Saturday, October 28, 2006

It's great to be home!! The trip home was 30 hours door to door. Angelina was pretty good on the plane. A few screams, but it didn't matter much on the flight to LA since there were 2 dozen babies on board. On the the redeye home there were a few screams, so we hung out at the stewartess area for about an hour or so to let the passengers sleep.

The bus ride to the airport in Guangzhou was very touching and sad. The China team sang some lullabies that made us all cry; especially Mothers are the Best on Earth; Miss Sarah made everyone break down. Then Martin went on to say a few words, and couldn't even finish his speech. He wanted us to know that China loves their Children and they are not throwing them away. (There is a one child policy in China. If a woman is pregnant and the authorities find out she has another child, she will be taken to the hospital where the child is aborted and the woman is sterilized. Only in certain cases can the families have 2 children.)So the woman who carry their babies to term in secrecy, deliver them at home and drop them some place safe where they will be found, really do love their children. So Martin asked that we tell our children that their parents love them and China loves them. It was so intense. There was so much love on that bus. Then one of the fathers got up to thank the China team of US Asian Affairs and thanked China for our babies and promised that we would take care of their children and tell them about their homeland. This father was breaking down emotionally as well. Both men and woman, mothers and fathers and male and female on the China team were all in tears. Very, very heartfelt. We will NEVER forget those precious moments that we all shared.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

We are heading out at 3:00 for the airport. The plane leaves at 9:00. Long wait in airport. We arrive in LA in the evening and then take the redeye to Newark. We arrive at 6:00am. So we will be in the air for about 19 hours without delays. So please keep us in your prayers.

We can't wait to get home. And thank you for the e-mails and comments and for sharing our adoption journey. We love you all!!

Love,
Laurie, Sandeep & Angelina

Friday, October 20, 2006

Little Ballerina
What a Happy girl!
Mommy's girl
Angelina with Norman from US Asian Affairs

Today we went to the U.S. Consulate to take an oath on behalf of Angelina that all documents and data provided for her Visa were correct. The entire group said the oath together and aloud. It was very dramatic. There were some tears. Angie is one step closer to becoming an American citizen!!

Right before the Consulate appointment we stopped at a mall across from our original hotel in Guangzhou. We had 30 minutes to shop. Sandeep and I skipped the shopping to go over to the China Hotel which houses a STARBUCKS!! What a thrill it was to have a grande (they don't have Venti here) decaf cafe mocha with skim and whipped. Just DELIGHTFUL!! So we missed getting some souveniers, but it was well worth it!!

This evening was our farewell dinner with the entire team (a few families are leaving in the am). Most of the children and some of the adults were dressed in Chinese attire. Everyone looked great and the babies looked adorable. We took a bunch of group pictures.

The food was better this evening and we did have something to eat. I tried the shrimp with the eyes, legs and antennas. I was doing great until I broke the shrimp and brown stuff oozed out. THAT WAS IT!! But a friend gave me a shelled clean piece and it was very good. But I just couldn't get past my ordeal so I told the server to take the dish away. :) We also skipped the meat platter just in case dog was in the dish. They eat dog in Guangzhou, but I don't think they eat it in Dongguan; but you never know.

Angelina was dressed to the Nine's tonight with a Chinese outfit that looked like a tu tu! She received lots of compliments :)

Tomorrow we leave. Hooray!!! It was really rough on the families traveling during the tradeshow. We spent so much time in the bus traveling from Dongguan to Guangzhou. Many of the families were frustrated and even the China Team does not want to come back to Dongguan. It was very inconvenient and time consuming. We could have spent that time resting or sight seeing. So traveling during the tradeshow was VERY inconvenient and pretty much a hardship. We will NEVER do it again!

More later.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

How about some half cooked chicken with skin and chicken blood?
Or would you rather have shrimps with eyes?
Or maybe you prefer some Stir Fried Jelly Fish? NO?
The best is yet to come..... Deep Fried Snake

Last night we decided to watch some TV and we watched Orange County Choppers. That was fun!!

Today we passed on the tour. We hung out in our room all day. Angelina was fussy and we tried to get her to sleep. She finally took a nap at 5:30, but we had to wake her up for dinner 40 minutes later. Oh well.

Tonight we took the bus to the biggest restaurant in Dongguan. They served Almost Raw Chicken with skin, Stir fried jelly fish and deep fried snake! Yummy, what should I eat first? YUCKHH!!!!. The food tonight was considered cantonese food and according to our guide, they will eat anything that flies except airplanes and they will eat anything with four legs except the dining table. I ate rice and bok choy only. Sandeep ate nothing. We are sick of the food and started to skeeve everything. Oh I forgot; last night they served Peking Duck. All these ducks were on a plate; neck, beek, eyes and all. Not very appetizing for me since I had them as pets. :(

We did run into an Italian cook in the elevator who cooks at Luigi's Restaurant in the hotel. He was straight from Italy. But we are still not sure we will chance it. It's still China.

