May 6th

Well, Lia continues to be the most laid back baby. She slept for nearly 13 hours last night, not waking at all. Of course, Bob and I were up every 15 minutes to peek on her. I am exhausted, only because I was so worried that she would wake up and not cry, and I wouldn't know that she was awake, but she truly slept like a log.

She woke up and was all smiles. I got her dressed, putting on a hat and she kept looking at herself in the mirror, smiling. She and Caelan kept playing this "high-five" game and she giggled and giggled. She devours her bottles, eats congee and loves bananas. She can walk, though prefers to be carried. We got her a pair of squeaky shoes, and she had a lot of fun walking down the hotel hallway wearing those:)

The adoption paperwork was a breeze. She has a pretty nasty sounding cough, though it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Tomorrow we will apply for her passport and our guide is going to try to get us in to the clinic for her physical. Yesterday, she seemed a little shocked and unsure what was going on, but she is more relaxed today. She loves to be outside and looks around at everything. She seems very content, and the only thing that has upset her so far was when her bottle ran out, and when she thought that Caelan was trying to take her cracker. We gave her a toy rattle this morning and she held on to it all day, even during her nap.

She is so sweet and we are all so excited. Oh, and Carrie, yes we are staying at the Victory. The birds keep us up during the night. What kind of birds are those, anyway?

LIA DAY!!

We have our girl!! What a day. After no sleep and an anxiety ridden morning, we finally drove to the Provincial Affairs Office at 2pm. Although we originally planned for just Bob and I to go to the office, at the last minute we all went. Lia's bus was late, so our guide ushered us to a private room, where we waited about 15 minutes for her to arrive. We saw her nanny walk her in to the lobby, as Bob and I were huddled by the door. They brought her into the play room and then quickly brought her out to us. She was wearing one of the outfits that we sent in our first care package. She was handed to us, and didn't make a sound. She kept looking us all over, but didn't cry at all. We asked some questions about her to her nanny and then exchanged gifts to the SWI director and nanny. She is certainly in shock, and I am not sure what she thinks of her day, but she held on to both Bob and I tightly. She whimpered a bit when the nanny left the room, but no tears.

She was all smiles when we left the building, it actually sounded like she was singing. Her little legs were kicking and she still kept looking around at everybody. She was quiet on the van ride, and just looked around. When we got back to the hotel room, we had to do some paperwork with our guide, Jason, and then I fed her a bottle. She drank it slowly, and kept stopping to look us over. Bob held her after her bottle and then she fell fast asleep.

It is so hard to believe that she is here. We are thrilled and can't believe how smooth the day went. Tomorrow we go to the same office to finalize the adoption. She will officially be Lia Xiang Wan Jansen tomorrow by 11:30am!

Today is the Day!

Just a quick note to let you know that Lia will arrive this afternoon at 2:30, after a five and a half hour bus ride. Poor girl has probably never left the SWI before. She is in for a huge change today. The kids are very excited. We are leaving the hotel at 2pm, and should arrive back at the hotel by 4pm. I think we have more paperwork at the hotel and then I should be able to post something soon after! I could hardly sleep last night, but after a big breakfast and 3 cups of coffee I am ready to meet our girl!

Hong Kong, Day 2 and 3, Disneyland

We have been having a great time at Disneyland. The park is a little much for Garrett, but he has gone on a few rides. I think he is still adjusting to the time change, as he has been waking up at 4am ready to go, and has not been very agreeable... Caelan is having a great time, she even went on Space Mountain, which was a pretty fast roller coaster. We are staying at the Disney Hollywood Hotel. We will be going to the fireworks tonight and then to bed early as tomorrow morning we are going to Guangzhou.

Hong Kong, day 1 continued...

