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!

A Glimpse of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is beautiful!  Little did we know that Hong Kong is made up of quite a few islands.  The city Hong Kong is on the Hong Kong Island, but there are many others, including Lantau- where the airport, our hotel, and Hong Kong Disney are located, as well as Kowloon where the famous Nathan Road is and where many people see the Hong Kong at night views.  Today we took the airport shuttle to the metro and then took the metro to Hong Kong Island.  The metro was very busy with peopled headed to work.  We noticed a couple things- the metro stations are very large, the metro is very clean and easy to follow, and the people are very very quiet in the morning on the metro and even when walking off and in masses that feel a bit like cattle going off to the barn.  No one hardly made a sound- you only heard the tapping of shoes.

 When we got off the metro, we walked right to the Victoria Peak tram place and where glad we went early...it just kept getting busier as time went on.  We took a tram up at a very steep incline and when we got out, we headed up to an observation deck.  We had incredible views of Hong Kong from there. Evan even got to play on a playground- his current favorite part of the playground is the monkey bars!  We checked out a few of the shops up there, had some gelato, and headed back down the tram.  We then walked to the 'escalators.'  Again....had heard about it, but had no idea what it was really.  We seriously road up Hong Kong island on escalator after escalator.  Evan loved that!   We then had to walk back down- no escalators down!  But down was of course easier than trying to walk up the steep incline.  We walked through many markets, shops, and various restaurants showcasing food from all over the world- some very fancy.  

We then took the Star Ferry- would highly recommend that (it was super easy and very cheap) to Kowloon Island.   We walked around the island for awhile, checking out some shops, markets, and the big Kowloon park.  The park was cool- inside they had an aviary, a pond with turtles, a pond with flamingos, a pond with other ducks and swans, some neat fountains, and a couple fun parks for kids.  Evan was happy to see those, as the humidity, sweat, and sore feet and legs were starting to take a toll on all of us at this point.   We then headed for the metro station and back to Lantau Island.  While we waited for our airport shuttle, Evan fell asleep on me.   We got back to the hotel and cleaned up and are now just taking it easy until bedtime.   We have to pack up the few things we got out because our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:50 a.m. for Fuzhou, Fujian- the capital of our daughter's province.   We will have to be up early to get to the shuttle and to the airport in plenty of time!   Not looking forward to that part, but anxious to finally be going somewhere for more than a day or two...we can settle in a bit.

Tomorrow we will meet our guide, Penny, and I am not sure what else.  She will get us checked into our hotel and then we will maybe see a few things and rest to prepare for gotcha day!  It still feels a little surreal...I'm not going to lie!   I'm very excited and anxious, but nervous too.  I think the fact that she can't hear us try to soothe her or calm her down has me worried.  I hope our faces and actions show a lot of love and that she will feel our love during her time of grief.  Please pray for her heart and for the staff who have cared so deeply for her for the past 2.5 years.   This has to be very hard on them too.

Signing off from Hong Kong!

We Made it to Hong Kong!

Our flight was delayed due to the incoming plane being late and needing to be re-fueled for two hours for the long flight ahead, but we got off the ground around 3:15 p.m. instead of 1:37 p.m.   It was a long flight, but we got in around 7 p.m. and then made our way through customs/immigration and to our luggage and then to wait for a shuttle to the airport.  By the time we got in our room and settled it was around 9 p.m.  We skyped with our kids and my mom....so nice, but so hard!  They are already asking when we are coming home...sigh!

We are looking forward to a nice day of sight-seeing around Hong Kong tomorrow before we are off for Fuzhou on Saturday morning.  We found out our guide is Penny.  We have some friends whose daughter who was from the same orphanage who recently had her as their guide and had a great experience so we are excited.   Can't wait to post more pictures tomorrow, but here are a few from our LONG day!

                                          At the Chicago Airport- sorry for the flipped image!

 

View of the polar ice caps north of Alaska- the North pole...amazing!

                                           I had no idea this would be our route to China!

                                                                        Almost there!

Almost Time to Go!

Tomorrow is the big day...well one of them!  We leave home in the morning for the Chicago airport.  We fly out at 1:30 p.m. on an almost 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.  Due to the 13 hour time change (we will be 13 hours ahead of home), we will not get into Hong Kong until 5:55 p.m. on Thursday, July 12th.   We will stay in Hong Kong that night and the next, spending Friday sight-seeing.  Saturday we will fly out early to Fuzhou, Fujian province where we will get settled in and meet Lena the following day- Sunday, July 15th (Elijah and Jonah's 4th birthday)....though it could be very late or in the middle of the night prior to Sunday for those of you back home.   We will be in Fuzhou until Friday the 20th and then we will head to Guangzhou, Guangdong province- home of the US consulate.  We have our consulate appointment on the 24th and take a train back to Hong Kong the night of the 25th.  Thursday the 26th we fly out of Hong Kong in the morning headed back to Chicago and finally HOME! 

The bags are packed and we are ready to go, though we are going to have a hard time saying goodbye for 15 days to our 4 little guys!   Please say some prayers for safe travels and for health for me- I have been quite sick the last 7 days and though I am on the up and up, I am still far from wonderful.  We would also love prayers for Lena's transition and for her grief since we will be taking her away from everything she has ever known, and for our boys' transitions to adding a child to the family and to helping teach their sister sign language, along with learning even more together as a family.

Looking forward to updating you next from Hong Kong!