Sunday, February 15, 2009

Our visit in Nanchang

We met a family in the Beijing airport that were going to Nanchang to adopt their second daughter - it was GREAT meeting them and we made plans to catch up in Nanchange!!

Here are some of the things with did:


We went with Suzy & her family to see one of the largest ferris wheels in the world.

We went to the Water show - which was really nice as well!!


A picture of the group - the oldest little girl was Suzy's guide's niece - she was really adorable and the girls really enjoyed having her to play with!

There wasn't really much else to say about Nanchang. I can tell you that the hotel we stayed at was nice but there wasn't much to do outside - although on our last night there we discovered that if we walked approx 4 blocks straight up from our hotel there was a walking mall - we had gone there before but when we had specifically asked to be dropped off by the McDonalds so we didn't know how close it was - it was nice walking around there but we really didn't do much shopping - it was basically all clothes and all of which we could purchase in the states - so I had NO desire to buy anything like that!!

Went to Elena's Orphanage

It was a 3 hour drive one way to Elena's orphanage - I was sooo nervous that Elena might want to go to the nannies and not want to come back to me - but that was not the case - you could tell that we have definitely made a connection with our little girl.

When we arrived at Elena's orphanage - they set off a long strip of fireworks to celebrate Elena coming home to visit. They hung a sign that said Welcome Guo Le Jing Come Back Home again - which they gave to us when we were leaving.

We took lots of pictures:

This is us walking into the building where Elena lived. There were only two rooms of babies that we were able to visit.


This is the Nanny that took care of Elena at her Orphanage.


Here is Elena's crib - this is where she spent her nights from the time she was born til the day she was introduced to us!!


These pictures are of some of Elena's crib mates. We took pictures of all of the babies that were in both of the rooms that they showed us!! It truly looks as though these babies are being well taken care of but now I can tell why they don't roll over. When the babies are in their cribs - they are tucked in so tight that they can only lay on their backs - they go from the crib to the walkers but that is about all we could see. We could definitely tell that Elena's nanny truly interacts with the babies in her room - and Elena is definite proof of that!!












All of these babies are SO adorable - we were told that a group of 9 babies would be joining their families in the next couple of weeks - of course some of the babies that have been matched are in foster care - so we are not sure which of these babies have found a home.

A picture with the Directors and Nannies with all of us!!


The entire experience was very exhusting but we are really glad we did it!

Bobby - we took lots of video of all of the different Motorcycle companies that were located on the way to Elena's orphanage - although - I think they are truly more like scooter distributers - the motorcycles that you and your brother have would run circles around anything they are selling here and I am sure they are twice as loud - we can't wait to show you some of the videos. We miss you both very much!! Love You!

Friday, February 13, 2009

We finally have our little Princess

It's so hard to believe that we finally have our little Princess!! We arrived in Nanchang on Sunday and our guide Maggie told us that our baby will be brought up to our room on Monday around 11:00...Talk about a long day/night...

This is our little one being brought into our room...She was in layers and layers - the directors basically dropped Elena off and left. Maggie stayed and we completed a bunch of paperwork but all we wanted to do was unbundle our little one. When she arrived she was sweaty, smelly, crying, had a slight fever and a runny nose but all we knew was that this little bundle was ours...


Elena arrived in our room @ 11:30 and we needed to be back out the door by 2:00 - so in that time we fed, bathed and dressed her and as soon as her belly was content - so was She...she was a completely different child - happy and all smiles!!

This is the first picture of the 3 of us...I really wish the boys were here so we could include them as well!! As you can see - she is a very happy baby!!

Adventures in China

Wow, it's hard to believe that we are finally here!!

We left for China on Thursday, 2/5 and arrived in Beijing on Friday (2/6). We met our first guide Amelia - she was GREAT - we had basically 1 day to see all of Beijing and I think we did a GREAT job... We went to the Forbidden City - it was unbelievable!!

We went to the GREAT Wall and Bob & I climbed up to the 3rd tower...Murry stayed back and took lots of pictures!! It was definitely a challenge - the steps vary in size and because I don't have the longest legs it was a lot of work to step up and even on the way down.

We went to a Jade factory, a Silk factory and had lunch in yet another tourist spot...basically you go to these stops in hopes that you buy stuff.. it was great to see. In addition to all of that - Murry and I ventured out a couple of times on our own. The last night before we left Beijing we ended up at the Pearl Market and we had a GREAT time - we ended up running into a very unique individual - her name was Charity and we spent some time shopping together - this is the place where you go and NEVER pay the price that is listed - always negotiate - we had an Excellent time!!

Beijing was AWESOME!! So I am really glad we went before our adventure of meeting our daughter began...Now I know you are all waiting to hear about our Meeting day...well - I will post that as soon as the pictures finish downloading...

Bye for now...Bobby & Chance if you are Reading this - we LOVE you and miss you very much...