We arrived home late Friday night after 33 hours of travel! It was the longest day/night/day/night etc. ever! We were thrilled to be greeted by my Mom and Uncle and Shipley. It was wonderful to see everyone again.
Eliza is having a hard time letting Jeff and I out of her reach. She would like it if we just sat and held her all day. Obviously that is not possible so there has been quite a bit of tears. However, all in all, she is adjusting and learning some new faces. If you come to visit us in the upcoming weeks please note that Eliza is really going through an adjustment. I would love for her to just snuggle up to each person but I think we might be months from that day. I do not want anyone to get their feelings hurt that Eliza strongly prefers her mommy and daddy. This does show that she has strongly bonded to us and that is great news.
Oh- Slaton has just arrived and I am RUNNING to hug him!!! Sorry for the short post. More soon.....

Well folks, this is it! We went to the consulate today, swore we would be good parents to Eliza and that all information we had given was true, and Eliza is only a blink away from becoming an American! The minute we hit Chicago soil- she will be AMERICAN!!!!
Eliza awoke today with a lot of rumbling in her chest. We were concerned that she still did not sound perfect. With three flights tomorrow, we decided to head to the local clinic, located in the hotel. Sure enough, she still has bronchitis. The doctor gave her enough antibiotics to get us back to America plus two days. We will have to go see Dr. Kuo on Monday.
The medicines over here are really weird. You have to mix them yourself and the instructions are, "use 3/4 of a pack and mix with 5 ml". From there you have to somehow get it in their little mouths and into their bellies. This is really a challenge with Eliza. She is a champ at spitting it all over the place, coughing it back up from deep in her throat, and using her tongue to push it all back out and down her chin. We had to strip her shirt off and put a big towel under her. I think us trying to give this to Eliza on the plane tomorrow will be a challenge. She had her first dose today at 11 am and by 5 pm the diahhrea had started again. The next 24 hours should be interesting at best.
We leave here at 5am in the morning. We fly from here to Hong Kong (90 minutes). Next, we catch a plane to Chicago (15 hours) where we will go through customs. From Chicago we fly to Atlanta (2.5 hours) and then we will finally be close to home. From the time our flight leaves here until the time we get to Atlanta we are travelling for almost exactly 24 hours. Oh, and did I mention that we only have a lap ticket for Eliza. PRAYERS and GOOD WISHES please. :)
Once we get to Atlanta we will need lots of time to recover from travel as well as time to be with our boys and introduce them to their sister. We love you all but we need to request that you hold all calls for about a week so that we can settle and not feel so overwhelmed. We know you all want to meet Eliza and hug our necks but please respect the craziness of the Smith house and give us just a bit of time to get our feet on the ground.
Thank you all for you love, messages, and support throughout this two year process. We feel like the most blessed couple in the world!
Hugs to all!

A few more of Eliza from today. Nothing exciting, as far as location, just Eliza in the hotel room- happy.







A request for prayers and advice...
Eliza has been waking up every 45 minutes for the last three nights. She wakes up with a jolt and it is followed by some really piercing crying. The first night she was able to soothe herself back to sleep but the last two nights we ahve had to go to her. We try not to pick her up if we can reassure her with patting her back and rubbing her head. However, several times this has not even worked and we have held her until she calms back down. Jeff and I are feeling weary from very interrupted sleep and we are worried about Eliza. I realize that she is probably having nightmares and it stems from all the recent change but should I know more? Of course we want to make it better. So, please pray for Eliza's peaceful sleep and that she may know the love of our family and feel secure. Also, if you have additional advice for me then please e-mail me privately so that I may begin to learn more about what to do for her. I may not have time to immediately respond (life will be insane for the first couple of weeks we return) but I promise I will appreciate any advice you might be able to share with us!



Thirty minutes into Eliza's nap today she began crying. Finally, Jeff had to pick her up to soothe her. By the time I arrived back in the room- here is what I saw. :) Jeff is a wonderful Daddy!

Here are pictures from the "red couch" today. Eliza has on the gold color traditional dress.

Here are pictures from the medical exam (about 2 minutes total). We learned that Eliza weighs 23 pounds!!!! No wonder our backs are killing us. She is such a big girl! All the other babies we see here are tiny little things and then there is Eliza (and one other little girl in our group). Did I mention that Eliza is the youngest baby in our travel group? The youngest and the biggest!

