We're Home!!!

Grace's last sink bath in China.
At 1:00AM, after 36 hours of traveling and no sleep, we arrived at IAH. As soon as we stepped on US soil, Grace Lian Ciajie Reading became a US citizen. She did awesome on the trip!!! We were in First Class and had overheard a few comments about "the Baby"...so of course we were nervous. She only cried during take-offs and landings and slept the entire trip!
I have not been to bed yet. Grace had slept for 14 hours already(her normal China night schedule). She just fell asleep at 6:00AM.(8:00pm China) We'll have to wake her up after only a few hours to get her schedule switched from days to nights. I've heard other parents say it takes about 2 weeks until they sleep though the night here.
I'm so glad to be home! I missed Bryce and Ben so much. Going to China and bringing home Grace was a wonderful experience. We are talking about taking a trip with Grace one day when she is old enough to appreciate it. I even got used to the "Squatty Potties" and even preferred them over the western toilets by the time we left.

Thursday we went to the consulate office with all the other parents and received Grace's visa and the "brown packet"(for US citizenship for Grace). Chris and I were feeling under the weather that day.

On Friday, all but two families left early that AM to return home. We missed them. We met some wonderful families in our group and hope to keep in touch. Breakfast was very quiet that next morning, but we were actually glad for the extra day to recover from the nasty respiratory bug. We went back to Shamian Island for the afternoon to do some last minute shopping. Shoe shopping was so much fun. The shops have the cutest little shoes for 25-35 RMB(that's the equivalent of $3-$5) Grace now has 15 pairs of shoes in different colors and sizes! First the shoes...then the outfit to match!

December 26, 2007

Today we had to wait in the room until 12noon in case the consulate had any questions about our paperwork. Grace, Chris, and I have a cold so we took it easy today. We called Pap-Pap and the boys last night to wish them a Merry Christmas. The boys were wound tight!!! They had just awoken to see what Santa had brought.
Thank you, Pap-Pap. We truly appreciate the time you have taken to be there with Ben and Bryce.
Tonight we went on the Pearl River Dinner Cruise. The weather was perfect and the lights on the buildings were all illuminated. It looked like Time Square.

Gotcha Day Pictures December 17, 2007

Gotcha Day

Merry Christmas!!!

On Monday, the 24th, we all took the baby's for their medical exam. The physician seemed amazed that Grace's hemiangioma had faded so much since her pictures at 7 months. He kept asking us if she had surgery. The appointment went quickly and then we spent the rest of the afternoon on Shaiman Island. We had fun Christmas shopping for each other. When we returned to the room, Tori and I ventured out into the streets to shop for Christmas decor. and some things for Christmas dinner. We found a Poinsettia, some fresh bakery items, and got smoked salmon and a salad from the hotel. We placed our gifts under the poinsettia "tree". We exchanged gifts that night.
Grace woke up this morning with a cold. The group visited a tea house for an hour in the morning. Tori, Turner, and I went. Chris stayed at the room with Grace so she could get a long nap.

Museum and Paperwork Day!

Sunday, December 23rd.

This a.m. we went to a local museum. The compound was once a family residence which was donated by the "Chen" family, a very rich and prolific Chinese family. The buildings were very impressive in terms of the architecture and intricacy of the detail. The doors into the museum (once entry doors into the residence) stood about 20 feet in height, to symbolize the family's status and wealth. We spend a fair amount of time looking for a couple of pieces of "art" we could take home with us. Sherri and I finally settled on a piece with Panda Bears for Grace's room and a couple of scrolls with Chinese symbols for somewhere else in the house. While we were waiting for them to be packaged we were able to watch a Chinese master painter. This elderly gentleman painted in black and white with what appeared to be a water-color like ink. The unique thing was that he didn't use a brush or any other implement to create the most intricately detailed paintings of Chinese Countryside. He would dip the sides of his fingers and hand into the ink and make absolutely detailed paintings that I can even begin to describe.

Grace has continued to blossom and really has seemed unbelievably comfortable from the get go. She loves the kids and when she is tired or just getting up she prefers Sherri but she has really gotten quite comfortable with everyone. She is very ticklish; likes to imitate noises and faces; and prefers to be up moving as opposed to sitting down. She has slept through the night each and every night and we have kept to her schedule of a nap in the mid morning and another mid afternoon.

After the museum we had a marathon paperwork session in Amy's room (our guide) to finish all of the myriad of documents needed by the various agencies before we head home. We had about 30 of us stuffed in a small hotel room for a couple of hours to fill out the remaining paperwork and get everything in order.

