Group Picture of all CCAI Families in the White Swan Hotel Lobby.Lily's The Only One Who Didn't Break Down Crying... as long as mom had a Cheerio.
Lily and Some Friends
Our Big Moment on "The Red Couch"

Just want to get some pictures up for you all to see. Had a great day. Red couch pictures, walking, playing in the "swan room" (toddler play room) at the hotel. Then we had dinner at a french restaurant. It rained pretty good here so we opted out of the dinner cruise. We're waiting on our visa paperwork to be done, which will happen tomorrow. Then we need to take an adoption oath at the American Consulate here on Thursday. We'll receive her visa Friday and be on the plane for home this Saturday. It'll be great to settle in at home. Until then, we will continue to enjoy this very unique and beautiful part of God's creation.

Blessings to all

~The Scicchitano's

What Day Is It? ~ Day 7 With Lily

Lily LOVES the tub.It's not all smiles and giggles all the time with this girl...
Making a pearl necklace for Lily at the Pearl Market.
Our Hotel Lobby

Today was a wonderful day and at the same time it was tiring, irritating, hot, and stressful. As beautiful as it is here, there's no place like home. Lily has been sleeping great. She usually sleeps until anywhere from 5am-7:30am and likes to take a little nap shortly after in bed with either Dave or myself. We went down to the breakfast buffet near the waterfall, I tell ya this hotel is just beautiful, but Lily was not into the beauty this morning. She had a very difficult morning. Normally she has a good appetite and opens up her mouth like a baby bird for us to drop food in, but this morning she shook her sweet little head "NO" to everything but a little watermelon. Watermelon, by the way, is her favorite food. Followed by screaming and crying. She knows what she wants and doesn't want and is already testing the water and we are starting to set some limits. Daddy took her out of the dining area and over to the bridge to see the fish and socialize. She brightened right up and was happy again, not too many limits yet as it's hard to do when not in the privacy of our own home and other people would like to appreciate the beauty =D. I have to say that her Baba (Daddy in Chinese) is doing pretty good at resisting the urge to spoil her silly... most of the time anyway.

We visited the pearl market today, got a little lesson on how to recognize quality pearls and did a little shopping. We picked up a string of pearls to keep for Lily until she is older. Had lunch at KFC. Lily had a bite of "creamed potatoes" as some friends from Mississippi call'em, and her first french fry, all the while fussing. Although she pooed last night, we had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to come... and we were right.

So the afternoon came and we took a short walk over to the clinic to have Lily's physical done and picture for her visa taken. On the way she fell asleep. This actually worked to our benefit because she slept through her exam, although we had to wake her for her photo. She did great and this all took just 20 minutes. So Lily only had a short nap. While we were out, the boys went with some friends to the pool. This is no ordinary pool, it's a tropical paradise with a waterfall and is overlooking the Pearl River. This gave us the chance to do some shopping on the island to pick up some souvenirs and gifts.

We were supposed to go out for a group dinner to a Cantonese restaurant, but opted to stay in. It's no fun to be out in public with a constipated baby. The tension of being constantly on the go and living in such close quarters for a week and a half now is weighing on all of us today. Add the stress of a tired, screaming baby and it just magnifies the tension. It was nice to be able to stay in tonight. We ordered a Papa John's pizza and picked up some chicken congee (rice porridge) to go for Lily... and she ate the WHOLE bowl. I think that Lily is definitely bonding with us and is feeling the need to just be "home." She went from her foster family, to our hotel in Nanning for a week to another hotel now for half a week... and we have still another transition to make when we leave for home. She is so sweet and fun to watch as she explores our hotel room. We took care of some potty business, had a bath which she loves and now everyone is passed out.

Tomorrow we will take a picture of all the babies in our group lined up on "The Red Couch" here in the hotel. It's become a tradition here at the White Swan, which is also known as the "baby hotel," for adoptive families to do. We also plan on going with our group for a dinner cruise on the Pearl River.

That's all for now. We'll check back in tomorrow. Visit my Facebook page for more pictures.

