Last post from China!!!!!!

Hello everyone! It is Monday evening here and we thought we would post one last time from China. Our Tues will be busy as we have our consulate appointment, last minute shopping, packing, etc.
We just want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support through this whole adoption process.
We are still in awe of our daughter. She is truly amazing and makes us smile every time we look at her. We cannot wait to introduce her to her 3 big brothers, grandmas, grandpa and everyone else waiting for her at home! She is a very beautiful, smart and funny girl!
We are ready to get back to Iowa and become a family of 6!!!
Let's hope for a smooth flight back home. We are going to have a full plane of babies from here to Tokyo and several to Minneapolis. We are fortunate enough to have a family from Knoxville fly to Des Moines w/us.
Our flight into Des Moines from Minneapolis is on Northwest #5692 arriving approx 4:40pm.
Thank you all again and we will see you WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Mindy, Jeff & Claire

More Pictures

Here are some more pics! Hope this works!

We are in Guangzhou!!!!!

Good morning! It is Sunday morning here. We arrived in Guangzhou Sat afternoon. We had a pretty smooth flight, it was short just 45 min. Claire did good and then fell asleep as soon as we were in the bus to the hotel! She had a rude awakening at the medical clinic for her required exam for her visa. She screamed the entire time and then peed down my leg. It was great. She weighs approx 17lbs.
After we got to the White Swan hotel she was a happy camper. It is a great hotel and we are so glad to finally be here. It is so nice to be able to walk the boardwalks, etc and not have to worry about being run down by a car or bike. There are alot of shops around so we're going to venture out for some shopping today after the church service.
I am FINALLY going to add some pics for everyone that has been asking!
See you all soon!
Love Jeff Mindy & Claire

Friday, Oct something

Sorry, I have no idea what the date is!!!!!
Today is our last day here in Changsha,Hunan. We are flying out tomorrow morning to Guangzhou to the White Swan. We are excited to get there. Not just because we have heard it is a great place but that is our last stop and we're that much closer to home!!!!
Our hotel here has been wonderful. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. The beds are even comfortable, without our mattress pad! The food is good here also, a little on the spicy side but Jeff is loving it. We have not however tried the steamed bull frog or pigs blood soup w/bean curd. Who knows, maybe tomorrow for breakfast???
We have ventured out quite a bit w/Claire and have been the center of attention wherever we go. We went out this morning for a walk and next door was a military band and dancers. We stopped for a while to listen and had probably 20-30 cameras on us. Everyone was taking our picture and not the band! It was very strange but they were truly happy to see us w/Claire.
We went to an academy here yesterday w/the other family and our guide. We had a couple of older men stop us and told us (thru our guide) that we were very kind to adopt her and we were always welcome in China. That made us very happy to hear that.
Claire is doing wonderful! She is a very happy and good baby! She still prefers mommy but is slowly warming up to daddy. Jeff took her the playroom last night for a couple of hours and they had a wonderful time playing. She was laughing at him and playing toys w/him. That made his day. She loves to get kisses from daddy, she leans over for him to kiss her forehead when I'm holding her. Before we know it she will be a daddy's girl. She already has him wrapped around her finger!
Please keep the comments coming, they are not showing up here but are getting forwarded to our email. It is so good to hear from people back home. We miss everyone terribly, especially our boys. Please give them hugs and kisses for us if you see them! We will post pics soon, when I can turn the lights on (Claire is napping right now!)
We will write more in Guangzhou!!!!!!!!!
Love you all!!!!!!
Mindy, Jeff & Claire

Gotcha!!!!!!!!

SHE'S OURS!!!!!!!!
We officially became Claire's parents this morning after we completed all the paperwork w/the notary, etc and paid the $$.
We received Claire yesterday afternoon (Mon 10/15). She cried and cried and cried! Poor thing. We felt horrible! She had a touch of a cold and cough but seems to be ok! She was clean and had her hair done all pretty w/barrettes! She eventually fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel after crying. Once she woke up here she was happy as could be! Playing, laughing, eating, everything! Jeff left for a while to go get formula, etc and after that she would not have anything to do w/him. She is a momma's girl for now. She cries the moment he gets near her unless he bribes her with food!
She slept all night long, falling asleep around 7pm and waking up around 6:30am. She is a really good eater!
She is very tiny! She is wearing the 9 month size clothing we brought for her and its a little long! She is crawling and pulling up to things. I don't feel like she is behind at all developmentally. She is doing wonderful grasping toys and picking up food.

ONE MORE DAY!

