Bye, Bye China

We are in the van on the way to the airport. Lexi woke up bright eyed and ready to shake her tail feathers at 3am. I thought she was just excited about going home but it turns out she is running a high fever and now the loosy poopsy's have kicked in as well. It's going to be a long 24hrs! These diapers could land us an entire section of the plane for ourselves. Yikes! My next post will be in 3 or 4 days from home!

Passport in hand!

We have Lexi's passport with visa in hand! We are ready, oh so ready to come home! We did our "Red Couch" photos today but since we have gone through 3 travel groups since we arrived here....2 gone and the 3rd arrived today, we had no one to photograph on the red couch with Lexi! So she did it alone and that was enough cuteness for the whole couch regardless! Daddy with Lexi in her Chinese Dress

Daddy's girl

Red couch

Red couch

Red couch

Guess who's finally coming home?!

Well, after nearly a month in China, we are so happy to say WE'RE COMING HOME! Yes we are! We headed to Breakfast at 8, met our guide to go to the Safari Zoo at 9:30 and as soon as she saw us she gave us great news! Lexi's passport number had already been faxed to the consulate! The next great news came at noon, her passport was on it's way to the civil affairs and expected to arrive in time to overnight it today! It will be here Friday morning! Woo hoo. Our guide said we are absolutely for sure all 3 able to leave for home on Sunday morning! Our flight leaves at 7am. I am sooooooo happy! So so happy! God has moved mountains once again! And to make an already great day greater, we spent 6 hours at the worlds coolest safari zoo today! All my cyber friends, when you come to China to get your child, you have to arrange a trip to this zoo. It is incredible. We were so close to these animals, all of them and we held baby tigers, fed them, made friends with darling chimps, amazing! It was only 17..50 American dollars and that includes the safari ride that takes you right through 1000's of animals in their outdoor habitats. They come right up to you for photos. When you see the photos you will think they are pictures of pictures... they are real! The 3 of us loved every second! Lexi is having a tough time at night. Once she is down she is down for at least 10 hours but she wakes up crying hysterically 2 or 3 times before she is really down for good. It breaks my heart because I don't know why or how to help her get over it. We just hold her and try to wake her up enough to see its us. Then she falls back to sleep, we lay her down and she does it again! I am so ready to stop living this hotel life and I think she is too. Feeding bottles on the go all the time or on the bed with just the wall as my support...my back is tired of this. We are on the go all the time just because they keep us on the go and because we don't like sitting in our hotel room. Little Lexi needs some routine and a nice schedule. Poor thing has been taken from one extreme to another, I am sure she will be happy to get to a home as much as us! At the zoo Baby tiger

Baby tiger

Feeding the baby tiger

Bear

Koala's

Monkey baby

Monkey with daddy

Panda

Panda

Panda

Panda with us

Dinner

Eating an orange

Night, night

My Chinese American Girl!

We received A call at 3am letting us know that the American Consulate had agreed to let us keep our appointment for today! Another step closer to home. We can not leave without the visa stamp on Lexi's passport so that passport has to make it here by Friday morning at the latest. We will continue to pray that everything just keeps moving along so I do not have to stay here with Lexi any longer than Sunday. Bryan will for sure need to leave Sunday regardless. I do not feel anxious about it, I think it will all work out! So, we were sworn in today, Lexi will be an American citizen the second she reaches American soil! So here's our little Chinese American girl!

There's something about LUCY......

