We are home!!

Hello!
Sorry that we haven't posted in a few days! We are now living at the lake and we do not have Internet access yet...we feel so disconnected from the world!!!! Gracie's trip home went VERY well! We had bulkhead seat on the Beijing/Chicago flight so she was able to lay on the floor and sleep. Grandpa was so excited to meet her at the airport! China was a wonderful, life-changing experince. We really miss the wonderful people and our new friends in Guangzhou!
Gracie is adjusting wonderfully. She is still not quite sure of Holly but she is warming up to her. I am sure in no time they will be best buds! She had her first doctor's appointment today. It went well....except for the blood test! It broke my heart to see her cry. She got a cool Garfield band-aid which made it much better.
Again, thank you for all of your support through our journey. All of you made us feel so loved and close to home. We couldn't wait to read the comments each day (okay...many times each day). It meant the world to us that you were able to experience it all with us. We are truely blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! We can't wait for you all to meet Gracie! Please don't feel that you will bother us if you call...we would love to hear from you!!!!

Our last day

IT"S OFFICIAL!!!!! Gracie received her Chinese passport and American Visa. We received them at the American Consulate today with about a group of 50 children and their families. So when we land in Chicago and clear customs, Gracie will be an American citizen!!

We had our last supper here in China and it was good old American Papa John's. We then made our last stroll along the Pearl River and then a stop at our favorite store, Jessica's. We then had to make daddy's nightly stop at the 7 Eleven for a few beers.

It is 8 p.m. Thursday here (8 a.m. Thursday Indiana) and we are giving Gracie her bottle for bed time. We are then going to finalize packing our suitcases with all of the gifts that we bought. Our wake up call is 6 a.m. Friday (6 p.m. Thursday Indiana) and our bus leaves for the Guangzhou airport at 6:30 a.m. We depart our first flight on China Air at 9:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m Thursday Indiana) and land in Beijing at 12:30 p.m Our layover in Beijing is about four hours, but it should be interesting spotting all of the athletes that are arriving for the Olympic games. We then depart Beijing on a United 747 at 4:15 p.m. (4:15 a.m Friday Indiana) for the 13 hour flight to Chicago. At Chicago we have a 6 hour layover just to get a flight back to FortWayne. Our plane will land at 11:59 p.m. Friday in Fort Wayne for the beginning of Gracie's new life.

The trip here in China has been an amazing one. The people are so friendly and the cities are just enormous. The people here have a very simple lifestyle but seem to embrace it and enjoy it to its fullest. I have found a new respect for China and the people that live here and we hope that Gracie will embrace her Chinese culture as much as the Chinese culture has embraced us.

Wednesday

Today was a very slow day for us. We had our final group dinner at a local Thai restaurant and then we hit the Starbucks for our nightly drinks. Tomorrow we have our appointment with the U.S. Consulate and that will finalize and make everything official. We all are ready to get the trip home started and both grandma's have their bags packed. Gracie has become a little sponge and mimicks everything that we do. She sure has blossomed in the nine days with us and has probably seen and done more in that time then her whole life in the orphanage. But she sure has adapted to our life style.

Three More Days Left!!!!!

Hello All!!

Today we boarded the bus around 9 a.m. and went to a botanical garden. It was in the middle of the city but you felt like you were in the countryside. It was very relaxing and peaceful to be surrounded by the beautiful gardens. We then went to the Chen academic center that is now a museum. The Chen family name is common like the Smith name at home and they started a school for only Chen's. We then had another group dinner at another local Cantonese restaurant and had a variety of eight different dishes. Tomorrow our guide is finalizing our Visa paperwork at the Embassy and we will have a nice relaxing day with no plans. Gracie had her first experience with good old American McDonald's french fries and she loved them!!!....And as usual before we went back to the room, we made a stop at our favorite store and spent some money with Sarah, Jack, Lilly and Ada. Of course on things that we don't even need.

White Swan Red Couch Day!

There is a famous couch in a nearby hotel in which all of the newly adopted kids in their Chinese dressed get their picture taken. Today was our day! Well...it didn't turn out to be the great event that we envisioned!!! All of the kids cried like crazy!!!! Gracie had the biggest tears and it completely broke our hearts! She was fine as soon as we picked her up!! We were able to get some good pictures a little bit later.

WHATS UP!!!

We had a nice relaxing day today and then spent dinner with our travel group at the Cantonese restaurant. We then spent some more yuen at our favorite store Jessica's. The photo is of our good friend Xiang Man (Sarah) and the ladies. She is a great sales lady at the store and is kind of loco!! (Crazy) Ha Ha.........Whatz Up!!

Church dress

It is 9 a.m. Sunday (9 p.m. Saturday Indiana) and we are heading off to church. Auntie Nicole and Uncle Scott departed for home this morning for the 30+ hour trip home....Gracie will sure miss Nicole's airplane rides and belly tickles!!! And we will miss Scott's expert photography skills. After Church we are heading to the supermarket and then off to a tomb of a local King...We got our first night of parenting 101 because Gracie had a tearful and restless night. And when baby isn't happy no one is happy!!!