Hello...I missed my nightly update because we were traveling to another province (Guangdong) to complete Faith's immigration into the USA. If they made every family who has biological children go through what we have had to do to adopt, our world would be much less populated.
Yesterday we got to spend a little time at the hotel packing and waiting for Faith's Chinese passport. It has been a very long 5 days in her province Hunan. Mostly because there is very little to do when the weather is cold. We are all a little stir crazy. Also...some of the toys are broken in the play room at the hotel and that just makes Faith so mad.
We did get out with the stroller for the first time and took a very long walk. We had the most interesting walk of our lives. We ended up walking past a public elementary school just as it was getting out for the day. It seems none of these children have every seen an American. About 3 girls around the age of 10 said "hello" and were so proud to try out their English on us. When we replied back, they ran and told everyone else, and we had about 50 small children swarm the stroller and us, ( with no respect to boundaries) they were all yelling "hello... Happy New Year!" We felt like celebrities for a few moments. We just kept walking, I was a little worried that Faith might panic, but she did ok. After about a mile of this they slowly stopped following us. We also ate dinner at KFC...horray American FOOD!!!! Faith likes chicken nuggets . Jeff and I both want Mexican food like crazy and that is the first thing we are doing when we get back. These were the only really interesting things we did until our flight which was at 8:30 pm. I will upload some pictures later.
Also Faith has been told she would take a plane to USA with her MaMa and BaBa...she told our guide in Chinese she was excited to go on the plane. She did so very well. We continue to be amazed by this little empress. In China the parents call their girls empress's instead of princess. We got a picture of her first plane ride from Changsha to Guangzhou. We are in a tropical climate now and it's perfect today. We don't even need jackets. Our hotel is on Shamian Island. It is called the White Swan and we love this hotel so much! It has an indoor waterfall, with coi fish, and a beautiful view of the lake.
This morning was rough for all the adoptive children. We met up with 10 other families that are here from our agency. It was nice to have some other people to speak English to other than our guide. All the children needed medical exams and a TB test and shots to immigrate to the US. We sat in a very small building with about 100 other people and many screaming children for over 2 hours. Faith needed 6 shots and her TB test was a long shot in the underside of her forearm. Just as these kids start to bond, we have to hold them down and hurt them. We were all very angry about this. They use to let parents waive these shots and agree to do it in the states, now they have made it a requirement. It was very traumatizing for everyone. Many moms were crying along with their children. Faith was a trooper. When they explained to her in Chinese what they were going to do...she told them she had had IV's before. Very smart ! It broke my heart that at age two she knows the word for IV Therapy.
They gave each of the 7 shots one at a time, and I had to pin her down and hold her head. She screamed and cried "ma ma...ma ma" they should have just ripped out my heart also. After we were all done they gave her a candy...it was coffee flavor..just gross. She spit it right out. Luckily we had some swedish fish and she calmed down very quickly. I would say she did better than most children...probably because of the iv therapy. When we got back to the hotel room the staff had left a Barbie for Faith. It was an adoption Barbie called "Going Home" She was beautiful and blonde holding a little Chinese girl. Faith loves it. She says "ma ma and Si Si" So cute. ( I am secretly thinking wow ...really a hottie barbie for a mom figure. Good luck meeting that expectation)
We are now at the hotel and she is napping. We are excited to go eat out at Lucy's restaurant here... Everyone loves it. Also we have reservations tonight to go with our group to an Italian restaurant. That should be interesting.
Also, Faith didn't have a fever, and no ear infections. Thank you T for helping us out! She is so much more healthy than when we meet 5 days ago.
Yesterday we got to spend a little time at the hotel packing and waiting for Faith's Chinese passport. It has been a very long 5 days in her province Hunan. Mostly because there is very little to do when the weather is cold. We are all a little stir crazy. Also...some of the toys are broken in the play room at the hotel and that just makes Faith so mad.
We did get out with the stroller for the first time and took a very long walk. We had the most interesting walk of our lives. We ended up walking past a public elementary school just as it was getting out for the day. It seems none of these children have every seen an American. About 3 girls around the age of 10 said "hello" and were so proud to try out their English on us. When we replied back, they ran and told everyone else, and we had about 50 small children swarm the stroller and us, ( with no respect to boundaries) they were all yelling "hello... Happy New Year!" We felt like celebrities for a few moments. We just kept walking, I was a little worried that Faith might panic, but she did ok. After about a mile of this they slowly stopped following us. We also ate dinner at KFC...horray American FOOD!!!! Faith likes chicken nuggets . Jeff and I both want Mexican food like crazy and that is the first thing we are doing when we get back. These were the only really interesting things we did until our flight which was at 8:30 pm. I will upload some pictures later.
Also Faith has been told she would take a plane to USA with her MaMa and BaBa...she told our guide in Chinese she was excited to go on the plane. She did so very well. We continue to be amazed by this little empress. In China the parents call their girls empress's instead of princess. We got a picture of her first plane ride from Changsha to Guangzhou. We are in a tropical climate now and it's perfect today. We don't even need jackets. Our hotel is on Shamian Island. It is called the White Swan and we love this hotel so much! It has an indoor waterfall, with coi fish, and a beautiful view of the lake.
This morning was rough for all the adoptive children. We met up with 10 other families that are here from our agency. It was nice to have some other people to speak English to other than our guide. All the children needed medical exams and a TB test and shots to immigrate to the US. We sat in a very small building with about 100 other people and many screaming children for over 2 hours. Faith needed 6 shots and her TB test was a long shot in the underside of her forearm. Just as these kids start to bond, we have to hold them down and hurt them. We were all very angry about this. They use to let parents waive these shots and agree to do it in the states, now they have made it a requirement. It was very traumatizing for everyone. Many moms were crying along with their children. Faith was a trooper. When they explained to her in Chinese what they were going to do...she told them she had had IV's before. Very smart ! It broke my heart that at age two she knows the word for IV Therapy.
They gave each of the 7 shots one at a time, and I had to pin her down and hold her head. She screamed and cried "ma ma...ma ma" they should have just ripped out my heart also. After we were all done they gave her a candy...it was coffee flavor..just gross. She spit it right out. Luckily we had some swedish fish and she calmed down very quickly. I would say she did better than most children...probably because of the iv therapy. When we got back to the hotel room the staff had left a Barbie for Faith. It was an adoption Barbie called "Going Home" She was beautiful and blonde holding a little Chinese girl. Faith loves it. She says "ma ma and Si Si" So cute. ( I am secretly thinking wow ...really a hottie barbie for a mom figure. Good luck meeting that expectation)
We are now at the hotel and she is napping. We are excited to go eat out at Lucy's restaurant here... Everyone loves it. Also we have reservations tonight to go with our group to an Italian restaurant. That should be interesting.
Also, Faith didn't have a fever, and no ear infections. Thank you T for helping us out! She is so much more healthy than when we meet 5 days ago.
crop.jpg)
