More Pictures!

Ellie loves Grace

Day two will our precious little Grace. She is doing well and so are the rest of the gang...



We finalized the adoption with the Chinese Government today (The United States portion will not happen until next week)



Here is a cute little video of Ellie and Grace....

Grace...the noodle eater!

We found out that we get to go to the orphanage on Wednesday. I am so happy that we get to see where Grace lived for the first part of her life. We will also meet her "Half the Sky Grandmother." Half the Sky is an organization that promotes the care of orphans by trying to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future. We received a Memory book for Grace that has pictures of her throughout her time at the orphanage. In the pictures she is always with her Grandmother. I can tell she loves her very much. There is a lot of writing in the book but I will have to get it translated. I am so moved that they created the book...what a wonderful organization.

More Pictures!

Grace is sleeping now...I can't wait until she gets up! She was warming up to us a bit more before naptime...I think it was the noodles! Ellie is just nutso for her...and so are we.

Grace is Here!

Just a quick note because I have to get back to holding my precious little girl...We got Grace today. She is more wonderful than I could imagine. She is very shy and Ellie is pulling out all of the stops to get her to play! She is letting us hold her...I've held her most because I wouldn't let her go!

I'll send more picture soon...oh...we're just so happy.

Today is the Day!

Finally! In a few hours we will have Grace! It was a bummer not getting her yesterday but we made the most of it. The area around our hotel is great for walking around, shopping and people watching. Our guide, Savor, showed us around yesterday and we had a nice time. They are getting ready for the Plum Blossom festival and the streets are decorated with lanterns. It is beautiful. I am going to post some pictures...they won't be as popular as the pics that will come later today, but at least you know what it looks like here.

Oh...on a side note, Shaun's parents are doing well too. They are loving the experience and just a huge help to us. We were all pretty hilarious trying to keep eachother awake last night...still trying to get used to the time change!

More later...

Delays and Manure Smells!

We are doing pretty good...but we are having interesting developments...We got to Nanjing today only to be told that we wouldn't get Grace until tomorrow. I was sure the guide had her information wrong...but apparently there is little we can do about it. I hope that tomorrow really is the day...

On a different note...our bags came off of the plane smelling like manure...I wondered if they were transporting livestock and our bags got loaded wrong...but it was kind of a small plane and I doubt they could have gotten a cow on...People were looking at us and squinching their noses as we rolled by! So we dumped them out when we got to our room and our guide took us to the dry cleaners to clean the suitcases. The man said he had never cleaned a suitcase before but he smelled them and agreed to give it a try. Later on we walked by his shop and the cases were sitting outside on the street! I think they were drying...we'll see. I love China. It is zany and colorful..you get to eat noodles for breakfast and best of all...my girls are from here.

I love saying "My girls."

I think we will be getting Grace during the Superbowl tomorrow! Think of us as the Cardinals kill the Steelers! Go Cards!