Finally, I have a few minutes to play catch up. I can't really remember where I left off. I'll start with Sunday.
Sunday
We left our hotel at 8:50 and attended a church service in Beijing. It was a Beijing International Christian Fellowship church. The singing was in Chinese and American with a big screen, a band and four singers. The preacher was Chinese with an American translator. It was interesting. You could only enter if you had a foreign passport. There were a lot of people attending. The church has a full program with many activities for all ages. We left there and drove past the Olympic Bird Nest being built, and the swimming site, and Olympic village. There is construction everywhere as they get ready for the Olympics. Even at the Forbidden City. We went to eat lunch at a buffet and in the same building was the Pearl Market. It was so amazing to see soooo many pearls in one place. We had a quick education on pearls and how to tell they are real and how they are cultivated in the Summer Palace Lake. Then we stayed there to shop for a little while. We then moved on to the Summer Palace. This is a garden created by the Emperor during the Jin Dynasty , for his mother. It is so beautiful with lots of hand painting, carvings and architecture. On the lake is the marble boat. We left there and ate, and went to the airport. We had a 9:30 flight to Nanchang. We landed at 11:30pm. Then a 40 minute bus ride to the Jin Feng Hotel.
Monday
Gotcha Day!!!!
We got up and I talked with my family by web cam for a little while. Then the internet stopped working. We called for service and they couldn't get it to work either so we switched rooms 10 minutes before time to leave. We rushed around throwing things in suitcases and put them in our new room 2 doors down. Then we went downstairs to meet our group. We were all so nervous and excited. It took 10 minutes for us to get to the Civil Affairs office. We made our way upstairs to the 26th floor where the babies were waiting for us. We were 3rd in line to get Maylea. Finally, it was our turn. At first, she didn't cry. Then she started crying. She cried all day in between naps. Everytime she would look at us she cried. It only took about half an hour for everyone to get their babies (7 of us) and then we came back to the hotel. I called home so Eddie and the boys could see her. Of course she is crying the whole time. We then had to meet in a room here at the hotel for paperwork, and later we went back to the Civil Affairs office where we met the orphanage director, workers and nannies. We had an interview, and pictures. We had a few other things to do after that and then we came back to the hotel. Maylea went down to sleep about 7pm and was back up at 2am. Then she was in a really good mood with laughing and playing. Since then she has been wonderful and is bonding with Leslie and I. She is very active wiggling constantly and is full of personality. She is a little rough and is a head butter. She had a bruise on her forehead that I wondered where it came from, well now I know. This has been a wonderful experience.
TuesdayToday We went back to the police station so they could take a picture of the babies, and then we went to Walmart to do some shopping. We mostly bought junk food, pop and water. Leslie is having a little harder time than I am with the food here. She was so excited that inside the Walmart past the checkout is a KFC. She had her first real meal in 5 days; Nuggets, Fries and Pepsi. We came back to the hotel and pretty much chilled the rest of the day, which was really nice because I needed the rest.
