Saturday, December 30th

We're home!!!
It took 3 flights and 27 hours but we are finally home. Leah did great! She was either sleeping or playful and happy the entire trip. It was so great to see the boys. After being with a tiny one year old for 2 weeks, they seem like giants to us. They are so cute and great with Leah and she is already smiling for them and letting them hold her. We are exhausted and so thankful to have a 3 day weekend to recover. We will post a picture of Leah with the boys when we have a chance and then we will put this blog to rest. Love, Lara

Thursday, December 28

Our last full day in China. Tomorrow morning we get up at 4:00 am in order to start getting ready for our flights. First we fly to Beijing and then to San Francisco, so our next log entry will be our final one when we reach home.

Today we went as a group to a famous budest temple called the Six Banyans Temple. We spent the afternoon relaxing and trying to repack the suitcases.

We could not have imagined a better trip than what we have had. Our agency and our guides were all amazing. The people of China were so warm and encouraging towards us and our adoption. The other families in our group were the best. We hope to remain friends for a long time so that we can watch these girls grow. A huge thankyou to Noah and Jordan for being such good sports at home. An extra huge thankyou to Grandma Cathy for keeping everything sane at home. We leave with memories that will last a lifetime and a beautiful, perfect, spastic, funny, stubborn, loving, new daughter. Love, Lara and Jim


Six Banyans Temple.


Leah has decided it's fun to look at stuff upside down.


Leah and Jim from the top of the temple.

Wednesday, December 27

We spent the morning walking around one of the main shopping districts. We spotted a McDonalds and wanted to see if Leah would like the french fries. She did. Now she eats 3 things: formula, cheerios, and now McDonalds french fries.

In the afternoon we went to the USA consolute and completed the paperwork process for Leah's US visa. It's now official. We can bring her into the US, and paperwork is now done for this side of the ocean. Interestingly, when we go through customs in the US, we will need to do so as foreigners. Leah won't become a US citizen until she passes through customs and immegration after our flight home.


Leah's first french fries at McDonalds.


This sign cracked us up. McDonalds sells a "green bean pie" in a similar form to our "hot apple pie". I've never been a bg fan of McDonalds food, and this made me even less of a fan.


People everywhere in the shopping district.

Tuesday, December 26

Today was primarily an administrative day with a little trip to an open food market thrown in. In the morning we had pictures taken with the babies in our group followed by a visit to the doctor to get approval for the American visa for Leah's passport. After visiting the market in the afternoon, I headed into town to get some paperwork done on our ticket for Leah. Three hours later I just made it in time for a group dinner at a Cantonese restaurant. They have a saying in China that the Cantonese eat everything with four legs except for the table and chairs. The more brave in our group tried the sand worm salad. It's pretty much what you think it would be. Yes, Noah and Jordan, mommy and daddy ate worms!


Leah has figured out that the little red light on the camera means it's about to flash. She doesn't like the flash, so this is what she does to blink whenever she sees the red light. We now have an enormous number of photos with this expression. Lara of course thinks this is an indication of how brilliant she is.


This is about 1/2 of the babies in are larger group that got matches in our time frame with our agency.


These are the 4 girls that came out of Chongqing orphanages. The 3 on the right were in the same room from the same orphanage.


This is the doctor's office for American visas. Leah's already gained 2 pounds since we picked her up.


Snakes in the open food market. Remember the saying above amout what the Cantonese eat.


More food in the open market. These were alive in large bins.


The open food market.

Monday, December 25

Merry Christmas!!

Didn't do much today. We had a lot of paperwork in the morning and a photo for the visa to get Leah back into the US. We're really enjoying the relaxing time around the hotel. It's 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. After an early dinner to miss the Xmas crowds, our travel group met in one of the rooms and let the girls play in the room together. We've decided we got really lucky with travel groups. Everyone is laid back and travels well, and we got a small group.


Blowing raspberries at dad.


So many adoptive families stay at the White Swan before they leave China that Mattel pays for and supplies a room full of toys just for the adoptive families to use. Here Leah is playing with one of the toys. Mattel also provides every girl and boy with a toy. The girls get a Barbie specially packaged that has a caucasian mom and an asian baby.


Early dinner at the White Swan to avoid the Xmas crowds.

Sunday, December 24 - River Cruise

This morning we did a lot of shopping before the nap. Leah says she likes pretty dresses, jade, and pearls. After the nap, we headed out for a river cruise for dinner and had lots of fun.


This is Leah's first dress. Doesn't she look pretty! This is also the first time that Lara and I have put a dress on a child, so it was a special time for us, too. Thanks to my aunt, Joan Lynch, for the dress.


Mom and Leah on the river cruise.


Our hotel (the White Swan) from the river cruise.


The 3 of us on the river cruise.

