We are home

We have been home for about five days now and things are going well. The first night was rough. Anna was so mixed up on her days and nights. She finally zonked out about 4 a.m. and I did shortly after. Friday night she did better. Saturday night was rough as well. She didn't go to sleep until about 2:15 a.m. Sunday was a little better and for the great news. Last night she slept through the entire night :) :) :)!!!!!!!!!!!! We put her down about 8:45 and she cried for about 30 seconds and fell asleep. She didn't wake up until 9:00 a.m. this morning. We all got a good night's sleep last night and it felt wonderful!!

We are trying to get into a schedule. The last two days we have put her down early for a nap, which I think is helping her sleep at night. We'll see. I really think that she'll be well adjusted within the next week. I can't believe how fast the days go. You know when you babysit, after a few hours you are like "Where are the parents?" but with Anna it is like "Wow it is already time for a nap or "Wow, it is time for her to go to sleep" The days are just flying. I can't believe how short the days are now. When we were waiting to go get her the days seemed soooo long and now that she is here, wow they fly.

She is incredible and we are in love. She is a happy baby that never stops unless she is asleep. We had a great homecoming at the airport. We had so many friends and family come to the airport. My father-in-law counted and said he counted around 80 people at the airport. We couldn't believe how many people showed up and showed their love. It was so wonderful to get off the plane and see our friends and family. SO thank you very much for all of you who came to the airport to welcome us home. You are all the greatest.

Much love,
Scott, Shelley and Anna Banana

Goodbye China, Hello America

Well this is my last post from China. I have to say today I was emotional. I really love China. The people, the culture, and the shopping :). It is truly bittersweet to say goodbye to our daughter's homeland. Like I said before, before we left I didn't know what to expect. But I have to say now going through this journey, it has forever changed me in more than just the obvious way.

God brought back to my mind a couple of months ago a memory of when I was just a little girl. I was in G.A.'s (Girl's in Action) a mission program for girls. We had a missionary come talk to us about Lottie Moon and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. For anyone unfamiliar Lottie Moon was an American who came to China as a missionary. Anyway. I remember after the missionary talked to our class, we prayed about how God might use us. I vividly remember praying, "God I will do anything for you, just don't send me to China" "I don't want to go to China because I will miss all my family". Little did I know then that God would send me to China to get my family. Isn't that awesome how God works.

We have truly loved our time here more than we can ever truly say. God has been good to us. We have the sweetest, happiest, most beautiful daughter. We truly are not deserving of the blessing He has given us but we praise Him for His wonderful mercy, love and favor. To end, God showed me a verse in the middle of waiting for this adoption to happen that has now come true. It is Psalm 113:9 (New Living Translation)
9 He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!

Love to you all from China. See you soon in the good Ole USA

Visa appointment done

Today Shiyan took our information to the US Consulate for them to begin working on issuing Anna's visa. She said that if we didn't get a phone call before 12 p.m. than everything was ok. We didn't get a phone call so everything is okay. We go tomorrow afternoon to pick up her visa and do the swearing in ceremony. Then we are officially done!!!!!!! Our trip is very near the end and I have to say it has been the quickest two weeks and the longest two weeks of our life. We have truly enjoyed our time here. We have seen some interesting sites, met some wonderful people and gone through one of the most life changing events half way around the world. God has shown us some wonderful things in our time here. We have met some great friends that we will miss. I have to say as I'm starting to pack up for the final time there is a big part of me that is sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm very ready to come home. But I will miss China dearly. I didn't really know what to expect before we came but now that our time is drawing to a close, I can truly say part of my heart will always be in China, as will Scott's. God has already started to plant some seeds that we will spend the next year or two praying about. God has truly, truly blessed us. We cannot believe how wonderful of a daughter He has given us. She has been such a happy baby. When I look at her, I don't know how to explain it but when she smiles and laughs, my heart truly does a somersault. All the waiting, all the tears, all the wondering if this adoption would ever happen was TRULY WORTH IT. To finally see the harvest of this journey is more than amazing. What an awesome God we serve. I cannot praise Him enough for what He has done here in China. HE IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

