TIME TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

19 March 2009 - Thursday

Today we leave to go back to Hong Kong for the night and then we fly home on Friday. We had a wonderful trip but are ready to come home as we miss everyone so much. Desneiges is also ready to come home - she helped with the packing! She is such a joy - we can't wait for you to meet her. God has blessed us with a wonderful daughter!

U.S. Consulate Day

18 March 2009 - Wednesday

Today we went to the Pearl Market in the morning. Before leaving the hotel, we took pictures of our group in the executive lounge. In the afternoon we traveled to the U.S. Consulate building (about 30 minutes drive away). Here we got the visa and passport for Desneiges, then had the U.S. Consulate Ceremony. We have no pictures as it is STRICTLY not allowed. We said good bye to one of our group that had to leave for home. We will miss our group as we have made many very nice friends.

Last Day at Shamian Island

17 March 2009 - Tuesday

Today we spent our day at Shamian Island. We picked up items we had ordered, had a nice dinner on the lake, and spent time with a local shop owner and his wife. We learned a lot about how they live over tea. Spent the evening starting to pack for our trip home.

DESNEIGES IS BECOMING COMFORTABLE AS PART OF OUR FAMILY

16 March 2009 - Monday

Today was another free day. Desneiges is really beginning to crawl around the room and pull herself up on things. Lots more smiles and interaction. One of our guides, upon seeing this, told us that is a sign that she is becoming part of our family. She has really taken to Tawni and is now going to Laith more often - Tawni can actually leave her line of sight while she is with Laith and she will not cry. This is improvement. She is responding to her name - Desneiges - when we say her name (never did respond to SiSi). She is such a good girl - just adorable and full of personality. She likes to study things - passes them back and forth in her hands, turns them over to see all sides. We went shopping again today. Desneiges now has 19 pairs of squeaky shoes spanning a broad range of sizes - they are so cute! She has daddy wrapped around her finger already. We are in love.

FIRST TRIP TO THE ZOO FOR DESNEIGES

15 March 2009 - Sunday

Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo with our group. We had a lot of fun. Laith went into the monkey den, they had him hold food up in his hand, and a monkey jumped up on his head - captured it all on video. Fun to see. Saw the panda bear and few other animals. Desneiges slept through most of it as it was her nap time. She woke up near the end and was able to enjoy the zoo with us.

Free DAY

14 March 2009 - Saturday

Desneiges is feeling better today - only has a cold. Today we had a free day on our own. We went to do more exploring with friends from our group. The shops and people here are very interesting. So is the food.

DESNEIGES AND MOM STAYED AT HOTEL

13 March 2009 - Friday

Desneiges and mom stayed at the hotel all day as Desneiges was sick with a 100-102.5 temperature -lots of bonding time. The air was quite thick that day also. Laith went sightseeing with the group to Six Banyan Temple, Five Rams Stone Status, and Zhenhai Tower. Zhenhai Tower was built in 1380 when General Zhuliang ruled over Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty.

Garden Park Trip and More Shopping

12 March 2009-Thursday

Will we are done with all the paper work here, so the rest of the trip will for the most part be sight seeing and shopping. Todays trip takes us to Yuntai Garden- this is a must see if you visit Guangzhou. The flowers were just beautiful. The brightness of colors we have never seen before.

Next we visited Chen Jiao Ci, which is a Guangdong folk and handcraft museum which previously was the home of one family. Then off to shopping.

Time to see the Doctor

11 March 2009- Wednesday was Visa Day. First we had to go to the Doctors Office and had to go to THREE different rooms for three different tests. This took about one and a half hours, then it was off to the Police Station for the visa paper work. The Police here do not joke around it's all business with them(Please no Pictures of the Police Station or of the Police). Then Off to shopping and dinner where Laith ordered fish. It was huge-he was not able to eat it all.

DESNEIGES SISI IS OFFICIALLY OUR DAUGHTER!

On Tuesday, March 10th, Desneiges officially became our daughter!

We went back to the Adoption Registration Office of Civil Affairs Bureau where we first met Desneiges to do MORE paperwork and to be interviewed for the adoption registration and notarization (Kole would have a fit if he knew how many trees were donated in the last 5 years toward this adoption). After a whole morning there, she is officially ours.

On the way back to the hotel, our group stopped at a shopping building. Most of our group wanted to go to the supermarket. We chose to enjoy the shops - very different from here. We were looking for some hair clips for her beautiful, plentiful hair as we only brought headbands. Found a shop that had some, but of course they did not speak our language. We communicated via calculator as far as price. We decided to buy 2 clips when we saw some cute fuzzy ones. Asked how much. They had Desneiges sit on mom's lap and she had her hair done for the first time. There was one lady on each side working on her hair. Her hair was so cute when they were done. Of course they did this to try to sell us more clips - of which they succeeded. Who could resist!

