We Made it to Harbin

We are here and we pick up Chloe tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. She will be traveling about two hours from Daqing. Daqing is pronounced "Da Chin".

Our Holt guide met us at the airport with a driver and brought us to our hotel. We were not happy with the room we were taken to and refused to stay there. It smelled of smoke way too bad to be in there with the girls,  much less a new baby! We had to call our travel agency and get it worked out. After a long ordeal they offered us another room and we accepted. To make matters worst our Holt guide does not speak English very well. She is very sweet, but is struggling to understand us. For some reason she is staying at another hotel.

After arriving at our room Deann found her coffee so things are looking up. Our apologies to the TSA.

12 1/2 hours to Chloe Grace!

Right after I posted this the first time we heard explosions outside out hotel window. Someone was shooting off fireworks right outside our window! I mean close... really close. The big kind. The fourth of July kind at Heritage Park. We are already shell shocked enough. We don't need any fireworks. Apparently, they found out we had arrived! The Chinese are so hospitable.

Forbidden Photos

Bye Bye Beijing, Hello Harbin

It is 12:45 AM here and I cannot sleep. I woke up and read MaCayla's blog from yesterday. She is a prolific writer. Check it our here http://macaylacook.blogspot.com. Lots of thoughts going through my head. Almost all about Chloe Grace. We are so close!!!!

We celebrated Hannah's birthday yesterday and had a cake made for the orientation feast. The cake was chocolate and raspberry (I think).

We leave for Harbin at noon tomorrow. We arrive at 5:00 pm.

We had a great day at orientation, The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square yesterday.

We were very tired at the end of the day and Hannah feel asleep at Dinner. She missed her pizza.

Hannah has been great. She says she loves China.

I wish we had more time in Beijing, but not at the expense of seeing Chloe Grace.

Things are different here (duh). For instance our bus driver made a T turn on one of the busiest streets in Beijing in front of our hotel so we good depart the bus on the correct side of the street. It would have sparked road rage in the U.S. It seemed common place here. His license would have been revoked in Georgia. You just have to see it to believe it.

China is not the sleeping dragon anymore. It is obvious in Beijing that China will be the dominant economic force in the world very soon. Five years ago the streets were full of bikes. Now they are full of cars. They bring a new meaning to the phrase "traffic jam". LA and Atlanta traffic seems small compared to here.

The masses of people on the streets is overwhelming.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. I need some sleep.

Patrick

We Have an Updated Photo-As you can see they shaved her head :(

The Tooth Fairy Missed the Plane

Hannah lost her first tooth at school on Wednesday (Thanks Shelly!). Because we were getting on the plane that night Hannah brought her tooth with her, but she forgot to put it under her pillow on the plane. Hence, the Tooth Fairy missed the flight. No worries she found Hannah last night and exchange her tooth for some cool Chinese coins.

We Miss You Elizabeth

A Magic Teapot & More

Whoa!!!

Major jet lag set in for us starting about noon on Friday. Our strategy was to stay awake as long as possible. We went walking, out to eat (we found a McDonald's), and swimming. We made it until about 4:30 pm. We are now showering and getting ready for bed. Hannah is fine and acting normal. The rest of us only had cat naps on the plane and apparently that is not enough. Tomorrow we have an Orientation Meeting and a Tour of Tiananmen Square (I hope I spelled that correctly) and the Forbidden City. For Chloe's sake I hope we recover quickly. Not feeling too good right now. Things will be better with some sleep.

We knew Angie had it tough getting Ruthie the within the first few hours she was here. That is unimaginable the way we feel right now. Monday is the scheduled "Gotcha Day". Weather.com says it may be snowing in Harbin (that is where we will get Chloe Grace) on Monday. That should be interesting!

Upside Down

We are sitting in the Seoul airport about to have a stroke if the coffee shops don't open soon. This place is empty this early. None of the early workers speak English so I can't find out when the stores open. Hannah did great on the looong flight. She fell asleep in the Atlanta airport, was carried onto the plane and slept for about 7-8 hrs straight. Needless to say, she feels great and is looking at all of us like we're a trio of traveling whimps!! Nothing a little coffee can't fix. Becky, we have our coffee packets handy. However, with no hot water, we may resort to coffee sprinkles!!!

We Are In Seoul-Hannah Slept Most of the Way

We're Off!

Countdown to Chloe!

We leave for the airport Wednesday night and arrive in Beijing on Friday Morning which will be Thursday night in the States. Gotcha Day is the following Monday morning October 25th. That is one week from tonight as it is already Monday Morning in China. ONE WEEK!!!

TWO WEEKS from today!!

