Nap Time

Everyone (except me!) is asleep now. Ava was so exhausted when we got back the hotel. She wimpered when we showed her a bottle, and then she just stuck her thumb in her mouth and went to sleep in my arms. I need a nap as well! It's been an exhausting day already.

 

One more note... You might notice that Ava's hair is shorter than in the last pictures we saw of her from July. In her paperwork, we found a set of passport photos that must have been taken about a month or so ago. She has a buzz cut in those pictures!! It is actually much longer now than it was in those pictures, but not long enough for pig tails yet! We just keep cracking up about them cutting her wild hair off!! :)

Ava Day!

Ava is very sweet, but also very serious. There were a lot of kids crying in the room, and she just watched and took it all in. She loved the toys we brought. She reached for everything we held out, and was most interested in the crinkle ears on one of the toys. She let daddy hold her for a bit, and we almost got a smile playing peek-a-boo. (It was more of a smirk.)

 

The 2 people that brought her up were so nice. They gave us all of her things that we had sent to Ava in care packages: a photo album, a stuffed panda, a doll, a blanket, a diaper bag, and 3 disposable cameras with all of the pictures taken. (Can't wait to see those!). They also had a book which documented her development since her birth which included pictures that we hadn't seen before. Our coordinator, Emma, is going to translate the entire book for us. The orphanage director sent us a gift. It was a hand carved chop, or Chinese stamp, of her Chinese name. It is very beautiful! And finally, we received a zip lock bag containing the clothes Ava was found in. Emma told us that this is the first time she has ever seen parents recieve the clothes. We are so grateful for all of these things, and we know that Ava will treasure these items from her past when she is older.

On Our Way

We left at 10:00 this morning for the Hunan Adoption Center. We spotted Ava the minute we walked in. She was wearing the red silk outfit that we had sent her for her birthday. We were both super excited, but nervous at the same time. My legs felt weak for a moment. There were 5-6 other familes getting their children at the same time. We had to wait about 2-3 minutes while they made sure our passports matched her papers, and then they handed her to me. She looked a little dazed, but there weren't any tears. Her caregiver wanted to take her back for a minute, but she clutched my arm. It was so cute! It was such a relief to finally see her and hold her.

Chinese Walmart

After a couple of hours to settle in, we met with the other couple travleing with us (Jon and Tamela) and Emma for a trip to Walmart. The taxi ride was about 5 minutes and only cost 8 yuan (about $1.20). Emma sent Jay and Jon in a taxi ahead of us, and we waited for the next. Tamlea and I wondered if we would actually see them when we arrived Walmart, but sure enough, they were standing on the curb when we got there!

 

So Walmart is Walmart no matter where you are. If we forgot to pack it, we can find it here. This one was a two story Walmart complete with a cart-ready escalator. You could even shop for things as you rode up or down. I know my boys would have loved it so I took a picture to show them. I found some potty chairs that look more like ride-on toys, and I am tempted to pick one up and have it shipped home for Sydney since she is still in love with her diapers. :) We bought Coke Zero (no Diet Coke here for us addicts), water, Oreos, Snickers bars, Nestle candy bars, Chinese Starbursts, and some suckers. The last thing is to bribe Ava into actually coming to us today!

 

We are getting ready to meet Ava in about 4 hours. It hardly seems real. It was so nice to have dinner last night with Tamela and Jon because they were able to answer so many of our questions about what will happen today. (This is their second time adopting.) They gave us lots of good advice! Right now we are off to the breakfast buffet - we hear it is great. Then we will log on to Skype to say goodnight to our kids and good luck on their first day of school tomorrow! Then it's off to the provincial office to meet our baby!!!

 

Guangzhou to Chansha

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Our overnight flight from LAX arrived in Guangzhou on time at 6:00 a.m. After the "painful" trip through ticketing to get our boarding passes, and another trip through security where the guard smelled all of the contents of our suitcases, we made it to our gate for a 2 hour wait. We learned the hard way in the ticketing line that you need to stand really, really close to the person in front of you, or you will lose your place! We had some wonderful "Coffee American" at a shop near the gate. It only cost us $7.50 each. Yikes!

The flight to Chansha was only about an hour. They served us what we thought were juice boxes, but turned out to be tea in a box instead. Our luggage was practically the first off of the plane, and we found Emma just 2 steps outside the gate. She is so nice, and it is so relaxing now to have someone looking out for us. Our drive to the hotel was about 30 minutes. The Dolton Hotel is just beautiful! The picture is from our window (that opens!) on the 32nd floor. Our room came equipped with a crib, a baby bathtub, and a cute little plastic bowl and spoon for Ava.

LAX

We are in LA now with a 5 hour layover. Ugh. Hopefully we will be nice and tired by the time we board so we can sleep away our 14 hour flight to Guangzhou. :)

Update from the Greenlees house... Grandma treated the kids to McD's and playland for dinner, so they probably aren't missing us too much yet.

Cleveland Airport

We are at the airport getting ready to check in for our flight to LA. Did I overpack?