This is Addie and big brother Andrew getting ready for the prom. She was a big help. I can not believe Andrew is going to graduate in just a few weeks. Last night after the Spring Arts Show I couldn't stop crying. When I finally got a hold of myself I thought about how old I would be when Addie graduates from high school and then I really cried hard. My mother was younger than I am now when her children were out of the house. When she was about my age she met my step father and I though it was wonderful she found love so late in life. It was sweet to see old people so happy. Oh well, I eat well and I still go to ballet, and lifting the stroller in and out of the car is a big work out. Maybe I can manage to still be upright when Addie goes off to college. Besides, I love what I'm doing . Happiness will keep you younger than anything, right?

We have been home six weeks and been through three different illnesses. My favorite was the diarrhea. My idea of a fun evening is changing someone's diaper NINE times between 7:00 and 8:00 pm. The delight of this was then topped off by the dog knocking over the diaper pail to eat the contents and scatter the diapers all over the room. The dog even had a special stash under the crib it took me a few hours to discover. When I finally got everything cleaned up and Addie to sleep I went downstairs to find that the dog had thrown up all over the living room. I was quite pale and shaken by this time and the only thing that could revive me was a decaf latte.

So, how is it at home with the new baby? Actually, fecal matter in the carpet aside we are doing very well. Addie is adapting splendidly and our new family of five is getting along well. I love our new routine because it is so focused. I can't run around volunteering to do a million things. I just take care of the kids and the house and I am loving it. If you had told me this when I was a 25 year old dancer and I was "treading the boards" I would have killed myself. It is funny where life takes you. Lately life has been taking Addie and I to the mall because it has been raining so much. It had better get sunny soon because I'm running out of ready cash.

I even have fond memories of China now. I have a few suggestions for those still to travel. First, do not even consider leaving the country without a tube of Benefits Ooh La Lift under eye de-puffer. If the good people at Benefit would be so kind as to package it in vats I would bathe in the stuff. This is a must have item. Second, pack your bags and then remove half of the things you packed. I should have known that four Louis Vittan steamer trunks were over kill. My last jewel of wisdom is to take along some sort of stain stick for your laundry. Otherwise all those cute little baby outfits you bought will come back from the laundry with stains. That is all I have to offer.

Addie turned one on the 28th. When she got us she could not roll over or crawl. ( Actually pretty convenient for us in the hotel.) Now, a mere seven weeks later she can flip over both ways, army crawl so fast you'd think George Bush was after her, pull herself to standing and say Da, dog, and cat. She is brilliant!!! I am so in love. I am absolutely certain we were all meant to be together and I am so happy I can't stand it.

This will be my last post as tomorrow morning Don flies home with the computer. We are following the next day. Hooray!! I would love to return to China some day, but being here with a new baby has made it difficult to see much. This whole thing is so surreal. Adoption is a labor of it's own kind. Whether a baby passes through your body or through customs they both have their own equally difficult transitions. And, like labor, I imagine someday I will forget the hard part and just remember what a beautiful time it was. The exhaustion and anxiety of last week has already faded a bit. All I can tell you is it is worth every second. We have our baby and our family feels complete.

Tonight we are going on a dinner cruise of the Pearl River and tomorrow is our farewell dinner.
Friday we board China Southern Airlines and we will arrive at LAX 5:50 p.m. I can't wait for you all to meet Addie and more importantly I can't wait to have a diet coke in a cup with ice.

Love,
DeAnne (Go Gators!)

It is cold and windy today. We are not getting out to see much in China. I suppose we will have to come back some day with Addie and show her where she is from. I don't really want to visit Changsha again so I may tell Addie she is from Beijing. Don thinks we should tell her she is from San Francisco.

She is so wonderful. She is so easy. She looks for me and reaches for me when we are out in public. I can't believe we have only had her for a week.

Everything people say about USAA is true. They are fabulous. They take care of everything and then some.

Yesterday we went for Addie's medical check up. She weighs 18 pounds. They took off her diaper and I think they were checking to make sure she was a girl. She needed changing anyway. I miss everyone and I want a salad.

