Wednesday!

Wednesday

Today was our Visa Appt at the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  It went VERY well and now we are just waiting on Charlotte's passport to be returned.  Should be ready by tomorrow afternoon then we'll leave for Hong Kong.  We've decided to take a Van over instead of the train.  For one thing, I'm pooped and it'll be easier, also for the different/new experience.

We didn't get any pictures at the Consulate, as our guides requested we leave all electronic devices here at the hotel.   We could have, it would have just meant we would have needed to check it in and out.  Which would have slowed things down, so I guess I see why they suggested it.

Charlotte fell asleep in the bus on the way back, which was well and good.  She got a quick nap, we got back, gave her a quick bottle before having to run downstairs to do group pictures.  Which I totally disagree with.  We were pretty much the only ones who didn't have a whiny baby and that's because I refused to go down beforehand.  Too bad.  Kid comes first.

Robyn and Charlotte got all dressed up in their outfits we got yesterday and we got pictures of us and everyone.  I tried to get the two of them together, but neither could sit still long enough.. ug.  I'll try again at home!

For now Charlotte is napping, Robyn is resting and I did some straightening up of the room, to prep for packing.  David went out to get more Dollars into RMB.  We have plans to go out to get some Mediterranean food later and crash.  Not much else to do around here.  Gosh we miss Shaiman Island, so much better to walk and stroll around.

Zaijian,

~Donna

Baby Babble...

Pictures from yesterday and Today

She had a blowout.. and we had to purchase some clothes.. Love the Chinese Red Star with the Louis Vitton pants!

Love Shaiman Island

Medical Center.. yes that is Mickey Mouse

First day in stroller.. she's talking to herself.

Just before poo everywhere..and yes the stroller too.  We found a hose to wash it out.

Zaijian

~Donna

Happy December!

Medical Day
Monday!  Today we had our Medical Appt.  All immigrants wishing to go to USA have to do this.   It was in a new place, much bigger than it was the last time we were here with Robyn.  Charlotte woke up with a few hives..I made sure to give her benedryl in the morning so that they wouldn't be there for the exam.. and they weren't!  And so far none since then!! yippyi!!  but NOW our big girl is running a fever.  Stupid smog is killing both Robyn and I.  We sound like a bunch of junky smokers coughing.  It totally sucks.  I got this last time.  China is the poster child for pollution.  UG.

Both Robyn and David took a nap then we went to this amazing Indian Restaurant called the Ice Cube Grill for dinner.  The rest of the group went on the Pearl River Cruise.  Robyn wasn't interested and we had done it last time.  Turns out it was a good idea, some folks got a bit sick from the Papa Johns they ordered to eat on board.  Our food was awesome!  OMG so dang good.  It was just a $3 dollar cab ride and the meal was about the same price as say Olive Garden.  but MAN so dang delicious!  I had some marinated Chicken Kabobs and David had Curry Mutton and Robyn some flatbread pizza.  the Naan was awesome.  We think we'll go again Wednesday.

Today.. Tuesday.  It was a group trip to the Pearl Market/shopping area.  We purchased our pearls then left the group for some shopping on our own.  I got a couple of shirts.  I did well packing for everyone but me.. oh well.  Then we took a cab over to Shaiman Island and did some fun shopping for Robyn.  We really miss that area.  It was so much nicer there than here.  It was nice to be able to walk around the area.. lots of pedestrian "park" type areas and places to eat within walking distance.  The White Swan looks so pretty all redone.  While we were out we had our first blow-out.  Charlotte poo everywhere and on the stroller.  UG.  We also visited our favorite shop from last time and Mr Dong remembered us!  So very cool.

We are back in the hotel, Charlotte is napping.. man she was a cranky bitch.. no other way to put it.  And trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  Robyn is not feeling well and we are just tired of being here.  We are ready to go home.  Two more nights here, one in Hong Kong and we go home.  Please pray for health. 

Zaijian,

~Donna

Sunday detail.

Hi all

Today was a tour day.  We've been to these places before with Robyn, but decided to go again.  Both girls were great!  Charlotte let Daddy hold her for most of the day.. WAHOOOO!!!!  But again, with the hives.  The sucky part is I can't figure out what is doing it.  I've been trying to keep things simple.  Thankfully the benedryl does the trick.  She's napping right now.  David and Robyn ran out to get some lunch.