Right now Angelina is screaming, so Good nite!!

Ciao for now.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

PICTURES FROM THE PARTY





Paperwork took up most of the day and so did confirming our flights home. I was told twice that our tickets were canceled. I PRAY nothing goes wrong. The trade show is on in Guangzhou and the business men have priority. And things work quite differently in China.

This evening we had a reunion dinner with all the families that came back from three different provinces. More of the same Chinese food and they brought in Pizza Hut. The pizza traveled an hour and was served cold. But people were stil thrilled to have Western food. But this time Sandeep stayed away from the pizza.

Chinese rice wine was also served at the dinner. I thought I would try it during a toast. I was told that it will blast out any illnesses. All I can say is it felt like it could possibly work :)

The hotel has a Haagen Daz cart in the lobby. That helps break up the monotony of the same old food. I had 2 coffee crunch bars today. (need to hit the gym when I return)

Tomorrow the China team will go to Guangzhou to pick up our Visa's. We stay in Dongguan for a tour. I would much rather go to Guangzho.

We are staying at the Sheraton Dong Guan which is really nice. Makes the stay a little easier. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1460

More later. And pray they don't cancel our tickets. We just want to be home with baby Angelina!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Mirchandani Family with Angelinas Aunty Anu and cousins Sheetal and Jeet.
View from the cruise
More View from the cruise and our friends from the Adoption Group
Sandeeps Cousin and her Kids. Meeting them after 10 Years
More Views from the Cruise
Shopping Market on Shamian Island
Cute Baby Store - We did a lot of Baby Shopping here.
Chaos at the medical Clinic
More Chaos at the medical Clinic

Today we went for the medical check up on Shamian isalnd. Angelina visited 3 doctors and cried the entire time. The medical was necessary to obtain VISA.

Afterwards we went shopping. Guangzhou is excellent for shopping. Our favorite place was Cute Baby (thanks Mark & Mary Ellen!). We bought some Chinese outfits for Angelina. We also bought a piece of luggage to carry all the items. In US dollars the large luggage piece was about $18. We thought that was a real good price.

Then we went on a dinner cruise on the Pearl River. The cruise was nice but the food was like chow on the Circle Line (NYC). Sandeep's cousin lives in Guanghzou and she joined us for the cruise. We had a great time with Angelina's Auntie Anu and cousins Sheetal and Jeet. Angelina especially LOVED Jeet! They even joined us on the bus ride to the boat.

The views from the boat were very nice and we got some good family photos.

Angelina slept on the 75 minute bus ride back to the hotel. BUT, she wanted to play until 12:30 am :(

Tomorrow we get up early to do more paperwork for babies VISA.

Monday, October 16, 2006

In her new crib at the Sheraton Dong Guan
The real Angelina! - In her extrmely dangerous crib that we had to cover with a comforter!

Monday was our last day in Nanning. We did some last minute shopping near the hotel and packed. It wasn't easy trying to squeeze everything into our luggage. We left the hotel at 4:00. We went to the airport and our flight was delayed a half hour. The babies were all crying on the plane. We got a few looks when Angelina was unconsolable. She DOES NOT like to sit.

Then we got a bus to Guangzhou. We were about 3 minutes from hotel and the the bus driver hit the car in front of him. We reached the hotel around 10:30 pm. I won't elaborate on how the children felt, but it wasn't pretty.

Then we waitied over 2 hours to get our luggage in our room. We ended up going to bed around 1:30am. We are all very tired. Now Sandeep has a cold too.

Tuesday morning and we are NOT well rested. Breakfast was good. They had some American food for breakfast!! We are at the Marriot and it's VERY nice. It's a BIG change from the hotel in Nanning! All the families are babck together from their trips to the different provinces.

At 1:30 we head to Guangzhou for the babies medical visits. Then we do some shopping on Shamen Isalnd (not sure of spelling). And THEN we go on a dinenr cruise of the Pearl River. We should be back to the hotel around 10:00-10:30. The babies are having difficulty with the schedule. Actually so are the parents. Some of the families are asking to get a bus back to the hotel after the medicals because their children are sick. It's just too much to keep a baby on a bus or roaming around the streets for so long; and it's so difficult to do diaper changes and make bottels. We have 2 buses full of families, so maybe we can split up. We are praying that Angelina poops before we leave the hotel. We put prunes in her formula :) Pray that it works on time!! :)

Sunday, October 15, 2006

A wedding that we saw go by past our bus!
Angelina at the embroidery factory

Guess who is going to the market

Angelina and DaD at the Pizza hut
Angelinas Last nigh and Bath at Nanning
MICKEY D's in Nanning.
Pizza hut at Nanning next to Walmart in Nanning.
We have lots of toys for her, but she loves the name tags.

