We are HOME!!!!!!!

We are finally home!!!! It felt like we were never going to make it. It took us 34 hours of traveling from the time we left our hotel until the moment we hit home. I have never been so tired in all my life but at the same time so happy and relieved. I will post later with some pictures and more details but I wanted everyone to know we were home safe and sound. Annabel is doing great and did amazing on our long journey here. She totally excepted Amber, Joey and Grandma. Praise God!!!! She is having so much fun with the kids. Our biggest issue right now is the time difference from here to China. We will have to work really hard the next few days to wean her onto our time schedule. We wanted so badly to go to church today but since she finally went to sleep at 4 am this morning, church just wasnt going to happen. But we will be there next week for sure. Thanks for all your prayers and emails while we were gone. Believe me we felt the prayers all the way in China. God bless and I can't wait to introduce you all to Annabel.

Our last post from China

Well this will probably be our last post from China as we head to the airport first thing in the morning. We have had a great last couple of days as a family. Most of our time has been spent shopping and exploring the area. We went out to dinner with our group last night for some very much welcomed Italian food. It was a great change from Chinese food. haha We bought an extra suitcase because we have had soooo much fun shopping. I can't wait to get home and see what I really ended up with. Annabel will have some great things to remind her of her culture and Joey and Amber, yes there are some great things for you as well. We have really enjoyed ourselves over the last 2 weeks. We have learned a great deal about Annabel's Province and Country that I hope we can pass on to her as she grows older. I know we will be back again someday and hopefully we will have done a great job in helping her to gain a respect and pride for where she came from. The Chinese people vary just as much as the Americans do in attitude and kindness. We have met some very wonderful people that I am sure Annabel would feel proud to call friends. The desire for these children to be adopted and loved by foreigners such as ourselves is very apparent. I am looking forward to getting home and putting together all the hours and hours of video clips we have on our camera. So be checking into the blog site periodically for those clips. It is just too hard to do it from over here because the connections are so much slower. While we have enjoyed ourselves so much here, I am so ready and excited to come home. Most of you know that I am a serious homebody. I love being home with my family and am so looking forward to watching how Annabel fits right into that. I am so proud of you Amber and Joey for sticking it out the last 2 weeks. You have been real troopers. I know it is very hard to go from having your parents there on a daily basis to all of a sudden not having them around. I promise once you meet Annabel it will have all been worth it. Please pray for our trip home tomorrow. From start to finish is 30 hours of airport and travel time for us. We have a lot of layover time in Beijing. I pray Annabel makes it through without too many meltdowns. I am sure we will be circling the plane many times on the long trip back to the states. Thank you for following our journey. It is not over yet. Now we head home and readjust again. I am sure we will see some set backs as we move into new routines. But I can tell you we could not have asked for a sweeter little girl then God gave us. She loves us so much as we do her. She loves to hug and kiss and you can tell she is just in heaven having a mommy and daddy. From day one God layed it upon our hearts to add two children to our home. I cannot wait to see who God has in store for us next. What's funny is that even the families who intended on only adopting once are talking about coming back again. There is something very contagious about seeing these kids grow and learn to love in such a short period of time. I wish there was a way to rescue each and every one of these lonely children. I know I don't have the power to do that. But I do ask you to pray for these children. Pray that men and women all over the world would open up their hearts and homes to a child who desperately needs a mommy and daddy. The blessing you will receive is greater then anything you could ever imagine. I have never seen God's love as much as I have in the past 7 days watching these children learn to trust and love their new parents. The miracle of love that God has for us and his orphan children is forever etched on my heart.

What a great day we had!!