We are just about ready for bed, but we had a wonderful day here in Hong Kong. We are staying at the Regal Riverside Hotel, which is on the Shing Mun River. This morning we woke up, the kids, Bob and I ate breakfast, as my parents were still sleeping. Once we were all awake, we went for a walk near the river. We were still exhausted from the trip so the kids, Bob and I took a nap, which lasted for 5 hours. After our nap, we took a cab to "The Peak" where we are dinner and saw a wonderful view of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, Day 1

Just a quick post to let you all know tht we made it to Hong Kong! It was a long flight. Garrett did great on the long flight. He took a nap, ate and then slept for seven hours! That was from Detroit to Tokyo. It was wonderful! Now the Tokyo to Hong Kong leg was a different story, as we were all ready to be off the plane. Eighteen hours of flying is too much for anyone. Garrett was loopy and noisy and we were all ready to be at the hotel. Caelan rode wonderfully, as expected:)

We are going to take it easy today and then tomorrow we are going to Disneyland. I will try to post pictures soon.

In Detroit

Well, the first part of our journey is complete:) We are in Detroit, waiting for my dad to get home from work so that we can head out to the airport. We will leave here in 45 minutes and our plane takes off at 3:30pm. Next stop, HONG KONG!!

Cookies

For my friends who are waiting for LOA's, PA's, and referrals, this is for you:



I can't wait to hear all of the good news when we get back!

Tap and Ballet Rehearsal

I am trying to figure out how to load video, so I will start with Caelan's practice tap and ballet routines.

You Know You’re an Adoptive Parent if…

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.
3. You can’t watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. You spend your free time surfing blogs about families who’ve experienced the blessing of adoption.
5. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child’s “real” parents.
6. You’ve taken an airplane half-way around the world with a child you just met.
7. You believe that God has a heart for adoption.
8. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
9. You know what the word “Dossier” means, and you can actually pronounce it correctly.
10. You’ve welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
11. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well that you are the blessed one to have him/her in your life.

(Anonymous)

More Pictures!!!

I got the rest of the pictures:) Here are a few!

The Countdown is On!!

I just adjusted the time zone in my ticker so that it shows China time!! One less day of waiting- WOW!

New Pictures!!!!!!!!

The woman who visited Lia's SWI last week emailed me eight photos this morning. I am going to include a few here. She said that she has some others as well! What a wonderful morning!

A Gift

We have just received the most precious gift. A family traveled this past week to Lia's SWI. I got the following email from her this morning:

"we saw your daughter and got loads of photos of her. i'll try to send a few in the next day or two. she's very sweet. she was quiet when we saw her - but all the kids were very subdued. she has a lovely smile. you're very lucky to have such a gorgeous wee girl and it's fantastic that she'll soon have a family. the swi made us very welcome and it was so rewarding to go there"

I will post new pictures as soon as I receive them!

Tickets!

We have booked our tickets. Our trip will be a little longer than we expected because we got a later consulate date. We are all leaving on Tuesday, April 29th. We will arrive in Hong Kong on the 30th at 11pm. We will rest up, sightsee and go to Hong Kong Disney before going to Guangzhou on Sunday, May 4th. Lia Day will still be on May 5th. Caelan and my parents are coming back on Tuesday, May 13th, but the rest of us have to stay until Saturday the 17th. Caelan is coming home early so that she will not miss her recital, and we will be able to go on Sunday, though we will miss the Saturday performance.

One Step Closer!

Hooray! We got a call from our agency this morning! Our TA is on its way. They expect that they will have it before Friday and are planning on us getting Lia on May 5th. We will likely leave On April 29th or 30th and spend a couple of days in Hong Kong before heading to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption. We are still hoping to be back home in time for Caelan's dance recital on May 17/18. YEAH!!

UPDATE: Our agency has our TA!!!

Waiting, still

No word on our TA. I am hoping this week, though the time keeps dragging on and on. Spring break was restful, as we spent the entire time taking care of two very sick kids. They both are feeling better now, though I am going to double check things with Garrett's ped today. Caelan will be back at school this morning.

Sigh...

Our bags are packed. Yes. I am ready!