12/30/08 4:55PM - Here are some
of the famous red couch pictures! see
pictures
12/30/08 4:21PM - It is December 30th and our last night
in Guangzhou. Its a strange feeling but we are actually
a little sad about leaving. This has really been the
best part of the trip. This is where we really got to
know Joanna. The White Swan lived up to its name and the
shops in the streets were lots of fun. We bought
souvenirs and memorabilia for Joanna.
The weather was not the greatest during our stay
here.... cool and muggy... no sun the entire time.. so
that we will remember. Really bad hair weather.... (:
BUT.... we are definitely excited about leaving to come
home. We are about to start packing. We will have an
early morning again tomorrow. We have to grab some
breakfast in time before the bus leaves. We have an
appointment at the U.S. Consulate where we will pick up
Joanna's Visa. Afterwards, we can stop back at the hotel
to pick up our bags and board the bus again for a three
hour ride to Hong Kong. It looks like we are leaving a
little earlier too....so we won't get there so late
which is better.
We will spend one night in Hong Kong and our flight
leaves for Newark the next day. We should land in Newark
at about 2:00 pm U.S. time!!!
It has been an awesome trip overall but we miss home. We
definitely felt the extra days that were added onto our
trip last minute...
We are done with living out of a hotel room. We want our
space back! We are looking forward to being in our house
again! We want U.S. Food! We want to see everyone! and
most of all we can't wait for everyone to see Joanna!!!!
We will try to post some more pictures over the next 48
hours but we probably won't have a chance to write
anymore..... so..... SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!! Here we come
Newark, NJ!!!!!!!!!! U. S. !!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
12/30/08 4:15PM - Just had a few moments to look back
through out the site and realized that we really did not
capture "gotcha day" that well. It seems we skipped over
the most important moment of the trip! Here's why. IT
WAS COMPLETELY INSANE THE FIRST 24 HOURS AFTER GETTING
OFF THE PLANE IN NANNING!!!
But here's what happened.... We arrived in Nanning and
got off the plane to find out that they had lost one of
our bags. Our guide Xi Xi, tried to help find it, but
had no luck. Xi Xi said that we could not wait. We had
to leave immediately because we were going to get the
babies right then and there! Everyone was freaking out.
Xi Xi, who turned out to be our life line while here,
told everyone to take a bottle and a toy and get on the
bus. She said we were late and that the orphanage
workers were all at the Civil Affairs building waiting
for us. Xi Xi was rushing everyone onto the bus. It was
so hard not to cry because we did not even have a bottle
for Joanna. No one knew that it would happen this way,
plus everything for Joanna was in the missing suitcase!
Our travel companions were awesome and gave us what we
needed. We all boarded the bus and drove about 15-20
minutes to the Civil Affairs building.
Once we arrived, they took us to a room where we waited
just a few moments. Everyone stood there on pins and
needles and one by one they started to take the babies
into the room. Grace was taken into the room first.
Grace is an older child and at four years old she
understood in her own way what was happening. She was
brought over to her parents literally kicking and
screaming and it was so hard to watch.
Each baby came in separately carried by an orphanage
worker. Most of them were crying. There names were
called out in Chinese and each baby was handed over to
her parents.
We heard Joanna's Chinese name before we recognized her.
All the babies were bundled up so we could hardly see
their faces. We heard "Ye Gui Qin" and Xi Xi nodded to
me and I walked up to her. Joanna cried and cried. I
took her in my arms and she was screaming her head off.
I held her tight and sang to her. I rocked her but every
time she looked up at me, she screamed some more.
We stood in this room with the babies all screaming and
cameras rolling for maybe 15 minutes. Then, the Director
spoke and Xi Xi translated. She told us to take the
babies with us overnight and come back the next morning
at 9am to make it official. They quickly ushered us out
and back into the bus. All the while all the babies
cried, including Joanna. Moments after the bus started
to move, Joanna passed out on me. And that is one of the
first pictures posted of her.
We arrived at the hotel about 1/2 hour later and checked
in. We tried the best we could to comfort her. She hated
us. We were very scared. She did drink a bottle but kept
turning away from us and screaming. She actually slept
good that night.... sort of cried herself to sleep. Jay
and I were up all night. Joanna woke up at about 3-4am.
In the dark room she looked right at me and cried but
she held my fingers so tight. I could tell she was
scared and so were we.
She eventually fell back asleep. When she woke up she
seemed a little calmer.
That morning we left early to go back to the Civil
Affairs building. Little by little, Joanna was warming
up to us. Throughout the day she was more comfortable
looking at us and cried less and less. What a difference
a day makes because.... all of a sudden she needed us.
She cried when we put her down. It all seems kind of
blurry now but very quickly, almost overnight, this baby
girl changed. Within another day or two, we started to
get small smiles and now, about two weeks later....she
is laughing out loud with us.
The moment of "gotcha" was all captured on camera and at
some point it will be posted.... but the cord for the
video camera was left back at home so we are not able to
post it from here....
Anyway.... that's how it went. What a night. Jason and I
laid awake almost all night scared out of our wits.
Somehow, we pulled it together and functioned the next
day. What a team. Team LaRosa-Levy....
More...
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