Medical Appointment and Shopping

Well how do I sum up our medical appointment today? Organized Mass Chaos!!! You take hundreds of families with brand new adopted babies and throw them all into a very small medical building with no room for strollers or even diaper bags, turn off the air, turn on the heat and prepare to listen to all the babies cry at the same time. Doesn't that sound like something you would want to do on a daily basis? haha Oh my was it insane. Annabel did great. I was expecting her to scream and fight the Doctors, but remember, today was a good day for her. She woke up on the right side of the bed and stayed that way all day. She just sat there totally compliant with the Doctors. I was actually a little sad I didnt get all the pics of her screaming bloody murder. haha She looked just fine in her photos. So I found out she has ear wax. Thats it. She turned her head when they squeaked the toy so her hearing must be great. Our guide said please don't ask for a copy of her medical report because the medical report is somewhat of a joke. He said hopefully your DR back home with give her a better check up and if he doesnt get a new DR. haha After the medical appointment was over we chose not to go back with our group to the hotel and stayed on the the island to shop. We had lunch at Lucy's (all Americans in there and yes we ordered Cheese Burgers and fries). Lucy's is kind of like a Denny's I guess. After that we bought some silk dresses for Annabel and had her photo done on the red couch at the While Swan hotel. Quite the tradition for adoptive parents. Then we shopped shopped shopped. Annabel was amazing. She loved all the shops and everyone had to hold and play with her in each store we went to. I was grateful because it made her very happy. I have no clue how we are going to get all of this home. We are going back tomorrow to have some silk items custom made. Can't wait!!! We had to stop shopping because we had so many bags that people stopped bargaining with us because they assumed we must have had a fat wallet. We actually just got some really good deals. I love shopping at places like this where the prices are negotiable. Prior to that it was easy to talk them down. It rained a lot today but it felt so good. Annabel loved standing out in the rain reaching up and grabbing the water drops. It made me wonder if she has ever felt rain before. It is 8pm and she is still laughing and giggling as I type. We ordered pizza tonight from Papa Johns. They deliver to our hotel so we are pretty excited about that....... Ok it is now a few hours later. We ordered spaghetti for Annabel. She LOVED IT. She kept giving me the spoon to feed her. As fast as I was shoveling it in. She chewed, swallowed and opened her mouth up again. It was hysterical. I am assuming she never had that taste before. I know what I am cooking me first day home. haha God bless, Tamara

We had a fantastic breakfast!!!!

Ok, we now know how to have a great meal with Annabel at the table. LET HER FEED HERSELF!!!! We have been mashing everything up and spoon feeding her because we really weren't certain what she was capable of chewing with her palate. This morning I decided to just cut everything up really small and put it in front of her. IT WORKED!!!! She just wanted to do it her self. She ate and ate and ate and was totally content and happy the entire time. Last night I was beginning to wonder if our days of eating at a restaurant were over. haha So we just need to make sure we have plenty of baby wipes for her sponge bath afterwards as you can clearly see from the pictures. Believe it or not only 2 pieces of food made it on the floor this morning. I included a pic of our laundry coming back from the cleaners. Mark likes the way they fold his underwear and stick it in plastic for him. haha We are off now for a medical appointment and shopping shopping shopping.

