Help & Favor Needed...............Stacie Ham

Hope you get this on time, We made a trip to Manila,Philippines and had our bags stolen from us with our phones and credit cards in it. The embassy is willing to help by letting us fly back home since we still have our passports, We just have to pay for our ticket and settle Hotel bills. Unfortunately for us, I don't have access to funds without my credit card, I've made contact with my bank but they need more time to come up with a new one. I was thinking of asking you to lend me $2,500 that I can give back as soon as We get home. We really need to be on the next available flight. I'm so confused at the moment I need urgent help.

Western Union is the best option to send money to me. Let me know if you need my details(Full names location) to make the transfer,you can also reach me via email.

Many Thanks.

Fri, 11/16: waiting day #2, all packed and ready to go home!!!

Our bags are all packed and we have 1 hour until our shuttle to the airport arrives.  We are sooo excited to get Zoe home, but also nervous to see what her reaction once home will be.  In the nearly 2 weeks we have had her she has transformed from a silent toddler with no emotion other than being serious, whose legs would collapse when we tried to stand her, who didn't know how to chew solid food and who only held a toy when we put it in her hand, to a vivacious, laughing, playful toddler who is nearly running and eating soft foods very well.  In this time the environment has been constant (our hotel room) and both of us have been with her pretty much constantly with no distractions.

So our concern is, how will she react to her new home, which is likely larger than her entire orphanage was?  How will she be with sharing her new parents 3 three siblings?  She will no longer have familiar languages being spoken around her or familiar smells or an abundance of food she is used to (congee has been her staple).

Hopefully it will all go smoothly and we'll enjoy a week together as a family since Lucas, Noah & Ella are all off school all next week.

For now, we just have to get through the next 24 hours of flights and waiting in airports.  In 24 hours we should be home (our flight gets into SMF at 11:30pm Fri)!!!!

Thur, 11/15: waiting day #1

We received Zoe's visa and everything we need to take her home this afternoon at 4:30, so we spent the day doing some last minute shopping on Shamian Island.  Unfortunately, our flight doesn't leave until 9:30pm on Fri, so we'll have another day of waiting tomorrow. 

Wed, 11/14: more pics

Wed, 11/14: US Consulate Appointment & Group Pic & dinner at The Brew

This morning was our visa appointment for Zoe at the US Consulate.  It is located in a rather ugly high rise building and no cameras are allowed so we don't have much to about it.  We basically take an oath swearing all the documentation and information we are providing is true and accurate and each family is called one by one to turn in all their documentation in order to get a visa & visa package for the newly adopted child so that when we arrive in the US and present the package to the immigration officer, the child will officially be a US citizen.  We won't get all this until 4:30pm on Thurs, which is why we are not flying home until Fri.

In the afternoon, all 10 families with our agency got together to take a group picture, most of the kids were dressed in traditionally Chinese dress.  Zoe put the outfit we got her on, but wasn't too happy about it.  The picture of the 3 girls on the couch is the 3 children from our province (Guangdong), believe it or not, Zoe is the youngest of the 3!  On the left is Rachel, who is 20 months old, and in the middle is Libby who just turned 3 years old.  Yes our little girl is big J

For dinner, we went with our new friends, the Hoskin's (Libby's parents) from Iowa that we met 2 weeks ago to go to a western restaurant called the Brew that we had driven by several times.  We had a great time eating wings, fries & gravy, nachos & burgers.  It was a little taste of home after all the Chinese food.

Tues, 11/13: Pearl River Cruise Pics

Tues, 11/13: Buddhist Baby Blessing & Pearl River Cruise

This morning we went with 2 other families to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple.  It was a beautiful, peaceful place in the middle of the city.  We walked around and then had one of the monks do a baby blessing for us.

Zoe napped most of the afternoon and in the evening we went on an evening river cruise of the Pearl River with the rest of the families from our agency.  Our agency reps ordered pizza for us to eat (yum) and we brought our own beer (pizza & beer, double yum).  It was a great 70 minute trip that took us under many lit up bridges and by many beautiful lighted buildings.

It has definitely reached that time in any trip when we are ready to come home, only a few more days, we leave Fri evening J

11/12: more pic

Mon, 11/12: Safari Park

Today we had a long day at Safari Park, a really cool zoo type place here in Guangzhou (we went last time we were here too).  Luckily Zoe is happy in her stroller so we cruised around looking at lots of animals in the morning.  We also fed a giraffe, I know you can do this also in many zoos in the US (we have done it at the Miami Zoo), but it is different here in that the fence is only about 4 feet high, the giraffes come right up to your face (in the picture the giraffe's head is less than a foot away from Zoe).  They have a large koala house (about 12 in total) as well as panda house (probably about 15).

