Hi everyone! We had another great day here in Kunming. Blessedly, today was a bit less "touristy" so that we had more time to just relax and get to know Ellie-Kate even more. We began our day by visiting the Yunnan Provincial Museum and then shopping in a nearby outdoor market. The museum was really educational. (Yes, Christie, Roger, and Britti enjoyed it more than the younger girls, even though Emmy did take lots of pictures.) It was neat to learn about Ellie-Kate's home province and its history. During our brief shopping trip, we bought a few souvenirs, including traditional outfits that Ellie can wear in the fuure, if she wants to do so.
However, the best part of the day was relaxing and playing with Ellie-Kate. She's warming up to all of us very nicely. She loves to cuddle with and be fed by Christie, to fall asleep on Roger's shoulder, to play with Emmy and Britti, and to laugh at her silly sister, Chelsea, as Chelsea makes funny faces at her. She has so much energy, and she tries to figure everything out. (She almost opened the cab door as we were driving back to Rocco's for yet another fix of pizza for lunch today.)
We had heard that her right hip was not yet healed completely, and we can tell that it's causing her much frustration. She wants to stand and GO, but she can't move well at all, given her leg. We can't wait to visit with the doctor to find out about treatment options for her leg and to determine what caused the marks (possibly bug bites) on her arms and legs.
We're headed to the orphange tomorrow morning for a tour. Please pray that the trip doesn't freak Ellie out too much. We've heard that it's quite impressive, but we know that the visit could be hard for Ellie.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support! We're truly grateful for everyone's generosity!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Exploring Kunming--March 24, 2009
Ellie-Kate had a great first night with us! After falling asleep around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, she slept soundly through the night until around 5:20 a.m. I thought that she was going to get up for the day, but she drifted back to sleep until 7 a.m. What a great sleeper!! After breakfast, we visited the Golden Temple and then came back to the hotel. Ellie napped for a couple of hours while I worked on our travel journal, Emmy did her math and spelling, Roger went off in search of a stroller, and Britti and Chelsea went shopping in the small stores around the lake. (Our hotel is right beside a beautiful park with a lovely lake and unique shopping opportunities.) We had a very relaxing afternoon. The girls were able to bond more with Ellie, and Chelsea and Emmy had a bit of time to work on school assignments. We completed our day by going to Salvador's-- a locally-owned restaurant that was very much like Casa (our favorite restaurant in Athens). Ellie enjoyed her first taste of Mexican food and then her first bath with us, and all of the girls fell asleep around 8:30 p.m.
Although we're enjoying our time in Kunming, especially learning about Ellie-Kate's home province, we have to admit that we're looking forward to going home. (We won't be making fun of the folks on Survivor again for being home sick after a few weeks on the island!) Besides, Ellie is such a cool, sweet, and smart little girl, and we can't wait to introduce her to everyone. Although we can't call and communicate with all of our friends and family personally right now, please know that we're thinking about you. Please continue to pray for our safety here and in the air on Friday and next Wednesday and for everything to go smoothly with paperwork here in the province on Friday and for more paperwork to be completed in Guangzhou next Monday and Tuesday. We'll post more pictures tomorrow. (Britti already fell asleep, and she's the computer wiz!) More soon-- Christie
Although we're enjoying our time in Kunming, especially learning about Ellie-Kate's home province, we have to admit that we're looking forward to going home. (We won't be making fun of the folks on Survivor again for being home sick after a few weeks on the island!) Besides, Ellie is such a cool, sweet, and smart little girl, and we can't wait to introduce her to everyone. Although we can't call and communicate with all of our friends and family personally right now, please know that we're thinking about you. Please continue to pray for our safety here and in the air on Friday and next Wednesday and for everything to go smoothly with paperwork here in the province on Friday and for more paperwork to be completed in Guangzhou next Monday and Tuesday. We'll post more pictures tomorrow. (Britti already fell asleep, and she's the computer wiz!) More soon-- Christie
Monday, March 23, 2009
Happy Family Day!!!
We have our girl!!!! We got up early (around 5 a.m. for Christie, Britti, and Emmy), ate breakfast, and met our guide at 8:20 a.m. We were driven to the Civil Affairs office to complete paperwork. What a blur of signing documents, more fingerprinting, and filling out forms!!! Amid the chaos of papers and translations, two little baby girls were carried in the door by orphanage workers. Roger and I froze, looking at the girls to see if we could tell which one was Eliza Kate Beck-Aden. We recognized her almost immediately, even though she was sporting much more hair and a pretty major suntan on her now chubby cheeks. The other couple (Mindy and Keith, also staying in our hotel) also stopped working on their forms to stare at the beautiful girls on the nannies' laps.
A Civil Affairs employee rushed to them and gestured that Ellie was our's. We knew it!! Britti scrambled for the camcorder, and Chelsea and Emmy grabbed their cameras to record the moment that she was first placed in our arms. Christie held her first, and Ellie reached out for Roger's face but hesitated when she felt the hair on his chin. (She soon warmed right up :) !)
The next hour and a half was filled with more forms, paperwork, and, of course, tons of pictures. We had met a really nice family at breakfast in our hotel (Lisa and Anthony and their three kids--two adopted from China), and they helped with taking pictures. They had received their son the night before, and they had only come to complete paperwork so they were so great about helping us to capture the moment.
