In Guangzhou

Well, we made the short but long trek from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. We were the early group, lucky us. Even though the flight was only 35 minutes, it took from having our luggage out at 6:45 until about 1:00 to get to the hotel. It feels really weird to walk around in the White Swan and relive those memories of four years ago. I felt like I should walk up and meet our Pandamonium families (the group we first traveled with) at our meeting spots. We sure do miss you guys. We have this afternnon and in the morning free. We got in the pool with Evelyn and then the rain came again. Our guide is Grace, the same one Mandy and family had. She is going to be great to work with. We meet Emelia at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. That is 1:30am in the morning central time. I can post but cannot view the blog itself. I had heard of folks having this happen so bear with me on the outcome. We learned from Carla (the other family we are traveling with) that they are taking the train back to Hong Kong on the 26th. We found out we can do this as well. We are not sure if we can change the flight to one day earlier but will update you all if the return time home changes. Looking forward to posting tomorrow. : )

Well the tour was delayed until lunch due to the weather. We didn't think it would slack up by then but it did. We met with a pretty large group for the tour. There were three groups combined (14 families) going to different provinces from here. We will meet back up together at the end in Guangzhou. We were not impressed with the tour. We went to a fishing harbor and took a ride through it on a sam pan (ask Larry if you don't know). We toured a jewelry factory, a market and went to Victoria Peak. We could have just done Victoria Peak and been happier. Tomorrow is our flight to Guangzhou. We head for the airport at 7:45. Emelia day is Monday, not sure what time yet.

In Hong Kong

Okay, where should we start? All is well. Bro. Floyd and Daniel got up very early and took us to the Asheville airport on the new bus. : ) The flight was soooo long as expected but we fared well. Scott says the flight attendants were jerks and I will probably agree. Continental did have a wide choice of movies, programs and games that helped pass the time. Evelyn was a great traveler as always and we all got some sleep on the plane. Oh yes, princess Evelyn always draws attention but she especially did in her airport ride, the Ride On Carry On that we purchased to wheel her around. We got to Hong Kong just shortly after our scheduled time and were ready to crash after we settled in at the hotel. Evelyn had a little trouble with the time difference (waking around 2am) but with a little help from benedryl we all got about 8 hours of real rest. Hong Kong is as I remembered, bustling and crowded. We did fine venturing here taking a taxi and two trains to get to Disneyland Hong Kong. It certainly is not Disney World but was really a great first for Evelyn. I was glad Scott stopped and bought two umbrellas this morning because the rain is still here. It kept the lines down at Disney and we were able to do almost everything there with little or no wait. Evelyn got to meet four princesses, Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and her very favorite, Cinderella who even had Prince Charming at her side. So even with lots of rain, the day was a success. We are about to settle early in as we meet with a group at 8:15 in the morning for a day tour of Hong Kong. We did meet Carla (the other CCAI family specifically in our group) in the hotel lobby this morning. Ta ta for now.

Heading to China

It is midnight here in NC and we have to get up at 4:30am. I will keep this short. We leave from the local airport here at 8:15 but have to be there the 2 hours ahead since it begins an international flight. I thought it would be easier being to this point of camp but we sure do hate to leave them. I know you all are praying for us and our travels but also pray for this group and the rest of the week. God is certainly working. A young man in our group met Jesus tonight. As Bro. Floyd would say, WOW! I would love to post lots of photos but time is short. We did get a group picture tonight so I will share it. Hope to share more soon.

Xie Xie

Just had to say thank you to a sweet group of ladies who showered Emelia (& Evelyn) with some wonderful welcome gifts. These ladies have a special bond through China adoption. The fun, food and fellowship definitely picked me up in this fast pace of getting ready to leave. We are China bound!

Things have been busy busy but are going well. I had some pictures of Evelyn that I had wanted to post. She has enjoyed the whale pool she got for her birthday. Her Barbies have enjoyed their private pool as well. They agreed that Evelyn could stick her feet in. : ) There is a photo of the pierced ears. Then my favorite is the note in her journal. I had to tell her the letters but she wanted to put a note to Emelia. You see the four of us and our pets. Thanks for the journal Tina and Hanna. It was too sweet.

Oh my!

How fast a week can go when there is so much going on. I have to start with the most important and most recent first. I had gotten into the too much has got to happen mode and the I can't believe we are going to be away from home so long mode when God confirmed to us that this is His plan. Our pastor without planning ahead had us come forward at church tonight and everyone came by and encouraged and prayed for us. It was definitely clear that all is well and God is at work. Now from the beginning... It was great to get together with the Smiths at the beginning of the week. Mallory and Evelyn always have such fun and I have as much fun just watching. Both sides of our family had been away on vacations and we are glad they had safe travel and are all home. Evelyn has had lots going on. She started swimming lessons on Thursday and has done really well. On Friday we made a Walmart+ run and while in Belk, Evelyn wanted to go in Libby Lu. She got her ears pierced. We could not believe it. She did great. I think she was influenced by friends. : ) I need to load pictures. I will try to do that soon. I will post an itinterary when we get more specifics. We leave for youth camp on Sunday and then for China on the 11th. We get back on on the 29th. Whew, like I said it is long. Emelia Day should be on the 16th. I will try not to wait a week before posting more.