Our Last Full Day in Changsha

Hello,

This is our last post from Changsha. We leave early in the morning for Guangzhou. Our flight takes off at 9:30 am. We will spend the rest of our time in China in Guangzhou where we will have Ruthie's visa processed so that she can enter the United States.

The more we eat together, I am learning what Ruthie likes and dislikes - especially at the breakfast buffet. She went along with me and chose what she wanted to eat. She likes bacon, sausage, carrots, Chinese noodles & eggs. She also loves corn; they serve it on the cob and in true Chinese style, she picks out the individual kernels with her hand and eats them. She also likes sweets.

Yesterday evening, we went bowling. Our hotel has a bowling alley and we had so much fun. Ruthie loved bowling and Todd was great teaching her how. Well did you expect? We are all great bowlers! Okay, not really. My score was 42, Ruthie's was 23, Gracie's was 6 & Kai's was 3 - (Todd is much better than the rest of us, but I can't remember his score). But, it was fun. The attendants gave Gracie & Kai bowling pin keychains and they gave Ruthie a bowling ball keychain. While we were playing, the kids had so much fun bowling using their keychains, that they did not want to finish the real bowling game.

Today, we went on a trip to the Hunan Embroidery Factory to see them create beautiful works of art. They use extremely fine strands of silk to create beautiful pictures, they look like they were painted. While we were there, Ruthie was talking to our guide, Daphne, about our trip to Guangzhou tomorrow. Daphne was telling her about it, and then discovered that Ruthie assumed that Daphne was going with us to Guangzhou. She was upset when she found out that Daphne would not be with us. She would not talk to us or Daphne, even when asked questions. She did not want anyone to hold her hand or touch her, she just withdrew into herself. I felt so badly for her. Although, Ruthie has been bonding with us, Daphne is very important to her and is her link to all that she is leaving behind. Ruthie obviously was scared.

We had been prepared for something like this, but it was still hard to see her upset. When we got back to the hotel, Daphne came up to our room and asked Ruthie if she wanted her to translate some letters for her. These letters were emailed to us from her friends from the orphanage that had already been adopted and are now living in the US. They really helped a lot and some described how happy her friends were with their new parents living in the US. Thank you so much Sofie, Yu Mei, Bo Bo & Xiaolan!!! Your letters made such a difference.

Daphne also talked to her about what to expect when flying, Ruthie has never been in a plane before, only a train. Daphne also spent time talking to her about other things. She explained that we will have a very nice guide in Guangzhou (Jason), who also speaks Mandarin. Ruthie was happy to hear that Jason also helped with the adoption of some of her other friends.

Later, we asked Ruthie what she wanted to do for the rest of the day and she said that she wanted to help pack her things and hang out with us. After Daphne left, we looked up photos online from our Yahoo Group that has photos of her friends in their new families that have been adopted from her orphanage. She loved it. Then we showed her photos from our oldest daughter's wedding earlier this month. She recognized many of the people from other photos we had sent her in the orphanage; her two older sisters, her brother-in-law, her grandparents, aunts & uncles. She really liked looking at those as well. Later, she asked to watch "Frosty the Snowman" as she ate her noodle soup, below.



Todd went to go to the playroom with the younger kids and asked Ruthie if she wanted to go (she loves going there), but she said she wanted to stay with me and pack. She helped me pack Kai & Gracie as well. She has been very happy & affectionate all afternoon. We worked on her English dictionary for a little while and she seems to enjoy doing it. Right now, she is in the hotel room next door playing with the daughter of the other family traveling with us. Their daughter is 8 years old and was adopted from China 5 years ago. Although, they don't speak each other's language, they are having a lot of fun.

Below, is a photo of Kai at the embroidery factory next to a beautiful embroidered piece.


Well, I had better get going, our pizza just arrived. We have it very good here - the concierge orders your pizza from Pizza Hut, then sends a bellman in a taxi to go pick it up and bring it to your room. All of that for a total of $13 including tip. *Pizza Hut does not deliver here in Changsha.

Below, is a photo of us with the happiest doorman you will find anywhere. Many of you who have been here before will surely recognize him :)

"Talk" to you soon from Guangzhou.

