So a lot has happened in the last 2 days - 3 hours each day is about the amount of time we leave with our guide and "do" something. Yesterday began with a much anticipated journey to a Buddhist temple and the National Silk Museum...and then Annie got carsick....threw up ALL her breakfast while sitting in Everette's lap- luckily he was unscathed- but we had to stop and change clothes and regroup while she was screaming. She did rebound though, and we enjoyed a short visit walking round the temple that was built in 326 AD. Our guide said, isn't your country only about 300 years old? Crazy! They "touched" it up in the 1950s....all the Chinese come here and light incense and pray on kneeling mats in front of the different Buddha statues. We also got to see about 50 monks chanting in one of the temples. We were not allowed to take photos inside the buildings- only outside. The silk museum was small but fascinating- lots of examples of different patterns, the history, and beautiful photographs of Mulberry trees - that the silk worms eat the leaves from- and how they spin the silk from the cocoon-like balls that the worms create before dying.

I will post a few pics also of the night before when we went to dinner WITH our guide who ordered for us. We actually loved everything she picked out- congee, river shrimp (that you bite head, shell, and all and then spit out the head and shell- we were not so good at this)- and I tried not to think of the quality of water these sweet little shrimp lived in- some type of chinese green bean, and sweet and sour pork. And cold beer. Important. Annie lights up every night at dinner when we are at a crowded restaurant. She had a blast. The picture above is what she is like a lot of the day - she goes to "the dark side" and it takes hours to see her smile again. But we have seen a lot of smiles from her....dinner and back in the hotel room are her happiest moments. When we are skyping with Charlie and Edie she has been the funniest- already vying for our attention while talking to them- climbing on top of us and shoving toys in our face. She loves to see herself too- so she enjoys looking at the camera. And she is ticklish so we heard her belly laugh for the first time last night.

Sorry this post is long! But we went today to her finding spot and orphanage. It was sad to be where she was left- but our guide Sara explained that the government does not pay for all of your medical care- and the her family probably was not wealthy and after finding out how expensive the surgery would be, and the risks involved in the surgery (she might have died), they decided to abandon her. We learned details today at the orphanage of how she was found- she had a note with her birth date- this is important to me because if they are not left a note they will just make up a date- and a few sentences about their hopes and prayers for those who might one day adopt her. Priceless. Our hearts were heavy as we explored this little area- just a neighborhood in the middle of the city of high rise apartments, near a kindergarten and a parking garage.

Then we went to the orphanage....it was ridiculously amazing. We sat down with the woman in charge of adoptions who gave us all these gifts....a book about Hangzhou, a photo book of Annie, a framed glass photo of her, etc....It was so nice. There is a book with her growth charts, her immunizations, likes and dislikes, a note from her nannies and the director. We got to see where she slept, her buddies in the room where she played most of the day, the playground, the bathrooms, and the "movie room" where she said they watched a short video before going to bed each night. I'm not sure we can compete!! She was doing fine until we walked into her room with all her friends who starting saying her name in excitement- choo choo is what they called her. She was crying and one of the nannies said, Achoo choo- you are going home now. You have a mommy and a daddy just like me, right? You should be happy and smiling because now you are going home. And she quit crying, just like that. Wow. We are so amazed at how well they prepared her for us. She is so brave and we are in awe of her. A few pictures of the orphanage and that's all for now...

We get Annie's passport and fly to Guangzhou tomorrow night- arriving around 10pm and then go for her medical examination Saturday morning at 9. Will probably be 2 days before I can post again. Happy Labor Day weekend at home!! I cannot say enough thanks for all of the emails our friends have sent us. They mean so much!!

Official adoption day and tea plantation and a few firsts

Hello friends....

Annie was sad and Teary last night Before going to bed but slept all night and was happy and playful this morning. We went back to the Civil Affairs office where our adoption was made official- a "swearing in " of sorts.


