At the CCAA with Tess' orphanage nanny.

We got Tess around 7:30 this morning. She cried on and off (mostly on) till about 1:30 in the afternoon. At times it was heartbreaking. She would scream so hard and long that she couldn't catch her breath and she would not be comforted during those times. She also refused a bottle even though it was way past feeding time. After we left to go fill out paperwork at the CCAA office, she started to calm down. She didn't cry at all when we were at the CCAA office and we were there till 4:30 with lots of other crying babies. She took her first bottle since we got her during the middle of the adoption ceremony around 3:30. After we brought her home, we put her on the floor and played with her. Slowly, she started to play back and eventually started cooing and trying to stand up. She doesn't know how to crawl because she has spent a lot of time in a crib. But she is already pulling herself up and standing. I think she might just skip crawling and go straight to walking. After awhile her personalty started showing and she had us all laughing with her silly antics. We were also delighted to see her smile and eventually laugh. At bedtime she was a trooper. We put her in her crib and she played with her toes for awhile then fell asleep without a tear. As you can probably tell, Mike, Momma and I are already so in love with this baby we can barely stand it. Tomorrow we will spend the morning with Tess in our suite then everyone is going on a tour of an ancient Chinese village in the afternoon. No paperwork just fun time and bonding.

We have our beautiful baby! Our lives have changed and we will never be the same. We are filled was such love for the precious child.

Disappointing news. We went to the CCAA to pick up our babies and waited and waited and waited. No babies. They finally called and got in touch with the orphanage. The van carrying the babies broke down on their way here. So looks like it will be tomorrow before we can get our baby. We have hopes that she will be here in the morning. In the meantime, we are trying to stay optimistic (me more than Mike). We plan to go out to dinner then call it a night.

We are going to get our daughter in a few hours and we are so excited we can barely stand it. We spent the morning buying groceries and walking around the area. It is quite overwhelming the numbers of people everywhere. We had computer problems again this morning so hopefully I will be able to post later on after we get her. We will try and post pictures as soon as we can. This is by far the most exciting thing I have ever done in my life. Wish us luck and hopefully everyone will see Tess' pictures soon.

We are in Chongqing and just a day away from getting the baby. We are staying in a fabulous hotel overlooking a city of 10 million people. We are meeting with our guide, Jane this evening and going over paperwork. Then she is taking us to the grocery store to buy supplies for the baby. I will post more later.

We are in Shanghai! Our first day here has been a great cultural experience. We walked down the famous Nanjing road and on the Bund. It was overcast and chilly but never really rained. Julie and Mackenzie joined us. Julie is from Utah and her baby is from the same orphanage as Tess. She will be getting her baby on Monday too. Her older daughter, Mackenzie is eight years-old and has blond hair. When we got on the Bund many of the China people stopped us and asked if they could have their picture made with Mackenzie. Her blond hair makes her very popular and unique here. Everyone is so friendly. We had to ask for directions alot but everyone we stopped was more than happy to try and help us even though they didn't speak English.
After a great lunch on the Bund which included hamburgers for everyone, we walked through part of "Old Town" Shanghai and got to see the real China. There were lots of old Chinese store fronts with homes upstairs. We felt completely safe walking around except for the many scooters, bikes, cars and buses that almost ran us over. The traffic is crazy here. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and people just drive wherever they want which includes sidewalks. We had a couple of close calls especially since we were so preoccupied with all the new and interesting sights. Tonight we are going to dinner at the Crystal Garden which serves Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. Although there are tons of restaurants here we have to eat at places that cater to foreigners. Otherwise we can't read the menus or communicate what we want.
Tomorrow we fly to Chongqing. Only two days till we get Tess!

We are leaving in two days! Mike and I feel like we are walking on clouds. I can't believe after all these years we are finally this close to getting our baby. Here is our itinerary:
Thurs., Feb. 26- Fly to Shanghai
Fri., Feb. 27-Arrive in Shanghai
Sun., Mar. 1- Fly to Chonqing
Mon., Mar. 2 - Get Tess!!!!
Sat., Mar. 7-Fly to Guangzhou
Thurs., Mar. 12-Fly home.

We received wonderful and useful gifts. Mike can't wait to use his gift.

Family and special friends helped us celebrate.

Our famous Betty Crocker served up the most delicious dishes.

Here's our very first baby shower. It was hosted by Jennifer and Mom. Everything was so beautiful. The food was delicious and everyone had a great time.

Here's us getting our referral paperwork! Boy, are we excited!

Here she is!

We got it!!!!!! We actually got our referral around 5:00 pm on Tuesday, December 30th. It has been a whirlwind of excitement since then and I am just now finding the time to sit down and post. We are both over the moon in love with our baby girl. We feel like the luckiest parents in the world. Xiu Hua Yue is from Xiushan in the Sichuan Province. Her birthdate is 3/25/08. We have decided to name her Tess Sawyer Hyde. Here are her beautiful pictures. It was so worth the wait!

We are on pins and needles. We have heard from the Rumor Queen that referrals through February 28th were sent out Friday. Many people have started posting that they have their referral already. We called our agency earlier today to make sure they had Mike's cell phone number. No word yet and it is 7:00 pm (5:00 pm in Idaho). I tried to call CASI several times earlier but no one is answering the phone. The wait is killing us!

We are finally starting to hear some good rumors. Rumor Queen is reporting that the CCAA has matched babies with couples that have LID's February 24-28, 2006. We are both trying to stay calm since we still don't know when referrals will go out. Also, our agency is closed December 31-January 4. So, we could still have a couple of weeks to wait. But we are starting to get very excited. Hopefully, we will hear something soon.