Friday, September 26, 2008

Leaving China for Home

We leave tomorrow morning at 7 AM (China Time) for the airport to fly home to North Carolina.  28 hours later (if my time zone math is correct), we will land in Charlotte-- home at last with our baby girl.  

The last 2 days have been eventful.  Thursday was, for me, a little blah.  I think I was just in a "ready to be going home" state of mind, and still dealing with a little adjustment to parenthood.  Today was great and very busy, so I really have not had time to do a final post about our last 2 days here.  That will have to wait until we get home.  But, we attended the swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate, along with about 100 other families, and we got our Big Brown Envelope with Anna Kathryn's visa and immigration documents.  We have been warned not to open it, or we may be stranded in the airport, a family without a country forever.  Or something.  I kinda feel like we are carrying Kryptonite in our carry on luggage. 

So, we need to be up in about 6 hours, so I need to cut this short.  Thanks to all who followed our journey to Anna Kathryn in China!  I hope the return jet lag allows me to do the last post of our trip soon!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Day 13: Typhoon and Chen Clan Academy

We woke up to stormy skies today, and our planned shopping trip was postponed due to flooding on Shamian Island.  Typhoon Hagupit has rolled in and is dumping lots of rain on Guangzhou.  The temperature is significantly lower, too.  It was a nice change of pace to be drenched in rain, not sweat!

So, Rosa and Maggie, our terrific tour guides, made a quick change of plans and took us to the Chen Clan Academy and Guangdong Folk Arts Museum.  This is a large complex that once served as living space for members of the Chen clan when they traveled to Guangzhou for study or business from other parts of China.  Something like 5-8% of the population shares the Chen surname, and families in 72 counties in the province contributed to the construction of the complex.  It is also known as the Chen Ancestral Hall, and the other purpose of the space was to be a place for ancestor worship.  We toured the main area only, but it has 19 buildings covering a total area of 15,000 square meters.  I couldn't help but be reminded of the Camp Meeting grounds back home as we learned about the Chen Clan Academy.  In 1959, the Folk Arts museum was established by the government in the Academy buildings.  It has since been chosen as one of the "Eight Sights of the Goat City" since then!  

Despite the downpour, we enjoyed the displays of carved wood and stone, sculpture, and even ancient inkwells!  I was particularly interested in the hall where they have several rooms set up to look like a Guangdong home of 100 or 200 years ago.  We saw the unmarried women's room, a typical married woman's room, the scholar's room, and a traditional living room.  We also observed an artist creating beautiful ink paintings using just his hand and fingers-- no brush!   

After that, we headed back to the hotel for basically a free day.  I have to admit, I am rather tired of hotel rooms.  But, AK needed some lunch and a nap.  She wasn't really sleepy at her usual naptime, having conked out on the bus in Daddy's arms.  So we played for a while and she took a warm bath, since she is still having a few tummy "issues" and we are out of prunes.  The bath relaxed her, did the trick we needed it to do, and she fell asleep soon after. It couldn't be the pizza and whipped cream from yesterday, could it?  I think we have broken every baby feeding guideline over the past few days and it may be coming back to haunt us.  

Tonight we are going to go eat Italian (yay!!!) with a few other families from our group, and then get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow.  Big day:  our paperwork goes to the US Consulate at 10:00AM (10 PM at home).  We have to hang out in our room in case there are any questions and the guides have to call us.  We pray all goes well with this last step.  Then, hopefully, shopping and a final group dinner.   

Maybe it's the typhoon, or slow connections, or my computer is tired, or the planets have misaligned, but Blogger is not cooperating with the pictures.  Again.  And frankly, I am sick of fighting with Blogger, even though I want my pretty pictures to accompany every post.  

I wish I could quit you, Blogger.  

So sorry, no pictures today, but trust me, Anna Kathryn's smile is still the cutest thing EVER. 

Good night (or day, since it's 4 PM here) from China!  


Edited to add: I was able to add a few pictures tonight!
The front doors of the Hall. The big guy behind us is a protective god one of the emperors who once resided here had painted on the doors to protect him from nightmares.
A giant, carved inkwell.
Enjoying our day, despite the rain!
This artist makes the beautiful, detailed ink drawings by hand.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Day 12: Taking care of business

Today was a good day but certainly not our most exciting one here in China.  No sightseeing, really, just wrapping up paperwork and a few appointments.  Even though our adoption was legalized in Nanchang, Jiangxi province the same day we got Anna Kathryn, we are dealing with the US end of things here in GZ.  

