Saturday, November 28, 2009
WELCOME BACK!

Jet lag is officially here so please forgive any incoherency to follow…grin!

Our day started at 3:30 A.M. with a very awake Ted, Amalie and soon to follow Brandy. We snuggled and then had showers by 5:00.

Breakfast does not start until 6:30 so Ted read a book, Amalie watched a movie and Brandy settled us into our “hotel home in Beijing” as Amalie likes to call it until we could go and eat. Fortunately, we had some granola bars that worked for a hungry tummy fix at 5:00 or so.

After an incredible breakfast at the Western Style Restaurant included in our hotel stay, we began our errands/projects for the day. We started with a trip to the grocery store for bottled water and a few snacks. When we came in to the lobby, we saw a giant sign including the upcoming performances of Celtic Legends tour group. Amalie was beside herself when she realized that Claire (and Logan and Nessa) would be performing in “her” hotel. She wanted to buy tickets to see her teacher dance in Beijing.

Unfortunately we cannot do that due to the timing. Next we went to a magic store so Ted could get the “I need this for tomorrow” tricks that he wanted. After returning to the hotel, we headed for a favorite food court for lunch.

When we returned to the hotel we called a wonderful Chinese, English speaking taxi driver and guide, Kong Zhong Liang, who we met on our last trip. He helped Ted find Amalie’s finding spot in 2008. Soon we were off to search for Sophie’s finding spot and we found it! We were very happy to be able to find this piece of information for Sophie when she has those questions. Amalie wanted to see her finding spot so we headed there next to discover that her finding spot area is being torn down and rebuilt in an attempt to deal with the housing needs in Beijing. We are so glad Ted and Kong Zhong Liang were able to take some pictures of it for Amalie when we were here in June 2008.

We walked into our hotel room to a ringing telephone. Our guide for our Beijing adoption, Grace, was calling to tell us about some changes for tomorrow. We will be meeting Sophie at 10:00 in the morning in the lobby of our hotel. Due to the N1H1 situation, we will not be going out to the Beijing Child Welfare Institute at all. We are not sure what this transition will look like. We have been told to bring questions that we have about our daughter. Perhaps we will be able to talk with the primary caregiver for Sophie this time. We did not get to do that with Amalie and we missed it. It is finally here…Sophie will be joining our family tomorrow! Prayer partners, please hold all of us up as we walk through this challenging, joyful day!

Surprise…There were flowers on the desk and…journals too… How, Who? Thank you Kirsty and Yuan Yuan for your sweet thoughtful gifts! We were very surprised to find gifts in our room when we returned from dinner.

Goodnight All,
Brandy, Ted & Amalie