January 2006

Our Journey to Our Forever Families

As I write our trip report it is hard to believe we have been home for two weeks already!!! Isabella Xiaoliu has settled into her new family and routine quite good. We have some minor temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way all the time, but with time we will figure each other out.

Our group travelled to Nanchang to pick up our babies on January 15, 2006. There were 4 families in our group who were not first time parents, but we were just as anxious as the other families were. To start off our journey, our plane was a bit late landing in Nanchang., then our bus was late in arriving at the hotel. Yulin was giving our group the pep talk on what to expect and what not to expect when we get our babies. Such as......Some babies will cry, some won’t, We would also have time to go to our hotel room and get our stuff together and just breathe before we get our babies.

NOT!!! The phone rings while we are on the bus to the hotel, the babies are already there. We have 10 minutes to go to our rooms, get our paper work and get down to the main floor to the room we are to meet the babies!!! OMG, we are all trying to breathe in and breathe out!!! This was actually happening.

Remember the part about Yulin telling us some babies will cry and some babies won’t. Isabella was doing more than crying, she was absolutely screaming!!

It took some time to settle Isabella down, but once we took out those Cheerio's, we were best friends!

Everyone in our group was wonderful, so down to earth. If there were medals or awards to be given to anyone in our group for the most pictures taken and pictures of the most unusual things, Ray Gautreau would have won that one!

There is so much I could write about our trip, but I would need this whole news letter to tell all our stories. A few of things that stand out in my mind........Michael, the three year old little boy and his forever family who joined up with us in Beijing. He was so sweet and I can’t get over how huge his eyes got when the magician Yulin hired made a balloon animal for him. There was Pauweliena who was travelling for her 4th adoption with her other three daughters. They are so beautiful and smart, and so well behaved. Our guides Mary, Camilla and Fay were the best. And of course I am sure we will all agree on the awesome work and care Auntie Yulin gave us. The birthday party for the kids with the magician was awesome.

Danny,,Cindy,,Connor,,Brett & Isabella Leger

Ty (7) and Tavia (5) Rowell travelled with their parents to meet their sister Tia. Ty and Tavia offered these trip reports

Ty’s Trip Report

I liked China. It is a cool place. My favourite thing about China was getting Tia. I was excited to see what she looked like. I wanted to hold my new sister too. I liked eating the Chinese food at the restaurants. I liked to eat with chopsticks.

I had my 7th birthday when we got to China. When I got to the hotel room, Yulin had decorated the room with presents, balloons and a birthday cake.

I liked the buses and the plane. We took the bus to the Great Wall. We walked the Great Wall and we could see a lot of stuff.

Tavia’s Trip Report

I loved that trip and I loved going on buses. I loved going on the plane because I had a table to put food on. I loved our hotel; it was a nice place to sleep. I loved the Panda bears and monkeys at the zoo. The monkeys are silly.

I went to China because we had a new baby. I love my sister and she loves me. On the plane ride home we had to hold Tia.

I loved meeting people and I loved having Camilla teach me Chinese words and when I got back home we saw grandma and grandpa at the airport.