What a Relief - we are HOME at LAST!!!

We woke up at 4am on Wed. in China (1pm here on Tues.) to get ready to go! We left the hotel by 5:30 and our first flight took off around 8:30am. There were about 5 families with early flights and 2 of them flew to all the way to San Francisco with us. It was nice to have familiar faces to travel with and to figure things out together. A few of our flights changed around but we still arrived in Pasco at the original time. Instead of a 6 hr. layover in Seattle, we had the layover in San Fran. We used this time to sleep in the chairs, on the floor and to wash up and get refreshed for the final 6 hrs. of travel.

The boys and Hayleigh were EXCELLENT travelers! We are so blessed!!

We were SOOOO EXCITED to finally touch ground in Pasco Wed. night at 10:30!! We were soo surprised to see so many friends an family waiting to greet us and meet Hayleigh! It was really overwhelming and a HUGE RELIEF to be home and in the company of our friends and family:) We were welcomed with posters at the airport and posters, balloons, streamers, groceries, dinner and cookies at home! We really felt the love of Jesus being poured down on us - thank you to everyone!

We are on our way home (in 8 hrs.)

We began our day with Hayleigh's first "photo shoot" :) The hotel has a red couch where it is a tradition for all adoptive babies to get their pictures taken. (I will do my best to post them here and on Flickr) The above picture are all of the babies from Hayleigh's Orphanage: Kate and Lily Chambers, Our Princess, Megan Cantor, Hannah Stanford, and Lilly Monks.

We then finished up our last minute shopping and at 3:00 we were off to the US Consulate! This is the LAST step here in China!!! We were not able to take any pictures of this last step - not sure exactly why... But we all (about 75 families -from our group and a few others) had to swear that all of the information that we had submitted on behalf of our child on Monday was true. After that, a huge stream of tears poured out... We were given her Visa and are officially going home with our daughter!

We are so blessed and thankful for all of the Lord's blessings that he has poured down on us with Hayleigh, our supportive friends and family and the wonderful people we got to meet here in China. It has been an experience like no other!!

We hope to arrive in Pasco at about 10:30 on Wednesday the 28th and any "night owl" is welcome to meet our little princess.

PS. Please check back later - i beleive that we will have a Welcome Home Open House for Hayleigh the weekend of Oct. 16th!

Toy Market Day!

Hayleigh is posing with her first Barbie. Every guest that stays at the White Swan Hotel and is adopting receives this "Going Home" Barbie:)


We went to the toy market today! It was amazing! I was Huge!! And we only had 1 hour! There were 4 or more levels and tons of very small stores on each level. The boys were determined to find gameboy games - they did! They were soo happy. That was just about all that they bought. They ran out of time and still have alot of $$ left - oh well...

We also went on a dinner cruise this evening with everyone in our group. It was nice to visit with everyone. The boat was nice and the ride was pleasant and the food was.... well.... Chinese - imagine that... We all just had rice, noodles and bananas - we decided to pass on the chiken feet:)

We had a pretty uneventful day today - we did have Hayleigh's ears checked by Jennifer. They were too waxy - we put some earwax removal drops in them tonight so maybe she can see better tomorrow. Hayleigh was soooooooo soooooo MAD when Jennifer peeked in her ears - it took her about 20 minutes to stop crying and about an hour to not be crabby:( I hope it goes better tomorrow. We are so thankful and blessed that Jennifer is here - we all have a peace of mind knowing that she can help if we need her:):) (Jennifer and Phil have the twins)

We should will post pictures of the families in our group tomorrow - we have a photo shoot on the Red Couch tomorrow:)

Hugs - see you soon!

An Exciting Day in Downtown Guangzhou!

We started our day out at 10am with a short bus ride to downtown Guangzhou. We first visited the Chen Family Temple. The Chen family is a very popular family in China and they built a temple for themselves. But then in 1949 when the government over took the country they made private ownership illegal, so now it is owned by the gov't. It is a very beautiful place. We all commiserated over the beds that they used to use (see picture below). We think that the White Swan Hotel still beleives that people prefer these types of beds as it feels like the ones that we are sleeping on - LOL :):)

