Vivienne Chao

2007-10-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Family Day One Year Later

Its hard to belive that it was just one year ago today that we met our beloved Vivienne Chao, Ivie to those who know and love her. If you want to read our original posts on the day they are here and here along with our pictures here

What a difference a year makes. On Family Day, Ivie was this tiny scared little baby.

Today she is a self-confident little girl. She loves to dance, jump, read, run and play. She is speaking in small sentences like "More please hot dog mommy", "No bite people" (we've had a bit of an issue there) and "Get down kitty". She recognizes letters and when she sees writing in books she will start to recite the alphabet song (well as much of it as she can remember). She has also started memorizing some of her favorite books and can recite parts of them along with me when I read.

She loves spending time with our family. She can't wait to see her Amas (grandma) and Bacas (grandpa). In fact when I told her that Ama and Baca G and Ama F were coming over tonight she said "two Amas". She also loves to play with her cousins and will ask about Alex and Arie.

She loves going to the Zoo to see all the animals. Her favorite parts are the playground in the kids area, the Family Farm (with the cows and bunnies) and the Zoo train. She loves yelling "Choo Choo" and "All Aboard" at the top of her lungs.

Another favorite activity is dancing. Well really its more spinning around and hopping up and down. She will be hopping around to No More Monkeys or the Bunny Hop and decide that Scott and I should join her. She will say "Dance Mommy" and "Dance Daddy" and then grab our hands and jump some more.

She has just brought so much joy to our lives. It is hard to remember what our life was like without her. Tonight we will celebrate the day we became a family with our extended family. I look forward to many more anniversarys and to experiencing all the joy yet to come.

2007-06-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a big girl now.

Our little baby is growing up. In the span of seven months Ivie has gone from not crawling to running, climbing and talking. The transition has been amazing.

She is a very curious little girl, always wanting to figure out things for herself. She loves exploring, especially where she is not supposed to go. She is fascinated by animals and loves looking at the bunnies and birds in our yard and at my parents house.

She is talking up a storm. We figure that she knows about 30 words but every day she comes up with another one. One day driving home we saw a bus and Ivie said bus. She now takes great pleasure in pointing out all busses. She knows all the sounds the animals make and is learning their names. Yesterday Scott was counting, he would say one and Ivie would say two etc.

I wish we could take credit for all of this but I think that she has learned most of this at her wonderful daycare center. Every day they have a theme like stars or squares. All of the activities will be centered around it, they will read books about it, play games related to it and have art projects too. Both my office and Scott's are covered with her art work. It is so much fun.

We were always told that girls from the south of China were spicy girls. I think that Ivie is extra spicy. She definitely has firmly held opinions about how things should be and lets us know when they don't go her way. For example she loves to walk down the sidewalk and look at all the houses. We will let her do it but she has to hold our hand. She doesn't think this is necessary and will crouch down and yank her hand away. As soon as she is free she'll start going again. Good thing we have a fenced in yard.

Everything about this whole process has been a blessing. We were very impatient when the wait times increased. But now we know that it was for a reason, we had to wait for our Ivie.

2007-03-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Time flies.

We have been home with Ivie now for 4 months. Its so funny because I can't remember a time when she wasn't in our lives. She will be 14 months old soon and has really turned into a toddler.

Her favorite activities are walking and carrying stuff. It doesn't matter what the stuff is as long as she can carry it. She will walk back and forth from room to room carrying one thing into the room and carrying something new out of it. I often think that if we didn't move it back for her she would rearrange the entire contents of our house to suit her whims. Now if only I could get her to rearrange the furniture.

Ivie also loves to help out. She will take the laundry out of the basket and hand it to me to fold. Of course then she has to take the folded clothes and put it back in the basket. The other day I found her wiping down a step in the basement with a tissue - just had to make sure it was clean.

She has been in daycare now for three weeks. She really seems to enjoy it. She is a very social child and loves to be around other people - especially kids. She clings a little in the morning when Scott drops her off but then is easily distracted by a toy or the other kids. When I come to pick her up in the evenings she gets a huge smile on her face and comes running to me, which makes it all worth while.

2007-02-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Well Ivie has progressed from walking to running in a very short order. She can now get where she wants to go even faster. But with the running comes the inevitable falls. Last week she fell and hit her face on the corner of a wall, she got a nice little red scrape on the left side of her face. Scott was standing right next to her and couldn't catch her. He was practically sick about it - I think if he could wrap her in bubble wrap he would do so.

I tried to explain to him that she wasn't hurt, she cried from the shock and then got up and started running again. I also told him that this was not the last time she would fall. In fact it was a miracle that we made it two weeks without a bump, bruise or scrape.

I think the old adage that "Your children raise you" is very true. Scott and I are constantly learning new things right along with Ivie.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful year of the Boar.

2007-02-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

Hey I'm walking here ...

That is right Ivie is walking, a lot. She had taken steps before but on Monday she stood up on her own and just started walking. At first it wasn't very far but now she can walk the lenght of the basement all by herself without stopping.

Its so funny to see her walk. She usually has one or more toys in her hands so if she falls forward she can't break her fall. Luckily she usually sits down first. She has the typical drunken sailor walk, she sort of sways from side to side and definitely cannot walk a straight line.

So both grandmothers are going to have a lot of work trying to keep up with her while they watch her for the next two weeks. Mommy is back to work on Monday much to my chagrin - I am already having separation anxiety. Grandma Fensin will watch her in the mornings and Grandma Guolee will watch her in the afternoon. Ivie will start daycare on the 19th. I think she will enjoy it because she loves to be around other kids but we will see.

2007-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

Back by popular demand . . .

Hello, everybody, Scott here on behalf of Team Fensin. We miss
everyone and hope all the babies and their families are happy as can
be. Nearly two weeks after our little girl turned the big 1.0, we
decided to post the following observations of first time parents.

1. Schedules Rock!!

It took us a little time (like, a month) but Ivie is finally on a
schedule that any army seargent would be proud of. Trying to
operate on whims and fancies didn't quite work for anyone. So, we
wake up, have a bottle, play, have breakfast, play, take a nap, wake
up, have a bottle, play, have lunch, play, take a short trip outside
somewhere, come home, take a nap, wake up, have a bottle, play,
welcome daddy home from work, play, have dinner, have a bath (every
other day), play, have a bottle, and go to sleep....at the same
times (roughly) every day. It made for a much happier transition.

2. "Toddling" Babies Can Get Anywhere

Like behind a couch, in the cats' food dishes, behind basement
piping, inside a toy chest, up two flights of stairs, in laundry
baskets full of laundry, etc., etc. It's quite exhausting following
around a toddler all the time, carrying her away from where she's
not supposed to be, and having her crawl back to that very same
spot, laughing the whole way. By 8:48 p.m. we're exhausted.

3. Mealtime Is More Often Than Not A Chore

When adults eat, the main purposes are (a) eating and (b) talking
about the day. When toddlers eat, the main purposes are (a) eating
as little as possible, (b) as slowly as possible, (c) making as much
noise as possible, and (d) making as big a mess--of high chairs,
oneself, and the floor--as possible. It's never a good sign when a
new parent is forced to bargain with a child--"Come on, Ivie, you
take one bite of this Apples and Chicken mush and Daddy will take
two bites"--when that child neither speaks nor understands English.

4. Desperation Acts Like Giving A Crying Baby An Empty Bottle To
Suck on For Comfort Is A Bad, Bad Idea

One day Ivie cried. And cried. And cried. We were desperate. We
gave her her empty bottle to hold onto. She shoved it in her mouth
and stopped crying. We figured, hey, what a great idea. We'll give
her the bottle to suck on when she's cranky. Great. Two months
later we're trying to wean her off the bottle. It's been a slow,
painstaking process, involving the very thing we were trying to
avoid in the first place...crying. But, we think we're making some
headway and Ivie will be weaned off the bottle soon. She's managing
to take some naps without it.

