Sweet Moments

I know I have posted a lot today...but they were all previous (old) posts and I had to post a current blog.

Today was a very special day at our house. We always make a big celebration out of Gotcha Day and today was no exception. We are actually making this a 2 day celebration. Jason is taking the day off tomorrow and we are having a special lunch with Nana (my mom) and Nanny and Pops (Jason's parents) at The Spaghetti Factory. I fixed a big Chinese dinner tonight complete with wonton soup and crab rangoon and we are so stuffed from Chinese...so we welcome a different cuisine tomorrow.

After dinner, we watched the video from our gotcha day. It is something that we watch every year....several times throughout the year, but this time Emma Grace had more questions. Why did I do that.....? Why did you do that..? Did I do this? Etc...etc...

We laughed and cried and just enjoyed being together tonight. Emma Grace didn't want me to turn it off...she doesn't understand...we have about 20 tapes from China...too much for one night.

When i think back to that special day, I am still overwhelmed with the emotions. What a blessing Emma Grace was/is to our life, our family. I really cant imagine what we did before she came along. She is such a special girl and I know that God created her especially for our family. She is so much like both of us...it is scary sometimes. She is a little social butterfly and she loves to sing and talk...:)

She has walked around all day singing, "happy gotcha day to mommy, daddy and Emma Grace" We have celebrated every year, but this year she seems to be more excited about it all.

I am so thankful for her and all she has brought to this family. She is so sweet and we love her so much!! I don't really know what else to say....I am really so tired, I cant even think at this point. I think I will call it a night....we have a busy day tomorrow.

Gotcha Day!!!!

Originally posted September 18, 2005

1st Family Photo

Well, the day has finally arrived!!! We finally got our baby!!! She is precious!! After a long day of sitting at the airport, on the runway and a 2 hour flight, we left for the adoption center at 4:00 pm Sunday afternoon. We had a 5 minute ride. Jason and I were both a little nervous and anxious.We walked into the building and could immediately hear babies crying. We walked past several babies, but were being rushed through, so we couldn't figure out which one was Emma Grace.

1st bottle with Daddy

We went into 2 small rooms where the temperature was about 198 degrees and waited as the nannies brought the babies in. The called each family one by one. It all went very, very fast. I started shaking and crying when the first family was handed their baby. We were the 8th family to be called. I absolutely fell apart when they handed her to me....no surprise there, huh? We were crying and she was just looking at us....with the most serious look. She is tee tiny. She was wearing a 3-6 month sleeper and it was a little big. She just studied our faces and watched the excitement all around. By the time we left, there were 13 new families and 13 crying babies.

She is worth all the paperwork!!

Today is also the Chinese Mid Autumn Day. It is somewhat similar to our Thanksgiving. Very special day for the Chinese to be with their families. The nannies and orphanage directors have to stay in Nanchang for several days. Because of this, they were unable to be with their families for dinner tonight, so we invited all of them to have dinner with our group. That was a very special time. We met Emma Grace's main caretaker. She was so sweet. She loves her so much. She kept calling her Qi Qi (Chi Chi). At dinner they all passed her around and loved on her. This made for some very priceless video and pictures. They said she was a favorite of the nannies. We found out she was in the orphanage for the 1st month, foster care for 3 months and then back to the orphanage.

One Family to Another

She did so good at dinner. She ate cheerios, fruit puffs, rice and steamed egg. She is a big eater. After dinner, we went back to the room and relaxed. She sat on the bed with us and played with her stacking cups and an empty water bottle.

Isn't she cute?

Well, after all of our excitement, we are exhausted and are heading to bed. Thanks for all the emails and well wishes. It helps to make us feel closer to home.

One Day till Gotcha Day!!

Originally posted September 17, 2005

Today we were ready for all the sightseeing. We actually slept all night long. Our bodies are now adjusted to China time. We headed out this morning and went to Tianemen Square and The Forbidden City. There were so many people there today. They are preparing for China National Day which starts October 1. So lots of work going on there today.We had a wonderful guide, Mr Lian. He was so knowledgeable about all we saw today. Of course, I knew I would never remember all of it, so I made sure it was all on video. The architecture here is so beautiful!

The Forbidden City

We had Peking Duck for lunch today!! It was so good. Tastes like chicken...:). I couldn't help but think of The Christmas Story movie. We also saw our first "Squatty Potty". I decided to pass on that experience. I didn't have to go that bad.

Squatty Potty

We had a brief orientation on what the plans are for our big day tomorrow.
We got a update on Emma Grace. Again it said she was quiet...just like her mommy. Oh...and that she was impatient sometimes. Can't imagine where she gets that from.....hmmm.....??

We then hit The Great Wall. We didn't make it all the way to the top, but Jason didn't miss it by much. I made it about half the way up and then just sat down and waited for him. Why must they wear us out the day before we get our babies??We had a great dinner at Pizza Hut and after shopping again at the Carrefour store, we are headed to bed. We have to have our luggage packed and ready for pickup at 6:30 am. Our plane leaves at 10:50 and we head to Nanchang. We are "scheduled" to get the babies at 4:00 pm Sunday. Which will be 3:00 am Sunday for you. So while you are all nestled in your beds, our whole life will be changing.....for the absolutely definite better.

