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Updates:

Have started something new - a BLOG! Check it out on the links page.

Still writing the last Travel Entry

Now posting on the Home Updates page 01/31/09

Email from the website is not working. My personal email address larawade@sbcglobal.net

China Time:

Travel Date: 1/12/2009
Subject: Our Bundle of Energy!

What we did today:
What a day! We have our Sweetheart, Hui Dong!

Our guide, Charlie, was scheduled to pick us up at 1:30 pm to take us to the Chongqing Orphanage center to meet Hui Dong. Even though we slept late and unpacked and wrapped all our gifts, we ran out of things to do. We were a pair of anxious expectant parents with nothing to do. Christopher even went out on an adventure to try to find bottled water at a grocery story. He was not successful.

Finally, we gave in and went downstairs to wait for Charlie and our driver. They were already here, but Charlie said it was too early to leave so he walked us to a grocery store.

As we drove the 30 minutes to meet Hui Dong, I was sure I’d cry even before we got there. Inside we went and rode the elevator up. As we rounded the corner there she stood! All buttoned up in a red coat with red boots to match. Immediately Christopher and I were down on our knees to meet our girl. She knew who we were and took out her photo album to show us her pictures of Mama, Baba, Guh-guhs (brothers) and Jie-jie (sister). I took out my photo album of her.

(Side note – right now, she is crawling on the floor pretending to be puppy dog and eating left over McD French fries)

She did not come running to our arms, but she didn’t run away in tears either. Charlie translated some of what she said to us. She is a talker…non stop. She wants to go to school soon and plans to attend the university. When we tried to give her a lollipop, she declared that she didn’t like sugar and candy because it wasn’t good for her teeth (she happily ate it later). Her Chinese and English speaking doll Ling was a big hit and so was her Color Wonder coloring page. She wrote her name in Chinese characters and some other words too.

She is incredibly SMART! On the way back to the hotel she kept writing her numbers through 12 and figured out how to operate all the buttons on the camera after watching them pushed only once.

On the ride back to the hotel, we discovered that she gets terribly car sick. No, she didn’t get really sick like every where, but her stomach was very nauseous. She got weepy and cried which broke my heart.

Once we got back to the hotel and our room…let the games begin! We blew bubbles forever, we barely watched some DVD’s because we were just too busy, we had McD for dinner, we took a bubble bath, we have colored stickered, lip glossed, fixed our hair, painted our toenails, jumped from the bed, stripped our doll, and we are still going strong.

The orphanage nanny said she doesn’t go to bed till 9 or 10 and sleeps in till 7. It’s not yet 8:00pm, and she has worn us out!

She cuddles and kisses, says “Wo ay ni” (I love you), lets us bathe and lotion her, has no preference between us, begs to be picked up and carried, is curious and into everything (WARNING – Miranda be prepared. She will get into anything and everything within reach!), is an incredible problem solver, has a sense of humor, and a will of iron.

Day 1 – we’ve all wiped out and totally enchanted and in love.

(She asleep at 8:30pm…the nanny said she didn’t go to bed till 9…or 9:30…or 10)

*** Christopher must have taken a lot of video today, because I don’t have as many good pictures as I thought we would from meeting Hui Dong ***

Photos... (click image to enlarge)

A little shy at first