Today we had a paperwork party to fill out all the remaining forms to apply for Anna Kathryn's immigration into the USA, pulled together a packet of documents we had to bring with us (about 15 items in all), and paid the final fees for this process (whew!). The paperwork party consisted of about 10 parents all trying to follow our guide's directions in a conference room here at the hotel.  I think I wrote my name, Mark's name, Anna Kathryn Bo Di's name, and our address about 467 times.   A couple of times, the mom next to and I messed up something on our forms.  We both kept muttering, "oh, crap" and waving over the guide to bring the correction tape.  I think my brain has turned to mush over the past few weeks, because it's not like I have filled out about 100 other forms in the past 2 and 1/2 years!  At least we had really good tea to drink.

I got back to our room to find that Anna Kathryn had had a play date with another little girl in our group, Mikayla, and was having her lunchtime bottle and rapidly sliding into a nap.  Mark and I decided we needed one, too.  

After that, our whole group headed out for the required medical exam and visa photo session over on Shamian Island (more on the Island tomorrow, since we are taking a shopping trip there in the morning.  Whee!)  The exam was fairly basic and cursory, and required for her travel visa to the USA.  She was weighed and measured, had a quick hearing and vision test, and another doctor listened to her heart and lungs, and looked her over in general.  Strangely, I was a little nervous but she passed the test!  So did all of the children.  We did find out that she now weighs 16.2 pounds!  We are doing our best to fatten her up a bit, and apparently succeeding.  She is also 27 inches long.  Here are a few fun moments from this outing:


Oh boy!  I get to visit the doctor today!
Waiting with the other families for our turn with the doctors.
She wasn't really a fan of the ENT exam.

Then we went grocery shopping at the Carrefour, which I've heard described as the Chinese Wal-Mart.  It's nicer than the actual Wal-mart we went to in Nanchang, and it certainly does seem to sell absoultely everything.  It's huge. We got more bottled water and some snacks including cucumber flavored Lay's chips.  We'll see how those taste.  We also got real Doritos and some Oreo wafer cookies.  I'll let you know if those are good or not.  I bet they are!  It's a little embarrassing how excited we got over American junk food.

Riding down the moving walkway to the bottom floor is fun!  The walkway is magnetized so that your cart won't roll away.  It's so cool. 

Mark and Anna Kathryn are examining some kind of meat-- possibly sausages. Who knows?? 

One thing I continue to find hilarious in Chinese grocery stores is the rotisserie duck display.  It's like our rotisserie chicken display, but with whole ducks, cooked and hanging by their necks.  Mark wanted to buy a duck head (beak and all) from the hot prepared foods counter but I managed to talk him out of it.  I should've taken a picture, but I think the people in the store think we are weird Americans already so I have tried to limit the picture-taking.

We also got some soy-based formula for Anna Kathryn.  We just can't wean her off formula yet and all of the unfolding news about the tainted milk and formula have us very worried.  Soy seems to be a safer option, and it may help her spit up a bit less.  We have been giving her brands that, so far, seem to be safe.  I can't wait to get her home to the States and get some formula for her that I know is not tainted.  We will be stopping at a 24-hour Harris Teeter on the way home from the airport!  It makes me absolutely panicked if I think too much about the situation, and each day the news coverage is worse.  She seems to be very healthy, thankfully, with no scary symptoms.

Anyway, we headed out of Carrefour and then we went to Mecca, I mean Starbucks.  It smelled SO GOOD as we walked in.  Like home, and happy things, and... well, y'all know I love my coffee!

I had one of the best mochas ever.  Anna Kathryn helped me eat the whipped cream.  

After a loooong ride home in bad traffic, with many tired and crying babies, we got back to the hotel.  All we had energy to do was go eat some dinner at Pizza Hut and then back to the room to put Baby to bed.  BTW, the Pizza Hut here is so nice.  They do table service.  And the creamy corn chowder is really good, as was the stuffed crust pizza.  We went for the "stufffed with cheese" option as opposed to the "stuffed with squid" option.  Also, the dessert options were plentiful.  I had tiramisu, and it was sort of my appetizer, since it arrived at table first-- even before our drinks.  

Shopping and sight-seeing tomorrow.  Apparently there is heavy rain from a typhoon headed our way, so this should be interesting!   Thankfully, the rain-- which rolled in today-- has cooled things off considerably.  I am SO tired of sweating, so this is fine by me.  We won't melt! 

 Good night from China!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Day 11: Hello Guangzhou!

Last night was our final night in Nanchang.  We enjoyed another yummy meal at the East Restaurant with the England family, which Anna Kathryn wiggled through.  As we walked the 4 blocks back to the hotel, this was the sight which we enjoyed:
The Tengwang Pavilion at night.

Last night and this morning I felt a little emotional about the fact that these were the last few hours Anna Kathryn would spend in her home province.  Most Jiangxi people never travel beyond its borders.  In just one short week, she has been through so many changes and experienced so many completely new things.  She has handled the adjustment really well, overall.  She is just thriving on all the love and attention we are so happy to lavish on her.  I don't know when or if we will ever return to Jiangxi, and it wasn't always easy to be there in such a foreign place with a new baby, but I am so glad we got to experience our time there. 