Here are some pictures from this morning; the Temple of the 6 banyan trees and the Chen Heritage house.  One picture you will see Charlotte actually sitting on her own on the bus!  She was clapping once the bus would move!  Soo cute!

Tomorrow we have the medical check for her US Visa paperwork.  Then a boat ride on the river with everyone.  Should be fun!

We miss everyone and love when we get to Skype.  Continue to look for us on in the mornings between 7a-9am or evenings.  Won't be able to do it Sunday night.  That's when we head to the clinic.  Going to be a long morning.

Next thing we need to do is get Charlotte used to the stroller, sounds like fun for tonight!

Happy Sunday,

Zaijian,

~Donna

Sunday-First Day of Advent

Guangzhou!

So for the rest of Friday.. we stayed in.  We thought of going out for a bit until we saw the Air Quality Index was 247-VERY UNHEALTHY...  so no go.

We stayed in.. packed.  hung out.  Charlotte had some hives.  So we are very lucky to have a Dr in the group.  He took a look and said, well not much you can do.  Just give her benedryl and let them run their course.  Poor thing.  David went out to grab some dinner.. and got these delicious meat pies!  yum..  but by then both girls had fallen asleep.

Saturday..  we were all up early.  Poor Charlotte's hives are moving through and all over.  She was miserable.  Got her medicine and a bottle.That helped, she was her bubbly self soon after.

Got everyone ready and down to breakfast early and ready in the Lobby to leave Zhengzhou at 730am!!  We all hopped on the bus with our stuff and headed to the airport.  The traffic wasn't so bad, which was nice.  Wow wicked traffic in Zhengzhou.  Anyway, airport went very well, our guides were awesome.  We had the last row of seats in the plane and Charlotte was on my lap for our almost 2hr flight.  It was just gross... the smog.  I mean you couldn't see the runway from the terminal.  Took forever to get above the smog and clouds and see some blue sky.  We had a nice flight, some good snacks.  Both girls were VERY good.  Once at Guangzhou we were very happy to see all our stuff made it and oh my the air smelled sweet, almost.  Just smells so much better.  I mean there is smog here, but it's just not as bad.  And yey!!  No more snow and cold.  It's very comfortable here in the 70s.  

Our first thing to do once in our room was to figure out what needed to be washed, or more like what doesn't need to be.  We have a duffle bag plus a bag of laundry to do!  It'll go out tomorrow and we'll get it Monday. YEY!  

I have to say, I'm ready to go home.  Hoping USA paperwork goes well.  Please pray for lighter pollution.  It's really affecting me and Robyn.  Sore and dry throats.  

Tomorrow is a tour day, doing some fun things.  Most of which we did before with Robyn.  We want to do the temple because last time we got a blessing from one of the monks and we are hoping to do that for Charlotte too.

Good night ya'll.  I'll try and post some tomorrow.  No pictures today.  Just lots of traveling.

Zaijian,

~Donna

Pictures!

Update!

Recap of Wednesday and Thursday

Tuesday... again:
We were supposed to travel to Charlotte's city this day to apply for her passport.  In the morning we took a bus to get our adoption certificate.. That was an adventure.. the roads were covered in snow.. crazy snow.  The bus almost got stuck at the office.. somehow we all got inside and got our certificate and then headed back out.  We had just over an hour to gather our items to head back out to Luoyang.  David and Robyn ran out to grab Subway sandwiches and we met Rita downstairs with Donna & Joel, whose son Jason is also from Luoyang.    So here we go.
We walked over icey sidewalks to the Subway(not the sandwich!).. crammed into a with tons of Chinese people to the Zhengzhou Station stop.. once we got there we learned that there were no more bullet train seats left.. so back on the Subway back to the hotel.  Charlotte fell asleep.   Ok.. she's 21lbs..  21lbs of DEAD WEIGHT!  omg this kid is heavy.  I find it easier to carry Robyn's helpful 40lbs then dead weight!  She still wasn't keen on David, but when she was asleep.. what she doen't know won't hurt her!  Turns out our adventure was a test run..
 We'll try again tomorrow.  We spent the evening Skyping family.. eating those sandwiches and resting up for tomorrow. 

