thursday one week till we're home

Hi all,

we have been doing a lot of learning and bonding. it is now ok most of the time for daddy to be near mommy and Hope. daddy's best close time is play time or when eating food.

Hope seems to be getting more comfortable with mommy. we are getting better at sitting on the bed or floor when mommy needs to brush teeth, fix hair or do whatever she needs. mommy now has a helper whenever she goes to the bathroom. i know she isn't crazy about that idea, but we are all making adjustments.

Hope seems to have a very soft and sweet personality. at least that is what we have seen so far. we have been using signs along with diaper changes, food, play and anything else we can think of. not much response yet, but I'm sure it won't take long. we have also been hearing a wide range of cries. we have heard the scream as i'm sure the two rooms next us have heard. this one also came out at the restaurant we ate at yesterday when mommy needed to use the rest room and daddy and Hope sat outside the stall. not being able to see mommy was a bad experience and everyone in the room outside and maybe the entire restaurant heard about it. she also has a real soft and gentle cry which makes you want to hold her and make everything better. she is the perfect child for us.

Today we went to a Buddhist temple up on a hill in the city of Nanning. interesting to see and Hope had a blessing from a monk. the way we see it there is one God and many different ways to praise him.

Monks and Fish pond

later we went to see a fish pond 2 RMB for fish food. good cheep fun. There were a lot of carp in the fish pond and they sure like being fed.

near the pond was a spot with a zip line and the big balls people could stand in to play out on the pond. good for a bunch of laughs.

dinner was also provided on the tour for today. it was quite a spread. Hope let me hold her while we ate. well, she was asleep, but she still didn't object and I'll take that as a step in the right direction. with being new parents and trips or appointments every day, today we sent out laundry again. With high temps and high humidity it would be impossible for us to keep up with laundry. Beth and Hope are taking a little nap then maybe we can go to the park and play.

field trip to the countryside

sorry i didn't write much yesterday, we had kind of a challengeing day. Hope has latched on to Beth pretty well and that is good. at the same time it makes ron a little sad. yes i do know that this is a temporary thing, still a little heart wrenching. today has been going much better. Hope has been able to look at me without instantly crying. I am pretty sure she has not seen green eyes before now. the mustache and beard can't help much either. any way the big excitement before we left for the trip was the first bm which is a big refief to all of us if you know what i mean. No picture available for that.

we loaded the bus and headed to the country side. i have some gps locations but not readily available. e-mail if interested. beautiful green hills and big moutian peaks poaking up through.

One of the newest families in town

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allow me to introduce the Heutmakers. as you know yesterday was gotcha day. today Hope officially joined our family through adoption.


We had a good night. After bath time there was a short snuggle and then off to sleep in the crib. Up at 1:30 for a little bottle and snuggle then back to sleep. Wake up time was at 5:30 a good nights sleep with all of the changes that have taken place.

Morning started the process over again with getting reacquainted. Only thing is that Hope discovered that wants mommy more for now. Daddy is ok especially when giving food. When giving food it is ok to be close and touch otherwise not so good. I know that she can't resist my charm forever.

We traveled a short drive to the Civil Affairs building to finalize the adoption. Hope traveled well and really enjoyed playing with the other children.

Civil Affairs

She seemed to have a great time on the rocking animal.

When we finished at the civil Affairs building promising to love and care for as our child, we went to see the notory for one more interview. luckily I was able to recall the year we were married. Short and sweet but hot and sticky also.

Back at the hotel now Hope had a bath and is now napping I think. I should go back and see how they are doing so I think I will. Bye

Gotcha Day

Hi all, We have hada wonderful day. Tension was pertty light from breakfast through the beginning of paper work session. Durring the paperwork session they gave us an updated report of our children. Upon opening the packet we were shocked at the picture and how much she has changed. After paperwork we walked to the shopping center in 90 degree heat and very humid. I won't put a link in but if you google Nanning, China weather you will get a feel for our weather. Shopping was fun and prices were cheep. You could tell everyone was getting excited/nervous. The wait was getting to us and the room was starting to feel small. Beth and I decided to go down to the lobby and wait. Guess we weren't the only ones, most of the families were already in the lobby.

The bus loaded up and we were on our way to the Civil Affairs building.


In this picture you can see the room where the brought our babies in. On our way in Beth and I saw Hope to our left just as the door was closing. We started to get pretty emotional. I knew that was a good moment to dig out the package of tissues. Everyone took one and most myself included and I needed it. You could tell that Hope was very attached to her foster parents.


After a while Beth handed Hope to me and after a while she started to calm down. Beth knew this could happen, but I don't think it makes it any easier. Yep Hope was BaBa's little girl from the start.


The good news is that Hope is warming up to both of us now. We had bath time which was more fun for us than Hope. Mama and baby had a little snuggle and Hope went to sleep. When I left to Blog Hope was sound asleep in the crib. Think I should go get some sleeep so I am ready when she wakes up.

Good night,

Ron

p.s. I can't view the post and I will apoligize for poor grammer and misspelling. I trust all will figure out what I am trying to say.

introducing...Hope KeXuan Charlotte Heutmaker

Lots of cries and tears by all. Now as I am in Betsy and Andy's room Hope is showing signs of a possible smile. Pictures of that to come soon. We are hungry and need to go eat. Enjoy this for now.

Ron

We're ready...

We just met with Tu and filled out more necessary paperwork. We also got to see an updated photo of Hope. You won't believe it when you see her. She has grown up so much! We are going to a market now for some shopping and we'll meet our daughter at 3:30 today. Pray!

Love - B&R

We are here!

Our flight to Nanning was a little turbulant, but we arrived last night at about 6:30. Our hotel is beautiful though the beds are ROCK hard. We are able to use the business center here for about $4/hr. We'll be posting information but photos are questionable from here. We'll see if we can borrow some time on someone else's laptop. Pray for us and for Hope today as we meet her and welcome her into our family.

Love from Nanning, Guangxi