Finally Home!

We are finally home and appreciate all of you wanting to know how little Noa is doing.  I think she really likes having two brothers.  She has really bonded with our oldest, Durden and will hold out her hands and call for "Bubba."  He adores her and loves to be with her more and anything in the world right now.  We have to be careful that he doesnt become the "parent" she bonds with because he is so great.  Now Dobbs on the other hand....well, he was playing with her the other day and handed her a rubber ducky and said, "Here Noa, you can take this toy home with you.  pause....when you go back to China."  He doesnt like sharing his toys but on the other hand he tells everyone he sees "this is my sister."  He seems very proud that he has a sister.  He loves to kiss and hug her and gets very excited when she picks him up from school.  He is really helping her eat.  She will try things if he eats them first and he is a fantastic eater!  She loves to see our St. Bernard and calls her in chinese which is the only word we think she says in her native language.  She can say "uh oh" and can sign for "more".  We have her hearing test on Tuesday and look forward to finding out the truth.  We really havent noticed any problem. 

From Karee

Brooks asked me last week if I had put a picture of Noa and my daughter on here yet and I told her I hadn’t. I thought her blog should be all about Noa and the Duell’s journey. She asked again though and wanted me to introduce myself on here. I probably should have done that at the beginning instead of now that they’re almost home!

Brooks and Troy were matched with Noa the same day that my family was matched with Libby (soon to be Sophia). Noa and Libby are in the same foster home and the two girls have always shared the same nanny. Brooks and I “met” shortly after we were matched with our babies in June via a yahoo group for families with children from Starfish Foster Home.

Noa and Libby (Sophia)

It’s been wonderful to walk this last part of our adoption journey’s together, and we plan to keep our little Chinese Starfish sisters in touch with each other for many years to come.

It’s been a pleasure getting to keep their blog for them and I will offer to continue doing it until she feels up to taking over. I just love seeing all these precious pictures of Brooks, don’t you?

Blessings,

Karee

http://www.bluntfamilyadoptionblog.blogspot.com/

Update from Hong Kong

Brooks and Troy sent some beautiful pictures from the past couple of days. They are starting their journey home and will arrive around 4:30 Sunday. (She didn't say if that was am or pm...) Keep them in your prayers for safe travels!

Click on photos to enlarge



Tiny fishing village market outside of Guangzhou with fresh eel, turtle, fish, veggies and fruit. If a picture could only capture smells.

 

Walking through the banana trees at the village farm.



Keeping her happy in Karee's outfit.  She has definitely proven to be "Worth the wait."

Peanut ice cream for the 7th and final time.  This will be one of the things that Brooks will miss most about China.

Noa's Asian dress photo session with her fan that she knew how to use.

Photo shoot in hotel garden in Guangzhou.

Her cutest photo of the session.

View from our room at the Airport Marriott in Hong Kong.  We had no idea Hong Kong was this nice.



The otherside of Victoria's Peak.  We had no idea Hong Kong was this green. 



Victoria Peak over looking Hong Kong.

Victoria's Peak overlooking Victoria's Harbor without our heads in the way.

  

Victoria Harbor.

Safe travels Duell's!

Karee, for Brooks ~

More Pictures!

Brooks was able to resend the pictures that didn't come thru this morning, so here they are!

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

During her medical exam.



In the Lobby of our hotel

with Rebecca our fascilitator

We found a way to give Noa a bath!

View from our window in the Garden Hotel

Mommy and Noa

At the Gardens

Her first swim



At the zoo



Mommy and Noa with Lilly



Karee, for Brooks

Another update from Guangzhou

My stomach longs for steel cut oatmeal with honey and pretzels with a diet sprite.  I LOVE chinese food but there just comes a point in the food career when you need bland.  Im having another spell of sickness and look forward to evening out and not having to worry about what i eat!  But i will miss that peanut ice cream! Troy drug us to a pub tonight where he ate a hamburger and drank a dark beer.  He was very happy.  The curry vegetable wrap thing not so yummy.  When in china i think you should just stick to chinese food. 

 

Noa sang to us all night tonight as we strolled her around the streets.  She is really beginning to let her little personality come out.  She also smiled at Rebecca and Lilly and even let them hold her.  That was big for her.  She loves to come running into our arms with a humongous smile on her face just laughing.  She really loves to be loved and held and kissed.  She is becoming attached to Mommy finally as well.  Her favorite thing in the world to do is climb steps.  She will go up and down a step for hours if we let her.  She walks like a wet noodle.  She is very unstable on her feet. 

 

We got to eat lunch with Lilly today who is the wonderful person who got Noa's file and tried to find her family.  She liked the zoo today.  She points at EVERYTHING.  I think it is her way of saying "hi" or "I want" or well just about anything.  We caught a glimpse of the panda bear on his huge ice block.  He looked very hot! 

 

Our paperwork was cleared at the consulate today :) and tomorrow we take our oath and there will endeth our paperwork trail!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AAAHHHHH.  It is the culmination of 4 years of paperwork, waiting, faith, trusting, hoping, hurting, frustration and elation!  I wish i had been able to see the end all those times it was so hard to hang on to the promise we knew we had. 

 

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

 

Pure cuteness!

 

During her medical exam.

(From Karee - Brooks tried to send several more, but they didn't come thru. I'll post them as soon as I can if she's able to try again tonight.)

