We've Arrived!

Well, we made it.....a long 13 hour flight, but we made it. Ella said, "Hey, mommy, that was fun. Can we do it again?" Yeah, sure, but let's wait a couple of weeks and we'll try it in the other direction!

We cannot actually get onto our blog from here....I believe Blogspot is blocked here...as is YouTube and many other sites. We are sending messages and photos to my niece Hilary who will post for us - thanks, Hil. I think we have to bring back some shoes or something in exchange!!!

We were met at the airport in Beijing by our lovely guide, Lily, who is also from Changsha and had an instant connection with Ella. When we arrived at the hotel (by the way, not the same 'Best Western' we stayed in before), we met Dayna and Blair who are travelling to Xi-an to get their daughter. We were all completely exhausted, but mom, Lisa, Ella and I went for a light dinner. We all crashed by 10 pm and were up again at 3 am. We headed off to the airport around 8:30 for our flight to Changsha (Dayna and Blair off to Xi-an).We were met in Changsha by another very nice guide named Amy. We are staying at the Dolton Hotel - same one we stayed at when we adopted Ella. Amy helped us settle in and introduced us to another family here from the US to adopt a little girl who is 4 1/2...same age as Ella. They actually got her near Beijing, but had to come here to finalize the adoption as the little girl is from Hunan. They arrived an hour after us. By the way, this is their seventh child!!!! Two birth children, four adopted domestically, and now one international adoption.

We've seen more of this hotel in one day than we did in a week in 2005. There's a pool and a bowling alley! did not know that in 2005. However, just our luck....the pool is closed from today to the 24th for their annual cleaning!!!!

Now, the BIG news.......we get Isaac this afternoon around 3 o'clock. Can't wait. We have to go out exploring now to burn off some nervous energy. Everyone's doing great. Ella's a great traveller...she asked if we could go to the Cow's ice-cream store! Before you get all excited, NO, there is no Cow's ice-cream here. I think this hotel looks like the Prince of Wales in Niagara-on-the-Lake where we've stayed a couple of times with Neil for an ESL conference. Cow's ice-cream is just down the road from that hotel.

Mom's doing great and is enjoying the food. Lisa and mom are a great help with Ella.

Post again soon,

Effie