We're home, totally exhausted

Where to begin since our last post?? I guess I'll start where we left off -- Friday in Guangzhou. We woke up to the dreariest, rainiest, foggiest morning in 10 days and went down to have our last (thankfully) breakfast at the big 'ol buffet. Afterwards, Melissa, Henry, Mae and I took a cab back to the department store we visited earlier during our stay to get a couple things we still needed, as well as a promised toy for Henry. It was actually quite enjoyable -- much less crazy than the first time we went. Afterwards, we got fries and drinks at a MacDonald's in the store, and then ventured outside to a street vendor to buy a needed suitcase. Outside, we saw some apparent department store security guard trainees getting briefed by their boss, all lined up military style. Hopped a cab back to the hotel and began packing while Mel went back out with Mae for last minute gifts and Val and Henry played with Henry's new toy. Then Melissa, Mae and I took a bus with the rest of the adopting families clear across the city (45 minutes away, and still in a huge, gleaming, skyscraper-filled part of the city) to finalize our adoption of Mae at the American Consulate's office. While we were there, a nice guy who was part of our group and who was there with his wife adopting their second daughter described some sobering facts to us: 200,000 to 300,000 babies, mostly girls, become orphans each year in China. Only 10 to 20 percent of them are adopted each year. So many families in our group were returning for their second daughters and we were able to see first-hand what their beautiful 5 and 6 year-old first daughters had become. Incredibly bright, funny, perfectly well-adjusted little American girls. It's really eye opening when you think about these facts. So easy to see why it is so difficult to NOT return to China to bring home another miracle. Said goodbyes afterwards to most of the families who had to take a bus to Hong Kong for their departure, and then three families, including us, took our own hotel shuttle back to the hotel in the dreariness at around 5:30. The rest of the evening and night consisted of pizza and ravioli take out from Danny's Bagels, packing, packing, and more packing, last minute souvenirs and gifts from downstairs at the hotel, and other t-crossing and i-dotting. Got up at 4:45 the next morning (arghhh!!) for a 5:40 bus ride to the Guangzhou airport in the rain. This was the beginning of our travel home day from hell.