After walking around we went to the "riding safari" where you sit is an open air train that drives through areas of animals, from camels, to giraffes, to lions, to tigers, white tigers, cheetahs, a bit of everything.  The less dangerous animals roam free and the train had to some cross the road, and the more dangerous ones are separated from the train by a narrow moat only.

It was a fun day for us, Zoe didn't really seem to interested in any of it, she's still a bit young.  She was super tired and crank on the bus ride back and cried most of the 40 minute ride, finally falling asleep a block away from our hotel at about 4pm.  It is about 5:30pm and she is still asleep, got go wake her up or she'll never go back down later J

 

Sun, 11/11: Free Day

Today was a free day for us.  I went with 2 other families from our group to the jade and pearl markets to shop.  It was interesting, not really a ton of stuff I wanted but I still ended up spending about $100, oh well, send a shopper shopping and she'll shop J

In the afternoon we went back to Shamian Island to walk around, drop off some laundry (they are cheap and deliver it back to our hotel) do a little more shopping (got some shoes for Zoe,) enjoyed a drink at an outdoor restaurant there, and then had dinner at super yummy Thai place we had eaten at several times when we were here before and it did not disappoint.  Even Zoe was downing yellow curry potatoes.

Sat, 11/10: Start of the US side of the adoption process

Today marked the start of the US side of our process.  This started with us meeting up with the other 7 families from our agency that traveled to Guangzhou from the provinces their children are from (there were 3 families of us who adopted in Guangzhou).  The 7 other children being adopted is a mix of boys and girls with ages ranging from 12 months to 5 years.  It is very fun to meet the families and see the interaction of the adopted children with their new parents.

As a group we went for the children's medical checks.  This consists of going to a health office crowded with lots of children and adoptive parents.  You need to make your way through 3 stations: the area where they take the child's measurements, and ENT check (which includes German's favorite, the hearing test where the Dr has the child look one direction and then squeaks a rubber duck on the other side to see if they turn their head), and a general check where the Dr listens to their heartbeat, examines them naked from the waist down, and gets any questions answered about any special need they may have from copies of the medical data provided to us at referral.

Zoe did great, not crying at all, though she did insist on being held the whole time, even when waiting between exams.  She was measured at 81 cm tall and 14kg in weight (about 31 lbs).

We then went back to the hotel where I went to a meeting with a member of all the families and our agency reps to go over paperwork, and then we all went out to a group dinner which had great food and we were able to chat with some of the families we just met.

After dinner back at the room, Zoe showed us for the first time what a little goofball she can be by sticking out her tongue.  Every day she gets more and more comfortable with us and it is so amazing to see her little personality come to life.

Fri, 11/9: one more pic

Fri, 11/9: Chen Clan Ancestral Home & more smiles & giggles

Our guides took us and one other family out site seeing to the Chen Family Ancestral Hall today.  It was a beautiful building built in the mid 1800s by a wealthy and very large family in the province (Guangdong) for them to send their youth to be educated.  It was a beautiful building and had lot of displays of various arts from the province including fan making, embroidery, wood carving and handpainting (in which the artist used only his hands and no brushes to make very life like images, pretty cool).  We ended up taking the subway back, so Zoe has already taken her first subway ride!

Back at the room we had fun playing with her and German finally got some big smiles and giggles out of her.  She took and nap and woke up all smiles, so good to see considering she is usually sooooo serious.

11/8: one more pic

11/8: More Pics

Thu, 11/8: Liuhuahu Park

We had a free day today so we decided to take Zoe to the nearby park with a lake we enjoyed so much on Saturday.  The park was still very crowded, mainly with older people.  We took some time watching the many playing pingpong and badminton, they all seemed very competitive.

Then we moved on to a children's play area.  It had a playground, lots of merry go round types of things that the kids sat on and then you pushed them around, and even a weird round metal cage that German decided to bring Zoe on, even though he barely fit in it.  Zoe went along with it all but didn't show much emotion.

Our highlight of the day was as we continued to walk around the lake and then stopped to watch some dancers.  With a few snuggles and tickles, she started to show small smiles for the first time and we even saw teeth (for the first time)!!  It is amazing to see and to sense that she is getting more and more at ease and comfortable with us.

We finished the day off having Papa John's pizza (which was amazingly delicious!) and beer with one of the other families with our agency in their room while our 2 girls played (or at least their 3 year old did while Zoe sat and played with a bath book).

All in all, a great day.

