Bonding & Sore Backs

The last couple days have been quite magical. After a couple days of adjusting to the new environment, Shaela is starting to understand that we are here to stay. Once she was feeling more secure with her new surroundings, she started to warm up to me. At first it was just allowing me to hold her without crying for Mommy. Then is was playing with her and Debbie, holding her up and flying her to Debbie so she would giggle and laugh. She would smile then reach for Debbie, I would fly her over, then she would pause, then reach for me! (Pure Gold!) This was repeated until both parents arms were too fatigued to continue. Since then she has been smiling at me more, and happy to see me if I have been away for a while.

Shaela was use to having a walker in the orphanage and has not fully learned how to crawl. We are working with this and she is making strides daily. In the mean time, she want to walk and has taken to asking for our hands to assist her in this endeavor. At her height, there is no ergonomically correct way to help her without stressing out our backs.

Here she is exploring a 2 inch step at our house under construction. Step up, Step down, Step up, Step down.


She is even letting me carry her in our Ergo baby carrier. She is much more fun to carry around than the 25 lb sack of rice that I was hiking with to get me ready to carry her.


Here Deb is reading to Shaela to get her ready for bed. She love to read, but doesn't like to go to bed. She has so much to do and see that she can't stand going to bed, and has to go go go until she almost collapses. This also, is getting better. Today she even pushed the bottle away and reached for the crib so she could take an early nap, with out a single cry.

Please ooh and aah over the crib in the background. It is a very nice crib that Nona got for Shaela's room. Last night I was struggling to put it together. It was all quite easy until the last couple steps when I was suppose to screw in the bolts that hold the matress supports in place. The bolts stick out 3/4 inch and the tool to screw them in was 3/4 inch but the space to do all this was a little less than an inch. The instructions begin with "!Warning! Failure to follow these instructions could result in serious Injury or Death." It continues to warn that all screws and bolts should be tightened securely and checked frequently to assure they are secure. I was fumbling, dropping the tools, and my fingers were cramping. After about 1/2 hour of struggling it dawned on me that I could get other tools. I wasn't stuck with the tools in the box, with a mini vise grip the job was quickly completed.

All in all, things are great. We are starting to get into a rhythm of having a baby around. Speaking of rhythm, Shaela is facinated with drums. Enough for now. I am tired and need some sleep.

Love & Blessings, Justin & family.

Bathtime & Playground Gems

Photos From The Trip

Beautiful Shaela!

Having fun at the soggy Great Wall.

Family photo in the White Swan Hotel.

A group shot of all the babies in our group.
Shaela is the one in blue.

A sweet moment after the Buddist Baby Blessing
at the 7 Banyan Tree Temple in Guangzhou.

Shaela loves little holes, and thought this little play area
at the Hong Kong Airport was very fun.

Allison, James, Doug, & Benjamin met us at LAX
with balloons, which Shaela had a blast with.

Back at home, trying out the Snugli back pack from KellyAnn.

After only one day, Shaela is quite at home with her 4 legged siblings.

Our 1st family trip to the playground near our house.

Love & Blessings, Deb, Justin, Shaela, Kobi & Tara.

Home Sweet Home

We got to bed yesterday morning at 2 am from our very long trip back from China. What an incredible journey! Shaela was magnificent! She didn't cry the whole journey on the four plane rides (except once, when we tried to put her in a bassinet). She was playing and having fun on the intercontinental flight. The only time she cried heavily was the one hour drive home from the airport in her first-time car seat. Boy does she hate the car seat. She clutched on to me big time, and screamed until she fell asleep, 45 minutes later. We feel so blessed to have such a great travelling baby. The stewardess came up to us during the intercontinental flight, which had about 30 screaming babies on it, and deemed Shaela the "best baby"(we thought so too).

At our short lay over in LAX (due to the hour delay of the previous flight, and the very long wait for approval of Shaela's passport as a U.S. Citizen), we were greeted by my sister Allison, my brother James, his partner Doug, and our beautiful nephew, Benjamin. They had a banner, balloons and some stuffed animals, and some very needed drool towels. Shaela greeted them all very cheerfully and even was held by my siblings. It was so fun to introduce her. She seemed so happy to have such a great family.

