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