At the Guangzhou airport, said goodbye to one of our reps, Maggie, and then everything went smoothly until we had to wait in a creeping, Disney World-like winding line in an under-air-conditioned room that smelled like paint remover. We had an 8:25 flight to catch and this made us really pushed for time. So, we had to hightail it to our gate, dragging all our pounds and pounds of carry-on luggage to the gate while also pushing a stroller. It seemed like it couldn't possibly be any farther. We checked the stroller at the gate (to never see it again -- seriously), got on the plane with all our gear (and a baby this time, for the first time!), then proceeded to wait on the plane for at least an hour because of the foul weather in Hong Kong. We finally took off and the ride, although a bit turbulent, was pretty uneventful, considering it was Mae's first plane trip ever, until we arrived in Hong Kong airspace. A monsoon, more or less, was in full bore. The plane taxied, then stopped, about two hundred feet from the terminal. Everybody immediately took their seatbelts off and stood up and got their carry-ons. Then everybody waited. And waited. And waited. Mae started crying. We looked outside and the rain was blowing sideways. Melissa said a shuttle bus had just pulled up along side the plane. It was excruciating. Then, almost unbelievably, the crew began passing out clear plastic disposable rain parkas!! They were going to have us descend the stairs of the plane, into the monsoon, carrying all our carry-ons, babies, etc., to get in the waiting shuttle bus! What a nightmare. Why couldn't the plane stop at a terminal gate, I asked, but got no answer. Due to the huge winds, rain came in to the plane, rain parkas blew off the second we stepped onto the staircase, and we all ended up soaked. When we finally got on the shuttle bus and were taken to the terminal, a Continental person was waiting for us to usher us, at lightspeed, with all our stuff, through the Hong Kong airport to the Continental ticket counter, and then even faster to the gate for our next flight. Second flight of the day, second time running through the airport, sweating like mad. We had thought we'd have at least an hour at the Hong Kong airport to get a drink and relax. Boy were we wrong. I and my carry-ons got checked three times as we negotiated the Hong Kong airport, the last time halfway down the plane's gate tunnel. I don't know what the problem was -- maybe I was sweating too much and they were all suspicious. We finally got on the plane with no time to spare, and began our 14.5 hour long flight. The flight to Newark from Hong Kong was only slightly bearable, as this time, we had to endure it holding a baby (and again in the ridiculously tight economy seats). It was cool looking out the window at one point of the flight -- it was like a perpetual sunset or sunrise on the horizon -- I'm not sure which since we were looking north somewhere over Alaska. Really gorgeous. Mae was really great on the flghts (but was obviously very uncomfortable anytime we landed -- most likely from the pressure in her ears, what with a cold she had developed and all), and amazing Henry slept for more than half of the flight. Speaking of Henry, he was really, truly great during this adventure of ours. It's easy to expect a lot from a kid and forget that he just turned 5. Like any 5 year old, he had a few moments, but there were only a few, and we just had to remember that he was 6000 miles outside his comfort zone, jet lagged, and doing stuff many adults would themselves get tired of doing. We are very lucky to have him. He took to Mae immediately and she to him. So, back to the trip. We landed in Newark, not a moment too soon, and negotiated our way to immigration and customs no problem. Mae became an American citizen when the plane's wheels touched the ground. Because our bags had to clear customs, they were removed and we had to get them and then recheck them. We thought we'd have like 2 hours in Newark to take a breath, get some sodas, etc., but NOOOO. Instead, we spent over an hour waiting for one of our 5 checked bags to show up on the luggage carousel, to no avail. Come to find out, some of the bags back in Hong Kong never made the flight. We wouldn't know if ours was one of them until we arrived in Raleigh (it was, and we've since retrieved it from the Raleigh airport). So, by this time, we were about late for our flight home to Raleigh and now had to hightail it, yet again, for the third and final time to make a flight. 3 flights, 3 times pouring sweat as we bumped our way down the plane's aisle to our seats. Melissa had been dreaming all day about our stop in Newark, freshening up, a Diet Coke with actual ice, maybe a bagel. It took all of her willpower not to jump the man who boarded the plane in front of us carrying a huge Starbucks bag. Anyhow, we must have had a wicked tailwind from Newark to Raleigh because we made spectactular time and arrived a half hour early. Finally home!! As we descended down the escalators to the baggage claim area, we saw the massive welcoming committee for Mae, made up of our family and friends. What a great sight to behold, signs, balloons and all!. After a while trying to figure out where our last bag was (and one of Val's, which didn't make it from Newark to Raleigh), we piled into the cars and made the long awaited drive back home. Three very, very, very tiring days later, I'm just now getting to writing up this last post. It's been hard since we've been home, with way too little sleep being had by all (and for Melissa, on top of a bad cold she picked up a day before we left), but things will of course get much better. Melissa and I got to bed at 12 am on Saturday night, and Henry and I were up at 3:30 (for good), watching a Best of Country Music infomercial. The next night, we got to bed at 1 am and were awoken (again, for good) by Mae at 3 am. Two nights ago was a little better (relatively speaking), with all three kids in bed asleep by 7:30, Melissa in bed asleep by 8, and me in bed asleep by 8:45. But then Mae was up at 11 (graciously falling back asleep until 5), Charlie was up at 3:30, Henry was up at 4:00 (for good), Melissa was up for an hour or so with Henry, and I was up at 4:45 (for good). Last night was still better, with Henry sleeping from 7:30 to 6:45 straight. Us and Mae, not so much. Everyone but me is asleep now tonight, at 10:30. Hopefully no one will wake up in the 3s, 4s or 5s. I'm not optimistic, though.

Anyway, it's fantastic to be back in the comfort of our own home, with our family complete. We are printing this entire blog out as a journal of our trip. Mae should enjoy having it someday. Sorry for boring you with every last detail, but we want Mae to have every detail we can muster up. So long for now, reality awaits. We'll update sporadically as life soldiers on. Thanks for all your love and support. We are so blessed and lucky.

And here is the last round of pictures -- sorry so many seem the same. We were obviously trying hard to capture good ones. http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/827898/

Mass mayhem

We hung out in the room for a while after breakfast, and then Henry and I again went swimming for a while while Melissa, Mae and Val went out to finish up on the shopping. Then we all went downstairs for the famous "red sofa" pictures. With 17 families, it was total, complete, utter mayhem I tell you!! Almost impossible to get good pictures, but some were actually pulled off. Apparently, 17 is one of the largest groups, if not the largest group that has ever been formed. Mae was a real character -- trying to flip over onto her stomach, etc. Afterwards, a group of us who have become close walked back the 5 blocks or so to the great Thai restaurant we went to as a whole group the other night, called the Cow and Bridge, for a kind of farewell dinner. We all got really great meals again. I didn't order the chicken feet, but I did snap a shot of the delicious looking goose foot that's on the menu (there are pictures of everything in the menu, fortunately). Check it out! Henry sat next to a five year old girl, Georgia, and they seemed to have a great time chatting each other up. One interesting fact we forgot to write about earlier -- getting napkins at sit-down meals around here is like pulling teeth!! You either get nothing, or you get like a wet nap, or you are offered tissues. Not sure what the deal is there. And in Beijing at no less than three restrooms, the attendants would offer like a six foot piece of toilet paper for drying your hands after washing them, all folded up nicely into about a ten inch piece. We would invariably end up walking away picking toilet paper pieces off our still wet hands! As we were about to leave the restaurant tonight, the sky opened up. We waited it out about 10 minutes to no avail, so we made a break for it and all got thouroughly soaked. It was actually kind of fun. Not before a guy at the restaurant offered to walk a group of us back under a patio umbrella that he showed us he would hold. I don't know why we turned him down, but we did. I don't think we all would have fit under the umbrella, even though it was huge. I ended the night by smoking a Cuban cigar outside next to the river, overlooking the city, to celebrate and reflect on all of our children and our now complete family. We feel extremely blessed and fortunate to have these children and for our entire extended family and our friends.