I managed to wake up at 9 am, feed Shaela, our two dogs and then crashed in bed with Justin and Shaela, and we all woke up again at 4 pm. We got ourselves up and out for a hike on our land to see the new house we are building. Unpacked and fell asleep at 11pm. Shaela had bad jet lag and wouldn't go to sleep, she cried a lot and so I finally picked her up and let her "sleep on me." She is quite the mover, throwing her head in all directions, and flailing her arms and legs, tossing and turning, not wanting to sleep on the bed, but not so comfortable on me either. I was awake most of the night with her moving about and at one point her talking and sitting up.

After finally falling asleep in the wee morning hours, I had a dream about giving birth. It was so intense, and I didn't know I was pregnant, but something was moving in my belly, and it had to come out. A healer was there helping me, as I screamed in my dream that I needed to go to the hospital, and wanted to lay down and go to a birthing room. As I pushed and tried to get this "thing" out, I awoke, only to find Shaela's deep breathing belly, pushing against my belly, giving birth to her energetically. It was a pretty intense dream, but I was so grateful to have experienced her "birth". We are so bonded to each other, it really feels like she is my biological daughter. So many people have said she looks like our daughter.

She is such a joy and a love. She already lays next to our two dogs, without a problem. She is fearless, except when it comes to car seats, strollers and laying down for bed. She has stopped crying during diaper changes and clothes changes, and continues to develop quickly each day.

It is quite amazing the emotions one goes through during this whole process of having and "instant family". When we received her it was surreal and so precious. She was so happy and loving that first day. Then, when she screamed bloody murder at each nap, down for bed, diaper changes, clothes changes and any time I was not holding her, it got very tiring and frustrated from lack of sleep for several days. Her difficulty bonding with Justin and screaming when he held her, made him feel sad and frustrated, which then made me feel sad. Little did we know during all this, that she waited for us to go through all her developmental phases, including teething and separation anxiety. She had no teeth when we got her, and the doctors and the Director of the orphanage was concerned she had a calcium absorption problem. I did some clearing on her and we started her on some Omega 3 oils with vitamins A and D. And now she has 4-5 teeth coming in (only after one and half weeks).

We feel so blessed and grateful. What an incredibly wonderful experience. During about 2-3 days of frustrating days, I wondered why no one spoke of the bad stuff, and now I know why. In the grand scheme of things, it is so small (at the time it feels horrible) and the joys are so great. Thank goodness we are at this point so soon!
Blessings to you all.
Debbie, Justin, Shaela and the doggies, Kobi and Tara (who love Shaela too!)

Dresser Nanny

Hi Everyone,

Just before our group received our babies, our guide in Wuhan was telling us "at first we are strangers to the baby, then after a few hours to a couple days they think we are not so bad kind of like nice strangers, then after more time passes they see that we are ok and then think of us like new Nannies, and then after that at some point they will think of us as their parents."

Well it has been 10 days and she is officially our baby, and this afternoon she will become an American after we answer some questions and take an oath. Until recently she had only bonded with Debbie. Whenever I pick her up she SCREAMS and pushes me away. Well that part hasn't changed, yet. But she has bonded with the dresser. If mommy goes anywhere out of Shaela's sight she crys unless we put her in front of the dresser, where she can play with the drawers. Thanks to "Dresser Nanny" Deb has been able to take longer showers, get dressed, comb her hair, and brush her teeth without Shaela screaming the entire time.

The only way we have been getting any sleep is to let her cry it out for about 10 to 15 minutes until she falls asleep, then she usually sleeps for 7-9 hours. In the last couple days, the scream has gone from blood curdling to a normal baby cry. Shaela is now looking at me more and letting me interact with her more. So we are making improvements but it doesn't help that she has just started serious teething about 48 hours ago. Not to mention all the past life stuff that we are having to clear, but we are making headway.

We probably won't be able to post more pictures until we get home. John & Anna left for home this morning. Tomorrow is our last full day here, then we travel on Friday leaving the hotel early in the morning and not getting home until around midnight on the 21st. We will probably post once or twice more before we get home. Then we will have lots of picture to post.

Debbie sends her Love to everybody. She is napping with Shaela before out trip to the American Consulate. Blessings, Justin Debbie & Shaela.

Guangzhou

Let the shopping begin! The flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou was not so bad. Shaela handled the flight really well, and didn't fuss too much. Amazing, considering she is just starting teething. The CCAI rep in this city is nice, but not as organized as Joanne in Wuhan. We were spoiled with amazing service there, and now we are having to adjust to the organized chaos in Guangzhou. So due to miscommunication and disorganization, Shaela didn't get a nap and was feeling cranky and didn't eat very well at dinner. Which let into a night of little to no sleep for all of us. As it turns out, many of the families were up most of the night with cranky babys.

