Comin' home!!!

Just wanted to let y'all know that we are in the Hong Kong airport waiting to board our plane to Newark. I am sooo excited to be coming home. I'll post some pics of HK when we get home in case anyone is interested - it was beautiful. We get in Charlotte at 5:45 PM Sunday on Continental from Newark. See ya in about 20 hours :( ......Oy!

Last Day in Guangzhou

It is Friday morning here in China. We just came from breakfast and Kiera is taking a little snooze before a big afternoon of power-shopping. Kiera's visa should arrive (via our guide, Grace) at the hotel by 5:00. We leave for Hong Kong Saturday AM our time, one night in Hong Kong (wasn't that a song in the 80's??- just kidding, it was Bangkok for those of you too young to remember) then back to the US of A on Sunday. I am really looking forward to getting home, hugging my kids (the big ones) , going to Mass, drinking diet Pepsi and having the right of way as a pedestrian.

But China has been a blast - I couldn't even imagine what it would be like. So very different from home. It was a once in a lifetime trip and I thank God that we were able to come here and bring back the best souvenir ever!!! Can't wait to see y'all and have you meet little Kiera!

This is called a be-be (bay-bay). I don't know how to spell it, but it is what all the fashionable Yunnan
moms wear to carry their babies. Isn't it cool? I look just like a local wearing this. :)








We went shopping in the Qingping market in Guangzhou. The have stuff so scary here, it makes
the market in Kunming look like CVS.

Like all the O'Brien women, Kiera enjoys fine dining.

White trash comes to the White Swan.

Greetings From the White Swan

Hi Everyone,

We made it to Guangzhou and had Kiera’s medical exam done this morning. Tomorrow we go to the American Consulate to apply for Kiera’s visa. To answer your question, Jayna, yes, that should be our last step as far as paper work is concerned. At least in China. Once we get to the US there will be some more stuff to do. But by then she will be a US citizen.

We are at the famous (at least in Chinese adoption circles) White Swan Hotel. There are lots of Americans with Chinese children here, all doing the same thing that we are doing. This is everybody's last stop if you are American and adopting, no matter where your daughter is from, as the American consulate is here in Guangzhou. I must say, I have been looking forward to this leg of the journey.

You can tell that we’re not in Kunming anymore because the prices have shot up to take advantage of all the Americans. But the hotel is spectacular - there is a gorgeous waterfall in the lobby and a fantastic view of the Pearl River. I'm sure Will will take pictures! We rarely get to stay in a place so beautiful. I wish that Kiera would be able to remember it. At least we have lots of pictures and videos to show her as she grows up.

She behaves a lot like Shannon did as a baby. This morning she grabbed an open bag of rice cereal and flung it around the room sprinkling cereal everywhere. Kinda reminds you of the Rice Chex incident, doesn’t it Shannon?

A lady just came to the room with a special Barbie that they give you at the White Swan when you are here with your adopted Chinese daughter. You can’t get them anywhere else. I had heard about the Barbie and I was frantically looking around the room when we got here yesterday. Will kept saying, “They’ll bring it, they’ll bring it.” And sure enough they did. Barbie and I are both blue-eyed blondes and are holding Chinese babies, but the resemblance between Barbie and me ends there. Still, it’s very cool – we’ll keep it for Kiera until she’s old enough to appreciate it.

There are stores every few feet outside the hotel called “Sherry’s Place”, “Jessica’s Place”, “Amy’s Place”, etc. They all advertise laundry and strollers and sell Chinese baby clothes. Guess we’ll be shopping this afternoon! There is a market not far from here that we are going to hit this afternoon. We are sure to have some more interesting pictures later on. Stay tuned!!!

For some reason I'm not always able to post pictures again, so keep checking on http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ourlittleflower/albums. I will upload some more pictures there.

Last night in Kunming

Hey everybody!

We are packing up right now and getting ready for the last leg of our journey. It is kind of bittersweet leaving Kunming. This place is Kiera's history and her birthplace. Seeing where she was found and the orphanage where she spent her first eight months (we saw it today) just makes me love her more and makes me more sure than ever how right this decision was. Will and I will spend our lives making up for every sad thing this little girl has had to live through.

But tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou for our appointment at the American consulate (which is Thursday. We will apply for Kiera's visa to come to America (we got her passport today). This will bring her one step closer to becoming an American girl. Yee-haw!

