She's growing!

Those first few days of jet lag!
Sera, Elena, Kayla, Ian & Emma in their Chinese silks
Sweet Emma Grace
Eating cake with mommy
First Thanksgiving
Emma's Baptism
First Profesional Pictures taken
A beautiful little girl..
Our first family picture
Emma meets Santa Clause!
The best Christmas gift under the tree!
Kids at Christmas
Emma with Ivy Mae
Emma's 2nd Birthday!
Learning to ride a bike
Riding with Big Brother
Family at Easter
Emma's Re-Adoption Day
Silly girl


1st Referral Day Anniversary

September 6, 2004

Subject: We are Home!! Our family is United!

Well we are finally all together now!! We arrived in Orlando around
5:00 pm and "Grandpa" Charlie picked us up. Emma even let Charlie
hold her while we were waiting for our baggage. It felt so good to
be home and in Orlando. We flew into LA on Saturday afternoon, and
we had a feeling it would be, but our flight to Orlando was
cancelled. The earliest we could get out would be Monday morning, so
we had to stay in LA. We stayed at the Comfort Inn near the airport
for Saturday and Sunday. I had been up the whole flight from Beijing-
LA because Emma would only sleep on me and she is a very restless
sleeper. Once we got to the hotel, I handed her to Claudio & Sera
and went to sleep!! We were up around 2 am the last two mornings, we
have been all screwed up on our times. On Sunday, we did take
advantage of the day we had in LA. We were all up and ready for
breakfast around 3 am, but had to wait until 6. After being in 5
star hotels the past 2 weeks, the breakfast bar of donuts & juices
seemed a bit weird, but they were good and much needed after our
long trip. We went back to the room and all of us were asleep by
7:30 and then we woke up around 2 pm!! We took a taxi to Santa
Monica and visited tha mall and pierre. Sera and I both had no
clothes left, and had to soak our only undergarments left in the sink
(without soap!). So we both had to get an outfit for the trip home.
Santa Monica was very nice, the mall was great. We ate dinner at a
nice Italian restaraunt and enjoyed the sunset at the pierre. By
7:00 pm we were very ready to get back to the hotel room! This
morning we were up around 2 am again, thanks to Miss Emma! It was
fine, because we needed to be at the airport at 5:00 am for our 7:09
am flight to Dallas. The two flights went well and Emma was a
trooper. All this poor kid has known so far is a airplane ride and
then a new hotel room! It was so great to get back into Orlando, and
even from the air we could see some ofthe devastation left by
Hurricane Frances. While we were coming past Tampa, the pilot
pointed out to us that on the left of our plane was the back side of
Frances! Orlando seems okay.. mostly there are still trees left
everywhere from Charley. We are just praying that Hurricane Ivan
doesn't come towards Florida. Three hurricanes in one month is
enough!! It was so good to see the kids again. Ian looks like a
monster after lugging around Emma these days!! He must have grown a
foot.. I don't remember him being this tall!!!! It is so good to be
hugging my baby boy. Kayla and Elena are doing great.. even Kayla
has grown a bit. Emma has gone to Elena and likes her, but she's not
to sure of Kayla & Ian. This of course is making them sad and
feeling like she doesn't like them, but we are explaning to them
that this is all new for her, and she needs some time. Emma's not
crazy about the dogs.. but give her time and she'll be playing with
them! The girls made us a wonderful meal of meatloaf, veggies,
mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. They decorated the house which
was so sweet. It is so wonderful to be back home and to finally
sleep in our own bed!! Hopefully everything will get back to normal
soon and then I will update ya'll. Right now I've been up since 2:00
am and starting to feel the effects of jet lag!!
The M family- all finally together!

Elena, Kayla and Ian while we were gone.
Emma enjoying her first meal at home!
Someone is happy to be home!
Kayla taking on her new job of "Miss Mom"
All five kids together, at last!

The Beautiful Babies

Photo's of the nine beautiful babies adopted in August 2004 through Living Hope Adoption Agency:
Emma from Beijing
Meili from Beijing
Kelly from Beijing
Lily from Beijing
JereMiah from Kunming (the only boy!)
Esther from Beijing
Elisabeth from Kunming
Johanna from Kunming
Grace from Kunming

Aren't they all precious??
P.S. Sorry about that blue dot you might be noticing in all of the pictures! It's from the scanner.