Our hotel, the Swan hotel is beautiful, especially the large water fall and koi pond in the center of the hotel. The rooms are quite a bit smaller than we had become acustom to in Wuhan so we are learning how to do everything in a confined space. Everything outside our room is for sale. There are art pieces lined up in the lobby, up the sidewalks to the entance, in hallways, around the buffet, and there are shops are all over the place. And that is just in the hotel. Once you leave the hotel, there are little shops every couple feet selling everything from little bottles personalized with baby's faces painted on the inside, or stone tiles personalized with baby's faces hand etched on the surface, to chops, to baby clothes, to all manner of souvenirs.

Today is Sunday and tonight we take our "red couch" photos, where each family takes a photo and then they put all the babies from the group on the couch and take photots. That should be interesting. Deb and Shaela are napping now while I explore the city a bit. We have already done a bit of shopping with Anna. It turns out I am the designated bargainer. I think Deb really likes it when I bargain for her, so she had me bargaining for Anna's purchases also but, the haggling was making Anna nervous so she had to leave.

I'm off to see if they are done with their naps. Love & Blessings from 1/2 way round the planet, Justin, Deb & Shaela.

Its official! & more Photos

Its official!! We recieved Shaela's passport today.

Sorry if you couldn't find the other photos, I will repost them here.

Tender moments on the bus ride after receiving Shaela.

Our first bottle


Reading a book before Naptime. Shaela loves the letters.
She is always trying to scratch the letters off.

Playtime on Mom's belly.

Bathtime is such fun!

The little girl on the left is also from the same orphanage and was adopted by a nice couple from Texas. We have pictures of them together playing in the orphanage. In the middle is the director of the Xuan'En orphanage. He was very nice and was telling us how they were preparing Shaela's food, making special soups for her to help her get more calcium. Shaela's front fontanel hasn't closed yet, and she doesn't have any teeth yet either, so the pediatrician started her on some vitamin A & D to help with calcium absorbtion.

Our sweet little girl.

Shaela's 2nd visit to the pediatrician was a little traumatic. She was constipated and had to get a little enema and didn't want any part of the whole ordeal. We were feeding her formula that was too thick, based on the poorly translated instructions of what she has been eating...

Nap time. Everything is all better after a good BM.

Some precious time with Daddy. Shaela bonded instantly to Deb and
I have had to work hard to get some non-crying time with our little girl.
She is starting to warm up to me.

Dinner out with Nona & Yeye.
Shaela started to cry as we tried to take a group photo.
Shaela had fun time with Nona in the pool today.
Nona is a pro with the little ones.

She is soooo Sweeeeet!!!

Love & Blessings, Deb, Shaela, & Justin.

Photos!!!

http://www.journeytome.com/index.cfm?fa=j.ViewJournal&startRow=2 Please go here to see the other site we were able to get photos onto. We were having trouble with blogger.com in China. We got Shaela a little before 10:30 this morning. She is so sweet. She didn't cry at all. We wore tee shirts with her picture on it, and the Nanny recognized her photo and Shaela went right to Debbie before the formal baby presenting time. Debbie had about 5 minutes of bonding time before I went looking for her and found them in the hallway. Sooooo sweeeeeet!!!!! We have been really busy and have had a hard time finding time to post. We will try to add more photos tomorrow. Love & Blessings, Debbie, Shaela, & Justin!!

Beijing Blessings

Our trip from Guilin to the airport and onto Beijing was easier than expected. Our taxi driver was very cute trying what little English she knew or could look up while navagating roads overcrowded with bikes, buses, and little 3 wheel carts that look to be motorized by lawnmower engines hanging off the front.

We were blessed again at the airport when both of our suitcases were a little over weight and they waved the overweight luggage charge. Apon arriving in the big city, we were met by our Beijing tour guide, Jill, who took us back to our hotel where we met several very tired and jetlagged couples in our CCAI group. It has been very exciting to meet the other parents in our group. Some have other childeren, but many are first time parents like ourselves. Back at the hotel room we totally discombobulated, after several days trying to speak Chinese and remember how many hours difference between here and back home, converting money, and trying to read street names in Chinese. We even called the concierge to ask.."Where are we...I mean, what street are we on...I am looking at a map trying to find out where we are..." As Deb was reading our China Guide book about a very applicable and well known phrase describing the Feng Shui of Beijing. "I was so happy I didn't know which way was north" used to describe an extremely disorienting state of joy.

