meeting Annabelle

Ni hao from China !! it is tuesday now and we've had a whirlwind monday to say the least. our plane landed in Nanchung (capitol of Jiangxi province) about 10:30 am on monday morning. we went straight to the hotel and had about 10 min to freshen up and went down to the hotel lobby and met our little girl. the orphange director and another gentleman were there. we had 5 min to look at her and they gave her to us and we headed up to the room with her and our guide (Coby), filled out some paper work (about 20 min) and then had time with her (about an hour). then it was off to do more paper work at the adoption center. there were 4 other couples there that were also adopting. one couple was from the UK and the others were from the US I think. that took about an hour and we received the finalized documents. then it was off to the notarty (short office appt. where i left behind my bag accidently) . major brain fart ! but i think we are intitled to some slack here :) no worries ,our guide went back by himself and picked it up for us. then it was off to the chinese super center (a store with 5-6 floors and they sell everything from fresh food to cosmetics and clothes) because we forgot to pack bottles (more brain farts :) ). we picked up some KFC chicken and french fries and came back to the hotel for the night. WOW what a day. so tired and emotional !!

For me (becka), i'll describe the day as an out of body experience mostly. i was there going through all the motions, but everything was going so fast, i didn't have time to process (and anyone who knows me, knows i need alot of time to process). Today(tuesday) is better, i'm catching up to the enormous change that just occured yesterday. I will say that Annabelle is a very easy child so far. As long as you are feeding her she is happy. she loves the little cars we brought for her. she also loves the toy keys we brought. Cars and keys, maybe she'll be a race car driver :) !! She slept through the night, but would yell out in her sleep about every 2 hours....... that was kinda freaky. so we didn't sleep too well. hopefully tonight will be better. she is a neat and orderly child too. if she has socks on, she likes to pull them up to her knees and her blanket has to be flat and smooth. she is an articulate little one also. she is good at stacking, rolling, and turning things. very inquisitive. she seems comfortable with us most of the time. when she woke up this morning, she saw us and smiled and laughed. :) she has a halirous smile because of her cleft lip.

Today (tuesday) was nice. we woke up early (because that is when Annabelle gets up). leisurely got dressed and went down stairs for a nice breakfast. Annabelle sat in her highchair and ate a ton of food. she loves watermelon and eggs. then we met our guide in the lobby and walked down the street to a monument place called Teng Wang Ge. the original building is about 13 thousand years old, but was rebuilt 29 times because of fires and wars. it was surrounded by beautiful gardens and ponds. and up at the top of it (6 floors) was a traditional chinese show with singing and dancing. very pretty. HOLY MOLY, the weather, it's like 90 degrees and totally humid. we were all dripping with sweat and we were only out for two hours or so.

Right now Danny and Annabelle are taking naps.....all tuckered out. I am very home sick already and can't wait to see all of you when we return. jennifer, give my doggies more huggs for me !! we will update you soon. we are scheduled to fly out to our next and last province friday.

love to you.