Christmas eve in China

Did I once use the word "docile" to describe this girl? That seems hard to believe now. She is sooo tired right now but is making every effort to avoid a nap. She sat in a highchair for breakfast today, and ate a few cheerios. This is great progress! Our hotel and all of the restaurants will be very crowded and expensive for tonight and tomorrow, so our agency has booked an evening dinner cruise for tonight. It should be fun. We are now in a larger group of 21 families from our agency. Altogether in the hotel, I would guess at between 50-100 families with adopted babies. It is fun to see them all but I miss the intimacy of our small group. We'll take some new pictures on the cruise tonight. Love, Lara

Saturday, December 23rd - Off to Guangzhou

Around mid-day we flew to Guangzhou - Leah's first plane ride. Let me tell you. If today's 1.5 hour flight is any indicator of how our upcoming 3 flight/17 hours in the air travel day is going to be, then we'll just chose to stay here in China until she's 5. Normally she's been really sweet, and we keep saying how she's easier than either of our boys, but she did not like being cooped up on the plane. She finally fell asleep for the last 30 minutes, but we're really going to need a better strategy for the long flights coming up.

That being said, when we got off the plane we felt like we'd arrived in paradise. Chongqing is known as the "foggy city", and that's no lie. It's so gloomy, it makes Seattle seem like a sunny place. Guangzhou is 70 and sunny with palm trees. You should see our hotel. It's a suite on the 25th floor overlooking Shamian island - built up during the British occupation. All of the homes are colonial style, and traffic is limited on the island. We're right next door to the US Consolate where we'll have a meeting to get the final visa paperwork done the day before we head home on the 29th.


Leah's first airplane ride. Picture taken before she became a nasty little beast.


View from our hotel room at the White Swan. If you're ever in Guangzhou, stay here.


Leah playing on the floor of the hotel room. She really dug the mirror on the wall. We've found that she loves mirrors. Any time she's near one she wants to get close and touch it. She starting licking this one. We think she's pretty vain about her looks. ;-)

Chongqing is really a modern city, and although we really stand out because there are few tourists, you'd think you're in any major city in the world. Apparently the government has a "go west" program where they are trying to get people to move out of the more populated eastern coastal regions and head to the less populated western areas. Chongqing has been targeted, and there are government salary subsidies and massive building going on. Here's some pictures to prove it.


Dinner at Pizza Hut. We had to make reservations because it's so popular.


Breakfast at Starbucks before we take on the day. Apparently there are 4 of them in Chongqing. Considering that there are 30 million people in Chongqing, Starbucks must be salivating at the opportunity.


I'd swear I was at Times Square in New York city.


I thought this was funny. It's a tower of coke cans sponsored by Coca-cola. They had a live band on a stage nearby playing American dance music.


Santa at the hotel.


Christmas carolers in the hotel lobby. They sang Silent Night, Adelwies (from the Sound of Music) - I don't think they quite got this one right, and I Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Pictures from the day.


Leah in the hotel room playing pattycake.


At the zoo today.


One of 8 pandas at the zoo.


The gang at the zoo. You can see the panda in the background on the right.

Friday, Dec 22nd.

Today we are going to the Chongqing zoo to see some Panda bears, and tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou. Leah is smilling more and has even giggled a few times. She likes to be held facing us and clings on with her fists. We call her a little chimpanzee baby. She hates highchairs or anything that prevents her from being able to reach over and grab on to us. In the hotel room she will crawl away from us and play as long as she can see us. It's as if she has decided to bond with us but wants to really make sure we are not going to leave her. This seems like a very natural instinct to us, so we are happy to comply and let her cling. The biggest challenge right now is food. In the orphanage they make the formula thick with rice cereal and cut a large hole in the bottle nipple. Leah has never been offered finger food or spoon feeding. She has also never had anything cold or even room temperature. She is so tiny and needs more food but she shudders and spits when given banana or watermelon. She did eat some egg custard at dinner last night from a spoon. We will try again today. We can't wait to get her home! Love, Lara

Thursday, December 21

Today we went to a traditional shopping area with narrow streets of vendors selling food, arts, and crafts. While at the shpping area we ran into a group from Europe who were also adopting kids from China.

We've been surprised by the amount of Christmas decorations we're seeing. We thought there wouldn't be any, but all of the hotels we've been in have large xmas trees, santas, etc. I'm sure the hotels do it because of thier audience, but we also see it on the streets. We're told that many younger Chinese are embracing the holiday as one to celebrate with friends and family.

Leah's getting more and more active.

Leah likes:
Clapping
Being held
Warm bottle
Playing with knives at the dinner table

Leah dislikes:
Cold food - any cold food
Solid food - you should see her get those cheerios out of her mouth with her tongue
Being away from us
Being placed into the crib - but once she falls asleep, everything is fine


Christmas tree in our hotel lobby.


More xmas out on the streets.


The market we went to today.


Lara with Leah at the market.


People are saying we have the same hair.

Wednesday, December 20

We didn't do much today. In the morning we went to a grocery store and a department store to pick up baby things that we had forgotten to bring. In the evening we had dinner as a group at a very good restaurant.

