Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Vickie, Amber, Anagrace and Austin!
Please email us.......
March 3 - 5, 2006
Hello Everyone from the other side of the world. I am sorry that it has taken a few days to post but we have been very busy since we landed.
Our flights all went perfect and we have yet to have a single delay, a single piece of lost luggage, and the jet lag has been nothing at all. It all bears witness to all of the prayers that we have going up for our family--thank you and keep those prayers going.
Here's what we've been up to so far. We took off Friday morning on March 3 and landed in Guangzhou 24 hours later. Our friend was there waiting on us, jumping up and down while yelling "Vickie, Vickie". They were beautiful words and such a welcome sight. She has made everything for our trip just perfect. She had a driver waiting to help us w/our luggage and to take us to our hotel. She had already checked us into our rooms, she had Chinese money ready to convert for us, and she even brought along cold bottled water. What more can you ask for?
We all slept very well and were up early the next morning leave for the airport--again, sigh. We had a short 45 minute flight to Zhanjiang City which is where Miss Anagrace is from. Although we flew there to receive Anagrace, it was a whirlwind of a day and we didn't have the time or the energy to do any touring.
We checked into our hotel then hired a taxi and started touring the city. The first stop was to Anagrace's finding location. She was left in the Haitian Market. In my mind I pictured a narrow dirt street lined w/street vendors. It was nothing like that at all. There were rows and rows of concrete buildings and the market took up an entire city block, with each street holding different types of vendors, i.e. one was for plants, one for foods, one for clothing, etc. We do not know where or which part of the market Anagrace was left at, only that it was at that market. So we spent some time strolling thru all of the markets and visiting with some of the vendors. ZJ people are not use to seeing many westerners so we were quite the celebrities for the day. The people would stop and stare at us, sometimes walking right up to us and smiling as they checked us out up and down. The Chinese people do not have any sense of personal space, so there were times that they would actually get in our face just to get a little closer look. We had many people come up to us and comment that we are a family and we have a very beautiful daughter. As like the our trip the last time, Amber seems to be the one to attract the most attention. She decided that she was going to be prepared for all of the stares this time and so she wore her socks that say, "Please go away". (I had to laugh at that one)
After the market we went to the Haitian Police Station where Anagrace was taken after she was found. It was noon time and they were not at the front desk so we were not able to speak to anyone. For me, this was the most emotional part because it was the only place that I knew of for certain that Anagrace had been (besides the orphanage). It was also very sad to know that this was the beginning of our daughter's life...just because she was a girl.
We then drove down to the harbor as ZJ sits right on the ocean. There was a beautiful park there with lots of children playing, flying kites, and families just sitting around enjoying the weather. Because it was Sunday, there were a lot of families out. It was very nice and we really enjoyed seeing the water, the boats, and especially all of the families spending time together. Of course, we were the main attraction and even had children following after us wanting Jim to take their picture and chanting "hello, hello" and giggling.
We went back to the hotel and had a wonderful meal, all authentic food known from the area. All of the noodles were made fresh in front of us, we were told that it is considered an art. All I know is that they were very good-yum! We actually got daring and ate w/chop sticks. The locals were watching us and laughing at us, but we didn't care. Well, actually they didn't start laughing until Amber took her chopstick and started stabbing at the food so she could pick it up. We had fun laughing along with the locals. Even in China, Amber makes people laugh!!
Tomorrow is a very big day as we will be traveling to the Zhanjiang Orphanage where Anagrace lived the first 9 months of her life. Our friend called the director to confirm that we would be there first thing in the morning. Our visit is two fold as we are going to have Anagrace's file pulled to see if there was a note left by her mother. We will also be touring the nursery area where the babies are housed as well as any other area we can wiggle our way into. Please do not expect to see any pictures, as their director's policy is no pictures taken inside, especially of the children. Our second mission while we're there is to follow up on the donations that were made by a group of families who have adopted girls from Zhanjiang Orphanage. We purchased clothing for the babies and older children, some washing machines, and some items for the older, special needs children. We will be able to take pictures of these things to show the families who so graciously donated.
Well I must sign off. Please keep Anagrace in your prayers. So far she is doing very well, but we sure do miss her so much. After today all we wanted to do was hold her so tight, but of course we couldn't. This part of our journey is the hardest, but we'll make it through.
Please email us when you can, they are a wonderful source of encouragement. We won't be able to answer all of them, but know that they will be so much appreciated.
Hello to all of my Buds!! I miss you guys and sure do wish you were here with us.
The Bennetts
Sign for Market entrance
Commercial construction market & Where Anagrace was found