At The Great Wall

Love, Jason & Denise

Sightseeing

Originally Posted September 16, 2005

We started out early this morning and headed to The Pearl Market. Lots of shopping going on. The 4th floor has very nice expensive pearl jewelry and the other 3 floors is like the flea market. All kinds of private vendors selling everything imaginable. They are very pushy about it too. They started bargaining with you to buy even when you aren't even interested in their product. And they have no definition of "personal space" and you know how well that went over with me.

Tianamen Square

It was so hilarious though.....Jason and I were wearing our buttons with Emma Grace's picture and the people kept stopping us asking if she was our baby and then commenting on how she looked like Jason. Well, I took mine off b/c I couldn't handle all of that, but Jason refused....he was loving the attention. We went down one aisle and I just ignored them and kept walking. When I got to the end, I turned around expecting to see my husband and he was no where to be found. I looked at the opposite end of the aisle and there he was. Surrounded by about 15 girls all up in his face wanting to see Emma Grace's picture. He was just standing there nodding and grinning.

Ling-Ling the Panda at The Beijing Zoo

From there we made a quick stop at The Beijing Zoo and saw Ling Ling the panda and several others. Some of them looked like we felt....exhausted. Then on to The Summer Palace. It was beautiful there. The architecture and artistry work on the buildings is amazing. And the weather has been so beautiful...around the high 70's with a nice breeze.It is still so hard to believe that we are here. It is so surreal to think that after all these long months of waiting, we are only 3 hours away from Emma Grace. Wow!!!

The Summer Palace

Talk to you soon!

Jason & Denise

Memories

As our Gotcha Day nears this Thursday, I have been thinking about our trip to China 3 years ago. In some ways, it seems like just yesterday, but it was so surreal, sometimes it still seems like such a dream.

Anyway, I have decided to take the next week or so and post the blogs from that wonderful trip. Some of you walked through that journey with us and you have already read these, but there are many of you who we were not blessed to know at that time.

I hope you enjoy reliving our experience with us as we take this walk down memory lane.

Originally posted September 14/15, 2005

Well, after many, many hours of flying, we finally made it to Beijing at 2:35 pm (that would be 1:35 am US time). The flight was overbooked, so we didn't have any room to stretch out. But believe it or not, I did pretty good. I listened to music most of the time. And of course, all the snacks we had packed helped out...thanks, CSI!!!!

I can not believe we are finally here!! After all these months, it is so surreal to know that we are just 3 days away from Emma Grace. WOW!!!

View from our hotel room

We got checked in and met 3 other families from our group. They showed us around and got us somewhat acclimated to the hotel and surrounding area. We are staying at the Beijing Radisson. It is very nice.

Carrefour Store

Parking Lot at the Carrefour
We went next door to the Carrefour store (somewhat like a Walmart Supercenter) to get a few things we needed. They have EVERY kind of live creature imaginable. Turtle, eel, sardines, all kinds of fish and many things I could not identify. You just pick out what you want and take it home with you. TO EAT!!!!

Hungry anyone?

We came back to the hotel and ate at the Chinese Restaurant here. It was really good. Donna-I know what you are wondering...Yes, they had chicken feet stew. Needless to say we didn't try that.

Well, I think we are ready to call it a night. As I sit here typing this, Jason is sitting here (in the business center) asleep. We are very tired. It is 7:00 pm and we have now been up for about 27 hours.

Tomorrow we are going to the Pearl Market, Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace. That should be lots of fun.

Thanks to everyone who has played a part in helping us get here!!! We appreciate all the prayers over the last year. They have been heard and we have felt the results of them.

We love you!!!

Jason and Denise

Hodge Podge

I haven't been on in a few days, so this will be a hodge podge post. Just a plethora of thoughts, I suppose.

Last week was Emma Grace's 2nd week at Mother's Day Out. She loves her new class and her new teacher, Mrs. Rowena. All of her friends from last year are in class with her again this year, so that makes it nice. She has been able to jump right in with her good friends, Claire and Ella. On the first day, Emma Grace and Claire told Mrs. Rowena that they were the only "good kids" in the class. Of course, by the 2nd day during nap time they were "surfing" on their mats. Then the 3rd day, we had the "purple" episode (see previous post). Well, on the 4th day when I picked her up Mrs. Rowena informed me that they had some smooching going on in the church library. Emma Grace and Maverick were showing love to each other and had to be separated. Oh my goodness.....I am really feeling like that "reaping" thing is about to start kicking in. She seriously could not be any more like me if I had given birth to her. Totally proves the whole "nurture vs. nature" theory.

Then Friday night we had a girls sleepover at my friend, Amanda's. Complete with all our children.....b/c all the men had gone on a camping/boating trip. 12 kids and 7 girls. We ate junk food, chocolate, played games, watched videos, talked and laughed ALL NIGHT LONG!! The kids went out about midnight and we all hit the sack between 5:00 am-6:00 am.....only to be awakened at 7:00 am. We...translation-Amanda, fixed breakfast and I finally dragged Emma Grace home about 11:00 am. I tried to get her out earlier but she said, quote..."But mommy, I don't want to miss all the fun stuff". After a little bribing we came home and took a well deserved 4 hour nap.

That's about it for the weekend....as i try to hold my eyelids open long enough to finish this posting. I am realizing that I am not as young as I once was....this all night stuff is not as easy as it used to be....but in the moment, it sure is fun.