Finally an update!

Sorry it has taken so long to post. Yes we did make it home safe after being awake for about 31 hours. Ciarra did great on our first flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo but the first two hours on the 11 hour flight were not good. She finally settled down and did great the rest of the way home. The flight was full so there wasn't much room to sleep. We arrived home about 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday the 17th. The next few days were spent catching up on much needed sleep and Ciarra caught some kind of a viral infection and didn't feel well until about Monday. She did not sleep well the first several nights home but has been sleeping all night for the past 4 nights (what a relief). She and Hannah are doing so well and she is getting more comfortable with the boys but not quite sure yet. Now that Ciarra is feeling better, she is starting to try more foods but is still very picky. Today she tried biscuits and gravy and loved that. We spent Christmas day at my sister's and my parents. She had a lot to look at and get into. She was very tired by the end of the day. I think she liked the wrapping paper and sacks the best. She will visit the pediatrician on Monday and hopefully that goes well. We are expecting some shots and blood work will be done. It has been very cold here and we are hoping for some warmer weather soon so that the kids can get outside and play in the snow. We will see how Ciarra likes that. I will post an update after her doctor visit and hopefully we can get some more photos now that she is feeling better. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. It is so great to be home with family and friends!

Red Couch Day

Group photo

All the Bethany children

Today will be our last post from China. This morning we did the famous red couch photo at the White Swan and this afternoon we will go to the US Consulate for our oath and to pick up Ciarra's visa. It has been an amazing journey and we are so blessed to have found this adorable little girl and honored to be her parents. We can't wait to get her home and meet everyone. This part of our journey is coming to an end but we are really just beginning. Please say a prayer for safe travels tomorrow and that Ciarra will have a smooth adjustment at home. I am not looking forward to the jet lag but can't wait for my soft bed. I will try to post once we get home. Until then.

Enjoying Guangzhou

We are really enjoying our time in Guangzhou. The weather has been great and of course I love the shopping and finally a Starbucks again. Ciarra is doing great and sleeping very well. The first night here we all ate at the famous Lucy's and last night we had Chinese food that was great. Ciarra loved the noodles and we have found out she loves french fries with ketchup. We had the photos developed from her foster family and they turned out well. It will be so nice to be able to show her when she gets older. Today is our consulate appointment, although we do not have to go. Shiyan will take our paperwork and let us know later today if there are any problems. Hopefully everything goes well and tomorrow we take the oath and pick up her visa and will be ready to come home. Off for more shopping.

We made it to Guangzhou

At the play room
Medical exam
Hotel
We are so glad to have arrived to warmer weather. Ciarra did great on her first flight. She slept the entire time. Lets hope the flight home goes that well. The breakfast buffet was wonderful this morning and the temperature was close to 80 today. We had the medical exam this morning. It wasn't anything too much but she weighs 22 pounds and is 28 inches tall. She loves just being outside and walking around in the stroller without being bundled up. They have a playroom in the hotel and I am sure we will be spending more time there. She loved the toys and having the space to play. Tomorrow is a free day and hopefully can get some shopping done. Hope all is well at home and can't wait to get home to see everyone.

Hello to Hannah and her kindergarten friends

We are so glad that Hannah and her friends are enjoying the pictures. We love reading your comments. Ciarra's outfit is one that Hannah and I picked out. Hannah does such a good job of choosing clothes for Ciarra. She loves to play with the telephone. I have been showing her pictures of Hannah and the boys and she is trying to say your names. No, we did not have good food yesterday. I had an upset stomach so decided not to eat, and Brian only ate breakfast. We continue to be amazed at how quickly Ciarra is learning. After her nap yesterday she took the changing pad out of the diaper bag and handed it to me and I asked her for a diaper and she went to get that. I guess she was ready to have a clean diaper. When she sneezes, she will go get a kleenex and wipe her nose. She saw Brian pouring her rice cereal in her dish and went and got the bottle of water out of our refrigerator. She knows how the cereal is to be made. Hannah, we miss you and are counting down the days till we will be home for a big hug and the boys will get one too even if they don't want one. It should only be 5 more sleep nights for you when you read this post.

