Hello From Hunan!

Hello Everyone,

Well, we are finally here in Hunan. We flew from Beijing this morning to Changsha, Hunan. We said goodbye to two of the families that we had been traveling with. They are going to different provinces to adopt their children, but we will meet up again next week in Guangzhou, China, which is where we have to go through the US Consulate to get Visa's for our new children. We are fortunate to still be traveling with one of the families that we spent time with in Beijing.

Our flight was about 2 1/2 hours long and we were met at the Chansha Airport by our new guide, Daphne. Already, we are so impressed with her. She has seen to all of the smallest details in order to make our week go smoothly.

Hunan Province is in south-central China and is quite a bit warmer than Beijing was. It reminds me of Phoenix in the winter, except it is more humid.

Our hotel is called The Dolton Hotel and is 89 stories tall. Our room is wonderful.

Daphne, took us to a local market to get some supplies for the week. Gracie was getting tired, so she and I sat on the step in front of the market and she leaned on my shoulder. Well, 5 minutes later, she was sound asleep. Todd had to carry her all the way back to the hotel.

On our way back from the market, we met some young girls who wanted to practice their English with us. They asked me what my name was in English and I answered them in Chinese and they laughed. I told them that they spoke good English and took their photo below.

We got back to the hotel and worked on getting our paperwork ready for tomorrow. Our guide, Daphne, also had the hotel bellman go out to pick up Pizza Hut for us and he delivered it to our door. Talk about comfort food - it was delicious.

We are getting Ruthie tomorrow morning at 10:30 at the Civil Affairs Office. We are filling out adoption paperwork at the hotel at 9:00 and then will travel the Civil Affairs Office to get her. Please pray for her as she must be scared, nervous, etc. We have learned more about her because Daphne, our guide, sent a very specific questionnaire to the orphanage 2 weeks ago. It was so wonderful to just sit down and read more about her.

We learned that she is very sociable, is very active and loves to play with other children. She likes to take care of younger children (well, she will have a little sister & brother now). She is optimistic and likes to ask questions. They do say that she is a little shy around strangers and it takes a while for her to warm up and show her true personality.

We also found out that they took her out of school for the past few weeks and had her study at the orphanage to help her adjust to not going to school due to her upcoming adoption. We will update you as soon as we can tomorrow.

Please pray for Ruthie & us, that tomorrow will go smoothly. Todd caught a cold from all of the cold weather in Beijing. He is asleep now after taking some Ny-Quil.

*Chenzhou Older Kids Yahoo Group - I have all of your packages, letters & photos and will be sure to bring them tomorrow. I will also ask the questions that you asked me to ask Mama Wang. I'll let you know what I find out.

Next time I write, we will have Ruthie!

Love to all,
Noelle