Gotcha Day!!

Yeah! Eden Eicher has finally joined our family. They brought her to our room at about 3:45 pm today. To be honest it was a very strange experience. Alicia, who picked us up from the airport yesterday was there and then two men. One man holding Eden and another holding someone else's child they were about to deliver. Alicia - our contact - stayed in the room while the men delivered the other baby. She had us fill out some papers and sign our name various places. Eden was so cute though - I took her from the man and she just kept looking at me. Not making any noises just staring at me. Then looked at Abraham and once Rob put down the camera looked at him. I went to kiss her cheek and she pulled back and gave me a big stare. It was cute!
Then to make the first bottle - oh my! I never used a bottle with Abraham and when I watch kids who do, the mom just says take this and add water. I think I made three bottles before getting it right, it did not help that she was crying. I just could not think straight right then. Also, I was trying to use these liners for the bottle and that was just not going to work. The women told us she is used to 5 scoops of formula and 3 scoops of rice cereal in her milk - it just would not fit. So I ended up making a bottle with about 3 scoops of formula and no rice cereal. I gave her rice cereal out of a bowl on a spoon and she loved it. You could tell it was her first time eating that way. She did great though! Then we realized that she must take a bottle sitting up. I had her in the sling which also calmed her right down - I fed her while in the sling and gave her the bottle that way as well. I assumed before coming here that she was being worn by her foster Mom since that is what most women do with their babies - so the sling must have felt more normal to her. After feeding her we decided to venture out. We went to KFC since we could not find the Chinese restaurant we were looking for. I kept her in the sling the entire time. Oh and it was pouring rain so that was fun, running around trying to get under overhangs and then cross the street quick once we got the light. She just looked around and was quiet the whole time. It was fun to snuggle with her that entire time.
Then once home I gave her a bath - she balled. Oh we fed her one more time - this time it went much better. We are going to leave the rice cereal out of the bottle and just do what we did earlier - she seems to do fine that way. When we came in I was trying to get the bath ready and her bottle etc, Rob was out getting water so Abraham stepped right in. I placed her on the bed and she fell over and was crying so he sat her up with pillows on all sides to keep her in place. He gave her toys and she was happy then. Then once the rice cereal was made he asked if he could feed her, I showed him how and he fed her almost the entire bowl. It was such a help to me! I knew he was going to be a great big brother.
Oh one funny thing Abraham said when the two men came in with the girls - "which one is the real one?"
Bed time has been a bit tricky. We laid her down and immediately she began to cry. So we let her go a few minutes to see if she would just fall asleep. She did not - so Rob got her out to hold her. I then took her wrapped her in a blanket and she went right out in my arms - precious moment! Then laying her down she woke again but patting her on the butt and speaking softly seems to calm her back to sleep. While I type Eden is asleep, Abraham is asleep and Rob is...... waiting for me to tell him I am done on the computer I think.
So there you have it - our first day with Eden. Wow! Can't believe she is finally here and we have her. Abraham asked if we will always keep her - we told him yes and he said "good." He has been so cute with her already!
We will not be able to meet the foster mom and we are not even sure if we will be able to talk to anyone who knows much about her first 10 months. Tomorrow will be our chance so we will see. We are to be ready by 8:30 a.m. - ha! That should be interesting!
I will try to post more pictures - but this one took a long time to load so we will see.

We are in her province!

Today we waited in our hotel room, went out to eat, packed up, talked to our local contact then headed to the airport. While talking to our contact we were told "maybe you will get your daughter tomorrow (Sunday), not yet confirmed." So we thought to ourselves - we are in China and we need to be patient. We know for sure we will go home with her.....
We arrived in Nanchang around 8:45 pm and we were picked up by a women named Alicia. She brought us to our hotel and told us we will meet our daughter tomorrow. They always say "meet" as if we only get to see her, but actually we will get her! We were thrilled to hear that. She said maybe 4 or 4:30 - again the Chinese way, everything is a round about time frame. She said they will bring her to our room. Eden will travel from the city she has been living in (FengCheng) to where we are - about an hour drive. Then tomorrow we do some paperwork than Tuesday to Thursday sightseeing in this area, hopefully traveling back to FengCheng to see where she has been and possibly to see where she was found. Wish we could just do that tomorrow!
Anyway, then on Friday we go to Guangzhou where the US consulate is located to finish out the paperwork. Then on to the US on the 30th.

I so hope I can post pictures of Eden tomorrow - however this internet is so slow that we are not sure. Pray we can! It was fun to unpack a bit when we got to the hotel and to be able to get the baby stuff out. Our lives will never be the same after tomorrow!!! It's kind of like when labor first starts and you realize - wow I am really going to be having this baby! Will I be able to sleep tonight - probably not.

Oh - we could not get Facebook to load so if anyone wants to pass that on to our close friends n fam that they need to check our blog that would be great!

