Day One... Getting to Know Guangzhou

We all slept well last night in our new hotel. We got up and phoned home, tried to Skype with my sister, and then went downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast buffet was good and the scenery was even better. The dining area overlooks a private garden complete with waterfall and fishpond, so we took a walk outside afterwards. Mom and I ventured out to Starbucks and Trustmart, which is similar to a grocery store. We just relaxed all afternoon and then went to a Lifeline meeting tonight to prepare for the big day tomorrow. There are four other families that will be meeting their children tomorrow with us. It is so very hard to believe that the waiting journey ends tomorrow and then the family one begins. I am terrified of what lies ahead of us, but I know that God has a plan and He will provide. Mom and I packed Mia's backpack for Gotcha Day tomorrow and we ate dinner at a Cantonese restaurant here in the hotel. It was good, but using chopsticks is difficult for country folks like us. Griff and I were the source of much entertainment for the local Chinese who watched us struggle to get food to our mouths... My mom went straight to the fork...:) So, today was a good day all in all. This is the last day Mia will spend in an orphanage and when she wakes up in the morning she will be placed in a car with her nanny to take a six-hour ride to meet her new parents. She will not understand what is happening and we have been prepared by all that she will cry, for how long we have no idea. But I am reassuring myself that while this will be very traumatic for Mia and is very sad to think of all she has ever known being taken away from her tomorrow, I can see what is ahead and I KNOW that what ahead is better than what she is leaving behind. Tomorrow is a very big day. I can think of only one song right now and that is the Casting Crowns song... "If We've Ever Needed You, Lord it's now..." and that really does sum up how I feel tonight. We leave our hotel tomorrow at 2 pm to take a fifteen minute ride to the Civil Affairs office to meet Mia. We will not stay there long, and then we will be taken to a store to buy diapers and formula before returning to the hotel. I'm posting some photos from the garden at the hotel as well as Mia's crib that is ready and waiting for her to sleep in. Please say prayers for us tomorrow as we so need them. Until then...

Much love,
Ashley