Kumbum Monastery

Thursday afternoon we went to the Kumbum Monastery. Can you tell Anna Li has been here several times:) The weather was chilly and a little bit of a drizzle. There was some really neat sights to see. We were not real crazy about the smell of burning incenses everywhere. Some of the temples were so smokey I couldn't stand to stay around. We were not able to take pictures inside the temples so you will only see pics of the outside.
This little girl got really embarrassed that we were taking her picture. She put her hands over her face and gave us a dirty look. Then she ran off to find her mom.

It is actually Friday around noon here. Everyone is doing great. We found KFC today (our last day here!!) and a pizza place. We took the girls shopping and bought them a lightweight jacket each and Anna Li picked out some tennis shoes. She tried to get us to buy roller skates but we told her she would have to wait until we get home:)

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 1:30pm which is Friday night around midnight Alabama time (I think!!) Pray we have a safe flight to our final destination in China- Guangzhou.

Dear sweet Colin,

We miss you so much and can't wait to come home and see you. We will bring you a surprise!!

Only 6 more days. Hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad!!!

Blessed with Pictures!!

We were given a CD with tons of pictures of Anna Li during her stay at the orphange. I just wanted to share a few of my favorites with you!!



She is our precious daughter and we are enjoying every minute with her. Can't wait to bring her home!!

Visit to the Orphanage

Today we got to visit the orphanage. We had a very enjoyable time. It was nice getting to see where Anna Li has lived for the majority of her life. We also learned a lot of things about her past. We were given a CD with lots of pictures of Anna Li's stay at the orphanage. They were priceless. I will try to post a few of my favorites later tonight. Chad and I are feeling much better. We were given a Chinese herbal remedy that cures altitude sickness and it did the trick:) (above) picture of our family with the orphanage director
(above) picture of Anna Li with the care givers and children from her family home.
(above) Anna Li showing Bethany her room.
(above) Bethany and Anna Li with one of her favorite caregivers
(above) Anna Li holding one of the babies from the nursery. We were able to get 15 picture of a little girl that is being adopted to give to her new family. She and Anna Li were on the same waiting children's list at Children's Hope. We didn't post her picture but trust me she is a cutie!!

Our Wednesday

Not a very eventful day and no pictures to share. Today we were suppose to go to the Center Square but it was cold and rainy all day. To top things off Chad and I are sick. Chad is worse than me. I am congested and have a sore throat. Chad is miserable!! He is running a fever and has chills. He hasn't ate much today and has slept most of the day. I have been making him drink lots of fluids:)

Anna Li has been wonderful today. She has not cried once:) She has been a delight! Both of the girls did good for sitting in a hotel room all day with two sick parents. I did feel better this afternoon and took the girls down to shoot pool. It is not really pool but it looks like it. It has a bunch of red balls, 1 white, 1 black, and 4-5 other balls of various colors. Does any one know what game this is. We get an audience every time we play. I know they are sitting there thinking "crazy Americans" because we are not playing it right. We made up our own rules:)

We will soon be going to bed. Pray we all feel good in the morning. We will be visiting the orphanage and I am afraid Chad may have to just stay at the hotel.

Good Night or should I say Good Morning..

Adoption Day

Yesterday was adoption processing day and it is finally official!! Anna Li Kate Gray is our daughter. We had a very good day! Anna Li is starting to call us Mama and Daddy and she is starting to take interest in English. She got upset a few times because she was missing her foster father (baba). She will get to see him one more time Thursday when we go for the orphanage visit. Today we will hang out at the hotel and go across the street to visit the center square. Anna Li will be our tour guide and she is very excited about this. I believe she has had a lot of good memories of her and her foster family there.

Some have asked why we have to stay here so long now that we have her. We are waiting on her passport so she can travel. We will be getting it Friday.


The weather here is nice!! It is in the mid 70's and can get a little chill when the wind blows. I am starting to catch a cold:( I am all congested and getting a headache.

Here are a few pictures of our day together.

Our First Night:(

Oh where to begin.....

Yang Li lived with a foster family from 6months to 3.5 years old then returned to the orphanage. Her foster family has remained in contact with her and sees her on a regular basis. Last night we had the privilege to meet her foster family. She calls them mama and baba and she considers their 2 sons her brothers. She is very close to them and it is very clear that they love and care for her very much. By Chinese laws, they were not eligible to adopt her. I am so thankful that they were able to give her love and nurture her into the sweet girl she is today. However, this makes saying goodbye even harder. She is ready to be adopted and start a new life with us but is very sad to leave her friends and family behind. All of our hearts are aching right now. Please keep us in your prayers especially Yang Li.

How we spent our first day

Anna Li really loves to fix hair! I think she has fixed our hair 100 times! She does a good job at it too!! The finished product. Bethany fixed one side and Anna Li fixed the other.
We spent some time playing table tennis and she really liked that. She is such a tomboy!!

She enjoys watching TV as well.. don't all kids:)
Good Day, harder night... ran out of time more to come!!!

