Home Sweet Home!

We made it back safe and sound! We were supposed to fly into Minneapolis Saturday night, but we missed our connecting flight when we got to New Jersey. Our flight from Guangzhou to Beijing went well then when we got to Beijing, I thought we had a long 3 hour wait to for our flight to New Jersey, but after getting through the string of customs, baggage claim, baggage check, and security our wait was only a half an hour. We sat on the plane in Beijing for almost 2 hours waiting to take off and were a half hour late leaving. Our connecting flight in NJ didn't leave any extra time so when we finally landed 13 hours later in NJ our flight was already boarding. We still needed to get through customs, which Katherine became an instant US Citizen - so cool! - go to baggage claims, and check our baggage again. We missed our flight by a long shot. So they put us up at a Holiday Inn for the night along with $200 in vouchers for food. We were all so tired but we managed to get some snacks with the vouchers. Then we all went to bed and got up very early (3 am for Mike and I). We just couldn't sleep. I wanted to just get home, I'm soooo tired of flying (we had 7 flights in 2 weeks), but we knew we had one more trek. We touched down in Minneapolis at 11:15 am on Sunday morning.

I can't explain in words just how wonderful it is to be home. I wonder when the tired foggy feeling will subside? Katherine seems to like her new home and loves her new bedroom, however, she is terrified of our three dogs. It will take time, I'm sure she will one day love them.

Thank you so much for following our incredible journey to the other side of the world to bring home our daughter. You all have a very special place in our hearts. As we begin a new year, I can't help but be in awe at the wonderful miraculous things that have happened in our lives. We are so blessed and we give all the glory to our loving Heavenly Father. Bless you and your family in the new year ahead - may you find peace, joy, love, and happiness in your journey.

The Road Home

Today was our last full day here in Guangzhou, China. The big event of the day is our trip to the American Consolate here in Guangzhou. We had our swearing in and received Katherine's (JiangTing) visa to let her enter the US. She'll have the privelidge of becoming an US citizen as soon as she is admited into the US at the airport.

It's just after midnight here and in 8 hours we leave the hotel and get started on our marathon of airplane rides. Four airports, three airplanes and one big trip back over the north pole. It's kinda sad to think that even if we watched all three Lord of the Rings movies, we'd only be about half way done with the trip. I guess it's like we've told our kids; the long plane ride sure beats traveling by boat.

For anyone interested, you can watch our flight progress at http://www.flightview.com we're on Continental, which is code CO and we have two flight numbers. From Beijing to Newark it's flight number 88 and then from Newark to Minneapolis it's flight 370.

So, we're signing out from Guangzhou and will resume after we're back home. Oh, by the way, whoever ordered all the snow and cold in Minnesota....really...you didn't have to do that for us :-)

A Short Update

It is now the end of day 13. Only one more full day here in China and then we leave for home! We all are so excited. We have been warned about the cold and the snow that will greet us at home, but even I don't care...I can't wait to see it! I'll probably change my mind after a week or so though!

Yesterday, we had a nice relaxing day and then had a river boat cruise at night. It was breathtaking on the Pearl River. The weather was mild and we had a wonderful breeze. We had dinner on the cruise, more Chinese of course. Some scary stuff too. Mike and Katherine were fine with the selections but the rest of us are missing our western cuisines!

Most of the families, except two us, are leaving for home tomorrow. This morning we had some group photos taken of all of us, since this will be the last day that we'll all be together. They all fly out very early in the morning and we leave on Saturday. I didn't think I would care, but I'm feeling jealous that they'll be home on Friday night. I miss home and everyone so much!

Today we had our Consulate appointment. We didn't actually have to go. Our guides went for us and then tomorrow we go there to finish up. It's the day that we get Katherine's Visa too. This is the reason that we have to stay so long. The first week was waiting for her Passport and this week was waiting for her Visa. So after tomorrow we are home free. Our fingerprints cleared at home too, so it's nice to know that we can go home in a couple of days. I can't wait to show Kat her new home and very own bedroom. She has been sharing a room with Mike and I. We are so glad that we booked two rooms at each hotel. We would have went stir crazy for sure.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Today was a very unique Christmas for us. We started off the day with the breakfast buffet at the hotel and then headed off to a Chinese tea house with our group. We got to sit and sample various types of Chinese tea including Oolong, Jasmine, Rose, Ginsing and Green teas.

