Journey to Sophie

April 8/05 ~ First Day Home

2005-04-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

It's going to take some time to recover from jetlag, but it was such a beautiful day....too nice to stay indoors so we went to the park. Sophie enjoyed her ride in the stroller and being on the swing for the first time.
Trying out the new stroller.

In love with the swing!

Clean baby!
Love my new room!

April 8/05 ~ Homeward Bound!

2005-04-08T06:35:00.000-05:00

"Okay, I'm all packed for Canada!"
Couch photo.
The Chinese Empress, Miss Sophie.

Well, this is it! We gathered our babies together and placed them on a sofa in the hotel for a group shot. I dressed Sophie in a little Chinese outfit that I bought for her. Only one baby screamed through the photo shoot. We then went down to the diningroom for our final breakfast. We are now back in the room for last minute packing because we need to have our bags outside our room by 11:00am, check out at 12:00pm and board the bus by 12:30pm. I have Sophie’s passport and travel visa in hand. Her passport is so cute! Our flight is not until 4:30pm today but we will be landing in Toronto at 10:30pm. It’s almost like we gain a day because of the time change. We do stop in Vancouver and go through immigration first. As I’m ending this journal, it is now 10:00am (10:00pm back home) and I’m so grateful to have had this experience of coming to this country and receiving one of the greatest gifts of all…our daughter. We will always have a bond with these people and I wish I could personally thank her birth parents for giving her life and allowing us the opportunity to be her parents and engrafting her into our family. See you back in Canada!!!
Our arrival in Canada.
Home at last!

April 7/05 ~ Hutong Visit

2005-04-07T07:58:00.000-05:00

This morning we had a rickshaw tour of a Hutong which is an old traditional Chinese community. There aren’t very many around any more. The rickshaw ride was very enjoyable although Sophie slept through most of it. We toured a primary school and the children sang us some English songs and did a dance. We then were invited into a retired couple’s home and the translator explained how life is in a Hutong. These families don’t have a bathroom but share a communal washroom. It sure made me feel humble to think of the 3 toilets we have in our house. Their home consisted of a livingroom, bedroom and a very small kitchen. We arrived back at the hotel for lunch which we had in the rooftop restaurant. Sophie has been a bit constipated (I’ve been feeding her prunes to get things moving) and lets out loud grunts when she tries to go. So right in the middle of our lunch, she starts to grunt and then the aroma hit! So I quickly headed off in search of the washroom to change her. The public restrooms don’t have baby change tables so I had to do another balancing act on the vanity. In the afternoon we went to Silk Street again and had a lot of fun looking around at all the market stalls. Tonight we are busy packing and getting organized for our flight home. I can’t believe that it is now nearing the end and we’ll be bringing our China princess home!
Rickshaw ride (Sophie slept through this).
The courtyard.
Visiting a hutong.
Inside the home.

April 6/05 ~ Summer Palace

2005-04-06T11:09:00.000-05:00

Today we visited the Summer Palace. The weather has been great (we’ve been wearing t-shirts) and we’ve haven’t had any rain while in Beijing! The gardens at the Summer Palace were beautiful. Many plants and trees are beginning to bloom. At the Palace we walked the longest painted outdoor corridor in the world. The paintings are murals of plants, birds, gardens and trees. We had a break for ice cream which Sophie thoroughly enjoyed and she got her last clean outfit dirty. Maybe we’ll have to buy something new for her tonight. The tour of the Palace included a dragon boat ride on the beautiful lake. We arrived back at the hotel for lunch and then took a taxi ride to Silk Street for shopping. I picked up a few items to decorate Sophie’s room...a butterfly kite, Chinese fan, and a China doll. Jamie has a lot of fun bargaining with the merchants. In the evening we went to a Chinese acrobatic show which was fantastic. Sophie just stared at the acrobats and then fell asleep half way through the program. By the time we got back to the room we were all exhausted and went to bed. We’ve been going to bed when we get Sophie down for the night usually 7:30pm or 8:00pm. I can’t believe that we used to go to bed around 11:00pm. It will be fun getting her used to the time change back home!
Summer Palace
Marble boat at the Summer Palace
Dragon boat ride at the Summer Palace
Acrobatic Show
Acrobatic Show

