US Consulate appt!

Finished our last step in the adoption process! Tomorrow we pick up Mykena's passport and head to Hong Kong. We will fly home on Thursday! Tonight will be our last "families" dinner. We have been so blessed to be with such an awesome group! Please keep all of us in your prayers as we begin traveling toward our homes!

Shopping day!

Today, we visited Shamian Island. In the past, this is where many adoptive families have stayed during their time at Guangzhou. The hotel here is under renovations so we stayed about 15 minutes away at the beautiful China Marriott. This area reminded us of being in Savannah, Ga. It was very pedestrian friendly and we saw all kinds of people exercising, singing, and enjoying the weather! We shopped for several hours and let the kids play outside. As you can see from the picture below, the kids found one particular man very interesting! We think the guy was on a date, but the children interrupted with their fascination of his guitar. He didn't seem to mind and even let them try to play it. We decided to rest tonight and not go out to dinner. It was a long day and we were all tired! Especially me, since I'm the one who gets to carry Mykena when she is tired of walking! :-) Tomorrow is our appointment at the US Consulate to apply for the visa. We should pick it up on Wednesday afternoon and then head to Hong Kong. This part of our journey has been so much fun! We will miss our new friends, but know that we have made many special memories for this new chapter in our lives.

Folk Art Museum

Our hotel is very adoption friendly. There is a playground with a nice waterfall area- very peaceful and relaxing. Mykena loves going down the slide and did not want to leave! Today we went to the Folk Art Museum. Mykena was happy to get outside and play! It is a beautiful day and you can actually see the sun and blue sky (which isn't very common here). This afternoon is paperwork and then dinner with the other families tonight. Things are going very well and it makes the time go by quickly!

Guangzhou and one step closer to home!

We arrived in Guangzhou on Friday night and checked into the China Marriott around 9 pm. Mykena did excellent flying, minus a meltdown with the seat belt! This girl does not like being restrained! :-) We were so excited to be back with our other travel group members! We went to breakfast and saw the other kids and that was so amazing! We all traveled to our medical appointments and spent a few hours getting the kids checked out. Most all the kids in the clinic are special needs adoptions. Mykena's special need is ventricular septal defect ( hole in her heart) She did so well thru all the checkpoints! When we got to the medical exam, the doctor asked me her need and wanted to see her medical history. I noticed that she kept listening to her heart and then she told me to go get our guide! Scott got Shiyan and she spoke with the doctor. Then she told us, the doctor does not hear heart murmur, seems like healthy baby! I started crying! They went and got another doctor and he checked her as well. He told me the same thing! He said, when you get to the USA be sure to have a heart ultrasound, but we think it sounds good! We are praying the diagnosis continues to be the same in the USA! WOW!!! The power of prayer! Please continue to pray for us these last few days. We are a little nervous about the long flight home with our active girl! I'm posting some random photos ( she does not like us taking her picture) You will see she is quiet the Diva always having to carry her mama's cell phone!!

Last day in Nanning

Well, we have been very busy the last few days chasing a fully active 2 year old!! Wednesday we spent time around the hotel and walked next door to the mall. Mykena loved going on the escalator and cried when we made her leave. Yesterday we went to a park at the mountain, which wasn't too far from our hotel. It was so quiet and peaceful there, not to mention clean air with no smog. Mykena loved being outside. Our guide, Glen, was with us and told us history about the area and helped us translate Mykena language! She loves to sing children's songs. Scott and I have been singing to her and last night she was humming Jesus Loves Me! Today, we will go pick up her passport and then fly out to Guangzhou about 6pm tonight. The other families are all doing well and we can't wait to see our completed families. Please keep us in your prayers. Six more days and we are coming home! Love you all!

Life with a two year old!

Today we did the adoption paperwork for her Province. It has been an exciting day as parents of a very independent 2 year old! She is precious and we are having fun getting to know her. She loves to sing, run around the hotel laughing, and playing with her daddy. The next few days we will be having fun and bonding as our new family. We can't wait to come home!

Gotcha day!

We left our hotel at 3 pm to go to the Civil Affairs building to meet Mykena. We were the first of about 5 or 6 families to arrive. We saw several children and none of them looked like Mykena! We went to a room with toys and were quickly moved to another room where they told us that she had not arrived. She was up early this morning to ride the train 5 and a half hours to get to Nanning. Then, they traveled by taxi to meet us. We were a little concerned and our guide, Glen called to check on them. By the time they arrived, all the other families were gone and we had the whole room to ourselves! That was such a blessing! She took a few minutes and some Cheerios and warmed right up! Our guide, Glen, had to return to our hotel room to fill out paperwork and he was so amazed at how great she was doing! An answer to so many prayers! Thank you for praying for us!!

Last day in Beijing

We've had a great time here! It snowed today, which added something special to the end of our stay here in Beijing. We traveled to Cloisonne Factory,The Great Wall of China, a Jade Factory, and The Bird's nest. We spent the evening together with our other two families and are excited to reunite on Friday in Guangzhou with 3 little ones! We will also meet up with our other Bethany family. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we begin new chapters in our lives this week! I will try and post pictures as soon as possible tomorrow with the new Jordan 3!

Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and Hutong Viilage Tour

Today's tour was full of Chinese history. Tom, our guide here in Beijing, took us out on an all day adventure enriching us in Chinese culture. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square where we learned about the government of China past to present. We took a group picture and noticed that some of the Chinese people were snapping photos of us! Next, we entered The Forbidden City where we saw the homes and offices of Chinese Officials. Our pictures do not do justice to the architecture and ornate colors of these structures. After several hours, we headed to our rickshaw tour of the Hutong Village. This was my favorite part of the day! We rode thru the village and toured a home. Our trip ended with a visit to an authentic Chinese restaurant. We had our own room and were served our food family style, I managed to eat my dinner(at an even slower pace than normal) with chopsticks! We had a great time sharing stories with the other families in our group. Both families that are hear with us are precious people and we all have a great time together. We are still trying to catch up from our jet lag! Tomorrow will be our last day in Beijing, including a trip to The Great Wall, Cloisonne Factory and Bird's Nest. Our time here has really been amazing (and cold!), we are anxious to leave Monday for Nanning where we will be united with our daughter. * Notice the similar picture on this post to our China "Disney" post?