We're Home

We are finally home :).

We arrived home at our house at 10:30pm last night. Our flight was delayed in Chicago so we were home a little later than planned so some of our welcoming committee couldn't be there. It was amazing to walk out of the airport and see our boys, family and great friends. We were exhausted from our trip, but were so energized by the love and hugs from family and friends.

One of the best things about being home is to have our whole family back together again. We missed Benjamin and Ethan so much, but are so proud of them for being so great while we were gone.

Thanks to both our mommas we came home to a clean house, and food in the refrigerator :). My wonderful sister bought us lunch over today - if you know Chris you can guess what we had (chipolte) - thanks Abs and Steve.

Lily traveled well - thank you so much for all of you that prayed for her. She had no issues with her heart. She had moments where she was fussy, so we did some pacing in the plane. We didn't get much sleep so it was a long 22 hrs, but our beds felt amazing when we collapsed in them last night. Coming through customs at Chicago airport, we turned over the brown envelope, that they then open, checked the paperwork - and Lily officially became a US citizen. This was an emotional moment for me - it felt like the final hurdle of a long journey that started 1 1/2 years ago - we were coming home with our daughter :).

We were all wide awake at 6am today, but our now dragging, trying to stay awake until tonight (I have already taken one nap). Lily has been unusually fussy today, I think she is just exhausted from traveling, and settling into a knew environment. She is taking her second nap of the day - I pray she sleeps tonight.

It has been wonderful to start introducing Lily to her extended family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, I know there will be lots more introductions over the next few weeks.

We see the pediatrician tomorrow, and the cardiologist Tuesday. The rest of the week will consist of unpacking, laundry, hanging out as a family, and starting to form our knew routine with the 6th member of the Yeatts family :).

Here are a few pictures of our last moments in China








Traveling on the bus Hong Kong




On the plane to Japan




Japan




Lily right after she became a US citizen

Day 13 - Oath Ceremony

Today we went to the US consulate. There was about 50 families there all adopting. We each had to have our paperwork verified so that the visa could be issued, and then we took a group oath stating everything was true. Tomorrow we will be given a brown envelope that we are not allowed to open. When we arrive on American soil we give this envelope to the immigration officer, and at that moment Lily becomes a US citizen. It was quite an emotional moment, of coarse I shed a few tears :).


A lot of the paper work we did in the US was all for this moment.


We are spending our last night in Guangzhou eating in our room and relaxing. Tomorrow we leave on the bus for HongKong at 4:00pm. It is a 3 1/2 hr drive. We will be up early the next morning to catch our plane home - wow I can't believe I am saying this.


This may be my last blog entry from China - we'll see what happens tomorrow.


Thank you to everyone that has been following along and left us such encouraging words. I hope you will continue to check in and follow Lily's progress.


It has been an amazing journey, but we are all very excited to come home and see so many of you.

Day 12

Today was pretty relaxed. We hung out at the hotel most of the day. We had to stay in our hotel room during the morning in case the US consulate had any questions. Chris took Mia swimming while Lily and I waited - no questions everything was good. Tomorrow we go to the consulate, for an oath taking ceremony.

We went back to Shaman Island again for dinner at Lucy's (it sells good American food :) , and a little more shopping. We are getting good at catching taxi's and getting around by ourselves.

While I was hanging out with Lily this morning I was just thinking about how much she is already such a part of our family. Although there are many things we don't know about our daughter, like her real date of birth, what her birth parents were like, or why they gave her away, there are things we have already discovered in such a short time.

This is what we already know

She HATES to get her diaper changed
She couldn't care less about toys - a piece of paper will entertain her for hours
She smiles when you tickle her
She hates her feet touched
She hates wearing socks
She loves music
She is stubborn
She loves to be held - when she wants to be :)
She loves to lay on her back and play
She knows what she wants
She looks good with her head shaved :)
She loves playing with her sister
She is the missing part to our family

We can't wait to spend the rest of her life discovering who she is.

Day 11

I can post pictures again - not sure why :).

This morning we had a photo shoot with all the other adopting families in our group. A lot of the children wore traditional clothes that they had bought when we were shopping yesterday.

As you can imagine, Mia was totally in to it, insisting on incorporating her umbrella. Lily tolerated it, and actually did well, not covering her face for every shot.