We were then off to the downtown shopping area. It was VERY crowded and we had to keep VERY close tabs on our kids and the group - we didn't want to loose anyone! We shopped in the children's section of a Dept. Store for about 1hr. Then we started toward another section of shopping mall. It was like 3-4 stories at the mall and just HUGE. There were several of these. Anyway, we started for the mall for Pizza Hut. When we walked out the sky was dark, then just as we got close to the door to enter the mall a HUGE WIND came - HUGE!!!! It was kinda scary! Then a MAJOR downpour - and we were missing a dad and his daughter from our group:( But, after about 15-20 minutes, they showed up - very scary though! We had a nice lunch. We got a chuckle out of a family sitting next us. I think they bought a 1 trip salad bar b/c that plate was the biggest salad/fruit plate i had ever seen - we took a picture:)

Then we were off to the wholesale pearl market! VERY good prices!!! We picked out some pearls and they will be delivered to us tomorrow night:) Lance had fun at the wholesale DVD store. Each DVD was 12 yuan, which is about $1.25 each! On our way out of the mall, Jim Savley, the founder of our Small World Agency showed up!! They were on their way to the pearls too. We took a picture of him and thanked him. They were there with some members of his church checking on the new foster care program - what a WONDERFUL SUPRISE!!!

That was the good chunk of our day. Mom, Taylor and I did a bit more shopping when we got home and then we ordered dinner in our hotel (after the boys did a bit of swimming in the rain).

Hugs to all - a few more days!!

In Guangzhou at last!!!!

We are so excited to be in Guangzhou! It is the last step of the HUGE process!! We can hardly believe it!!! We look at our precious daughter and cannot beleive how much God has truly blessed us with her - she is precious!!!

We arrived here around 8pm last night. She did great on her flight!!! It was a good test run for the BIG ONE:) We are staying at the White Swan Hotel. Everyone has ranted and raved about this hotel but i think that we were spoiled in Chongqing at the Marriott:):) Don't get me wrong - this is a very nice 5 star hotel. The rooms are a bit smaller and beds ALOT harder than the Marriott and we don't have adjoining rooms here:( But, the breakfast is much bigger and much more "western" style foods!! We have lightened up a bit on be so restrictive here in what we eat - which is nice:) We are eating more fruits and veggies... Also, the lobby is much more extravagant with water fountains in the hotel and a huge waterfall in the pool etc... The area seems a little more safer too - we feel comfortable walking around as we please:)

Today, we met at 10:30 and got all the children in our travel groups picture. Hayleigh was asleep when we got there and had to wake her for the picture -but not a fuss!!! Then we all walked down to the Medical Clinic. There were 3 stations: ENT (Ears, Nose & Throat), the medical surgical ( i think that's what it's called) and then the "vitals" station. We went to the "medical surgical" one first - the lady measured her head and then laid her down and poked around on her tummy and said she was good! She apparently was checking her liver etc...???? Then we were whisked off to the ENT. We were expecting them to actually look into her ears to check them but they just asked us if she could hear and then made noised with toys to see if she would look in that direction - okay.... She did actually pry her mouth open and looked in - i don't know if she did see anything though - she will hardly let us put anything in her mouth:):) Then they weighed her in at 18.4 pounds and i don't remember how tall. All in all, it was fairly painless. Several nurses gathered around her and kept telling us how beautiful she is:):) We just smile and say "xie xie" (thank you:)). ----Meanwhile, the boys and gramma were swimming in the rain. I guess gramma just sat under an umbrella:)

Then we had a lunch snack and were off shopping. I have been waiting for this for a long time - an finally i feel like i can BUY-BUY-BUY. There are some very good deals here:)---Cheri, let me know if there is something that i should not forget to buy for Hayleigh! :) We did buy a few things today but plan on doing a little shopping each day. Hayleigh got 2 free toys from 2 shops. The ladies went on and on about how cute she is. She can be quite the "flirt" and "ham". She loves to smile:):) She is such a joy!!!

We had to head back to the hotel for a 3:00 appt. with Rebecca (our Guangzhou guide) and Lily ( our China coordinator). We spent 2 hrs. preparing the final paperwork for our US Consulate appt.!! What a relief to have that completed and in their trustworthy hands!!!

Most of the group went to Thai food, but the "light weights" stayed here and went to a nearby restaraunt called "Lucy's". We ate with our travel buddies - the Collin's and then the Turner's have finally joined up with us! The Turner's are adopting 3 yr old Kayley from the Wuhan Province. They are very happy to meet up with the group, as they have been traveling alone.