September 3, 2004

Emma at breakfast
Our Travel group leaving for home
Sera on the red couch with Lily & Emma
Emma on the red couch
Playing in the White Swan playroom
Subject: Thank you for all the well wishes..
They have all made me feel so much better! Being in Guangzhou has
helped tons.. it is sooo much nicer here!! We walked into the hotel
and it was wonderful!!! I took a shower yesterday and by far that
is the best shower I have ever taken!! We have already bought tons
of stuff for us and Emma! The White Swan is 100 times better than
everyone says it is. It is so nice to go down the street and have no
one staring at you like you have 3 heads! Everyone is used to seeing
the babies with Caucasion parents, so they think it's great! Our
flight from Guangzhou to Beijing, was fine, but getting there
wasn't. For some reason we were put on a different flight than the
rest of our group. I was a little unhappy about that, but the flight
we were supposed to take was just 20 minutes after the other one.
Our flight was supposed to take off at 8:55 but it didn't take off
till nearly 10:30. I was not happy about this at all, because we
needed to check in at the hotel at 12, have lunch and the medical
exam was at 2:00. We landed at exactley 12:59, at the new Guangzhou
airport which is wonderful, and our luggage was the first off the
plane. Because our flight was delayed, we were expecting our
facilitator in Guangzhou to not be there, since the other families
had arrived about 1-2 hours before us.. BUT they were there!! We
went straight from the airport to get Emma's vise photo, then to the
medical exam. She passed with flying colors and was the only baby
not screaming! We met the other half of our group there.. (the
couples that went to Kunming.) Their babies are all beautiful, but
malnourished and they have had attachment issues. Except
for the little boy, he is adorable.. and such a chunk! Once we
got to the hotel... it was all worth it what we had been through the
past few hours!! The waterfall in the lobby is so calming and all of
the babies are adorable!! We met 2 couples that were leaving that
day and they shared their experience with us. Their babies were from
ChongQing. We had some lunch/dinner, since we were in such a rush to
get to the medical exam, we hadn't eaten yet. Later that night we
ate at the Cow & Bridge (is this what it's called).. the Thai
restaraunt. We didn't eat because we had already eaten earlier.
Yesterday the breakfast buffet was glorious!! After awhile, the
buffet in Beijing was becoming boring. It was more Chinese food
there, but here at the White Swan it is wonderful!! And you can dine
with all the babies!! We met a couple that just sent their youngest
to college, and came here to get twins!! After breakfast, Sera did
school work and Emma took a nap and Claudio and I went shopping. We
ordered chops, and one of those granite etchings, and did some more
shopping. Our consulate appoinment was at 4:30. It was much easier
than I thought it would be. We weren't allowed to bring anything in
except our passports and the baby. The process was very short, and
the guy came in, we took the oath and were done! Seeing all of the
babies that came from other provinces, makes me so glad Emma came
from Beijing and is very healthy. Many of the children are extremely
skinny, and their heads are completely flat at the back. With lots
of love and food, they will all be fine, but we truly got the most
wonderful baby! (In my eyes!) After the appointment, we went to
dinner at Lucys and waited for our visa, which would be ready that
night! Sera went with the other couples on the Pearl River Tour. She
says she's glad I didn't go since it wasn't that great. It was a
buffet style dinner and all chinese food (complete with octopus &
squid) and they all had to push and shove their way through the
line. She said going up the river was fun and getting shots of the
White Swan at night. She and Patti, Bill & Lily went to Lucy's for
dinner after the cruise. Then she came back, and we just chilled and
watched tv for awhile. This morning, we went to breakfast and there
was a journalist and photographer Sera and the Hannon's met in the
elevator last night who was very interested in our adoptions. The
journalist was interested in doing story about it. The photographer
was with us through breakfast and he got shots of all the girls in
our group, and a few babies from Australia. We are going to talk
with the journalist later because he wants to know more about our
story. Pretty neat.. we may just be in a magazine or newspaper!!
After breakfast, we met the rest of our group by the red couches and
took more photos. All of our group left today except Patti, Bill &
Lily and ourselves. It was sad seeing all of them go. Our travel
group has been beyond wonderful and it's amazing to see these kids
transform from Gotcha Day to Today. We will miss them all so much,
and are planning a reunion next year!! After we said our goodbyes,
the photographer went with us and captured some shots of Lily and
Emma and us. We played in the Swan Room for awhile and then went
shopping and picked up the rest of our treasures here in China. It
is so wonderful being in Guangzhou. I love it here. It's been great
here and we will truly miss China, but I am ready to see my babies
at home. Especially since another hurricane is headed to Florida.
Any news on this?? We have CNN and they give a breif talk about it,
but what is going on?? Where is it supposed to hit?? We come home
early Sunday morning, so hopefully it will be gone. Please say a
prayer for my kids and all of our friends and for the Floridian
people. I hope it is not as bad as Charley. We are praying for all
of you in Orlando. We're almost home, the journey is almost
complete, and Emma will be an American once her little feet touch
the US soil in LA!! See you guys soon!! We're almost home!

Lots of love,
Claudio, Nancy, Sera & Emma

September 2, 2004

Today was the Consulate Appointment! Emma proudly displayed her new colors; red, white & blue! We also took the "annual" red couch picture and spent the day with our travel group since most of them would be leaving the next day.