We don't expect to have any problems connecting to the internet in Guangzhou, but if you don't hear from us, just know that we can't get online, but we will as soon as possible - so keep watching for news. We will not be posting anymore until we get to Guangzhou, which is early Tuesday morning for you guys at home. We'll be back online as soon as we can.

Peace ! Kathy, Will and Kiera

Good Night

I know that several of you watch this blog several times a day, so I just want to say good night, in case you check it one last time before going to bed. It is now Monday morning here and after breakfast we are going to do more paperwork and receive Keira's passport. I think that this will be her last official Chinese document and her name will be reflected as Guan, Qing Ju. Xiulan said that she talked to the Director of the orphanage and that she should be able to get us a copy of the note that was left with Kiera. They NEVER give the original but a copy is more than most families ever get. We don't expect much information beyond her birthdate, but even that is something.

Good night everybody.

We will be home in a week.

Love,

Kathy, Will and Kiera

ps Bobby and Shannon, we miss you very much and can't wait to be together again. Oh yeah, Kiera says hi

A Humble Beginning

We were fortunate to find out were Kiera was found when she was abandoned, and to actually go to that place. I do not think that many parents get that opportunity, if only because their children can come from very far away. It was under the Ju hua flyover (bridge) of the Guan Du district in Kunming City. Fanny (Xilaun’s assistant) took us there yesterday (1-19-07) to see it and it was a bit shocking. The bridge’s name translates to something that refers to flowers (Chrysanthemums) and that is how Kiera got her Chinese name: Guan, Qing Ju. Guan is the Chinese family name from the district that she was found in and Qing Ju (pronounced Ching Jew) is a little, green chrysanthemum. Well the name of the bridge is beautiful but that is where the beauty ended.

The location is very dirty, very busy and very noisy. It seems to be a “cross roads” for many local people. It is not a place that you will find a tourist. It is a rather impoverished area and people are doing what they have to do to make a living. Try to picture a ground level intersection of 6 to 8 streets, meeting at a big circle. Then above it are one or two levels of bridges, criss-crossing above. Noise, noise, noise. Every type of vehicle imaginable goes around this circle: Buses, trucks, motorcycles, cars, vans, bikes, scooters, three-wheeled scooter type things, three-wheeled bikes functioning as little trucks that carry large loads of products, carts pulled by very old men and little old women, carts pulled by donkey’s and mules. Loads of construction products, produce, water, garbage, boxes – all sorts of stuff. Everything with a horn uses it, and uses it often. On the sidewalks are vendors of all kinds: produce, Chinese versions of shish-ka-bobs, other cooked stuff, magazines, shoe shines, cigarettes etc. People mill around on foot, wait for busses, hang-out on their bikes and motorcycles. It looks like some of the people are just passing through on their way to work or between supply locations and job sites. There are a lot (A LOT) of construction materials suppliers near by and they operate out of little store fronts.

All of this traffic weaves in and out with horns honking all of the time. Vendors are set-up trying to sell any product or service to the passers-by and of course there are those that just stand and watch. One of the corners (picture a pie shape because of all of the streets converging onto this circle) acts as a bus stop at its point. Set back about 30 feet is a small police station. It is very very small and is not open every day. I think that it is a satellite location for traffic officers. Near the point there are two trees where the cement sidewalk was removed to make planters for the trees. One tree to the left and one to the right. Kiera was left on May 17th 2006, under the tree to the right as you look at the circle from the police station. It is not a big tree. The trunk is about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and its height is about 15 to 20 feet. It looks a little spindly. We made a second trip back to the corner to pluck a couple of leaves from the tree, and our guide said that the tree is a small-fruited fig tree – small banyon tree.

On our first visit to the corner Fanny talked to a police officer for us and he told us to go to the larger police station that is near by. This is where she would have been taken when she was found, and where she spent that first night. At first they wanted to see our papers (her birth certificate) but Fanny and the taxi driver (who was also a very helpful lady in all of this) talked to the handful of officers that gathered around. The police eventually took pity on us and did some research. I told Kathy that she needed to stay out of the car because I didn’t think that it would hurt to have them see a blonde haired, blued eyed woman taking care of a helpless but drop dead gorgeous baby – I figured you gotta use what you got. They found the police report but the officer that found her (I assume he found her but I guess someone could have picked Kiera up and then given her to him) wasn’t there, so they called him up and got a good description of where she was found. That is how we know which corner and under which tree the baby was placed. The police were unusually cooperative with this, according to Fanny anyway. She said that it was because we were foreigners and they took pity on us. She said that the head police officer thought that we looked like a nice family and they were impressed that we went to the trouble to find out where Kiera was left. He said that Kiera was very lucky to be going to live in America and he asked if we would adopt him too. I guess America doesn’t look too bad in all parts of the world.