We are planning on going to a Temple and to a Shopping Market tomorrow:)

Congratulations Heidi and Jeremy on your wedding day - Sept. 24th!!! You are in our thoughts
and prayers:):)

P.S. We can finally see our Blog:)

Our last full day in Chongqing!

Well... we are ready to move on to the next leg of our trip!!! Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Guangzhou - hurray!! We should get Hayleigh's passport tomorrow morning and then we are off...

Today, Hayleigh has had 3 bottles so far - keep praying for her that she gets her appetite back. We are hoping that she's back to normal - it is not unusual for the girls to not want to eat b/c of the change in their environment. We are hoping that that's all it is and not anything else - but who knows - so please pray that she eats well :)

This morning we went to a Silk "store". They showed us how they raise silk worms and then get the silk from the cocoons - it was very interesting. They have to soak the cocoons in hot water and then they split them open to get the worms out (they keep the worms to produce more). Then they stretch it over a small metal upside down U frame and then onto a bigger one. Once there are 70 layers they hang them to dry. Then they make a few cuts and stretch it out to the size of a blanket that they are wanting to make. I have some pictures on flickr about this too. We didn't buy much here - just an ornament for our Christmas tree:)

Then we went to the Ancient Town of Ciqikou. We were thinking that it would be a real town but really it was an alley with shops. We bought Hayleigh a wooden carved comb, Brayden a wooden sword and Taylor nun-chukas. Then we were back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon...

We probably won't have a chance to post tomorrow - so we will be back to the web on Sat:)

God Bless!!

Wednesday in Chongqing

We all slept wonderfully last night. whew:) We had a great day... we just hung around the hotel and played around. Then around 2:30 we went to the Three Gorges Museum, which was about the Yangtze River. They are building a HUGE dam (we saw a replica) which will do all the wonderful things a dam does but it will displace about 1.2 million people. Apparently the govt. will be providing alternate housing for these families - i don't remember when it is supposed to be done... Then we went the the "city hall" which was just a huge building and auditorium type place in the center. Next door was a Pearl Store... I was the only one that bought something but i bargained for it so i felt good:):) I bought Hayleigh little pearl earrings - i really wanted some for her and thought that it would be special to be from her province - don't you think so too??;) Then it was back to the hotel. Lance rushed over to the bookstore b/c he had the camera developed that we sent to the orphanage - i guess ours was the only one that was returned. They are mostly pictures of Hayleigh in the orphanage with nannies etc... We will treasure them forever:) He also had to stop at McDonald's for dinner!!! After dinner, we took Hayleigh swimming! She did great - no fussing at all! You can see pics on our flickr link. The only thing that she does fuss about is eating. We have only been able to get her to eat about 2 bottles a day:( I don't know if it is the way thta we are preparing it or if it is the wrong kind for her. We are going to ask around to the other parents. She is also teething so it could be that too - who knows! We hope all is well with everyone - thanks for your prayers!!

Tuesday in Chongqing

All i can say is that Hayleigh is wonderful!!! She is such a blessing:) Last night she slept GREAT but we didn't. We didn't know what to expect - if she'd wake up for a bottle or not... So with every groan, whimper and rustling around we were peeking over her crib. Finally we just got her up around 6:30 and fed her and soon the boys were hovering over her:) They really adore her:) Taylor especially has been a great help - carrying her diaper bag, getting things for us etc... So far, she is very easy going. This morning we got her all dressed soooo cute and we were ready to go down to eat, we got everyones shoes on and look over to Hayleigh and she was asleep! So we ate in shifts:) While they are in the orphanage, they don't get rocked to sleep or anything and usually figure out a way to sooth themselves. She puts her left hand on her left eye and sucks on her tongue - it is so precious:) She hasn't fussed much at all, but we are expecting this "honeymoon" period to end soon... She has the cutest little girlie voice:):) She is very smiley too:) She is 9 1/2 months but developmentally is probably around 6 months old. Yesterday she didn't grab for any toys but today she is. She also loves the tags on her blanket and toys:):) We sent a blanket, 2 cameras, and a few toys and a questionaire to the orphanage in August. Yesterday, We got her blanket back and 1 camera. We hope to get the pics developed tomorrow.

