GOTCHA DAY and the Two Days Before

Well, what can I say!!!

The last three days have been a whirlwind of activity. On Sunday we left the hotel at 8:00 a.m. for the Cloisonee Factory then on to the Great Wall (which was absolutly breath taking and packed with millions of people (so it seemed). The Chinese really don't mind togetherness as they push and shove through lines just to get where they need and no one yells at them like in America (that's just what they do!!). After the Great Wall, we stopped by a Jade factory and had a tradionional Chinese dinner. We then drove by the Olympic Village and were able to see a few sights but most were covered by trees or fence. We did see the bird's nest and the flam is going now due to the Para Olympics.

On Monday we left at 8:30 a.m. to tour Tianneman Square (spelling may not be correct - I'm tired!!), Forbidden City (super crowded again!!) and then a Hutong City tour by Rickshaw. That was the hightlight of the day to see how many Chinese actually live. Being in the city we didn't see that as much until yesterday.

We woke up this mornining at 3:30 a.m., our group got on the bus at 5:00 a.m. to head to the Beijing Airport then we all separated to fly to our prospective provinces. Three families are with us here in Changsha. We arrived around 10:45 and met our guide, Vicky. She took us to the hotel, let us settle in for a little while (I do mean a little while). We met her at 1:30 for some paper work. She walked us down to the small market to buy some formula, rice cereal, juice and water. We walked back to the hotel and 5 minutes laster boarded the bus heading towards the Civil Affairs office. There we met little Carissa and her nanny and orphanage director. They seemed to care for her and watched for the first 30-40 minutes to see how she was adjusting. She did cry for the first 10-15 minutes or so calling for "mama" - her care taker (nanny). She then calmed down and seemed to be sullen for a while. We took some passport photos with her. Signed some paperwork and then headed back to the hotel on the bus. She seemed to be very serious. Ryan was really good at interacting with her and she has warmed up very quickly. Around 5:30 I was feeding her a bottle and she started to smile. We started lauphing and so did she. We gave her her first bath and she loved it. She got dressed up in a cute outfit and we headed out for dinner. She is some what active (as a one year old should be) but so far her personality seems very pleasant and fairly calm. I cannot say "mama" because that makes her cry. Mama is a term they used for her care taker so it probably makes her think of that so we have to come up with something else for now.
Her left ear is severly deformed in that there is no hole. She can hear though because we call her by her chinese name she responds and she heard a little girl adopted by another couple (and a different agency) and turned her head to see who it was.

She is definitely a chunk. She had bigger thighs than Ryan. I chinese baby with some definite rolls!! I love leg rolls (on babies). Her eyes are so dark and bright that everyone we see stops to say "beautifle eyes". The orphanage director called her "beautiful girl" when he handed her to me. She seems to have a fond liking to males which is good for Curt. The orphanage director is a male.

I could go on and on but need to go back up to the room and check on Curt and Carissa. They both crashed. It says that she is a good sleeper. She went to bed around 8:45 (like her paper work said) and is also sais that she sleeps unitl 6:30. I hope that it is right.

The pictures that I am posting may not be in any order due to some wacky thing with my camera so please bear with them. I am also posting from my e-mail address since the directions to the blog are in chinese. I haven't mastered that language yet (nor do I think I ever can).

Thanks for all of your prayers and we will try posting when we can. Tomorrow we go back to the Civil affairs office and give them the orphanage donation along with finishing up the paper work. We still have to stay for another 3 1/2 days for the paper work to be processed so we can then fly to Guangzhou.

Goodnight!!