Sunday April 15- Day 3

Today was a travel day, so we don't have many pictures to post except  our trip to Walmart. Our day started with a trip to the Beijing International Airport. Navigating that was truly an experience to remember. We have never seen so many people in one place. Fortunately an escort walked us through most of the process. After checking in our luggage, she mentioned that we should not bring so much stuff next time because they have plenty of stuff here in China!

We arrived in the capital city of Hefei which has 7 million people in just that city alone. It is a working city with a lot of factories. The pollution is really bad and started affecting us immediately. We can feel it in our throats, and my contact lenses quickly became coated with a film. The girls are coughing a lot. Our guide Christina met us at the airport with a cheerful welcome sign. We were hungry so she took us to the Noodle Bar in the hotel. I was thinking..yum..that should be easy. Not so. We were lost with the menu, and Christina guided us through the many noodle options as best she could. We ended up with very large bowls of noodles in broth and chopsticks to eat them. We were quite a sight!  They did find some forks for us. It was kind of like eating chicken noodle soup with a fork. After we got some food in our tummies we ventured out to Walmart to pick up a couple things...mainly a hair straightener ;) Christina walked with us there. Hefei is not a tourist city, so we really really stick out. People are yelling and waving at us from the city buses and gawking at us on the streets. They all seem very friendly and kind. The number of people on the streets is intimidating, but Christina says it's safe. Crossing the streets is not safe, however! Pretty scary. I wish we would have taken some pictures while we were walking. I was hanging on so tight to the girls it was the last thing on my mind!

Ivy's orphanage is about three hours away. She will have to wake up early and leave about 6:30am. We are meeting at the Civil Affairs Office at 9:30am. It hardly seems real that we are here and tomorrow is the day. We are so blessed.. We are going to settle down now and hope for some sleep.

This is our guide, Christina

Bins of rice at Walmart

The candy aisle

This little bed was in our room...too small for Ivy. So we put some of the things we brought for her in the crib. We also have more toys, but we hid them away in the closet to pull out as we need them.

Next post..."Ivy Day"

Not the flesh of my flesh

Nor the bone of my bone, 

But still miraculously my own.

Never forget for a single minute,

You didn't grow under my heart,

But in it.