Ellie has her Visa!

After more than two years since we first started the paperwork, we can now say that all the paperwork is finished. This afternoon, we went to the American Consulate and received Ellie's Visa to immigrate to the United States. Once we pass through immigration and customs at DFW ariport, she will officially be a U.S. citizen.

Thank you to everyone who has been following our journey and for all of the prayers, emails, and other support along the way. We will see you all very soon!

Site Seeing

When you look at these pictures, start at the bottom and work your way up to go chronologically. We started our trip in Beijing seeing Tiananmen Square with the famous picture of Chairman Mao. This led us into the Forbidden City where the Ming and Qing dynasties had their palaces from 1421 to 1924.

We included the picture of the tiny car to show how different traffic is here. I am truly shocked that I haven't seen an accident yet. Our guide told us that there is no word for excuse me here, and you can tell when you are in a crowd or a traffic merge. Pedestrians, motorcycles, bikes, buses... come within inches of each other regularly.

The next picture is of one of the Olympic Stadiums being built for 2008.

Next, you see the Great Wall which we made it to the top of with our friends from Dallas, The Nelsons.

Next, you see us arriving at the airport in Guangzhou which is where we have been for the past 11 days.

All the rest of the pictures are taken in Guangzhou, you see a typical looking apartment building. Apparently very few people live in single family dwellings here. There are some schools right by our hotel and it is fun to see the kids march/dance in unison. The picture on the bus that we spent so much time on is of our guide Rui as she passes out our official adoption papers. The next sideways picture is of the 9 story high tower at the Six Banyan Trees Temple which we climbed ducking through the stairwells all the way. Above that is at the same temple where all of our babies received a blessing from a monk. The top picture was taken at an unbelievably colorful garden. We included the picture of Suzy with the Chinese lady because whenever we went off of the Shamian Island where we are staying, we wore these badges around our neck that explained in Chinese where we were from and that we planned to be loving parents to our adopted daughters. Inevitably, the response would be a thumbs up with a big smile. They also wanted to touch the babies which we were told is because they think the girls have good luck.

Telling Day

We spent the day yesterday traveling to our friends' orphanage. Ours is not open to the public and is a 5 hr drive. The people were very friendly and caring - even taking us out to a nice lunch. The outside of the orphanage was well maintained as was the inside. The best word for the inside though was sterile. Walking into the room with all of the cribs was when the reality of the babies' long days hit. It was the middle of the day and all the babies (about 10) were lying on boards - not mattresses. It was totally silent even though the babies were all awake. There were more special needs babies than we expected, too. The play room had a hard floor and no toys - just walkers. When we were outside, we caught the attention of some 5 year old boys through an open upstairs window. They were precious - calling out to us and laughing. They especially reacted to Toby's clown-like dances. I just hope that the adoption process speeds back up so that more of these kids will find homes.

Best Friends in China

Having Matt and Patty here with us in China has made all the difference. We rarely go 5 minutes without a good belly laugh. For an idea of Matt's sense of humor and to see more of our trip, visit there website at Mayaiscominghome.blogspot.com.

Not only have they kept us in stitches, but Matt has been a God-send as a pediatrician right here with us when concerns have arisen. It is going to be hard to go back to regular life without them to keep us laughing as they live in Wisconsin. We will definitely have to get Ellie and her first friend Maya back together over the years.

More Milestones

Ellie’s hands are usually posed gracefully out to her sides with the palms up – even when she is “crawling”. To get around, she sits on her rear and pulls her self along with her feet all the while with her hands in the air. It is quite impressive – try it sometime! Last night, she stole a cookie from her friend Maya and turned and quickly scooted away. She also claps – a lot. It is obvious that her hands were her favorite play things in the orphanage.

Today Ellie started rolling back to stomach and back again. Now we have seen her do everything that I would expect a 12 mo old to do plus more. Ellie's non-stop eating is paying off in thigh rolls. She has definitely packed on the lbs. in the one week we've had her! She has a little cough and runny nose but otherwise still doing great.

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary, and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than to be living in the moment like we have been able to do here appreciating the little blessings in life.

Peek-a-boo

Well Ellie’s sweet bedtime rooting has moved to our faces. Now when we lie down with her, she sucks on our cheeks, mouth or even nose – little messy but very sweet. We keep trying to slide a pacifier in, but she will have nothing to do with that. I have included some pictures of Ellie sleeping and smiling during a game of peek-a-boo. Today, Ellie has started being able to get from tummy to sitting independently. I also included a picture of beautiful Audrey at her first ever dance recital yesterday. Thanks Cheyenne for the fancy hair! We can't wait to watch the video.