April 5/05 ~ Forbidden City

2005-04-05T07:08:00.000-05:00

Sophie had a bit of a rough night due to the teething. Many of the babies are going through the same thing. But once we did get her to sleep, she was out until about 3:00am when she woke for her feeding and then went back to sleep until 7:00am. We boarded the tour bus at 9:00am to see Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City, home of the last Emperor of China. You see these things in books and on television but it doesn’t do it justice. The Square is the largest in the world and there was an incredibly long lineup. Jamie said that it was the try-outs for the next Chinese Idol (re: American Idol). It turns out that they were in line to visit the corpse of Mao Zedong, deceased leader of the Communist Party. His embalmed body is on display. Thankfully this was not on our itinerary. The Forbidden City was incredible and about 1 km long which made it a very long tour, especially with babies in tow. I had to change Sophie’s diaper on one of the steps. The Chinese people kept coming over to our group and wanting to touch the babies. I put my jacket over Sophie’s stroller so they couldn’t see her and therefore wouldn’t touch her. I was concerned about germs. You still see people wearing SARS masks here but I think it could be for the pollution. It was very warm today (t-shirts & shorts) and the sun was shining but the sky was hazy because of the pollution. I don’t think they ever have blue skies here because of the constant smog. Many in the group have sore throats due to the pollution. They also allow smoking everywhere including on elevators. After the tour we had a Chinese lunch at a market place. They brought out this baby food in a large dish. It looked like egg custard with something clear and slimy on top. Jamie said that it was baby drool. I must admit that it did look very unappetizing. We then toured the market area and saw silk rugs being handmade. Our next stop was back to the hotel where Sophie conked out on the bed. Right now she is still sleeping. The time seems to be flying by and we are having a great time, but it will be nice to get Sophie home.
Tianamen Square
This was a tricky photo to take as the soldier did not want his picture taken.
Forbidden City.
Forbidden City.
Forbidden City.

April 4/05 ~ Baby's Medical

2005-04-04T07:05:00.000-05:00

Sophie has been taking her formula now without a fuss but she still won’t eat jarred baby food. We had to leave at 7:30am for the drive to the clinic. The Monday morning traffic here is crazy during rush hour. The Beijing Clinic specializes in Chinese adoptions. We were taken to a room to fill out more forms and then had to wait for Sophie’s name to be called. We were the third family in the group to be taken in. Sophie didn’t fuss when she was weighed and measured. She is 7.8 kilograms and 72 cm long. The doctor we had was originally from Montreal and therefore we had no language barriers to overcome. She said that Sophie is long and lanky, so I’ve been calling her "my little sausage". Her lungs, heart, and ears are good. She has a mild cold and nothing to be concerned about. We paid our fee and then waited out in the bus for the other families. It took just over 2 hours for everyone to be seen. Some of the babies had to go on antibiotics. We then headed for the Canadian Embassy to drop off the final reports and paperwork. The Embassy is highly guarded by armed Chinese officers. We waited in the bus while our translator took the forms in. After lunch we went to a silk factory where we saw a demonstration of how silk is made. You guessed it! The tour ended in another showroom. There were a lot of other families there buying traditional silk outfits for their new babies. We are now back to our hotel and thinking about strolling up the street to window shop. We need to keep Sophie up a bit so that she will sleep better through the night. Tonight we decided to order a pizza to eat in our room.
Arriving at the Beijing Clinic.
Waiting for Sophie's medical.
Weighing in.
She's good to go!

April 3/05 ~ The Great Wall

2005-04-03T07:52:00.000-05:00

After the buffet breakfast, we boarded our tour bus (thankfully a much larger one). Our first stop was a freshwater pearl factory. They did a demonstration about how the pearls are cultivated and then we were whisked off to the showroom for shopping. Many in our group were buying gifts for their daughters’ future birthdays. Our next stop was the Great Wall. As we were going down the road and the mountains were getting closer, we began to see the wall come in to sight. What a spectacular view that was! It is an amazing sight to see. We were allowed to spend time to look around and even climb the wall. Jamie and I could only go so far because I was carrying Sophie in her Snugli and the steps are very steep in places, not to mention the fact that she was getting heavier with each step I took. We took many pictures and Jamie, being the ham that he is, drew a crowd by dressing in a traditional Chinese robe with a funny hat and had his picture taken. We then had our family picture taken and put on a certificate that says that we climbed the Great Wall. Our final stop was a jade factory with a demonstration of how jade is mined. And, of course, the tour always ends in the showroom. The jewelry was beautiful but very pricey. We went back to our hotel to spend the evening preparing more paperwork for the Canadian Embassy. Tomorrow we are taking the babies to the Beijing Medical Clinic.
At the Great Wall.
Our family at the Great Wall.
Emperor Jamie.
Making jade pieces.
Huge jade furniture.

