The Story Of You - Journey To Carmen!

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Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey,
Danny, Sally, Daniel and Carmen!

February 28, 2009
Medical Exam and Shopping

Today was our first full day in Guangzhou. What a fun, fun city
and area. It is a shopper’s paradise!

We started our day with a ten minute walk to the Physical
Examination Clinic for Chinese adoptions. There were three
centers that each child had to go through: (1) Height, Weight &
Temperature, (2) Ear, Nose & Throat and (3) Physical
Examination. Carmen did great all the way through. She was
actually fine with the whole thing until they wanted her to open
her mouth ---- nope, no way! That part was a struggle. These
exams are all requirements leading up to our finalization and
visa on March 2nd. Tomorrow we meet with Shiyan at 10 a.m. to
go over final documentation. (Shiyan is THE Bethany person
here in China. She is so sweet, so pretty and is a can-do person that will get it done over here!) Anyway, this is all coming
together like clockwork.

After the exams, the three of us just walked around watching the
Chinese people in their everyday life – which is a LOT of
exercising in the park, there’s singing & dancing and more
stares and positive nods toward us. We sort of started to shop in
our free time but this is where the real bargaining comes in so we spent our time comparing prices and getting the feel of it. The
shop people wanted us to “buy now” but we assured them we
were checking prices and would come back. You’d be amazed
how much saying that lowers the price :o) We’re hoping to find
those bargains tomorrow after our meeting provided the rain that
is expected holds out.

Since in Guangzhou, Shiyan gets our entire group together for
dinner at 5 p.m. which is so very nice. We had several friends
who were also adopting with us on this trip and have made many
more which I’m sure will last a lifetime as we stay connected
with/by our girls.

Carmen continues to show her personality and has the cutest
little smile and giggle. She is also becoming more and more of a
Daddy’s girl. Today while walking down the street, a lady came
up to Danny & Carmen and was admiring her with a big smile.
She looked back and forth at them and while touching Carmen’s
cheeks said “Baby looks like you. Big Cheeks”!! (You know he
loved it!)

Her eating continues to amaze us. She eats like a champ at every
meal and will eat any and everything! Forget any baby food –
she eats right off the table. At breakfast today, it was a plate of fruit along with toast and some eggs. For lunch, she ate fried
noodles with onions and peppers then no kidding, she ate 1/3 of
Danny’s hamburger and bites of my grilled cheese. For dinner it
was chicken congee and back & forth between both mine and
Danny’s plates. He had a very spicy meal so was afraid to let her
have it but Shiyan assured him that Carmen was probably quite
used to it because they eat spicy foods in the area she came from.
That is in addition to the ice cream bribes from Daddy and her
sneaking Snickers bars out of the suitcase. She doesn’t drink
from a baby bottle either. It’s either a sippy cup or she will drink bottled water with us. I don’t remember Daniel eating like
this at her age….. Having said that, she really doesn’t snack all
day but when it’s meal time, she EATS! Did I mention how well
she fits into this family?? Ha. By the way Pawpaw, Danny says
you better watch your toast and jelly very carefully each morning! She has found a love of it!! Now, Daniel will drink your
tea and Carmen will eat your food.

Also, Danny made a point that I want to express. This is SO not
just a vacation. We are so tired that we can hardly move. We’re
laughing at each other because we’re so sore it’s hard to get up.
No, it’s not the age thing --- even the 30 somethings are having
this problem. Each day there is something required within the
adoption process. It is nerve wracking to constantly carry around
the cash and documents because they are critical for completion
and if lost I don’t know what we’d do. Every time we are able to
actually pay a fee or submit a form, it’s relief. Everyone here has commented that they’ve never been so happy to spend money
like this before. It’s truly a reprieve with each step. Then, much of the time we are waiting for paperwork to get through the
system so are able to shop or hang out with other families. I
write about all of that in order to have it journaled but this is no
piece of cake. It is a beautiful, once in a lifetime piece of cake
though that we wouldn’t trade for anything!! We cannot wait for
you all to meet Carmen and see first-hand what this was all
about. She’s such a doll!