A Year End Review - 2008 in Pictures

Wow what a year this has been. Since we haven't written on the blog since we left China in April I thought I would take this opportunity to do a "year end review" of 2008. It's been a great year and we have been so blessed. Especially with Claire joining our family. Here is the year end review in pictures, in no particular order with some short captions.
- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Take care.
Love- The Saubers' Family -
Melissa (age unknown), Joe (older than Melissa), Morgan (9) and Claire (4)


Claire's first visit with Santa went well.


This is Claire's Preschool teacher, Miss Diane.


We remodeled our kitchen this year. Here's the end result.


Claire's first sledding trip with Morgan and Daddy. She loved it.


We had a professional photographer take some pictures for the talent agency that Claire, Morgan and Joe belong to. He did a great job! Uncle Gregg, our professional photographer in the family also took some awesome pictures that are posted later on in this blog.


Claire went to visit Aunt Mary on the radio this summer.


Morgan had fun playing on the St. Elizabeth's 4th grade volleyball team this year.


Claire had a great 4th birthday party at Loose Park with all of her friends. It was a very hot day at the end of September. We got really lucky for an outside party.


Here's Claire with her Papa Steve, Melissa's Dad.


Morgan and Claire at the City Market one Saturday.


Claire at the Kansas City Zoo.



Morgan and Claire at a Shower/Welcome party that Melissa's
friends Kathy and Kathleen had for us.


The Saubers' Family at Claire's Baptism at St. Elizabeth's in May.


Claire and her best friend, our next door neighbor, Megan, going to a princess birthday party.


Joe as Groucho Marx for Halloween.


Morgan as a "business man" for Halloween.


Claire as a kitty cat for Halloween.


Claire playing in the park close to our house.


Morgan and Claire goofing around.


Claire with Grandma Billie, Melissa's Mom.


Claire with Great Grandma Brandt, Melissa's Grandma.


The 5 cousins on Melissa's side of the family two days after we got back from China.


Claire and her cousin, Jordan, at the pool. Jordan is one week older than Claire.


Morgan at the Lake this summer.


Morgan and Claire at the Lake this summer.


Claire playing her first game of mini golf.


Claire trying to play the flute like her big sis. She made this flute out of markers.


Claire "playing" the piano with Daddy.


Joe and Melissa at the MU-KU Border Showdown football game at Arrowhead. COLD!


Claire with her "best friend" our dog, Calvin.


Morgan (in the orange hat) at a Chinese culture and language camp this summer.


Claire with her friend, Sophie, at a reception that the
St. E's Knights of Columbus had for us to welcome Claire.


Morgan and her cousin Hannah before the Hannah Montana concert in St. Louis.
Long story, but we got to go FREE!


Morgan and her friends at her 9th birthday party in February.


Morgan enjoying playing basketball for St. Elizabeth's.


Morgan in the middle with Keith Urban's arm around her.
After this picture she asked her Aunt Mary, "who was that guy?"
Most girls would kill to have Keith Urban hug them!


Morgan with Carrie Underwood.
Aunt Mary took her to this concert as a birthday present. Thanks Aunt Mary!


Claire riding a horsey at the pumpkin patch.


Morgan and Claire at the pumpkin patch.


Claire and her other friend Sophie at her first Royal's game.


Clarie teaching her fellow classmates how to eat goldfish with chopsticks!
She was the expert this week at school and her topic was China.


Morgan, Claire and Maia at the Moss' Family home in Columbia.

Our family, by Gregg Henja Photography - Great Job Uncle Gregg!

Good-bye China!

It's 5:35 am Friday, April 11th and the angels are still sleeping. We need to wake them in the next 5-10 minutes and head downstairs to the bus that will take us to the airport for our 8:20 flight.

I thought I'd write a little bit about what I will miss and won't miss about China. When I return to the U.S. and catch up on my sleep I'll post more pictures and some video that I shot while here. I've got some cool pictures.

