Day 3 back in Beijing-  Today Rachael had her medical exam.  All went well.  We saw a Canadian Chinese doctor at an international clinic.  Rachael weighed in at 18 lbs.  Doctor said she is in the 5th percentile here in China for most things.  Dr. Lucy was very kind and gentle with Rachael.  Rachael giggled thru most of her exam.  After lunch Doug decided to take a long  nap after being so sick the night before.   Rachael and I went with the rest of the crew to the Summer Palace.  Very Beautiful!   My snack fora the day was a corn on the cob.   When we returned Doug was awake and feeling a little better.  We decided to stay back from the group dinner tonite and ordered in Pizza.  This will allow us to be a family of three in our room for the evening.  I hope to get a good sleep tonite as I am battling a Smog induced sore throat.  Tomorrow we will go to the Pearl market to see what knock off deals we can find. Apparently we are also stopping at another Silk Market.  We hope to find Rachael a couple of Silk dresses.  We are having a ball.

Christmas Eve at Bread of Life Lutheran Church

Rachael stole the show in her silk Chinese dress as Pastor Carla, (Rachael's auntie,) led the congregation in the Sermon.  Carla drew a paralell between the birth of baby Jesus and the long adoption of Rachael.  This was illustrated through a very emotional powerpoint. We are all so blessed to have Rachael as a knew member of our extended family.  Thanks Auntie Carla.

We are home!!

After an extremley long day we arrived at the Regina airport to be greeted by both of our families and some friends.  What a heart warming welcome we received!!  I am wide awake and its 5 am.  Rachael woke me up so I just finished giving her a bottle.  The poor little Missy's clock is going to have issues for a while. She is back in her crib and I should head back to bed now too.  

Last Full Day in Beijing!

Chhinese Acrobat Show

This morning we ate an early group breakfast then we loaded the bus to head to
Tiannamen Square and The Forbidden City.  It was a very long day because there
was tonnes of walking and it was cold.  The history behind both of these places
is very cool.  Tiannamen Square is massive.  It can hold 1/2 a million people at 
one time.  The Forbidden City went on and on forever.  It too is huge.  There
are over 9300 rooms in the Palace.  We went through court yard after court yard. 
After touring through both places we loaded back on our bus to return to the
hotel.  Doug and I were hungry so we decided to join the O'Grady's for lunch at
our favorite restaurant across the street.  After lunch we all headed up to our
rooms.  At three Pam and I went shopping.  We both had some last minute items to
pick up. After our power shopping experience we headed back to the hotel as we
were supposed to meet at 5 pm to pick up our babies paperwork.  At 6 o'clock,
Doug Rachael and I, the Eeles family, Jennifer and Kenna Brandt and Randy Burtis
headed out to the Chinese Acrobatic Show.  It was outstanding. When we returned
to the hotel we bathed a very wound up Rachael, gave her a bottle and put her to
bed.  She is soundly sleeping now.  We are excited about returning home.  There
are so many things from home that we both miss and are looking forward to. 
Tomorrow morning consists of packing, and organizing things.  Our luggage needs
to be down  in the lobby by 12:30 pm tomorrow.  We are travelling home Air
Canada Flight 1119 via Toronto.  We are supposed to arrive at 11:45 pm on the
23rd.  We are coming home as a family and are hearts are both overflowing with
love for our new daughter.  Rachael is amazing, resilient, alert and bright
eyed.  We are totally in love with Rachael and are quite certain that it will
not be long before everyone connected to our families also falls in love with
her.  We will be laying quite low initially when we get home as we will need to
establish a routine and get over the jet lag.  The jet lag coming here took 3-4
days until we felt somewhat normal.  It is supposed to be way worse on our way
back.  Mom or Deanne I was wondering if one of you would help us out the night
of the 23rd after we arrive.  If not thats okay too.  Looking forward to seeing
everyone and sharing our trip stories. Tomorrow will be a little emotional as
our group breaks up to go their seperate ways. Doug and I and  Rachael  
willforever have a connection to the six other families.  We will miss seeing
all of Rachael's little buddies.  Bye Alex, Grace, Emori, Tya, Julia, and Joni. 
All of you will forever be a part of us.  We look forward to sharing pics with
our group members.  Thank goodness we had David Eeles on our trip, he takes
awesome pics!!

