Today we woke up at 4:00AM, and needed to be downstairs in time to leave by 5:30AM on the bus for the Guangzhou airport. Our first flight was from Guangzhou to Tokyo. We had 18 babies on the plane with us. All of them were so good! The only sad part was that when [...]
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Today, we went to the US Consulate on Shamian Island in Guangzhou for the taking of the oath that certifies the truthfulness of all of our adoption paperwork. The wonderful thing about this is that this will enable Becca to get her visa to the USA, and also make it so that the moment the [...]
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What does, “da da� mean in Chinese? Babies say it all the time here and it means, “play�, and that’s exactly what we did today. Incidentally, if you’re wondering, “baba� is Daddy in Chinese and not “Dada,� although I have found myself answering to both. We ate breakfast at Café More where we are staying [...]
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We went to Shamian Island today to shop! Shamian Island is the famous place in Guangzhou where many adoptive parents and international visitors go to shop for China Souvenirs. We had a great time buying clothes for Becca and some other great souvenirs! One awesome thing that happened for “Baba� (that’s me!) was that on [...]
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Today, we went to get baby’s visa photo and medical check done. She made the decision from the moment the medical checkup began, that she did not like that place or the nurses or the doctors. She cried and cried and cried. Bless her heart! We did find out that she was, as of now, [...]
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Today, we went to the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum. It was contained in the one of the oldest buildings in Guangzhou. When we went in, the entrance opened up into a courtyard containing many covered patio rooms with ancient pieces of art throughout. From there we went to a six-story mall called the Guangzhou [...]
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Today was one of the first slow days we have had in a while. I filled out lots of paperwork for the adoption for about four hours, while Sarah and Rebecca played for hours on end, and had some mother-daughter bonding time. Becca loves to play dress-up with pretty hats and jewelry, even at one [...]
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Good morning Wuhan!
We started the day early getting up at 5:00AM to get our bags and our bodies ready for a long day containing two very monumental tasks. First, we went back to the Hubei Center for Intercountry Adoption to pick up the all-important red leather folder containing Becca’s official adoption certificate! Below is a [...]
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Today the group threw all of the March birthday babies a birthday party! Rebecca had such a good time! She blew out the candles on the cake, had cake for the first time, and the first birthday gift she got was a bunch of baby barettes for her hair and toys! It was a blast! [...]
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We had a fun day today visiting a park on the Yangtze River. It was beautiful! Rebecca was admired by many of the local townspeople! You can see her below interacting with a little boy there at the park. People came up to us and asked to have their picture made with her. I think [...]
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I just had to be honest and tell you guys the story about what happened with us as new parents last night! We went to bed around 10 to 10:30 last night, and we were awakened after midnight by our daughter crying loudly. We thought “Oh, No problem. We’ll just comfort her like we did [...]
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Today was the day that we officially became Rebecca’s Mommy and Daddy! We began the day going back to the Hubei Intercountry Center for Adoption for our interview before the adoption was to be finalized. They asked questions like: “Do you believe this is the same baby that you received 24 hours ago?” and “After [...]
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Today was Gotcha Day, and wait until you see what a beautiful baby we have. We went to the Hubei Center for Intercountry Adoption Affairs at 2:30PM. After we got off the bus, everyone was escorted into the main waiting area where there were lots of couches. All of us anxious new parents armed with [...]
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We went to church this morning at the church designated for foreigners only called Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The service was wonderful and the worship was really refreshing. The pastor preached about “Private Sins” and his focus this week was on the two sins mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount of anger and lust. [...]
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Happy Birthday, Rebecca! Today is our baby’s first birthday! How we wish we could be there with her, and we long for March 7th like you wouldn’t believe! There are several babies from Jiayu with March birthdays, so plans are underway for a big birthday party for them after Gotcha Day!
We went to breakfast this [...]
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Today was a free day while we awaited the arrival of the rest of the group.
It was a fairly relaxing settling in kinda day.
For lunch today, we had Pizza Hut, and it was a full meal for two with drinks for only about 9 US dollars. What a difference in price between Pizza Hut in [...]
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We are here! Praise the Lord! We slept well last night! Beijing is much prettier than we even expected! The hotel we are staying in is very nice! It is called the Radisson SAS (not sure what SAS stands for! )! It is decorated in Scandinavian IKEA decor! The bed is just right and [...]
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Ni hao! (“Hello�) As I am writing this we are 9 1/2 hours away from Tokyo. We will catch our final flight to Beijing from there. They estimate that we will arrive in Tokyo at about 3:30PM Tokyo time! We have already had an awesome time! Everyone loves to hear about our adoption when [...]
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Just a note to ask for everyone’s prayers as we pack to leave for China on Mar. 2nd! We will be there until the 18th. The wait during this last week has been the slowest of all! Below is a basic itinerary of where we will be while in China!
March 3 - 4 Arrive [...]
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Today we purchased our airline tickets! We are leaving 3/2 and returning 3/18! One step closer to our precious and beautiful Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle! China here we come! We are letting America World Adoption Association do our travel booking for us. They are such a blessing to have as an agency. If anyone is [...]
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