(there's actually a new post from our first day below, they got out of order, sorry)
12/3/08--Wednesday
Beijing Day 2:
Today started bright and early. We had our first buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then, we met our guide Cecilia to begin our day. It was decided that, because the weather has been getting colder and windier, we would do the Great Wall today. The area of the wall we visited was about an hour’s drive or so outside BJ central. On the way, we went to a jade factory. It seems to be a pretty common tourist stop. First they showed us how the jade is carved and the different types and quality. I was able to choose a very pretty green and white bangle, a carved family ball, and a purple jade and sterling silver pendant. I wanted to choose a bangle for Georgiana when she’s older but they need to be somewhat carefully chosen for size. It is something I plan to do eventually though. Cecilia explained that it is common for the bangles to be passed on mother to daughter but, its unlikely that Georgiana will have hands as large as mine. We’ll have to get her one of her own.

After doing our best to keep the Chinese economy going through our efforts as the jade factory, we continued to Badaling to climb the wall. For anyone who’s already done it, you realize that “climb” is definitely the word to associate with the physical aspect of moving up the steps. Its apparently about 3600 steps to the top. Some of them are 1” high, some more like 20” which makes it very difficult to do. There is a handrail which was quite helpful for pulling yourself up. We made it about halfway between the second and third towers and then called it quits. The backs of my legs are going to remember it tomorrow I fear. I was really thrilled to finally get a chance to walk on the wall. I missed doing it last time due to snow so it was very important to me this time. I was very glad to have done it in the winter, I cannot even imagine trying to walk up the wall in the summer. For me, today was perfect.

While we were at the wall, we ran into a group of Spanish families with recently adopted babies in tow. They were so cute!!! We’ve encountered very few Americans or even Caucasians. Its definitely low season for tourism and most of the touristy places are devoid of customers but filled with helpful employees.

Once we had finished at the wall, we moved on to lunch at tourist type restaurant called the Golden Palace. Its above a cloisonne factory/store. Almost all our meals are included in the price of the tour including this one. For drinks you could have soft drink, beer or water but only one glass. It was funny because we asked to purchase another bottle of water which they brought to the table right away. But, it required an immediate payment of 5 yuan. No providing of a bill at the end of the meal!

After a very tasty lunch consisting of far too many plates of food for two people, we visited the cloisonne factory and learned how incredibly labor intensive a craft it is. Really unbelievable and gives me a whole new appreciation for the art! The store attached to the factory is HUGE!!! There were cloisonne vases of all types, colors and designs. Some of them were tens of 1000’s of dollars. They even had some that were probably about 10 feet tall that looked like they’d be in a palace! For average folks like us, they had hundreds of small items like Christmas ornaments and other ornaments. I also came across a beautiful purple jade carving of goldfish and flowers that I couldn’t let pass by. The purchase of items here is quite a bit different from at home. First, if you express any interest in an item (or even if you don’t!) the sales people point out its virtues and encourage you to look. Prices are negotiable but that often requires a manager to come over with his calculator to offer you a better price. Negotiations ensue, which in these government stores seems to involve a little less flexibility --or we’re just not very good at it. Once you agree on a price, there is a lot of activity. Many workers spring to action wrapping and boxing things and making sure that you see each item be placed into it carton. So far, I’ve stayed behind and watch them wrap up the items while Bobby goes somewhere else to pay. Each time we arrive at one of these places they immediately give you a little slip of paper--they’re “quality guarantee” of sorts. What’s strange is that so far, they’ve always wanted to see that slip of paper again when you buy something. Why? I have no idea. They’re just little printed up pieces of paper, everyone gets one and they’re not individualized in any way. I asked Cecilia about this and she gave me an answer that I didn’t really understand. OK, whatever.

Then we were off to the Summer Palace which was built by the Dowager Empress CiXi. A neat story goes along with that and it made me want to read more about her. She started out as a concubine and with the birth of the only male heir to the throne, eventually became the de facto ruler of China!!! Cecilia explained that during her life she nearly bankrupted the Chinese Navy to build the palace and this caused China to be weak when attacked by foreigners later. CiXi also imprisoned her son for years before her death and had a habit of having people who disagreed with her executed! Wow, what a woman she must have been, right?

The most impressive part of the palace was, like at Temple of Heaven, The Long Corridor. This one was longer and each 6 foot or so section had beautiful paintings of scenes from famous Chinese stories including The Monkey King and the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. Cecilia said there are over 10,000 individual paintings in the corridor. I learned that the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day is on July 7th. Fun! We’re lucky, because in preparation for the Olympics, all the paintings of the historical buildings were redone. They’re really quite beautiful.
Later, we went to a pearl store and learned about cultured and fresh water pearls. Some of them were really beautiful and, again, many of some really impressive prices to go along with them. There was a single strand of enormous pearls (approx. ½-¾” in diameter each) for 128000 Y = about $19,000 US! We also learned a little bit about how to tell real from fake and good and bad quality. Cecilia took us there for information in preparation for the BJ pearl market we’re going to visit later in the week.

Then it was time for dinner. We had a very nice meal (again, way too much food) and it was back to our hotel for us. It was a very big day!! A little culture, a little shopping, pretty great overall!

We're Here!!!
Its actually the morning of day 2. We just had breakfast and I'm posting in the lobby where there is free wifi. I didn't have time to upload my camera pix to my computer last night, I was just too tired. But, I did take the time to journal about yesterday's happenings.

Please keep in mind, this is just open thoughts. We are having a wonderful time. I love BJ. The people have been very kind. We've encountered no problems or delays.


12/2/08:
Ni Hao from Beijing!!!