Soon after this we were back in a taxi on our way back to Shamian Island for round two of our shopping and to pick up some items we purchased the day before. For lunch, we ate at a restaurant called Lucy's which served a wide variety of Asian and Western styles of foods. Between the Eggs & Bacon, Cheeseburgers and Grilled Cheese, our kids were happy for something they haven't had since home. (that is except for the two visits to McDonald's so far) It was a beautiful day here in Guangzhou so while at Shamian Island we walked around the garden areas enjoying the sunshine.

Later this evening we met up with many families in our group for dinner at A Thousand and One Nights restaurant. You may have already guessed that we didn't have turkey, ham, stuffing or cranberries. It was a diverse evening eating Arabian food in China for Christmas. We hope your Christmas is as enjoyable as our was today.

It's Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas - Eve! Today Katherine (Jiang Ting) got her medical exam done along with a hundred other babies. She refused to have a male doctor and ordered that a female doctor be brought in before she would cooperate. After that things went much smoother. We were told that she needed 2 shots and it turned out she needed 4. She took every shot without flinching or even wincing and watched the whole thing without one tear. I was amazed. The doctor was concerned about her vision in her blue eye and asked if we knew if she had trouble seeing with it. We told them no she is only deaf, and her eye sight is fine. They didn't believe us so they first tested her for color blindness - she passed right away with no trouble and then they made her take an eye exam using the eye chart - she passed that with no trouble too and I think she amazed the doctor. I was so proud of her!

After that we went to Shamian Island for some shopping. We have quite the bargainer in our family now. Every time we were in a store she would take the calculator (which every shop owner has to show the price and negotiated price) and ask how much. When they would tell her she would either say yes or no or punch in a new price on the calculator to see if they would take it. She always told us when we paid too much. Sometimes she gets a little bossy and we have to remind her who the parents are. Yes, she's definitely getting comfortable with us!

Thank you Carolynn for the great tips! We did get some chops ordered (chinese stamps with our names engraved in American and Chinese) and went and ate at the Bridge and Cow Restaurant. They serve delicious Thai food there. The weirdest thing that happened to us today is I was asked if I was Chinese by one of the shop owners. She said "you have Chinese hair and eyes, are you American"? She also thought I was much younger that Mike. She said "oh, you have a much younger wife" then she turned and looked at me and said "how old are you?" you should have seen her face when I told her I was older than Mike! I loved every minute of it of course. Then another lady came around the corner and said the same thing - "you have Chinese hair!" Meanwhile Jayde was shopping for a ring for himself and the shop owner there thought he was buying it for his girlfriend - they thought I was his girlfriend! He told me he can't even take me to China without people thinking I'm his girlfriend. Poor kid! But everyone commented on our large family and how very tall Jayde is. He has them all amazed.

Tomorrow we are touring a Chinese Tea House for Christmas after that more shopping on Shamian Island.

I would post pictures, but Mike is the one that does that and right now he's snoozing, so we will post them tomorrow.

We hope you enjoy our video we made just for you! Wishing every one a very Safe and Happy Christmas Eve!

Holiday Cheer in China

So you'd think that you could escape the power of the Christmas songs that always get stuck in your head by traveling to China, right? Well, as it turns out no. American Christmas songs are everywhere in China. The lobby in the hotel, the music in the stores, even the music in the streets; there is no safe haven. The funny thing is that all the Christmas songs are in English. (Including the song with the kid singing to Santa in a bad fake Mexican accent talking about mommacita and a reindeer named poncho) So how fair is that?!? So here I am in China and we still get Frosty the Snowman in our heads. I kinda feel bad for any Chinese people that don't know English. They have a song in their head and they don't even know the words. Maybe we have it easier, at least we know what tune is in our heads. So in honor of the Christmas tune, here is a video we made for you.

A Sad Goodbye and New Adventures

Well on Saturday we had to say goodbye to Nanjing, the birthplace of our daughter. We miss the beautiful hotel we stayed in but we mostly miss our Guide, John who became a good friend to all of us. It was very hard to say goodbye knowing that we may never see him again. We were also blessed with a great driver named Lee - without him we wouldn't have made it anywhere around Nanjing. We had a safe flight to Guangzhou and Jiang Ting did very well on her first plane ride. She did say a few times that it hurt her ears but our guide John had already let her know that it would happen, so it wasn't a surprise to her. He helped us so much to communicate with her. He would write to her in Chinese and tell us what she said. While we were in Nanjing, we had our guide all to our self. Here in Guangzhou we have to share our two guides Lenneker and his wife Amy, between 22 of us.

