Zoo and More

Today we went to the zoo! Samia did not enjoy herself.... I don't think she likes animals. She definitely hates to be in the stroller! She wasn't in a very good mood til this evening, about halfway through dinner.

We had a group dinner at a Portuguese restaurant tonight. Awesome food. Samia finally perked up and enjoyed herself. (Gotta find something called Wikki Stix when we get home!) We did a little shopping after, got the girls shoes that light up. We'll go back tomorrow for matching Asian outfits for pictures. We're considering hitting the pearl market tomorrow.

Layne has pix to post shortly of the girls in matching pajamas, they are just so cute in the evenings! Samia has been singing a Chinese song. So funny to hear her speak Chinese. She says a few things in English, and she signs "more" and "cookie." but she definitely speaks more Chinese than English. It'll be interesting to see what happens with her accent as she learns English.

Tomorrow most of the group goes to the consulate. Hope it goes smoothly. We have a free day tomorrow.

XO from Guangzhou.

Ghuangzhou!

We are in Ghuangzhou!

The plane ride was a piece of cake. In fact, Samia and Jai played the whole way! She was in a terrific mood, very vocal. We have discovered that she's a mischievous little thing. She likes to tease and laugh. It was such a pleasure to finally see her personality.

We did the medical visit this morning and Samia showed absolutely NO signs of hearing loss!!

She didn't shed a tear. Even for the blood draw. She's just as tough as Jai.

The hotel is beautiful. And huge. The ground floor is all shops and includes a Starbucks and a cute candy shoppe called Art. Beautiful lollipops and fancy, colorful chocolates. Lots of expensive clothing and many restaurants. The breakfast buffet was an enormous spread of both western and Chinese cuisine. The girls ate noodles and french toast. I know,weird--but they wanted it! Samia loves blueberry muffins, we learned.

There's an outdoor garden area with water features and an indoor kids play area. If I'm not mistaken, this building easily takes up an entire square block. It's huge.

The girls are happily playing together now.... It's so nice considering how poorly they were getting along in ZZ.

The girls crashed hard and early last night after we arrived. There's a McDonald's across the street, so Layne grabbed burgers last night and we ate in the room. Believe it or not, it's the first time we've gotten sick from food. Ironic, isn't it?

More later. I think I've got an ear infection so I may start a round of antibiotics. Been watching the girls closely... Samia has been grabbing her ears today, so we may all have one eventually. Sure hope I didn't bring this with me but I was feeling cruddy on the international flight... She came to us with a terrible cough that hits for a short period at night and early morning. Sigh... Might have two bugs going on. One of the other kids is pretty sick, too. :(

Christmas in Zhengzhou

Christmas night many families gathered for noodle and dumplings. Samia and Jai loved them.

Beautiful smile

Samia lit up while playing with mommy at the passport photo shop. Was best smile we've seen yet. Merry Christmas everyone!

Layne

Smog fog whatever

I hope Guangzhou doesn't have smog like Zhengzhou does. 

The night before we left the states I was feeling the familiar scratchy throat and congestion of a doozy of an upper respiratory infection that was going around. I started sucking down Emergen-C drinks and Alka-Seltzer Cold. The plane ride was miserable with a cold. The first day in Beijing was miserable with a cold and a smoggy haze. We could actually feel the air we were breathing and it left behind a gross taste and a smell that seems burned into the linings of our nasal passages. 

We're using saline spray like crazy, but Jai's nose is bleeding now, alarmingly, even though we don't venture out except to do paperwork. I heard one of the other moms say she's so grossed out by what blows out of her nose. I second that. I'm using Flonase (thank goodness that prescription came up for refill the day before we left, or I would never thought to bring it). The respiratory bug never got bad enough to knock me down (or perhaps that's due to days and days of adrenaline), but the effects are lingering in this haze. The forecast said "clear" today, but we never did find the sun.

I hope the other families got where they needed to go. Their kids' orphanage is a 2-3 hour van ride from here, but the highway was closed due to low visibility. From smog.

The best Christmas gifts ever

Around 2AM this morning, I was sound asleep but heard a vaguely familiar sound. I laid in the bed a few moments trying to place it, then all of a sudden it hit me... It was the ring of someone video-calling via Skype!

It was mom.. And there she was, propped up in her own bed at home, wearing her own Buckeyes sweatshirt, calling all the way to China to check in!

It was marvelous to see her, a Christmas gift to rival the one I got a couple days earlier. In fact, if you didn't know, you would never suspect that just a few weeks ago she had brain surgery. It was just... Mom. Clear and coherent and focused and laser-sharp. And chatty!

