We are home!!!!  It took me a while to post again because well.....we were TIRED!!  On the way home from the airport from Wednesday I got sick!  I think I may have gotten food poisoning from the airplane food.  I stayed very good friends with my bathroom that day.  Because of that, Erik had to take care of Hannah.  It worked out well because it made her cling to him because she couldn't get to me.  It gave them some good bonding time.  It took us several days to know what day it was.  We walked around like zombies the first few days.  Hannah had her days and night mixed up and wanted to stay awake all night!!  Not good when you're as tired as we were!!  Every night is better though.  She is sleeping better. 
Her birthday was yesterday.  She turned 2 years old.  We will have family over this weekend for a small birthday party to celebrate her arrival home and her birthday.  Anslee and Nana have made big plans.  :)  She is such a  joy to us already and we love her very much! 
Jonah and Anslee have been adjusting well to her.  Anslee thought that Hannah should just come right in, go to their room, and play together all afternoon.  She didn't understand that Hannah didn't know all the people here, didn't know where she was, or even what to do with all those toys.  They have been very patient with her so far and Anslee is a big help!  She helps me bathe her every night and she likes to pick out her clothes. Jonah is a good big brother.  He watches after her and makes sure she is not getting into anything she's not supposed to.  I am very thankful that Hannah is bonding with the kids so well. 
I have a lot of pictures and I will post them soon.  We have to get them pulled from phones and cameras and uploaded.  :)  Thanks for the phone calls, emails, prayers, and words of encouragement!  The process is not over simply because we are home and we continue to cherish your prayers for our family!

We have had a busy few days!  Thursday we went to the Guiyang museum and learned a lot about the history and culture of Hannah's province.  We got to see many of the different ethnic groups that make up the province and it was very interesting.  Hannah wasn't realy enthused so she was a letting it be known how bored she was.  It's amazing that a small 15 pound child can be so difficult to hold!  :)  Friday we spent the day packing and at the airport.  The weather was not great so our flight was delayed.  We finally arrived in Guangzhou Friday night, got checked into this awesome hotel, and got a good night's rest.  This morning we went for Hannah's medical exam.  She was a trooper!  She never cried or even whimpered.  She was just happy to see all the people (she's very social).  Thankfully, she did not have to go through the TB test as she is not 2 years old yet.  We got to meet about 11 other Lifeline families that are here with us.  It is great to get to talk with people and compare stories and experiences.  It's also great to see how God is using His people to carry out His plan for these special kids!  Our God is awesome!!

We also got to eat at McDonald's!  Normally, I'm not a big fan but....wow...it was the best thing I've eaten in a while!!  It feels like we are a little closer to home here.  There are American's around, people speak English, and there are restaraunts that we recognize!  We have really enjoyed our time in China, but our other 2 babies are at home and we are so ready to see them!!  Skype is nice, but it's hard to hug and kiss through the computer!!  :)

Here are just a few pictures from the past few days.  We will venture out this afternoon and take more of the area!  Love ya'll!!

Ready for our day getting her medical exam.
There were so many people at the clinic today.  Erik said it felt like they were herding us like cattle.  The lady in grey is Lily.  She is the BEST!  She works very hard for all the families.
This is a picture of the front of our hotel.  It's unreal!
Waterfall at our hotel.
Hannah loves the stroller!  She even wants to sit in it in the room.
We have thought so many times during this trip that Hannah resembles Faith a lot, but here I think she looks like Lydia.  :)  What do you think Patricia?
We enjoyed a nice night in the garden at the hotel.  Hannah is so much fun.  She is full of energy!