As you all can see from our previous picture - the packing has begun!!  We leave in exactly 2 weeks for China!  It's hard to believe this journey has finally gotten down to such a  short time.  We are excited, anxious to get Chloe Grace and trying to do last minute planning.  I know I will overpack but I hate to not feel prepared.  The next 13 days should be very interesting to say the least!

Getting Ready!!! 17 more Days

Travel Approval!

We got word from our agency today that we have received our travel approval from China.

This means that we can officially go to China to get our little girl.  We have to wait for confirmation on dates but it is looking really good for late October travel.  We are very excited to finally see some light at the end of the tunnel in this process to get Chloe Grace. I (Deann) have started packing and have been gathering things for weeks now.  I can't wait to hold her in my arms and see that she is OK.  The neat part about our travel (if we get the dates we are hoping for) is that our Hannah will have her 6th birthday in China.  She turned one in China without us and now we can all celebrate her birthday in China together!  How cool is it to get a baby sister for your birthday?!?!?  We will post our final travel plans when we know them.

MaCayla turns 12!!! and we are still waiting!

Today is MaCayla's 12th birthday!  Where did all of those years go?  We all got up and got ready for our day earlier than normal.  We told the girls that we could go to Chick-fil-A for Mac's bday.  That was a huge motivation as the girls  were ready before Mama or Daddy!  We did make it and enjoyed a little time before the girls had to be at school. 

We have received our I-800 Provisional Approval and our NVC letter. So, as of  Monday, everything is in Holt's Beijing office waiting to be sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China.  Come on Article 5 and TA!!!  Holt did tell us we could maybe expect to be in China near the end of October.  I've told Hannah it would be cool if she turned 6 in China.  We are all very anxious to get our hands on Chloe Grace!

Questions

We often think about Chloe Grace and what she could be doing. Like right now it is 7:45 pm here and in China it is tomorrow morning. Is she waking up? Drinking a bottle? Crawling around? Can she walk? How many children share a room or even a crib with her? Does she get enough hugs? Is she ever hungry? Can she talk? She is getting older by the minute. We sent her a photo album. Do her Nannies show her pictures of our family so she at least knows something about us?

We are being as patient as we can be. It is not easy. We are ready to have her with us. The process can be frustrating. Things are not under our control. We are relying on governmental bureaucracy to do its job swiftly. So, we wait and hope that all the things that need to happen for us to go to China can happen quickly.

Kindergarten, Here I Come!!!

More Update Pics of Chloe Grace!

Update Photo!

LOA is Signed, Sealed and Delivered!!!

Preparing for Chloe Grace

Chloe Grace Shiyao Cook

Announcing Chloe Grace Shiyao Cook. She currently resides in the City of Daqing in the Province of Heilongjiang in The People's Republic of China. Soon to be a resident of Georgia with her forever family, but not soon enough. Hopefully, if all goes well we will be traveling to the Manchurian area of China to bring Chloe Shiyao home very soon. The Cook Family is very excited to share this news with all our friends and family. Thanks to everyone for your support as we have waited for this news over the past three years.

The red dot on Chloe's forehead can represent a caregivers affection for her, beauty or a good luck symbol. The pictures seem to show a well taken care of baby girl and for that we are grateful.

Hannah & Shea Play Dressup

Perfectly Polished 2010

Notice the Painting in the background. MaCayla was 3 in that painting.

Another Light House Picture

Captain Hannah!

Dolphin Tour

Dolphin tour at Tybee in the South Channel

Light house near Fort Pulaski

Love

The secret to life...

Text messaging to blog...awesome

Long Weekend

We are in the process for international adoption from China, again. As a matter of fact we have been in process for over three yea

More Beach Fun

MaCayla's Shells

MaCayla has been busy collecting shells while on vacation. Here are a few of her favorites.

Sister Sister

MaCayla is the best Big Sister ever. She is so patient and gentle with Hannah. She never seems irritated or frustrated with Hannah and she always has time to play with her. She is learning her boundaries as far as being "the mommy" and no one can make Hannah laugh like MaCayla. Hannah has a deep belly laugh.

Hannah continues to smile often, but she has lost the squinted eyes and underbite smile that was so prevelant in China. It was a fake smile anyway, but it was very cute. She is not obsessed with food anymore. She can actually fill up now. No more bottomless pit. She loves "meat sticks". Don't ask me what they are I don't want to have to find out. They look like Vienna Sausage is all I'll say.

Yikes

For six days straight last week Hannah vomitted. With no medical history we were scared something serious may be wrong. After a few doctors visits and one hospital visit we found out she has reflux. When we got her in China she had a serious ear infection. After three different antibiotics she still has the ear infection, which contributes to the reflux because of the congestion and drainage.