Both girls had sat up in bed minutes earlier. Samia was famished and sucked down an entire Nuby bottle of Pedialyte, a bottle of formula, a bowl of rice cereal, AND a huge sweet roll. All this in, I think, maybe 1.2 minutes. :-)

Mom was so excited to meet Samia. And get this: Samia perked up when she heard Uncle Derek's voice in he background, and when he turned the phone to Papa and Papa waved, Samia lit up like a Christmas tree and waved! Waved! She actually beamed and waved at my dad! It was like she was utterly thrilled to finally see him again!

The girls noticed that their stockings, which were empty at bedtime, had magically been filled overnight. Samia wasn't sure about the whole thing, but Jai Li was squealing with delight that Santa found her (and her sissy) all the way on the other side of the world. He brought her a little Sofia the First doll, and he brought Samia Sofia's sister, Amber. What a smart Santa, bringing sisters to sisters. ;-) Now, when we get home we just gotta find that magical castle that allows the dolls to talk, for Santa's delayed arrival at the house! Funny how he can pull that off for some kids.

Merry Christmas, everybody. Love to all.

-Nikki

Adoption Day!

She's officially ours!

Christmas Eve morning

Jai is performing Christmas carols for her new sissy early this Christmas Eve morning.

An afternoon to remember

An afternoon to remember

Back at the hotel, Samia still wouldn't let anyone else near her, including Jaidyn. This was very hard on Jai. She wanted to comfort her; she kept patting her on the back and kissing her on the back of the head.

Jaidyn truly was amazing through this whole thing. A few hours of seeing mommy with Samia and not having my full attention, however, and being told by mommy that Samia just needed a little time, eventually took its toll. She didn't understand why Samia was upset that she had a sissy now. 

Even though I did my best to keep Jai calm, and I explained why she needed to wait to touch her or try to comfort her, she finally had enough. She stood on the other side of the room and when I realized that she was too quiet, the river was already flowing. She had both hands stuffed in her mouth and it was the most painful thing to see. Felt like a knife to the gut.

I couldn't hold both girls at once because Samia went nuts.... So I finally had to set her down and focus on Jai. Layne was doing paperwork down the hall... Great timing! So I held on to Jai and talked and talked to her, and finally I think she understood that mommy could love both her and her sissy equally, just as much as I loved Jai before sissy came along. What a concept to try to explain to a four year old child grieving herself. I knew this would be hard on her, but seeing how hard it really was sideswiped me... because I also wasn't expecting such a powerful and extended grief from Samia.

It was another of the turning moments for all of us. By the time Layne returned, we were beginning to be ok. Jaidyn's new friend down the hall came, and she and Jai played. Maybe Alissa was experiencing the same thing? These two girls being here together is a great, great blessing! They helped each other take their minds off this crazy experience.

We went next door and watched a Chinese cartoon and watched Alissa's new sister eat noodles. Samia finally began to smile. She finally wanted to eat. She would not let me take off her coat or anything else, however. That took another hour or so. I showed her her new red panda bear sweatshirt and she decided she wanted to wear that. She let me take off the Michelin-man coat she was wearing and put it on and she beamed. She ate puffs and Chinese cookies and a few crackers and drank very clumsily from a straw sippy cup. 

Back at our room, she was fascinated by a tiny train we brought. When we went to dinner, she grinned ear to ear at me, played with me, teased me, and held my hand when we walked to the restaurant. All through dinner she played with me and ate a ton of noodles. She loves water. She loves tomato sauce (it was an Italian place in the hotel, which was really good!). She even ate two servings of pesto. Jai fell fast asleep, stretched across two chairs, so our two families basically watched the show... These two little girls blossoming and showing us their personalities.

Samia took a bath and let daddy wash her. When it was time for bed, he and I held her in bed and I read her a book. She fell asleep on daddy's chest halfway through the second story. She squeezed him tight when he tried to put her in the crib, so he held her for a couple hours... Quite happily. :)

it's officially Christmas eve now. It's 12:45 AM and Jai is wide awake. She just had dinner, pizza from the Italian place. Hopefully it'll knock her out! I'm ready to crash. It's a big day tomorrow.... Not only does Santa come (and what a gift we received!), but it's also time to finalize our adoption of our precious little moonbeam.

- Nik

Gotcha Day

Oh my gosh, what a total 180 from our experience with Jaidyn, the little girl who took one look at us like she was thinking, "Finally, you guys are here! What took you so long??" 

