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