Party Time at 4am!!!

Yes, it is 5:50am and I am wide awake. But maybe that is because Mira was ready to play at 4am today. We heard her scrambling in her crib this morning and making her happy cooing noises. James knew she was ready to get up so he walked over and she was standing in her crib, looking at him smiling!!! We got up, made coffee, and watched her start her day in the middle of the night. She lied to us that second night when she slept 10 1/2 hours. We thought she was over her jet lag so quickly. What a joke!!! I guess she told us, didn't she? I just got her back to sleep but now Mommy and Daddy are WIDE awake! I think I am going to ground her! She is sleeping really well for her naps and bedtime in her crib though. Cribs are great inventions - I wish I had thought of them. For those of you who haven't seen pictures in a few days, I will try to post more today if she lets me! Bye for now!

Missing Our Friends From China!!!!

I have never been so glad to hit American soil in my life. The only thing better was seeing our families faces when we got off the plane, when we got home, and the day after. I have heard so many other couples say they want to cocoon themselves with their baby and make family hold off seeing them. That may have worked for them but Mira loves her new family and she loves the attention. James and I are still the only ones who feed her, change her, and put her to sleep. She always makes sure she can see one of us. But I think I speak for James also when I say that we both craved seeing our families and letting Mira meet them.

The one sad thing is that we miss our new friends we met in China! We miss John, Dawn, baby Wu (Sophia), and the other 3 families we spent so much time with. John, I hope you made it through Customs. I assume you did since I haven't heard any breaking news stories!!!!! We love you guys and can't wait to hear from you!

Can't Wait to Meet Everyone - Love, Mira Lin Fogle

Last Day in Guangzho

This is my last post from the White Swan in Guangzho. I am sitting here in the hotel room while James and our beautiful daughter are out shopping. I have been sick to the point of dehydration for the last 2 days. I don't know why I could be sick. I guess it could be because I have eaten things like escargot, horse meat, duck, and Lord knows what else. All I know is that I will be really glad to sit down for a meal and not wonder whether the head is going to be on the plate or not. James has been making me rest like a good mother hen! We have our final appointment at the US Consulate at 4pm today for an exit interview about Mira. Then we will spend the night at the Royal Lagoon in Donguan and take a ferry to Hong Kong first thing in the morning. We will fly out of Hong Kong to Chicago and from Chicago to Charlotte. Mom, please don't forget to come get us! Mira is nine months old and will have traveled more in those 8 months than I did the first 35 years of my life. Don't worry, she is taking it all in stride. On her first plane ride, she greeted everyone around us and laughed the entire time. This German group came up to me after we got off the plane and told me that she was hilarious and that they laughed at her the entire 2 hour flight! This girl and her dad who were from Nashville said they hoped they were on the same flight home with us so they could play with Mira. My daughter is so popular already! Now the real question is, who is going to get to hold Mira first when we get home? We only take the highest bidder!!!!!!!!

Catching Up

I am sorry I haven't been able to post. Kunming evidently doesn't like blogs. The day we flew to Kunming, we knew we were getting Mira the next day. We met a couple on the front steps of the Kunming Hotel who was adopting too and they told us we were getting the babies that day! I couldn't believe it, so I kept asking over and over if they were sure. They were right - we got Mira Lin at 4pm the day we flew to Kunming. I thought I would have 24 hours to prepare the diaper bag and think about all the things I needed to take to the orphanage but I had less than 2 hours. I know that may seem like a lot of time but when you are in shock, you all of a sudden have legs that don't work, you have a million thoughts running through your mind (and none of them make sense), and everything you brought for the baby doesn't seem quite right! Our facilitator took us on a bus to this office. We could hear the babies the minute we walked inthe door. I saw Mira Lin being held with the 3 other babies but we were told to keep walking into another room to fill out papers!! Yeah, right! The next thing I know, the women holding the babies in the other room start filing in with the babies. I heard someone say, "Xi Hongli" and I saw the face I had only seen in pictures. I walked up, held out my arms, and got my baby. Mira looked at me really closely and then promptly stuck her thumb in her mouth. She didn't cry at all but I did! Then I smelled something not so sweet and realized my new beautiful daughter had given me my first gift - a stinky diaper! I knew right then and there she was a Fogle! Things have progressed quite nicely from the first day. She is very healthy and EXTREMELY active. She tries to grab everything within reach and everything not so within her reach. James just got her on our insurance today and it is a good thing because she is an accident waiting to happen. She eats everything we put in front of her and loves to try to feed herself, which usually becomes a huge mess but it is sooooo cute! She has bonded so well with both James and myself and laughs all the time. Everything is an adventure to her and it is so cool to watch her as she sees things for the first time. Mira loves people in general and babbles to anyone that will listen. James and I have started calling her the WalMart greeter. We are now in Guangzho at the famous White Swan Hotel. We will be here for 3 days waiting on the Chinese Consulate to give us her Visa to get into the USA. The hotel is beautiful and we have made some wonderful lifelong friends, John and Dawn (parents of Sophia Bella), but we are ready to come home. I miss Kayla, Natalie, Adam, and the rest of the family so much that I can't think about it without crying. This has been the best experience ever and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I just can't wait to see Mira in her new home with her new family! We love you all and can't wait to see you!

