Adoption Day

Hope did great last night sleeping and hasn't grieved at all. She has been so excited to have a family and be with us that it doesn't appear that she misses the orphanage at all. She woke up at 6 a.m. this morning and was ready to make things official. She was really excited to put on her new clothes and get all dolled up. I even painted her fingernails this morning and she was smiling from ear to ear. So precious!! We left for another hotel to complete our paperwork since two other families were there that were adopting from Baotou. She was excited to see the orphanage staff, but was even more excited to show us off. To make things official, Hope had to put her handprints on the adoption agreement. We had already put our thumb prints on lots of papers, so she was so excited to finally get the ink all over her hands. With a our thumb prints, her hand prints, and some official signatures, she officially became a Sanders. This is the orphanage secretary. She completes all of the foreign adoptions for the director. She was able to sit down with us and answer our questions about Hope. The main question, of course, has been the same since we looked at her file. We wanted to get to the heart of what her special need really was. After talking for quite awhile, the truth surfaced that they don't really think anything is wrong with her. They actually said, "She is smarter than children her age." She does appear to be quite smart, and she has a excellent memory. We also found out that she has been so excited about us. They said she couldn't sleep because she was ready to go meet us. We also found out we will not be able to go visit the orphanage, which makes me sad. I was able to ask about some other children and will email their parents soon. Here are some other things we have learned about Hope so far:

• Hope loves Paul! She wants to be carried everywhere we go. She melts his heart with just a little look.
• Hope seems to have an awkward gate. She has weak legs, and her right foot turns inward. She needs some strength building in her legs.
• She is so petite. She is 6 years old and only weighs 35 pounds.
• Hope has an infectious laugh. It makes everyone around her smile.
• Hope loves to be the center of attention! She and LeeLee will have to battle that one out.
• She repeats everything I say. She understands quite a lot of what I am saying. It is amazing to think she has only heard English for one day.
• Hope is an amazing squatter. She will squat and pee in the middle of any street without getting her pants wet at all. It is amazing! (all children do this, so it's not uncommon)

I will leave you with this picture to prove to you that our heavenly father wants to answer our prayers. Since I have missed most of the monumental firsts in Hope's life I specifically prayed that she would not lose any teeth until we had her. Once children lose teeth, they all of a sudden don't look little any more. I asked our loving father to keep those teeth in there until I had a chance to see her baby smile with my own eyes. Today her first tooth came out. She was so precious about it. She keeps running to the mirror to look at her new smile. Thank you Lord for answered prayers!!! Please continue to pray for our family and for sweet Hope!! George was still drying off today, but he already told me his plans for tomorrow, and I will tell you, I'm a little nervous for him.

WE GOT HER!!!!

We woke up early again in anticipation of meeting Hope. We were told to be in the lobby at 11. If you make the 13 hour time change, you will realize that 11 am here is when Auburn was in overtime with Clemson. I was so proud of Paul when he chose going to meet his daughter over finishing the game. When we reached the lobby our guide informed us that traffic was bad and they wouldn't be here until noon. So Paul took off running to the computer to finish watching the game. We then headed to the lobby and watched the doors for our girl. We (Paul, Andrea, Kent, Natalie, Connie, and I) about all melted when we saw this precious thing walk through the door.

Once she saw us, she let go of her nanny's hand and ran to jump into Paul's arms! I knew this little girl would wrap him around her finger in no time!

We then gave her a backpack filled with goodies and did some paperwork to be able to keep her for 24 hours before we legally adopt her. We were so excited when we were handed a huge packet of stuff prepared for her by her preschool. She has been in a preschool run by Half the Sky and it is amazing what they did for her. She also came with a box of her preschool artwork.

So far things have gone amazingly well. We only had one meltdown and that was because she was ready to eat and we didn't understand. She is such a happy girl. She loves to smile and cuddle. She is adventurous, and playful. She can pack some food in too! We couldn't be more thrilled with her and thankful to God for the opportunity to be her parents.

We also learned that she becomes a little crazy if she gets candy. I had put some in her backpack in case she had a meltdown at our initial meeting and I had forgotten about it. She found it once we were back in the room and ate a blue airhead, she LOVED it. About 20 minutes later she was so laughing at herself and everything around her. I was also beginning to wonder if I was adopting a little girl or a smurf.

