Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Our Adoption is Official - Emma Reid McGinnis (Tuesday, April 15, 2014)

We woke this morning with a hungry family.  We dressed for the day, went downstairs for breakfast, met Michael to be shown around the area a little and prepared to return to the adoption offices to finalize our adoption of Emma.

We had a little meltdown when it was nap time.  Emma might have a little of that spicy Chongqing attitude I've heard about.  Baby sister can throw a fit!  After her total meltdown, she finally decided she could take a nap. When she woke up, she was herself again - calm and happy.

We rode with the Porters to the adoption office to finalize our adoption of Emma.  We completed some paperwork, had a photo taken for our adoption certificate, had a very official ceremony promising to care for Emma for her lifetime and sealed the documents with a red thumbprint from Brian, me and Emma.

We returned to our hotel and spent a little time resting and playing in our room until we walked to dinner at the neighboring mall.  We tried the Hong Kong restaurant - after feeding the boys chicken nuggets from McDonalds. Emma was super excited to see noodles for dinner.  And once again the McGinnis boys were total celebrities. Every server in the restaurant was young and I think each of them came to our table to take photos with the boys.  They were very nice to us and very helpful trying to help us order dishes that weren't too spicy!  Brian ordered sweet and sour pork and I ordered a chicken and rice dish. When the very fresh chicken arrived (so fresh I could still see where the feathers had been plucked from the skin), I decided to just eat rice and share Brian's dish. If you know me, simple boneless skinless chicken breasts is my speed!

We made a quick stop at the Dairy Queen for the boys and returned to the hotel to prepare for bed.  Emma has a few skin issues - so we decided to treat her for scabies since we had the medication with us.  Her skin already looks better.


On Wednesday, we will visit the orphanage.

Gotcha Day (Monday, April 14, 2014)

This morning we had breakfast in the fantastic dining room at Le Meridien where we finally met the Porters (Lifeline's other adopting family in ChongQing this week).  We returned to the room to prepare for our 2pm Gotcha appointment and to collect paperwork to meet Michael and complete prior to leaving for our appointment.

It really was a surreal morning. We sat in the lobby of this amazingly modern hotel right in the middle of the unofficial largest city in the world, and we signed documents that would serve as the final pieces to making Emma officially our daughter.

When we completed the papers, we walked to Walmart with Michael - what a culture shock. It was so similar and so very different to any Walmart I've ever seen.

Then we returned to our hotel room to finish preparing to meet Emma - paperwork, passports, gifts for orphanage officials, a bag of special items for Emma.  Then we met the Porters and our guide in the lobby.  And we were off to the adoption offices to meet Emma.

We drove across town to arrive at a very beautiful business park area.  

We rode elevators to the 14th floor and exited into a dimly lit reception/waiting area. In just a moment, the orphanage officials entered with the children.  And there she was - our tiny little girl dressed in yellow with a sweet face and the cutest piggy tails I've ever seen.

There was nothing all that official that went on - they just handed her to us.  She was not too sure, but she came to me.  She never really cried and never tried to go back to the nannies.  She was sweet and calm and finally in my arms.

We stayed in the reception area for a while so our guide could translate between the nannies and each family. They reported that she's a good sleeper (8pm-7am nightly and a 2 hour nap from 11:30am-1:30pm).  They also said she has a calm personality.

Now we're McGinnis Party of Five!

We left as quickly as we'd arrived. And just like that - Emma was with us!  

We drove back to the hotel, brought Emma to our room, played, gave her a bath and changed her clothes. 

We went to dinner at the neighboring mall, and she enjoyed Papa John's pizza, breadsticks and seasoned waffle fries along with some apple juice.  Baby girl can eat!!

We returned to the room, changed into pjs for bed and Emma was quite upset.  We shuffled sleeping arrangements and she slept with me (and when I say with me, I mean on me).  She went to sleep a little after 9pm and slept well until about 2 or 3am when she needed her milk since she'd refused milk prior to bed.  She slept well until about 6:30am. I think she was fairly hungry and we have no idea what her typical routine really is - so she was not too happy us!

Adoption Day is tomorrow!

On a Jet Plane to ChongQing (Sunday, April 13, 2014)

After breakfast this morning, we finished packing up so we could meet Helen for our return trip to the Beijing airport.

We left Beijing around 1pm to fly to ChongQing (Emma's provincial city) and arrived around 3:30pm. Flying a domestic Chinese airline was a very interesting experience as we were the only white passengers - we are quite a sight wherever we are!  I've never been on a plane flight as the passenger who did not speak the native language - I did NOT understand anything that was going on during the in-flight announcements.

We arrived in ChongQing, met our guide Michael and drove with him to check-in at our amazing hotel. We thought the hotel in Beijing was really nice - not true in comparison to this place!!  Then Michael showed us around the mall complex next door to the hotel. They have a McDonald's, Papa John's Pizza, KFC, Dairy Queen and Starbucks!  It's been really good for the boys to have some "comfort" foods.  Tonight we enjoyed McDonald's as a family for around $10 - that could never happen in the USA!

Monday is Gotcha Day - finally!!

A Great Day to Visit the Great Wall of China (Saturday, April 12, 2014)

We started today with another delicious buffet breakfast in the beautiful dining room.

