Friday, May 6, 2011

Good Morning America! Ni' Hao from China!

We have had a great day today! We slept good last night and only woke up around 5am, and from then on it was in & out dozing, but when we woke up we felt refreshed and well rested. We headed down to the breakfast buffet where we found a HUGE variety of foods. We stuck with the good ol' all American pancakes! It hit the spot! We had to meet up with the other families who flew in last night and Shiyan, a director from Bethany who lives here in China. She will be helping us with the adoption process. It was a great meeting where we discussed safety and health issues (many children and families end up sick on this trip) and we also discussed some difficulties we may face during and after meeting our children. It again is a reminder that this is going to be very scary for our sweet girl, and will require time and patience. Please continue to pray with us, that her heart will be open to us and we are able to comfort her, as she will be very scared and upset at us whisking her away from all she has ever known. With the language barrier, it will prove even more difficult, but we continue to put our trust in the Lord. It is amazing to think that after 3 years of "jumping through hoops" we will finally be holding Emma Claire in our arms in just 3 more days! We have already been blessed by the families we are sharing this journey with. Would you believe that 4 of the families have teachers in them! Of course, we instantly had a common bond and we believe that this is a gift from God! Thank you Lord for the ways in which you orchestrate every little detail of our lives! They are wonderful families and we will be touring Beijing together, separating as we pick up our children and then coming back together in the city of Guangzhou to complete the paperwork at the US Consulate.

After our orientation meeting we walked the other families to the grocery store and helped them get their very necessary bottled water. We came back and napped, well Jay napped and I listened to him snore! :) We met in the lobby at 4:20 went to an acrobatic show. It was enjoyable. Avarie, Evan and Ella would have loved it, makes us miss them. Our guide Joy told us that the kids in the show start training at the age of 2 or 3. They come from 2 villages and only the best are chosen to perform in the show. After the show we came back and ate at the chinese restaurant here in our hotel. It was interesting trying to order. We ended up ordering beef with garlic and asparagus and handmade noodles, both were delicious. We ate with 2 other families. One is bringing home a 2 year old and the other a 17 month old. We are now relaxing in our room and getting ready to call it a day.