April 2/05 ~ Leaving Hunan

2005-04-02T06:57:00.000-06:00

We literally stuffed ourselves into a bus to travel to the airport. The Chinese don’t see anything wrong with packing people into small places. Thankfully the ride wasn’t very far. I can tell you that we are now used to traveling with crying babies. We don’t seem to notice the noise anymore, but I don’t know how others on the plane will find it. We arrived at the airport only to discover that our flight was delayed by 3 hours. So we all hung out at the airport restaurant. I had my first experience of changing Sophie in a public restroom. They don’t seem to believe in baby change tables here so I had to change her on the counter between two sinks. It was a bit of a balancing act and I had spectators once again. The cleaning ladies (usually there are more than one) stood and watched. When I was finished they smiled their approval and went back to work. I guess they wanted to see if an English woman could properly change a Chinese baby’s bottom. It’s funny that our group conversations have changed to discussing our babies bowel movements. There seems to be an occurrence of "diaper blowouts" that have been happening with a few of the babies. Fortunately for us, Sophie has been having what Jamie calls "a playdough factory". We finally were allowed to board the plane and take off for Beijing. We took a friend’s advice and boarded the plane last and were able to get 3 empty seats at the back. Otherwise we would have been sandwiched in the middle of the plane. Sophie fell asleep after we took off and we placed her in the empty seat between us. She did great on the 2 hour flight and woke up 15 minutes before we were to land. Only a couple of the 11 babies had screaming episodes. We now have arrived at our hotel and checked into our room. At first we were placed in a room beside the elevators but then Jamie asked for another room and now we are in a nice corner unit. Sophie had some difficulty falling asleep. There are just so many changes happening to her over this past week. She had spent 10 months of her life with the same routine looking at the same four walls and now she is becoming quite a traveler. All these changes are hard on these little ones but they seem to be coping well. Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall of China!
Last picture taken in our room in Changsha, Hunan.
At the airport.
Waiting at the airport.
Airport restaurant.
Sophie's first flight.
"Good-bye Hunan!"

April 1/05 ~ Touring Changsha

2005-04-01T10:53:00.000-06:00

Well this is no April Fools joke! We are in a beautiful hotel room that is far better than the previous one and it has an Asian theme. The travel organization is taking care of the cost difference. The lobby is gorgeous and our buffet breakfast was fantastic! There are 5 other families here with us. We were able to get a good night's sleep but Sophie has decided to wake us up twice in the night for feeding and changing. Her schedule is just out of wack as with all the other babies. This morning we had to fill out more forms for Sophie’s visa. The paperwork just seems to keep coming. Hopefully we are nearing the end of it. The rest of the day was free so we hopped in a taxi (no seatbelts or baby car seats, you just hang on for your life and for the baby) and headed downtown. Our first stop was Walmart where I bought a couple of inexpensive pants for Sophie and some formula. People keep staring at us and looking into our cart to see what we are buying. I had Sophie in a Snuggli and I’m glad that I did because people want to come up and touch her for "good luck". When I see them coming, I head off in another direction. They are very nice and friendly here but I just wanted some space today. Then we walked the streets of Changsha to get feel for life in China. There are ladies carrying cages with all sorts of small animals for sale. I don’t want to think of where these animals end up. Sometimes we see people begging and some that are very deformed. There is such a class distinction from the rich and poor. I’m so thankful that Sophie will not have to grow up as an orphan in poverty. We are enjoying the experience of life in China and it makes us truly thankful for our life in Canada. Tonight we joined the rest of our group for an evening of bowling in the hotel. We then went back to our room to finish packing for the trip back to Beijing. Our flight leaves at 1:30pm. I'm sad to leave Hunan province because of it being Sophie’s home, but I look forward to the new life that she is starting on her journey to Canada.
Our new hotel room at the Dolton.
Giggle time.
Ready to tour Changsha.
Life in Changsha.
Downtown Changsha.