Can you tell we are all a wee bit tired:



Mommy and Eliza at the temple:



Eliza playing with her friend Katie and Lela:



Eliza and Jeff in front of Budda:



Eliza receiving her blessing from the monk:


Jeff and Eliza outside the temple:

Another day of waiting……

The VISA applications have been completed and they will be delivered to the US Consulate on Wednesday. So today was another day of waiting.

We got up early and went to breakfast. We are fast learning why the White Swan is a favorite for adoptive parents. The breakfast buffet is wonderful. So good that we have been able to skip lunch for the past two days! Last evening we ate at the White Swan BBQ Buffet. BBQ to Chinese has a little different meaning than in the US. The BBQ is just an open flame cook top that is located outside. For about $25 US we feasted on beef tender loin, spare ribs, beef kabobs, lamb, and a dozen or so varieties of fish, all cooked to order over an open flame. The list of side dishes and deserts is too long to mention.

We sat outside over looking the river. There was a light breeze and the temperature was just right, not too cool and not too hot. For a moment it actually felt like we were on vacation! Just as we finished our meal, the laser show started across the river (a nightly ritual in this resort town). The Chinese love anything bright and flashing. We have seen more neon lights that Las Vegas ever dreamed of!

After breakfast we took a tour to visit a Buddhist Temple, a government run shopping mall, and the House of Chen. I think we got carried away with pictures of the architecture and art work. We wrapped up the evening with a group dinner at the Cow and Bridge Thai Restaurant. Again, we had another splendid meal.

We miss everyone very much, especially our boys! We think and talk about them all the time. When ever the “Grandma Police” stops us on the street to inquire about Eliza, we whip out the pictures of Slaton and Shipley. Every vendor that has invited us into their shop knows about Slaton and Shipley.

Tomorrow we present Eliza and her immunization registry for a medical exam. The exam is required before a Visa can be issued. On Wednesday, we have to wait in our rooms while the Visa Applications are reviewed by the Consulate (just in case there are any questions that we need to answer).

Some people have asked us which is worse, natural child birth or adopting a child. Our answer: Both are wonderful experiences and the reward of having and holding a child is worth all the pains and trials. One thing that both share is plenty of waiting!

Only four more days! The count down is on.

A few pictures of Eliza from today. The yellow "dot" on her head is a barrett that a local store owner put in Eliza's hair. Eliza does not really ahve quite enough hair yet for a bow.

The pictures of the man making the "chop"-

November 11th- 9:15PM
We are begining to feel a little more at home here in Gaungzhou. Yes, our room is itty bitty but it is nice to have lots of other Americans around. We went down to breakfast this morning and there must have been at least 50 other American families with Chinese babies. This sight really pulls at my heart. How wonderful that so many Americans are blessed to welcome these little girls (mostly) into their homes. However, I cannot even imagine how many tens of thousands of these little girls are leaving their home country. The laws here just baffle me.
After breakfast I took Eliza down to the playroom. Mattel has donated the playroom here and it is VERY NICE. All kinds of toys, swings and games for babies and toddlers. There were about 10 other children down there with us and I enjoyed talking to several other parents. I am fascinated by the various families and each one of their stories of how they ended up here in this moment. I do think we win the award (this might be the Crazy Award) for having the youngest child at home. However, there are lots of other families here with young biological children who, like us, have chosen adoption to grow their family. I love each persons very personal, very different story.
Mattel also does one other really cool thing for all the adopted children. They give each child her own White Swan Barbie. It is PRECIOUS!




Now is that the greatest keepsake! I am thrilled Eliza will have this!

Eliza took a two hour nap and when she woke up we took her shopping for a bit. We bought the coolest "chop" with our address on it. It is a big Budda and then the man cut out our name and address on the bottom. Look above to see the pictures....

The "park" across the street from our hotel in Fuling:



Fuling market:



Mei Mei with her big sister Audrey:


Mia with her mommy:


Eliza getting her diaper changed in the airport:

Yesterday was a travel day. We packed everything up and realized that not only had we picked up a little girl, we had also picked up about another 50 pounds of stuff. For a little girl, she sure has a lot of stuff!

We placed our bags outside the room at 7:30AM and went to breakfast. Going to breakfast was really just a social thing, we were so tired of the local food that we ate Oreo cookies and drank Coca Cola for breakfast in the room. At 9:00 AM we checked out of the Hotel and loaded up on the bus. Our plane took off at 11:00 AM and we landed in Guangzhou around 12:30 PM. It took us another couple of hours to get settled in at the White Swan Hotel.

