Journey To Ella
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RSS FEED IDEMS: Journey To Ella
- It's Good To Have Friends!
Ella loved visiting her friends over the summer, particularly if it involved going to the zoo, Kings Island, or playgroup!
Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:18:00 +0000 - Lazy Summer Days
Enjoying a walk with Daddy through Wegerzyn Gardens. I just love smelling the flowers and am happy to report that I am finally walking on my own now. Not too steady yet, but I'll get there- so watch out!
Fancy meeting you here, halfway around the world!!! That is my friend Micah, who lived in the Chinese orphanage with me. Imagine my surprise when I went to Panda Cubs playgroup and there he was. A very nice family adopted him and he is finally home. Lucky for both of us we only live 45 minutes from one another so we get to visit and play often. It is not too common to have two babies of the same age adopted from the same orphanage that now live so close to one another, so we are very fortunate.
Fun At The Boonshoft Museum- I love going there and exploring, especially that water table. Mommy is probably telling me not to spray her with the water.
Beach Baby
- I love being in the pool and splashing everyone.Channeling Elton John- Don't I look like him with my cool shades and snazzy hat??
Meeting Dora- she is so COOL! I just love that Kings Island place. We've been there seven times so far this summer. I can't wait until next year. If I grow a few more inches, I'll be able to ride lots more fun things.
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:08:00 +0000 - Going, Going, Gone!
GOING....................................................
GOING.................................
GONE!
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:14:00 +0000 - Party Time
We had an open house party and welcome to the U.S. for Ella's 18-month birthday. Since she spent her first birthday in the orphanage, we wanted to have a special party for our family and friends.
Ella was very careful with her cake and most of it made it into or near her mouth.
Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:15:00 +0000 - Summer Days
Terrorizing goats at the zoo!
Summer is going by SO fast! I can't believe it's been three months since I left China. Life has been great and I've been quite busy these days. The best news is that I finally cracked the 20 pound mark and can turn around in my carseat. I'm drinking from a sippy cup and a straw now. I walk along with Mommy pretty well, but I still need to hold onto one of her hands to keep my balance. I love to chatter and talk to my stuffed animals, particularly that cute Care Bear.We've been hanging out at the park, zoo and Kings Island. Eating out at restaurants is also a lot of fun, actually, eating in general is a lot of fun for me! I am also happy to report that I love baths now. Who knew they could be so much fun! I never had anything to play with during baths at the orphanage, plus the water was really cold and it was sprayed in my face. Now things are much better.Hope you are all having a fun summer!
Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:50:00 +0000 - All-American Girl: First 4th!
Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:21:00 +0000 - The Many Hats of Ella
"It's the Chinese Strawberry Shortcake!"
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:35:00 +0000 - Ella's May Wrap-Up
Well, May was a busy month for me! I've been out and about quite a bit and learning new things every day. I made my inaugural (big word for a baby, huh?) trip to Kings Island. I really like riding everything there, my favorites are the Lazytown helicopters and Dora trains. I "helped" mom vote at the beginning of May. She really appreciates my help and let me wear the sticker she got after we were done. I also made a trip to the International Festival in Dayton where I got to try sauerkrat and brats as well as cream puffs. It was very yummy as are most things that I eat! (Sure beats orphanage food.) Above is a picture of me and my friend Kira at the festival with our balloon animals.I got to spend my first Mother's Day with mommy and was baptized on that day. I didn't even cry when I went up in front of everyone. The nice people at church gave me a cross and certificate. Speaking of certificates, my important governmental papers came in the mail. I received my certificate of citizenship and a letter from The White House so I am now a full-fledged citizen of the U.S.A.I 've been attempting to walk and shouldn't need help too much longer. Mommy and Daddy say that I'm shy around new people, but I talk all day long to them. I really like watching my favorite shows, Sesame Street and Wonder Pets. I also like going to the park and playing on the swings, taking walks in the stroller, listening to music, and seeing other kids at my playgroups. Life is pretty good these days!Mom added some pictures of me at Kings Island (I just can't figure out that Scooby Doo guy), getting baptized, posing with the ladies in the family for Mother's Day, and me with my voting sticker. Talk to you again soon. Love, EllaHere is a link to a video mommy put together of pictures from China:
Mon, 11 Jun 2007 21:25:00 +0000 - Ella's Adventures
Hi-Ella here! I've been in the U.S. for about a month now and am having a good time so far (besides the fact that Lucy, my dog, doesn't seem to like me much). I really like her though and blow her kisses all the time. She is hilarious!