March 31/05 ~ Embroidery Museum

2005-03-31T07:41:00.000-06:00

Sophie didn’t sleep too good last night and from about 11:00pm on she kept waking up about every hour. This seems to be a common occurrence with most of the babies. Some have already visited the doctor who has an office right here in the hotel. Sophie did take a bottle of formula this morning but she is still refusing to eat. The group went to the Hunan Embroidery Museum in Changsha. These silk works of art are well known all over China. Everything is stitched by hand. We bought a picture of a panda in silk for Sophie. We also bought her a silk handerchief for her wedding day. After the tour we did some shopping and I bought a couple pairs of "squeaky shoes" for Sophie. These shoes have squeakers in them so that when the baby walks, the shoes squeak. It encourages the baby to learn how to walk. We ate at McDonalds and then came back to the hotel. The group went on an afternoon tour of a middle school but we opted out and decided to stay at the hotel to allow Sophie to get some rest. Her nose has been running and so has her eyes. It is now 6:30pm and there has been a debate going on out in the hall with our group. Half of our group want to move to another hotel because of the ongoing construction that has been taking place here. The noise above our room is unbelievable and they are using jackhammers overhead. We had a strange yellow fluid dripping from our bathroom ceiling and I hate to think of what it might be. We told the management that we feel unsafe staying here any longer. It is a 4 star hotel and the rooms are really nice but we aren’t getting any rest and peace here. So now I have to quickly pack as we are leaving in 30 minutes to a 5 star hotel across town. I'll let you know how it all works out.
Fun time with Daddy
At the Hunan Embroidery Museum

March 30/05 ~ Passport Photo Day

2005-03-30T06:32:00.000-06:00

Sophie slept well last night but we are still having problems with feeding her. She woke up at about 4:45am and took her formula but everything else we try to feed her and give her to drink throughout the day has been a major chore. Please pray that she will begin to eat. We may take her to see the doctor tomorrow. Today we visited the Hunan Provincial Museum located in the northeast of Changsha city. This museum contains the tombs of the Licang family that lived during the Western Han period about 2000 years ago. We saw the body of the Marquise herself, swaddled in 20 layers of silk and was found surprisingly well preserved and in remarkable condition, from skin to inner organs. Her organs were in display cases and they say that she died from eating too much watermelon. They even had the seeds on display (charming). After that we went back to our hotel and Sophie had her nap. At 3:00pm it was photo time for the the babies’ passports. Then we gathered in the play area that the hotel has set up and let the babies play together. It was a great photo opportunity. Once again we ordered room service because it began to rain out and we didn’t want to walk to a restaurant in the bad weather with the babies. There has been construction going on at our hotel right above our floor. They were still working at 8:00pm so Jamie called the front desk to ask them to quit but no one understood English. Another dad in our group got our interpreter to go down to complain. This has been going on every day since we arrived and it’s so noisy that the babies have a hard time napping in the afternoon or getting asleep at night. It will be good to get back to Beijing where we can get some peace and quiet.
At the Hunan Provincial Museum
At the Museum
Play time after passport photos
More play time

March 29/05 ~ Adoption Day

2005-03-29T07:31:00.000-06:00

Sophie woke up at 4:30am because she was startled by a sound, otherwise I think she would have slept longer. We tried to give her formula but she refused and the same with her rice cereal. I rocked her back to sleep and she slept from 5:30 to 6:30. We again tried to feed her but she wouldn’t take anything. Jamie brought one of the experienced moms to our room to check Sophie out. Everything is okay, she is just adjusting to everything new. She had her first bath and, by the sounds she let out, I don’t think she had ever been in a baby bathtub before. It was a quick bath and we both struggled to hold on to her slippery body when we lifted her out. It was also a quick dressing session and we found out that she is definitely a petite baby for a 10 month old. All of the 12 month clothes I brought are way too big. I had to roll up her pant legs and sleeves. At the restaurant breakfast I felt a bit bad because all the other parents had their babies in cute outfits that fit well and here was Sophie in a hand-me-down that didn’t fit. We had been told to bring only one good outfit for the arrival home and all the others could be hand-me-downs in case the sizing was wrong and then we could swap with the others. I think we may be making a trip to Walmart and getting a few things that do fit. Today was paperwork day at the Civil Affairs Office. We spent about 2 hours finalizing things. But the best news is...Sophie is now officially and legally our daughter! There were a lot of adoptions taking place and more families from other countries were receiving their daughters for the first time. It was a very noisy place. I was getting concerned because Sophie hadn’t eaten or drank anything since yesterday afternoon. We arrived back at the hotel at noon and we tried to feed her again and this time she ate! We gave her mixed vegetables and she even drank some apple juice. Immediately after eating, she started to fall asleep so we put her in the crib. She slept for 1½ hours and we took advantage of it by having a nap also. We had another very poopy diaper to change after she woke and, as I was changing her, she decided that she would continue to go and then do a pee as well. I had Jamie run and grab some toilet paper as the flow kept coming! We are now becoming experts in the #2 department. We had her all cleaned up and then about an hour later she did another load. She’s all smiles after I clean her bottom. Sophie is such a sweet girl. Right now she seems to be a quiet baby but I don’t think we have seen her full personality yet. Jamie has put her in the umbrella stroller and has taken her for a stroll down the hall while I type this. We have the rest of the day to ourselves and might get room service again for dinner. It’s nice just to have her to ourselves so that she can get used to us. We have most definitely fallen in love with this beautiful baby and it still seems surreal that she is all ours. We can’t wait for her to meet our church family. Thank you again to our family and friends that have made this all possible! It’s more wonderful that I had even imagined it would be.
First breakfast with us.
On our way to the Civil Affairs Office.
Waiting to finalize adoption.
Stroller time.