Leah slept between 1:00 and 4:00, so nap time is good, but bad because it keeps us to the room.

The little princess has decided that she'll have nothing to do with baby chairs at restaurants. She's only happy when she's being held. Interestingly, the other 2 one-year old girls in our group are similar in this way.


Causing trouble at the restaurant.


The whole group.

It is 5:45am and I am wide awake but Leah is still sound asleep. Not a peep all night. We are told that babies cope with the trauma of the first several days in many different ways. Leah seems to cope by being very docile. She hasn't cried or smiled yet, but she seems very content. She keeps looking back and forth at Jim and I as if to see if we're still there. She likes to be held and will snuggle right next to us with her head on our chest...very sweet. She likes her new toys and she likes to crawl around and explore. They don't like them to crawl at the orphanage so this seems to be a skill that she is still working on mastering. She can also pull herself up to standing. We are really looking forward to seeing her personality emerge over the next few days. She shared a room at the orphange with the other 2 babies in our group, so I imagine that it will be very comforting for them all to continue to see eachother daily for the next 10 days. The only thing on the agenda today is to go shopping for formula, diapers, and baby food! We are feeling very blessed! Love, Lara

Tuesday, December 19 - We have our baby girl!

In the morning we flew from Beijing to Chongqing. The flight was only a few hours long, but I've never sat in a seat so cramped. I had to take my shoes off in order to fit my legs under the seat in front of me.

Chongqing is much warmer than Beijing. It's more like Seattle temperatures, but is known to be always foggy. With over 30 million people living in the major city area, it's the largest city we've ever been to - the multi-story apartment complexes seem to go on forever.

We went to the department of civil affairs office at 3:00pm where we met our new baby daughter, Leah. The orphanage is about a 4 hour bus ride from Chongqing, so we just met the orphanage people at the office.


Lara and me with Leah and the orphanage director and care givers at the department of civil affairs.


View of the cloudy city streets and appartment complexes from the window of the department of civil affairs.


Leah fell asleep in mom's arms at the department office.


Later she woke up and had a great time on the bed back at our hotel room. She finds that chucking cheerios is more fun than eating them.

Monday, December 18

We had an orientation meeting in the morning and spent the afternoon doing some tourist stuff around Beijing.


Hear we are at the Temple of Heaven with the small group that will travel together to Chongqing on Tuesday. Our group is made up of us, a family from Chicago, Southern California, and from Grand Rapids Michigan who will meet up with in Chongqing.

We made it! Wouldn't you know that one of the worst wind storms of the year blew through Seattle the night before we left and we woke up to no power in our house along with about 1/2 of the city. We barely made it through the airport to get to our flight, but once we got into the air it was smooth sailing.


Spent our first day trying to adjust to the time change. Beijing is cold! The lake you see here is frozen and people are walking on it. Somehow "Summer Palace" doesn't quite seem like the right name this time of year.

A great quote from a friend:

“It is terribly important to realize that the leap of faith is not so much a leap of thought as a leap of action. For while in many matters it is first we must see, then we will act; in matters of faith it is first we must do then we will know, first we will be and then we will see. One must, in short, dare to act wholeheartedly without absolute certainty . . . . I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings.”

-- William Coffin

Our travel date is approaching with rapid speed. We have made all the necessary arrangements for Santa to arrive at our home on Christmas morning. With all of our clothes, and all of the baby diapers, clothes, formula, and toys, we had to buy a larger suitcase this weekend. We'll write next from China! Lara

Off to China

We've received our China itinerary.

Depart Seattle 8:00 am, Friday, December 15th.
Beijing arrival 5:30 pm, Saturday, December 16th.
Holt orientation in Beijing, Monday, December 18th.
Fly to Chongqing and meet Leah for the first time, Tuesady, December 19th.
Fly to Guangzhou Saturday, December 23rd.
U.S. consulate visa appointment, Wednesday, December 27th.
Visa issued for Leah, Thursday, December 28th.
Depart Guangzhou Friday, December 29th.
Arrive Seattle 5:00 pm, Friday, December 29th.

On the map below, we've placed a red arrow pointing to Beijing, Chongqing, and Guangzhou. Chongqing is on the Yangtze river, and is one of cities being affected by the three gorges dam project. It's the 3rd largest city in China with a population of over 30 million (three times bigger than New York City)

Got the Match!

After a LONG wait, we are so excited to introduce you to our new daughter. Her Chinese name is Wan Chun Jie. From what we currently understand (which is very little) the name Wan was assigned to every child in the orphanage based on the name of the city. Her given name is Chun Jie. We have decided to call her Leah Chun Jie Kreyenhagen. Her birthdate is 12-17-05, and she is described as being in excellent health, a deep sleeper (yeah), and very active! She is in an orphanage in the city of Wanzhou in the municipality of Chongquing. The city is also called Wanxian, and we had more luck looking for it on a map using that name. Her last exam was in July and at that time she was 13 1/2 lbs and 63 cm tall. We think that may be when these photos were taken.