Introducing our newest edition: Anna Li

We meet Anna Li at the Notary around 9:30 this morning. Our beautiful girl walked in crying and our hearts just ached for her. After signing all the paperwork, we got a chance to sit down and talk to her and calm her fears. We got our picture made with the orphanage director (on the left) and Rebecca from Christian Action (on the right). Our little girl just sobbed with grief over leaving all of her friends and family at the orphanage. She felt much better after we reassured her that she can and will keep in touch with all of her friends and family. She can write, email, and even call them. After that, she perked up and felt a little better.
I can not thank Papa Denny and Mama Carol enough for paying the way for Bethany to come. It was a huge life saver. Anna Li was so happy she was there.
As we were leaving Anna Li grabbed my arm then held my hand. It was for only a brief second but I literally wanted to get down on my knees and thank the Lord!! As we walked down the steps she grabbed Bethany's hand and didn't let go until we got back to the hotel. They were swinging arms and twirling each other.
Anna Li is already playing the big sister role. She wants to constantly fix Bethany's hair and her glasses.
They have been playing good together and Anna Li seems to be enjoying herself. She just came and put her arm around me and started talking. I don't know if she understands that I don't know Chinese. She keeps looking at me wanting an answer. This is going to be a long road. She is not ready to learn English. We tried to get her to say a few words but it embarrassed her. We will just work on the latter. In the mean time, Chad's Mandarin is getting good!!
She is interacting well with all of us. She is not ready to call us mama or baba. She still refers to her foster family as her family and that is ok. It takes time. We will be meeting her foster father tonight and she is very excited. We have a gift for her to give him. We are really pleased with the way things are going. Anna Li is a sweet girl and she behaves very well. She has very good manners. We couldn't be happier!!

Friends and Family

Don't forget that Bethany has her own blog as well. You can see it at www.meetmysister.blogspot.com.

Send lots of prayers are way today!!

Love,

Kristy

Our First Venture

After choking down some food from the hotel buffet we decided to venture out and see the city. I am not sure what the meaning behind some of this is. We will have to ask Peter (our guide) tomorrow.


Across from the hotel is the center square. It is a large are with lots of shade trees and large groups of family and friends just hanging out.
Here is another picture I will have to ask Peter about. From watching her, I believe she is writing some kind of prayer on the sidewalk. After she was done she knelt on a mat with her head down. I don't know... sounds good to me!!
Several people stopped by to watch the girl write on the street. I thought this guy looked cool!!
Everyone was looking at us as if we were movie stars!! I don't think they get a lot of foreigners in Xining so when someone does come they are all amazed. Little boys would yell hello across the court yard to get our attention and they would laugh and smile when we waved and said hi back. It reminded me of being a little kid and daring my cousins to do or say something silly and laughing when they did it. They were cute!

Around 14 more hours we will be on our way to meet Anna Li!!

We Arrived Safely to Xining

We are finally here and it is so beautiful!! These are some pictures I took on the way to the hotel (which was about a 30 min bus ride). We are happy to be alive. We thought our driver was going to kill us. I promise we almost hit several cars and pedestrians- including a little boy on his bike:( I was on pins and needles until we arrived at our hotel).
There were a lot of very poor neighborhoods along the way. This was not the worst. We were going too fast to get those pictures.

In Beijing, we saw a lot of people sweeping the streets with straw brooms. This is a lady in Xining. She is not only sweeping the street but wearing some serious protective gear!!

We are kinda stuck in our hotel the rest of the day. After we checked in our guide (Peter) went to his hotel and is meeting us in the morning (9am) for our big day. No one at the hotel can speak any English. We were starving when we arrived and went to eat at the restaurant in the hotel. We ordered a peperoni pizza and ended up with a ham pizza. The ham was shaped in long rectangular squares. I managed to eat two slices, but it wasn't very good. It took us forever to explain to them that we wanted our meals charged to our room. We had about 5-6 people trying to figure our what we said.

We just sent our clothes off to be cleaned. I hope they make it back.

As far as I know ,there are no stores or American restaurants any where close to us.

There is no pool in the hotel either. Bethany was a little disappointed about that.

We are now laying around the hotel room watching Chinese TV and napping.

Will tomorrow ever come???

Travel Update

Tomorrow we will be flying to Xining!! It is so hard to put into words what we are feeling right now!! Our flight leaves around 8am and our flight is around 2 hours. Monday morning is the big day. We will finally be able to meet our daughter.

Time difference (Alabama time):
7pm Saturday night we will be in the air. Pray we have a safe trip!!

7pm Sunday night we will be meeting our Anna Li. Please keep all of us in your prayers. It will be a very difficult and emotional day.

Colin- I love you and miss you very much. I hope you are having fun at Ma-maws.

I have to call my Colin and then I am going to bed!

Love to you all,

Kristy

The Great Wall

The pictures just don't do it justice. The Great Wall is just that- great! It is truly an amazing sight to see. Once again, the smog gets in the way of the views!!

Look at my beautiful little girl!! In less than 48 hours I will have 2 beautiful little girls. How blessed am I!!
I made an attempt but didn't get to far. I feel victim to the heat and blisters on my feet!! Chad and Bethany made it a little further but then their legs turned into Jello and they had to come back down:)

Forbidden City and TianAnMen Square

Oh my gosh!!! Can you say hot!! Today was a very hot, very long, and very tiring day. Check out all the smog. It is hard to get a good picture due to the haze hanging over your head. Forbidden City had beautiful buildings, wonderful history, but I didn't think we would ever get to the end!!! This little boy was really cute but like all boys he wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a good picture!

The Gray's at the Forbidden City
This was our first stop of the day and it just completely drained the whole group. We didn't think we would be able to muster up the strength to climb the Great Wall:(