Anyway, I've been keeping Mom and Dad busy. The worst thing so far has been my doctor visits. They had to take blood to find out if the vaccinations that I had in China were, in fact, present in my body. Unfortunately, for me, none of them were there, so I got six shots all at one time. Then, I had to get tubes in my ears. Actually, I feel much better now since I've had the tubes. It was an interesting experience at the hospital. Everyone was very nice and trying to make me feel better, but they made me wear the most unflattering smock for surgery. It was hideous! The pediatrician also found out thru my bloodwork that I am extremely allergic to environmental agents, but luckily, no food.
That is another thing. I really, really like to eat. I'm still on the small side, so I keep getting fed very yummy stuff. So far, I like everything except pears and yogurt. I also like to sleep. Mommy is happy about the fact that I've slept 12 hours a night straight thru without waking up ever since I've been home. I love sleeping in my new crib. It is very pretty and I have really soft blankets.
Lots of people have been over to see me and we've been out visiting a lot. Fortunately, I've had several birthday parties to attend already, which meant more cake and ice cream for me. My grandparents seem to like me a lot. They hang on every word I say and clap and act silly if I smile at them. I enjoy riding in the new mini-van Mom and Dad bought. They said they had to buy it because of me, but I think they wanted it for themselves. One of my favorite activities is being in my jumparoo, watching Baby Einstein videos or Sesame Street. I also love my stroller. There is nothing like taking a walk on a sunny day, eating banana Puffs.
Above are some pictures from my recent adventures. The pics of Mom and me and then Gramps and me at Paul Brown Stadium (they said someone called the Bengals play a game there) were taken during the 6-mile March of Dimes walk that the three of us did. I don't know why they were tired afterwards. I certainly wasn't! We walked around the riverfront in Cincinnati and then over the bridge to Kentucky. The other pictures are with some of my cousins and my friend Kira, who is very nice. I met a turtle when Mom took me to a playgroup outing to the local nature center. I liked petting him, but he seemed to be trying to get away from me. Imagine that! We also had a picnic there, which, of course, meant more food ;)
I will try to get Mom to get more pictures up in a few weeks. She acts like she had so much to do lately. Go figure!
Tue, 15 May 2007 04:00:00 +0000 - We're Home!
We made it home! Yea!!!!
It was not without a little drama the last two days before we left. Visas are issued for the children to enter the U.S. by the American Consulate in Guangzhou as the last step before families leave China. Starting last Tuesday, the consulate computers were not working properly and only processing about 15% of each days visas, which means families can not leave the country. The problem was between the State Dept. computers in the U.S. communicating the information to print the visas in the U.S. Consulate in China. The entire Chinese portion of the process was over at this point, so legally the babies were all adopted by citizens of the U.S., but could not actually enter the country without their visas. Our appointment was Friday so at first we were not that worried; however, as each day rolled by and families with appointments came back from the consulate with bad news, we became progressively concerned. On Thursday, I became ill with a respiratory infection from air pollution so I was actually in bed for part of the afternoon and evening. Then the families from that day's consulate appointment returned with bad news, visas were not issued and may not be until the following week meaning we would have to stay an additional 4-5 days. The Guangzhou Trade Show started on Saturday. This brings in millions of additional visitors to the city and we were all going to lose our hotel rooms with no prospects for new accommodations, plus the fact we would lose our original flights home.
Needless to say, this caused a little panic among families. The computer issues were unprecedented and our guide had never seem anything like this happen in her ten years of working with adoption. They asked us to all call our senators at home to see if anyone could intervene. Thanks to our friends in Columbus for getting me in touch with Senator Voinovich's office. Fortunately, one of the moms in our group, Lisa, used to work for a Senator in D.C. so she immediately got on the phone to start making contacts. Eventually, she made her calls all the way to the U.S. Secretary of State's office. Magically, after they were informed, the computers started working again and printed out visas for all 90-some families stuck in the mess. We were told that there had been worldwide visa problems, but once the proper authorities in the U.S. were informed (thanks to Lisa's tenacity) of the problems with the adoptive families in China, the babies' visas were given top priority to be sent thru on an emergency basis. None of us got much sleep Thursday night as we waited. I was so happy to see Lisa at our hotel room door very early Friday morning to tell us that she had received the call back from the Senator in D.C. to let us know it had been taken care of and they had confirmation that the visas were sent thru. Poor Lisa was still in the same clothes as the day before with that look of absolutely no sleep, but she was just glowing with the news. The picture above is from dinner our last night in China after we had received the visa.
