We have Graham!

Christy's second email! I shall attempt to post photos. I see them so hope the rest of you do too!! Rest easy! That is just a scab on his sweet little nose from a fall on the carpet the day they got him!!
For those of you who are unaware, I went to China with Christy and Tom to get Amelia and she would not allow Christy nor me to hold her for several days - which seemed like an eternity! Subsequently, needless to say, she has made up for lost time:)
Audy

We have GRAHAM!!

He's the sweetest, most easy-going, sweet tempered, fun, happy baby ever! I'm tearing up as I write this because it's been the most wonderful day!! He came to us with no tears, just curiosity, and within the hour was laughing. Amelia has been wonderful...she makes him laugh and you can tell he is really loving having her here. And she has really had fun playing with him...even to the point of dropping him on his head (I'm not kidding) as she tried to carry him from bed to bed...and thankfully Tom got it all on tape - she cried like a nutcase, and he didn't even whimper...he's a BOY! It's fun already. Graham is a lot like Tom!!!

The most amazing news is that his cleft is very minor!!. He eats and drinks from all "normal" things. Bottle, sippy cup etc...You don't really even know he has it...I'll be curious to hear what Dr. Hu says about it. You can hardly see it when you turn him upside down and tickle him and look in his mouth with a flashlight...it's very narrow. Thanks be to God!!!!!!!!!

We met the director of his orphanage along with the 2 senior workers. They brought pictures of Graham from this past year, and we were able to ask them lots of questions. They were very nice and very loving. Apparently, he was in the orphanage in the day, and then every night, he went home with one of the workers. We are going to Chongyang, to see his orphanage on Thursday, so hopefully we'll get to meet the person who fostered him all these months. Another answer to prayers! They also brought food for him, his favorite things, and his bottle and formula...and the finding ad they ran. Also, a gift for him from them. It was wonderful to meet them!

I'm enjoying it all. I've forgotten how to do this, and all I could think is that I want my Mother here to help me! She always knows what to do!!! I miss you Mother and wish you were here more than anything to experience this with us...he's the opposite of Amelia in the way he came to us...it's night and day, and I just thank God He's giving me this experience too. I wish you were here getting this happy experience with us.

I'll work on the blog tomorrow when I have time, but I wanted to get this news and pictures out to you right away...on the blog...I can write it, and save it, but I can't publish it or see it. So, Mother or Dad, whichever of you are willing to go to the site, and I'll tell you how, you will just need to click on publish the blog, and then everyone will see it...let me know if one of you will do this for me.

Tomorrow morning we go back to the Civil Affairs office to sign all the paperwork, and then he's ours!! It's exciting!

I love you all, and can't wait for you to meet our new darling...this is like a dream come true!
Christy :)

details from Wuhan

This was received from Christy via email on Monday May 5. She is unable to blog from Wuhan. I have not edited it. Hoping it posts,
Audy AKA Christy's Mother:)

This is LONG for those of you who want ALL the details. If you don't, just delete it! :)

Good morning! (It's morning-time here in China) Here's the skinny on the trip so far...I won't post this to the blog - too detailed, but thought you all would like to hear it all...

Today is the day!! We get Graham at 3:30pm this afternoon, which is 12:30 midnight your time. Apparently there is one other family who is getting their child at the same time, that's why we had to get him so late in the day.

Yesterday was a difficult day. We left Hong Kong (after a breakfast at McDonalds*) at 8:15, then caught the train to Guangzhou at 9:30ish. Funny story about Amelia...she is an American girl! As we were walking to the McDonalds, the streets were loaded with "smells", you know that foreign city, hot humid air, lots of trash, slightly washed streets, food just cooked, smell. I looked down at AAE and she was holding her nose as we were walking. I said, "what are you doing?", and she replied that "it stinks!" Even after we walked into the McDonalds, she still was holding her nose...too strange smelling! I just laughed! Oh, and why McDonalds Mother is asking!! Horrors!!! Well, our first morning (Sunday) before we headed to Disneyland, we went to the hotel cafe to have breakfast. We ordered pancakes (2 small, flat ones = a stack), 1 small omlette, oatmeal, coffee, tea and milk...guess how much?? $50.00 USD!! So after that, we decided to find another option for Monday morning. McDonalds had yummy eggs and sausage and english muffins, OJ, ...way more food, and it was $10.00USD....

Back to the train...It was an interesting ride, although I fell asleep for an hour. Amelia kept Tom busy. She had waked me up at 3:00am, so I'm actually stil feeling pretty rough today, and yesterday was hard. We then were met at the train station by our Guangzhou guide and driver and she drove us to the airport. It felt like it was about 100degrees when we got off the train. We arrived at 11:30, left the station with them about 12:15, and then it was about an hour to the airport. (Another interesting AAE story: when we got to GZ, Amelia and I both had to go to the bathroom - so we went into the bathroom and guess what...yes, a "squatty potty" (porcelain hole in the ground sprinkled generously around with other people's urine). I went and showed Amelia how to do it - and then it was Amelia's turn...NO WAY! The little thing couldn't let herself go...and so she held it for an hour until we arrived at the airport because she just couldn't go...it's no wonder she has an upset stomach!)