Our guide John (left) and driver Lee (right)
Ting's first trip on an airplane

One of Ting's many "above the clouds" pictures

When we got to Guangzhou we were very pleased with the mild weather. We met up with the other families and received a nice welcome back. Jiang Ting was overwhelmed with all the Americans and she thought that everyone lived in Minnesota and they were all our good friends. Luckily, we printed off maps of China and the USA so we could point out to her that the families are from all over the US. When we got to the hotel all the babies along with her needed their picture taken for the Visa's that we're applying for. She didn't understand why she needed to take a picture when it was only babies getting theirs taken. I had to explain that she needed it to go home. She wasn't happy about it but she did it. We were so excited to find out that our hotel has a Starbucks connected to it and a McDonald's across the street. But when we went to our rooms our excited anticipation quickly faded. The rooms are much smaller as are the beds. The room smells very old and musty and we realized that we were very spoiled in Nanjing. Did I mention we miss it there? I am happy that it's warmer here though! I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The weather looks to be improving. We haven't seen the sun since we've been in China except when we were in the air above the clouds. Tomorrow (dec. 24) it's supposed to be clearing up in the afternoon and we should see sun and a high of 68 degrees! That kind of makes up for our sleeping situation.

Today we went to a Folklore Museum that was created for the Chen Family. They were the largest family in China and the beautiful place was made just for them. It seems weird that something that was so private is now a tourist attraction. We bought a beautiful print that a man made with the side of his pinky finger using black ink. It was amazing. Then we went shopping for more snacks. Jiang Ting is getting more used to us and is not so shy about asking for us to buy her things. We have no problem telling her no to a pair of shoes that are 500 yuan (about $70 US dollars). So it begins!

Our Kids with the crysanthimum dragons

Pinky Art

A piece done by "pinky art"

The outside wall of the museum

Mike and Shelly in one of the gardens at the Museum

When we were leaving the museum we were approached by a young man who said "excuse me, she would like to take a picture with you." He was talking about a teenage girl. I thought she wanted a picture with the American family, but she was only looking at Jayde. Jayde said, "me?" And the young man and the girl said "yes". I thought it was so cute. So the young man took the picture of her and Jayde with her camera and I quick shot one too! Then when Jayde was done another girl came up but thought she missed her chance and was upset, but when I told her it was okay for her to get one too she was so excited. So I snuck a picture of that too! The girls looked at Jayde with big puppy dog eyes and said "thank you" with very big smiles on their faces. You would think Jayde was a huge celebrity there! I think it made him feel pretty good too.

Tomorrow is her medical exam and she needs 2 shots. Mike had our guide write down that this is going to happen tomorrow so she won't be surprised. When she read it, she was a little nervous but I think she'll do just fine. After that Shamian Island! Carolynn, I know you've been waiting for this! We just found out today and I couldn't help but think of you! I will take lots of pictures and hope to make some good purchases while we're there.

Jayde's fans in China

We're hoping the rest of the week will go quickly. We are having a great time, but we're all ready to come home!

Shopping for groceries in Guangzhou

And We're Off Again!

Today we are leaving for Guangzhou and meeting up again with the rest of the adoptive parents. We are one of 22 families that traveled to China to bring home their children. Our family is the only one in the Jiangsu Province. It will be fun seeing everyone and their new babies. Today will be the first time that Jiang Ting has ever been on an airplane. The ride is only an hour and 40 minutes. We're glad that her first time will be nice and short. Right now we are busily packing and getting ready to head out - we will post more and put new pictures up when we get settled in Guangzhou. Thank you everyone so much for your prayers during our trip and I LOVE reading the comments. Please keep commenting! Missing all of you and we send our love!

a bi-lingual computer

早按
Good morning. We've had to make our computer type Chinese characters so JiangTing can type and send messages to her freinds. It's still amazing how much she knows.