7. Be Very, VEry, VERy, VERY Nice To The Grandparents

Having ready, willing, and able babysitters is a must. We parents
need adult time out of the house and out of the vicinity of the
child every so often, even though we love Ivie desperately. Both
sets of grandparents have been tremendous in this regard.

8. Don't Give A Toddler Who Has Never Had Sugar Before A Huge Piece
Of Birthday Cake At Their First Birthday Party And Then Expect That
Toddler To Go To Sleep Before, Say, 1:30 In The Morning

Ughh.

Ivie is changing so much these days that we have decided to revive the blog and post more updates.

2006-11-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

Day 14--The Final China Chapter--Nothing Left To Do But Bring Ivie Home

Today was a happy-sad day. On the one hand, our throats, appetites, and heads tell us it's time to come home. On the other hand, China has been especially gracious to us. We waited two years for these two weeks. And although the ultimate goal is to have Ivie home, part of us will mourn leaving Ivie's homeland. But, we take solace in knowing we will be back one day, to pick up baby #2 and to show Ivie the land where she was born.

Our last day in China started with a tour of Guangzhou City. We went to a Buddhist Temple first. It was incredibly solemn and serene despite all the people. Two days of every month there is an incense burning at the Temple. Today happened to be one of those days, so the Temple was filled with incense smoke. That and the overall air quality of the city made breathing a chore, but it was worth it. The Temple is actually several buildings and gardens, and one large pagoda. The pictures probably don't do it justice. There are several impressive Buddha statues, and we saw several monks walking the grounds welcoming the worshippers. The highlight of the Temple experience, however, was the "blessing of the babies." Our babies and their mothers took off their shoes, entered one of the Temple buildings ornate with three giant Buddha statues, everyone knelt down, and the babies were offered a blessing by one of the monks. It was quite a moving experience. It felt good knowing that Ivie's homeland had blessed her and wished her safe passage home and a happy and healthy life with us.

Our next stop on the city tour was a Provincial Arts and Crafts center, where we browsed through an impressive array of ivory carvings, porcelain wares, embroidery, and other, well, arts and crafts. We bought several more gifts for friends and family back home.

We then had some lunch and relaxed in our room. Man, we have gotten sick and tired of living out of a hotel room.

After that came another momentus occasion of our trip. We got on a bus and took a 40 minute ride to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. The Consulate in my mind would be a majestic, ornate building with tall iron gates and armed personnel outside. Instead, the reality of the Consulate is that it doesn't look much different than your local DMV. The running joke was whether or not we could renew our license plates there to kill two birds with one stone. We went through security with our passports, had some paperwork examined by an official, and then listened to a speech delivered by the Assistant Consular General, who was in charge of the Adoptions Unit.

She told us that every American adopting a baby from China goes through this particular Consulate. In 2005 they processed Visas for approximately 8,000 babies. They are on pace to process that number again in 2006. She also told us that while the U.S. Government doesn't recognize dual citizenship, the Chinese government will and will see Ivie as a Chinese citizen. But, she warned, it is not advisable to travel on a Chinese passport because if she travels to China later on and a problem arises, she cannot rely on the U.S. Consulates or Embassy to help her out. She would be at the mercy of the Chinese system, which, needless to say, isn't as reliable. So, if Ivie wants to travel to China some day, she will travel on her U.S. passport and apply for a Chinese visa.

After the speech we all stood up and took an oath that the information we had given over the past two years had been accurate. We were then congratulated on the conclusion of the adoption process, and received Ivie's U.S. Visa, along with some other important documents. How this works is when we get to Chicago we go through the "foreigners" immigration line. The immigration official will review Ivie's documents. If he's satisfied, and there's no reason to think he won't be, he will stamp her paperwork and Ivie will be a U.S. citizen. We're sure tears will be involved--again. Now mind you this was a very momentus occasion and our little angle slept through it all.

We took the bus back to the hotel and took one last set of pictures of all the babies on those red couches. They are very cute. The babies sat still for about 4 seconds, then 2 babies started to cry, then Ivie started to slouch and then roll over the other babies. Very, very cute and funny.

We then had one last group dinner at the restaurant we ate at last night. It was a Thai restaurant, I think Renee told you. The food was the best we had had in China so far, so we decided to eat there again. Some great food, some hugs and goodbye's all around, and here we are, 9:00 p.m. Thursday night, packing our stuff and getting ready to leave at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for 24 hours of travel fun. We're expecting the worst, but hoping for something better than that. But either way, we'll see all of you soon and look forward to many formal introductions of Vivienne Chao Fensin.

This will be our last post. It has been one heck of a journey. We wouldn't trade any of these moments for the world. These two weeks, and these two years, will be a lasting memory that we look forward to sharing with Ivie when she gets older. We are now looking at her sleeping soundly in her crib. We can't believe the journey is really over, after two years of paperwork, waiting, questions, frustration, and tears. But the more we think about it, the journey isn't really over--it's just beginning several new chapters, this time at home with our family and friends. Again, we pray daily for Ivie's birth parents, nanny, and foster family. May they take solace in knowing that Ivie has found a loving "forever family."

The first book we read when starting the adoption process was entitled "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes." It was a moving short illustrated story about a mother traveling to China to adopt a daughter. We cried when we read it. We now know why. We can't imagine loving someone more.

2006-11-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

Day 13

Well I was just wondering what to post today because nothing very interesting or exciting happend, when Ivie cured that problem. We were just getting ready to give her a bath. Scott undressed her and took off her diapers in the bedroom. He then said "please don't pee on daddy". Well of course that jinxed it and Ivie peed on him when he was getting ready to put her in the tub. All over his clothes, shoes and the bathroom%2Day 13

Well I was just wondering what to post today because nothing very interesting or exciting happend, when Ivie cured that problem. We were just getting ready to give her a bath. Scott undressed her and took off her diapers in the bedroom. He then said "please don't pee on daddy". Well of course that jinxed it and Ivie peed on him when he was getting ready to put her in the tub. All over his clothes, shoes and the bathroom floor. There's funny and then there is baby peeing on daddy - the highest of comedy. So parenting lesson number 2 for the trip is don't take off the baby's diaper until you are ready to stick her feet in the tub.

Other than that, the highlight of the day was my trip to the Pearl Market. I have been waiting for this for a long time and I was expecting it to be a farmer's market type - outdoors with each vendor having a little wooden stall to sell their wares from. Much to my surprise, the market was located in a three story shopping mall type building. We went to a pearl store first - where I purchased some beautiful high quailty pearls to make necklaces for myself and Ivie and earrings as well. The price was high but it was still much less than I would have spent in the states. We then wandered around for a while, looking at all the stalls with the different gem stones. I purchased two strands of amethyst rondells, four strands of garnet (Ivie's birthstone) and some agate as well. I was surprised because the prices were not that cheap, a little cheaper than wholesale in the US. I was searching for really good deals and did not find too much. But it was fun nonetheless.

While I was out shopping at the Pearl Market and the stores on our island - Ivie had some quality time with daddy.

We had our Consulate appointment today. We did not have to go to it, instead our guide Grace took all of the paperwork I filled out yesterday and did it for us. One parent had to wait in the hotel room in case there were any questions, they could call us. There were no questions and we got a call that everything was ready for us to bring Ivie home (yea!).

Tomorrow we are going to a Buddist temple in the morning where there will be a blessing of the babies. In the afternoon, we go to Consulate and take the oath for Ivie. The rest of the day will be spent packing and getting ready to go home.