We're off to the U.S. consulate tomorrow to get Mae's visa as the last thing we must do here in China for the adoption. As soon as Mae hits U.S. soil on Saturday (1 day!!), she becomes an American citizen. We'll have to get up at like 4:00 or4:30 am on Saturday morning to go to the Guangzhou airport to catch our flight to Hong Kong, so there may be a very short post tomorrow or no post at all since we'll have to be in bed relatively early (it's 12:33 am now). We'll see.

As for the photos of the day, here they are -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/776559/
Check out the red couch photo of Mae with her legs up in the air; that is her buddy Mya on the left, clearly disgusted with Mae's inappropriate antics! A fun red thread, Melissa and Amy (Mya's mommy), got acquainted through email before travel to China. Once we got here, the two families hit it off immediately and have had so much fun together. When we received the photo album and disposable cameras back from the orphanage, Mya and Mae were side by side in almost all of the shots...clearly forever friends! An explanation is required for another picture -- the one of me acting like a fool was for Henry. Before he went to bed, he set a booby trap for me with a robe belt, a wooden sword, and a stuffed panda. Val promised him she'd take a picture of me getting caught in it. So that's me, caught in the booby trap. Ahhhhh!

Love,

R, M, H & M

Countdown to home begins!

Hi all! I am going to post tonight and Rich will add the picture link in the morning when we get up. We had a little adoption paperwork for me to take care of this morning at 9:30, so Henry and I went to breakfast together a little earlier than normal. "Mommy and Henry time", as he so fondly calls it, is especially nice right now and we had a great time. After the paperwork, Rich, Henry, Mae and I ventured out to the park and got caught in the rain, pretty much a daily occurrence here.

This afternoon we took taxis with our guides, Kathy and Maggie, and several families in our group to the pearl market. We all had a paper with the address written out in Chinese to give the driver and we were all going to meet up at the entrance. Well, the doorman at the hotel only briefly looked at our paper, told the driver where we were going, and we were promptly dropped off at the wrong location. Luckily, we handed the paper to a woman on the street and she pointed us in the right direction. It was not long before we saw Kathy walking in our direction, absolutely worried sick about us. She checked us all over as if we had just been in a car accident and then proceeded to take Henry's hand and lead us all back to the group at warp speed. As we've said before, we are being very well cared for! There is a reason our agency is considered the best!

The pearl market (mostly freshwater) was inside of a 5 or 6 story modern building. Not just pearls, but coral, amber, and many other stones. Not that we saw the other places first hand, as Rich, Henry, Mae and I stayed in one pearl shop the entire time. Valerie did check out a few others. Rich drove a hard bargain with the shop girls, but I left there a happy camper! Bargaining is the name of the game here for almost everything you purchase and Rich is, of course, in his element! The shop partially strung the pearls we purchased while we waited and watched, very cool to see. Henry was surrounded by three of the girls taking pictures of him with their camera phone and then a camcorder! I am wondering if he will show up in Chinese ads at some point!

Tonight we took a dinner cruise on the Pearl River with the entire group and had a great time. The food was awful, but the boat was nice and the scenery spectacular. The city is really beautiful at night and we could not believe how many modern skyscrapers they have. It is a huge city and seems to go on forever. Leaving the boat was quite sad. We were accosted by small children trying to sell us flowers. They were dirty, shoeless, and relentless. Probably all under the age of eight. I couldn't help wondering where they would sleep tonight. Driving back to the hotel and seeing the city at night was thought provoking. What an amazing trip this has been, certainly something we will never forget. None of us can wait to get home, but leaving is going to be bittersweet. We are taking this beautiful girl from her country, a country she will never remember or experience first-hand (at least not on a daily basis). I am trying so hard to live in the moment, take lots of pictures, and write in her journal. I want to be able to tell her about not only the sights, but also the sounds, the smells, and the kindness of the people here.

Speaking of the beautiful Mae, she is doing wonderfully. She is smiling a lot more, still never misses a trick, and is bonding to all of us really well. She has started reaching for Rich and I when the other one of us is holding her, we love that! Just like Charlie, she adores her new big brother. Henry has taken to her as if he has known her forever. Just a few more days and she will get to meet the rest of her family! We can't wait!

I'm the last one up, it's almost 11:30 here. There was just a knock at the door, it was a girl from Lucy's (a shop across the street) with all of our laundry we dropped off this morning. Freshly laundered, pressed, and packaged in cellophane wrappers....all for about 50 cents a piece! Wish we had this service at home!

