OK all, I am trying this once again. All I can say is the keyboard on this computer is majorly messed up! It just deleted the email I sent or at least I think it did.
This morning we met Pat & Stacy Dexter for breakfast and then shopping! My favorite sport! We bought lots of goodies to bring home. After shopping, we met with Betty for lunch. She had a cake for us to celebrate Eliana’s adoption being completed. It was yummy. We then came back to the hotel for nap time. About 3:30 we met Betty again to get Eliana’s visa. Woohoo! Paperwork is done!! We then went to a Chan family temple or house, I never figured out which. It is now a museum. There were lots of photo ops here. I asked Betty if we could stop somewhere to purchase an additional bag to put some of our loot in to come home. She took us to a walking/shopping street where the street is permanently closed to traffic and people walk around shopping. It’s a really neat area. Doug and I feel like superstars walking around with Eliana because everyone wants to talk to her or say she is a cute or pretty baby. After purchasing a bag, we decided to walk some more and came upon a SHOE STORE! One of my four weaknesses (books, jewelry, pocketbooks and shoes). Things are really inexpensive here so I found two pairs ! Doug even took a picture.
After this it was off to supper. We went to the same restaurant as we did for lunch. Eliana must have a thing about this one because she always has to have her diaper changed there. Once today it was a really bad one! Anyway, we are checking out tomorrow at 7:00 so no breakfast bar for us. Granola bars and trail mix bars it will be. Our flight leaves at 8:55 but we need to be at the airport by 7:30. We will get up at 5:00 so it will be a very long day but we are so looking forward to coming home. See you all soon!
Carmi (and Doug and Eliana)
Hi All!
Today was our first full day at the China Hotel here in Guangzhou. We were wondering how the breakfast would be because in Changsha we saw some very strange things in the western restaurant for breakfast! Anyway, the breakfast here was just like what we would have at home. No grits, but they did have oatmeal with brown sugar which Eliana loved. Goodbye to congee probably forever because I don’t plan on fixing that for her once I get home. I have had enough rice for awhile!
Today while Betty went to do our visa paperwork for Eliana, Doug and I explored the hotel a little. Oh boy! I remembered Nanette Burrow told me they had a 50% off for adoptive families. Here in the basement, they have a shopping arcade with jewelry, handcrafts, silk stuff, antiques, etc. and they are all 50% off. We go shopping tomorrow, though, and I’m waiting to see what prices are in other places before I buy anything. We also found the Hard Rock Cafe in the basement and went there for lunch. The big oops was that they put ice in our soft drinks and we sat there and drank them like dummies. Guess the ice was made with ok water, though, because neither of us is sick. That or you guys are really praying hard!! Seriously though, Doug and I can tell you are praying because all in all this has not been a hard trip and Eliana has been a true joy. When she looks at me and gives me that cute little smile, it’s just another reminder of how good God has been to us.
Well the lady at the consulate found the mix-up in numbers but it was easily fixed. Betty had to stay at the consulate and wait for the correction and that’s why we ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch but that was fine with us. So this afternoon we had the very anticlimactic swearing-in ceremony. All we did was swear that all the stuff we said over the adoption process was true and we were done! Betty will pick up the visa tomorrow and WE ARE DONE!!!!
When we got back to the hotel after the consulate appointment, we decided to take Eliana to the doctor here at the hotel because she is still really congested. The medical exam yesterday was very fast and all they really did was check weight, height, whether she could see and hear, etc. No real examination at all. The doctor here was much better and Betty went with us to translate. Turns out she has bronchitis. They gave us an antibiotic and also some cream for the chapped places on her face. I have already given her the first dose of antibiotic and hope it starts helping her.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant famous for its dumplings which everyone in China likes. Doug and I had fried and two kinds of boiled dumplings. They were really good! Eliana had steamed egg. The size of the bowl was a small serving bowl size, bigger than a soup bowl and the child almost ate the whole bowl. We are going to call her the steamed egg baby. She is so funny when she eats because she gets angry if we pause in shoveling the food in! She will scream or snort or grunt and beat her hands down in fists on her lap!! Greedy child! They did not lie when they said in her paperwork that she gets excited at the sight of food! She immediately starts grunting and beating her fists when she sees the food coming. Kathy, get ready!!
Well, the sports bar internet computers were down so I am again on the expensive ones so I’ll sign off for now. We can’t wait to get home and see you all. Have a good day!