Today we traveled to Guangzhou, in the southern part of China, at the mouth of the Pearl River. Guangzhou is also known by an older name, Canton (like Cantonese food).    Guangzhou is a huge city, especially after being in Nanchang.  Our guide kept saying that Nanchang is just a little town, and despite just having been all over Beijing, it really didn't feel all that small.  But Guangzhou is very urban.  

Our new digs are at the Asia International Hotel.  We continue to be impressed by the niceness of the hotels we have stayed at, and this one has very soft beds by Chinese standards.  Woo-hoo!  I am hoping that I will NOT wake up tomorrow with my usual neck cramp. 

We are up on the 33rd floor of the hotel. It has 45 floors, and the top one is a revolving restaurant called the Sky Cafe.  We splurged on the buffet dinner there tonight, and enjoyed the view as much as the food.  

Check out the view from our room!



But I am getting a little ahead of myself.  We got up way too early and were on our way to the airport by 8:00 AM.  Anna Kathryn was excited about her first plane ride, in between spying on the other travelers and charming everyone around her. 


Here we go to Guangzhou!

She did really well on the flight: ate a bunch of digestive biscuits that were the in-flight snack, played the drop-the-toy game (especially fun in Coach seating), and was basically cheerful until the last 10 minutes.  Then she wailed until I fed her some Puff snacks.  When I tried to put away the Puffs, the wailing resumed.  The Puffs reappeared.  Final score: Baby 1, Mom 0.  I would love to think that the flight home would go that smoothly...

This was the other, VERY welcoming sign for slightly homesick and weary travelers.  Guess where we ate lunch?


And it was delicious.  My dessert, a peach sundae, was particularly tasty.  The fries were nice and salty, too. Yum.  

Anna Kathryn introduced herself to a new friend:


I took a major nap when we got back to the hotel after lunch.  So did Anna Kathryn.  When we got up, it was almost dinnertime.  As I said, we enjoyed the amazing city views from the revolving restaurant.  My camera wasn't able to capture the city lights at night, but it did capture this shot of Anna Kathryn trying chocolate ice cream for the first time.  
Apparently she is not a fan.  Not yet, anyway.  At least we didn't give her the sesame flavor. (Which was not bad, by the way.  Mark asked what it tasted like and I said there is really no comparison.)

There were a few extra kisses to make up for the torture of ice cream.  

Our fun dinner ended when I realized that when AK squirmed around on my lap, and ended up on her tummy, she spit up the aforementioned chocolate ice cream into the front pocket of my Vera Bradley hipster purse.  Which I discovered when I reached into the pocket for the room key or something.  Nice.  Thank goodness for baby wipes.  They can get practically any stain out.  I think the purse will survive relatively unscathed, fortunately.  I love, love, love it, even after wearing it daily for two weeks.  But seriously, I really couldn't be too upset-- not with that grin.  

Tomorrow is our paperwork party, where "we" (me) get to fill out and gather all the paperwork and stuff needed for the US Consulate, to get AK's travel visa for the trip home and her immigration papers in order.  Fun, fun.  It's going to be great when we are FINALLY done with the paperwork.  After that, not sure of the schedule... sightseeing and shopping, perhaps? 

Good night from China!

PS-- Susannah (pictured in the blog button in the sidebar) and her parents and grandmother are flying home to the States tomorrow!!  We are so thankful and relieved, and praying that the long flight will go well for her.  Mark, AK and I got to visit for a few minutes this evening with the family and it was great to see Susannah looking so cute and feeling better.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Days 9 and 10-- At the Zoo (and the Park)

We have developed a nice little routine with Anna Kathryn.  Up around 7 (depending on how she slept).  Breakfast at the hotel buffet:  an egg, rice or congee, fruit, banana bread, and more.  This girl can really put away the groceries!  I think today she ate almost as much as I did.  Then we head back to our room for a bottle and an outfit change (breakfast is usually a messy meal) before heading out.  

Of course, this picture tells the whole story; Anna Kathryn enjoyed a big helping of prune baby food with her dinner.  We were trying to "help things along"-- and it worked!

Most days we have gone out between 10-1 for an excursion, and then back to the room to cool off and for her nap (and sometimes one for Mom and Dad). Afternoon is playtime, followed by an early dinner, bath, bed.  Two times we have been able to talk online with my parents and sister, and that has been very fun, although AK is so busy hamming it up she goes to bed rather late those nights.  