We had heard so many great things about the White Swan but to be honest, the White Swan was disapointing when compared to the Hotel in Chongqing. But, we are only here for a few days. I think that we can make it. The staff here is excellent and it's great to see and hear Americans and lots of English speaking people.

We took a short walk to see what was around and then we crashed. We fell asleep with the Discovery Channel.

We're up now and headed to breakfast! More later.....

Here are some pictures from yesterday. We are due on the bus in about three minutes so I am running out the door but I wanted to post pictures while I had a small window of morning time-
Hugs to all!

The Smith Family with our CCAI travel guides:


All the babies:



All the Dads and babies:


All the Moms and babies:


Our CCAI travel group number 1064- Long story but our group was split into two smaller groups (1064 (ours) and 1064A). There are 13 families in all but only eight families in our group. This pictures is of all the families.

Waiting for Guangzhou….

Today we’re at the half way point of our journey. Eight days ago we were excited parents of two children looking forward to traveling to the other side of the world to add number three. We absolutely love Eliza. Her personality is infectious and she is winning us over with her charm. At first, we were scared that she would not accept us, but now, she doesn’t want to have us out of her sight. So today we reach day eight and the waiting is wearing us out.

At this point we are waiting for Eliza’s passport so that we can travel to Guangzhou and receive final instructions for leaving the country. Last night I reviewed the certificate of birth, certificate of abandonment, and the certificate of adoption. It’s hard to believe that so much has happened in her little world at just 10 months old. All of the documents were prepared in Chinese with English translations attached.

Eight more days to go! Most of the families that are traveling with us have become ill. I’m not sure if it is home sickness, bad water, or poor choices of meals, but one thing is certain…. We all want to go home! Elizabeth and I both miss our boys and have burned ourselves out on the local McDonald’s. Yes, they have McDonald’s. It’s funny though, they like to put cucumbers on their Big Mac’s and the special sauce has a little more kick.

I went out this morning and took some pictures of everyone doing Tia Chi. I felt like I was invading their privacy. Funny, they don’t seem to feel the same way when they stare at us as we walk along, shop, or just stand there and doing nothing. One new mother in our group shared a story about changing a diaper in public restroom. She said that she has seven helpers all looking on as she went about the business of changing a diaper. Stress was high as she is a first time mother and all the on-lookers were quick to comment (in Chinese of course!).

Communication has been and continues to be a problem. One of the little girls that traveled here with her family to adopt was having a tough time finding something she liked to eat so she asked her father to call room service and order an egg roll. A few minutes later, an egg omlette was delivered to their door by a courteous bell man.

We went to dinner at a local restaurant last evening. A drinking glass with dried rose petals was placed before each of us and a gentleman used a long water pitcher to fill each glass with hot water. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to drink from the glass or if this was water to wash our hands. When we asked, the staff just giggled at us. After several attempts to inquire about the use of the water, a cook appeared at our table. He was the only employee that spoke English. He giggled as well and then informed us that it was rose tea and we were to drink it. I decided to pass on the tea and ask for a Coca Cola. A few more minutes passed and they brought out an ice cold can of Pepsi. I was happy to have any type of cola at that point! Dinner was fabulous! We had steamed broccoli, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, noodle soup, pork dumplings with three cans of Pepsi, Rose Tea and an assortment of water melon and cantaloupe for desert. We fed 3 adults and two infants for $130 Chinese Yen (That equates to about $15 US).

So far, it’s been a good trip with little to complain about. CCAI has provided us with great tour guides and excellent accommodations. The Chinese people are curious but pleasant. But China is half a world away from where we call home and we can all certainly feel the distance at this point. Eight more days seems like an eternity. Tomorrow we make the 2 hours plane flight early in the morning.

We miss you all and certainly look forward to seeing you again soon!