Carmi (and Doug and Eliana)
Hello Everyone!
We made it to Guangzhou finally! It’s a good thing I can type pretty fast because internet access at this last hotel is extremely expensive and I just hope I stuck enough Chinese money in my pocket before coming to the Business Center to pay for it.
Our plane tickets said that our flight was to leave Changsha at 9:20 this morning. Winnie knew this but said we would leave the hotel at 8:30 and still get there in time because she had “friends” who worked there. Well, even with the bus driver plowing through Changsha like a NASCAR driver, we arrived at the airport around 15 minutes before the plane was to leave. By the time we made it inside and Winnie ran up to the check-in counter, we only had 10 minutes and by this time it was too late. Winnie was on the phone and sounded really, really desperate and a couple of minutes later sheepishly told us that we would have to catch the next flight at 1:20!!! If she hadn’t been such a great guide the whole week, I probably would have choked her right there on the spot but I restrained myself. So we sat and sat and sat in an airport cafE for over 3 hours. Around 12:30, we said our goodbyes to Winnie and made our way to the gate where we ran into a large group of adoptive parents who were also on their way to Guangzhou. They were going to be staying at a different hotel but it was nice to have conversation with Americans for a while.
The flight was only one hour long and we arrived in Guangzhou around 2:30. Eliana was an absolute jewel through the whole ordeal. She did not get any of her normal naps nor did she get much to eat but she only whimpered on a couple of occasions. I think Carmi and I complained more than her.
We found our new guide rather quickly and her name is Betty. Betty grabbed us a taxi and took us to the China Hotel which was not terribly far from the airport. Let me tell you - this is one NICE hotel. We didn’t have long to scope out the room before we needed to meet Betty in the lobby and head to our appointments. In fact, we only had 15 minutes to get in the room, throw our stuff down, change the baby’s diaper and try to shovel some Gerber food in her mouth. I think we made it back down in the 15-minute time limit but I didn’t take time to check a watch and see.
Our first stop was a camera shop where we had a picture made for Eliana’s visa. Then we went up the street for her medical checkup. Two doctors poked and prodded for a bit which just thrilled her to death (NOT)! If nothing else, they found out that she has a healthy set of lungs.
On our way back to the hotel, Betty asked us what we would like for dinner and she would bring it to our room so that we would have time to rest. She mentioned McDonalds and pizza and we stopped at the pizza part. She said their Pizza Hut pizza was just like in the States. Sounded good to us. We got back to our room and waited until shortly after 6:00 when the doorbell rang. Let me preface my answering the door by telling you that Carmi and I had not had a real meal all day. To say that we were starving is an understatement. OK - back to the door. I answer the door and Betty is standing there with a SMALL pizza box and a bottle of Coke. I’m choking back the tears as she hands me the goods and tells me that she will return at 7:00 to help Carmi fill out forms for tomorrow. As I placed the now-open box on the table, we both just stared at the 6 little pitiful slices staring back at us. In the midst of the silence I asked, “Do you remember the story in the Bible about the 5 loaves and the 2 fish?”
As we finished eating, the doorbell rang again and it was Betty to help with the forms. She smiles and asks, “How was dinner?” This was one of those times when I really didn’t feel very spiritual!
I watched the baby in our bedroom as the two girls worked at the table in the other room. Before they finished, I decided to go ahead and give Eliana her bath and get a head-start on preparing her for bed. By the time I dried that baby off and put on her jimmies, Carmi was finished with paperwork and was going to feed her while I headed off to the Business Center. We’re gonna try to get in the bed earlier tonight because we are exhausted. We get to sleep late in the morning and enjoy another western-style breakfast before going to a “swearing in” ceremony in the afternoon. Got no idea what THAT’S about but I’m sure Carmi will tell you all about it tomorrow.
Oh, Carmi wanted me to ask you all to pray about something. As she and Betty were going over paperwork tonight, Betty noticed a couple of forms that had mis-matching numbers on them. This wasn’t it but let’s just say, for example, that one form said my birthday was 3-14-63 and another form said my birthday was 3-14-62. This could pose a potential problem if the folks at the Consulate notice the error tomorrow. We need to pray that they won’t see it.
G’night all. Only 4 more days and we’ll be home! Woohoo!!
Doug (and Carmi and Eliana)
Hello Everybody!
This was our last full day in Changsha. I can’t say that I’m disappointed even though we have certainly seen some interesting sights. Lemme see - what did we do today?
