We met early this morning and went to the Kunming Childrens Welfare Institute. WE toured the orphange where Mia lived for 6 months. She was in foster care for the last three months. The orphanage was very clean and the people were very friendly. We were saddened in seeing many special needs children but they looked well cared for and appeared happy. We also saw some of the very young babies. Mia got to eat lunch there as she once did. She watched me while she was fed by a nanny. Many of the staff stopped to look and greet Mia. We did take some pictures of the outside. The pictures I posted awhile ago are much better. We learned Mia was placed on a bus by her family and found by the transportation staff. Then the police took her to the orphanage. We walked around town going into many little shops on the street. We have our favorite spots like for water or food. Paul bought some movies really cheap and is thrilled two are still in theaters at home. Despite our efforts to try new food we have found ourselves at KFC afew times at comfort food of home. We met with our coordinator and completed more paperwork. We learned a better understanding of the adoption paperwork. As of 8/27/07 Mia was offical in our family. The rest of this week is waiting for her passport. We then take the passport and all the paperwork we did the the US Consulate. There Mia will get her visa and she will become a US citizen. We will fly to Guangzhou on Saturday where the US consulate is. We are homesick and miss everyone. Mia is really adjusted to us. She is smiling more and more. She is making more and more noises.

We have enjoyed the entire day lounging with Mia. We gave her a bath and she loved it!! Last night she went to bed at 830pm and slept until 6:30am. It was good to me. Mia is laughing more and on the move. She wants to take off on the floor but it is not clean enough so we just let her play on the beds. she is going to love it at home on the floor. Enjoy some more pictures.

I am trying to post pictures, but I cant access the site to see how it worked.

This day has been amazing. We let the hotel at 8:30am to meet Mia. We walked into the governmental offices and she was sitting with a caretaker on chair. She came right to me. Then went to Paul. She has hardly cried. She is in 9 month clothes with a little room to spare. She can sit up on her own and scoot around. She ate great at lunch and dinner. There was not schedule given to us, so we are just winging it. While waiting for paperwork to get done she fell asleep in my arms. We spent the afternoon in the hotel just playing. She just sat up slowly we got her scooting crawling and pulling herself up to standing. I can only share the facts because my emotions are in overload. We are having some difficulty posting pictures but I am working on it.

We are in China!! I Cant believe we are here. The wait continues one more day..we are going to met Mia tomarrow. We spent alot of time today seeing Kunming and went to the Nationalities Village. The city of Kunming was very busy. The traffic with cars, motorbikes, bicycles, and walkers was crazy and everyone goes and doesnot look. It makes driving in downtown Chicago look like the countryside. The Nationalities Village is a hug place beautifully set up with mini villages you can walk through. Very interesting. My feet throb. I actually tried some new food!

We have our travel approval and we will be getting Mia on August 26th. We are excited to share our journey with our family and friends. I am going to do my best to do daily or everyother day entries..this week and through the trip. To practice using this site I am goint some day this week to post the nursery pictures and more. The time is approaching and I will be holding my daughter this time next week.

Labels: travel