Renee

2006-11-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

November 8 - Happy Birthday Uncle John

2006-11-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Red Couch Family Photos

The Yamaguchi family - Wade, Joey, Kirk, Jane and Grace

The Hawley Family - Chris and Sylvia

The Winnigham Family - Nicki, Payton and Brett

The Cowherd Family - Susan and Emily Ruth

The Johnson Family - Christina, Zoe and Cameron

The Mosher Family - Eric, Jake, Dorie, Parker and Diana

2006-11-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

Day 12 - Big Day in Guangzhou (I miss counted the earlier days - blame it on a lack of sleep)

Today was the busiest day we've had in China so far - nonstop activity.

First we went to get Ivie's visa picture taken. It was so cute - she looked just like a little bird. I wish we could have kept the photo but we could not.

Then we went to get a medical examination which is required for the visa process. Ivie was so brave - our little trooper. She did not cry at all - she only fussed a bit when the put the tounge depresser in to check her throat and really who can blame her. She even laughed when they were trying to hear her heartbeat. She is 16.2 pounds and 68 centimeters (I did not do the conversion on that one - feel free to do it yourselves). She is the smallest in our group. Its funny, the one baby who is younger than her is much bigger and the oldest baby Zoe is almost exactly the same size as Ivie just a few more ounces and one centimeter bigger.

On our way back to the hotel we ran into a military group doing karate like exercises. Of course being tourists we were taking photos. One of the military guys ran up to us shouting "No Pictures! No Pictures!" I guess they are afraid we will leak some sort of state secret. So in the interest of safe passage home, I will not post any of the pictures but they are pretty cool.

We then ran into a group of kindergarten kids walking through the park. They were walking two by two, holding hands. Each one also had a pad of paper with them on which it appears they had drawn some nature scenes. They were so cute. Not one block beyond this, we saw groups of children marching out of the local school. They marched in formation and stood in groups. They waited until all of the groups were out and then began to do some sort of exercises to music. I am not sure if this was recess or gym class. But it was so neat to see. Scott is planning on taking the video camera back tomorrow to film it.

When we got back to the hotel, I along with one parent from each group went to our guide Grace's room to fill out the visa paperwork. Scott had gone to do the last round of paperwork and being a lawyer he read everything and did not pay attention to what they were saying - so he asked questions that had already been answered. They made lots of fun of him for it. I think they were disappointed when I walked in. But it was a good thing because there were about 10 forms and Grace told us what to put in each box. If Scott had gone, he'd still be there.

After this we went and had lunch. I had a tuna sandwich because I am a bit sick of Chinese food. Then we went shopping. I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say I bought gifts for the folks back home, gifts to give Ivie on the anniversary of Family Day for the next 18 years and of course some things for me (and yes dad, I did buy a purse). All of this was only $100. So there will be another trip tomorrow before we go to the Pearl Market.

Late in the afternoon we had the second most anticipated event on our trip - the Red Couch photo. Almost all of the girls dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and then we put them all on the couch. Imagine 7 babies on one couch. Most of them posed rather well but my little wiggle butt only sat still for about 30 seconds. The photo I have has her leaning back with her legs in the air and her diaper showing - typical Ivie.

To cap off the evening we went with the Johnsons to a local restaraunt. It was lovely - there were tables outside right on the river - on the other bank of the river all of the buildings were lit up in neon - very Vegasy. The courtyard had lots of paper lanterns hanging from the trees and the Spagetti Bolognase was not that bad. We were feeding Ivie baby food carrots and she seemed to like them. To keep her occupied during breaks while we were eating we put some Cherrios on the tray of the high chair. She grabbed two fistfulls and tried to feed herself. This did not work to well because she ends up putting her whole fist in her mouth and does not open it. So she got frustrated with this and decided to bend over and pick them up with her mouth. This worked with varying success - she managed to get some in her mouth but the majority stuck to the baby food on her face and nose. It was hilarious - not exactly behavior I want to encourage but we were all laughing histerically. She would put her face down and come up with two Cherrios stuck to her cheeks. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera to capture the moment for posterity - lesson learned.

Well only two more days here and then we leave the hotel at 5:30 Friday morning or about 3 pm Thursday afternoon Milwaukee time for about 24 hours of travel - fun.

As much as we have enjoyed this trip - we are anxious to get Ivie home where we can be surrounded by friends and family. See you in a few days.

2006-11-06T04:19:00.000-08:00

Day 12 - Baby's first airplane ride

Today we left Nanchang and flew to Guangzhou. In a way we were glad to leave because it meant we were one step closer to being home. But on the other hand, our guide Evelyn took such wonderful care of us that we will miss her so much. We took some last group photos in our hotel and made our way to the airport.

We were a little nervous about Ivie's first plane ride. You really take for granted the value of a carry-on bag until one of your carry ons is a diaper bag. It had to be extra-special prepared. Nowhere to obtain needed supplies at 30,000 feet.

Ivie was great all the way onto the plane. She was great through take off. She was great through about 30 minutes of a 1 hour and 15 minute flight. Then all heck broke loose. She was way off schedule, late for both a bottle and a nap. So she started to cry, and Cry, and CRy, and CRY!!! But Ivie wasn't alone. A lot of the other girls were crying, too. It was like our own little symphony. Some of us parents had to walk our litle girls up and down the aisles of the plane to calm them down. Ivie and I walked up and down about 6 times, and by then she was calm. By the last 5 minutes of the flight, Ivie was asleep. We thought that photo would perfectly capture her first flight.

When we landed the theme of our adventure through the airport to our luggage was poop. As first-time parents we're learning a lot about poop. Baby poop comes in distinctly different forms. The forms we've been used to so far are the (a) normal poop (self-contained within the diaper) and (b) the "blowout." Now, the blowout isn't any fun. We'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, blowouts require far more, uhm, cleanup. Ivie led us on a parade of a different poop from the gate to the baggage claim, (c) the small poop nugget, again, the title should aptly describe it. These are fine, requiring minimal cleanup and minimal time. But Ivie left three poop nuggets for us on the way to the bus. And let me tell you, poop nuggets smell no better than options (a) or (b). So they need to be dealt with right away. So we held up the rest of the group getting on the bus.

Our new guide for our brief stay in Guangzhou is Grace. She is very nice. Unfortunately, it will be for Grace how it will be for the quarterback who follows Brett Favre--a no-win situation. Following Evelyn will be nearly impossible.

Guangzhou is much different than Nanchang. First, it's about 3 times as big. Second, it doesn't feel like China at all. It feels more like Cancun. It is very hot, about 86 degrees when we landed about 4:30 p.m. Also, because every American who adopts a Chinese child must go through Guangzhou, it is packed with Americans and therefore it is distinctly catered to Americans. We had burgers, fries, and shakes for dinner. No such thing in Nanchang. While the food there was excellent, 10 straight days of Chinese food was enough for one stretch.

Our schedule for the next few days is as follows. Tomorrow we take Visa photos of Ivie and take her for a medical exam. Then we meet with our guide to fill out Ivie's Visa paperwork. Then, the moment we've all been waiting for, the group "red couch" photo. Long ago, one of the first groups of adopting families wanted to take a group photo at this hotel (called the "White Swan"). They borrowed an ornate red couch. Well, taking group photos on the red couch has since become a tradition, so much so that the red couch is roped off to the public. It is a very special moment for any adopting American group coming through Guangzhou. We are very excited.