She is already changing and gaining new skills every day!  The first day we had her, she hated tummy time, couldn't roll over, and couldn't stay upright when we'd sit her up.  Playtime is on the king-sized bed in our hotel room, so she has a soft place to land (the feather comforter helps.  Hope they plan to wash that thing when we leave, since we have, ahem, done a lot of living on it over the past 6 days!). 

 Now she rolls over like a champ, is sitting up more steadily, and trying to creep-- or crawl; I can't remember the difference right now.  Today she spent some time digging things out of her diaper bag, which is about as big as she is.  Tummy time with daddy and mommy is lots of fun!  

The other night we introduced her to the Wonderful World of Books.  The librarian in me is so proud of her-- she just loved her book.  Granted, she enjoyed chewing it more than reading it, but that's to be expected. 

What is this new and marvelous thing?
I love books!!


Her strong will is evident.  When she wants something, she goes after it with single-minded determination.  If she is not in favor of something, she will screech and bat her hands at the offending object/washcloth/diaper/etc.  Today she took the shortest nap ever-- 25 minutes in Wal-Mart and in the van on the way back to the hotel after a busy morning.  Considering that there were a million or so people at the Wal-Mart, the fact that she could sleep at all was impressive. We got back to the room, she woke up, and all other attempts to put her down were futile.  

She howled in her crib and then caught me peeking at her between the slats.  Instant grin.  

Daddy tried to rock her to sleep.  Wailing ensues.  Daddy turns her upright.  Smiles and laughter.  

We are pushovers.  What can I say?  We've waited a long time to do this much spoiling.

Oh, yeah, we've also done some sightseeing around Nanchang, despite the nearly 100 degree (humidity to match) temps.  Nanchang is a bustling city, somewhat industrial, but with nice public areas and plenty of shopping.  Also, many KFCs.  We haven't sampled that yet, but the pepperoni pizza we got from Pizza Hut yesterday was quite tasty.  It came with a side of ketchup!

Saturday we went to the zoo with our guide.  The zoo was bigger and had more animals than I expected.  It is definitely different from an American zoo:  there were some species I wasnt too familiar with, and the animal pens are mostly concrete with little or no natural habitat spaces. Still, they seemed reasonable well cared for, and the animal acts were highly entertaining.  Very much like what you'd expect at the circus. 

 Anna Kathryn paid more attention to the crowds of kids with their families, but Mark and I enjoyed the animal acts a lot.  She did enjoy watching the fish.
 Mark couldn't resist feeding a frenzied group of giant goldfish.

First we saw the sea lion show, then we went to the big animal show. We saw monkeys walk a tightrope and ride bike, a bear that did tricks on hanging rings, and a goat that walked the tightrope with a monkey on its back.  

This pony and tiger trick was pretty amazing, too: 

Anna Kathryn and Mark got up close and personal with a bear.
The zoo is cool (even if we are sweaty)!

Today (Sunday) we went, along with the England family, to the local park.  We strolled the shady paths, watched people exercise and do tai chi,  and listened to a little Peking opera.

Mark and Anna Kathryn were mesmerized by the sounds of Chinese music.  We saw one couple where the wife was singing, and the husband played a 2-stringed violin.  Another man, a musician and teacher, played his instrument, and people would wait in line to sing impromptu duets with him.  



Sunday morning in the Park...

We also went to "Porcelain Street", filled with shops full of Jiangxi's famous and gorgeous hand-painted porcelain.  Jiangxi province is famous for this.   Mark and I planned to get a tea set for Anna Kathryn and some gifts for others, so we had fun shopping!  We wrapped up the day with a trip to Wal-Mart.  It looked a lot like Wal-Mart at home, only it was 2 stories and FULL of shoppers.  I was thrilled to find Maybelline eyeliner and Coca-cola Light.  There were even rollbacks:


First trip to the Wal-Mart Supercenter.  It will not be her last!!


I was determined to get pictures into this post, and I succeeded!!  It only took about 2 hours, off and on, to load all these shots.  I hope it will be easier to blog (and I'll be more consistent) in Guangzhou, our next and final stop in China.  In case you hadn't already noticed our itinerary has changed several times along the way.  The latest is that we are leaving for the airport at 8 AM tomorrow, instead of 3 PM, and Sally is working hard today to get Anna Kathryn's passport in hand by the end of the day today. 

BTW: Even though the post date says Saturday, I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon, China time.  

We have enjoyed our time in Nanchang, and are grateful to have experienced a little bit of life here so that we can share these stories with Anna Kathryn as she grows up.  However, we are excited to be heading to Guangzhou, reuniting with our travel buddies, and finishing the US end of the paperwork.  

Good night from China!