Noelle

Visit to Martyrs Park & Xiang River

Hello Everyone,

We hope all of you are doing well. We have now been in China for a week now and are starting to miss the little things from home, such as a soft mattress, ice in drinks, being able to drink tap water, etc. The mattresses in China are hard and you cannot drink the water from the tap.

We went out to dinner last night at a Chinese restaurant, right next to our hotel with the other family in our group. We really like them a lot and have fun on outings together. Their new son, whose name is Wylie, kept showing me his new sneakers that light up when he stomps his feet. So, every few seconds he would run over to me and stomp his feet so that I could see the lights. He is so cute and is 4 years old.

We are having a great time getting to know Ruthie. She is a very sweet girl. We are at the stage now when she is testing us to see where her boundaries are, but she mostly responds well when we tell her yes or no. Daphne, our guide, said that she is impressed at how well Ruthie is adjusting, but said that Ruthie told her that she woke up 4 times last night, but was able to get back to sleep. She said that each child responds differently to the upheaval that adoption brings in their lives and sleeplessness is one symptom.

At mealtime, Ruthie uses chopsticks all the time. She discovered that she likes bacon and was trying to pick it up with her chopsticks, so Kai showed her that she could eat it with her hands. Today at breakfast, she started to use her knife and fork. She was using her knife to cut up her breakfast sausage & also her carrots, but she didn't use a fork to stabilize the food, so it was a little harder. She had a ball, and cut up everything in very small pieces and then had fun seeing how many pieces she could put on her fork.



When we go out on outings, Ruthie spends time with Daphne, holding her hand and talking to her. It is a respite for her - being with someone that she can talk too and that understands what she is saying. However, she does come and hang out with either Todd or I from time to time. Today while we were visiting the Xiang River, she saw people fishing and rushed back to me to bring me over to see. You see, one of the photos that we sent her in the orphanage is one of me catching a fish and she remembered that. She asked me (through Daphne), if we would take her fishing. I said we would take her fishing to the same place in the photo next summer (Williams, AZ).

Ruthie brought out her scrapbook/photo album to show me last night. We showed her Rachele's, (her new older sister), photo before she spoke to her on the phone. She did not want to look at the orphanage photos, she just skipped over them to look at the photos of our family. That is a good sign that she is bonding with our family. She has really bonded well with Todd & I and plays with Kai sometimes. The kids are all taking turns tickling each other right now as I am writing this.

Last night I was putting lotion on Ruthie's feet, which are small and very cute, but noticed that her large toes were misshapen. All of her toenails were bent over the top of her toes, so that you could hardly see them. The toenails had a lot of ridges on them. It looked like she had been wearing shoes that were way to small for a very long time. So, we checked the pair of shoes that she was wearing when we got her with her new ones and there is a difference of about 3 full shoe sizes. We are pretty sure that her toes will adjust to wearing normally sized shoes, but we will have our pediatrician look at them just to be sure.

Ruthie brought a disposible camera with her from the orphanage and we got the photos developed yesterday. The orphanage officials took photos of her and her friends and other people at the orphanage. We weren't sure if we should show her the photos right now, or if that may make her really homesick so soon after leaving the orphanage. So, we asked our guide, Daphne, who has 10 years experience with adoptive families. She recommended that we wait until we are home to show her the photos, which is what my instincts were telling me. From the photos, you can tell that they really cared for her.

We have noticed that she has difficulty seeing things from a distance. She squints quite a lot and seems severely near-sighted. We knew about that she did have an eye condition and have a referral to a good pediatric opthamologist when we get back home. Her eye rarely wanders and I have only seen it happen once.

Ruthie loves to laugh and she is wonderful. She loves to turn our lights off and on in the room. She did think it was so funny to turn off the bathroom lights when someone was in there (just like Sofie (Kai Kai). She also loves to push the elevator buttons and open our room with the room key (card). Todd lets her carry the room key around when we go out and she takes the responsibility seriously.

She absolutely adores her little Barbie doll, Kelly. She had to tuck her in bed last night. Today, she took her doll and all of her accessories and put them in her jean pockets. She took out her doll while we were out at the park and had me hold one doll's hand while she held the other. So, picture Ruthie & I walking through the park holding a little 3" doll between us, or just look carefully at the photo below.