A huge amount of thanks goes out to Lisa for staying up all night getting things straightened out for everyone stranded. I believe if she hadn't gotten as high up in the government as she did, we would still be in China now. Amazing work, considering that cell phone connections are not that good to the U.S. and she was working on a 12-hour time difference. She had a huge amount of contacts and would simply not take "No" for an answer until she got to talk her way higher and higher up in the government.
I didn't even care that I was sick as a dog for the flights back- we were finally taking our baby home! We flew from Guangzhou to Beijing, which was a 3-hour flight. After a several hour layover in Beijing (during which time our Chinese escort forgot to meet us to navigate our way from domestic Chinese flights to the international terminal), we were off on our 13-hour flight back to Washington D.C. Ella did awesome for both flights and it really didn't seem to bother her too much as all. Our connecting flight from D.C. to Dayton was very, very tight so we really didn't know if we would make it, but our friends that live in Baltimore were kind enough to be our back-up plan to come and get us at the airport if we did miss the flight. Once we disembarked, we practically ran to immigration services. There we delivered Ella's immigration papers and once the officer opened them, she was now a U.S. citizen.No time for celebration.Our next step was to round-up our checked bags to go thru customs with them and then re-check them for the flight to Dayton. We also had to go thru security again, which is a little more difficult with a baby strapped to your hip. Next came the mad dash to the gate for our flight, which we managed to make with about 10-15 minutes to spare. The funniest part was that once we were ready to take off to Dayton, they couldn't get the door of the plane shut correctly. Out of all of the flights we've taken over the past few weeks, the very last one is the only one that ended up being delayed.We are so thankful to finally have Ella home. Even though the last few days of the trip were a little shaky, it will make for an interesting to story to tell her later on. She was a real trooper and has been doing great since we've been back, adjusting quickly to the time difference and her new home, dog, relatives and friends. We hope to see you all soon. Thanks for sharing the journey with us. I will still post pictures to the blog for the next few months and hopefully we can start a new blog once the process starts for the next child.
Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:42:00 +0000
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit Ella's orphanage. Keith and I were the only parents in our travel group to be able to see their child's SWI, although the other four families accompanied us so that they had an idea of what an SWI is like. It was nice that we could all experience this together. Some of the families' orphanages were far away and the parents have to be given permission to visit, which is not always granted. Our orphanage was only about 45 minutes from where we were staying and it is known for being very open to families making visits.
The director, Ms. Tang (pictured in the top row) greeted us outside and she recognized Ella from the other babies in our group right away. She called her by her Chinese name, but it doesn't sound the same as when we pronounce it. We also learned that they give the kids nicknames so they never referred to her with her actual name. We also found out that the English translation of her name, Hai Xiao Yan, is a little different in Chinese character.
Once we entered they pointed out some kids with severe disabilities receiving therapy in the downstairs. A large metal door was unlocked to the upstairs and we were taken to where the babies stay. The first section we came to was little playroom. It was clean and well taken-care of, but the toys were outdated and unfortunately there weren't that many of them. The first little group they pointed out were children with what they considered to be more disabling conditions such as Downs' Syndrome, dwarfism, and severe cerebral palsy. The pictures in the bottom row were of these children (the girl in the red sweater had severe malnourishment and some sort of related bone disease and the little boy on the horse was a dwarf and actually older than what he looked). They were very excited to see us and we brought a beach ball to give to them, which made them really, really excited. I actually think these children were not available for adoption because of the conditions that they suffered from and it was hard for all of us to keep a dry eye when they would come over to the fence and just look up at us. After that they pointed out where the younger babies stayed and informed us that they were receiving babies about every 2 days. We were not allowed to go in to their room, but could look through a window at them.
Next, we visited Ella's old stomping grounds. The rest of the baby pictures were all taken in this section. This area appeared to house babies about 9 months to maybe 2 years of age. Everyone was asking questions and the language barrier was pretty difficult even with our guide translating so I am not always sure that they understood exactly what we were asking about. The first room was a little playroom with colorful mats on the floor. The caretakers were all happy to see Ella and her favorites are pictured below. She wasn't sure about going to them, which made us relieved, but was happier with them when they insisted on feeding her. Keith said, "Ella don't take the other babies' food, you have enough." Our guide told us that they really liked Ella and wanted to do that. The caretaker holding her even had pictures of Ella on her cell phone which she showed me. I brought a picture book along of our house and her new room and family, which I showed to them. They were very happy for Ella's new life and we could tell they were excited for her even though none of us understood a word that was being said. Attached to the playroom is the room holding all of the cribs, which were arranged in groups of six. All of the kids stood up in their cribs when we first entered. The picture of the empty crib and tag with Chinese writing were Ella's. No baby had taken her place yet so it was just as she left it. These cribs all had mattress pads on the wood planks at the base, but many orphanages can't afford the mattress part so the kids sleep on the wood planks.