Here are some pictures from yesterday. Jeff and I are really working with her and putting her on her belly each chance we get. We are hoping to help her build some upper body strength, hold her head up, and eventually begin to crawl. Right now she will not put her legs under her into a crawling position but I know she will catch on quickly as we work with her.
Eliza had her first solid bowel movement today. Hurray and thank goodness.
I, on the other hand, am feeling a bit wimpy. Lots of our group is suffering from 24 hour bug symptoms. I am going to work really hard over the next week to monitor even more closely what is going into my body.
Nothing on the schedule for today and I am feeling a bit stir crazy. Tomorrow we fly out to Huongzou (I spelled that wrong- sorry). Anyway, we will have a two hour flight in the morning. Once in Huongzou we will be with lots of other adopting Americans at the White Swan Hotel. Hopefully that leg of the trip will be a little more comfortable then this part.
Off to eat another saltine and some more Gatoraide!

Each day we work on tummy time:




A SMILE!!!!!!!



Eliza and Mommy:


Eliza and her friend Katie (in the hotel room before going to the zoo):



Eliza ready to go to the zoo:



See the panda in the background:


Our group at the zoo:

****pictures to come by late tonight- for some reason I am unable to upload images here at night so I will have to wait until morning in China****

Jeff and Eliza are both napping and I am busy working on downloading the card from my camera and organizing the images. I refuse to get behind on organizing the pictures while I am here. I know it will be so hard to do much of anything when I return home- at least for the fist month or so. Therefore, I am trying to stay on my game so that I can archive these images and memories for Eliza. As you all know, photography is my passion so this is not really work for me.

Some of you might be wondering if I brought my camera or not. Well, of course I did. We used it a tad in Hong Kong but have not really used it while in China. It is too cumbersome with trying to stay with the group, hold onto Eliza and all her belongings and protect it from any disaster. I am still happy I have it though. I am thinking about settig up a "fake" backdrop tomorrow and letting any of the families who want bring their children over in the morning for me to photograph. Not sure if anyone will be interested but I do think I will offer. I photographed Eliza and her friend Katie this morning (in about 1 minute as we were walking out the door to the zoo) and I like the light the room gets in the morning.

The zoo was fairly uneventful. It was clean and it had some nice gardens. It really was more like taking a really nice stroll this morning. The only animals we saw were pandas, tigers, ostrichs, and monkeys. The best part was at the end of the zoo. There is an artist gallery on the other side of the zoo. The artists are all "up and coming" Chinese artists and they all paint on rice paper. We purchased a very large "scroll" painting of landscape in Chongquing. I know, I should be posting a picture of it but we actually did not take one before we bought it. It was going to cost us an additional $60 to ship it back to the States so we will be adding to our carry on luggage for the trip home. It will be really beautiful in Eliza's nursery at home. Hopefully it will make her a little less homesick. :)

Off to the zoo today and I promise we will take some pictures. :)

Eliza had a pretty good night last night- one big blow out! She got up at 5am- changed her clothes and diaper, drank a bottle, and then back to sleep until 8am. Good baby- that is Shipley's schedule. Now we just have to get she and Shipley to drop that crazy 5 am feeding.

Back soon-

Well, the third day is a killer. Marie, our travel guide, had told us that the babies would be very fussy on this day as well as tomorrow. It is part of the mourning process and on day three they begin to miss their nannies. This was good information as most of the group struggled today with some very fussy babies.

Eliza was really very good most of the day. Old Town shopping this morning was lots of fun. We were mobbed, as usual, but since there were eight families it was not quite as bad for us. We could not bring the stroller because Marie told us that the streets were very hilly and bumpy and it would be hard for us to use the stroller. So, Jeff and I looked like very inexperienced parents as we shuffled around between holding Eliza, the diaper bag, a video camera and packages. We were a mess and quite exhausted by the time we got back on the bus two hours later.

Eliza took a big nap on the way home and went straight back down once we returned to the hotel. She slept close to three hours total.

Once Eliza woke up we went out to do a little department store shopping. Most clothes I brought for Eliza are too small. As far as outfits that fit, she has the red and white outfit you saw a picture of before, one outfit that mom gave her (I am trying to save for her "red couch" picture), one onesie with a bunny on it from the Samahas, and two pairs of jeans (thank you Trish) that were Carolines. Well, as of today we ran out of clothes. So to the store we went. It was so hard to find anything in Eliza's size and communicating with the sales people is so hard. From each tiny department you go to you get a ticket for what you want, then you take all your tickets to a cashier, and then after you pay you can go get your various packages form the different departments. CONFUSING and as I have told you before- no one speaks English. We ended up buying one pair of overalls that would better suit Shipley, one sweet little pink dress, and one yellow outfit that certianly does not look girly. Oh well, it will have to do for now!

