Happy Thanksgiving from China

This morning we took a trip to Da Ming Lake Park. It is a beautiful park a couple of hundred years old. It was very cold there today, but we had a nice stroll none the less. Afterward, we went to pick up Celia's Chinese passport. The driver then let us out at the McDonalds near our hotel where we had lunch. We then shopped in an underground street mall. My mom, Vicki, bought a cute pair of shoes and I got a handbag. Emma and Olivia bought headbands. Celia tried to buy shoes at every stall we passed. She loves shoes. She even told a man in the elevator this evening to look at her new hot pink patent leather high tops.

After the shopping trip we returned to the room for a little rest. I managed to order room service for dinner because Celia was very tired. After dinner, we went to the basement and the girls enjoyed a game of bowling. Everyone is passed out and I am now left to pack as we leave Shandong province in the morning. All of the paperwork on the Chinese side of the adoption is complete. Celia's adoption is official and final. She is now officially Celia Grace Qianxue Focarile. We now head to a city in southern China named Guangzhou to complete paperwork at the US embassy to obtain a visa for Celia to travel to the US on her Chinese passport. Once we go through immigration in Dallas upon our return, she will automatically become a US citizen and I can then apply for a US passport.

So, yes, we have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I am most thankful that I get to be the mother to 3 of the most beautiful, clever, and sweet girls in the entire world.

Celia Grace wakes up happy this morning...

Our trip to Da Ming Lake Park...




Emma and Olivia feed the birds...


While Celia watches...

Emma and Olivia ride the Merry-go-round...


While Celia sleeps...

Lunch at McDonalds and Celia's first ice cream cone...


Trip to the bowling alley...

Good night from Jinan...

Three Sweet Peas in a Pod...

Being silly...


With our guide, Grace...

First bowl of spaghetti...


Wearing Emma's shoes...

Silly Girls...

Our visit to Qingdao

We just returned from a 2 day excursion to Qingdao. Qingdao is a very beautiful city. Very picturesque. While we were there I had to go to a Chinese police station to file for Celia's passport. I caused quite a scene as I was the only non-Chinese person in the station (with a crying baby at that). The guide and the director told me to wait on a bench with Celia as they went and did all of the paperwork. Several Chinese people came up to me and tried to hold a conversation to no avail. Finally, after going out to purchase a gift for the policeman, we successfully completed our paperwork.

We also were able to visit the orphanage where Celia lived. Everyone seemed to know her by name including the security gate man and the groundskeepers. The orphanage was on the top of a beautiful hill that overlooked the entire city and the ocean. Quite a prime piece of real estate. They took me to the room of cribs were Celia slept. It was lined with windows that allowed lots of sunlight in. There were many caretakers who were working with the babies. As we played with the babies, it was apparent that they were all happy and well loved in this particular orphanage. It was very clean and did not even have an institutional smell that you might find in nursing homes and such. I must admit that I shed a few tears as I was overwhelmed with the love the staff had for my daughter. The vice director then took me to place where Celia was found. She was found under a street overpass at a crowded intersection. It was in a busy area of town where the line between well to do and poverty were very clear. I was able to get out and take some photos.

The director also told us how the babies were named. It seems there is a list of only about a hundred or so last names in China. Every year, the orphanage selects a different last name for babies admitted that year. In Celia's case, that was Chen. In China, the 2nd character of their name (which would be like our first name) is used to identify a generation, and in a family all children of a certain generation are given the same name. So all of the babies in the orphanage had the "first name" Qian (pronounced chien). In China it means heavens (same meaning as Celia). The third character, which would be like our middle name, is individual to the child. Celia's name is Xue (shoe-ay) meaning snow which is symbolic of purity. So all of the children brought to the orphanage the same year as Celia were named Chen Qian ______. Here there is much more meaning and symbolism when naming a child than in America. When referring to people here, you call then by both the 2nd and 3rd character, often written together: QIANXUE. If you are familiar and call a person by their nickname, you would simply use the 3rd character: XUE. The orphanage staff called Celia a derivative of Xue that means snowy.

Next we headed to the aquarium. We arrived just in time to see one of the mermaid shows. It only had 2 mermaids in it, but Olivia was plastered against the glass of the ceiling to floor tank taking in every move. They swam right up to her. She did not have much to say, but it was clear that she was enjoying the show. We were also able to see several animals. As some of you know, Emma Rose loves to read about animals, particularly ocean animals. She was able to get up very close to a beluga whale. It even tried to spit water on her. She had a great time also. We had lunch at KFC.

We were also able to take the girls out to the ocean's edge to briefly look for shells. A cold front was coming through, so we were not able to stay out for long. We did make it to a Starbucks and then took the girls for HaagenDaz ice cream. Before we left Qingdao, we stopped by the Olympic Sailing Venue. We did not stay long as the temperatures were dropping and giant snowflakes began to fall almost as if Qingdao was bidding a farewell to Xue, the Princess of Snow.

We definitely are making progress with Celia. She cried all of the way to Qingdao (over 3 hours). However, the next day, we did see lots of smiles, she finally played with the girls and was quite silly. Seems like she enjoys making people laugh. Today she only cried for about 1 hour (nonstop) this morning and about 3 hours nonstop this evening before finally going to sleep. She got in the bathtub with Em and Liv this evening and had a ball. She splashed and splashed. Here are a few pics from the last couple of days in Qingdao.

Shells on the beach...


Emma's Fishy Friends...


Kissing a beluga whale...