Every time we go to eat at Lucy's Lexi does the most Gigantic up the back poopy ever! Since she is such a sweety she waits until Daddy asks for the check...but none the less she does this every time! I know TMI but hey, just keeping it real! So.... since Little Miss Poopy Pants keeps having these massive Blow Outs, we have had no choice but to send some of her things to the laundry service. I have been trying to avoid this since the things Bryan and I have sent have come back much different than the way we sent them. Bryan's white shirts are now dark gray, with hints of blue and purple. Well just as I thought, Lexi's clothes came back a totally different color as well. Some of it rather tie dyed looking! So, much to my dismay... oh so sad about this... my girls at home will be too... LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE TO DO A LITTLE MORE SHOPPING WHEN I GET HOME! Bummer NOT! As for the shopping here, not much I couldn't live without. I have had a terrible time even finding a simple souvenir for my kids. I'm glad they have asked that I just bring them home a baby sister! We can do that! Today we went to the wet market. It was going to be Bryan only but he thought it was so amazing he just had to rush back to get Lexi and I. Wow what a sweety! It was GROSS! I mean it was soooo interesting?? Many many animals for sale. Fresh! Really fresh! You pick the animal, they bring it right back for you. Oh my word were there ever a lot of different things! And a lot of different smells. Ones I don't care to ever smell again. I have posted photos so you can feel like you were there with us! Tomorrow (your today) is our Consulate appointment. We never got a response to any of our emails so we are showing up and getting on our knees if they say come back when you have your baby's passport. P.S Tanya lea, thank you for all your sweet comments! You are such a doll and I absolutely love reading them. Jenny, thank you for your prayers! We will be home soon. I know you would probably love to see your husband again, I am so sorry this has taken so long. Please stay off your feet and call us when we get home so we can help out with meals and the house. Jen, I loved talking to you and John today. Give Mikey a big smooch for me! Mission CC, thank you all for lifting us up in prayer, taking over my Taxi service with the kids and for being our Arizona Family! We love and appreciate you so much! Janice, thank you for your support, your sweet txt and emails and for giving up your evenings to get Rylee to dance! I know you would much rather read your book where there are no screaming kids! We love you. Watt Family, you are amazing. You have so much on your plate already and yet you have gone totally out of your way to make sure my son has boy time and away time. And as if that were not enough you have spent time at the house with the kids, driven mounds of times to dance (even on Saturdays), and blessed my family with your love and your time! Thank you!! Nat, my BFF, I love you girl! I miss you so much. You know I'm crying right now and I know you are too so no more said! Kim, my sis, you have kept me afloat. You have lifted me up when I felt I would sink and you have supported me and built me up through all of this. I love you so much. I am so blessed. Mom, thank you for holding the family together. For giving up a month and putting up with all of this! For loving me and letting me follow my heart. My kids, Oh how I miss you! I love you so much and I am soooo very proud to be your mom. You have been so amazing during this time. Helping each other supporting each other, Q driving everyone everywhere. All of you have made this so much easier because of your amazing Faith and Hope and Strength. You are such amazing children and such blessings to our family! God is Good, ALL the time! Cutie pie

first shoulder ride

flying

Ride em cowgirl

Cage free

chicken feet

chicken heads

chicken parts

half price pig

scorpions

Papa John's

Rice on a bike

Rows of chicken

Marvelous Monday...

We woke up to a smiley girl! The rain continues to fall and it is very cold so we took Lexi to breakfast in her jammies this morning. She tried a croissant and thought it was kind of good but not good enough to do more than taste a nibble. She ate 2 bowls of her favorite rice cereal with yams. She's going to be very sad when she runs out of that because we can't find it anywhere! At 10 am we got a call from our guide with wonderful news! We would be allowed to keep our medical examination appointment for Lexi even though we are still waiting on her passport and adoption certificate! This was such great news. Since it was so cold we hung out inside for the early part of the day. We watched the birds get fed and the koi get fed and took Lexi to play in the White Swan play room while visiting with some of the other adoptive families. At 2pm we headed out for Lexi's appointment. She is so happy always but as soon as these white coated Chinese people headed towards her she just lost it. She was so terrified by them. We are non Hague so she didn't even have to get immunizations but just them looking at her was enough to get her screaming at the top of her lungs with a face full of tears. She tried to hold on to me so tight but they had to put her on the scale and she was soooo not happy about that.. You would have thought they were laying the little pumpkin on nails! As soon as they gave her back to me she just clung to me and calmed right down. Then off to one more room for ear nose and throat. Again she was fine until the Chinese man entered the room,,,, then the screams began again! Poor little thing. She doesn't mind any one else and she always smiles when the Chinese people in the hotel talk to her in Chinese. I know the nanny's in the orphanage wear white coats because the person holding her in one of her referral pictures has one on. I don't know??? But I suppose that could be it??

Any way, She recovered just as soon as she was back in my arms so I know she is trusting us and slowly beginning to believe that we are not care takers, we are mommy and daddy and we are always going to be here.