Rich will add the photo link in the morning....

love and miss you,
melissa

Okay, here are the pictures from yesterday -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/774520/
and here are my 2 cents: The reason I'm barefoot on the stones in a couple of these shots is because those stones are said to be healing stones; if you walk on them barefoot, it supposedly is good for your health. They were formed into a long, winding path, with about 10 yin and yang symbols every 10 feet or so that you walk over. I don't know about their healing powers, but I do know it was torture -- it hurt like crazy! Also, on the way back from the playground/exercise park, we happened across a Chinese movie being made which was pretty interesting. I'm bummed about the buffet last night on the dinner cruise because one of the items was chicken feet and I really wish I had at least grabbed a couple to take a picture of. And I might have even taken a nibble off of one (like a toenail or something) if it was sitting there in front of me. If I have another opportunity, I'll try to remember to snap a shot. They're on like every menu we've seen so far, among all types of intestines, braised pig's neck, ostrich kidney, pig's feet, etc. One of the things I tried on the buffet last night, however, was a tiny little rib that was actually not half bad. Another guy and I were thinking maybe squirrel's rib? Finally, the Chinese character on the shirt Henry's wearing in these pictures means "dragon," which is the sign for the year he was born (2000). We got the shirt when we were at the Great Wall. -- R

A not particularly eventful day

We didn't do much again today. This was the third in a row of what are deemed "free" days, which basically means nothing was planned for us. After breakfast, Melissa, Henry, Mae and I were going to try and take a water taxi across the river to an area our room faces since we see them (the water taxis) going over there constantly, and it looks interesting over yonder, at least in the distance and through binoculars. So we asked the concierge how to get over there and whether it was worth it and he said it's mostly bars and restaurants and there's not much to do during the mornings. Instead, we again walked around the island and did more shopping, then Henry and I spent a glorious and much needed 3 hours at the pool while Melissa did a little more shopping and Mae napped. In the meantime, Val was out exploring part of the city on foot and then took a taxi back. Walked to a Thai restaurant for dinner tonight with almost the whole group of 17 families (with fairly low expectations, given the fact that we're now sick of Chinese food -- actually, here, it's just plain old food), and ended up having the best meal of our trip. Val and I each got the slightly spicy bowl of green curry with prawns (shrimp) and vegetables, Melissa got the pad thai (noodles), and Henry got the baked rice with shrimp. We also got a side of plain ol' garlic bread and the most amazing thing called peanut butter pizza. It was basically very thin pastry with a hint of peanut butter in a glaze on top. Not what we expected but extremely good. Today we had the nicest weather yet after another very humid morning. In the afternoon, the sun came out, the humidity dropped substantially, and a nice breeze rolled in. It made for a really pleasant stroll home after dinner.

Missing Charlie desperately at this point of the trip . . .

Here are today's pictures. Like yesterday, there aren't too many -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/764367/

However, for your viewing pleasure, as an added bonus I finally uploaded all the pictures we took from our very first day after remembering today that I had never done that. So check us out, all fresh-faced and dreamy-eyed -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/710763/

From Guangzhou and until tomorrow,

R, M, H & M

Mr. Popular

Henry is a huge hit in this place. Just check out the chicks surrounding him in this shot. Today was a tad blase (sorry, I don't know how to add the accent-ay whatever to the "e" in "blase" in this blogger thing). We didnt' do much at all, really. Just had our normal massive breakfast, then ventured out into the ridiculous, soup-like humidity to take a walk around Shamian Island -- the small island here in Guangzhou where our hotel is located. However, I had to exchange money at the Bank of China right next to the hotel, and got handed number 68 by the 18 or so year old cop at the front while Melissa, Henry, Mae and Val waited outside in the soup. I looked up and they were at number 49. Half an hour later, I was counting my Yuan as I stepped out onto the sidewalk just as Val was putting up our umbrella to protect against the sky opening up. Great timing. We waited it out a little bit, then began our walk. Stopped into a few shops, talked some of the shop owners down from like $3.50 to like $3.00 for some trinkets, sweat like Bejezus, then just barely made it into Lucy's Cafe for lunch for fish and chips, grilled cheese, noodles, beer and sodas as the next wave of thunderstorms gave the area a good soaking. At Lucy's, we sat next to the nicest young couple from Colorado who talked our ears off. He recently graduated college in the U.S. and now lives a few hours away from here and teaches English. She is finishing up her college degree right now and is Korean, adopted by her parents when she was six months old. She had so many moving things to say to us. It was quite nice talking to them. They're traveling about and are actually going to be going through the city where Mae is from -- Lianjiang -- on their way to a southern China beach and then onto Vietnam. They're going to take pictures for us and email them to us along with a description of Mae's city, so that will be pretty cool to have that. Bopped around the hotel and in our room in the afternoon, then went to a Vietnamese restaurant up the street with two other couples for dinner. It was so-so. We're all looking forward to a nice bowl of Captain Crunch or the like when we get back on U.S. soil. Homesickness set in with everyone today. By the way, check out the pic of the squatter toilet I snapped today. We're all really enjoying those when we're out and about in the city. It's also kind of entertaining when you catch out of the corner of your eye a glimpse of a little kid letting loose on the side of the street (we've seen that happen no less than three times, including one taking care of Number Two with his mom holding him above the bushes on our way to dinner this evening!).