We had a great time at Martyr's Park in Changsha. It is a very large park with beautiful grounds. It is very popular with many of the local people. We saw people doing Tai Chi, couples dancing, women dancing with fans, artists with their watercolors and it was a beautiful day. I got stopped again by two people who wanted to take a photo with me. For many Chinese people, they have never seen a Caucasian person or only very rarely. They were very nice and courteous - my days as a "celebrity" will be over as soon as I return home :)



We are nearing the end of our time in Changsha. For this part of the adoption process, we need to stay in the provincial capital (Changsha), of the Hunan Province, which is where Ruthie is from, for approximately one week. The adoption was finalized 2 days ago, but we have to stay until the end of the week for the adoption paperwork to be completed by the notary and also to receive her Chinese passport, allowing her to travel to the United States.

We leave on Saturday morning on a flight to Guangzhou, which is a large city just north of Hong Kong, if you are looking at a map. We need to stay in Guangzhou to complete the requirements of the United States. The US Consulate is located in Guangzhou. We will have to apply for her visa, allowing her to travel to the US. We will be staying there until Thursday, when we will board a plane for home!

Okay, my Chinism for today came from our breakfast. We are staying at a 5-star hotel and the breakfast buffet is wonderful. There are both Chinese & Western food choices. Yesterday, one of the Chinese choices was "Pig's Blood in Bean Curd". Also, there is an area where you can make your toast and select from a choice of Jams & Jellys. The selections are: Strawberry Jam, Grape Catsup & Tangerine Catsup. Of course, they are not really catsup, but jelly.

*We are having a little difficulty responding directly to emails. I am sorry. Please keep emailing though, we can read them. So here are some quick replies:

Humphreys - yes we have seen the "Willy Wonka" doorman and will print off your photo for him.

Brittney - we would love to have you spend the day with us after we get home. Yes, I think she will like the watch.

Chenzhou Older Kids Group - thank you so much for your emails and advice.

Thank you all for your comments, prayers, & support.

Noelle

Shopping Day

Hello Everyone,

Well, we have been having a great time in Changsha with our new daughter. Today, we went to the local department store so that we could buy her some clothes and other basic necessities. The reality that Ruthie came to us with nothing but the clothes on her back is really hitting home. She needs clothes, toys, books, etc.

Department stores in China are set up differently then in the US. For example, in the children's department, there are at least 20 different smaller areas, each selling children's clothes. They are divided by the brand name. Each area has a sales person that follows you around every where you go. Once you decide what you want, they will take the item and fill out a ticket with the item # and the cost. You then leave the item behind with the salesperson and go to one of the cashier stations and pay. They then stamp the ticket and give you a receipt - so you then go back to where you purchased the item.

Doesn't sound to hard, does it? Well, once you have collected 3 different tickets and pay for the items, you have to remember where you picked out everything, which can get confusing.

We started out shopping for clothes for Ruthie and it was soon apparent that she was getting a little overwhelmed. In the orphanage, she had very little choice over anything, so it is common for children who have been raised in an orphanage to have a hard time when faced with choices. So Ruthie went to the children's play area with Todd and the other kids and I finished shopping for her.

In addition to a few new clothes, I also bought her a backpack and some pens, pencils, etc. Todd took her to the book section to let her pick out some books. We let her pick out 5 books because we figured it will be difficult to find children's books in Chinese back home. She picked out a Disney Princess book with all of the stories in Chinese. She loves reading it.

Later, I went to the play area to get her and took her to the toy section. She picked out a little Barbie doll (the ones that are little girls), that came a little bed and some play food. She was in heaven. When we got back to our hotel room, she couldn't wait to open it up and has been playing with it for a long time. Each time we leave the room, she has to make sure her little doll is safe in it's bed. It is bittersweet to see how excited she is with so little.

One thing that she picked out was some small puzzles. They were very small and only 12 pieces. She had a very hard time doing them, she couldn't understand where the end pieces went. It was obvious that she had never done a puzzle in her life. Todd spent 5 minutes with her and she got the hang of really fast. She completed the others very quickly.