Deb and I were playing tour-guide-in-training, as we lead about 5 other couples into the city to the nearby famous night food market. Everybody was generally grossed out by the assorted "delicasies" that are offered there, which include: scorpion on a stick, centipede on a stick, cicadas on a stick, squid, kidneys, caterpillers, worms, grasshoppers, cow private parts, and various other creatures great and small on a stick. Most of our group could stomach the looks of the various animals on the menu, but not the smells, especially of the infamous stinky tofu.

The next day was our tour started with Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. We are having fun getting to know the couples in our group. Jill, our guide was teaching the group a couple useful phrases in Chinese and Chinglish. "BooYao, Randy. BooYao!" spoken in a loud Texas accent. One of the dads (also from NM) who is Japanese-American from Hawaii is the doppleganger of our good friend Paul Mittman.

More about the rest of our 1st full day in Beijing to be continued...
Blessings, Debbie & Justin.

Magical Evening in Guilin

So, after our blog post last night, we set off for authentic Guilin food. We had local shrimp. Very delicious! And fish caught by local fisherman using a cormorant fishing bird. Also very tasty! Local veggies including pumpkin shoots with garlic, fresh mushrooms with very fresh bamboo shoots (nothing like what comes from a can.) Culinary heaven once again. (Debbie was hoping that the Ginsing Tea was working.)

Kevin told us more about his work at the orphanage. They even sell several of the paintings from his art students to encourage them. This is ironic and a beautiful turn of events. We found out about Kevin's father's history. Kevin's father was a teacher during the cultural revolution. As were most of the teachers and artists, he was sent to work as a farmer in the countryside in a poor rural area. Kevin was 10 yrs old at this time. After China realized the necessity of art and teachers once again, he was brought back to Guilin to teach. During our walk around the city, Kevin pointed out a stone bas relief, near the Sun and Moon Pagodas, depicting several famous artists from Guilin. We were very happy to hear about this change in policy and encouragement of the arts.

We ended the evening getting caught in a downpour on our way back to our hotel. It was very romantic.
We were truly blessed!
Love and many blessings,
Debbie and Justin

Guilin Adventures

So it turns out our little 3 hour nap yesterday was not a good idea. We both woke up at 5 am this morning. So we made the best of it and went for a walk beside the river.

After some xifan (rice porridge) and other chinese delicacies we were picked up for our Li River cruise. The views were incredible and breathtaking. And VERY romantic. A perfect little getaway before we become parents. We met some really nice people in our tour group. We were very blessed that the boat was half empty. Most of the boats we saw were overflowing with people.

In Yangshuo the small town at the end of the river tour, we were inundated by street merchants trying to sell anything to anybody that looked in their direction. Some of the other group members, were physically grabbed to try and keep them from leaving before buying something.

Deb was quite the thrifty shopper. We made out with some great deals that unfortunately look like they will be too long to fit in our luggage.

After a brief stop in the hotel room to lighten our load, we headed off for a walk into the city. Our only plan was to find a place to post on the blog and to find some good Chinese food. No sooner did we get ourselves lost in the crouds that we happened upon Kevin. Kevin studied in Seattle and knew all about Santa Fe weather, and spoke excellent English. He is an art teacher and use to process papers for the local orphanage. He brought us to a tea shop where we sampled some of the local teas. Our favorite was Gensing leaves tea, with its mildly sweet aftertaste. After hearing about its healing and slimming properties, we bought a the largest tin they had. Boy could we use it right now.

Kevin then took us to check out his art at a gallery. He paints traditional Guilin landscapes in a more modern oil on canvas style. 60% of all the sales from this gallery go to help the local orphange that he is very involved with. What a coincidence! The Zhong Zhi Art Gallery is located at 3 Ren Min Rd, in Guilin and we will be posting more information and a few pictures of some of the art from the gallery soon.

Kevin was gracious enough to take us through a labirynth of Guilin side streets and through a basement that looked deserted before we came to the largest catacomb of computer terminals. Well over 300 computers in this underground internet club, the Purple Fortune Internet. Where all the locals go.