We made it! The flight was uneventful. Very little turbulence and we were fortunate that the plane wasn’t overly full so we were able to share 3 seats and got quite a bit of sleep. Left 12/1 at 12:40 am from LAX arrived about 13 hrs later at BJ airport at 5:30 am 12/2. I must say, the BJ airport is the cleanest airport I have ever been to in my life. Seriously, the floor was spotless and shiny in a way that was impossible not to notice. Anyway, our guide, Cecilia, met us. She is very sweet and speaks wonderful, clearly understood English. Not that I was really surprised but, wow, has BJ changed since the last time I was here 20 years ago. The city is filled with big modern buildings. Slick stores with names like Mona Lisa and La Vie selling beautiful high end clothing line the streets in the area of our hotel. The air quality is not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Yes, there is a haze, but there’s a haze in Los Angeles too. The traffic is a jumble of buses, cabs, and other cars mixed with bold pedestrians and bicyclists and these funny little 3-wheeled motorcycle type vehicles that carry passengers all sort of lunging forward trying to make sure they don’t run into or over anyone or get t-boned by someone. I wasn’t too nervous on our two cab rides but it is amusing that street signals and lane lines in the road are not so much like laws as they are merely suggestions.

Anyway, Cecelia shuttled us over to the Novatel Peace Hotel which will be our home away from home for the next few days. Its a serviceable hotel. Very nice lobby, apparently with free Wifi in the lobby (I’ll let you know later) with somewhat average rooms. We’re not fancy so it works for us. Our tour program starts tomorrow with today being left as a “rest” day so we were kind of on our own. Not a big deal for us, just point us in the general direction and we’ll make our way there. And, we definitely were not going to be resting. I slept about 6 hrs and Bobby about 4-5 hrs on the plane so our plan was to stay awake today and go to sleep tonight on BJ time in hopes of acclimating as quickly as possible to the time change. Again, I’ll have to let you know tomorrow how that plan works out for us!

So, based on Cecilia’s suggestion, we decided to visit the Temple of Heaven. It was a 20 min cab ride away (cost = 17 yuan or just under $3). There are a lot of really neat, really old (try built in the 1400s) traditional style Chinese buildings there and there’s a good bit of history that goes along with that obviously. All the buildings have been recently refurbished and repainted as part of the Olympic clean up efforts. They have tons of detail work, gold and gawdy, and are quite beautiful. But, the best part IMO of the temple grounds was The Long Corridor. I’d have to go back and see exactly what it was historically (something about ceremonies requiring ritualistic sacrifice of animals if I recall correctly) but today, its used as a sort of hang out place for people to play cards, dance, sing, exercise, you name it. I could have spent quite awhile longer there just looking at all the very interesting people. There were tons of people, like hundreds. I expected that the locals would stare at us but, either we’re just not that interesting and/or in BJ they’re really used to lots of foreigners, hardly anyone even gave us a second glance. There was a really horrible band, think marching band including uniforms but standing still, playing music surrounded by hundreds of people who seemed like they were really enjoying it. We also saw some cute teenage girls singing karaoke of sorts, also truly horrible. But, you know what? They didn’t care. They were there enjoying themselves, getting fresh air and in many instances getting some exercise. It was great! On the shopping front, I picked up a pretty little cloisonne thimble depicting one of the temple buildings to add to my collection for only 5 yuan! Today’s conversion rate was about 6.8 yuan per dollar so that’s like 80 cents!

We decided to go with a real Chinese meal…. KFC… I know, I know. Its hard to believe we came all the way to BJ and ate chicken sandwiches from the Kentucky Fried place but it tasted really good and we didn’t have to think too much because we had a fairly good idea of what we’d be getting. Lunch for two, 45 yuan or $6.50 US. On the main drag her by the hotel there’s a KFC and a McD’s on every block!

Afterward, we took a cab back from the hotel and then ended up walking some of the streets just to see what we would see. Where we were, there were no non-Chinese people at all. Still no stares. Unfortunately, the sales people in some of the few stores we visited were so in your face its quite off putting. I certainly don’t blame them for wanting to make a living but a few times when I would have liked to look and linger and more than likely buy something, I ended up leaving just to get away from the hard sell. I’m not exactly sure why they do this to foreigners, I expect it must often work in their favor or they wouldn’t continue the practice but its just not my thing. Oh well.

Came back to the room and completely against our will, fell asleep for about 2 hrs. Forced ourselves to get up, do a little dinner, McD’s (laziness won out again) and then we walked the street with all the meats on sticks vendors that I’d seen on the Travel Channel. It was a must see for sure. Little pathways lined with vendors selling every imaginable creature skewered on a stick and fried. We saw scorpions and squid, starfish and all kinds of other unknown items. Some of the smells are pretty offensive, sort of a mixture of boiling mystery meat and sewage. The sound is pretty interesting too. We’re going to go back on Friday and I’m going to get a corn on the cob, which seems fairly safe. Bobby says he’s going to ask for chicken and making a clucking noise to get his point across. We’ll see. He also wants to bring the camcorder to record the scene including the sounds which are very unusual. Imagine hundreds of voices, intermixed with the calls of the vendors, with a loud background of shrieking live Chinese opera. Like I said, it’s a pretty cool experience!

We also encountered the most aggressive of all the vendors we’ve come across so far. “Hey lady!” “Come see!” follow us wherever we go. I’m starting to get used to the hawking but really retreat when they try to literally pull me in. Personal space, people. They obviously know from experience who’s generally responsible for dropping the most RMB. They quite obviously focus their efforts in on the female Caucasian in the crowd--and I do mean crowd, we were literally bumping into and off of people like human version of bumper cars which was at first uncomfortable but quickly accepted as a fact of life. All the stuff looks about the same in each shop we’ve visited. Some of its worthy of a second look but its mostly just trinkets. We’re going to be visiting the silk market, the pearl market and a jade factory so I’m sure we’ll have no shortage of opportunity to buy stuff plus, we’ll be here for a few days and its just down the street, we’ll be going back I‘m sure. We did wander into a store called Foreign Language Bookstore” and I picked up a handful of bilingual (mandarin characters/pinyin/English) toddler board books for Georgiana, and me. They’re kind of fun and they were only about a buck each.
After another few hours and miles of walking we headed back to the hotel. Bobby and I both estimate that we walked at least 10 miles today and our dogs were barking. We’ve encountered quite a few beggars including a middle aged man in McD’s who showed us he was missing both hands at the wrists. He also hit up another customer, a Chinese man, who was eating nearby with his family who became pretty incensed and assertively told him (I’m assuming) “get lost” --the customer then clapped his hands loudly to call over an employee to complain about the man’s presence, which led to the manager being called and some more intense discussion. The manager then found the security guy and hollered at him. It was a process that probably took about 5 mins all together and by the time it was all dealt with the man with the missing hands was long gone.

