What We Are Up To

Greetings from Zhengzhou (Jung Joe)! We have now arrived in the capital city of Henan Province, the province where Noelle lives. We will get Noelle tomorrow! So exciting!! All the families we are travelling with are getting so excited. The jet lag is wearing off and we are adjusting to the time just in time to wake up SUPER EARLY today to fly to Zhengzhou. We had to meet in the lobby at 5 am and our flight left at 7:30 am and arrived at 9 am. We are staying at the Crowne Plaza..very upscale. Soon we will go have lunch, walk around and then Jim will go with our guide to exchange money at a nearby bank.

So here is some facts about our travel group, most caught me by surprise...

8 families
6 families already have children
5 families are adopting a sibling for their only child (like us)
1 family is adopting their 3rd chinese child AND have 2 biological children. After the adoption they will have 5 children ages 9 - 3.
2 couples will be first time parents
Families hail from: 2 in Ohio, 2 in Kansas, Michigan, New York, Colorado, Texas
4 children are with us, all adopted from China by 4 of the families: Elizabeth (6 and A HALF!), Rachel (5), Erin (4), Jayden (3). All are girls except Jayden.

Of the 8 children to be adopted this week:
5 are boys!
3 are girls
I think all have special needs include 2 other children with the same heart defect as Noelle.

21 people in our travel group currently (tomorrow make that 29!). Only 6 of us have never been to China (that includes us!). There are 15 parents (one Dad came solo - bless him), 2 grandparents, and four kids. OK, I think that covers it.

Soon we will go for lunch with Howard and Andrea. Howard is an former Marine and reminds us of our friend Marty at home! He's a blast. Andrea is from Brooklyn originally and I'm thinking she is Italian - love it! They live in Denver now. They've been waiting for a while now to be parents and I'm so excited for them. Their Benjamin is a few days older than Noelle, same special need and over 10 lbs more than Noelle. Big boy!

OK, time to leave for lunch.