That evening we ate dinner with the Routson Family at the restaurant we had been to a few nights before on the lake. Everyone was ready for a little break from Chinese food and so we all had a primarily "American" dinner. It rained pretty steady on the way their and also coming back. There were steep steps leading down under the street which were wet from the rain and I slipped going down. Fortunately for Grace and I, I was able to hold her up even as I went down and aside from a large bruise on my butt as well as my ego everything was fine.

Free Day!

Today is Saturday, December 22nd and we got a well deserved free day from offical meetings and paperwork. Grace is doing amazingly well. She eats like a champ and in fact we haven't really found much that she doesn't like. We can tell she was very well cared for in Lian Jang as she is very trusting and loving.

Today we went for a long walk with Grace in the stroller. While she still isn't completely enamored with it we have been able to bribe her with a small lolly pop which seems to take her mind off of it long enough that she finally settles. Guangzhou has a number of really beautiful parks near the hotel and so we went back to the area where we had dinner last night. It is a large park with walking trails and beautiful landscaping around a few large lakes. Just like the other park there are lots of people out walking and exercising. Most of the people seem to prefer the social element of getting exercise in a group by playing hacky-sack or badminton.

The park also had a kid's area with small rides. Tori took grace on a "fuzzy zebra" that was about half the size of a real one. She drove it around for about 5 minutes with Grace positioned on the front with her little hands on the steering wheel.

We finished today by trying a new restaurant near the hotel that served middle eastern food. Since we started early tonight we were the only ones in the restaurant initially. They sat us at a large booth-like table however the seating on either side included large leather coutches instead of chairs. The owner, a young man in his early 30's from Siria named Naseem pointed us to a great selection of food included a "kabob" dinner for all which was enjoyed by all. One thing we have enjoyed while we have been here has been the food!

Tomorrow is a big day of paperwork as well as an early morning trip to a local museum.

During these past 2 days we've had a lot more free time to hang out and spend with Grace.  Yesterday we went to the largest park in Guangzhou which happens to be located just across the street from our hotel.  After a rather exciting street crossing involving about 6 lanes of insanely busy Guangzhou traffic we spent several hours walking though the park with Grace and the kids.  It was extremely pretty with heavy shade, lots of flowers, lakes and even a large waterfall.  Considering all of the many natural picture spots we were surprised to find that we were the subjects of some home videos as we walked around with Grace.  One of the reasons the park remained so beautiful had to do with the many rules that they asked you to obey while spending time there.  Some of the the memorable ones were:

 

"No schlepping"

"No spitting everywhere"

"No cars on the paths"

"No scattering of the fish"

"No shlapping the grass"

"No striding"

"No relieving of nature everywhere"

 

Turner definitely strided; and we might have schlepped a bit; but we did not scatter the fish nor did we relieve of nature, so all in all I think we behaved pretty well and had a good time also.

 

Later we met up with the group to file our adoption paperwork with the local police station.  We did not mention the "schlepping" from earlier in the day and so we were in and out very quickly.  Next the entire group headed to the local pizza hut for some American food.  Pizza Huts here serve the normal fare although the topping selection is a bit more broad than back home.  Shellfish of any sort; eel, corn and many other delicacies can be included with your pepperoni.  Our group proved somewhat less adventurous than some of the local patrons.

 

Today the entire group spent the morning at the local zoo.  It was a beautiful day; the clearest day in Guangzhou so far.  Grace and the other babies had a big day and they all enjoyed the time outside with their new families.  We took lots of pictures and Turner worked out on the video camera with some animated commentary.  We did not scatter any animals which was a rule here as well.  On the way to the bus we met several street vendors selling local produce.  We bought about 20 of the sweetest mandarin oranges we've ever tasted for a whopping equivalent of about 40 cents.  Grace LOVES these oranges!!!

 

We had dinner tonight with the group outside overlooking a beautiful lake.  A huge amount of food (and drink) was had for 14 adults and 6 kids for a grand total of about $120 dollars for all.  Unbelievable!

 

Grace is getting more and more comfortable with us.  She goes freely between Sherri and I as well as the kids.  She laughs and plays and is very very bright.  She put on a little show for us after dinner (back at the room) which involved trying to stand with both feel on the bag of diapers and raising her arms triumphantly (and clapping) for each time she managed to do it without losing her balance.

 

Life is good.  God is VERY GOOD! 

It's official!!!

