Wuhan and back home--sorry such a delay

Huanggang Welcome

Leaving Bejing and Heading to Huanggang City

When we first arrived in Beijing, our hotel had a Christmas tree and decorations. Each day we returned to more decorations. The house below was made of ginger bread while we were gone the first day. The second day they added the minature house. I think if we had stayed long enough we would have seen Santa!

We left our hotel in Bejing to catch a flight to Wuhan, the capital city in the Hubei Province. Our plane was late, but the girls played happily in the airport. We had a nice lunch on the plane. As soon as we landed, we got our luggage and boarded another bus. We were running late. We all worried that we would miss our welcome dinner with the Huanggang City officials and the Social Welfare Institute's Director. The girls played and sang on the bus. As we entered the city limits of Huanggang City--police met us and an official boarded our bus to Welcome us. The whole time in Huanggang --we always had police escorts. We also appeared in newspapers and National TV several times. The girls felt like celebrities.

Busy Day in Beijing

Ella and I slept well and woke up refreshed. We were able to skpe with Gabe and the boys before breakfast. We once again boarded the bus. Today was a busy day. We went to the CCAA--China Center of Adoption Affairs-- which is the government agency that handles adoptions in China. The building was very modern. We saw the various offices that review the children's files and the parent's files. We also saw the miracle of the matching room where somehow, the workers match the families with the perfect child for them. After listening to the process, I still don't understand it. It must be Magic. Ella couldn't be a more perfect daughter/sister for our family. Everyone I know who has adopted from China feels the same way about their child.

Ella and Tian with Dossiers send by families wanting to adopt in China

Ella with files of babies waiting to be adopted

After the girls learned Caligraphy and singing, we all left for a fancy Thai lunch and then headed for the Forbidden City.

Tiannamen Square where each post represents a different ethnic minority in China including the majority-the Han people.

We had a tour of the Forbidden City--seeing buildings, gardens and of course statues.

The last stop was the Pearl River District where we had just over an hour to shop. Ella and I were overwhelmed, but we still managed to buy Chinese robes, pjs for Ella, ear muffs for the boys and a wallet for me. I don't have any pictures, but I do know where to shop when I return to China.

First Full Day in Beijing

Ella and I went downstairs early for breakfast on Monday, November 23rd. The hotel had a wonderful range of Chinese and American food in the buffet They also had food cooked to order—omelets or noodle soup. Ella was starving and loved having dumplings and congee for breakfast. We had to board the bus early. Our group consisted of Ella and me, Peiton and her dad, Jim, from Iowa, Dar-Ling and her mother, Helen , from Sweden, Lilli and her mother, Jane, Leila and her mother Pam, Tian and her parents, Robyn and Tim---all from Australia, Elizabeth, her sister Catherine and parents, Mollie and her parents—both from England and two families from Holland. Milou and Elizabeth both had little sisters adopted from China. Chenna's older sister, Larissa was born in Holland.

The first group picture with all the girls and their sisters. Front row--Lisa--Middle row starting from left--Catherine, Elizabeth, Tian, Leila, Lili, Dar Ling, Ella, Peiton, Suze, Mollie --Back Row

Larissa (hidden by flag) Chenna and Milou.
Ella quickly made good friends with Tian (We had loads of pictures, but Ella accidently deleted the pictures from our first two days. They sat next to each other on the bus all day.

Our first stop was the Civil Affairs Office in Beijing. Speeches were given; the event was broadcast on Chinese National Television. All the girls were given Panda Bears. The theme for our reunion trip was “Home in this World, Roots in China.


Next Stop—The Great WallI knew I would enjoy the Great Wall of China and looked forward to it, but it was even more wonderful than I expected. We went to the area where they have a gondola. We met Peiton and Jim in line and shared a gondola. Ella and I planned to take the gondola back with Tian and her mom, but we couldn’t find them and the wall beckoned so we just started walking and decided to walk down to the place where we would meet the bus. Luckily, we found Adam and some others and found our way back to the bus. I could have stayed all day---Next time I will.

Ella and Pei on the Great Wall

Next we went to the Olympic Village which I wasn't that excited to see, but I was wrong. The Bird's Nest was amazing. We toured inside and saw the water cube. Again--we don't have many pictures as these were deleted, but Peiton's Dad, Jim, nicely let his have some of his.

We also saw the water cube from a distance which looked more interesting than I thought it would.
Ella had been up since 1:00 am. She got so much exercise and fresh air at the great wall and continued to run around the Olymic village that she was exhausted when we got back to the hotel. She wanted to go to bed, but I kept her up and fed her dinner while she was practically sleeping. She would put her head on the table while she chewed and I would wake her up for another bite. She went to bed early and slept soundly.

At last--the China Chronicles

Saturday, November 21st
Ella and I were so excited about the trip. It had seemed so far away and finally it became a reality. I was especially nervous because we used BLAS—Bridge of Love Adoption Service—run by the Chinese government. Communication had been infrequent and I had to internationally wire our payment for the tour. I hadn’t gotten a real confirmation, but I had the guide’s cell phone number so I felt confident that everything would work out.

We flew to Chicago and then for another 12 and a half hours to Beijing. Ella did a great job. We played cat’s cradle, practices Chinese and watched movies. We hardly even slept. Toward the end of the flight, we met two families on our plane on a root seeking tour with BLAS. They were going to a different city, Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province. They told me that their group was over 20 families and mainly from the U.S. I knew our group had 11 families.

We arrived in Beijing on Sunday, November 22nd in the afternoon. We were met at the airport by the guide of the group going to Zhanjiang. I worried when I didn’t see a Huanggang City sign, but the guide assured me that I was to join her group to get to our hotel. We met a couple more families going to Zhanjiang at the airport. We quickly made friends with a Dad, Adam, from Pasadena, who was traveling alone. His wife and four year old daughter stayed home, but he really wanted to experience the reunion. I found a cash machine and got my Chinese money. I always feel better once I have the local currency.

We went straight to our Hotel which was already decorated for Christmas. Our room was lovely with two beds –each bigger than a twin, but smaller than a double. Our BLAS guides, William and Tony, gave us lovely red scarves, a journal for Ella and markers and our itinerary.





I kept looking for some of the other families from our Huanggang group. I finally met Robyn, Tim and their daughter Tian from Australia in the hotel lobby. Ella and I walked around the lobby/mall area and found a Starbucks with free internet. I found out that I wouldn’t be able to access facebook or our blog while on the trip. I was able to email Gabe and tell him that we arrived. Starbucks looked just like Starbucks. Ella had a roll—we left soon—too exhausted to eat dinner.



Ella and I managed to stay awake until 7:30 pm. Ella woke up hungry at 1:00 am. I tried to convince her to fall back asleep, but finally broke down and let her eat the Hotel Pringles--BBQ Steak flavor. She was quiet for quite awhile, but neither of us managed to get much more sleep.

Ella in Indianapolis