The rest of the pictures!!

The last two days!

We have one more day here in Changsha (thank goodness!!). We are all going stir crazy. Curt is not feeling well and I was not feeling well yesterday (that's why I didn't post). Yesterday we went to the Martyrs Park and to the Silk Factory. It is ridiculously HOT here with a ton of smog. It is so hard to even step outside so we all just hang out in the hotel pretty much. Today we went to the Provincial Museum which was cooler. Tomorrow we leave the hotel in the afternoon and fly to Guangzhou to finish up our paperwork at the U.S. Embassy. We will be able to "safely" go out side and shop for about three days (when we aren't doing "business). The traffic here is really crazy. There would be some major road rage if we drove like they do here but amazingly enough there aren't many accidents. You have to see it to believe it. Cars, buses, people, bikes and scooters all on the same busy road. Even on the side walks (that is why we stay inside a building). They don't stop for people, you just gotta run!!

I am sending more pictures. Sorry for no captions but for dad. We went to Wal-mart and the picture of food is of dried intestines. They eat just about every part of an animal. There meat department is just laid out there for you to grab. GROSS!!!! However, they are so particular in the hotel that you have to wear a cap to swim, hence the pictures of Carissa in a cap. Curt and Ryan had taken theirs off. The smell of the meat department made my stomach turn a bit!!

We thank you for all of your prayers. She is really warming up to us and playing very well. We are teaching her many tricks. She is silly!!

Some of the pictures of the other little girls are Jade and Alyssa. There are three families here in Hunan and we will join up with the other Bethany families tomorrow afternoon. Jade will live in New Jersey and Alyssa will live in Tennessee. She had a Tennessee outfit on yesterday. She is the oldest at 18 months old but the tiniest little thing (and I do mean tiny!!). We got them to take a picture on the steps at our hotel this morning. They are our three spice girls!!

I will type more in a couple of days. Tomorrow we will be packing and traveling to Guanghzou.

A variety of pictures from our trip so far

Now that I figured out the picture thing. I am sending a few more pics from our days in Beijing. We will be here in Changsha until Monday afternoon (Monday morning for you guys). We have to wait for the paperwork to be finished and processed. Today we went to one of the oldest Ancient Universities on the world. It was soooooooo hot that we were all sweating from places we didn't know you could sweat. The humidity here is crazy. We all took a dip in the pool when we got back. There are three families from our agency here. Carissa is the youngest but the biggest. The oldest one Alyssa is a tiny little thing at 18 months old (and I do mean TINY!!). Many of you know that we had requested information on two babies back in April and she was one of them. Her parents are from Tenessee and she is their first child. Their log in date is the same as ours so they to have waited for three years as is the case with most of our group and other people we have met from other agencies. We have met people with Great Wall and CCAI as well as several from Hawaii. They are all leaving today for Guangzhou as we stay on until Monday.

Tomorrow we will go to the Silk Factory and a nearby famous park (cannot remember the name). I will post more as I can now that I have this picture thing figured out and Carissa is adjust well to all of us.

I can't believe what a sweet disposition she has. Today she has really come out of her shell and is becoming really fun and silly. She seems to love to be held and cuddled (not a problem for me). She also loves to read books, play with her stacking cups and bang on things. I can't wait for everyone to meet her.

Bye for today and will post more tomorrow!!

PICTURES FINALLY!!

I think I finally found the way to post pictures. I hope this works!!

She is officially ours

As I sit here and type, Carissa is in my lap sleeping away. Yesterday we went back to the Civil affairs office and made it official. We were able to meet with her orphanage director and nanny and ask questions. They said she was a very good baby and very content and sweet. They lovesd to spoil her and I can tell. She loves to be held and cuddled. Today was a free day so we wallked around Changsha a little. It is extremely hot here so we can't spend much time out side. We have enjoyed the playroom here and the pool. We even ordered out Pizza Hut tonight. I will post more when I can. Hopefully I can get these pictures downloaded without any problems. If not, please forgive me, I am honestly trying!! Tomorrow and the following two days will be some sightseeing around the city then onto to Guangzhou on Monday afternoon

PICTURES!!

I will post pictures tomorrow during her nap. I am having technical difficulties at this time!! Sorry!!

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!!