ADOPTION DAY

Although most of you may think that yesterday was the most important day of our journey it was not, it was the most exciting, but not most important. Today was the most important day as the adoption of our amazing daughter was finalized. She is officially our daughter and we are officially her parents. At about 9:00 this morning we went to the Civil Affairs office and completed our paperwork. We had an interview as to why we want to be Halainah's parents. Now we await her passport so we can go onto the next leg of our journey which is Guangzhou for her Visa Appointment. She truly is the happiest baby I think I have ever met. She laughs all day long and plays all day long. She's very curious and must always have something in her hand. She is going to be so smart. Her favorite foods are: steamed egg, wonton, white rice, rice crackers, noodles and watermelon. I was hesitant to feed her the long noodles but my guide talked us into it. She slurped that noodle right up and begged for more. She is a complete pure joy and we love her more every minute of every day. She easily goes to mommy, daddy and Jiu Jiu (Bobby). As long as someone is playing with her she is content. We went to walmart today for baby supplies. It was very interesting and very packed. We were approached by many citizens today who would tell us how beautiful our daughter is. In fact wherever wherever we go we are told how beautiful our daughter is. And I have to agree 100 percent. We are so very blessed, so very blessed by God. Everyone is asleep right now and I am tired too so I am off to bed. Enjoy the pics:

A MESSAGE FROM MOMMY AND DADDY

It's 4:30 in the morning here in Nanchang. Deanna and I just can't seem to sleep. Halainah is a bit congested and whimpers now and then. We are already in Mom and Dad mode. Our guide Sissi has promised to take us to wal-mart so that we may get something to help. Don't worry though, it is quite common in orphanage babies. God will never let go of this angel. Last night we were amazed by her spirit and personality. She truly loved to be with her Mommy, Daddy and Jiu Jiu (Bobby). She danced, laughed, bounced and even talked :) She is a bit behind in that she has a hard time sitting up by herself, and no standing yet (which is OK with us), but nothing a few days at home will not solve. Her report we received said she went to bed at 6:PM. Well around 10:PM, Halainah was still bouncing and laughing. We simply decided to put her in her crib and to our amazement, Halainah laid down and in a short while drifted off to sleep. Jiu Jui kept looking in on her and each time Halainah saw him, She would get this big smile on her face. It was hard for him not to look in on her, otherwise she may have been up all night. And although Halainah had all the energy to stay up all night, Mommy and Daddy were practically zombies :) Right now it is 5:AM and she is still sound asleep, content to be with her forever family. Deanna and I have been watching her sleep and still can not believe that the angel before us really belongs to us. We waited so long for this. We cried so many tears of disappointment. We felt so many times that we would not know the joys of parenthood. All of those hard times seem to have vanished in a blink of an eye as we stare into our daughters eyes. God has given us this wondrous gift. And he has remained faithful to His Word. That all who should ask for anything in Jesus' name should be given it. As long as we remain faithful to God, God remains faithful to us. And to look upon a child is to to truly see God. We can not wait to share Halainah with all of our loving family and friends. You have supported us through this entire journey and we could not be more grateful. God has worked thru all of you to unite us with our daughter. You have all helped in bringing Halainah home, and we wish again to say THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts and souls.

GOTCHA DAY...THEN THERE WERE 3

Today was absolutely amazing. The most amazing day of our lives. We are currently in Nanchang with 3 other families. We all met in our guides room at 4:30 and the babies came in one by one. Halainah is breathtaking, truely beautiful. She never cried once, she has been smiling and laughing and dancing since the moment we put her in our arms. Somebody pinch me please I must be dreaming. She is happy to be in my arms, daddy's arms or Jiu Jiu Bobby's arms. She eats like a champ hence her being 25 pounds...yup that's right not 22 but 25. But the 12 month clothes are still a little big for her. But she has a teeny tiny foot...only a size 2. We are in love, oh so in love with our beautiful China doll. God is so amazing, truely amazing. She drank an entire bottle, about a half a jar of cheerios, 3 rice crackers, some white rice and 2 pieces of watermelon. She has filled her diapers to the brim. She is so healthy, so very healthy. And get this...the director of the orphanage said that they had her examined before she left, and the tiny hole in her heart closed. Now, we are not getting excited until our doctors examine her, but it truly is possible that she has been healed by God. I cannot explain how we feel right now, so in love. So amazed by God's grace, so amazed that we have been blessed to be Halainah's parents. So amazed that God's plan led us straight to our daughter. Halainah is currently laying in her crib, playing with her dolly and loving her new surroundings. We are amazed on how well she is doing. Did I say, is this for real yet? We are parents! We are so in love. Jiu Jiu Bobby was in tears when Halainah was given to us. He captured such amazing pictures that we would never have been able to capture. And we are forever grateful to him. This is truely the most amazing journey I have ever been on. I am so full of tears while I am writing this, true tears of happiness. So without further ado....and what you all have been waiting for....our daughter....Halainah Grace...our Shining Light of God!!

