Day 1: Made it to Guangzhou

Saying goodbye to the boys was pretty tough. Micah is 5 and Elijah is almost 3. Being away from them for this 2 weeks is the most difficult part of this whole process. More so than fundraising or paperwork or traveling or anything else. But God is teaching me a lot about trusting Him with our boys, and learning to trust our family with them. Sometimes is obeying God is just really difficult. If we did not do this, we know we'd be deliberately disobeying God's call on our life. (I'm not saying adoption is God's will for everyone!) We have great family and I'm thankful for their help! There are moments when I am glad we did not bring them, honestly. I think the long flights and the different kinds foods would be tough on them.

We had a looong flight to Seoul, Korea. 16 hours. We love Korean Air. They have very sweet flight attendants, with beautiful hair-do's. They seemed to be very kid-friendly for the families on the flight. The food was good for airplane food. We tried the Korean dish "kimbap" and seaweed soup. Kimbap was good. Seaweed soup not so much.

We had a 4 hour lay-over in Korea. Had some good time to get to know the other families while we waited. I love being surrounded by others who have the same call and passion. There were 4 other families on our flight, also with Lifeline Children's Services.

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After 24 hours of travel, WE MADE IT TO CHINA!!! It feels good to be closer to Meiqi Hannah, even though we won't get to meet her for another 36 hours or so. Our guide spoke with the orphanage today to check on her, and they said "she is healthy and happy."


I was welcomed to China
with a squatty potty! I was not expecting to see one in the airport.


We had a quick and rainy trip from the airport to the hotel.
1 other family is here with us this week, and thirteen other families will connect with us next week. Our agency, Lifeline, does a great job of helping us get everywhere we need to go. Our guide, Miko, met us at the airport and arranged for a driver to bring us to our hotel. We got a schedule for our next 2 weeks. We have some fun things planned.

 

Our hotel, The Garden Hotel, is very beautiful and very large. It is also very modern. There are fresh flowers and plants everywhere. It is a Five Star hotel. There is no way we could afford this in America!!

Those are real!

Our first dinner in China was delicious! BBQ pork, rice with goose(!) and some kind of vegetable.
I forgot my fork. I'm having to learn quick.

Don't drink the water!

We were SO exhausted and slept from 6pm to 5am! We had been awake for 36 hours. The hotel is very quiet and comfortable.

The view from our room of Guangzhou.