Started as it has every morning for the last few days. Carmi got up at 7:00 and I followed about 15 minutes later. While Carmi was getting ready, I got Little Empress up, changed her diaper, dressed her and then fed her. We headed to breakfast around 9:15. While Carmi and I were eating, Winnie brought a lady from the laundromat to our room and picked up our load of dirty clothes while the cleaning ladies had the room open. We were finished eating and ready to go by 10:15.
This morning, Winne took us to the Hunan Embroidery Museum. Embroidery from the Hunan Province has won many awards and the Museum showed wonderful samples from many years past. Showcased in this museum was the embroidered face of President Roosevelt. Winnie said there are only 2 of these embroideries in existence. One is in America and we were looking at the other one. In the same building is an embroidery factory. There were probably 12 women lining each side of this large room as we walked in. Each woman was hunched over a worktable and involved in painstaking artwork. One lady, for example, was embroidering the face of a tiger. Winnie told us that it would take this woman 1 month to do the eyes alone because of the detail. Now THAT is patience! There were also some shops in the building that sold embroidery. The embroideries ranged in size from maybe 4” x 6” to some that were probably 6’ high and 10’ wide.
Carmi wanted to get pictures of automotive repair shops in China to show at work. Leaving the museum, Winnie took us by some and then she and Carmi jumped out to get snapshots. I stayed in the bus because Little Empress had fallen asleep and I didn’t want to disturb her.
For lunch, we went to McDonalds!!! Hey, believe it or not, Carmi and I were tickled pink!!! This was a great treat for us and we savored every delicious bite of that hamburger and fries and apple pie. Actually Carmi had a pineapple pie because I got the last apple pie.
We needed another baby bottle, bag of diapers and kleenexes so Winnie let us run into a store before going back to the hotel. While in the store, Carmi was drawn mysteriously to a big rack of pocketbooks. She couldn’t get the first pocketbook she saw that she liked because Winnie said it was a MAN’S pocketbook! Evidently, men in China carry pocketbooks much like a briefcase. Whatever.
I must say that I was quite proud of my wife. She saw another pocketbook she really, really liked (I could tell because she played with it for about 10 minutes) but she quickly put it down when she noticed the price tag. I keep trying to tell her that she needs to look at that little tag FIRST and then she won’t be so disappointed.
Back at the hotel, Winnie told us that she would get Eliana’s passport at the Civil Affairs office this afternoon and bring to our room later. Meanwhile, it was nap time for Dad and Little Empress while Mom went to the business center to check email.
At 4:45, Winnie calls and says that she can’t get the baby’s passport today. Evidently there was some computer problem that prevented them from having it ready this afternoon. Winnie assured us that this won’t be a problem and that she’ll just go by first thing in the morning (around 7:00) and pick it up.
Winnie still came up to our room at 5:15 because she had paperwork to bring us that we will need in Guangzhou. Carmi left with her because they were going to run to another pocketbook store just down the street from the hotel. For some reason, I had a really uneasy feeling about this trip. The Big Empress returns a short time later with a bag and a sheepish look on her face. “But honey, they gave me a deal!”
Between 6:00 and 6:30, the laundry lady came to our room bearing many clean gifts. Fortunately for us, this laundry bill wasn’t quite as large as the first one earlier in the week.
Off to dinner around 6:45. While there, we saw quite a few new couples with little babies. There must have been a group that just arrived - probably today.
We came back to the room and gave Eliana a bath before I headed up to the Business Center. We need to pack up our “stuff” and get to bed earlier tonight because we have a much earlier start tomorrow. Lord willing, we leave the hotel at 8:30 in the morning to head to the airport for our 10:00 am flight to Guangzhou. The plane should land at 11:05 am where the final leg of our great Chinese adventure begins.
Love to all!
Doug (and Carmi and Eliana)
Well, one more day less till we get to come home! We are so looking forward to that. Let me tell you this first-time parenting thing is not easy to do in a hotel. It will be so nice to be home with all our familiar things and not living out of a suitcase regardless of how nice the hotel is.
I think that we are fortunate that we are the only couple traveling because we have been eating at the �western� restaurant of this hotel twice a day. Always for breakfast and supper. Lunch is always Chinese. They call it western. However, it is like no western that you or I have ever seen. Let me give you a sampling of what we had for supper on the buffet: oxtail, snake, baby squid�Now, I am sure these would be just fine if I was used to eating them. I satisfied myself with the usual fried rice (breakfast, lunch and supper), lamb meat on a kebob, fried potatoes and I tried some steamed clams. Not too bad. We always have lots of fruit, mostly canned except for the watermelon, grapes and cantalope. In Beijing, we only had western-style breakfast and in Guangzhou this will probably continue.
