Happy Birthday Olivia....and they all lived happily ever after.....

.....how time flies - Olivia has been with us for a month now and we have been home as a family for over 2 weeks - and I can't remember what life was like before (OK, I can a bit....) but everyone has settled in very well and we continue to be busy - only now we add an extra 10 minutes onto our leave time, ensure that we have a stocked diaper bag and bring a stroller - carrying a very active one year old can be a challenge!

Olivia can now walk, she continues to eat whatever we put in front of her and she LOVES her big brothers....she waits for them to come home every day after school...and like any good little sister stands in front of the playstation screen when they are playing games to drive them crazy......

While our journey to travel and complete our family with Olivia is now behind us, it is as they say the beginning of the rest of our lives.....thank you for : following the blog, your support over the past 2 years while we waited for Olivia, your generousity and kindness to her ...and I think now this blog will end off...and we will look to create a van der Kooy family blog.

Stay tuned.....

We're Home!

....whew after 22 hours of travelling with an "Amazing Race" like sprint in the Vancouver airport, we are home - here are a couple of pictures I thought people might enjoy - I will post about Beijing in the next day or so - while we loved our trip - we are glad to be home...now just trying to recover from the jet lag....

Alst full day in Nanning

Hi everyone

Just a quick post today - first off - we can't actually see the blog entiries we are posting or the comments - we will have to see them when we get home - we do have computers in our rooms however a number of the programs are blocked or not accessible.We can only access our home email or the page to post to the blog.

Today we went to the caves - they were beautiful - but what a lot of walking we did! This being a mother of a one year old at 40 is much tougher than at 29 when Max was born!!! And of course since Olivia is still a little hesitant to go to Mike - the bulk of carrying her falls to me! I am hoping by the time we hit the Great Wall that she has bonded more with Mike - but that is Sunday - so lots of work to be done! These historical sites are not too stroller friendly so Olivia has spent lots of time in the baby Bjorn (thanks Stace!) and along with a sore back am hoping that I have developed some new muscles.

We aren't sure that we will have the same computer access in Beijing as we do here in Nanning so will post when we can....our flight tomorrow is not until 5 PM...and then on Sunday morning we are off the the Great Wall....Monday is the medical and then more tours on Tues/Wed....we want to get back to the Silk Market one more time and then home on Friday -

Only a week to go and then we are home Max and Riley!

Guigang

Today we travelled 2.5 hours north east of Nanning to what we all thought was the village of Guigang - in reality Guigang is a village of 4.3 million people - of whom only 300,000 actually live in the city - many are famers and labourers and it is the town where most of the girls were found and where the orphanage is located.

We were able to visit the outside of the orphanage and take some pictures - then we were taken the locations where each of our daughters was found . We were happy to be able to take a picture of where Olivia was found to share with her in the future - while we may not understand the circumstances - she was found in a busy place where I am sure she was not alone for long.

It was a beautiful scenic drive and all the babies were so good.

Tomorrow we are off to the caves and a local park.

Olivia continues to be more comfortable with us each day - she is very busy and active - into everything and can't sit still for too long...she loves to hear the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (over and over!)

She dug in with both hands at the chinese restauant last night and created quite a mess but loved every minute of it - for those of you wondering how Mike fared - he ordered the traditional Chinese steak and spaghetti dinner.....while we are enjoying our time here - we miss everyone and are looking forward to moving to the next stage of our adventure - back to Beijing on Saturday.

Nanning

Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi - our guide was telling us that over 90% of China is made up of the Han nationality however Guangxi is actually home to the most Chinese minorities - it is not actually called a province - it is referred more to as a region. It is fairly industrial - similar to Beijing there is lots of construction all around and it seems to be changing from old world China to more new world.....we are quite a site for the local people - although Nanning has over 6 million people, is the capital of Guangxi and the central political location for the area - 8 chinese babies being strolled and carried through the local Walmart by non chinese parents can cause quite a commotion! Our guide Sara helps us with the translations when we are buying things - which is a good thing since yesterday Mike and I were ready to buy what we thought was apple juice and was actually peanut oil - we have become very creative with an electric kettle, ice bucket and mini fridge and prepare food for Olivia here in the room sometimes - her reputation of never meeting a meal she doesn't like is quite true as she is willing to pretty much try anything ...although the Atkins diet won't ever be a option for her - she loves her carbs!