She passed

Today we had medicals done in the morning. Anna passed with flying colors. She however didn't like it at all!!! She did okay when they weighed her and measured her. She is now 22 lbs. And she did okay when they checked her hearing and eye sight but she screamed her head off when they tried to listen to her heart. I think she was scared and didn't know what was going on. It was hot in there and tons of people too which didn't help. We then went to a local pearl market. It was about a 30 minute walk and we got off the island and into the city of Guangzhou. It was VERY VERY interesting. We got some great pictures. It was true China. Poverty mixed with upcoming development. One minute you were looking at buildings that looked 100 years old and then you had skyscrapers. The pearl market was incredible. More pearls than I had ever seen in my entire life. We went to one store that has the best quality and the guy didn't want to bargain at all. You are suppose to offer less than what they tell you. You are suppose to start at like 1/3 of what they say (which it is already very cheap) but it is sort of an insult if you give them the price they first quote you. Well the guy in the pearl shop didn't want to bargain at first but we finally talked him down. It was interesting. We went to a Thai restuarant for dinner. Last night we went to a local Chinese restuarant. Both of them were good but I enjoyed last night better. So I can say we both have tried some Chinese food and what we have tried has been really good. We have a free day tomorrow. So Anna and I are going shopping and giving baba some down time.

Wow what a night

Well last night was rough. Anna went to bed perfectly fine. But about 11:30 p.m. she woke up screaming at the top of her lungs. Everything I tried didn't work. She didn't want a bottle, she wasn't dirty, for a while I just held her why she screamed thinking she was grieving and the unfamiliarity of it all. Finally I thought maybe she has trapped gas. So I was able to get some gas relief drops down her which only made her more upset. I was sure we were waking up everyone on our floor. It was SOOO loud. So Scott threw on some clothes and Anna her in pajamas, me in my pajamas and Scott went down to the lobby. I didn't care that I was walking around in my pj's. We had her in the stroller because she didn't want us to hold her. Well, while we were walking an older Chinese lady stopped me and grabbed Anna. I was telling her no but she was not listening to me. After about a minute, I went over and got Anna out of the lady's arms. I don't know what she thought of that but I was not comfortable with her grabbing Anna like that plus Anna wasn't being comforted by that. So then we walked some more. She started to calm down. She finally burped really loud and she laughed and she was back to her happy self. (This was after almost an hour of her screaming at the top of her lungs.) We were still in the lobby, so I handed her to Scott and went in the lobby bathroom and cried my eyes out. I felt so horrible for not figuring it out sooner that she had gas issues.

So today she is doing MUCH, MUCH better. We have gone back to formula and congee which is a type of rice cereal. She seems to like it very much. We took Visa pictures today and red couch pictures. It is a tradition that the babies are dressed up in traditional outfits and all take a picture together on the red couch. Anna didn't like it. She is one of the two that really cried. She just wasn't sure what was going on. But we got the pictures, just excuse the fact that she is crying. We are hoping tonight goes much better. We are enjoying our time (minus last night) but are ready to come home.

Love, love, love it

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Ok so we are in Guangzhou. We love it here!!!!!! The people are so friendly, great shopping and wonderful food. It has some beautiful buildings. I think the French may have developed a lot of this area. The buildings are much more European than anywhere else we have been.

So Anna did wonderful on the flight. She didn't cry at all. It went great. We got to the hotel about 9:30 p.m. and she zonked out on the ride from the airport to the hotel. We saw Denise and Michelle right away (Bethany families) and that was really nice to see a familiar face. As soon as we drove on the island, I knew I would love it. So we got settled in our room and as soon as we walked in the air conditioning hit us. It was wonderful. I got Anna changed and settled and sent Scott off with the task to find food. Well about 30 minutes later, he comes back with what can only be described as manna from heaven- an American cheeseburger and french fries.

We slept well last night. We were full and we were cool. What more could you ask for. We had a wonderful breakfast this morning and met some other adoptive families. We then went walking around a little bit and did some shopping :). We had two people come up to us and ask if they could practice their English on us. One girl walked around the whole time, talking to me. I understood about half of what she was saying but she was sweet. Anna soaked it all up. We then found the playroom here at the hotel. She ABSOULTELY LOVED IT. She didn't want to leave. And Nana or Grenny there is something Anna loves that she doesn't have yet---Leggos.

We feel like we are in heaven here. We truly will enjoy every minute we have here. The people are very friendly, the rooms are nice and cool and there is great food. Enjoy the pictures.