What I will miss about China:

• The people - everyone is so nice, older women are so sweet, they will pick up your child and admire them. Everyone is curious about Americans and the adoption process. You would think they might be upset that we are taking their children out of their country but they are so excited about it. They say "lucky girl" to the children.
• Being a "celebrity". It's so cute, they come up to you and want to take their picture with you. This happened to Morgan all the time, especially since she's a blond, curly haired, beautiful child! (coming from her Mom!)
• Holt International Adoption Agency - they were awesome and I would highly recommend them to anyone.
• The warm weather in Guangzhou.
• Some of the food. We tried a lot of new things on this adventure.
• The walking. We walked a ton, great exercise.
• Chinese massage!!!!!
• The countryside, Wonders of the World like the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors.
• All of the ancient history and architecture.

What I won't miss about China:

• The very hard, twin sized beds, even in 4-5 star hotels. I know they are small people, but please!
• The traffic - scary. You take your own life in your hands just trying to cross the street.
• So many people in such a small area. The cities are so congested, it's truly amazing.
• Some of the food (especially the live animals ready to be picked out and cooked for your dinner).
• The plumbing situation and "squatty potty's" - scary. They are essentially a hole in the floor and you have to be very careful where you step. In every public bathroom we were looking for the "western" toilet (a normal toilet).
• Going into KFC and being very confused (Joe experienced this).
• The retail purchasing process at the mall. You have to pick out your merchandise, get a receipt, take it up to the cashier, pay for it and then return the paid receipt and pick up your merchandise. Not an efficient process.
• Trying to figure out the money exchange.
• The cold weather in Beijing and Xian.
• The pollution.
• The difference in the electricity.
  

There is so much more on both sides, but I must get the girls out the door. See you when we get back home to the good Ole USA!

Melissa

Homeward Bound!

It's about 11 pm Guangzhou, China time on Thursday, April 10th. We have to leave for the airport at 6 am for an 8:20 am flight. Then we'll go to Tokyo, then Minneapolis, then KC. All in all it will take us about 24 hours to get home. UGH! But that's OK, because all we want to do right now is be home with our family and our dog, Calvin, and our friends in our own house, in our own beds!

I thought since this was the last night here and both of the girls are sleeping like angels that I would take some time to do a little summary of our trip.

Wednesday, March 26th we left KC and traveled almost 24 hours to get to Beijing, China arriving on Thursday, March 27th at 10 pm. We were greeted by our guide named Happy. A sign that things were going to be good!

Friday, March 28th we visited the Great Wall of China on a very cold, snowy day. Something that we had not expected and had not prepared for. Luckily Morgan was the only smart one and she brought a coat. Mom and Dad were stuck wearing cheap plastic rain slickers purchased at the Great Wall. Friday is also when we met the Harris Family who we ended up hanging out with during a lot of the trip.

Saturday, March 29th. This is the day when we had our orientation at Holt, our adoption agency. At this time they gave us some new pictures of Ana Claire. I cried a lot at this time because it really sunk in that this was finally happening. We also visited the temple of Heaven and Tienaman Square on Saturday.

Sunday, March 30th, we boarded a plane for a 3 hour flight to Xian, China where we would meet our daughter. Our guide on this part of the trip was named Jenny. She was fabulous. We finally met our new daughter at 4 pm that day. This is also known as "Gottcha Day", because we finally "gottcha" after all the wait.

Monday, March 31st, the official adoption day. We spent the entire day on this process with a lot of waiting. But one of the highlights of this special day was that we got to eat lunch with the orphanage people. This was a great way for Ana Claire to transition from them to us and it was also a great opportunity to get to know more about her first 3 1/2 years. When they left after the adoption was final was probably one of the saddest times in my entire life thus far. It was utterly heart wrenching for all involved.

Tuesday, April 1st, we went to see the Terracotta Warriors, sometimes referred to as the 8th wonder of the world. We are so glad we got to experience this wonder.

Wednesday, April 2nd. We went shopping for baby stuff at a local department store in a HUGE city mall (at least 8 or 9 stories). Claire had a really bad fever this day. We ended up taking her to the hospital because her fever was so high. This was not a good experience. It REALLY made me appreciate our medical system, even though I complain about it all the time. We've really got it made in the U. S. Even though you have to pay an arm and a leg for health insurance and health care, it's so much better than what other countries experience. After this our guide took us to a Chinese pharmacy and we got some really good medicine that nipped Claire's fever in the bud! We have no idea what was in the medicine, but it worked.