A slower day

Today Jiang Ting was feeling extra tired and so we kept our activities to a minimum so she could rest. First we visited the Ming Tombs. During the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing was the capitol and home to emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang, ruling from 1368-1398. Of all the emperors, he is the only one with a tomb in Nanjing, all others are in Beijing. There are magnificent gardens, waterways and statues that still remain to this day. We took a quick walk through this area and have a couple photos for you.

After the visit to the Ming tombs, we went to see fresh water pearls being cultivated. Did you know that oysters can produce over twenty pearls at a time?

After these trips we went back to the hotel to let TingTing sleep. More adventures tomorrow!

This Is It! She's Ours!

Yesterday (December 18th) our day started at 5:30 am. We got up and got ready, ate breakfast, then our guide and driver met us in the lobby to take us back to the Civil Affairs office to make our adoption official. It was a very special time for us. We were interviewed very briefly - they wanted to know if we still wanted to adopt Jiang Ting, why we wanted to adopt in China, we had to promise to never mistreat or abandon her, tell our health status, how much we make annually, and state our birth dates. Very simple for such an incredible thing. The day before I had requested that we travel to see Jiang Ting's orphanage. Our guide set everything up and so we were able to travel 2 hours by bus to get there. First we met with the Director and Assistant Director. Two very nice gentlemen. They bought us lunch which was very good. The boys were impressing them with their limited Chinese language. The Director told them they are welcome to come back to China anytime. From there we went to the orphanage. I brought a gift that a mother from North Carolina sent me to give to her daughter who waits to be adopted who happens to be Jiang Ting's best friend in the orphanage. What an honor and a privilege to to do this. The family will be coming to China to bring Jiang Hui home around February. I cannot wait, I want to make a trip to North Carolina and have the girls be reunited with their new families! Once we got to the orphanage we were escorted into a room where we met with the orphanage Doctor and the Deputy Director. Jiang Ting was able to give them some candles that I had made for gifts. She was so proud! You could tell that the doctor loved her so very much. She asked us if we had any questions about Jiang Ting's health. We asked a few and got very good answers. They said that she hasn't even had a cold! The Director gave us a DVD as a gift that has footage of the orphanage and the staff - a very nice blessing. From there we toured her sleeping quarters, where they played, and where they studied. We brought 3 bags of candy for her to hand out to her friends so the last two stops were in rooms with children that had many care providers. She gave out handfuls of the candy. Then we finally got to meet her best friend, Jiang Hui. The Director got her out of school just so we could see her. We took many pictures and videos. Then I was able to present her the precious gift her family sent her and I had our guide translate to her that it was a gift from her Momma and she loves her, and cannot wait to come and bring her home. She looked at me and in English said "thank you". It was so precious. The children were very well cared for and there are many nannies to help with all of them. We also met the orphanage teacher. She was very special to Jiang Ting and the teacher loved her with the love of a mother. We also received the wonderful incredible news that we were approved to tour her school. So after a last farewell to her friends we headed to her school which the orphanage teacher accompanied us. Jiang Ting sat on her lap on the way there. At the school we were able to get all her school transcripts, artwork that she now has a momma to give to, meet her MANY friends, teachers, and principal. We were told that the last few days she has been preoccupied waiting for her family to come and get her - this was so nice to hear. Jayde, Sage, and Isaiah were admired by all the children and they wanted to shake all of our hands. Jiang Ting's friends gave her the thumbs up for her new family (which means very lucky) and we were just swarmed by children. She was being taught at a special needs school and all of her classmates are deaf. It was so wonderful to see her signing and communicating with her friends and when people would ask about us she would point Mike and I out and say "Mama and Baba". She didn't seem sad although her friends did and when it was time to leave I was in tears. It was so hard to see her friends say goodbye to her for the last time. But she just kept smiling and waved goodbye. Many children were yelling goodbye in Chinese. Our guide said that was very special and emotional and it was the first time he had the honor to bring a family to see the child's school. But the hardest part was when we had to bring back her orphanage teacher to the Jiangyin Children's Welfare Institute. Oh my, it brings tears to my eyes all over again to remember how hard it was for this young lady to let Jiang Ting go. She stood on the bus just staring at her with tears coming down so sadly saying goodbye. I absolutely bawled. I looked at Jiang Ting to see if she had tears but she was giving her an encouraging smile as if to say "it's okay, don't worry about me, I will be happy. I won't forget you and I love you very much". Oh, how the whole thing tore me apart. When we left I got out a tissue and she just looked at me wondering why I was crying. I could only smile at her and wipe away my tears. What a beautiful child we have been blessed with. Well of course nothing could top what we have just been through so after our drive back to the hotel we came in and rested. One thing she LOVES to do is play on the computer. A girl after Daddy's own heart!

