Looks Like She is Stuck With Us....

We heard nothing from the Consulate today, so we were told that we can be assured that everything went fine.... That's hard to believe, but we are hoping it is true. We will go to the market in a few minutes with the group, and then, this evening we will go to the White Swan Hotel for Red Couch Photos of our new daughters. We did break down and buy Elle a pair of squeaky shoes today... sorry to everyone at home who will have to endure them when we get back! She likes them... :-)

Monday, November 26 - CA

Its 11:14am and no call from the Consulate so far.... We are still praying that they just sign off on her documents and we can move forward without any problems. If we haven't heard from them by 12noon, we are free to leave the room and can trust that all was completed according to schedule. Its strange to hope for "no news" and "no phone calls".

Waiting for the CA - Tomorrow

Well, today was spent seeing sights around Guangzhou. We ate breakfast and left the hotel at 9:30am with five other families. The streets here aren't quite as crazy, but still crazy enough. We first went to the Temple where we were blessed by a Buddhist priest. It was neat to know that they love their children enough to wish them well with their new families. After that we went to a Government store where they had jade, pearls, silks, and other fine items. We headed to a beautiful park after that.

When we got back to the hotel, everyone went their separate ways for the rest of the day. We walked around and did manage to find lots of neat things, but bought very little.

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Tomorrow is our Consulate Appointment or CA. Our guide has all of our paperwork and documents. She will take it to the US Consulate at 10am tomorrow to present them with the items. We are to remain in our room until 12noon in the event that she needs to call us to clarify anything. She believes it will go smoothly, but did warn us that there could be a problem. Last Monday, when I first helped ElleAnna go to the bathroom, we found multiple scars on her right, upper leg. It seems that another child at the orphanage kicked her and severely broke her femur in June of this year. The injury has healed, but obviously was not on any of our paperwork in the referral packet and it was a total surprise to us. We have accepted her this way, but the US Consulate may have questions about that. If they do, we pray that they can be satisfied just with Ken and I telling them that its ok, and then, they can proceed with her Immigration and Citizenship paperwork, with no delays. Please pray that for us and ElleAnna as well. We don't want any hassles about this unexpected issue as we love ElleAnna just the same.

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Right now, Elle is taking a nap. After she fell asleep Ken went to play pool and ping-pong with the boys who left a little while ago. Elle doesn't like me very much, but if she is asleep, she will never know that her daddy is gone.... Maybe someday she will decide that I'm ok.... I hope so....

Sunday, November 25

Today we are going to tour in Guangzhou. We will go to the Six Banyan Temple to have ElleAnna blessed. We will tour a Provincial Art/Crafts Store also. We'll take lots of pictures to share. Here are a few photos from yesterday. The first few are from a park along the island's edge. The last ones are from on top of the hotel. Elle was videotaping the boys in the pool (on the 8th floor of the hotel, outside). The water was REALLY cold. They want to try it again today, but we'll see.

Recent Photos

Here's some photos - This one is ElleAnna after a long day with her new family.

The next three photos are of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang. It was a wee bit cold there on Friday! The dog statue has a legend - you rub his head for good luck and his tail to have no regrets. The gold dragons on the building are to provide safety.

The framed photos are made with BIRD FEATHERS and nothing else! They were amazing. Expensive too, but super cool. I have no idea how many feathers were in each.

The photos after that are of the Emperor's tomb in Shenyang. ElleAnna doesn't mind the cold too much, but we wimpy folks found it very chilly.

Then, you will see Elle in a John Deere baseball cap. You can see the climate change in the photo from out front of our Guangzhou hotel. Its green here and no snow! The photos of the three kids were taken in front of the hotel. You cannot have her say "cheese" because as soon as she realizes you are going to take her photo, she dives for the camera in hopes of you showing her the photos on the screen. What a drama queen!

The photo of the herd of people was from this morning's medical exam. What a zoo, but it was fairly speedy.

The last photo is my favorite. She didn't quite realize that I had the camera, so I snagged a shot of her. As soon as she saw the flash though, she came running to see if I had taken a picture of her. Too funny! Look out Bill Clarke!








After the visa photo this morning and her physical, I did the paperwork with our guide for the Consulate Appointment on Monday. She will take care of this, but we had to give her all the information, photos, and documents (not to mention some more cash). We are done for today now, so are heading out to find some groceries and lunch. Tomorrow is sight seeing here in town, which will be fun too. The boys are dying to try out the pool - its outside and on the 8th floor. I'll take photos for you as the view is breathtaking and amazing - not of the boys, of the city! :-) I doubt that Elle will be interested in the pool as a bath is terrifying enough.

Take care and I'll post more later!


Michelle

We're in Guangzhou

Today is Saturday, Nov. 24th. We checked out of the hotel in Shenyang yesterday morning. After picking up our paperwork for ElleAnna, we went to the Palace for a tour. After that we went to the Emperor's tomb. Both were very interesting, yet with the freezing temperatures, they were not nearly as "fun" as the tours in Beijing. :-)

We went to a picture shop where they make art work from bird feathers. THEY WERE AWESOME!!! That shop is the only place in China where they make or sell them. We made it to airport at 3:45 PM, received our tickets and Elle's passport and waited until it was our turn. Luckily, ElleAnna was trying to stay awake (she had been up since 5 AM) ........ just as we were taking off, she went to sleep and slept three of the four hours.......... Thank you, Lord for small favors.

We arrived in Guangzhou at 9:455 PM. We were taken to the hotel, got things moved to the room and crashed at midnight. Its 7:20am now and we are heading out for breakfast. We will go do her physical today (the exam is NOT thorough) and take a photo for her visa application. We'll also do paperwork for Monday's appointment. Tomorrow we'll do some tours.

Take care and we'll post photos later!


Ken (aka new Daddy)

Winding Up Thanksgiving Day

Its been a good day. Only one melt down and that was over the bath.... She hasn't taken a nap, so as long as we keep her entertained, when she crashes, she will sleep all night. I probably won't post tomorrow morning. We are supposed to check out by 11am and head out with John. We'll go get her passport and other documents. Hopefully, they are all done perfectly with NO problems! If we have time, we'll go tour a palace and a tomb. Later in the afternoon, we'll go to the airport (driving by the stadium where they will have the 2008 Summer Olympic Soccer Games). Our flight leaves at 5:20pm for Guangzhou. Its about four hours long, and, as far as we know, Elle's first plane ride. We'll get to the hotel at about 10pm and then, call it a night. The other five families ought to be there already. It will be neat to see them all again with their new children. I will post again when I have time - hopefully from Guangzhou, the last leg in our Chinese journey! Its almost time to bring ElleAnna home!

Thanksgiving 2007

All the clothes she was wearing when we picked her up Monday - LOTS of layers; Coloring with Momma today; Tired girl yesterday afternoon.

Today, we are sitting in the hotel room, watching Ugly Betty re-runs (only about three channels are in English). We had a good breakfast again, walked through the stores here in the hotel (about three floors worth), and played catch with Elle in the hallway. For our Thanksgiving Dinner, we are going to the Pizza Hut and then, topping it off with HaagenDaaz (sp) ice cream instead of pumpkin pie. There are stores under the street much like a subway, probably to protect shoppers more from the cold weather. We saw a lady with a hot pink "Barbie" bag go by this morning, so I think we're going to venture down there and see if we can find the store. We'll go on down to the Wal-Mart also as its about five stores away from the Pizza Hut.

Its a good Thanksgiving here in Shenyang, China. We hope that its a good day for all of you too - wherever you may be! Enjoy your families - we are enjoying ours!