Getting ready for our big day at the American Consulate!
Don't I look cute with my new bow? I'm not a fan of bows at ALL, so I promptly pulled it out despite the efforts and protests of my big sister.
Emma and Mommy
Emma and Daddy
Emma and Sera
Lily and Sera
Our family (minus 3) in front of the water fall.
Babies on the red couch! From Left to Right: JereMiah, Meili, Emma, Lily, Grace, Johanna and Elizabeth. (Missing from photo are Kelly & Esther)
Family on the red couch
Here's the whole group- minus one family! 5 babies were from Beijing, and 4 were from Kunming.

September 1, 2004

Pictures from our first day in Guangzhou!
First order of business was the medical exam! She got a clean bill of health!
The lobby of the White Swan Hotel!

Top of the waterfall.
Koi
A shot of the koi pond.

Views of Guangzhou from our hotel room

August 31, 2004

Photo's from our last day in Beijing!!
Emma at breakfast. She could sure make a mess in that highchair!
Emma after waking up from her nap.
What a cheesy little grin!!
Emma's first taste of Cool-Aid!
Sisters!
At McDonalds
Us in front of our hotel, the Beijing International

August 30, 2004

*Note- we didn't send any more updates until we arrived in Guangzhou on Sept 1st. But on our last Monday in China, we visited the Beijing zoo. It was a fun day although VERY hot!! The animals were nice, but a lot of them were dirty. I loved how the zoo made such a huge deal out of the panda exhibit. The panda's were enclosed inside a seperate building inside the zoo that required a fee to get in. It was probably about $5, but once inside there were ONLY 2 panda's and they were sleeping!! So, it wasn't very entertaining! But it was nice to get out and explore some more of Beijing.

Blogger isn't letting me upload the pictures, so I'll try again later.

August 29, 2004

Subject: SUNDAY

So far today we haven't done much. Liu took a few of our group to
the Great Wall, and we stayed and did school work!! Claudio and I
(along with Emma) went with Patti, Bill & Lily to the Park n Shop
store across from the hotel and picked up our film. It was about $5
for 5 rolls of film, which all came in little photo albums and a
cd!! Lily is so precious. She is 2 years old but very much a baby.
She loves to sit in between Patti & Sera and sit on both of their
laps. She even calls Sera "mama".. so she is Mama #2!! Yesterday,
Sera had been holding Lily on her lap, and then she wanted to go
back to Patti, so then Emma wanted to sit on Sera's lap. Lily
proceeded to come right on over and push Emma off of Sera's lap!!
Too funny!

Well I have been saying too much about what we have done and not
enough about Emma! She has completely bonded to all 3 of us. A few
days ago, she was so friendly and would go to anyone. But last night
at the hotel some girls were playing with her and wanted to hold
her, and she let them know that she did not want to be held by
them!! She loves her big sister Sera and prefers to be held by her.
Emma has just started this thing where she doesn't want to go to
sleep when you put her in the crib. So she will start to cry, but we
will lay on the bed and let her know we are there until she calms
down. I think she is so used to sleeping with all of the other
girls, that she needs someone with her. Other than that she is a
busy and happy girl. So tiny though! Last night she had on a 12
month size outfit and we had to roll the pants up twice, and they
were still falling down! She fits in most 6-9-12 month outfits. Her
eczema on her legs is looking much better! She also has a large
mongolian spot on her butt.. it looks like a black & blue bruise,
but it's not. She also has a missing fingernail on her left thumb,
but that's nothing severe. She is so adorable and has the cutest
smile and laugh! We can't wait for all of you to meet her. She is
sucha wonderful gift from God and makes this long trip all worth it!

The Manbens in China

August 28, 2004

Subject: Saturday in China

Today we met the other couples at Breakfast and decided to go to the
kids store near Wangfujing street, near our hotel. Some of us were
running out of clothes since we had no clue what to pack, and we
needed shoes for Emma! So we all met in the lobby and walked to the
store. For the first time in a week it was SUNNY!! We could see the
sky!! And it was blue!! The past week it has been so gloomy and
foggy, but finally the sun was out and there was a breeze! The walk
to the store was very nice. Emma fell asleep on the way there. The
store is called Guo Jing Kids Stuff Store (I'm pretty sure thats the
name) and it's the store we went to on Gotcha day when we got our
strollers. It's a HUGE department store full of kids toys, clothes,
shoes etc! We first needed to buy some toys for Emma because she is
so busy and into everything! We found a soccer ball that's soft and
plays music for her, and got a very cute toy that is a tree house
but the parts of it are stackable and it plays music. Hopefully this
will keep her busy! We also bought her some shoes, since we didn't
bring any and her ones from the orphanage don't match all of her
outfits!! (Nah.. she needed shoes!) We found an adorable pair of
squeaky shoes that are blue trimmed in red and have a monkey on
them. The squeak is also a lot quieter than the ones she has now
which are very loud!! We also bought her another pair for her to
grow into. Emma has the tiniest feet!! Her shoes are a size 13 in
Chinese shoes, so that could be a size 2 or 3.. not sure yet. We
also bought her a very cute dress on sale for $78 yuan. When we met
the rest of the group, all of the girls had squeaky shoes on and
were so darn cute!! Claudio & Sera were watching Emma and I held
Kelly, Ray & Jeanne's daughter. Kelly is a BIG girl. And she will
only go to Jeanne and doesn't want to walk. So she is killing
Jeanne's back!! Kelly did go to me, but she preferred Sera (all of
the girls do) so Sera carried her all the way back to the hotel. She
didn't mind, she said Kelly would build muscle in her arms, just
from carrying her! Before we got to the hotel, we had lunch at a
place called Mr. Pizza which was good! Better than Pizza Hut!

