Climbing the Great Wall

Picures from The Wall...!!

China pictures

Zach and his friend Nicholas, a little boy from Korea, at the Great Wall

First night.....couldn't have gone better!!!!

First off, THANK YOU to everyone who sent your well wishes emails....we have received them all....!!!! we are SOO thrilled to share our journey with you, via the 'blog'......okay.....first night.....wow....did it go great.....!!! after our last blog, we stayed in the room...played a bit...gave her a tubbie.....then we met everyone downstairs for dinner.....she didn't do great taking a bottle, but did great eating table food....!!! after dinner, had to do some papework, and zach was exhausted.....Zach and i came upstairs.....he fell asleep a little after 8....Bella, Tina and I played a bit....she was just happy to be held......we tried to put her in the crib alittle after 8, but wasn't ready yet....she played some more....we put her in a little after 8:30.....she didn't cry.....complain....everynow and then, would pop her little head up, look around, and plop back down....(we have noticed that she is very very nosy...looks around the restaurant...wont miss anything.....and.....tina heard the waitresses comment in chinese that shes nosy...mmmm, just like her mom????).....a little before nine, she was out cold.....sleeps just like Zach did....on her tummy,...bum up in the air......well......its almost 7 am here....and she JUST woke up.....!!! didn't get up ONCE the whole night....9 to 7, no crying...no waking up.......and when she got, she is very happy...sitting on the bed with Big Brother, who is thrilled this morning..(yesterday, he was over tired, but we chatted this morning before Bella got up and all he kept saying is he is so glad he is with us...how much he wanted to meet her....how cute she is..how much he loves her...yes, that will change...but for now, he is excited....and i just heard him tell Tina not to put her milk in that cup..she likes the other one!!!).......today, we go back to the hotel they brought her to (about 10 minutes away) for a small ceremony..then we have the day free......spend it relaxing...maybe go for a swim...nanning city is much 'nicer' than Beijing......warm and humid...although we do stick out more.......people stop and stare......I am smiling as i write this as i hear Zach giving her a bottle and telling Mom what to do.....!!! Thanks for everyones warm thoughts and wishes...for now, best communication is via tina's yahoo account.....! (FYI:...Bell is a huge thumb sucker...we hope to log in with our laptop today and post pictures...)

We have baby Bella !!!

Okay....deep breath......the LONG LONG wait is over...today at around 3 15 Beijing time, 3:15 EST time, we received Bella....I will post details later on.....but, quick summary...(and we are nervous about a melt down later on) she is HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY....she immediately took to me, Tina and Zachary.....has not cried.....she has been with us for a little over 2 hours now, and is just happy to be here....she is giggling, smiling....and has NO problems with us picking her up.....she likes to 'walk' with people holding her hands....Zach has 'walked' her around the hotel lobby, and she loved it.....it was an emotional day.....but, we are all doing good...all happy.....(we will let you know how the night goes!!)....not that we are biased at all, but boy is she a cutie....we will post pictures as soon as we can......everyone goes through life changing moments.......your first kiss....graduating high school or college....your first job....getting married...loss of a loved one....birth of a child...Sox winning world series (okay, threw that in for all new englenders!!)...this trip...this process...this journey...has been a life changing moment....I have no problem admitting or stating that i teared up when Bella was given to us.....we are lucky to have her....as Jerry Maguire stated so elequenty....'she completes us'.....we love Zach more than anything, now he has a sibling....so far, he has been great......he is helping Tina give her her first bath with us right now, and is SO excited......this journey has been long....tiring....emotional.....stressful...but seeing her..holding her...kissng her for the first time, i would not change it for the world....okay...sorry for the sappy post this time around....Phew.....what a day.....April 9th will forever be know as 'gotcha' day......that is what the Adoption agencies refer to the day you get your baby......this will always be a special day for us.....We are signed in via the hotel computer, so not sure if we can access our email account from home....and we cant read posts here......so, if you want to email us, best to email tina's yahoo account......tmwalnista@yahoo.com this webpage is in Chinese....so, I hope that this post is in English???? can someone confirm?

we will post more info about the trip from Beijing to Nanning City (Guangxi province, about 3 hours south of Beijing)......Okay.....thanks to all our family and friends for the support and love these past few years...

