Friday-Sunday, July 8-10, 2011
WE MADE IT!

Hello to our families and friends! We made it! We were blessed with very smooth, comfortable travels from start to finish. The looooong flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was passed the typical way . . . books, movies, snacking and sleeping. How exciting it was to touch down in Hong Kong - - Adrienne gazed out the window at the city and its surrounding mountains, and we could see the emotion on her face. A layover and short flight later we arrived in Guangzhou, where we quickly met another GWCA family, here to adopt their son. That is one of the neat parts of this trip . . . meeting with other adoptive families and sharing in this journey together. After connecting with our wonderful guide it was off to the White Swan Hotel! It is so special to be back in this special place where, seven years ago, we spent a week with Adrienne.

This morning we enjoyed the big, delicious breakfast buffet and the view of the Pearl River, took a brief tour of Shamian Island and then attended church - what a neat experience to worship here!

We're now unpacking, organizing and resting. Soon we'll take a swim in the pool, then meet up with other families for our first group meal.

Always, always at the front of our minds is Anna Kathryn and the fact that tomorrow is finally our day! It still seems surreal and we are incredibly eager for the next 24 hours to pass quickly so that we can have her in our arms and begin life as a family of four!

We receive her tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. We'll post an update as soon as we comfortably can . . . at least a few photos so that you can see our girl!!

I'll wrap up by quoting a verse from a praise song we sang in church today . . .

"You're my all, You' re the best, You're my joy, my righteousness; and I love You, Lord."


Big Sis Blog

We Went On A Long Plane Ride, To Bring Home Anna Kate. But There Was A Three Hour Layover, When We Got To The Gate. When The Layover Was Done, We Had To Run, So We Wouldn't Be Late. We're Getting Her Today, Let's Shout Hooray, 'Cause She Was Worth The Wait.                                                                       

Hello readers! Thanks for reading! it has been a wonderful trip so far. The White Swan is beautiful! We had a wonderful breakfast buffet. I had: Two pieces of bacon, One Croissant, Orange Juice, Watermelon, and Cantaloupe. All in one breakfast!


Joe

How incredible it is to be just hours away from receiving Anna Kate!

One quick story to share from our first full day on Shamian Island . . . as many myadoptionwebsite readers know, Jennifer and I created MAW a couple of years after bringing Adrienne home. We've hosted adoption websites for well over 500 families which means we've posted nearly 8,000 in-China updates over the past six years . . . updates that have included several hundred pictures of families enjoying a meal at the popular Lucy's Restaurant located just a stone's throw away from the White Swan Hotel. Every time I posted one of the those pictures I was reminded of our only visit to Lucy's when we adopted Adrienne . . . we settled around an outdoor table with other families from the Great Wall China Adoption group, placed our order but never received our food. After waiting about 40 minutes, we kindly told one of the servers to cancel our order since the other families in the group had just about finished their meals.

Fast forward seven years and four months to today, our second trip to Lucy's. We, again, stopped in with other Great Wall families, but this time chose indoor seating to escape the July heat. All four families ordered and before the long the meals began coming out one at a time. Moments later, everyone at the table had received their meal . . . except for me. Ten minutes later, still nothing, Twenty minutes later as the others in the group were downing their last french fries, I kindly canceled. What are the odds! :)

As Jennifer said,  the praise and worship service at standing-room-only Shamian Christ Church was a real highlight of the day. I especially loved singing "Knowing You" by Graham Kendrick. (Jennifer included part of the refrain above)

OK, time for bed . . . God willing, we'll welcome Anna Kate into our family about 16 hours from now. We'll check back ASAP.

Have a great Sunday and Let's Go Bucs!