Awake at 4:00 AM

Email 1 from Gotcha day.

Hello Everyone,

It is 4:17 in the morning here and I can't sleep. This happened last time too. Eric is snoozing away and I am wide awake trying not to wake him. Boy, do I hope Nyah is a good sleeper because this will probably be the same pattern this time too.

We are going to go look around the hotel later this morning. We asked our guide, and a fellow American, about safety...they both said that "it was very safe."We need to find our way around since it's a long stay here.

Our guide is a very beautiful girl. Her name is Queen-ar, I have no idea why she chose that name as her guide name but she did. She is a college student who is majoring in English. She does not speak very good English and can't understand us much. We are learning quickly to come up with many different words to express what we need or want to know. The same problem at the front desk. I am sure they think, what we often think when we have foreigners coming to visit, "Why can't they learn our language before they come?" But, they are patient and kind with us.

The hotel is huge. They have a swimming pool (so, J and J, it's safe to come out with swimming suites on :) ). They have a ball room and a pool table room with tables triple the size of our pool tables. They have bar and the lobby of the hotel goes up through the middle of the hotel to sky windows. This is 20 some floor building so that's really high. It's really, very fancy, even by US standards. We are on the 14th floor so needless to say we are not going to walk the stairs instead of the elevator. :)

We're so excited to get Nyah. Just a couple hours now and our lives change, again. They are supposedly bringing Nyah to the lobby of the hotel. That is a strange place to introduce her to us. There will be many people around who will be watching this transition take place. I feel so bad for Nyah, how overwhelming! We'll have a short time to get to know her before she is handed over to us, then we pile in a van and head to an office somewhere in the town where we'll sign the papers for Nyah. A little different than when we adopted Emma.

Please pray for Nyah. What an awful day for her and a great day for us.

Love you all,

Mel


P.S. My kids are doing well. Jeremy got a 4 point deer hunting with my brother. He is so excited. What a great gift for him. He does not get to be with us on his 15th birthday, but this may make up for it. Thank you so much Jim! I don't know how to thank you. I love you!

Jordan is staying home taking care of Emma. My parents and my good friend Jen Norris are helping to transport and keep the girls busy. Thank you my friend! and thank you Mom and Dad!

Emma wasn't able to sleep our first night away. She woke up with a bad dream and wouldn't go back to sleep. Jordan offered Emma her cell-phone, with our picture on it. She slept with the phone and wouldn't let it go. My Mom printed a picture of us from the blog, copied and laminated it so Emma is sleeping with it now and carrying it all around.
Oh, my Mama's heart is breaking. I miss them!