We went back to the hotel for a few hours before heading to Shamian Island at 4:00 with our group. It is about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. On the way there we walked through a long street of caged animals for sale on both sides of the street. On the island there were lots of shops to see. We loved exploring.

When we returned to the hotel we received pictures of her orphanage and a few of her with her friends from about a month ago. We will not be able to go to her orphanage. It was nice to get more information specific to her. Some neat things were written about her name. Her caregivers wrote: "Her name was given by the information office. It is hoped that she will be as beautiful as the lady carrying her name in the olden times. The name gives luck." We also received her bottle from the orphanage.

She is doing well. Slept last night from 8:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. How nice is that! She takes her bottle well - she drinks it in about 1 minute. She spent over an hour examining her toys today.

On Wednesday we get her visa medical done in the afternoon. Then on to the police station to apply for her visa. They say we will be gone from 1:30 till 5:00 p.m.

We can't wait to get home - we miss everyone sooooooooooooo much!

We met Desneiges for the first time today after about a 20 minute van ride. When we arrived to the governmental building there were many families there already with their babies. There had to be at least 50 families there. It was loud and lots of commotion. Our group's babies had not arrived yet when we got there - which turned out to be a good thing. Before the babies came, lots of people left so the room was not so loud. Our guide called to check on where the babies were. They got stuck in a traffic jam and were about 5 minutes away. When they arrived they carried them in - one care giver to one baby - and took them to a back room. We thought we recognized Desneiges when she came through but she has grown 6 months since her pictures we got. We were the first family to be called and they brought her out to us. She did not cry when we got her. She was just looking at us and being really good. We both held her and tried to keep her from the noise and crowd so she would not get upset like many of the other babies. She began to fuss. Tawni held and rocked her to sleep. She slept on the van ride back to the hotel. She woke up on the elevator ride to the room. She was O.K. until she heard another baby cry. In the room she looked at and held a toy for a while. She was O.K. for a while, but then began to cry. She has been crying and nothing seems to console her but her thumb from time to time - understandable with all she has been through today. She just fell asleep again. She is a doll! The orphanage director said she was the biggest baby in our group. She came to us very well taken care of, very clean, and looking well. She has two teeth and her hair has grown since her pictures. We have had a long and busy day and I am sure a long night ahead of us. Tomorrow we go back to the government building for a morning of paperwork, then maybe shopping in the afternoon. We may need to buy her some clothes as she appears that her one-peice 9 months clothes may not fit and we only brought one 12 month thinking that she was smaller than she is- we have a healthy, good size girl. She has been too upset to try on clothes so we will find out tomorrow for sure. She is so cute - I can't wait to come home and for everyone to meet her. She is so loved!

Yesterday we took a very nice train to Guangzhou. Took us 2 hours. Immigration was an experience, as our group left before we got through. Luckily they were just around the corner.
We got into our room - very nice and large. We are on the executive floor so we have access 24 hours to the executive suite - a very large room with T.V., free finger type foods, and free drinks. How nice is that! While on the train, ISS staff collected our paperwork and briefed us on upcoming events. Last night after checking in they gave us a tour of the market area below/around the hotel. Lots of people, shops, and upbeat music outside as we walked the streets. Laith was having a ball with it. Today we finally got to go to the bank to exchange money - got rid of a large sum - what a relief not to have to carry around that much money. We meet in 2 1/2 hours to travel to get our daughter! She had to travel this morning for 7-8 hours to where we will meet her - travel she has never experienced before. They tell us the babies will be very tired. Soon we will have our daughter after over 5 years of waiting. God is good!

We had a great day in HongKong today. We went sight-seeing on our own. What an experience. We had to take a train and then find a bus to Stanley Market. We rode on the top of a double decker bus up and through a mountain - Tawni loved seeing over the edge of the mountain as we drove - NOT! We loved walking through the market seeing all the small shops and people - how different from home. Talk about different - Burger King for the two of us at the airport last night cost us $86.00 and dinner today at Stanley Market was $444 - hard to wrap your mind around the fact that these are in Hong Kong dollars. Only two more days till we see Desneiges! Love and miss you all!

We are in Hong Kong! Arrived last night (here) - had a good flight - long but good. Had a cute little 11 month old girl in front of us - she was so good. Today we are sight-seeing on our own with some of our travel mates. Tomorrow we will be leaving on the train to Guangzhou. Nice hotel. So far we haven't made it past the airport and Burger King to eat. We are very adventurous! We love and miss you all!

The time is coming closer. We will be leaving for China March 5th to go and bring Desneiges home. This has been a long journey, but a rewarding one.