She has set up her backpack with all her pens, pencils and new books. She likes looking through it and reading her new books.

She loves watching movies with us. We brought our portable DVD player with us and Todd connects it to the hotel TV. So far, Ruthie has picked out the Barbie movie we brought and also Rudolph.

Ruthie also loves to sing. She is always singing a little song. She also sings Jingle Bells in Chinese. She knows our alphabet song and Happy Birthday as well.

So far, we have not seen any signs that she is homesick. Today, Todd went out to the store and she asked to go with him and they had a great time. She eats anything we put in front of her, but will probably be more vocal with her likes and dislikes as she becomes more comfortable with choosing things. Our guide, Daphne, is very impressed about how well Ruthie is adjusting. She is beginning to test her boundaries, but is good when we correct her. She does not remember being in a traditional family setting, so our rules are very foreign to her, but she is adjusting very well so far.

While Gracie & Kai were doing their homework today, we worked with Ruthie with her English dictionary. She is very willing to learn English.

She has a great sense of humor and is always laughing. She is very shy when she first meets new people. She is graceful when she moves and is very loving.

Tomorrow, we are going to a large park in Changsha and will then go bowling here in the hotel.

We will post more tomorrow. I know I always say this, but we really appreciate all of your comments and emails. As I speak, Ruthie is already in bed and has put her new backpack on top of her pillow.

I hope you all are doing well.

Noelle

Fun at the Park & Lunch

Hello Again,

Today, after our appointment at the Civil Affairs Office, we went to a local park, about a 30 minute walk. I love it when we get to walk through the city. There are so many different sights & sounds. Usually wherever we go, Ruthie likes to hold my hand or Todd's. Todd was taking turns holding Kai & Gracie while we were walking. Then he gave Ruthie a piggyback ride.

For those of you who have not traveled to China, I want to tell you that crossing the street is no easy feat. Actually, it can be downright scary. You are usually okay if you are crossing at the light, but if there is no light and just a crosswalk, BEWARE! Basically, crossing the street is done by dodging cars, taxis & motorbikes. Pedestrian right-of-way is a completely foreign concept, even in a crosswalk. Basically, the cars have the right-of-way ALL the time.

We went to a very nice park. To get into many of the parks, you have to pay an admission fee as you can see in the photo below. It is probably not a bad idea, the parks are well taken care of and vandals cannot get in easily.

The kids had fun at the park playing on the equipment.



While we were there, there was a bride & groom having their photos taken. In China, brides usually rent a Western style wedding dress for pictures. So, we saw the bride who was all made up, holding up her dress as she walked - she was wearing jeans and boots under her dress. A few minutes we saw the same couple in traditional Chinese dress for additional photos.

Later we went to a dumpling restaurant and got a private room to eat in. We went with the other family in our travel group. Our guide ordered a variety of dishes for us. The other family we are traveling with have adopted 4 children from China; 3 daughters & now a new son who is 4 years old. They brought one of their daughters, Katy, with them who is 8 years old. Ruthie was initially shy with her and wouldn't even look at her. Today, while walking from the park, they were holding hands.

As far as communicating with Ruthie, we are doing okay. We mostly communicate to her using Chinese phrases. However, now and then, she will ask us a question that we do not understand. Our guide, Daphne, has been great helping us with the translation. She also talks to Ruthie to make sure that she understands what is going on, answering her questions, etc. Daphne is usually with us until the later afternoon. She then calls our room in the evening to talk to Ruthie to see if she has any questions or if we need for her translate anything for us.

Okay, I noticed a totally cool thing about Ruthie today. She is left-handed!!! Woo Hoo!!! I have always wanted at least one of my children to be left-handed like me and now I have one. I guess that means that we can stop adopting now :)

Okay, my Chinism's for today consist of the following photos. One thing I want to point out is that Christmas, here in China, is not a religious holiday, (except for the Christians here), but rather a commercial festival. This year, many of the Christmas decorations consist of the 2008 Olympic logo and the mascots as some of the photos below show. *Behind the mascots, is a huge Christmas tree.

