First day in Nanning

Brynn on the train to Guangzhou. Leapster is our friend:)

We are here!!

We got to Hong Kong on time and had to catch a taxi to our hotel. That took us asking about 10 people, but we finally found the area. It ended up being very easy to find. The taxi took us to our hotel. I am so sad that it was dark because the scenery looked very beautiful. The hotel was great, though the ceilings were so low. My hands could be flat on the ceiling without me stepping on my tiptoes. The hotel staff was so wonderful. Brynn got gum in her hair as we were checking in and they did every to help us get it out. We ended up cutting it out. Thankfully, it just looks like a layer in her hair.

We were exhausted and fell asleep at 9 o’clock and slept hard until about 2:30 am. We didn’t need to check out until 7, so we laid around in the bed for a long time. At 7, we took a taxi to the train station for the 8:18 train. This is definitely the way to get from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. It was so nice. There were very few people on it. We sat on the 2nd floor and had a great view. Luckily, there was a lady who spoke English on the train or we may have gotten off at the wrong station. Wouldn’t that have been interesting?

XiXi (pronounce she-she) met us at the train station and took us to the airport for our flight to Nanning. Thank goodness she did. I’m not sure we would have found our way to the taxis by ourselves.

Our flight to Nanning was uneventful. We are definitely in the minority here. Many people are staring at us. You can see that they are questioning why a Chinese girl is with us. We knew this would happen, but it is still a little strange when it does.

Our guide in Nanning is Hannah. She was born here and has been a guide for adoptions for 6 years. She seems very nice. She gave us some interesting information. Nathan’s foster mother called her today to see if she was the guide for the family adopting Nathan. Once Hannah said she was, she gave us a lot of new information about him. Hannah actually saw Nathan about a year ago at the foster parent’s house. We also know that Nathan had a fever a few days ago, but is over it. Also (and this is very interesting) Nathan hasn’t said any words yet which we expected with his cleft. But a couple of days ago, he said Mama and says it often. Right after he started saying it, the foster parents got news that he was being adopted. The foster mom thinks he knows we are coming for him. I think Hannah said like something cosmic. He is described as healthy and active by the foster parents. This is going to be an interesting week.

I leave you now to get ready for bed. It is 7 pm and we are exhausted. Hannah is meeting us in the lobby tomorrow to get Nathan. We are so excited and so anxious. So much can happen tomorrow. Please pray that he attaches to us and trusts us. I also pray that Brynn is ok. It is going to be so hard on her. She won’t be our only focus and I am scared of how she is going to react. Her feelings get hurt so easily.

Tomorrow is Nathan Day!!