Sick; Guangzhou

We would appreciate your prayers for Callie. She started developing a cold on Monday, and her cold continued to strengthen today with a horribly runny nose, junky cough, and eye matter. Tonight she has developed a fever as well. We long to see her on the mend and feeling better.

Tuesday was a day of waiting. We waited around the hotel until 2:30pm when Isabel picked us up. We stopped and got Callie’s passport and then made the hour-long trek to Fuzhou’s airport. Having checked through with a couple hours to spare for our 7:20 flight, we took our time eating supper at the airport. Then our flight was delayed 100 minutes. Flight at 9, Guangzhou airport at 10:15, check in at our hotel around 11:45. To bed around 1.

No liquids are allowed to be carried onto China flights, so we had no medicine for Callie from 4 to midnight.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Shamian Island is a beautiful place to be, albeit a bit of a tourist trap (the Gatlinburg of China), and the weather is gorgeous. Anna and I went swimming outside tonight at 8:00 amidst palm trees and with a full view of the Pearl River and the slick cruise boats navigating her waters. (Hopefully tomorrow night we'll be on one of those boats.)

Callie and the other adopted kids had a "body check" today at a nearby clinic (to satisfy the US Consulate, I think). Same place Anna had hers 6 years ago. We pointed out different places to Anna here in Guangzhou that we have pictures of from our trip to adopt her.

Our whole group is united once again from their various cities of adoption, and most of them have stories to tell about the earthquake. Two families were in their rooms on the 22nd floor. They grabbed their babies and flew down 22 flights of stairs in record time. One father thought on the way down that this could be the end: “If this thing’s going to fall, we’ll never make it out in time.” The one grandma in the group was on the 20th floor with her grandson and thought she was having vertigo. Another family was on the 5th floor of a restaurant when the chandelier threatened above them and a crack appeared in the wall. They made it out, and curiously enough, their waitress followed them out to collect for their drinks which they never even got a chance to sip. We are grateful for the safety of our travel families, but we mourn the enormous loss the Chinese have sustained.

Pray for Callie.