She's obviously comfortable with us

Well how do I put yesterday into words? "No no no no no no no.. " Annabel obviously is no longer questioning who her mom and dad are. She is now acting like every normal 16 month old acts. The first week she was on her very best behavior. Perhaps she was concerned we would take her back to the orphanage if she acted out. Well funny how things change in a day. haha Yesterday she decided she no longer liked sitting in restaurants and she discovered if she screamed she would get fed faster. Oh my goodness. Amber was the same exact way so it was funny because I must have called her Amber 10 times yesterday. It brought back lots of memories. I am happy to see she has a strong personality but boy do we have to establish some rules over the next few days or it is going to be a long flight home. One of the gentlemen here told me that in some orphanages they line up all the kids in rows at meal time and there might be one nanny feeding 15 babies. If the babies screamed they would get picked up and put back into their bed. Mark and I couldn't believe how quiet Annabel was the first few days. She would quietly sit there waiting for her next bite of food. Perhaps she would have not been fed in the orphanage if she yelled. How sad. Well over the days she has learned if she waves her hands all over and throws a hissy fit she gets fed faster in our attempt not to ruin every one elses meal time. So last night at dinner I finally just picked her up and took her back to the room to eat. We are going to try that for the next few days and she if she gets it. It is so funny because outside of that she is so incredibly compliant and happy. I am sure she is just enjoying finally having one on one attention. But even through all the hissy fits at the dinner table we wouldn't trade her for anything. She is walking all over now. It is amazing how much stronger her legs have become in a week. She sleeps through the night and is a bundle of giggles. I told Mark she is turning into a hypochondriac. I felt her head so much yesterday to see if perhaps she had a fever and that's why she was screaming so much. So now she walks around with her hand on her head. It is as if she is saying "Mom, I think I have a fever." ha ha Well enough for now. We are off to our Doctors appointment today and shopping. We had a big paper session yesterday in our guides hotel room. There was one parent from each couple present and it took 2 1/2 hours to get it all done. I thought we were going to lose our minds. I included pics. You can see how much fun we are having. NOT!! But it is necessary in order for Annabel to leave the country as our legal daughter. But praise God most of the paperwork is complete. Take care and enjoy the pictures. God bless, Tamara

Hi Kids

Hi everyone, thank you so much for following Annabel's and our families story through this blog site but today's blog is just for our kids back home. Amber and Joey we are so proud of you for being strong and loving to Annabel and to each other while we are gone for so long. We know this has been a very hard past few weeks with mom and dad running out the door at last minute and both of you starting new schools. Amber, you are doing great being the best big sister to Joey and a wonderful helper to Mrs Carol, both of us know that you are going to be a great inspiration to Annabel and that she is very blessed to have you as a big sister. Joey, thank you for being a awesome brother to Amber by helping and doing your best, Annabel and you are going to have so much fun playing together. We love you both very much and very, very proud that you can open your hearts to a small little girl who you have never meet before. So hold on kids we only have a days left and soon we will be one great big happy family, back home again. Love Mom and Dad.

Marks big night out

Well last night was to be our last outing in Nanjing. Our guide Larry was taking us to Confucius's temple and a couple of other big main attractions in Nanjing. At the last minute I decided to stay at the hotel with Annabel because I wanted her in bed by 8pm and I knew they wouldn't be back by then. So Mark, Larry, Martin and Robin went out. Well that's the last time I stay at home. You know what Mark did while I was at home bathing the baby? He got married. No he really did get married. I have pics to prove it. haha No actually he volunteered for a skit they were putting on at Confucius's' temple. He literally was the groom in the wedding. The host kept saying things and everyone would laugh. I asked our guide today what they were saying. He said the host was making fun of him. I knew he probably was. Anyways, it was funny and they gave Mark a cute souvenir for it. So be sure to tease him about having two wives. haha Mark reassured me it wasn't legal and that I don't have to worry about her moving in with us. While mark was out painting the town red , Annabel and I watched Madagascar. She was hilarious. She talked to the TV the entire time, I don't know if she was speaking Chinese or baby babble, but she kept breaking out into hysterical laughter. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. She is such a joy and we praise God daily that He put her in our family.