Wednesday:
Ok..First Charlotte had a rough night..  LOTS of congestion and coughing.. I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep.. ug.  then we got up early got breakfast and had to be in the Lobby at 7:40am.  Again we walked ot the Subway, it was crazy busy.. rush hour!   And getting in to the subway is crazy.. you need to push and shove, politely otherwise the doors will close on you!  We had our Bullet Train tickets.  It was another icy walk over to the Bullet Train station.  After a few security checks we were in the waiting area for our train.  It was about an hour ride to Luoyang.. crazy snow outside and you really couldn't see far for the snow/fog/smog.
Once there we were there Rita split us up in taxis and we headed over to this government office.  We finally learned why you can't apply for your passport in any city, you have to do it in the city you were born.  It took like five minutes each.. crazy short.  Next we took a cab over to a Pizza hut and had some lunch.  Charlotte LOVED the Spaghetti Bolanese. 
We had a some time until the next train.. we got to the station and had to hang out for about an hour .. .Robyn and Charlotte finished off the Gerber Yogurt melts.. they are a hit!  Finally back on the bullet train.. totally was expecting Charlotte to crash.  NOPE.   Robyn almost did.  This time we had sunshine and blue sky!!!  Very unique topography in this area.. then it was back to the station.. over to the subway.. and back to the hotel.  What an exhuasting day.  We had dinner downstairs in the hotel and crashed.  uG what a loooong day. 

Thursday.. Happy Thanksgiving!!
FREE DAY!  Charlotte had a roughish night...  David took over.  I put in some earplugs and checked out for the evening.  It was awesome.  We took our time in the morning and went to Breakfast and then Skped with some more folks and then Charlotte fell asleep.  Robyn and I took this opportunity to have some Mommy time and we ran over to Walmart to get a few things.  She picked out a great hooded warm vest and we got jammies for Charlotte.  and some more Chinese snacks... all the while being stared and looked at by the locals.  I'm starting to get tired of that.  Didn't miss that part at all from our last visit.
We got back to the room, David had hand washed some clothes to get us to Guangzhou.  The laundrey service here is very expensive.  And Charlotte wasn't up yet.. perfect.  Now we just hung out at the hotel.  We eat VERY large breakfasts so we sorta just snack thru the day.  And give Charlotte a bottle.  Robyn had a great time playing with the other kids here.  Again we have this hotel floor to ourselves so they were running up and down the halls playing.. yelling.  great Fun.  After a quick paperwork meeting, some of us gathered up to head to Zax's BBQ for Thanksgiving.  With traffic .. and I mean GROSS traffic a 20mins ride took over an hour.  but it was worth it.  The food was good, the company was fun.  Robyn was done, so that wasn't great.  We all loved the baked potato!  the food was good, I couldn't eat the meat.. it was just too spicy for me.  It was definitely Atlanta/southern style.. but too spicey for me.  Makes sense tho, the Chinese like their spice.. generally speaking.  We met the owner, he saw David's hat and was like .. nice hat!  We talked some baseball and then we all ate.  Great Lemonade too!  yum.  the ride back was crazy quick and Charlotte was STILL GOING!  Robyn fell asleep!  We tossed her on the bed and Charlotte did a big o'l stinky poo and got her to bed.  Finally some great sleep by most of us.  Robyn had a nightmare during the night, but Charlotte finally slept through the night again.. and her fever, she had a low grade one all day.. was gone this morning!

Friday.. FREE DAY!  today!

we are going to pack.. clean up.. Skype and hang out.  Last day in Zhengzhou before we head to balmy weather in Guangzhou.. CAN'T WAIT..  we are sick of the ice and snow and cold.

Sending pictures in next post.  seems that blogger now has a limit to the mgs you can post from an email.  what a pain!

Zaijian,
~Donna

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all we had a good Thanksgiving here in China.  We miss everyone very much!  We are very thankful for the addition to our family and can't wait to get home.  I'll do a full post on the craziness of Wednesday and our thanksgiving tomorrow.  Good night!

Zaijian

~Donna

Gotcha DAY!

Hi everyone,

Sorry this is sooo late but it has been nuts the last three days!  Here is the recap for Monday and Tuesday and a few pictures.

