Part 8--Coming Home

Sarah Grace saw her first American flag today! We had our official appointment at the U.S. Consulate. All of the parents were very excited to see U.S. government employeesma and to be on U.S. soil. The actual ceremony consisted of them looking at our passport and asking us if everything on our documents was true. So there wasn't as much pomp and circumstance as we thought there might be. We thought maybe they would play the national anethm and wave little flags. Still, it was wonderful to be through with one more official step. (We don't have pictures of this event because there were no cameras allowed in the Consulate.) When we touch ground in Chicago, Sarah Grace will be a U.S. citizen!

We leave China with mixed emotions. We are excited to go home so we can stop living out of a suitcase, have familiar food available to us and introduce Sarh Grace to all the people who love her. It is a bit strange though to take her from her homeland and wonder when we will be able to bring her back to visit. We leave though with absolute certainty that God destined this little girl to grow up in our family as our daughter. We look forward to teaching her all about her homeland and all about how God brought her to the United States to be loved by us.

We leave the hotel tomorrow at 6 am. We'll travel about 24 hours and arrive in Indianapolis at 6 pm on Friday night (which will actually be Saturday morning in our minds). We can't wait to see all of you.

We are so grateful to our great God for all of the answers to prayer throughout this trip. We will sing his praises forever for giving us this sweet daughter. Thanks for all of your support. We'll see you in person soon!

Love - Andy, Angie and Sarah Grace

Part 7b--Pictures!

The first four are from Angie & Andy and the others are from the Bumatays (a BIG thanks to them for all the pictures!)

Part 7--Guangzhou

It is Tuesday morning here in Guangzhou, China and it's already about 90 degrees!

Sarah Grace had her official medical exam yesterday. Imagine small building crowded with dozens of adoptive families, plus dozens of Chinese patients as well. It was noisy and hot. Sarah Grace blissfully slept through our entire initial wait - about 1 hour. The minute the doctor began poking and prodding her, she woke up with a vengence though! There was much screaming! The exam was required but was really not with our effort. There were three different stations she had to visit. Each station took about 20 seconds but had about a 25 minute line. So she would get woken up for one station and then fall back asleep while we waited for the next. Total, we were in the office over 2 hours! She checked out fine. She weighs 19 lbs, has a head circumfrence of 17 inches and is 71 cm long. Many of the babies have been sick in this first week but Sarah Grace has not at all.

After the exam, our guides took us souvenir shopping for about 2 hours. She slept through all of that in her stroller as well. I think the heat just makes her want to sleep. All of the Chinese advice tells us that these babies like the heat becuase that's what they're accsumtomed to in the orphanage, that they like to be bundled up in lots of clothes and that they don't like the air conditioning. I don't know if that's true for other Chinese babies, but it isn't for Sarah Grace. She loves the AC and wants to take all of her clothes off the minute we get in the hotel room.

When we shopped, we bought her a new book to celebrate our one-week anniversary of being together.

Sunday, we visited a beautiful park across the street from our hotel, Yue Xiu Park. It's 92 acres of beautiful, lush trees and palnts. We plan to visit another park, Orchid Park, this afternoon. Sarah Grace loves leaves and flowers.

We took another swim last night. Sarah Grace would take off swimming if we would let her. She kicks and moves her arm and tries to put her face in the water. She laughs and laughs.

Her disposition is very sweet. She loves to giggle, smile and babble. She is gaining all kinds of muscle strengths and wants to be moving constantly (I guess that's why she takes such good naps).

We will be in China for 2 more full days before we leave on Friday. We are praying for that plane trip. She did so well on the 2-hour flight last week but this will be a bit different!

We are ready to get home. China is a fascinating country and there are so many interesting sights to see, but now that we have Sarah Grace our focus has shifted from sightseeing to her (as you can tell by the pictures we have taken!). We are ready to take her to her new home and introduce her to the people who love her. We'll see you soon. As always, thanks for your prayer and support. We are happy that we can share this journey with you!

Love -

Andy, Angie and Sarah Grace

Part 6b--Pictures!