Jiang Ting and her best friend Jiang Hui

Group picture with the nannies

Jiang Ting's orphanage teacher

Jiang Ting's class mates at the deaf school
Jiang Ting and her teachers, with the school principal on the far right

School kids come to meet Jiang Ting's new family and to say good-bye
We have decided to name our little girl Katherine Ting Gelhar. It's now on all her official documents. She is so quick to understand and so very unique. She is such a beautiful girl with one brown eye (like mine) and one blue eye (like Mike's). She has already taught us so much and here I thought we would be teaching her!


Today (December 19th) our Guide, John, and our driver took us to see some sights in Nanjing. First we went to a museum that made beautiful handmade weavings of silk. This brocade style weaving is a very ancient style of weaving and can not be duplicated in quality by modern machines. The weavers shown below will work 8 to 10 hours a day to produce about 6 centimeters of designed fabric at a time. Nanjing is home to this style of weaving which is still world famous to this day. Since Jiang Ting is from the Nanjing province, we bought a small wall hanging with the symbol of Nanjing done in this very special fashion.

Brocade two person weaving loom

Finished brocade weaving with flower design

After that we headed to the Nanjing City Wall. The wall is 600 years old and is the longest city wall in the world. That was very beautiful. We saw a Buddhist temple that was quite beautiful too. And of course spent more money there. [comment from Mike...the Nanjing City Wall has a section that is run down and is under renovation to be rebuilt. A master artist has partnered with this project to help raise money by selling his artwork.] We bought a ball that was made of crystal that an artist hand painted from the inside. They drill a hole and make a small circle inside and then use a special brush made of mouse whiskers to paint from the inside out. The Master was there today painting. We purchased a ball and he signed our last name in it. It will be a wonderful keepsake. [comment from Mike...OK, so we bought a crystal ball...but that doesn't mean we will be doing any fortune telling!] Although, they kept trying to get us to upgrade the ball to a bigger one and when we said no they tried to get us to buy two little ones for a "special price" because they were student crystal balls. Again and again we had to say no. I'm glad we made the purchase though. Our Guide is very good at helping us to spend our money!

Our family at the Nanjing City Wall

Pretty Jiang Ting at the Nanjing City Wall

Crystal spheres, hand painted from the inside

The master artist enscribing our family name, Gelhar, on our crystal
Jiang Ting has been wanting to chat to her friends on the computer in our hotel room but we have been unsuccessful at getting the Chinese to interpret for her. We told her that today we would go looking for software to install on our computers at home so she can talk. She knew that we were going today and she was so excited. When we got to the computer store Mike had his tongue hanging out. It was the biggest computer store we have ever seen. They had everything. So much it made me dizzy. I know Mike wants to go back so he can browse. It would take hours, maybe even days to do so. I'm getting used to the stares from the Chinese people. First they look at Jiang Ting and then they look at all of us. At the store today two ladies were asking about our family to our guide. They said "she's a Chinese person" pointing at Ting. There were others that would just give us a thumbs up and say that we had a very nice looking family. So many of the people in China are so nice. The roads are another story all together. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the madness and the pedestrians do not have the right of way here. It's more like get out of the way! Even their walk sign for crossing has a little guy running when it gets close to the light changing. It's pretty hilarious - but very serious. We had to cross the street today to get to the computer store. That was probably the most thrill seeking thing I have ever done. I kept a nervous look out to make sure all the kids were close and we hurried when we should and stopped and got out of the way when we should. There is also bikes and motor scooters you need to look out for. I told John, "I could never drive in China" and he just replied "oh no, you could NEVER drive in China" - enough said!

After the computer store we made it to Pizza Hut (finally some American food!) to have pizza delivered to our hotel and finally got our coffee from Starbucks - a little piece of heaven in China for Mike and I. Mike bought the kids some hot chocolate and it was Jiang Ting's first time trying it. She sucked that down so fast I couldn't believe it. One thing, she is used to very hot temps. for her liquids. She boils water in our hotel room and drinks it right away. I have to try and encourage her to wait a little bit. But if it cools down too much she won't touch it.