We have had a busy few days so that when I have time to blog, I'm just too tired!  :)  On Tuesday, we went back for more paperwork and the official orphanage donation ceremony.  It sounds formal, but really is not at all!  We were there with about 6-8 other families who had adopted also and it was kinda like herding cattle.  :)  After that we just had a free day and we walked around town going into shops and buying a few things for Hannah. 
Yesterday we went to Hannah's village.  It was 4 1/2 hours one way....LONG DAY!!!  It was well worth it though. Her village is a very small, poor place in the mountains of Guizhou.  The orphanage director arranged our visit to her finding place.  And because our God is AWESOME, we were able to meet the lady who found Hannah.  She owns a small roadside store beside a school.  We were able to get a lot of our questions answered and it was truly amazing.  She said she came in one morning to open up, and she heard crying.  She looked and there she was...a little baby!  She said she couldn't believe it!  She was left in a baby carrier with a blanket and a bottle.  It had been raining that night and she was all wet.  Immediately, my heart went to Hannah's mother.  I knew then that she didn't want to give her up, but couldn't take care of her and her special need.  Hannah needed surgery and, no doubt looking at the village, she couldn't afford it.  I couldn't contain it any longer.  Tears began streaming down my face thinking about my sweet girl laying there in the rain, cold and afraid, thinking about her mother who was probably so upset to have to give her sweet girl up, and thinking of the store owner who didn't know what to do.  The store owner was a sweet lady in her 70's and I know Hannah's mom left her there knowing that sweet lady would take care of her until she could turn her over to the authorities.  The lady was so glad to see Hannah and immediatley grabbed her left hand (she has not left thumb) so that she could confirm it was her.  She said that she felt Hannah's mom lived in that village and that the news of "the Americans" adopting a baby girl abandoned at that store would be the talk of the village.  She assured me that she felt Hannah's mom would know that Hannah was adopted by "the Americans".  Words cannot explain the emotions I felt that day.  I don't think I will EVER forget it!  I know that my God worked all of that together for me, Erik, and Hannah!  I will be able to answer some of her questions one day that I know she will have.  I am so thankful for a faithful God who cares about the desires of our hearts!  All glory, praise, and honor go to HIM who sits on the throne!!  Thank you God for a truly AWESOME day!

Our sweet girl playing at the adoption center.

I know everyone is wanting to see pictures more than anything so I will put them first.

We went out sight-seeing a little today.  It was a foggy, gloomy, rainy kind of day and not a great day for pictures.  This was unfortunate because we went to some really neat places!  First we went to a beautiful park with a large lake.  The trees were so pretty and there was also the prettiest covered bridge.  There were people doing Tai-chi all around the lake and it was just neat to experience.  We drove to the top of a mountain in this same park and saw lots of monkeys along the way.  They were being fed by people on the side of the road so they would come very close with no problem.  At the top of the mountain was the Buddhist temple.  At first I was amazed at the beauty of the building, but soon noticed all the people and what they were doing.  We went inside and walked through the temple and there were people bowing down before these statues.  Not only men and women but children too.  My heart was suddenly so heavy for these people.  There is NO HOPE in these statues, but only in GOD ALONE!  There were several statues of Buddha and each stood for a different thing...some more respected than others.  I felt very burdened in that moment for the people of China.  Our guide explained that they only come to Buddha when they need help with something....he's not an everyday part of their lives.  It hurt my heart to know these people don't know THE WAY!  Please pray for the people of China!
This is one of the monkeys on the mountain.  I wanted Anslee and Jonah to see it.  They would not be very still for pictures.  :)
This was the outside of the Buddhist temple.  This was the only place we were allowed to take pictures. 

Again...foggy day but the lake was very pretty!
After touring this area, we went to a Pavilion in the middle of town.  It was built over 400 years ago and is the oldest original wood building in town.  It was amazing too!  The wood beams were huge!  It was built as an area of retreat for the Emperor in the southern part of China.
After our guide brought us back to the hotel we rested a while.  We then when and ate supper at Pizza Hut.  Yes, they have Pizza Hut in China!  It is actually nicer than the ones in the US.  Our guide, Benjamin, thought is was funny that we came all the way to China to eat a KFC and Pizza Hut!  LOL!  He doesn't know Erik very well!  :) 

Today is the last day that the people of China celebrate Chinese New Year.  Today is the Lantern Festival.  There have been people all over town today with balloons and toys.  The fireworks have been going off for about an hour now.  Benjamin said that it is tradition for everyone to be with family tonight and eat dumplings and participate in the lighting of the lanterns.  Hopefully before the night is up we will get to see some lanterns!
Tomorrow is our Gotcha Day!  We are so excited and a little nervous.  Our guide told us today that we should get to meet Hannah's foster parents, which would be awesome.  We weren't sure if we would get to meet them or not.  Hopefully we will have lots of pictures to share tomorrow!!! 