DeAnne

We are back in Guangzhou!! Today we went to the Six Banyan Tree Temple and the babies were blessed by a Buddhist monk. We are doing well. Enjoy the pictures.
DeAnne (mother of three)

Addie is a truley amazing little person. She has obviously been very well taken care of. She is secure and happy and will let us comfort and love her. We are so blessed and so lucky. She sucks her thumb so she can comfort herself and will sit and play with toys. She notices everything and turns her head when she hears a noise to see whats going on. She has deep inquisitive eyes. I realize I keep ending sentances with a preposition, but at least I'm upright and typing.
Yesterday we visited the Hunan Embroidery Museum. We are talking real live embroidery, not the chain stitch and poppy stitch I learned in Brownies. The work was amazing. The stitches so fine and so delicate it looks like a painting. My favorite was a dancer (natch) in a Red Army costume doing a saute arabesque. It was so strong and beautiful. The lines of his body were perfect.

Want to know what is amazing? We traveled 15 hours by plane, another hour by plane and Addie traveled 8 hours on a bus so we could meet each other. We were about as far away as we could be, but thanks to God, the People's Republic of China and US Asian Affairs we have found each other and we are a family. Life is good.

Well, there is no need to include Changsha on your must see list. Although the food is great and the hotel is nice, the view out our window is one flying car short of Blade Runner. The best reason to come here, the place where Chairman Mao was educated, is to get a baby.

Addie is remarkable. She has come so far in 48 hours. I have been her wire monkey since Gotcha, but today she decided Don was o.k. She even was trying to make him laugh. Good idea.

While Addie and Daddy were bonding I went to get a foot massage for $6.00 American. A diet coke cost $5.00 and a sixty minute massage is $6.00. Labor is cheap. The foot massage room has a few chairs in it facing a T.V. that at the time I was there was tuned to HBO and was airing some movie about the crucifixion of Christ. Just as I was starting to relax I heard, "Call for the release of Barabus!" Not real conducive to relaxation. Then as I was getting a great foot massage I had to listen to screaming, moaning and the pounding of nails through flesh. (Yes, thankfully it was still the Jesus movie.) I didn't even look up once to see the carnage. They tried, but they could not make me watch it. Just like they could not make me watch Red Asphalt in traffic school. After Jesus died the sound track was actually quite beautiful as the three Marys did their stuff. Doesn't the Three Marys sounds like the name of a drag show? Anyway, I digress. The Chinese give great massages, but do not seem to understand the "spa experience." Forgive them father, they know not what they do.

DeAnne
P.S. Andrew was accepted to Hofstra and offered a scholarship. Congratulations first born!!!!

I'm going to try to post a photo. I can't see the blog so let me know if you can. I had this thought that while I was in China I would send back witty and meaningful reflections of our journeys. Well, that's not looking so likely. We are still in Changsha and today we visited the oldest University in the world. Maybe I can get Andrew in there. DeAnne

typing one handed. we are here and we have her. actually, she has us. she is brilliant and beautiful and sad. we are working on the sad part and she is bonding quickly. we signed all the paperwork today and she is officially ours. we are unable to post photos yet, but we will soon. andrew, i miss you and i love you. i really wish you were with us. love to all.

deAnne

We are leaving March 3 and I can't believe we are finally going to pick up our baby. All of the projects I had planned to make the year go by faster remain unstarted. I guess the photos will not be put into albums just yet and I will not finish my Pre Natal fitness certification. Oh well.

How did I get so lucky? Why do I get to be this baby's mother? I am the third in the line of women who will love and care for this child and the only one who will be able to keep her. Her birth mother kept her for a month. I can not imagine the agony she went through when she had to leave her. Her sacrifice is my treasure. I will never let Addie's mother down. I will not take her loss lightly and I will pray she finds peace. Her foster mother will have kept her and loved her for nine months. I am so worried and so torn about talking Addie from the only home and family she has ever known. She will not know joy or happiness the day she comes with us. She will be afraid and she will be wanting her mom. Will her foster mom return to her home and look around for Yuan Ying ? There will be a hole in the home and in her heart. I will not let Addie's foster mom down either. I promise I will contiue what they have begun. I will make sure with every breath in my body that our daughter has a good life. She will grow up to be a caring compassionate loving person. She will know she has three mothers who love her. Two of them will be in her heart and I will be the lucky one who gets to kiss her good night. Life is good.

After receiving our referral on January 4, 2006 we began to make plans to travel to China to pick up our daughter Adams (Addie) Lee Yuan Ying.

Zhao Yuan Ying is waiting in foster care in the Hunan Province of China. She is nine months old and the one of the three cutest, smartest children in the world. The other two, her brother Andrew (18) and her sister Sofie (8) are very excited to meet her (most of the time).

We began the process in January of 2005, turned our paperwork in to USAA in March 2005, and we were DTC April 5. We are just waiting for "3rd call" from USAA to let us know when we are leaving. We are ready.