So, highlight of the day? Definitely The Long Corridor. Lowlight? Today there are two. First, I cannot believe how many people we’ve seen, and heard, hack up a loogie and spit on the street. Ick! Second, we saw a man standing on the street next to bicycle that had little sparrow-type bird tied to the handle bar with a string around its neck. The little bird was dangling and struggling. For the life of me I could not figure out the purpose of having the bird tied up in such a manner . Very odd. I almost wanted to take a picture it was so strange but, of course, resisted the urge.

Observation: I only noticed one family today that had more than one child. They were at the Temple of Heaven, more than likely visitors as they were posing and taking photos, and actually had three children. A boy, a girl and another younger boy. Its quite possible that they’re not Chinese nationals and just visiting like we are. Otherwise its all been only children that I’ve seen.
One more thing… the most common of the beggars are woman carrying toddlers in their arms. We’ve never been ones to give money out to beggars but it is very difficult to say no to these woman. It would be impossible not to make the connection to Georgiana’s birth mother who, although we cannot know for sure, likely was unable to parent her daughter due to poverty. Fodder for future thought I have no doubt.

12/2/08:
Ni Hao from Beijing!!!
We made it! The flight was uneventful. Very little turbulence and we were fortunate that the plane wasn’t overly full so we were able to share 3 seats and got quite a bit of sleep. Left 12/1 at 12:40 am from LAX arrived about 13 hrs later at BJ airport at 5:30 am 12/2. I must say, the BJ airport is the cleanest airport I have ever been to in my life. Seriously, the floor was spotless and shiny in a way that was impossible not to notice. Anyway, our guide, Cecilia, met us. She is very sweet and speaks wonderful, clearly understood English. Not that I was really surprised but, wow, has BJ changed since the last time I was here 20 years ago. The city is filled with big modern buildings. Slick stores with names like Mona Lisa and La Vie selling beautiful high end clothing line the streets in the area of our hotel. The air quality is not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Yes, there is a haze, but there’s a haze in Los Angeles too. The traffic is a jumble of buses, cabs, and other cars mixed with bold pedestrians and bicyclists and these funny little 3-wheeled motorcycle type vehicles that carry passengers all sort of lunging forward trying to make sure they don’t run into or over anyone or get t-boned by someone. I wasn’t too nervous on our two cab rides but it is amusing that street signals and lane lines in the road are not so much like laws as they are merely suggestions.

Anyway, Cecelia shuttled us over to the Novatel Peace Hotel which will be our home away from home for the next few days. Its a serviceable hotel. Very nice lobby, apparently with free Wifi in the lobby (I’ll let you know later) with somewhat average rooms. We’re not fancy so it works for us. Our tour program starts tomorrow with today being left as a “rest” day so we were kind of on our own. Not a big deal for us, just point us in the general direction and we’ll make our way there. And, we definitely were not going to be resting. I slept about 6 hrs and Bobby about 4-5 hrs on the plane so our plan was to stay awake today and go to sleep tonight on BJ time in hopes of acclimating as quickly as possible to the time change. Again, I’ll have to let you know tomorrow how that plan works out for us!

So, based on Cecilia’s suggestion, we decided to visit the Temple of Heaven. It was a 20 min cab ride away (cost = 17 yuan or just under $3). There are a lot of really neat, really old (try built in the 1400s) traditional style Chinese buildings there and there’s a good bit of history that goes along with that obviously. All the buildings have been recently refurbished and repainted as part of the Olympic clean up efforts. They have tons of detail work, gold and gawdy, and are quite beautiful. But, the best part IMO of the temple grounds was The Long Corridor. I’d have to go back and see exactly what it was historically (something about ceremonies requiring ritualistic sacrifice of animals if I recall correctly) but today, its used as a sort of hang out place for people to play cards, dance, sing, exercise, you name it. I could have spent quite awhile longer there just looking at all the very interesting people. There were tons of people, like hundreds. I expected that the locals would stare at us but, either we’re just not that interesting and/or in BJ they’re really used to lots of foreigners, hardly anyone even gave us a second glance. There was a really horrible band, think marching band including uniforms but standing still, playing music surrounded by hundreds of people who seemed like they were really enjoying it. We also saw some cute teenage girls singing karaoke of sorts, also truly horrible. But, you know what? They didn’t care. They were there enjoying themselves, getting fresh air and in many instances getting some exercise. It was great! On the shopping front, I picked up a pretty little cloisonne thimble depicting one of the temple buildings to add to my collection for only 5 yuan! Today’s conversion rate was about 6.8 yuan per dollar so that’s like 80 cents!

We decided to go with a real Chinese meal…. KFC… I know, I know. Its hard to believe we came all the way to BJ and ate chicken sandwiches from the Kentucky Fried place but it tasted really good and we didn’t have to think too much because we had a fairly good idea of what we’d be getting. Lunch for two, 45 yuan or $6.50 US. On the main drag her by the hotel there’s a KFC and a McD’s on every block!

Afterward, we took a cab back from the hotel and then ended up walking some of the streets just to see what we would see. Where we were, there were no non-Chinese people at all. Still no stares. Unfortunately, the sales people in some of the few stores we visited were so in your face its quite off putting. I certainly don’t blame them for wanting to make a living but a few times when I would have liked to look and linger and more than likely buy something, I ended up leaving just to get away from the hard sell. I’m not exactly sure why they do this to foreigners, I expect it must often work in their favor or they wouldn’t continue the practice but its just not my thing. Oh well.