So some things we know, and some things we will never know. We know when and where Kiera was found. We know that she was found with a note and 10 yuan (Chinese money aka RMB worth about $1.30 US), which is probably around a half day’s wages for her birth parents. We know with the certainty of the note that was left with her that her birthday is April 24th, 2006. Most abandoned babies will never know their actual birth dates because notes are rarely left with the baby – too risky. We know that she was left in a public place where she would quickly be found, where police were nearby to bring her to safety and where her father and/or mother could quickly slip into obscurity. I assume that they watched from afar to ensure that the baby was safely found. We know that they risked a great deal leaving her in such a place as the punishment for child abandonment is rather severe. We know that her parents loved her enough to give birth to her, to care for her for 24 days before giving her up and we know that they left at least some money in the hopes of ensuring her care for at least a couple of days. We also know that the baby, temporarily Qing Ju but ultimately Kiera Rose, touched a police officer enough in such a short period of time that he easily remembered the details of finding her 8 months later.

Many unknown things will forever be a mystery. Was the baby’s family local or did they travel a long way so that they could not be found and punished? We will know neither the circumstances of her birth nor the events that lead to her parents’ having to give her up. Even so, all indications are that she was loved when she was brought into this world, and loved she will remain. We know how deeply we have fallen in love with Kiera Rose after only 6 days; we will never know the courage, the strength, the desperation or the fear that it would take to give her up after caring for her for 24 days. What was most certainly her birth-parents’ greatest heart break has turned out to be our greatest blessing, joy and miracle. Our souls belong together as a family formed by God, for His purposes. With Kiera our family grows from 4 to 5 and is now complete.

We will love her for the rest of our lives. We will always be indebted to a family that we will never meet. We will never know their real names or their fate. We will only know them as the Guans, and we will pray for them until the day that we die.

Slices of Chinese Life Part 2

This is why it takes me so long to make a post.
















What the well dressed fisher-woman is wearing

















I don't know what to say about this.








This one made me laugh so hard I almost blew chicken feet out my nose and caused a scene.

Slices of Chinese Life Part 1

I am almost used to the noise, crowds, pushing, shoving, staring, hocking of very loud loogies, high-pitched Chinese music as well as dodging bikes, skooters and yes, even buses ON THE SIDEWALK! But as you know, the one thing I just can't make peace with is the food. I have taken Dru's advice and have been sticking to veggies. You can get by very nicely on fruit, veggies, rice, noodles, eggs and tofu. No barfing. In the market, they have every kind of food you can imagine, and some you could never imagine. There are many smells that are new, but at the same time extremely unpleasant. Gayle, I don't know how you did this while pregnant - you're a better woman than I am. I truly thought I might hurl in Carrefour's "grocery" department. One good thing though. I found Diet Pepsi at Carrefour's. Will made ice from bottled water at the hotel, so when we got home, we had a delicious cocktail of Life-Giving Diet Pepsi on ICE!! Mmmm! Will said I was a different girl after my diet Pepsi.

So now, without further ado, I'd like to present what I like to call - The Gallery of Disturbing Food:

No, your eyes are not tricking you - those are scorpions. You thought I was joshin you didn't you.

This is why it isn't good to eat bacon in China.

EEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Those are chicken feet on the left and SEAHORSES on the right. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!!

Absolutely no clue what this is, but I felt it was the piece de resistance. I'll be back later with more Chinese life.

Thoughts while in Kunming

First off, I would like to say how grateful we are for all the messages from family and friends. It is very comforting knowing all the love, prayers and good wishes that are coming our way from y’all in the States. It’s fun being here, but also stressful. Kiera doesn’t even know how many people love her, have been praying for her, and are anxious to meet her.


We are adjusting to each other as a family amazingly easily. She loves being cuddled, she looks into your eyes with her big, brown ones, and she seems to be bonding very well to both of us. Xiulan says that she already knows that I’m her Momma. She has been smiling, laughing and playing peek-a-boo today and she only cries when she’s hungry. She has experienced a lot in her first couple of days with us, and she’s doing beautifully. She has been enjoying trying some new foods (but no scorpions for her).

Now I ask you, HOW CUTE IS THIS???

