more pics...

Here are some more pics of our trip to New Day. Just wanted to share...

some pics in china

We are in Nanning

We started our day Saturday with breakfast and a trip to Tianamen Square. Then we said goodbye to Beijing. We boarded a plane and endured a three and a half hour turbulent flight to Nanning. I say endured because it was the scariest turbulence I have ever flown through. We made it safe and sound to Nanning where we met our new guide, David. We are staying at a hotel that the internet is really slow unless you are on really early in the morning or in the middle of the night. We are unable to load any pictures right now because we need the appropriate adapter. As soon as we get that adapter, we will post.

We will be making our first walmart trip this morning (sunday morning for us...saturday night for you). David told us that we will be meeting Lili-Kate Monday afternoon at 3 pm. So for you guys at home, by lunchtime on Monday we hope to have some pics for you to see of her. We are very anxious and excited. We know that she is with a foster family that will be saying goodbye to her so pray for that family as this is probably going to be very hard for them.

Nanning is a beautiful city. The people speak mostly cantonese and hardly any english at all. So we wished we had learned at least some cantonese. Our guide says he will teach us some basics to communicate with Lili-Kate. Well, I will post more later once we get our pics uploaded. We miss you guys! See you soon!

Visit to the Great Wall and Hutong

Sorry for the delay in posting but when we got back to the hotel and I downloaded all my pics to the computer, suddenly it decided to shut down on its own and lost all my photos. It took Jeff a while to find them and by that time I was long gone into a world of deep sleep. It was a full day. We started with a very long journey to the Great Wall. Traffic was horrendous due to the fact that it is a holiday for the chinese people. Needless to say there were lots of visitors to the Great Wall. It was fascinating! Probably the most incredible thing I have ever seen. JT said he felt like he was carrying Elvis around because people would stop and ask to take pictures with BG. We talked to our guide, John, who said many of the visitors here have probably never seen a foreigner. They think little American children are cute! The crowd was enormous. John said there are always lots of visitors but today was significant because it was holiday for them. So unfortunately we were unable to cartwheel across the wall as we had planned but we did hike it! Whew!

After the wall, we ate lunch and went to Hutong. We were given a ride on a bicycle cart through Hutong. It was an awesome thing to see also. The culture here is so different from America...or anywhere else for that matter. It was fascinating! A very sweet chinese lady allowed us to come into her home and see how the chinese people live. She was very hospitable and warm! Of course by this time BG is passed out. She missed the entire trip to Hutong. It is so funny but we are still not adjusted to the time. We are still waking up around midnight. BG is so funny...when we come in after being out for the day we look for her and find her in her bed under the covers. For those of you that know BG...that just ain't like her! :) She is one tired baby but definitely a pleasant one! Today we will fly to Nanning where in just a couple of days we will meet our sweet Lili-Kate! Please continue to pray for us and LK. This is an exciting time for us but may be a little scary to her! We have dreamed of having her in our family but chances are she doesn't know or understand what is about to happen. I know God will be with us and her through the transition but your prayers are coveted! I wanted to share this pic of a gentleman driving down the road on a bicycle loaded down with logs. This is just one of the interesting things you see while riding down the road. The road here is shared with not only cars, vans and trucks but also bicycles of all kinds. Love to you all...post again soon...

Our visit to New Day

Well our morning started at midnight when BG decided it was time to get up! We finally coerced her back to sleep around 3:30 am and got back up around 6:15 am. We had breakfast at the restaurant in our hotel and it was really good. We got in touch with our friend that works at a foster home and arranged a visit. Our trip to New Day was wonderful! BG made her a friend right off the bat! What a sweetie!

We were able to visit with the children and all of them are so precious. Seeing them was very touching for me. They each wait patiently for a forever family! We also got to see the village near New Day and had lunch with our friend and the children. We were both very blessed to have visited. How wonderful the work they are doing for the orphans of China!

Despite the jet lag it has been a wonderful day. The drive to New Day was about an hour long so it was an interesting drive there and back. Bicycles, trucks, cars all share the road...all merging into traffic and beeping the horn at each other. Whew! Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall and Hutong. Hopefully we will have time to visit Tianamen Square. BG is so tired this afternoon after our visit to New Day that she is passed out. She has been an angel through it all!

We made it! We are in China!

Hey everyone,

We finally made it! After a two hour drive to the airport, a two hour flight to Newark, a 13 and a half hour flight to Beijing and a half hour drive to our hotel....WE ARE HERE! First of all, let me say that BG was an angel! I mean an angel! We were so blessed on this trip! When we got ready to board the first plane BG was heading down the portal and JT said "you ready?" and she answered, "let's go get Lili-Kate!" Off she marched like a big girl! On our flight to Beijing, we were with mostly chinese and a few Americans...but right beside us was a woman and her 20 month old little girl. She wanted to play with BG and the mother called BG "sister". The entire trip she called BG "sister". That little chinese princess stole my heart. The people here are very nice and we have a great guide to help answer our hundred questions! Of course we are EXHAUSTED! We are 13 hours ahead of our family at home and trying to stay awake to get on schedule but...I don't know if I am gonna make it! :) I will start posting some pics as soon as I can...

Believe it or not...

This was too funny to share so...here goes...

When I took the kids to meet my dad on Friday, after dropping them off I opened a fresh pack of my favorite gum, stride. On the inside of the flap was a To Do List...

This just so happens to be the first thing we will do when we get there! Ha!

Getting ready to go...

We are ready to go! Not physically in the sense I have a ton of packing to do but emotionally ready to go! I took a couple of pics of the girls room. BG and LK will share a room together. We put LK's bed up on New Years and so BG has had time to adjust to the idea that she will soon have a sister in the room with her. Remember she's two...she says to me when she sees LK's picture..."there's LK...she's my sister...she's in China". She knows the best way a two year old can know. It feels like we are being carried...if you can understand what I mean. Have you ever just felt like you were being "carried"?

Can't wait to go to China...can't wait even more to meet my girl!

Confirmed Consulate Appointment!!

Okay, well we are in full swing now...we have our confirmed consulate appointment for May 11! That means that we will leave Nashville on April 28th and return home with Lili-Kate on May 13! My head is spinning! I am thinking of all the one hundred million things I need to do before I leave. Wow! We will be flying into Beijing and then on to Nanning and finally to Guanghou. If any of you have been there this time of year please fill me in on what to expect with the weather. Any must haves or must dos? Thanks to all of you who have shown your support and prayed for us! Off we go!

We are finally going to China!

We are excited today to find out that we officially have the fingerprint approval and will have a confirmed consulate appointment in the morning! Yay! That has been one working on my patience! It looks like we will fly out on Tuesday, April 28 and return on Thursday May 14. Of course we will have confirmed travel once we have our confirmed consulate appointment. The realization that it is only two weeks away is overwhelming! I am working hard to finish up all my schoolwork before we leave and I have bought everything for our travel. We desperately need your prayers because we will be taking BG with us. I think it will be wonderful for LK to have her there too! Friends at last! While I was getting ready this morning BG was in the bathroom with me and she asked out of the blue, "where's LK?" And (by faith) I said to her, 'we are about to go on the airplane and get her'. This was before the call that we had the fingerprint approval. Pray for us...our kids...and LK! Much love! *bt*