Monday November 23rd. Charlotte's Gotcha Day!


Wahoo!!!! Ok here's how Monday went.  
 
We had to be downstairs to leave at 9:30am. Most of us are still not on China time and that included me and Robyn. David slept well. We were downstairs for breakfast early and what a great breakfast! Reminded us of the Solstice! Robyn ate her share, that's for sure. We were all ready to go at 930am as we hopped on the bus. It was a short ride to the office we were to hang out and wait for the regions orphanages to bring the kids to us. There were 11 families. And yes, we were the last one!


Charlotte looked soo cute as she was carried in and then.. Wahhhhhh.. wahhhh. Yup, we got the crying one. Might as well have one of each. Robyn shut down.. this one cried and cried and cried. It's really hard to try and sooth someone you've never met before.
 
We did our picture and paperwork and back on the bus to the hotel. she was still crying.. not quite as loud, but still crying. Back in the room we sat her down and pulled out the stacking cups and then Robyn kept brining over every toy.. poor kid was a bit overwhelmed. She stopped crying and started to play and interact. We pulled a few layers of her and changed her wet diaper. And in a bit we got some baby babble and she was banging cups.. and playing. She did not like David, at all. Wanted no part of him.  We stayed in the room and hung out. 


Later, David went out to get some dinner at a noodle place around the corner. I was down the hall hanging with a few other families.. the hotel put us all on one floor.. and no one else! pretty nifty. anyway.. Robyn walked back to the room. I had forgotten to give her the room key to turn the power on in the room. after a few minutes.. something kept nagging on my Conscience.. So I got up and started to head back just as Robyn was walking towards me. And she was upset. Poor kid was in the dark. Sometimes I wonder why she doesn't tell me when something is wrong. So as I was consoling her, Charlotte decides this is the time she is going to open up and interact! Hey.. what's up with Robyn? can I help.. oh.. yea and I can stand and sort of walk.. NOW! I don't know how single parents to it. Anyway.. I was able to turn the situation funny, and that helped Robyn feel better.
 
David showed up with the food. yummo. Some great noodle soup. Robyn and I loved the Shallot pancakes!!
We got to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa and with Nancy and Steve! Thank you Moellers for posting a picture of the girls onto Facebook.
The girls had fun in the tub together and Charlotte went down to sleep fairly easily.. much easier than Robyn.


Now for Tuesday.
First thing.. it snowed last night ..like 6 inches! Which is a record. Zhengzhou generally gets an inch or two.. they have NO snow removing equipment.. just people with shovels and brooms!
We all piled into the bus to head to the Adoption office. Where we received our red binder with our official adoption decree!! Yahoo! and ok that sounds easy, but in reality it was NUTS! With crazy snow piles and slush.. holy crap. The bus almost got stuck at the office! Somehow we made it safely there and back. After that David and Robyn ran to Subway to get sandwhiches to go. We were going to take the subway to the bullet train to Luoyang to get Charlotte's passport paperwork in motion. We got to the subway and that was it. The bullet train was sold out.. so we went back to the hotel and hung out. The girls napped some and we skypped some and got ready for the next day!  They rescheduled our trip to Luoyang for the next morning.  Had to be downstairs by 740am.


~Donna


　

Crazy Long Day.