I have posted some new pictures of Kiera here: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ourlittleflower/album/576460762385687292

"Why you so old?":

People in Kunming are not used to seeing Americans with Chinese babies. So they stare, constantly. They stare relentlessly and unapologetically. I told Will that I feel like JLo. We are the center of attention everywhere we go. I’m not sure if they are staring because I’m so white, or because I’m so old. Sometimes people turn to me and ask, “You mama????” “daughter???”

Sometimes they turn around to look at who’s in the stroller to see what an American baby looks like. When they see Kiera they are stunned and say "Chinese baby!??!” When people start staring, Will whips out a card that explains why we are in China and why we have a Chinese baby that is written in Chinese. Then a HUGE crowd forms all around us which scares me a lot but Will enjoys it.

China: Land of Unsolicited Advice

Now you might think that if you travel halfway around the world, that you could escape having someone (I’m not mentioning any names, Mom) giving you advice that you didn’t ask for, but you would be wrong. Everywhere we go people criticize us for not covering the baby up enough. Gayle and Michael know what I’m talking about. You may have noticed Kiera’s Artic expedition outfit in her picture. It’s about 55 degrees, folks! Now if it were like this in Charlotte, people would be running into BiLo with shorts on. But not here! People are wearing gloves, parkas, hats, etc. and they dress the babies in even MORE clothes. People let you know if the baby looks “cold”.

But the High Priestess of Unsolicited Advice is Xiulan. She makes my mom look like a rank amateur in the advice department. She’s like my mom on steroids. She has explained to me that I feed the baby wrong, make her formula too runny, dress her wrong, pack my diaper bag too heavy, hold her too much (sorry, not budging on that one), should put the diaper bag on the stroller and Will and I don’t dress warmly enough.

Now I have raised two children to adolescence without killing or maiming them or causing them undo psychological trauma. I have not poisoned either of them nor have either of them had to have any extremities removed because of frostbite. THIS IS NOT MY FIRST CHILD!!! Oops, got a little emotional there. As someone who has an unusually strong aversion to being told what to do, I find myself taking many deep breaths and reminding myself that Xiulan has been wonderful with us. She handles everything relating to the adoption. We don’t have to worry about anything. She tells us what’s safe to eat, bargains the vendors down for me when I’m shopping in the market (by screaming at them in Chinese) , makes all of our reservations for us, etc. There is no way we could ever get through this adoption without her. Just don’t cross her.

Here she is explaining to me that I'm feeding the baby wrong.

That's it for now - I've got some really funny pictures to share, of things that we've seen in China, so stay tuned.

Here she is! Miss Kiera Rose

Isn't she somethin'?

She enjoys her "Pet Shop" Book and "Roll and See" very much!! Thank you Mrs. Bruno!!

Kiera is modelling the Apache warrior hair-do (not really a Mohawk.) Don't worry, Shannon - she has plenty of hair!

Kiera enjoys relaxing with smoke after dinner.

I like her - I think we'll keep her!

Houston this is Kunming - We have reastablished communication

Sorry everybody for the delay in making new posts. When we got to the Kunming Hotel we were not able to get onto the internet until just a few minutes ago. We will try to make up for it with pictures and words. Just know that we intend to post something every day and that the only reason that we won’t is probably because something has happened to keep us from getting onto the internet.

We will start working on new posts when we get back from meeting with Xiulan (pronounced; shoe – lawn) who is taking such good care of us here in Kunming, and without whom we would not be able to adopt Kiera. Kathy is going to work on getting pictures up right away (because we know that you all want to see Kiera more than to read our posts) and then we will post more about our adventures – they include Kathy and the baby making spectacles of themselves at the market. Stay tuned.

Will

New Pictures

Sorry, but I didn't set the newest album to "public" so the link was not accessible. I'm a bonehead. But check the new pictures out and you will see Will in his Red Army hat. It's a sight not to be missed! http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ourlittleflower/albums Oh well, time to go to breakfast. I hear they're serving duck tongues and scorpion waffles!

By the way, I adjusted the timezone on our computer, so it now correctly shows the time as January 15, 6:39 AM. It is Sunday 5:39PM in Charlotte. Confused? I know I am.

P.S. Does anybody know what "duck treasures" might be? Will has an idea but it sounds rather personal.

