WE ARE COMING HOME!!!!!!!

Just typing the title made me teary- we can hardly believe that in a few hours we will be boarding our plane for HOME! 24 hours from now my sweet boy and my sweet girl will get to meet for the first time- our family of four finally together! We are soooooooo excited!
Our flight to Beijing went well yesterday. Kate did AMAZING on the flight- and slept for half of it. I really, really, really hope that she sleeps well on this flight. We take off at 3:45pm China time and land at 5:30am China time- so we fly through the night. I really hope that Kate will sleep for a good part of the flight- we will see.
Our flight from Newark to Atlanta is Continental flight CO2618 arriving in Atlanta at 10:14pm.

Next stop---- HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catching up

Blogger is finally working so I thought I would try to catch up on our last few days. Although most of my time here was spent in the bed, we have still had a great time in Guangzhou. It has been much more laid back than Beijing and we have loved the slower pace. Kate finally got to take a nap in her bed (and she took a 3 hour nap every day!!!!). She continues to be such a good sleeper. She is easy to put down and once she is asleep she could sleep through a hurricane. We are so thankful for a good sleeper. Speaking of a good sleeper- here is Miss Kate on her first airplane ride...

Day one at Guangzhou we had the medical exam for Kate. She did great- no tears. She did have to have an x-ray because apparently her TB test had a larger mark than they like- she passed the x-ray with flying colors though.


Everyone waiting for our turn

Getting weighed- 21.8 lbs!

Checking out her ears, nose, and throat

Daddy and Kate on the dinner cruise (and the sore on Brian's face is not from Kate biting him :) - he has a cold sore)

Our hotel lit up at night

Another hotel all lit up

Kate LOVES all things girl- purses, necklaces, braclets, hair bows (yeah!), shoes,

clothes, dolls, etc. (the purse she is holding came with her from the orphanage)

Chilling with Daddy

Hanging out with daddy some more

Part of our dinner one night (no- I am not kidding you)

Look close- yep- those are frogs- thankfully those were not part of dinner

Eels- these were scary looking

This is what little miss did during her nap one day- guess I need to make sure her bumper pad at home is tied down well, huh!

Singing with the big girls in the hallway

Kate also loves to dance. She moves her hands around like she is doing Ti Chi- it is adorable.

The view from our room

Although we are SO READY to be home, we have really enjoyed our time here in China. The highlight of our trip, besides getting Kate of course- and meeting her foster family, has been spending time with our group. We were so blessed to be able to spend the last 17 days with these familes. It is going to be so hard to say good-bye to them tomorrow. We have been on quite the journey together, and have been able to see God's hand in so many ways. We can't wait to get back together next year and see how much everyone has blossomed.

Next stop- Beijing- then HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where are the posts?

So sorry for the lack of posts the last few days. I have been sick- really sick. Brian said he wanted to have some time with Kate by himself so they could bond more- and boy did he get it. I was flat on my back for 2 days- high temp, sore throat, bad cough, headache, etc. Praise the Lord someone in our group brought a prescription from home. I literally cried when she brought it to me. I have been fever free all day today although still not back to normal. I was well enough, however, to purchase some squeaky shoes today and go to dinner with everyone (which included a dish with snake!) We are just so thankful that I got better in time for our flight. They will not let you on the plane if you have a fever. Please be praying that Kate and Brian do not get it.
We were suppose to leave on the 1st and fly all the way home, but because the 1st is a huge national holiday over here we can not land it Beijing on the morning of the 1st (they are doing some type of air show). So now we have to leave Guangzhou at 8pm on the 30th- land in Beijing around 11pm- get all of our bags and head to a hotel for the night only to turn around the next day and head right back to the airport. Oh well, at least we are heading home!!!!!! We are SO READY to see Brett and the rest of our family. Several of you have asked about coming to the airport. We would love for anyone who wants to come to be there- but our flight doesn't land until 10:15pm so we know that several of you won't be able to make it. I will let you know our flight number in a few days so you can check to make sure our flight is on time if you are planning on coming.
I must say, we are so very excited about introducing Kate to everyone. You are all going to love her. Our guide tonight said, "Everyone loves her"- yes- they do. She is such a joy to be around. We are richly blessed!
Tomorrow is the big day- our consulate appointment. This is the appointment that we scheduled our whole trip around. After tomorrow Kate will officially be ours in the eyes of the United States as well. Yeah!!!! After all the years and tears that we spent waiting on our little girl I can tell you with every ounce of my being- it was WELL worth the wait!!!!
I will update with pictures tomorrow- I promise. We are still having a hard time with our internet connection here so it takes forever to download the pictures.