Thursday, September 18, 2008

Day 7 and 8-- Hamming it up in Nanchang


Well, we have had to take life a little slower the past day or two.  I succumbed to a bit of "traveler's tummy" and a general exhaustion yesterday.  That's why there was no new post-- I slept every chance I got.  Both Anna Kathryn and I took long naps yesterday!  Thankfully, Mark is feeling fine, so he took on a lot of the baby duty yesterday.  Anna Kathryn is still adjusting well, but the nighttime is the hardest for her. She has been waking up crying and I think a little scared. We spend time soothing and comforting, and usually after a lot of this and a bottle, she get the message that it is time for sleep, not play. In the morning she always wakes up with a big smile on her face. This, of course, makes our day!

Still, we didn't want to waste our time here, so we headed out Thursday morning to visit the Tengwang pavilion, Nanchung's top historic sight.  This pavilion has been built and rebuilt 29 times since 653 AD. It was originally built for a Tang Dynasty prince who was governor of Nanchang, and was later immortalized in a lovely poem by a Tang-era poet. Despite the wilting heat and humidity, we toured the gardens surrounding the pavilion, then saw a short performance of song and dance on the top floor. We worked our way back down the 7 or 8 stories, looking at the beautiful artwork, the views of the Gan river and the city, and the lovely Chinese architecture.

We have already learned that Anna Kathryn is a total ham (much like her cousin Emily) and LOVES to have her picture taken. She also tends to attract a crowd wherever we go. People come up and chatter with her, touch her, and tell us (via our guide/translator) what a beautiful and lucky baby she is. It's nice that the Chinese people we have met all seem to be happy to see babies adopted, and the general attitude is that adopted babies will have a very good life with loving parents and opportunities for education. Education is prized here, since compulsory education only goes to ninth grade and only about 5 % of Chinese citizens get to go to university.

We have been enjoying spending time with other American families here in Nanchang. It's always very obvious who they are (Caucasians toting around small Chinese children, speaking English), and we tend to flock together, since we are all in the same boat here. It helps with the homesickness to be able to swap stories, play with the babies, share formula, medicine, and peanut butter (that, and more Ziploc bags, are the only two things I wish I had here. I actually dreamed about peanut butter last night. And I'm really not a big PB person, but it just tastes like home.). We have become friendly with a family from Spokane, Washington who adopted a 19-month old named Brianna, and met another family from Illinois this morning. 

We are also enjoying getting to know the other AWAA family here with us, Jim and Sherri England, Their daughter, MelodyRose, is only 3 weeks younger than Anna Kathryn, and it's fun to see all of the similarities between the girls. They have had a bigger adjustment, I think, since they arrived in China the same morning we got the babies. So they are dealing with culture shock, jet lag, and new parenthood all at once. We have had a good time during our daily excursions, at dinner, and playing "Frogger" as we brave crossing the crazy Nanchang traffic.

Today (Friday) we toured a farming village a few miles outside of Nanchang. It was a good thing for us  to see because the chances are that Anna Kathryn's birthparents were farmers, or lived in a similar community. Since we won't be able to travel to Anna Kathryn's hometown, this is the next best thing.  Sally told us that everyone in the village has the same last name, Jiang (I think), and that the young men go to the city to work, since farming earns only about $600 USD per year. She said that we would mostly see women, children, and elderly people. The village was extremely poor-- the kind of poverty we just do not see in the USA. However, the people did seem happy and most everyone was friendly. One man, who was busy butchering a pig, did shoo Mark away as he approached to ask if he could take a picture.  I'm sure we were the big entertainment of the day! Several older ladies followed us around as we walked through the streets. It was humbling to realize how much we take for granted in our own lives. I have been struggling with just boiling water and doing baby laundry in the tub, but I have it so easy compared with washing clothes in the lake, cooking on a wood-burning stove, and washing dishes in a pan on my front porch as these mothers do.   One of the grandmothers of the village-- 80 years old and still goes out in the fields to work regularly-- asked to hold Anna Kathryn and just delighted in her.  Babies translate in any culture.  

I wish I could post all-- or many more -- of our pictures from yesterday and today. We have some great ones! But Blogger is not willing to upload for me today.  It took an hour and multiple attempts to post the one. Grrr.   I know that's what y'all are looking for, and believe me, I wish I could deliver!  I'll try again later on to see if I can edit this post and add more pictures.  

For now, good night from China!

PS-- Little Susannah is doing better, but is still quite sick.  So far, the provincial officials have not been willing to expedite the paperwork for her to be adopted and released early, but please keep praying for this family and situation.  She is holding her own, and that is a miracle!  


