Formerly "To China For Kelly"

When I originally set up this blog, it was to chronicle our trip to China to adopt our daughter, Kelly; thus the title, "To China For Kelly." But now that I've decided to keep it up as my on-line scrapbook/journal, the title needs updating.
Inspired by my girls, who, despite their ten year age difference, both love lollipops and lip gloss; it is now titled, "From Lollipops to Lip Gloss." This is not to leave my son out, who also loves lollipops, but isn't too big on lip gloss, understandably!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Guangzhou!

Thanks, Jen, for posting the update on Kelly, and thanks everyone, for your prayers. We are waiting for our Guangzhou rep here, Grace, to find out how Kelly is doing. She is going to try to contact the orphanage director herself. If it was, in fact, the hand, foot & mouth virus, because it is viral, it usually just has to run its course, so I was a bit alarmed to hear Kelly had to be admitted into the hospital for it. We think her fever might have caused her to get dehydrated or something, but details are sketchy. Our agency requested lots of information, but only received a limited response from the representative, who got her information from the orphanage.

So you all may have figured, but we made it safely to Guangzhou! The flight was short and comfortable. We made it through Customs with no problems. It took (what felt like) forever for our luggage to come down the carousel, but other than that, everything went very well.

Guangzhou is a lot like Hong Kong from the little that I’ve seen so far… it’s not the “big city” like Hong Kong is, but they have the same style of apartment buildings I posted a picture of, one after the other, for miles and miles and miles. There population of Guangzhou alone is 13 million!
We are staying on Shamain Island, which is part of Guangzhou, but it is sort-of an entity all its own, because it’s surrounded by a canal and the Pearl River. This is where everyone who adopts a little one from China stays before they go home, so you see a lot of folks who look just like you around Shamain Island. There are plenty of local people too. We took some pictures when we got here yesterday so we’ll try to post them later. The internet connection here at our hotel in Guangzhou is not the greatest, so we’ll have to see.

The weather here is not too bad. I was expecting it to be hotter. It was 77 yesterday- very nice. It was muggy, but not terrible. Grace said this is the rainy season for Guangzhou, so we should expect to get more rain during our stay. Like Hong Kong, Guangzhou apparently got record levels of rain over the past few days. It’s very lush here and has a beauty all its own- very different from Visalia!

Update on Kelly: Grace talked to the Director of the SWI (orphanage) yesterday. She said Kelly was admitted into the hospital “as precaution.” She said she had a red, inflamed throat and a fever, so they put her into the hospital so that she would not get worse and so that she would be well for her adoption day. They keep telling me it wasn’t serious, that it was just as a precaution, so I guess I have no choice but to believe them. I don’t know where the whole “foot and mouth virus” came from, because Grace said more than once that the Director said it was her throat and that she had a fever, nothing else, so I guess we had some lost-in-translation issues earlier or something.

Well, this is “THE DAY.” This is the day we’ve been waiting for! At 2:30 pm today, we will go to the Civil Affairs Office with the other families to receive our babies! We are thrilled the time is finally here. I know you all are anxious to hear how it goes, so we will let you know as soon as we can. I am fighting a cold, but it’s not too bad. I had some awesome curry chicken last night that helped clear my head! I think between the time difference, fighting this cold, and the emotion of everything, I’m just struggling to feel “normal.” I want to cherish each moment of this time and take it all in with a clear head, so I sure appreciate your prayers.
Thanks so much! Hopefully we can upload some pictures in a little bit…

6 comments:

Carrie said...

We are glad to hear you news-Good luck and we hope the rest of your trip goes well!

Kim O'Neal said...

Oh my goodness. I am so happy to hear the good news. Today is a new start for Kneip party of 5. I cannot even guess how you two are feeling right now. This moarning when it was 12:00 a.m your time I said so many prayers for you because I am sure you were WIDE awake. You are on the count down to those little toes you have been waiting to kiss.
Enjoy every minute. GOOD LUCK and GOD BLESS YOU BOTH for your dedication to Kelly.

Kim

Blomquist Blog said...

Hi Jen and Clint!
Wow! Today is the day you have been waiting so long for. Try to take a moment of time and reflect on this whole journey that you have traveled to get your precious daughter. A whole new journey is about to start for you all and I could not be happier for you and your family! I have shivers just thinking of the anticipation of seeing and meeting Kelly for the first time. We will be thinking of you both and praying that all goes well. Hang in there--you are about to be blessed once again as parents! No two deserve it more than you. Enjoy this magical time!

We love you,

Debbie, Jack, and kids

~natty and barclay said...

"Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land." Proverbs 25:25
Oh Happy Day! I can hardly wait to see pictures of baby Kelly with her Mommy and Daddy!

Nana in Houston said...

It seemed like it took forever for this day to arrive and here it is FINALLY. I think just getting to this point may relieve some of the stress you are feeling with all the changes in times and cultures and foods and environments. Our prayers are with you and Clint and baby Kelly as well as Caleb and Camryn. I know all will be well and you will be a totally reunited family very soon now.

Anonymous said...

Clint and Jen,
I feel so many emotions right now...hard to put into words. I just want to cry for all of you. So much to take in right now. We will all be with you in spirit when you see your little one for the first time and our prayers are with you through the long journey from there to here and we wait anxiously for your safe return. I am just sorry that the wait will NOT be over for those of us who are not in your neck of the woods! But, our time will come. I love you. Anna