Thursday, April 3rd, we went to a local park and a Chinese book store. Other than that we took it easy and got to know our new daughter.

Friday, April 4th we got on yet another plane and headed to Guangzhou for the last part of our trip. This day we just explored our hotel and Shamian Island along the Pearl River where the hotel was located.

Saturday, April 5th, while I was at a paperwork checking meeting Joe, Morgan and Claire went and bought traditional Chinese dresses for Morgan and Claire. Then in the afternoon we took Claire to the pool. Her first swimming pool experience and she LOVED it. Morgan also got to start hanging out with Abbie Harris (her BFF for this trip). Abbie's family adopted a little boy, baby Caleb. This makes them a family of 5 with mom and dad, Meridith and Tom and 5 year old brother Collin. We hung out with the Harris family all week. It was great to experience the joy of adoption with another family that was in similar circumstances as us. This night we also discovered a local playground. Claire and Morgan both had a blast and burned off some energy before going back to the room.

Sunday, April 6th, we went to church at a local Christian Church that had an English/Chinese service. We didn't last very long because Claire was acting a little like a 3 year old. So instead we headed down to the local Starbucks and hung out for a while. We also went shopping at the Jade and Pearl Market. I didn't buy anything here. It was another 9 story shopping mall FULL of jewelry, too many choices. I can't see how so much stuff can be consumed. But then again Guangzhou is a city of 12 million!

Monday, April 7th, this was the medical exam day for all of the children being adopted. Some of the children did NOT like this. Claire was fine. She seems to just get really quiet when we're around a big crowd or Doctors. She passed with flying colors except the Doctor said he wanted to take her home with him. Needless to say, this entire trip, I have not let her out of my sight. All of the Chinese people tell me that she's beautiful and they all love her. After the medical exam, we did a little shopping. It was in the high 80s on the island and Claire had NO clothes to wear so we had to stock up on some summer clothes. Monday was also the day for the traditional "red couch" picture where they have all of the children sit on a red couch in traditional Chinese clothes and take pictures. It did not go so well, most of the babies wanted their mama's. But somehow the photographer got a good picture once the mama's joined the picture with their respective babies.

Tuesday, April 8th we were supposed to go visit a local school but we missed the time to leave. Getting 2 girls ready and out the door (while living out of suitcases in a small hotel room) has proven to be quite the challenge. Tuesday was when I got to my breaking point, I really wanted to go home at this point. We were living in hotel rooms for too long. All Chinese hotel beds are twin beds, so imagine 4 people sleeping in 2 twin beds for almost 2 weeks (and of course they are HARD as a rock, thus the need for a massage later in the week). This is the night we we got a recommendation from the Concierge to go downtown for Cantonese food at an outdoor restaurant. It was a horrible experience. Have you ever been to a restaurant where you walk around and pick out your "live" food and then they kill it and cook it for you right there? Not a "family oriented" place.

Wednesday, April 9th (me and Joe's 14th Wedding Anniversary). We spent the morning at the Sarari (similar to a Zoo). This was pretty cool. I've got a ton of pictures of this. Morgan got to pet a baby tiger and feed carrots to a giraffe. The Safari wore us out. Morgan went swimming and Mama and Claire took nap. For dinner we had a good-bye dinner with the Harris Family, lucky ducks, they got to go home on Thursday.

Thursday, April 10th. Today was a wrap up day for us. We had to pay all of the outstanding bills and finish buying souviners. In the morning we went to have a 90 minute back and foot massage. We SO needed this after sleeping in twin, hard as rock, beds for almost 2 weeks and hauling around a ton of luggage and carrying a 26 lb child that we're not used to carrying. It was the best massage ever!!! Then the big event of the day, we headed downtown to the U.S. Consulate to take an oath to "never ever abandon" our new daughter! And we got her Visa so we can officially head back home.

And that concludes our trip. Tomorrow we will leave here at 6am and get into KC at 3:45 pm. We are so excited to see everyone and for everyone to meet Ana Claire. We know you all will love her just as much as we do! See you soon.

Melissa, Joe, Morgan and Claire Saubers

Morgan and Claire

Here are some fun pictures of Morgan and Claire doing various things in Guangzhou.