I am in Fuzhou

Hi Everyone,

I left JFK at 10pm on Thursday night and I am FINALLY at my hotel in
FUZHOU, CHINA. It is around 12:30 on Saturday afternoon here (11:30 pm
on Friday night in NY). The flights were LONG, but very tolerable. I
slept almost the whole way from JFK to Vancouver, probably 5 out of the
6 hours. We didn't have to get off of the plane, we just stretched our
legs and walked around while it was refueled and new passengers boarded.
None of the flights were full so we weren't packed in like sardines,
which was nice. I slept on and off on the flight from Vancouver to Hong
Kong, watched "The Help" and ate. It seemed like they served food every
few hours. Cathay Pacific blows Air China out of the water. Every
flight was on time and the service was great.

Once I landed in Hong Kong, I had to LITERALLY RUN to catch the next
flight. Good think I did. We were at Gate 21 and I had to get to Gate
68 in record time on order to catch the flight to Fuzhou. I was one of
the last passengers loaded, but I made it. It was close. Luckily my
luggage was checked all the way through to Fuzhou, so I didn't have to
stop and get it all.

My facilitator for the week met me at the airport. Her name is Penney
and she already given me lots of information about the area and what the
agenda will be for this week. I had a gut feeling about arriving early.
I just had a feeling I needed to be here on Saturday even though we
weren't scheduled to get the children until Monday. BUT, they will
bring Madi to me here in the hotel TOMORROW afternoon at 3:30pm. I am
so thrilled. That give me today to get settled and organized, get the
gifts for the officials all situated and rest a bit before the big day.
There are 5 families all together in Fuzhou this week. Myself and
another Wasatch Family and 3 families from other agencies. The other
families are due to arrive tomorrow.

We will be going to the Jinjiang Orphanage to say thank you and for Ping
to say goodbye to her friends on Wednesday, December 21st. It will be a
bittersweet day for sure, but I feel it is important for her to go back
with me. I want her to feel like she had some closure. This whole
process probably doesn't make much sense to her. I am prepared for the
worst and praying for the best. My dear friend, Susie is taking the day
off from work and meeting me at the orphanage. She is truly one of the
most wonderful people I know. She puts herself out there caring for
these kids and has to say good bye to them again and again. I am sure
it must be very difficult for her.

I plan on unpacking and then going out for a walk around the lake. The
area outside of the hotel is beautiful. We will be going on some other
tours and I hope to get a lot of pictures. For some reason my charger
for my laptop is not working so I hope that I am able to SKYPE and blog.
I will try to figure out what the problem is.

That's it for now. Thanks for following along. I hope to blog again
tomorrow after I get Madi.