 

Till next time,

Karee, for Brooks

Monday, September 13th

For those of you who know me well you know I'm just a little interested in fashion trends. Well, for the life of me (and i think I'm pretty good) i can not figure out the Chinese fashion trend. it has been bugging me since i stepped foot in this country. Its like hello kitty meets Jane Jetson. There is not one thing i can put my finger on and say, "oh that's so Chinese." this is actually good because it means i am not tempted to buy anything to be on the cutting edge of the market. The typical Chinese dress is actually only worn by "women who work in restaurants." Well there goes that idea. This really has absolutely nothing to do with our adoption...

Brooks :)

Sunday, Sept 12th

Evidently the Chinese don't eat a lot of sweets because we haven't had any until...we got to Guangzhou. Rebecca, our guide, took us to a little place down the street that has PEANUT ice cream. It is soooo good-not like our ice cream but only mildly sweet. They were out tonight and we had green tea sorbet. Blah. Noa still wont eat much of anything but yogurt and cereal which i am running out of!

Till next time,
Karee, for Brooks

More Pictures

Here is the latest batch of pictures from Brooks.

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Noa enjoying a dumpling at lunch.

The terra cotta soldiers.

The drum tower in Xi'an city center.

Our terra cotta visit.

Outside the Yellow River Digger Factory. This is where Noa was found on February 10, 2009.

Noa and momma sleeping.

Noa and momma enjoying time together over a bag of potato chips.

Till next time,
Karee, for Brooks

First update from Guangzhou

One word, "AAHHH." We have just survived our first flight with Noa and we are in Guangzhou, China. Yesterday i got to see where our baby lived and all of the people who loved her. I see why she is having such a hard time. She was loved beyond belief. The letter her foster mother wrote to her was the sweetest thing i have ever read. I loved hearing stories and history about our baby. The home was located in a beautiful part of the city. I found out that her Nanny had left just a few days before Noa left so the hardships were plenty for her. She was VERY close to her Nanny. They said she was very independent and found a way to get what she wanted. its funny because we really had this figured out even from the pictures we had seen of her. Now we call her our little princess or empress. And yes, she gets whatever she wants! I also found out she really does eat food and she loves chocolate! i hadn't tried that one! We are starting to find things she will eat like wonton soup and the Muslim soup. Her favorite is still my oatmeal squares and the yogurt melts. And she loves dumplings as you can tell from the picture. She keeps food in that little mouth for a very long time. I think she had to stick things in there fast so no one would take them!


i felt really guilty about leaving her with her Daddy to go visit her foster home but it was the best decision we have made because when i got home i got the biggest smile I've gotten and she even let ME put her to bed! Troy said she cried a lot when i left and boy was she excited to see me. She still has to have Daddy all the time but that was a big step for us. And i cant say i was too upset on the plane when he had to hold the crying baby while i swear every person on the plane was staring at us.

We are in Guangzhou now where we will get her medicals done and get her visa so we can go home! its like home here but a lot nicer! I just knew things were looking up when i walked in the hotel and there was a Max Mara. There is even a remote in the bathroom for the shower curtain that is a huge glass window into the bedroom. What a change for us. I think I'm going to make it and i might have to just have one trip to the pizza hut across the street. Troy has found ESPN and is so happy.

Brooks ~
 
(Brooks sent pictures with the blog post - I will get those posted as soon as I can in the morning! Karee)

More Pictures

From Karee: I was able to Skype with Brooks for a few minutes yesterday and they are doing well. They were getting ready to spend a few hours exploring Xi'an a bit more and then were flying to Guanzhao last night for the last part of their journey. She sent a few more pictures this morning and said she would send a blog post later when she had more time.

Enjoy!

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Daddy, Noa and a buddhist monk

Touring the Wild Goose Pagoda Buddhist Temple In Xi'an

Noa showing a huge interest in her hometown's history.

Till next time,
Karee, for Brooks

Wednesday, Sept. 8th

We cannot figure out how this daughter of ours is so fat! All she would eat today was potato chips and a few bites of cereal! It was funny to see her face when she recongnized a noodle. She ate two of those finally. She is still having a hard time, but we are beginning to see some of her spunky personality. She is really living up to her nickname of "little princess". All she has to do it grunt and point and look at Daddy with those big, brown eyes and he gives her anything she wants. She also let me hold her a little today (ok so i had a chip) which was very nice for me. We went to see the terracotta warriors today. Very cool. Tomorrow we get to see where our baby was found.

Till next time,
Brooks

Pictures!

Brooks was able to send some pictures today. Some are from their time in Beijing and the others are of Noa. I'll post her comments below each picture. As with all pictures on the blog, you can click on any of them to make them bigger. Enjoy!

At the "Temple of the Heaven" This is where the emperor would make animal

sacrifices to the unknown "God of Heaven" for good harvests.

On a tour boat at the Summer Palace in Beijing. You can see the
palace in the background.

We were waiting for Noa to arrive at the Civil Affairs office. Our heart rates were sky high at this point.

Noa arrives and this is the first time we laid eyes on her. Olivia, a
volunteer from Starfish (orphanage) brought her to us.

Noa not wanting anything to do with us. What an incredibly difficult day for her as everything she has known was taken away from her and she is sent away with two people she doesn't even know.

Noa is calming down some as she looks out the window at the people and traffic with daddy.

Noa standing at the door ready to go. She is quite the adventurer and wants to be on the go all the time.

Noa playing with Carmen from Starfish and holding onto Brooks' leg
at the Civil Affairs office on day two of our new life.

Noa sprawled out on the bed after the second long day. She is so emotionally and
physically exhausted, she slept from 4pm until 6:30am the next morning.

Till next time,

Karee, for Brooks