Once we got back to the hotel, Sera pulled out her school books and
we did school. She's not too happy about doing school work while in
China!!

One of the highlights of today was when we were on our way to the
kids store, we found an Outback Steakhouse!! We went there for
dinner and it was great!! It's next to the Beijing Hotel, which is
very nice.. the girls were all tired so they walked around the lobby
of the hotel. The floor is almost glass looking and lights up from
the bottom and they loved that!!

One week from tonight we will be on our way home!! We're almost home!

August 27, 2004

Subject: Friday in China

After our experience yesterday, I wasn't up to going anywhere!! The
other two couples that went with us had similar problems. Ray &
Jeanne's daughter Kelly screamed the entire ride home, and was
clawing Jeanne, and hitting her. They thought something was
seriousley wrong with her and were going to take her to the
hsopital. She did settle down, but we have all had enough with the
taxi rides. I also am very homesick. I miss my kids, I'm sick of
China. Being in one place for a whole week can make you crazy!! I
think it would be better if we were in Guangzhou already but we are
here until Wednesday! But we did go to the Beijing Friendship store,
which was nice. Liu called and said how sorry she was for yesterday
and said that she would take us to the Friendship store and promised
the bus would be there to take us and pick us up. So I agreed to go.
On the way to the store, there are embassies everywhere. I even
started crying when I saw that American flag for our embassy!! We
walked around a bit, but it wasn't as nice as I thought it would be.
Good thing was Pizza Hut is right next store!! We enjoyed the pizza
and that made me feel better, since Sera said she was tired of
looking at me from the way I was "moping." And I was.. I miss my
kids terribly and want to be home! We called them and they sounded
fine, but miss us too. Only a few more days!!

August 26, 2004

Subject: Thursday in China





Today was a great day.. saying this sarcastically. Well most of it
was fun. We did our morning routine of breakfast with the group, nap
for Emma and school work for Sera. Our facilitator Liu called and
said that if we would like, we could go to the Pearl Factory . I
thought this would be great since this is where we should buy the
pearls if we wanted any. So we decided to go. Our other guide Bruce
met us in the lobby along with Ken, Debbie & Meili and Ray, Jeanne &
Kelly. The pearl factory was very nice. First they showed us a video
of how they got the pearls, and how they made things etc. Next, they
led us to a tank filled with oyesters and each family picked one
out. Then they opened it and showed us in the insides. There were
seven pearls in the one we chose, and they were very tiny! They gave
them to us, so hopefully we can get them strung into earings. After
this, they took us upstairs to the "store", so we could buy pearls
of course!! The employees were so excited to see all of us Americans
with Chinese little girls!! They asked us how old they girls were
and where they were from, and they got a kick out of the fact that
they're from Beijing! We bought some nice pearls for friends and got
a nice bracelet for Sera and a necklace for Elena. Claudio bought me
a very pretty necklace with just a single pearl on it.. it's black
and has an odd shape, like an egg! It's very pretty though. The (I
guess) owner of the store came out and gave each girl a pearl
bracelet. How sweet!!! Ken & Debbie had Meili all decked out in a
pearl necklace, bracelet & anklet.. she was too cute! Emma's pearl
bracelet is too big (she is so tiny and has the smallest wrist!) and
when we did put it on her she started pulling at it, so maybe in the
next 2 years she will wear it!! After the pearl factory, Bruce asked
if we would like to go to the Silk factory. It sounded interesting,
so we decided to go. It was in an old part of Beijing, in this park
that looked kind of abandoned. When we got inside, they showed us
how they made silk items. They first gather the silk cacoons and for
some things, spin out the thread on this neat machine. The silk
thread is very strong! Next, they showed us another way of making
silk. The woman would dip the cacoon into some hot water and open it
up. She would take the silkworm out of it (which is an ugly worm..
but it makes beautiful fabric!!) and then stretch the cacoon over
this leather semi sircle thing. After it dried, some other girls
would take the silk and stretch it. They took about 7-8 layers of
this stuff and would make a silk comforter! They showed us the end
project and it's a nice comforter that's soft!! They had a store to
sell them, and we thought it was nice, but something we don't need
right now. Maybe on our next trip to China!! We also visited the
store where they had the Chinese outfits, dresses, bathrobes,
scrafes, and rugs.. and so many other things!! Claudio bought ties
for a few friends. It was fun to just look around. Emma loved to
walk and feel all of the silk! Of course, after awhile you're ready
to leave! We noticed the bus was not outside of the factory, and
Bruce was trying to contact the driver. He told us that the driver
had had an emergency and needed to help a colleague of his. But
right before we went into the factory, he told us to gather all of
our things. He obviosley knew that the bus was not coming to pick us
up, and actually going to pick up another group!! So, his soloution
was to take a taxi home. Now driving in China is the worst thing!!
Sera says it is worse than when she went to Jamaica. I don't mind
the bus, but being in a taxi when the driving is crazy frightens me.
Plus we were almost an hour away from the hotel, and we had paid for
the bus!! But we did take the taxi home.. horrible!! The driver took
us down there back alley streets, we went down one way streets going
the wrong way.. I thought we were going to be killed!! Emma was
sleeping, but she picks up on my emotions and hearing my heavy
breathing from being scared to death, made her wake up and be
cranky. But we did make it home. Thank God. As we were taking the
stroller out of the trunk, Claudio noticed that there was a propane
fuel tank.. I cannot tell you how many times we almost got rear ened
on the way home.. and if we did, we would have been crispy french
fries!! It was a horrible experience in that taxi and made the day
horrible. Our trip has been so disorganized and we haven't been to
happy with our agency. Part of it is that this is their first time
in Beijing as an adopting group. We were some of the first families to be referred children from Beijing CWI. But I am not too
happy with this plan we have been on and am ready to get home!!
Otherwise it was a nice day!