Pictures of Ellie

End of a Great Week

We have been site seeing for the past 2 days. We saw the Chen Family Temple which is now more of a museum but was once where the men over 60 in the Chen family came to worship on special days. Today we went to the Six Banyan Trees Temple and got to be part of a blessing for the babies given by a Buddhist monk. We also climbed to the top of a very old 9 story tower obviously built for shorter people than us!

One highlight over the last couple of days was getting to see and talk to Nathan and Audrey on our new webcam. Apparently the grandparents have been able to jump right back into the flow of carting around young kids to all of their year end activities (thanks Mom and Dad!). It has been hard for us to miss so many baseball games, graduation and a dance recital. Can’t wait to see it all on video, Audrey and Nathan – we love you.

As Toby described in his Proud Papa entry, it has been amazing to watch a little heart heal right in front of our eyes. There is definitely something spiritual about adopting. So many times, the Bible makes reference to caring for orphans as well as comparing us to orphans who have been adopted into God’s family. The moment that Toby described early was just one of many times in just 5 days that we have seen her fear melt away. It is precious to watch her perform and then look to see if we are watching her – she just beams when we give her approval. Our bedtime routine at this point involves her sitting on our tummy as we lay on our back and bouncing and laughing at the sounds we make. Then she will bury her head in our chest for a few seconds – then get up and bounce again. She does this a few times, eventually just staying on our chest. Then she does something very interesting. Our social worker told us that she would be an infant emotionally. She lays on our chest, rooting around like a newborn trying to feed. With her eyes closed, her head bops up and down with her mouth open. She finds a spot on our shirt and starts sucking. And, then she falls asleep.

Ellie has had a fever for the past couple of days but woke up better today. Hopefully that is behind us. Otherwise, we are still doing great. Our friends from Dallas, the Nelsons, arrived in Guangzhou last night with their baby from another province. She is doing great too. Everyone said that the babies would grieve for about 72 hrs and it appears to be true. Even the babies with the hard adjustments are coming around and all the families are doing well.

Sorry for the lack of entries the past few days, but we have had a bit going on! We have spent every last minute playing with Ellie and have been so tired that we have gone to bed at the same time she does. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers

Officially adopted

We have spent the last 48 hrs mtg with Chinese officials and are about to go receive the receipts stating that Ellie's adoption is official. We have one small change to tell you. We added part of her Chinese name as her second middle name. So, her name is Danielle Sophia Hui Eisenberg. Now, her name Ellie is a nickname for both Danielle and Hui, as Ellie and Hui both mean light.

The first picture is at the Civil Affairs office when we were getting our picture for officially registering the adoption. The second picture is of Ellie and her new friend Maya while at play on the hotel room floor.

Proud Papa

It is late at night, the day after Ellie came to be with her family, and I cannot help but write a proud papa entry. The first night with her was such a wonderful blessing from God. While most of the other babies were showing the usual signs of having been institutionalized (such as lots of crying, no eating, fear of one or both parents), Ellie showed these signs only briefly. Once the benadryl wore off (or whatever they gave her to knock her out for the 4.5 hour bus ride), she really came alive. Almost immediately she was interacting with us, laughing, playing, and eating well.

One of my favorite moments with her so far was when we put her to bed last night. After we fed her a bottle, we laid her down between us on her back with each of us on our sides facing her. We had such a great time tickling, joking, and laughing with her, but the best part came later. As she began to get sleepy, she started to bang her hands against the bed out to her sides. Institutionalized orphans are typically understimulated, and one of the ways they compensate is by creating stimuli themselves (such as banging their hands or shaking their heads). When Ellie began doing this, we immediately recognized it as seeking stimulation as a way to comfort herself as she went to sleep. I wondered how many times she had done that very same thing, relying on herself for comfort rather than the comfort of a loving parent who wants nothing more than to see his or her child thrive. I took her hand gently in mine, raised it to my lips, and began to give her soft kisses over and over again. At first she resisted, but it was just the stimulation and comfort she had sought so many times before. She immediately recognized this and looked into my eyes as if to ask if I really meant to comfort her in that way. Suzy began doing the same thing on Ellie’s other hand, and she turned to ask Suzy the same question with her eyes. She stared into my eyes as I kissed her hand, then Suzy’s, and then mine again, all without making a sound or moving a muscle (except to turn her head back and forth every 10 seconds or so). When we would stop, she lift her hands up to our mouths, asking for more kisses and for more assurances that we really did mean to show her love by showing her comfort. She was filled with a peace that comes from knowing that you are loved unconditionally…was this the very first time she experienced such peace? After about 10 minutes of this, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, there with her tiny hands still cradled in Suzy’s and mine. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and I knew that we had her trust.

Gotcha!!!!

We got our girl!!!! We'll write more later, but we wanted to get some photos to everyone so you can see how beautiful and happy she is.

