So it’s 6 AM on Monday morning here (that’s 6 PM on Sunday
night in GA) and clearly sleep will not come, so I thought I’d take a minute to
update. We had a wonderful time in
Beijing, but were so ready to get on the plane yesterday and move closer to
Ellie. Beijing and Urumqi are about
3000 miles apart and the flight yesterday was just over 4 hours. Navigating the
Beijing airport with no guide and no English-speaking person was a little
tricky, but we made it on the right plane. J This flight was the
best one of the trip so far. A little
strange to be the only two non-Chinese people on the plane, but smiles are the
international language and everyone seemed very nice. About halfway through the flight, we could see nothing but desert
land - miles and miles of beautiful desert.
Then about an hour out, we saw beautiful mountains – still desert, but
beautiful snowy mountains. About 2
minutes before we landed, out of nowhere a huge city appeared! We both teared up as we approached
Urumqi……so close to her now!! Our
guide, a very nice man who is from Urumqi named Jacky, met us at the airport
with a driver. We got a quick tour and
background of Urumqi on the 30 minute drive to our hotel. Urumqi boasts the 2nd highest
mountain range in the world, 2nd to Mount Everest. is very rich in Muslim culture. The population is about 3 million. It really is a beautiful and extremely clean
city, especially clean when compared with Beijing, where the smog was so thick
we could barely see across the street.
We arrived at the hotel, a 5 star hotel which is VERY nice according to
Chinese or American standards. I teared
up again as I asked Jacky to ask the concierge to please send a crib to our
room. Jacky went over some paperwork
with us (actually a lot of paperwork and it’s all in Chinese), and then we all
went out to have dinner. We told Jacky
we wanted to an authentic Urumqi meal.
He told us about a flat noodle that is the staple here, prepared in
modern Muslim fashion. So we had a very
spicy dish of noodles and beef. It was
delicious!! Then, I guess Jacky figured
that was going well so we were ready for the next step and he ordered us shish
kabob. Well, let’s just say that was a
little TOO spicy for our GA palates, lol!!
We didn’t want to be rude, as Jacky was sharing his culture with us, so
we had a few more bites, but we were laughing at each other on the inside as it
felt like the meat was burning holes through our tongues! We came back to the hotel and unpacked, did
paperwork, and prepared our room for Ellie, packed her diaper bag, etc.
We will meet Jacky this morning at 9 AM, that’s about 2
hours from now. Then he will take us to
the government building for official paperwork. When we asked him what time we would see Ellie, he said that it
would either be morning or afternoon, apparently the orphanage director will
just know where we are today and bring her at some point. Jacky said today would be filled with
running all over town between the government building to the notary to the
consulate, back to the government building, etc. We know today will be a very hard day for Ellie…..while we have
been preparing for her in our hearts for years, and in our home for 14 months,
she probably just woke up this morning in her same bed in the only life she has
ever known. She will be taken from the
people she loves today and left with two funny-looking, way too pale people
with big noses. We expect a very sad
and scared little girl today, and we hope that she will allow herself to be
comforted by us at some point soon, and to realize that we love her.
The rest of the week is still loose at this point. Jacky mentioned that he would like to take
us to a museum on Tuesday to learn more about the history and culture of
Urumqi, which we would love. Then on
Thursday we are hoping that the orphanage will allow us to visit. While this may seem cruel, it is very much
recommended to visit the orphanage with your child even during their grieving
so that she can have some closure to that part of her life. Also, we will be her only link with her life
up until this point, and we want to know all we can so that we can give her the
answers her little heart will someday crave.
Then Friday, we will leave Urumqi and fly about 3000 miles to
Guangzhou. All of the adoption paperwork
is completed and finalized here in Urumqi, but then we will spend a week in GZ
getting her passport and visa and everything that is required to get her into
the US. While I believe we may be the
only adopting family currently in Urumqi, when we get to GZ we will join many
other families from the US who are also working to get passports and visas for their
children. Once Ellie sets foot in
Atlanta, she will officially be an American citizen!! J
Note that Kris is still asleep, and he's clearly the technology expert in this relationship, so getting pictures on here will have to wait until he is up! :-)
