Gianna's Video

http://youtu.be/R-IJBsIbQa

Home!!!!!

12/06/12

Today is the day we will be traveling home!!!  We got up around 5:30 AM, got dressed, and headed down to breakfast.  We stuffed ourselves for the long plane ride ahead.  Once we finished breakfast, we packed the last few items in our suitcase and headed to the front desk of the hotel to check out.  We met the other families in the lobby and said our goodbyes.  We were so fortunate to be able to meet these sweet families.  We share such a wonderful bond.   Jocelyn, our tour guide, was also there for us.  She ushered us out the door and into a van that took us to the airport.  The flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong was supposed to be extremely short, about 45 minutes. We knew we had a 50 minute layover in Hong Kong, and Cathay Pacific Airline starts boarding an hour before they take off. We were very anxious for the plane in Guangzhou to take off, but the plane was delayed.  The longer we waited, the more stressed we all became. Gianna wasn’t too happy about just sitting there either.

                We took off about half an hour later than we planned to, which was a huge deal for us. As soon as we arrived, we had to run over to Cathay Pacific, which was all the way at the end of the terminal (of course). We got there right before we took off, and they actually were waiting on us. We ended up getting seats in front of the fourth seating section, so we got an infant bed that pulled out of the wall for Gianna. Brittany had to sit behind us, and she wasn’t too happy about who she ended up sitting by. The plane ride was long and extremely uneventful. We had a lot of turbulence on this ride. Gianna slept about an hour the whole time.  She would not sit with Joel at all.  I ended up holding her all the way except for a short bathroom break.  I felt like my arms were jelly by the time we landed in Chicago.   It was so nice to touch down on American soil with our baby girl.

                When we arrived, we were all really tired. We knew we only had one more plane ride to go, and we were all very anxious to get home and see everyone. We had quite a large layover in Chicago, so Brittany and I went out to find some food for us in the airport once we found our terminal. We found a “Bacon and Cheese” quiche for Gianna, which she loved. Brittany and I ate bagels, which were amazing. Joel had a stomach virus, so he wasn’t too hungry. Gianna ended up doing pretty good with that layover. When they started boarding the plane, we all realized we would be home in just an hour. Brittany fell asleep on the plane. When we arrived, we waited for everybody else to get off the plane, so it wouldn’t be quite as crowded-- then it was our turn.  We were so happy to be back in Louisville! 

                We walked through the gates toward our luggage when we spotted Justin.  Words can’t describe how incredibly happy we all were to see Justin.  We flung my arms around him and held him tightly. We introduced big brother Justin to his little sister, Gianna.  He smiled so sweetly and it was easy to see he was happy to have us finally home.  It was tough to be away from him for two weeks.  He looked so healthy and like he had grown a foot!   I looked up to see Mom (Grandma Mangas) and Dad (Grandpa Mangas) behind Justin.  Just behind them was a sweet “Welcome Home” banner held high (made by Livi Westbay J)  Some of my best friends were there waiting for us too.  We were so blessed and overjoyed to see their sweet, shining faces:  Toni, Livi, Melissa, Tim, Norah, Micah, Kelly, Ella, Ashleigh, Teresa, Rich, Mattie, Abbey, and Faye!!!! What an incredibly remarkable time in our life that we will never forget!  Toni took Mom, Brittany and I to our home while Dad took Justin, Gianna and Joel home.   

HOME SWEET HOME WITH JUSTIN, BRITTANY, AND OUR BABY GIRL, GIANNA!  We waited so long for this day!  We are so grateful to God for a safe, incredible trip and for bringing home our baby Gianna!

               

December 5

12.5.12

                We woke up this morning a little later than usual because we didn’t have anything to do super early. We ended up rolling out of bed at 8:30 AM, which wasn’t that hard for us to do since we haven’t had much sleep in two weeks. The beds are not that comfortable, so when I wake up, I am ready to get out of the bed. We went to the Pearl Market at 11:30 AM, and the ride there was via taxi. Jocelyn, our tour guide, rode in the front seat, while Dad, Mom, Gianna, and I all rode in the back seat.

                We did not expect what we saw at all. There were six floors, each floor roughly the size of a Wal-Mart market. It was filled with all kinds of jewelry. Jocelyn told us that a lot of it was fake; however, there was one store that was trusted, very well known, and had fantastically real pearls. Mom found white pearls she instantly liked. Dad convinced her to buy them. She ended up buying two strands to make a medium length necklace, a bracelet, and earrings. Dad bought me a pearl necklace too, and let me pick out what I wanted. I ended up with three strands, one medium sized and two small sized strands. The smaller ones were yellow, the medium sized white. She twisted them all together, and it was beautiful. Dad thought it was really pretty, and so did Mom. They decided to get another one (the exact same thing) for Gianna when she is older.

