In Guangzhou

We are actually here! What a day, we awoke again having fallen asleep before dinner (poor Tom) and awoke again before the sun. We waited until 6 to venture out and get breakfast at Hing Fat. We ate breakfast there on our second day, and they were great to us, I actually like having my eggs and sausage (hot dog) in a bowl of macaroni and broth. Things we have eaten have been different but all very good. I couldnt explain a lot of them to you, because words just wouldnt do it justice.
After our breakfast Tom, Caila and Nick went to the Botanical Gardens. I stayed back with Maren and Ben and did some reading and homework. I just wasnt in the mood for sightseeing. We left the hotel in Hong Kong at 11 and took two cabs to Hang Hom Trainstation to meet up with our adoption staff and the other families. There are 5 other families plus ours with our group. We rode the train here and enjoyed the peace and quiet and getting to know each other a little, as well as having our briefing about what to expect here in Guangzhou. We have the most amazing rooms at the Holiday Inn Shifu. They are huge and modern, and you look out the window and see small houses with small balconies and peoples laundry hanging from lines drying outside. It humbles you to think how much we have and how complicated our lives are compared to so many people in the world. We are truly blessed to live in the United States, and yet I see how much these people really have.
We ate at a chinese fast food place that looks like KFC, but has a Kung Fu guy as its mascot. We have no idea what we ordered, and it was an interesting meal. I'm guessing beef (lots of small bones though) with rice. Some spicy and some sweet. Boiled lettuce salad with a clear broth. Soup that none of us tried, because we just couldnt stomach what color it was. I cant say I will run back, but I'm glad I tried it.
Tomorrow around 2:30 we get Eliana. The kids are already fighting over who gets to hold her first. I was told I get to hold her first, then Tom and I forget who is after that. I think it was based on age at that point. I cant wait to blog about her to all of you , and give you new pictures of what she looks like. The fuzzy dream will be over tomorrow and it will be real!
Good night!

Friday

Last night after a day at ocean park and the Historical Museum we went back to the hotel for a little downtime and we all crashed except Tom. When I say crash I mean we all slept thru dinner and beyond. We all woke up early (5:30 ish) and went for an early breakfast and head out to the star ferry to go across the bay to Hong Kong Island. It's too early for Stanley market so we road the streetcar to Happy Valley (seriously). The Hong Kong Jockey Club is right there, and it's a huge racetrack/soccer/field hockey/park. There are a lot of British here so we don't stand out as much, although we must look American because we still get looks from people. While we were all sleeping Tom went out for a walk and came back having been fitted for a suit, and some shirts. Our plan is to go to Stanley Market and then hopefully to Victoria Peak, but it's so foggy right now you can't see the tops of the mountains so I don't know if we will make the trip. I'm looking forward to getting to Guanzhou. I would enjoy the sightseeing but I just want to be with Eliana, then who cares where we go!
Oh just an interesting observation, you cab get your eggs and sausage in a bowl of noodles and broth at McDonalds here... Litterally eggs and sausage in the bowl.. So all of you chicken soup lovers will enjoy the food!

We are taking a short break to dry off and grab some lunch so I thought I would download some photos. We went to the Ocean Park (kinda like the Oceanarium/Six Flags) but it was pouring...so we saw the pandas and rode a few rides and came back. We are going to McDonalds for lunch because the last two meals have been pretty local food and the kids are a bit leary of another bowl of noodles and something...all were great food but they are looking for something familiar. We rode the subway as well..piece of cake! Thanks for all the notes...it helps us all feel connected to familiarity!

We are here!

Its 7:4am here on Friday in Hong Kong...and its 5:45 at night Thursday by you...the night before. We jumped into the future as Nick says. It is raining buckets here and will for the next couple of days, but thats fine because it will keep my allergies and Caila's asthma under control in the city. I'm thinking of the difference between Moscow and Hong Kong...and right of the bat I would travel to Hong Kong alone but never to Moscow. Hong Kong is friendly and has a lot of English! Overall people here try to please you and in Russia you are invisible unless they know you. I loved Russia, but would not go by myself.
The flight was bearable, God worked out our seats on the plane so that instead of being scattered in three rows we were all together, and the row behind us had the most adorable twin babies to distract us. I will post later about more in detail, but we need to get some breakfast. Three more days until we see Eliana!