Today we went to Walmart and the 5 families whose children were from YouYang bought the orphanage a DVD player and 10 walkers. We were going to buy them a big washing machine but they didn't come in the size the ophanage had preferred. We then continued shopping and bought some snacks, bread, lots of bottled water, formula, and a cheap stroller. By the way, it's hard to find bread like the bread back home:) Then we were off to the Panda Zoo. We saw 2 pandas - we were kind of dissappointed:(

Tomorrow we go to the Three River Gorges Museum and the People's Great Hall.

Thank you to everyone for your comments and well wishes! We still cannot see our blog but the comments go to our email!! We can't wait to get home for you to meet our little Hayleigh!!

Gotcha Day!!!

Before we knew it, it was 4 o’clock and we were getting on the bus. The government office was about 25 minutes away. What a sight it was to walk through those doors. There were many other families there were other groups who had already received their babies. We were funneled into a room and were told the babies would be arriving shortly, only to be told shortly thereafter that it would be another 20-plus minutes. However, one of the ladies in our group received her baby right when we got there because the baby was from a different orphanage than the rest of the girls which was closer.

We were watching out the front window for the bus to pull up after an 8-hour-plus ride from the orphanage. However, the bus must have parked somewhere else because the babies started arriving. It’s difficult to describe the emotions that were in the room. It was certainly electric, but with lots of love. We knew Hayleigh the instant we saw her. It’s kind of been that way from the start. They called off each family one-by-one to receive their baby (or babies as in the case of one family who got twins). We were one of the last, but we didn’t care. It was awesome.

She has such a fantastic personality. She just melted into Kirsten’s arms without crying or anything. This was very much the exception as a lot of the other babies were crying. After about 15 minutes she was smiling at us and playing with the boys. It’s a good thing we have a big disk in our camera because we took a ton of pictures and video – just wanting to be sure to remember it all.

After a short while of bonding and pictures, we took a family picture which went on some official paperwork. Then we were able to ask questions of the orphanage director and nannies. How many naps does she take? What’s her favorite toy? We asked lots of questions but I’m not sure we remember much of anything.

Finally, we put our thumbprints on some paperwork. Hayleigh did too. It was very sweet to know that all these lives had changed in just the matter of a couple of hours.

When we got back to the hotel, we just looked at her some more. She really is beautiful. Long eyelashes, big black eyes, perfect little lips. She is sure to attract some handsome guys 30 years from now when she starts dating. Kirsten gave her a bottle and then we gave her a bath. She had lots of fun – no crying. Then we put her in a new pair of PJs and she went to sleep about 2.5 seconds later. It was kind of like she new she could relax now that she is with her forever family.

Lance

Monday Morning Paperwork

What an exciting morning! Our travel group met with Frederick and Lily (our local guide and China adoption coordinator) who took us step by step filling out the paperwork. I made Lance do all of the writing:) They probably couldn't read my writing:):)

We were all soo excited to get our paperwork to fill out. In it had a copy of the newspaper finding ad of her. This picture is probably the first day that the orphanage got her, which was the day she was born. Under the picture it says that she was found on the steps at the Civil Affairs office wrapped in a blanket with a bottle and some formula. Lily thinks that the mother maybe hoped that someone would find her and take care of her... Then mayhem broke loose when we found a very recent picture of her - all of the families were in tears:) I will post a picture of us holding the paperwork with the picture (either here or on flickr)

We are all soooo excited! We have just 3.5 hrs before we meet to go to the Civil Affairs office! We are trying to keep busy:) The boys walked back down to a HUGE bookstore which has tons of toys on the 6th floor. They bought an electric car that goes extremely FAST. The store has a permanent track there and they went there to race their car around... OH - they just walked in the door and had a great time. When we were there yesterday it was PACKED! Today they said that there was no one there b/c they are all in school:)

So at 1am there we should be getting Hayleigh!!! We hope to post as soon as we can:)

Chongqing Update...

We met with Frederick this afternoon and he gave us an itinerary, so we thought that we'd share it with you...

Monday - meet at 9:30 to fill out paperwork at the hotel, at 4:00 GO TO THE REGISTRATION OFFICE TO RECEIVE THE BABY AND COMPLETE PAPERWORK!!!!
Tuesday - At 2:30 visit the Panda zoo and go to Walmart
Wednesday - At 2:30 tour the People's Great Hall and the Three Gorges Museum
Thursday - At 9:00am visit the Ancient Town of Ciqikou. Receive and check notary paperwork in the afternoon.
Friday - Pack Luggage. Receive babies' passports and leave for Guangzhou!