Hey all.. ok.. first a warning.. we are having issues with posting pictures.. so you'll probably see a picture per post as that is how we are having to do it. Today.. no picks really a travel day.
We were to fly to Zhengzhou today and be downstairs by 8 something.... well Robyn was asleep by 6pm and David and I by 9pm. At 1030pm Jason, our guide, calls the room to tell us that the flight has been cancelled due to the winter storm...which is rare for November we are told. We were to take the train, the bullet train. OK that's cool, that's what I wanted to do in the FIRST place! So we were all to meet in the lobby at 650am.
At 1230am Robyn comes in.. she's awake. I try to get her to go back to sleep, but no such luck. We had a late night picnic of a tangerine and a muffin I had grabbed earlier at the breakfast buffet. Then we talked some and then I set her up to watch "Inside out" and I went back to sleep. Alarm went off at 5am. We were dressed and ready by 6am.. We took our suitcases downstairs and had 20mins to eat breakfast.
It was already snowing outside. The bus dropped us off NEAR the train station.. then all 15 of us and with our suitcases in tow walked along the road to get to the entrance.. ok this was totally insane. So Robyn was AWESOME... as we had traffic speeding right next to us.. because we couldn't get up on the sidewalk for ... who knows what reason.. dodging other buses who dropped their folks off out front.. was amazing that none of us got hurt. It was crazy snowing, and cold! Finally inside, things went very smoothly and we had only 30-45mins to wait for our train. The train left on time, we basically had our own cab. it was a three hour ride with several stops. It was cool to start out in a blizzard, basically and end up in just rain with no snow around. We had noodle soup on the train and it was a pleasant trip. Relaxing actually. then we all had 5 mins to get ourselves and our crap off the train in Zhengzhou! It's totally cool when people work together.. it went off with a hitch! We got to the station and our Zhengzhou gals were waiting to take us to a bus to take us to our hotel. Just before the hotel each family sent someone to get our currency exchanged. David did that while the rest of us went on to check in the hotel. That also was so well organized! Into our room at the Zhengzhou Hilton. Very nice, no where near as LARGE as the room in Beijing, but plenty nice. Once the guys got back with the cash, we had a group meeting. I went this time as Robyn fell asleep.
Our guides, Tisha, Rita and Mary gave us the lowdown on tomorrow.. what we need to bring and what we could expect. Most of us have done this once before, so have a general idea on how it's going to be.. which is.. we really have no idea how the children will respond.. so essentially.. be ready for anything. Then it was time to suit up and head over to Walmart for supplies.
Getting Robyn up was VERY hard.. she was NOT pleased with us in ANY way and we had to carry her most of the way ot the store (a block away) and thru the store. VERY grumpy.. i get it.. but I neededher up so she'd sleep thru the night.. no more midnight snacks! We got our snacks, baby snacks, diapers a cute snoopy stroller and we went back. UCK.. it was now raining, windy and cold. EW. I got Robyn into a bath as David went back out to bring back some dinner. Robyn was so cold she barely got her dessert (a pocky type snack) finished. She started falling asleep with one in her mouth!
I just got back from the front desk, had to break a few 100 yuan bills into smaller ones for some fees and stuff we need to pay tomorrow. Both of them are sound asleep. I'm going to shower now and then I'm going to crash. Today was a VERY long day.
No pictures today. Tomorrow is the Big day.. wow our party of three will now be a party of four! Very excited. We got another update today on our kids. Found out that Charlotte is very friendly and scared of strangers.. oh .. that's going to go over well when we show up! I really have a feeling having Robyn is going to helps TONS.. can't wait to find out! WAHOO!
Good night folks. we will TRY to be online tomorrow to skype in the morning, which would be night for ya'll. If not we'll try tomorrow night. Not sure if Charlotte will be awake or anyone of else either!
Zaijian
~Donna


** could someone email us and and let us know if you are seeing our posts.  Thanks!

Hello from Beijing!

We arrived last night at 9pm.. about an hour later than we were supposed to.  What a crazy travel day.  First in Atlanta.. we arrived on time.  honest we did.  Once at the gate they were starting to board folks already and we still didn't have seat assignments.. oh no the flight was oversold.  We waited and waited.. finally we were able to board.  They closed the doors behind us!  We were given a seat in row 12. 28 & 33.  OMG soo.. I had David sit in row 12, turns out it was comfort plus.. which is good since he's a bigger person than Robyn and I.  Once I got to row 28 I kindly asked the woman if she wouldn't mind moving to row 33.. and she was like SURE!  omg awesome.  So Robyn and I had all the entertainment stuff and David had the food.  ug.  I ran his earphones up to him and we did pretty dang well.  I also ran up to get the sandwiches we had brought to eat on this first leg to Seattle.  Robyn did well.. she started to get really fidgety at the 3.5hr mark.. which totally worried me!

Once in Seattle we met up with David and I was craving a smoothie!  So we took three airport shuttles over to terminal C for a raspberry,blueberry,strawberry smoothie.  Totally hit the spot.  We hung out a bit, did a few updates to family and such as we'd be off line while on the plane.