Today we got up nice and early (Eliana slept through the night again). After breakfast, we met Winnie at 10:00 to go to church. We drove for about 15 minutes maybe and came to a rather poor part of Changsha. We saw the church but after parking the bus near what we thought was the entrance, we found we had to walk around the block to get in. This was a Catholic church and of course we are not used to that and did not know when they would have mass. Unfortunately for us, the mass was earlier in the day. When we finally found the entrance to get in, a little grandmother lady was sitting in a sort of courtyard area talking with another old lady. They both petted and made over Eliana and said what a lucky baby she was. They took into the sanctuary and we did get to pray. The little grandmother who showed us the way had the key to let us in and she prayed too. I was really hopeful to attend a service of some sort�oh well. Winnie had many questions about our beliefs and what the meaning of some words like �amen� were.
Since we could not go to church, we decided to go to a big park that they have here in Changsha. I don�t know the name of the park but it was really neat. There was no entrance fee. In the middle of the park was a tower which was a memorial for all the heros of Hunan province. We walked around the outside of the park looking at all the people. Lots of families came with children. They were sitting on blankets and playing. One little boy who looked to be 2-3 years old was playing soccer in his little split-bottom pants. He was really good! I took a picture of him and hope it comes out. There is a part of the park that has rides that you pay to go on. There is also a lake and boats you can ride out on. At the end of our visit, we walked up to the memorial to have a look. All the time in the park, Doug was carrying Eliana in the little pack thing where she could look out. She likes this much better than the stroller because she is up! Lots of people came up to talk to us. Winnie says we are like �superstars�. One lady made the comment, �Why would someone want to give away such a healthy baby�? We said we don�t know but we are blessed to have her! By this time it was after 12:00 and past time for miss Eliana to have her lunch.
It was back to the hotel for a quick diaper change and to get a bottle. We bought one yesterday and were hoping she would take formula from this one. She did! Yeah! We ate at a Chinese restaurant that is very near the hotel, about a one-minute walk. The lunch was pretty good. We had some kind of fish that I never did find out exactly what kind it was, but I ate it anyway. After lunch, it was back to the hotel for nap time!
After nap time, we met Winnie at 3:30 to go for a drive to the country. This was very interesting. It did not seem like we really went outside the city but suddenly we started seeing garden patches and fishing ponds. Winnie told us that many peasants moved from the area surrounding Changsha to the city to make more money. We saw many people tending the gardens that grew everything from vegetables for the families to trees that would be purchased by the big hotels for decoration. We also saw coal bricks and cement block being loaded for transport. On the way back, we stopped to take some pictures. I got out at one point to take pictures of a duck pond and there were two women, one holding a baby, and three little girls. They were all very interested in me since I am sure they don�t see many foreigners! I took some pictures and hope they come out since the girls were sooo cute! Eliana slept through the whole ride.
Well then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We gave Eliana a little snack before supper hoping that would be better tasting to her than all the rice stuff she has been eating. She had chicken and vegetables. Smelled gross to me but she seemed to like it. Speaking of Eliana, I need to get back to the room. It�s 9:00 pm and that means bath, last snack and bed for the Little Empress. This is what the Chinese call a spoiled child and we have been teasing that she is already turning into a Little Empress!
Hope you�ll all have a good evening and we�ll write again tomorrow.
Carmi (and Doug and Eliana)
Today has been a much better day. Friday was just yucky because it was rainy and we were pretty much stuck in the hotel room all day. This morning, we woke up and actually saw sunshine for the first time!!!
Our alarm clock went off at 7:00 but we were bad and didn�t get up until 7:30. Eliana slept through the night again. The alarm clock didn�t even cause her to stir.
This morning, Winnie took us to a University that dates back more than 1000 years. Eliana had dozed off during the bus ride and was sleeping in the stroller as I pushed her around. She was sleeping in such a way that her head was drooping and her chin touching her chest. Well, well�we came upon these two older Chinese ladies who looked like grandmothers who just didn�t think that was good for her at all. They were frowning and pointing and mumbling and Winnie eavesdropped to let us know what they were saying. We straightened the baby up a little and got their nod of approval before continuing our tour.