So our little girl weighs 14 pounds in a wet diaper and 2 shirts! She is 25 1/2 inches tall (or short) AND.........................after 3 doctors checked over and over............She has NOTHING wrong with her heart!!!! The doctors said they can hear absolutely NO MURMUR! What a blessing! She is just a healthy little minikins. Woohooo. A miracle indeed!

The next highlight of the day was Sub away. Yep we found a Sub away. No that's not a typo, it is what our guide calls Subway the sandwich place. Subaway! Oh it was sooooooo good to have a sandwich. They didn't have Italian herb and cheese bread but that's ok! They had normal sandwiches just like on our menu and the most interesting Potato Chips. The choices were 1. American (plain potato chips) 2. Mexican Beef Tomato 3. Tomato Cheese Chicken 4. Beef Noodle

Sound yummy?

We filled out all the paperwork for our visa appointment this evening. I feel confident that by the grace of God, we are going to be excused and able to follow through with the appointment but the U.S Consolata has not responded to any of our agencies emails yet. If we do not hear anything in the next 12 hours Bryan has to call the Embassy to see if someone will answer us over the phone. We are wrapping up the day now. Lexi has been napping for the last 3.5 hours so it might be a crazy night! We love you all and are so grateful for each and every one of you! Thank you for all the wonderful comments you have posted. I cannot reply to comments on the blog, only email, so I just want you to know that we love and appreciate you!

Mary

P.S

The amazing man who spent all that time with us getting us a Taxi and then paying for it back in Changsha sent Bryan a text yesterday! He said "Hello this is Leon we met yesterday, are you and your wife and baby ok?" Bryan text back, "Yes we are in Guangzhou, if you ever come to the U.S please call me, we will make sure we take care of you!" Leon Text back, "Maybe when you get back to the U.S we can be email friends!" Leon has no idea how special he is. He is a link to our daughters birth country and province. He is the angel that was by our side when we came to China to get her. She will hear so many wonderful stories when she gets bigger. I can just hear her now, "Daddy, Mommy, I've heard this story a million times already!" Ahhh what a story this little girl has!

This croissant, my hand, and where her feet go on the highchair give you an idea of her peanut size. Her sweet cheeks make her look like a chunky monkey but she's a little sprout!

Mommy's Little doll

Happy Girl

NaptimeMedical check up

Rejoice!

We had a wonderful day today. Little Miss Baby Cakes woke up happy as usual, she skyped with her Auntie Kim and her Sisters and then her Auntie Nat. She had her first Breakfast at the White Swan. She was not impressed. She thinks Congee is yucky and she thinks they should get some breadsticks or something because everthing we tried she just took one bite and refused another. We will bring our baby cereal with us tomorrow morning. She loved watching the Koi Fish in the pond inside the hotel and she hams it up when all the Hotel guests and staff stop to tell her how cute she is. She loves it when they talk to her in Chinese. I don't know what they say but she just smiles and bats those little lashes. Such a Hunny she is! Later this morning we went to church here on the island. It is a regular Christian church just a hop and a skip from the hotel. I guess a few years back it would have had to be underground (secret) but now some churches are allowed in certain places as long as they follow certain rules. It was awesome. The first 9 rows were Chinese people who live here in Guangzhou and the last 4 rows were adoptive parents. There we were all under the same roof, singing songs in chinese and in English, all worshiping the same God. It brought tears to my eyes watching these people who could not really speak or understand English, singing every english word to "Lord I Lift Your Name On High". They had these hand motions that they did during the song, it was adorable! Lexi was alert through worship and then she slept the rest of the service and about an hour more when we got back to the hotel. We went out shopping for squeaky shoes later in the day. It was wet and rainy but she wore her little bunting thing and Daddy carried her in the Bjorn. He is so proud carrying her around in that. He faces her out so everyone can see her and they all stop to see her and he just beams with proud papa syndrome. It is so sweet. We wrapped up the day with Lucy's for dinner. Lexi had a little potato and thought it was pretty good stuff. She had her bath and was sacked out by 7pm. Tomorrow we hope to hear of some... any communication from the U.S embassy in response to our request to follow through with our consulate appointment on the 18th. If you feel led, Prayers for that would be greatly appreciated!! Here are a few photos from the day. Night night~ Mary Breakfast time

cherub

happy girl

Koi fish pond inside

Koi fish pond

More of the Koi Pond

Lil Hunny

Pumpkin

Tuckered out