Made it to Laibin!

After an okay nights sleep at the Victory in Guangzhou, we ate a fantastic breakfast and met the Millers...another Hope For Children family (we will be able to spend more time with them when we return to Guangzhou on Friday). The Millers had their new little girl, Sarah Beth, with them already and she sure is a cutie! Her older brother (Noah) and sister (Abby) were all about holding her! Sarah Beth was enjoying all of the attention! At 5:15 am, my friend Donna knocked on our hotel room door to introduce us to her daughter, Shelby. Donna and her family were all packed up and ready to leave China for their return home! Shelby was a little doll - our prayers go with them for a safe trip home! After breakfast we were able to have a video conference with our little ones back home (we used Skype and it worked wonderfully - just a little advice for any of you planning a trip over here - and computer to computer is free!!). Anyway, we enjoyed talking to Stephanie and Liz - they seemed to be doing fine - Stephanie is the one who cried, and Liz just kept dancing for us! Go figure! I was more worried about Liz (2)!! We were so grateful to receive a comment from Ms. Frankie, the girls' preschool director, telling us that they did great in school. Thank you Ms. Frankie - you are the best!!
Okay....on to travel tidbits. We ate our first McDonalds at the Guangzhou airport before we left for Nanning - it was very good, the real thing! After an hour flight on a Chinese airline (included drinks and a heavy snack...NWA didn't even give us peanuts on the way from ATL to Detroit...if you wanted a snack you had to pay for it!)....we arrived in Nanning, where I had my first encounter with a squatty potty and I am very proud to say, without incident! Well, now we had to figure a way to get to Laibin..by train, bus or car? We first tried to rent a car/driver - too expensive at the airport. We then decided to go by train (since a car/driver was too expensive). So we grabbed a cab and CRAMMED all of our stuff into it...barely. All the cab drivers were making fun of us for being so packed into this little car. Steve asked the driver & he responded he had never carried a larger load of people/stuff. On the way to the train station, Meg, Steve's sister and our guide at this point, talked our driver into calling one of his friends to drive us to Laibin in their own car (2.5 hours), and thank you, God, it happened!! We got here (Laibin) at about 7 pm, checked into the Laibin International Hotel, and then ventured out to find dinner. Meg took us to a restaurant and ordered for us a huge traditional dinner. And you know what...it was excellent!! We had so much food and it was all so flavorful and delicious!! We had duck soup, whole boiled chicken (served in a bucket with the boiled, bald head staring at us), a thin, flaky type bread, cabbage, spinach, rice & a root made into a special dessert (Steve described it as carmelized Dunkin Donuts Minchkins covered in honey - Meg gave Steve a hard time for saying Dunkin Donuts - living in China she misses certain things from home & didn't appreciate being re minded of them). After dinner, we came home and crashed - I slept from 9 pm - 5 am solid...Praise God!! Let me tell you though...we are in REAL DEEP REMOTE China. No western style anything, no McDonalds...nothing!! This is all China. We got a whole lot of stares walking down the street. Laibin is not a tourist attraction. People are not used to seeing foreigners. Meg says they think we're Russians. Oh, and yes, we had to cross a street a couple times. For those of you who have been to China you know what I am talking about! There are no cross walk signs here - you cross at your own risk! We weaved in and out of bikes, scooters and dodged cars...in the dark!! A little unnerving, and if I had to go by myself, I would probably still be standing on the corner. Now, it wasn't as bad as Nanning or Guangzhou, but running out into the middle of traffic goes against everything I had been taught!! And I am sure that we will have to do it again many times, unless we only go places on the same side of the street as the hotel! Today, we are going to explore Laibin, talk with the Laibin people who are willing (through Meg) and see Danielle's finding spot. I will definitely post again about everything that we see - and by then, I should have some great photos! Thank you for all of your prayers and support - all is going well so far and in about 48 hours, we will be getting ready to go and get our little princess!! We can't wait!! Our love to you all!!

WE ARE IN CHINA!

Well, after more than 24 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Guangzhou, China and the Victory Hotel! We had a great travel experience - all filights were on time, we found all of our gates (in fact the gate that we had to find in Detroit for our flight to Tokyo, was just across the hallway), NW served us good food, we met up with Joe, Amy, Josh, Ryan and Kris in Tokyo for the last leg of our trip, and we got all of our luggage. We are checked in, and getting cleaned up for hopefully a good nights sleep before we head to Laibin tomorrow afternoon. While I miss our little ones terribly, I am SO glad that we didn't bring them along.....what an exhausting day!! All of our flights had crying infants and children, and I am so grateful that they weren't ours! I am praying that God will help Danielle to handle such a grueling trip! I am also praying that I will be able to stay awake on the way home to take care of her. I was able to sleep A LOT, and Steve slept very little. Despite all the sleep, I am still exhausted! I just wanted to give you a quick update before I go to bed. Keep sending us comments - we so enjoy reading them. And Nana, please give Steffi and Liz huge hugs and kisses from us - tell them that Mommy and Daddy love them very much and that we miss them!!!

China here we come!!