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Day 6- Getting to Know Anna Kathryn

It's been about 29 hours since Anna Kathryn was placed in our arms and we are having a ball getting to know her.  Some highlights:
  • She doesn't have teeth yet!  I guess our update was wrong.  But we think she is going to cut one soon, because she chews on everything.  I loved the sensation of her little gums sucking on my finger in the van yesterday (guess which rookie mama forgot to pack a pacifier?)
  • She is definitely active.  She loves to play "airplane" and romp with Mark.  She also loves looking at the baby in the mirror and making faces (see the picture below).  
  • She's been fighting sleep and nap time.  Not sure yet if this is a personality thing, an overstimulation thing, or an attachment thing.  We are trying to follow her lead on this.  Today's nap didn't happen until we put her in the crib and left her alone.  I think laying on the bed with mommy and daddy made her think it was still playtime!
  • She has rolled with all of the firsts:  restaurant, hotel, night away from the orphanage, shopping trip to a local grocery store, stroll down the street-- where she attracted lots of smiles and attention from the other shoppers. 
  • She has no trouble telling us "no"-- she makes a hilarious stubborn face and fake cries (no tears)  
  • She does not like to be on her tummy.  This is a major cause of fake crying, and the occasional real tear.  She can stand, but she is wobbly, and has to hold tight to us.  She hasn't shown us if she can crawl yet, due to the tummy aversion.  She is also wobbly when she sits up on her own (and has fallen over on the bed a few times).  I think we have a few developmental milestones to work on.
  • We call her "Bo Di" or "Di Di" (her nickname at the orphanage) and sometimes she will look at us when we say it.  We say Anna Kathryn too, but she doesn't recognize that one yet.  
  • Her eyes gleam when she sees food.  (Chip off the old block, eh?)  The bottle, especially, although she has eagerly chowed down on fruit, congee, banana, oranges, bread, eggs... By the way, the formula she has been fed is not the brand involved in the tainted formula problem here, thankfully. 
  • She has us wrapped around her finger and much prefers to be held to anything else (bed, chair, stroller).  She smiles, laughs, giggles, and looks at us.  We are so thankful for this, since we have been praying that the attachment process will go well for her.  It's still a process, but she looks for us if we are not nearby (for example, if one of us steps into the bathroom to fix a bottle, or to go get food at the breakfast buffet).   This is a good sign!
More pictures from late Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning:

The mirror game is super-fun!
Playing before bedtime
Hi to everyone in America!
Good morning, sunshine!
Our first breakfast together.  Daddy helped her sample the breakfast buffet.
Here is the bathroom counter, post-baby.  Boiling water for every bottle and all dishwashing is more labor-intensive than we realize (the water is not drinkable for anyone.  We've bought bottled but try to use that more for drinking and formula.)  This area is the kitchen and laundry room, too. There is a clothesline that strings across the bathtub-- perfect for small baby things. Living with a baby in a hotel room is definitely interesting!

Well, I probably should be napping along with Anna Kathryn, but am enjoying some computer time instead.   Today has been very relaxed, since we got pretty much all of the official business out of the way yesterday.  We slept in a little, after our 3 AM wake up call from Anna Kathryn.  Once she fell back to sleep, she slept hard until 8:30 AM, when we woke her up for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we went shopping with our guide in the pedestrian district and went to the grocery store for diapers, water, and hairspray (mine was confiscated in the security checkpoint at the airport, despite being in my small Ziploc baggie.  A sad moment, indeed.).  I was so busy checking on Anna Kathryn in the stroller and chatting with Sally that I forgot to take pictures.  I'll have to get some on the next outing.  After the heat and crowds, we were kinda glad to return to the hotel for lunch for Anna Kathryn and then a nap.  

Today we entrusted a week's worth of dirty clothes to one of the local laundries, arranged by our guide.  It takes a certain level of trust to give practically every stitch you brought to a stranger, who just zips them in his suitcase and heads out.  At least he had an official looking form in both English and Chinese I filled out.  I am picky about my laundry, but also desperate and down to the last clean shirt!  I pray that everything comes back in one piece tomorrow.

Mark is waking up our little sunshine, so I've got to go.  We race to the computer first thing in the morning (and afternoon, and so on...) to read comments and e-mail.  Even if we don't respond to all of them, please know that we love you all and appreciate every note and comment from home.   

Good night from China!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day 5: Forever Family Day

We left for Nanchang late Monday afternoon after a much-needed and appreciated day of rest. The flight to Nanchang was about 2 hours, on China Eastern Airlines. I wish I'd remembered to snap a photo of the gate. We had a little extra time before the flight, so we stopped for a snack. It was Black Forest cake, and it was the first time I'd had chocolate in almost a week. I'd have a picture for you, but I ate it too fast. Plus, unlike in Beijing, where Blogger uploaded my photos with lightning-like speed, here in Nanchang it is taking about 5 minutes per picture. So I am going to have to edit this down to the good stuff: Gotcha Day (that's why you are all reading this anyway. Who cares about cake? ).

Here we are, about to say goodbye to the group and our tour bus. It was hard to leave all of these folks who have turned into friends already. I'm glad we'll be meeting again in Guangzhou.