Wednesday Ivie's Visa application will be delivered to the U.S. Consulate. We will then take a group trip to the pearl and jade market (Renee has been waiting for this trip). Thursday we will have a group city tour and then will travel as a group to the U.S. Consulate to take the citizenship oath on behalf of Ivie. She will then have the U.S. government's permission to travel to the United States on an immigrant Visa. Once she passes through customs in Chicago, she will be a United States citizen.

Friday we leave early for home. We arrive at Mitchell Field at approximately 3:15 p.m.

So that's our schedule. We will post each of the next four days. Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes.

Scott, Renee, and Ivie

2006-11-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

Day 11 - Nanchang Zoo

Today we went to the Nanchang Zoo. It was kind of a depressing zoo because they have everything in cages with no sort of habitat at all. There were all sorts of things we had never seen before, such as yaks, vultures, giant snakes, and leopards and jaguars living with wild dogs. But by far the star attractions were a real live Panda and the opportunity to feed the elephants.

The Panda is on loan from another zoo - they call it LazyBones because usually all it does is sleep. However, we were lucky enough to see it awake and eating eucalypus leaves. Obviously, since Pandas are Chinese treasures, by far the biggest group of people were around it's cage. This was really neat.

We all got to feed the elephants. Seriously. Hand feeding elephants. For one Yuan you get a stack of sugarcane. The elephants are in a lowered pit but their heads are almost at ground level, so they can reach their trunks up onto the ledge and take the sugarcane right out of your hand. Again, very cool. We have never been so close to an elephant - you could actually touch their trunks if you want, which we did. The hands you see in the pictures are ours, feeding an elephant and rubbing its trunk. And, yes, we used several disinfectant wipes afterwards.

Again we attracted crowds of interested, friendly people. Ivie and the other little girls were the stars of the show, of course, but there was also interest in the American tourists. Although it gets quite claustrophobic in a tightly wound group of lots of people, all the Chinese people have been most gracious and pleasant, even venturing to practice a little English with us.

After the zoo we went to lunch and Ivie helped herself to two lotus rolls and two pieces of watermelon. She was a mess afterwards, but very, very cute, as always.

Right now we're spending the last afternoon in Nanchang hanging around our hotel room listening to Ivie cry as she tries to fall asleep for her nap. She's had a long week, just like us. We can't explain how spiritual and moving this journey has been. She's just perfect, our little angel. We think she's getting used to us more and more each day. We hope we're collecting enough memories to share with her when she's older. While we're ready to come home, we'll miss Nanchang and we'll look forward to the next visit. We continue to pray for Ivie's birth parents, nanny, and foster family. We hope our prayers will reach them so they can rest assured that Ivie has found a loving family to take care of her and love her for ever.

Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou at 1:40 p.m. (Monday afternoon). The flight is about 2 hours. We'll spend Monday night and Tuesday hanging out, our Consulate appointment is Wednesday (recall, for Ivie's immigrant Visa), we'll hang out Thursday (including the famous "red couch" picture), and we'll fly home Friday at 11:00 a.m. We are so excited to see everyone and to introduce everyone to our precious baby girl.

Love,

Scott and Renee

2006-11-04T00:03:00.000-08:00

Day 10 - Let's go shopping

Today was the group trip to the Free Market. The Free Market is a very large building with about 6 floors. Each floor has about a million little shops selling clothes and little trinkets. We went to the baby floor and looked around. I thought I'd pick up a few cute outfits for Ivie. There is no heat in China in the winter in a lot of buildings so they bundle up. Our guide Evelyn says she will wear three layers in winter because she does not like the cold. I have seen pictures of babies wearing multiple outfits who cannot bend their arms and legs. So since we are approaching winter - all the baby outfits were quilted and padded. They'd be fine for outside but there is no way she could wear them inside back home - she'd be roasting in the heat.

So I managed to find three really cute pairs of shoes for 100 Yuan or about $13. I was trying to find squeaky shoes - which are hard soled shoes with the little squeakers that they put in toys so they squeak when the babies walk. Apparently the babies all love them and it helps them learn to walk - so we will try to find a bunch when we are in Guangzhou. I also bought two little barrettes for Ivie's mohawk. The one seemed to stay in pretty well but when I went to readjust it the felt part fell off of the metal part (but you get what you pay for 5 Yuan for 2 or $.30 a piece).

As we made our way down the floors towards the ground level I started getting a bit claustrophobic so we decided to go outside and wait for the rest of our group. We found a few others waiting near a luggage kiosk (they bought a suitcase for all the extra stuff we are buying). As usual a few people gathered around the babies. Scott had Ivie since I had to be free to shop and spend spend spend. Evelyn said she heard a few women commenting on Scott carrying the baby and said I must be a very strong / powerful woman (even they could tell who wears the pants in the family). Anyway Scott showed our card to the few people who approached and before long there were about 50 people around us - mostly teenage girls and boys. A few of them spoke English so Scott was talking to them and asking as many questions as they asked him. But after a while it got a bit crazy - they just kept coming and coming. A lot of them took pictures of us with their camera phones - they liked my blond hair.

One of the babies had to be changed so they decided to put the changing pad on one of the suitcases. When her mom took her pants off one of the ladies - yelled at her because the baby would be cold. The changing of the baby drew another large crowd because most Chinese babies wear split pants and will just crouch down and go when the have to go - so people aren't used to seeing diapers.

All of the insanity went on for about a 1/2 hour before the bus showed up and we were wisked off to the safety of a group lunch. Again there was plenty of food (although I did not think it was as good as the last few places we went). Although this was a bit more expensive 40 Yuan per person or about $5.50.

The boys took the babies back to the hotel and the girls went to a store where they will get the original finding ad for you baby out of the newspaper. When a baby is going to be placed for adoption, the government runs a finding ad in the local newspaper to make sure that no one will claim them and they are truly orphans. All of the babies from our orphanage in our group were in the same paper. At the store they also had traditional outfits that you could have made in the fabric of your choice. We did not think we could do it because we are leaving on Monday but they told us the clothes would be ready by tommorow. So of course I had no choice but to order a little dress with matching shoes and hat - I decided to go with white so she can wear it for her baptism too. They also had silk wall hangings that they would embroider with the baby's English name, date of birth, province and Chinese name - in characters. I also go her a chop (which is a stone pillar with the baby's zodiac animal on top and a stamp with her Chinese and English names in Chinese characters). All of this will be delivered to our hotel room tommorow (for 550 Yuan or $70.50)

We are trying to buy Ivie lots of little gifts which we will give her on her birthday every year until she turns 18 - so there will be more shoping in Guangzhou (I'll try to spare you all of the details but China is a bargain hunters dream).

We are just going to hang out in the room for the rest of the afternoon and have dinner in the Chinese restaraunt downstairs.

Thank you all again for following our adventure in China. It means so much to both of us and I know that Ivie will appreciate how many people loved her and prayed for her before she was even home.

Renee

2006-11-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

Baby-palooza

I thought this would be a good time to post pictures of all of the Ivie's "sisters" so you could see them. Its so funny we've just met all of these people and now I feel like we will be friends forever.

Dorie Mosher. She is from Feng Cheng orphanage, which is different from the other girls.

Emily Ruth Cowherd with her mom Susan. They have adopted two other girls from China.

Sylvia Hawley with her dad Chris. Her mom is at home with their two other girls from China and their new "surprise" baby.

Peyton Winingham and her dad Brett. Don't you love the little Alfalfa tail?

Grace Yamaguchi with her big brother Joey.

Zoe Johnson and her mom Christina. Zoe and Ivie had the same nanny at the orphanage while they were there.

