Last day in China

Inside the White Swan


ooops, double



Julia and me




Karen and Emily




Today is our final day in China, we are getting our stuff together this afternoon and pretty well packed. Shea is taking a nap (a normal long one). Julia is not one for long naps but she has slept through the night from day one...yeah!





This hotel, The White Swan is absolutely beautiful. We have stayed at some very nice hotels in the past, but this one rates pretty high with us. I'll let the photos explain. Guangzhou is a huge city, one of the largest in China. This hotel is situated right on the Pearl River and in the evening, the river banks and buildings are lit up with neon and laser lights.





Last night, Karen and Emmy offered to babysit while Jim and I went out on a date. We had a great time, after walking around the island, we came back to the hotel where we had a very elegant dinner in a restaurant overlooking the river. It was an upscale dinery with live, soft music and no kids! It was great, and probably our last chance for awhile to have a night out, just the two of us.





Julia is adjusting very well and is a very happy child. The first day we had her, she barely ate anything. Now she's drinking 4, 8 oz. bottles, eating some table food and a little baby food. She will put cookies and cheerios in her mouth constantly if you let her. She loves traveling in the Bjorn (a baby carrier) and kicks her legs every time we get it out.





Our experience has been wonderful. The families we've connected with in our group are very special and we are looking forward to futures with them. Our babies will all have special bonds forever.





We are, however, looking forward to leaving here and coming home. The beds are too hard, the rooms are too small, the weather is too humid and we are so so ready to come home. We're excited to see our family, our home and our pets. We ready to get back to our wonderful lives and find our routine again.





We will look forward to our next trip (end of May, start of June) to Branson, Mo. We will celebrate our parents 50th anniversary with our family. We will also celebrate Julia's first birthday there.





Thankyou to all who have commented on our blog. Each comment has been very special to us. I will post one more time on this blog after we get home. Then we will start a new blog with info about our familily.











Love to All,





Sara

Tuesday, April 3

The girls on a shopping trip on Shamian Island


Our liitle American girl



Daddy and Julia in front of the U.S. Consulate bldg.

A New American Citizen

Today Feng Xiao He was sworn in as a naturalized citizen by adoption. When we land in Los Angeles on Wednesday Julia Xiao He Middleton will be a United States citizen. All the paperwork is done. We can legally bring her into the country.

We visited the United States Consulate this afternoon. We were not allowed to take cameras or electronic devices into the Consulate offices, so no pictures were taken of the actual swearing in. In some ways it was a little anticlimatic. We took her Visa paperwork with a copy of our passports to the counter to have someone behind the bulletproof glass verify that Julia looked like her Visa picture and that we looked like the people on our passports. After that a Consulate official came out to the waiting area and gave instructions to all the families. We then stood, raised our right hands and repeated an oath that the information whether verbal or written was truthful to the best of our knowledge. At that point the "ceremony" was done. We waited until we received her passport with her Visa. Then back on the bus and the ride back to the White Swan Hotel.

The bus ride back was a little more exciting. Although the traffic in Guangzhou is more under control than we had seen lately, we still almost crashed. A semi cutoff our bus and clipped the front side mirror as it forced it's way into our lane. China has been a wonderful place to visit but I would never want to drive here.

Jim

Photos from Monday

The group photo (Julia is in middle front)





Happy family



Shea and Julia in their chinese outfits




Visiting a Budhist Temple, the childern were blessed here





The riverboat cruise

Almost over

Today is Tuesday April 3, the day before we leave for home! We are anxious to get home and get back into a routine, especially with the girls. They have both been absolutely wonderful and we could not ask for better behaved children.
Jim started out with his regular Starbucks coffee (some things never change). We are now getting ready to go down to the breakfast buffet.
Last night we took a ride down the river in the beautiful, lighted river boat. They had quite the buffet, and the city sights were spectacular.
Also yesterday we made the attempt to photograph all the babies on the "famous" red couch. It was quite a funny thing to prop them up against each other and keep them from crying.
Today is our final appointment here. Our Consulate meeting is this afternoon at around 3:00. Julia will become an American citizen.
We're here most of the day tomorrow and don't check out until 5 Pm. Our flight arrives in Phoenix at 11:05 PM (US Airways), on Wed. PM (in case any one wants to meet us there).
Today is a cool, rainy day, we'll do more shopping and photographs.
We miss our friends and family so much!

Blessings,
Sara

Photos from yesterday (Saturday)

^Evening walk on the Pearl River

^Some of our group walking through the open market

^Would anyone care for some snake wine?

^Julia is a very happy girl!

^Shea posing in front of a Bonzai at the Pavillion (Nanchang)

The Paper Chase

Well today was my day to handle all the pre-consulate paperwork. Julia and I started out the day by having her visa photo taken. Next came the medical examination. I was never in the military but I had the overwhelming feeling that I was in an induction line medical exam. I kept waiting for them to send us to the barber's chair for a high and tight haircut. Actually they had three stations. Height, weight and temperature at one. Ear, nose and throat plus eyes at the next. Finally a physical examination by the doctor to make sure bone and muscle structure looked normal. Julia came through with a clean bill of health. She weighed in at 16lbs and is 26" tall.

