Ah!

We made it home by 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Amy is doing great and has bonded well to the other children. She is already spoiled and we all love her to pieces!

Thank goodness for wonderful Japanese play rooms. They helped to pass the time!

We had a very long 6 hour lay over in Tokyo where Amy had her first taste of ice cream. She did not like it.

Thursday morning early we left for the airport to start our journey home.

We celebrated finalization by going to Lucy's for American food. We have been living on Subway since the bad food. We have been a little hesitant to try more local food.

On Wednesday we all went to the US Consolate for the oath ceremony and to get our Visa packet so we can leave the country with Amy. There were 25 families at the ceremony and the majority of the children were special needs. Either with health issues or older children. Because the waiting time has become soooo long many families are opting to go to the "Waiting child program" to get through the process faster. Of course we think Amy was the cutest baby there but we aren't prejudice or anything.

Amy and Mom on the top of the boat.

On Tuesday evening we went on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. Everything was lit up and it was a beautiful evening.

Visiting the Six Banyan Trees Temple. We saw monks and Auntie Jane burned insense for good luck for our babies.

Shopping for treasures to take home.

Monday morning was time for her medical check-up.

There were a lot of little parks and nice walking areas around the hotel. The weather in Guangzhou is a lot like Hawaii. We are happy to be back in warm weather.

The three families from CASI agency at the White Swan Hotel.

The children from our group. The 2 on the ends and the girl in the middle were the ones being adopted this trip. The other 2 are children that were adopted on previous trips to China.

We walked over to the White Swan Hotel to take pictures on the famous red couch.

On Sunday we went with the other families from our agency to a garden park with waterfalls and fish to feed.

With Amy's passport finished and other paperwork done it is time to fly to Guangzhou to finish the process. We got bad food somewhere and we had a rough 24 hours with Dallin throwing up as we went through security at the airport. We were sad to say good-by to Linda but happy to have our new guide Jane meet us at the airport and take care of us on our 2nd half of the trip.

This is a booth with fish that had just been cut in half and were still moving around. There were also live fish, turtles, frogs and crabs in the buckets in front.

In the afternoon we walked through the open market behind our hotel. We bought some oranges and saw everything from fruit and veggies to live animals for sale.

Glade with Confuscious...two wise men.

On Friday we went to Yuelu Hill an ancient university.

At first Amy couldn't crawl only scoot. But we took her to the playroom every day to practice and after 4 days she began crawling and not just sidescooting around the room. It is amazing to watch her daily progress!

Thursday Nov 20th we visited the Embroidery Factory and saw the amazing work they do!

Dallin was really good at trying new food. He also used chopsticks more than any of us and he got to be pretty good.

One thing we loved about our hotels was the all you can eat breakfast buffet that came with the room. They had everthing from steak and eggs to chinese noodles. Amy is loving eating by herself. She eats an amazing amount of food.

We stayed on the 30th floor of the Dolton Hotel. This is the view out of our window. We were amazed at the poverty and crowded city. The traffic was insane! They use horns instead of blinkers and the lines on the road mean nothing. If you want to make a u-turn you just drive into the oncoming bumper to bumper traffic. The people crossed the road wherever and I closed my eyes most of the time. We never saw an accident. It was amazing!

Dsllin rode a goat cart. After the zoo we visited the Hunan museum where we saw a 2000 year old woman who had been found in a tomb still preserved. Also lots of interesting old artifacts that had been found in the tomb. We felt like the side attraction everywhere we went. They don't get many tourists in Changsha and being American and holding a Chinese baby we got lots of questions and comments. One girl who spoke english followed us through the museum and introduced everyone she knew to Dallin. They loved his blonde hair. He took to wearing a hat everywhere. He decided he doesn't want to be a movie star.

We watched a circus show with bears and monkeys riding bikes and tigers jumping through rings of fire.

Tuesday we went to visit the Changsha Zoo. Amy loved the animals.

The food in Hunan province is made with lots of red chili and is very spicy. Linda took us to a local resturant to have spicy food. Dallin asked for very spicy beef. Glade and I ordered mild chicken and it was plenty warm. Babies that come from the Hunan Province are known as "Spicy babies" and Amy fits that label. She is very active, smart and has definate opinions.

After breakfast we went back the the Adoption building and did paperwork and met again with the orphange workers to ask questions. We also had photos taken for our paperwork. The building was not heated so we never took our coats off.

The next morning I sent Dad and Dallin down to breakfast without us and that is when Amy began to be ok with me. It was almost magical how when Dallin left the room all of the sudden Mom was ok.

She slept the whole night waking up at about 5:00 a.m. She was not happy to see me so I laid her in bed with Dallin and she snuggled up and went right back to sleep.

When she gets sleepy she needs a piece of fabric to suck the corner of.

Finally, Dad got a turn. She still wouldn't look at him but she is slowly warming up to us.

Dallin spent a lot of time and energy trying to get Amy to smile. He would dance and fall on the floor, play peek-a-boo and make strange noises. He finally got a smile out of her!

Glade went out and brought dinner into the hotel room. After a large bowl of rice congee (porridge) She was happier. I could hold her as long as she didn't turn around and look at me. Then she cried.