Part 6--Wonderful Sarah Grace

LIfe with Sarah Grace continues to be wonderful. She has had so many firsts this week:

- Her first plane trip. We flew to Chongqing (our last stop), which is in the South near Hong Kong. She did very well on the plane. Her mama had a big of a meltdown when people were pushing while mama tried to make a bottle. Sarah Grace did great though. Once we were in the air, she slept for the entire 2-hour trip.

- Her first swim. We took her to the pool this morning and she loved it. She watched the people who were swimming laps very intnently -- she may have a future as an Olympic swimmer. Our new hotel is extremely nice. The outdoor pool is on a rooftop, surrounded by palm trees and the water is as warm as bath water. We'll defintely make more trips to the pool this week.

- Her first McDonalds french fry. We have been to McDonalds twice.

She has changed so drastically just in the 5 days we have had her. Her personality comes alive more everyday. She smiles and giggles all the time. Her new thing is that she does not want to sit - only stand (with help of course). She is starting to understand how to wave. She eats very well (and very often). The only things she deosn't really like are yogurt and applesauce.

She clearly is getting attached to us. We visited the orphanage on Thursday. Her nannies all knew her name and she was happy to see them. She let them hold her, but soon reached out her arms for Andy and I to take her back. That was a wonderful feeling and an answer to prayer.

We will be here in Guangzhou until Friday. We have a few official meetings but also lots of free time to explore the city. There are some beautiful parks near the hotel that we are anxious to visit.

We are anxious to bring Sarah Grace home but are also enjoying our time in China. Knowing that this is our last city helps us to relax a bit more. Even though we can't access our website from China, we hear that there are many comments on it so we can't wait to read it when we get home.

We are still working on trying to send pictures. We love you!

Andy , Angie and Sarah Grace

Part 5--Wednesday Update

Sarah Grace is such a joy. We can't wait for all of you to meet her. She has so much personality and it's showing more as she gets settled with us. She is quick to smile and today had her first out-loud laugh (when I tickled her tummy). We are learning so much about her habits and her likes/dislikes - loves corn, tolerates peas, loves teething biscuits, loves bananas, kicks when she is sleepy, loves her thumb (We'll break that habit later, but right now she can do whatever comforts her during the transition:) ), loves various textures, loves to make sounds with her mouth. She is a big eater. She loves afternoon an evening time the most. She's a good sleeper. She stares intently at everything and her little mind is active.

We are working on teaching her to clap. When she learns new skills successfully she smiles at us. We are trying to give her plenty of tummy time so she can work on crawling, but she just rolls over to her back.

We know that the bonding process will be long, but it is going so smoothly so far. This has been one of our major prayer requests and God is answering it. She reaches out for both of us and follows us with her eyes. She is very cuddly with us. She is really a very flexible baby. With all the changes that she has undergone in the last 48 hours, she is remarkably happy and well-adjusted.

This morning we went to the zoo, but she slept the whole time. This evening, we are going to McDonalds and to explore the city streets around us. Chongqing is a modern, growing city. Our hotel is attached to a 7-story mall with very expensive stores. The city has a lot of growing business that is bringing more prosperity to the area.

We are so grateful that Karen (Angie's aunt) is with us. We don't know how we'd make it without her. She anticipates our every need - photographer, backpack, carrier, etc. At Wal-Mart yesterday, Sarah Grace slept on her shoulder the whole time while we bought supplies. By the way, we bought 1 stroller, 2 cans of formula, 15 jars of baby food, lots of snacks for Andy & I and 54 diapers for $52. I think I should stock up before we come home.

There are 10 families in our group and all the babies are beautiful. The families are nice and it's fun to get to know them. One father in the group is a pediatrician so it is nice to have someone to go to for medical questions. Our in-country guides are wonderful and answer every question we have. Thanks to them, every day goes smoothly.

We have our officcial adoption certificate now and will get Sarah Grace's passport on Friday.

Friday afternoon, we will fly to our last stop - Guangzhou. In Guangzhou, we will have Sarah Grace's medical exam and our U.S. Consulate appointment. In Guangzhou, we will hopefully have access to computers that will allow us to post pictures. Then, in just 9 days, we'll be back home again in Indiana.

