Last Day in Wuhan

Not much to say about yesterday except that we spent alot of time in the airport. Due to the trip to the orphanage, Alisha was so tired yesterday morning, that after we woke her, got her ready, she was ready to go back to sleep. I stayed in the room with her and Jerry and Michael headed to the notary and back to Civil Affairs Office for her passport. Unfortunately, Alisha's passport had a mistake on it but the correction was made quickly and we were set to go.

Upon arriving at the airport, we found a ton of delays due to early morning fog. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30 and we finally left about 7pm. At this airport, they will not let you check in until they know your plane is coming. So we sat in the cold front part of the airport for about 4 hours with all of our baggage. CRAZY! Finally, they let us check in and we could go upstairs to our gate. Once up at the gate, they don't have times up at the gates. They call your plane and everyone runs to the gate to get on the bus that takes you to the plane. I was walking Alisha around the airport to keep her busy and we almost missed the bus.

The delay was long and hard on all of us but Alisha did GREAT! We were so proud of her. She spent a lot of time in her snugglie and I did a ton of laps around the airport. Jerry tried to get her to sleep for a nap but all she took was a half hour power nap. She did another power nap on the plane, but our little girl wants to check it all out. She doesn't miss a thing. That being said, she was good on the plane. We are hoping that she will continue to be a good traveler as we still have our marathon flight home with her on Wednesday.

We finally got checked in to the White Swan Hotel around 9:30. We thought she would go straight to sleep, but she had other ideas and it was play time. Finally around 11 she fell asleep and Jerry and I did too.

We have her medical exam this morning and then we will check out the hotel and town. We decided to do our own thing today instead of scheduling anything, so we can try and get Alisha back on her schedule.

Alisha's Orphanage

We were out the door bright and early this morning to travel to Qichun to visit Alisha's orphanage. It was a 3 hour ride from Wuhan. Alisha did great. Remember, there are no car seats in China, so she played on our laps and even napped a bit. Of course, the Cheerios and Gerbers are still a big hit!

Once we got off the highway, we started to see a different China than the other 2 cities. We were on dirt roads through a lot of farming communities. We even saw a farmer using an Ox to pull a tractor and to Jerry's surprise he was talking on a cell phone while working.

After being with Alisha for a few days, I was torn about taking Alisha away from the only family she has known, her home, country and culture. Once I saw the Qichun village, I realized that we truly are doing what is best for her. The village itself is very small with a school, some buildings and a few stores. Everything seemed very old and not very structurally sound (if you know what I mean).

We arrived at the orphanage and met the orphanage director, the director of children and the head nanny. They were very nice and told us the history of the orphanage. It was established in the 1950's. Presently 40 children are connected to the orphanage but all of them live with foster families. All of the foster families work for the orphanage. They have a working farm which grows mostly vegatables to feed the children and the foster families. Most of the children are adopted internationally and the few that remain have severe disabilities and will stay with their foster families for most of their lives.

They showed us around the complex which consisted of a few baby rooms, a medical clinic and offices. It was very chilly and the complex has no heat. They were concerned that Alisha was cold. Of course she was cold, we all were cold.

After the tour, we headed to Alisha's finding spot. For me, this was the hardest part of our trip. But Jerry and I knew this was something we needed to do. Alisha was left at the gate of a middle school not far from the orphanage. The nanny said there are some small hospitals in the area where she probably gave birth. I stood there for a long time taking it all in. I wanted to always remember that spot so that we could share our feelings with Alisha when she gets older.

Upon our return to the orphanage, they had a lunch prepared in their dining room. Each day the orphanage workers have lunch together. The meal was good and it consisted of many vegetables they grow on their land. They had a special egg made for Alisha which she loved.

We headed back to Wuhan and before coming back to the hotel we stopped at the Civil Affairs Office to pick up our official Adoption Certificate. Although, we already know Alisha is our little girl, it was overwhelming to see it in print including her new name. All that needs to be done tomorrow is to get Alisha's passport and we are headed to Guangzhou to fulfill our final US requirements (yes, more paperwork).