The next stop for me and one parent from each of the other couples was paperwork. We had to prepare our I600s, our I604s, our DS232s, our I864Ws and that only accounted for less then half of the checklist. Our coordinator Cordella kept us on track and had to keep saying "can we move on now". All of that to make our consulate appointment short and sweet on Monday.

After naps was the best part of my day. The girls and I went on our own walking tour of Shamian Island (where we are staying). Shea pushed Julia in the stroller and I got to hold the handle so I wouldn't get lost. All three of us had a great time.

Jim

First day in Guangzhou

This is the first chance I've had to sit and update you all on our trip. Since leaving Nanchang yesterday, it has been extremely hectic. We did not get to eat dinner (room service) last night until 10:30, we were starved! Julia had a hard time falling asleep last night because she slept on the bus for an hour from the airport to the hotel. The flight was only about an hour but traveling time (airport and bus) was several hours.
Shea has been doing well but now she is taking a long morning nap (never happens). I think she became dehydrated yesterday with the long time period of not getting water or food via G-tube. She is not drinking much on her own but never has, so we need to hydrate her more often here, very warm and humid!
Julia is doing great, she is very happy and seems very relaxed with us. She loves to be held, in other words, she whines and cries when you put her down...hmmmm, she's already got us trained.
There is alot to do here, but other than a water/baby food run, I have not wandered out yet. This afternoon we have a tour scheduled for the Qingping Free Market and Pearl Market. Jim will stay with the girls while Karen, Emmy and I go shopping.
This morning, Jim has been busy with appointments, I will ask him to post info this afternoon about what he did.

Today in Nanchang 3/29/07

Today we visited Elephant Lake, it was a beautiful, large lake and in the middle of it was a beautiful temple and lush gardens and trails.

Next we went to a large porcelain shop. Jiangxi is known as the porcelain capital of the world. There are beautiful examples in many of the shops here. We bought a few things and will have to be very careful packing the items in our luggage.

When we got back to the hotel, Jim, Shea and Julia took naps and I explored the city with my camera, getting candid shots and many people wanted to pose. I found a beautiful area with pagodas and gardens.

Tomorrow is the day Julia gets her passport. Jim will take her while I show some of our group the gardens I found today.

While in the pagoda/garden area, I saw a fisherman that was in his boat in the river. He had 5 trained ducks swimming nearby. They were diving for something that looked like seaweed but I'm not sure exactly what it was. When they surfaced with this material, he would swoop them up in a net and take it out of their beak and turn them loose to look for more, very interesting.

While walking down the city streets, I saw a child with split pants just squatting and peeing in the middle of the sidewalk. That is a natural thing to do here and you always have to watch where you walk.

Myself and a few other women from our group had another massage today, it's become a daily routine, what the heck...it's sooooo cheap!

Tomorrow we leave at 3:30 for Guangzhou (1 hour flight). While there, we have a medical exam for Julia and receive her immigration paperwork after visiting the U.S. Consulate.

I found a way to view all of your comments and want you all to know they mean so much to us. Please keep them coming...

Goodnight,

Sara

Another incredible day!

^Daddy and Julia in Fengchang.



^The restaurant where Julia was found.



Yesterday we spent the day traveling through the countryside on our way to Fengcheng. That is where all the babies were found in different places around the city. We started out at the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute which was a very nice facility. As a group we pulled together enough money to donate an air conditioner as a gift for them. The orphanage is located in the new part of the city. One of the babies was found at the gate of this place. Only the twins lived here in the orphanage, the other babies lived with foster families.



After visiting the orphanage, we stopped at each of the places the babies were abandoned by their mother. The city is very poor, dirty and depressing. All the babies were found in very public places. Some of the babies were found in front of stores, post offices, etc. Julia was found in the midst of this dirty city but in front of a beautiful, elegant restaurant. We walked up a wide set of marble stairs set between 2 huge stone lions. Julia was found in a box wrapped in blankets at the top of the stairs, next to the door when she was about 2 weeks old. I wonder, why did her mother go out of the way to leave her in a very beautiful place?



The country side was beautiful and very green. We saw many poor people farming. We saw many water buffalo, some were pulling the cultivator, others were grazing. We saw many duck farms where they are harvested for food.



Julia and Shea are doing well. Shea is still keeping some distance from her sister and not liking the attention being given to someone else. Julia likes to be held all the time and she loves to eat table food, she'll try everything!



I had a foot massage the other day and a body massage last night. Each lasted over an hour and costs less than $7 . It was heaven!



Have to run, we have a tour of the city today.







Sara

Well, Julia is doing wonderful. She loves to be held, and she cries when put down, but that's a good sign, showing that she's attacting. Yesterday she was leagally adopted, so she's all ours!!! She's sleeping through the night, and eating really well, as you can see by the picture below.