Last night was rough. Angelina was up crying for 1.5 hours. She was in so much pain. We finally gave her some Tylenol and Ambesol for her teeth. Sandeep felt one tooth coming in.

Today we went to the embroidery factory. Very small place. Two girls working on looms. Then they had a little shop. The goods were overpriced. This trip wasn't worth it. The rest of the day we relaxed and then walked to the local shops by the hotel. We went to a Chinese tea shop. The man there was so nice. He wanted us to stay for tea, but we were running late for dinner. we do prefer to give the locals the business versus the large department stores. We can haggle as well :)

The baby store was great. We spent alot of time there and will go back again tomorrow. We stayed away from the Walmart area because weekends are packed. You have to walk in the busy streets because so many bikes and mopeds are parked ont he sidewalk.

Angelina had her last bath at this hotel. She had lots of fun splashing and playing with toys.

She is constipated again and teething, so this evening should be interesting.

Tomorrow we will pack and get ready for the next leg of the trip. We will also do a little more shopping.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Today we skipped the zoo and we are so glad. Some of the parents were shocked by the animal tricks. Boxing bears, a goat on a tight rope, etc. I would have cried. We made the right choice by staying away.

So we hung out in the room in the morning and went shopping in the afternoon. We ate at Pizza Hut. We didn't get sick on the local food, but Sandeep got sick on the Pizza. It's the same as in the states...greasy!!

Then we just did the group dinner again (the same EXACT food every time). It's getting a bit monotoneous.

It was a rough day with Angelina today; she is starting to teeth.

Tomorrow we go to see some local maufacturing of emroidery.

Friday, October 13, 2006

The view from top of the pogoda

THE POGODA!

Laurie and Angelina with Michele from the China Team.
Angelina loves Aunt Michele!

Grace from China team with Laurie and Angelina

Qing Xin Mountain on the way to the Pogoda

Water at Nanning Peoples Park

HAPPY BABY IN HIP HAMMOCK!

The whole family together at Qing Xin Mountain

Baby Angelina Loves Her MOMMY!

Guess Who!

At the Buddhist Temple


Angelina is all pooped out at the end of the tour!

Today we went to a Pagoda. It was nine stories and up a hill. Angelina was hanging in the hip hamock. We were drenched and stuck together. Thank God Michele (one of the USAA employees) carried Angelina up the nine flights. I would have never made it otherwise. What a great work out we had today.

We also stopped at a park and walked across a 500 meter bamboo bridge. Lots of exercise and the scenery was beautiful.

Afterwards we went to the temple. Sandeep and I walked through for about 5 minutes, then waited for everyone on the bus. It was cooler there too. The rest of the day we hung out since Angelina and I aren't feeling well.

Tonight we ha a group dinner and celebrated one of the babies first birthday.

Tomorrow a trip to the zoo is planned. There will be 2 animal shows. We are passing. I do not like when animals are tortured to do tricks to entertain humans. So we may go shopping and back to Nanning People's Park if Angelina is up to it.

Thursday, October 12, 2006








Hi Everyone. Wednesday night was a rough one. Angelina didn't sleep very well. She was also constipated (too much rice). So we decided to not go on the museum trip. We spent the day (Thurs) bonding. We ended up taking Angelina to the park across from the hotel (Nanning People's Park). It was absolutely beautiful! The baby liked all the sites, especially the motor bikes. I think we have a little biker on our hands. We will try to go again tomorrow (Fri) to see the other half of the park. We are including some pictures of the park. I'm not sure that the pictures do it justice though. You had to be there. It was beautiful, calm and relaxing.

The baby fell asleep in our arms because the heat was so intense. Very humid here. But she ended up having a really nice well needed nap.

And my best news for the day is that Angelina finally pooped!!! We are thrilled. Her entire demeanor changed afterwards. The poor thing was in so much pain. So praise God and thank-you for your prayers. They were heard and answered!!

The little one is sleeping now and we hope it's through the night. Tomorrow we go see the buddhist temple. That should be interesting. The priest also blesses all the babies, but we will respectfully be passing on that portion of the tour. She has God's blessing!!

More tomorrow. Love to all of you!