She is settling in very well and although prefers to come to mommy is opening up to daddy a bit each day.....she is almost walking and has figured out how to climb out of her crib - she loves toys that make noise and is a very sound sleeper.

Today we visited a park that was somewhat like Centreville as well as a temple - tomorrow we are travelling to Guigang which is the city where 7 of the 8 babies lived until Monday - they will take us by the orphanage as well where possible by the spots where our babies were found.

Tonight we will venture out of the hotel for authentic chinese food with the group - not sure how adventurous Mike will be - he has been depending on the cheeseburgers served here for many meals!

November 13th in China

...today was a busy day of paperwork and process to formalize the adoption. It started early as we had to meet by 8:30 to return to the department of civil affairs....after many mornings of being awake at 5 AM trying to get over the jet lag - I actually had to wake Mike and Olivia up to ensure that we were on time.

At our first stop we were interviewed by the civil affairs staff and our adoption was made official - the orphanage director presented each baby with a gift and we now have a number of photos of Olivia from her foster family and pictures of who believe to be her foster parents - these will be important to her in the future and Mike and I are very thankful for the wonderful care they provided - she came to us healthy and well looked after - we hope to somehow be able to send some pictures back to them from Toronto.

Our next step was the notary office where additional documents were signed and as of now all of the local paperwork has been completed, we are just waiting to get her passport.

A little later today we will all be travelling to Walmart to purchase all the things we should have packed but didn't!

The next few days have tours of the area planned as well as a visit to the town where the babies were born - Guigang....we expect to participate in all of them...Saturday we return to Beijing.

The hotel here in Nanning has devoted an entire floor to adoptive families and at any time night or day you can open the door and see someone walking their stroller or bouncing their baby

Olivia has warmed up to us and is already trying to walk and has figured out how to get out of her crib...her favourite toy is a stuffed bear that Mike and I had sent to the orphanage - it was the only thing that calmed her yesterday and now goes with here whereever she is.....she has 4 teeth and by the way she loves to chew on things I think more are on the way.

Max and Riley - get ready - as I am sure by the time we are home she will be looking to keep up with you ....

We have Olivia!!!!!

We were advised a couple of days ago that the group would be receiving the girls on Monday the 12th at 3pm.

Before it was time to leave Sarah, our guide, took the group on a bit of a road trip. We walked from the hotel to a park in the middle on Nanning for a tour. After the tour Sarah took us to the super market so that we could stock up on supplies of diapers and formula. By the time we got back to the hotel it was around 1pm, which only left us with a bit of time before our 2:30 departure.

We arrived at the Civil Affairs Office just before 3 and when we walked in the lobby the girls were there with their caregivers. We were all quite anxious to try and spot our daughters although no one in the group was able to determine for sure which precious girl was their's. We were told to go to the 4th floor and that they would be bringing the babies up. Prior to receiving our daughters a provincial representative from the Civil Affairs Office spoke to the group about adoption, the process and thanked us.

One by one our names were called and we were finally presented with Olivia. From the moment we received her she was in tears, not just crying tears but heart breaking sobs where she would just scream and refuse to look at either of us -, at one point I'm sure the room was full of elated parents and crying babies. We were able to ask the orphanage director a bit about Olivia - she told us that Olivia was very funny and active, that she never saw a meal she wouldn't eat and that she didn't like fish or vegetable congee - but loved meat congee.

We were back at the hotel a little after 4pm which gave us a chance to try and settle in. Olivia continued to sob uncontrollably as she was adapting to her new environment. At 5pm we were required to have pictures taken for passports, not sure it's going to be one of her better photos. We decided after that to join Murray and Cathy, their daughter Emily and new daughter Hayley for dinner. Just as dinner arrived Olivia decided to fall asleep.

When we returned to the room she had some apple juice and was beginning to settle in as her and Steph played with some toys. While playing with Steph she gave us her first smile. The paper work required to complete the adoption tomorrow was filled out and tomorrow we will return to the Civil Affairs office and visit the notary to complete everthing. Olivia is now sleeping soundly in her crib and Steph and I are trying to remember everything that happenned today.

Lot's of love to Max and Riley from Mom and Dad. We will try to post or distribute some pictures of Olivia tomorrow.