2006-11-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Day 9. Hello again from sunny Nanchang. It's 3:00 p.m. local time on Friday. Ivie is fast asleep for her afternoon nap. She's quite a stubborn little girl when it comes to nap time. Renee was out shopping so it was just Ivie and Daddy. Daddy tried to put her down in her crib, and she sobbed for 5 minutes straight. I tried to be patient and let her cry herself to sleep, but I couldn't stand it any more so I picked her up and played with her some more. She started rubbing her eyes, and eventually laid down on her side and started to sleep. I waited a few minutes, then picked her up and laid her in the crib again. Again she started sobbing, but this time only for 30 seconds or so, after which her head hit the mattress and she fell sound asleep. Quite the little battle of wills.

Today we went to the local police station to get Ivie's Chinese passport. It is so very cute. The way this works is she is a Chinese citizen with a Chinese passport. So, she needs the U.S.'s permission to enter the United States. We will apply for that permission at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou on November 8. She will be given a U.S. immigration VISA, which means once she passes through customs in Chicago she will be a United States citizen. We will have to apply for a U.S. passport and turn in the Chinese passport. The U.S. government will nullify the Chinese passport, but send it back to us as a memento. That means when she comes back to China with us to pick up baby #2, she will need a Chinese visa to enter the country.

After the police station, which only took about 30 minutes, we went to a local porcelain shop. Evelyn, one of our guides, specially scouted things out and found a reputable shop for us. The best porcelain in China, and some of the best in the world, is made in this province. Other than agricultural products, this is the most important product produced here. We didn't think it was a good idea to have a wide awake Ivie Chao in the porcelain shop with us, since she is an expert kicker and wiggler. You know the expression, "like a bull in a China shop," well this would have been similar, we think. So Scott took Ivie in the hip hugger and Renee went into the shop to buy gifts and mementos.

Ivie fell asleep in Scott's arms in about 2 minutes. Soon thereafter a group of 15 or so local older women crowded around Scott pointing at Ivie and motioning that I should cover up the bottom of her legs. Now understand we dressed her today in long pants, socks, shoes, a onesie, and a jacket. This little girl couldn't have been cold. But the hip hugger caused there to be about 1 inch of skin between Ivie's pants and her socks. The local women were having a fit. Before things got too out of hand, our bus driver, who speaks virtually no English but treats us like his own family, shooed them away. This was none too soon, because one of the local women tried to grab a little girl from our group, Zoe, out of her father's arms. Yikes.

After the porcelain shop we went with two other families to a local restaurant across the street from our hotel. Now, every time we've crossed a busy street we've had our guide, Evelyn, with us to literally direct traffic. Traffic around here stops for no one, not even mommies holding babies. The food at the restaurant was excellent as always, and just as cheap. The bill for all of us ended up being 146 Yuan total, or about $6.50 per family. And we were not want for food, let me tell you. The best part was the owner of the restaurant, which was very, very crowded, spent the entire time with our group to make sure everything was just right. Apparently it is good for business that he can show locals that the food there is so good that even foreigners eat there. Evelyn stayed with us until the food came, then had to leave to help our other guide, James, with some paperwork. We were left to settle up the bill (no problem, since the owner wrote down what we owed). We tried to leave a tip, but the owner absolutely refused to accept it. Can you even possibly imagine that happening in the U.S.??

Now on the way back to the hotel, we didn 't have Evelyn to help us direct traffic so we were left to try to direct traffic and cross two busy, busy streets on our own. It was very much like our own game of "Frogger."

We have a meeting in about an hour to finish up our paperwork necessary to register the adoption with the local officials and prepare for our Consulate appointment in Guanghzou. Then we'll probably just chill out in our room the rest of the day.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading our posts and lending us support from back home. We really appreciate it.

2006-11-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

One more post from today. After Ivie's nap, we went with 4 other families in our group to a local Chinese restaurant that everyone back home has heard of--Pizza Hut!! Mmmm...Pizza Hut. The taxi ride was 15 minutes of pure adrenaline. Apparently, the Chinese rule of the road is "there are no rules." Our taxi driver was on the sidewalk, in 9 different lanes of traffic all at once, two inches from a Chinese police officer who was on foot, cutting off mopeds, cutting sharp corners around 10 foot high brick columns, and the whole time doing at least 60 mph. It was like a combination of a roller coaster and one of those Daytona 500 reality video games. I haven't felt so nervous yet so alive all at the same time in quite a while. And not only was the Pizza Hut pizza authentic, it was the nicest decorated fast food joint I've ever set foot inside. All the waitresses loved all the babies. Ivie and her little friend Zoe were playing tug-of-war with straws, and competing to see who could polish off their jar of baby food first (Ivie won, killing a jar of apple paste just seconds before Zoe demolished her jar of strained peas). So quite a night of entertainment all at the right price--again. 12 Yuan for both taxi rides combined (roughly $1.75), and 86 Yuan for dinner for Renee and I (roughly $12). Gotta love China.

Scott

2006-11-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

More pictures from today...

2006-11-01T23:58:00.000-08:00

Hello, Scott here. Renee is currently feeding a very, very cranky Ivie her bottle. We are hoping she will go down for a nap shortly thereafter.

It is 4:00 p.m. Thursday November 2 in Nanchang. I think Renee left off the blogging with family nap time yesterday afternoon. After family naptime we decided to just stay in. Renee and I ate noodles and played with Ivie all night. She went down at 8:30 p.m. and woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m.

This morning our group went to Tengwang Pavilion, the historical and cultural center of Nanchang. There is a story associated with the Pavilion, but to be honest, I don't know what it is. But look at the pictures we've attached, and you'll see that a verbal description is not necessary. The Pavilion and surrounding park are stunning. We spent about an hour wandering around the Pavilion and the park. There are statues of all the animals of the zodiac, fish ponds, smaller pavilions, and great panoramas of both old and new Nanchang. It is quite a cultural shock to see a modern city skyline behind simple fishing boats.

After walking fully around the Pavilion and through the park, we climbed the 89 steps to the main entrance to the Pavilion. We then took an elevator to the top of the Pavilion. There were several shops to browse, and we bought Renee a purse for 10 Yuan (about $1.25 US) and Ivie a small drum toy, also for 10 Yuan. But the main event at the top of the Pavilion was the Chinese dancer and musician show. Ivie was fascinated, as were all the other babies in our group. After the show, we were all allowed to get on stage and try out the instruments.

After the show, we took a panoramic walk around the top of the Pavilion. Quite an amazing set of sites. This part of China is really beautiful.

Our restaurant for lunch was right across the main entrance from the park. We ate another tremendous traditional Chinese meal. Nanchang is know for its spicy food, and man was our food spicy. But for the value (33 Yuan apiece, or $4 US), it was some of the best food I've ever had. This is real Chinese food. I will never again go to a "Chinese" restaurant in Milwaukee and think I'm eating real Chinese food. It's amazing how Westernized those restaurants have become. Ivie apparently can eat a watermelon slice on her own. She just grabs hold and slurps/chomps away.

Renee and I can't imagine loving anyone any more strongly than we love our dear Ivie. She is just perfect. We are so blessed. Ivie is learning to recognize us, and we are learning more and more of her personality quirks. We think we know when she's wet vs. tired vs. hungry. When we first started every cry sounded the same. Now we can differentiate them a bit. But overall she's a very happy baby. Every time she smiles or especially laughs, daddy's heart grows warmer.

More later. Love to all of you.

2006-10-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

Day 7 - People's Park

Today started off rough. Ivie woke up at 4:30 am and would not go back to sleep. She cried nonstop for about an hour and a half. We tried having her watch a Baby Einstein but that didn't last too long because she can't focus on anything for very long. So I took her outside at 6:30 for a walk and that calmed her a little. But after breakfast she was pretty good. We discovered that airplane rides and being held up in the air will elicit lots of giggles and smiles.