The only thing that really upsets Hannah is not feeding her. No food, no peace. For six days we would feed her and she would vomit. She would immediately ask to be fed again, but we would stop feeding her until the next meal because we didn't know what was going on. On top of that, we really could not feed her a regular meal (clear liquids, etc.). This child eats like there is no tommorrow and we were putting her to bed hungry :( We did not feel like we had a choice.

She is better now and eating a regular diet. We will see an ENT sometime soon.

Despite the hunger Hannah was still an amazingly delightful child and her big Sister, MaCayla is showing she has a compassionate and loving heart towards her little Sister.

Oh, Hannah is drinking milk now. Yippee!

Joy! Joy!

The past three weeks have been the best I can ever remember. Deann is so happy spending all her time with MaCayla and Hannah. MaCayla is having a hard time concentrating on school, because she wants to be with Hannah so much. I am joyful to see my family so happy. Hannah is a delight. It's as if she lives to smile at everyone. If it all ended right now I would still be grateful to God for the past three weeks.

Sadly, I think I have been missing out on God's blessings from previous doubt and questioning God's plan in my life. Note to self-God is in control.

Potty Trained?

So many people have commented about my blog I would like to thank you all. Originally, this blog started out as a journal in a simple spiral notebook as a way to record my thoughts , feelings and emotions about our adoption of Hannah. After I transferred my journal to this blog I thought it would be a good way of keeping family and friends updated about our experiences in China as we traveled to bring Hannah home. I never expected the response I have received from so many people. Are you all just being nice? Anyway, I have no idea where this blog will go from here. I want to continue to write about my family, but I have a lot of opinions about other things too...Although they are usually trivial about my perspective on life.

I failed to write about one very funny thing that happened to Deann right after we received Hannah. The foster mother very clearly told us she goes to the toilet after breakfast. Little did we know she literally meant toilet. Evidently, at thirteen months old Hannah was potty trained. Deann was holding Hannah as she changed her clothes on the bed when Deann began making whistling noises at Hannah. Hannah abruptly stopped smiling and looked at Deann with her head half cocked as if to say "are you sure?". What happened next can only be described as "yuck". We had read where the Chinese potty train very young children by holding them over the toilet (squatty potty) and whistling to signal them to start "going". Deann can confirm that the Chinese do in fact practice this method of potty training. Needless to say, we have since abandoned whistling when Hannah is present :)

Final Thoughts

Isn't it ironic that a political system, cultural beliefs (valuing sons over daughters) and policies I despise with every ounce of my being provided our family the blessed opportunity to add an adorable, lovable little girl.

How will I explain this to Hannah one day? I dread the day I have to explain. "Why, Daddy?"

Observations on China:
The Chinese people are warm and friendly and eager to please Americans.
The toilet tissue in Guiyang is not perforated.
The same TP stretches like elastic.
I did not see a bike in Beijing made after 1970.
There are more buses than cars in Guiyang and more taxis than buses.
A Club Sandwich in Guiyang is made with egg.
Chinese who speak english well have a hard time understanding my Southern drawl.
An American with a Chinese baby draws a crowd on the street anywhere in China.
The Chinese will stare at you as if you can't see them.
If you smile at them they smile back and stop staring... for a moment.
English does not always translate well. For example, a sign at the Beijing Airport read "Exit Only in Peacetime" The correct translation is "Non Emergency Exit Only".
The Chinese are embracing capitalism.
The streets in China seem dirty, yet everywhere one turns there are workers cleaning the streets. I saw workers using a floor scrubber cleaning side walks.
When looking at the horizon in Beijing you see a yellow haze (smog). When you look straight up you see blue sky.
There are some curly headed Chinese people, but not many.
Bus drivers and taxis drivers should receive combat pay.
People walk slowly.
Women sometimes walk down the street arm in arm...and so do some men?

I could sit here writing all day about the things I saw in China. These are some that came to mind.

Also,

I loved the province Hannah is from...Guizhou.
Over 7000 Americans adopted Chinese orphans this year. May God Bless each and every family. Every family thinks they got the best one.

Home Coming

We made it Thanksgiving Day. Around 6:30pm we rolled into our driveway and home never looked so good. Becky, Doug, Lydia, Elizabeth, Mama Jo and Big Pop were at the airport to greet us. Tired does not begin to describe our physical state right now. I went to Wal Mart after we arrived home to buy some cough medicine and I almost fell asleep looking at the shelves and wondered how I would explain my narcolepsy to the police when Wal Mart called them about a man sleeping on Aisle 12.