Some of the families will start leaving as of tomorrow. It all depends on when you had your consulate appointment, some had it Monday, ours is not until tomorrow.

We have really enjoyed getting to know the other families - they are a remarkable group, all with a huge passion for orphans. Some are on their 3rd and 4th adoptions. With all the sadness and ugliness in the world it is inspiring to see such goodness, love and beauty.

We are going back to Shaman Island this evening with one of the other families for a little more shopping and to eat dinner. They are from NJ, and have adopted from Russia, Ethiopia and now China.

Enjoy the photo shoot















All 25 families







All the adopted children with some of the mommas







Family picture (just missing the boys :( )







This is the outfit she wanted - I wonder why :)







Benjamin and Ethan we are missing you like crazy - only 4 more days :).

Day 10

We were very excited to wake up this morning to Lily having no fever and wanting to drink her bottle. She is still a little more cranking than normal (she's normally not cranky at all), but much better.

Her TB test was negative so no chest x-ray :).

We spent the afternoon on Shaman Island which is an area of Guangzhou that is very European looking and has lots of little shops. I great place to by all things Asian. We got some outfits for the girls. Mia had been wanting a beautiful, special jewellery box (her description) since she got here - so she found that :). We bought Lily a jade pendant to give to her when she gets older, Mia already has one - this is something that is very traditional Chinese.

It was a fun afternoon - very hot, we finally got a stroller as it is too hot carrying Lily around in the pouch. She did OK in it.

This evening we had a special treat and went on a dinner cruise with the other families. It was a great way to see the city, and something other than McDonald's to eat. Check out the pictures on facebook, and you'll see what we got to eat instead :).

Tomorrow will be a slow day, and then Wednesday we start the process of finalizing Lily's US citizenship, we will have the swearing in on Thursday. Friday we get the paperwork, and take a bus back to Hong Kong. Saturday we fly home.

Day 9

This will be a short post today. We are still unable to post pictures.

Lily has had a fever all day, and has pretty much slept on the bed. She has actually just in the last hour started to perk up a little, it is 9:30pm here. She has only had one bottle all day, so I am hoping she will drink some more.

Chris and Mia went out this morning with the rest of the families, and Lily and I stayed at the the hotel.

I felt so bad for her, she didn't want me to hold her, she just covered her face with her arm and rocked herself :(.

I am praying for a better night tonight and no fevers tomorrow.

Tomorrow we go and get her TB test read, it looks negative to me :).

Day 7 and 8

We are finally back up online, and in Guangzhou. I am unable to post pictures for some reason. I have posted them on facebook. Hopefully I will be able to fix the problem.

Day 7

It was strange leaving Lily's home province yesterday. I forgot how it felt to have driven that same road 5 days before with one child and now you have two. It almost feels surreal, and then you look down at this little girl in your arms and reality is right there in front of you. It is quite amazing at how bonded and attached you can feel to someone you have just met, especially when you never experienced 9 months of them growing inside of you. I guess that's why those of us in the adoption community like to refer to our children as being born in our hearts, a process that started the moment we saw her picture.

Lily did amazing on the plane. She played and smiled, drank her bottle, and even sat in the chair with Mia. In the last two days she has been sitting up on our laps, before she only wanted to lie down flat. This is great progress as it makes it much easier to travel. Thank you for all your prayers, we were very relieved and are feeling much better about our trip home.

We got to our knew hotel around 10pm we were so hungry and therefore very excited to see Mcdonalds next to the hotel. Even better there is a starbucks in the hotel :).


Day 8

Today we met 25 other families from our adoption agency. It is quite a site with all the children. The majority of the families are on their 2nd or more adoption - amazing to see so many children finding homes. A lot of the children have different medical needs, but some are also healthy. We have really enjoyed meeting the families and sharing experiences.

Lily had her medical exam this morning. It was crazy there, as there were families from other agencies also. Kids screaming, long lines and hot - not fun. The US requires all there shots to be updated so Lily had to get 3. This was actually good, some of the kids needed 6 :(. We were a little concerned about the shots with her weak heart, but nothing we could do about it. She also had to get a TB test, because she is over 2. We will go back on Monday to see if that is negative. The children here are vaccinated for TB so it can show a false positive. If this happens she will have to get a chest x-ray. She hated getting the shots and Lily and mommy shed a few tears. She did fine until around 6pm this evening when she woke up from her nap she was so upset and when I picked her up she was burning hot. Probably a fever from the shots. I gave tylenol and it eventually came down. Sweet baby I felt so bad for her.

