Christmas card

By the way, here is last year's Christmas card. I took a bunch of posed pictures, and when we were done the girls jumped into an empty box. That of course turned out to be the best picture.

Gift Tag Holiday 5x7 folded card

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Update

Lida has just turned 5 and is doing well in preschool. She is a happy girl and she loves her big sister. Here is this year's Christmas card.

Brown Pink Band 5x7 folded card

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We get to meet Cecilia

After a rough ride back to Chengdu on August 20 we got to meet Cecilia, the fiancee of Michelle's brother Rob. We got to meet her parents and visit their home, and they all took us out to dinner at an exciting, delicious restaurant. We are all excited to have Cecilia join the family.

To the mountains to visit the pandas

After a day in the hotel (it was 104 degrees outside), we left Chongqing on August 17. We flew to Chengdu and then got on a bus for a harrowing 5 hour drive through mountain passes under construction to the Wolong Panda Preserve. Though the trip was awful, it was cool and we got to see pandas in a way you can see them nowhere else in the world. Kara even got to be close to one, though it was a little scary.

It's official

Lida had a bad itchy rash on her head, neck and shoulders, so the next morning we went with some other families to a children's hospital in Chongqing, which was an interesting experience. They confirmed that it was heat rash, and also told us that she is tall and left-handed, like Kara!
Then we went to the Chongqing Adoption Center, where they took our picture and made the official document which says that Lida is now our adoptive daughter. The sign at the door read "Wish you have a happy life in future." We got a surprise when we walked into the office--a bunch of babies and staff from Lida's orphanage were waiting for another adoption group. We took a picture of Lida with the orphanage director, who called Lida by the nickname "DongDong." The picture of Lida in the records, taken when she went back to the orphanage from foster care, showed that she had longer hair and no rash at that time. Then we all went to a spicy Sichuan dinner to celebrate our official adoptions.

Getting to know each other

After giving thank-you gifts to the staff who transported the babies from the orphanage, we took Lida upstairs and gave her some formula and a bath. Lida is great at clapping and waving, and likes assistance to stand up so she can dance. This probably comes from spending lots of time in a walker. She is a sweet-tempered baby and is very observant. She loves to watch Kara bounce around and works hard to keep her in sight. She has two lower teeth and is just getting two upper teeth.

Meeting Lida

When we arrived at the hotel in Chongqing, we were told to check in and go to our rooms and relax, and they would call when it was time to go meet the babies. As we were checking in one group member said "the babies are here." We turned around and across the lobby we saw these little armloads dressed in yellow. They called LiDong first but we already knew it was her. She had just had a 6 hour bus ride in the heat, and she just kept gazing at us.

Chongqing: Mei Mei Day

On August 14 we flew to Chongqing to meet our new daughters. In our group there were three jie jies, or big sisters, going to meet their new little sisters, or mei meis. Here are Kara, Katie and Sarah at the Beijing Airport before departing for Chongqing.

The Great Wall

The next day we visited the Great Wall and an acrobatic show. The pictures cannot capture how hot it was. We then spent one more day in Beijing, visiting a Drum Tower, taking a scull boat ride, and walking around Kunming Lake and the Summer Palace.

In Beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 8 AM on August 11, were driven to our hotel, and after showers and an hour or so of rest, we went with the other families in our adoption group to lunch at a Dai ethnic restaurant and then to the Temple of Heaven. This is where we got our first taste of the attention that Westerners can get in China. So many people wanted to touch and have their picture taken with Kara that it was a little unnerving.

The long flight to China

We left for China earlier than we had expected, on August 9. It took 21 hours including a 4 hour layover in Paris to get to Beijing. When we got to Paris the news had just broken about a terrorist plot at Heathrow, so we were glad our flight went through Paris instead.

We finally get Lida's referral

Michelle, Karl and Kara applied to adopt a baby from China back in early 2005. On July 1, 2006 we finally received our adoption referral. Her name given at the orphanage is Qian LiDong. Qian is her last name, after the town her orphanage is in, and LiDong translates as "pretty east." She was born on October 18, 2005 and was found abandoned at a bus/train station in Qianjiang, Sichuan province, China, on October 21. We are delighted and can't wait to meet her! We will name her Lida after Michelle's great grandmother, which actually sounds a lot like LiDong.