Happy 70th Birthday Nai Nai (Grandma Penny)

Happy Birthday Grandma Penny! She's known around China as the young Grandma, I just nicknamed her Hot Grandma:) We are so glad she made this trip with us to experience this amazing journey. We love you and Happy birthday!

We are on our way home!!

Today (2-25-09)was our last day in Guangzhou, it’s been an amazing trip but we are ready to get home. We had our last appointment to finalize our adoption, the US Consulate appointment and swearing in ceremony. We packed up everything this afternoon to prepare for an early departure. We can’t wait to get home and for everyone to meet Mia. We will have a very long trip home; we fly to Beijing first where we have a 5 hour layover -UGH! Then head to Chicago and then on to Roanoke, about 24 hours or more of traveling. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and in my own house.
We loved getting all the messages from everyone; they meant so much to us. We are so blessed to have such supportive friends and family and cant wait to see you all very soon!
We love you.

Mommy,Mia and Grandma Penny at the park

Today Grandma Penny,Mia and I spent the day together shopping for the famous Chinese squeaky shoes and playing in the park.Scot had his driver pick him up this morning and headed to work today, so it was just the girls today. We found Mia several pairs of squeaky shoes and she loves them and so do we. I know the dogs will go crazy when she is running around the house in them- they sound just like a squeaky toy-so cute and you always know where your child is. We met a lot of the locals in the park and had a great time talking with them and playing with the other children. The other ladies would talk to Mia in Chinese, I could tell she understood them but was shy to respond. She is picking up english,she understands more and more each day what we are saying and she has started to say a few words now like "Momma", this took my breathe away and melted my heart all at once:) she now waves and says "Hi" she just started that today and it's only been a week.We went back to the hotel to rest before Dad came home from work to meet us for dinner. Penny and I played with Mia in the room,she loves hiding behind the furniture and having us call out-where's Mia? and then she pops out from behind the chair laughing. She's just so sweet:)
We met Dad at the park tonight and walked to the restaurant for dinner and then headed back to the hotel for bed-Mia had a big day today and we were all so tired.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Today is Scot's Birthday so his favorite girls will be taking him out tonight to celebrate. We are also amazed that it has been a week today since Mia came into our lives-What a blessing and gift she is for us...

We are loving Guangzhou!

We flew into Guangzhou the afternoon of the 20th and WOW what a difference from Nanchang:) This is like a vacation now, there are beautiful parks,you can hear the bird chirping and its warm! its just a leisurely place to walk,the side walks aren't covered with people and we can walk around with out worrying about all the people and the crazy driving.
We started our day (Feb.21st) with breakfast at the hotel and then waited for our guide Bob to come to our room to do paperwork for the US consulate. We then headed to get Mia's passport photo and then to have her medical exam, she did so well-we were so proud of her. She now weighs 24.3 lbs.! After we finished all official work we went shopping at a local mall, Penny and I had a great time shopping and Bob,Scot and Mia were good sports. We loaded up and headed back to get lunch at Lucy's restaurant, we had a good ole American lunch-hamburger and fries! the rest of the day we just strolled around town sight seeing and checking out all the great parks. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant last night that was great-Mia loved it too, she loved looking at all the other babies there and she would get so excited she would giggle and scream with excitement. She is such a happy little girl now.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went through the parks, the parks really come alive in the evening with families and lots of kids out playing and learning the traditional dances. They even had a group of kids learning a dance with swords, even little one's were doing this. We are really enjoying ourselves here and I know Mia is too.

Out walking with the locals in Nanchang

We had a nice leisurely day today. We had a good time seeing how the locals live, we are just glad to be heading to Guangzhou tomorrow-it should be a nicer area and warmer:). Mia has been so great today,she has so much personality now and is so loving with us, I'm loving every minute of it!

We are so in love!