After Ellie had her foot print done on one document near the very end, she just lost it. Roger took her outside for fresh air while Christie continued to sign still more papers. Ellie fell asleep on his shoulder and remained out as we drove to another office to get her passport work completed. On our way, the orphanage worker told us that Ellie had been one of the most popular babies at the orphanage because she is so alert, active, and intelligent. Indeed, she has shown us just today that her mind is constantly working, and she love to figure out puzzles and to explore how things work. She also loves music, being outside, and moving around.
The orphanage worker also explained that Ellie had been with the foster family for about six months and that they lived on a farm. Her love for the outdoors explains the suntan (almost burn!) on her cheeks and hands. After we peeled off the layers of clothes at the hotel room to change her, we discovered much lighter skin that had been protected from the sun. We joked that Ellie, given her physical strength, abundant energy, and background with farming, might just be the one from our family to show a hog at the Athens County Fair in about seven years :)
Ellie fell asleep again on our way back to the hotel and stayed out until about 2:15. After lunch, Roger and Britti went to drop off the rolls of film that had been taken of Ellie at the orphanage and at her foster home. Praise God that the orphanage was so kind to us!! They used the three cameras that we had sent to them, and they also brought one of the blankets that we had sent to her as well as one of the toys and all of the photo albums!! The other couple who received their daughter at the same time didn't get any of their stuff. We were truly blessed!! Ellie even had one of the outfits on that we had sent to her. By the way, she was able to wear the 12 month outfit and sleeper, but she couldn't fit in the 12 month onesies that we brought. Thus, I think that we'll be investing in some more 18 month clothes before the end of our journey :)
After Roger and Britti returned from dropping off the film and going to Walmart for more water and baby stuff, we took a quick walk in a nearby park and then joined Lisa and Anthony and their kids for a return visit to Pizza da Rocco. Rocco was very pleased to see us and our new baby! Ellie is a tremendous eater-- she had some spaghetti, baby food, and lots of cheerios for supper, and she couldn't stop smiling as she gestured for more!!
It has been an amazing day, but, once again, we're all just beat!! Emmy and Chelsea were down by 8 p.m., and Ellie fell asleep around 8:30. We're headed to the Golden Temple tomorrow so we're going to have yet another early day. Hopefully, this schedule will make the transition back to EST a bit easier... Okay, we'll see. In the meantime, we're just going to celebrate finally having our new little girl with us!!
A Civil Affairs employee rushed to them and gestured that Ellie was our's. We knew it!! Britti scrambled for the camcorder, and Chelsea and Emmy grabbed their cameras to record the moment that she was first placed in our arms. Christie held her first, and Ellie reached out for Roger's face but hesitated when she felt the hair on his chin. (She soon warmed right up :) !)
The next hour and a half was filled with more forms, paperwork, and, of course, tons of pictures. We had met a really nice family at breakfast in our hotel (Lisa and Anthony and their three kids--two adopted from China), and they helped with taking pictures. They had received their son the night before, and they had only come to complete paperwork so they were so great about helping us to capture the moment.
After Ellie had her foot print done on one document near the very end, she just lost it. Roger took her outside for fresh air while Christie continued to sign still more papers. Ellie fell asleep on his shoulder and remained out as we drove to another office to get her passport work completed. On our way, the orphanage worker told us that Ellie had been one of the most popular babies at the orphanage because she is so alert, active, and intelligent. Indeed, she has shown us just today that her mind is constantly working, and she love to figure out puzzles and to explore how things work. She also loves music, being outside, and moving around.
The orphanage worker also explained that Ellie had been with the foster family for about six months and that they lived on a farm. Her love for the outdoors explains the suntan (almost burn!) on her cheeks and hands. After we peeled off the layers of clothes at the hotel room to change her, we discovered much lighter skin that had been protected from the sun. We joked that Ellie, given her physical strength, abundant energy, and background with farming, might just be the one from our family to show a hog at the Athens County Fair in about seven years :)
Ellie fell asleep again on our way back to the hotel and stayed out until about 2:15. After lunch, Roger and Britti went to drop off the rolls of film that had been taken of Ellie at the orphanage and at her foster home. Praise God that the orphanage was so kind to us!! They used the three cameras that we had sent to them, and they also brought one of the blankets that we had sent to her as well as one of the toys and all of the photo albums!! The other couple who received their daughter at the same time didn't get any of their stuff. We were truly blessed!! Ellie even had one of the outfits on that we had sent to her. By the way, she was able to wear the 12 month outfit and sleeper, but she couldn't fit in the 12 month onesies that we brought. Thus, I think that we'll be investing in some more 18 month clothes before the end of our journey :)
After Roger and Britti returned from dropping off the film and going to Walmart for more water and baby stuff, we took a quick walk in a nearby park and then joined Lisa and Anthony and their kids for a return visit to Pizza da Rocco. Rocco was very pleased to see us and our new baby! Ellie is a tremendous eater-- she had some spaghetti, baby food, and lots of cheerios for supper, and she couldn't stop smiling as she gestured for more!!
It has been an amazing day, but, once again, we're all just beat!! Emmy and Chelsea were down by 8 p.m., and Ellie fell asleep around 8:30. We're headed to the Golden Temple tomorrow so we're going to have yet another early day. Hopefully, this schedule will make the transition back to EST a bit easier... Okay, we'll see. In the meantime, we're just going to celebrate finally having our new little girl with us!!
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