Busy Day!

What a great day! Amanda's loving to Skype with her brothers - although like any nearly-three-year-old, she gets easily distracted!

Our day was full and busy! After our morning Skype session and breakfast, we headed out to Baiyun Sun - or White Cloud Mountain for some hiking. It was beautiful to see a mountain right in the middle of the big city of Guangzhou. And it was a LOT more strenuous than we'd expected! It was about two hours to get to the top of the mountain - lots of stairs and uphill climbs, which at times got challenging for us with her on our back! But it was well worth it! Here's a picture of us at the top of one of the trails, "Changshou Road" which means "Longevity of Life" - we're hoping all the exercise helped that cause! ;) (And by the way, before anyone starts thinking Jason was a slacker for letting me tote our 30-pound daughter around all day, he actually carried her most of the way up - chivalry still lives!)

So many people go there to climb, exercise and get fresh air - and we were definitely the only non-local folk there, so we got lots of smiles and attention! As we were resting on some benches on the way up, some really nice people started talking to us about Amanda. Through our guide, Jack, they told us how smart and very special she is, and that it's definitely fate that she's with us. And because her ears are "big", that means she's lucky! ;) Jack told them that we're definitely the lucky ones to have her- and it's true! They were so sweet and even gave her an orange to eat. I think one of my favorite parts of the whole interaction was when one of the women bent down to talk to her, she got really quiet and shied away, looking to me for reassurance and how she should react. A great sign that she's really starting to bond with us!

We saw some really beautiful scenery on the way up - I took a million pictures, but will only post one to give you a taste. ;)

After lunch (noodles, spicy beef, broccoli and tea) at a restaurant near the top, we then headed back down. We let Amanda walk for a bit - actually, MADE her walk would be more accurate. She kept putting her arms up to be carried, going between me and Jason. When she finally figured out neither of us would carry her, she stopped walking and made a pouty face, waiting to see what we'd do. Once we got about 20 yards away she finally realized that we meant it and came running, all smiles again. She's really starting to test the limits and boundaries with us - just as you'd expect with any child her age! So we're actually pretty pleased with it. ;) All that walking must have really worn her out, because on our way down she totally passed out asleep on me.

To end our outing, we made a trip to the Pearl Market and had some beautiful fresh-water pearl jewelry made for her to have once she's older. We're hoping it will be something she'll come to treasure as part of her heritage.

Amanda has picked up so much in such a small amount of time. She's caught on very quickly to anything we've taught her - she's got the bathroom routine and washing hands DOWN! (Which in public, is a HUGE adventure - I'll post more on that cultural experience later.) She says "all done", "baby", "BahBah", "MaMa" and signs for please whenever she wants food off our plate. ;) She speaks LOTS of Chinese - today she said "Those are cats over there" while we were eating lunch. A pretty good sentence for her age! She tries repeating just about anything we say and knows to look to us whenever she needs help. We've been beyond pleased with how quickly she's picked everything up. It really feels like she's been with us for so much longer than just 4 days. Her laughter is absolutely contagious and we can't get over how many different facial expressions she makes. We love her so much already!

True Colors

Today's been another full, enjoyable day! Amanda is really beginning to show her true colors! Today was a day full of running, laughing, pitching a few fits (usually over food or not going where SHE wanted to go), and lots of squealing with joy! She loves to run anywhere and everywhere we'll let her. She also is a bit obsessed with escalators (points excitedly and makes a beeline toward any that come into sight) and loves to go out on excursions (if she feels like we've been in the hotel room too long, she walks up to BahBah, puts up her arms for him to pick her up and then points at the door!) Any time we're somewhere new, she's always quiet at first, just taking everything in with her wide, curious eyes.

Our morning began with another delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel-

and then after many escalator trips in the hotel lobby we headed over to get Amanda's picture taken for her Chinese passport (which we're told is only used for our trip home and after that she'll need a US Passport as she'll officially be a US citizen). The wait was a little longer than we'd expected, so we had lots of opportunity to let her run around and laugh and squeal loudly - VERY loudly! Goodness, that girl's got some lungs! ;) We've decided with her love for laughter, her crazy amounts of energy and general loud behavior, she'll fit RIGHT in with our boys! God sure knew what he was doing when he matched her with us!