It was an emotional day for all of us. We are thankful to the person who found Alisha, the orphanage staff for taking her in and her wonderful foster family for loving her and taking such amazing care of her this past year. We also want to send a BIG thank you to Diana at Madison Adoption Agency who was our guiding angel through this journey.

Thank you to everyone who has posted comments. This journey has taken us far away from all of our friends and family. It helps to know you are all following along with us. Keep the comments coming!

Another Day in Wuhan

We are really enjoying our little girl. She is showing more of her personality everyday. Today was a great day, as we really bonded with her. We started off the morning by going back to the Civil Affairs Office to confirm that information on the Adoption Certificate was correct. It was a very brief visit since the other families were coming later, we did not have to go to the notary as planned. We planned on going to visit a park today but the weather got cold and overcast. So we spent the day, getting to know Alisha better and trying to get her back on her schedule. After sleeping for over 12 hours last night, she still took both of her naps.

After her morning nap we grabbed lunch and then took her shopping . To Jerry's dismay she loved it! I will finally have a shopping partner in our family. She loves being out and about and checks everything out. However, getting back to the room is another story. As soon as we walk into our room, she has a meltdown. They are getting a bit shorter, but she really likes to tell us how she feels.

Tonight, we took her out to her first real restaurant. She was GREAT! She sat in the high chair and loved playing with her food. She likes almost everything we gave her but her favorite are the noodles (as you can see from the picture). I call her my little bird. Whenever, we have food for her, she opens her mouth like a baby bird to be fed. It makes me laugh every time.

She has already fallen in love with her Daddy. She will come to me but she prefers her Daddy when she is scared and crying. I am hopeful that each day will get easier and she will learn to let us be there for her. Who can blame her, her whole world changed in an instant. It is a process and we can take each day as it comes.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We are headed out early to visit the orphanage and see her finding spot. Friday, we will have all of our paperwork completed and will be headed to Guangzhou for the final leg of our journey.

Adoption Day

Today, we headed back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete the paperwork to adopt Alisha. The process is pretty simple; after taking our family picture they asked us several questions including do we still want to adopt Alisha. Before we were finished, we had to put our fingerprint in red over our signature on the papers and we had to have Alisha put her footprint in red on the paperwork also. Kind of cool that we have a copy of that to bring home with us. After the paperwork, Jerry went to the bank to deposit our adoption fee. Because we are giving them US Dollars, this part takes awhile. While I waited for him back at the office, I was able to talk to the other 3 families that were also adopting special needs children. They are all amazing families and each has their own story to tell.

With all the stress of yesterday and going to sleep so late last night (Jerry finally got her to sleep around 10pm), Alisha was exhausted. I got her to nap in my arms for about 1/2 hour at the Civil Affairs office.

After lunch, she took a long nap and we were off to see the famous Yellow Crane Tower. It was beautiful and Alisha seemed to be the star of the day. There was a bunch of Chinese tourist who kept trying to talk to us and even asked for a picture of them with Jerry and Alisha.

Upon getting back from the tower, Alisha took a long nap. She is now up with Jerry in bed eating Cheerios. She still clings to Jerry more when she is crying. He seems to have the special touch.

Our little girl is amazing and we are learning more about her such as:

• She doesn't like it when we change her clothes or her diaper and lets us know about it.


• Her favorite toys are the lids to her bottles or the blue Gerber Graduate canister


• She scrunches up her face before she cries, smiles or laughs


• She loves her binky and won't let it out of her sight. The Nanny told us that she uses her binky to comfort herself and they even tied a string around it for her. Just in case, I am headed to the store tomorrow to buy a duplicate. We want to keep her as content as possible while we are in China.

I spoke to soon... Alisha is having a meltdown and we are not having a lot of success calming her down. Hopefully, she is just tired and Jerry can get her to sleep soon.