Once we got in from dinner it was time for her to meet her brother and sisters online. They all thought she was adorable and she was excited about meeting them. She talked to them some and showed them all her toys through Skype. Then it was bath time. I was so proud that George volunteered to show Hope how to take a bath.

We shut of the water and went to get George a towel when he climbed up the wall and decided to air dry on the clothes line. I'm starting to think I need to keep a better eye on that silly bear.

Once Hope got all bathed and dressed for bed, she was ready to go to sleep. I'll leave you with this one last image of our precious new girl for the day.

We feel so blessed to know that people are praying for us. So far some amazing prayers are being answered! Please continue to pray for us that she will continue to fit in so well. Pray that we can communicate and understand each other so that we can meet her needs. Pray for Noelle, Hunter, and LeeLee. Pray for my mom. Pray that our adoption goes well tomorrow. We are looking forward to calling Hope and being her forever family.

Not the day George was expecting....

George woke me up around 1:00 a.m. I had to tell him that we needed a little more sleep. So, he woke me up again at 3:00 a.m. After having a little chat with him about interrupting my sleep, I was then wide awake. So, after we got up we began to pack up and get ready for our flight to Hohhot. We had our last wonderful breakfast at the Peninsula, then made our way to the airport. I ended up having to tie George to my backpack because the airport was so crowded, and I was afraid he might get separated from us. We had a short flight to Inner Mongolia, and then a terrifying bus ride to the hotel. We made it though and we are delighted with our hotel, the Shangri-La. Hohhot is a small town of about 1 million people. There are not as many cars, but lots of bikes instead. There seems to be very distinct social classes here. People are either wealthy, or poor, their isn't much of a middle class.

When we arrived here, our guide informed us that we would not be getting Hope today, instead, we would get her tomorrow. We were extremely disappointed that we didn't get her today, and that we didn't know before hand that this would be the case. However, we will get a good nights rest tonight and be ready to meet her tomorrow. When we ventured out today we saw the kids playing in the water that was collected around the trees. We found a market and stocked up on water and sprite. We also went to a restaurant called Mr. Pizza that was recommended to us by the hotel staff. It was actually decent, but not as good as Chinese Pizza Hut. Imagine my surprise when we got back to the hotel and I heard the water running in the bathroom. George was in there brushing his teeth! That silly George, I wonder what he will do next!

The Great Wall

Last night George never even shut his eyes because he was so excited about going to The Great Wall. I have to admit, I was excited too! We headed out at 9:30 here for the 2 hour drive to the section I wanted to visit. When we arrived we had to get a cable car to get us to the section so we could begin our climb to the wall. Unfortunately it is a cold and rainy day here in Beijing. So when we reached the top we could not see but one tower at a time because of the fog. When got to the stairs that access the wall, I saw our friends the Sislers coming down. It was so wild to run into them there. Of course they wanted to have their picture made with George, so he could commemorate the momentous event! I can't wait to meet them at the airport tomorrow as we go to Hohhot to get our girls. We were very fortunate that a wind came and pushed the clouds back for a few minutes and it revealed the majesty of The Great Wall. Here I am at the forth watch tower. Notice how wet my legs were from the rain. Here we are just past the 6th tower. This is where things got extremely slippery and we decided to head back. Even though you can't tell, it was raining pretty good, and as you can see the wall was pretty much empty. We headed back and Paul started sliding down one of the steep hills towards a tower. David, our trusty guide, grabbed a hold of Paul and stopped him. I'm super glad he caught him, seeing as George and I are quite fond of him. We ended our trip by going to the jade factory and then eating a traditional Chinese lunch. George enjoyed his sweet and sour soup, and I enjoyed the best Mongolian Beef I have ever had. Tomorrow is Hope Day!!!! I can't believe that it is finally here! We leave Beijing at 10:55 a.m. and arrive in Hohhot at 12 noon (11pm for my friends back home). I am so excited, yet so nervous for her. I can not imagine the feelings a 6 year old little girl must be having as she sleeps tonight knowing that tomorrow she will walk away from everything that she has ever known. I am prepared for her to reject us, but praying that she won't.

