Friday March 26

Today is our last day in Nanjing, tonight we fly to Guangzhou for one more week. I think Jinsey can sense this is for real and we are her family now she had some low crying moans last night before bed. Great last day of shopping packing saying goodbye to our guide and getting Jinseys passport so we can head out. Forward to 11:45 PM just arrived after 7 hours of brutal traveling. Both girls fell asleep on the plane we had to carry them and 40 ponds of carry ons through airport and security backs are out and we are dead tired, the girls never woke up. Found out when we got here we have to be down in the lobby at 8:30 am to go to medical exams. Medicals went o.k.(I could of given them) and now we have a free afternoon, met some other families and one has a seven year old maya has befriended. Heading to dinner tonight to a good Thai place with another family, the hotel is fabulous! Jinsey is coming out of her shell every hour starting to warm up to Dad a little. Thanks for checking in and we will post again soon.

Last few days in Nanjing!

Finally it has stopped raining. We went sight seeing with Anna yesterday to the Brocade (silk weaving factory) museum, the "city wall" that surrounds the border of Nanjing, and then to the Confuscious Temple just down the street from our hotel. We continue to be a total spectacle around Nanjing. Jinsey continues to bond and is warming up to Scott (baba). Our hotel room is a complete disaster and we are slowly starting to pack and get ready to move onto Guangzhou for the next 6 days. We are looking forward to some warmer weather and a hotel that caters a bit more to young kids. As it was with Maya, we are certain it will be emotional flying out of Nanjing and Jinsey's home city. Someday we hope to return here with her. Maya just amazes us at her ease and flexibility. We bought her a little robotic dog today at the market as a little reward for being so great. We miss home and will really be ready to return to AZ and settle in at home. Hugs and kisses to everyone!!!

DAY TWO w Jinsey

Greetings from the rainy city of Nanjing! It has been raining solid for two days straight and is very chilly! Thank goodness the hotel has umbrellas for loan. There is a great walking street with many flee market type shops....went today and bought a scarf, some shoes for Jinsey, and DVD's for $1 each! I was able to visit the SWI (orphanage) today, and was very lucky to be admitted into the actual orphanage. I was amazed at how clean, organized, and well run it is. The rooms are completed stocked with all types of modern developmental toys, classrooms, and sleeping rooms. I was very impressed. I met with the manager of the SWI and attempted to get many more answers and records regarding Jinsey's health and diagnosis. Answers seem very politically correct and careful, but we did obtain some additional paperwork (all in Chinese). Scott stayed behind at the hotel with the girls to bond and have some time. Overall, it went okay. Jinsey did cry for me when I left and finally said "mama, mama" today. Good sign! Tomorrow we will go sight seeing with our guide and see a little bit more of Nanjing. On Friday we are off to Guangzhou.

Meeting Little Jinsey

Yesterday at 9am we met our guide Anna, and headed to the office of Civil Affairs. We were so surprised to be the only family there, and came to find out that there would only be one other family that day! Jinsey arrived with an administrator from the SWI named CoCo. She was dressed very nicely in a new outfit and a cute clip in her hair. She had the photo album and teddy bear sent by us months ago. She was obviously very scared and her big eyes were taking everything in! She is very tiny, but appears to be in very good health. She is very underdeveloped and will need a lot of support and stimulation to get her up to speed. She had a hard time letting go of CoCo and trusting to go with us, but by the time we arrived back at the hotel....she was calm and observant. She has really taking a trust to mommy and big sister. She is still very cautious with dad, as she has had very little exposure to men. Our guide Anna has been wonderful and she took Scott to the market to buy appropriate cookies, snacks, fruits, milk etc for the both the girls. In the end, we had pizza last night at the hotel! The journey thus far has been as good as we could have hoped for. I must say emotional and exhausting, on so many levels and in so many different ways. We are hoping for a smile out of Jinsey today, and are pretty confident that Maya can achieve this goal!

We Arrived!

Well, we made it to Nanjing! After going from Phx to San Fran, then to Beijing, and finally onto Nanjing, we arrived around 10 pm at night. For a city of 7 million, it seemed very quiet on a Sat. night! The hotel is very nice, but we had to move furniture around the room to have more space for the kiddos to play! We have already walked to the market, shopped on a popular shopping street and been to the giant mall! There seem to be very few Americans here at all, and we definitely seem to draw a lot of attention this time around. Maya has done so well thus far, and is excited to get to meet her sister Jinsey later this morning. The weather is cooler than we expected, but very pleasant. Trying to find a few good places to eat, and are hoping that our guide will help direct us when we meet her this morning. We are nervous/excited for our lives to change in just a few hours! Zai jian! (good bye for now).