Day 5

Monday, November 9 we flew out of Guangzhou to Nanchang early in the morning. It was an hour and a half flight.

Once we got there Norman had a bus waiting for us and a lady from the China Team met us there at the airport. Her name is Sissy. She is really sweet and so is Sarah who also flew with us to Nanchang.

We took the bus ride to the Jin Feng Hotel. It is beautiful. Did you all know that Nanchang is the porcelain capitol of the world. They have what they call Porcelain Street. I have heard it is really neat hope to go sometime this week while we are here.

Well, getting back to Monday. Once we got here we were asked to go on to our rooms and wait until we were called around 11:30. Once we got the call we were asked to go to the 3rd floor and wait down there. They had decided on Sunday before we got there that it would be a good idea to have the babies come to the hotel instead of the civil affairs office due to the long ride for them and not having to take another ride to the hotel if done there. There are two other families that are from the same orphanage. One family went before us and then we were second in line to receive Shelby. We were so excited to see here when they brought her to us. When they handed her to us she did not cry she was excited and looking all around her. She is a very happy baby. We were told that she was cared for by several nannies. That helped in away that she was not to attached to someone. She bonded to me very quickly. So the transition from them to us has been wonderful. Once we all got our babies we went into a banquet hall and were able to ask questions about her with the nannies and the orphanage director. The said that she was a good baby and is out going.
After that was over we went back to the rooms and everyone spent time with there child and then we were asked to come back down to the banquet hall to sign papers for the the final decree is to made tomorrow. That was a lot of signing to do. Later that night well all had dinner at the first floor restaurant. Then everyone went to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow. Will see you then. Enjoy the pictures.

Day 4

Sunday, the rest of the group came and we were to meet them down in the lobby at 10:30am. When we got there no one was there that is because Angela read the clock wrong and she thought it was 10:15. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:50 but did not argue with her about it. So we went down and sat there for alittle while and then the group started showing up. Everyone started introducing themselves to everyone then the China team came in and started passing out our name tags. When they got to us they new who we were and that I was the one that Martha had talked about.
When everyone was there we boarded a bus to go have brunch. Once we got there the building that we were in was beautiful. We had what is called a Dim Sum brunch. It was really good and it was nothing out of the ordinary that we don't eat already. Norman introduced everyone and then he and Martin told what was going to happen while we were here. Norman was the business side and Martin is the tour guide and setting up of fun things to do.
Then Norman had everyone stand up and introduce themselves and tell about where we are from and about our child. Once everyone got done it finally hit me what I was there for. I had to leave the room for a moment and cry it out. I was excited to be here but the whole reason why had not set in yet. At that moment I wish that Glen and Sofia were there with me.
When I went to get Sofia it took a week for it to hit me. So I did the same thing again. Everyone was wondering when it was going to hit me.
After we got done there we went for a tour of the really nice area of Guangzhou. This is where the American Consulate workers live and people who make a little more money than some of the other people. Along the way they pointed out a few buildings and told us about what the city land used to be. It was an airport back during the war then it became a training site of some sort for pilots (if I remember correctly). When then made our way to the pearl river. That was really nice.
There was a man and a woman that had these sticks in there bicycle basket and they stopped. They took out on of them and started pealing it. It was sugar cane and the children love it. They eat it like it is candy. I tried it but it was to sweet from me.
We then made our way to the Friendship Store. This was not a cheap store. The Friendship store is a mall. It had everything. After that we all got back in the bus and went back to the hotel. Once there some of the group went to bed and Angela and I finished getting things together for our 2 hour plane trip to Nanchang. This is where we will stay for 5 days and will also recieve Shelby.
Then we walked to the Grandview Mall which is the biggest mall I am not sure if it is the biggest in China or world. But it is huge. It is 7 stories and has an ice skating rink and amusement park in it. That was different. It also has what I call wings. You go through a hallway and it opens up to another 7 story building which is the same mall. This was getting overwhelming. So we decided that we would go get something to eat we went to pizza hut.
Ok I know what you are thinking but this is not your typical pizza hut like you would think. This is a resturant style which serves not only pizza, it has steak, pasta, chinese, smoothies all kinds of stuff. To them this is fine dining. After that we walked back to the hotel. Well, I will write more and send pictures tomorrow. Need to go to bed because I have an early morning.