                We left after an hour or so, and wanted to go to another pedestrian street for some more shopping. We walked there from the market, and as soon as we got into it, Mom and I caught this smell. It smelled like some animal had died two weeks ago and was left there. Mom walked straight back out at that point. We went back to the hotel, and Gianna was sound asleep. Mom wanted to go to the Sauna, so I went with her at 3:00 PM. There was a 4:30 PM meeting that Dad went to with Gianna, we got back to the room at 4:45 PM. My hair felt dry on the ends, so I hopped in the shower for some conditioner. Mom came busting in the door at 4:53 PM while the conditioner was on and said we had to go get group pictures in seven minutes. We were rushing to get ready.

When we came up, we went to the Dong Fang shops, and I got a couple scarves and some earrings. We got this stone carving of Gianna and Mom, and then had to wait until 7:00 PM to pick it up. When we got there to pick up the stone carving, Dad and Mom found this stone stamp with a rabbit (Gianna’s Chinese zodiac sign) and got her name carved into the bottom. We had to go pick that up at 9:00 PM. We came home, then Dad and I ran to 7-11 store to get noodles, and we got Mom a chocolate brownie, which she loved. When we went back to Dong Fang shops to pick up Gianna’s stamp, only Dad and I went. I ended up getting two more scarves, and a tiger eye stone necklace. I loved it! We came home and finished up our packing as we leave tomorrowL. I am excited to get to go home of course, but I really like it here. I know I won’t get to come back for quite some time. We can’t wait to bring Gianna home!!!!!

Love, Sis.

 

December 4

12.4.12

                This morning, we woke up earlier than usual. We had our consulate appointment with one other family; we were the only families in a group of 14 that had their appointment today.  I was surprised when we arrived at the consulate. It was only a temporary place; the new U.S. consulate was being built in Guangzhou. I was expecting it to look like they do in the Jason Bourne movies. That was not at all how it looked. We had to go up to the 4^th floor of this huge building.

                Mom and Dad had to take an oath, and then we had to wait for Gianna’s Chinese name to be called. Li Ye Yue is her name, but everybody says Yue Li Ye when they are calling her name. I sat down re-reading Woman Warrior because I have a huge test on it when I get back home. When they finished, we went back to the Hotel. Kirsten and Martin (the other family) wanted to go to Shamian Island for a little shopping. Mom and Dad thought it was a good idea.  Most people that have adopted a child stayed at the White Swan located in Shamian Island.  However, the White Swan is being renovated.  I loved walking around to the small stores! Mom and Dad liked it too. The shops were all amazing, but a lot of it was closed down. The White Swan Hotel was where most of their business came from. I bought a few things there, and went on my way. I didn’t bargain at all, I just couldn’t, knowing that these people may lose their shops if the White Swan does not open soon. We ate at Lucy’s Grill.  The food had an eastern and western flare.  The food was excellent.  We got mashed potatoes for Gianna and ended up having to order her another bowl because she loved them so much.  While there, we saw a license plate from Ohio hanging on the wall.  My mom had to take a picture!

                We left after a few hours to go back to the hotel. We rushed to take our showers and get dressed for the next big event—The Pearl River Cruise.  The cruise was about an hour and a half total.  They had a buffet for us there.  One of the Chicken dishes actually had a chicken head in it.  At that point, my mom decided that she wasn’t really hungry after all.  The scenery was phenomenal.  We stood on the upper level of the ship and took lots of beautiful pictures.  Once the boat docked, we headed back to the hotel.  We were incredibly tired.  Mom gave Gianna a bath, then it was off to bed for all of us.  It’s hard to believe we only have one more day here. 

                Love, Brittany and Momma

December 2

12/03/12

       Gianna slept through the night again!! J  She is very happy and content as long as she sleeps next to me.  If Joel tries to pick her up and take her to the crib, she immediately wakes up and starts howling. Once Joel returns her to bed, she nuzzles up as close to me as possible and goes back to sleep instantly.  We went down to Café Veranda for breakfast and ate our usual foods.

       Once we returned from breakfast, we met our tour guide, Jocelyn, and the other families in the lobby.  Gianna gave Brittany and I oodles of kisses.  We hopped on a bus and went to get Gianna’s Visa photo.  Her U.S. passport photo is so different than the China passport photo just taken a few days ago.  Her face signifies peacefulness and serenity.  Clearly, she is our little angel and we are incredibly grateful that she is part of our family.  We walked around the corner for her medical exam.  The medical exam consisted of an ENT Doctor, the general screening, and Medical Doctor Exam.  The exams noted a very healthy baby girl.  She had a bacterial skin infection mainly on her legs, but these spots have practically vanished. 

        We returned to the hotel for the group visa paperwork.  Once that was finished, we took a cab to Beijing Lu Pedestrian Shops.  The seemingly endless streets were filled with stores on both sides. It was incredibly crowded. Our first stop was for Gelato, I got chocolate chip cookie flavor, Joel got mint chocolate chip, and Brittany got Strawberry. They came out with a nice presentation with a scoop of coffee flavor on top of the cone. Amazing!  Brittany bought a purse and a watch while there.  Joel and I opted not to buy anything.  After a couple of hours of walking, we headed back to the hotel.  We were exhausted and famished, so we decided to order Papa John’s Pizza.  We ordered a Rice Bake for Gianna (which she loved).  We played with Gianna for a while, gave her a bath (which she still dislikes), and went fast to sleep!

