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!!!