Amazed

*** I am having a hard time uploading pictures on blogger and gmail so I am sorry for the lack of pictures.***

Sorry we have not been keeping everyone up to date but after our unbelievable night the other night we have been in shock and when we have not been in shock we have been extremely busy.              

 

Let's first go back to the other night.  We got a call around 3:30pm from our travel guide that Kate had lived with a family for a while and they knew that this was our last night in Beijing and that they wanted to take us to dinner.  They insisted on taking us to one of the nicest restaurants in Beijing- Beijing Roasted Duck- and would not let us pat for a thing. (Our meal started off with duck heart and duck skin by the way- and we also got certificates on the ducks life- from birth to our dinner) Well what are you to think about that?  All sorts of thoughts and emotions flowed through us but we were cautiously optimistic.  We prayed together while we were waiting that God would protect us and go before us into the meeting.  We had no idea that she had lived outside of the orphanage- although she is so smart and well adjusted that we had our suspicions.

 

God orchestrated this meeting because if you will remember us meeting a lady at the zoo the other day…the lady's daughter (a 4 year old) told the grandmother of the foster family that she saw Kate at the zoo.  The grandmother thought this was crazy that first of all she saw us at the zoo in a city of 18 million people and she was pretty sure Kate had already left the country.  Get your head around that for a minute.  God's timing is perfect.  For those of you who are still waiting to bring your little ones home- I hope this story encourages you.

 

The grandmother called her son who works at the orphanage and asked him to see if we were still in China because she would like to meet us and say goodbye to Kate.  Well one thing led to another and we had dinner with this family and one of the teachers from the orphanage.  They were some of the most incredible people you could ever meet.  They LOVED Kate with all their hearts.  She stayed with this family for 99 days after her surgery.  Yes they knew down to the day how long she lived with them.  Thanks to our sweet guide who went with us to translate,we talked non-stop for 3 hours.  I promise you that I could not have hand picked more amazing people to love on our Kate.  They loved her like she was their own- that was very obvious.

 

Kate did not want much to do with us during dinner.  She sat with her Ni-Ni (grandmother in Chinese) and Ni-Ni fed her the entire time and just loved her as if she were her own grandchild.  Ni-Ni's son works at the orphanage.  He is 33 and his wife is 30.  Our guide the whole night referred to them as the foster mother and father.  They live with his parents.  So all four seemed to know Kate intimately.  Kate was SO EXCITED to see them.  She smiled and laughed the whole night.  It was so fun to watch.

 

Brian was also thrilled to find out that Kate has a history of pinching and biting and she had bitten the grandfather on the shoulder and the lip in the past.  Apparently she doesn't like men- lets hope that continues until she is at least 21! :)

 

They told us that Kate has a gift for music and they hoped we helped her develop it.

 

They also brought us gifts…one for me, Brian and Kate.  We also have a picture of the entire family with Kate when they took her out for her birthday.  They even had pictures of her on their cell phones.

 

The saddest thing of the night was when we left and Ni-Ni was overcome with tears.  Everyone cried as we took Kate away from this family that LOVED her.  Wow.  We will never forget that night.  Kate cried too, but only for a minute.  We cried harder than she did. 

 

We have their address and email and phone numbers and promised to stay in touch.

 

We walked back to the hotel in totally disbelief of what had just taken place.  I wish you all could have been in the room with us.  From the moment we walked in we were totally at ease.  God was in that room with us- it was amazing.  I don't think I have ever seen God's hand so visibly in all my life. 

Day Nine- Unforgetable

Sorry for the late post- we didn't get in until 10pm last night and we all went to bed. Last night was one of the most amazing nights that Brian or I have ever experienced- but you will have to wait a little while until we have time to do that post. We are packing up and heading to Guangzhou in a few hours so we don't have time to post much- but since mom said people are calling her to ask where our post is I thought I would at least give you a few pictures to look at. We are excited about seeing another part of China- but sad to be taking Kate away from the only city she has ever known. We sincerely hope to be back here again soon.