Olivia and the mermaids...


Lunch time...

The beautiful city of Qingdao...



Celia's finding location...

Olivia standing by mural on wall in the orphanage. Celia is the baby in the pink heart.

Celia's room at the orphanage which overlooked the city and the ocean...

With orphanage staff...


With the director of the orphanage...

Day 2...

We are all exhausted. Yesterday we woke up at 1 am and could not go back to sleep. Today it was better...3 am. Everyone is crashed here and it is just after 5:30 pm, on Monday evening.

Celia Grace cried alot today. Everytime a Chinese person speaks to her (which is often as we draw a crowd since we are an oddity here. Very few caucasian here and very few people with 3 children. Mix the 2 together and you can imagine the looks we get!) If only I could avoid Chinese speakers, we would be in luck. Once they talk to her, she wants to go with them and not with us. She hates the room and wants to go out. We are trying to stay in these first few days since she draws a crowd of her Chinese speaking followers when we go out and then we are back to square 1! We did go to Walmart today and bought a stroller and some pull ups as it appears that Ceil is potty trained. I just don't intend to take any chances when we are out and about. She seems small to me, but the Gymboree 12-18 stuff is too short (fits OK otherwise). The carter's stuff was a little longer, so the 18 mo. works OK there. I think she is long waisted as her onesies are a little stretch.
Hoping tomorrow will be better. We head to Qingdao and will spend the night there. We will go to the orphanage and also to the aquarium to see the famed mermaids.

Here are a few pictures that Emma Rose took of the trip so far...

We have Celia Grace Qianxue!

At 2:30 this afternoon, our guide, Grace, called to tell us that the baby was waiting in the lobby. Amazingly,even though we were on a higher floor, we beat Grace to the lobby. We found the orphanage staff sitting there holding a very cute baby who had no idea what was about to take place. While we waited for Grace to dispense with the formalities, we offered Qianxue cookies and toys, which she was happy to accept. She also poses for the camera when she sees it and makes the cheesiest grin you would ever want to see! Once Grace arrived, things happened quickly. I signed a couple of papers to enter into the "period of harmonious agreement" before I officially sign the adoption papers tomorrow. I guess you might say that we signed her out for the evening. After that, the staff handed her to me and exited quickly as she began to cry and go after them. We went back to the room for about half an hour. By then, she had calmed down so we went out around the corner to have our pictures taken for some documents tomorrow. Of course when she sees a camera she hams it up. Apparently she is quite the commedienne...just what our family needed, another funny girl! She put on a show and had the entire photo shop laughing.

Not including her coat, Celia arrived in 2 shirts, a pull over sweater and a heavy corduroy jacket. She had on 3 layers of pants, some of which were quilted and knitted but all were split pants. Imagine my surprise when I picked her up and her bottom peeked through the opening!

Celia did not want to part with her coat or shoes. She keeps them in sight at all times. That is until we passed a street vendor selling children's shoes and she spyed them. She was ready to trade hers in for an upgrade on the spot! It seems that she knows more than a couple of words. She fully understands Chinese and has what appears to be a conversation with the hotel staff when they speak to her. She took our guide's hand and led her into the gift shop and said something in Chinese to Grace that caused the guide to laugh out loud. Grace told us that she said, "Let's just take a look around." Sounds like a shopper! At dinner, all of the wait staff came over and played with her. They all went to get their cameras, so of course, Celia charmed them all by being silly and flashing movie star grins when asked to pose for a picture. This of course resulted in a large fruit tray being delivered to our room within 15 minutes of leaving the hotel restaurant, complements of the restaurant!

The adjustment has been overwhelming for her, but she is handling it well. We do OK until someone speaks Chinese to her and she wants to leave us and go with them. It always results in another crying attack that breaks your heart. However, she lets me hold her while she cries and hangs on for dear life. By dinner she was happy to tell everyone that I was Mama and did not let me out of her sight the rest of the night. She can identify my mother if we call her Lao Lao (Chinese for grandmother) and Emma and Livvie by name. No amount of bubbles could intice her to take a bath with Em and Liv. That's OK. It can wait until tomorrow. She went to bed without crying. It seems she is potty trained for the most part. Twice she did a little dance and said something in Chinese. When I took her to the bathroom, you might say that she activated on command. You can't beat that! She is eating great--feeds herself, drinks from a cup. Also, all systems are officially a -go, if you get my meaning!

Emma and Olivia are worn out from all of the travel. They did great today. They desperately wanted to play with Celia and touch her, but she prefers to be admired from afar and does not like to share her toys. Olivia found out the hard way that she can pinch really hard. Before they fell asleep they did say that they like her and are happy to have a little sister. By the way, Celia calls herself Mei Mei (May May) which means little sister in Chinese, so apparently someone has been preparing her for this moment. We also found out that the first part of her name-Qian- means heavens. Hmmm...That is the same thing Celia means! We did have some intermittent smiles and giggles this evening, so there is hope for tomorrow.

Now here is what you have been waiting to see... the third pea has finally taken her place in the pod...

Beijing

Here are some pics from Beijing. Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs greeted us in the hotel lobby in a big Christmas display. We toured Beijing on Saturday before flying to Shandong province to get Celia on Sunday. The picture with Chinese writing was in neon letters on the hotel accross the street. It scared Olivia. We could not convince her it was writing. She was sure it was pictures of skeletons! The girls had a great day. The sights were amazing. And yes, all 4 of us made it up the Great Wall of China and lived to tell about it!