We stayed in our room and ordered an Hawaiian pizza for dinner - everyone is already asleep it is 9pm :).

Benjamin and Ethan - Mia said today that she misses her boys. So does Mommy and Daddy. We will talk to you on skype later.

Day 6

Today was our last day in langzhou, and our last day in Lily's home province, Gansu. Tomorrow we leave for Guanghoz. We are ready to move on, but it is a strange feeling to be taking Lily from her home, not knowing if she will ever return - I hope she does.

This morning we went to a park and zoo. It was fun but very hot. It is 104F here today which is the hottest day they have had in 45 years. Lily is doing OK, but gets exhausted quickly. Once we left there we went to a famous noddle restaurant for lunch - yes I attempted to eat the local food again - so far so good. the noddles were yummy.

Lily has slept most of the afternoon. I am not sure how she is going to do flying tomorrow. It is 2 1/2 hour flight so it will be a good test.

Chris and Mia have gone to get us dinner - KFC again, we know it's safe :).

Next time I post it will be from Ghangzhou we will meet up with 24 other adoptive families from our agency there.

Before we went out today I attempted to get some pictures of Mia and Lily



There goes the arm




She won't look at me




Gotcha before that hand goes up




Distracted with a toy









At the zoo




Jessica our guide spoilt Mia and got her this costume :)




Lily resting in daddy's arms










Clever daddy - who said he couldn't multi-task:)





Way to go Mia with the chop sticks - this girl had noddles for breakfast and lunch










Who needs chop sticks :)




Exhausted after a busy morning

Day 5

Day 5 in China and day 3 with Lily. Today we did nathing. I spent the day in bed, I think our adventure out yesturday eating at the restaurant did not sit well in my stomach. I am feelling better now though and should up to getting out tomorrow.

Mia and Chris ventured out this morning, found KFC for lunch :). A little safer. Chris said they were quite the spectacle, everyone just starred at them and the security guard sat next to them while they ate. No one spoke English so he ordered from a picture menu. He ended up with 2 kids meals, I'm sure they were amused by this 6 foot 4 white guy eating a kids meal.

We watched movies in the hotel, my ingenious husband went out and bought a cable so we can hook up our lap top to the TV, and then we can watch movies and shoes from hulu and netflix etc. It has been great especially as we are spending a lot of time in the hotel and there are only 2 English channels.

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo in the morning it is going to be 104 in the afternoon.

Here are some shots of Lily today, both her and I hung out in our PJ's all day. She is getting more and more used to us. She is so curious, she skoots around the floor exploring everything, I don't think she ever had much more freedom than her crib.






















It was really hard to catch a smile on the camera






Oh no the camera





Yes the camera is still there.......





This is her normal reaction to the camera coming out - she knows exactly what she is doing :)

Day 4 in China

Today has been a lovely day. Lily slept great last night. We are all feeling a lot more rested. After breakfast Jessica (our guide) took us out for a few hours to have a little look at some of the city. We went to a park by the water. It was great to see and learn more about where lily came from. Although we are six hours from the town lily lived in, this is the capital of her province, Gansu.

I have been carrying Lily in the baby carry (the kangaroo pouch Andrea :) ), which once we get her in she falls asleep as does really well - plus it provides great bonding time for momma. Today we have discovered Lily likes to be tiggled - each day we learn more about our daughter :). She has been so much more relaxed today, she hasn't cried when we picked her up and when she was upset she was actually comforted by us holding her. These things may seem so simple but they are huge to us.

We went out to a restaurant for lunch by ourselves - it had pictures of the food so we didn't end up with anything to strange. Mia ordered spaghetti and it came with a fried egg on the side!!! Mia was very proud of herself because she ate all her rice with chop sticks :).

You can tell after a few hours of being out Lily is warn out, so back to the hotel to hang out for the afternoon. Chris's project - working out how to post some video -hope you enjoy a glimpse of Lily.






Here are a few pictures from today






A couple getting there wedding pictures taken - they do them before the day of the wedding














This is suppose to massage your feet :)






Taking a break






This is a famous symbol of the city - we had about 5 strangers taking our picture :) - we are quite the spectacle.











Chilling after a busy morning - got to get some hair girl - you're not supposed to match daddy :)