Came back to the room and completely against our will, fell asleep for about 2 hrs. Forced ourselves to get up, do a little dinner, McD’s (laziness won out again) and then we walked the street with all the meats on sticks vendors that I’d seen on the Travel Channel. It was a must see for sure. Little pathways lined with vendors selling every imaginable creature skewered on a stick and fried. We saw scorpions and squid, starfish and all kinds of other unknown items. Some of the smells are pretty offensive, sort of a mixture of boiling mystery meat and sewage. The sound is pretty interesting too. We’re going to go back on Friday and I’m going to get a corn on the cob, which seems fairly safe. Bobby says he’s going to ask for chicken and making a clucking noise to get his point across. We’ll see. He also wants to bring the camcorder to record the scene including the sounds which are very unusual. Imagine hundreds of voices, intermixed with the calls of the vendors, with a loud background of shrieking live Chinese opera. Like I said, it’s a pretty cool experience!

We also encountered the most aggressive of all the vendors we’ve come across so far. “Hey lady!” “Come see!” follow us wherever we go. I’m starting to get used to the hawking but really retreat when they try to literally pull me in. Personal space, people. They obviously know from experience who’s generally responsible for dropping the most RMB. They quite obviously focus their efforts in on the female Caucasian in the crowd--and I do mean crowd, we were literally bumping into and off of people like human version of bumper cars which was at first uncomfortable but quickly accepted as a fact of life. All the stuff looks about the same in each shop we’ve visited. Some of its worthy of a second look but its mostly just trinkets. We’re going to be visiting the silk market, the pearl market and a jade factory so I’m sure we’ll have no shortage of opportunity to buy stuff plus, we’ll be here for a few days and its just down the street, we’ll be going back I‘m sure. We did wander into a store called Foreign Language Bookstore” and I picked up a handful of bilingual (mandarin characters/pinyin/English) toddler board books for Georgiana, and me. They’re kind of fun and they were only about a buck each.
After another few hours and miles of walking we headed back to the hotel. Bobby and I both estimate that we walked at least 10 miles today and our dogs were barking. We’ve encountered quite a few beggars including a middle aged man in McD’s who showed us he was missing both hands at the wrists. He also hit up another customer, a Chinese man, who was eating nearby with his family who became pretty incensed and assertively told him (I’m assuming) “get lost” --the customer then clapped his hands loudly to call over an employee to complain about the man’s presence, which led to the manager being called and some more intense discussion. The manager then found the security guy and hollered at him. It was a process that probably took about 5 mins all together and by the time it was all dealt with the man with the missing hands was long gone.

So, highlight of the day? Definitely The Long Corridor. Lowlight? Today there are two. First, I cannot believe how many people we’ve seen, and heard, hack up a loogie and spit on the street. Ick! Second, we saw a man standing on the street next to bicycle that had little sparrow-type bird tied to the handle bar with a string around its neck. The little bird was dangling and struggling. For the life of me I could not figure out the purpose of having the bird tied up in such a manner . Very odd. I almost wanted to take a picture it was so strange but, of course, resisted the urge.

Observation: I only noticed one family today that had more than one child. They were at the Temple of Heaven, more than likely visitors as they were posing and taking photos, and actually had three children. A boy, a girl and another younger boy. Its quite possible that they’re not Chinese nationals and just visiting like we are. Otherwise its all been only children that I’ve seen.
One more thing… the most common of the beggars are woman carrying toddlers in their arms. We’ve never been ones to give money out to beggars but it is very difficult to say no to these woman. It would be impossible not to make the connection to Georgiana’s birth mother who, although we cannot know for sure, likely was unable to parent her due to poverty. Fodder for future thought I have no doubt.

Leaving, on a jet plane...
I can't believe it!!! We are packed and ready to go. We each have our checked bag (weighed so as to not exceed 44 lbs), carry on (dimensions no greater than 21x15x7" yikes!!) and our "personal item" (laptop case for Bobby and tote bag for me). We have snacks for the plane, more electronics than it probably takes to get the plane off the ground and all our very important papers. The car seat is installed in the car, plug covers inserted, baby gates ready for set up!!! OMG!!! I'm freaking out!!!

Seven days from now, we will meet Georgiana Rose NianSheng and will officially become a family of 5.

YAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Nursery

It is basically done!!! Only tiny details are left. Its been about a 2 yr process and boy, what a process it has been! First, about 2 yrs ago, when I thought we were about 1 yr from referral, we bought the furniture. I got it on sale and then had the store hold onto it. They did that for about 6 mos, then they called and said I had to come get it. I guess baby stores just don't comprehend a 37 month pregnancy (application to referral). Silly them.

Then about 1 yr ago, Bombay Kids was going out of business and I was able to get all the bedding, chandelier, shelf baskets, window coverings, etc all for about $300!!! Full price would have been well over $1000 so I couldn't pass it up. When we were about 2 mos before referral, we finally painted the background color. Not sure if you can tell from the pix or not but its a lovely soft shade of green (we had to paint it twice, first color was much too bright) and the ceiling is a very soft blue. Then came the crown moulding. We also changed the closet doors to bi-folds. The old ones were sliders and completely limited access. We also had the door cut into a dutch door in hopes of keeping the cats out. Plus, I thought it would be nice to be able to close the door without it being closed completely.

Then came the painting of the flowers and the fairy. I hand drew it and just painted it in. I think it came out pretty nice and really matches the crib comforter. I even managed to sneak in a couple ladybugs!

Anyway, here are some more pix.

I also decided that we needed a little artwork. I looked everywhere to find something that I thought would look good in the room. No luck. So I finally decided to paint a little picture myself. Add a repainted 50 cent picture frame that I picked up a few years ago and Voila!!! Artwork.

I am definitely not an artist but I'm pretty proud of myself for making something that's acceptable to hang on the wall.

What do you think???

Last thing, the chandelier. It was plain so I bought some beaded shades and dressed them up with a little trim and velvet roses, same thing on the curtain tie backs! I love them, soooooo girlie!!!

