Yesterday's Story and a BIG Surprise!

I will try to contain my excitement about the big surprise while I type the story from yesterday. You’ll understand better when you read the whole post :).

Yesterday’s touring started with an early 8:30am departure. Our travel mate Faye was feeling very sick, so she stayed at the hotel. We felt bad for her, but the rest was just what she needed and was feeling better this morning.

We made a stop at a jade factory, had a quick tour and made a small purchase. Then we headed to the Great Wall. We went to a different section than the one we went to last trip, and we had two choices of directions to take. One was less popular and supposed to be “easier”. Gavin made the final decision on taking the less traveled way. Cynthia and I (other travel mate) climbed quite a way, but then decided that a nice built in bench was the best choice for us since we needed to save our energy for our new children that we were meeting in two days! I know--good excuse. Gavin, Kevin & Todd (Faye’s husband) marched on and went a lot further and Gavin bought a metal plaque and Kevin got a medal with their names on it. When we got back to the bottom, we saw you can buy the same souvenirs down there! Oh well, they know where they bought theirs at.

Then we headed to the Cloisonné factory for another quick tour and lunch. We had good Chinese food and some French fries for Cynthia (see pic below). She has not been very adventurous with her eating because she cannot afford to get sick as she is traveling alone. She did great in Beijing, and I hope she will continue to stay healthy in Ningxia where her son is waiting.

We were all very tired after our Great Wall Adventure, but still had one more stop at the Summer Palace. It was very crowded because it was the weekend, so we looked around a little bit and then took a dragon boat ride across the lake and got on the bus back to the hotel.Kevin, Gavin, Cynthia and I decided Pizza*Hut sounded good. It really was quite tasty! After another quick stop at the store called Wonderful we went back to the hotel and started packing everything up for our trip to Hefei in the morning. We needed to have our bags in the hall by 7am and were leaving for the airport at 8am. Kevin took a nap and I packed.

Around 8:15pm, Maggie’s parents picked us up again and brought us a beautiful basket of fresh fruit. They really have treated us with so much hospitality! They then took us to the tallest hotel in Beijing, the Park Hyatt, which has 66 floors. We went all the way up to the 63rd floor and enjoyed tea, coffee and desserts. Gavin got to play with Sonny again and we had a beautiful view of Beijing. We made it back to the hotel around 11:30pm. It was another wonderful evening with them!


Around 8:15pm, Maggie’s parents picked us up again and brought us a beautiful basket of fresh fruit. They really have treated us with so much hospitality! They then took us to the tallest hotel in Beijing, the Park Hyatt, which has 66 floors. We went all the way up to the 63rd floor and enjoyed tea, coffee and desserts. Gavin got to play with Sonny again and we had a beautiful view of Beijing. We made it back to the hotel around 11:30pm. It was another wonderful evening with them!

We made it to the airport, checked in, paid our luggage overweight fees, and said goodbye to our travel mates for a few days and had about an hour wait before boarding our plane to Hefei. I can’t wait to meet up again in Guangzhou and meet each other’s new family members. Our flight was great and arrived 30 minutes early. Our wonderful guide Jane was there waiting for us and we got all 6 of our big bags into the van and arrived at the hotel.

Now for the BIG SURPRISE! This was not a surprise for us, but it will be for most of you reading this blog…

Fang Fang was waiting for us when we arrived at the hotel! Yes, she is here with us and will be able to see RunYi united with her forever family. Fang is an amazing, beautiful girl. We are so happy she can share this part of RunYi’s story with us. It has been nearly 3 years since Fang and her family saw RunYi in her foster home. What a miraculous journey this sweet girl has been on, with so many people helping her to find a mama and baba. Tomorrow at 9:30am, she will come to our hotel and her life will be changed forever. We know she will change our lives even more. We cannot wait! We have everything ready for her arrival—bed, backpack and more. Excited does not even begin to describe what we are feeling right now. Suddenly the long bumpy path to having her join our family is disappearing.

Fang was also able to visit RunYi at the orphanage today. She is very prepared for us! We are so thankful to the orphanage director and staff for helping to make her transition to her new family easier. Fang took new pictures and she looks so big and her hair is growing out. She even had little pigtails! She was wearing some of the clothes that we have sent her. She LOVES pink—how appropriate is that? There is a lot more, but my mind is spinning right now.

We are going to dinner with Fang, and I hope to post some pictures from the meal later tonight. I feel like this is a dream that is finally coming true. It really doesn’t seem real. When we met Jane today, we both kept saying the same thing. Jane has been such a big part of helping RunYi’s file be prepared and sent to the C2A2. Many characters of RunYi’s story are coming together for the big moment tomorrow. It is surreal.

Love to everyone. Happy Easter! Although it will no longer be Easter here when we meet RunYi, we will always remember Easter as the day we gained a daughter and sister through adoption. Kind of appropriate when you consider the true meaning of Easter!