Videos from China

I had these 2 videos that I wanted to post last week, but Mandi and I just could not make it work. So I'll post them now!

The first one is of Caitlin just being silly. It was so cute!

This one is of Caitlin's medical exam. This was long before the shots; they were just trying to measure and weigh her! (They never did succeed, by the way!)

Her "hearing exam" went about as well; they snapped their fingers, clapped, played instruments, made noises, but all she would do was look straight ahead and SCREAM. They finally just looked at me and asked "Can she hear?," to which I answered "We think so," and that was the end of her hearing exam!

We Are Home!

We made it! The LOOOOONG flight was, well, long, but it really wasn't too bad. In fact, the first 8 hours went by pretty fast. Caitlin slept a good deal of the way, but by the last 3 hours I was getting restless, especially with her being on my lap the whole way, and Caitlin was having a hard time getting comfortable so she was getting restless as well. She wanted to get down on the floor, but we were going through some turbulence at the time so she had to stay on my lap. She threw a few little tantrums, but eventually went back to sleep.

As we were descending she suddenly woke up, sat straight up, and started screaming. I guess her ears were bothering her. I gave her some Cheerios, and luckily that seemed to do the trick because the screaming immediately stopped.

Once we landed, we went through Immigration and Customs. We took some pictures of Caitlin touching U.S. soil (she is officially now a U.S. Citizen!!),
then met up with our good friend Avril (who flew back from Georgia, landed late last night, didn't get home until 2 AM, then turned around and drove the 2 hours back up to the airport early this morning to be there when we got back), and my mom (who also flew in from Georgia yesterday, took the bus down to our town, then got up early this morning to drive the 2 hours back up to the airport with Avril).It was so great to have familiar faces to greet us- and it was so wonderful to see them both!
As expected, Caitlin did not think too much of her carseat at first. She screamed bloody murder for a half hour or so. It was also the middle of the night her time, and the poor kid was exhausted! I was afraid she would scream the whole way home (2+ hours), but she did eventually settle down; she even seems to enjoy her carseat now!

We got home, and Avril's husband, Matt, had put a stork and balloon in our yard:It was so cute! He and baby Isabella were here to greet us. We got to talk for a little bit, then Matt, Avril and Isabella headed home and we settled in. Since it was still only about noon, we had a lot of time to kill before we could go to bed! Caitlin took a nap, and Paul and I snoozed a little, but we didn't want to sleep too much. It was a long afternoon, but we made it!

Caitlin seemed to relax more and more as the day went on. She definitely seems to know the difference between her home and a hotel room! She played with some of her toys, and even let me put her in her high chair to eat dinner! Now I can eat without little fingers grabbing at my food, my fork, my glass...

Caitlin was fascinated with Libby from the very beginning. As long as Libby kept her distance, she was not afraid at all. I'd worked a lot with her to try to prepare her; I'd sent lots of pictures of Libby to her in the orphanage, and we went through them a lot while still in China. And every time we saw a dog in China we'd talk about it. Anyway, as long as Libby didn't come close to her (which would cause a tantrum), she would laugh at Libby- and even try to bark at her! I'm so relieved! I was so afraid they would not get along, but so far, so good!

A neighbor brought us dinner (thank you Nohemi!), then we headed to bed. Caitlin woke up crying at 10:15, 10:45, then woke up screaming at 11:45, 12:15, 12:45, and so on. Finally, at 2:15, it became apparent that she was not going to sleep, so I took her downstairs, made her a bottle, let her watch Libby for awhile (Libby was all too happy to put on a show for her newest fan; it would have been really cute, had it not been almost 3:00 in the morning!), then I finally managed to rock her back to sleep. She slept until 9:30 AM from there!

I wanted to take a minute to thank my good friend Mandi for all that she did to help keep my blog going while we were gone. I would not have been able to do it without her! I could post from my e-mail, but it wouldn't let me add pictures, and I know that the pictures were really what everyone wanted! Mandi is in the middle of moving to a new house, yet she took time every day to take my entries and pictures, which I would e-mail to her, then post them all to the blog, even inserting the pictures in the appropriate places. Mandi, you are AMAZING! Thank you so much!!!

Leaving Guangzhou for Hong Kong

This morning Susan took us to the purse market for some more shopping. We should have taken some pictures, because words simply cannot describe this place! It was absolutely huge, and a maze; we just kept walking and walking, and each corridor led to several more corridors, full of shops... and there were 3 levels of this! The shops actually all had purses, wallets, leather items, and the like. There were real brand names, as well as copies of brand names, and so much to choose from! It was actually pretty overwhelming. We all gave up about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet back; it was just too much. But we had a lot of fun, and Paul even found a Hello Kitty purse for Caitlin!

We got back to the hotel with only a little over an hour for lunch and to pack. We tried to grab a quick bite in the hotel restaurant, but service was extremely slow and we wound up having to leave. We ran back to the room to pack, then met Susan down in the lobby to head back to the Consulate to pick up Caitlin's Visa and paperwork.

