What a great day...today we met and brought Zoe back to the hotel...she is ours

So yesterday (Monday) we got up at around 6:00 am to get ready to meet Zoe.  We traveled to Kunming with another couple, the Phil and Tara from Maryland are also adopting a 2 & 1/2 year old girl. They are a really nice couple who already have two children.  We met the Vong's in the lobby of the hotel at 8:00 am where our guide Nancy who works with Holt took us to a building in the city to complete paperwork and unite us with out children.  After about 30 minutes of paperwork...there they were two little girls...I was speechless. Sonja immediately went to Zoe.  Zoe was quite and a little shy but otherwise was in a very receptive mood...neither of the two girls cried and seemed to be comfortable around their new parents. Really...it was one of the few moments where I was utterly speechless...after 15 months I really could not believe this was actually really happening...it was a very moving moment. Nathaniel and I took a lot of pictures which we will share when we can...

So today...we went to one of the natural wonders in this part of the country...called stone forest...it was really cool.  Apparently at one point the rock formations were under the ocean and now have left all these huge rock formations which you can tour. We went with the Vongs (Phil & Tara and their new daughter Ada). We spent about 1.5 hours there and then had lunch. Both Zoe and Ada were very well behaved.  It was a great time where we could spend time with the kids. So...it has been a great couple of days and I hope to be able to post more in a few days.  Unfortunately...this blog is blocked in China so Phil lent me his computer as he has a way to circumvent Chinese Internet.  Thanks Phil...more to come....thanks for reading our blog....

Oh...by the way...I wanted to wish my father a very happy birthday...tomorrow would have been his 71rst birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad...I miss you...

Our trip to Beijing...

Due to all the bad weather our flight to Chicago was cancelled last Wednesday with no seat available until Thursday.  So we left Omaha at around 1:00 in the afternoon on Thursday and arrived in Chicago about 2:30 pm. Our flight to Beijing wasn't until 9:00 pm so we had a long wait at the Chicago O'hare airport but we made it through. We then boarded our flight to Beijing for a 13 hour flight to Beijing. When we arrived in Beijing it was about midnight. We got into our hotel and slept.  We were scheduled for our orientation in the morning which covered some basics about the Chinese culture, information about Zoe, etc. There we about eight other families also preparing for their adoption as well.  We met a number of really nice couples. Maybe the most unique family was from my home state of Arkansas.  The couple are Mennonites and brought their 7 children along as well...seemed like a vary nice family. At noon we had an authentic Chinese lunch and then headed to the Forbidden City.  It was amazing.  The Forbidden City is where the Emperor's and Empresses lived so many years ago. You cannot imagine how large and beautiful it is.  We walked from the Forbidden City to Tienanmen Square.  A huge square where many of the large holidays are recognized and it is right across from where Mao Tse Tung rests in his memorial building.  A few things that struck me about Beijing was how clean the city is you see no graffiti and everyone is very friendly.  A few Chinese people asked Nathaniel to stop so they could take a picture with him due to the color of his hair.  Nathaniel was very accommodating...after the tourist stops we came back to the hotel to rest and all fell a sleep, none of us got up for dinner..between the jet lag, long day touring in the sun and the stress and excitement of meeting Zoe did us in...we got up the next morning we repacked (because we could only have as many suitcases that total 44 pounds per person as opposed to the2 suitcases of 50 pounds that you are allowed in the US). We flew out at around 1:00 pm and arrived on China Airlines to Kunming at about 4:30 pm. So at last we are in the same city with Zoe...

went to the Beijing airport (it was built for the Olympics) is is huge...beautifully designed.