~Sue

She's Walking... and Running

Lily with her Ge Ge and Bobai Bear

In Our Arms August 16, 2010

We're Back!!! ~ Day 6 With Lily

Wow, we lost touch there for a while. So much has happened since our last posting, I'll try to fill you all in on all that's happened. We traveled to Nanning, Guangxi China on the 15th and had no access to our blog or Facebook due to censorship here. We are still in mainland China now (Guangzhou, Guangdong China), although another adoptive family showed us how to gain access by paying a $20 fee.

Nanning, in Guangxi provence, is a medium sized city for China with a population of about 2.4 million. 6 million if you include the surrounding areas. Nanning is a pleasant city. The people are very friendly and seemed to be happy to see us as an adoptive family. There is much pollution in the air due to all of the cars and motorbikes. The traffic is frightening and it seems to be organized chaos. To cross the street on foot is taking your life in your hands. We stayed at the Majestic Hotel which was very beautiful. The lobby was marble, there was marble everywhere. It was lovely. Although as soon as we walked out the door there was a drastic change of scene. Apartment buildings everywhere, none of which are complete due to the constant building up, up, up to accommodate the masses. Dirty, smelly, loud, busy streets. The climate is tropical so it goes without saying that everyday is at least 100 degrees and many of the foliage and ground cover I recognized as house plants sold in the grocery store (some I have in my home!) and are very beautiful.

Lily is from Bobai County in Guangxi provence which has a population of only a few thousand people. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Lily was in a foster home shortly after she was found. The government has a program for children with special needs called The Alliance for Children Foundation. We received a booklet with pictures of her foster mother and reports of her development throughout the past year. There is a period of 24 hours that we had with her before we were allowed to finalize the adoption with the Chinese government to make sure that we were "pleased with her." When they brought her to us they gave us a camera from the foster family to take some photos and bring back the next day when we were to complete the paperwork. When we got back to the hotel we were able to download at least 50 pictures of Lily with her foster family and they had written a note to us. She was born July 16, 2009 and was found the next day at a Bus Station in Bobai County. This is where she gets her surname of Bo. We kept her Chinese name of SiLing as her middle name. She is just what we thought she'd be, she had a little spark in her eye in her referral picture and she certainly has lived up to that. She is very pleasant and agreeable and LOVES to play with her brothers and her Daddy. She is sure to charm you right away when you meet her. In the words of Nicholas... "We have the most awesomest baby ever!"

Everyday we would go down to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. Lily and the boys would finish eating first, then they would take her out of her highchair and chase her around as she laughed and would crawl up and down the stairs. We received so many comments about how great they are with her. They have been praying since 2008 for her and just love their little sister. They are such a blessing.

As I see the difficulties that other families are facing with their little ones I am so grateful to God for his provision and Grace upon our family. Thank you everyone for covering us in prayer. He is listening and is blessing us like crazy. We are all well and our only obstacle is a little constipation for Lily which is apparently a common problem among newly adopted children that I was not aware of. We celebrated tonight as "Little Miss Ling" pooed, in the tub no less. This seems to be a running theme in my life at work and at home... ;)

I will fill you all in more about this little sweetheart that is now ours later. It may be the afternoon for you guys, but it's after midnight here and I gotta get some sleep...

~Sue, for the family

Safe Arrival

So we've made it. We arrived in Hong Kong on the 13th @ 7pm. The plane ride was not too bad. It took us only 15 hours to fly up over the North Pole and down into China. Watched 4 movies and the boys were occupied with their DS's, thanks to Uncle Pete. What great little gadgets they are. We are staying at the Regal Riverside Hotel in Hong Kong. The outside of the hotel is lit up like a rainbow. Breakfast at the hotel this morning was an awesome assortment of Chinese and American foods. The city is very much like an American City. 100 degrees today. The people here carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. We took a tour today with 4 other families from CCAI (our adoption agency), shopping... waiting to go to mainland China to buy souvenirs. We fly out to Nanning tomorrow afternoon, 3pm. Can't wait to meet Lily on Monday...