Can you believe that it is finally time for us to go and get our little girl!! Steve and I leave at 9 am on Wed. morning!! We will arrive in Guangzhou, China at 10:40 pm on Thurs. I will re-post our itinerary, so that you will know where we are and when!! I promise to post as often as I can. I know that we will be busy, but we truly want to share this journey with all of you!! Please join in by posting your own comments! We would love to hear from all of you!! You do not have to have a blog to post! All you do is click "comments" and then click anonymous - you can type a comment and just sign your name. Please sign your name - we want to know who is leaving us messages! We will be able to read all comments even while we are in China. So please post away as it will be great to hear from you while we are away :) Here is our itinerary:

Nov 14 - leave for China
Nov 15 - arrive in Guangzhou, China
Nov 16 - fly to Nanning, take train to Laibin City, Guangxi Province
Nov 16-18 - spend the weekend exploring Laibin City - Danielle's birthplace
Nov 18 - take train back to Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Province
Nov 19 - go to Civil Affairs office and meet Danielle for the first time!!!!!!!
Nov 23 - fly back to Guangzhou
Nov 24 - Danielle's physical exam
Nov 26 - Consulate appointment
Nov 27 - oath ceremony
Nov 28 - return home - land at 5:32 pm!!!! Danielle will finally get to meet her 2 big sisters who are so excited to meet her!!

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One Week to Go!!!

Well...in one week will be on our way to China!! We have been busy getting ready and taking care of pre-schoolers!! I have bought everything that I need to take with us (except for snacks-which is on my "to do" list for tomorrow), and everything is already in a suitcase. All we have left to pack is our clothes! We are still debating on what clothes to take, but we do know that we will be packing light and doing laundry a few times!! Two of my good friends, Tracy and Cynthia, came over this week to help me organize our house - I am so grateful for their servants heart and their help! I couldn't have done it without them!! Steve heard from his step-sister today, and she let us know that she booked our hotel rooms in Laibin!! We will be staying at the Laibin International Hotel over the weekend of Nov 16-18 - it is one of the few hotels in Laibin designed for foreigners. We are so excited that we are going to be able to spend time exploring Danielle's birthplace - but not as excited as meeting our daughter! It is so amazing to think that next week at this time, we will be flying to Tokyo and then on to China!! Danielle will be in our arms in less than 2 weeks!!!
We received some great news today from our county's DFCS - we were approved to receive a $2000 grant for our adoption!! This will certainly help to cover some of the expenses - praise the Lord!! This specific grant is for children with special needs and it sure was a blessing to receive the phone call today. God certainly is helping with the hardest part - financial. God has really been helping, though, through this grant and donations from family - THANK YOU!!
Oh! I have to share this with you....Steve had to go out of town on business earlier this week, and he got home late Tuesday night. When Liz saw him, the first thing she said was, "You get Danielle?" We have been talking with her about Daddy and Mommy leaving to go and get Danielle, so she apparently thought that since Daddy was gone, he must have gone to get Danielle. How sweet is that!! Let's just hope that she is happy to see her sister when we really get home. We continue to pray that Steffi and Liz do well with our absence - everytime I think about leaving them for 2 weeks, I get so sad. I know that they will be in fantastic hands, but I am going to miss them like crazy!!!

Red Thread Quilt

Tonight my good friend, Celeste, took time out of her busy life to help me shop for some quilting materials to make a quilt for Danielle. Many people who adopt from China make what is called a 100 Good Wishes Quilt. To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. I loved this idea, but decided to go a different route. I came up with the idea to make a Red Thread Quilt. Posted on the top of my blog is the explanation of a Red Thread Journey: 'Chinese folklore says there is an invisible red thread connecting those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.' I thought that it would be really neat to make a quilt that Danielle could have and cherish, that had the names of all of the people that helped to bring her home. So...what I am going to do, is have everyone who played a part in this adoption (case workers, notaries, oprhanage directors, foster family members, etc - the list is endless), sign a piece of fabric. I am then going to embroider over their signature with red thread and piece the quilt together with some silk fabric that I am planning on buying in China. Tonight I purchased the "signature" fabric and some accessories. I am very excited about this and I hope that it turns out like I am envisioning it to be. I really hope that in the future, it will really be meaningful to Danielle. I am hoping that she will be amazed at how so many people came together for a common goal - to bring Danielle home to the family that God destined her to be a part of forever!!

Safe travels and shopping

Our friends, Donna and CJ made it to Beijing today! They will be spending the weekend in Beijing, and then flying to Nanning on Sunday to get their daughter Shelby on Monday! How exciting! Shelby is from the same province as Danielle, so Donna and CJ's trip will mirror ours exactly. We will be diligently following their blog so that we can learn what we need to do/not do for our trip and so that we can watch their journey unfold.


I am grateful to have been able to cross one more thing off of my huge "to do" list today. Amy and I went shopping in order to buy "gifts" for the orphanage director, nannies, notaries, and other people that we will run into while completing adoption paperwork. It was a huge relief to complete this task - I surely didn't want to buy anything cheesy but didn't want to spend a ton of money! One thing I didn't realize was how many things are made in China!!! The biggest challenge of the day was to find items that were NOT made in China - try it next time you go shopping!!! The only "gift" that I have left to buy is one for the foster family. What do you buy for people who have taken such great care of your daughter for the first year of her life?! We are also praying that God allows us to meet them - if it will be beneficial for Danielle when she gets older.


Last night we took Stephanie and Elizabeth trick-or-treating...well actually, we took them trunk-or-treating at a church down the road. It was great - people decorate their cars and pass out candy to lots of little kids! They even had a festival in the gym with lots of games, crafts and moon walks. The girls had a great time and we all enjoyed the candy!! Although, this morning, Stephanie asked if we could go "real trick or treating"...she said that she wanted to go to people's houses instead of the church party. So much for being grateful!! We are all looking forward to next Halloween, when Danielle will be with us!!
Sleeping Beauty and Word Girl