After that we headed to the Chinese version of Walmart, Carrefour. It was fun to see all the Chinese New Year decorations going up. And the magnetic people-mover conveyor belt system for moving people and carts between the floors was really ingenious - and Amanda thought the ride was pretty fun!

They had an amazing selection of cooked food there, so we chose to grab some potstickers/dumplings for us and a giant meat-filled bun for Amanda to eat later (all for the bargain price of about $2.20!). We then headed to our guide, Jack's, favorite local teahouse. 

It was really an amazing experience! He gave us a lot of history on the Chinese teas (I bought some 14-year-old delicious black tea - it apparently gets better with age!) and Amanda even got to try some! Later, after nap time, we decided to try out our Boba carrier and venture out into Guangzhou. Amanda loved riding with her BahBah,

but we think she might have loved riding with Mama even more since she could sit so much higher and see so much more! ;)

As we got further and further from the hotel, we decided that the area where we're staying is like "Western-Town" (an American version of Chinatown). Just a few short blocks away were more traditional Chinese shops, selling fruit, stationery, and tea. We peeked into a courtyard between some apartment buildings and saw families and friends playing ping pong and exercising together. It was so much fun seeing a little more "Chinese" China! (Jack frequently tells us that Guangzhou is not "China";)) 

Overall, we had another great day! We're missing Austin and Jackson terribly, but Skyping is really helping. We just can't wait till Amanda can meet her brothers in person! And here's one more pic of Amanda, just because I can't resist. ;)

"Cam... What IS this place??"

If you've seen the Modern Family episode where Cam takes Mitchell to Costco for the first time, you should be able to relate to this analogy. Mitchell walks around in complete overwhelmed awe of the unexpected delights that Costco had to offer - cheap diapers, an excellent wine selection, and the paper shredder he always wanted. Well, today was much like that for Amanda. Whether we carried her or she walked, no matter where we went she observed everything with big, wide curious eyes and a ready finger to point to anything she found new, exciting, and different. Our adventures today began at the Civil Affairs Office again where we completed our final interviews and notaries with the Chinese government to finally make Amanda officially "ours"! Then after lunch and naptime we headed out to explore the hotel - the grounds are beautiful! After that was a trip to the Friendship Store supermarket, and later dinner at the Banana Leaf restaurant. A very eventful day! 

We've discovered a surefire way to get Amanda to pitch a full-blown tantrum: take away food. This morning she was enjoying a huge, delicious pear (see picture), but it was time to leave for breakfast before she'd finished. When we took it away we got a taste of her first fit of crying (see picture). However, as soon as I whipped out our handy Simple Chinese Language phrase book and told her "Chir fahn bah" (let's go eat!), she immediately calmed down and was back to her sweet, good-humored self. And boy does she love to eat!  She's willing to try nearly anything once and now signs please whenever she wants anything off our plates - great progress! 

Another big success for the day was bath time! We'd heard that often the kids will have trouble, so we were careful to ease her into it. No need - she LOVED it! She quickly discovered the fun of splashing (the walls, herself, Mama and BahBah/Daddy!). I think it's become one of her favorite activities (next to coloring and making us laugh!) 

Amanda's feeling more and more comfortable with us, fussing when she doesn't get her way, testing the limits at bedtime, and grabbing for whatever she wants. She also asks us for help, looks to us for reassurance when she's uncertain, gives BahBah a kiss when he asks (!!) and grabs both our hands as we walk so we can swing her (which results in her beautiful laughter!) We're loving every minute of getting to know our daughter!

Wow... Just, wow!