One other thing -- we got some documents today, including Mae's abandonment advertisement. It's a picture of her that was placed in the local newspaper when she was about 3 weeks old with an announcement of her abandonment. It was pretty amazing to see a picture of her that young and to think about the chain of circumstances that have since brought us together.

Okay, I'm going to bed now. Not too many pictures today, but here they are, nonetheless -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/757912/

R

Henry, is that you in there?

Another fun and interesting day! We hit the wholesale market in Guangzhou with our new friends, Amy, Dave, and Mya. We all found a few souvenirs, but the best part was just seeing what goes on around the city on a typical weekend afternoon. We once again drew lots of stares and a few different women wanted to know what we were doing with these beautiful Chinese babies. It seems so strange that they do not realize the number of babies adopted by foreigners every year. Some seem utterly perplexed by the fact that these babies are actually coming home with us. We keep hearing, "beautiful, lucky, lucky baby" everywhere we go. They all love to touch Mae's cheek or hand and try to get a smile.

Henry was quite the hit again today. Many people just want to touch him on the arm or face. They just stop and stare at him. We heard "handsome boy" today several times, but Henry thinks it is getting a little old. We call him the Brad Pitt of China.

We finished the morning at the market with lunch at the Kentucky Fried Chicken! It was a nice change and tasted just like home. The restaurant was packed and the 7 of us made for some nice lunchtime entertainment, as everyone in the restaurant stopped to watch what we were doing. After getting our food, we tried to find seats but there were none to be had. The next thing we knew an employee was trying to make other people get up so that we could take their tables! The poor people were in the middle of eating their meals. Then this cute young couple started waving at us from across the restaurant to come take their table. They were finished but did not want anyone but us to sit there, the woman was so happy when we sat in their seats. Very strange and humbling. We took a taxi back across the city, got into our room, and I realized I didn't have my sunglasses. (Mom, I can hear you laughing all the way in China) I knew they were gone forever, either left at KFC or in the taxi. Rich insisted we go to Maggie and Kathy's room and ask them to help us call the KFC to see if anyone had turned them in. Valerie and I rolled our eyes at him but he persisted and we indulged him. We awoke Maggie from a nap and told her our story. She said she knew which KFC we were talking about and she would call. Two hours later she turned up at our door holding my sunglasses! I couldn't believe it. She had taken a taxi back and picked them up for me when she called and found out they had them. I asked her if this was typical behavior to turn in something valuable if you find it and she said yes. Needless to say, we are in darn good hands here. These women, Maggie and Kathy, are truly special. We were talking with the other families about how they just pitch in wherever they are needed without even being asked. When one of the babies is crying while we are out to eat, they swoop in and take the baby for a stroll. They usually return with a content or sleeping baby! They work non-stop during the day and are available to us around the clock. Valerie has also been a huge help and we are so glad to have her with us.

Tonight we ate with several families in our travel group at a local Cantonese restaurant and had a great dinner. Our amazing reps, Kathy and Maggie, ordered for everyone and we had lots of wonderful food to choose from, about a dozen or so platters of food for our table of 8. The tab, including beer, came to about $8.00 a piece. Oh, and a word about our travel group. What a neat group of people, we are making some friends we will have forever. All of the babies are doing quite well. We have seventeen in all. One 4 year old boy who has captured everyone's heart, 3 toddlers ranging from 17-22 months who are precious, and 13 beautiful babies that are 10 months old. Naturally, the toddlers are having the roughest transition, but it is wonderful to see them coming around. The babies all seem to have blossomed in the last day or two and are such fun to watch. Mae is definitely one of the most mild-mannered of all. She is even-tempered all day long, extremely curious about her surroundings, and a lot of fun. She is bonding well with all of us, although lucky daddy got the first kiss yesterday. She already has him totally wrapped around her little fingers.

By the way, we keep forgetting to mention how #*!@* hot it is here! Do we look a little sweaty in these photos? Well, we have never sweat so much in our lives. We thought we lived were it is pretty darn warm. We will forever refer to this as "Guangzhou hot"!

Our favorite thing to do each night is to read the comments on the blog! Thanks! We wish we could reply from there but it does not give us that capability. Keep 'em coming!

We miss you all and can't wait for you to meet miss mae in person!