August 24-Gotcha Day!!--August 25, 2004

It has been such a blur these last few hours!! She is absouloutley
beautiful!! First, let me start with our Gotcha Day story!

Right after I sent my last e-mail to all of you, Claudio met me in
the business center and said we were leaving to go to the Peking
Duck restaraunt. We hadn't gone on the tour earlier because we had
to change our orphanage donation into yuan. So we left the hotel
around 12 and went to Peking Duck. We met up with the other couples
there and the food was great!! I didn't have much duck though
because they gave that to us last and we had already eaten so much!!
We were counting down the minutes in the restaraunt.. it went from
47 minutes.. then 32 minutes.. then 16 minutes and finally we left 8
minutes before 1:00 pm! We boarded the bus (which was wonderful
compared to the one we had ridden in the day before) with the other
4 couples. The other 4 couples in our group went to Kunming (in SW
China) and would recieve their daughters the next day. The busride
to the orphanage was supposed to take 40 minutes.. I don't remember
much because I was freaking out so bad! The orphanage is located in
the HaiDian district and the outskirts were not so nice to be in,
but the orphanage is beautiful! Once we got inside, we were led to
the reception room where we would do some paperwork and then meet
our daughters. The walls of the orphanage were brightly colored and
beautiful. This was such a nice place for Emma to live in. We
completed the required paperwork.. had to sign some things, present
a few things and have our fingerprints done. After we did this, the
orphanage gave us a photo album with a few pictures of Yun Na. There
were 2 from November (which is when our paperwork was sent to
China), one from March (taken on Ian's birthday) and another from
July. (and a few more when she was 6 months old) The picture from
July was just so precious. She was adorable!! Not 10 minutes after
the last couple did their paperwork, we started to hear some people
in the hallway and some squeaks!! Then all of a sudden they were
hear! Emma was the first one to come in and the nanny said "Xi Yun
Na" and I just knew it was her! I snapped a photo of Yun Na with her
nanny and then ran to get her!! Her nanny was holding her and
pointing to me saying "MaMa" and I gave her the doll that Kym and
Emma Li sent us! After a few long seconds, she handed her to me and
she began to scream!! I expected that but it still was hard. I think
she was scared because I was about to pass out from all of this!!
Major hotflashes during the paperwork!! But she was so gorgeous...
it didn't matter! The nanny gave her some candy and she liked that!!
The babies were in excellent condition.. right down to the little
details. They all had diapers on and Emma and her friend Lily had
squeaky shoes on.. all 5 babies had their hair done, and it was
gelled with a little Hello Kitty barette in their hair. Emma had a
pink flowered shirt and some pink pants on. She was still crying, so
we put her on the floor.. I was afraid she would run away from me!!
Sera got near her and just touched her and she cried again! So our
wonderful facilitator Liu picked her up and Emma liked that! She
must have held her for 15 minutes which was okay because Emma had no
clue who the heck I was! All of the girls were adorable. Their names
are Lily (2), Kelly (20 months), Esther (18 months) and Meili (15
months). They are also so tiny!! Kelly is only 2 months older than
Emma, but bigger than 2 year old Lily, who is just 4 months older
than her!! Esther and Emma are about the same size and little Meili
is a tiny gal!! Anyways, we gave our gifts to the orphanage.. I
thought we could hand them out to everyone, but we were told to just
leave them on the table, so thats what we did! We went outside to
the courtyard and Liu handed Emma back to me. She cried for a few
seconds and then was fine. She had candy in each hand! The courtyard
was beautiful. We could hear babies crying in the building next to
us. There was a pond (which was very dirty.. green water!) but it
had fish in it and there was a pathway around it with a bridge, so a
few of us walked our kids around their. We also went to the
playground, which was padded and Emma sat on the horsey. We were
