We are here!

We had some trouble getting to our blog from Beijing, but we just arrived in Fushun and I was able to get right on and log into the blog! We are staying in the same hotel in Fushun as we did last year, but the rooms have been completely redone and they are incredible! New carpet, cherry furniture and doors, actual mattresses on the beds, totally new (and clean) bathroom with new fixtures and a window over the bathtub that looks into the rest of the room...interesting but beautiful! We also have our same view of the river. The orphanage director and government official that we met last year came to the hotel to meet us! They are so sweet and make us feel so welcome. We will head out to the orphanage tomorrow morning and we cannot wait! We also have our same guide, Maggie, that we had last year!

We arrived in Beijing safely, but had a little trouble finding each other and our guide. We did not know our guides name and were looking for a Visiting Orphans sign after we exited the baggage claim, but all we saw was an AWAA sign. AWAA (America World Adoption Association) is the adoption agency that VO branched out of and we just figured that there was an adoption group in town. Well, that sign turned out to be for us! We finally got everyone together and got settled in our hotel.

Yesterday (Thursday) we went back to Philip Hayden's Shepherd's Field Children's Village like we did last year. We got to meet some new children and see some familiar faces. We were able to see Joy and Holly that we sponsor. Here is Joy enjoying the slide, over and over and over again. And here is Holly...we walked in on her (and some friends) using the potty, but they did not seem to mind. We would bring both of the little girl's home in a heartbeat!! We also went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and a few markets. The highlight (besides Philip Hayden) was the tea house. It was very interesting and fun and I do not even like tea unless it is cold and sweet!

We are having a great time and have a really good group! I will post more when I can!