Mike and Shelly feeling at home with a cup of Starbucks in Nanjing, China

Jiang Ting experiencing Starbucks for the first time (a little hot chocolate)

Oh, one thing I forgot to add is on the way back from her orphanage visit yesterday we passed a vehicle that was carrying many cars like we see in the States. She was amazed. She turned and asked me if we had a car at home. I said "yes, a very big one" and her eyes lit up so much and she laughed and clapped her hands, then when I told her we had two vehicles she gave a cry of excitement and gave me a huge hug! She is going to love living in America!

Some Catching Up...

Okay, I'm dead tired from the non-stop activity since we arrived in China but I really wanted to blog some things. I've missed so much! We flew out from Minneapolis on Friday at 6:30 am and arrived in Newark, NJ. From there we flew over the top of the world over the North Pole to get to Beijing. We were able to watch the flight from monitors on the plane and it told us how long we had left in the flight and what the outside temp was. I could have done without that! The coldest we saw was -90 degrees F. The flight was very long but it went very well. Each of us had our own monitor with movies, videos games, and tv attached to the seat in front of us. It helped the time go a little faster. The movies replayed every two and a half hours. Jayde watched the Bourne Ultimatum 3 times and Elf twice. That was inbetween listening to his ipod. The other two boys watched mostly cartoons. But none of us slept well on the plane. Jayde had to sit inbetween two strangers by himself all the way to Beijing. Mike and Sage were in front of me and Isaiah.

We arrived in Beijing at 3 pm - 1:30 am for our bodies on Saturday. We hadn't slept much and were all so tired that when we got to our hotel we slept from 5 pm until about 2 am. Then it was hard to try to get back to sleep. The next day started at 7 am with a HUGE breakfast buffet in the hotel. They served both Western and Chinese food - the boys were so glad for the choice! Then we went to a church service - how awesome to praise our God in China! After that we went to lunch and then to the Great Wall. We were so thrilled that we had a chance to go there! We were told that we were only get to see the Summer Palace, but plans changed and the Wall was on the schedule - another blessing for sure! It was spectacular but oh my! It was SO hard to get up those stairs. After that it was dinner and then a Chinese acrobat show. I knew we needed sleep because the next day was GOTCHA DAY for us! Sleep didn't come easily, I was so nervous and excited at the same time. I just really wanted Jiang Ting to like us! We had to be on the bus at 5:30 am to get on a plane to fly out to Nanjing. Because of the early check out time they had us check our bags the night before. That left us with very bare minimums for the next morning. We were told that we wouldn't be meeting our child until the afternoon, so I thought we would have time to nap and shower before meeting her. Once we got to Nanjing we met our Guide, John, and he took us to his vehicle where a driver was waiting for us. We were talking with him and I asked "when will we be meeting Jiang Ting?". He said "oh, we are on the way to meet her right now!". I couldn't believe it! I wanted to freshen up and get my wits about me, but no, we had no time to prepare. Talk about nerve racking! Once there we waited for what seemed was an eternity (which was only about 15 to 20 minutes) for her to come. I saw her beautiful face coming up to the door. Time had just stood still! What a miracle that was taking place right before my very eyes. It was an incredible experience that words could never do justice for. She came in and said "Mama and Baba" right away and came up to me. She accepted us right away. I noticed that she kept just staring at me and whenever I would look at her she would just give me the biggest smile. She is the most happy and content child I have ever met. And wow, talk about smart! She has all of whipped in that department. She is very good at helping us understand what she is trying to say. Frustration does happen but she keeps trying until we know what she wants. After meeting her our Guide took us shopping for snacks and some clothes for her. Then we went to our hotel where we spent some good quality time getting to know each other. Then we had our first dinner as a family that night. I found out very quickly that our little girl is so very independent and not shy in the least! We need to constantly watch her to make sure she doesn't decide to just take off without letting us know. Of course, we need to chase her because she can't hear our yells. And that's another thing - she is very fast!

Our first day together went very well. I have so much to write - and I have not told all the miraculous things that have happened so far. But right now I need sleep and then I will post again tomorrow and try to catch up on what we did today and what we'll do tomorrow. I do know that we will be going sight seeing and we have requested that our Guide take us to Starbucks! He just hung his head and laughed. I have no shame - I miss my Gingerbread Lattes!!