glad to find out that she DID recieve her care package we had sent
to her, and the camera was used! Emma loved the photo album, but
wasn't too impressed with the hippo. We think she was given it since
we gave her the album and she loved it, and the hippo had stains on
it! We got directions from the orphanage about their schedule. She
wakes up around 6 am, takes a bottle, then plays.. eats at 12, goes
down for a nap and has a snack around 2 pm, eats dinner around 6 pm
and goes to bed around 8 pm. She is still on a bottle and likes her
milk warm! (We found that out after we all gave the girls cold stuff
and they didn't like it!) We boarded back on the bus and went to a
store to get some strollers. We payed about $23 (US) dollars for our
stroller and all of the girls have matching strollers.. too cute!
After the store, we went back to the hotel and she began to warm up
to us. She wasn't too sure of Claudio, but had let Sera hold her.
which she was loving!! Sera couldn't (and still can't) leave the
room without her crying! We gave her a bath and checked her out. She
does have eczema on her legs and arms, and also lots of bug bites.
We have been putting hydrocortisone cream on her, so hopefully that
will help. So far she looks great! At dinner later that night she
was laughing and showing her personality. We also discovered that
she LOVES to eat! She will eat anything.. bananas, eggs, french
fries.. anything! She is so wonderful..
Of course that was yesterday and today she has been GREAT!! She went
to bed around 8 pm last night.. when she sleeps, she puts those
fingers in her mouth (no pacifier needed here) and is out like a
light! She woke up around quarter to 6 this morning and Sera brought
her into our room.. she was a bit startled.. I think she forgot that
we were still here, so for awhile she just looked around and didn't
say much.. but then she was fine!! For clothes, we are finding that
she wears 6-9 months okay.. a little short. 12 months are a bit big.
She is so tiny. This morning, Emma with a soggy diaper, sippy cup,
stacking cup and her pajama shirt on weighed 7 1/2- 8 kilograms.. so
about 17-18 pounds. She ate a great breakfats this morning and has
been laughing all day! Today we went to the Civil Affairs Office and
did some paperwork, had our picture taken and were asked why did we
want her.. and all that sort of stuff. It wasn't as hard as I
expected it to be. After the Civil Affairs, we grabbed lunch real
fast and went to the Notary office.. did some more paperwork and
then went to get her passport picture taken. It was a long day but
she did fine. She is laughing so much and is just precious!! All of
the girls are starting to come through more. We were split up today,
so we were with Lily and Kelly and thier parents. Lily got bit by
something so she was starting to run a fever and be sick. Some
tylenol cured that and she was up and smiling again! Kelly is a huge
girl!! But she is so beautiful. She likes her mommy and not her
daddy.. and she loves to walk everywhere. She is much more quieter
and takes everything in. Emma's paperwork stated that she was "shy,
quiet and introverted" well this is totally wrong!! She is so happy
and lovely. She goes to complete strangers and loves her daddy and
our guide Bruce! We are so in love with this little girl and cannot
wait to show her off to you guys. We are having such a difficult
time with photos, so I'll think of something.. photos are on their
way!! Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging e-mails. I
haven't responded to them, but thank you for sending them. I
expectected the worst with Emma, but we got the best!! Wait till you
see her, she has a smile that will brighten your day. She is so much
like Sera it is scary. When Sera was 18 months old, I already have
Elena, so it's fun being able to relive Sera when she was this age!!




Nancy, Claudio, Sera and Emma

August 21-24, 2004

Subject: What we have been up to the last few days


Wow. I am so sorry we haven't updated in the past few days! I'm sure
you must be dying! :-)

The last 3 days have been the most tiring but the most joyful. We
are so enjoying ourselves here in Beijing. I am sorry we haven't
beena ble to update. We haven't been able to get the laptop to hook
up, so I have been using the business center. Okay so here's what
we've been doing..

