How we made it

Packed and ready to leave...poor Jackson thought he was coming with us! We are grateful to several people who helped make the journey here go smoothly. First of all, my friend Ashley who just got back from China a few weeks ago with her adopted daughter Finley gave us some good packing ideas for the plane, and they also loaned us iPod touches loaded up with Kai Lan and Little Bear episodes and games. Our mutual friend, Stephanie, had the brilliant idea of wrapping up surprises that could be opened by the kids at various points in the trip. This was perfect because Carter would have otherwise gone through all the books and activities within the first 20 minutes.
I loaded their backpacks with books, coloring books, stickers, snacks, and magnetic storyboards. This worked so well in entertaining the kids and giving them something to look forward to throughout the flights. I'm glad I also packed an extra change of clothes for each kid because Carter did have a potty accident while sleeping.


Another person who made our trip successful is my sister-in-law Noelle (Stuart's wife). We decided a week before we left that we should bring someone to help us with the kids as they have been a handful recently. :) My sister wasn't able to come, and it worked out that Noelle was able to get time off work and join us. Not only is she great with the kids, but she is also talented beind the camera lens. So if the kids behave on Gotcha Day, (and she's not wrangling screaming toddlers into another room to avoid scaring Caroline) then we'll have some awesome pictures of our first moments as a family of 5. Noelle is flying home next Saturday, so she'll post some of her pics for me then. Her raw files are too big for the ipad, and my iPhoto program crashed last night and is now corrupted. :( I can load pictures from my camera onto Scott's computer, but we can't edit them or anything.
One cute thing Carter said when we got off the plan in Nanning was, "LiYun might be here somewhere!" He is so excited to meet her.

Today, David just took us to the WalMart to pick up diapers and snacks and bottled water. As I'm sure you know, they have all kinds of interesting variations of chips and snacks. For example, they have Pringles in the following flavors: Seaweed, Italian Red Meat, Crab, Hot Pot Spicy, some type of fish flavor, and more. We branched out (conservatively) and tried the Green Cucumber Pringles, and they are surprisingly good! Very light and fresh.

David also took us to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and ordered for us. It was delicious. A precious 3-year-old boy wanted to hang out at our table with Carter the whole time. I got a few pictures of them on my iphone, but I'll have to load them for tomorrow. Speaking of Chinese food, when my mother-in-law told Carter last week that there might be a McDonalds in Nanning, Carter said, "No....in China they have Chinese food!" :) He was surprised to find that they do indeed have McDonalds here.

David said LiYun's foster mom was going to call in the morning to let him know how LiYun is doing. David reassured us that she is very excited and has told so many people that she has a forever mommy and daddy. She had also asked David if we were bringing Grace with us, so she obviously feels a bit comforted by the fact that she will have a Chinese meimei (little sister).

I've been practicing some Chinese phrases with David, and we also brought a letter that has already been translated to give to LiYun on Monday. I hope it will reassure her. One of the phrases I said in Mandarin was "We will never leave you." And our guide said that will be very important to tell her.

Tomorrow, we're taking the kids to People's Park where they can run around, enjoy some park rides, and get some energy out. Thank you for all the sweet comments with encouragements, verses, and prayers! I have a lot of peace today.

I'm off to get the kids into bed. Have a great Saturday!!"