GOTCHA DAY!!!

March 4, 2007
What a day!! There are no words to express what today was like. We got up, had breakfast and went to the Beijing airport to catch a plane leaving at 11:30 to fly to Nanchang where we would finally meet our daughter, Mylia. When we got to Nanchang, we were met by De (dur) and his interpreter. They are our guides throughout this “leg” of the journey. We rode a bus to our hotel, the Jiangxi Hotel. When we got to the hotel we only had about ½ hour before we had to leave to go to the Nanchang Adoption Center to pick up our babies. We only had to wait a few minutes and then all of a sudden there was about 6 people coming in the room carrying babies. Mylia was in the first person’s hands, though I didn’t realize it at the time. Then we were all there trying to get a good look at the babies and try and figure out who was who. At first, I couldn’t tell, but then all of a sudden it just “hit me” which one was my baby girl. She wasn’t crying, although she had one lone tear on her cheek. Then they started calling family numbers. We are family number 3. We had to show them our passports before they could hand her to us. But, when they did…oh my!! Instant bonding. She never cried. She seemed happy to be with us. When we got to the hotel, after playing with her for a little while, I gave her her first bath (by me) I fixed her a bottle and she drank that down. We played some more. She just seems so comfortable with us. I hope this trend continues. She likes to suck on her index finger and her thumb at the same time. It is quite cute. At one point, I was playing with her and she just laughed and laughed. She has a beautiful smile. She is now fast asleep in her crib and all is well.

THE GREAT WALL and other "stuff"

March 3, 2007
The Great Wall was interesting. I didn’t realize just how steep it is. The steps are very uneven. Some of them were so high it was hard to climb them. Clayton and I went up about 2 levels. You can tell by the pictures that it was raining and very foggy. We haggled for a t-shirt – I think we could have gone lower. Oh well…now we have a Great Wall T-shirt. After the Great Wall, we went to eat lunch. It was served on a big lazy susan in the middle of the table. A lot of different dishes were served. I tried a few things, but pretty much stayed with rice. Clayton ate just about everything that was served (except the fish with the head and tail attached) We went into a Friendship store afterward and looked around. Some people bought things but we didn’t. We will hit another Friendship store later during the trip. If you look at something with interest, the sales people run up to you to try and make the sale. I was looking at something and then decided to wait. The sales lady then proceeded to follow me all over the store. She hung back a bit, but was definitely eyeing me. This kept going on until I “crossed a line” I guess. As soon as I crossed this “invisible line” she abruptly turned and went back to where she was when I was showing interest. I guess they have territories within the store that they have to stay in. We were supposed to go to Tieneman Square but when we got there they had it closed to the public. We don’t know why. I was very tired by then anyway and with the cold rain it was probably for the best. Our guide told us about it as we drove around it. The traffic here is crazy. They have bikes and cars together in the same place on the secondary roads. Everyone drives so close together. At one point there was probably about a “hands” difference between our bus and another one.

Tomorrow we will get up early and go to the airport to catch a plane to Nanchang and there meet Mylia about 4:00 p.m. What an exciting day!!

WE'RE HERE!

March 1, 2007
We got up very early today to be ready when the limo came to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. Yes, there is a 4:30 a.m. Our flight to Newark from Norfolk was full and it was a small plane. We had about a 4 hour layover in Newark and then boarded a huge plane – but it was packed also. The flight was hard. It was too hard for me to sleep. Clayton slept some and during the last few hours of the flight, he slept hard. I never really slept much at all. After arriving in Beijing (by the way, it is now March 2) and going through customs, we met Thomas, our guide for while we are in Beijing. We got on a bus (our luggage was on another bus) and rode for about ½ hour to downtown Beijing to the Poly Plaza hotel. It is a pretty nice 4 star hotel. After getting settled in our rooms, Thomas took us out to buy water. There was a McDonald’s on the way, so we stopped there and got some dinner to bring back to the hotel. I was so tired that I was dizzy and didn’t feel well and wasn’t able to eat much. We went to bed about 8:30 and slept until about 4:00 a.m. We both woke up at the same time. I guess it will take a while to adjust to the time change. Today we are going to see the Great wall and Tienamen Square.

OFF WE GO!

Tomorrow is the day! We will leave our house about 4:30 a.m. and head from Norfolk Airport to Newark and then on to Beijing. We should be able to hold our daughter on March 4th around 4:00 p.m. China time. Are we excited?! There are no words to express how we feel right now. We are busy today doing last minute errands and packing for the trip. It looks like so much stuff, but all is needed.

Please pray for us as we take the journey of a lifetime.

TRAVEL PLANS

We got an email from our China program coordinator stating that we are set to travel! We will leave on March 1st and return on March 16th. This is a much longer trip than we had anticipated. Our agency normally flies to Hong Kong, not Beijing. However, this time, we will be going to Beijing first. We will spend a day there seeing the Great Wall and Tiananman Square. We will then fly to Nanchang, the province where our Mylia is, on March 4th. Hopefully, we will meet our daughter then. If not, we will finally get our hands on her on the 5th. (I'm hoping for the 4th...duh) We will spend several days in Nanchang doing more adoption paperwork and then travel to Guanzhou. Every family that adopts from China will eventually go to Guanzhou for the Consolate Appointment. After we receive Mylia's visa, we will travel to Hong Kong and then home. I don't have all the details of travel yet. We are waiting for our travel packet to arrive from our agency. We should get it in the next couple of days. However, we do know that we will indeed begin the trip of a lifetime on March 1st. God is so good!!

I'm Overwhelmed!

I am so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that I have received during this exciting time in our lives. As we wait now to travel to get Mylia, my wonderful friends at the pre-school where I work decided to throw a shower for me. And threw they did! What wonderful things Mylia received. She is so loved, by not only Clayton and myself, but so many who are waiting to see her in my arms. Like I said, we received so many wonderful things, but none of that compares to the love I felt today as my friends celebrated with me the gift of my precious little one - Mylia Joy.

Jiangxi China

I thought you might be interested to see where in China Mylia is waiting for us.

She is from the Jiangxi (jangzee) province. On this map, it is colored kind of a peachy color. The capitol of Jiangxi is Nanchang. We will be staying in Nanchang for a good part of our trip. It is probably there that we will finally get to kiss our dear daughter's beautiful face. It is located right above Guangdong, the province where Hong Kong is. Also in Guangdong is Guanzhou (guanzho). We will also travel there to make everything "official."

Since we received the referral last week, I have pretty much only been looking at her face. I have also been trying to read about Jiangxi and the small town, Yujiang, that she is from. I am so anxious to bring her to her new home. Please continue to pray for us as we now wait for yet another milestone in this incredible journey -- the day we finally get to hold our daughter.