Saturday August 21, 2004







Today we went to Langfang Childrens Village, right outside of
Beijing. I have been wanting to come to this place for quite some
time now. For some reason, we got to this website
(www.chinaorphans.org) and we have felt so drawn to it. LFCV is a
childrens home that cares for the special needs orphans in China.
Most of the children are dropped off at the orphanage gate, or they
go to orphanages around China and try to find the sickest babies and
children to help. We were so impressed by LFCV. It is such a
wonderful place. We were given a tour by Jeff Owens and Lisa
Bentley. The first place we went to was the House of Peace, and they
showed us a video of a Lisa's son, Levi. It is amazing! Levi was
found in a field severely burned with burns over 70% of his body.
The doctors didn't think he would make it. But we met little Levi
and he is the most adorable and wonderful child. He has such a sweet
smile annd he enjoyed playing with Sera. We toured the rest of the
childrens village and stopped by the House of Love. There is a
little girl there named Esther, who we are in love with! She is 2
years old and just gorgeous. She was born with her twin attached on
her back, (like a tumor) so they removed it when she was a baby and
now she is fine! A beautiful and healthy active little girl. We went
to visit her during naptime, so they were all trying to sleep and we
didn't get to interact with them too much, but just seeing these
kids was wonderful! Kathy Lowe, we met Rachel and she is adorable.
She wasn't too impressed with her bear, I think she was very tired.
I got some picture and video of her. Langfang was wonderful. We also
got to hold two heart babies. One named Thomas, had just come back
from the hospital the day before after undergoing heart surgery. He
was beautiful and we enjoyed holding him. Believe it or not, Steven
Curtis Chapman's brother is interested in adopting Thomas! Steven
adopted his third daughter from China from Langfang last month! We
also met Baby Fayth, who has a very severe heart defect. She is
beautiful and was flirting with Claudio!!! We were so impressed by
LFCV and are hoping to come back and maybe do some mission work with
them!!! After we came back from Langfang, we all fell asleep we were
so tired!!

Sunday August 22:















Today we were going to tour Beijing. The Great Wall, Forbidden City
& Tian'an men Square. We also met the other 3 couples in our group
that would be touring Beijing with us. Patti & Bill's daughter Lily
(age 2) is also from Beijing, Arne & Debbie's daughter Johanna (14
months) and Tom & Lisa's daughter Elisabeth (11 months) are from
Kuiyuan City in southwestern China. Our group has been wonderful.
They are all so sweet and we love them dearly. Our day started out
meeting our guide, Bruce. He is a wonderful guide and has the cutest
accent.. a touch of a British accent in his voice! We weren't able
to visit Tian'an men Square because the government was having a big
celebration, so we are hoping to go sometime next week. Instead, we
spent most of our morning at the Forbidden City. It was very nice
there.. where the Emperor of China lived. It is huge though!! Sera
had her first encounter with a squaty potty there.. not a pretty
site!! After we left the Forbidden City, we went to The Friendship
Store.. saw some people make some cloissone (spelling?) pots and
vases.. what a delicate process it is! We ate a very good lunch and
then went shopping!! I think we bought Emma at least 10 chinese
outfits (all very cheap) and all of our family a chinese outfit. We
also met some Canadian couples who has judt gotten thier daughters.
They were all so beautiful and very tiny! Most of the girls were
18/19 months old and they looked like 9 month old babies!! We had a
nice time at the Friendship store. After that we went to the long
awaited GREAT WALL!! and boy is it great! Looking up at the pictures
you want to climb all the way to the top, but I hear it is not
easy!! I decided not to go up and stayed with Debbie, we went the
easy way!! The rest of the guys went and climbed. Sera said it
looked so easy.. but was soo hard. The steps ranged from about 5/6
inches tall to 3 feet!! They were very steep and also very uneven.
She almost made it to the top, but didn't want to push it with her
asthma. Most of the guys in the group went very far!! Claudio got up
pretty high too. They had a great time and we took lots of pictures!
Once we left, it took almost 2 hours to get back to the hotel.. and
we still had an acrobatics show to go to!
anyways.. once we got back to the hotel we had 30 minutes to showed
and change before heading out to the show. We didn't even have time
for dinner. But it was worth it. The show was wonderful and we had a
great time. It was almost like Cirque du Soleil (sp??) but more
dareing!!! We were so tired by the end of the show and once we got
back to the hotel, we crashed!

Sunday August 23








Today we went to the Living Hope Oprhanage in Zhaoxian. Our adoption
agency started this orphanage nearly 4 years ago for children who
had no homes. It is such a wonderful place. The bus ride is not!!!
We were told 3 1/2 hours to get there.. it soon turned into 4 1/2
HOURS! The bus ride was horrible and I was beginning to get upset
about the whole thing. But once we got to the orphanage it was so
worth that horrible ride! The kids were so precious and all smiled
sooo much. We had a wonderful lunch there and the kids did some
performing for us. They sang songs and danced it was awesome. The
guy who runs the place (I think his name is Terry) is incredible. He
lives with these kids and takes wonderful care of them.. they even
call him Daddy! He introduced each child to us and told us how they
came here. All heartwrenching stories. Some of them were sol by
thier parents, some their relatives were jealous and gave them
away.. most of the kids' parents have died and their grandparents
can't take care of them. But they are doing so well here at the
orphanage. They all smile so much and we had an incredible time.
There was one little guy who had just come to the orphanage 2 days
ago. He was so tiny and looked about 2 years old. All of the kids
were so good with him and holding him and playing with him.. it was
so sweet to see the love they had for this sweet little boy. Leaving
the orphanage was hard.. it was a wonderful experience and to any
Living Hope families, I say do it!! Go there and give the kids hugs
for me. The bus ride was awful, but so worth it!! Once we got back
to the hotle (4 hours later) we all were tired (Sera had a meltdown)
we did enjoy some dinner with Patti & Bill but then went to bed!