Hello everyone, Our trip of a lifetime is winding down.  We are anxious at this point to get home, but have made a unique lifetime connection with 6 other families, our adoption agency (FOI: Bob and Yulin), as well as our guides:Vivian and Faye. What an amazing overall experience we have had.  We will be coming home late Thursday night just in time to celebrate Christmas with our families. Our most amazing Christmas wish has finally been answered, we are so lucky!!
Today after breakfast we all loaded onto the bus to head to the Silk factory and the Pearl markets. I had a blast shopping and bartering with the vendors and scored many great treasures!! Doug opted out of the shopping and instead went for a walk with Rachael to" The Temple of Heaven" which was in a beautiful city park close by the Shopping markets.  Tonite we had our good-bye/birthday party for all of the children as our facilitator Yulin is heading home tomorrow.  It was a delicious meal. We were treated to Peking Duck and many other delicious dishes as well as a majic show and birthday cake.  A great time was had by all.  We dressed Rachael in her new red silk dress.  She looked gorgeous.  We are so looking forward to introducing her to our families and friends.  Tomorrow is our last tour day before our group starts breaking up and going their seperate ways.  We are going to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City.  I may sneak a little more shopping in in the afternoon.

Day Three in Beijing

Day 3 back in Beijing-  Today Rachael had her medical exam.  All went well.  We saw a Canadian Chinese doctor at an international clinic.  Rachael weighed in at 18 lbs.  Doctor said she is in the 5th percentile here in China for most things.  Dr. Lucy was very kind and gentle with Rachael.  Rachael giggled thru most of her exam.  After lunch Doug decided to take a long  nap after being so sick the night before.   Rachael and I went with the rest of the crew to the Summer Palace.  Very Beautiful!   My snack fora the day was a corn on the cob.   When we returned Doug was awake and feeling a little better.  We decided to stay back from the group dinner tonite and ordered in Pizza.  This will allow us to be a family of three in our room for the evening.  I hope to get a good sleep tonite as I am battling a Smog induced sore throat.  Tomorrow we will go to the Pearl market to see what knock off deals we can find. Apparently we are also stopping at another Silk Market.  We hope to find Rachael a couple of Silk dresses.  We are having a ball.

Day Two in Beijing

Day 2 in Beijing-  We went to a Jade factory,  shopped, then headed to the Great Wall.We climbed the Great Wall , I went up the easier route and Doug went up with Rachael on a more difficult route, Nonetheless it was amazing for both of us.  After the Great

Wall we were taken to a factory for lunch.  Of course we bought a few items, then had a delicious lunch.  Doug had a bit of a bug shortly after eating, he fell asleep on the bus.  When we returned to the hotel Doug was violently ill.  Vomitting and Diarreah for about 6 hours.  Thankfully today he was feeling a little better.  

Day One in Beijing

Sorry folks, since arriving in Beijing we have encountered some internet trouble, and we have been  so busy with the little Miss and excursions , I have not had  much time to  trouble shoot the problem.

We are getting along just fine. Rachael seems to be super resilient and in love with us.The little peanut had her very first plane ride on the 13th.  We hope we have the same luck on our way home on the 23rd. This was no problem, she was very happy on the plane and was unphased by by the pressure changes.  We very much enjoyed our time in Chongching, the city we received Rachael from, however we were very excited to return to Beijing to meet back up with our group members and all the babies.We have had a wonderful time here in China.The food, the sites and the culture are amazing.

Our first full day back in Beijing-This morning we had a group breakfast down in our hotel.  After we had free time until 10:30 am when we went to Yulin's room to complete Visa paperwork. After  the entire group was done, we  all met down in hotel lobby for a large group photo.  This was tough to coordinate as some babies were sleeping.  After picture our group loaded on the bus and headed to the Beijing Zoo. Baby Rachael is amazingly cute, cutest giggler and best toothy smile.  We  all went out for a group supper where we dined on lots of authentic Chinese dishes.  They always bring out steamed egg for the babies and plain rice.  The days here are hustle and bustle like.

Forever Family Day Today!

Today was another emotional day for us. Rachael officially became our daughter.  We went back to the Chinese Centre of Adoption Affairs where  we received Rachael.  the Director of her orphanage was there, as well as her Nanny. There was a formal ceremony where fingerprints were taken, pictures were taken, many signatures signed,  and we also took an oath.  We promised to always care for Rachael, always love her and to never abandon her, we also promised to give her the best life we can.   Rachael was very content today.  She never even really reacted to the Director of her orphanage or her nanny today.  In fact for someone that nas very upset when her nanny gave her to us yesterday she acted as though she did not ever know her today.  This made her nanny  very sad, but also happy that Rachael has begun to bond with us. We started the morning off with a delicious breakfast.  Rachael ate congee, yogurt, small pieces of ham and some fruit.  She likes apple juice too.  So far an excellent eater!  She had two naps today, the teething is kind of bothering her, otherwise a content little girl.  She fits nicely into her size 12 months duds, some are even a little big.  Rachael  surprises us daily.  Today when I left the room to go to the bathroom, she had somehow moved across the room.  I went back into the bathroom then peeked around the corner and I caught her crawling again.  Small gains everyday.  She is very beautiful, petite,  chubby red rosy cheeks and a skiff of black hair.We are in love!  Sorry having trouble with pics transferring onto computer.  As soon as I can I will send some more to go with this post.

