Toleration

Well...things are progressing a little. Last evening David told me he needed a break and was going to leave Grace with me while he walked to the local Pizza Hut to get us dinner.  I was super worried about him leaving Grace with me, but I know this has been hard on him too.  Grace cried for about 10 minutes but then I was able to distract her with some crayons and play dough. She started playing and then let me play too!!  She even gave me a bit of a smile. When David arrived with dinner, Grace sat in my lap and let me feed her...major progress!!  After dinner I was in the bathroom still trying to get everything organized and she decided to turn on the bath water...she was so proud of herself!  I decided it was the perfect time to try out a bath with her and she LOVED it!! She didn't want to get out once i was finished washing her.  

After that I thought we had turned a corner, but this morning when she woke up I told her good morning and she started crying.  She sat up and looked for David but he was in the shower.  She cried until he was finished. She didn't want me to dress her or have anything to do with getting her ready for breakfast.  Once we were at breakfast she did let me feed her. After breakfast we went to Walmart.  We were going to get a stroller but everything here is so expensive! An umbrella stroller is almost $60 in US currency! A friend let me borrow an Ergo, so I put grace in it and attached her to me...she wasn't happy but we did it. She only fussed for a few minutes and then went along for the ride. She did pretty well. Once back in the hotel we went to the room to play some more.  All in all it was a pretty good day.  David and I decided that Grace is only tolerating me at this point. She will play with me if I can entice her and will let me feed her, but that is all. She will only let David comfort her and will only come to me if no one else is around.  She usually stands around the corner from me and peeks around to stare at me but if I look at her she moves back....fun times! Hopefully each day will get better.

Thanks to everyone for you encouraging emails and posts..they really mean so much to me.  We were able to Skype with Ian and that has helped me a lot. Time seems to be ticking slowly here.  I have been down this road before with Ian's adoption, but the stares from all the locals are quite uncomfortable.  I am more than ready to get home! Tomorrow we go to visit the terra cotta warriors.. We are excited about seeing them...I hope 

Xi'an

We are here in Grace's province, Xian. We arrived here late Sunday night (China time). We checked into our hotel and went to sleep. The next day we were supposed to meet Grace at 2:30, so we had all morning to explore. The hotel didn't have any wifi and was being renovated so we asked to move hotels and now we are in a great hotel with wifi in the lobby area but not in the rooms.  It is making istanbul super tough to skype with Ian and we are missing him soooooo much!! 

Anyway, after we changed hotels it was time to go get Grace.  We ended up waiting over an hour and a half for her to arrive (traffic here is horrible). When she came in she was escorted by the director of Starfish and her nanny.  I was praying her nanny wouldn't bring her since Grace is so attached to her but I am aslso glad the nanny got to see us so she could feel better about letting Grace go.  Grace was not happy at all!!!!!!!  She eventually let David hold her but she doesn't like me at all!!!  Needless to say we didn't get any pictures of her at all!  After the exchange we headed to get Graces passport picture. Then once we got back to the hotel I left David with Grace and walked Pizza Hut to get our dinner. Grace fell asleep soon after and slept all night long.

Today we took Grace back to the civil affairs office to finalize the adoption.  David had to give her to me while he did paperwork and Grace was NOT happy about it at all. By the time I gave her back to David I was trying to hold back my tears!! It is not fun at all when your child recoils at your touch!!!  Poor David is having to do everything for Grace, if I try to touch her she moves my hand. She did let me feed her some watermelon this morning but that is all the interaction we have had. I know it will get better, but let me tell you, my heart is breaking a bit!! 

We are headed tonWalmart once Grace gets up from her nap...that should be fun.  With the Internet the way it is here in this hotel, I might not be able to post pics until we get to Guangzhou on friday night.  I will update when I can...please pray for Grace....I can only imagine how scared she still is.

