40 minutes and we go downstairs to board a bus to get our daughter..Julia!!! We did paperwork as a group this morning around 10 a.m. We actually had to put our fingerprints on our name over and over in red ink. It seemed very official. We then took taxis to a downtown shopping area so that we could purchase Chinese books, DVD's and a wedding ball that is only unique to the Guangxi province. I 'll explain the wedding ball at a later date. We are getting a little more comfortable with manuvering around and dealing with the money barriers (not the language barrier). Matthew got a to-go pack from KFC and that was interesting trying to order. We thought we knew how to say six in Chinese but the girl just laughed and got the manager to get us a picture card. We forgot to ask for no ice in the drink so Matthew had to trash that but the chicken and the fries with the useless drink was only 17.5 yuan which is around $2.25. Another couple got the complete bucket meal and it was only $6.

We just left the Chinese restaurant located here in the hotel and for three of us it was only around $5.50 and we had several dishes and appetizers. It is amazing at the prices but I do miss our home grown tomatoes and salads. I NEED A CAFFIENE FREE DIET COKE!! (Please Fed Ex me one somebody) It is going to get harder and harder as the week goes on but we are hanging in there. I hope to try meat congee with Julia in the morning. Yum. Yum.

Everyone is so excited right now. The anxiety level is so high. It is great to share this experience with others at the same time. Well, the next time I blog, I hope to have a video on here so that you can see our GOTCHA DAY and our beautiful new daughter. Tim, I wish you guys were here but you will have your GOTCHA DAY on 08-02. Lots of Love to everyone at home and we thank you all for your prayers.

Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!!

Today we spent the morning walking around just to venture out a little on our own. We didn't go that far but did see some interesting things. There are so many people on bikes, electric scooters, buses, etc. They even have two lanes on each side of the road for just bikes, motorcycles and scooters.

After lunch, we had a brief travel meeting and then all loaded up on a bus to go to Wal-Mart. I would have taken pictures in there but didn't know if that was going to be frowned upon. I couldn't even begin to tell you what a "different" experience we had. Picture three floors - bottom had individual stores; second - grocery items (Matthew and Lisa's husband, John, decided to check out the "fresh/whole" meat section-hanging dried snake) and the checkout counters; third floor - clothing, electronics, baby items, etc. Now, that sounds easy enough but the fun is where you get a shopping cart and take an escalator between floors with your items. Really neat. Our guide was awesome, he stayed with two or three of us unexperienced shoppers and showed us what we needed to buy (he even had them put together our strollers for us that we bought) for the arrival of our girls tomorrow and helped us find chinese children's music, dvd's that are popular here with their age. Can you believe the DVD's were $1 to $3 (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles). Carson can teach Julia some English while she teaches him a little Chinese. I couldn't believe Mom and Nancy left our little group and finished their shopping on their own. Now, they did say that they both almost face planted on the escalators. That would have been a few too many injuries for the day seeing as Nancy already took a rear slide down the marble steps of the hotel today. These two are definitely serving as free entertainment.

Tonight, David (our guide) offered to take us to a really good Chinese restaurant. We enjoyed some authentic food along with another Lifeline couple. It was about $4 for our meal and appetizer and $1.25 for the cab over there. We have also grown very fond of Min ( I hope I spelled that right). Min is Barb's 3.5 yr old that she adopted at 24 mos old. Min has grown very fond of Matthew and looks for him often (my friend, is what she calls him). Barb has been a fountain of information when it comes to the do's and don'ts. We have met several great couples in only a day and are very excited about sharing the rest of this experience with all of them. It was truly a blessing that we got to travel when we did. I couldn't imagine not being with this group of people.

Tomorrow morning, we will do some paperwork and then try to do a little more shopping for items that are unique to this area. At around 3:30, we will board a bus and travel about 15 minutes to another hotel where they will give us our babies. You can see the excitement in everyone's face as it gets closer. This time tomorrow night, we will have our daughter.