When we got to the airport in Guangzhou, they had changed all the baggage restrictions, so it was a bit of panic trying to get all the stuff in the appropriate bags etc., so they could get checked. We paid our China Women's Travel representative,(travel guides while in China) so that was a burden off Tom to give the money over. Then we went through security, and waited until our flight at 3:00pm. Still no nap...and finally on the plane (a regional jet seating 50ish...EMB540?) she was out in two minutes. The area near Wuhan looks like it is in a natural delta. Miles and miles of rice paddies on all sides. The city is at the junction of the Yangtze and Han Rivers, so it's this huge, wide valley you see as you fly in. The air is very "heavy" with moisture and most likely pollution. Wuhan has 3 centers of business. One the cultural (political), one the business and one the industrial. At one point, most of the cars made in China were made here...so you can imagine the air. It seems a lot like Chongqing in the air quality.

The flight was about 90 minutes. Once we were on the ground the local travel guide met us and we were off to the hotel. About an hour later -- the 4-lane road from the airport turned to city streets pretty quick, hence stop and go traffic -- we arrived at the hotel. Traffic like crazy people. Cars everywhere with people walking and mopeds tooting and racing, loaded bicycles weaving in and out all on the same street and of course white lane lines mean NOTHING! It's completely nuts. Tom saw a pickup with 3 horses standing in the back with nothing but a high gate on the back to keep in them in...and HOT!! The van had a/c, but the driver kept putting it off and on.

So, we finally got to the hotel at 7:30 pm. The lobby is really pretty - just very smoky - it kind of makes you gag when you walk into the marble and crystal space, we needed the white masks to put on to keep the smoke out of our lungs. Then we needed to get something to eat. We opted to go to the local supermarket, Carrefour, to get water and see if they had take out food. Well they did. Not only did they have food, but everything else. Most likely we'll go back there tonight to get diapers etc. The WalMart is about 20 minutes from the hotel, so I'm not sure if we're going to go there or not during this week. The problem was, the store was about to close and everyone had to check out at the same time. So after waiting about 45 minutes!!!!, (one checker, no bagger and each item was individually either scanned or punched into the computer)...with people buying food, bed sheets, raw fish, toaster ovens, coke, shoes, underwear and frying pans all in the same line with carts loaded...we made it back to the hotel, a 6-minute walk, to eat our pork fried rice, rolls, watermelon, and cookies about 9:30pm...of course we couldn't eat until almost 10 because we had to get scissors to open our plastic zip-ties off the luggage. By this point, Amelia was crawled into her own bed and begging to go to sleep! The beds are like ROCKS - I have NEVER felt such a hard bed, but surprisingly, we all slept WELL!! Thank the Lord! Amelia even slept until 5am, and then went to the bathroom, and I told her to get back in bed and go back asleep - and she did until 6:00, so we're making progress!

(Oh, in the store - ALL the people were staring at us and then at Amelia - they couldn't quite figure it out...and we had neglected to bring the explanatory chinese informational card with us. (Mr. Wu, the chinese teacher, wrote out a card for Amelia that says.."Hi, my name is Amelia. I am an American child. I speak English, I don't speak Chinese. Thank you." Funny. Later today we pinned it to her shirt (at her request), and everyone who looked at her read it and chuckled...very cute. I think we'll keep it handy from now on. Also, the store was about 90degrees and humid..so we were all standing in line stinking and sweating and them staring...very interesting.)

Here we are at 1:00pm Tuesday, (10:00pm Monday your time). Amelia's down for a nap, and our guide will be here at 2:30 to go over papers before we go get Graham for a 3:30 appointment.

Oh, this morning, when we went down to breakfast there were about 9 other adopting families in the DR. One grandmother was trying to keep her newly adopted 4-year-old girl from running away from the table. (The Mother was having difficulty because the little girl was rejecting them all - and was nowhere to be seen--and Dad had left to try and comfort Mom) The little girl was so upset - we felt so badly for them. The grandmother looked at me and Amelia and said -- "oh, she's doing so well!" It took a minute for me to realize she thought Amelia was newly adopted, and I blurted out "oh, she's mine!"...and then was at a loss...how do you describe it...yes, she was adopted, but we've been home 3 plus years...seems strange to think of her as not always mine...a strange feeling. I think I forget she's Chinese or something..."she's mine" is how I feel, and never a second thought.

