Sunday, July 6, 2014

ARRIVED SAFELY IN CHANGSHA, HUNAN PROVINCE

We have arrived safely and are now in our hotel room in Changsha, Hunan Province.  Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!  Woo Hoo....the moment we have been waiting for.  Unfortunately we will not be meeting Colton until 3:30 pm China Time instead of the morning which is a bummer.  But it will give us time to enjoy a nice breakfast and come back to the room to organize and prepare for his arrival without rushing.

We are beyond exhausted and are still trying to recover from jet lag.  I am so shocked and wasn't expecting this.  We have always acclimated so well arriving in China.  We are up every morning at 4:30 or 5:00 am so needless to say by 6 or 7 pm we are exhausted.  Hopefully we will adjust soon.

There's not much to report today.  Our flight from Beijing to Changsha was pretty smooth and seemed to go quick.  The overall flight time was 2 1/2 hours.  Halainah slept the entire time.  

Hunan province is known for their spicy food so that is a little bit of a struggle.  I like spicy food but the food here is beyond spicy.  No one speaks English so it's nearly impossible to order food.  Our guide gave us a menu to a place near our hotel and explained the food choices to us.  She circled the ones we wanted.  We went to the restaurant by ourselves and gave them the menu that we circled.  When the food came it didn't look like what was in the picture so not even sure if it was the food we wanted.  The food was good but SPICY.  Tears were running down my face and all I wanted was something cold to drink.  Unfortunately, they do not believe in cold drinks in China so we had to drink warm juice.  I think it's going to be a struggle to eat around here.  Good thing we are adventurous and we will figure it out.  

We have Colton's crib in our room now and I can't wait to see him sleep in it for the very first time with his new family.  Halainah keeps saying "Can you believe that Colton is going to have a mommy and daddy and sister's tomorrow?"  I think she gets it...maybe not on a grand level but she gets that Colton does not have a family to call his own right now.

We are so excited to meet our son.  We were told today that they are granting us permission to visit Colton's orphanage.  His orphanage will be the only one out of all of our children's that we are able to go to.  I have been praying that we would be given permission.  When you adopt, you try to gather as many pieces of their past life while you are in China.  I won't be able to answer all of his questions when he gets older but if I can give him clues...pieces of his past...maybe he won't feel so empty.  Hopefully Colton bonds to us well, otherwise the trip back to his orphanage may be difficult for him.  I think we need to play it by ear but I'm praying that he bonds well and we are able to make the visit.  

Since today was mainly a travel day I do not have many pictures to share.  But tomorrow for Gotcha Day, I will have tons.

Oh and one more thing...we are in Southern China now.  So when I told you that Beijing was hot, Changsha is 100 times worse.  The humidity here is awful!   I will never complain about the heat back at home again.  It truly just does not compare to the heat here.

Thank you for your prayers.  Todays prayer request is that Colton's heart accepts us and he lets us calm him when he grieves.  Pray that his grieving is minimal and his adjustment is quick.  Thank you for being our prayer warriors.

This picture is of Halainah enjoying a bag of chicken flavored potato chips at the airport.  I thought they were gross but she LOVED them!  



We are coming for you Colton Anthony...our cherished son FOREVER!  

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So happy for you, how is Lainey handling the trip, she looks great! Can't wait to see pics tomorrow.. love you lots

deb said...

So c lax all is going well. I will pray that Colton accepts you with open arms and doesn't look back. Give Havana a big hug and kiss from us. Xoxox auto deb