Yesterday, we headed back to the Ministry of Adoption Services Office where a day earlier we had picked up Grace.  The purpose of this day is to make the adoption official in the eyes of the Chinese government.  Both meetings while a little nerve racking were primarily formalities.  The officials ask if we are "satisfied with our baby" and if we will "ever abandon her" and similar things.  They check to make sure all of our basic information is correct on all of the forms and then it all wraps up with a gift of American products for each official.  In total, the individual meetings lasted only a few minutes each from start to finish however we were there for nearly 4 hours while all of the parents went through the same routine.  All of this is very worthwhile for us however because after today Grace is officially our child!!!  The long wait has melted away and now we have our sweet little one with us.  All of this excitement made Gra ce a bit tired though...By the time we were ready to go Grace was fast asleep in Mamma's arms.

 

Grace is settling in very well considering all that she has been through in the past 2 days.  She is laughing and giggling and she loves her big sister and brother a lot.  She knows who "Momma" and "Ba Ba" are and she looks for the kids when they leave the room.  She is very sweet and very very small.  She fits best in the 3-6 month clothes.  Her favorite toys are the "stacking blocks" and her beach ball; and just like her "Jie Jie" (big sister) she likes to brush her hair.  Food hasn't been a problem either (she's already a Reading!).  Watermellon, breads, Cheerios, small pieces of meat, Congee (which is "rice soup") and pancakes with just a little syrup have all gone down in a flash. Later today we head to the police station for some additional paperwork and then tomorrow we have the day to ourselves.  There is a park across the street so we will likely head over there for some fresh air and exercise.  We will post some pictures later on tonight when we get back to the room. 

 

 

Gotcha Day!!!

Today was an incredible day!  We started at about 4:30 am this morning as we prepared to leave Beijing for Guangzhou where we would first meet Grace.  After about a 3 hour plane ride we landed and rode another 45minutes to our hotel where we had just enough time to pick a few things from our luggage and head back to the bus where we went downtown to the Adoption Services building.  We would go the the eighth floor and wait for them to bring Grace to us.

 

When we arrived Amy, our guide for this leg of the trip, explained that she would let each of us know just before our baby was to be brought out.  Our friends all got the exciting call and we were able to watch as their babies were brought one-by-one until there were only 2 couples remaining.  Amy then told us that Grace hadn't arrived yet but was on her way.  We waited anxiously for almost another hour as we took pictures for our friends as they "got aqainted" with their new little ones.

 

Finally we got a glimpse of her as they brought several babies into the back room where the nannies prepared them to come and meet their new parents.  At about 3:30 p.m. on Monday, December 17th we finally got to meet our little girl for the first time. 

 

Her Nanny brought her out and stood her on the floor several feet in front of Sherri and I.  She stood somewhat shakily as she has just began to walk.  She didn't seem afraid though and with some encouragement she took a few steps in our direction before I scooped her up and sat her on my knee as everyone gathered around.  She was so little but so very beautiful.  She didn't cry at all and in a minute went quickly to Sherri and (as Sherri recently dreamed), Grace laid her head down on her and just looked into her eyes. 

 

Her Nanny and one of the administrators of the orphanage obviously took very good care of Grace.  They brought along the blanket and Panda bear Sherri arranged for Grace to receive on her birthday a few weeks earlier.  They also explained that soon after receiving her birthday cake Grace walked for the very first time, no doubt a result of that wonderful cake!   We were so incredibly happy that we both forgot all of the questions we had intended to ask of them although the Nanny was able to tell us a little...Grace apparently likes bread a lot :-)  She should be right at home at our house!  She also enjoys holding things in her hands most of the time; something that was evident right away as she latched on to one of the interconnected teething rings we had brought for her. 

 

Well it took about an hour to finally make our way back to the hotel room where she began to settle in quickly.  Tori and Turner along with Sherri and I all sat on the floor and began to play and talk with her.  She began to smile easily and we learned she is very tickelish and also a pretty good mimic as she and Tori took turns poking their tongues out and trying to make "raspberry" sounds to each other.  After playing with some of her new toys (as well as her new brother and sister) she ate the remainder of her bottle started earlier and ate a bunch of Cheerios as well as a small banana cut into little pieces.  Considering all that she has been though today she has done unbelievably well.

 

I can't really put into words how incredible this day was for us.  We are sooo very blessed to have our little girl with us finally.  She is so very sweet and although we have loved her in our hearts for quite some time, meeting her and beginning the process of getting to know her has been nothing short of amazing. It's late here now, almost midnight, and so we are going get some sleep (Grace went right down at 8 and has been sleeping soundly since). We'll be back tomorrow with more updates and a few more pictures. 

 

 

Beijing

We have been gone from the hotel the last two days from 8:00AM-8:30 PM the last two nights.   We have done so much that it almost seems like we have been in Beijing much longer.

Saturday we visited  Tiannamen Square, The Forbidden City, and The Summer Palace.  The weather was cold!!!  We wore lots of layers and, with our thin "Texas blood" we still froze!

