Delay.....

Well the last 24 hours have been unexpected and very tiring to say the least. We arrived at the Beijing airport yesterday at 4:50 am to leave for Nanning to get Madie. The fog was so dense all the flights were cancelled or delayed. After 18 hours in the airport we boarded our plane last night at 11:30 to then sit on the runway until 1:30 am to de-ice the plane. We just arrived in Nanning and it was 5:00 am. Our guide Cindy told is that we have to meet her in 2 hours to go meet Madie! I am so unbelievably excited. I guess we will be running on adrenaline today. Let's just hope that she sleeps:) Yesterday was a complete let down and so terrible! I am getting her things ready now to go and meet her. I will post pictures of us together FINALLY hopefully tonight. Please pray for us. More soon:)

Tammy

Beijing

The last couple of days have been great! It has still been very cold, today coldest yet. Saturday we spent the day at the Cloisonne Factory and the Great Wall. It was an awesome trip and the wall is so unbelievable and beautiful. I must say that it was a little steeper climb than we expected, but we made it! We took a cable car part of the way up and then climbed the rest of the way. For lunch they took us to a restaurant where we were served some interesting, very authentic Chinese food. We did try as much as we could, but it is just not like the Chinese at home! Today we went to Tinnamen Square, Forbidden City and the city of Hutong. Me and Missy thought we had gotten left at the square, but luckily they retrieved us! Forbidden City was a very huge place and very beautiful. It was built in 1407 during the Ming Dynasty by the Emperor. I can't imagine something like this place being built that long ago. We then went to Hutong which is a small area of Beijing and we took rides through the narrow city streets on bicycles, which our guide Daniel called our Mercedes. He was quite funny and we enjoyed his tour. It was very humbling to see how the people here live. They do not even have restrooms in their homes, they have community restrooms, that he said have not been there long. I cannot say enough how much we have enjoyed our travel group. Especially the Valentines who live in our hometown and go to our church. It is crazy we had to go 8000 miles away to meet them. For those of you who know them and go to our church, the next time you see Darren, just approach him and say, "Brad, can we touch your enormous calves and take your picture?" He has been quite the celebrity around here, along with everyone else. We definitely stand out in the crowd. One last thing that has been quite the adventure are riding on the streets with the other vehicles. The laws of the road are only "guidelines" they are not the rule by any means. They drive absolutely crazy and LOVE to honk their horns at everything and anybody. You take your life into your own hands when crossing on foot. It has been a great experience and just way too much to catch it all in such a short time. Missy has been a great travel partner and we have had a ton of laughs so far. Tomorrow is Madie day. We leave the hotel at a bright and early 4:50 am to go to the airport and head to Guangxi/Nanning City. I expect to have her by early afternoon. I am so excited and thank God that this day has come. Please pray for us and pray for Madie and that this transition is as easy as possible on her and that she will start to bond with me very quickly. Pray that we all stay healthy and safe while traveling. I don't think I will be getting very much sleep tonight! I will try to post pictures of Madie soon:) Enjoy a few pics from the last couple of days!

Hutong Bicycle Tour
Emperors quarters at Forbidden City

One of the buildings at Forbidden City

Me and my partner in crime Missy/Forbidden City

Memorial at Tianneman Square

Beautiful view at the Great Wall

Us on the way up!

We are still breathing!

We are finally in Beijing!!!!

After a very lonnngggg 22 hours at airports and on airplanes we arrived in Beijing at 12:30 am Friday morning Beijing time. It was a good day today. We got to meet with all the families and get to know each other today a little bit. There are a total of 7 families with our group. They are all wonderful and it is so great to have this group while we are here. It was freezing outside today. The temperature was 28 and we got a little bit of snow. Tonight we went to an awesome acrobat show. It was simply amazing to see what they could do! I am very worn out and tired today. The time difference has gotten me a little now, hopefully after a couple of days the jet lag will ware off and and we will adjust to China time (just in time to come home, LOL). Tomorrow is the Great Wall and Cloisonne factory- other than it is going to be very cold, I am really looking forward to seeing the Wall. Just two more days until we leave for Guangxi where Madie is. I cannot believe it. Even though I will enjoy touring this part of China, my heart is in southern China. My life will forever change on Monday and I cannot wait! I hope to post some pictures tomorrow after we get back from our big day. Good night, time to get some much needed sleep!

Tammy

TA and Birthday Surprise!!!!

What an AWESOME, long awaited day this has been! I went in to work to find an email from Ann with pictures of Madie's birthday party! Oh how sweet she is..... I turned into mush and cried for hours! Lunch time came around and we received our Travel Approval and we leave for China Wednesday, Nov. 30th.. just 19 days- ahhhh!!!! I am beyond excited and so thankful to all my friends and family for all of their love and support of the last 3 1/2 years. God has been so faithful to us and we are so blessed beyond anything we could ever deserve. I give him all glory and praise! I believe he will do amazing work through Madie and my boys!

Blessings,

Tammy

Update Pictures Received in July

Here is an updated picture we received in July- she is 7 mos old here. She is absolutely gorgeous and boy does that smile melt this mama's heart! I can't believe she is already 12 mos old now! We cannot wait to see some new pictures hopefully next week! I think I am caught up on the blog as much as I can. Come on TA! I am ready to hop on that plane!

INTRODUCING!!!!

Wei Li lan

{Madison Rose Li Lan Comer}

Born: November 9th, 2010

Province of Guangxi

Currently at: SWI Laibin City-Xingbin District

Catch Up!

Our baby girl is in Southern China - Guangxi - City of Laibin




Well - it has been so long and I am absolutely terrible at keeping up with this blog! So much has happened since October last year. After much prayer and discussion we decided to switch to the special needs program in China. We started the paperwork which took us till June to complete due to the restructuring of the program with our agency and new requirements from China. Our agency told us they expected us to get matched within 6 months from the final conference call we did with them on June 24th. We were matched on the following Monday when the new list come out, June 28th with a beautiful 7 month old little girl from Guangxi Province in China! We were instantly in love from her. It has been a whirlwind since then. We received our Provinical Approval July 6th and then had the terrible, horrible, 72 day wait for our LOA {letter of acceptance} that arrived on September 9th. This is China's official word that she is ours! That was such an exciting day. We then had to file our I800 with the USCIS here in the US and that was approved on September 23rd, just 2 weeks later. Our paperwork then had to be sent off to the US Embassy in Guangzhou and we were cabled on October 5th and it was then picked up on Wednesday, October 26th and sent to Beijing to the CCCWA. That is where we are now- 10 days into our Travel Approval wait. I was so hoping to receive that today! I think we will get it next week. Our travel group with our agency is scheduled to leave on November 30th so I have been praying really hard for us to get this. God has been so faithful through this whole journey- I know that he will continue if it is his will. Each step has been harder than the last. I just really want my baby girl to be home. Her 1st birthday is November 9th - next Wednesday! I am so sad that we cannot be there with her to celebrate. We are sending her a birthday cake through Ann of Red Threads. She is going to try and get us pictures of her party with her friends and caregivers. She was not able to get an update or pictures when we sent the last care package last month. I just know she has changed so much and it saddens me that she is growing up without us! Just 25 more days until we board an airplane- God willing! I don't think I am going to sleep much between now and then. Pictures to come:)