December 2

12.2.12

                We got up this morning and went to the breakfast buffet at the China Hotel (Marriott). The food was fairly similar; it’s just much more Americanized here than it was in Nanchang. Gianna seems to enjoy the buffet here more because they have many more flavors of yogurt. Gianna loves fruit, noodles, rice, meat, and yogurt!

                Today was the tour of Guangzhou. Everybody in our group decided to go. Our group is much larger now, a total of 14 families. Compared to the four families we had in Nanchang.  We started off at 9:20 AM to leave for the Buddhist Temple.

                It was about a twenty minute drive from the hotel.  When we got to the temple, we were stunned. There was a ten ton statue of Happy Buddha in a glass case. There were two Iron towers made, an East Iron Tower and a West Iron Tower. The East Iron Tower is the only one still standing. The temple has four halls to it. They are: the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Sixth Ancestor Hall, and the Samgharama Hall. The Mahavira Hall is the oldest; it was built in 400 AD. Through the next few years, royal families and rulers made slight changes to the hall. It has three huge Buddha statues. From the left to right, they represent the future, the present, and the past. People bow down to each one, but bow to the present Buddha and the future Buddha the most.

                The Heavenly King Hall has a huge historical meaning to these people here. It is said that the Spring of Washing Bowl (Yes, that’s actually the name of the spring), is the place where the first specialist of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidhamma, washed his bowls. It was built later on, about 530 AD. It has a special statue in it that is 380 years old! The pillars have beautiful etchings and carvings on them.

                The Sixth Ancestor Hall has a statue of Master Neng; we were never told what connections he has to the Buddhist religion.  There was a huge octagonal structure that was built to remember Master Neng. It is a beautiful hall and is commonly used. The fourth hall was not seen by our group, and Jocelyn, our tour guide for Guangzhou, gave no information about it.

                Next, we went to the Old Chen House, which was my favorite place of the day. Technically, it’s called “The Chen Ancestreal Hall”. It was built during the 14^th to 19^th reign of Qing Dynasty, years 1888 to 1893. It was built by the Chen family for the Chen family. It served as a place for the Chen family, who had lineage in 72 counties of the province of Guangdong. There are rooms all over the place, and they show all four folk art properties Ancient China and still China today is known for: Ivory, Embroidery, Jade, and Porcelain. Porcelain actually originates from Gianna’s Province.  Everything was pretty expensive, and some Ivory carvings are millions of US dollars. Buying unused Ivory is illegal in China unless you have special permission from the Government. With this being said, it is very rare and valuable, which is why more people want it.

                For our last stop, we went to the Provincial Arts & Crafts shopping center. We all bought some Jade there. Gianna already has her earrings, so we thought the rest of us should get some. Mom bought a round, flat piece that has the Chinese symbol for Mother and a heart on it. Dad bought a bead, it was the only thing that was nice, but wasn’t girly. I bought a rectangular piece that has the Chinese symbol for Sister carved into it.

                After the shopping center, we all went back to the hotel for a while. We decided to run out to a Chinese restraunt as a group which was about an eight minute walk from the hotel.  We had plenty of food. The food was not as spicy as Gianna’s Province. We stopped at a couple of stores on the way back from the restaurant. We found some squeaky shoes for Gianna.  

                We all came home, grabbed our showers, and went to bed. Gianna fell asleep faster than the rest of us.

                                Love, Brittany and Mom

               

December 1

12/1/12

                We ate breakfast in the café this morning at the usual time and had the usual foods. The people of Nanchang have been wonderful to us.  We are, however, excited about flying to Guangzhou today. This will be Gianna’s first plane ride! We have all noticed the biggest difference in her in just a few short days. She is so smart and canny! She has been saying a few words and furniture walking everywhere.  We finished our packing and left for the airport at 10:30 AM.   Evelyn, our tour guide, was wonderful.  She gave all of us hugs and we said our goodbyes.  We went on our way through security.

                We only had to wait about half an hour to board the plane.  When we boarded the plane, Gianna was alert and looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. As we started taking off down the runway, she actually fell fast asleep.  The flight was approximately one and a half hours long.

                Once the plane landed, we were loaded onto a bus. We met our new tour guide, Jocelyn.  We learned that Guangzhou is the third largest city in China, and has the world’s third tallest building which stands 630 meters high. The world’s tallest building is in Dubai and the second tallest is in Tokyo.  Guangzhou also has the fourth longest river, the Pearl River.  Guangzhou has approximately sixteen million people!!

                We arrived at China Hotel 45 minutes later. The room is a little smaller, but the beds are more comfortable…Woo Hoo!! We spent the rest of the day resting and playing with our baby girl!