Very thankful
Yesterday was a big day!!! My last day of work for 10 weeks!!! I can't believe it... 70 days of no work!!!! Yeah!! Not a minute too soon either because it seemed that until I stopped working I wasn't going to be able to move forward with packing and all the final things that need to be done. On my way home, I stopped by and got the last form I needed for the trip--an immunization form-- notarized. Five minutes and, just like that, the last piece of paper was complete!! Its been a long road.

Today was a pleasant day, very relaxing. I did a streamlined version of the feast just to keep things simple. Brett's home from school which always makes the house feel more warm. Its weird because, when he's gone, I don't really miss him--not in the way I thought I would. He's gone and doing what he needs to do, I'm glad he's moving forward with his life, I feel like he's safe so, overall, its ok that he's not here. But, when he's home, the house just feels more complete. Even if he's upstairs or somewhere doing his own thing, its so much more comfortable with him here.

Its been just the four of us for so long. In just 9 days we will officially become a family of 5. I can't believe it!!! I'm thrilled and, truth be told, a little terrified. We're sailing fast into completely uncharted waters. The slow boat to China that we've been on for the last 3-1/2 yrs has become a speed boat. And, to keep the water metaphors going, I'm a little afraid of crashing and drowning. Is that weird?

I feel guilty being so frightened or even seeming like I'm questioning. There are literally thousands of people who would be overjoyed to be in my shoes. I'm overjoyed to be in my shoes. I know how fortunate I am, not just in the IA sense but in all areas of my life. I have two beautiful, intelligent, healthy, happy children. I have a wonderfully supportive husband who has always been there for me. We are fortunate enough to have jobs that work for us and afford us the ability to have a nice life and put our kids through college. Its all pretty good. I hope this is the right thing. I believe it is but, I'm really getting nervous. Will I be able to meet this challenge?

Travel Arrangements made, visas are in hand!!!
Today was a pretty nightmarish morning at work. I drove in murderous traffic, got screamed at and, to top it all off, had a client make blatantly anti-asian racist comments to me. Yeah, I know. However, the day does end up getting a check in the W column because it was so productive in regard to my quest to get to Georgie!

I got on the phone with the travel agent and in 2 hour-long calls had pretty much everything all wrapped up. The agency's travel person, Lynn, was super helpful and very nice to work with. Almost all of our air travel and hotel is booked with the exception of the Beijing hotel and BJ to Nanchang flight. That will be taken care of tomorrow. We decided to get G her own seat on all the flights for two reasons: first, extra squirm room and second, luggage weight. Buying her a seat means she gets to bring her own 45 lb bag and carry on!!! Yeah!! So now, the only leg of the trip that is possibly problematic is the BJ to Nanchang flight. If we get charged extra, we're just going to deal.

I was also able to pick up our visas in LA. It was super easy and only took about 5 mins from parking the car to pulling away from the curb!!! And, another plus, I was able to pay with my credit card, gotta love them points!!!

OK, so here's the itinerary:
(its been updated a little)

12/1 --Mon: fly LAX to Beijing non-stop
12/2 --Tue: arrive Beijing 5:30 am, check in Novatel Peace Hotel, rest day
12/3 --Wed: Lama Temple, Water Cube, Bird's Next, Olympic Park
12/4 --Thu: TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, Lunch at local family's house, Hutong Rick Shaw, Acrobatic Show
12/5 --Fri: Great Wall, Summer Palace
12/6 --Sat: fly BJ to Nanchang, prepare for Baby G
12/7 --Sun: Georgie Day!!!! scheduled for 5pm
12/8 --Mon: Registration at Civil Affairs office, notary, apply for Georgie's chinese passport
12/9-12/11 --Tue-Thu: paperwork, bond and shop, hopefully visit orphanage
12/12 --Fri: receive adoption paperwork
12/13 --Sat: fly Nanchang to Guangzhou
12/14 --Sun: free day= bond and shop
12/15 --Mon: medical exam and visa photo
12/16 --Tue: CA (guide takes paperwork to consulate)
12/17 --Wed: receive Georgie's US visa, swearing in ceremony at consulate
12/18 --Thu: fly Guangzhou to BJ then BJ to LAX

Georgie, we're coming soon!!!

Great news!!!
We have our consulate appointment (CA)!!!!! We are confirmed for 12/16!! I was really hoping for sooner but we'll take what we've got. At least now we can finally begin making travel plans. Tentatively, we will leave on 12/1 tour Beijing for a few days, fly to Nanchang then meet Georgiana on 12/7, fly to Guangzhou and have CA on 12/16, and be home on 12/17!!! I can't believe it. We began this process in 8/2005 and now, 3 years and 4 mos later, my dream of having a little girl will finally come true.


My last day of work will be 11/26, we'll have the Thanksgiving holiday with Brett and Casey, then off we go!


I'm so excited!

Just for fun, here's a never before seen photo of Baby G. It's her mugshot, gotta love that hair!!

TA is on the way!!!!

For the last few weeks my morning ritual has been:
1. wake up, shower, dress
2. feed cats
3. check computer for info on TA's
4. call Bobby and say "no info on TA's yet"
5. go to work feeling mildly depressed and slightly numb while muttering pathetically to myself "I want my baby"

But not today BABY!!!! Today was good news! Bobby's been working a weird shift so he was there to read it to. This is what today's email brought:

"Dear Families,Your TA's left China yesterday so they should arrive at HAIM
office on Monday.I'll post to the group. This means we should be able to request
your CA date by Monday night. This should make your weekend much happier.
Patricia"

Yeah!!!!! Of course, we'll meet another slight delay due to the consulate's closure on Tuesday 11/11 for Veteran's Day but at least we have made progress!!!! I'm still crossing my fingers that our CA will be 12/9. There is a very slight chance. More likely it will be later but that's not within my control so I'm just crossing all crossables that it is sooner rather than later. Anything that gets us home as early in Dec as possible allowing for maximum time to be spent with all five of us together before Brett has to return to school is good in my book.