We were going to take a tour to People's Park - which is basically like Central Park in Nanchang. But about 1/2 hour before we left she crashed out. We let her sleep for a while and then we had to go. So I was able to change her diaper and put her into the hip hugger without her waking up - pretty slick.

The park was very cool, there were people everywhere. There were old couples ballroom dancing, people doing Tai Chi. But we were the star attractions. CCAI has given us all cards with our name and the hotel name on the front (in case we need to take a cab the cabbie knows where to take us) On the back, in Chinese, is a note saying that we are Americans and we are here to adopt this baby and that we will take her home and love her forever. This note sure came in handy because everyone would come up to us and coo over the babies. Sometimes you couldn't go 10 feet without being stopped.

We had a blast in the park. I am not sure that the babies enjoyed it but the adults sure did. We attempted to play Chinese chess on a life size board with 100 lb granite pieces. But the highlight by far was the hampster balls. Basically you get into this plastic thing which an employee blows up with a hose making it into a ball. They then push you into the water and you have to run to keep the thing moving. At first just the young kids, Wade and Joey Yamaguchi and Jake and Parker Mosher did it. But then Uncle Barry, Brett Winningham, Eric and Diana Mosher all got into the fun. It was a hilarious sight to see. Of course us all gathered around drew its own crowd and we again became the entertainment for the locals.

After we tired of the fun in the park, we went to lunch at a local restaraunt. They had food for us and for the babies. First they gave us a noodle soup which we were supposed to feed the babies with chopsticks. Ivie loved the noodles and knew exactly what to do with the chopsticks. But she wasn't sucking in the noodles like the other babies so a lot of them ended up on her and on the chair. She also had steamed eggs and her favorite, watermelon.

We had fried lotus root - very good, beef soup, bok choy, dumplings filled with sweet cream (my favorite), taro stuffed with pork (it was so good that Eric proclaimed it his new favorite food ever), some sort of moo shu and Chinese donuts. It was served family style on a lazy susan. The total bill wasd 30 yuan per person or about $3.90 per person - I love China.

Right now it is nap time - daddy and Ivie are both out cold. Ivie didn't want to go to sleep at first when we put her in the crib so she moved around a lot. When she finally fell asleep, she was sideways in the crib with her feet sticking out the sides - so cute.

2006-10-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Day 6.5 - First time parenting lessons

Well we've learned a few things in the day and a half we've had Ivie. She is not crawling yet - most Chinese babies are not given a lot of tummy time, especially ones in the orphanage. So all of our worries about a fully mobile baby are for naught. We had her on the bed in the afternoon and put her down on her tummy. She can push up with her arms and kick her legs but she doesn't know how to go forward. In fact with all of the kicking she kind of moves backwards.

We decided to put some toys out of her reach to see what she would do. She rolls over and over until she reaches what she wants - no matter what is in the way - she will roll over stacking cups, dollys and even tries to roll over us. If she wants to change direction - she will kick her legs around till she gets to the right direction. Its all very cute. So hopefully this work will get her crawling soon.

The downside of this rolling over has come in the changing department - she now tries to roll off of the changing pad. Its funny except for after dinner when she had another "explosion". You definitely don't want a baby rolling anywhere when she is covered in poop.

Its funny - Scott said I've never been so not grossed out by something that is so disgusting.

The other thing we learned is to stick to a schedule. The schedule we got from the orphanage said she takes a nap from 12:30 to 2:30. She crashed out for about a half an hour at WalMart in the sling. When we got back to the hotel she played on the bed for a while. We could tell she was tired and we were tired so everyone wanted to take a nap. We tried to get her to fall asleep on us like she did the day before but she kept rolling off of us (another down side to the whole rolling thing). She would not sleep.

Then it was time to see the pediatrician. After we got back we were practially falling over so we decided to put her in the crib to see what happens. What do you know - she fussed for a few seconds and then went to sleep. Of course by now it was 5 pm. We did not want her going down for the night then. So we woke her up at 6 - not happy.

We had some dinner (the explosion) and then a bath and bed at 8:30. She slept till 2 and had a bottle. She went back down until 4:30 am and had been up since then. So today we are going to try the schedule and see how that works for everyone (more naps for mom and dad too).

Today we are going to the Peoples Park and then to lunch at a local restaraunt. Till later.
Renee

2006-10-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family, Scott here. Renee's playing with Ivie, and I have some time to post.

It's 1:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in Nanchang. Ivie slept like a champ last night, a solid stretch from 9:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., then up for a change and a bottle, and then back down from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. We got up and had breakfast with the rest of our group. Ivie ate watermelon, rice cereal, sticky buns, and steamed eggs. She chased it all down with a bottle of formula.

After breakfast, the entire group went to the Notary office to make our adoptions official. We met with the Notary official, answered some questions, and then received confirmation that according to the Chinese government, we are Ivie's parents. We won't receive the official paperwork to take with us until Sunday, so we are here for the rest of the week.

After the Notary office, we went as a group to Wal-Mart, where Renee and I bought bibs, diapers, outfits, baby food, bottles, formula, and rice cereal for Ivie, and gatorade, snickers, water, pringles, noodle bowls, and soda for Renee and I. All told our bill was 350 Chinese Yuan, or roughly $48 US Dollars. Unbelievably cheap. We ate lunch at one of the roughly 89 KFC's in Nanchang. That's one popular restaurant. Outside, waiting for the bus to take us back to the hotel, we were approached by a beggar. He wouldn't take, "Bu, she she" (no, thank you) for an answer, so I gave him a small coin. Then another beggar, this time a woman, came up to me pushing a bigger bill at me. It looked like she was trying to give me money. Of course, the real answer, according to our guide Evelyn, was that she was showing me the bill she wanted me to give her. Riiigghttt. That makes much more sense.

We are now in our hotel room waiting for Ivie's appointment with a local pediatrician. We are learning so much about her personality as she becomes more accustomed to us. She is so, so active, curious, serious, and playful, all at the same time. And, to close this post, something amazing just happened. Ivie smiled at us. For the very first time. For all the pictures we'd seen of our daughter, for all the time we've spent together over the last two days, I had never seen our daughter smile...until just now. We put a plastic stacking cup on her head and let it fall to the bed. I clapped and cheered for her. And there it was...a huge smile, two -teeth and all. I'm not ashamed to admit it's getting a little dusty in here. Now I have to go play with Ivie, so we'll conclude and post more later.

Thanks for your continued support. We love you all.

2006-10-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

Pictures from Family Day

The sign at the entrance to the Civil Affairs office.

All the babies. These weren't our group but it shows how the set up was.

Me receiving Ivie for the first time - I can't tell you how amazing it was.

Mommy and Ivie. She has the bear we sent her. We also got the disposable camera back so I can't wait to develop the pictures they took for us.

Christina and Zoe - Zoe was not happy and cried all the time. But she has since calmed down. Ivie and Zoe shared a nanny at the orphanage.

Susan and Emily Ruth. This is Susan's third adoption so I'm sure I'll be asking her a lot of questions.

Pretty in Pink!

Nap time with Daddy.

2006-10-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

Day 5.5 - Nighttime in Nanchang

Well we had an exhausting day but here I am wide awake at 1:30 so I thought I'd share a little more about Ivie.

So far she is really calm - she only cries when she is hungry or tired (just like daddy). She loves holding on tight to the toys we've gotten her. She likes the little butterfly that makes noise that Michelle (I think) got her and a little Einstein book with mirrors. She sticks them in her mouth and chews on them.

She's got a bit of a cold. She saw the hotel doctor and her lungs were clear and she did not have a fever. Her nose is all stuffed up and she is coughing and sneezing a bit. So we are giving her medicine and hopefully that will go away.