Here are the day's pictures -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/751447/

Love,
Melissa and Rich

Blessed by a Buddhist monk

Sorry to not post about our day yesterday -- we were just too darned tired! We may begin posting every other day from here on out, given the amount of time it takes to upload the photos, post the blog and all. It was a really great day. We had a group tour of some areas of Guangzhou, beginning with a Buddhist temple, where the babies got blessed by a monk and where Melissa and Henry were able to burn incense and make a special wish. Then we went to a provincial arts store, where there was a lot of very interesting stuff to buy, from Chinese porcelain (China) to jade pieces, to hanging art, to Shnapps with three whole snakes (including a cobra) curled up at the bottom of the bottle. Not your average tequila with a tiny little worm at the bottom. Then we went to an amazing folk arts museum that was formerly a wealthy person's home (centuries ago). Finally, we had a spectacular traditional Cantonese group lunch, where they put a whole bunch of food on a big 'ol lazy susan in the middle of the table. When we walked out into the street to go to the bus, crowds of people three deep kept surrounding us to check us all out. Every once in a while, you hear someone say in broken english "Lucky baby!" It's really humbling to hear. Pool in the afternoon in between massive lightning storms, then early to bed. Apparently we have a typhoon bearing down upon us today, so we'll see what happens! Here are the day's photos, all 89 of them!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/748916/ Sorry some are sideways, as I didn't have the time to straighten them out.

Love,

Rich, Melissa, Henry and Mae

Shopping and medical exams . . .

Pretty easy day today. Breakfast at the hotel's truly spectacular buffet, then to a Chinese department store by taxi. It's weird being in cars with kids and babies not strapped in to the gills in baby seats, in crazy traffic no less. We cross our fingers and make a few signs of the cross every time we venture out by vehicle. The department store was pretty much like American ones, just more crowded and under air-conditioned. Got a small fold-up stroller and some other stuff, including a toy for Henry, who's been a real trooper throughout this whole adventure. Later, out on the crazy pedestrian street while the locals kept a close eye on us, Melissa bought soft drinks from MacDonalds for herself, Henry and Val, then shortly afterwards realized that each of them had ice in them. Scrunchy faces were made by all. So, the drinks got tossed out after one or two sips, and cans of cold soda were purchased shortly after. They say to beware of drinking the water here, which includes staying away from the ice. Later in the afternoon, walked 10 minutes or so with part of the group in the very hot sun to bring the babies to their scheduled medical exams, and had to wake Mae up from a deep slumber in her stroller for hers. She passed with flying colors, including the ENT part where nurse Grizabella squeezed a sqeaky toy in different directions, choked Mae with a tongue depresser and flashed the light strapped to her head in Mae's eyes. Good Japanese food for dinner in one of the hotel's restaurants, then back to the room.

Here are the day's shots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/742031/

R

It's Official!

Well, now she is stuck with us. Today we returned to the Civil Affairs Office and made it official, at least on the China side. Lian Jing Jun became Mae Kathleen. We were asked a few questions about our backgrounds and why we wanted to adopt this baby, a family picture of Mae, Rich, and me was taken, we were given an official document with our photo on it, and then taken to apply for her passport to bring her home. Mae was such a trooper, she just goes with the flow and crashes on daddy's shoulder when she is tired. Henry stayed behind with Valerie and had a great time going to the supermarket, building a fort in the suite, and taking a swim at the hotel pool. Apparently the pool is pretty great and we are hoping to take Mae for her first dip tomorrow sometime.

We have only known our precious girl for a little over a day and it is such fun to see her personality emerging. She is loving her toys, especially the red ones, and once she has decided she likes one she does not put it down. She is not eating as much as she should be and we are hoping to get some more liquids in her tomorrow. We were told this is a normal reaction to the huge change she is experiencing.

We just can't believe what a perfect match she is for this family. She is truly the missing puzzle piece of our family and we feel incredibly honored to be able to call her our own.

Tomorrow is finally a mostly free day. We are going to venture out by taxis with some other families to a department store and later in the afternoon is Mae's official medical check, required for her visa.

We have loved the emails from everyone. It is so great to hear from you and feel that connection to home. Thanks so much...and keep them coming! Here's the link to today's set of photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/736494/

Much love,
Melissa, Rich, Henry and Mae

And Mae makes 5 . . .