Here is the thing (and yes, plase send prayers for health)-
Eliza has now had diarrhea for three days straight. Not just one or two messy diapers but five or six a day. I am beginning to get really worried. She is not urinating enough that I feel comfortable. I will spare you all the details of the messy diapers but I will tell you that the diarrhea is the reason we needed more clothes FAST! As of tonight we have begun some Chinese medicine for diarrhea and we hope it will help quickly. EVERY child in our group is on an antibiotic right now.

Off to get some sleep while Eliza is sleeping. We are supposed to go to the zoo tomorrow morning but we will have to see how Eliza is feeling. They have six pandas at the zoo in Chonquing!

Love to all and thanks for hanging out with us while we are gone. It is a lift to our souls to hear the comments people are leaving and knowing that our family and friends are not that far away!

Just so you all do not think we are nuts-
I must tell you that we cannot see our blog from China-
Might be the government not letting us through (we can view no blogs at all) but whateve the reason- we can't see it.
So there are times I have tried to upload pictures and it will not let me and I wonder if maybe it has really uploaded the same image a hundred times but I can't see it. Anyway, this is the disclaimer that if anything looks strange- we can't fix it and we are not even able to see it!


Okay- as I type, Eliza is sitting in my lap. I thought I would let you know a little more about her.
Eliza is a very BIG baby. She is able to just fit into 12 month clotes but I see 18 month clothing in her near future if she keeps this rate of growth. She is (just guessing) about 21 pounds. Almost as much as Slaton!
However, she is absolute DEAD weight. She has no muscle in the top half of her body. She cannot pick her head up on her own. Her legs are normally developed since the one activity the babies do in the orphanage is get in walkers and scoot around. Still though- she does not wrap her legs around you when you hold her so holding her is rather hard between the weight and lack of muscle.

The one thing I am most sad about is that the back of Eliza's head is absolutely flat as a board. She has this beautiful round front of her face and then the back is totally mis-shapen. Every baby in our group has this same problem and of course it is caused by laying flat on her back all the time.

Eliza is a pro at feeding herself her bottle. Obviously this was a learned behavior to ensure that she be able to eat. Jeff and I will let her feed herself but she is always held close in our arms and we spend lots of time gazing at her, making eye contact and placing her one free hand on our cheek. I think we are really bonding well with her.

Eliza can sit on her own. However, when placed on her belly she makes no attempt to hold up her head, grab an object, or move. I would say, having two little ones of my own, that she is preforming on a 2-3 month developmental level in most cases.

Today we will be going to "old town". We broke down late yesterday and bought a stroller. While it is not ideal for bonding- 21 pounds of dead weight is getting to be a challenge on both of us physically. Please keep up the prayers for us as we have eight more days here before we get to come home. Lots of aspects of this are very challenging for us while at the same time we are feeling blessed in a million ways!

Love to you all!

Elizabeth and Jeff

Okay- you all asked for it so here we go- pictures!!!!

First one- the morning after "gotcha day"-



The first night with Eliza- time for a bottle-




First nap-




The document to end Eliza's Chinese citizenship and begin American citizenship:




Eliza being placed in our arms:



Eliza and Mommy at Starbucks:

The day after Gotcha Day was a day of exploration. We walked to the underground city filled with restaurants and shops and then across the garden court yard to find the Pizza Hut and Starbucks. Little did we know that we would be instant celebrities!

Most of the resident’s of this area have never seen foreigners before and they were all wondering what we were doing with a Chinese baby. Luckily, our adoption agency had provided us with a small card that stated that we were visiting China with much love in our hearts for China and her children and that we were adopting a little girl to take home with us.

Walking through the common areas, crowds would start to gather around us. When we showed them the card, the crowd would grow. Once they read the card, they would show their appreciation with a “thumbs up” and a large smile. Eliza was especially of interest to the crowds. Apparently, Chinese people find large eyes and chubby checks attractive in infants and Eliza has both of those characteristics. Others would approach us just to have a conversation in English. One professor was kind enough to walk with us and interpret for the crowds. The Chinese people have been curious but especially kind in receiving us in their country.

Chongqing is not known as a tourist city so finding those that speak English is hard to do. So going to the market has been quite the treat. Trying to explain to a very helpful store clerk that you need baby formula is not an easy task. Before I knew it, I had two store clerks and three other shoppers engaged in a game of charades and we found the formula! They have everything here! Coca Cola, Gatoraide, fresh chicken feet, some things you want and some you don’t. Fresh is the key word. The market is full of items that are so fresh that they are still alive. You pick what you want and they slaughter it right there and in some restaurants they cook it for you on the spot as well.

