Day Two with Grace!

Today was another very emotional day for us. We went to Kunming Children's Welfare Institute (the orphanage where Grace lived for 6 months). Here is what it looks like from the outside:

This visit was surprising great because we were told by so many people that the Kunming Orphanage is very tight lipped and won't give you any information and aren't very open to the adoptive families. We could not disagree more! We walked in and the Assistant Director sat us down, gave us tea and treats and then gave us a book all about the orphanage w/tons of photos in it (of course, its in Chinese, but the photos speak for themselves). We had mentioned to Jack (our Guide) that we were curious about the schedules of the girls and sure enough, the A.D. had them printed out in English the exact time of when Grace sleeps and when and what she eats during the day. Then since Sojo had a bad cough, and Grace had spots all over her that we were afraid were scabies, we mentioned this to the Asst. Director and she immediately fetched a doctor for us. Luckily, Grace only has "Kunming Red Spots" which apparently 80% of the babies in Kunming will get these spots over them when in the sun but it will go away after about 2 weeks. Very strange, but so so happy that we aren't dealing with Scabies. Here's Grace with the Doctor:

And with the Assistant Director:

We were allowed to tour the whole facility but we were not allowed to take any photos inside the orphanage itself. We were so amazed at how clean the whole place was. It was sparkling! We saw where Gracie slept and then the most incredible part of the tour was when we went into the infants play room. In this room, along with about 12 or so 4 month old babies, were the caretakers of Grace and Sojo (Sojo is the other baby who was just adopted by a couple in Shanghai who we have shared this whole process with). There were, I think, 6 young ladies who all of the sudden just burst out in excitement when we walked through the door. They remembered both Grace and Sojo and they took them right from us and were hugging and talking to them. I was introduced to the woman who used to carry Tianling (Grace) on her back every day. They said that they always referred to her as Tianling's mama. She took Grace and was holding her and I was crying big time. This is the woman who was a major part of caring for our daughter. We begged them to let us take a photo of her holding Grace, but it just isn't allowed. And to make it worse, THEY started taking photos of Grace and Sojo, but we still couldn't. Oh well, I remember clearly this woman and the look she had when she was holding Grace and I will pass that on to Grace the best that I can.

Here we are in front of the orphanage:

Also, while we were at the orphanage, a BIG WHIG was visiting and he came in to meet us. His name is Yin Jun and he is the Chairman of Yunnan Provincial Congress. He was very proud to be a great friend of President Bush (he told us this many times!). He was also kind enough to take a photo with us. The woman on the right in lab coat is the Director of the Orphanage. She was very kind, and told us that she helps us (by caring for our daughter for her first 7 months) and we help her (by taking care of Grace forever!). The other couple in the photo are Dale and Tara with Sojo.

This was an amazing start to the day. After the tour we went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap for Grace. We then went to her Finding Spot. She was found at Kunming Children's Hospital:

It was so interesting to look at the place where the faceless woman who gave birth to a newborn baby girl, but who was in such despair, had to give her up. I think she must have loved her very much to make sure that she left her at the Children's Hospital, knowing that she would be found quickly and immediately cared for. This woman, who gave Grace her life, and in so doing, gave us our third child, could have done what countless other woman in China do and abandoned her somewhere other than a hospital, or worse yet, taken the baby's life away from her. I thank God for guiding this poor woman to do what she thought was best for the baby that for whatever reason, she could not keep.

So that basically was our day...pretty emotional, wouldn't you say! Tomorrow we leave Kunming and return home to Zhuhai where two very very excited little siblings are waiting to meet their new baby sister, and two equally excited Grandparents are waiting to meet their newest grandchild. I will update more then. I apologize for the legnth of this blog, but there was just so much to share, and I am sure I missed something but will be sure to write it in later.

Grace is ours!

I am writing this now in a very stinky hotel room. Grace has decided to do her first poopie diaper for us and it is a STINKER!!!

We arrived at the Adoption Center this morning at 9 am. After quickly reviewing the accuracy of some of our paperwork, all of a sudden in comes a careworker with Grace! We had no preparation, they didn't tell us they were coming in the room, we turned around and there she was! She is absolutely gorgeous. And she has an incredible personality. We've had her now for 5.5 hours and all we've heard was a wimper when she was tired. She has fallen asleep in both Todd and my arms. She took her bottle from Mommy with absolutely no problems.

We have also discovered that she is very very ticklish. We just have to squeeze her a little and she just starts giggling! Oh my, I can not put into words my feelings right now. It is like we have had her from the day she is born. She looks into our eyes and smiles and is just too cute for words. I'm hoping this shows that she will not have issues with bonding and attachment, but I think it is a little too early to tell yet.

I hope you enjoy these early photos we have of Gracie. I will update more soon!

We are in Kunming...only one more day!

We are now at the hotel in Kunming and I just wanted to give you a quick update. We are staying at the Harbour Plaza. When checking in our guide explained that they have the baby bed in the room for us. I started tearing up. It just really really hit me right then that we will have Gracie tomorrow. When I walked into the room and saw the crib, I started again! Who knows how blubbery (don't know if that's a word) I will be tomorrow when she is actually handed to us. I don't think I will even be able to see through my tears!

Ok, so leass than 24 hours until we meet Grace for the first time. We will be at the adoption center (I guess we aren't able to go to the orphanage) at 9 am where Grace will be waiting.

I will fill you in more tomorrow. I can't wait to hold her!!!

Almost In Our Arms!

Ok, we have the official day in which we will hold Grace in our arms. Todd and I will travel to Kunming this Sunday, while Mimi and Pa remain at home with Noah and Jillian. We will hold Grace for the first time on Monday and should be back home on Wednesday so she can meet her siblings and grandparents.

Barring no more delays (we were supposed to be picking Grace up today, but they found out that she is with a foster family so they couldn't get her back to the orphanage in time), our family will finally be complete on Monday! I just cannot wait. We have our travel authorization letter, that we received just today by EMS and I wish we could go right this minute! This whole process has certainly been a lesson in patience for me, especially since I don't usually have much to begin with.

So, once we get back, I will share all our photos with you all. We are trying to get July 15th as the date for Grace's baptism (as long as she can handle the crowd) so if you have that date free, we'd love to have you join us in celebrating! I will give more information once we have it set.

So, for now, I'm off. Next time you will hear more about Baby Grace and our new family!