Well, we did it. We came a long way, and we now have Mae. It was a pretty tiring, yet exhilirating day. We went to the Civil Affairs office, about a 20 minute bus ride, to have the babies presented to us. We were the fourth family. The building was broiling hot -- everyone, including the babies, was sweating. After a short wait, they began the process and started calling families' names. They called ours, put Mae in Melissa's arms, and there she was, chubby cheeks and all. From the moment they put her into Melissa's arms at 3:30 or so until right now, at 10:30, Mae has been completely content, acting as if she has known us all along. And, notably, living up to her Chinese name -- peaceful and elegant (Jing Jun). We sent her a care package about a month ago, which included a soft little photo album with our pictures in it, among other things (coincidentally, Henry was wearing the same shirt today he had on in one of the pictures). We were wondering if maybe that really helped her with recognizing us. She is so inquisitive and curious. She notices everything! We were on the bus back to the hotel and her head was shooting back and forth from side to side, looking at the things going by the windows. When we got back to the hotel, we sat her down, amazed that she could sit up so easily, and then she proceeded to amaze us further by pushing herself up and crawling to Henry! Then she got to giggling (she's ticklish, we've found already). We couldn't be happier. Here is the link to the pictures from the day . . . http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/731021/ Like the other sets, they're in reverse chronological order for some reason, so the two with her in the pink pajamas were the most recent pictures, taken around 6:30 or so. Enjoy. We certainly are.

By the way, sorry to post so late -- I fell asleep while putting Henry to bed. We'll be off to finalize the adoption tomorrow morning at 8:30.

All the best,

Rich, Melissa, Henry and Mae

We've come as far as we need to go . . .

9:30 pm, Tuesday, August 9, 2005.

Well, we arrived in Guangzhou today, our last physical stop on our journey to Mae. We've come 7,000+ miles to get our daughter and now here we are, less than 24 hours to the big moment. She will now be making the 300 or so mile bus trip to us tomorrow, and we'll finally get to meet one another at around 3:00 pm or so and we'll get to hold her in our arms at last. This really is BIG. Up until now, she has known nothing but the nannies that protect her, the other babies in her orphanage, and the building she has lived in almost since she was born. Everything beginning tomorrow will be new to her.

We got up early this morning, left our Beijing hotel at 7:00 am in the rain to the airport, and then took off at 10:15 without much fanfare. There was a lot of turbulence once we got to cruising altitude, but other than that, it went pretty well. Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the Guangzhou airport (very large, modern and clean), and then a van took us to our hotel. It's very tropical here and reminded me of my time in south Florida -- palm trees all over the place and real balmy and humid. As we drove in, we were amazed by the site of highrise after highrise after highrise, for miles and miles, of very modest apartments, right on top of one another. Seeing things like that and being in the city streets almost makes you understand the mind boggling number of 1.3 billion people that live in this country. Then we got into center city and the architecture changed to more colonial in style. We got settled in, went up the street for a mid-afternoon snack of french fries, garlic bread, onion rings, soda and beer, settled a little more (including preparing a crib for Mae!), then had dinner in an Italian restaurant here at the hotel. I ordered a margherita pizza for Melissa and me, and the waitress looked at me and said "Bread olive. Okay?" And I said, "Oh, it's made with olive bread? Okay, no problem." And the waitress said, "No. Bread olive, Okay??" And I think my next response was something like "Ohhhh, there are olives in the pizza dough, right??" And she just repeated, shaking her head, with a smile, "No, bread olive." So I finally said "Okay, bread olive. That's fine." Bring it on, whatever it is, I'm thinking. Turns out, it was basically a cheese pizza with olives mixed in with the cheese topping. Fairly good, no less.

So then we came up to our room, got a deliriously tired little boy ready for and into bed, unpacked, got ready for bed, and pulled out the laptop. Amazingly enough, we didn't take any pictures today. I did, however, shoot a little video. There will be a lot of both tomorrow, though, so stay tuned. Should be interesting to see how we sleep, given the amazing event that will take place in the afternoon.

Until tomorrow,

Rich

The Great Wall (is STEEP!)

Another thrilling and exhausting day in Beijing. The drive out to the Great Wall took about an hour and it was interesting to see so much more of Beijing along the way. Once again, the driving here is like nothing any of us have ever seen and it has now become quite entertaining, although there are times I have to close my eyes when I am certain we are going to be running down a few pedestrians or cyclists. No disappointments at the Great Wall -- it was just as amazing as we expected it to be. The section we climbed was incredibly steep and we all had quite the workout. Our guide, Helen, brings a family here once a week and she told us she has lost quite a bit of weight since she started doing so last year. We were really impressed with Henry's ability to climb as far as he did!

On the way back from the Wall we stopped at a government-owned Friendship store and Cloisonne factory. It was fascinating to see the cloisonne being made. We definitely have a different appreciation for this beautiful enameled pottery. Of course, afterwards we were able to purchase some (no negotiating, though -- government owned shop)! We bought Mae her first gifts from China, a tiny cloisonne bracelet and pill box. We had a great lunch that Helen ordered for us. About twelve different dishes, everything from Kung Pow chicken to watermelon. Valerie and Rich enjoyed the spicy soup and Melissa loved the bean eggrolls and dumplings. Henry has been the first one at the table willing to try anything. This morning he chose the lox for breakfast and ate an entire fillet! He is getting pretty darn good with the chopsticks! Henry took a dip with his dad in the nice hotel pool after we visited the sobering Tian An Men Square. This place is really impressive in its sheer vastness (and also filled with scores of people) and had us reflecting on the things that have taken place here over the decades, with a gigantic portait of Chairman Mao peering down on us from above.