Jinan

Swimming at the hot springs
Hutong area in Jinan
Hot springs
Ciarra getting ready to go bye bye

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a free day at the hotel to catch up on much needed rest. Ciarra only took an hour nap so she fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. and slept til 5:30 a.m. She is sleeping pretty good, only a few whimpers during the night and goes right back to sleep. We finally figured out yesterday that she likes her rice very thin and drinks it from a dish and her milk has to be very warm. She loves sweets so she will fit in very well in our family. I also told Hannah that she loves to put on my shoes just like her. We will have two girls stomping around the house in high heels. The boys will love that. Today we went to a couple of the hot springs. They are 18 degrees C all year round. At one spot there were people swimming even though it was probably only about 45 degrees. We walked around the Hutong area and a couple of older people came up and our guide said they told us the baby would be very happy with us in the United States. They seemed very happy for Ciarra.
I hope everyone is enjoying the pictures and we so appreciate your thoughts and prayers. It makes us feel a little at home to read the comments and emails.
Our Bethany branch did a very good job of preparing us for what we may face here in China. We are so blessed to have been chosen to be this precious little girl's parents. We are so thankful that she was well cared for and can't help but feel for the foster family who loved and cared for her the past 9 months. The orphanage gave us 4 photos at our visit and I can't wait to get the camera developed from her foster family.
Tomorrow we will pick up the passport in the afternoon and our flight leaves here at 7:40 p.m. and we arrive in Guangzhou around 10:00. I think both the families here are ready for warmer weather and better food. We will be calling for basketball updates.

Day in Qingdao

Orphanaage Director
Room where babies sleep
Babies' bathtub
Playroom
At the orphanage

Sorry we haven't posted for a while, but yesterday was such a long and stressful day. We left at 7:30 for Qingdao and returned to Jinan at 7:30 p.m. Monday night before bed was a rough time for Ciarra. She didn't really want Brian or I and just wanted to sit in the corner. She looked so sad and it was really heartbreaking. She finally let Brian hold her and we got her to sleep and she slept pretty good. Tuesday was a 4 hour drive to Qingdao and we are so thankful we made it back. I read so much about the driving here but you really need to experience it. I have never been so scared it a vehicle. The van looks like it is about 20 years old and there doesn't seem to be too many laws to follow while driving. A couple times we were passing on the very narrow right hand shoulder.
We made our first stop at one government building to get paperwork done to apply for Ciarra's passport. We had to make a 4 hour trip for a passport that will actuall be prepared in Jinan where we will pick up on Friday. We then went to the orphanage and another couple from France adopting a 2 year old girl joined us. They served us lunch which we were all a little nervous about eating in fear of stomach problems. So it was a long day with no food. We then were able to see where the babies were cared for. Ciarra was only there for about 7 months and has since been with a foster family. It was very nice to see such a clean and fairly new facility. The nannies really seemed to care for the babies and they called Ciarra by her Chinese name. One of the nannies tried very hard to get her to come to her but she didn't want anything to do with them. She even gave me my first kiss after that. I think we are making progress everyday with the bonding. She has such a cute little smile and her personality is coming out more and more each day. Were not real sure how much she is talking as we do not know Chinese. She waves bye bye and shakes her head when she doesn't want something.
After the orphanage visit we went to the police station to apply for the passport. That took a little bit as there was a long line when we arrived. We stopped at a rest area on the way back to Jinan. It is nothing like ours. I have to say I am so thankful for where we live and can't wait to get home to the many amenities we take for granted. We are really missing the kids and counting down the days till we can get home to be a family of 6. I think it will be much better once we get to Guangzhou where it will be back with the rest of our group and Shiyan will be there to help with the adoption process and the food will be much better. We are definitely not eating much here. I can only do so much McDonalds. Take care and we really appreciate the comments.

Day 2 with Ciarra

What a difference a good night sleep makes. Ciarra is doing great today. She slept from 8:30 until 4:30. We were already awake so not too bad for the first night. She cried a little when she first woke up and then we have seen many smiles. She ate Cheerios this morning and loved the watermelon and noodles at breakfast. We gave her warm milk from the breakfast buffet and she drank that well and even had a little juice from a cup. She loves music and pushing buttons. She has already watched Brian with the remote control and points it at the tv. If I give her a napkin she knows to wipe her face. We are probably a little partial but she seems to be very smart and imitates a lot of what we do. We will have to be careful. We do the adoption registration this morning and then the rest of the day is free. We will be making a trip to super walmart for a stroller and carrier. She is walking really well so I don't know if the carrier will last long. I want to buy her some shoes and I guess the bows will have to wait until her hair grows out. My guess is they shaved so it would be easy to care for. Tomorrow is the long drive to her home city, Qingdao for the passport work and to visit the orphanage. Pray for an easy journey tomorrow as it will be a long day for the girls. Hopefully I can get some photos of the two together.

