Our whole group

The moms with their new kids
All the sibilings together
Sarah Evangeline LuHua

Today has been better. This morning at breakfast we got to meet another group of families from a different agency that just got their babies yesterday, that was fun! They are all so cute! We came back to our room and once again tried to get Sarah Lu to take a nap, but of course, that did not work... A little later at 2, we went downstairs to the lobby to take group pictures, since most of our our group is going home early tomorrow morning. Then at 3, we had to go to the United States Consulate to have a ceremony and take an oath. There were SO many more adoptive families and their new kids there, too cool! We got to meet our online friends, Pierce Adoption Journey, and their new daughter, Sophie. That was really fun to get to meet them cause we had really been wanting to! Sophie is adorable!! It is so much fun just to walk around and to recognize people and their new babies from websites that we have seen. Yesterday we met Chole Madison, Lindsey's Mei Mei, when they were on their way back from just getting her! Chole is adorable too! Anyway, the ceremony went well and Sarah Evangeline LuHua now has her U.S. visa to come home! We are coming home on the 22nd, we decided to stay here in Guangzhou for two extra days. And Emma's family (in our travel group), is staying too, so it will be very fun!
I will try to update again soon!
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)

The museum that we visited today

At Lucy's, a restaurant that we went to

By the river at night

Today was a pretty busy day. We got up this morning for breakfast and got to see all of the other families and their babies again. Sarah Lu just LOVES babies! This morning AnnaClaire, a 13 month old in our group, and Sarah Lu were "playing" together. AnnaClaire's JieJie(Big Sis), Emily, had just put a bow in AnnaClaire's hair. Sarah Lu saw this and ran up to AnnaClaire and yanked the bow out of AnnaClaire's hair and handed it to Emily! It was SO cute and hilarious!!

This afternoon we had our U.S. Consulate Appointment, we didn't actually go to the Consulate, only our guides do. Anyway, everything went great with that and we have passed this step as well.

A little later this afternoon, one of our guides, Fontana, came to our room to teach us some useful Chinese phrases so we can communicate better with Sarah Lu. While she was here she asked Sarah some questions in Chinese. She asked, "Do you like baba(daddy)? Yes. Do you like mama? Yes. Do you like jiejie(big sis)? Yes. Who do you like best? JieJie!" I don't really know why she has bonded to me the most...She is getting better with Mom and Dad though, she is accepting them more and more each day.

Later today we went with our group to a museum and then to Shamian Island again. The museum was interesting, they had these ivory carvings and they were so detailed, it was amazing! On Shamian, we did a little more shopping and decided to stay a little later than the rest of our group. We ate at Lucy's, a restaurant on the island that serves good American food. They had really good food and it was fun. We saw ab0ut 10 other adoptive families eating there as well.

After we were done later, we took a taxi back to our hotel, The China Hotel, which is in the city of Guangzhou instead of on Shamian Island.

Sarah Lu has not taken her nap today either, hopefully tomorrow she will.

I will try to update again soon.

~Staci

(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)



 

One week ago today we met our Sarah Evangeline LuHua at her orphanage. Just one week ago she screamed when she saw us and didn't want any of us. Now just one week later, she is a happy, fun, loving, sweet, funny, adorable, beautiful, normal 2 1/2 year old! Sure she has her "fits" and her "meltdowns" just like any 2 year old, but she is such a sweetie and I don't think it would be possible to love her more!

Mom, Me, and Sarah Lu at the park

Me, Mom, and Sarah Lu by the river

Sarah Lu on the train

Dad, Mom, and Sarah Lu at the park

Dad, Mom, and Sarah Lu

The Christmas tree in the lobby at our hotel

Our little "monkey"

Sarah Lu and Emma, another 2 year old in our AWAA group

This morning I woke up sick...I think it was because of too much excitement. Mom, Dad, and Sarah Lu went to breakfast without me, and when they came back I was feeling a lot better, so we all went with our group to Shamian Island again. We went shopping, found some great deals, and we got to pick up our chops. They look so good! Sarah Lu's is the biggest and it has a monkey on the top because she was born in the year of the monkey-2004. On the actual stamp part it says SARAH and has the Chinese characters for Lu Hua, and we also had a panda put on it. It is super cute! Anyway, we went to the Shamian Park on the island and that was really pretty. So many palm trees, I love it! At the park they have this little area where they have different rides, like at a carnival, for little kids. Sarah Lu was really excited when we told her she could go on one. She picked out a little train that just goes around in a circle, but it was really fun for her. Then after the train ride, she wanted to go on a little stationary kitty ride, so she got to go on that too! She really liked that too, but she was not happy when we had to leave. But, she was ok after a little bit and just as happy as before. We did a little more shopping around Shamian and then it was time to go back to the hotel. We met up with our group and drove back. We tried to have Sarah Lu take a nap, but that did not go to well...She just sat in her crib for a while and well, we are just skipping her nap today. After our nap experience, We decided that we should go do something, so we decided to take Sarah Lu down to the playground again. She definitely loves that place! And she has mastered every thing at the playground except for the spiral climbing thing. She climbs up and down the slides and all over the other climbing things, it is amazing that this is just her second time to all ready she is like a pro! Again we definitely have to go back to the playground because she loves it SO much!
Tomorrow at 10:30am is our U.S. Consulate Appointment, we don't actually go to the consulate, just our guides do, and we wait in our hotel rooms just in case there is a problem or something. Then I think we are going to Shamian Island again and do some more stuff like that.
I will try to update again soon.
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)

Most of our travel group kids and their daddy's

AnnaClaire and Sarah Lu!