The picture of Ella and I is the outside of the children's part of the SWI. Our guide told us that this was a nicer orphanage compared to most. Some, unfortunately, we would physically not be able to tolerate entering and would not want to remember what we were seeing anyway. We feel very blessed that Ella was taken to a place where people obviously cared for her and she was fed and kept healthy. With that being said, an orphanage is a sad place for any child to have to grow up without having their own families. It is a sad realization that many of the children end up spending their whole childhood there. Luckily, some of the babies in the pictures below will soon be coming home with new parents.
Ella was fairly indifferent about the visit while we were there. She didn't get upset when we got on the bus, but was very clingy to me for the rest of the day. Everytime we would try to put her down, she wanted us to pick her right back up. The rest of the babies in our group that went on the visit were pretty quiet while we were at the orphanage. You really have to wonder what they were thinking. If anyone is ever interested in making an orphanage donation, let me know and I will get the information to you. Ella's orphanage is working on an addition so that they can house more children, but any orphanage can always use support. A lot of the orphanages don't have heat so that is why the kids are always in layers of clothes. In the northern parts of China it can be really cold and other families with kids in these provinces have told us that it was freezing in there. There is also a bigger movement to get kids into foster homes, but this is a more expensive service, which is funded many times by private donations.
I am really glad that we went and will be able to tell and show Ella the pictures. I know it is something none of us will forget.
Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:58:00 +0000- Orphanage Babies
Hi Everyone-We visited Ella's orphanage on Thursday. I will write more about it later with additional pictures, but I wanted to get some pictures up of babies with eager families waiting for them back in the U.S. The orphanage director was so nice about getting the six babies that I had information for and bringing them all to me. These are pictures of the six they brought to me. I will post more pictures later.
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:31:00 +0000 - Sightseeing and Monk Blessings
We have done a little more sightseeing over the past two days. One evening our group took a dinner cruise along the Pearl River. Every night, there is a light show along the river and all of the buildings are lit up. Ella enjoyed watching the lights and seeing the other boats go by.
On Wednesday, we visited the Six Banyan Buddhism Temple. This temple was built in approximately 500 AD. It is amazing that it is still standing. We were given a tour of the temple grounds and saw many people praying and burning incense to the Buddha statues. Our group was treated to a special ceremony. One of the monks blessed our group and sprinkled a holy water on top of the babies. I've included the video from this ceremony. Ella was really mesmerized by what he was doing. We got a kick out of the monk because we all noticed that he was wearing Nike socks and had an Audi keychain hanging out of his pocket. He was nice enough to pose for pictures with us.
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:24:00 +0000 - Pictures and Video
Here are some more pictures and video of Ella. You can see she is enjoying her first McDonalds. Her friend Brinlee is pretty excited about sporting her new shades.
Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:07:00 +0000 - Red Couch Pictures
Time for the official 'Red Couch Picture'. This is a traditional picture of the babies in a specific travel group taken on the red couch in The White Swan hotel. Most of them usually wear authentic Chinese dress. Ella got to try out one of her new outfits.
Our picture was a bit chaotic as you can plainly see. Of all days, this was the day Ella was not feeling well. She woke up with a bit of an allergic reaction of some sort. Her one eye was a little puffy and her face was splotchy. She really wasn't happy when we put her down. Catherine, our guide, is in the picture below with the girls. Ella seems a little fed up at this point.
The middle picture in the first set below are the girls: Ella, Brinlee, Brinlee's big sister Brielle (attempting to comfort her), Emmalu, Sarah, and Donna (who really, really likes her Winnie the Pooh pillow). The pillow pretty much goes everywhere with her.
Brielle has been such a sweetheart this whole trip- probably one of the most well-behaved children I've ever seen. Hopefully, all of our girls will grow up to be just like her. She was adopted as a baby from South Korea. It seems that everyone in China thinks she is Chinese- they always ask her what province she was adopted from. We need to get her sign that says, "I'm Korean!" Brielle was nice enough to dress up and pose in some Red Couch Pictures with the girls and the one picture is her with blankets that her Girl Scout troop made to donate to the orphanage.
The picture of all of us was taken in front of the waterfall at The White Swan and includes our Guangdong families. I am sure we will keep in touch over the years after this life-changing experience.
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:38:00 +0000