Samia was the fourth or so child to arrive. Her nanny looked very familiar, so I wonder if she was one of the caregivers from Shanghai Healing Home. My mind was so focused on Samia that I didn't even ask her any questions--a move I regret as I should have thanked this woman profusely for taking such great care of this child. How do I know she did? Because Samia wanted nothing to do with us. She was attached to her. And this woman was very attached to Ai Juan (pronounced eye-chooWEN). 

Samia shook her head violently and cried when her nanny pointed to me and said "mama." Our rep finally came over and told her it would be more helpful if she actually left, and the look on her face was so pained, so sad... She did not want to leave this little girl, even though she seemed so so happy to see her Forever Family, and see how much I was just aching to pick her up and comfort her.

Layne said she watched us from a distance for a bit, and left sobbing. 

We received the most amazing bag of items from the nanny. A gorgeous book from SHH, professionally printed and bound. And books that looked handmade obviously with love and care and thought, little scrapbooks of photos and embellishments and notes about this amazing girl. There was food, a change of clothes, favorite toys of Samia's... This is what a bagful of love looks like.

The little photo book that we made for Samia was in there. When she spotted it, she reached out and snatched it up and held it tightly to her chest for the next two hours. 

Any of you considering making is trip, let me tell you what you need to go out and buy right now.... Go to the dollar store and pick up a tube of those little bracelets that you crack to make them glow. Samia was fascinated, as was every other kid near us. She hoarded about six of them and held on to them for dear life. Jaidyn's very important job was to make the little bracelets and it was a great thing for her to focus on, be a part of comforting her sissy.

Also unlike Jai, Samia wanted nothing to do with daddy. Jai bonded instantly with Layne and it took a good two months before she attached to me. She wanted me only when it was time to eat or when she was sick and wanted someone to fix it. Samia wouldn't let him even touch her, so he took lots of photos of us and the other families. He was deeply affected by Samia's pain and fear.

She cried one of those deep, wrenching, body-convulsing cries for hours. On the bus, she fell asleep against my chest but her body still shook every few minutes with those deep, awful sobs. Every little bit it hit me like a ton of bricks and I just sat there holding her and crying too. During all this, I watched one of the other girls next to me sitting with her daddy, a very quiet little thing who hadn't made a sound yet. I actually watched her grief come on... Her lips started to turn down, began to quiver, the tears welled up in the corners of her eyes... It took about ten minutes to happen, and it was something to see in slow motion. When she started to wail, the reps and everyone on the bus cheered.... There she was! The dam broke! She was going to be ok.

When we got to the hotel, I couldn't hold Samia and Jai AND get into the room, so I let go of jai and put Samia down to  search for my room key. Very, very quietly, Samia reached up and took my hand. She looked up at me with big eyes and held on tight to my fingers. I was so shocked, so touched, that I just stood there looking at her. Jai finally said, "mommy, can we go inside?" and just like that, the three of us walked in and I finally felt like this was going to be ok. Samia was holding my hand.

-Nik

Gotcha Day!

We've got her! A very emotional day for her. More photos soon. 

Few hours to go

We are all up preparing gifts and going over paperwork. Too excited to sleep. 

Settling In

Dec. 22, 5 in the afternoon

This just seems so surreal. I can't believe I'm sitting here in China again. All the bags are unpacked, the diapers are laid out alongside the wipes and sippy cups and formula bearing instructions I can't read, the 2Ts are folded up next to the 4Ts and 5Ts for Jai Li, and a huge bag of meds containing everything from Desitin to PediaCare is out of reach in the closet. The room controls are in Chinese and I can barely see across the courtyard outside our room because the smog is so unbelievably bad. It's below 30*F and I'm physically exhausted but mentally wired, but still having a hard time believing I'm here.

Jai has a new friend, another child who was adopted from China and is her age. They have become best buds and have kept the entire group well-entertained today! I have both girls while Layne and the girl's mom, Barb, are at Walmart (!) shopping for formula et al. Alissa's dad is asleep. While they have played, I've put everything away, as we will be here for 5 days... 5 days in the town where my second daughter was born. I'm done unpacking, and the girls have settled from hard play; they're laying on their bellies on the bed watching Sofia the First on the iPad. I'm watching them through the slats on the crib that was delivered minutes after we checked in. I've put Samia's blanket in there and her new little curly monkey pillow. Layne has found a stuffed bunny (she was born in the year of the rabbit), so it's tucked in the corner. It's so hard to believe we have made this trip again and we are hours away from meeting our daughter.

We had dinner tonight with the parents of Jai's new friend. Have no idea what the restaurant was called but the food was awesome. No one spoke English so we just pointed to pictures of something that looked remotely familiar. Everything was exceptional. Green beans so peppery hot that my lips are still burning several hours later! Jai and Alissa ate noodles and played while the grown-ups twirled the rotating center of the table sharing dishes til we were stuffed. Really wonderful food. It seemed to be a very local place, nothing western about it at all. Fun experience for our first meal here!

