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!!!!!!!