Home

Hi Everyone. We wanted to let you know that we arrived home safely last night around 7pm. Although the trip was long, it went smoothly and Lei Lei did great. We left the hotel in Guangzhou at 6 am China time (5pm Thursday night in Maine), flew from there to Hong Kong, then connected to a flight to Newark. Our flight into Newark was late, and then we had to clear Costums before connecting to our flight to Portland. Luckily, that flight was 1.5 hours late, so we were able to make it. It was wonderful to see Grace and hold her in my arms. I missed her so much and am very proud of how well she did and how well she behaved for my parents. Grace, Jordan, and Miranda all think that Ellen (we're trying to tansition her name - although I still tend to call her Lei Lei) is a very cute baby. Grace insists on sleeping near her, so we moved the crib close to Grace's bed. Ellen didn't do too well her first night with the time change. She slept a little from 8 - 11, but was then up until 4am. She was in great spirits, even though she is really behind in her sleep. Both girls are asleep now, so we're crossing our fingers that they stay that way at least for 6 or so hours so that we can get a little rest. I'll post a few more new pictures this week. Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes and support. We feel very blessed in many ways. - Jean

Starting to get ready for home!

Just a quick update. We have a free day today - nothing planned. We are trying to pack a little. Tomorrow, we get our group picture taken in the morning and then go to the US Consulate in the afternoon where we will get the baby's visa and take an oath. We are very anxious to be home - I miss my little Grace so much and can't wait to hug her. We have an 8:25am flight Friday morning to Hong Kong, then on to Newark and Portland. We get home around 5pm Friday night. It will be a long day, but LeiLei is such a good baby, that I think we will not have as hard of a time as some parents. She is doing great. She is quite adorable and happy. She stills prefers her Daddy but has warmed up to me quite a bit. I'll post a lot more pictures once we get home. I'm not sure if we will post again before then or not. - wish us luck on the way home! - Jean

Long overdue update!

Hello All:
It's been a long time since our last update, so I'll do my best to update everyone. This is Christopher, so understand if the details aren't as good as Jean's might be!

Well we're in Guangzhou now. Our last update was back in Chongqing 5 days ago. I caught the proverbial traveler's bug that day and was down for the count for the next 2 days. I was the first in our crew of 7 families to get sick (lucky me) but another Mom caught something the next day just to make sure I wasn't all alone for long. I can't speak to the tourist visit that they all did on the 10th when I was sick, but Jean told me it went well. One of the positives to be found in my dark cloud of being sick was Lei Lei bonding more with her mom. She had no choice! I really couldn't hold her and this helped her focus more towards Jean.

Let's see, the days have definitely run together these past several days. We arrived in Guangzhou Saturday November 11th. What an interesting traveling time that was from
Chongqing to here. I thought it was actually easier when Jean and I traveled through Beijing to Chongqing by ourselves than traveling as part of an group of 17 adults, 7 babies, and one 6-year old. Our translator/guide "Min-wah" is a great lady. She's headstrong, positive and smiles a lot. She also takes no BS from anyone here in China. We all marvel as she starts (what appears to be) yelling at service personnel and airport people and anyone else that seems to throw up a barrier to our easy movement through everything. We all consider ourselves very lucky to have her as our guide.

OK, so we all got lumped together onto the 737 and took off. Remember, this is the first flight for all these babies and for more than half the parents, it's their first flight with an infant! We got lucky with our little girl and times a bottled perfectly. Just as we were taxiing to the takeoff we got her drinking and she did fine with the pressure changes going up. Not all the other were so lucky and the plane had a chorus of little ones sharing their discomfort with flying! Coming down was worse (to be expected) and the entire plane was relieved when we finally hit the tarmac.

We've been busy here at American Baby Adoption Central called the White Swam Hotel. We were all shocked when we arrived to see that this hotel is literally FULL of American couples and people adopting little Chinese children. Kind of cool and kind of unsettling, too. Hard to explain that one but it's just too different that when we're here in China we expect to be the foreigners and the extreme minority. We are except inside the hotel. But it's a very pretty place and it caters well to everyone. The vendors right outside the hotel speak pretty good english and know that their real estate guarantees them first shot at we ignorant Americans when we venture outside the walls. Lots and lots of interesting stuff and a lot of other "stuff" too that can be easily ignored.