Signing off for now - check back tomorrow for hopefully some pictures of our little girl!

The Great Wall and Olympic Village

Today we went to the Great Wall and Olympic Village. Both were neat places. The wall is amazing - it seems to go forever and it is extremely steep in places, it goes straight up. At times we were climbing stairs and at other times just a brick walkway. For sure an incredible sight. It's been very overcast here so the pictures probably will not do it justice - or maybe it's the pollution. Probably a combination of both. Anyway, we all enjoyed today much more than yesterdays ventures.
On our way home from the Wall we were told we were not flying out until 6 pm to go to Eden's province. We knew then that we must not be meeting her until Sunday. I was pretty disappointed. However, Rob and I had talked about it that according to the schedule we were given, we were travel to the province and get her on Saturday. We both wondered if that could really be possible that we would travel and then go to get her in the same day. That just seems to efficient. So while I was disappointed I was really not surprised. Tonight we talked to the lady who is in charge of our itinerary while here and she said they needed one more day to get things ready before we could get Eden and that the first flight to her province was at 8 am. So who knows the real story - we are at the mercy of those planning things out here for us.
It's been a bit hard (maybe not hard just different) for me who likes to plan our own schedule and venture out on our own and not be able to. We go where they tell us to go and pay what they tell us to pay.
So tomorrow (Saturday) we will hang out at the hotel and maybe go to some markets until 4 pm.

The Forbidden City

Today we took a tour of the Forbidden City and the Summer palace along with Tianemen square. It was amazing learning more about China's history. We enjoyed seeing it but after awhile - to be honest it all started looking the same. There were a lot of Chinese tour groups all around us and some other foreign tour groups. The down side - we all were freezing! No one in our group brought the right clothing for such cold weather. Probably in the 40's overcast. I'm glad we were able to see all those sites though since we lived here it's nice to go to the heart of the country. We are really looking forward to seeing the Wall tomorrow. I know today was difficult for Abraham - as he was really tired and could not really see what was so great about all the sites. He did great though despite it all.

In the first picture we are right outside of the Forbidden City where a very large painting of Chairman Mao is. The Forbidden City is just the palace or place where the emperors from long ago lived. It was called Forbidden because the common people were not allowed in so it got this name.
You can tell by my face that I am wondering if our guide is using my camera correctly. Ha ha! The funny hat on Abraham is something we bought from a vendor before entering the city.

We Made it!

It took about 30 hours of travel but we finally made it to China. We have taken that trip numerous times but I think this itinerary was one of the longest. We had 5 hours in Chicago before even getting on our international flight. Then 3 hours in Japan then another 4 hours to Beijing. Phew!! So far Bejing looks much like Kunming. Rob went out this morning to jog and found a store to buy water. Seems like we picked up where we left off. It's good to be back - it's been fun using our Chinese. We met one family from Wisconsin who is also adopting - we should meet another family today. Tomorrow, we will visit the Great Wall and then onto Eden's province. I hope to post pictures of our touring in Beijing. Stayed tuned......

Heading to China!

So I have been really bad at updating my blog but while we are in China I am hoping we can use it. We are finally heading to China to get our little girl. She was born June 11, 2009. We will have her in our arms in just a few days!!! We leave Tuesday the 13th and return the 30th. Please check back for pictures of us in China.

Once again I am behind....

I tell you since Facebook I hardly post on my blog.  Sorry about that.  I guess I feel like with all the status updates and pictures I put on FB I don't need to blog.  But you get so many more details when you blog.

Abraham has been loving school.  He asks all the time - is it time for school yet?  We are thankful for that. He is learning to read and that is going well although he wants to be able to read chapter books now so that he can get some prize the teacher has been talking about.  It's hard for him to not be the best at everything he does.  He asked me today if I thought that sports was the gift that God gave him.  I had been telling him that some kids learn to read quickly and that is just how God made them, and that other kids learn to read at the same time as everyone else.

I have been playing in a fall softball league and last night we had our final 2 games.  We won our first game in the last inning.  We were down 7-11 - the games are limited to one hour so we only  had 10 minutes left when the other team was up to batt.  We got three quick outs and then just rallied - the other team was home so they had one more time at batt, again 3 quick outs and we won the game.  Then the 2nd game was the Championship game - we went on a hitting spree and just kept scoring and scoring every inning.  We ended up winning by mercying (not a word I know) the other team 17-7.  So we were the champions - it was a lot of fun.  We even got trophies which I have not received since school.  I gave mine to Abraham, he was very excited about it.  The only downside to our last game was I got hit in the leg playing short stop and have a huge bruise and my leg is all swollen.  Oh - well!  Here are some pics of me playing.

Here is my leg - it almost looks like a second knee.  I know I need to shave!

The first game I played left center