Last Day in Beijing

Today is Friday, December 1... our last day in Beijing. Tomorrow we hop a plane to Guangzhou. We plan to go to a new area for shopping today to pick up a few supplies for Ethan. The area contains a TGI Fridays and other American restaurants. To be perfectly honest, Tommy and I are ready for a little Western food. It doesn't seem to matter to Ethan.

Yesterday we went to Mr. Lee's Noodle restaurant. Sue, our guide from the Holt Office says that most Chinese think that Mr. Lee's is more American than authentic Chinese. Tommy and I disagree. We had a tough time there ordering something. I pointed to what looked like a chicken dish and thank goodness it was. There was a helping of bean sprouts that came with the meal and Ethan ate all of them. He said "yummy" after taking the first bite. I don't know many two year olds who would eat bean sprouts!!!!! But then again, I haven't found anything he won't eat.

We get lots of stares when Tommy and I are out with Ethan in public. Partly because we are Westerners with a Chinese child and partly because of his lip. He doesn't seem to notice and it doesn't bother us either. They are just curious.

The weather here has been sunny the last few days but still very cold. There has even been some snow. Yesterday morning we went to see the Great Wall. The mountains around the wall are very large and you can see beatiful views from the wall. It was colder up there of course so we didn't stay too long.

Beijing Zoo

Today is Wednesday and is a day free for us. We actually slept in until 5:00 this morning!!!!! We have been waking at 4:00 am I guess to the effects of jet lag. We have been going to bed by 8:00 so we do get our 8 hours.

We met our guide in the hotel lobby at 10:00 am and left for the Beijing Zoo. I can believe the the whole outing, tickets to the zoo for 3 adults and 1 child, cab fare to the zoo and cab fare back to the hotel, only cost us $15 US. Some things here are incredibly cheap and others seem very expensive. For example a tour to the Great Wall costs $200 US.

Ethan had his first crying fit today. He fell asleep in his stroller at the last of the zoo and continued to sleep for the 15 minute cab ride back to the hotel. When we got back to the room, I began to undress him to change his diaper and put him down for the remainder of his nap and he wasn't happy about it at all. It was a small meltdown due to him being so tired. He cried for a few moments and then fell right back to sleep.

Back to Langfang

It is early Tuesday morning in Beijing. We are staying in the third hotel room in three nights!!! the good news is that we will now be here until we leave for Guangzhou on Saturday morning. We go back to Langfang this morning to apply for Ethan's Chinese Passport. This will only be about an hour drive and we will be back to the hotel by noon. The next few days will be "free days" for us as we wait for the passport to be processed. It will be ready just as we leave on Saturday.

This afternoon we are planning to go shopping for a few supplies. It has been very cold here and we have been scolded publically on the streets for not having Ethan in long underwear. The older Chinese women do not approve of the way westerners dress children. Someone told us that if a child was not in enough layers to sweat, they were too cold!!!!

If the weather holds out we are also planning on going to the Beijing Zoo with Ethan maybe tomorrow. They are supposed to have an awesome panda exhibit.

It is now early morning Monday. We are now in the capital city of the Hebei Province,Shijiazhaung. This was about a 4 hour bus ride from Langfang Orphange to here yesterday.We are here to finalize the adoption with the Chinese Goverment and apply for thisChinese passport. So, after today, in the eyes of China Ethan will be legally ourson.Yesterday was of course very exciting and also very scary. We worried how he woulddo and if he would be scared. The "handoff" was definately not as we expected. You kinda have the moment built up in your head like you will see theheavens open and the angels sing when your son is fianlly handed to you. But whatactually happened was much less glamorous but not any less special. Our bus pulled up to the gates of the neighborhood where Ethan lived with is fosterfamily and he was brought by a Chinese man who took him out of his stoller and justhanded him in to us when to bus doors opened. He said goodbye and we were back on our way to the Langfang Ophanage to pick up the Orphanage director who would be travelling with us to the capital city.When the Chinese man handed Ethan to me, a couple of tears ran down his face andhis body immediately stiffened up and would not make any eye contact with eitherme or Tommy. This lasted all the way to the orphanage. Once we got there he wasn'tmuch better. They took some pictures and we got to see some of the children. Hewas sitting on my lap and noticed a particular toy beside us. This toy caught hisattention and he began to play. In just a few moments he was looking at me and smiling. But, he was still cautious with us. The orphanage allowed us to "borrow"the toy for our trip and it was definately a hit. On the ride there be began toopen up. He even let his guard down enough to fall off to sleep.Last night was very easy. He really began to warm up and the biggest hit was thefrench fries we ordered from room service. He also ate shrimp, pizza and noodles.He is a very good eater. He fell off to sleep after his bath at 8:00 and slept until 5:30 this morning. He at rice crispies, fruit and pancackes for breakfast.Once again, he will eat anything so far!!!Well I have to go for now. We will be on the road back to Beijing today so I haveto get our bags packed again. I'll write again soon.

Arrival in Beijing

We arrived in Bejing at 9:30 on Friday night, after being awake for over 24 hours!!!! We were very tired and glad to get to our hotel. The temperature was about 29 degreesand was misting rain.... pretty miserable. We are up this morning to go to our orienation class and then if the weather holds we will be going to the Temple ofHeaven and Tienamen(sp?) Square. The hotel is very modern and very nice. Although it has every mondern convenience,Tommy and I couldn't figure out how to get the lights in the room to stay on.There was a card swiper like what was on the door that was located on the wall andwe finally figured that we had to leave the card in the swiper to keep them on....What a bunch of Arkansans!!!!! Hopefully in the days to come we will be able toput photos on the blog spot, but we just don't have the time today or tomorrow.

What A Thanksgiving!!!!

We leave for China at 7 am on Thanksgiving Day! We have made our international flight reservations and are packing like crazy. Our flight takes us from Little Rock to Minneapolis; from Minneapolis to Tokyo; from Tokyo to Beijing. Here is a condensed version of our once in China schedule:

• Arrive in Beijing November 24th
• Attend orientation class on November 25th
• Fly to capital of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang, November 26th (This is the day we will actually meet and get our son... our "Gotcha Day".)
• Fly to Guangzhou (location of U.S. Consulate) December 2nd
• Have appointment with U.S. Consulate December 5th
• Ethan's U.S. Visa issued December 6th
• Return home December 7th

Travel Approvals Are Here!!!!!

We got a call from Holt International in Eugene, Oregon today that they have received our travel approval!!!!!! They are in the process of confirming our US Consulate appointments for December 4th/5th. Upon that confirmation we will book our travel. That puts us leaving the U.S. sometime around Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving brings so many new things to be thankful for. We can't wait to go get our son.