The adoption process continues. We went through with getting Lei Lei's Visa photo and a perfunctory medical examination where she was measured, weighed, tested for hearing and seeing, checking ears and nose and throat. Very superficial but we were all happy to cycle through this small clinic where people were flowing in and out at a non-stop pace.

OK, that's enough for right now. Jean's going to try to upload a picture or two. Had some troubles with getting pictures on before, so for those faithful family and friends keeping track of us here via the blog, we promise to share more pictures with you upon our return. Jean's taken several hundred (no kidding!) so we'll make sure you get a chance to see more.

Only 3 days to go!!! We can't wait to head home. Friday is coming soon and though the flight is going to be a test of enormous patience (there are supposed to be literally dozens of families with infants on our flight from Hong Kong to Newark) we know it will pass and we'll get our family back together so Lei Lei and Grace can start hanging out together! Hope all are doing well!

Ying Ying!

This picture is of the most beautiful baby who lives at the Fuling SWI. She is soon to be going home with her family once they get travel approval and can come to China. This picture is really for her parents, but I've been unable to access my email or any other way I can think of sending them the pictures without publishing them publically. (Jodi - I have many, many more that I will send you once we get home!!). First of all, let me tell you how sweet and wonderful she is! All of the families in our group truly wished that we could scoop her up and take her back with us to bring her to her mommy, daddy, and two brother, but that's not the way things work. Ying Ying is shy and cautious, but obviously so well loved and cared for by her nannies. She now walks very well. She was so interested in the picture book of her family. She really is a beautiful, beautiful little girl. Here is one picture. I'll try to post another one tomorrow. For some reason, things time out here quickly! We say our prayers every night that her family gets their TA soon so that she can be held in their arms.

Orphanage

It's Thursday afternoon Chongqing time. Yesterday we went to the orphanage, the Fuling Social Welfare Institute (SWI) to see where the babies lived for the first months of their lives. The trip there took us about two hours. In between the cities, the lack of development is surprising, considering how much development occurs in the cities. Almost no cars on the highway. Fuling is really big. Apparently, most of the development has occured in just the past 15 years. There are highrises and apartment buildings everywhere, many in the early stages of development. The orphanage is down a little side street in the city center. For what we've heard, this is one of the nicer orphanages. We walked through a large courtyard into the area where the babies wwere kept. We were immediately met with cries of "LeiLei!", "LeiLei!". Ellen's nannies were so happy to see her, that it melted my heart. They were in a romm with several other babies who were close to her age. They were all scooting around in walkers. In the next room were several cribs, including hers. Obviousy, we took lots of film and pictures. The children were so beautiful and the staff was so kind. We know how much she was loved, how well she was cared for, and how much she will be missed. We were able to request to see Ying Ying, another baby there who is waiting to be met by her US family soon. (see pictures in other post). How beautiful!

The director thanked us for coming and showed us the sketches of the new orphanage that is being built and that will open in two years. It was such n emotional visit. I feel so lucky that some day LeiLei will see these pictures and be able to know what her first home looked like. - Jean

Lei Lei on day one.

Another picture!

Pictures!

Hi Everyone. We are finally able to post a few pictures. One of the other families brought their laptop and are kind enough to let us use it. Things have been going great. Lei Lei/Ellen is a very, very sweet baby. Of the group, I think she is the only one who has been sleeping really well. Yesterday, we went to the Chongqing Zoo and saw their four pandas. They are quite lazy animals, just sitting around eating bamboo that is provided for them. We also stopped by a Wal-Mart to get baby supplies. Yes, there are many Wal-Marts here, too. I've heard that Beijing has the largest one in the world. Lei Lei is still somewhat terrified of me. She is wonderful with Christopher and loves to be in his arms. She laughs, waves, and bablles quite a bit. We were told that she can crawl, but she doesn't really even sit up well by herself yet. She is no where close to crawling.

