Back in Kansas ( thank goodness)

We finally made it to our last destination, Guangzhou. However, we
had to leave without Hanna's Chinese passport. Not ideal. Luckily we
were able to board our flight from Hangzhou with our adoption
certificate without any problems. It was one LONG day. First of all,
our guide was 30 minutes late picking us up to check on the status of
Hanna's passport combined with the fact that we were 20 minutes early
meant we were idle for an hour in a hotel lobby with a toddler. This
extra hour was right in the middle of her normal nap time. After a 2
minute visit to the government office, we quickly discovered her
passport wasn't ready and they provided no details of when they
thought it would be ready. It took us longer to unload from the van
and climb the stairs to the office than it did to find out her
passport wasn't ready. After that, we headed to the location where
Hanna was found and all I can say is that it was a very emotional
day. We arrived at the airport early, because there was nothing left
to do in Hangzhou and our guide's job was over after they dropped us
off for our flights. Once we were finally able to check in, the
flight was 4 hours delayed. Our gates changed a few times after it
took them forever to even assign the first one. Once the final gate
was assigned, we were shoved onto a packed bus out in the middle of
the tarmac to catch our flight. We finally boarded for another hour
delay on the plane. Good times for those of you who haven't traveled
with a toddler in the middle of the night. Luckily Hanna is a trooper
and with a little bit of playing with her hair, she was lights out,
right at about midnight. We finally landed around 2 AM to find no one
there waiting to pick us up. Oh wait- there he is, we are the
Watschers, not the Walkers. He wasn't thrilled to find out the name
was wrong, as he was probably not thrilled to be there at 2AM for a
flight he too was expecting at 10PM. We finally made it on the 45
minute trek to the hotel, and it was like a ghost town that early in
the morning. Hanna slept the entire bumpy ride there and we were able
to check in without any problems. We walked in and alas...a KING
SIZE bed. We all slept like babies and woke up well rested this
morning (Saturday- 31st). We started the morning out with a fantastic
breakfast that is included with our stay and Hanna loved the
cantaloupe juice. She chugged it like it was her last drink. We
left at 10:30 to go get a physical. She is a healthy 2 1/2 year old.
The place was full of Americans with their adopted babies getting
checked out. Compared to many of the other kids her age, Hanna is
tall! Most of the clothes here are too short (dresses). We were also
blessed to find out she has already had one palate surgery. We were
prepared that she had only had a cleft lip repair. How wonderful! I
still don't know how many more are required until we see the doctors
in the US, but it does mean she is halfway there! She then had her
height/weight checked, ENT, and then 4 needle sticks. 3 shots with a
TB test. She grabbed my hand and placed it over her eyes because she
was scared. She knew what those needles meant. Poor thing- I wish I
could have gotten them for her, but it was impressive to see how brave
she was. Within 3 minutes, she was playful again. She is so tough-
have I mentioned that yet? Meanwhile, the reports from home are that
Davis is loving pool time. He tracked out on Friday and is spending a
week with Oma and Pop Pop , and we have swimming lessons planned for
him next week. Missing him like crazy!

New Pictures!

New pictures from Brandi and Vince.  They sent last night, sorry for the delay in posting.

The temp blogger.......

Visited Hanna's Orphanage

It's day 3 of our stay in Hangzhou. Today we visited the orphanage
where Hanna lived for the past week prior to our gotcha day. It was a
really nice facility, but not the one she was living in her first year
of life. They have since moved locations. I was impressed with what
I saw and most importantly with the care of the children. She was
loved by many of the workers, knowing her personality a bit now, its
no wonder why they cared for her so much. They all ran to greet her
once they saw here. Of course she wanted to stay in the play area.
What a dare devil. I have two of them now! They were so appreciative
of our care package that we sent earlier in the year full of clothes
and today we personally delivered a HUGE bag of additional supplies
and they truly seemed grateful for them. Thanks so all of you who
donated to this delivery (which included toothpaste, toothbrushes,
hand sanitizer, shoes, clothes and socks) and we told them that our
friends, family and our church family played a large part in donating
so much. They gave us a photo book of all her photos, including a
photo of the day she was delivered to the orphanage. I was in tears
at the time they took to put that together for us. It is so wonderful
to have more than 5 photos of her early years. They also gave us a
lovely book about Hangzhou that we can share with Hanna as she is
older. There was some language barrier, but I really believe they
were happy that Hanna had found a home and that they would miss her
terribly. She has attached to me quite quickly and warming up slowly
to Vince. I am sure it has to do with most the caregivers in the
orphanage are women, but I am just to truly overwhelmed with our
blessing. I am also happy to report we were able to Skype today with
Davis, and Hanna was beaming from ear to ear excited to see Davis and
promptly imitated every silly face he made. We are settling in quite
nicely and looking forward to Friday, and heading to Guangzhou.

Hanna Update

Another update from the Walkers!

Hanna is full of life.  It's amazing how much independence is shown as a toddler and how quickly we have forgotten.  She is persistent and wants to do things her way, but she is also loving and and a jokester.  We are learning about each other everyday and really really missing the luxuries of home.  I am ready to be done with this leg of the trip.    I have my fingers crossed that the next hotel is better.


The Temp Blogger

This is it! Pictures of the Walkers with Hanna

These are the three pictures that Vince and Brandi have sent so far.

Anthony

Updates from China!

Hello All, this is Anthony Womack updating the blog for the Walkers.  No comments on my poor typing, spelling or especially my grammer!  The first update is pictures from Forbidden City, The Great Wall and Summer Palace.  The update everyone has been waiting for be next!

Gotcha Day

We woke up early with anticipation of meeting Hanna. We met our travel guide Bambi ( we don't have the heart to tell her that her english chosen name is for poll dancers) at 8:30. We arrived at 8:45 at the Social Welfare office to sign our promise to protect and never abandon Hanna. Short after we started signing the papers she arrived with pocket book in tow stuffed with goodies. It was an emotional greeting and Hanna was quite the social butterfly. She sat with Brandi and played with the pocket camera while the paperwork was completed. We we finshed within an hour and Hanna was ours for the trial period. The notary makes it official on Tuesday.

Picture updates ASAP

Safe Flight

We traveled safely to Hangzhou Sunday on an China Air flight. We've checked into the West Lake Hotel a 1970 version Holiday Inn. But the location is really nice as the view of the Hangzhou west lake is stunning.

July 24 - Sight seeing

Today Vince and I toured Forbidden City, The Great Wall and Summer
Palace. The temperature was HOT. It was basically 95 degrees but
with the heat index (humidity) it felt like 115. We toughed it out
and had soaked in the sights. The funny thing is, Beijing is the
coolest of the other cities we plan to visit. YIKES. Our most unique
experience of the day was that we almost stepped on a snake climbing
the great wall. Okay- so it was small, but was a snake none the
less. We rode ski lifts up to the wall, and toboggan slides on the
way down. Now that was fun. I am missing Davis terribly and anxious
about meeting Hanna. The reports from Mom is that Davis is doing well
and school is going good. I couldn't imagine being away without
Skype. He talks to us, runs to watch TV for a minute and then comes
back to chat. Pretty neat.

We fly out at 12 noon tomorrow for Hangzhou and will meet Hanna on
Monday. I don't know exactly what time at this point. We are
exhausted and settling in for a day of travel tomorrow. Thanks for
checking in on us.