We had a pretty uneventful lazy day today.  We tried to talk with family and friends this morning through skype but unfortunately couldn't hear them!  We managed.  We then went and ate a wonderful breakfast here at the hotel.  They had some western dishes like bacon, sausage, and eggs (although they were scrambled with tomatoes) and eastern dishes like fried rice and noodles.  It was really good.  We ate a lot for breakfast so we could skip lunch.  We decided to go out a little (out guide Benjamin was not with us so we didn't venture too far).  We walked around the streets close to the hotel and went in a couple of stores.  I don't think we've ever had so many people look at us...and not just look...stare.  We would just smile and keep going. We then went to KFC tonight for supper.  All of their chicken is spicy but it was good.  They had fries there that tasted like McDonald's fries so I was happy!  Tomorrow Benjamin is picking us up and taking us for some sightseeing so tomorrow will probably be more eventful.  He also told us today that on Gotcha Day (Monday) we should get Hannah around 2:00 pm China time which will be around 1:00 am at home.  That will probably be the longest morning EVER!  I will post some pics below of our day.  We miss all of you...especially Jonah and Anslee!!  We love you guys very much and think about you all the time!! 

  This is a picture of our hotel from the outside.
These are pictures taken at a park right across from our hotel.  Everything is starting to bloom here and is so pretty!  We sat here this afternoon and watched kids play.  The didn't really know what to think about us!  :)
Guiyang at night.  It's actually more lit up than this pictures shows.  It's prettier at night than during the day.
We just want to say thank to all the likes and comments!  It's very encouraging to hear from you guys!  Love y'all!!

Well everyone, we made it!!!  It seemed to take us like 3 days to get here!  We flew a total of 21 hours!!  We also had 2 four hour layovers but we are finally here!  We are staying in a nice hotel, but the city of Guiyang is not really what we expected.  I guess we expected it to be like the US where there is a "good" part of town and a "bad" part of town, but it's not really like that here.  Our nice hotel is sitting in the middle of the town and wow....well, you can look at the pictures and tell.  We are stared at a lot.  I guess they don't see many Americans.  I can't imagine how we'll be stared at when we get Hannah....and American couple with a Chinese child!  Our guide, Benjamin, met us at the airport and brought us to the hotel.  He got us all checked in and left.  We suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of "OH MY GOSH".  It was then that we realized, we're on the other side of the world...we know no one....very few people here even speak our language!!  These are times that we are reminded to totally rely on God!  Too many times in our day to day goings on we take a lot for granted and handle a lot "ourselves".  Let me tell you something though....we are totally out of control of things over here and again we go back to the fact that God called us to do this and through Him we will overcome!  We had a good breakfast this morning at the hotel and the staff was really nice.  There are a few staff members who speak limited English so we were able to communicate with them.











We are very excited about seeing Hannah!  When we came into the room today, they had the baby crib set up and it just made things seem so real!!  They moved our Gotcha Day to Monday morning so it  will be Sunday night in the US.  We're not sure exactly what time yet, but we'll try to share as soon as we know.  Please continue to pray for her heart to be open to us and to understand that we are there to make her a forever part of our family.  We just pray for a quick attachment! 

Not sure why the bedding says "wolf" but ok.....it's clean and soft!
Believe it or not...this was Erik's first meal in China.  We ate at the airport in Guangzhou.  He DID eat it!  :)
This was our meal on the airplane (China Southern).  It was pork under all those mushrooms.  It was actually pretty good.
Erik's reaction to the airline meal....he ended up eating most of it though.  He didn't touch the breakfast they gave.  Lol! 
This is what you look like after 21 hours of flying....we were still smiling though.  Yes...Erik's smiling!
This is our room.  I was standing in the widow to take this picture. Our room is smaller than what we thought.  Where you see my reflection in the glass, that's our bathroom and yes....you can see straight through into the bathroom!  Glad we're married!! LOL!

I'll post more pics later.  We plan to go into town today and do some shopping.  I'll try to take some while we're out and about.  We love all you guys and thanks for all the encouraging words!!