Mira and Her Friend Sophia Bella!

Sacked Out

What Happened to Mira's Face?

Jungle Jim Daddy?!

Nap Time

Mommy & Mira

Thumbs are Better than Food!

Love at First Sight

Mira takes Her First Stroll

Thumb Sucker!!!

I GOTCHA!!!!!!!

Leaving for Kunming

We are leaving this morning forKunming, where the orphanage is located. I am so excited!! We are going to be a few minutes from our daughter in a few hours. How awesome is that? We will be meeting our facilitator, Xiulan, who will tell us what to do and when to do it from here on out. This is completely fine with me because I know I will be a lunatic by tomorrow and won't know what my own name is without help. I can't wait to unpack her things and get everything set up and ready to go. I have to pick out her GOTCHA outfit for tomorrow. I will try to post pictures as soon as we get back to the hotel but I don't even know if I will have Internet access. James said it was like we were finally in labor and I guess he is right in a way. But don't they give you really cool drugs when you are in labor? I think I need some of those!!!! Natalie, Kayla, and Adam - we love you very much and miss you like crazy! Kayla, you are finally going to get your baby Mira Lin! We will see you soon. I already see you in my dreams....

Hello from China!!

Well, we are finally in China safe and sound. We flew into Hong Kong last night and because of our wonderful airline (HaHa), we missed the last ferry to China. We stayed at a nice hotel at the airport. Honestly, the hotel could have been a dump and I never would have noticed because I was so tired. I woke up this morning and got a bad case nerves/home sickness, threw up, and called my mommy and daddy! I felt better once I heard their voices but already can't wait to go home. We took a train for about an hour to get to a ferry, which took another hour. Talk about planes, trains, and automobiles!! The train and ferry were very nice but taking a ferry when you are already nauseous is not a good thing. We are now at the Royal Lagoon Hotel in Guandong, where James is going to work for a few hours. This is the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen and we are staying here for a whopping $75 a night. Tomorrow we fly to Kunming where our daughter is. I have found myself looking at every Chinese girl and wondering if Mira will look like them when she grows up. I will try to upload some pictures of the hotel later. Goodbye from China for now!

Love,
Leslie & James

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go.....

Last minute packer that I am, I have just now finished packing for one of the most important times in my whole life! James is washing clothes as we speak. I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that has been so kind and supportive throughout this whole process. I would like to say thanks to our families on both sides. We love you guys so much and we can't wait for you to meet Mira! For all of my friends at school, thank you for everything and I will miss you so much! Everyone, please watch the blog the next couple of weeks. I will be posting pictures of the newest Fogle as soon as I can. Please post comments and let us hear from you. We love you guys!!!!!!

This is our permission to adopt Mira Lin Fogle from the Chinese government. Thank you China!!!! 

Panic Mode 101

Yes, we have reached panic mode!!!! Did we pack enough stuff? Yes, probably enough for 3 kids. Did we pack the right size? Who knows? If not, we will roll everything up or cut everything off. It will fit one way or another, right? Oh my goodness, let's don't even get started on the million hour flight to China! I feel so sorry for the person who has to sit next to me for 22 hours straight. Oh yeah, that would be James. Don't feel sorry for him - I am sure he can handle me. Am I going to forget something? As long as it isn't Mira, her Visa, our Visas, or our plane tickets home, I DON'T CARE!!! It would be nice if I remembered to pack things like shoes and underwear though. I don't know why I thought of those two things specifically but I am sure the underwear has to do with my mom telling me to be sure to have on clean underwear in case you are in an accident. Thanks Mom!!!!!!!!!!