We are headed to Hong Kong!

I havent realized how behind I have gotten on posting, but this past week the cloud lifted! We recieved news on Monday that our file had been reviewed and our clearance had been granted. I was told that it was processing and that I should receive it in the mail on Friday or Saturday. I went to the mailbox Tuesday and saw an envelope from Homeland Security and my heart sank at first because I thought that I had probably received faulty information if I had a letter the next day. Low and behold it was our clearance! Jesus was driving a mail truck on Monday night from Chicago to Bloomington because there is no way a human could have gotten our letter from a desk in Chicago to my mailbox in less than 24 hours! I faxed the clearance to our agency, and they faxed it to China and within hours we had our visa appointment.

Here is our general itinierary:

Tues March 3~ Stay overnight at Hilton OHare

Wed March 4~ Fly to Hong Kong (15 plus hour flight)

Thurs-Sun Stay in Hong Kong at Holiday Inn Golden Mile (sightsee and adjust to time change)

Sunday- noon ...meet the Chinese Adoption staff at McDonald in the Hung Hom train Station (a short walk from our hotel)
Travel to Guangzhou and Stay at the Holiday Inn Shifu Guangzhou

Monday March 9~ 2:30 pm Head to the Adoption Registration Office of Civil Affairs Bureau of Guangdong Province to get Eliana!

Tuesday March 10~ paperwork day

Wednesday~ Doctor appt for Eliana for her visa and passport

Thursday & Friday~ paperwork processing

Saturday & Sunday~ play days

Monday ~ passport processing

Tuesday~ more passport processing

Wednesday March 18~ 2:45pm U.S. consulate visa ceremony

Thurs March 19~ take the train to Hong Kong!

Friday March 20~ Fly Home!!!!!

Needing a miracle!

Anyone who reads this blurb on the web knows we have been paperchasing, planning and waiting for adoption for our daughter Eliana from China. One large reason it has taken three plus years in waiting is of course the wait for all adoptions right now in China. However our submission of paperwork took longer than usual because our government kept adding requirements to our adoption paperwork. Well...they are still doing that! I will not bore all of you with the details, but early in December I submitted a refiling of our paperwork for Homeland Security and Immigration. We have gotten fingerprinted 3 times, filed paperwork 3 times (all of it) and paid that expensive filing fee AGAIN. Our paperwork was in well before it needed to be, and our "file" expired at the end of 2008...but you cant get a response from anyone at the office unless you have waited the requred 6-8 weeks. So I when we got our referral on new year eve (thats all the info regarding Eliana from China) I sent off an email asking about our file. You cant call their office unless you are traveling in the next day. What I recieved back was an email stating it hadnt been my full 6-8 weeks. Anyway...we finally get a letter in the mail last Friday (the 30th) asking for more papers! No one had ever heard of this new requirement...my social worker even asked me to send her a copy so she could have something to show people after us with this issue.!One of the documents had to be notarized. Since we didnt get the letter until after 3 on Friday, and the earliest we could get to a notary together with our documents was today Wed. So we sent them off....breathing a sigh of relief. Checking my email tonight we heard from our agency that we recieved our letter of invitation from the Chinese government....we can come get Eliana. But wait! We cant make any of the immigration appointments we need while we are there (hence we cant travel at all) until we get the clearance document from Homeland Security. So whats our miracle? When I call tomorrow morning that I will get the sympathetic ear of someone who can actually do something about our file without those two documents that are in US postal service la la land, or that our paperwork flies into the hands of the right people ...tomorrow. Both are a longshot, but nothing constructive will happen on Friday and I dont want to wait another month to hold my baby! If we dont get this clearance we cant travel with our group...please say your prayers for Eliana....thanks!

Its been a whirlwind few weeks, but we would like to introduce to all of you who follow this boring blog,..that we have recieved our referral from China of our little girl. Eliana Zi Hua (chinese for we think either graceful or purple flower) . She is in Maogang China, a coastal area of south china ...with palm trees! It is likely that we will be going to China in either late February or early March. We are just thrilled and cant wait to get there and hold her! We are ALL going...the whole Brander clan...so pray that we dont scare the Chinese people! We will keep you posted!