PRAYERS NEEDED!!!!!!

We just got a notice from the US consulate that they are experiencing some sort of emergency ( we don't know if it is a computer glitch or something more serious), so all those who had visa appointments today (that would be us) may not get our visas as scheduled.  Also, those who had their visa appointments on Tuesday or Wednesday had their visa appointments cancelled!  So thankful that is not us, but that does affect friends that we have met here.  Our schedule was originally to receive our visa Tuesday afternoon, then drive directly to Hong Kong to catch an early flight Wednesday morning.  If we can't get  her visa Tuesday then it will be very hard to make our flight Wednesday morning.  We are very very stressed about this, we are so anxious to get back to our boys and back on US soil!!! Not to mention changing flights will be very expensive!  PLEASE pray that they get whatever this problem is fixed so we can get our visa as scheduled tomorrow, as well as all the other families!!!  THANK YOU!!!!  

Day 6 with Claire!

It's hard to believe it's only been 6 days with Claire!  We are loving every minute we spend with her!!

Saturday was a free day for us so we went to Shaiman Island again.  I wanted to do more shopping and take some more pictures of her with the beautiful flowers. 

Look who decided to start walking!!!

 She of course wouldn't smile when I wanted a picture of the two of us! :)

 Sweet serious baby!

 The island is beautiful, the architecture reminds me a lot of New Orleans.

 Isn't this a pretty Starbucks?

 SO mad I didn't check the settings on the camera before taking this! I hope I can fix it in photoshop because I love her big smile!

 She started playing around with Ryan and was loving being silly!

 LOVE this one!

 That night we crashed another adoption groups' dinner. :)  We are traveling alone but there are lots of groups traveling here together.  The friends we made are in this particular group and invited us to go to their dinner.  It was so fun to hang out with other adoptive parents and kids!

 The restaurant we went to.  It was SO good.

 In our hotel after dinner.

 We tried to get a picture of the two girls togther but here Isabelle was not having it.

 So we tried the couch and Claire wasn't having it.  Look at the look Isabelle is giving her! :)

 So we added the mommy's and Isabelle took off.  Oh well, we tried!

Claire has been so so happy.  She really only fusses during normal baby times now, when tired or hungry!  She used to cry every time we went into our hotel room and we'd have to calm her down, but we just realized that today and yesterday she didn't do that, she feels comfortable now I think.  We are just so so grateful, thankful, and blessed.   And only 4 more days until we see our boys, yippee!!!!!

Day 5 with Claire

Look who's standing on her own!  Claire has become much more comfortable with us and is doing more and more things.

 Here she is throwing the ball with Daddy!

 Look at this adorable outfit!!! This was her cousin Elizabeth's when she was little.  (Her face is very white because I sunscreened her up.  She had better get used to that in this family! :))

Becky took us to Yuntai Park today.

 It was beautiful! 

 Wouldn't this have been beautiful if she had been happy?  (Well, it's beautiful anyway but I would have loved to frame this if she had been at least relatively happy :)).  She was very overwhelmed here and so only wanted to be held by us.  When we put her down for photos she cried.  So disappointing because this was the perfect place to get pictures of her!

 I don't know about these pictures mommy!

 Happier in daddy's arms!

 2013 is the year of the snake.

 We tried out the stroller  because it was SO humid and hot, but she was only happy if I was walking next to her holding her hand.

After the park we went to the notary's office to get some paperwork.  We had to be there for 45 minutes and she was so happy!

 Back at the hotel we practiced walking more.  She is really loving to walk! (only while holding one of our hands though).  She has taken a few steps without us but really prefers to hold our hand.

 We met our friends in the lobby of the hotel to go to Shaiman Island, so I took the opportunity to take a few photos of her.

 On Shaiman Island.  She wasn't too sure of the little children here.

 This is where we ate that night.  We tried to order without seafood but everything ended up having seafood in it!  You would be so proud, I actually ate the pasta with shrimp!  (I made sure to pick through the food so there was no shrimp on my plate :) 

Bedtime was great, she fell asleep on me but then was ok with laying  by herself after asleep.  Then she slept until 7!!!   On to another great day!

Day 4 with Claire!

We had a great day with Claire!  We started the morning skyping with the boys.  We miss them so much!

We had a day free of adoption official stuff today so our guide Becky took us to visit the Chen Academy.  It was beautiful!  Unfortunately I didn't look at my camera's setting before taking the pictures so they're very washed out.  I'll have to try to fix that later.

Me and Claire with Becky.

 Ryan and I with Claire.

 The beautiful building-there were tons of carvings all over it.  Becky was very knowledgeable and told us all about the history and what all of the different carvings meant.

 Inside the academy there was an artist there painting entirely with his hand.  It was amazing.  If you bought one of the paintings then they would write your name on it in Chinese.   We did lots of shopping here.  :)

 Buying "chops" for the kids.  They're these stamps carved out of marble maybe?? I need to ask what the stone is, and on the bottom of it they carve your cihld's name. 

 We bought paintings for the kids and the artist wrote their name and the date on them (in Chinese). 

 The weather yesterday was SO hot and muggy.  Just sticky.  I was wearing her in the ergo but she started to get a little heat rash on her face so we decided to try out the stroller.  It's best for babies after their adopted to be held as much as possible to facilitate bonding, so I try to as much as possible.  But it is sure going to be hard in the heat here and at home!  She did not really enjoy the stroller, if you can tell by this picture.  She lasted about 5 minutes and then just sat and whined.  We of course had to hold her then. :)  Ryan and I took turns so it wasn't TOO hot.

 Becky took us to a traditional Chinese restaurant.  It was good!  As most of you know I'm not a very adventurous eater so I mostly stuck to the fried rice.  I did try a few bites of everything else though.

 They gave us a big table and then on the middle they put all of the dishes family style.  They have it on a big lazy susan.  I tried jasmine tea for the first time, oh my it is good!  We bought some at a tea house here.

 Claire did not want to sit in the high chair so she sat in my lap during lunch.  She then needed a diaper change and our guide said to just change her right at the table!  There are no baby changing facilities in the bathrooms, that's for sure. 

 After lunch we shopped for 4-5 hours!!!!  We walked down this street and went to a beautiful embroidery shop.  We got some beautiful things there. 

 Then we went to the pearl market.  Becky knew a great place to go to buy pearls. 

 The market was HUGE!  Also crazy busy!  It's filled with just tons of tiny shops everywhere.  We would have been so lost had we gone by ourselves.  We found some jade jewlery as well here. 

 In the car on the way back to the hotel.  She was such a trooper the entire time we shopped.  She's having some snacks right now, right before she started to get fussy. She was done shopping!

 We tried to get a picture to convey the traffic and chaos in the streets but this picture definitely doesn't do it justice.  When cars merge they literally get inches apart and people just walk right between cars without looking or waiting to see if cars will stop.  We were joking that if we had to drive here we'd be stuck behind the wheel right where we started because we'd never have the guts to just merge in.  Thank goodness for our driver!

We ended the night with room service and then bed!  I'd say bedtime was a mix between the last two nights.  She woke a few times and wanted to sleep on us, but also had some time in the bed by herself.  We miss you all!!!