Only 2.5 hours until .........

We are indeed strangers in a strange land. Nothing is familiar. The weather is tropical, the language is incomprehensible, the food is peculiar, and you cannot let the water touch your lips ( let alone drink it). Our bed is made of a bed frame with a hard box spring( no matress) and lovely down comforter for a blanket. Luckily yesterday Paul found a German K-mart and bought us a blow up matress to go on top. Now we feel we are sleeping on a "Heavenly bed"! Yet, no matter how strange we feel here, we cannot help wondering how Ellie will feel when she comes to live with us. In less than 3 hours we will arrive at the "Offical State" building along with several other families and receive our children. Leizhou is an 8 hour drive to Guangzhou.(the city we are in now) The caretakers and children all left the orphanage in Leizhou very early this morning. I wonder if Ellie has ever ridden in an automobile before? Has she ever seen a American before? My height seems to be of great interest to the Chinese people, I hope I do not scare her. Paul shaved off his beard yesterday. We have been told to bring food, clothes, diapers, and toys for her. I just packed my first on many "diaper" bags. We realized yesterday that here in the South of China people speak Cantonese.( Not Maderine) Our tape recorder is pnow full of words in Cantonese ( I love you, It's O.K., Good girl) so she can understand us.
Oh, the housekeeping staff just brought a crib in our room. Just 2 more hours now.
2 more hours!

Here she is ..... Introducing our daughter Ellenora Jinjin
This photo was taken in February when she was 17 months old Her latest update read: 21 months old, height 30.5" , weight 20lbs.
She looks tall, don't you think? ( Just like her Mama) and eating a
snack cake ( just like her Daddy, with a hair cut just like her big
brother! We are both so in love with her already.

guangzhou

Here we are.....

My husband asks "Where were we before?" Two years ago we began this process to bring home our daughter from China. Little did we know that the day our application was accepted was the day she was born, September 3, 2005. 120 years before that, my great grandmother at the age of 27 left her father's home and sailed to China to answer her calling as a missionary. She met my great grandfather while traveling on the Yangtzee River. He was immediatly smitten by her charm, devotion to the Lord, and healthy good looks. Two years later he walked 300 miles across the interior of China to marry her. Together they opened a new mission in the town of Cheoo Foo on the North East Coast. I remember my grandmother telling me about her walking with her sisters over the frozen waves at the beach on Chrismas morning. My childhood was filled with stories about China. We read books by Peal S. Buck, and always felt blessed we had plenty of food to eat.
Fast forward to 2007. On March 27th we received our"1st call" from our adoption agency. My hands were shaking and tears flowed down my face as we were told to expect a photo of our daugher in a few days, and be ready to travel to China in early May. Our group was about to go into the "matching room". It is all very mysterious as to the process of matching, but in my heart I knew my Grandmother's spirt was there watching over our daughter to insure she was matched with us. The govenrment of China announced a change in policy as to who may adopt a Chinese born child this year, and this change seems to have slowed down the adoptions quite a bit. We waited, and waited and then learned they were only matching a few applications and we would not be matched until the following month.
May 1st we received our 2nd call, and the package containing our daughters photo and information.