Playtime this morning




It's official! Then they made us take another picture because Ev's head was blocking the official China crest/seal

Annie fell asleep on the way to the tea plantation, and again on the way home, but enjoyed exploring with us (briefly as our guide hurried us through- she is hurrying us through almost all things which we are trying not to be bothered by). Annie even tried the 4 types of tea with us during the demonstration!

















Tea fields

She took a nap when we got home but had the roughest time yet when she awoke. Sobbing crying. She has quietly cried b4 but this was the saddest we have seen her. When she finally calmed down we had our first bath, which she hated. We saw a picture of her in a wooden tub so we know she's had them before, just still scared of all that's going on.

She has 2 personalities at this point- the happy, silly, and playful little girl that laughs out loud and crinkles her nose. Tonight at dinner when she was taking her straw and dripping her juice all over the table with a happy smile was the 2 year old shining through. Then, she retreats into herself with a very serious and sad demeanor- its hard to know from hour to hour who will show up. We know that being here in Hangzhou- while a beautiful city as far as China goes- is pretty disorienting to us- and we have each other to lean on. I cannot imagine the grieving that she is feeling and the confusion from these strangers who speak, look, smell and act differently than anyone she has ever known. When she smiles, it warms our hearts- when a big tear falls out, our hearts break. All in all I would say things are going very well, but we will be SO happy to get home to Charlie and Edie and the familiarity and ease of life at home all together.

We are headed out to eat"local" with our guide tonight. Our experience last night at a local place was funny- Annie has been sad all afternoon and then turned into a clown at dinner- playing her chopstick drums and banging her porcelain bowl on the table while throwing back her head and laughing...no one spoke one word of English to us- thankful for the pictures on the menu - we got about half of what we thought we ordered - along with Hot Heinekin beers. We pretended we were at the lake on a hot summer day and got the last 2 beers out of the cooler. (and then stopped at the market on the way home and got Cold buds:)

Lastly- she is exactly the size they told us she was- 2T clothes fit her well. She is "solid" for a Chinese girl, according to our guide- which just made us smile, as the other little loved lady in our home is described in the same way.

We love getting emails if you have the time....we have more Dan time in our hotel than we expected and it gets a little lonely!

We have our gal!

We have Annie! Her nickname is "ahchoo" said like u r sneezing. So for now we r calling her this b/c its also what she calls herself in pictures :)

I will post pics and more details later but in the past 3 hours that we have been with her she has been so sweet and easy going. She was looking at the photo album we sent her and pointing to our pictures when we walked into the civil affairs office. She immediately made the connection. Apparently she's been in a room all with other children about to be adopted and they carry around their photo albums like blankets and open and share them frequently with each other.


















This is the front of the building where we met her.....


She was yawning in the taxi so we came straight home to the hotel, fed her some snacks and noodles, and she fell asleep in about 3 minutes...Now Ev and I are trying to be quiet in our room and wondering how long she'll sleep - and what she will be thinking when she wakes up...

Funniest thing we learned from today were her 2 fears- 1. Thunder and lightning 2. 3 inch insects that wiggle on the bark of a tree (exact translation) I said, a worm? No! Repeat 3 inch insect on the bark on a tree :)

She is super cute and sweet. Laughed some at the office but since we got to the hotel became very quiet and serious. I think she was tired and nervous. But we are so thankful for today, and are so blessed to call her ours.

Thanks for being a part of this special day! Julie and Ev

Made it to Hangzhou

After 24 hours of traveling- 2 planes, one high speed train, and a taxi- we traveled almost 8 thousand miles and forward 13 time zones....whew! Our hotel is awesome (western beds- Chinese beds are notoriously hard) and our guide Sarah very nice. The first 2 things she told us were 1. Do not cross the street in China like you cross at home. Chinese drivers are very crazy 2) it's ok for Chinese people to drink tap water. But you do not drink tap water...only bottled.

They already had a pack and play set up when we arrived. We ate dinner and breakfast at the hotel- the breakfast buffet was ridiculously huge and great- a mixture of western and Chinese food. We slept decently last night with the help of some ambien and were ready to go this morning bright and early.