We are all sick to some degree. We all have coughs (lots of pollution in China)and Hannah seems to have some respiratory problems (minor we hope). I am sitting here watching her in the play pen and she is smiling at me with her wrinkled up nose and squinted eyes.

MaCayla woke up around 4:30 this morning and wanted to go to Mama Jo's right away. We also woke around 2 am. Jet lag is in full force right now. Nevertheless, we want to talk to everyone and see you all. Hannah has been apprehensive about meeting people, but I hope she will warm up soon.

One piece of our luggage was left in Chicago yesterday. It happened to be the one with everything we bought in China. Some of the things we bought in Hannah's province are irreplacable. We were very nervous about getting this bag back. Fortunately, United Airlines delivered it to our doorstep this morning around 7:45 am.

Several people left messages on our answering machine the day we left for China, but we left so early we missed your calls. We listened to them this morning. We were touched by the messages of encouragement and well wishes... Thank you.

We're Coming Home

Goodbye China...We love China, but we are ready to see 2761 Pierce Dairy Road. Maybe one day we will return to China. Undoubtedly, China will not be the same when we return. China is changing so rapidly that even the minority groups of Guizhou are abandoning their heritage to take advantage of the new prosperous China. If Hannah is interested we may come back so she can see Guizhou...we'll let her grow up a little first. We can't wait to see you all and introduce HANNAH! MaCayla is so excited to show everyone her new sister! See everyone soon.

Hannah Loves Playing in the Park

Notice Hannah's hair in this picture. It sticks straight up on top and there is no combing it flat. It is like little wires. I thought curly hair was hard to manage, but this stuff is unruly. It seems to be softening everyday and I hope for Hannah's sake it flattens when it grows out. Hannah could be in for some bad hair days...literally. This picture shows her disposition most of the time. She is a happy girl.

Monkeying Around

This picture speaks for itself :)

Do You Think Hannah Has Gained a Pound or Two?

Hannah weighed 17.7 pounds at her medical exam Monday. We think she has gained some weight since we got her. She eats two breaksfasts. One in the room and the other at the beakfast buffet. She grazes throughtout the day and eats lunch and supper. She eats table food...all table food.

Two More Days

This picture was going to be our Christmas card this year, but Hannah said "no it's not".

No touring today. We are finished touring. We will skip the buddhist blessing tommorrow. We went to a buddhist temple in Guiyang...BTDT. Today we continued our bargain shopping and walked to a McDonalds for lunch. Tommorrow we have our consulate appointment and Thursday we leave at 5:30 am to come home.

Before I forget you all must know how great MaCayla has been on this trip, which at times has been very stressful. She has barely complained about anything. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl. Hannah is another blessing and she has been wonderful despite the upheaval in her life. I can't wait for everyone to see her. She is so mild mannered and soft spoken at this point, but you can see she is a real pistol.

Thank you all for your thoughts, comments and prayers. Although we have rarely responded to e-mails and comments each one has meant more to us than we can say.

Famous Red Couch Photo

These are all the childen in our group. Hannah is the one screaming in the red Chinese dress. Evidently, Hannah does not like sharing the spotlight :)

Our Other Little China Girl

Hannah Update

This is a picture of Deann after her first purchase of the day at the Pearl Market. Even though she is under the weather she is in good spirits.

Today we prepared our documents to apply for Hannah's US VISA. I think there were 10-12 different documents we had to check and re-check before our agency sent them to the US Consulate for review.

Ironically, Hannah is now the healthiest one of us. She is doing great and MaCayla cannot believe how much she eats. MaCayla was telling me today that the stomach is the size of a persons fist. She said Hannah's fist is so small her stomach could not possibly hold all she is eating. Hannah refuses nothing except milk (formula). She ate broccoli today at lunch with carrots. She drinks from a cup. Her smiles are coming easier and easier. I can even get her to smile sometimes. She loves MaCayla who can make her laugh and smile at will. She will go to most anyone without a fuss for a little while. Last night we placed her in the crib at bed time and she laid down and watched us for a little while and then went to sleep without crying or trying to stand up.

We ate at the White Swan Buffett tonight. Deann found a tiny octopus in her shrimp fried rice and lost her appetite. After MaCayla saw the octopus she lost her appetite. After a little while I found myself sitting at the dinner table all alone eating until my heart was content, octopus and all.

Oh, we found out that Hannah was left at the doorstep of a villager in the Nanshao Village in Jianhe County, Guizhou Province. The man who found her was named Xiao Jianfang. Maybe that is where they got the name Ya Fang. This was a tiny village. No one I asked in Guiyang knew of this village.