Kevin will be picking us up shortly to take us to where the locals go for good food. We plan on sampling everything but the Guilin specialties of Dog, cat, rat and snake. (We heard as a side note, that they also have good veggies.)

The adventure continues...
Love & Blessings, Debbie & Justin.

Wandering around Guilin

I woke early and went down to the bamboo lined river outside our hotel. The river was so alive with activity. People swimming, singing, fishing, washing their clothes, walking & exercising. Elderly women and men were happily swimming against the current and being wisked down stream backwards. - Deb

Then Deb joined me back in bed and we slept a little more and started our day together around ten. We decided to walk by the river and go exploring toward Seven Star Park which contains the famed Seven Star Caverns, a zoo, the largest man made water falls that I have ever seen, and a Stone mosaic wall made of semi precious stones, and the tombs of 800 soldiers.

We decided to head off toward the caverns. It was extremely hot and humid and there were thousands of steps to climb. We got lost on the way to the cave and ended up at the tombs, then on the trail Deb was being lead up some unknown path. Soon our stone path became a small foot path of dirt, then very little trail at all leading straight up on rocky points of a mountian through dense forest. After climbing for some time and getting near the top, we eventually were not able to climb any further and had to turn around. Precariously perched on sharp jagged rocks, Deb decided to clear the spirits of all the lost warrior spirits (just as we begin clearing we start to hear thunder,) and then proceeded to clear all of China (which didn't take as long as we expected.) We were thanked and shortly after were blessed by the sighting of an irridescent violet butterfly.

As we descended the mountain we came across a mother monkey and her baby. It was such a precious and auspicious moment. We left a little offering of macadamia and cashew nuts. Which were graciously devoured.

At this point we were starving and extremely thirsty but decided to push on to the look-out at the top of the mountain, back on the stone path of course. The views were amazing. Then after a brief rest we headed off to find the Caverns. Thank God they were selling water outside the entrance. After the caves, the nicest woman with her family helped us find some much needed food. We enjoyed the famed Guilin Rice Noodles. (Deb says: please disregard my earlier post about losing my baby fat. We are sampling lots of fine Chinese foods)

Back at the hotel our short lie down turned into a three hour nap. A fantastic day and looking forward to tomorrow. We still can't believe we are going to be parents in a couple days.

Love & Blessings from 1/2 way round the world, Justin & Debbie.

Dim Sum in Hong Kong

We wandered the streets of Hong Kong, not sure where to go during our 12 hour layover. We managed to buy some beautiful silk from Thailand and two Chinese silk jackets and some cute red Chinese baby shoes that squeak. The dogs are going to love following Shaela around. We ate dim sum at a restaurant recommended by our shopping guide book, it was quite delicious and fresh. Apparently, goose is the delicacy of this area, but we did not partake this visit.

We decided to keep our carryon luggage rolling luggage with us walking around the city. But I (Justin- who agreed to carry the luggage around) didn't think Hong Kong city streets had quite this many steps!! My mantra is: this is upper body strength to train for carrying a toddler and all the stuff that comes with a toddler (diaper bag, stroller....)

Wherever we go, there are the cutest little babies and little girls. We try to guess their weight and see if they would be comparable to Shaela's size. I can't wait to see her. At the airport I saw a mom, no larger than 90 lbs carrying a girl about 40 lbs. This gave me hope that I would be able to carry Shaela around.

With very tired feet we came back to the airport and went to a store selling foot massagers. We wound up buying an electrical unit that stimulates acupuncture points and relieves tight muscles.

We are looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight at the Royal Garden Hotel in Guilin. We want to be well rested for Shaela.

With Love to all,

Debbie and Justin

Hong Kong Here We Are!

We are in an internet cafe in Hong Kong, after walking aroung the shopping district on Queens Rd and visiting the very hot, humid and kind of empty zoo and botanical gardens.

On the way to the Albuquerque airport, I sat next to a family with two beautiful children who were adopted from Kazakhstan. I talked to them about our trip to China and showed pictures of Shaela. The little girl (about 9 yo) asked me what my baby's name was, I told her "Yu Ping was her Chinese name and Shaela is her American name." Justin and I had decided to have two names in which Shaela could pick from when she got older.

