Trip to China
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Thursday, January 24, 2008 It’s panda day for Grace! I think she could be a Gymboree model, what do you think? The good news is that Grace (and we) slept 12 hours last night with a short intermission for a quick bottle. We were so happy and we all woke up feeling rested and happy. That made for another great photo shoot. Today was a really good day- Grace was very happy all day and we saw a bit more of her personality come out. She is really letting us know that she is comfortable with us- I have been covering her with kisses and she never pulls away, she enjoys having my face touch her face. Today she even reached up and touched both of our faces. This was a huge step since she barely even reaches out for her toys. She was also very vocal today- yapping away with lots of da-da-da-da’s. A few times today, she let us know that she was mad with some funny grunting noises. The entire group has gotten a kick out of watching Grace come out of her shell. She is definitely the little shy one of the group. We took a bus ride today out to the countryside, which amazingly was only about 25 minutes away. It seemed like a completely different world. It was another gray, very cold and windy day. We all took the trip today- Grace seems content to be snuggled up in her bear suit on the bus and looking out the window. We hope she enjoys planes that much! Since she fell asleep before we reached our destination, Daddy stayed on the bus with Grace while I took a walk with the group and our guides through a small village. I was heartbroken to see how most of China lives, and how Grace’s birth family most likely lives. I was heartbroken to see the children without any gloves or mittens. The people there were so nice to us- especially considering a big bus pulled up to their town and out hopped a bunch of Americans, carrying Chinese babies and taking their pictures. We are all amazed at the kindness and hospitality of all the Chinese people. They are so happy to see us with the babies; they go out of their way to let us know that they appreciate what we are doing. We received our birth certificates and final adoption paperwork today. Tomorrow we will receive Grace’s Chinese passport and on Saturday, we head to Guangzhou to finalize our US paperwork and get Grace’s US visa. We are really enjoying this special time we have to bond with Grace and experience some Chinese culture.

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