has taken to me (Sherry) more than Aaron, but that's very typical.  There's going to be an adjustment time as she grieves the loss of her foster family.

 

This evening has been good.  No screaming, but a few sad tears.  We took a walk around the hotel and then came back to the room and had room service for dinner.  We played with Jacinda, and we got our first smiles and even laughs!  She took a bath and then went to sleep.  Tomorrow, we go to the Civil Affairs office to do paperwork.  Then, we'll get to go to a large market to get her some clothes, bottles, and other stuff.  Of course all the clothes we brought are too big.  She's 21 months old and barely 20 pounds.  The 12 month clothes we brought are too big!  She's a tiny little thing.  We don't know what to do with a small child!  Luke was 20 pounds when he was 6 months old!!!!!

 

A weird thing …… our hotel is in the middle of downtown Changsha.  Every so often, fireworks are set off right outside our hotel!  It's happened 4 or 5 times since it's gotten dark!

 

(Thanks to everyone who has posted comments on Facebook.  We're able to see them in our emails.  We can't get to Facebook, though, to respond.  But we are reading them and we really appreciate them!!!)

Day 4 – 10/11/09 – Last Day in Beijing

Busy day today.  This morning, we had our adoption agency's Orientation meeting.  The best thing about the meeting is that we got some updated information about Jacinda.  The picture above was in our package!  It's not the greatest picture, but it will have to hold you over until tomorrow!

 

Then we had lunch with all the families from our agency.  Then we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Today was the last day of a big celebration here, so there were hundreds of thousands people there and it was raining.  So it was a little crazy!!!!

 

We're SO glad we took a few days to spend in Beijing.  It's an incredible city and we have seen so many things that we wouldn't have been able to if we had not arrived early.  But now we are ready to get on with the adoption stuff and meet our girl!

 

Tonight, we need to pack our suitcases because we leave at 5:50 am tomorrow morning for the Beijing Airport to head to Changsha, which is where we'll get Jacinda!!!  Our next post will have pictures of us with Jacinda, so stay tuned!  Oh, and I think we've finally decided on a middle name, but you'll have to wait to hear it ……. We're about 99% decided, so we're leaving ourselves a little room to change our minds.  Again.

Day 3 – 10/10/09 – Beijing

Today was pretty uneventful.  This morning, we went to a place called the Summer Palace, which was a summer resort for an empress.  The place is huge and we walked several miles.  It was beautiful, though.  There were gardens and galleries and gorgeous buildings.

 

After that, we came back to a shopping mall near our hotel and had Pizza Hut for lunch.  I (Sherry) have been hit pretty hard with jet lag, so I took a nap this afternoon.  I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

 

This evening, we're taking it easy and just hanging out at our hotel.

 

Tomorrow, we have a pretty full day.  We have our adoption agency's Orientation meeting after breakfast.  Then we have lunch with other families from the agency and then a tour of The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  Then we have to pack because we leave very early Monday morning for Jacinda's province.

Day 2 – 10/9/09 – Beijing

We had a verrrrrrry interesting day.

 

First, we have to tell you about the traffic here.  Lane markings are merely suggestions, as are traffic lights.  There are cars, bikes, scooters, mopeds, etc.  It's a complete free-for-all.  Crossing the street is an adventure.  When we need to cross the street, we get behind people who look like they know what they're doing and we just follow and hope for the best!

 

Second, Starbucks are everywhere!  Even at the Great Wall!!!!!

 

Third, China is MUCH different than I expected.  Well, we've never been to a Communist country, so I'm not sure we had any idea what to expect.  Beijing is a very modern city … lots of people are everywhere.  From what we hear, 99% of China is not like Beijing.

 

Fourth, you can't drink the water here.  We have to brush our teeth with bottled water, which is kind of a pain.  Apparently the water is clean enough that you can shower in it, though.  I think that's weird.

 

My dad has a business contact in Hong Kong, Mark.  He arranged for his friend in Beijing, Sun (pronounced Soon) to take us around Beijing.  So he shows up at our hotel this morning with a driver.  They took us to the Great Wall.  It is truly amazing.  We climbed part of it.  Then we went to the Olympic Park.  We got to go inside the Bird's Nest.  We walked through the plaza and saw the Cube and the Indoor Stadium.  I'm really glad we went there!

 

This is where it gets interesting.  Sun took us to a Chinese restaurant.  Now, I'm sure you've all heard that Chinese food in China is much different than Chinese food in America.  That's definitely true.  On the menu, there were seriously hundreds of choices.  Sun ended up ordering for us.  Besides some shrimp that we ate, we don't have a clue what the rest of it was.  Honestly, no idea.  Plus, the restaurant didn't have air conditioning, so I was hot and hungry, and didn't know what I was eating.  It might be better that we didn't know, actually!

 

Then we were scheduled to meet Mark for dinner.  He comes to our hotel and tells us he's taking us to a Peking Duck restaurant (uh-oh).  Being the good guests we were, we smiled and said that would be great.  We told him we'd never tried duck, but we were willing to.  There ended up being 7 of us and we had a private room.  This was a good thing because in the main dining room, there was a very loud show going on.  Again, one of the other people ordered for all of us.  You see where this is going, right? When the food came out, it was put on a lazy susan in the middle of the table so we could all share. I have never seen so much food in my life.  Besides the duck, again, no clue what we were eating.  The duck wasn't bad.  They showed us how to put it in a little tortilla-like pancake and fold it up and eat it.  I'm not sure I'd order duck again, but it was pretty good.

 

Needless to say, I think we'll be finding some American food tomorrow!!!!!!  Our plan for tomorrow is to eat a leisurely breakfast at our hotel – fabulous buffet, by the way.  Then we might do some shopping, or sightseeing.  We want to take it easy because the next day is when all the fun starts!!!!