1 1/2 HOURS UNTIL WE MEET OUR BEAUTIFUL MIRACLE

We arrived in Nanchang today at around 1:30. The flight was 2 hours and was not as smoothe as our first flight but we still did well. We are currently sitting in our hotel room waiting for our daughters to arrive. We are excited, nervous, happy, relieved and numb that this moment is finally here. It is so surreal. We are going to be parents in less than 2 hours. I will post as soon as we possibly can once we have our daughter. Can you believe we are almost there? I am adding pics. to the other posts from the beginning of our trip.

We have butterflys in our tummys.

Jiu Jiu (Bobby) is so excited to meet his niece he already wants to buy her these really cute jackets they have here. He loves China as we all do. It's beautiful and amazing.

Love to All

Day 2 - TOURING BEIJING

Thank you so much for all of your comments. It is so touching to hear how many people are following our journey. We will post more tonight with pictures. We just wanted to let everyone know that Bob met us at the hotel at 6:30 pm yesterday. He came back from visiting the Great Wall and said it was absolutely breathtaking. He is loving China. He visited the Forbidden City this morning while we had orientation. After orientation we visited the Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square. Both were so fascinating caputuring the history and beauty of China. Walking through the park of the Temple of Heavan you can see the locals dancing, playing music, singing and truly enjoying life. We Americans really need to slow down and enjoy our lives and our culture like the Chinese citizens do. They take great pride in China.
We received an update on Halainah. She weighs 22 pounds now. That is a 7 pound weight gain. We were not expecting that but still think that the 12 month clothes will fit. We will post more tonight about everything that has happened. We are having a blast and China is amazing. Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!!

WE HAVE ARRIVED IN CHINA!

We are finally here. We had a very smooth takeoff, flight and landing. We couldn't have asked for a better ride especially with my anxiety about flying. Unfortunately without bad luck we would have no luck at all. Tony's seat on the plane did not recline. Can you imagine sitting in an upright position for 14 hours? Yup, not fun at all. And he didn't want to switch with me because he loves me and I was more comfortable with the extra space by the window. Than the TV's didn't work for over an hour and than Tony's earphones broke. Other than those few bumps we made it to China to Beijing. The weather here is not nearly as cold as the morning of our flight out of Newark, but none the less still cold. There's a lot of smog because of the pollution but through all the smog you can still see the beauty of China. The mountain range views that we were fortunate to see through our cabin window were absolutely breathe taking. We are very tired as we lost an entire day and it was difficult to sleep on the plane. But we are going to head for some authentic Chinese food in a few minutes and than we are off to bed. We have an early day tomorrow as it's orientation day and we will have a half day of touring. So by the grace of God we are here in China and well and we will update this blog daily. We may experience some difficulty in uploading pictures because internet is expensive in our room. We are currently blogging for free from the lobby. But be patient, we will find a way to upload pictures. So over and out for now. Thanks for your prayers for our safe flight.

Love to all,

still a family of 2 but not for long

AND WE ARE OFF!

Our bags our packed, the bills are paid and the checklists are complete. Now all I need to find is my mind. I am exhausted and not ready for the 14 hour flight. Hopefully I will sleep a good portion of it. We are so excited to reach our destination. We will try to post when we settle in at the hotel. We have heard that internet access is expensive so we will see. I will try to find a free spot in the lobby of the hotel. Please say some prayers for a safe and calm flight. I am VERY nervous about flying and I will not be happy until we land in Beijing. We are sending all of our love to everyone and we will talk to you all very soon from China.

Happy New Year!