One of the streets of vendors

There are bikes everywhere in China- thousands of them1

Looks tasty doesn't it?! Yep- LIVE scorpions on a stick!

He tried hard- but we did not purchase any.

Making funny faces with Daddy

Those of you who know me well will understand this picture. Kate came with this pig- and look how she sleeps with it. Yep- she's my girl!

Day Eight- Hutong tour and Silk Market

We have a guest blogger tonight - Brian. Amybeth is so tired that she asked me to write so if it is not as good you can just blame me.

Rolling right along here in Beijing. Kate was not her normal outgoing self today...she has a cold and just did not feel great all day. She had a fever tonight of just over 100. Pray that she feels better and that her fever goes away before we go to the airport on Friday because they have temperature sensors and will not let her fly if she has a fever. We hope that she will be fine tomorrow.

I cannot begin to tell you how incredible the weather has been here. Blue skies, clean air, perfect temperatures and no humidity. We could not ask for more perfect weather. We keep reading about the Atlanta flood. We cannot remember Atlanta ever getting rain like that.

We went on a Hutong tour today which is basically a fancy way of saying we saw a traditional Chinese village. They said that there used to be a couple of thousand of these and now they are down to just a couple of hundred. It has been fascinating learning about the Chinese culture. We ate lunch in one of the homes on the tour. It was really good. The kitchen the lady was cooking in was about 4 feet by 4 feet. Pretty small.

Some random things about China that I find intriguing...the people are very friendly but there are no manners when it comes to lines or crossing the street. It is every man for himself. They do not waste anything. You go to McDonald's (there are no Chick-fil-A's yet in China although if we could figure out the logistics I think Chick-fil-A would kill it here) and you get one napkin, one ketchup packet. They will give you more if you ask but they do not waste things. Everything seems a little smaller in China to me.

There are NO doughnuts here! All of their pastries are dry and flavorless. The average salary in Beijing and larger cities in China is around $9,000 a year. Everything is cheap here. Since most things are made in China they don't have to ship them. Two combo meals at McDonald's cost around $5 total. Groceries are a fraction of the cost in the US. Starbucks opens at 10am. Every business has 2-3 times the employees that the US would have.

Back to our day...

In the afternoon we went to the Silk Market. It is six floors of dozens of merchants who sell just about everything you can imagine. It is good to know the rules of the game before you enter because it is crazy in there. There are dozens of young Chinese girls in their early 20's who are some of the most aggressive sales people you have ever seen. They almost attack you as you walk by trying to get you to buy something. Once you find what you want the bargaining begins. The first price they offer you is ridiculous. You end up paying 20 - 30% of the original price they quote you. You would just have to see this to believe it. We left with quite a few things but I was most excited about a Spider Man outfit for Brett that cost us $5.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing. We go pick up Kate's Chinese passport and take a tour of the Chinese Capitol Building. Then we pack up Friday morning and fly to Guangzhou where we hear that it is around a 100 degrees.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support. We feel like we have truly been blessed with Kate and all the details of our trip. It has just been amazing!

Kate loves her Snow White doll, Brett!

The rickshaws

All ready for a ride

Some of the sights from the town

Fast asleep holding Daddy's hand

Apparently it is very lucky to have a pet cricket outside of your house. They house them in little cages- like a bird- and treat them like pets.

On of the houses that we got to tour

We ate lunch with a local family- in their home- and they cooked for us. Here is the lady making dumplings.

She gave Kate a piece of dough so she could try to make a dumpling too.

All the girls with our wonderful cook.

