Guangzhou, China....Gotcha Day!

Good Morning! It is Tuesday, June 10th in Guangzhou, China...the day we refer to as "Gotcha Day"....the day we get our precious Esther Marie (Guan Hai Mei). We are going to the Civil Affairs building with the group at 3:00 p.m. We will meet at 2:00 to review some paperwork before we go. There are three families in our group with Rebecca as our guide. Rebecca is from here and she is the one who helps us with everything...and I mean....EVERYTHING! Adoptive families usually have a special bond with their guide by the end of the trip. We were asking about Samson, who helped with both MaryAlyce and Joshua, and found that he is immigrating to some remote, cold area of Canada. Interesting! We wish him and his family well!

It is not even 6:00 a.m. and we have been up since about 4:30. MaryAlyce fell asleep at dinner after she ate before 8:00 p.m. and I followed shortly around 9:00 p.m. Jasper stayed up later to get the internet set up and to do some email. Well, here I am writing to all of you and Jasper and MaryAlyce have been to the 7-11 already for snack foods and now they are watching the Discovery Channel. It's nice to have some channels in English! We also have CNN.

Our train ride from Hong Kong was really nice....about 2 hours. (Photo above is of MaryAlyce signing her "entrance card" for China while on the train.) We had premium class tickets with very comfortable, roomy seats. Our seating was around a table and we enjoyed having lunch on the train....hot Jasmine tea, coffee, juice, noodles and sandwiches. As we passed through city and country, we could tell it had been raining quite a bit as water levels in areas appeared higher. Most everyone here lives in high-rise apartment buildings and they are everywhere...and so very close together. It's amazing that they can build them like that. In one area where we slowed down, we realized we were passing through the border area between Hong Kong and China. There were fences with barbed wire on the top and border guards. I don't think I will ever forget the feeling I had when I actually saw this and I began to pray for the people of China at that moment.

Arriving at the train station, we had to wait in line for awhile to have our passports checked but everything went smoothly. The biggest issue was dealing with all of the luggage by ourselves with no cart...down long hallways and down escalators and stairways....BIG stairways! Add a stroller and a small child and you get the picture. It was hot also, with no air conditioning and the dew point is very high here. We had men anxiously trying to give us a ride somewhere, but we were looking for Rebecca who was meeting us. We ended up being in the wrong place and she finally found us. More walking and more stairs and we made it to the van...yeah! We had a nice ride to the hotel for about 20 minutes and checked in...The White Swan. Wow! Memories of being here to get MaryAlyce flooded back into my mind and it felt good to be here. Now we are making new memories. We got here about 4:00 p.m. and met for dinner at 6:00 p.m. Before dinner, we unpacked a little and moved the twin beds together so make a larger sleeping area.

We went to a Chinese restaurant just across the street from the hotel and enjoyed a variety of dishes that Rebecca ordered for us. Picture 16 people sitting at a large round table with a giant lazy Susan full of different Chinese dishes. Jasper brought the camera but I was so tired and overwhelmed...and enjoying the company of the other two families....that I forgot to take pictures. oops! After dinner, MaryAlyce fell asleep right there at the table. We left and stopped by the China Doll, our favorite little shop here in Guangzhou. Once back in the room, we collapsed. The trip is physically and emotionally draining at times...especially the end of the day. We have a lovely room overlooking the Pearl River...and there is a laser light show each night at 8:00 p.m. The park across the river plays music that seems to go along with it. Boats covered in lights move slowly up and down the river. We will enjoy one of the dinner cruises one night while we are here as part of the group activities. I am excited to have a river view from the 12th floor since we didn't have that when we were here before! Apparently, they gave us this room with a view for no extra charge...you usually have to pay extra.

The other two families who are in our group are really nice. One family is from Charleston, SC and the other is from Alexander City, AL. The Charleston family is adopting a 2 year old girl...Lizzie...from the same orphanage as Esther Marie. They have 4 biological children....3 are with them on this trip. This is their first adoption from China. The other family is adopting a 5 year old girl from an orphanage that is farther away. They have 2 biological children with them and one little girl who was adopted from China. She is MaryAlyce's age and very sweet. This will be their second Chinese adoption.

Well, we are eating "cream flavour layer cake" from the 7-11 now and MaryAlyce is saying she is starving. (I think she is always hungry!) I just called and the buffet breakfast is from 6:00-10:30, so I will close for now so we can get dressed and go eat and check out the hotel more. I want to make sure the cameras are charged and we have a little diaper bag packed for Esther Marie before we leave.

I am SO excited thinking about holding her this afternoon that I can hardly stand it! I will try to post photos as soon as I can.

Love to all! Sarah