Went to lunch at the hotel and little Miss Eliana just wasn�t going to have anything to do with anything. She squirmed and whined and cried and had just determined in her little mind that she wasn�t going to be happy. I took her back to our room and laid her down in the crib and she was out like a light in only a couple of minutes. Carmi came back to the room a few minutes later and had a carry-out box with french fries in it for me and that was the extent of my lunch. Doug wasn�t a happy camper but at least it was quiet!
At 3:00, we met Winnie and walked to a huge store called The Friendship Store which is only a few blocks from the hotel. It was sooooo nice to be outside! Carmi bought Eliana some clothes, toys and baby food and we bought ourselves some bottled water and CHOCOLATE!!! We walked by a shelf of M&M�s and I was just like a divining rod being drawn to water. BOING!!! Couldn�t pull away until we loaded down with some M&M�s (plain AND peanut) and Dove chocolates and Oreos. Oh the shame, the shame�but I�ll feel guilty tomorrow AFTER I eat the chocolate.
Got back to the room around 5:00. At 6:00, Winnie came up and brought 3 Chinese instrumental CDs that she bought for us. We wanted some Chinese music for ourselves but especially for Eliana because we thought it would be soothing to her once we return home.
The baby was getting quite restless so we laid her in the crib around 6:15 and let her catch a power nap until 6:45 when it was time to go to dinner. Eliana has usually been pretty good at dinner time but tonight she was a little whiney so I thought she might need to be changed. I ran her back up to the room, pulled down and diaper and BADDA-BOOM�lo and behold�there is poopy #3. Would you believe she laughed when I pulled the diaper down?!?
I probably give a little more information than anybody needs to know but let me just tell you�this child has some gas! There were actually a couple of other times today that I sniffed her behind and just knew that she had a dirty diaper only to find nothing. God has a wonderful sense of humor.
Tomorrow should be an interesting day as Winnie says she found us a Christian church to attend. Carmi will probably be sending the email update tomorrow night so she�ll tell you all about it.
Love to you all! We miss everybody very much.
Doug (and Carmi and Eliana)
Carmi told me that she asked everyone in her email from last night to pray that Eliana would poop. Well�you can stop! God must have been reading her email as she typed. While Carmi was in the Business Center, Eliana presented Daddy with a little present and I changed the stinky diaper all by myself! Who�s da man, huh? Who�s da man?!? The baby did another one today and I let Carmi share in the joy.
Let�s see�what did we do today�
Eliana slept through the whole night again and we woke her up at 7:00. We headed down to the lobby to meet Winnie around 9:30. This morning she took us to a kindergarden called �Noble Cradle�. One of the interesting things Winnie told us was that the children who attended this school actually lived at the school from Monday through Friday and then went home on weekends. She showed us some of the �dorm� rooms with little beds. Winnie took us into this one large room where all of the children were assembled. There must have been one hundred or more. They were so cute as they sang and danced. A teacher said something to Winnie who comes back to us and says, �The 3 of you are celebrities. They want you up on stage.� Carmi, Eliana and I went up in front of all these children and they sang some songs for us�some in Chinese and some in English. I kept waiting for someone to ask for our autographs but alas it never happened.
The tour of this school was the extent of our day. We left there and went back to the hotel for lunch. Went back to the room and was going to stay there until 3:30 when Winnie would take us to a store to get some much-needed supplies like diapers, wipes, bottled water and rice cereal. Around 2:30, Winnie called and said it was raining out and probably not a good idea to take the baby outside since we were planning on walking. She went to the store for us and then delivered the goods at 4:30. So�we were in the room all afternoon. Carmi did get on the internet for a couple of hours while I stayed with the baby. When she came back, we watched �Last of the Mohicans� on TV. Went to dinner around 6:30 and now here I am while Carmi and Eliana have some quality time together.
The night Eliana was brought to us, I remember looking at her as she lay sleeping in the crib and thinking to myself, �My God, what have we done?�. Now, some 3 days later, I know what we�ve done and I wouldn�t change it for the world. She is so precious�even after throwing an eardrum-blowing tantrum. We look at her in amazement and just melt when she sends a big smile our way. To me, there is already a sense that she recognizes us as her caregivers now and that�s a great feeling.
Well�I think I�ll go back to the room and get some sugar now. I might even steal a kiss from Eliana as well.
Love to all�and we�ll talk to ya� tomorrow!
Doug (and Carmi)