TODAY TUESDAY AUGUST 24!!

Today is GOTCHA DAY!! the other 5 couples in our group arrived and
most of them went to the Summer Palace and PeKing Duck restaraunt.
We learned yesterday that our $3000 mandatory cash donation much be
converted into yuan and the hotel didn't have enough for all the
families. Claudio and I were uncomftorable carying all that money
around especially in public since it is so crowded! Instead Bill &
Claudio went to the back and Patti, Sera and I went shopping. There
is a great mall here just across from the hotel and we bough some
diapers. We will be going back later today for formula!! Well thats
what has been going on the past few days. Sorry for all the typos
and misspellings. The computer here is kind of weird and we are all
so tired and excited. We go to the orphanage at 12:20.. so in 2
hours!! AHH we are so excited!!!!

Elena, Kayla and Ian we love you and miss you so much and it was
good to talk to you last night!!

I am going to upload some photos for you to see. Enjoy and thanks
for following our journey. The posts will get better once we get our
Emma Grace!!

Nancy, Clau and Sera

August 20, 2004

Subject: Ni Hao from Beijing!





Well we are FINALLy here! We arrived around 4 this morning (4 pm our
time) and its been so neat ever since. The plane ride was great. We
were on a HUGE aircraft- two floors! Each seat had a pillow,
blanket, and toiletry kit. Our plane took off right around 1:40 am
(which for our tired bodies was almost 5 AM) but we stayed up the
whole time and slept on the plane. We slept very well and it wasn't
as bad as I thought it would be. When we arrived, customs was a
breeze! We just handed them our forms and they stamped our passports
and took one form, and that was it! Our travel guide wasn't there
when we got out of customs. Apparently our flight came in an hour
earlier. But we found them and they are great! Our one guide is
named Liu and she is so sweet. Our bus drivers name is either Mr.
Zhong or John.. couldn't remember! We checked into the hotel around
6 am and got unpacked and showered. We ate at the breakfast buffet
which was okay, kinda gross. The water has lime and lemon in it.
Afterwards, we explored a bit. (Mom was of course saying.. no let's
stay in the hotel!) so we rented a taxi and went to a shopping mall.
Pretty cool just walking through it. I got sunglasses for 268 RMB..
roughly $30 and these were nice sunglasses.. I left mine at home. It
was funny, while we were waiting, we had 5 people helping us! One
was a guy and he was practicing his english on me.. a little bit of
a flirter.. haha i thought it was funny. it's weird in china, when
you find an item, they give you a slip and you take that slip to a
cashier who will stamp it and you give them the money, then you go
back to the place where your item is, hand the clerk your slip and
its yours! Mom even commented that if it was like this at home,
she'd buy less! :-) Well the internet access is not cheap, 10
minutes for 20 yuan.. so sorry I would write more. We are trying to
hook up the laptop and hopefully will get that done soon. Then we'll
send photos! Hope ya'll are okay! We miss you Elena, Kay and Ian!
Love,
Sera, Claudio, Nancy & almost Emma!

August 18, 2004

Subject: Hey from LA!

We survived the flights from Orlando to Dallas and then Dallas to
LA!! We were invited to go to a really awesome VIP lounge here in the
airport. Mom's happy cuz she can watch the olympics and take a
snooz.. since she's not used to being up at 2:00 am!! We're doing
okay- I'm energized now. The flight from Dallas- LA was rough.. but
other than that it's been nice. The airport at Orlando was a mess..
first my dad was automatically picked to go through the special
security.. (the lady looked at his drivers license and said, "sir
you've been selected to go through special security) that was lovely.
we were with every middle eastern looking person in the airport, and
the "wanding" over your body is not pleasent! And the ceiling of our
terminal is totally gone and smelled really bad. But we are here in
LA and doing fine.. ready to get on our Beijing flight in 2 hours!
Our luggage has come through so far.. we're almost there Emma Grace!!
One of us will update in Beijing!
Thanks for your prayers!! I can feel them working since I was a
little scared but now I'm looking forward to what is to come!

Lots of love..

Sera
(and Claudio & Nancy)

An Introduction: Emma Grace YunNa

Back in August 2004..

We were a family of six about to become a clan of seven.


In June 2004, we got "the call" that told us our 7th member was a beautiful 15 month old baby girl waiting in an orphanage in Beijing, China. She had been born on February 14, 2003 and abandoned outside an office building the day after her birth. The police kept her for five days hoping to find her parents. Unable to, they took her to the local orphanage where she would spend the first 18 months of her life before meeting her family. The orphanage workers named her Xi, Yun Na.




This blog entails the story of our journey "To China for Emma" in August 2004. Bear with me as I try to add all the pictures and messages we sent while in China!! I'll try to add more through the next few weeks so everyone can see our journey to Emma.