We Made it to Fuzhou, Fujian Province

Well, this morning we woke up at 5 a.m.  I was up a bit before that and didn't get to sleep til around midnight.   We got our stuff together and headed to the hotel lobby around 6 a.m.  We took the 6:20 a.m. shuttle to the airport.  It was pretty easy to get checked in for our flight and to go through security and immigration.  We boarded a very large plane that was quite empty and took off for Fuzhou around 8:50 a.m.  We got there by 10:30 a.m.  Once we got through customs/immigration and got our bags, our guide Penny was waiting for us.   We headed to our van and were off to our hotel- about 45 min. away from the airport.  We arrived at the Lakeside hotel and got checked in.  Penny gave us some advice and set up our gotcha day time for tomorrow- 3:30 p.m. which is 2:30 a.m. central time at home and then she was off.

Our Walk Around the Lake

                                                                Our hotel- the Lakeside

We will meet Lena in the conference room of our hotel!   We are the only family adopting from this province this week.  Our guide says she usually has 1-3 families per week.  It is so hard to believe we will be meeting Lena in less than 12 hours!  We are full of many emotions, but can't help but to think about this being her last night as an orphan, her last night sleeping in the crib with metal bars in an orphanage.  Tomorrow she will no longer be an orphan but have a forever family! Praise God!

Yesterday, we hung out in our room for awhile and then Evan and I took a little nap.  We woke up and walked around the lake and through a small amusement park attached to the lake path.   It was beautiful, but very hot and humid...VERY humid!   So many neat sights.  We were definitely a sight as well- the only American family walking around the park.  A few people were anxious to say hello to us, some took our picture, and most were very taken by a little boy with blonde hair. :)   He is so stinking shy though- he wouldn't really look up and smile....we're working on that!   We headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and went to bed after Skyping with the kids back home.  We still woke up at 4:30 a.m....3:30 p.m. back home...just couldn't sleep!

Today will be mind-boggling...I'm sure!   Emotions are flying like crazy, but we cannot wait to get Lena!   It will also be a big day back home- Elijah and Jonah will be celebrating their 4th birthday!   We wish we could be there to celebrate with them, but know my mom will make their day special and also that we will get to Skype with them- giving them their ultimate birthday present....a sister! :)

Hopefully our next update will be about gotcha day and have the pictures you are all waiting for!
Keep praying!  And add a prayer that our VPN and internet access will be working so we can do so...it's been on and off a lot...hence why it took me an extra day to get this post up!