Our LONG journey to China

We left the house at 6:30. After 20 minutes, I realized I had left Lilly's sippy cup on the kitchen counter full of milk for the car ride. That was not a good way to start, but David quickly reminded me to put things in perspective- it could have been our passports at home on the counter. We tried a gas station on the way to the airport- no luck. When we arrived at the airport, we cut the plastic lock tie and got out the sippy cup that I had brought for Ellie. Then David purchased TSA locks and then we were ready! I'll be hunting for a sippy cup for Ellie at the Wal-mart in Kunming. Above, Lilly and I waiting in Columbia to board the first of 3 planes for the trip.

Fulton and Lilly in Columbia watching the planes. They both were really excited to fly on a plane.

Hanging out in Detroit waiting on our flight. The plane behind us is the one we flew on to China.

Not looking quite as fresh after the 12 hour flight from Detroit to Tokoyo, Japan. It wasn't too bad actually. Lilly and Fulton did great. Lilly slept a 6 hour stretch, and Fulton also slept for several hours in a row. Can't say the same for David and me, but we were just so grateful that the children slept as much as they did. A 5 year old boy from Hong Kong sat across from us. He and Fulton played together and had fun "going on walks". Finally, we arrived at our hotel in Guangzhou at 11:30 PM on Sunday night- China time or 11:30 EST on Sunday morning for a total trip, door to door, of 29 hours. The guys slept well once we calmed Fulton and Lilly down. As we were walking to our hotel room so ready to rest our weary heads, Fulton says "It feels like daytime!" We quickly said "It may feel like daytime, but we are going to bed." We did go to bed shortly thereafter, but Lilly and I were both awake around 4:30 or 5:00 AM-couldn't see the clock. She did great and stayed very quiet next to me (she and Fulton had been too wired to sleep together) until the boys started stirring. We were all up at 6 and if you know David and me well- that rarely happens if we can help it. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Our first meal in China. The breakfast buffet was quite tasty, and we were all grateful to have something other than airplane food!

The hotel was very nice, and Lilly loved the Chinese lanterns so we thought it would make a good backdrop for a picture.

After breakfast, Lilly and I had to try out the carrier for Ellie. Since we are thinking that Ellie is close to the same size as Lilly, we wanted to make sure it would work. It did! (Thanks Kim for letting me borrow it again)

The plane that brought us to Kunming! Yeah! We are now in the city where Ellie is. It is such a good feeling to finally be that much closer to our child.

This is shortly after arriving at our hotel. As I was organizing our stuff and David was trying to set the computer up (so he could see who won the USC vs Georgia game), Lilly enjoyed watching a movie (Thanks Marybeth for letting us borrow your portable DVD player)!

Fulton didn't take long to find the remote control. This hotel (Grand Park Hotel) has TV in English unlike the hotels on our last trip to China. That is a good thing! Many Chinese people have been touching Fulton's hair. One guy asked if it was dyed. So funny!

So far so good! We are very grateful for the many prayers for safe and smooth travel for us and most grateful to our Father in heaven for providing it and bringing us here to adopt Ellie. We don't know much yet as our guide from the agency has not yet arrived at the hotel. We met another couple from Oregon who are with a different agency, and they said that they were told that the children were still w/ their foster families. We had always heard that the Kunming orphanage had the children brought out of ther foster families several days before the adoption day. That was a concern for us to think of Ellie having to grieve the loss of her foster family in the orphanage with no one in particular to comfort her. However, that also means that she will go straight from the foster family to us. I'm sure it is going to be very difficult for her and us as we try to comfort her. Please pray before you go to bed as we will get her tomorrow although we are unsure of the exact time.

Shelby, Katie, and Ethan we miss you LOTS! Thanks to my cousin, Sheri, for camping out at our house for this first week taking care of them. Sheri, sorry I forgot to get the pack-n-play down. I hope you found it in the attic.