August 20th

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in a mans heart, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.

First I have to say, we have alot of shy people who are visiting our site! We know that hundreds of people are visiting, (we have a counter) but you are not signing our book. Now come on, you are family! Even if you are here by accident, you are now part of our journey to Sage. This journal is all for her, and we want her to know who was here. So PLEASE sign our guestbook!

Today started at guess what time? Yep, that is right, 4AM. How annoying. The morning has been very full of emotions. Today Sage is 9 months old. We are leaving Beijing behind, and though I am ready to go, it is still hard to go, not knowing if we will ever see this part of China again. This was our first taste of China and it will forever be special. I am really missing home today and especially the kids. We called home and Makenna told us they were really crying last night missing us. And Malaine fake cried along with them. I guess Sawyer said, "why do we need another sister, we already got 2 of them!" I cried all morning missing them. Tomorrow they get to go to 6 flags, so I know they will enjoy that. Please pray for them that they will be comforted and that we can all make it through, we still have a long way to go that is for sure.

Our flight to Changsha was short, just 2 hours. I was able to sit on the flight near one of the moms in our group, Terry, who lives in Nashville. Their daughter to be is Jessie, who was 1 in June. I had a great time chatting the 2 hours away w/ her. Mark tends to sleep or pulls out the PSP, so woman company is always welcome! They served us lunch on the flight which was spicy fish. I stuck to none other than rice. Mark on the other hand is chowing down everything. I really thought he might lick the plate. He tries everything. How he is not sick I am not sure.

We were met in Changsha by our local guide who is named Vicky. So we have our CHI coordinator Sabrina, then also this new local guide just for Changsha. We made our way to the Dolton Hotel. Changsha is the capital city of Hunan. It is very different here than Beijing. Not the tourist feeling at all. Not as many English signs to explain things. It is a large city, and we are in a downtown type area. Our hotel is fabulous! VERY nice! The weather is high 80's today, which they said is great for this area, I guess it tends to be hot, which I am sure we will experience this week. Vicky asked us if we knew why Hunan was known for their spicy food. It is because in the cold they thought the hotter the food was, the warmer they would get. And she said the girls are known for the spicy attitude! So we may be in for a spicy girl ourselves!

Everyone from our group is staying on the same floor which is alot of fun! I am SO thankful we booked a suite here. It is beautiful and lots of room to spread out. I am dreading the bed, I sat on it and it is hard. VERY hard. I knew I should have squished an egg crate in my suitcase! The best thing is the baby things that were waiting for us! A crib, a baby bathtub, and a baby bowl w/ spoon, how sweet is that? We met w/ our guides to go over paperwork and to talk about tomorrow. The plan is that we will drive to the Civil Affairs Building at 1030AM. The babies are due around 11am. It sounds like it will all happen very fast and then we will head back here. So that means for you all at home, it will be Sunday during your night, and when you get up on Monday, I promise we will have pictures posted.

After paperwork we headed out shopping to buy formula. We are quite a site, 12 families walking the streets and storming into the grocery store! I have to wonder, what do these people think of us? It will be very obvious this week as we walk w/ our babies, why we are here.

Dinner tonight was at our hotel where they have a buffet. It was pretty good, I have to go back to get pictures of the turtles cooked whole w/ heads and shells, snake, ostrich tendon, you name it! Mark ate eel, I took a bite, but had to lose it. No thank you! My favorite part of dinner is the company we always have. We have such a wonderful group of families traveling w/ us.

So many thoughts in my head tonight. I can't believe in 14 hours, I will finally lay eyes on Sage. I will be able to reach out and touch her and hold her in my arms. All those months of questions are about to be answered. I am down on my knees in thanksgiving to God for leading us here on this journey to our daughter, His child. We are so in love with her already. This adoption sure did not go according to our plans, we should have been home 6 months ago w/ our baby. But the Lord chose Sage for us, and 6 months ago she was not ready to come home. I think back on those days of tears, and now I see why. No more tears, no more waiting, we are about to meet the purpose that God had all along.