We had a hard time posting pictures today, hopefully more tomorrow.

Alisha Day

What an amazing day. We have finally met our little girl and she is breathtaking beautiful!!

The day started early for me as I could not sleep and was up at 3:30am. We left the hotel at 9:30 and as soon as we got to the Civil Affairs Office she was there waiting for us. I just stood there and stared at her until her Nanny finally handed her to me. Usually, the children are in another room until after you complete your paperwork. (Yes, more paperwork!!!) So unfortunatley, the Nanny took Alisha back until we finished up. Alisha is temporarily given to us overnight and we come back tomorrow for the final adoption process and officially become a family.

Alisha was brought to Wuhan from her village with the head Nanny from her orphanage, so we did not meet her foster parents. The Nanny shared a few tidbits about our little one. They also gave us a photo album of pictures of Alisha from her first year. Since we will never know much about her life in China, this book is a true treasure to us and someday to Alisha.

Unfortunately, Alisha is having a hard day. She is so off her schedule. They woke her at 4am this morning to make the journey to Wuhan, which is over 3 hours from her home. So, you can only imagine how scared she is right now. Another thing we found is that our little girl has a BIG set of lungs. Jerry has been the true champ today and has the golden touch. He has been able to calm her down and if that doesn't work she loves Cheerios and Gerber Graduates.

After arriving back at the hotel and getting her out of her travel clothes, we went for a short walk to McD's for lunch. We assume this was her first taste of fast food and LOVED the fries (who doesn't). After lunch we realized we needed more supplies and made another trip out to the supermarket. Alisha loved the walks and her snugglie and she takes everything in and loves touching and checking everything out.

We wanted to play with her back at the hotel, but she totally lost it when we got back to the room. We finally got her down to sleep (once again, Jerry has the golden touch). Not sure how long her yelling spells will last, but we will take it as it comes.

We are just so overjoyed and in love with our little girl. She is gorgeous and such a little one. Her updated medical information says she is 9kg or 19lbs but I doubt that is true. Her finger doesn't seem so bad, but we will wait and see what the doctors have to say about it when we get home.

Wuhan

We left Beijing this morning and took our first Chinese flight to Wuhan Thankfully it was a short flight, because the seats are very tight. I think if Jerry was any bigger he would not have fit in the plane seat. We were amazed how crammed you were on the airplane. Talk about a cattle car.

Upon arriving in Wuhan we met up with our facilitator Michael at the airport. After a long drive from the airport, we finally got to our hotel. Hard to believe but traffic in China may be worse than NY traffic. We got settled into our room and walked around a bit. Wuhan is a big city (about 5 million people) but much different from Beijing. Beijing is very cosmopolitian and Wuhan is more of an Industrial city. I don't think they get alot of Americian visitors. We get stared out no matter where we go. So far, we have not met alot of people who speak English. Then again its only our first afternoon in the city.

The good news is we meet Alisha at 10am tomorrow morning (that's Sunday at 9pm in Delaware). We also found out that they have arranged for us to go to her Orphanage on Thursday. We are not sure if we will meet her foster parents but it will be nice to see where she has been living. I am going to see if we can also go to her finding place. All memories, Jerry and I want to be able to share with Alisha when she gets older.

Can't wait to meet our little girl tomorrow. Our dream is only a day away!

Another Day in Beijing

Another great day in Beijing. We decided to sleep in this morning and try and get over some of our jet lag. Although there is so much we want to see in Beijing, we really want to get on China time before we meet Alisha.

After a leisurely morning, we went down the street to the Forbidden City and Tannimen Square. Forbidden City was beautiful and so full of history. We walked through some beautiful gardens and walked around the square. After our long afternoon checking out the sights, we had some relaxing time at the hotel pool. It is in the basement of the hotel and its like you are on a tropical island. So relaxing, that Jerry and I both took a quick nap before dinner.

We wish we could have seen more of this wonderful city but we are off tomorrow to Wuhan and finally meet Alisha on Monday.