We have Ciarra Grace

What a day. I can't believe we finally have her. I did sleep better last night but we were up at 4:30 to leave for the airport. We arrived in Jinan at 8:30 this morning, a small town of 6-7 million people. Our hotel is about 45 minutes from the airport and is downtown. Ciarra arrived about 2:30. Everything happened so fast. We did not get to talk to the orphanage director or nannies much but are planning to visit the orphanage on Tuesday. Ciarra came from her foster family this morning and is really grieving. She has cried quite a lot but is now a sleep at about 8:30. We did get a few smiles and she definitely knows how to tell us no when she doesn't want something. She has only drank water and doesn't seem to care for the formula we brought. She did eat a few bites of mashed potatoes from KFC. She even took the spoon and then tried to give us bites. She is holding on tight to me but did let Brian hold her. We did get some answers to the questions I had sent with her care package. She is drinking out of a cup also and seems to eat a lot of different food. She has been healthy and likes to be where there are crowds(this is good to know since she will be going to many games in the future). From all the Bethany seminars and the books I have read, I know this grieving for her foster mother is good and necessary. We did not get any pictures of smiles today, but hopefully tomorrow we will make more progress. She is so precious and we love to see the smiles. I can't wait for you to be able to play with her Hannah. She already likes to give the ball I brought to Brian and they have been playing catch. Since she is a sleep now this better be all so I can get some sleep too. Hope to have more pictures tomorrow.

More photos

Rickshaw ride

Squatty potty

It is Saturday morning and thankfully a little better night of sleep. I think we both fell asleep at 7:00. We had a busy day at the Forbidden City and Hutong tour. The Forbidden City is the center of Beijing. It has a history of over 600 years and took about 14 years to build. The government still occupies the western part of the city. Tiananmen square is at the south end and Tiananmen means Heavenly peace gate. It was very cold and as soon as we stepped off the bus the vendors just swarmed us. They are very persistent. Brian did purchase some gloves since it was so cold. There were many military personnel. At the request of Hannah's kindergarten class, Brian was able to get a photo of the squatty potty at the Forbidden City. Unfortunately we have had to use them a couple times.

Then we went to the Hutong area which is an area with very narrow streets. The homes all have a central courtyard. We toured the area in a rickshaw. It was very interesting and we were able to go into one of the families homes. There were about 11 families that lived in this one home. He was very nice and he shared photos of his family when he was very young.

We all met for dinner at the hotel last night and everyone was very tired. Today we are going shopping and then to an acrobat show in the late afternoon. Tomorrow will be an early morning as our flight leaves at 7:30 a.m. to Jinan where we will meet Ciarra in the afternoon. We will get more details at our meeting this afternoon. I am sure I will not sleep much tonight. Hope everyone is doing well back home and we appreciate all the comments. Boys and Hannah we miss you and hope you are being good!

Pictures

Good Morning

Good morning from China. It is 7:40 a.m. and we have been up since 5:15. Another night of not much sleep as the beds are so uncomfortable, but of course Brian slept just fine. I am having trouble posting photos and have to upload one or two at a time. We had a fun day yesterday and we have a great group of families. Shana and Jeff, who will be traveling to the same province are a lot of fun. Jeff is a teacher and coaches wrestling and track so Brian has someone to talk sports with. Shana and I are a lot alike.

Joy, our tour guide in Beijing, is great. Beijing has a population of 16 million people and is only the 3rd largest city in China. Beijing has grown by 2 million people in the last 3 years. The cost of an apartment has doubled and even tripled in the past few years due to the Olympics. Young couples are having to postpone their marriage because they cannot afford a small one bedroom apartment. Also during the Olympics the government limited the days people could drive. It depended on whether your license number ended in odd or even number. We had a great traditional chinese lunch yesterday with normal pork and chicken dishes similar to what we have in the states. Nothing too exotic yet.

We are off to the Forbidden city and it is going to be cold again today. Tomorrow Shiyan, our adoption coordiantor will arrive and hopefully we will get more information on when we will receive Ciarra. Hopefully we will get some more great pictures today and have an easier time getting them posted.

More photos

The Bird's Nest and Water Cube

Day 1 - Great Wall

Cloisonne factory worker

At the Hotel

Today we visited the Cloisonne factory and the Great Wall. It was very cold at the Great Wall. It is approximately 2000 miles longs. We elected to take the tram up. It was very interesting to watch the workers at the cloisonne factory. It takes approximately 7-12 days to complete a piece depending on the size. They have to train for about 1 1/2 years before being able to work at the factory. We drove by the water cube and the Bird's nest. The drivers definitely like to use their horns here. Tomorrow we visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It has been great to finally meet the other family that will be traveling to the same province as us. We have been emailing often since we both received our referrals. We are hoping for a better night of sleep tonight.

We made it to Beijing!

Hello from China. After 27 hours we finally made it to our hotel at 10:30 p.m. (China time) which was 8:30 a.m. in the states. We were very tired but our flights were good and they gave us a lot of food. I saw my first squatty potty at the airport but chose to find a normal one. The beds are very hard but were so tired didn't notice too much. It is almost 6:30 a.m here and we are heading to the Great Wall at 8:00 a.m. I hope to have pictures tonight to post from there. Great job to Mid Prairie Golden Hawks on their first victory of hopefully many more. Good luck to Reid tonight at North Dodge and Hannah we will be calling home soon. Love Mom and Dad.