Out & about in Nanning

After completing our adoption paperwork with the Chinese authorities this morning, the search was on to find the rumored Starbucks that had supposedly opened a couple of months ago in Nanning. In the larger Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou it's easy to find a couple of Starbucks in the downtown areas but in the more remote cities such as Nanning finding a good cup of coffee is a challenge to say the least. Lauren tried some coffee at breakfast here in the hotel and let's just say calling it "sludge" would be an understatement. It was awful. But I had read on a blog before we left the U.S. that Starbucks was preparing to open a store in Nanning in late 2012 in the major commercial shopping area about 10 minutes from our hotel. Sure enough we succeeded this afternoon as evidenced by the photos. After days of withdrawal let me tell you that a latte never tasted so good!
 
Enjoy some of the other photos we have taken over the past couple of days here in Nanning. It's a remarkable change from the neighboring province of Guangdong where Leeya is from. Guangxi province is very rural and poor and the capital city of Nanning is only 200 miles from Hanoi which is the capital city of Vietnam. Guangdong is very prosperous compared to Gaungxi and is very closely linked to Hong Kong with the proximity of its capital city of Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The two large cities are only separated by about 100 miles and are linked to many products Americans enjoy (i.e. Apple iPhones, MacBooks, etc.) that are produced in Guangdong and exported through Hong Kong.

Chloe...welcome to the Haas family

It's Lauren writing again...PPPPHHHEEEWWW!!!!! What an experience...NOT for the faint of heart. There are 2 other couples adopting with us here in Nanning--it was very loud in the room when they handed us the girls. Chloe wanted nothing to do with us, as expected. She kept asking for momma, and well, that would be me  ;-) between the 3 of us we took turns holding her while she screamed. Now after taking off 3 layers of clothes, and bathing her, we will be doing dinner in our room tonight. Please continue to pray for these little ones as they mourn the loss they are going through. Bekah is doing her best to win her over, and she will. Tough day, but she is playing quietly now...God is sooooo good!

Arrived in Nanning safe & sound

Lauren typing today... well, the floodgates opened today, all the built up emotions, the stress of the trip...it all hit me like a ton of bricks on the plane from Shanghai to Nanning. Knowing that as we were landing and I looked out across the vast and beautiful farm land, all the greens and browns and dirt roads, we were landing in our daughters Chinese province. I could not stop crying...but I needed to have that all come out. We are exhausted, but don't have to get on another plane until Friday.

You all can pray, tomorrow is the day!!! We get our sweet Chloe, pray for her, as I know this is a traumatic change for these little ones...and for us, how to meet her needs, and to love her through this. We aren't sure if we will go to the orphanage or not, we need to see how she does.

Had dinner tonight with the Brandenburg's—they are from Walla Walla, Washington and are here with one other family adopting from Nanning. So thankful the Lord worked it all out for us all to be here together. We are doing well, Bekah got to experience the controlled chaos of Chinese driving, she exhaled a lot  ;-) She is a trooper, we have had much laughter with her here, and am so thankful to have her love and support. Keep looking next post... GOTCHA DAY!!!!

An evening in Shanghai

We finally made to Shanghai this evening at around 9:30 PM which is the equivalent of 5:30 AM Saturday morning in Oregon. By the time we made it through passport control, gathered our bags, and checked into the airport hotel it was about 11:00 PM and we were exhausted. It was nice to get a hot shower and some rest. We catch our last flight from Shanghai to Nanning on Sunday at around 12 noon so we can sleep in a little--YES! We'll post some more pictures after we arrive in Nanning on Sunday. Thanks for all your prayers.

Halfway there!

After a 12 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea we're waiting to board our flight to Shanghai where we'll overnight until the last leg to Nanning on Sunday morning. Seoul Incheon is a nice airport but the transfer security screening was disorganized chaos. I have to say flying through Tokyo 3 years ago was much more organized for connecting flights. Asiana Airlines is a great airline though. Awesome service and cleanest airplane I ever saw. We'll have another blog entry after we get some rest in Shanghai.

We're on our way!

Thank you to the Ward family for allowing us to bunk at their house last night & watching the kids for the next week.  Jason drove us to PDX this morning & we're waiting with Starbucks in hand to board our short flight to Seattle before leaving at 1pm on our 12 hour flight to Seoul. Please pray for safe travels.

China or bust - Take 2!

This is Lauren posting. Looks like we will be leaving for China on Jan. 4th, getting Chloe on Jan. 7th.  We are excited to begin this journey with our new daughter,.. I am not a big blogger, but that may change! I will be more insightful when in China I'm sure. this is a test to see if I can do this thing.