Also, other families were there -- I think ALL of them were special needs adoptions. I was relieved to see the other cleft babies were all eating well. (I'm sort of anxious that I'll know how to take care of Graham)...Most of the children were very small. We saw one 18 month baby who was smaller than Amelia when we got her! Amelia just took it all in. Got very, very quiet and didn't quite know what to say. Most of the Mothers said their kids were eating and eating and eating...which is very typical of orphanage children...imagine from never having enough to a buffet of yummy food!

On a logistical note...our guide doesn't do many adoptions. She's very young...and she said there are not that many babies available anymore - so this is not as routine for her as it was for the guides when we got Amelia - so thankfully, we've met the guide for the American World Adoption group (the group who is here), and we're going to send our laundry with their special laundry person etc.,...it's always easier to plug into an established system, and the hotel laundry is rather expensive. But our guide is planning on taking us on some 1/2 day excursions of the area, so we should be able to see some of the city.

I think that's about it. Oh, we can't get into our blog here - so I'm going to send the Joyful Journey update to Dad or Carrie or Mother, and have them enter it into the blog for us. That way we can keep it updated! Which of you want to help with this? I sure appreciate it! We can get to Yahoo just fine.

We love and miss you all and wish you were with us. This is a different trip than the one to get Amelia and that's a good thing...it's not as luxurious or easy (so far), but I know it will be just as rewarding. The temperature is fairly hot, so that makes everything harder (one wearing on the clothes only thank you)...but as Aunt Eleanor always says - "we haven't melted yet"!

Love you very much,
christy for all (and with the approval of Tom reading over my shoulder as I write this).

Some Pictures From Wuhan

This is the building where the provincial adoption office is located, about 10 minutes from our hotel. Christy is taking the picture and Tom, guide Vivian, and Amelia are going in to meet Graham for the first time.
Tom and Amelia boarding the first class car of the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The car was full of travelers for the 2.5 hour trip.

Tom, Graham, and Amelia meet the Dean of the orphanage in Chongyang City -- the orphanage where Graham visited with his foster family for checkups and paperwork.

Tom and Amelia check out the room at our hotel in Wuhan. There is a baby crib for Graham -- in which, it turns out, he slept like a "baby."

Amelia and her bitty baby dress up for the big event of meeting Graham for the first time.

We've got him!!!!!

Well the happy news is that we have a happy baby!! He is all we could have hoped for and more! We flew in to Wuhan on Monday after a LONG, LONG day traveling from Hong Kong. It was almost like my favorite movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" because we hit them all! When we arrived in Wuhan it was hot and humid and there are buildings and traffic and smog and smoke everywhere. I'll write more on all that later...I know NOW you want to know about the most important thing...Graham!

We didn't get him until 3:30 Tuesday afternoon...but when we did - he blew us away. I'm just going to put my favorite pictures up so you can see the little darling. He's about 20lbs, with 4 teeth on top, 2 on bottom, he's teething-I think on the bottom, he's got this quiet, sweet, happy disposition - just like his Dad. Oh, and he has a scraped nose because Monday night he was in a hurry to get somewhere, and fell and got himself a nice "owie"...it's already scabbed up, and most likely will be gone before we get home! :)

When they brought him in, (the people from the orphanage in Chongyang), he was quiet and just observed everything for a while. He then went to me, was enthralled with Amelia, and then went to Tom. He was just a little sport! He took everything in, and within about 20 minutes was "playing" with Amelia and almost laughing.

Thankfully we were able to ask lots of questions from the people who brought him, Orphanage Director and the 2 ladies in charge of the children, and they filled us in on his habits.

Here's the amazing part. His cleft challenge is very minor...he eats and drinks totally normally! We thank the Lord for this wonderful news. He will still need surgery, but it does not look severe, and it's not affecting him at all now!

They gave us gifts for Graham and we gave them their gifts, and arranged to go visit the city and the orphanage tomorrow (Thursday). It's about a 3-hour drive one way from Wuhan, so I'm sure it will be a full day - but we are eager to go and see where he has been living.

The other interesting thing is that at that orphanage, the workers take the kids home with them at night! So he had interraction with the other children all day long, and then was with a family at night. We are hoping we will meet them tomorrow as well.

Graham slept well, I'm trying to remember how to do the whole "baby" thing, and Tom is the big hit once again. Graham wants Tom to comfort him when he's tired or hungry! I'm just laughing this time because at least he's not rejecting me like Amelia did!

He's a little joker and seems to love to play. Amelia has had ups and downs...which I think is normal - but it's irritating! :) I'm sure she'll acclimate as the days go on.

One other note -- I can't see the blog from China, so I'm writing this and then my sweet Mother is posting it for us in the US...thus the delay. So I'll read all your delightful comments when we get to Hong Kong, and in the meantime, if you want to email us directly, our yahoo is working great. christylargent@yahoo.com will get to us.

Thanks for your prayers - we can feel them! We're very happy and blessed - and as of this morning he's officially ours!