One More pic

At Shamian Island

Wed, 11/7: Shamian Island & Applying for Zoe’s Passport

Sorry for getting a bit behind, hoping to catch up today :)

 

Today we took the 15 minute cab ride to Shamian Island, where we had stayed during our time in Guangzhou for Ella's adoption.  The US Consulate at one time was on the island which led it to becoming the center of American adoptions.  Now, with the consulate no longer there and the main hotel that catered to adoptive parents, the White Swan, being closed for renovations, few if any, adoptive families now stay on the Island.  We were happy to see that many of the shops catering to adoptive families were still open, we actually brought our laundry to drop off at one of the shops to be delivered back to our hotel the next evening.  We also bought a very life umbrella stroller for about $20 (which Zoe proceeded to fall asleep in).  The island was still as architectural charming as before and was a nice break to the hustle and bustle of big city life where our hotel is.

In the afternoon we headed to a government office to apply for Zoe's Chinese passport.  We should receive this by Friday and then will start the second part of the process, dealing with the US government to get her visa so we can bring her into the US as a citizen.

Zoe is continuing to slowly show more emotion and definitely likes hugs, kisses and snuggles.  She is walking quite well and usually walks from our room to the elevator and then from the elevator to where breakfast is served.  She is still mainly eating soft spoon fed foods (congee, oatmeal, etc), but we will keep trying to get her onto more solid items.

 

Tues, 11/6: Adjusting & Adoption Finalization

She slept through the night without any crying and not much tossing and turning.  She slept til about 6:30 – I think that's when we woke her with the coffee maker.  No complaining, no tears, just calm and taking it all in just as she did when she went to bed.  We got her dressed, and Facetime'd with the kids at home to introduce Zoe her new brothers and sister.  We also tried getting Zoe a bit more mobile and active and got her standing and walking.  Turns out she's a pretty good walker – although her ability to navigate through different flooring (carpet to tile) or different floor colors (white to black) may still need a bit of getting used to.  While Zone doesn't share many emotions yet with us, she did cry twice today – we took this as a good sign of progress in getting to know her – at least we know she'll cry out when she doesn't want to do something (in this case it was washing her hands under running water).

We also learned today that she still needs to develop her intake and chewing of solid foods.  So right now we're limiting our food to congee, yogurt, oatmeal and other soft foods.  We'll keep working on it, but it's where we're at right now.  We also got her to take a bottle today – another good sign of progress and that she's getting more comfortable with us.

Today we headed to the civil affairs office to finalize our paperwork and then to a grocery store to stock up on some supplies.  By the time we got back to the hotel, we were all exhausted – Zoe for experiencing new sight and sounds, and mom and dad for not having been able to figure out the baby carrier.  Tomorrow we're headed to Shiamin Island – the area we stayed when we adopted Ella.

We'll do some sightseeing and some shopping, but our first stop will be to pick up a stroller.

As we wind down our Tues, we are watching the east coast polls open on CNN, always interesting to see overseas coverage of American politics.

Mon, 11/5: Zoe day!!!!

In terms of adoption gotcha days, ours has been the most uneventful ever, so much so, there really isn't much to write about.  At 2pm we met with our guides and the 2 other families with our agency and headed to the Civil Affairs Office.  They told us we would go in, have a seat, and the children would be brought out one at a time and they would tell us when it was our turn.  They said that a total of 20 children were being adopted today so we may wait a bit.  We were only there about 5 minutes when our guides indicated it was our agency's turn.  At first they called another one of the families, but their new daughter's diaper was being changed so they called us and there was Zoe.  She was quickly handed to me by the orphanage person who had brought her and boom, she was ours.

She didn't make a sound just looked at me.  I handed her a pink ball we brought and she took it and then I went back to where I had been sitting before.  She sat in my lap, was looking around but was ok with it all.  As far as she goes, we knew she would be big, but she is huge!  She has the cutest chubby cheeks and is just adorable!

With one of our guides as a translator, German asked the orphanage women some questions, we filled out some paperwork, and after being there about 45 minutes it was time to go back to the hotel.

Zoe fell asleep on my lap on the way, German carried her up to our room, we laid her on the bed, and she has been there deeply asleep for the last 2 hours.  We haven't heard her make any type of sound, haven't seen her walk, and haven't even seen her standing up.  We don't know the last time she ate, or had her diaper changed, or even what type of diaper she is wearing.  We have learned she sucks her left thumb on and off while sleeping, but that is about it.  We sat over her talking, rubbed her arm, etc, but she really seems to be a deep sleeper and as much as I want to get to know her more, I guess right now she just needs sleep, it seems to be her way of coping with all the events of the day (FYI.. we also learned today the only time she has ever left the orphanage before was at 8 months for her adoption medical exam, and she has never worn shoes before today).

So, traveling 3 hours in a car to go be given to people you aren't familiar is a lot to take in and right she wants to sleep, so sleep she will, we have her whole life to get to know our precious new daughter.

Here are some pics from the hotel, I'll post some from the civil affairs office once we download them from the camera (these were from my iphone).