The city we're staying at [Nanchang] is always bustling with activity. There's always something new to see, somewhere new to shop... you know. Well, here's a view from our hotel window, so you can see for yourself.

Yesterday the women took a little break and decided to do something for themselves. So, we went to get a foot massage. It was less then 7 American dollars for 90 minutes of heaven, let me tell you.

I was a little reluctant to go at first, because I've never had a foot message before... but when we found out there were teenage boys doing our foot massage... how could I refuse??

Well, we're are off to the Fengchang orphanage, so we'll tell you about that when we get back.

-Emmy

We have our baby!

The day has finally come, our wait for Julia is over and now the fun begins!

As I had mentioned before, we are part of a group (mostly from Az.) that total 9 families. It was so emotional and exciting as the orphanage director called out our names one by one to receive our babies. With the twins belonging to Art and Michele, there were 10 babies! Can you imagine those few moments when parents/family meet their child for the first time, the child they've been waiting for for so long? It's hard to explain the experience, but it was one of the greatest in our lives.

We have had Julia for about 3 hours now and she has been very good yet very active. She seems very comfortable with us and babbling, smiling and laughing. She wouldn't take a bottle but when we got room service, she grabbed hold of Jim's french fries and chowed down! Hmmm, I hope she's not a junk food lover. I keep offering a bottle, with no luck. She finally passed out on my lap and she's napping in her crib now. She was presented to us in a very heavy red snow suit (despite the warm humidity) as all the babies were. Underneath she was wearing an old tattered set of pj's with a long rip down the backside and full of holes. She is clean and healthy looking with trimmed nails, her cheeks are bright but very dry. She has a couple of teeth and chews on 3 fingers for comfort. She cannot sit up alone but likes to roll from stomach to back.

We are having a great time and enjoying seeing how a different culture lives. We are already tired of chinese food and I would be okay if I didn't see it again for years.

Beijing was alot of fun, we kept very busy with tours. Shea has been absolutely wonderful. She is a real trooper. She is happy to have a sister although a little aloof right now.

Posting in the blog is difficult now because other than my own printed words, everything else is in Chinese characters, so I hope I push all the right buttons. We cannot view the blog either, so hope you get all this info.

sara

We made it to Nanchang!

Sorry we have not posted lately, we were blocked from posting in our Beijing hotel. I will write more later, we are about to walk out the door to get Julia!

Sara

Well, tomorrow we fly out to China. It's a little chaotic tonight, getting everything packed into the 5 suitcases among us, each only being able to weigh 44 pounds. But we're managing. We fly from the Pheonix airport tomorrow at 4:30 and will arrive at Los Angelos at about 6:00. Then we have a 6 hour layover at the airport before we leave for China at about 12. We will arive at Guangzhou at 6:50 a.m their time [3:50 p.m. Arizona time, 6:50 p.m. Kentucky time.]. Then we fly out at 10:00 a.m. for Beijing, and arrive at about 12:55 p.m. Yes, that is a lot of traveling we have to do. About 27 1/2 hours total. So we a stocking up on books, games, and really anything we can pass the time with. Well, I have to go and put the finishing touches on packing. I'll keep you posted! Here's a picture of our little travel group.

-Emmy

Reinforcements have arrived!

Karen and Emily (Sara's sister and niece) arrived from Ky. today. Other than Karen having a stress fracture in her foot, they seem to be doing well and very excited about joining us on our journey. Shea is excited about cousin Emmy being here because Emmy spoils her and reads to her all the time. When we decided to bring Shea to China with us (she's only 3), we knew we had to bring Emmy (14 ) along to help out.
All of our travel arrangements have been made for the flights, hotels and all the Beijing tours. The agency has a travel agent who does this for the families. There are a total of 7 families from Az. in our travel group plus a couple more from other places. All together there will be 10 babies in our group with 2 of them being twins adopted by one family. Two of the couples left today to start sightseeing for a week before Gotcha Day, we leave Tuesday to tour Beijing for a few days and I believe the rest of the group will be leaving Friday. I'm pretty sure Gotch Day will be Sunday, Mar. 25th.
All for now,

Sara

Finally, a date!

Today, we finally got our confirmation that we will be leaving on Tuesday of next week, Mar 20! Karen and Emmy will be flying in to Phoenix on Sunday to spend a couple days here before we leave.
We will fly to Beijing first where we will stay for 2 days. We will tour the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. One of the evenings we will see the famous Chinese Acrobats. We will leave for Nanchang on Sunday which is where we will be recieving our daughter!

Sara

Feb 25, 2007

We are anxiously awaiting for more info about our travel dates. We hope to be leaving for China at the end of March. Friday we will meet with the agency along with our entire travel group to discuss our travel details, and I do believe there are alot of details!
We were so elated to recieve our match on Feb 6th. We started the adoption process 2 years ago this month! The papers that came with Julia's pictures were all in Chinese, so we are having them translated and will post more about her as we know more info.