 

Day 1 – 10/8/09 – Beijing

(The dates may not match up since we're 12 hours ahead, but I'm writing this at the end of the date in the title of the post.  Sorry if that's confusing.)

Our flight from Norfolk to Newark was very bumpy the entire time.  Fortunately, it was a pretty short flight.  I (Sherry) am not a great flyer, but we survived, except for the claw marks in Aaron's leg!!!

 

We then had over 4 hours to kill in the Newark airport.  We found some internet access and watched a few TV shows.

 

Our flight to Beijing was fairly uneventful.  We each had video screens on the seat backs in front of us, so we could choose movies and TV shows to watch.  The guy next to me watched all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies with Chinese subtitles!

 

We made it to our hotel in downtown Beijing.  Beijing is HUGE.  The people have been nice so far.  There is a lot of smoking here, so it's strange to smell cigarette smoke in the hotel lobby.

 

Our plan for tomorrow is to go see the Great Wall and the Olympics buildings.

2 days .........

2 days until we leave.  I can't believe it's really time to go.  The packing insanity continues.  The picture above is what our guest bed looked like yesterday.  We have since packed 1 suitcase, and we have 2 more to go, plus our carry-ons.  We have just a few last minute things to get done.

Several people have asked if Luke is going with us.  He is not.  There are several reasons for this:
1.  China is quarantining people for fever or flu-like symptoms (swine flu exposure).  The State Department has warned that China may separate children from their parents and give the kids medical treatment without parental permission.  Aaron and I both would end up in a Chinese prison if this happened!!!
2.  Luke does not sleep well when we travel.
3.  He has a great place to stay while we are gone, so we feel comfortable leaving him ..... well, as comfortable as we can!  We're really going to miss the little guy!  We have Skype all set up and we've practiced.  So hopefully we can see him and talk him a lot while we're gone.

Our flight leaves Norfolk at 6:10 am Wednesday morning.  We're pretty much ready!

Things you can pray for (if you're the praying type):
1.  Safe traveling (Sherry is not a great flyer.)
2.  Good health for all of us
3.  Jacinda's adjustment.  She is likely to have a very hard time with this.

We'll be updating this blog while we're gone, so stay tuned!!!!!!!

Subscribe to the blog!!!!

While we are in China, we will not be able to access Facebook. So if you want to find out how things are going, you need to subscribe to this blog!!!!!! On the right side of the page, there is a link to subscribe by email. Click that link and enter your email address. You will receive a confirmation email, and you need to read that email and follow the instructions. If you don't get the email within a few minutes, check your spam folder!

Travel Approval!!!!!

We got our Travel Approval today!!!!!! I (Sherry) was in the waiting room at the eye doctor's office when Aaron called me. Of course, I burst into tears and then they called my name! I'm sure everyone was wondering what in the heck was going on!!!!!!!

We're not sure yet the exact date we'll leave, but it will probably be around October 7th or 8th. We have to be in Beijing by Saturday, October 10. We want to go a couple of days beforehand to get over jet lag and do some sightseeing. We will get Jacinda on Monday, October 12. We will get home somewhere around October 24th.

More details to come! Now the serious travel preparations start!!!!!

Travel Update (Really, not much of an update, though ...)

We got a little travel news yesterday, but nothing major. We do not have official Travel Approval yet. Our agency got a batch of them yesterday, but ours was not among them. The agency expects ours to be in the next batch. They have no idea when they will get that batch, though. It could come today, next week, who knows?

We did find out that we will definitely not travel before October 9th. October 1-5 are holidays in China, so the offices we need to visit will be closed. So our agency has delayed travel until after those holidays. The 2nd tricky part about October is that there is a big trade festival that happens the whole month. That means that hotel rooms will be more expensive. But our agency is still allowing families to travel in October as long as they are willing to pay the extra cost. We're going even if it's more expensive. We want our girl!!! The money will all work out.

Hopefully we'll hear soon when we'll travel. We're really hoping for as soon in October as possible. The later it gets in the fall, the more we have to be prepared for a H1N1 flu situation.

For me (Sherry), this part of the waiting has been the hardest part. We're SO close. Every time the phone rings, I practically knock stuff over trying to get to it. I check my email incessantly. Jacinda is almost 20 months old and I try not to think about all the things we're missing ...walking, talking, etc. I'm trying to stay busy getting ready for the trip and getting the house ready. We're stocking the freezer with meals, although we have some friends who'll be helping us out with meals, too. The guest room is a disaster at the moment, so that's this week's project! My parents need somewhere to stay when they come to help us out.

We've also been talking with the team that will repair Jacinda's cleft lip and palate, so we think we're ready! (Her lip has already been repaired, but the team wants to redo it at some point because they think they can improve it a little.) The team asked us to call them as soon as we get home and they will get a team together to meet with us.

The last we heard from China, she has no issues with eating and drinking, so that is a good thing. Her weight and height are in about the 25th percentile (for US standards), which is not unusual for Chinese kids. Her pediatrician here, who is experienced with international adoptions and works closely with the cleft team, is confident that we can handle any issues that come up. When we travel, we will have access to his personal cell phone so that if anything medical comes up while we're in China, we can call him and he'll help us out.

So that's what we've been up to! Lots of people have been asking us when we go, and the answer right now is still ... we don't know. Hopefully soon we'll have a more definite answer to that question. And trust me, when we know, you'll all hear us screaming!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaron and Sherry

Only One Thing Missing .......

Jacinda's room is DONE! She is the only thing missing at this point.

The crib and some Chinese characters. The ones on the left stand for Family and the one on the right is for Love.




















The window valance ended up inspiring some of the colors in the room.
















By the closet
































Closeup of the sign I painted.