We specifically chose China because of their requirements that families with children (or those under 35 years of age or both) be open to the referral of a child with special needs. Having already had 3 wonderfully healthy children, we felt it laid on our heart to adopt special needs.

Our new daughter's given name, assigned at the orphanage, was Chen Yu Nan. She was born 24 June, 1995 so was not quite 4 mo. old at referral and she was residing at the Nanchang Social Municipal Welfare Institute.

We received the referal information--a photo and translated medical report--2 days later. The photo and report were somewhat alarming, in that we saw a very weak, malnourished and thin little girl who appeared older than the 2 mo. of age indicated in the photo and whose medical report specifically stated "physical condition bad". Yet, there was not a question that we would accept the referral--we KNEW that whoever the Lord sent to our family was the one He had in mind and we trusted Him to know best. So, we called Holt first thing Monday morning, 23 October, 1995, and said 'YES'!! We were delighted the referral came when it did, as we'd been hoping and praying it would arrive prior to Glynn's expected departure from the country for an extended 90+ day tour of duty overseas with the Air Force (TDY in Air Force lingo!). As it was, the referral did come 11 days before the big event, so we had time to absorb and enjoy the news together as a family.

The wait to travel approval then began.... I always tell folks the wait to travel is worse than waiting for a referral because once you hvae a referral, you also have a face in a photo and all you want to do is pack up and go bring that child home now! Our prayers had been that Glynn would return home before Kim did. He was expected home 2 February. The call finally came with a notice of a 28 January, 1996 Hong Kong arrival date for the required orientation at Holt's HK offices. Kim would be arriving home 7 February and Glynn would be arriving home 2 February, so it all worked out wonderfully!! Kim had decided to bring Stephen, the oldest of our three "big kids" along on the trip for help and also for the benefits he would derive from going on such an adventure...he was 1 month short of 12 at the time and it was the best decision we made! Kim's mom had flown in from Arizona to help out at home and take care of the other two children. We couldn't have done it without her!!!

So, at 11:06am on Saturday, 27 January, 1996, Kim and Stephen departed on a Northwest Airlines flight that would take them from Minot, North Dakota through Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN on to Tokyo-Narita, Japan and finally to Hong Kong, landing at 10:20pm the evening of 28 January, 1996.

Once we landed in Hong Kong, I just remembered a friend's instructions to "just follow the crowd"...so we did. As we were in line to have our passports checked, I could see our green checkthrough duffle bag waiting, which surprised me. I thought we'd have to stand there forever, but it was there. We got all our luggage, changed some money and got in line for the taxi.

The line for the taxi was long, but it moved quickly. Before I knew it, we were in a taxi and whizzing through the streets of Kowloon. The only other country we'd visited before was Canada, so this was a new experience!! It honestly didn't hit me that we were IN Hong Kong 'til I glanced up at the bluejeans hanging on laundry lines out of apartment windows.... Stephen thoroughly enjoyed the taxi ride. The driver really took those corners and Stephen kept saying "Do it again!" everytime he took one really sharp, which was frequent!

Our agency, Holt, maintains an office in Hong Kong for their China program, and they do a wonderful job of taking care of families. They'd made reservations for us at the YMCA Salisbury Hotel, which was right across the street and down a bit from the entrance to the Star Ferry. Our room overlooked Victoria Harbor and I enjoyed watching the harbor come to life in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep.

We had our orientation the next morning in Holt's HK offices. There were 14 families altogether, 13 of us adopting babies and one adopting a 6-year-old. One other family had brought their older child along, too. They were a great bunch of families.. One of the things I like about traveling in a group is the families you meet and forge lifelong bonds with.

The rest of that day was sightseeing. Stephen and I took the ferry across Victoria Harbor and the tram up Victoria Peak, which was quite an experience. Of course, we had to eat at McDonald's when we got to the top and we did some shopping.

After a quick breakfast the next morning, we got our things together and met the rest of the group in the lobby for checkout. Holt had arranged for a bus to take us to the airport and a truck to cart our luggage. Our flight on China Eastern Airlines left about 11 or 11:30am and we landed in Nanchang about 1:30 or so.... Going through customs took a bit, but we soon had our bags and our Holt guide was there waiting for us with a bus to take us to the airport. One of the things I like about Holt is the permanent Holt in-country staff they have on hand to take care of their families.

The ride from the airport into town was interesting... We were all a bunch of chatterboxes until the sights came into view...then it was pretty quiet. I remember trying to look out of both sides of the bus at the same time,trying to absorb all I could. Soon, our Holt guide stood up an announced that "the Nanchang babies are already at the hotel and waiting" and boy did things get noisy again!! There were 9 families receiving children from Nanchang Orphanage and 5 receiving children from Fuzhou Orphanage that day.

We got to the hotel and were given our room keys. We'd barely been in the room long before our luggage arrived. I remember another Holt family who'd adopted in Nanchang 2 months earlier reminding me that the babies sometimes arrived at the hotel rather quickly so to be ready. I got a new outfit out and was in the process of trying to get some formula mixed, when we heard crying in the hallway. Stephen ran out and ran back in with "MOM the babies are here!".... Of course, precisely how to make a bottle of formula went straight out of my mind.... Stephen watched me with quiet amusement for a bit before reminding me "Look at the back of the can mom. You're going to be OK"..... Out of the mouths of children...

We all gathered in the hallway outside of our Holt guide's room and soon they began presenting the babies to their new families. Our names were the first ones called and finally, there she was--Emilee!! She was bundled into several layers of clothing and her arms were straight out at her sides almost. Plus, she was in a semi-state of shock. The minute she was put in my arms, her eyes bugged out and she did NOT move! You could just tell the expression on her face was one of "Who is this woman?" We watched the other 8 Nanchang Orphanage families get their babies and then we went back into the room to get acquainted and wait for the Fuzhou children to arrive.

Emilee was still very thin, though she had begun to fill out some and she had grown back all the hair that had probably been shaved. We got her cleaned up a bit after changing her clothes and bagging up the ones she came in to return back to the orphanage director. She drank a bottle down rapidly and then wanted some cereal. Within a couple hours of her joining us, she became quite upset when I put her down on the bed.

The adoptions were finalized the next day and we spent the rest of the week sightseeing in Nanchang and waiting for the passports. Emilee changed rapidly--she became very active, played with toys, rolled over, held her head up and smiled, all within 2 days... And she ate and ate and ate.... By the timem we left for Guangzhou on Monday morning, she was a different baby, though still ver thin.

Guangzhou and the White Swan Hotel were something else!! Just as we had pictured from stories of families who'd gone before us. Once again, we were fortunate to get a room that overlooked the Pearl River and the sights were always interesting to watch from the balcony.

The medical exam appts. were that morning and the Consulate appts. on Tuesday. Since our flight from HK to the States left early Wednesday morning, Emilee's visa was rushed through in one day (can't do this anymore) and we took the train back to HK early Tuesday evening. That was an interesting experience, though I wished we could have traveled during the day to see the sights.

We flew from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Seattle (customs) to Minneapolis/StPaul (where my relatives came and got us during the 7 hour layover we had) and then on into Minot, landing at 9:50pm on Wednesday, 7 February. What a sight--we saw Glynn, whom we hadn't seen since 30 October, 1995 and along with he, my mom and the other children, one of our pastors from church and his wife were there, too. Kate & Justin met us right at the end of the ramp with a balloon bouquet of "It's a Girl!" and the local news station was on hand to film the arrival. We joined in a circle there in the airport terminal and our pastor led in a brief prayer of Thanksgiving for the precious, wonderful new life the Lord had blessed us with.