Beijing

I went back and read what I wrote last night when we got I and WOW was I tired!! Sorry for all the  incoherent things I wrote...haha!  So, basically we slept all night long -yahoo- and woke up well rested!! We ate a great, BIG breakfast at the hotel and met the other families for sightseeing.  We have an AMAZING guide named Yoshi. He took us too Tienamen square, the Forbidden City, an authentic Chinese lunch, Temple of Heaven, the pearl factory, and an amazing acrobatic show!!! As you can imagine, we are tired!!! I got to experience a "squatty potty" today too...it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! While sightseeing people kept coming up to our group asking us to take pictures with them. our guide explained that some of the Chinese people were here from other parts of China and that we may be the first white people they had ever seen. one of the guys in our group is over 6' tall and. He got plentyof looks and pictures taken of him...ha!!

The sightseeing was wonderful! I took a ton of pictures but I can't load them on here. :(. It seems that we are going to be unable to put any pictures on here until we are home!!! Our laptop and iPad don't have a port to plug in the adapter card for the pictures :(. When we get to our next hotel we will check out the business center there and see if they can help us!! I will still take manictures though!!

We are going to see the Great Wall tomorrow, then we are flying to Xian in the evening. The other families are all flying together to another province but we will meet them again once we go to Guangzhou. When we get to Xian our guide will tell us when we are getting Grace. It will either be tomorrow night once we get to Xian or Monday.  I am praying for Monday...one more good nights sleep would be very helpful!!! Plus, I would like to have the chance to go to the store first and purchase supplies and toys before we meet her.

Ok...I am getting very tired as I write this...I don't want to get incoherent like last night so I will say goodnight for now :)

We are here

Hi everyone!! We just made it to the room!! We have been traveling since 7 AM this morning and it is now 6:00 AM USA time...7:10 PM here in China!  I slept 0% on the way here so I am exhausted!! We are about to turn in for the night! Everything went great on the flights! The longest flight had a myriad of shows and movies to watch and I was excited to see they had Downtown Abbey.  some of my friends watch that show and love it but I have never had the opportunity to sit and watch it.  They had 8 episodes to chose from from season 2 so watched them all... I can truly say I am hooked now!!!

Our guide was waiting for us at the baggage area...just as promised :). He told us that we were waiting for 2 more families and their flight was delayed an hour...so we checked out the starbucks in the airport and hung out for about 90 minutes.  The other families are soooo nice!!! We are going to have a great time together!!

We are sight-seeing tomorrow all day!! I hope we have the stamina to make it...we are soooo tired!!! Maybe tomorrow night I will have pictures to share!!

Leaving on a jet plane

We are leaving for China in the morning!!! Wahooo!!!  I can't believe it is FINALLY here!!!  I can't wait to hold Grace!!!  I am super sad to be leaving Ian here but I know it is for the best.  David and I really need that time alone with Grace for bonding.  I know she will bond very fast to Ian.  I am told that she LOVES his picture the best in the family album I sent to her!

I started feeling pretty crummy last evening.  I went to bed super early but woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach bug Ian had last week :(  Needless to say the timing isn't the best!!  However, I am glad I have it now and NOT tomorrow on the plane!  I am just praying I can get everything done I need to get done today!!

Here's the schedule of our trip...
Thursday, Novmeber 15 - leave America for China
Friday, November 16 - Arrive in China in the afternoon (China time)
Saturday, November 17 - Sightsee throughout Beijing
Sunday, November 18 - more sightseeing then fly to the province of Xi'an (Grace's province) in the evening
Monday, November 19- Get Grace!!!!!
Tuesday, November 20 - finalize adoption in China
Wednesday, November 21 - 22 - hang out in Xi'an and wait for adoption paperwork
Friday, November 23 - fly to Guangzhou
Saturday, November 24 - medical appt. for Grace
Sunday, November 25 - sightsee throughout Guangzhou
Monday, November 26 - Drop off Grace's paperwork at the US Embassy office
Tuesday, November 27 - Pick up Grace's US Visa from US Embassy!!!
Wednesay, November 28 - take train to Hong Kong and sightsee throughout Hong Kong
Thursday, November 29 - COME HOME!!

WOW - that seems like alot!!  They keep us busy - which is great! Too much sitting around and I will focus on how much I miss Ian! Please pray for us while we are gone!  I will be updating the blog as much as possible while we are in China.  I just don't know how internet service will be - so please be patient with me - ha!

Grace's Room 2

Grace's Room 1