Matthew is doing great and is being a real trooper with trying new things. He is going to have plenty of girls on our floor to entertain tomorrow evening. It will be great because Barb's room is right next door and she is adopting "emily" from the SN's list. Julia and Emily know each other because they are from the same orphanage. I was told today that the foster mother would take Julia back to the orphanage each day to play and then take her home at night.

We miss all of you and although I cannot see your comments, I will read them all when we get to Guangzhou. When you try to do a comment and it ask you for a user name and password just ignore it and hit submit. Lots of love, Leah - Next blog will have video of Julia!!!!!!

Picture #1 -Nancy, Mother and Matthew in the little park we found on our walk.
Picture #2 -Typical food market on the street corner (notice all the bikes).
Picture #3 -Our guide, David, and Matthew in the hotel lobby. (David has been so good with Matthew. He was always making sure that Matthew was right with us in Wal-Mart..too kind)
Picture #4 -Our hotel - Wharton International
Picture #5 -Chinese version of Edward Scissorhands in the little park we found. This guy was an expert at shaping the bushes into different designs.

We made it! The trip was pretty flawless but tiring. 13 Hours on a plane is not my idea of a good time but we are thankful that we all made it in one piece. It is Saturday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. here in Nanning. That would be 1:30 a.m. at home. We just got here around 12:30 p.m. and immediately went to lunch. Our guide directed us to a restaraunt and made sure that we had someone to take our order that could speak some English (I said some). We all ended up ordering the same "safe" thing - soy burger and fries. The language barrier is very difficult. You end up drawing a lot of pictures with your hands. We have designated Nancy as our artist when needed. This morning at the airport hotel, she had to draw a picture of a toilet to the front desk personnel. She must have drawn a pretty good one because it didn't take them two seconds to finally realize what she was asking for. Although, when she returned she said she didn't understand why they were able to recognize it because her picture did not represent the "squat room" that she had to use.

We stayed at the airport hotel last night and it was very different. Matthew learned quickly that you do not mess with any items in the room that you are not sure about. He decided to play with the air conditioning remote and we woke up to a freezing cold room this morning. Our guide last night called ahead and had them turn on the air in our rooms. Yes, the hallway and entrance to the hotel was HOT. The best way to describe the humidity/temperature is to picture the way it feels when you get into your car and close the door in the summertime when it has been sitting in the sun.

We met our guide here in Nanning and he has been very helpful the past few hours. We are resting this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon we will meet back up and attend a travel meeting and then off to Wal-Mart we go. They are taking us there to purchase items for our children that we will be meeting on Monday afternoon!!!! I am getting more excited as the time gets near.

I have loaded some pictures but can only see one so I don't know if the others will actually come across. One picture is of Julia's bed that the tried to roll into Mom and Nancy's room. They quickly directed the gentleman to my room. I actually was looking at the guy like who is that for and then it dawned on me why he was bringing it. I quickly had to unpack her toys and place them in the crib.

The other pictures that I tried to load are from the Tokoyo airport. We had just gotten off of the 13 hour plane trip and were about to board our last 4 hour flight. If you can see them, everyone is exhausted.

Okay, lastly, the Croc story. To all of you who are thinking about wearing Crocs on your trip and will be walking down airport hallways - BE Careful. Crocs do not give on that floor and instantly become a hazard when trying to walk without falling on your face. :) We got some good entertainment in Memphis when Mother almost tripped, Nancy was playing around and decided to hold her arm so she could walk straight and then both of them hit the floor in the middle of the airport. After, and only after, I saw they were okay, did I have a good laugh and I am still laughing. Luckly, no one was hurt. We have decided that we need to do a brief re-enactment for the camera but haven't found the public forum for such picture.

Well, Matthew is already asleep taking an afternoon, jet lag recovering, siesta. Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it and we are doing well. I miss you Tim, Carson and Chase and cannot wait to show you pictures of Julia. The ones that adopted "Emily" are right next door to us in the hotel so Julia will have someone that she recognizes to play with. I wish all of you guys were here with us. We love You. Leah