We were all dissappointed that we weren't going to get our babies tonight or Monday morning:( But we found out the reason! Tonight is the Moon Festival!!! All families spend time with each other and have moon cakes b/c it is a "special" full moon. If you'd like to know more you can try to visit this link (i hope it works): http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa093097.htm

Frederick brought us moon cakes too:) Brayden was the only one that ate it all!!! go figure :)?:)?:)?

This evening half of the group went to Chinese food and the other half went to McDonalds - i bet you can guess who went to McD's!!!

Our last day in Beijing...and now in Chongqing!!!

What an enlightening day... We began our day checking out of our hotel and then we were off to the Hutong Area, which is downtown area of beijing. We went on a rickshaw ride through the alley ways of Hutong. Many of these homes are owned by the government or are handed down generation to generation. They are very small and are in a rectangle with a courtyard in the middle but there are several "houses" in each rectangle (i hope that makes sense). We had the opportunity to visit a family. They had a dining room, bedroom and kitchen - maybe 500 sqft. They served us tea and answered questions that we had. They have 1 daughter at the University, which they were very proud of. We also visited a market, which was an experience - we took lots of pics. Before we visited this home we climbed up the Bell Tower and saw beautiful view of Beijing - the stairs were extremely steep and there were a lot of them...

We were supposed to go to the Silk Alley but we decided that we wanted to go to The Hard Rock Cafe instead - it was pretty good and we bought the typical T-Shirts:) We had just a little bit of time to kill so we visited a shopping mall. It was interesting to see the brands and how it was set up. There were about 10 floors and each floor had it's own department - this was our first relaxed shopping experience! We just strolled around and weren't worried about bargaining or someone asking us to buy something:):)

Finally - we were off to the airport! YIPPEE!!! I am so glad we had Mary!!! She helped us check in our luggage and was able to get our luggage on with out paying extra. Then it was off to the security check - very different than ours. We didn't have to "strip" down. They were more worried about our water - they made us open them and they smelled them looking for gasoline! We didn't have to take our computer out or anything... The plane ride was okay but very hot! The kicker was they (all the chinese passengers) were asking for BLANKETS!!! We were all waving our newspapers trying to fan us off and get cool:) Mary explained that the Chinese get cold very easily and most of them are in pants and long sleeves while we are in shorts etc... Anyway, we were relieved and excited to land!! Each step sinks in more that we are getting closer and closer to our daughter!! Frederick, our guide here in Chongqing, was ready and waiting for us (there were 3 families that flew together from Beijing) He swooped us up and took us to our hotel. He told us a little bit about Chongqing. It is 1 of the 3 largest cities/municipalities in China with 30 million people. It is also Hilly, Hot and Humid - 3 H's - and he's right. The weather is much more humid here, while we were in Beijing there was NO humidity:) This area is on the Yangzte River, so there is alot of water in the air. This area is also much more Westernized than Beijing - just around our hotel and down the street it looks like New York City:) We are going to explore down there more in a few minutes...

We are staying at the Marriott, which is the nicest 5 star hotel i have EVER been in! It is beautiful! We have adjoining rooms with mom and the boys (although Brayden has been insisting on sleeping with me everynight -so we'll see how the rest of our trip goes:))

Tonight is the Moon Festival, so the area is really hopping - more than usual, i guess. Frederick is supposed to stop by our room this evening to bring us moon cakes and our itinerary. It sounds like we don't get our little girl until 4pm on Monday:( We were thinking Sunday night or Monday morning - oh well... we are getting closer - we do have a crib in the room and we just got back from buying formula and rice cereal. :):)

I'm sorry about the pics - i am running out of space on flickr and i may have to get another photo program. Maybe tonight, i will have time to do that...

God Bless from Chongqing:):)

Ps. i realized that i haven't been changing the time on the blog - this is the real time we posted here:):)

A Full Friday!

What a great day! We had a VERY good nights sleep - thank goodness!! We are sooo glad that we came to China a few days early to get acclimated here. We are feeling pretty normal - finally! Our guide, Mary, has told us sooo many interesting things about chinese people - very fascinating.

