Sunday, July 27, 2008
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
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!!
Around 14 more hours we will be on our way to meet Anna Li!!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
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
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:(

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