Tuesday, March 10

Slowly getting back to normal. Meghan and Jeff went back to school today. We are still trying to adjust to home time zone. Changing to Daylight Savings Time on Sunday DID NOT HELP!! Thank you to all our family and friends for your prayers and well wishes on our journey to unite with our daughter, Michelle. Thank you for giving us a place in your hearts and prayers. Thanks for giving us room to adjust here at home. Please call or stop by now anytime to welcome our new family addition.

Saturday, March 7

Readjusting to our local time zone is proving to be somewhat difficult. Sleep til noon and stay up till 2 am. Now Max has Will's cold. Thank goodness, no one else seems to have it yet but we are all very weary, jet lag, but loving being home and hearing from friends and family. Michelle is starting to adjust. She adores our oldest son, Chris, or vise versa. Michelle still does well with the kids, Karen and other women. She's still a little suspicious of Dad-Max, unless he has the food, then he's just fine.

Thursday, March 5

We headed home today. LONG DAY. We left Guangzhou on JAL around 9:30 am, arrived Tokyo around 2:30 pm. Left Tokyo around 4:30 pm on Delta, arrived Atlanta about 3:00pm. We cleared through customs and immigration, rechecked our bags and missed our flight to Denver by about 10 minutes. We missed the next flight too, oversold and misconnects from the first one. We made the later flight and walked in our door at home around 12:30 am, Friday Mar 6. If you add up the hours that made it about 3:30 pm on Friday in Guangzhou. Having gotten up around 4:30 am the previous day that gave us about a 35 hour day! Whew. Oh well, the hazzards of traveling standby. It allowed us to take Meghan, Jeff and Will though. Everyone is home.
We all made it without having any intestinal issues. However, Will caught a virus or sinus infection with fever on the trip home, poor guy. More later, going to the grocery store at 1 am, wide awake.

Wednesday, March 4

Today we went to the Zoo! We had a great time.

This afternoon we went to the US Consulate and received Michelle's visa!! This combined with our adoption paper work means that just as soon as she has her passport stamped for entry in Atlanta she becomes a US citizen, immediately!

Tuesday March 3

Today our visa application went to the US Consulate.

Another day to get to know Michelle more and and rest up.

Monday, March 2

Today we went on a tour of Guangzhou. We went to a Buddhist temple, a museum called The Old Chen House, and shopping!!

This afternoon, Michelle had her required physical exam. Everything checked out great!

Sunday March 1

Today we filled out more paper work for Michelle's US visa. It was enough that I thought we had started over again! This area of Guangzhou is nicer than what we have seen to date. Several "American" restaurants, 7=11 and Starbucks. We are able to stroll around and relax a little.

Travel from Nanchang, Jiangxi to Guangzhou, Guangdong

On Saturday we flew from Nanchang to Guangzhou. What a difference. Still a little cool but much better weather for getting out on foot and seeing some things, meeting people and "buying trinkets"

More day trip to Fuzhou City

We saw a lot of different things on the way to Fuzhou, while there and on the way back. And of course, Karen found the chickens.

Crossing the road can be very dangerous here. You may be wondering why the motor scooter with two people. Just wanted to show you a picture of a "typical" taxi cab.

Day Trip to the Orphanage

Yesterday we took a trip to the Orphanage where Michelle came from. It was about a 2 hour bus ride from here to there. We were grateful for the opportunity to visit. We were even able to meet one of Michelle's caregivers and see where Michelle had been cared for, for the last 7 months.
As you can also see, we also found a little time to do some school work.

Quick Update: Yesterday, Wednesday, we went on a tour of the Tangwang Pavilion. We had a great view of the city. Today we are taking a road trip to the orphanage that Michelle came from. More later.

More Pictures

Day 2 with Michelle

What a difference a day makes! We have now had our first night and day with our precious new daughter. Having an infant in the room is new again. Michelle seems to be doing just fine. We are spending our time getting to know her, her eating and sleeping habits, likes and dislikes. She likes the kids and mommy, but is still a little suspicious of daddy. That's okay, all in due time.
We were exhausted after our Sunday evening and Monday. Sunday evening we had a lot of paper work to confirm and finish. On Monday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, nice spread. We omelets, fried eggs, bacon, french toast, etc. We then had to go and pay all of the official fees. Then we went to Walmart and stocked up on water and baby supplies. We had KFC for lunch, yes that's Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then we had an afternoon full of appointments, statements and more paperwork. First we had to be interviewed by the Adoption Registrar and promise to take care of Michelle.

Then a trip to the Notary to have our Official Adoption Registration notarized. For Sherrie Schield, notaries here are in the government. Notarization is an official government operation. Our's here sat in a very nondescript, bland and cold office. We're glad to have you there, many thanks for all your help.

Next we had to go to the local Police Station to have the children's faces scanned. Has something to do with fighting human trafficing we think.

Last stop before heading back to our hotel for the evening was McDonald's, yep, McDonald's. So here we are in a faraway land eating bacon and eggs for breakfast, KFC for Lunch and McDonald's for supper!

Tuesday so far is much slower, breakfast at the hotel again and a visit to the pediatrician for a general checkup for Michelle. Our adoption agency from home pays to have a pediatrician come to the hotel and examine all the kids. Michelle's lungs are clear, ears are clear and all looks generally healthy. Praise God.

Lunch today will be .... don't know yet.

Dinner will be authentic Chinese. We are going to dinner as a group. Probably 13 babies, 24 parents and assorted other travel companions.

Right now we have Meghan, Jeff and Will along with Greg and Sarah (kids from a couple of other families) watching the Princess Bride in one of our rooms. Karen went next door to our other room to put Michelle down for a nap.

Gotcha Day Has Arrived!!

What a wonderful day today! Michelle Grace Na-Zao Batson is now with us!!

Sampan Tour of Aberdeen Fishing Village

Day 4 Hong Kong

We had a wonderful tour of Hong Kong today. We traveled by bus to the top of Victoria Peak. On the way up very narrow roads we saw where some of the wealthy in Hong Kong live. We also had a beautiful view of the city below on the North side of Hong Kong Island and across the water we could see Kowloon. We visited a jewelry manufacturing shop and saw many amazing pieces of jade, gold and other things we can't afford. We also went to the towns of Aberdeen and Stanley where we saw the other side of life here in Hong Kong, working class and poor. Aberdeen was a fishing village and many there live out most of their lives on the water.

Day 3 All The Way to Hong Kong

We made it to Hong Kong and got to our hotel around 11 pm local time. This stay was a formality. We were picked up the next morning around 1030 and transferred to our group hotel, the Regal Hong Kong on Hong Kong Island. The rest of the day we were on our own. We ventured out a little. We stopped by the Hong Kong Central Library. Then we hopped across the street to Victoria Park. Next, we got on the tram and went to the other end of town to the Botanical and Zoological Gardens. Then we made our way back to the hotel. Thought we would eat American since the rest of our trip will be mostly "local" fare. The most common shops here seem to be the 7 Eleven's and Starbucks, home sweet home.