Then we met Helen, our driver and another Lifeline family to take a tour of the Great Wall of China.  We knew it could take about 1.5 hours to drive out to the wall location we planned to visit, but we didn't arrive until noon even though we left around 9:30am. The traffic in and around Beijing is unbelievable!  Luckily our group did very well on the long ride.

We arrived, visited the scary public bathrooms and made our way to purchase tickets to ride the sky lift (chair lifts) up to the wall.  We rode the chair lifts and had amazing views as we approached the Great Wall. Then Helen made some nice photos of each family and sent us off to explore the wall while she waited for us.  Brian is quite adventurous, and we made our way up and down the wall through about 10 watchtowers!  That was equivalent to about 121 flights of stairs.

When we returned to the meeting point, we waited in line to ride a land toboggan down from the wall. What a terrific day!  We had a once in a lifetime experience visiting the Great Wall of China!

Helen brought our families to a local Chinese restaurant very near the Great Wall. Our meal was served family style.  So Helen ordered us a variety of dishes so we could sample many authentic food items - sweet and sour pork, Kung pow chicken, rice, vegetable wraps (similar to egg rolls), steamed broccoli, noodles, Chinese pancake and fried potatoes and peppers (like very thin French fries and peppers). There were 11 in our group and our combined bill was less than $45.  What a deal for a fantastic meal!

We drove over to the Cloisonne factory where they handcrafted beautiful urns, vases and other decorative items.  We were given a tour of each step of the process - amazingly talented artists.  We purchased a few items - fancy chopsticks, bracelets and a little dragon since Emma was born in the year of the dragon.

Then we began our long drive back to the city. Nearly everyone fell asleep on our drive back.  Once we returned to the hotel, we walked over to Pizza Hut for dinner again - Aidan's new favorite meal!

Sunday is our travel day to Chongqing - Gotcha is planned for Monday. We will find out the details when we arrive in her province.

Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Hutong Tour - Oh My! (Friday, April 11, 2014)

After a restless night of sleep in spite of being awake for nearly 48 hours, we prepared for the day, enjoyed an extravagant breakfast buffet and met our guide, Helen, in the lobby to visit a bank to exchange money for our excursions while in Beijing.

We returned to the hotel and met our driver and we were off to visit many of the local Beijing tourist locations.  Here's a photo of the outside of our hotel.

First, our driver let us out directly across the street from Tiananmen Square.  There were tons of people - none of which believe in forming lines to be able to see the area in an orderly fashion!  Almost instantly, we discovered that Ian and Aidan are celebrities in China.  People would approach us, want to touch their hair and take photographs with them.  Luckily, Helen is a registered guide in Beijing so she was able to get us through the security area very quickly.  Tiananmen Square is a very popular tourist location for the Chinese people because it is the final resting place for a former leader, Mao Ze Dong, and has several monuments and congressional buildings on the square.  No one mentioned the reason we as Americans know about Tiananmen Square - the 1989 pro-democracy protests and the hundreds of lives that were lost when martial law was imposed.

We entered the Forbidden City - once the home of the Chinese emperor for many centuries. It was elaborate and ornate and larger in life than I'd expected.  We'd seen the movie, The Last Emperor, which was filmed about one of the emperors and the entire film was made in the Forbidden City.

While in the Forbidden City, Helen left us standing in the middle of one area while she purchased our entry tickets. In just a moment, we were surrounded by about 30 people who wanted to take photos with Ian and Aidan.  They have their own paparazzi in China.  They draw a crowd wherever we go!  They were so excited to see our little white boys!

Helen took us to a local restaurant for lunch - fried pork and vegetable dumplings.  They were delicious!  The boys ate some noodles. We were also celebrities in this restaurant as Helen described to us that this was a local spot - we may be the only white people they've seen in a nearby restaurant in quite some time.  It was a tiny little place, but the staff was gracious and kind.

Then we visited the Hutong area of old Beijing - it's like any historic area in the US - think Old Salem with the horse drawn carriage rides replaced by rickshaws!  It was amazing to see a walking tour of a private home, a rickshaw tour of the community and a drum show.  The entire afternoon was a very educational experience for our family.

The private home was actually much more spacious than most.  Typically, a family will only have about 30 square meters for about 3 people - about 3 rooms and no private bathroom - they still had community bath houses.  They had birds that talked and greeted us in Chinese - hello, how are you?, have you eaten?

Then we went on a rickshaw tour of the streets of old Beijing.  To just ride through this area - wow - I have a new appreciation for America and what we have!

We finished up our Hutong tour with a drum ceremony at the drum tower.  It was once used in a similar way of telling time as a large city clock that chimes.  Only here, the drums are sounded to alert you of time.  And you had to climb the steepest steps I've ever seen!

Ian and Aidan completely enjoyed our guide Helen.  She's fantastic and the boys just loved her.

We walked about 6 blocks from our hotel to have dinner and visit a local mall.  Here's the inside of the Pizza Hut - very fancy compared to our Pizza Hut's in the US.

Then we browsed through the local mall - just to see how it compares to what we are accustomed to - to my surprise - they only have white Barbies with blonde hair and blue eyes!  Not an Asian Barbie in sight!

On Saturday, we will visit the Great Wall of China!