Much love,

Christy, Tom, Amelia and Graham!

Disneyland Hong Kong

What a fun day! Amelia is now "passed out" on the bed...I just hope she sleeps all night tonight.

Here are some pictures and highlights...Pictures of the train to Disneyland...notice the windows, and the fabulous Disneyland train station. Dan Engstrom and William Gray, the train pictures are especially for you!

And then at the park...notice the shots of Amelia with Cinderella. These real life "princesses" really freaked her out! She would not pose for a picture with her (or any of them) despite everyone's best efforts. After we left her she asked me, "Mama, is that her real hair?" It was all just a bit surreal for her!

Amelia was full of vim and vigor until 1:00pm when she asked for her blanket. We quickly found an air conditioned restaurant with booth seating. I laid her down, and she was out cold. I finally woke her up at 3:00...but it was a long time getting her back into action. Poor little thing is so jet-lagged...but after some food the parade and the Lion King show, she was back to her happy self. Her favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride...we rode that twice. My favorite was Space Mountain. Tom and I took turns going to ride it while Amelia was sleeping...so fun! And best of all - very short lines!

It was so hot and humid today - we are all completely worn out. But how fun. This Disneyland is much smaller than the US ones - so it's just perfect for us with a 4-year-old!

I'll post again tomorrow evening after we arrive in Wuhan. We're taking the train to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) tomorrow morning, then catching a flight up to Wuhan. Should be exciting!

Oh, and thanks so much to all of you for your sweet comments. Yes, I did go to Liberty and graduate in 1985 (ooohhh - that dates me! Good thing "older" parents are just the thing!) We love reading your encouraging comments. Dad - nice try on the list of things to do here - we basically just saw the street outside our hotel on the way to and from the metro and our Disney expedition. We'll just have to make an effort to come back for more of this amazing city!

Oh, and sorry for the formatting goofyness! I'm learning how to get this all straight...hopefully by the time the trip is over, I'll have it figured out!

Love ya!

We're Here!

Well we made it to Hong Kong! Our flight over was terrific - thank goodness we were upgraded into the Premier Plus seating and the flight wasn't very full - so we had the 4 center seats together! That meant we had plenty of room to stretch out and Amelia had a few naps of several hours each. We're thankful!

Amelia's favorite way to ride!

We arrived in Hong Kong around 5:30pm and took the express train to Kowloon. We took the hotel shuttle from the train station straight to the Sheraton. The streets were packed on a busy Saturday night - very exciting with people and lights and TONS of shopping opportunities. Woo-hoo! Our hotel is right on Nathan Road and my idea was to walk up and down this very famous road (you would know it from the old Jason Bourne books/movies) and visit some night markets (shopping anyone?!), but I was vetoed by the family. So instead, we had a hot bath experience in the mega marble shower/tub/bath room (thank goodness I brought my Arbonne Detox Spa Treatment products), and went to bed.

It was a rough night. Imagine explaining to a 4-year-old at 1:00am why it's not time to get up and go to Disneyland, but it's the middle of the night, and she explains over and over she's too excited about Disneyland to sleep...and thankfully soon it was 5:30am and we could get up!

Now we're getting ready to go have breakfast and then head to Disneyland. Amelia is most excited because she can use her new Barbie camera. (Thanks Coco and Grampi.) She's busy playing with her little pony's while I write this. It's hot and humid here today. The air is so thick that as I sit at the desk looking out our windows, I can hardly see across the bay to the Hong Kong side. Although as the mist moves, we get peeks of the high mountains and tops of the skyscrapers. With or without the lights it's an impressive sight!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We're having a great time! I'll post more after our days adventures.

Love ya!

Christy

We're Off!!

We're in the Redding airport and they just called our boarding...of course Tom is not back from taking our car to my Dad's - he dropped us first and we checked in, then he left to do the car drop...never a dull moment in our family!

In case you were wondering our schedule - here it is:
Redding - San Francisco 9:30am - 10:30am
San Francisco - Hong Kong 12:40pm on the 2nd - 6:00pm on the 3rd!
Saturday night in Hong Kong
Sunday Disneyland Hong Kong
Sunday night Hong Kong
Monday - train to Guangzhou China, flight to Wuhan China
Tuesday - Get GRAHAM!!

I'll tell you more later...those are just the dates leading to the most important date. Please pray for us on this trip. Pray that we will have safe and relaxing travel, and that Graham will be healthy and ready for us to meet him. He's getting ready for the biggest change in his life and he doesn't even know it!! Also please pray for Amelia, that the transition will be excellent for her too. I can't imagine what's going to go through her mind when we get off the plane in Hong Kong and we're surrounded by people who look like her! It will be interesting I'm sure.

Thank you and we'll post from Hong Kong. Oh, the time in China is 15 hours ahead of California, so you can figure it out.

Love you lots!