Some of the Christmas decorations are typical Western style, but some are a little different as the photo below shows.
Cars driving on the sidewalks can be a problem and you always have to be aware of what is going on around you so you don't get run over. But along this street in Changsha, they put up barricades so that the cars don't come up on the sidewalk. *Notice Daphne, Ruthie & Katy up ahead.

Here is photo I took of an apartment complex and the courtyard. Notice the fish hanging on the line on the right side.

Lastly, a stone elephant is not just for decoration, but can also be used as a place to dry your mop heads.

When we viewed the comments that people left on our blog, we received 3 comments from some of Ruthie's friends who were adopted last year. I will get them printed off and have our guide translate them for Ruthie. Thank you so much for sending them.

Well that is it for now. We will be visiting a department store tomorrow morning to purchase some more clothes for Ruthie. We only brought a few clothing items for her until we knew for sure what her size was. We will also let her pick out a backpack for herself and some other items.

I will "talk" to you all soon.

Noelle

Adoption is Finalized Today

Hello Everyone,

Ruthie did great last night. She slept very well in her little bed between our two beds. She was happy this morning and came over to hug me. The clothes we brought her fit perfectly (size 8 in pants & size M in shirts for those of you who have asked). When she saw us brushing our teeth, she brought over her toothbrush so she could brush her teeth.

She did well at breakfast with us. We were told that since she had little experience making choices in regards to food, to just pick out her food for her. Kids from orphanages can often be overwhelmed when faced with too many choices. The breakfast buffet at our hotel is absolutely wonderful and she ate very well. She did get nervous when Todd would get up to get food, until I pointed out to her where he was. The same happened when I got up to get food.

We went back to the Civil Affairs Office in order to finalize our adoption with her. We were asked questions and had to promise never to abandon or abuse her and to lover her as if she was born to us. She was asked if she wanted us to be her mother & father and she said yes. Todd and I had to sign the official document and also put our thumbprint, using red ink, on the document. Ruthie had to put her hand print on the document stating she wanted us to adopt her. Below is a photo of her putting her hand print on the document.

She then was able to see Mama Wang, the assistant director of her orphanage. It was obvious that they had a special bond with each other. Before Mama Wang got there, Ruthie would keep looking out the window to see if she could see her coming. Ruthie did very well with her and did not cry and was happy to stay with us. We gave Mama Wang our gifts and donations along with letters and packages that we brought from the other older girls that had been adopted from the orphanage before. Below is a photo of Ruthie waiting for Mama Wang and us with her.

We are off to the park to play and then to go out for dumplings for lunch. I will write more later.

I hope you all are doing well.

Noelle

Our First Day

Hello,

It is still our first day with Ruthie and she is doing great!!

It never ceases to make me sad when I see how little our kids had when they came to us. Ruthie only had the clothes on her back and a small plastic case with photos we had sent her, pictures of her friends at the orphanage and some of the small gifts we had sent her. *Smith Clan - her favorite photo was the one of all of us in Williams, it was dog-eared from all the times she had looked at it. She had fun picking out the family members.

So far, we have found out that she is not too picky with her food and she prefers vegetables to meat.

She is extremely curious. She has figured out how everything works in the hotel room. She has opened all the complimentary toothbrushes, combs, etc. I stopped her from opening the complimentary razor:) She is fascinated about the bathroom sink and the faucet - she keeps turning it off and on and tried to figure out how to get the stopper in the sink out. I get nervous every time she goes into the bathroom, but so far, she has not done anything wrong.

She likes playing with American coins - stacking them up. She found a Chinese coin on the floor and gave it to me. Ruthie & Kai spent time working on a sticker book together. She also likes to joke with us. She totally has a sense of humor. We were playing with balloons with her and she took out one of her barettes and put it on the back of her head and attached the balloon to the barette, see below.

Another interesting thing is that she loves organizing things (like mother, like daughter). We brought a small "Hello Kitty" scrapbook/photo album. She had so much fun deciding what should go where. There is also a small playroom in the hotel. We spent some time there with the kids. They have a lot of large dolls in the room (they are actually quite ugly). She organized each doll, putting all the boy dolls in order and then the girl dolls. She then had to brush the hair of each one.