Today's a good day!

More waiting...

I swear you'd think I'd be an expert by now, but no, I'm not. We returned our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) to our agency and everything once again left our control. Our travel group's LOA's arrived at CCAA on 10/10. We are now waiting for TA (Travel Approval) to be issued. Our agency says the average time frame for receipt of TA is about 4 weeks after CCAA receives our LOA. This Friday will make 3 weeks, four weeks would be 11/7, next Friday. It could come later and it could certainly come sooner.

There are actually some people who received referrals when we did who have already traveled to China to pick up their children! Its frustrating. I so very much want to get to Georgie, I want to hold her, touch her and feel her soft skin. Strangely enough, Bobby is quite a bit more stressed out about this part of the wait than I am. He was so calm for the wait to referral but now that there is a real person and not just the hope of a person, he wants to get going FAST!!!

So, we wait. The one good thing about this part of the wait is that there are so many things to do!!! We've been working on G's room. The crown moulding is up (but not painted or caulked yet), the flowers and fairy are painted (but need to be finalized and in some instances redone). We've purchased the car seats, stroller, and high chair but still need safety gates, drawer latches, table corner protector, a crib mattress, formula, gifts for nannies, etc. I still haven't secured day care. Like I said, lots to do.

But, through it all, I think of Georgie... every day, every hour, I think about her. Its better than it was before there's longing and desire to meet her but not the ache of insecurity I felt while we were waiting for referral. Overall, this is a much better waiting place.

Baby G officially has a name!

~Georgiana Rose NianSheng Crowell~

When searching for the "perfect" name for our Baby G, I consulted naming books, hit the net for ideas and thought, and thought, and thought. I wanted a name that was:

--pretty but solid,

--didn't make her sound like a stripper or a ding dong,

--had some history to it,

--wasn't trendy or overtly kr8tiv,

--lended itself to a cute nickname ie. Georgie or Gigi,

--definitely not too common --anything in the top 500 per the social security baby name index was out!

--timeless--could just have easily been used in 1808 as 2008,

--and, would serve her well from babyhood to adulthood, SAHM or corporate CEO, cheerleader or valedictorian.

I like most of the common very feminine names of today: Sophia, Isabella, Juliana, Lily, etc but they are so, so common. So the secret was to find a name that would have the feminine sound I was looking for but not result in her being "the chinese (insert name here)" --that is how Georgiana originally caught my eye.

The name, a derivative of George of course, has been around forever. A woman named Georgiana Pittock had the first of what would become the annual Portland Rose Festival in 1889. Georgiana Darcy was the cultured and kind sister of Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published in 1813. Georgiana Cavendish (b. 1757) was the Duchess of Devonshire and, interestingly, the subject of a movie coming out this year The Duchess starring Keira Knightly.

Then, what to pair it with. I've always loved the name Rose. Its classic, simple and beautiful and flows so wonderfully with a long name like Georgiana. I did consider some other very lovely options: Lorelei (kind of mouthful), Elise (this was my second choice), Lenore (after my mother), Skye (beautiful but a little too trendy for me), Sage (seemed out of place next to Georgiana). But, I always came back to Rose.

Her chinese name. People have varied opinions but, to me, it was important for our daughter to carry her chinese name if al all possible. G's name was Zhang Nian Sheng. Zhang comes from Zhangshu the SWI where she's been housed since birth and is given to all children who are placed in the orphanage. I consulted with several native chinese speakers on the characters of Nian Sheng. I originally had concerns because the name seemed like a boys name. Traditionally girls have been given pretty, nature-type names with meanings like Gentle Stream, Beautiful Lily, etc. Boys have traditionally been given names suggesting hopes or promises of success for the future. G's name means that she will grow to be an educated woman of recognition and respected prominance. I have been told that this type of name has been more commonly chosen for girls in modern China. It seems to be sign of China's greater respect for the abilities of women. Anyway, it is a "good name" and seems to fit our hopes for G so I like it!!!

I believe that NianSheng is pronounced like "N'yen Seeng" but I will have to confirm that as well as the tones once we're in China due to differences in local dialects.

So there we have it!! Baby G has a name!

Preparations:
OMG!!! What have I been doing for the last 3 yrs??? I cannot believe how much stuff we need and don't have. It doesn't seem like that much but, when a person has to research and think about every single thing like I do, its pretty time consuming. So, we've been doing the best we can and trying to tackle the must have's now and worry about the other stuff later.

Progress:
Car seats: I'm going to get a Britax, probably the Marathon, I just can't seem to figure out the difference between them all. This is one of those things I need to work on.

Stroller: heck if I know. So far, I've been leaning toward the Peg Perego Pliko P3 (say that 5 times fast!!) its fairly light, roomy, big basket, etc. I've also been looking at the Bob. We figure this is a must have that can wait. We'll probably buy a stroller in china so its not a huge deal if we don't choose a larger one until we return.

High chair: I want something that isn't hideous. Problem is, all the good looking ones have issues. I think we've finally settled on the one pictured to the right, the Combi Hero in Wasabi green. Its is height adjustable, one hand operated, converts to a booster chair, looks pretty easy to clean and is not overly huge or ugly.

Cart/high chair cover: these are the greatest inventions ever!! I so wish they had these things when the boys were small. There's a lady on ebay who does custom mades with about a million fabric choices, she also does car seat covers and they can match!! This is probably what I'lll do I just have to get my act together enough to order it.

Clothes: I've been buying clothes off and on for the last 2-1/2yrs or so. But, as anyone who is in the china nsn program knows, it is tough. You just don't have any idea what size or age (for some even gender) your child will be. So, what I've done is buy things from size 9 mos up to about 24 mos. I've only bought on EXTREME sale. Like when Kohl's has their 70% off clearance plus the 30% off coupon. I've purchased really, really nice sets and outfits for like, $1.50 each. I've also hit up the kids resale store every once in a while. Great stuff, pretty much all like brand new many still with tags for like $2 a piece. But, when you buy like this you end up with a strange assortment of stuff. Yesterday, I laid it all out and tried to sort through and figure out what we needed. I think for now, we're good. I plan to do the major clothes shopping once we return so I'll know exactly what size to get. I'm sure I'll be doing a little shopping in china as well.