One tired and sick little girl

Day Seven, Small World - Big God

You are not going to believe what happened to us today. We got to go to the Beijing zoo and on the way out I hear someone saying "Hua La Yu?" Thankfully Lexi was there to translate for us. In a town of 18 million people, at a zoo that is not close to Kate's orphanage- we met someone who knew our Kate. This lady and her daughter live next to the orphanage where Kate was and would come and play with the children. Out of over 1,000 children at the orphanage she recognized Kate (which should tell you something about her charming personality) and was so excited to see her with her adopted family. She said that she had seen the book with our pictures in it that we had sent to Kate and was so excited that she was getting a family. She told Lexi that her daughter (who looked to be about 4) loved to play with Kate. She said that Kate was so cute and was always so happy. She also said that they had some sort of pre-school type program in the orphanage that Kate was a part of. That would explain why she is so smart.
What a gift- a miraculous gift. In all my years of "blog stalking" I have never heard of anything like this happening. We were so excited to get another piece of our daughters history- and to yet again know that she was so loved for the first two years of her life. Only God could haveorchestrated that meeting. We are so thankful.
The zoo was fun- the same in many ways as our zoo in Atlanta, but also very different. They had squirrels, raccoons, and a kitten trying to pass as a "leopard cat". I didn't get a picture but it was pretty funny. We also went to a shopping market- which was crazy to say the least. It was PACKED and people were yelling constantly to try to get you to buy something. We got some socks for Kate (because the 12 to 24 month socks I brought for her are WAY too big) and a cute pair of shoes. After 4 hours of walking around carrying her I am worn out tonight. Kate is worn out too. She fell asleep on Daddy on the way home from dinner. She is still pinching him, but will now kiss him immediately after she pinches him. She also looks at me every time she pinches him (because I am the one that disciplines her for pinching so Brian doesn't have to be the "bad guy"). That little stinker. Man she is cute. I just can't wait for everyone to meet her. When we wake up in the morning we will be more than half way through with our trip- oh that sounds so good. We can't wait to see our little guy again. He is doing great though and doesn't seem to be missing us too much- thanks to amazing grandparents.
Thanks again for your prayers. We are so thankful for them.

Pictures from today are in the post below!

I still can't get my Nikon to download onto Brian's laptop- so frustrated by that. And for those of you who are super observant you will notice that my hair is in a ponytail every day. That would be because my hair dryer and my straightener got fried the first day we were here- even though I was using a surge protector.

Day Seven- Pictures

The sweet lady and her daughter who volunteered at Kate's orphanage.

Kate and her panda umbrella (we got one for you too Brett)

Pinching Proof

Watching the Panda climb the tree- this was amazing!

Kate and Daddy

Our first "family" photo (can you see Brett?)

Like mother, like daughter- eating french fries

Cute girl drinking her box drink back in our room

Day Six- Kate is officially ours...

Talking with the girls (just look at those lips!)

Kate and Nina


Daddy stealing a kiss

The lady in the white coat in the background is the orphanage director from Kate's orphange.

And this is Kate's reaction to seeing her- she clung to me for dear life. This is a good- no a great- sign. I think she likes us!!!

Signing the official papers

Kate and Lexi- Kate LOVES Lexi (and so do we). Lexi is fluent in Mandarin and translates everything Kate says for us. She is amazing!

Waiting for our paperwork to be processed

Daddy giving Kate Cheerios- she loves Cheerios!

Kate had her first McDonald's french fries today and she loved them (thank goodness). She even shared one with Daddy.

Kate is officially ours in China's eyes that is. We still have to wait another week before the United States says she is officially ours. But I can tell you right now- she is ours- and NO ONE is going to tell me any different. After 4 years of waiting, I had a lot of time to set my expectations of what this experience was going to be like. Four years to imagine what Kate would look like, act like, how old she would be, what her personality would be like, etc. I can honestly tell you that this has far exceeded all of my expectations. Kate is perfect. It is hard to believe how quickly you can fall in love. I have loved Kate for 4 years, but did not know who she was. Now that I know her- I really love her. Brian just went over and looked at her while she was sleeping and then came back over to me and said, "It is hard to believe that they are really going to let us have her because she is so fun." It is so hard to believe.

Kate did much better with Brian today- keep praying. She only tried to bite him once, and Brian said her pinches (which were only a handful) weren't as hard as they have been. She let him hold her a lot today, and even let him give her a bath without me (and she was laughing in there with him). Brian is doing such an amazing job with her.

Today was filled with one meeting to sign paperwork after another. We saw the director from Kate's orphanage again today and had our guide ask her how Kate got to be so advanced. She told our guide, "Because Layu (Kate) is so cute and has such a good personality all of the nannies love her and gave her lots of attention." Yes- our girl was well loved- and you will see why when you meet her. She is so much fun!

We get to go to the Beijing zoo tomorrow and I am so excited. I can't wait to see what Kate thinks about all the animals.

Thanks again for your comments and prayers. 10 more days until Kate and Brett get to meet!!!! I can't wait!!!!