Please pray for our sweet Hope as she leaves Baotou for Hohhot in the morning. Pray that she will have a peace about what is happening to her. Pray that she will adjust into our family, and that we are able to help her grieve all that she is losing. Pray for us to be what she needs us to be during this time of uncertainty. Pray for my kids back home as they are so excited about getting their new sister. Pray for my mom as she deals with all the excitement. Pray for our travel partners, the Sislers and their new daughter Emma Lael, as she makes the transition tomorrow too! You can follow their blog at www.onegirlpeacefulandsafe.blogspot.com Thank you for your prayers! We can see God already answering some of them!

The Last Half of Whilwind Tour

We decided to take advantage of our time with David and had him rush us over to the Summer Palace. We decided to fly through there quickly so we could beat the rush hour traffic. David said we needed to take the Dragon Boat because it would be fastest, so we hopped on. Geoge was so brave at the front of the boat. Once we made it to the other side of the man made lake (which took four years for the workers to dig by hand with shovels) we were so impressed with the beauty and detail of all the buildings.

My favorite structure was this marble boat. China has a famous saying about what boats can do, they can either rock and float or be overturned. So the Dragon Lady had this boat built to represent that their boat (their government) could not be overturned, but that it was sturdy and strong.

I included this picture just to show you that China has absolutely no safety regulations. This guy was sitting on an old 1x4 board suspeding in the air by one single old rope.

At the end of the day, I saw this site. This one puts the biggest smile on my face. Even though I know that the church is highly regulated here, it is still here. What a glorious site to see the cross glowing from the doors of the church. Tomorrow we head out to the Great Wall.

Please pray that we have a safe trip tomorrow to the Great Wall and back. Pray for Hope as tomorrow is her last day in Baotou. Pray for the transition she is about to make to our family. Pray for the little girl that my friends are adopting, Emma Lael. She is being taken from the foster home she has been in for the last three years and heading back to Inner Mongolia to prepare for her adoption on Sat. Also, pray for my mom and kids back home.

A Whirlwind of Tours

This morning, George was ready to go see Beijing, so we headed out early for the Forbidden City. Our hotel hooked us up with an amazing English speaker as a guide. Just to show you that God has his hand all over this adoption, he sent us David. As we started out on our journey, he asked us why we where we were headed after we leave Beijing. When we told him we were going to Hohhot, he was surprised and said he was from Inner Mongolia. When I told him we were waiting for a little girl in Baotou, he smiles and says "that is where I am from, I grew up there." Back to the adventure....We walked to the Forbidden City and when we arrived I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Take Jordan-Hare Stadium, add about twenty thousand more friends, and then you will get an idea of how many people where there. It is a beautiful area that housed the emperors and the empresses and all their concubines. Our guide talked about the eunuchs too. Instead of picturing Chinese emperors, I found myself picturing Queen Esther as we were walking around and imagining that this place could have been very similar to the palace where she saved the lineage of Jesus.

George forgot to climb out of my backpack when we first entered, so we had to let him have a little rest and get some fresh air before we finished our tour.

After the Forbidden City, we headed to Tiananmen Square. It is the world's largest square and holds one million people. Of course the rest of the world knows of it well because of the college students who were killed there in 1989 for protesting the government.

Then we headed to the silk market to see how they make silk. This was a very interesting tour. It is impressive to see how the silk is made. George was so excited when he saw someone with the same name, so of course he had to have his picture made with him.

Made it to Beijing

We made it to Beijing around 9:30 am on Wednesday Morning. We are 13 hours ahead here, so we are working hard on making the time adjustment. I love the Peninsula Hotel where we are staying. Once I made our reservations, they emailed me to let us know that they would be picking us up at the airport in a limo. It was nice to have someone waiting on us so we didn't have to navigate things on our own. Once we got settled into our room, we decided to just walk around and familiarize ourselves with the area. Since I was go on 40 hours of no sleep, I gave in and took a 2 hour nap. After we woke up, we headed to the shopping district and found a Pizza Hut. I have dreamed about the Pizza Hut pizza ever since our last adoption trip in 2006. I LOVE the Chinese Pizza Hut! I am not ashamed. We are back at the hotel now ready to try to get some more rest. We will tour Beijing tomorrow on our own. I didn't realize until we got back here how much my heart misses China. I love taking it all in (except the smog, of course)!

Please continue to pray for Hope. We can't imagine the emotions that she is having now about leaving Baotou. Please continue to pray for our safety. Also, pray for our travel mates, the Sislers, they are here in Beijing today and met their little one today at New Day Foster Home. And again, please pray for our children and my mom.