Nursery: We have the furniture, I bought it over a year ago. The background color of the room and ceiling are painted and I've started drawing out the figures. Bobby got a good start by priming the closet doors but those still need to be painted. We have the chandelier but we don't have the ceiling medallion I wanted yet. We still need crown moulding. The closet is still full of stuff. Yes, there's lots to be done.

Anyway, we are slowly moving forward. I'd really like to get this stuff done with because in a few weeks we'll be needing to make travel arrangements and getting ready for the trip in general. Lots to do!! Very exciting!!

We received our referral packet from HFS!!

I waited for the DHL and made a run for the door when I saw the truck! I opened the door with a big Hello! and asked if I could take his picture. He hmm'd a little then said "ok" I explained to him that he was delivering my baby. When he looked at the sender, Harrah's Adoptions, he got a big smile and said "sure" --thanks Mike the DHL guy!!!

The actual pix of Baby G look even better than the emailed ones did! Interestingly, the mugshot one that I wasn't too pleased with yesterday, now looks adorable! The info we received is mostly in chinese but some can be figured out. Her stats at birth were:
weight: 3.2 kg --a little over 7 lbs!
length: 49.70 cm --19-1/2"




Things she can do:

~Hold her head up while lying on the stomach
~Roll from supine to prone position by herself
~Sit alone quite steadily
~Tear paper!!
~Grasp toy near hand
~Crawl on hands and knees
~Locate the direction of sound/voice
~Hold blocks in each hand at the same time
~Look for a dropped toy
~Visually follow moving toys
~Reach and grasp a toy beyond
~Follow someone by moving head from side to side
~Laugh out loud!!!
~Eat biscuits without help
~Distinguish between strangers and acquaintances
~Turn head when name is called

Under personality they checked: active, restless, has a ready smile, fond of toys and music, obstinate sometimes, fond of games, quick in reaction. She sounds like quite the little firecracker!! I notice they did not check: quiet or fond of quietness!

It is said that she is closest to her caretaker and then there are several characters written in chinese. Not sure if that's a name or what at this point.
Harrahs sent this little bracelet as a gift to Baby G. The card has the chinese symbol for "love" stamped on it. The card reads:

"The Chinese symbol of Love brings our warm welcome to your precious little one. We are blessed to be a part of such a beautiful miracle!

Love,
Your Harrah's AIM Family"

One day later...

and another picture! I'm sitting here waiting for DHL to bring my referral package. The office in our house, thankfully, faces the street. Every time a car drives past I look quickly to see if its the truck delivering my baby. I'm not quite sure why I'm so excited. My understanding is that everything we get today is in chinese. But I want to snap the delivery person's pic like I've seen in so many people's blogs, so cute!!

So, while I'm waiting, I'm going to record yesterday morning's events and the "Referral Call":

I had to work... I was so bugged. If I would have been more sure on friday that the referrals had been sent, I would have made arrangements to not have to work. By saturday, I was pretty sure we'd be getting our call on monday morning.

Sunday night I stayed up way too late snacking and watching the new shows on TV. This was done to keep my mind calm for monday. It worked pretty well.

Monday morning I woke up early and went right downstairs to check RQ blog. It said referrals were arriving in Europe and they'd be hitting the mid west agencies that morning as well. I was thrilled and NERVOUS!!! Called Bobbyat work and gave him the update. Ran upstairs and got ready for work as fast as I could go. Back down to check RQ, referrals were arriving on the east coast!!!! Called Bobby again. Called my mom said "its happening today, I've gotta go, I'll call you later"

At 8am I really had to leave the house. While driving, I called Bobby again then my secretary at work and asked her to check the Harrah's yahoo group for me. She told me HFS posted at 8:05am that referrals had arrived!! they were sorting through them!! and would be making calls that afternoon!! They're in Texas so that's 2 hours ahead of us. I figured they'd be calling my around 10am. By this time I was so nervous, I don't even think I could see straight.

I showed up at my appearance a complete and utter wreck, explained to my concerned opponent that I needed a continuance due to a "family issue" --Hello??? I'm having a baby here, I definitely think this qualified for a continuance, don't you?? Drove to the office, dropped off files, made some arrangements for my afternoon and next morning conferences to be covered and darted out the door. The plan being to go home, get the call, and then wait for Bobby to open emailed picture.

At 9:40am I was talking to Bobby while getting into the car when their was another call coming through. My heart stopped as I looked at the number... it was my AGENCY!!!! I told Bobby, hold on a second, its them!!!

Me: Hello.

Her: Susan??

Me: Yes.

Her: This is _____ from HFS, I...

Me: (interrupting) I know who it is!!!

Her: I have some news for you. You have a baby girl.

Me: (unintelligible utterance)

Her: She's just beautiful!! She's a beautiful baby girl and her hair (giggle) her hair is kind of sticking up on her head. She was born January 7th.

Me: What year??

Her: 2008.

Me: (crying) Can you hold on a sec? I want to write this down.

(it was only at this point that I realized I was not writing any of the info down, my pretty ladybug paper I had planned to create for documenting this moment had not been created--I'm not really sure why that was in that I had 3 yrs to do so... anyway. So then I start rummaging in my car for a pen and I do mean rummaging. I opened the glove box and started flicking things out onto the floorboard. Napkins, calculator, restaraunt coupons go flying. Aha!! A pen!!! Now paper... hmmm search, search. Aha again!! a post it!!!

Her: Her name is Zhang Nian Sheng. She's at the Zhangshu SWI in Jiangxi province. She weighs 7 kgs (I had no idea at the time but apparantly that's about 15 lbs) She said some other stuff too but I don't remember what it was. My mind went a little blank. She did say that the pix would be emailed within the hour and the referral packet would be sent to us by DHL the following day. Then that was it.