We are expecting her to grieve over leaving her friends and nannies at the orphanage, especially once the "newness" wears off. But, she is a wonderful little girl. Tomorrow, we go back to the Civil Affairs Office in order to complete the adoption. The adoption will be final tomorrow and she will be ours forever!

One of the older girls at the orphanage did her hair for her today. It was a very intricate hair style, requiring tons of rubberbands. It was kind of sad taking them out so that she could take a shower, but she said it was okay. She does like chocolate and has asked me how to operate the remote control, as is evident in the photo below.

Our guide recommended that we make sure that at least 2 of her meals each day be Chinese food, so that the culture shock is not too great. Another important thing is to limit our outside activities for the next two days, especially her exposure to other Chinese people. This helps her to bond with us. We had to do this with our two previous adoptions.

Our guide asked her if she wanted to sleep in a roll-away bed, but Ruthie said that she would rather sleep on the floor between our beds. She has set up her bed and feels secure there.

It is a small area, but she really likes it. It must help her to feel secure.

Well, that is all for now. I will update you tomorrow. Thank you for your comments. I love reading them.

Noelle

WE GOT HER!!!

Hello All,

Okay, the last time I posted the words above, we were in Hangzhou and had just gotten Gracie in August of 2003.

This morning we were nervous as we ate breakfast with the other family traveling with us. Our guide told us that she had spoken to the orphanage director who told her that Ruthie was excited to be adopted. That made me feel so much better, because I wasn't sure how she felt about being adopted.

We then went to fill out some documents for the Chinese officials and then got in a van and went to the Civil Affairs Office where they would be bringing Ruthie. As with our two previous adoptions, we were told that she would be arriving late. So, we were able to take photos and video of the other family as they met their new son, who is four.


Ruthie arrived about 15 minutes late. She was holding Mama Wang's hand, who is the assistant director at the orphanage. Ruthie was so scared, she wouldn't look at our faces. I had been prepared for the worst and was hoping for the best, but at that moment, it looked like it might be the worst. She just stood by the Mama Wang. If was feeling so badly for Ruthie. I asked them to tell her that we were Kai Kai's aunt & uncle and that is what helped to break the ice a little bit. They told her to hug Todd, which she did and then she gave me a little hug. She still did not want to look at us.

We sat down and the kids gave her a little panda bear stuffed toy, which she liked. The orphanage officials then showed us some a book with her schoolwork and photos of her growing up. Every once in awhile, she would sneak a look at Todd and I. I took her hand and just held it.

We left very soon after and drove back to the hotel. She did get car sick, but we were prepared. Todd was looking over her schoolwork and photos and she had fun pointing our all of her friends in the photos - An Ping, Yu Mei, Xaiolan, Bo Bo & Kai Kai.

Once back in the hotel, she came right into the room and started looking at the things we had brought her. She especially liked the English Dictionary we brought. She was laughing with Todd as he was helping her with her English and he was trying to pronounce the Chinese words. She has gone through everything we brought her, mostly just checking out everything. She especially likes the hair things I brought her. She promptly gave me one of her headbands to wear and started to brush my hair.

So far, our Chinese lessons have been extremely useful and she is really talking to us. She smiles and laughs and seems happy. Our guide stopped by a few minutes ago to see how she was doing and she told her that she was fine and that she had a great daddy and a great mama.

We showed her the letter that her friend, Yu Mei had written for her and An An really liked that. She asked us through our guide if she could go visit her friends in the orphanage sometime in the future and we said that we plan on bringing her back in a few years to visit. We also told her that we are going to meet with most of her friends who have been adopted previously this next summer when spend a few days in Colorado.

The outfit she was wearing when she came is so typical of orphanage clothing. Her pants are 5 inches too short, but she has a nice sweater and brand new shoes. I showed her the new clothes we had brought for her and she looked at all of them and then folded them neatly away. Hopefully, I will be able to talk her into wearing something else besides her current outfit for tomorrow.

Todd had just left for McDonald's, which thankfully, An An says she likes. I will post more later.

Thank you for your continued prayers & support.