The travel group is wonderful. Lots of varied families, from a dad traveling alone to a family with seven kids of varying skin tones. We got updates on our children today, lots of info about what their schedules are like and what they typically eat. We already know much about Samia, so this info actually seems really dated! Tomorrow we will know for certain what she's like. Wow.

More to come, have lots to write but carving out blog time is hard. Fortunately access is simpler this trip, so we are getting online with ease. Haven't tried video chat yet... Tomorrow, I hope. You folks with iPhones, be ready to meet the new family member!

- Nikki

Arrived in Zhengzhou!

Arrived in Samia's province today. The city of Zhengzhou. It was a fun day preparing for our new arrival. Traditional lunch then a trip to Walmart for few extra items which was quite an adventure. 

On flight

New friends. The girls are seated together on flight to get their sisters. 

Boarding Zhengzhou flight

A new friend for the flight. Both are getting sisters. 

Heading to Zhengzhou

We are up very early after crashing at a hotel in Beijing overnight. We are headed to Zhengzhou this morning. Only one more day to get our beautiful girl. 

In Beijing!

We arrived in Beijing early! Jai is a great traveler. She helped a lot with her carry on items. Didn't sleep much on trip over.

Now traveling to hotel in very warm van. Hard to stay awake. 

Here we come!

We are on the plane! Rudolph playing onboard. Your family is on the way Samia! 

Jai at gate

She's ready for sissy. 

Ready to go!

Final update before travel

This is the last update from Samia's foster home. She's been so loved and blessed there. We love SHH. 

--

Dear Nikki and Layne

I wanted to share with you today's experience before you leave. 

So Samia's family photo book was already packed away with her belongings, but I did share with her the latest photos you sent (see photos) and I asked the house administrator to please put the latest photos in her book (I hope she did). Today was hard saying goodbye of course, but she was SO HAPPY (I think you will see that in her smiles below) and we are all so excited for her and for all of you. I have to share with you the most precious thing that happened when I showed her your photos. I was showing her the picture of Nikki and Jaidyn in front of the Christmas tree and she kept pointing outside, like she knew that she was leaving to be united with you. I'm not sure what the caretakers tell the children, but she seemed to be indicating that she knew she was leaving, and she was so so happy today. Then, she grabbed FOUR little animal figurines (see pictures!!) and seemed to be indicating that that was her family - her family of four! Another volunteer and I just looked at each other in amazement. It was so precious!

Wishing you very safe travels to China and the most blessed Christmas! I know it will be. It has been my pleasure sharing with you what I can. I am so very happy for all of you.

Merry Christmas, Peace and Love!

B

Haircut day

Getting ready for gotcha day. Ice cream made everything better.

We are worn out but so excited at the same time. We are going on adrenaline right now.

We are only a few days away from travel! If you are in search of a end of year tax deduction we could still use a little help as Christmas travel will be expensive.

Here is our fundraiser link - https://www.adopttogether.org/samia

Bless all those helping us get her home.

New photos!

Travel Approval!

TA! We have a China travel approval!

Article 5 pick up

Article 5 was picked up today. A little closer to you Samia!

New photos!

OTT!

Our dossier has made it through translation overseas!

Shanghai Healing Home 4th anniversary video

New photo!!

We just received a sweet gift this morning. A new photo of our beautiful girl!

New photo!

Last document to DC

Our final dossier document was authenticated at the state level this morning and is on its way to the State Department and Chinese Embassy this afternoon.

We took the same photo six years ago when sending off Jaidyn's paperwork.

Immigration Approval!

Our approved 800A was in today's mail! It arrived a week earlier than expected! 

Things are beginning to speed up. Can you help us raise the necessary travel funds. Your gift is tax-deductible. 

https://www.adopttogether.org/samia

New photo

Looking at her family pictures. She would say mama and point to Nikki and then point to herself.

New photo!

July Update

We are praying we get immigration approval in two weeks and that we are LID by late August.

We are having an ice cream social this Wednesday evening to raise funds for upcoming travel to our sweet girl. Please help us pass the word. If you have a heart for adoption, would like to help and unable to make it here's our online fundraiser. All donations are tax-deductible and goes towards our travel and expenses. Thanks so much for all those helping us. We cannot do this alone.

https://www.adopttogether.org/samia

Video

Ran across a video that included Samia online today.

Painting my sisters room

B/W version

New photo

Nikki's fundraiser sign