More China Pictures

More China Pictures

The top photo is a picture of Inga and me and Naomi inside the meeting room of the orphanage. On our tour of the orphanage we were led into a very large meeting room with quite a few very large arm chairs and this beautiful chinese screen. Inga came with her mom and dad to help bring her little sister Elisa home.

Guangzhou and Red Sofa Group Picture

Sorry to leave everyone hanging like this but Naomi has proved to be a velcro baby after all so I'll update from our travel day to Guangzhou. Sat. morning we flew out of Nanjing and into Guangzhou and the edges of a typhoon. The White Swan Hotel is situated on the Pearl River which overflowed it's banks and flooded several blocks one of which we had to wade in our walk to our Medical Examination. The water receeded quickly and even though several business flooded they were open promptly the next day. These pictures were across the street from our hotel.

More Cute Pictures

Naomi gains stregnth everyday in her legs and pulled to a standing position today. We don't know if she was doing this in the orphanage but we have no pictures of it and she would not the first few days. She is a delightful child and we are enjoying her so much. We feel very blessed.

Happy Baby

Naomi is becoming more relaxed and playful. She is a happy baby today.

Orphanage Visit

We took the 3 hour ride to Wuxi Orphanage to see where Naomi has been for her entire life. The grounds were breathtakingly beautiful. Large trees and manicured gardens. The classrooms for the preschoolers were very bright with wooden tables and lots of crafts the children had done. We then went up the stairs to the nursery where Naomi had slept and the room she played in. It was such an emotion time for her to see her nannies again and the familiar nursery and I could see she was very confused. But, just the same I think good for her to see us interact with her caregivers and she saw that they approve of us. It seems the girls were more relaxed and settled on the bus ride back to the hotel. We also passed by our girl's finding spots and were able to take pictures. We then stopped briefly at a market and purchased a few gifts to be able to present to the girls from their home town.

It's Official

Well it's official. She's ours and she is such a sweetheart. A very gentle, calm, sweet little girl. She loves to be held and cries when I put her down. She actually will let Grant hold her if I'm not in the room. She has not done much crying at all which is much different from Mia and Marissa who were both in foster care. We meet her nannies and they loved her so much . I think she was quite the favorite. We are calling her Princess Naomi. Her feet never touch the floor.

Naomi Here We Come

Well, I am finished panicking AND packing and we will be off tomorrow at about noon. I think I am finally have everything ready for us to leave for 2 weeks. We will receive Naomi on tue. and then fly to Guangzhou the following tue. to finish the paperwork. I hope it will still be warm enough to swim as that is Grant's favorite thing to do with the girls and aids in bonding so much.

I talked with Mia last night about coming to her school and sharing our trip to China and explaining a bit about the one-child policy. She has tried to explain it , but has only a basic grasp still. I think it will be a great way to help her classmates understand that I AM THE REAL MOM!!!! At open house the other day one little boy came up to me and said "so you got her from China." He was not being rude or anything , just curious. I am going to bring lots of pictures and some of our souvernirs to share. SO .....my next post should be from China.......

Travel Dates

Yikes! We leave in only 4 days. Still working on our airline tickets and starting on my first pack! LOL! Our CA is on Sept. 25th. I can't believe it is finally here. It was such a long wait and then rush, rush at the end. Naomi Tao Xuan here we come !