Mia is doing so well adjusting, we are just so in love with her. Everyday her heart softens and she lets us in a little at a time, if she could only know how she has filled our hearts. She is so smart and very observant of what is going on around her. Her appetite is getting better everyday-thank goodness, she is so skinny. When we first got Mia she had on 3 pairs of pants, 4 sweaters and a big jacket –which were all soaking wet from her sweat. When we got her to our room and got all her clothes off it was shocking to see how skinny she was. We had hoped that they were feeding her more than the last update we had gotten 5 months ago but the paperwork we got listed she was eating pretty much the same things-rice, rice milk, biscuits… no mention of meat and vegetables. We have found that she loves chicken, bananas, apples and well just about anything we have her sleeping in our bed with us for bonding and it’s wonderful and wouldn’t have it any other way!She is sleeping better now, last night we all had a great nights sleep-yahoo! We had a great day today shopping on the walking street and we went to a beautiful local park where the locals practice tai-chi and fan dances, it’s great to watch. My absolute favorite thing about today is hearing Mia’s big laugh- it’s so cute!

WE HAVE MIA!!!

We have Mia! She is so beautiful and such a sweet heart. She was brought to us at the hotel at 5pm on the 15th,she was scared and didn't show much emotion-our hearts were heavy that night just thinking about what she was going through. We pray that her heart is comforted through this transition.
Our first night we all had little sleep, Mia fought going to sleep and we were there comforting her. She finally fell asleep around 5am and slept til 8:30am,we hated waking her up but we had appointments for adoption paperwork all morning starting at 9am (Feb.16th. After a full day-Mia was ready for bed, she went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 6am! Of,course we would wake up and just watch her sleep. When she woke up she was such a happy little girl:)
Mia is getting a little more comfortable and a little more trusting of us, we keep seeing a little more personality as the day goes on. She is just an amazing little girl that just needs a lot of love affection. Everyday is just a new adventure with Mia.

We are in Beijing!!

We made it! Our flight got in yesterday (Feb.12th) at 4:30pm , it was such a long flight-no big deal to Scot but Penny and I were beat.
We came back to the hotel and had a little something to eat and went to bed by 9:30pm((9:30am in US) we were so tired but it was hard making our selves sleep,it will take a while to get use to this time change. Im using the free internet in the lobby so I wont be able to post pictures until we get to the Hotel in Nanchang-too expensive here. Hope everyone is well and I will post again soon, we are going on our Beijing Tour today,we have a 12 hour day of touring so I will have plenty to post later.

Beijing Tour- Day 1

TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, Lunch at a local family's house, Hutong Rick Shaw. Dinner. Acrobatics show.

Beijing Tour-Day 2

Great Wall, Lunch at the enamel market,Jade market, Summer Palace. Dinner.

Here we go!!!!!!!!!

We are leaving for China this morning and we are so excited to finally have our little Mia. I don't think I slept much last night, I kept having those dreams that you have forgotten something:( I know I have packed the most important things (all the paperwork) so if I forget clothes or something,well, you can buy it in China!

Trip Itinerary

Feb.11:Leave for China! fly from Roanoke to Chicago,then to Beijing.
Feb. 12: Arrival Beijing with UA851 at 4:25pm. Upon arrival, guide will pick you up and transfer you to Novotel Peace Hotel. Rest for the day.
Feb. 13: Breakfast at hotel. TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, Lunch at a local family's house, Hutong Rick Shaw. Dinner. Acrobatics show.
Feb. 14: Breakfast at hotel. Great Wall, Lunch, Summer Palace. Dinner.
Feb. 15: CA1511 at 10:55am to Nanchang, arrive Nanchang at 1pm. Upon arrival, guide will pick you up and transfer you to Gloria Plaza Hotel. Gotcha at 5pm. Gotcha is when we get Mia!!
Feb. 16, 17, 18, 19: Paper works days. During these days, your guide will help you to finish all the China side paper works and make sure child's Chinese passport ready on time. If you would like to do some local tours or want to visit orphanage, please work it out with your guide and pay your guide for the expenses.
Feb. 20: Passport ready. Taking CZ3536 at 3:20pm to Guangzhou, get into Guangzhou at 4:40pm. Upon arrival, guide picks up and transfers to Victory Hotel.
Feb. 21, 22: Free.(we might try to visit Scots business)
Feb. 23: Medical check.
Feb. 24: Consulate Appointment at 9am.
Feb. 25: Around 2pm, your guide will take you to Consulate for Swearing In Ceremony. Your child's American visa will be ready around 4:30pm.
Feb. 26: CZ345 at 10am to Beijing, then take UA850 at 5:20pm back to States. We should be back in Roanoke by 10pm.