We boarded at 3pm-ish.. and didn't take off until almost 5pm.  They had to reconcile baggage and people. Some people were not on board but their luggage was.. so we could hear the crew under the plane moving stuff around taking those suitcases off the plane.  Robyn fell asleep waiting to take off.. then once in the are we were given our snack first, then dinner.  I shoved a few spoonfuls of Manicotti into Robyn as she was half asleep.. then she dozed some more.  I guess 3 hrs???  then I fell asleep.  We had the flight attendants take the stuff that would spoil and hung onto the roll and other yummies that came with the meal.  She ate while I napped.  then for the next 7hrs it was napping, watching tv and chillin.  I actually slept quite a bit as well as Robyn.  We landed around 9pm.  Immigration and Customs went well, and YAY our stuff made it too!

We met William in the terminal and he gave us a ride in his boss's Mercedes!!!  to the hotel.. which is VERY nice.  ya gotta look this one up on the internet.. crazy large room!  AND A washer/dryer!  yes we are doing laundry right now.  I know shut up!  I brought laundry soap in case I needed to hand wash stuff.. not expecting a washing/dryer machine.  It does both!  So washing stuff so we have a few more days of clothes before having to wash more.  It turns out it's expensive to have stuff washed in Zhengzhou.  

Today we went to the Great Wall.. we met the other families on the trip.  There is a ten year old girl named Ava, who is also from China here with her parents and a few other kids.  Nice folks!  It's great to have other people to hang with this time around!  anyway it was a bus strip to the wall.. the Juyongguan part of the wall.  Ok first thing, it's cold.. second.. it was snowing.  Makes for walking a steep concrete structure an interesting and dangerous climb.  We had two hours.. we walked around, took some pictures.. had folks want pictures with us!  Very very cool.. we couldn't see much beyond what was right there in the valley, because of the low clouds and snow, but wow.. We can say we've been to the Great Wall!

Afterwards it was a yummy lunch at the Jade tourist trap.. and the rest of the gang went to the acrobatic show, we saw it last time.. and we are here hanging in the room doing laundry... cleaning up and chillin. 

Sorry no pictures with this post, we're having attachment size issues. We'll get it figured out and get them posted.

Seven days and counting!

Holy moly we are in single digits now!  We spent the weekend putting up some of our Christmas decorations.. and yes I agree.. it’s early.  Too early!  But we figured we could get some of it done so we can have more time to enjoy the holidays when we return.  We do a lot for Christmas and we really enjoy it. 

I’ve started putting things aside for the trip.  I haven’t started packing yet, that’ll be next weekend.  And I’m not really sure how to best pack for this trip.  OK, So Beijing is in the North, currently the average high has been in the 50s.  Last week it snowed!  Then in Zhengzhou, the weather is just like here.  The city of Zhengzhou is within minutes of our latitude! (34.0degrees and 34.7degrees!)  THAT is cool!  Then our last stop is Guangzhou, they are like Key West….makes for quite the packing conundrum.

Need to get to the store to get liquid medicines; all of ours were REALLY old now that Robyn does the chewy ones instead of the liquid.  UG.  What a pain.  I’m getting excited and scared.  Is she going to cry a lot?  Is she going to bond like Robyn did?  And then there’s all the traveling and being in hotels, not sleeping.  Not looking forward to that part.. and yet.. I am.  This time we can’t WAIT to eat the delicious food!  Last time we were a bit wary of what to expect and now we are like..  yummo! 

Also, we are really hoping that there are others in our group and we aren’t alone.  I’m going to email the agency this week and see if anyone else will be doing this with us.  We didn’t have that last time and I’ve heard some pretty cool stories from other families about the friends and such they made on our their adoption trip. 

The plan is to update the blog daily, as best I can.  This all depends on internet connection and how tired I may or may not be.  Most likely we will NOT be on facebook.  Don’t want to deal with the Great Firewall of China.  Somethings are just not worth it.  We will be on Skype.  Email or message us and I’ll be happy to share our account name and you can try and connect with us while we are there. 

Keep us in your prayers please as we embark, as a family, to our next adventure.   Here we go from a party of three.. to a party of four.

ZaiJian,

~Donna

The Count Down to Departure Begins!

It's time to get this blog going again!  We leave in just 4 weeks to gather up Charlotte!  We are VERY excited.  Just a quick post today..  Got to get to work!

ZaiJian

~Donna