I called Bobby and told him: We have a little girl, almost 9 mos old!!! I told him about the orphanage and stuff too but Bobby says he couldn't understand a word I was saying!!! Since I was still in the parking lot of work, I ran back inside to share my good news with my co-workers. Hugs, hugs!!! I must have looked a little crazed because my boss actually asked if I needed someone to drive me home LOL!!

On the way home I called everyone to tell them "its a girl, its a girl, I have a baby!!!" I called Casey and caught him between classes "you have a sister!!" he seemed pretty happy!! I kept calling Brett at school but couldn't get ahold of him. Bobby couldn't leave work until 11am. He didn't think I could but I promised to wait to open the pix til he got home. I finally got Brett on the phone and told him. He was excited said "wow! this isn't just paperwork anymore, there's a real person now!"

I talked to Bobby from the time he left work and kept telling him "come on, drive, drive" Finally, he was home and we opened the email together...

First pic: mugshot. I've seen tons of these by now. Not usually the best shot. Totally understood the giggle about the hair. There's tons of it, coal black!!! She has very fair skin, cute as a button nose and lovely symmetrical features.

Second pic: sitting in the office chair. I was so excited because usually referral pix have the kids totally bundled up and you can't see their little bodies. Our little girl is wearing a short sleeved onesie (I think the pix were taken in July, when it is hot!!!). You can see her sweet little toes, squishy little arms, and chubby thighs!! First thought: she looks so healthy! She seems to be sitting up on her own too so it seems she's physically fairly well developed.

Third pic: in the waker. She's making a little smile. Its the one showing the most personality and was, at first blush, my favorite. Again, she looks healthy and well taken care of.

Then, more calls, posts to RQ and assorted yahoo groups!! Emails galore. A very happy day. Bobby printed out the pix. Bobby and I decided to do lunch (for some reason we didn't do chinese food as planned and did Olive Garden instead). We did take our printed picture with us to look at. Also put "her" in the cart at Costco, just for fun!

Since then, I can't stop looking at her pix. My baby. Finally, after all these years, I have a baby girl!!! I feel a ssnse of peace and calm I haven't felt in an awfully long time.

Where is Baby G???

We have been told she is currently residing at the Zhangshu Social Welfare Institute in Jiangxi Province.

Jiangxi is shown on the map below in pink in the south east section of the country. It is said to be a beautiful area with tall mountains and fresh water lakes. The climate is warm and humid in summer and cold in spring and winter (I checked out the temps on weather.com, I think we'll get lucky at the beginning of December, not too hot, not too cold) Jiangxi is home to Poyang Lake which is the largest fresh water lake in China and has a large habitat of white cranes. The province is best known for porcelain **I think there's some serious shopping potential here!!!**

Zhangshu City is in the center of Jiangxi Province. The area where the orphanage is located is quite poor with many families involved in the farming of rice. The entire city has a population of 536,000 (which seems like a lot to me!). The orphanage is said to be a rather small one with a very small IA program. One family who traveled in 3/08 said there were only about 20 children there at that time. It seems, and I could be wrong, that they only place a few children per year. The families that have adopted from the orphanage have said that the director cares a great deal for the children and that they are generally very well cared for (what a relief!!). The nannies live with the children with 3 cribs and one nanny per room. I have a feeling she is going to be very attached to her nanny. This is great for attachment to the adoptive parents but very, very hard at first for the grieving child.

Here is a picture I found of the Zhangshu SWI on the net:

It seems that children are received in Nanchang which is a large city about 1 to 1-1/2 hrs to the north. Some families have been able to visit the orphanage and others have not. I would like to do this if at all possible. Even if aren't able to go into the orphanage, I'd like to at least see the area where Baby G spent her first mos of life. We'll have to see if this will be possible.

Here she is!!!

I'm in LOVE!!!! She looks healthy and well taken care of! Her hair isn't really sticking up so much as there's just a lot of it!!! Ooooh, I need hairbows, great big floppy ones!!!

Bobby says no but who cares????!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Name: Zhang Nian Sheng
Orphanage: Zhangshu, Jangxi Province
DOB: 1/7/2008
weight 2 mos ago: 7kg (not sure what that is in pounds!!!)

they said she has hair sticking straight up off her head!!! She laughs out loud, watches people and has a ready smile!!! I'll have the pix in about an hour. Bobby will be home in about 1-1/2, then I'll post them here.

I cannot believe this has finally happened. I feel so relieved and happy!!

Harrah's posted....
at 8:05am PST, referrals have been received for 2/13/06 families!!! I should be hearing something soon!!! OMG!!! This is happening, its really happening... to me!!!!!!!!!!!

I realized that I never did a referrals post from September 2. These are all families from my RQ Feb 2006 room. They are so beautiful and, only a few weeks later, making plans for travel!!! We should be on a list like this soon. Can't wait!!!

M&M’s Mommy
Journey to Kavanna
Journey to Lydia
Searching for Kassandra
Becky
Waiting for Lily
Baby Gasser
Our Journey to Malia
Lin Family
ChinaBabyBarnes
Baby Sun9shine

Waiting for Lily

The following families in the SN program would like to share their news:
Room for at least One More
Journey to Kelsi Rose

Update:

the bad rumor aka "the rumor which will not be named" has now been replaced with a new rumor... a good one!!!! Supposedly, referrals will be normal (you know, the new crappy normal of a few days but whatever). And, to add to the excitement, a member of my RQ feb group posted that her agency has informed that 2 packages have left CCAA en route to her agency!!! One of them must be referrals!!! That means that referrals could start arriving as soon as MONDAY!!! OMG!!! Of course, it could be Tuesday.

To think that at this moment we have likely been matched with the little person who will become our child. More than likely, we have a child, we just don't know who she is yet. Isn't that weird??

I'm so excited and nervous I can hardly contain myself!