Later today we are going to visit with the next group to receive their children. Due to their late arrival to Chongqing, they will receive their children here in the hotel lobby. After that, we are going shopping for some new outfits for Eliza. We just finished seeing the doctor who pronounced that she is in good physical condition. Time to go meet a few more babies!

Yesterday was “Gotcha” day. That’s the day that a little girl who has never known the love of a mother and a father steals your heart and starts a new life with her forever family.

It started out early with a 5:30 AM wake up call. Breakfast was at 6:30 AM and by 7:30 AM we were on a bus headed from Chongqing to Fuling (about a 2 hour drive). Chongqing is a city of 30 million and Fuling has about 3 million residents. Both cities host three rivers and are bustling harbor towns. The area between the two cities is filled with mountains and valleys. In each little valley there are government houses with terraced garden areas. We could see villagers tending their gardens as we drove through the country side.

Around 9:30 AM we arrived in Fuling. The fog was so thick that you could barely see the buildings just 100 yards away on the other side of the valley. This is normal for this time of year and the area is covered in thick fog most of the year. The bus stopped to let us out and we were already starting to draw a crowd. The locals were curious to see what we were doing. The city streets were so narrow that we had to park and walk the rest of the way to the orphanage. Once we entered the gates of the orphanage, we were escorted to a conference room where we were able to relax and have a drink of water before the children were brought in to meet us. Elizabeth and I were the last of the eight families to meet our little girl. Each child was presented to their new families to a joyous round of applause and then we all stepped out into the courtyard for pictures.

Eliza was the only child that burst into tears as she was presented to us. Three hours later, she was still crying. She was really grieving the loss of her nanny, which is actually a good sign but very tough on her new parents.

We concluded our visit in Fuling with a quick tour of the orphanage. We were able to see the crib where Eliza had been sleeping and the play room where she played. Everything for Eliza would be different from now on.

When we made it back to Chongqing, we had some free time and Eliza took a bottle and a two hour nap. She woke as a new child and we even got a few smiles out of her. Our next stop was the local police station. The police man compared Eliza to her picture to confirm that we had the right baby and then he completed the task of denouncing Eliza’s Chinese citizenship. China does not recognize dual citizenship.

The remainder of the day was free time and was spent bonding with Eliza. I left Elizabeth with Eliza and ran next door to the McDonald’s. A Big Mac never tasted so good! And later, I ran to the local market…more on that in the next blog!

Gotcha! Day ended with Eliza falling asleep around 8:00 PM and Elizabeth and I followed soon after. Eliza slept through the night without a peep and woke around 6:00 AM where she had a bottle and went right back to sleep until 8:00 AM.

Not to be a tease, but I am just not ready tonight to write all about the day. I will summarize it all by saying it was wonderful, heartwrenching, and life altering. Eliza was the only baby who cried for three hours straight when we first got her. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. However, I am sitting here now looking at a very happy baby playing with her daddy. I promise to re-cap it all tomorrow when I have more energy.
For now- here are some pictures from today.

Nerves have got me! At 4AM my eyes opened and I was ready to go for the day. "4AM",I thought, "the wake up call will not be for another hour and a half." I told myself to go back to sleep. I can't. I tossed and turned and finally gave in to the fact that the excitement is greater than the need for sleep.
Last night I laid out one outfit (it is a beautiful dress that Jeff's sister Diane sent to Eliza), a precious baby blanket that the Samaha's gave Eliza, and a pair of tights. The world of girls- I know nothing about that but I love it already. My friend Trish sent a huge bag of bows over and I made sue to pack two for the trip, just in case we could use them. However, last night there was a very small recent pictue of Eliza on the paperwork we filled out. In the picture, her head had been shaved. I am not sure why but my guess would be to help prevent and control lice with so many children in the orphanage. I am really happy I was able to see that picture tonight to prepare myself for seeing her today.

Speaking of the orphanage- I heard good news today about Eliza's orphanage. Another adopting parent told us that it is one of the very best orphanages in China. Whenever there are dignitaries (okay- no spell check here- bare with me) in China- they bring them to this orphanage. Our adoption agency has sponsored and supported this particular orphanage for the last few years. I also know that there is a huge group of parents who have adopted from here before and each year they do lots of fundraising to send money back to this orphanage. We will be going into the orphanage to get our children and Jeff and I will do our best in all the excitement to photograph what we can. I know you are all curious to see where Eliza has spent her first year.

