Today we flew from Hohhot to Guangzhou. It was about a 3 hour flight. Mei Mei slept almost the whole way! We made it safely to our hotel, The Garden Inn. This is a 5 star hotel where Lifeline gets huge discounted rates. This hotel is truly amazing! I'll take pics and post some later in the week when I have a little more time and energy. Our guide took us to a grocery store for bottled water and some other essentials (diapers, juice, yogurt, etc.) before checking in to the hotel. Once we got settled, we ventured out and walked a little. We quickly found a McDonald's and chowed down. Girlfriend ate an entire cheeseburger!
We are thinking we are going to really love Guangzhou compared to Beijing or Hohhot. The pollution and dust in those places were awful and the air was so dry. We've all had bloody noses, terrible congestion, and painfully dry skin. Guangzhou is in southern China and the climate is similar to south Louisiana. It's humid and warmer. Today is the first day my hair has been frizzy. A bit of normalcy at least. ;) The foliage here is beautiful! I'll have to take pics of some of these trees. This type of beauty would not survive in dry Beijing or Hohhot. We are so happy to be here for so many reasons!
There are 15 Lifeline families here this week at the same hotel and doing all the same stuff with us! We can't wait to hug so many people who we have connected with through Facebook, etc. They are truly our brothers and sisters!
Emily is doing so well, y'all. We can really feel the prayers. She had one moment of grief when she woke up this morning. She got the quivery lip, looked away and wouldn't let me hold her. That lasted 2 minutes and the rest of the day has been filled with giggles and tons of words in Chinese. Oh! She said her first word in English. CAR! You can imagine our excitement when she belted that out. :) She is in exploratory overload. Everything is new to her. We showed her a pond full of fish today and she was so excited, running back and forth, giggling.
Tomorrow we will be going to a clinic where Emily will be medically reviewed and processed through the system. All adopted children must go through a slew of tests before they leave the country. It won't be the most exciting day but it's a necessary one. Grrrrrrrrrr!
 |
| Emily's first flight! |
 |
| This is how baby girl decided to spend her adventure |
 |
| This little girl is really coming out of her shell. SO much personality! |
Wonderful, wonderful story of LOVE, FAITH and GOD'S LOVE. Thanks for keeping us informed and cannot wait to see you all in Church soon. Brady sure is taken by Emily, and she sure seems to be taken by him. He sure was an asset on your journey.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Loman Family! Emily is precious. It is so good to see her with her forever family. I hope we can stay connected and I hope you all will be at the HH reunion this summer. Lily sent me some pictures of children from Batou orphanage that she is trying to get to HH. I will forward them to you. Maybe we can help find more families for these sweeties.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless you all. I look forward to following the rest of your journey.
Jennifer Smith- mom to Reid now Joshua from HH.