Here's what we did today: We were picked up at 8am and we thought that we were going to go to McDonalds but the driver pulled up to KFC for breakfast - we weren't aware that they served breakfast but they did! However, they were out of egg! So, the boys had a chicken sandwich(which had corn, peas & carrots in it) and hashbrowns - we just had our Special K cereal bars (it was a very good thing we brought some food with us - Cheri: you better bring 1 suitcase full of food -i wish we had more!!) We hope to go to a market soon... Then we were off into the traffic to go to The Great Wall. On the way there i realized that i forgot to lock our safe!!!! - i was sick to my stomach, but Mary immediately called the hotel and the manager closed the safe for us and everything was okay(but we weren't sure until we returned at 4:30 this afternoon) On the way to the Wall we passed an abandoned Disneyland - apparently the developer ran out of $$$. We were hoping to go to the Wall at Mutianyu but ended up at the Badaling section (we were okay with that because it was closer) We took a little rollercoaster type of car up a small section on the back side of the wall - this was quite an experience! Taylor wanted to ride with me, but they put him by himself - i had to YELL at them NO NO!!! and they took him out and SHOVED us into the next car - whew! You should have seen Taylor's face - sheer panic. It turned out to be a very safe little jaunt but we had NO idea of what to expect. We walked up most of the wall - at one point there was a huge people jam - They were totally squishing each other and shoving to go through this little doorway - Mary ended up taking us a different and much safer way:) We climbed up for aways and it was beautiful! We then walked down to the roller coaster for a slow ride down - it was fun:) We bought a few things here... We then jumped back in the bus to head back to Beijing but the rode was broken where we needed to turn so we had to take a long cut:) Mary and Mr.Wang were hungry and wanted chinese food for lunch - we luckily had PB & J and snacks that we ate. We are not adventurous! We feel kinda bad - last night we ordered Hamburger, spaghetti etc. for dinner and with it came a cream of vegetable soup but it tasted like chalk and smelled like milk, then came a salad (which we can't eat fresh veggies) then our meal (which does not taste like it is supposed to) then dessert that wasn't too tasty either - we felt REALLY bad not eating much and the waitress hovers over the table to make sure everything is okay -she probably thinks badly of us now:( Anyway, we went to a Friendship Store (i think they take all of the tourist there) int he front of the store there was tons of awesome things to buy but we want to wait until we get to Guangzhou. In the back is the chinese restaurant where Mary and Mr.Wang ate. We wondered around and also visited a Cloisonne factory (very small and mostly a demonstration of how they hand make the vases) - very cool to see! Then we were back into the traffic and headed to MC DONALDS!!! Yeah!!! After the stressfulness of ordering what we wanted we got everything okay and it was delicious!!! We were then off to the Lama Temple and learned alot about Buddhas, the Dahli Lama etc. - very interesting stuff... At all of these places that we have visited they all have a threshold that you have to step over to stop the evil spirits (b/c evil spirits can only go straight) In some places you have to walk around a wall too b/c the evil spirits cannot turn and they don't want them to enter. They have gods for everything - mountains, rivers, heaven, earth, sky etc...

Anyway, we ran into an adoption group from Holt. I walked up to a man and asked him where he was from and he said Southern CA. I told him that we were getting our daughter on Monday in Chongqing - he siad that they were getting their son there on Monday too! They adopted a daughter from Chongqing 2 years ago! We hope to run into them again:)

I am not sure if i will have time to post tomorrow - we will go on a Hutong Tour, visit the silk alley and then to the airport to go to Chongqing. We arrive in Chongqing at 7pm.

I hope the website is working okay - i am not able to see it and can only post and put pics on through flickr - so be sure to click on the flickr link to the right of the page below our family pic:) I have been getting the comments that have been posted b/c it goes to my email too:) Thank you for your well wishes!!!

What a Day!

We had such a busy day! We are exhausted and this may be quick... WE started the day at the hotel buffet and could not figure out what to eat and what not to eat - so we mostly had bread, croissant and made to order omelets. Then we quickly changed rooms b/c the first one was a smoking room and with the jet lag - the 2 didn't mix very well. After the quick switcheroo, we went to Tiananmen square where we had our first encounters with chinese tourists and locals. They were very "happy" to see us and the blonde boys (especially Brayden). They took pics of us - so i took pics of them! We then went to the Forbidden City - gosh it was huge!!! After that we went for lunch "American buffet"- we ended up eating white rice, cold french fries, fried chicken chest! We were then off to the Pearl Market - we bought a few strands of pearls but are hoping to get REAL deals in Guangzhou. We got to experience the bathroom here and needless to say - i just couldn't do it (but i tried!!!) Oh, the boys were so excited to get a piece of jade with their name hand carved in english and chinese and on the other end of the jade it had the animal that represented the year that they were born. We were then off to the Summer Palace and took a boat ride across the man made lake and walked down the longest corridor in China. Then we headed back to the hotel for another thrilling bus ride - who needs a rollercoaster ride or ammusement park, you just need to come to China and drive around!!! We dropped off Kelli and her sister Micki and headed to the Acrobat show. On the way, a taxi bumped into us - our driver got out and yelled at him and the taxi driver yelled at our Mr. Wang and then they got back into the vehicles and drove away!hmmm We then really enjoyed the acrobat show! We were sooo tired but didn't want to miss it and we are glad that we didn't. We then headed back to the hotel and met Kelli & Micki for dinner. I think we are all going to lose some weight while we are here and it a VERY GOOD thing that we brought PB &J and Bread!