I am thrilled that we will actually be able to see the orphange because it is not the norm for adopting parents to pick up the babies at the orphanage. Many times the babies are brought to the hotel and seeing the orphanage is either not allowed or it is strongly discouraged. The orphanage is a HUGE part of Eliza's history and I feel like it is crucial for Eliza to have pictures of it when she is older and ready to learn about her journey to us.

It will be a LONG two hour drive today to make it to the orphanage! I hope our CCAI tour guide will talk most of the time to help keep our minds off of the last of the wait.

Off topic-
Another adopter asked me today after a really rocky flight, "What is harder, childbirth or adopting?" Now all of you with biological children are already answering "childbirth" since we all know giving birth is no walk in the park. Having given birth to two children in the past three years and adopting once- I can honestly say that you cannot really compare one to another. Woman giving birth should get a medal since it is so physically demanding. I spent two weeks in the hospital prior to Shipley entering the world and that time was the most miserable two weeks of my life. Not to recount those weeks right now but the amount of drugs they pumped through my body in that two week time was unbelievable. Physically, hands down, adopting is easier. Emotionally, the adoption has been much harder then giving birth. We are just about at the two year mark when we began the adoption process. It has been filled with lots of highs and lows. Not for a second would I change a thing- but it has been an emotional rollercoaster! I have three fabulous chilren that are SO worth all the physical and emotional work!

Well, only 20 more minutes now until the official wake up call. Thanks for taking the time to read this bunch of nonsense written in the middle of the night. I can still hear Jeff peacefully breathing in his sleep so I guess I have done a good job of "keeping it down". Hopefully, he will be in good shape today to pick up my slack. Jeff and I work so well as a team when it comes to parenting. We both rally to support one another all the time. Sometimes, in real life, that looks like one of us doing the middle of the night feedings when it was really the other persons turn. Other times it means one of us taking both children out for a bit so the other can rest, work, or catch up on whatever task lay at hand. I do want to say that I am blessed, blessed, blessed to have Jeff on this journey with me. It would not be nearly as much fun all alone!

Back soon with some good news and pictures!!!!!!!

Today has again been another long travel day for us. We had a fairly relaxing morning. We went to Starbucks where we were able to post the bit of a blog entry you see below. We kept losing connection and it was somewhat frustrating. Finally we gave up and went back to the hotel to grab lunch and pack. By 2:30 we were on the bus heading to the airport for our flight to Chongquing. The flight did not leave until 5:30 and we arrived at about 8:00. Customs took quite a while followed by a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel. The reward-
1- We are so close to finally, finally, finally holding Eliza in our arms!
2- Our hotel is really nice.

Now we have only seen this city from a bus, at night. However, it seems to be a large, industrial city with LOTS of nightlife. It is Sunday night and the streets are packed and from up here on the 28th floor I can hear tons of honking horns. I have never seen so much neon in my life. Each building seems to have some stripe of neon on the edge of it or, in most cases, neon coating most of the building. It is a very strange sight. I feel like I am in the middle of an amusement park.

Well, tonight we excitedly sit on the verge of becoming new parents. There is one couple here who has their daughter with them. I think Audrey is about 10 years old. Today at lunch Audrey said, "tomorrow will be like heaven". Ahh- HEAVEN. What a chldlike, perfect way to describe it. As I sit here and type I am looking at a precious little crib, set up and waiting for baby Eliza. All the hundreds of hours of paperwork along with the other stresses of adoption are about to not matter one little bit. It is all becoming a slight memory, just a blur next to the emotion of tomorrow.

We had an update on Eliza tonight waiting for us when we got to the hotel. Most of the information was non-significant. However, some key things are:
1-She is extroverted. She gets along well with strangers.
2- The nannies call her Jian Jian.
3- If she is upset, hold her or kiss her might help.
4- She can sit up and stand up by holding rails. She cannot crawl.

That last sentence made my eyes tear up and my heart sink. She is not crawling at ten and a half months. I am well aware that the reason she is not crawling is because she has most likely not been given the opportunity to crawl. I know she will most likely catch up quickly once she enters our lives. However, neither of those reasons make my heart feel any lighter. I have missed almost a year of my daughters life and for that reason alone- my heart aches. When I realize some of the ramifications of her not being with us sooner, it just hurts.