We walked to the biggest tourist destination in Hangzhou- West Lake. Most surprised by all the greenery here - for a city of about 6 million there are lots of tree lined streets, parks with grass and flowers too. The area around the lake is particularly lush. We took a boat to an island in the middle of the lake and explored- had my first squat potty experience(will try to get a photo of the "potty" or lack thereof next time. And we saw the world famous squirrel. See photos below.

We just awoke from a dangerous nap and are about to watch a movie instead of sleeping the rest of the day like our bodies want to. In the morning we go get Annie at 9am! Will post more tomorrow night!



Allaboard High speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou







I think we found something to export to china- squirrels!















Our guide Sarah



West Lake

Itinerary

Friday, August 24- Friday, September 7.....the time zone is 13 hours ahead of central time

Aug. 24- 6am flight to Chicago, 11am flight to Shanghai (14.5 hours)
Aug. 25- 1:50pm arrival, fast speed train Hangzhou
Aug. 26- free
Aug.27- receive Annie at Civil Affairs Office in Hangzhou
Aug. 28- Adoption registration and notarization
Aug. 29-30- visit orphanage, explore Hangzhou
Aug. 31- get Annie's passport, fly to Guangzhou
Sept.1- Medical exam and TB test
Sept. 2-free
Sept. 3- get medical report
Sept. 4- free
Sept.5- consulate appointment
Sept.6- get Annie's Visa, take a van to Hong Kong
Sept. 7- fly to Chicago, fly home! Arrival 4:45pm United

Can't believe it's time to hop on a plane and become a mom of 3 in a different country. I keep thinking of Forrest Gump saying "Vietnam, it's this whole other country." Pretty sure that will sum up our thoughts at the end of this experience about China.
We hope to meet with Annie's caretakers and ask as many questions as are allowed to piece together her life Pre Ev and Julie...praying that our planes stay in flight over the north pole (how cool is that), that Annie is not too traumatized by leaving her friends and nannies behind, that we have the strength and wisdom to handle whatever this journey holds for us, and that we enjoy ourselves somewhere along the way! Lastly we hope all the drugs Everette has taken over the past 2 days will help him feel better(he's had fever and horrible cold- fluid in lungs) 1st time he's been sick in over 2 years- excellent timing!

Thank you all for prayers, words of encouragement, and support. We really can't wait to bring Annie home.



- Edie's and Annie's room (making sure I can post pics from iPad)
Next post.....from China!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Travel Approval! and New Photos :)

Travel Approval-  August 7th
We are leaving Friday, August 24th!
 Meet Annie....Monday, August 27
Landing back in Birmingham on Friday, September 7th




A few weeks ago I started doing important things- like choosing paint for our laundry room and starting to paint it....only to remember that I needed to paint the girl's room too- so quit painting the laundry room and started on the girl's room. I made a list of all the things I needed to do, and then lost it. These are just a small sample of how my brain is working right now.  When I took the kids to the farm this weekend to see my parents, Everette painted both the laundry and the girls room. He loves me :) One of his friends made the comment- wow, she's not even pregnant, and she's totally crazy and nesting! Thanks! (and yes, it's true- about both:))

So excited the time has come to SERIOUSLY start checking things off of our packing list - that sounds easy but it's 4 pages single spaced and my kids are with me every second until school starts August 20th. Hopefully I won't make them as crazy as I feel!
Can't wait. Also another family/friend I have made in Birmingham will be there at the same time and we are trying to coordinate hotels/flights to be together, especially on the flight home.

These pictures above are my favorites by far...I feel like the rest have been like mug shots! We sent her another care package last week and the lady, Ann, at Red Thread Packages, asked for an update of new measurements and photos and they sent her these. Everette and I agree that she is a Herring through and through- big head, puffy cheeks, knock knees, and a great sense of style. We love her!!!

I will update frequently as our plans unfold over the next 2 weeks...if you would like to follow our blog while we are traveling please sign up to follow by e-mail and you'll be notified when I post every few days. Loves!!