March 28/05 ~ Gotcha Day

2005-03-28T12:26:00.000-06:00

It’s 9:30am and we become parents in 1½ hours! Our bus leaves at 10:30am to take us to the Changsha Civil Affairs Office where we are to receive our babies. We didn’t get much sleep last night and got up at 4:30am. When we went for breakfast, we found out that most of the other families had a similar night. Breakfast conversation consisted of "how our lives are about to change". One future father was very brave and had fried chicken feet for breakfast. We have now come back to our room to wait out the final 90 minutes. It still seems very surreal. I sorted out Sophie’s suitcase again, made up her bottle of apple juice and another of formula, and prepared her diaper bag. We feel a bit stir-crazy in our room. What can I do to fill in the time? Re-sort our suitcase. I guess I’m getting the nest ready. The weather is great today, sunny and warm, a great day to become parents. Now Jamie is pacing the floor in the room. It’s almost time to go down to the lobby. Next time I write, we will have Sophie!

Gotcha moment happened at 11:30am!
My daughter is now napping in her crib. I am overwhelmed! She looks like an angel. The ride to the Civil Affairs Office was very emotional. As we arrived we saw nannies arriving with babies. On the 3rd floor we saw a group of Americans ahead of us who had just received their babies. Many in our group began crying, including me. As we entered into the receiving room, I began to sob because it was all so emotional. Family names were called and new parents would step forward to receive their babies as they were brought in one by one. The child’s Chinese name would be spoken, parents' passports checked, and then the announcement, "you may now hold your baby". There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. We were one of the last names called. Sophie was handed to me and she didn’t cry at all, unlike many of the other babies who were wailing. We spent some time holding her until we were told that we had to get back on the bus. The babies were so bundled up and it was such a hot day that we tried to remove Sophie’s coat but she started to cry so we left it on. Jamie held her on the bus and carried her to our room. We took turns holding her and she didn’t mind at all who it was until Jamie went into the washroom and she began to cry. When I left the room she did the same thing. This is a very good beginning sign of bonding. We fed her some rice cereal but she won’t take the bottle. I’m hoping this will change tomorrow as I don’t want her to become dehydrated. By late afternoon we had her laughing with peep-a-boo. She napped from 2:00pm to 3:00pm and then just played with us on the bed. We ordered room service and then I had to go downstairs to do an hour of paperwork while Jamie stayed in the room and put Sophie to bed. By the way, we had our first poopy diaper and it was a whopper! I was sure that Jamie was trying to pass the blame on to the baby for something he did, but sure enough it was Sophie! Like father, like daughter.