Hello everyone! We have just arrived in Changsha, Hunan. We are going to get Claire at 2:30 Monday afternoon!
We did the Great Wall yesterday, it was awesome. It was a little rainy & cool but worth every minute! We also visited the Cloisonne (sp?) factory. (Nicole--I got your rooster!) We ventured out last night w/a few other couples and hit a pizza buffet not too far from our hotel. I ate nothing but fries, Jeff was a little more adventurous. Pretty much all the pizza had some form of fish on it. No Thanks! Beijing was a cool city to visit, not as bad as I expected. We were also able to see the "Bird's Nest" that will hold the 2008 Olympics.
Changsha is a whole other story. Very crowded (1.6 million) but not as bad as Beijing. Very dirty and smoggy. Our hotel is beautiful though! There are some modern buildings, scattered here and there.
We are still unable to actually view our blog but everyone's comments are being emailed to us. I will continue to post pics on Snapfish so check that out!
More tomorrow after we get our little princess!

Please hug our boys for us! We miss them dearly.
Mindy & Jeff
PS---Kathy & Nicole, you forgot to warn me about the squatty potties! YUCK!!!!!

Ni Hao!

Hello everyone! We are FINALLY in Beijing! We were on an airplane for approx 17-18 hrs and awake for around 30! We slept OK the first night, when we finally got to the hotel, we didn't care how hard the beds were! Of course, I had my memory foam (Thanks Jeff S!) Jeff didn't want any for his bed.
We went to the Temple of Heaven today and are going to an acrobatic show this evening. Tomorrow is the Forbidden City, Tiananmen square and Hutong Tour. We are also hoping to see the new Olympic Stadium.
Beijing is a very cool city, little crowded & smoggy for our taste! The smog just hangs in the air, creating a haze. The taxi rides today were very memorable.
We have a terrific group of families here with us so we are definitely not alone!
We hope everyone is doing well, we miss everyone! Especially our boys! Someone please give them hugs and kisses for us. We can't wait to bring Claire home to meet her brothers!
Please bear w/us also on the pictures. We are having issues w/our blog so we may or may not be able to post them. We'll try!
Jeff & Mindy

Flight Info

Ok, for those who have been asking, here is our flight information!

We are leaving Tues, Oct 9th from DM at 12:15 pm on NW flight 2863.
Arrive Mpls at 1:28pm
Leave Mpls at 3:00pm on NW flight 19 to Tokyo
Arrive Tokyo at 5:25p (Wed 10/10)
Leave Tokyo at 6:25p on NW flight 11
Arrive Beijing at 9:25p (Wed 10/10)
16 HOURS TOTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We leave Guangzhou Wed Oct 24th at 8:15am on NW flight 10
Arrive Tokyo at 1:55p
Leave Tokyo at 3:25p on NW flight 20
Arrive Mpls at 12:05p
Leave Mpls at 3:30p on NW flight 5692
Arrive DM at 4:40p

There ya go!!!
Thank you so much for everyone's continued prayers & support. Most likely, the next time you see a new post is from BEIJING!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

China Itinerary

OK, for anyone who is wanting to know, here is our itinerary in China!
Oct 10-Arrive in Beijing via NW flight 11 from Tokyo @ 9:25pm. Stay at the Days Inn & Suites, Beijing
Oct 11-Orientation @ 9am. Acrobatic show in the afternoon.
Oct 12-Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City & Hutong Tour
Oct 13-Visit Great Wall & Cloisonne Factory
Oct 14-Fly to Changsha, Hunan, arrive at 1:35. Stay at the Dolton Hotel.
Oct 15-CLAIRE DAY!!!!!!!
Oct 16-Adoption registration & notarization
Oct 17-Free
Oct 18-Visit the Embroidery Factory & Yuelu Academy
Oct 19-Free
Oct 20-Receive all adoption documents. Fly to Guangzhou, arrive at 9:00am. Stay at the White Swan. Claire's medical exam in the morning, prepare all consulate docs in the afternoon.
Oct 21-Free
Oct 22-Visa Appointment
Oct 23-3:00 go to consulate and take the oath and pick up her visa
Oct 24-Flight NW 10 @ 8:15am to Tokyo. Arrive in DM @ 4:40pm.
Well, there ya go. I will post flight info later w/flight #'s, etc.

ONE WEEK

One more week to go! It should be a relatively stress-free week, right? HA HA HA
We did receive our I-171H today (our social worker rec'd it anyway, we will get Wed or Thurs) so all our official paperwork is done and we can bring her home w/out any problems!
Jeff & I started packer her suitcase today, I have no idea what to take but anything I forget, I can buy there!
Thanks again for all your continued prayers and lets hope for a smooth ride this week!
Love to all--------