Nathan and Audrey, you are going to have lots of fun with Ellie. She is already dancing and laughing and even making jokes. She will fit right in with the Eisenberg family.

Trip to Beijing

For those of you who have been wanting to follow our journey, we apologize for not being able to post another entry sooner. While we were in Beijing we were not able to get access to the internet due to what turned out to be a bad connection at the hotel. Toby made several attempts and spent a couple of precious hours (which could have been better spent catching up on sleep) trying to get access to the internet. Now that we are in Guangzhou and have an excellent connection, we know that the problem was the connection in our hotel room in Beijing.
Despite this one frustration, our trip so far has been wonderful. Our travel from Dallas to Beijing went without a hitch. In the first picture, you see a picture of Suzy, Nathan, and Audrey just before Toby and Suzy left for the airport. We love you guys and miss you a whole bunch! In the second picture, you can see Toby trying to make a few last minute calls in order to get out of town. After those calls were finished, both of us had nothing that we could be doing other than wait for the plane. It was the first time in a very long time that either of us could say that, and the smile on Suzy's face in the third picture says it all. The last picture is of us when we landed at the Beijing airport, glad to finally be in China after starting this process over two years ago.

Ellie's home...first year of life

To the right is a picture of the orphanage where Ellie has been living since her birth.

The orphanage is located in Dianbai County in Guangdong Province, which is in Southern China. Hong Kong is immediately South of Guangdong Province. See the map of Chinese provinces at right.




To further pinpoint where Dianbai County is, see the map of Guangdong Province at the right.

















To get a wider perspective, see this map of East Asia. Click on the map for a larger view. Note that Dianbai would be located on this map just below the "M" in Macau (at the Southernmost region of China).

Travel dates

We can't believe it is finally here. We will fly to China May 10th which is Ellie's birthday. We will spend a day touring Beijing seeing the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square... Then, we will fly to Guangzhou; this is the capital of Ellie's province, Guangdong. Guangzhou is called the Gate to China as the major trade center. We will be staying in the famous White Swan Hotel. Apparently thousands of families pass through here monthly adopting these precious babies. Our Gotcha Day (the day we get Ellie) is May 14th. Because of the time change, this will actually happen after you guys in the US go to bed on Mother's Day. This is a Mother's Day I will never forget! We will stay in Guangzhou until the 26th. We are arriving home the first day of the kids' summer break. Thank you for all the offers to help with the kids; we are going to miss them horribly and your friendship is certainly going to help make the time fly by faster for them (and for their grandparents who are making all of this possible).

Finally...a name

After 2 years of attempting to name our daughter, the process became much more focused once we received the translation of her Chinese name. We always knew that we wanted to incorporate "Danielle" after Suzy's great grandparents, Jewell and Carey Daniel, who were missionaries in China in the early 1900's. Translating her Chinese name, "Bai" means white and indicates Dianbai county where she lives; "Xiao" means dawning, and "Hui" means sunshine. There is a connotation of wisdom or knowledge according to our translator. Drawing on this information, we have decided on Danielle ("Ellie") Sophia. "Ellie" means light and "Sophia" means wisdom. So, Ellie Eisenberg it is.

You can see two pictures of Jewell and Carey Daniel below.

Waiting to Travel

Thank you for following our journey! We received our referral March 5. The call actually came on Suzy's cell while she was out to lunch with her sister and dad for his birthday. She strained to listen as she sat in the noisy waiting area of a Mexican restaurant. What a moment! She hung on every word as the rep from our agency listed off weights and measurements, likes and dislikes, motor development, sleeping habits... of our daughter. Of course, Suzy immediately called Toby and with tears in both of their eyes she spelled out her name, Bai Xiao Hui, from Dianbai County in far southeast China. Her birthday was May 10th, 2006. This baby that we have been praying for and dreaming about is now a little girl that we can call by name. Every day since then we have been pouring over her medical records, looking at her pictures or reading about her hometown and orphanage on the internet. Words cannot express how thrilled we will be when we actually get to hold in our arms!

On March 10th, we moved (just a few houses down the alley) and as I write this I hear the pounding of construction as we are adding a playroom upstairs. The 4 of us have been sleeping in the same room for a month now and we are sadly used to living in dust and boxes. In our new house, our baby will have her own room even though Audrey was glad to share her room with her sister in the old house. After waiting 2 years for our daughter, we are amazed at the timing. We were not even thinking about moving when we saw this house for sale back in Nov. We made the decision in just a few days and had the priviledge of owning 2 houses for 3 months. We should have just about a month to get our house in order once the construction is done. We should be traveling to China in May right as Toby finishes his 3rd year in his PhD, which means that he will be done with classes and only have dissertation left. There is even a good chance that we will meet her on or near her first birthday. Life is good.