After 5 long years on the anniversary on our log in date we have signed our final document and should be receiving Hannah's visa tommorow. She will be our newest American citizen the moment we hand her immigration paperwork over to customs in LA.
We've met some amazing families here with some even more amazing stories. We traveled to immigration with 8 other families this morning. Beautiful children and families.
We met a family yesterday who adopted a 14 year old girl. We were unaware that here in China, once a child turns 14, they can't be adopted anymore. She just made it :)
Tommorow we will visit the jade market on our final sight seeing adventure and we will be on our way home on Thursday morning CT time.
2 more sleeps and a long trip home and a long trip home and my dream comes true!
We're coming home boys :)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Guangzhou is beautiful
It's been a lot different here in Guangzhou than it was in Fuzhou. Rachael is loving the little shops that are full of dresses and shoes for Hannah. Her closet will be full in no time at all. As a matter of fact it was pretty full when we left.
Our guide, Jack Mao, is awesome. He gave a pretty intense history on China from uncivilized China through the dynasty's and into modern China. We took a long stroll through a park and visited Sun yay-sen Memorial Hall who is a person Jack compared to George Washington for us.
We have another day of sight seeing tommorow and our Consulate appointment on Tuesday.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
Our guide, Jack Mao, is awesome. He gave a pretty intense history on China from uncivilized China through the dynasty's and into modern China. We took a long stroll through a park and visited Sun yay-sen Memorial Hall who is a person Jack compared to George Washington for us.
We have another day of sight seeing tommorow and our Consulate appointment on Tuesday.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Last day in Fuzhou
We have a couple of hours away from leaving Fuzhou for Guangzhou and are waiting for a police officer to deliver Hannah's passport to the hotel. It has been another week we will never forget. The second part of our trip has been something special we've been waiting for ever since we started this journey over 5 years ago. We will be staying at the White Swan Hotel and will be there other adoptive families and children who have gone through a long wait just like us.
We hope you guys have been able to view the pictures and video on Sky Drive. They are adorable and I'm not just saying that because I'm her daddy :)
Let's see if this link below works.
We hope you guys have been able to view the pictures and video on Sky Drive. They are adorable and I'm not just saying that because I'm her daddy :)
Let's see if this link below works.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Fuzhou day 5
We've got a couple of days left here in FuZhou and we found an excellent restaurant in the hotel. It's a Japanese restaurant that makes Ichiro look like McDonalds so we'll be eating there until we leave for Guangzou. Today we visited a tea house and we have a new respect for Chinese tea. The Chinese people take their tea very serious. Excellent!
We also saw a pretty cool bear show. If the bears did this at zoo back home I would go every day. Tommorow we are going to a Buddist Temple and Walmart again for some supplies. A few things we've learned about Fuzhou is we stick out like sore thumbs and people are very curious a about Hannah. Our guide told us that a lot of people here are unaware that foreigner's can adopt their children and that 90% of the children adopted from the Fujian province are adopted domestically.
Skype has been an unbelievable experience with keeping in touch with the boys and everyone. It makes us feel like we are right there. We cannot thank you all back home who are helping with the boys, the two most special people in our lives. We could not have done this without you.
Now since we can't upload videos to YouTube I've found a backdoor by uploading video and pictures to my Windows Live account called Skydrive and I'm not sure how you can view them but it's attached to superiorelectrician@hotmail.com or my name James Grabowski.
Hannah has been amazing. She sleeps 10 hours a night and has a beautiful personality. We think she is a little behind with her strength and are working on it. Thanks for all your prayers and we know there are a lot of well wishes on Facebook even though we can't see them.
All the best!
Jimmy G.
We also saw a pretty cool bear show. If the bears did this at zoo back home I would go every day. Tommorow we are going to a Buddist Temple and Walmart again for some supplies. A few things we've learned about Fuzhou is we stick out like sore thumbs and people are very curious a about Hannah. Our guide told us that a lot of people here are unaware that foreigner's can adopt their children and that 90% of the children adopted from the Fujian province are adopted domestically.
Skype has been an unbelievable experience with keeping in touch with the boys and everyone. It makes us feel like we are right there. We cannot thank you all back home who are helping with the boys, the two most special people in our lives. We could not have done this without you.
Now since we can't upload videos to YouTube I've found a backdoor by uploading video and pictures to my Windows Live account called Skydrive and I'm not sure how you can view them but it's attached to superiorelectrician@hotmail.com or my name James Grabowski.