We arrived in Guangzhou

Hello all, Well today was our last flight within Country to finish up our adoption process. We made it safely to Guangzhou. It was sad saying goodbye to our guide Larry because he was such a great guy and he really cared about our children while we were in his care. We gave him our info for the next time he is in Seattle. While it was hard to say goodbye to Nanjing, Annabels homeland, it was wonderful to get off of the plane and see all the other families who had gone to different provinces reunited together again holding their babies. I also felt very blessed and grateful for the wonderful experience that we had with Annabel in our first 5 days because some of the families didn't have that smoothly of a transition time. Some of the babies are experiencing bonding issues and may only go to one parent and a few of the babies have been pretty sick too. I really feel grateful that Mark and I and Robin and Martin had such a positive experience while in Nanjing. When we first got Annabel she would not let go of the furniture and was still a little unsteady on her feet. Last night she was walking all over the place trying to catch up with the other kids. She had a few tumbles, but that didn't stop her. She has really built a lot of strength in her legs over the last 5 days. She did great on the plane. Slept the entire flight expect for landing. She screamed so hard because of the pressure. We couldnt get her to drink so her ears were really bothering her. Once we landed she was fine and happy again. We have a McDonalds next to our hotel. That was the best hamburger I have ever had. haha I was craving something other then rice and Chinese food. Please don't invite me out to Chinese food for a long time. haha After getting settled into our room we had to take a nap. That was at 5:30. I just woke up and it is 10:30 At night. Annabel is still sleeping. I dont know what tonight will look like for her since she went to bed so early. I hope she sleeps at least another 4 hours. Mark and I have been up by 4 am every morning because of the time change. We are getting pleanty of sleep though because we have gone to bed pretty early and taken a couple of naps when Annabel naps. Well I am going to end this post and post some pics of Marks experience last night. He was the groom in a Chinese wedding. yes you heard me right. You will have to check out the pics. God Bless, and thank you for all the emails. I really enjoy hearing from all of you. I really miss home and my kids and my soft bed. haha Tamara

Another great day

Hello all, Well we have had a great day today in Nanjing. It is actually our last day here. Tomorrow we fly to our last destination before heading home to the States. Our day is not over yet, we are heading out tonight with our guide to see some more sights. I wish I could tell you where we are going but I can't pronounce it and Mark is taking a nap. So on my next post I will tell you where we went. haha Today we headed out on our own to visit a museum with the history of this area. It was quite amazing. This is part of Annabel's heritage and we want to be able to take as much of it back to the states as possible for her so that when she is older she is able to understand it all. Many of you have emailed me asking me whether or not we visited Annabel's orphanage. The answer to that is unfortunately not. It was entirely by our own choosing. We have a fantastic guide who said he was willing to take us. But after day two we decided not to go. For one thing it is 3 1/3 hours each way and it gets blistering hot in the vehicles here. In China they don't so freely use air conditioning the way we do so it tends to be a little on the warm and humid side. On day two we took Annabel back to the Adoption office and said her goodbyes to her nannies. After that we noticed a little bit of a change in her. She seemed very confused. We didnt want her to think we were taking her back to the orphanage. We had the amazing opportunity to receive back two cameras and 8 pages of questions that we asked the orphanage. Plus we got to question the nannies for a long time. So I felt like we had all the information we needed. Between not wanting to upset Annabel and confuse her any more and the weather being the way it was (by the way it is beautiful today) we decided not to go. We will go back when she is older for a heritage tour so she can learn where she came from. Since we chose not to make the trip we also didn't get to see her finding sight. But I am ok with that. I felt like it was much more important for me to gain her trust and bond with her then to be on the road in yucky weather for over 7 hours. Today she is doing fantastic. You wouldn't know we have only had her for 4 days. At the museum many Chinese women and a few foreigners on vacation began to talk to her and she reached her arms up to be held. They would pick her up, she would smile and say a few words (who knows what she was saying) and then reach for me and say "mama". I loved the fact she always wanted to come back to me. For some of the Chinese women they were almost saying goodbye to her as if they knew her. I believe many many Chinese people are sad because of the great orphan epidemic they have here. They are so happy to see these children go to good homes even if it is in another Country. I also believe because they see us speaking Chinese with her they know we intend to keep her heritage alive for her. Yes we have learned a little Chinese. Not enough to survive on our own but enough to get us by. I hope we dont forget it all the minute we leave China. haha As for Annabel, what can I say? She is an absolute precious gift. Worth every bit of the pain and tears throughout this entire adoption process. She is like a sponge learning and mimicking everything we do. I cannot even imagine her not in our life now that we have had for her the past 4 days. Thank you God!!! You are so awesome. Well I am off to get ready for our big evening out. Until next time. God bless, Tamara