Tomorrow, we will take a trip to the orphanage. We are anxious to meet and thank the people who have taken such good care of our daughter. It may be an emotional trip for her and for us, but we know that we want to go so that we will have stories and pictures of her orpahange when she is older. It will be a 2-hour bus ride in the countryside.

In summary, God is good and Sarah Grace is wonderful. We look forward to seeing all of you soon! We love you.

Andy, Angie and Sarah Grace

Part 4b--More Details!

As I mentioned in the last post (if you haven't already, scroll down for a long update, before you read this one!), I have more info on the little one.

In no particular order,

• She has had watermelon, pancakes, bananas, cheerios and Gerber Puffs (Mom--Angie asked you to buy more of the banana flavored ones.) She can pick up pieces of food but has trouble getting them into her mouth.
• To go to sleep she cuddled, finished her bottle and then the laid her down and she promptly fell asleep. She slept from 8pm-6:30am (I was sorry I asked!! :) with one brief wake-up at 2am. She looked up at Angie & Andy and then went back to sleep. They, on the other hand, stared at her for the next two hours!!
  
• She doesn't like elevators much...and they are on the 18th floor!
  
• Angie & Andy were making popping noises with their lips/mouth at her...and she can now do it too! They clap when she does it and she loves the praise.
  
• She isn't crawling yet but she likes to be on her tummy and can reach for things from the tummy.
  
• When she's hungry she moves her mouth like a baby chick.
  
• They took their first trip to the Chinese "wal-mart". They purchased a stroller, a large pack of diapers, baby food, formula and snacks for the adults...all for $56!
  
• She likes her rattles.
• She loves texture. She reaches out to touch everything. The lid on their jar of peanut butter had slightly-raised letters and she reached out to feel them! (Indeed, a bright child!)
  
• She likes to rub on whoever is holding her.
  
• When we were on the phone, Sarah Grace gave Angie a big smile from across the room. You could hear Angie's heart melting! :-)
  
• She stares intently.
  

And that's all I have for now! As soon as they are able to upload pictures, I will get them up. I have nothing on my calendar tomorrow!

If you haven't yet read the Butayma's website (linked in 3b under the pictures), do so! It was neat to read their experience.

Part 4--Announcing the Arrival of Sarah Grace AiYe...

into her Mommy & Daddy's arms! I spoke with Angie tonight. She e-mailed me after they took custody but the e-mail got bounced back to her (oh, the joys of technology!). She didn't realize it had was sent back but when I logged into her account to get a copy of the e-mail, I found the message. She apologizes for the lack of pictures...the hotel computers are having problems with the cameras and they need to find someplace else to download the pictures. They are REALLY sorry and know it must be torture for all of us (she's right!!). They are going to try hard to get them sent today (their time). Below is a copy of the mail. I will do another post with more details on the newest family member.

We have Sarah Grace!!! We left Beijing this morning and flew to Chongqing. Chongqing is the largest city in China and it has beautiful mountainous scenery all around it. After landing, we were taken to the hotel to do paperwork and were told to wait in our rooms until we got the call that the babies had arrived. The anticpation was too much so I kept looking in the hallway to watch for them. Finally, I heard crying in the hall and when I went into the hallway, the nannies were carrying all 10 beautiful babies down the hallway. I recognized Sarah Grace immediately. She was crying and we had already seen one picture of her crying so I knew that face! The were all dressed in matching pink dresses.

We then had to wait in our room until we got the call to come get her. When we got the call and rushed to the room, there were 10 families, 10 crying babies and several nannies. It was a chaotic environment for the babies.

Sarah Grace cried when she was handed to us but it was still one of the best moments in our lives! We got her out of the room fairly quickly so she could get to a quiet place. When we got to our room, she continued to cry (actually scream loudly) for about 10-15 minutes. She has strong lungs. Then, our guide brought us a warm bottle that the orphange had sent with her. This calmed her immediately! After the bottle, she sat on a blanket on the floor and played peacfully. After about 45 mintues, we had to leave to go to a government office for paperwork. The office was loud and hot but Sarah Grace did pretty well. She was still hungry, even after drinking a full bottle, and we quickly found that she loves Cheerios. She kept sticking our her little tongue to ask for more.