I will post more pics tomorrow - everyone is asleep and i can hardly keep my eyes open! We go to the Great Wall tomorrow... until then...

God bless and thanks for the prayers and well wishes!!!

We Made it!!!

After 22 hours of traveling and 15 months of waiting! We are finally here! I am not able to see our website, but have figured out how to post. To view pictures click on the "Flickr" link to the right of the screen located below our profile with our family picture.

We were exhausted last night and went right to bed. We got to the hotel around 8pm and crashed - we woke up at 4am! and here i am on the web! We had such good travelers with us! Taylor started not to feel well just as we were about to land in Beijing and moaned the whole way to the hotel but i think he'll be fine... He made a friend on 12 hr. flight. Jack (a 10yr old from Beijing) came to ask him to play and we sat 4 in a row of 3 seats so they could play Ziggity and game boy. After about an hr. of coziness we sent him back to his parents and we ended up napping until we landed. I'll have Taylor post more about him on his website later.

We were so excited to land and a little anxious on what to do next! We just followed the crowd through the health declaration line (saying that we are healthy) and then to the "Foreigner" line to get our passport stamped, then to the baggage claim and then out the door to the wall of people holding up signs. These were guides looking for their group - we found ours very easily! She has been great and such a relief to have here! She took us, loaded us up in a van for an exciting trip to the hotel. She gave us several of tips of does and don'ts! Our driver, Mr. Wang, is very experienced! You HAVE to be! I am going to try to get a video of our next drive - everyone honks, cuts off people, and keeps going through red lights well after they have turned. We were trying to take EVERYTHING in - the buildings, people staring, the bicyclists, the cars, everything! This is soo amazing! I am really glad that we are here a few days before we get Hayleigh - i hope that we will be adjusted to the country by then!

Our hotel seems very nice - mom and Taylor bunked up in the room next to us and Brayden slept in our room. We are going to finally meet Kelli at breakfast this morning at 7:30. I have only spoken to her for the past month after we found out that we would be traveling together. She and her sister Michelle are from Spokane. We are supposed to do alot of walking today. Mary changed our plans because she thought that we would want to get out and walk around instead of drive for a while to the Great Wall. We did see the Great Wall from the airplane though - very cool! WE will try to update tonight! (your morning:))

God Bless!

WE ARE LEAVING IN 15 HOURS!!!

I can hardly believe it! For the past 15 months we have dreamed about this and it is finally here! As you can see we are packed! We have 5 checked luggage and 5 carry ons! We weighed each piece of luggage and the heaviest is 46 pounds. When we fly within China we may have to repack because we will have to pay extra if it is over 40 pounds. Oh well - we'll worry about that later - we can buy more luggage if we need to:)

We leave for the airport at 3am tomorrow and our flight leaves at 5am. Lance's parents will meet us there to say good bye. My dad will be bringing my mom to the airport and say his goodbyes too...

Talk to ya later... From China!!!

HIS Purpose!

What an spitually emotional morning! As I sat in church this morning, I reflected back on God's good graces that he has poored down on us and continues to bless us. He is soo amazing! The tears that I have been shedding these past few weeks, today and days to come are tears of JOY! Tears of amazement that HE loves us and has entrusted a baby girls life to us. We hope that we can live up to His expectations of us and spread His good word of how he has worked in our lives this past year.

