Our dossier for a 2nd adoption had been shipped on 4 October, 1996, nearly 17 mo. previous. However, that was at the height of the uncertainties re. a definition of special needs as it related to children available for adoption in China and there were no guarantees this was going to work.

Shortly thereafter, a beautiful little girl in Seoul, South Korea became available for adoption, and since she had special needs that we wanted and were definitely open to, we decided to go for it. Most assuredly, in our hearts, we know this was the way it was meant to be. At the time, we wondered "why", but we can see very clearly now that Kerrie was meant to be our daughter, just as much as Jenna, and that things happened the way they did for a reason. Actually, we look at it from the angle that we were blessed in being able to not only add one, but two little girls to our family! What a wild year and a half it's been!!

The call for travel approval came 3 April, 1998 that we had to be in Hong Kong for our Holt orientation no later than 8 May. This time, it was 11-year-old Kate's turn to go on a trip. We are very grateful that now each of our older three children has had an opportunity to travel overseas to help bring a sibling home. Kate's teachers at Our Redeemer's were very accomodating and allowed her to finish the year out on 5 May, the day before we left for Hong Kong, with the grades she had that were current as of that day. Glynn stayed behind, taking 3 weeks of Air Force leave, to referee the other children at home.

And,so, echoing the flights we took back in January 1996 when Stephen and Kim traveled to bring Emilee home, Kim and Kate left Minot, North Dakota at 10:57am on Northwest Airlines--traveling once again through MSP, Tokyo and on into Hong Kong, on 6 May 1998.

Our flight into Hong Kong was delayed by nearly 2-1/2 hours, due to mechanical problems on the ground in Tokyo and made more interesting by an innebriated "gentleman" who tried to occupy the third seat with us (thank heavens for the wonderful Northwest Airlines flight attendants!!). But we did make it, landing close to 1am on 8 May, 1998 in Hong Kong.

We had a great 2-1/2 days in Hong Kong, which happens to be one of the most enjoyable places I've visited. Even more "fun" was that one of my best friends was traveling on our group, along with her teenage son (her husband had stayed home to referee too). And better yet, they were adopting the 2-1/2-year-old girl our family had sponsored for the past 18 months!!

We left early in the evening of 10 May (Mothers Day!) for Nanning, and landed when it was dark. But thankfully, Holt staff were there to greet us and get us on the busses that would take us to the Majestic Hotel, our "home away from home" for the next 8 days. While on the bus, we received packets with information about our children, a "chop" for our daughters and a schedule of the weeks activities. It was then that I learned my new daughter was walking!!! We were all very much filled with anticipation as we rode along in the bus, for we knew the next morning would be the big day--the day we'd meet our children for the first time!

We had to be up and ready by 8am the next morning, but I'd been up much earlier, of course!!! It was hard to eat breakfast, but eat we did and soon we were on our way. I had heard so much about Mothers Love Orphanage from previously-traveled families and having seen it in pictures as well, it was exciting to finally pull up out front and actually be there.

Before we knew it, we were all anxiously waiting in a reception room. We all received photos that had been taken of our children over the past few months and we had adoption agreements to sign and then the babies were brought in one at a time. One of my favorite things to remember about the trip was watching my daughter, Kate, holding the camcorder and waiting at the doorway. Then, she told me that Ai Meng (soon to be Jenna) was coming and before I knew it, she was there! She came to me beautifully, without a fuss at all, but continued to look at both her new sister and mom as if she was trying to figure us out, which she was I'm sure. The last thing we saw, as we were boarding the bus to take us to our adoption appointments, was the foster parents peering through the glass, trying to get one last look at the children they'd had in their homes.

Both Civil Affairs and Justice went well and soon things were legalized and Jenna was officially "ours", though she had been in our hearts for nearly 2-1/2 mo..

The week in Nanning was wonderful and seemed to go by almost too quickly....shopping for souvenirs, sight-seeing, visiting the park and meeting the locals, all combined to make such a memory-filled time. One of the best things that happened was being able to meet the foster family who had cared for Jenna for 5 months. How can you possibly thank someone for giving so unselfishly, knowing it wasn't permanent? I was grateful Jenna went immediately to her foster mom upon arrival, and they were grateful to see she came back to me when it was time to go. We left with the promise of pictures to come as Jenna grew.

Kate, and my friend's teenage son, had the opportunity to visit some English-language classes for school children in Nanning that were held a few evenings a week at night. This was a real treat for the young people and we were all very well received. The students had lots of questions and their enthusiasm was catching! This is part of the reasons we have for taking our children on these trips--the educational opportunities they have as benefits far outweigh (at least in our minds) any missed schoolwork.

We left for Guangzhou one week after we'd arrived. The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou was all lit and looked as fabulous as it did the last time.

I was really pleased that, the night before our visit at the consulate, and the medical exam for the girls, that Holt staff had arranged for a room near the business center in order that they could go over bit-by-bit all of our paperwork we needed. There was more paperwork than last time for me, due to the fact of the new INS requirements for the I-864. Aside from that, because I was traveling w/o Glynn, I needed a couple extra documents that couples traveling together didn't need.

Naturally, the next morning it was POURING down rain...we sloshed as a group to the medical exam facility....many of us rented umbrellas from the concierge desk at the White Swan. We still managed to get soaked. But I didn't care, because it was all part of the adventure!! Due to Holt-Guangzhou staff and their wonderful efficiency in taking our paperwork down in advance of the appts., we were taken in right away and hustled through the various stations... It seems we hardly even got there before we were leaving. Jenna did well, but I have a snapshot of her looking quite amazed at the fact that someone would dare to be prodding her with a stethoscope!

The consulate appts. went better than I'd hoped. Prior to the trip, several of us had heard how unreasonable they'd become at the consulate, but in my mind, if one is prepared with their paperwork, and that paperwork is in the proper order and done the way it's supposed to, then there's no big deal. It was fun, while waiting for the appt., to see in person a couple families I'd "met" on the internet--fun, at last, to put a face with a name!

The rest of the time in Guangzhou was shopping--it finally stopped raining long enough for us to get out and do that--and just enjoying things. I was so glad that, once again, we had a river-view room as we had two years before (we were in 804 this time, as opposed to 902 then). My friend, Elaine and I, our two little girls and our big kids, just had so much fun. Particularly enjoyable was the Riverside Barbeque at the White Swan--worth every penny!!

And the next day the visas were ready! We stayed through 'til the next day and flew into Hong Kong for a couple more days of sightseeing, shopping and relaxing. Hong Kong is a particularly favorite city of mine, so I truly enjoyed this time with my girls and my dear friend!

We said our good-byes to our travel companions Friday afternoon, and had some more time sightseeing, and then Saturday morning it was our turn to make the trek back to the United States. We had to rush through breakfast, but were grateful that our hotel, the Regal Airport-Hong Kong, was attached TO the airport...

Our non-stop flight from Hong Kong to Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota was 14 hours and not too pleasant as Jenna decided flying in an airplane for 14 hours wasn't one of her favorite activities. It did help that Kate and I had an empty seat between us because it made for much easier traveling.

Customs and immigration at the MSP airport was very quick, actually, and we had a couple hour layover to get a snack, walk around, find some more Beanie Babies to buy, and then headed on over to our flight back home to Minot.

Once again, as we had twice before, the walk down the airplane ramp into the terminal at Minot International Airport was so exciting... Waiting there was Glynn, Kerrie, Emilee, Stephen, Justin and a family from church, as well as one of our pastors. And once again, we all joined in a circle there in the airport terminal to thank the Lord for another added blessing to the Breuer family in the gift of Jenna coming home.