We Have Lilli!!!

We have Lilli!!

We flew out of Beijing at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning and landed in Taiyuan (tay-you-ANN) about an hour later. We met our guide at the airport and our driver, Mr. Yang, loaded up our bags and drove us about an hour to the hotel in downtown. You would not believe the driving here. It is total chaos, bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians walking amongst the cars and trucks like it was no big deal. Cars are constantly swerving in and out of lanes, and nobody uses blinkers. Eric got video of it. It's quite scary!! I will never look at Nashville drivers the same way again.

We only had time to drop our bags at the room and it was time to go to the Civil Affairs Office to meet Lilli. It was such a strange feeling. When we got in the car, Eric said he felt exactly like he had just gotten on a thrill ride at the amusement park and it was heading up the hill. It was a good description.

We got to the office a little late, and the rest turned into a blur. Jacob was doing the filming for us, and Eric had the camera. When we walked into the room, Lilli was already there, sitting between her nanny and the orphanage director, eating a cookie.

The rest of the time was spent signing a lot of papers and we were able to ask the nanny a few questions about her schedule and things that she likes and doesn't like. Then it was over, and we were back in the van, heading to the hotel.

Lilli has done really well so far, but she is so very sad. Everything she has ever known is gone, and she doesn't know why. It is hard for her to look at us, but she is accepting food, and by bedtime, she was feeding each of us bites of her cookie.

The orphanage director told us through the translator that she is lucky to have three brothers that like her so much already. I was thinking, you have no idea!

We found out there is a McDonald's within walking distance of the hotel and Eric, Luke, and Jacob went off to get us some comfort food in the afternoon. A Big Mac has never tasted so good to me! We have enjoyed trying all the Chinese food the last couple of days, but it was time for some "home cookin'", ha ha. Eric said it was quite an experience. While Beijing has a lot of international visitors, especially westerners, Taiyuan does not, even though it has a population of about 3 million. We are looking forward to exploring this city this week and seeing more of "real" China.

We were all so exhausted from the day's events that we fell asleep one by one around 7. We totally skipped supper and slept in our clothes! It's now just before 5 a.m. and we've all been awake since about 4. Except Lilli, who we are watching sleep peacefully on the bed.

Our family of six is together!