So we dressed warmer for today for the Great Wall.  I never knew how steep the wall was!!!  What a workout!! We started shedding our layers half way up.    Chris and I made it to the fifth tower. Tori got to the sixth one,  and Turner went all the way to about the eighth or ninth tower.  He hiked higher than anyone in our group. 

It is now 12:00MN.  We need to take the bus tomorrow at 5:30am to Guangzhou.  We should meet Grace around 3:00PM!!!  (That will be 1:00AM Texas time)  We can't wait!

I hope everything is coming up onto the blogsite OK.  I'm having to email the blogs...and I can't check them.

China Itinerary

Wednesday, Dec. 12 Depart from Houston
Friday, Dec. 14 Arrive in Beijing
Saturday, Dec. 15 Beijing sight seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & Great Wall
Sunday, Dec. 16 Church service & summer palace
Evening flight to Guangzhou
Monday, Dec. 17 Afternoon-Meet Grace Lian Caijie!!
Tuesday, Dec. 17 Civil Affairs appointment
Dec.19-Dec. 21 Paperwork, sightseeing, and shopping
Saturday, Dec. 22 Medical Exam
Sunday, Dec. 23 Fill out Consulate Forms
Monday, Dec. 24 Shopping and sightseeing
Tuesday, Dec. 25 Christmas Day
Wednesday, Dec. 26 Consulate Appointment 10:30 am
Thursday, Dec. 27 Pick up child's visa
Friday, Dec. 28 Free day
Saturday, Dec. 29 Depart from Guangzhou
Arrive in Houston@ 11:45PM

TA today!!!

Our travel approval came today. We are tentatively leaving on the 12th! Looks like we will be spending Christmas in China this year! We should return with Grace on the 29th.
Tomorrow has a huge list attached to it... Chris and I are going to try and see if the Texas school system will allow Tori and Turner to travel with us. The school system is very strict about absences. The kid will have 7 days of unexcused absence if they go.
Once we get our final itenary we can book flights and get Pappap's flight to TX to take care of Bryce and Ben. We are so thankful that he can come stay with the kids.
Grace's birthday was Saturday! She is one year old! We sent her orphanage a cherry chinese birthday cake through "Blessed Kids" to celebrate. I just wish we could see her eat the cake!
Lots to do!!! and Christmas shopping!!! We'll try to keep the site updated.

New pictures of Grace

Today we received new photos of Grace from "Blessed Kids". She will be 1 year old on this Saturday.

Baby Shower

Yesterday, my "Bunko Babes" gave a baby shower for Grace. It had been sooo long since I had ever been to a baby shower. The last one I had was over 16 years ago for Tori. It was such a blast! Grace got a car seat, a diaper genie, and the cutest clothes that you have ever seen! Grace is gonna be a Diva!

Chris and I are headed to Babies R Us tomorrow. We should be set and ready to finish packing by this Monday!! Hurry up TA! (travel approval) We are ready to bring Grace home!!!

Birthdays, Gifts for China, and Musical

Tori's "Sweet Sixteen" birthday party was celebrated on November 3rd with a Masquerade Ball. She had about 70 of her closest friends attend. They all looked so handsome dressed up! I know they were all tired the next morning...They never sat down! I don't remember having such energy. She and all her friends danced nonstop from 7:30-11:00PM.
Turner's 14th birthday was on the 8th. We went to his favorite restaurant "America's". His favorite present was "Guitar Hero III". He's very good at the game and enjoys humiliating his Mother.
Tori performed in her high school musical this weekend. The kids did such a wonderful job that it was hard to believe that these performers were high school age! We are very proud of her.
Chris and I have gotten a lot done so far for our China trip. Last week we applied and received our Visa. I visited our family physician for our medical travel kit. (I felt like a walking pharmacy when I left with 10 prescriptions!) Hopefully we now have every illness covered while in China! Saturday we shopped for gifts to take for the care givers and others that will help us while in China. It is important to buy gifts to take that are NOT made in China. I didn't realize how hard that would be. We found some lotions from the Bath and Body Shop. We plan to get some Texas pecan chews to take for the gentlemen.
We are now working on our Packing list...Two pages of stuff to fit into 1-44lb bag and 1 carry-on each!
I feel like a Mom who tried and tried for two years to get pregnant. Then all of a sudden I'm pregnant and have two weeks before delivery! It's exciting and stressful at the same time!

LOA today!!!

We received a call from AWAA today. It's now official. China has approved us to adopt Lian Cai Jie in the LOA (letter of approval)!!!
Now we just wait for our TA! (travel approval)
We expect to travel the end of November or the beginning of December. I better start packing!!!

