Catching up

I apologize for the lag in blogging. The time goes so fast here and the first few days of the adoption process have a lot of paperwork and appointments. The next few days we are waiting for Shanna's passport, so it should be a little less busy. We are sight seeing at a park tomorrow and in the next few days other places of interest. Here are a few photos I missed from the other day, along with new ones from yesterday and today (today being Wednesday, 12/1)

The Waterfall at the White Swan Hotel

Silly Faces

Pretty Smiles 

Amazing Jade Carved Boat

Statues in the park

Skyping with Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Iris

Megan singing & dancing

The world from Shanna's perspective. (She is the photographer!)

Jie Jie - Pronounced Jayah Jayah (big sister)

Ge Ge --Pronounced Guh Guh (Big Brother)

Mei Mei--- pronounced May May (little sister)

Ba Ba

Ma Ma

These stores are all so interesting. They are about the width and length of a one car garage, and there are HUNDREDS of them all up and down each side of the street. They each have a different theme. There are pipe shops, caster and wheel shops, flag shops, bike shops, market shops, spring shops, faucet shops and so on.

The driving is horrible. I am so glad I don't have a teenager learning to drive here. People and bike and cars all smushed together and Inches apart!

We walked through a market area, and these bags are all filled with dried things people apparently eat.

Such as various mushrooms and other fungi

I believe these are frogs......ewww

And these are scorpions..... double, triple ewwwwwww. Yes, people eat these deep fried. hmmmm.

We went back to the Adoption Registration Office to complete the paperwork for the adoption. We had to wait 24 hours to make sure that everyone (us and Shanna) was "satisfied". Yes, very satisfied. So the adoption was finalized.

Waiting during the paperwork process.

This is Ms. Guo, the lady that brought Shanna to meet us yesterday.

There were about 20 families who met their children yesterday and returned again today to finalize. Most of the children are babies and toddlers about 1-3 years old. There were are few older children.

We found a playroom at the Victory Hotel, and Megan and Shanna had a great time.

Here's a picture of the couples we saw all over. Apparently, it is very popular for dating couples to get very dressed up in formal clothes, even wedding dresses and tuxedos and have their photos taken. We saw bunches of these every day.

We went shopping for these pretty dresses and the girls were so excited!!!

We had dinner at Lucy's again and Daddy was having a great time being Silly with the girls.

Careful- the video is a little loud!! You may want to turn your speakers down before you play it!!

This is the family from Spain whose baby Megan fell in love with.

This afternoon we moved to the Garden Hotel to meet up with the rest of our agency group. It is UNBELIEVABLY beautiful. I cannot even express in words and the photos we took tonight do not do it justice. We have two very large suites with a big living room and a bedroom with 2 oversized twin beds, and a gorgeous spacious bathroom. It's like having an apartment. I am so comfortable, I can't believe it. The Victory was very nice and comfortable as well, but this is so luxurious. What an incredible treat.

The living room. Yes, fruit on the table and Roses in the back. The computer desk is perfect for blogging!!

Two beds in attached bedroom.

Views from the hotel

Here is a guy hanging up his laundry. Everyone does this, every balcony has shirts and underwear hanging around!

Walking to dinner.

In the garden around the grounds of the Garden Hotel. So lovely.

Posing with our guide, Joanna

This is a giant flower peacock.

More market treats. These are chicken legs and wings. Tessa, Erin, Michele- don't look....

I have absolutely no idea what this is.....

Is this not the SWEETEST?

Sleeping sisters.

Shanna is amazing. She has a joy of life that absolutely shines through everything she does. We are all enjoying her sweet smiles and infectious giggles. She has a very tender heart and an even keel and while the rest of us go through various emotions of being overhungry, overtired, overstimulated, etc, she responds to each of us with concern and compassion, giving us each pats and rubs to help us feel better.

She seems to be talking more today, and using some longer chinese sentences, and it seems like she knows that we just don't understand a lot of what she says. She knows a fair number of gestures and is willing to use the signs that we show her, like More, Eat, Share, etc. She is already saying several words in English, like Hello, Bye Bye, How are you, Mommy, Daddy, and Thank you. She is very fair with her affections and divides them up evenly between all of us, seeking out and spending time with each. She knows when the group splits up who is missing and asks about each one until she knows where everyone is.  I am happy to say, too, that she is a very good eater, just like Megan. the nanny told me that she eats everything, and especially likes bread. I know that she loves noodles, too, just like our other Noodle Girl!!

I gave the girls a bath tonight, and you should have heard the screaming and squealing and laughing. Well, maybe you did hear it---it was so loud. I honestly thought someone might sent the police up to see what all the shreiking was about. I finally got them to stop by singing quietly, but it wasn't easy.  They are going to be quite a handful together.

This post has taken me HOURS to put together. I am the only one awake (again) and am thankful for the peace and quiet to be able to finish it. I am absolutely exhausted again and looking forward to some deep sleep. I will try to post again tomorrow evening, with photos from sight seeing.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments and emails. I am so glad everyone is enjoying the stories. 

And congratulations to Ji Ying's new family--For those of you who may remember, she is one of Shanna's two best friends and she now has a family waiting to bring her home! What a wonderful miracle. Shanna will be very happy and I will have the guide tell her tomorrow so she knows.