Last Day

Today is our last full day in Guangzhou. We are ready to leave!! We were ready to leave a week ago! We had a late breakfast, came to the 'free Internet' store and will pack today. We got to talk to our little Jackson this morning which we always look forward to. We are anxious to see everyone at home and get home just in time to celebrate Christmas with our families. :)

Sobering Moment

Today we went to the US Consulate. We went to a waiting room with about 75 other people. An American worker came out and told us what we are supposed to do when we get to the states and had us take the oath. What a long haul, but well worth the work and effort. With tears in our eyes we finally had come to the end of our journey. She just needs to plant those precious little feet on US soil and it truly will be over. :) This evening we went on a Pearl River Cruise. It was nice. It was the perfect event to give us time to relax and have an enjoyable evening. When we returned to our room we ordered out Papa John's! :) We have ordered that a few times when we were tired and didn't feel like going anywhere.

Visa Paperwork

Today we completed the paperwork necessary for Ruby to get her Visa to come to the USA. We filled out the form that allows her to become a citizen as soon as she lands on US soil. Thank God we are almost there!! That night we went to the Thai restaurant. Yummmy Green Curry with chicken. :)

Shopping, Shopping, and more Shopping

Today we decided to go back to the department store, GrandBuy. We went with some friends, Sarah, Jay, Jordan, and Lillie. Near that street we also found some nice purses and hair accessories. I went back in to the GrandBuy store and found a toy for Ruby I was looking for a few days before that they did not have and they had it today. I was so happy. After this we met Jay and Sarah at McDonalds for lunch. Only the SECOND time we've been at a McDonald's since we got here. Not bad. :) Since neither of us thought we could communicate with the taxi drivers to get us to the Pearl Market we opted to go back to the hotel and then have our guide ask the taxi driver to take us to the Pearl Market. We got there and shopped for about an hour. It is amazing at how many stores there are selling beads. Something everyone should experience. Mom and I have always wondered who strings all those thousands of beads we buy. Now I know!

Church

This morning the group went to the Zoo but we opted to stay at the hotel. A few yards from the hotel is a Christian Church that we attended the service this morning. The service was great and we met many people there. Again, we 'layed low' today to try and rest.

Pearl Market

Today we went to the Pearl Market. When we went here 2.5 years ago the prices were VERY reasonable. This time they were OUTRAGEOUS!!! One sterling silver and stone bracelet cost $800 AMERICAN DOLLARS! I thought do these people think we are that gullible??? Oh well, needless to day I didn't buy anything there!! We walked to the market through the famous Qing Ping market. This was about a 30 minute walk from our hotel. It was very interesting to see the way the locals live and the businesses they have. They were selling everything from pets to Chinese herbs. On the way back one person (Kim Malsom, that works in the CCAI Dossier department) wanted to get some Chinese herbs for her boyfriend. He likes to cook and he wanted her to get some herbs for him. We went to a local vegetable and meat store. They had tons and tons of fresh vegetables and chickens in cages that had only a few hours left of daylight. ;) After this trip I was wiped out. It took the rest of the afternoon to recover from all the walking. I pulled a muscle in my side so I was trying to recuperate and get back in shape for the rest of the trip.

Sightseeing

Today we went on a half day sightseeing tour. We visited a Buddhist temple and if you wanted you could get a 'blessing' from the monks. We opted out on that one! Then we went to the Old Chen House. It is a house that belonged to the Chen family 1500 years ago. FYI they have 'western' toilets there! ;) That was a relief! We walked around and took pictures there. Finally we went to a Provincial Arts & Crafts center aka tourist trap. It was OK and we did manage to buy a few things there. That afternoon we just spent around the hotel.

Day 4 with Ruby

Today is day 4 with Ruby. She has, as of last night opened up to us tremendously. She is smiling, laughing, crawling, and holding on to the edge of the crib and walking around it. She typically likes her crib because she can play in it and we like it so she isn't so mobile! We will be taking her to the Swan Room today to let her crawl around and play. It is kind of hard having her in our room with so many things to get in to. Yesterday we went to the Passport office and applied for her Chinese passport so she can come home. Only one more step of paperwork until we can travel now, her American Visa. Of course we have to say the oath at the US Consulate on the 20th too. It has been nearly impossible to get my email here. So if you have emailed me directly I will most likely email you back when we return.

We Got Her!!

Wow, what an amazing time it was getting our Ruby. She is not yet completely happy with the 'switch over' but I know in about a day or two she will be happy and content. Here is a video of our precious little princess. If for some weird reason this embeded video does not work go to youtube.com and user phoenixjen. That is where the video resides.

