For Tonya, who will meet Matti February 2.....

This is a video of Matti who is from the same orphanage in Anqing and is one of Amelia's dear friends. We watched this video with Amelia tonight and she smiled and pointed..... Thanks be to God for this awesome journey!

http://ourmattigirl.blogspot.com

Guangzhou

Last night we ate at a Japanese steakhouse in the hotel. This morning we had a short time of prayer with a few families in the Cafe and today was medical examination day on Shaiman Island. It was not bad and seemed to be a much more thorough examination than in 2005. Took about an hour, not bad... Next we went shopping and went to Jordon's Place, he was here in 2005 also. He moved his store and still wants to make a deal with everyone. We went to Starbucks, YES STARBUCKS! it was sweeeet.

For dinner, several families ordered pizza from Pizza Hut, its not your normal US Pizza Hut but the pizza was good. We all ate together in the hallway on the seventh floor. There were strollers, stacking cups, water bottles, pizza boxes, soda cans and babies, lots of babies. We talked about the movie Fireproof. One of the Pastors on staff from Sherwood Baptist is adopting also and is traveling with his family and he was telling us about the behind the scenes outtakes.

After an hour or so the hotel staff came and asked us to quiet down because guests were sleeping. So we cleaned up and quietly went to our rooms. The garden at the hotel is closed because they are preparing it for the Chinese New Year celebration. The entire continent is preparing for this celebration. I am not sure I understand it but i can tell you it seems alot bigger than our typical new year celebration, This is the year of the ox.

Ok well am tired. God Bless to all!

Amelia in rare form...

Guangzhou China

Hello from Guangzhou China!

We are on the last leg of our 15 day trip. We arrived here yesterday around 2:00 pm after 1.5 hour flight from Anhui Province. Leaving Amelia's province was sad especially saying goodbye to our wonderful guide Amy. She was amazing and took very good care of us. Her words to me at the airport were, "I will miss you". I know that this is their job but this time was different. She really bonded with both families that she assisted while in Anhui. I am thankful that we received her e-mail which allows us to stay in touch with her.

Once we were checked into the hotel, (we stayed here in 2005) we ran next door for lunch at McDonald's. The hotel had been renovated since the last time we were here. The rooms are gorgeous.

We decided to be adventurous with 2 other families and took the subway. They were jammed packed. What we went through to eat at Pizza Hut was both fun and tiring. Especially with Amelia. She had not had a nap all day besides the fact that she screamed for 30 minutes on her first airplane ride because she did not want to be put back in the seat belt. PLEASE begin praying now for the 14 hour flight home I'm going to need it LOL. She was in rare form. I don't know where she got all the energy she had. All the bright lights and people everywhere seemed to over stimulate her. We could not believe how active and defiant she had become. Today was a better day!

We have been spending alot of time with the Marrone family. We have been with them in every city and it has been a blessing.

This morning was breakfast, a trip to a museum and the "paperwork party". This is where one member of each family comes together in our guides room to process paperwork for the American consulate so that we are able to obtain Amelia's visa which allows her to enter into the United States. It was grueling but well worth it. This was to be a time for Frank and baby girl to bond but guess what she slept for 3 hours. I could not believe it. Perhaps the rest of the week I can get out for a little alone time while they bond.

Dominic ventured out with Jordon and walked to a local park and sat out by the pool. Dominic had pizza for lunch, leftovers from last night that he decided to heat up with the hair dryer...

The weather is great, close to 80 degrees. Frank mentioned in an earlier post that we visited Amelia's orphanage well, we were able to get a few pictures of a friend's daughter who is in the same orphanage as Amelia was. She will meet her forever family on February 2. I am so happy that we were able to take photos of her and give them to her family (see photos).

Well, getting tired so I will catch you all later. Thanks for your prayers for our family.

Orphanage Visit - Zoo visit

Hello all, Yesterday we went to visit the Hefei orphanage and the Wild animal zoo. It was very sad to see so many children without a home. I must say that the orphanage was much better than I expected. I really didn't know what to think but it was great to see that the nannys really cared for the children. One of the families we are traveling with, their daughter was from this orphanage and they got to see the facility as well as meet the foster Mom who had been taking care of their daughter. They got to ask her questions and see where she has lived and meet their daughter's foster brother. It was so sweet to see her foster brother hug her and take care of her. He got her a seat and sat with her and just held her for at least 10 minutes. They said he was deaf and could not speak, but you would have never known and I must say he was very protective of his little sis.

After the emotional visit we went to the zoo where we saw several wild animals that you could actually touch and feed. Not like our zoos back home. Dominic my brave son got on a camel, a real hairy hump back camel, he also let the peacock feed from his hand. We saw lions, tigers wolves, bears, a giant panda and a multitude of other animals. You could walk up to deer and ostrich could reach you if you weren't careful.

On a previous post we mentioned we probably would not go to Amelia's orphange, over the last few days she has bonded with Mommy especially and since we visited the Hefei orphanage we thought we did not want to miss this opportunity while being so close.

So, today we traveled to see the orphanage in Anqing city where Amelia is from. It took about two hours to get there and we got to see the country side on the way. I really like the area where she is from. There were many mountains we passed to enter the city. Reminded me of West Virginia where my Mom is from. Lots of trees!

The orphanage was much different from the one in Hefei. It was much smaller and also housed elderly folks in part of it. There was no foster care on the premises but they used foster care in the way we would back in the US. We got to see Amelia's nanny and other caretakers. They really love her and had so much fun seeing her. She understands alot more Chinese than I ever will. They told us that Amelia (Huanqing) was the oldest and took great care of the other children. if they fell she would pick them up, she shared everything with the others and is very generous, we have experienced this with her already. She shares everything and is very helpful. She is also very attached to Mommy at this point. Although Amelia was very happy to see her friends and nanny, she was very happy to leave with her Mommy! We got to see another child whose parents will be traveling to China later this month to bring her home. We took lots of pictures.

That's it for now...off to Guangzhou where its almost 80 degrees, although we are happy to be closer to coming home and seeing our wonderful children Hunter, Gabrielle and Hope, it is sad to leave where she is from, hard to explain.