The Stork is Coming!

Our day started off early. We woke up at 4:45 so we could be ready to meet our guide in the hotel lobby at 5:45 to go to the airport. She led us to our gate for our next plane ride to Maelin's home town, Hangzhou. It was about a 1 hour and 45 minute flight. Our next guide picked us up at the airport and had a van ready to take us to our hotel. During the 40 minute ride to the hotel, we took in the beautiful city that Maelin calls home right now. Kala and I have never been to such a beautiful metropolitan city. I mean it, this place is gorgeous! The wide, curbed medians are full of well kept flowers, trees, and green grass. The homes are single-family homes that are 3, 4, and even 5 stories tall. They look like small apartment buildings. These homes that I am speaking of were actually in a suburb we drove through. In the downtown area, most people live in apartments. These apartments sell for about $250 to $300/sq. ft. Hangzhou is a very wealthy town. In fact, our guide said that this province is known for beautiful, smart, and wealthy people. After walking around today, I see what she means. Everyone here is very pretty. The children we have seen today all look like dolls! When we got to the hotel, our guide helped us check-in. Then we went up to our room, and I'll let the picture tell the rest of the story.




Yes, that's right-a crib in our room! (I think she will be a little too big for it though. We will cross that bridge tomorrow night.) We are excited and nervous. God has gotten us this far, so I know he will equip us to take care of Maelin. Please pray for a smooth transition tomorrow for Maelin. Her world is going to turn upside down.

After we dropped our stuff off in our room, our guide took us to eat dumplings. Kala and I each got 6 chicken and vegetable dumplings and a coke and it was $2! The dumplings were out of this world good. We did dinner on our own, and if we would have known how to order for ourselves, we would have gone back to the "dumpling place" for dinner. We will eat there again before we leave. I hope more than once. Dinner was at good ole' McDonald's. It was our first trip to a US chain since we have been here, so I think we are doing pretty good.

Tomorrow we will meet our guide at 8:40 in the hotel lobby to take a 20 minute van ride to the Civil Affairs office where we will get Maelin. We should become her parents sometime between 9:00-10:00am here or 8:00-9:00pm Sunday back in Denver City. I am sure we have a pretty emotional day ahead of us tomorrow. So, I'll give you a couple of guesses where Kala is right now. She is at the spa getting a 70 minute massage for 52 yuan or about $8!

Just a couple of interesting things we have noticed here in China. 1. Just as you walk in the door of your hotel room, you have to put your key in a slot to turn on the electricity for the room. This would be a nice feature to add to homes. I think it would be much more energy efficient. We keep hearing about unplugging your unused appliances to save electricity, but this takes all of the hassle out of it for you. 2. We noticed that the hand washing sinks for restrooms were actually outside of the restrooms in some restaurants. You walk in, do your business, walk back out to wash your hands and leave. Much more sanitary. After you wash your hands you don't have to touch anything in the bathroom-no door to open.

Below are a couple pictures of part of the Hangzhou skyline as seen from our hotel window.