It is fast approaching 10 PM and we have a wake up call coming tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM. By 10PM Atlanta time we will have Eliza with us. Please pray for all these families tomorrow. Lots of the families with us are adopting their very first child and it will be an especially big adjustment for them. Jeff and I will have a hard time sleeping tonight- just dreaming about heaven....

Peace and love-
Elizabeth (and Jeff)

Going down the escalator at Victoria's Peak.



Some of the boats in the village.




The view of Hong Kong from Victoria's Peak.

8:45PM Saturday, November 04, 2006
Total exhaustion has set in-
A short recap of the past day and a half:
We left Atlanta at 10 AM and flew to Chicago. From there we had about a 10 minute layover, since our plane from Atlanta was so late, and we hopped on the plane headed to Hong Kong. The plane was really old and the seats were short on leg room and very tight. We sat next to a gentleman from Raleigh, NC who had made this same trip several times. He was nice enough to give some tips on what not to eat.

After 15 hours in the air, 4 movies and one Discovery Channel program about China, 2 air line meals (yuck!) and one snack, we arrived in Hong Kong around 6:30 PM. As we made it through customs and on the baggage claim, we met Mathew and Yuca, our agency representatives and we waited for the rest of the families in our group to arrive. Then, on to a bus for a 45 min ride to the Hotel.

Breakfast was served from 6 to 10 AM, but we were up at 5:00 AM since our bodies hadn’t adjusted to the time difference. At breakfast we continued to meet other families in our travel group and at 8:00 AM we met in the Hotel lobby to begin the days activities. Today’s agenda was to spend time touring Hong Kong to help us all adjust to the jet lag. We started by visiting the old fishing village which is a floating city of house boats and fishing boats. There are 13,000 people who live in this village that have spent their entire lives on the water. After the fishing village, we visited a jewelry factory. We toured the product plant and we were then shuffled into the show room where we were able to shop with factory direct whole sale pricing (how convenient!) And yes they did manage to get us to purchase a few items. We purchased a beautiful string of pearls that we plan on giving to Eliza on her 16th birthday. Then we moved on to a shopping market that was located on the shore of the South China Sea. Two new pair of shoes later and we were headed to our next destination.

Our final destination was Victoria’s Peak. From the top of this mountain we had a bird’s eye view of Hong Kong. We snapped a few pictures and then on to lunch where we had an authentic Cantonese dinner. The food was great and by 3:00 PM we had free time and everyone was about ready to crash. Elizabeth and I walked around down town Hong Kong which can only be described as crowded and busy. Cingular let me down and I could not get a connection to make or receive calls so now we are trying to burn up our 150 min calling card before tomorrow morning. We miss our boys and look forward to seeing them soon. We can’t wait to introduce them to Eliza. Two more days until we meet her ourselves.

Tomorrow we fly to Chongqing where we will settle in for about 5 days.

So, 12:30 AM here and we are just now finishing packing. I know, we have known for a while and why did we not pack sooner? Well, I cannot explain it. I can only tell you that life in the Smith house is a little on the busy side. Would you believe me if I tell you that today, at this house, we had no less than 20 different people walk through the door? It was nuts and I was nuts. Is there anyone else out there whose house is a revolving door? I cannot think of the last time I sat in this house alone. Not happening here- I thrive off of the craziness but sometimes enough is enough.
So, here we are. Tired and weary and nervous and excited. Tomorrow is the big day and we draw one day closer to holding our daughter. I have packed my BIG OLE camera and BIG OLE lense. I really debated about the weight and the extra luggage but I knew I would hate every day without it. It really has almost become a part of me!
I am hoping that lots of you are out there following our journey. I tried relaly hard to send out the link last night but the e-mail kept bouncing back. Then, I found out that some people actually got it and some did not. I resisted sending it again and again so I did not bombard your e-mail in-box. However, if you know of anyone who is missing our Blog address- please feel free to share it with them.
So, prayers for safe travel tomorrow please. We hop on the plane at 10am and arrive in China almost 24 hours later. WHEW! For those of you (mostly my clients and my family) who wonder if I ever sleep- I am taking some Tylenol Simply Sleep and yes, sleep will happen in the next 24 hours at some point!
Hugs and love to all!