Having been Chinese American, I am sensitive to how kids can be ridiculed for the slightest thing, but especially their names. It was ironic that I took the book, Donald Duk, to read on the plane ride. This book, written by Chinese American author, Frank Chin, depicted a 12 yo boy who hated his name, Donald Duk and hence hated anything Chinese. He wanted desparately to be American (more specifically, Fred Astaire). The book ends with Donald learning about his ancestors and how great they were and coming to terms and loving his background.

Back to the two little kids on the parking bus at Albuquerque, the little boy (approx 11 yo), was dressed in full NY Yankee attire. He wanted me to guess what sport he loved and at the same time did not want his little sister to tell me his name, he seemed embarassed. Both children had unusual Kazakhstan names. I think he epitomized this whole difficulty in assimilation and accepting one's heritage. It made me happy that I could relate to what many adopted children are going through. And especially be sensitive about it with Shaela.

The seats on our flight were very tiny with no leg room. After we landed we immediately did what my father had suggested back in the states, get a bassinet in the bulk head seating for the return trip with the baby. There was no way we could fit Shaela on our laps, we could barely fit ourselves in the seats. Thank you Dad! We managed to reserve it for the return trip. Thank goodness! I did order the inflatable "first class seats in coach" thing from Magellans, which helped me get a bit of rest. Justin couldn't fit in his seat as it was, so he opted out.

I sat next to a very nice Chinese American man, Wilson from Scottsdale, AZ. He was very helpful. We had very nice discussions on naturopathic medicine (at this point Deb is muscle testing and clearing him...) and found out he was visiting his family in Guangzhou, where we would end our trip. Near the end of the flight, I found out his last name is the same as mine! We may be very distant relatives. He spelled it "Xie." This was a very good omen.

Our time is up on the computer. More details to follow...
Love & Blessings, Debbie

Blogging from China?

Hi Everybody, We are just a couple hours from taking the 1st of our 11 flights around the world. I thought I would just give a quick outline for those who may not have heard what the plans are. July 1st we fly to LA via Denver. July 2nd we take the red-eye from LA to Hong Kong. We have several hours to walk around and go shopping in Hong Kong before we fly to Guilin. Here is a picture of the beautiful landscape as seen from the Li river.We have 2 days in Guilin before meeting the rest of the families in our adoption group on the 6th in Beijing. Then we have 2 days of touring where we can see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and a few more famous sites.

(Pictures "borrowed" from other sites, thanks to whoever took them.)

On the evening of the 9th we fly to Wuhan, and meet little Shaela on the morning of the 10th!!! The rest of our trip is bonding with Sheala, filling out lots of papers, meeting with government officials, shopping (of course)... and possibly some time for more site seeing. On the 15th we fly to Guangzhou, and we fly home on the 21st.

We should be able to email in posts of text only messages onto the blog from our trip. However, because of censorship issues in China, it is likely that we may not be able to log in to Blooger.com for adding pictures until we get back. And we probably won't be able to read comments that you post, but please feel free to post comments and blessings. We plan on printing out the blog and making a book out of it later. But we will see how ambitious I feel after we have a toddler in the house.

Love & Blessings, Justin & Deb.

The journey begins...

Losing my baby fat?

Last week I started losing weight! I was so excited because it has always been my intention that if I ever got pregnant, I wanted to weigh less after delivering the baby than before. I know this sounds rather trite, but ever since I met my husband, Justin, I knew he was to be the father of my children. (He is going to be the best father a person could ask for.) We met in 1997 and were married within a year. I knew I wanted to have children with him and I was 38 with no time to waste. Or so I thought.

I was just finishing medical school and starting a new practice. Slowly, I began to gain weight, about 20 lbs since meeting Justin. I have felt pregnant so many times. I had a feeling it was because I yearned to be pregnant for so long. In the last year, it really seemed to be getting worse. My hormones were so crazy. My belly began to grow (as well as other parts.)

Little did I know Shaela was energetically growing within me, as I physically manifested the symptoms. Talk about mind-body connection! Of course part of this is really knowing and feeling that Shaela is really our daughter.

The yearning is over as well as the insatiable appetite. Of course, right before I wrote this, I was so exhausted I just inhaled some dark chocolate pistachio toffee from Trader Joe's. (hence the question mark after the title).

I woke up at 5:30 am this morning and was ready for a nap at 9 am. We've only got a few more "to do" items left..... So excited and yet so exhausted. I truly hope I will sleep on the plane!!! We leave for the airport in 5 hours.
Blessings and Love to you all.
Debbie