At 3:30 today we went back to the Provincial Office building to register the adoption. They took a family picture and one for her passport. We then met with the registration official who asked us all sorts of questions like why did we want to adopt from China, what our plans were for her education and would we promise never to abandon her.

We then met with the orphanage director who told us a little about the Social Welfare Institute where she lived for the past few months. There is a nursing home and an orphanage in the same building. But they are currently building a new orphanage and hope to move the babies there in a few months. The director gave us all pictures of the orphanage and a little necklace for Ivie with her zodiac sign on one side and the chinese character for blessing on the other - very sweet.

We had dinner with group 1043 who received their babies last week and are on their way to Guangzhou tommorow. Ivie ate some sweet sticky bun, some rice, some steamed egg and some watermelon. Then she had a little "explosion" which necessitated a full change. I just wanted to announce that Scott was the one who changed her - very brave.

She had a bath and bottle and then fell asleep on my chest. We put her down in the crib for the night. When I woke up about an hour ago she was about 90 degrees from where we originally put her. I watched her for a while. She lifts up her little leg and swings it around to get into a comfortable position. She tossed and turned for a while until she turned another 90 degrees - now lying the exact opposite of how we layed her down.

Tommorow we have to notarize the registration in the morning and then we have the rest of the day free. We are going back to Walmart for supplies and then will just chill.

Now I am going to try to go back to sleep - stupid jet lag.

2006-10-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

Day 5 - Introducing Vivienne Chao

Its 12:30 and we've had Ivie with us for about an hour and a half. She is so precious I can't even believe it. She is so tiny but she is heavy because we are not used to holding a baby.

Scott, with the help of our intrepid guide Evelyn, bought a new camera so we were able to take pictures. I will try to load them on the blog but there are no guarantees.

At 11 we walked across the street to the provincial office building. We took an elevator to the 26th floor and walked into a room where there were all sorts of nannies and babies. There was another group getting their babies at the same time as ours so at first we did know which babies belonged to our group. Evelyn walked up to a woman who had a list of the babies so we knew which ones were ours.

I spotted Ivie right away - she was sitting peacefully on a nanny's lap. Two other families got their babies first - the Moshers and the Yamaguchis. Then it was our turn and the woman placed Ivie into my arms. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was. She was calm at first and then started to cry. We tried calming her with cheerios - she ate a few but loved the lid to the bowl which she is still holding. She had the bear that we sent in the care package with her - so at least she has something familiar with her.

She was wearing a bright yellow shirt and yellow pants and huge electric blue split pants (which are the pants many babies wear with their butt showing so they can be put on the potty when it is time to go). Most of the babies from our orphanage were wearing the same thing. They all so cute.

The room was chaos - babies crying and parents trying not to cry. Everyone was running around taking pictures of all the babies. Cameron and Christina, the couple we met our first day, have a beautiful girl Zoe who shared a nanny with Ivie. So it is so nice for them to have friends in our group. Zoe was very unhappy though and every time we went by her Ivie would start to cry too - like it was contageous.

When we left the building Ivie was looking around facinated by everything outside. She was very calm in my arms - clutching the lid and her bear. We got her up to our room and made her a bottle. She polished it off in about 1 minute - she was very hungry. We tried to set her down to change her clothes but she would cry every time. Finally we managed to get the orphanage clothes off of her and into a cute pink (of course) onesie and pink striped pants. She has a few scrapes and bumps (apparently in the walker she managed to run into a table and bump her head). She also has a few mongolian spots on her bottom (which are small bluish spots that are common in Asian babies - they look like bruises but they will fade as she gets older).

We have basically had to hold her and walk around because she did not want to sit at all. She was getting a bit heavy for me so after a while I passed her off to Scott. She fell asleep and we tried to put her in the crib but she wanted nothing to do with that. So Scott is currently sitting on the bed with Ivie asleep in his arms - I wish you could see it (and if I can get the pictures loaded you can).

We have a meeting with the registration officials this afternoon and then nothing but Ivie time thereafter.

2006-10-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

Hello, gang. Scott here. It is 8:55 p.m. Nanchang time and Renee's stressed and asleep. We are experiencing some serious audio-visual problems. Most seriously, our faithful camera, which has been with us for several years, decided to break today of all days, 18 hours before we finally receive our daughter in our arms. We tried to buy a new digital camera at the local Wal Mart, but of the thousands (literally) of people there, zero of them spoke English. We were able to decide what camera we wanted, but apparently our credit cards don't work in China. Or so we think. We couldn't really tell, since the checkout lady tried to run our card but gave it back to us without a receipt or a camera. We think this means our credit card didn't work.

Also, internet connectivity here is spotty at best. We are unable to download pictures to the blog at this point, even with an operational camera. We also cannot depend on the availability of this main blog page to conduct posts.

The good news, however, is that (a) we'll probably be able to have someone in our group take pictures of us as we get Ivie, (b) we have a functional cam corder to record the event, (c) we have two excellent guides who may be able to help solve our camera problem tomorrow locally, and (d) after two long years of waiting, thinking that the day would never come, having to rely only on the 5 pictures we've received of our daughter, we will have her placed in our arms tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. Nanchang time Monday, or roughly 10:00 p.m. your time Sunday night. We couldn't be more excited, well, that is to say, unless we had a functional camera.

To our family and friends, we love and miss you all. Be well and, if it's not too much trouble, think happy thoughts for us.

2006-10-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

Day 2-3-4

We made it!!!!

Our flight from Chicago left on time (yeah!). We spent 15 hours in the air. We flew north over the North Pole - very cool to see - and then back down to Hong Kong.

We tried to sleep but it was difficult - I think I got about 2 to 3 hours.

When we arrived in Hong Kong at 4:50 pm on Saturday (or 3:50 am Saturday morning back home), we were met by our guide Matthew. Who took us to the Regal Riverside Hotel. Most of our group was already doing something (or sleeping) as they had arrived a day earlier and taken a tour of the city.

There was another couple from CCAI on our flight - Christina and Cameron Johnson. The four of us decided to venture out into Hong Kong (we were staying outside the city in New Town). We took a cab ride to Kowloon Harbor to watch the laser show at 8pm. It was very cool - basically the buildings in downtown Hong Kong along the harbor have lasers on the outside and they flash differnet colors to music.

After the show we took a ferry across the Harbor into downtown. We wandered around downtown looking for a restaraunt. At first we were in a more business area and it seemed deserted. But the more we wandered we found people and followed them. There was a large street fair for Halloween - we did not explore it much because we were so tired but it seemed like fun. We found a small local restaraunt which had great food for really cheap - can't get much better than that.

After our adventure in Hong Kong we returned to the room and tried to get some sleep but I think I only got about 4 hours. I will try to catch up tonight because after tomorrow who knows how much sleep we'll get.

This morning we met the Johnsons for breakfast - the buffet had fried rice and dim sum as well as hash brown triangles. After breakfast we met up with the rest of our group. Everyone is very nice but right now I don't have all the names straigt so I will tell you more about them later. We then went to the airport for our flight to Nanchang. Its about an hour and 1/2 flight.

We arrived in Nanchang around 1:30 pm today. We were met by one of our guides Evelyn. As we were driving into the hotel, she gave us some history on Nanchang. Aparently it is one of the "smaller cities" in China - there are only 4 million people here. There are people everywhere here - I have never seen some many people in my life. I can't wait to explore more. Nanchang was were the revolution started on August 1st 1927 between the Nationalists and the Communists so there are alot of memorials to that date.

