Hello from Guangzhou

I know the suspense must be eating at many of you...and we are so sorry for the lack of communication thus far. However, we have been from one fun or necessary activity to another for...well, I haven't a clue for how long...I rarely know what day it is at home, much less when days and nights are different at the same time (that was clear as mud, huh?). Also, we had a TERRIBLE time with computer, internet and electrical outlets while in Beijing, not that it wasn't available, no, we just had a rough start. Jim has it all figured out now, and we are safely here at the very nice White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, which has wonderful internet service (as well as turn down service and chocolates...can someone remind me again why I stuffed my suitcases with good "American" chocolate, when it seems readily available here?!? No matter. I must say though, that God is so kind to us to allow us this awesome opportunity to fly around the world to adopt one whom we are prayerfully claiming to be His own child.

Before I go any further, I'll just take a moment to assure you that we will be updating each day's events routinely now, Lord willing, as well as going back in time to give you a detailed explanation of our brief stay in Amsterdam and Beijing. Jim has been taking A LOT of pictures, so we'll have to weed some out to create lovely slide shows to go along with each post. So, you see, you have much to look forward to!

Right now it is 9:19pm in Guangzhou and all three of the girls are asleep. We are preparing to be so as well. It's been a nice day, though we were up early (by the way...our bodies have adjusted quite well to the time change!) and spent three hours in a plane, and almost two hours on nice buses; we are ready to rest. We've been given the quick tour of Shaiman Island, visited Susan at Susan's Place, eaten some good American food (except for Jim!) at Lucy's, thoroughly unpacked, and finally sat down to catch up on emails and comments from you...so keep 'em coming!

I am going to resist the desire to stay up for many hours to type out post after post, because I need some sleep. In case you're not aware of the official itinerary, we are meeting in person for the first time, our daughter, Emmy Xiang! Can you believe it? The family sat around the supper table tonight sharing our thoughts on tomorrow. We simply feel like we're in some surreal dream. We can't believe we'll really know her tomorrow. Please pray for us, for her (she'll be taking a 5 hour drive to us tomorrow) and for that precious family from whom she'll be taken.

So I'll sign off now, reluctantly, but know that since our schedule slows down so much for the next week or two, we will be filling in the gaps...and most importantly, as soon as possible we will show you pictures of that daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend we've all been waiting to see.

Much love to y'all....know that we are all extremely blessed,
Tammy and co.