We got to Nanchang just fine, met our guide, Sally, and headed for the Gloria Grand Hotel. It's nicer than the one in Beijing. We learned that they would bring Anna Kathryn to us at the hotel around 11:30 AM. The butterflies began.  The only thing to do was go to bed so tomorrow would come quicker!

In the morning, we went and ate (somehow, I managed to scarf down a lot of breakfast). We met another American family in the restaurant -- which is, strangely, a German-style restaurant-- who had their new daughter with them. They were so nice and even shared some Chinese formula with us, since we hadn't made it to the grocery store yet and didn't want to leave our hotel in case the group from the orphanage came early.  We got a crib, stroller, and baby bathtub delivered to our room, watched a little CNN, and checked e-mail while we waited.

At 11:15 AM, we heard a knock at the door.  And after all the years of waiting, it took just a minute to have her in my arms.  She is perfect.

Presenting Anna Kathryn BoDi Kovach:

Greeting the group from the orphanage.  Sally, our guide, is holding Anna Kathryn.  The man in the pinkish shirt is the director, and the lady with the sunglasses is (I think) the supervising Nanny.  She knew AK well but didn't solely care for her.
Here she is!


Our first family photo
After the orphanage contingent moved on to take another baby to her parents, we comforted her and played a little.  AK didn't seem overly distressed until the first (and way overdue) diaper change.  Tears flowed.  We decided bottle next, since she'd had a 4-hour bus ride and had napped on the way.

First bottle:

Then it was playtime.  Mark, the baby whisperer, swung into action.

After a trip to the lobby to change money-- we found out all of our appointments would be the same afternoon and all would be finalized today!!-- and order lunch, we headed upstairs for another bottle and a short nap.  She fell asleep in my lap.  Bliss. 


At 2:30, we were off, along with another AWAA family, to our appointments.  first, the Civil Affairs office.  It was stifling hot, and Anna Kathryn was sleepy, but so well-behaved (the Chinese say "self-disciplined").  We answered some super-easy questions about ourselves and promised to educate Anna Kathryn, and gave the official a gift (standard practice here-- ours was coffee, snack mix, and candy).

 Next, off to the notary.  This is like going before a judge. He looked at our paperwork, asked similar questions about ourselves, and wanted to know if we were satisfied with the baby.  Delighted is more like it, but we just said yes, we were.  He seemed nice and smiled at us and the baby.  Another gift given, we received our little red book with the adoption decree, and we were done.

When we got back in the van Sally told all of us that it was official, the adoption is finalized, and we are all forever families.  Sherri, the other mom, and I hugged and cried a little at that news.  We had a mini-celebration as we careened through the traffic toward the passport office.  All we had to do there was get a photo of AK for her passport.  Appointments finished in 2 hours!

So, now we have the next 5 days here in Nanchang to bond, play, and hang out and wait for the passport.  We went out to dinner with the family we met at breakfast and the mom asked how motherhood felt.  It's wonderful, but it's all happened in a matter of hours.  The whole experience seems "surreal, but nice"  (does anyone else know that movie quote?).

It's 6 AM here-- Anna Kathryn was so tired when we got in from dinner we put her to bed straightaway after another bottle.  She ate a ton of rice and eggs at dinner, too.  Mark and I followed at 8:30 (hee).  Guess who was awake at 3:15 AM?  Now Mark and baby are snoozing again and I think I will join them.  

Good night from China!  Love, Mark, Kimberly, and Anna Kathryn

PS-- Another family in our travel group got to their daughter's province to find that she is critically ill.  They are afraid if they can't get the rest of the trip and paperwork expedited and get her to an American hospital, she may not make it.  Please pray for Charlie, Leslie, and Susannah (the little girl).

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Day 3: We Conquer the Great Wall

Sunday morning our jet lagged bodies finally realized that we were in a different time zone-- I woke up at 4:30, wide awake and ready for the day!  Mark was already awake.  So, I got online, checked e-mail, read a few blogs, etc. for about an hour.  Then we decided that we should try to sleep a little bit more, so we napped for about an hour before the alarm woke us up.  

Our adoption agency is a Christian agency, so attending a church service was on the agenda for Sunday.  It may seem unlikely that this is even possible in a Communist country, but Christianity is one of the 5 recognized religions by the Chinese government, and it is the fastest growing religion in the country.  However, there are many limits and controls over the practicing of any religion here, and Christianity is no exception.  

We attended the Beijing International Christian Fellowship Church.  It is only for expats; we had to show a copy of our passports to enter to prove that we were a foreign nationality.  Once inside, it looked like an American contemporary evangelical church.  The church rents a theater complex and rooms in nearby hotels for Sunday school and Bible studies.   The service reminded me a lot of our former church, Forest Hill.  We were a little late, and got there after the praise and worship time was under way.  The service was bilingual-- singing and preaching were in English and Mandarin.  The congregation was, as expected, extremely diverse.  