When we returned to the room, she played for a couple hours, took a bottle and is now sleeping hard in her crib. Daddy is with her while I type the e-mail.

We have learned a lot about her personality already. She is a very inquisitive baby. She is constantly looking at everything and doesn't miss a move. The bonding seems to be going well. She follows both Andy and I around the room with her eyes at all times. We have seen her smile a few times now and it's a beautiful smile. She has her two bottom teeth. She is a solid baby -- bigger than her cousin Elizabeth. I still cannot tell if the clothes that I brought will fit her. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. She loves all of the toys that we gave her and she studies them intently. She imitates us frequently and has learned how to make all sorts of noises with her lips and tongue by watching us. Clearly a very smart baby! When she is held, she rubs the arm of whoever has her.

She likes both of us equally. We have both fed and changed her and she doen't fuss. She reaches out for both of us. I'll brag on my husband a bit since he isn't here right now -- He is a natural father. He is so calm with her when she is upset and he loves to play with her. She adores him.

God is so good. His blessings to us overflow. We love this little girl and we are so grateful to be her parents. After so long, it is a miracle to have her in our arms. We are so happy.

The only bad news is that our hotel computer will not upload photos. I know that this is very dissappointing. Tomorrow, I will find another way to access the internet so that all of her anxious family members and friends can see her. I'll try to do it ASAP.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers. We wish we could bring her home tomorrow.

All our love -

Andy & Angie

Part 3b--Its a Small World!

And the pictures of Sarah Grace from others keep on coming! Mom was corresponding with someone from the First Hugs program about some T-shirts. Julianne wrote back with a couple pictures of Mom & Baby! She is SO beautiful!






This is the journal blog of another family in Angie & Andy's group. This is wehre the other pictures came from. Bumatay's Travels

Our families have been truly blessed.

Part 3--They have her!

No, no pictures yet. And no report from the proud parents yet either. I'll post when I do hear!

Mom talked to Angie early this morning. They took custody a couple hours earlier than expected!! She is more beautiful than her pictures. She has lots of short hair. Her lungs rival Elizabeth's set of lungs (boy, THAT should be fun if they both get mad at the same time together!!). Karen helped them get settled in the hotel room and then she left the new family for awhile. Andy was feeding Sarah Grace. And, at one point, she stopped eating & screaming long enough to reach up and rub Andy. :)

Part 2b--Beijing Pictures

Here are the pictures they included in their last e-mail. E & I were out for the day so I didn't get to upload them until tonight.

From their e-mail:
"One of the attached pictures shows all 3 of us at the Great Wall. We climbed the wall, but not to the top. The other 2 pictures are of us in Tiananmen Square."

Part 2--From Beijing

We have spent the weekend touring Beijing. Lots of history. It's hot here and very humid. We have seen the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China and plenty of Chinese restaurants. (We are all getting plenty to eat, but Karen's diet consists mostly of wheat thins and animal crackers.) Today we went to a Chinese church. We climbed the wall, but not to the top.

On Monday morning, we fly to Chongqing. We should have Sarah Grace in our arms by about 4:00 pm (3am Indiana time). We'll send pictures as soon as we can

The trip is wonderful so far and will only get better. Thanks so much for all of your prayers. God is good and our blessings are abundant!

Andy & Angie

Part 1--We arrived!

hotel lobby
Originally uploaded by ajw607.

We are in Beijing. Our flight was smooth. On our first evening, we went to a Chinese Wal-Mart and had dinner at KFC. We slept well our first night, but not very long. Hopefully we will crash tonight and sleep for a long time. Today, we will tour the historical sites of Beijing. We'll send more news when we have Sarah Grace on Monday!

Love - Andy, Angie and Karen

P.S. - The picture is us in our hotel lobby. It's not a great picture but we were just experimenting!

Guest Blogger

:waving

I'm Tricia (Angie's sister) and I'll be the guest blogger while Angie & Andy are in China. If you have any problems with the blog, please e-mail me and I'll try to help. I've also posted a link over on the right for e-mailing me.

They are hoping to send me an update within a couple days of arrival. I'll post as soon as I receive their updates!