Our church is gearing up for a HUGE campaign for "The 40 Days of Purpose". It is kind of interesting that this will begin in a few weeks at our church. Lance and I credit this book for playing a role in our purpose in adopting. Lance read this book in early 2004 and we read it together shortly after we decided to adopt. While reading this book it assured us that we were on the right path and felt that we were doing something that was HIS purpose for us. We have NEVER waivered in our decision. We have felt strongly that we were meant to adopt Hayleigh.

This is one of the scriptures that really spoke to me this morning and I wanted to share it with you. For us, it is perfect timing:
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

So, if you haven't read "The 40 Days of Purpose" yet - you better read it now!! It can have a huge impact on your life! Our church is having it's first sermon on Sept.25th - you can buy a book at our church for $7.00! Please, come to Kennewick First Pres - read the book - we'd love to see you at our church when we get home and attend as a family of 5 on Oct. 2.

God Bless you!

The TICKETS are HERE!!!

I cannot believe it!! We actually have our airplane tickets and we leave in 4 days! We were gettin' kinda nervous but had faith that they would make it here! We watched them travel all over Washington State but I am glad to report that the tickets are actually in our hands!!! We even have Hayleigh's return ticket - so cute:) Now we just need to pack our clothes!

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

China Here we Come!

It's official we are going to China! The Travel Approval is actually in our hands and most of the airline tickets are in our hands too! The arrangements for Beijing is DONE! and the final arrangements with our agency is done too! Now it's time for the last minute things like pack, shop, wire money, shop, return things, shop, make more lists, shop, go to the doctor for last minute check ups, shop and of course more shopping - ugh!

Anyway, we are hoping to finish all of these little details so we can relish in the fact that we leave in 7 days for China to get our daughter!! It is soo amazing!!! We are so in love with this tiny picture and cannot wait to hold her!

Here's our Itinerary in case you are wondering where we will be and when! FYI China is 15 hours ahead of PST.

Sept.13 - Depart out of Pasco at 5am and arrive in Beijing on Sept.14 at 4:55pm
Sept. 15 (Thurs) Temple of Heaven and Great Wall (at Mutianyu)
Sept. 16 (Fri) Summer Palace (Pearl Market), TainAnMen Square, Forbidden City and an acrobatic show in the evening
Sept.17 (Sat) Hutong Tour, Silk Alley, Shop and fly to Chongqing at 5:10pm

Sept 18 - Relax in Chongqing at the Marriott
Sept. 19 - Hayleigh is brought to us at the hotel or Civil Affairs
Sept. 20 - 23 Site See, relax, finish paperwork and wait for her passport.

Sept. 23 fly to Guangzhou
Sept 23-25 relax at The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou
Sept. 26 - US Consulate Appt at 9:30am
Sept. 27 - probably her medical exam & get her Visa
Sept. 28 - Go home! We leave Guangzhou at 8:30 am and arrive in SanFrancisco at 9:15am, fly to Seattle for a 6 hr. layover:( and arrive in Pasco at 10:30 PM on Sept. 28th!

If anyone is awake at that hour you are MORE THAN WELCOME to greet us at the airport!! You can carry us to our car - LOL :)

God Bless!

Psalm 100
"A thanksgiving psalm. On your feet now--applaud GOD!
Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.
Know this: GOD is God, and God, GOD. He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep. Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.
For GOD is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever."

New Photo Program!

Hayleigh in her walker
Originally uploaded by hayleighsmom.

This is a test post for a new photo downloading program. We hope that this will be easy to use while we are in China and we hope to be able to download ALL of our pictures while we are there! If there are problems you will be able to click on this picture of Hayleigh and see everything in our photo album at flickr!

It's Chaos Here!

Here's a picture of the chaos going on here trying to get ready! YIKES! Will we ever be ready?!?!?! The real packing hasn't even begun - we are still gathering supplies...

Donation

God continues to provide and answer our prayers!!! He is SOOOO awesome!!

Lance's parents just gave us large donation - we thank them from the bottom of our hearts! We also thank my parents for my mom traveling with us - we couldn't make this trip without her too!!

And we thank those that have supported us along the way too - we thank God for everyone and everything He's been doing for us!!

We are still sccepting donations. Anyone wishing to do so can donate through our pay pal link!

God Bless!

Another shower of blessings...

We are truly blessed with wonderful friends!! A few friends from our church where we were married and kids baptised at gave us a shower. It was so wonderful catching up with everyone and sharing with them how God is working in our lives.

I took home some very cute and stylish clothes! This girl is going to be the best dressed person in our family!!! Thank you my RLC family!!!