Home Stretch.............

Well, it is now Sunday night and we are still TIRED and ready for bed at 7 PM but we are going to try to stay awake a little longer so I will blog to stay awake:)

Today was nice and quiet, we did some wandering around the hotel and learned where the restaurant is. We ate both breakfast and lunch in the hotel restaurant, mostly because we did not know of any other place to go.  Many businesses are still shut down for Chinese New Year and our guide says they might open back up tomorrow. 

Our wonderful local guide, Maggie came this afternoon and gave us the run-down on what will happen tomorrow.  The director of the Fuzhou orphanage is going to pick Ellie up at her foster family house and drive the 2.5 hours to get to our hotel.  We will meet her in some location in this hotel, but won't know which room/place until tomorrow.  So around 11 I will meet my daughter.................WOW! We will have a few minutes together and then we have to go across the street to do some paperwork and then take a taxi ride to the police station and the notary to have her picture taken and also more paperwork.  When we are finally done with all of that we will be able to come back to the hotel and enjoy some quiet bonding in our hotel room.  Poor muffin, she is going to go through so many changes tomorrow.......it makes my heart hurt just thinking about it. 

There are many things I could say, we had a lot of interesting, emotional and overwhelming experiences already today but I am going to keep this blog light and more family-oriented and share more when we return home. 

Here is the view from our hotel room.  Today was overcast but the next few days should be sunny and in the 50s so that will be nice.

Our guide, Maggie recommended we get a crib for our room in case Ellie wants to sleep there and she also got us the loan of a stroller from the hotel.  She called the front desk and within minutes someone came up and set it up, the customer service here is amazing. 

And finally, Maggie brought us to a local shop very close to our hotel.  It was so tiny but my goodness they carried almost anything we could need! Here are some of the things we got, milk for Ellie, noodles, water and yes on the right is Chinese wine which we will be trying in a few. 

When we came out of the store, the owner (who also had a meat vendor place set up there) tried to convince Heather to buy octopus on a stick but that didn't go over so well so she ate chicken on a stick instead:)  Jiangxi is known for its spicy food so Heather really got a taste of that.  Sorry for the bad picture but you get the idea!

And finally, when the hotel staff brought up the crib and stroller I thought this pink item was a toy.  Turns out it is a potty seat.........oops! LOL

There is another family here from my agency and Maggie is also their guide while here.  We are all going to go together to see some of the local sites after tomorrow, it sounds like a lot of fun and I am looking forward to soaking up the culture for Ellie.

I think that is it, in 16 hours I will meet my daughter.MY.DAUGHTER.