Happy Halloween

We went walking around the area today and ended up at Pizza Hut for lunch. The hostess was dressed in an orange witch outfit. Happy Halloween from China.

Sarah is looking pretty in the pajamas my aunt bought her. She really hams it up for the camera. She also likes when her big brother reads to her!

It's official

Sorry for the delay in posting. We've been so busy trying to do dishes while having to boil the water, doing laundry, school work, shopping and tending to the princess's needs.

Monday at 2:30 we walked next door to the government adoption office. The 5 families sat in a waiting room waiting for each step. First we each had our pictures made with the baby which would go on the final decree. Second we had an interview which consisted of the governmental officials looking to see if we were the same people in the photo (that they just took.) Lastly we each put our thumb prints on the documents. The officials said, "Congratulation!" and she was ours forever. It was very anticlimactic after 3 years of waiting to get to that point.

The "Head Lady" from the orphanage and one of the nannies were there at the government office. They took picture with all the families. They came over to Sarah and said, "Ai Ai, beautiful."

Sarah is the queen of sleep. They must have known how much we love sleep when they matched her to our family. She had 3 naps on Monday and 2 longer naps on Tuesday. We were able to keep her up in the evening so she would go to bed earlier and sleep longer We had to wake her up this morning at 9:00 a.m. to make it to breakfast before it closed - that was about 12 hours of sleep overnight.

Observations from S….

Cokes/Sprite are still distributed with “pull tabs”. Coffee is so strong at the hotel restaurant that your spoon can stand straight up. God bless the person who invented Folgers coffee singles.

No potable water in a 5 star hotel – we must boil water in the room or use bottled water to brush teeth and clean baby bottles – but right down the street you’ll find a Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and a Haagen Daz.

Chongqing is the largest city in China with just over 30 million people compared to 8 million in New York City.

Smoking is a national past time in China – hotel lobbies, bathrooms, restaurants, office buildings, etc. Cigs are stocked in the hotel room mini-bar.

Very little, if any English is spoken in Chongqing – far different than Beijing where most attempt to speak English.

If you want a “fresh” dinner just go to the local supermarket to select a live crab, fish, frogs, turtles, chicken feet and other various animal parts.

Chongqing is made up of slums located directly next door to new skyscrapers – major rebuilding of the city to accommodate the rapid growth.

We’ve not seen the sun in 5 days – not sure if its smog, fog or straight pollution but our allergies are going strong.

Buicks, Fords, Chevrolets along with Toyotas, Nissans and other unrecognizable auto brands pack the city streets and highways.

Young children don’t wear diapers – when the urge hits them they just squat no matter where they are…McDonald’s, airport or a city park. J asked if the circle “P” was for no parking or no…

Younger generation…20 somethings…celebrate the gift giving of Christmas not the B.C. Older generation don’t even acknowledge the gift giving. Strangely enough they use BC to recognize years…

CNN (Hong Kong edition) on Channel 43…communist propaganda on Channel 44…and their version of MTV has the communist flag in every music video.

Pre-requisite for driving…a course in the finer art of using your horn…turn signals are optional….

Steak dinners are interesting to say the least…everything is rare to medium rare…I’m not sure they understand the concept of anything past medium.

Settling In

Sarah got to sleep around 10 and slept through the night. Our plans to settle her into the crib instead of the bed went flying out the window.

We're impressed with her abilities. She's just about to walk. She has good hearing and sight. She has the concept of object permanence down. She has good hand/eye coordination and manual dexterity (gimme the cheerio!)

Already, electronics are her favorite toys (cell phone, Nintendo DS) but she is mildly amused with the toys we've brought for her. She also likes reading Field and Stream magazine. (Daddy is pleased). If we take her picture, she wants to see the screen on the back of the digital camera where the image appears. We are pleased with the quality of foster care she received.

Mommy went to Xiulan's room today and did paperwork. We have a meeting at the government office at 2:30 today. Sarah is catching a nap right now and Daddy and J are out looking for lunch right now. They will attempt McDonald's again. Yesterday we were successful there, but not before a bit of commotion trying to explain we wanted plain cheeseburgers. People here either frown at us or smile and want to test out their English on us. Two girls about 12 who also had braces smiled and tried to chat with J. Preteen girls are giggly all over the world.

Sarah's here!

We were told to be in the lobby of the hotel at 3:00 to meet our coordinator, Xiulan. We arrived with her a few minutes before 3:00 and already the babies and nannies were in the lobbies. They were handing out babies before Xiulan was there.

A man was holding Sarah. J and I went around his back to see her face and he handed Sarah to J!!!! She began to cry and he did not know what to do. I took her and she cried as did about 1/2 the babies. The lobby was bustling with activity, people stopping to watch, too much stimulation, so we all headed to our rooms.

Sarah continued to cry and cry. Finally we set her on the bed so she wouldn't have the "giant strangers" holding her. She picked up her shoe and that gave some comfort.

We finally figured out she was tired. We got her to sleep (thus the reason I am able to post so soon.) We'll see what she thinks of us after she wakes up.

Xiulan visited us and said the babies who cry are the smartest babies. She will be a genius. Also, Xiulan said she was spoiled. Since she was in foster care, that may be true by comparison.

Chongqing arrival

Arrived Chongqing late Saturday night. We were met by Xiulan ("Shoe-Lawn") who is an amazing older Chinese lady who is a spitfire. She's the reason we chose this agency.

We're in a BBIIIGGG city! Luckily we have McDonalds and Pizza Hut across the street. We went to the supermarket this morning to buy water and sprite. We scoped out the pampers. When our group walks around we cause quite a lot of stares.

After 3 years of hearing how cold the hotels are in China, we've landed in a hot box. All of us are breaking out our shorts. I suppose no matter the temperature, since it's late October, they've turned on the heat. We borrowed a fan for the room and we have the window cracked.

We were going to travel to the orphanage to get the babies but we found out last night that the girls are coming here. I thought I might be disappointed, but I'm actually glad. We're tired from traveling from Beijing and all our "baby gear" is here in the room. No need to figure out what we should pack for the bus ride. Less than 4 hrs to get the babies....gotta go get cameras ready!!!!