March 27/05 ~ Changsha's Walmart

2005-03-27T07:25:00.000-06:00

Easter Sunday! We thought someone was breaking into our room by coming through the ceiling at 7:30am but soon realized that they are doing construction in the hotel. I guess they don’t worry about guests that may be trying to sleep in. Breakfast was very good. Once again it was a western style buffet. They had 3 dwarf bunnies in a pen in the lobby and Jamie made the comment that they were going to be our dinner. We met some people from Norway that are also here to adopt. We are staying on one of the 2 baby floors that they have in this hotel. As soon as the elevator doors open on our floor, you are greeted by a play area with lots of toys, strollers, and baby walkers. Right now the floor is quiet but come tomorrow I’m sure it will be very noisy. This was our last day to get in any shopping that we needed before the babies arrive. We all piled into a minibus and headed to Walmart. Yes, they do have Walmart in China. It has 2 floors - the first for food and the second for everything else. The food floor is unbelievable! First you have to get used to the smell which is very hard to describe. I wouldn’t use the word pleasant. They sell everything from live turtles to fish and bullfrogs. Jamie took some very interesting photos. We then headed to the second floor in search of baby things. The prices are amazing! Everyone stocked up on baby formula, diapers and water. We spent 2 hours shopping and then piled back into the minibus. It seems that we are all feeling a bit jet-lagged so we napped in the afternoon. At 5:00pm Jamie and I went to a local grocery store to get some more water. People kept staring at us and we were followed around the store by two young men who kept whispering to each other. I guess they don’t see too many caucasians around here. I didn’t like them standing so close to us at the checkout counter. Jamie was in front of me paying for the water and the two guys were standing so close to me -- too close for comfort. It was good to get out of there and back to the hotel. We met the group at 6:00pm for dinner in a local Chinese restaurant. Very interesting is all I can say. I can tell you that we didn’t eat very much. We’re very tired tonight and hopefully we’ll sleep well, but I don’t know. You see, tomorrow is "Gotcha Day" when we get Sophie! We will be heading over to the Civil Affairs Office in Changsha at 10:30am and will meet the babies at 11:00!
First morning in Changsha.
A trip to Walmart.
Getting last minute items before babies arrive.
View from our hotel room.
The last supper.

March 26/05 ~ On To Hunan

2005-03-26T07:02:00.000-06:00

We are being very careful about the food here. Breakfast was a western style buffet with some Chinese food. We stuck to what was familiar and stayed away from the fruit salad. We went to the business center at the hotel and tried to use their internet since we haven’t been able to figure out how to hook up in our room. It cost us about $16 for 25 minutes. We’ll wait until we get to Changsha and hopefully be able to post our journal online. We checked out the gift shops at the hotel but things are too expensive. We’ll wait until we go to the markets. We checked out of our room at 12:00pm and then piled into a taxi with Louanne and Darren to go to Silk Street. The cab driver was funny, couldn’t speak English, but just laughed at Jamie as he wasn’t wearing a coat (it’s very warm here and people are still wearing their winter jackets). He pointed out the fact that Jamie has hairy arms but little hair on his head and laughed. Silk Street is now housed in a 4 storey building. It reminds me of the flea markets back home with all the booths. There were shoulder to shoulder people. Before you knew it, Jamie was bargaining with the merchants for a Columbia jacket that started out at $60US was down to $25. All you had to do was look at something and a merchant would be in your face and wanting you to buy, "You like? Cheap price for you! Very nice, good quality!" We didn’t buy anything because we are going to wait until the end of the trip. We passed some merchants selling "Rolex" watches. Jamie said, "Those are fake" and the merchant replied, "No fake, real". There were a lot of knockoffs so you have to be careful. We had a lot of fun and then returned to our hotel for a late lunch and then to collect our luggage for the bus ride back to the airport. There we met the rest of our travel group for our 7:30pm flight to Changsha. I forgot to mention that I’ve used a squatty toilet twice at the airport. I should have good leg muscles when I get back to Canada. Our plane was small so seating was tight but it was only a 2 hour flight. We had another crazy bus ride to our hotel. We were feeling pretty tired and getting giddy. Our guide was giving us instructions over the bus sound system and the microphone was on reverb. Jamie was trying to control his laughter and I didn’t dare look at him for fear that I would break out laughing. Our hotel is very nice and we now have internet hookup in our room. The wonderful news is we get Sophie Monday morning at 11:00am!!!
Our first breakfast in China.
Our flight to Changsha, Hunan.
Getting ready for our flight to Changsha, Hunan.

March 25/05 ~ We're Here

2005-03-25T07:40:00.000-06:00

It is now Good Friday! After 11 hours in the air, we began to notice that the landscape had definitely changed and became very mountainous and brown. The captain announced that we were beginning our descent into Beijing. We arrived at 3:30pm (there’s a 13 hour difference, so that means that it was 2:30 in the morning back home). We are traveling with another couple, Louanne and Darren, and will meet the rest of our travel group (11 families in total) tomorrow. After passing through customs, we are pleased to announce that all of our luggage has arrived with us! It is quite common for luggage to go missing on flights to China. Maybe it's on purpose so that you have to buy everything again in China :o)

Ellen, our guide and interpreter, met us and took us by bus to our hotel. What a ride that was!!! Let me just put it this way, I won’t complain about Jamie’s driving again! Our hotel is very nice but the beds are so hard. Jamie is disappointed that he can’t jump on the bed because it is like a rock, and I’m not exaggerating! But we were so tired that it didn’t really matter. We turned out the light at 8:00pm
Seeing China for the first time.
Mountainous terrain coming into view.
We are finally here and going through customs.
Bus ride to hotel.
Children's playground - view from the bus.