Yoday, we are heading to the Fuling SWi to see where Ellen spent the first 10 months of her life. We are very excited. All for now. Enjoy the beautiful pictures! - Jean

Lei Lei - Finally!

It's Monday evening in Chongqing and we finally got our baby girl today! She's beautiful, healthy, and quite terrified of Mom right now. Christopher and I flew into Chongqing yesterday afternoon. Our group of seven couples, including us, met at 10am this morning to begin our process. We filled out forms for the Adoption Center here (Civil Affairs office). Then, at 1:50, we all boarded our bus to the office. It was a very surreal few hours. We went into a very nice, large office space. There were a number of people there, as well as several babies in walkers, scooting around. I was convinced that they were our babies, but our guide told us that we were early and thought they were for other families. Soon enough, though, they told us that they would call our name and bring our baby to us. We were close to the last. It all went very fast. Lei Lei was placed in my arms. She was quite calm, although I wasn't. It was such an emotional experience, not only finally having our baby in our arms, but watching six other couples becomes families with their daughters. Some of the babies were crying. All looked wonderful. Very healthy, strong babies. I held her for a while and then gave Christopher his turn. Big mistake. She hasn't let me touch her since! She snuggled right in with Daddy and decided that is where she wanted to stay. We got our offical picture taken and put our fingerprints on our adoption document. Then, we all stayed around for about an hour, enjoying these first moments together.

Once we got back to the hotel, Lei Lei wanted nothing to do with me. She would play and babble with Christopher. As soon as she saw me, she would pull her shirt up, trying to cover her face, and would start crying. She would only stop once I left the room! The same continued through dinner. Right now, Christopher is upstairs, putting her to bed. Maybe tomorrow. Having said that, she really is a sweet, sweet baby. She watches everyone and everything, but is rather calm. She already loves her Daddy and wants him to play with her, feed her, and snuggle. She is probably the biggest baby of the group. At almost 11 months, she weighs 22 lbs.!

I'm really trying to figure out how to upload a picture here at the hotel. The operating system is in Chinese, making for a few challenges. After I post this, I'll keep playing around to see what I can do. I can't wait for her friends and family to meet her. - Jean

We made it!

Well, we finally made it to China! We arrived in Beijing last night (Friday the 3rd). Although our flight was long, it went very smoothly. Beijing has quite a lot of smog. But, today it has been extremely windy, making for clearer skies. We went to the Forbidden City today. Most of the major buildings are under construction, so we didn't see as much of the architecture as I would have liked. I'm still trying to catch up on some sleep. We leave tomorrow morning (Sunday) for Chongqing and then pick up Lei on Monday! Will write more once we get there. - Jean

Hello everyone! This will be the first installment from me to our blog. What a long day Thursday was! Very nice travelingin a Boeing 777. It's the replacement to the old 747's and has lots of cool stuff to help make the long ride easier. Weird thought that we left at 6am Thursday and ended up finally landing here in Beijing after 5pm on Friday! Jean already mentioned the smog being terrible. That's an understatement. I hope China does something aggressive about improving their industrial controls and air quality soon. The Crowne Plaza where we're staying is nice. The language barrier is tough but people here do try to communicate with us. Just not always easy to understand what they're saying and I am sure visa versa. The very blustery wind today cleared out the smog and made for a great blue sky and comfortable fall-type day. The city blocks here are enormous! Nothing like Boston or New York. These blocks seem to stretch for 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile each. We did a lot fo walking to say the least. OK, that's enough rambling for a first installment. We're here and we're excited! Christopher

Travel Dates

We heard today that our appointment has been set with the US consulate in China for Nov. 15th. We will most likely leave the US on Nov. 2nd, arrive in Beijing on the 3rd, leave for Chongqing on the 5th, and pick up Ellen on the 6th! We will probably fly home from Hong Kong on Nov. 17th. This will have us home for Thanksgiving. This will certainly be a year for us to give thanks for our newest blessing!

It hit us last night how much we need to do in the next two weeks. It seems so close, yet the time until then will likely drag.

- All for now