Noelle

Up Early, Can't Sleep, Too Excited

Hello,

Well, we do not have An An yet. It is 5:40 am in China right now. With the time difference between here and the States, you tend to wake up really early in the morning. For the past few mornings, we have all started waking up around 4:00 am and try to get back to sleep. But, we all give up at 5:00 am and just get up. Thankfully, Todd & the kids are still sleeping this morning. But, my mind is going a mile a minute thinking of Ruthie, so here I am blogging.

I thought I would share a little bit more about our previous few days here in China. Beijing is a very large city, about 30 million people. Downtown Beijing is quite international, so seeing foreigners is not unusual. As I stated before, the Olympics are huge for the Chinese people, being that they will be held here next summer. We did see 3 of the stadiums where the events will be held.

The Chinese culture is so different from ours. We value independence and being able to take care of things ourselves. However, in China, it is a dependent society, where the people view themselves as a whole. Because of this, they are extremely helpful and even if they offer help and you say you can do it yourself, they still help you. This has been evident in how much they have helped us with Kai and Gracie - the bus driver always carried Kai & Gracie off the bus, even though they were perfectly able to get off themselves. One of the local guides took Gracie's hand and took care of her throughout the whole tour.

We met a Chinese family at The Great Wall, who were fascinated by our bi-racial family. We do get a lot of looks being a family with white parents and Chinese children. This family was from Hong Kong and could speak English. They told us that it was so wonderful that we adopted Gracie & Kai. As always, when people tell us this, we tell them that we are the lucky ones to have the opportunity to be their parents. They asked a lot of questions and it was a neat experience.

Changsha is a very neat city. Although we are in the middle of downtown with large skyscrapers, there are local vendors selling their food along the street. We saw a girl, in her 20's, who was in a wheelchair with an electronic keyboard who was performing, hoping that people would leave her money in her little box. I took her photo from a distance because I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. We didn't have any change to give her, but hope to see her tomorrow so we can give her some $.

Gracie has been enjoying the Chinese food. Seriously, her favorite food so far is the Rice Krispies that they serve at the breakfast buffet. Below, she is holding a Chinese dumpling that she drew a face on. Such a funny girl.

My "Chinism" for today is their translation of the English language, which us not very good. In places where there are signs in English, the translation from the Chinese does not make much sense. We are always chuckling at them and look forward to seeing the next sign. It doesn't matter where you are; a 5-star hotel, an airport, a tourist attraction, etc. it is everywhere. Below, is a photo of one sign that I took at the Great Wall.

Well, it is time for me to wake up the kids and get going. I can't wait to see Ruthie! We are due to get her at 7:30 pm Mountain Standard Time.

Talk to you all soon!

Love,

Noelle

Hello From Hunan!

Hello Everyone,

Well, we are finally here in Hunan. We flew from Beijing this morning to Changsha, Hunan. We said goodbye to two of the families that we had been traveling with. They are going to different provinces to adopt their children, but we will meet up again next week in Guangzhou, China, which is where we have to go through the US Consulate to get Visa's for our new children. We are fortunate to still be traveling with one of the families that we spent time with in Beijing.

Our flight was about 2 1/2 hours long and we were met at the Chansha Airport by our new guide, Daphne. Already, we are so impressed with her. She has seen to all of the smallest details in order to make our week go smoothly.

Hunan Province is in south-central China and is quite a bit warmer than Beijing was. It reminds me of Phoenix in the winter, except it is more humid.

Our hotel is called The Dolton Hotel and is 89 stories tall. Our room is wonderful.

Daphne, took us to a local market to get some supplies for the week. Gracie was getting tired, so she and I sat on the step in front of the market and she leaned on my shoulder. Well, 5 minutes later, she was sound asleep. Todd had to carry her all the way back to the hotel.

On our way back from the market, we met some young girls who wanted to practice their English with us. They asked me what my name was in English and I answered them in Chinese and they laughed. I told them that they spoke good English and took their photo below.

We got back to the hotel and worked on getting our paperwork ready for tomorrow. Our guide, Daphne, also had the hotel bellman go out to pick up Pizza Hut for us and he delivered it to our door. Talk about comfort food - it was delicious.