March 24/05 ~ On Our Way

2005-03-24T07:24:00.000-06:00

It was quite exciting to begin the day knowing that in less that 24 hours we would be in China. We got up at 4:15am and left our house at 5:00am. Our friend from church, John Devere who owns a limo company, took us to the airport in style in a stretched limo. We stopped at Tim Horton’s for a final taste of Canada. The new addition to the airport is very modern and clean. After checking our bags, we wandered around and I noticed some Asian families with babies. Our flight left at 8:30am and we were served a hot breakfast – scrabbled eggs and sausage. After almost 5 hours we arrived in Vancouver. Our stopover was only 2 hours so that gave us some time to stretch our legs and take some photos before boarding again for the 11½ hour flight. We were able to get exit door seats which allowed us extra leg room. As we lifted off, Jamie and I said goodbye to Canada as it would be the last time we were here as just two – when we return we will be three. The meals were actually very good. I had a pork and noodle dish while Jamie had chicken and rice. We napped a bit and then they served a beef dish. The flight was very good and I couldn’t help but think that as each hour passed we were closer to Sophie’s homeland.
Waiting at the Vancouver airport.

New friend, Louanne, who is traveling with her husband Darren to get their daughter, LiLe, who is in the same orphanage as Sophie.
Boarding the plane for China.

March 23/05 ~ Timeline

2005-03-23T19:09:00.000-06:00

Our Timeline
January 19/04
- heard about the idea of Chinese adoption
January 23/04
- met with Executive Director of OPEN ARMS to International Adoption
February 5/04
- 1st Homestudy with Social Worker
February 16/04
- 2nd Homestudy & Police Clearance arrived
February 26/04
- 3rd Homestudy
March 4/04
- long form of Marriage Certificate arrived
March 7/04
- attended Baby Care Class by OPEN ARMS
March 10/04
- long form of Laurie's Birth Certificate, Police Occurrence & Fingerprint Clearance arrived
March 15/04
- Laurie's Physical Examination
March 16/04
- Jamie’s Physical Examination
April 5/04
- final Homestudy
May 4/04
- Homestudy sent to Ministry
May 31/04
- attended Adoption Scrapbooking class
June 12/04
- purchased crib today!
June 21/04
- received approval letter from Ministry
June 25/04
- finalized all documents with OPEN ARMS
July 9/04
- 1st immunization
July 13/04
- mailed immigration papers
August 2/04 - LID
- Dossier received by China Centre of Adoption Affairs
September 2/04
- 1 month down
October 2/04
- 2 months down
November 2/04
- 3 months down
December 2/04
- 4 months down
January 1/05
- HAPPY NEW YEAR! The year we become parents!
January 2/05
- 5 months down
January 23/05
- met with our travel group for a Chinese dinner
February 2/05
- 6 months down & we are waiting by the phone!
February 3/05
- WE HAVE A GIRL!!!
Chinese Name: Chen Xu Yun
DOB: May 15, 2004
Chenzhou SWI
Hunan Province
February 5/05
- see Sophie's picture for the 1st time!

Tomorrow is the big day when we finally leave for China! It is hard to believe that the time has come for us to be parents. Today we are busy with last minute things to do. Jamie's dad is visiting from England and we are going to see him today as he will be back home when we return from China. Most of the packing is completed except for some last minute items. We are bringing along some snack food as well as Pepto Bismol. We have been warned to avoid certain foods and drink only bottled water. My friends, Debbie and Crystal, hosted a Baby Shower for me on Monday night. They had put a lot of work into all the wonderful decorations and the delicious food. It looked so lovely! We received many wonderful gifts including a playpen (we already have it set up in our bedroom for the first nights home), lots of cute clothes (I can't wait to dress her up), essential baby items, and something that Jamie really wanted - a Diaper Genie. No Jamie, it doesn't change diapers for you! The next time I post we will be in China!