Well, it's now 6:30 am on the 27th in China and we're just waking up - at least Jason and I are (crazy jet lag!) Amanda is passed out asleep next to me (I grabbed her to cuddle when we woke up) so I have a few moments to replay yesterday's events. After a leisurely morning of hitting the Friendship Market (a giant mall with HIGH end stores like Cartier, Gucci, etc., and a supermarket on the 4th floor!) and having a delicious Chinese meal of fried rice, vermicelli and tea, it was FINALLY time to get Amanda at 2:00! I'd been expecting many (as in, 30-40) families to be at the Civil Affairs Office, also waiting for their children, but surprisingly (I guess because we're here at Christmas!) there were only 6 other families. We barely had a moment to sit down before it was time for her to walk into the room and become ours! I caught a glimpse of her through the doorway curtains and had to hold back the tears of joy - she's beautiful!!! Then she came out to us and we were even more blown away. She gave us each shy smiles and stood for a few moments, wary of what was going on. But then I gave her a doll and she was all smiles from then on. We only sat and chatted with the orphanage director for a few moments, but she was able to give us much more than I'd hoped. Amanda had been attending the new "Sunshine Preschool" in the orphanage, so she gave us many samples of her "artwork", as well as a really sweet, wonderful letter from her teacher - something I think she'll come to treasure. It was certainly more than I'd expected to know about her time in the orphanage.
> 
> Our trip back to the hotel with her in my lap (no carseats here) was smooth as she looked out the window, pointing at everything and just talking away (no idea what she was saying, but she's very verbal!) She walked into the hotel holding Jason's hand looking at everything in total awe (and confusion, I'm sure!) Once we got into the room, we began to see her real personality - she's amazing! She's so very curious, exploring everything - not in a haphazard way, but with great attention to details. And once she sees something she wants, she makes a beeline for it, grabs it and won't let go (short of us prying it out of her fingers - very typical 3-year-old!) Amanda LOVES to draw and color. We probably spent well over 2 hours just sitting on the floor coloring and playing with the markers and crayons. Who knew markers could be so entertaining?? And our favorite thing we've learned about her so far - she LOVES to laugh! She has a a great big belly laugh that gets her going so much that she often will fall over when she's dying of laughter! We've found so many ways to get her laughing: making faces, tickling, playing silly games with the markers - just about anything as it doesn't take much! 
> 
> Finally it was bedtime, which went quite well. She almost cried as we laid her down in the crib/bed at the foot of our bed. But Jason and I stood/sat right beside her with our hands on her chest and forehead, she began to suck her thumb and then went right to sleep! We all had a very big day yesterday, so we all slept very well. Overall it was an incredibly smooth first day. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers - they worked!!!

Merry Christmas From China!!

Merry Christmas from China! We're here and getting settled in to our beautiful digs for the next two weeks - the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. Our trip here was thankfully smooth and uneventful! All bags made it here, fairly unscathed, and we made all of our connections - a success! We were initially a little concerned about how our connection in Beijing would go, since we had to pick up our bags, get through immigration and customs, and then check in for new boarding passes and re-check our luggage. But as we were waiting for our bags to come out, we kept hearing an airport worker asking everyone something about Guangzhou (our final destination). I flagged her down and she graciously told us to get our luggage and follow her. So we did - and thank goodness!! She was like a little guardian angel running (literally!!) us through the Beijing airport, from one end to the other, through customs without incident, all the way to the check-in counter. It was a 10 minute RUN through the airport and we were soooo grateful to her - we still only had a few minutes to spare before our flight began to board. God was watching out for us!

Christmas in China is a lot more Christmas-y than expected! Our hotel has an enormous tree beautifully decorated and displayed both in the lobby and outside. Christmas music plays in the elevators. We've even been told "Merry Christmas" several times today. ;) So, although we're missing Austin, Jackson and all of our family terribly today, we've had many great reminders for what today actually is. And even if the Christmas celebration is completely secular here, they're also great reminders of the true "reason for the season". 

We leave tomorrow at 2:00 to finally meet and get our precious Amanda - we're crazy with excitement and anticipation! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - I can't even imagine how bewildering tomorrow will be for her. We love her so much already and hope we can somehow convey how safe and cared for she'll be with us. We will begin to know more tomorrow (!?!?!)!

So tonight, to celebrate our Christmas in China, I think we'll hit an Irish Pub! Who'd have thought???
Merry Christmas!

Journey to Amanda - Welcome!

We've started this blog to share our thoughts, emotions, and experiences through our journey to adopt Amanda Fei Porter. She has already blessed us in so many ways and we haven't even met her yet! She will be three years old January 26th, 2012 and we'll be traveling over Christmas to bring her home. Words cannot even express our level of anticipation, joy and excitement that the time is nearly here! Throughout this process we greatly appreciate all thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement - we certainly couldn't do this without the incredible support of our wonderful friends and family. Enjoy!