Time Zone Trama

Hi Everyone,

Well it is 3:51pm back home, 4:51am here. I was asleep and then all of the sudden sleep turned to wide awake. I don't think my body is in either time zone right now. Once I think that I have adjusted to the local time this happen or I nearly fall alseep at dinner. Oh well I am still having a blast! I can't believe that I am over here. I'm having the time of my life and we haven't even picked-up Kiera yet. I never thought that China would be so much fun. I never thought much about what it would be like to be here because I never thought that I would be. One never knows what the future will bring. Well here is a stream of random comments that I hope that you all will find interesting.

1) It is great to hear from all of you. It gives us a lot to look forward to on the way back to the hotel. It certainly makes the world seem much smaller. I am glad to see that our Ohio friends have tuned in. Kathy arranged all of the communication type stuff before we left so I am not sure who received the “We are finally going…” e-mail so please everyone spread the word to others.

2) I can’t believe we flew over the North Pole to get here. I heard about it and thought ‘well we probably just go way over the top part of Alaska’, but no, it goes right over the North Pole, down over the former Soviet Union (I’m dating myself because I don’t know my current geography well). There is a monitor on the plane that shows where the plane is all of the time, given different views and it updates that flight stats. It was –93 degrees outside the plane on the way here – Kathy should have liked that good enough. It is interesting to be flying straight north for over 6 hours and you never leave your time zone..but then when it does change it changes in a big way! Saturday was that shortest day of our lives. I think it only lasted about 11 hours for us because we showed up late to it.

3) Our Ohio friends will be glad to know that even in Beijing (Ba Da Ling actually) there are Buckeye fans. As we were walking along The Great Wall, a group of about 6 or 8 Chinese folks were passing the other way and one older fellow ran up to us, leaned over, put his face in front of ours, with wide eyes and a big grin said “O – HI— O. We were shocked at first, pleased but shocked. So I let lose with a big GO BUCKEYES!!! and his whole crowd just erupted. We weren’t wearing any Buckeye paraphernalia, just our Buckeye hearts, and I guess it showed.

4) Actually I was wearing my new, fashionable, red army hat. It was below freezing on the wall and quite windy, so my new winter hat did a good job of keeping my ears warm. Plus I think that it helped me to look like a local!!! Kathy sticks out like a soar thumb with that blonde hair and blue eyes and all, but not me. Just throw on in a Red Army hat with a big red star on the front of it and I look just like a comrad. The local vendors are very inviting to me when I wear my new hat. They act as though they have known me forever and offer me very good deals – special for me. See I do look like a native – I think I “pass” as they say.

5) You would be surprised how many people here speak English at one level or another. It will be interesting if the smaller cities are the same way or if this is really just a Beijing thing. Our guide has been telling us wonderful things about Chairman Mao. He has made everybody equal, brought modernization and prosperity to China. Hmmmmm?

6) Now I tend not to be the most adventurous eater, but so far the dining has been quite fun for me. I don’t get nearly as queasy as Kathy does. When the octopus tentacle fell off of her pizza and she put it on my plate I ate it right up. And by the way, Peking Duck makes for a really incredible meal!!! Yum yum. When we get back to Charlotte we have to find it at a local restaurant.

7) We have learned about 10 Chinese words (hello, thank-you, no, no thank-you, north, south, capital etc.) No thank-you is the most fun to say: Boo-Ya. I will continue to try to expand my Chinese vocabulary while I am here, it helps me to fit in just a little bit better I think.
The pollution here is rather heavy unfortunately. There is a gray hazy fog everywhere and it blocks the view of the many beautiful mountains that are near by Beijing. This too will be interesting to see if it happens in Kunming.

8) We were in a shop in Ba Da Ling (at The Great Wall) and they had some really beautiful stuff, including some awesome globes that were inlaid with mother of pearl, turquoise, jade etc. and I was admiring them. There were a few big ones that stood on the floor by themselves and had a light inside of them that made them particularly attractive. I saw the price was $3200. Apparently I was the only one in the shop that realized that they were not referring to RMB dollars. I showed a lot of interest in it. Of course they were going to discount it for me because I had my red army hat with me. Kathy thought that it was beautiful but she couldn’t understand why (or how) I would spend $3000 on something like that. She said that she saw shop folks literally running all of the shop and swarming around us when they saw my interest. The price did include shipping back to the states after all. When I found out the price was in US dollars I then grew surprised and shocked: “Boo-ya, boo-ya, boo-ya” and I got the hell out of there.