When we pulled up to the hotel, there was another bus behind ours. It was full of CCAI families who had been here almost a week with their babies. It was funny everyone in our group just ran to them and were looking at all of the babies. That will be us tomorrow. CCAI said they would arrange a dinner for the two groups to meet tommorow so that should be fun - all the new babies with all the "old" ones.

This afternoon we have a meeting where we will go over our schedule for the week and have a better idea about what will happen. The most important thing is that at 11 am we will go to the provinical office building and finally be united with Ivie it is so surreal that it is finally happening.

Just wanted to tell you that when we walked into our room, the first thing we saw was a Mickey Mouse stroller and a Pooh crib with Hello Kitty sheets - too cute. There is also a little potty in case she is potty trained (they start very early here).

2006-10-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Journey to Ivie Day 1

Brought to you by rainy Chicago and the O'Hare Hilton.

That's right I said Chicago - we are still stateside.

We got to the airport in Milwaukee no problem. They announced that our flight was overbooked and offered to send people by bus to O'Hare arriving at 10:10 and you would get a free ticket. Our flight to Hong Kong was at 10:48 so we chose not to do this - we did not choose wisely.

When we boarded the plane we were informed that there was a delay in Chicago and we would have to wait. We waited on the runway for 1 hour. At that point we were allowed to go back to the gate and wait one more hour. By this time we had missed our connecting flight.

We arrived in Chicago at 12:15. The airline booked us on the 12:18 flight which we of course missed. So we got rebooked on a flight out tomorrow at 12:18.

We will arrive in Hong Kong at 4:50 pm (in theory and barring any other weather delays). We will miss the scheduled tour of the city. But luckily we will be there in enough time to make our flight to Nanchang on Saturday.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Please post your comments, we'd love to hear from you.

2006-10-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Six more days until we leave.

We have been busy getting the house ready for Ivie. The cats sure are enjoying the activity, so many boxes to jump into and new furniture to explore.

We have been so lucky to have had 4 showers so far and one more this weekend. It is so wonderful for us to know that there are so many people who support us on this journey. Everyone can't wait to meet Ivie.

Here is our itinerary:

October 26 - leave for China. We are flying Milwaukee to Chicago and then direct to Hong Kong.

October 27 - arrive in Hong Kong at 3:10 p.m.

October 28 - tour of Hong Kong

October 29 - leave for Nanchang. Nanchang is the capital city of the Jiangxi province.

October 30 - Family Day! We will be finally united with our beautiful little girl at the Provincial Registration Office - we will finally become her forever family.

October 31 - November 5 - we will be staying in Nanchang bonding with Ivie while waiting for her paperwork and passport. We are hopeful that during this time we can travel to her orphanage to see where she was found. We would also love to meet her foster mother so we can thank her for loving Ivie.

November 6 - leave for Guangzhou where the US consulate is located.

November 7 - Ivie's visa physical and photo are taken today.

November 8 - Consulate appointment

November 9 - back to the Consulate to take the oath and receive Ivie's visa

November 10 - leave for home!!! We leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong. We will leave Hong Kong at 11:35 am and arrive in Chicago at 11:43 only 7 minutes later - its like magic (except for the 18 hour flight. We will arrive in Milwaukee later that afternoon to be greeted by our friends and family.

I can't believe that it is almost here - amazing.

2006-10-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

26 days and counting . . .

Our travel is booked. We are leaving Milwaukee on October 26th. We will fly through Chicago and arrive in Hong Kong on the 27th. We will have 1 1/2 days in Hong Kong. We leave for Nanchang on the 29th.

We will become a forever family on October 30th when we are finally untied with Ivie!!!

I don't know the rest of the adgenda yet, we should find out within the next two weeks but the most important thing is that we are finally going to meet the little girl who has occupied our thoughts and hearts for so long.

If you would like to share your wishes for Ivie, I will be putting together a book for her and would love to include messages from all our friends and family. It will be nice for her to know that so many people have walked this journey with us and can't wait to meet her. You can post your comments here or else e-mail me directly.

Renee

2006-09-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day... We got new pictures of Ivie and our travel dates!!!!!

Our consulate appointment is on November 8th (Uncle John's birthday). Based on that our travel is as follows:

Leave Milwaukee on October 27th and arrive in Hong Kong on October 28th. We will spend some time there and then fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi where we will be united with Ivie. We will stay in Nanchang for a while and then go to Guangxou where the American Consulate is located. We will leave Hong Kong on October 10th and arrive home that same day (18 hours later).

Its finally real - we are going to China to bring Ivie home.

Here are the new pictures. They were taken on August 31, 2006 when she was 7 months old. She has changed so much but she is still the most gorgeous little girl in the world.

2006-09-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Travel Notices!!!!!!!

We just got word that our agency received travel approval from the Chinese government. We are now awaiting the US Consulate to issue an appointment for us. Once we receive the appointment date we will have our travel dates firmed up. Hopefully we will hear something very soon.

The agency is requesting a date the week of November 6th which means we could travel around October 28th. That is so soon but not soon enough.

2006-09-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Our agency recently sent us some information on Ivie's daily life. I thought we would share it with you.

Ivie was found at 6 am on January 22, 2006 in front of the orphanage gate by a vegtable grower named Shen Jin Hua who was on her way to the Agricultural Products Market to sell her vegetables. She found a baby wrapped in a small cotton-padded blanket inside of a cardboard box.

Her medical exam revealed that she was 21.26 inches, weighed 6.61 lbs and her head circumferance was 13.78 inches. Based on the examination and that she appeared to be 8 days old, they estimated that her birthdate was January 14, 2006.

Ivie did not stay at the orphanage long. She entered foster care on February 17, 2006. She has been living with a foster family ever since. This is great news because it means she is getting individual attention and is living in a family setting.

The report described her has being "cooperative" when she was one to two months old, except that she would use her "crying voice" to tell them when she had a wet diaper or was hungry.

At 4 months she could recognize people. When she sees her foster relatives, she can baby talk with "yi ya" sounds to herself. She can extend her hands with the expectation of being carried. She likes to play in busy and noisy places. When she sees a stranger coming, she will use her tiny eyes to look at the person to see whether the person is friendly or not. She likes to look at colorful pictures.

She is described as a healthy and lively girl.

It will be so interesting to see what she is like now. She will be almost ten months old when we finally get to meet her. I can't wait

2006-09-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Ivie.

Scott and I have been hard at work getting our house ready to bring Ivie home. We have painted the room - pink of course, my favorite color. Hopefully it will be Ivie's too because pretty much everything we have gotten for her so far is pink.

We had a shower at work on Wednesday. Ivie got lots of cute outfits and blankets. Oh boy did she get a lot of blankets - she will never be cold.

Today I also mailed Ivie a care package, two little outfits and a stuffed bear that says love bug on it. I hope she loves it. We also sent a disposable camera so the orphanage and her foster family will take pictures and give her something to remember.

I also wanted to post some pictures of where she is.

This is Jiangxi province. She lives in Yihuang County which is located in the circled area on middle of the map on the right. We will be staying in the capital city, Nanchang which is indicated by the arrow.

This is the Yihuang County Social Welfare Institute. She was found by the gates on January 22, 2006. She does not live here because she has been in foster care since February 17th.

This is a picture of the playground at the orphange - it looks pretty nice.

Does the rabbit rocker look familiar?

2006-08-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Introducing Vivienne Chao Fensin

Lin Shen Chao
DOB 1/14/06
Yihuang SWI, Jiangxi Province China

We received the referral for our beautiful daughter Vivienne Chao on August 28, 2006 after waiting (not so patiently) for 13 months.

We will post developments in the adoption and travel process from time to time, so you can all get to know Vivienne.