When we arrived at the Civil Affairs Office we were all in such anticipation of receiving our babies. Our guide said that the Xuwen children had not arrived yet. I was wondering how many hours it would be until they would get there as the orphenage is a 9 hour drive from Guangzhou. But our guide, Grace said that they were at the hotel and would be there momentarily. While we were waiting I saw three Chinese women get off the elevator and walk past us holding babies. That's when I realized our beautiful Ruby had walked right past her new mommy and daddy!! Uly frantically began taking pictures of the nannies that were now walking into the playroom. It was our turn to get our baby and the nanny came out and handed Ruby to us. She immediately turned her body so I would be holding her 'front-facing'. She still loves to be front-facing and look at everything that is going on around her. She loves books and toys. She is content sitting in her crib or on our bed looking around the room. So far she has been pretty quiet except for the occasional Drama Queen outburst (which only lasts a few seconds). :) Uly and I are ready to come home! I know we still have 10 days but it would be so nice to come home and get settled in our routine. Today we OFFICALLY became Ruby's parents. We were interviewed by two officials at the Civil Affairs Office. They want to know how old you are, income, why you want to adopt, that you promise to never abuse or abandon the baby, etc. It is really a sobering event. When we got back to the hotel the floor attendant handed us our 'Going Home' Barbie. This Barbie is given to all adoptive parents. It is a Barbie doll holding a Chinese baby doll. Something for the children to keep as a gift from Mattel.

Today I showed Ruby pictures of her brother her aunts and uncles and grandparents. She loved looking at all the pictures. (Thank you Aunt Lisa for making the photo album.) I noticed Ruby loves books. We took her down to the Swan Room, the playroom for children.

OK, Now to things of why we are here....

Countdown to Ruby 1 day!!!



We flew from Hong Kong this afternoon to Guangzhou. Here is our airplane and a view of a building we saw on our bus ride from the airport to the hotel.

The knots in my stomach are getting tighter and tighter. We checked in to the White Swan Hotel. In about 24 hours we will have our little princess. I am getting so excited. When we landed we knew EXACTLY what to do and where to go.... to Jennifer's Place to get our laundry done, and to Lucy's Bar and Grill for some American food! With our stomachs full of onion rings, hamburger and fries and noodles we set off to the grocery store for Diet Coke. We are such Americans! ;) Tomorrow we drive to get Ruby and finalize some adoption paperwork. We've heard from some other parents that Ruby's orphanage is on a seaside city that is pretty nice. Her orphanage is a very nice and well taken care of facility. We would like to see it for ourselves but it is a 9 hour trip by bus. That is out of the question but we may fly there for the day. We have to see what our CCAI representatives think about that.

Mom, tell my baby mommy and daddy love him and we will get his sister while he is asleep Monday night.

Hong Kong Island Tour

Yesterday we switched hotels to the Regal Kowloon. What a night and day difference between them. The first hotel was what we would consider the area of the 'locals'. As seen in this picture.




Now check out the Regal Kowloon area pictures. These pictures are of the harbor area and around the hotel.




We took a Hong Kong Island Tour on Saturday. This was a half day tour that included Victoria Peak, the floating Fisherman Island, Stanley Market, and had Dim Sum lunch. We took a boat ride on a Sanpam boat. What an experience!

Thursday, December 6

Countdown to Ruby, 4 days!!!

Today we decided to take the MTR and go to Hong Kong Disneyland. We figured how could you go wrong going to Disneyland in a city you know nothing about. I was really worried we would just go in circles getting nothing accomplished today and then be disappointed that we wasted a day in HK. The hotel's tour center gave us directions to the MTR station and then from there it was cake finding out how to get our tickets and get on the subway. We made it to Disneyland about 11:30. At first we weren't too excited about it but after a while we enjoyed the park. I kept hearing from Uly, "This is just like back home." Grrrr..... Maybe it is like back home, but do you see mountains BEHIND the castle in Anaheim???? :) Well we basically shopped until we dropped. Here are a few pictures from our day.

We're in Hong Kong!!

Before I say anything, I just want to let Jackson know we miss him like crazy. Mommy has had a few 'meltdowns' thinking of him and how much she loves him and misses him. With that said, the countdown to Ruby is 5 days!

We finally made it to Hong Kong on Wednesday, December 5. It didn't take long to find out that the locals prey on the incoming tourists. The taxi driver that, by the way did not have a meter in his 'taxi', wanted to charge us $100 US to drive us to our hotel. After bartering and telling him we wanted to get out of his taxi, we managed to get him down to $65. After talking to the hotel employee that was about $15 US too much. I guess it could have been worse. After getting to our hotel we ventured out to the Night Market a few streets away. Here we bought a few items and decided to have dinner at the corner outdoor restaurant.


Pretty yummy!!