The praise and worship singing was definitely my favorite part.  The music was beautiful, and I admit it moved me to a few tears as I listened to voices from all nations, in multiple languages, worshiping Jesus in song.  It seemed like a little taste of heaven here on Earth.  There is light shining in the darkness here in China.

During the passing of the peace, a lady in the row ahead of us turned and introduced herself to our group.  Turns out she volunteers in an orphanage here in Beijing, and cares mainly for babies with special needs.  She was delighted to hear that our group were all here to adopt babies and children.   She told us that many of the nannies in that orphanage are "baby" Christians, and that while it is hard to say good-bye to the children, they are always so glad when the babies are adopted by families.  I was so encouraged by this encounter and know it was a God-thing that we just happened to speak with her.  The only other person we really talked to was an American man who walked in the same time we did, who told us he is a doctor who treats many orphans.  

After church, we headed out of Beijing to visit the Great Wall.  On the way, we made several stops for shopping and lunch.  The first stop was at the Jade Factory and Gift Shop.  We were given a little presentation to help us learn all about jade, the quality, the symbolism, etc.   one thing the shop makes is a ball-like figuring called a Happy family ball.  The speaker mentioned that in a Chinese family, the eighth member is the luckiest.  I thought that was pretty cool, since Anna Kathryn is the sixth child for Mark, so she is the eighth member of our immediate family.  We don't believe in luck, but we do know that she is very, very special.  

After I got a very pretty bracelet at the jade shop, along with a few gifts, we went to the Chinese version of Cracker Barrel:  a restaurant with a Friendship Store attached.  The Friendship store is huge and has all kinds of handmade items, from cloisinee vases and pens, to silk dresses, porcelain, rugs, jewelry, and more.  We couldn't take pictures in the shops, so no photos of this part.  I was feeling pretty shopped out, plus we still have many days left to go in our trip, so mark and I browsed.

Finally, we arrived at the Great Wall.  I had a "Big Ben" moment (Leslie, you know...) as we climbed higher into the mountains.  I looked up and saw a little section of the wall.  I hadn't realized we were so close, and said to Mark, "Is that it?"  Everybody on the bus realized what we were looking at-- the real thing!!-- and craned our necks to look.  

View of the mountains on the road to Badaling-- another hazy day.  
This was the view at the Badaling section, which is very popular (crowded), easy to access from Beijing, and is the best/most restored section of the wall.  

After a group photo, we were let loose to explore.  We had a choice of the "easy" section or "hard" section.  Guess which one Mark wanted to climb?

I was beginning to regret all those summer mornings I skipped the gym.  This sucker was steep!  And, in the parts with stairs, all the steps are different heights.  There is a rail, but it is literally a foot off the ground.  Maybe the original occupants were midgets? 
Mark and I found ourselves skirting around a group of students from the Experimental School at Peking University.  They did a little tai chi on the wall.  
We made it up to one of the higher areas, where there was a small building with several rooms and lots of windows, so you could look in all directions across the Wall and the mountains. Despite the haze, the views were magnificent.   The Wall stretched before us in all directions, crossing ridge after ridge.  I overheard a guide telling a group of British tourists that soldiers and their families used to reside in the Wall, so that there was a guard 24 hours a day.  It must have been incredibly isolating.  

After seeing pictures of the Wall all my life, again it seemed unbelievable that we were really there, climbing, touching the ancient graffiti-scarred bricks.  Truly a once in a lifetime experience.  


Despite the majesty, we  were really glad to see the bus and SIT.  The hour and a half ride to dinner gave us plenty of time to stiffen up our sore muscles.  

Dinner consisted of at least a dozen dishes, including the famed Beijing (Peking) Duck, sliced thin and rolled in a flat pancake (very tortilla-like).   My favorite was the spicy chickcn and vegetable dish and the steamed broccoli.  When the waitress asked if we wanted one or two of something (we didn't quite understand her), one of the ladies at our table said "one."  Turns out she ordered one big bottle of Tsingtao beer!  I sampled it-- not bad-- but everyone else at our table drank Coke or tea instead.  

Mark was excited to see our dinner on display.  
Chicken feet-yum!
We were so tired, we collapsed as soon as we got into our room.  I was asleep by 9:15 PM.  Today (Monday) is our travel day to Nanchang, but our flight doesn't leave until late afternoon, so we have had a relaxing day here at the hotel.  As ready as I am to finally be with Anna Kathryn, I am thankful for this extra time of R & R before things get really exciting!  

My next post will be for Gotcha Day-- how exciting is that??!  Good night from China!