Great Wall

Today was a packed day.....9:00 a.m. met in lobby for bus trip out to Jade and/or Pearl Factory on way to the Great Wall.....Zach has made some friends on this journey, and we were very proud of him.....He asked if he could ride on the other bus, without mommy and daddy, with some of the other boys and the families that he met on the trip......(all of us are in same group and staying at same hotel, so we know the families...).....everyone said it was fine, and a mom and dad who adopted a little boy from Korea, Nicholas, (a little over 5) said they'd keep an eye on him....so, off he went.....we met up with them when we got to the Great Wall and he was having a BLAST.....didnt miss us as much as I missed him.....he is growing up SO Fast....anyway.....bus went to Jade factory.....very nice, and then on to the Great Wall....wow....was there traffic going to the various viewing sites, as it was a gorgeous sunny day....in any event, we had about 2 hours or so at the wall...climbed up as high as we could go....very very steep, but incredible view....we were at the part of the wall that Nixon visited when he came to Beijing many years ago....Zach brought along 'Flat Stanley' from school (a cut of a little boy that is supposed to travel the world)....we took numerous pictures of him at the wall, much to the wonderment of the local Chinese.....EVERYONE would stop and stare as we held Stanley up by the wall, or posed him in pictures.....they would smile...point........Tina and I thought of mass producing the Flat Stanleys and selling them......figure if they can sell us watches with MAO on it, we can sell Flat Stanley...! after the wall, went out for a late lunch....everyone was somewhat wiped....but, it was good....had shops there where Zach picked up a few things...he had a blast....then off to the Chinese Acrobat show on way back to hotel...INCREDIBLE......men and women performing feats that were amazing.......Zach had a lot of fun.....this is our last night in Beijing for a while, as we head out to Guangxi Province tomorrow morning (city of Nanning) to meet and receive Isabella.....we get into Nanning around 1o:30 am, and they will bring Bella to us in the afternoon sometime.....everyone is nervous and excited...there will be 3 other families travelling to this province with us....Zach is very very excited about tomorrow and is sound asleep now in anticipation of the day....Tina and I are doing great....tired, but great....lot to do...see....we are actually looking forward to getting to Nanning for several days, not just to get Bella but to have some down time as a family in the hotel....Beijing is TOOO crowded, with over 1 million residents in the area......good luck to them in 2008 for the Olympics.....Needless to say, this will be our last post without our daughter...!!! Next time you hear from us, we will have her with us in what we can only anticipate will be an emotional day....for those who know Tina and I well, she is calm, steady person....I, on the other hand, will be an emotional wreck.......Hope this email finds family and friends all doing well and wishing everyone a very Happy Easter.....oh yeah, one myth that I have believed in my entire life was shot down.......the Great Wall of China CANNOT be seen by the astronauts in space......just an urban legend I guess.....

Emperor's Throne

It has been said that during a particular day in
Winter Solstice, at high noon, the sun shines
directly into the Palace, through the openings and
shines directly on the Emperor's Throne. It has
also been said that a LARGE pearl hangs over the
Emperor's Throne, and anyone who attempts to
sit in the Throne who does not have royal blood,
the Pearl would be released to crush the impostor.
We tested this theory, and much to our surprise
Tinas familymust have royal blood somewhere
down the line.....we'd like you to meet Emperor
Zachary......

Imperial Palace and the number nine....

In visitng the Imperial Palace yesterday, we were told that the number nine is very significant and lucky in Chinese culture. One can determine what palace houses the emperor by the number of mythical Chinese animals/carvings on the building. Above shows nine mythical Chinese figures, which represents the residence of the emperor.....good news for us, our 'gothca day' the day we meet and get Isabella is April NINTH.....here's hoping for some luck as well.....

for those who have seen the movie, The Last Emperor, all through out the outter and inner court of the Forbidden City is where this epic movie was filmed. For those who haven't rented it, two thumbs up for it.......great movie.......