The Big Day!!

OK, so this might be letting the cat out of the bag and Shelly might edit this post a little bit, but she did tell me to put some more pictures on the blog. Firsta picture of the view from our hotel room. We're on the 33rd floor of the Grand Metro Park hotel, the best hotel in Nanjing. Can I take this view home?

In a bit of a surprise, we went streight from the Nanjing airport to the Government building to meet Ting. We thought we'd be going to the hotel first and have a chance to get cleaned up and try to be goo upstanding parents. But the schedule didn't go like that. We waited about 15 minutes to see our daughter walk through the door.

I know there are many thing Shelly wants to add here but here are some pictures to so you our beautiful litle girl. Wow is she smart!

Pictures From Beijing

Ever since the plane ride from the US to Beijing, it's been a non-stop whirlwind of events. Shelly will have more to add to this, but we wanted to add some pictures for you to see.

Our Trip At-A-Glance!

We have our Itinerary! Here is what we'll be doing day to day. Only 4 more days to go!

* Friday, Dec. 14: Depart for Beijing

* Saturday, Dec. 15: Arrive in Beijing

* Sunday, Dec. 16: Beijing Sightseeing: Church service &
Summer Palace (Lunch & Duck Dinner)
Evening Flight to Nanjing

* Monday, Dec. 17: Afternoon - Meet Jiang Ting!!

* Tuesday, Dec. 18: Civil Affairs Appointment (It's official - she's ours!)

* Dec. 19- Dec. 21: Paperwork, Sight-seeing, & Shopping

* Saturday, Dec. 22: Afternoon flight to Guangzhou

* Sunday, Dec. 23: Fill out Consulate Forms & Medical Exam

* Monday, Dec. 24: Shopping and Sightseeing

* Tuesday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day

* Wednesday, Dec. 26: Sightseeing and Shopping

* Thursday, Dec. 27: Consulate Appointment 11:30 am

* Friday, Dec. 28: Pick up Jiang Ting's Visa

* Saturday, Dec. 29: Depart from Guangzhou then Depart from Beijing
and come home!!

Concrete Travel Dates!

WOW! After so much stress over our re-fingerprint appointment and travel date - today we had some fantastic news! Our travel coordinator called to let us know that we will be flying to China on December 14th!!!!

Our answer to much prayer: Last Monday we received a call that we had our Travel Approval. We could choose to leave on December 6th or December 13th. The 13th sounded good to us but one thing was missing...our updated fingerprints with the USCIS. They expire on December 12th and we had an appointment to get them redone on December 13th. Well we couldn't get a Consulate appointment until our fingerprints were redone. So flying to China on the 13th wasn't going to happen unless the USCIS expedited our appointment.

Our adoption agency told us to contact the USCIS to see if we could get them moved to an earlier date. Shelly emailed them on Monday (Nov. 26th) - no reply, gave them time to answer on Tuesday - no reply, emailed again on Wednesday - no reply, so Shelly called them. After a half hour of finding the right person to speak with she was told that the ONLY way to contact them is by email and they get back right away. Shelly said she has done that and the lady just said "you'll need to wait to hear back, there is nothing I can do for you". So on Thursday Shelly emailed them two times - still no reply. By Friday, November 30th Shelly sent her 5th email and Mike contacted Senator Norm Coleman's office to help us out. We did hear back from the USCIS on Friday and we were told "there's no appointments available and so you will have to keep the appointment on the 13th". Meanwhile, Mike had contact with Norm Coleman's office and they were willing to help. Our Social Worker got wind and called us asking us to give her a chance at speaking with the person from the USCIS because she has worked with her many times. What we didn't know is in MN the USCIS doesn't want families to contact them, only social workers. That's why she ignored all of Shelly's pleas. We didn't know so we didn't tell our Social Worker what was going on.

Whew...so anyway...Stacie, our SW took over and contacted the USCIS for us. Meanwhile, our adoption agency was thinking of putting us on a plane the day after on the 14th and joining our travel group a day late. We were thrilled that this could even happen! So on Monday, December 3rd (yesterday) everything pulled together. We have our re-fingerprinting on the 13th and then we fly out on the 14th. We just need to pray that they will clear here in the US so we can finalize Jiang Ting's adoption on December 27th. Then we all fly back home on December 29th!

We thank God and all the people that were praying us through this!