Pictures with Rachael!!

Doug, Rachael and I

Rachael with Doug's old blanket

Rachael with her Nanny

Rachael and I

Rachael!

We received Rachael at about 2:20 pm today.  When we walked into the Government adoption facility we saw Rachael right away sitting on the couch with her Nanny and the Assistant director of the orphanage. She looked exceptional. We both recognized her right away and I went to pick her up.  As soon as she could not see her nanny, she began to wail very loudly.  I passed her over to  Doug and he was able to settle Rachael temporarily. She was obviously very attached to her nanny.  The crying was loud and broke my heart.  Rachael was very healthy looking and bright eyed.  She was dressed in layers of clothes with a beautiful wool sweater.  The nanny gave us some bottles, diapers, and formula to get started, and two winter styled jackets.  When we got back to the hotel the guide and I went to the supermarket.  We left Daddy Doug home with Rachael.  He held her the whole time while she cried.  When we got back with food, diapers and bottled water I took some of Rachael's layers off and changed her diaper.  I rocked her and she is now laying down in her crib. We are so in love, she is gorgeous!!!

Excitement is Building!

Tomorrow is our big Gotcha Day!  It is Sunday in Beijing around 11 am while I am typing this. We are both doing fine.  I am still a little jetlagged, Doug seems to be fine.  Today at noon I will be having a 1 hour massage in our room.  Some local lady is coming up to work me over.  After we have plans to hit the dirt market with fellow group members.  Tonight we have a meeting about our departure to receive Rachael in Chongching.  We have been told that we are to be ready to head to the airport by 5:30 am.  We will receive Rachael tomorrow in Chongching at a Government official office.  We will stay there until Friday then return to Beijing to complete the official part of our adoption.  We are so excited to finally become parents!  We will send a picture or two out tomorrow once we have Rachael.
Blogging and Facebook here is blocked, so there will be few posts while we are in China.

Landed in Vancouver just waiting at the Gate for our flight to Beijing

Boarding call to Beijing in the next 15 minutes.  Yeah

We are on our way, yeah. Just sitting in the Regina Airport waiting

We are leaving as two, but coming back as three.  So excited, but very surreal.

ONLY 2 MORE SLEEPS TILL WE FLY

Tonite we went out to our Vietnemese spot for dinner.  Our fortune cookies were somewhat applicable.

(You will soon meet a life long kindred spirit.)  (Speak less of your plans, you will get more of them done.)

Packing our suitcases tomorrow.  Almost there......

A very sentimental Gift for Rachael

We got together on the weekend with the Toth side of the family to celebrate advent.  It was a fun family get together.  Of course Rachael received lots od beautiful gifts but the one that had both Doug and I in tears was when Doug's younger brother Kevin presented Doug with his old baby blanket.  Doug's mother who passed away gave it to Kevin to give to Doug when Doug became a Daddy.  Doug is now a Daddy to a beautiful little girl in China.  She will be able to use this blanket that was made by Doug's mother.  We are very greatful for a supportive and loving family.

Notice to travel!!! Finally

We are set to go next Thursday Dec. 9/10.  We finally received our notice to travel from China today.  It's official we are leaving next Thursday!!
  Now to pack!!!!

My Brain is definatley not at work today

Help, I need to make it through 3 more days at work, not including today.  I have zero motivation to be at work.  All I can think about is packing and getting on the plane next Thursday.  We are both so excited to meet little Rachael.  We are hoping and trusting that she is in good hands until we get there.  Doug still thinks that all of this will be no problem.  He is convinced that Rachael will come right to him, and nothing will make him happier if she does.  Yesterday he bought a luggage set for himself, phew!!  Up until then he had told me the only thing he is taking is his gym bag and naturally I told him that was not going to be enough for two weeks. Nice try but he would do anything to get my goat.  Days are slowly moving but before we know it we will be in the air.  Cannot wait!!!
J