Link: A wonderful 10 minute documentary about a family's journey to China and international adoption

This video is one of the best I have seen. The 1st orphanage in the video is Lianjiang SWI, where our Grace is. I have watched it about 8 times now and have laughed and cried every time.

While waiting

Life is busy, as always, at the Reading Household...But we wouldn't have it any other way.
Tori is planning for her 16th birthday party on November 3rd... (which was originally going to be a surprise until I figured out I had too much on my plate). Turner just played in his 6th consecutive undefeated football game. Bryce is working on his "rock star" status...continuing with his guitar lessons. He and Turner(on drums) "jam" every night. Ben is always looking for something new to invent and exploring the bayous for alligators and other creepy-crawleys.
Oh, speaking of "creepy-crawlies"... we found a gecko and a baby tree frog in our guest bathroom last week. When we find a snake I'm movin out!!!

Where Is Grace Now?

Grace is now in Lianjiang, Guangdong. It is the southernmost province of china. The climate is considered "subtropical" which is like Houston's climate.

This is a photogragh of the building where Grace is living now.

LOI

Our Letter of Intent (LOI) was electronically sent on Thursday, October 11th. Now we just wait until we receive a referral approval from China. (RA) We should hear within 2-4 mos.
Waiting is hard...but we've waited this long(two years)!!! We are not able to post any pictures until we have been approved by China. We all say prayers for her every night. We can't wait to get her home!!

Foreword

On December 22, 2005 our dossier was logged into China for a healthy orphanage child for adoption. What we were told, and what was happening at the time, was that we would have a 6-8mo. wait until we were matched with a girl 6mo.-2yrs.old.

Needless to say, the wait extended over time…and our lives were somewhat put on hold.

In April of 2007, we felt called to place an application for a “special needs” child. Our application was accepted.

September 28, 2007 the China Center of Adoption had matched well children with homes through the Log in dates of November 30, 2005. Referrals are sent out every 30 days. Unfortunately the number of log in dates referred each month had gotten smaller. (It took 6 months to get through the month of November.) November had so far the largest amount of parents adopting from the US ever. We thought that we might be in for another 2-3mo. wait until we heard anything!

October 1, 2007: We received this email:

We are thrilled to announce the receipt of 33 new special needs referrals! We don't have any specifics on the children right now, but once we are finished processing the referrals, we will send another email out with more details.

Special needs referrals are sent only every 3 months. Instead of being matched by China. The referrals are sent untranslated in a batch to the qualifying US agencies and then the agency matches the babies with families on the “interested list”. Once matched, there is additional paperwork and waiting before approval to travel to China. (3-5 months compared with 4-6 wks for a healthy child)

I knew that there were about 100 families on the list when we first applied to SN in April. And I knew that they had gotten 3 batches of referrals since then. I wondered…

We were so close to receiving our referral for a healthy child. I heard that we may already have been matched to a healthy girl. Chris and I wondered if we would be torn in possibly a hard decision. I told Chris that I had no doubt that we would immediately “know” when we got the referral.

Chris took the day off Friday to spend the day with me and celebrate my birthday. We made sure that we had the phone with us…just in case. Friday was to be the day that the first calls were made. About 3:00pm I looked at my watch and said, “Well on the East coast it’s now 4:00PM. I wonder if we will get a call this time.” Before I finished the sentence Chris’ blackberry was vibrating! My eyes widened as he answered, “Hi Melissa, we were just talking about you!” She said, “We have a Special Needs little girl who is 11 mo. old. Who we think would be a great fit for your family. Her birthday is Nov. 24th. She is healthy other than she has several small hemangiomas on her right knee.” Chris answered, with tears in his eyes, that our older daughter has a large one on her back.

Melissa said she would e-mail the pictures and info.to both Chris’ blackberry and our home e-mail. After impatiently waiting for 45 minutes and no email we drove home to check our home mail.

I can’t put into words how strong the emotions were for this little girl when we saw her for the first time!!! God is so good!!! All the bumps, delays, and frustrations were not in vain! All of these delays led to this particular little girl. It is so amazing that even her picture looks like Bryce’s baby pictures! I purposefully held my tongue so Chris could speak first. His first response was, “She looks like one of our children. This is Grace.”

On Monday, we will write and send to China a “Letter of Intent”…and then we will wait some more. I SO want to go get her now!!!

We will try to keep everyone updated by creating this blogsite. All you who know me know that I am computer illiterate... So this has been a huge accomplishment for me!

Thank you for all the prayers!!! Don’t stop!!!

Sherri and Chris