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

Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City

Hello Again,

Yesterday was our first full day in Beijing was spent going to Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City. It was such a gorgeous day, but cold. We are traveling with 2 other families that are also adopting. Luckily for Kai & Gracie, they have young kids, so they have had all sorts of fun together.

Around our hotel, there are people from all over the world, so we do not stick out too much. Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City are very popular with Chinese tourists. Some of the Chinese people had never been to a large city before, so we were the first Caucasians they had ever seen. I was asked by a young woman if she could take a picture with me - I felt a little famous :) We also ran into a group of men, visiting from the Hunan Province, who asked where we were from. We were able to communicate with them in Chinese (those lessons are paying off). They were thrilled when we said that we were American's and said that America was great. Below is a photo of us with them.

The Forbidden City is absolutely beautiful and we spent about 3 hours walking around. It is strange for the Chinese to see Caucasian parents walking around with Chinese children. We kept hearing comments from them - very nice, but puzzled because the fact that many Americans adopt children from China is not a well known fact in China.

Here are some more photos of our time yesterday.

Afterwards we went out to a "Western Style" restaurant. Well, the Chinese ideal of American food is quite different from the real thing. They spelled bread "Byed", they had fruit pizza using fruit from a fruitcake, etc. The restaurant was full of Chinese people who probably thought it was the real thing. I wonder if our version of Chinese food is really different from the real thing. I can't really tell a difference.The last thing we did this day was to go on a tour of a "Hutong", which are the actual old dwellings of the Chinese people living in Beijing. It is actually a compound with separate living areas, surrounding a courtyard. In the older days, multiple generations of family members lived together. We rode in rickshaws and then went inside to visit with an actual family in the Hutong. It was a great experience. The old couple we visited were so nice and we took a photo with Mrs. Wong.

We ended the day with crashing at the hotel and ordered room service. The kids have been great. It has really helped that there are other kids for them to play with.

For those of you who have not been to China before, there are some differences between our two cultures that strike me as funny. I will try to share some of them with you each day. Here is my "Chinism" for the day:

According to our guide, the number 8 is very lucky. So, people try to have their cell phone # end with the number 8. To do this, they have to pay 2 - 3 times more than the regular rate. On the other hand, the number 4 is considered unlucky. So, if you have 4's in your cell phone #, you get a discounted rate.

I will post soon about our day at the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. We also had a great time shopping today. More soon.

Thank you so much for your comments and support. They mean so much to us.

Noelle

Hello From China!

Hello Everyone,

Well, we made it. Four airports and three airplanes later. The kids were great. When we arrived at the LAX, Kai asked me if we were in China because everyone at the gate was Chinese. Gracie loved taking off in the airplane, she would hold up her hands as if she were on a roller coaster. As you can see from the photos, Gracie & Kai slept while we had our layover in LAX.

On the flight from LAX to Hong Kong, Kai watched the Transformers movie 4 times. He was in heaven. We were able to sleep for a few hours on the plane. Once in Hong Kong, we found the Starbucks at the airport and then made our way to our third flight which would take us to Beijing.

Our guide, Lisa, met us at the Beijing airport and our suitcases also made it - Yeah! We are staying in downtown Beijing at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel. We have a great view of the downtown skyline from our room as you can see in the photo below. We ate McDonald's for dinner than promptly fell asleep.

We will post later about our first full day in Beijing, where we visited Tianamen Square, The Forbidden Palace & the Hutong Tour.

Love to you all,

Todd & Noelle

Welcome To Our Travel Journal

Hello Everyone,

It seems like such a long time ago when we first saw An An's photo last January. We are so excited to finally meet her. An An resides at the Chenzhou SWI in the Hunan province. We first learned about An An from our niece, Sofie, who was adopted from the same orphanage last December. An An was her best friend. An An, (soon to be called "Ruthie"), is now 9 years old and had been at the orphanage since she was 4 years old.

We are busy getting ready for our trip to China. We will be taking Gracie & Kai, (our two youngest children), to China with us. We are leaving on November 20th and will arrive in Beijing on the 22nd (Thanksgiving). We will be spending 2 days in Beijing, sight-seeing and then will fly onto Changsha, Hunan, where we will get Ruthie.

We look forward to sharing our journey with you.