Summary of Urumqi

We arrived back in Beijing Friday evening. Our flight was delayed about three ours because there had been heavy rain in Beijing.
Since we were unable to get on the blog while we were in Urumqi I will give a summary of how our week went.
Monday was the day we were to receive Anna so at 9:30 am we went to the Civil Affairs office and began doing some paperwork. Within about 10 minutes two women came to the door carrying Anna. We were quite surprised because we had actually seen Anna with her foster mother at the airport the day before but we did not realize this was her. It was a very exciting time, needless to say, but as soon as her foster mother left Anna was very upset. After crying a while she was just very quiet the rest of the time and kept looking us over very intently.
It was a busy day of paperwork at different offices and photos for her passport.
That evening back at the hotel she began to play with some blocks with Esther. We all joined in and soon she was smiling and laughing. It was quite a wonderful time.
She is a very happy little girl and has done very well considering our days have been busy.
On Wednesday our guide Jane took us to the Urumqi Museum. It was very interesting. We learned about the many different ethnic groups within the Xinjiang Province. The Han people are the minority here. This is Anna's ethnic background. There are many other different people groups here that are mainly Muslim. Different from the rest of China. We also saw several ancient mummies.
Today we have some immigration paperwork to do. We are very thankful for our guide Lily to help us with everything here in Beijing.
We are enjoying our time but missing the kids very much.

Location:Beijing

More Pics

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First Pictures

We had no wireless access in Urumqi so we were unable to update our blog. After a three our delay we are finally back in Beijing! A picture is worth a thousand words so I'll let them speak. She is so darn cute!!!!!











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Off to Urumqi

It is probably due to the heavy rain the day before we arrived but I was expecting to be choking from smog. Hasn't been too bad out. Learned quickly yesterday that even if the pedestrian light is on that turning traffic still have the right of way! Having breakfast at our hotel in downtown Beijing overlooking one of the streets. Still hard to believe we are here. We fly out to where Anna is in a few hours although we won't see her until tomorrow. Again, it's starting to sink in about what we are doing. Anna is quickly moving from an abstract concept to reality. God is giving us an extreme responsibility to raise this child as our own and we are both contemplative and very excited about it all.

Mark






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Flight and Arrival

Other then the 3 hour delay at Toronto the flight was good. Took off and headed NNW and flew near Churchill and then Yellowknife before skirting Alaska. Flew south over Siberia to Beijing. Hotel is great. Haven't had the chance to see much of Beijing other then the ride from the airport. It's hard to believe we are here! Tomorrow we fly to Urumqi where Anna is but we don't get to see her until Monday. The picture was taken over northern Canada.

Cute but glad she didn't pilot the plane!

Just a test run. Like Facebook I don't think our blog site is available here in China.