This morning while Henry still slept, Valerie, Rich and I discussed what we have seen so far. The sheer number of people here is mind boggling. Every square inch of space is just filled with people, all busy doing something or going somewhere. We decided the best analogy is this: imagine you are in New York City and the Macy's Day parade has just finished. Tons of people scrambling in all directions, all the time, everywhere. And they are so kind and warm-hearted, when it seems as though they should be short-tempered and rude just due to their living conditions. It has made us feel so spoiled and lazy sometimes, and incredibly lucky to have been born in America.

We are having a terrible time with updating the meetmae website. Posting photos has taken hours each evening and we'll just finish writing a blog, attach pictures and all, and then go to post it, and it will just disappear. Gone. We'll keep trying, though. We are hoping for better luck tomorrow when we get to Guangzhou and the White Swan! Two more nights to Mae!

We're trying something new this time, by just attempting to post a couple pictures from the day, and by including a link to a good online photo organizing website, Flickr, that you can hopefully click on and see all our pictures. Cross your fingers. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else tomorrow! http://www.flickr.com/photos/caira/sets/

Love to all,
melissa and rich

Beijing: day 2

Hello folks. Day 2 in China has been fascinating, beyond description, actually. We started off at The Temple of Heaven, a 660 acre park from the 1400s. The emperor would conduct the most important yearly rituals here. Now it is FILLED with people enjoying their exercise, dancing, card games, etc.. One of our favorites was "tai ji ball", a form of tai chi performed with a fan and a ball, beautiful to watch!

Our rickshaw tour of the Hu tong (alleyways) was probably two of the most interesting hours of our lives. We were able to go into a local family's courtyard home in the hu tong and ask questions about their life, through our interpreter, Kitty. We also enjoyed a tea ceremony at Prince Gong's Garden. We all floated out of there 45 minutes later! Valerie and Melissa went on a short shopping spree late this afternoon and returned with a bag full of goodies, different flavored breads and cakes, that made for a fun dinner before the "Legend of Kung fu" this evening. It was AWESOME! We all had a ball, especially Henry. We can't wait to see some of the moves he pulls out tomorrow!

Tomorrow the Great Wall, Tuesday off to Guangzhou, and Wednesday is the day we've all been waiting for!

Charlie, we miss you like crazy. Every baby boy in Beijing reminds us of you!

Hope you enjoy the photos....

Much Love,
Melissa, Rich, and Henry

We're here, exhausted . . .

We tried to publish a longer post a minute ago with about five pictures from our day, but it disappeared. We'll try again after we get some sleep. In the meantime, we'll see if this works. Here are a couple pictures from our looooooong trip today.

Love,

Rich, Melissa and Henry

36 HOURS TO LIFT-OFF!! (but who's counting?)

We are almost on our way and could not be more excited!! Here is our itinerary just in case you are interested.....

Friday Aug 5: Depart RDU for Newark, 8:40am
Depart Newark for Beijing ,11:10am

Sat Aug 6: Arrive Beijing 12:55pm (12:55 am to us)
Check into Peninsula Palace
Poke each other often in order to stay awake and see a few sights!

Sunday Aug 7: Rickshaw tour and lunch
SHOPPING!! (we hope to check out Panjiayun Weekend Market)

Evening: Legend of Kung Fu show at the Red Theater
(try to convince Henry that they will not allow us on the plane with a real sword)

Monday Aug 8: A.M. The Great Wall
P.M. Tien An Men Square and the Forbidden City

Tuesday Aug 9: Depart Beijing for Guangzhou (Gwong joe)
Arrive Guangzhou at 1:00pm and check in to the White Swan Hotel,
begin to casually freak out...

Wednesday Aug 10: Rise very early after a lot of tossing and turning,
begin FREAKING OUT in earnest!!!

midday: MEET MAE!

Thursday Aug 11: Finalize adoption paperwork and apply for Mae's passport.
Free time for fun with mae!

August 12-14 Free time while waiting for adoption paperwork and passport

Mon Aug 15: Mae's physical exam and visa photo.

Tues Aug 16: Receive adoption registration and certificate

Wed Aug 17: Receive Mae's passport

Thurs Aug 18: U.S Consulate Appointment

Fri Aug 19: Receive Mae's Visa

Sat Aug 20: Depart Guangzhou for Hong Kong 8:25 am
Depart Hong Kong for Newark 11:30 am
Arrive Newark 5:25 pm

********* when we land on U.S. soil, Mae becomes an American Citizen!!*****

Arrive HOME !! to RDU 7:12pm (a.m. to us! oh dear!)