9) There were shipping contracts flying around, packaging being pulled out, it was quite a scene. I guess to be honest, I didn’t exactly “pass” in that store after all, even with my red army hat.

10) The computer is extremely slow when on-line here, so please be patient. Just the posts that Kathy has made so far have each taken her close to a couple hours a piece. She will look-into the picture up-loads the next time that she gets on. Hopefully we will have better internet access when we get to Kunming. Sorry for this running on so long. It does make for a great way to capture the memories. Tomorrow we get Kiera!!! We are soooo excited.

Love,

Will

The Great Wall...not for sissies

Well today we went to the Great Wall and it was awesome! So beautiful, it's hard to try to describe it. But I never knew how tough the climb is to the top and how steep! It's a good thing that Will and I are in perfect physical condition ;) Our guide told us to take the climb to the right - it was less crowded. So we did and she turned around and went to the coffee shop to wait for us. Nice

Then we went to the tomb of the 13th Ming emporer. We were told what a partier this guy was and a whole bunch of very interesting stories about imperial China. Will wanted to know how to aquire a concubine of his own, but I explained that he couldn't afford me let alone a concubine.

I am happy to report that tonight's dinner was much less scary then last night's. We had Peking duck and it was very good. However we had lunch at Pizza Hut (don't ask) and somehow I wound up with a piece of octopus on my pizza. What is it with these people and tentacles??

By the way Jayna, to answer your question, we did not bring Oreos but we did bring Peanut butter, Skittles and life-giving M&M's.

Don't forget to go to http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ourlittleflower/albums to see more pictures. I would upload more, but our internet connection is very slow. Tomorrow we go to Tianammen Square and the Forbidden city. Then Kunming tomorrow night and to get our baby on Tuesday! Stay tuned!

We're in Freakin China, Dude!!!

Well we made it! Our plane ride was very nice and we were met at the airport by our guide, Sunny. Our hotel is very nice and Beijing is a very pretty city with a mix of old and new architecture. But dinner....oh dinner was weird. We went to this place that served "the Emperor's Meal". The emperor must have been a pretty tough guy. There was one dish that was vaguely described as "seafood". It kept moving even after the waitress put the dish down. Unfortunately, Sunny didn't know enough English to tell us what we were eating so it was all pretty mysterious. I started to eat one thing (also called "seafood") and after a small bite, I pushed some of the breading off of it and there was some gray substance with what looked to be tentacles underneath. it's too disturbing...I can't talk about it anymore. Well, on the bright side, I may lose some weight while we're here.

I am having trouble getting photos to post on Blogger (plus the choices are all in Chinese) so please go to this link for photos: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ourlittleflower/albums

We have a driver, but we don't know his name cause he said it very fast and slurred it. When you ask someone to repeat they smile and say "yes" or "thank you".

Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall and the thirteen Emporer's Tombs. It should be really fun. I think I may bring a couple of granola bars.

I am exhausted and I'm going to sleep. Updates to follow.

We have our travel plans now!

We leave Friday morning (1/12/07) and get to Beijing on Saturday at 3:00pm - that's a long flight, do you think we will kill each other on the way? We do the tourist thing in Beijing for a day or two. I think that we will get time with Chairman Mao, but I hear that he is not much of a conversationalist anymore. Look for pictures.

We fly to Kunming on Monday afternoon and we GET KIERA on Tuesday morning!!! We stay in Kunming for several days and then we have an appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou on Thursday the 25th. We pick-up Kiera's visa (and I don't mean a credit card) on the 26th.

Saturday morning we will go to Hong Kong for a day and fly home on Sunday, leaving in the morning and getting into Charlotte at 5:45pm.

Shhhhh, Do you hear that? It's Kiera's song.

Kathy put this whole blog together and has been working very hard on it. Tonight she had the breakthrough of getting the song where she first heard Kiera's name to play when the blog opens up. We hope you enjoy it.

We will be posting pictures and stuff while we are in China, so keep coming back and posting back to us. We look forward to hearing from you all while we are gone.

Great job Kathleen!!!

Will

We're going to China!!!!

It looks like we will be traveling IN ABOUT A WEEK!!!! Yikes!!! I have no idea how we are going to get it all done, but there has been Divine Intervention every step of the way and I reckon this won't be any different. We will know our exact travel dates today and it looks like we will slip in just under the wire before our CIS approval expires. Our appointment at the US consulate is probably going to be January 25th and our approval expires on the 27th. This has just been one miracle after another.
We're going to get our baby!! Stay tuned!