We are getting Ruthie tomorrow morning at 10:30 at the Civil Affairs Office. We are filling out adoption paperwork at the hotel at 9:00 and then will travel the Civil Affairs Office to get her. Please pray for her as she must be scared, nervous, etc. We have learned more about her because Daphne, our guide, sent a very specific questionnaire to the orphanage 2 weeks ago. It was so wonderful to just sit down and read more about her.

We learned that she is very sociable, is very active and loves to play with other children. She likes to take care of younger children (well, she will have a little sister & brother now). She is optimistic and likes to ask questions. They do say that she is a little shy around strangers and it takes a while for her to warm up and show her true personality.

We also found out that they took her out of school for the past few weeks and had her study at the orphanage to help her adjust to not going to school due to her upcoming adoption. We will update you as soon as we can tomorrow.

Please pray for Ruthie & us, that tomorrow will go smoothly. Todd caught a cold from all of the cold weather in Beijing. He is asleep now after taking some Ny-Quil.

*Chenzhou Older Kids Yahoo Group - I have all of your packages, letters & photos and will be sure to bring them tomorrow. I will also ask the questions that you asked me to ask Mama Wang. I'll let you know what I find out.

Next time I write, we will have Ruthie!

Love to all,
Noelle

The Great Wall & The Ming Tombs

Hello Again,

Saturday was our best day so far in our trip. Unfortunately, when we woke up, it was a very foggy day, which was not the kind of day you want when you want to view the Great Wall. It was very cold today, in the 20's, but no wind, which made it okay.

We left our hotel at 9:00 and went with our group, in our bus, to a Jade Factory. It was very interesting how they carve the jade. We were also taught how to tell good jade from the imitiation jade. Then, we went into the store and I was in trouble :) They had beautiful pieces and I did come away with a few.



Our next stop was the Great Wall, which is about 1 hour outside of Beijing. I kept hoping the sky would clear, but it didn't. The Great Wall is a major tourist attraction. It reminded me of visiting the Grand Canyon, where you see people from all around the world. We were at a very steep area and the steps up the Great Wall are very uneven. Some are small steps and some are very high. Well, we started up the wall, with the best of intentions - and promptly came back down 10 minutes later. It was very hard for the kids, not to mention their mom.



The Great Wall is truly an amazing feat of man. I am so glad we got to visit.

Our next stop was for lunch. We had a great Chinese lunch. We enjoyed all of the dishes, except there was a fish that was filleted whole and it kept looking at me, so I decided not to try that.

We then visited a Cloisionne (I'm sure I am spelling it wrong), factory. It is so interesting how they use copper to create the designs and then use colored rock powder to fill the spaces in between in. I also had fun shopping at the factory.

The whole time we are going to these places, we are driven by our trusty bus driver and led by our guide, Lisa. All of the kids in our group sit in the back of the bus together, leaving all of us parents in the front. We have really enjoyed getting to know the other kids in our group. One of the kids is Brandon, who is 8. He is an only child and is so excited about his new 2 1/2 year old brother that they are adopting. He bought his mother a Christmas present at one of the stores we visited, and he kept walking backwards, holding his present for his mom so that she wouldn't see it. Kai absolutely idolizes Brandon and they hang out together.

Our last stop was my favorite. We visited the Ming Tombs, which is where 13 Chinese emperors have been buried. It is a very beautiful place. There is a long walk, which is flanked by Willow trees and large marble animal and human figures that are over 600 years old. We were really looking forward to having Gracie see this place, because in one of her favorite movies, Big Bird Goes to China - he visits this place and there is a scene in front of the camel figurine.

Well, the parents were just walking along the walkway and the kids were having fun with all of the figures. Then, Gracie saw the camel. She took off running and was so happy to see it - she couldn't believe it was there.

We then took our bus back to the hotel, passing the 2008 Olympic Stadium. You can tell from the photo below how foggy & polluted the air was. It was hard to see the stadium from the freeway. Everyone here is getting geared up for the Olympics next summer. Vendors are all selling Olympic paraphenalia.

We leave in the morning for Hunan, where we will be getting Ruthie on Monday (Sunday in the US).

Thank you again for your comments, prayers & support.

Talk to you soon, from Hunan.
Noelle