We had to wait over an hour at the Consulate. Susan went inside for us so that we could sit in the car and let Caitlin nap. As soon as she came back with all of Caitlin's paperwork, the driver hit the road for Hong Kong.

It was a very long ride. We hit a lot of traffic and, counting the hour we spent in the car waiting at the Consulate, we wound up being in the car for over 5 hours. Thankfully Caitlin slept for most of the way, so it was not too bad.

Crossing the border was interesting! It took a very long time, and they were very thorough- both on the China side and the Hong Kong side.

Crossing the border; Caitlin's first time outside China:

We passed inspection, of course, and drove straight for our hotel, which was located right at the airport. Unfortunately we did not get to see the city, except for in the distance, but what I saw of Hong Kong I really liked! All the bridges and buildings were big, sleek and modern, and in the dark with the lights it all just looked so pretty and exciting! I would love to go back some day and explore Hong Kong some more!

It killed me to be so close to both a Hard Rock Cafe and a Disney park, but alas, we were not able to visit either. We didn't get to the hotel until after 7 PM; we checked in, then headed straight to dinner. Caitlin and I went back up to the room as soon as we were done eating so I could get her showered and in bed. I wanted her to get as much sleep as possible, knowing how bad tomorrow is going to be for her.

Tomorrow we head home! I can't wait to be home; there are just so many things that will be easier once we're there. And I seriously hope that Caitlin will relax at home, since she still is not crazy about hotel rooms! And I can't wait to see Libby, and to introduce her to her new sister! I Hope that goes well...

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane!

We are on our way! If everything goes as planned, in about 12 hours we will be in Beijing, and in about 60 hours we will finally be meeting our daughter!

It honestly seems completely surreal. I've been waiting for this for 2-1/2 years. Actually, scratch that; I've been waiting for this for almost 20 years. Yet now that we've finally reached this day I can't believe it's actually here!

Since Google is blocked in China, updating the blog may be difficult. I have set it up so that I can update from an e-mail, which seems to work pretty well (from here). If we get to China and that is not working, my friend Mandi has graciously agreed to update the blog for me- if I can communicate with her, that is. I will try to send an e-mail from Beijing tomorrow night, but I'm not sure what to expect in the way of internet. I promise to do the best I can!

I want to thank you all again for all of your thoughts and prayers along the way on this amazing journey... but if I could please request a little more, we still need all that you can send our way! While this will be the very definition of a "trip of a lifetime," it will not be a vacation. Please pray that everything goes smoothly; not only our travels, but our introduction with Caitlin as well. While for Paul and me it will be one of the happiest days of our lives, Caitlin will probably be confused and scared. At 19 months old, she will not understand what is happening. All she will know is that she is being ripped from the only home/life she's ever known. She will not know us, or trust us- at least until we can earn that trust. We do not speak her language, and we look and even smell different from the caretakers she is used to. When I try to put myself in her tiny shoes and think about what this will be like for her, I want to cry for her. I pray that Paul and I can give Caitlin whatever she needs to make this transition as smooth as possible, and that she will be content- or at least comfortable- with us in a reasonable amount of time...

With that said, here we go! Ciao!

Heading Out!

Since the airport we are flying out of is over 2 hours away, we decided to head on up tonight and spend the night. It actually turned out to be a perfect plan; this way we had all day today to put the finishing touches on everything. If we'd waited to leave early tomorrow morning, it would have been mass chaos and the insanity would not have started our trip off very nicely! Now we are packed, the house is clean and in order, Libby is taken care of, and we are ready!

I still can't believe we've finally gotten to this point. I don't think it has really sunk in, even still. After all this time, it's finally happening...

We Have An Itinerary!

We got our itinerary this morning! The most important question has been answered: WE MEET CAITLIN ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10TH!!!

The rest of the schedule goes kind of like this:

*Thursday, October 7th: Depart USA

*Friday, October 8th: Arrive in Beijing

*Saturday, October 9th: Tour Beijing (Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Olympic Park, and... THE GREAT WALL!)

*Sunday, October 10th: Head to Fuzhou; MEET CAITLIN!!!

*Monday, October 11th: Finalize adoption

*Tuesday, October 12th-Thursday, October 14th: Tour around the province. We are going to request a visit to Caitlin's orphanage, but we don't know if we will be granted a visit or not.

*Friday, October 15th: Head to Guangzhou

*Saturday, October 16th: Medical Exam (Caitlin has to get all her vaccinations before she leaves China; whatever she has not yet had, she will be given here, all at once. Unfortunately we do not have an option or a say in the matter; this was the U.S.'s brilliant idea...)

*Sunday, October 17th: "Sunday Sermon"

*Monday, October 18th: Paperwork, Interview

*Tuesday, October 19th: Caitlin's Oath Ceremony, when she will be sworn in as a U.S. citizen

*Wednesday, October 20th: Pick up Caitlin's U.S. Visa, then head to Hong Kong

*Thursday, October 21st: Depart Hong Kong for U.S.!