MONDAY-DAY 5-January 22nd

Monday was full of ups and downs but we made the best of and it and just tried to have a good attitude about that which we could not control. For me it started with only four hours of sleep because I feel horrible. My lungs haven't ever hurt this bad. I coughed all night long. I finally used the inhaler Lance gave me and that helped and I was able to sleep. We were also both anxious knowing we were one day closer to meeting Flower. That also meant that we'd be leaving the Harvey's and Beijing. We would love to have had a couple more days there. If that we were possible, as we earlier thought, they had planned to take us around site seeing themselves. They just had too much going on during the weekend. As we got out of bed we both about fell to the floor. I cannot believe how sore my legs are! they didn't hurt at all when we were hiking the Great Wall and other stuff the day before. My lungs were the only thing holding me back. My calves feel like rocks, they are so tight. My lower back also is quite sore. I want a massage so bad! KG got DJ singing a couple of his songs. I will post them when I can. We also talked to Amanda. She told us that Flower woke up pointing to our photo and asking, 'where's daddy?'. :) Most adoptive parents I have talked to said that the children typically pick one parent and bond to them really well and don't want a lot to do with the other parent until they're home and in a more normal routine. I have a feeling I know which parent that is going to be. :) I wonder if she's more excited about it because, in a sense, she's had a mommy in Amanda. The daddy thing is new to her. It will be fun to see how it all plays out. The conversation also left us really bummed. Amanda informed us that they were organizing an officially branch out of the church group they had. It will be the first Branch in Xi'An. This is very exciting. However, with all the church leaders there, she is going to have them give Flower a Priesthood blessing, and we won't be able to be a part of it. It would have been so neat for KG to stand in on that! But, unfortunately, we are unable to see Flower before the officially hand off at the Civil Affairs office. :( We enjoyed a nice breakfast with Donya, Lance and DJ. Lance and DJ then took us to the airport. It's a good thing Lance was there to help us, otherwise we would have had to leave 2 of our suitcases behind to be shipped. He convinced them to allow us to take it! Phew, they are life savers! We shared a Subway sandwich and then were in the air by 11:40 am, landing in Xi'An at 1:30 pm. We had a lady and driver waiting for us, set up by our agency. I was thrilled that the in country coordinater, Chris, was not the one there. He is the one that had caused us so many issues. They took us by a bank so we could exchange money and then we were off to the hotel. We are staying at the Sheraton. It's very nice, its a 5 star hotel. We got everything unpacked since we'll be here for nine days. Our original plans were to stay with Amanda and Flower for 4 or 5 days and in the hotel for the other half but that was nixed. Admittedly, it will be nice to have our own space and, feeling so yucky right now, it will be nice not to have all the noise. It's also going to be nice to be in the same place for 9 days rather then packing and unpacking again. We are just still unsure whether Flower will ever see us interacting with Amanda and that would really help the transition and bonding. *sigh* KG called Amanda. I haven't had a voice for a couple of days so I haven't been able to talk to her, or anyone else and it's frustrating! Anyhow, it was important for all of us to at least get Amanda the outfit that we wanted Flower to be wearing for the official hand off. KG's parents bought the dress and my parents bought the tights, shoes, and shirt. we bought the head band. That way she had something from all of us at our first meeting! She was originally going to send someone to pick it up but when she found out Chris wasn't here, she was thrilled and relieved! She came herself and it was so nice to finally meet her and be able to hug her! We gave her the bagels we had purchased, the calendar that we had given all the parents and grandparents for Christmas, and the outfit for Flower. It was just a quick 5 minute thing in the lobby because we didn't want to risk getting in trouble. She also gave us a cell phone for our use while in Xi'an so we can keep in contact with her. We then toured the hotel and are thrilled there is a big pool. The hot tub is out of sevice though, so that was disappointing. It will be so fun to swim with Flower for the first time! We discovered they do massages here. We were determined to end our day on a happy, relaxed note! We ordered two in-room massages. They were 45 minuted massaged for only $25 each! So cheap! We then ordered room service for dinner. I soaked in the tub until it arrived. It was the most well presented room service we have ever had and the food was delicious! We then put the Illusionist into the laptop and were both asleep by 9:45 pm.
Day 5 Photos-Flying from Beijing to Xi'An