Travel Journal
March 30, 2013
After a rough day yesterday, things were ending pretty well. Dayna had some special time in her "nook" writing in her journal; Annie...well, she did her typical Annie thing at bedtime (up, down, up, down, tears, tears, tears...zonk out); Dan worked on the computer; and Alaina enjoyed the ginormous bathtub with a cup of tea, a good book, and her dear friend Cadbury.
Our happy evening came to a screeching halt at about 2:00. For the next 90 minutes, Annie was awake and crying or whining. She'll usually wake up and go back down in about 10 minutes with some back patting, but wasn't interested in any of that last night. We're torn between letting her cry it out and giving her the comfort she needs. It's hard to stick with your gut at 2 am.
So, three of us woke up pretty crabby this morning. (Dayna did great!) We started our day late with an alarm that was set for the right time, wrong day. So after a bit of a rush, we headed down to check out our new breakfast buffet. Everything was fabulous...well, almost everything. Alaina's tea snobbishness is getting the best of her when she asks if they have anything other than Lipton...so they bring out the Twinings. She may just have to bring her own tea to breakfast as well.
After breakfast, we met up with the third family in our group. They are from New York City and arrived from Harbin last night with their new son. (By the way, Harbin is where Dayna's good friend Katherine lives. Katherine is the friend who met us in Beijing.) This family also brought their 5 year old daughter. They adopted the "traditional" route (non-special needs) and have been logged in for 6 years before getting their referral. Doing the math...they were doing paperwork for their adoption when they were expecting their daughter!
We also met a woman traveling alone (no travel group, and husband is back home with her three year old), so we've added her to our little group.
We loaded into a van this morning and headed to the medial exam so we can get a Visa for Annie. This exam was not pleasant 6 years ago, and we were prepared for a rough go of it this morning. But the medical office has moved. It's a larger facility, with more light and doctors. We breezed through in about 30 minutes. Annie took everything in stride.
It was a lazy afternoon, picking up some new snacks and more bottled water for this leg of the journey. We were hoping to explore a local park after nap time, but it was pouring buckets of rain. We even had a thunderstorm. Paired with listening to KMHD (Jazz station from Oregon) online, it was the perfect Oregon day with a little Nebraska thunder thrown in for good measure. Instead of the park, we ended up in a tiny playroom with about 5 other families this afternoon. It was a happy hum of children playing with parents asking "where are you from?", "which province were you in?", "what's your child's name?" For the longest time, Annie was the only little girl. Most of the other recent adoptees are boys.
This is probably the biggest hotel we've ever stayed in, and it is truly international. Dayna is keeping track of what countries people are from. We've met people from the US, China, France, Spain, Austria, Mexico, and Belgium. We're sure to add to this list before our time at the China hotel is over.
Alaina braved the phone system and managed to successfully order a cheese pizza from Papa John's. She wasn't sure if we would end up with something like fried squid instead, so we were all pretty happy to indulge in the cheesy goodness.
We're now tucked in for the night. Annie went down easily, and her burns seem so have quickly subsided. She only has a little red patch on her chest at this point.
Tomorrow, we're headed to Shamian Island to attend the same dual language church we took Dayna to when we were here before. It is a state-run church, and we're curious to see how they will celebrate Easter. After church, we're hoping to enjoy some shopping and American food at Lucy's diner.
We've been asked about the guestbook. Dan is working on a solution. In the meantime, you can email us at danalainawilson @ gmail . com (remove spaces.)
Prayer Requests:
• Continued healing of Annie's burns
• Sleep through the night for all of us
• That the rain would hold off so we can enjoy some outside time on Shamian Island tomorrow
• That God would use us as we build relationships with other families
• Still having computer and website issues
Praises:
• Annie's burns are getting better
• Smooth medical appointment today
• Chocolate (truly!)
Outside the medical office
Inside the office
Doctor #1
A wine vending machine - in the lobby of the medical office
Chandelier in hotel lobby
Lobby
Hotel room
