A Series of Unfortunate Events

Well, we made it to Hefei with many adventures along the way. We started our day early leaving Hong Kong with a smooth ride to the airport with plenty of time for our flight. We checked in, nervous about how much luggage we had (3 large bags to check and 2 carry-ons each). You are only suppose to have 1 bag each and 1 carry on. We made it through check-in without having to pay extra baggage fee (so far so good). We must admit we searched for the kindest female face, smiled and tried out our best Chinese phrases. We were grateful for this blessing. We made it through security and immigration with the only problem being the loss of our baby soap by security. He kindly tried to help us, but in an effort to reallocate pounds to avoid excess baggage fees we forgot we had put it in one of our carry-ons.

We quickly figured out that we would be challenged having to deplane, get all of our luggage, go through security and immigration again to make our connection flight to Hefei. Each leg of the flight was only 1.5 hours but on Saturday, there is no direct flight. Our connection experience could have been straight out of a bad episode of I Love Lucy. We had to go through Chinese customs, were directed to four different counters to have new boarding passes issued and got lost trying to find check in - all while carrying about 250 lbs of luggage in tow. At the check in counter we found no kind female face and had to pay for extra baggage (I think the people in Hong Kong just liked us better). Meanwhile the clock is ticking and our gate is far, far away. Don't forget, no one speaks English and we're all talking sign language to each other. Needless to say, we did make it.

Once we arrived in Hefei we were met by our guide (Eva) and our driver Mr. Poo. I hope Eva ment the bear and not the stinky stuff. We drove to the hotel through many dusty streets. It seems all of China is under construction. That transition went smoothly. She handed us an envelope with our itinerary on it. We discussed that we will go to the Civil Affairs building on Monday morning at 9am (8pm Sunday Alabama time) to meet Hadley for the first time. She also gave us a list of documents to have ready. We came with our documents all ready, stamped, sealed, authenticated. We work with an amazing adoption agency that is on top of things----they go above and beyond to help us so when Eva informed us that we needed documents that we had not brought with us, believe me it was a surprize. We e-mailed Karla, our social worker, and she assured me that these were new requests for information, but it would be handled and not to worry. We are waiting for news from Karla and are praying they have their wording mixed up and we actually have what they need. We realized as we walked into our hotel that we were both fighting an amazing feeling of lonlieness. I miss our kids so much my heart aches to be this far away from them and know that I have so many days left until we can all be together. The hotel room was nice enough but it wasn't bright and only had two small windows. The hotel staff were very considerate in providing a crib and a stroller.

Just so you know we haven't forgotten about our kiddos at home, we have made or own little portable picture gallery of our lovies. We struggled with our basic needs communication, food and sleep. We couldn't make any of our outlet adaptors and voltage converters work, even though we had no problem in Hong Kong. Therefore, we had no computer access (we are writing this on a rented computer), no fan to provide white noise for sleep (I still can't sleep more than 4 hrs. at a time w/o meds.), no curling iron (makes for flat hair -see picture), we made poor menu choices for dinner. Not to mention I found a hair in my soup. All this to say, we woke up this morning with heavy hearts. We wanted to be at our best and strongest to help Hadley when so goes through this huge transition. Instead, we feel increadibly vulnerable. I think the Lord has us exactly where He want us...totally reliant on Him. We tearfully spent time praying this morning before breakfast. We told the Lord exactly how we felt and told Him we would trust Him. Pat read Psalm 91 which my Dad has been praying for us. We confessed that we are spoiled and used to the many comforts of home.

We left for breakfast and went to the beautiful hotel restaurant with 360 degree view of the city. We had amazing hot tea to warm the soul and we ate to Kenny G's Christmas music on the radio. No kidding. The music selection alone provided some much needed laughter. We had a great breakfast with everything from made-to-order omelets, banana bread, cereal, sushi, bacon, fruit, rice, vegetables, fresh juice, and did I mention the amazing tea? We stuffed ourselves hoping to stay full until dinner. The restaurant was bright and cheerful and I plan to keep Hadley up there in the mornings for as long as she will tolerate it. We left and rented our computer so that we could keep connected to home and will spend the afternoon shoping for a computer cord, a fan (since ours blew up), baby shampoo and I may or may not find a curling iron.

We are preparing our backpact with goodies, toys, anything that may make our first meeting with Hadley enjoyable. We fear her sreaming/crying as we have to quickly take her away from those who have loved her for two years. We are excited and scared too. But this we know...we are where we are suppose to be. We are called to be here and the Lord has given us this promise "And your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it', whenever you turn to the right or the left" Isa. 30: 21. This is the comfort I have of knowing how to mother this precious one who has never been loved by a mother.

Thank you for your e-mails of encouragement for us. Never have I realized how much words of love mean for those far from home. We love you. Thanks for loving us.