Still here ... still waiting ...

[Original entry edited and expanded on April 13] I hope I haven't unduly worried anyone by not posting lately.... Things are still going very well. We have been marking time here, waiting for the mills of the gods, which as the saying goes, grind slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. (I have never found that very reassuring: to be ground "exceedingly fine" by the mills of the gods sounds bad by itself, and to have them do it slowly....)

As you might all expect, scrapbookers especially, there are a couple hundred more photos than those posted on this blog in our possession: of Ellie, the parts of China we have seen, local flora, local art and architecture, and other persons (with adoptees) travelling with us; but because it is actually sort of expensive to create and post the slideshows, I've decided not to add any more until after we are back in the States ... day after tomorrow, I think it is, or probably it's two days after tomorrow due to a whole day being lost in travel, except we get it back because we cross over the international date line ... all very confusing, like Daylight Savings Time. I'll know what day it is when we get back by checking a calendar. I could work out the math, of course, but it's too tiring, right now....

Anyway, there will be more pictures of Ellie coming, and if I can manage it, some video, soon after we land in the States.

Some of you will be seeing Ellie in person before then!

[Note, added 04/13: The SD card on Karen's camera is presently holding 781 pictures, and Tom's PDA is holding about another 30 -- of far inferior quality. As of Monday morning the 14th, this blog displays just over 210, which I think does little Ellie rather proud. Just added to this entry are a few shots of Ellie and her new ma-ma and ba-ba hanging around in Guangzhou. --End note.]

Yesterday our CCAI guide, Jocelyn, cleared our I-600 and I-784 and DS-3whatnot, and two or three other papers I seem to remember signing, at the U. S. Consulate; and we need only take the oath, whatever that is, [as it turned out: the oath was merely a declaration that all information provided to the U. S. Government was true to the best of our knowledge, an affirmation that had probably already been attested by signature on at least one of the documents -- end note] to clear our Ellie for entry into the U.S. Once she's in the country, she becomes a citizen, thank Congress, and we need only obtain her social security card, already applied for, and a registered county record of her birth certificate, and certification from our Ohio agency that she's doing well in her new home, and probably, by that time, there will be some law somewhere that she has to be fingerprinted.... (sigh)

She is doing fine, hernia and all. She had a bit of a cold but got over it (save for the occasional cough) yesterday. She still wakes up hard every morning: fussy, and a little uncertain of where she is. She continues to be nervous around everyone except Karen and myself, and still will not tolerate me holding her for more than a few minutes, unless we are in our hotel room -- and not even there, if she's already upset. Some pictures show Ellie holding her forearm in front of her mouth: we call this "smelling her arm" and it's a sign of anxiety. She does this often. She will not consider going in her stroller; she's taken to refusing to walk, even with Karen holding her hand; and she's learned to run ahead of Karen and block Karen's passage by grabbing her legs, so that Karen has had to carry her everywhere we go. Most of this, we think, is from overstimulation and general insecurity, although certainly some of it comes from never having been spoiled before.

There is no doubt she's bonded to Karen. Despite refusing to let me comfort her or carry her she's becoming attached to me, also. She's even becoming more comfortable with other people, although not to be handled, or approached. She seems interested in other children when she sees them, but remains wary of them.

[Some of the above began to change during the last couple of days in Guangzhou: Ellie played with Tom in a park, while Karen was drinking coffee; let Tom carry her outside the hotel room a couple of times, although not out of the hotel; and allowed Tom to lull her to sleep with recorder music. But she still had to be carried by Karen anywhere we went, and when she met another little girl at the consulate who had been her playmate in the orphanage, she seemed as if she didn't want to recognize her. This slideshow is a "day with Ellie" series from the next-to-last day in Guangzhou -- end note]

We leave for home early tomorrow morning. A short flight from here to Hong Kong, then the long one from Hong Kong to Chicago, then Chicago to Cleveland. Perhaps I will be able to check in from Chicago. Thanks again to everyone who followed along via the blog. I appreciate all the comments, and the emails, too. I will of course be preserving this site for Ellie to see when she is older (Tori has looked at her site a few times) and I hope to preserve the comments, too.

Signing off for now....