AnnaClaire, Claire, Kenzie, and Sarah Lu

Claire, Sarah Lu and Anna Claire

Kenzie, Sarah Lu, Claire and AnnaClaire

Sarah Lu at the playground

Slides are fun!

Beautiful "park" at our hotel by the playground

Sarah Lu on the red couch

The White Swan Hotel

Me and Sarah Lu

Mom and Sarah Lu at the medical exam

There are so many more adoptive families there

On our flight to Guangzhou

We're here in Guangzhou! Our flight got in around 10:30 pm and Sarah Lu seemed to like it for the most part. The flight attendants were completely in love with her and she was the star! We finally got to our hotel, The China Hotel, at about midnight. This morning we had to get up fairly early so that we could eat breakfast and go to have Sarah Lu's medical exam. Breakfast was so much fun, we got to meet up with most of our travel group and their new babies/kids! Too fun!! The medical exam was interesting. It was cool to see all the adoptive families with their new babies, I never realized just how many families are there at one time, there are SO many! Of course, the medical exam isn't all fun... I guess all the kids think it is a requirement to scream and cry once they get there, Sarah Lu started screaming before the exam even started. But, she did it!(And she weighs 31lbs!) After the exam, it was time for shopping on Shamian Island! We first went to The White Swan Hotel, and took a red couch photo of Sarah Lu (for those of you that do not know, it is a "tradition" for the adoptive families to take the children to a red couch in this particular hotel and take their picture). Then it was time to shop! We ordered chops (personalized hand-carved stamps), one for Sarah Lu, and one each for me and my other two sisters. We get to pick them up tomorrow-exciting! We also found some chinese silk dresses for Sarah Lu that are super cute! After our fun shopping experience, we went back to our hotel, which was a very good thing, cause on the drive back, Sarah Lu crashed and slept for about 2 hours this afternoon! Considering we didn't get to much sleep last night because of our late arrival, and then Sarah Lu also screamed for a few hours during the night, it was a very good thing that she got some sleep! Then a little later we had to have the "Paperwork Party"(where the parents get together to complete more paperwork)...Mom stayed and did that while Dad and I took Sarah Lu and went to the playground here at our hotel. When we first got there, Sarah Lu didn't know what to do... we are pretty sure this was her first time at a playground because of how she reacted to everything. But, after a little while, and with "JieJie"(me) helping her, she was thrilled with the slides and everything and running around and playing like she had always done that. It was awesome to see how happy and excited she got by the playground, we will definitely have to go back there again to play!
Tonight we walked down the road a little bit and found a little shopping center. There was a store inside that was children's silk dresses and squeaky shoes (they are shoes that have squeakers in them, so whenever the child walks, they squeak!). We had to get some! We found another adorable chinese silk dress and two warm silk outfits, very cute, and we also got Sarah a pair of bright pink squeaky shoes with a flower on them! Sarah Lu absolutely adores them and on the way back to the hotel, she wouldn't even ride in her beloved stroller because she wanted to hear her shoes squeak!
When we got back to the hotel a little later, most of the families(including us) just kind of hung out in the hallway for a little while and all the kids
were playing together. It was so much fun and too cute!
Well, today has been another fun day. I will update again soon.
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)

Little cutie waiting to go...

Happy Sarah Lu!
Are we going to go YET?
Outside the Museum
Map of Hebei Province
The LangFang exhibit in the Museum
This is so cute... Sarah Lu, Mom, and Coco were all looking around by this thing, Sarah Lu took Mom's hand and pulled her away and Coco too. Then Sarah Lu came over to me and went and posed by this thing. Too cute, she wanted her picture taken, so I took it! :)
Sarah Lu at the Museum amusing herself by pushing around her stroller... Notice above the stroller you can see two little hands and a head!Stroller buddies!

Today was an interesting day. It started out with us going with our guide, Coco, to the Hebei Province Museum. That was fun. There was one part in it that was about different cities in Hebei, I was very excited when I saw one that was for LangFang (the city where Sarah is from)! That was pretty cool!
A little later we decided that since Sarah Lu's shoes are pretty big on her, we would try to go shopping
and find some more for her. Not the best idea. At first it was going good, we managed to find a place where they had children's shoes, that was a success, now we just had to find a pair that was cute and fit her, and then buy them. Easier said than done... Soon we had a HUGE crowd of people around us, all asking us questions in Chinese. Then it happened, the "fashion police" were on to us...We suddenly had about 15 people
ALL yelling at me and telling me that she was cold. Why didn't we dress her better?
A few of the women then decided that we needed to buy her more clothes, so all of a sudden, we had tons of clothes thrown into our faces, with people still yelling at us. Very interesting...
Sarah Lu is bonding to almost anyone who we see anywhere, as long as they are Chinese. We might need to limit our outings for a while, at least until she bonds to us as her family.
Tonight, at a little past 6, had a pleasant surprise from Coco... Sarah Lu's passport is here! So, we now have it, and are ready to to go to Guangzhou tomorrow, we fly out from here in Shijiazhuang at 7pm. We will be staying at the China Hotel, not the famous White Swan Hotel, but I am sure the China Hotel will be very nice as well.
I will try to update again soon, not sure when I will get a chance, but I will try. :)
~Staci

(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)