Hannah has been amazing. She sleeps 10 hours a night and has a beautiful personality. We think she is a little behind with her strength and are working on it. Thanks for all your prayers and we know there are a lot of well wishes on Facebook even though we can't see them.
All the best!
Jimmy G.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Hannah Xia Grabowski
Hannah Xia Grabowski
Hannah is in our arms just like she’s been in our hearts for the past 5 1/2 years but now it’s a reality and can you believe it the world is still here! She has bonded well with Rachael and not so much Daddy but I’m good with it because it happened the opposite way with James. She is sooooooo beautiful and well taken care of. She is cutting her first tooth and is drinking her formula. We attempted to feed her bananas and some steamed rice but I think it was still to soon and she was still so scared.
It’s 1:47 am here and we are all awake. (Still on CT time) Tomorrow we adopt her at the Adoption Civil Affairs office in Fuzhou and we get her passport on Thursday and fly back to Guangzou on Thursday night for the US side of the adoption.
Skype has been a blessing. Seeing the boys and introducing them to their sister was awesome. They are being well taken care of and spoiled back home by family. It’s so awesome to be able to see and talk to everyone on Skype (and for free too)
I’m wondering if Facebook, Youtube, and Blogspot are going to be blocked in Guangzou? I emailed this to my bro to get this on the blog. Enjoy the pics!
Hannah is in our arms just like she’s been in our hearts for the past 5 1/2 years but now it’s a reality and can you believe it the world is still here! She has bonded well with Rachael and not so much Daddy but I’m good with it because it happened the opposite way with James. She is sooooooo beautiful and well taken care of. She is cutting her first tooth and is drinking her formula. We attempted to feed her bananas and some steamed rice but I think it was still to soon and she was still so scared.
It’s 1:47 am here and we are all awake. (Still on CT time) Tomorrow we adopt her at the Adoption Civil Affairs office in Fuzhou and we get her passport on Thursday and fly back to Guangzou on Thursday night for the US side of the adoption.
Skype has been a blessing. Seeing the boys and introducing them to their sister was awesome. They are being well taken care of and spoiled back home by family. It’s so awesome to be able to see and talk to everyone on Skype (and for free too)
I’m wondering if Facebook, Youtube, and Blogspot are going to be blocked in Guangzou? I emailed this to my bro to get this on the blog. Enjoy the pics!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
We have arrived!
Hi everyone! We are here in Fuzhou, China. I'm updating the blog from my cell phone because we can't get on blogger, Facebook, or YouTube but we can go on Skype so we have been video chatting with the boys :)
The travel time from our doorstep to our hotel was 42 hours. We get Hannah around 3:30 am Connecticut time and we will be calling the boys in the morning with Skype to introduce them to their little sister.
The food is gonna take a little bit to get use to and I will be calling Vinnys Pizza from I95 on the way home.
We will try to get up video & pics ASAP.
The travel time from our doorstep to our hotel was 42 hours. We get Hannah around 3:30 am Connecticut time and we will be calling the boys in the morning with Skype to introduce them to their little sister.
The food is gonna take a little bit to get use to and I will be calling Vinnys Pizza from I95 on the way home.
We will try to get up video & pics ASAP.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Let the countdown begin!
We have our final approval and our trip is set. Rachael will be getting a very special birthday present this year. She will be able to hold and kiss our daughter for the very first time on her birthday. Our flight to China has two connections and should be in the range of about a 36 hour ordeal.OHHHH BOYYYY sounds like fun!
We will be spending the first week of our trip in Fuzhou, Fujian province where Hannah is from and finalizing her adoption there and then we fly to Guangzhou to get her visa and medical checkup for our trip home.
As always we'll be posting our experience and video links on here which will automatically post to Facebook.
We are hoping to use Oovoo and Skype to stay connected with everyone back home and from what I've heard they will both work.
Skype user name is jamesgrabowski1 and Oovoo user name is jamesgrabowski. So look me up if your on.
Stay tuned!!!
We will be spending the first week of our trip in Fuzhou, Fujian province where Hannah is from and finalizing her adoption there and then we fly to Guangzhou to get her visa and medical checkup for our trip home.
As always we'll be posting our experience and video links on here which will automatically post to Facebook.
We are hoping to use Oovoo and Skype to stay connected with everyone back home and from what I've heard they will both work.
Skype user name is jamesgrabowski1 and Oovoo user name is jamesgrabowski. So look me up if your on.
Stay tuned!!!
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