Day three...

Actually this should have been posted yesterday - and really it was. However, my computer shut down at the end of the post and I didn't have time to repost it.

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Day Three - We get Kaycee!

After not sleeping for most of the night, we were ready to leave the hotel at about 4:00am. Finally, the wake up call came and we were ready to go.

We headed straight for the busses and got on. And waited...and waited...

Finally, after about 45 minutes, we were on our way. Finally! We were going to be with Kaycee in just a matter of hours.

The rush hour hit. Remember...I live on a dirt road in rural Colorado. If there are two cars on our road at the same time, neither car knows what to do.

Rush hour in Beijing meant the bus drivers got out to have a smoke. They saw people they knew. They hung out and talked like they had just met at a ball game. There was no "hurry up" anywhere. So we waited...and waited.

Now, if you know me, I am not a patient person. Actually I have very little patience. I truely believe it was God teaching me another lesson. It was going to be on His time.

Finally, we were off again to the airport.

We got there and boarded the plane. We were just an hour from where Kaycee was. I prayed she was ok, and that she would do well with the transition.

We landed...got our luggage...and, yes you guessed it...waited!

Our guide was not there. I walked and walked the airport - unlike the Beijing airport, the Fuzhou airport was very quiet and very clean.

Finally, we spotted our guide and we were off. Driving up the coast to where Kaycee was. As we passed the run down housing of the area, we learned we would be driving to a shopping center, would be given Kaycee, her photo would be taken and we would need to do some paperwork. Minutes, merely minutes.

As we pulled up in front of the shop (we were parked on the sidewalk) we were told to "wait" here. Our guide went to see if Kaycee was inside the passport shop. No - not there. They were on their way.

Finally, a van pulls up next to ours, and our comes a lady, with a precious little girl in her arms. There she was.

All of the paperwork, the tears, the signatures, the unknown, the fear, and yes, the waiting was done. She was there.

We jumped out of the van, my mom with the camera and me with the video camera. Kaycee was there. Our daughter, who was born without ears, who for all we knew was deaf, was standing in front of us, inches from me.

I reached out, touched her hair and the lady handed her to me. On the side of the road, in front of a little photo shop, my life changed.

Here was this little child in my arms. My deaf daughter looked at me, and said as clear as can be, "Mama?"

My heart stopped. And I cried - she didn't. All of the praying for her transition must have been heard and answered by God. She was fine...I wasn't.

The rest of the day was really a blur. We signed papers, went back to the hotel. We changed her clothes - no time for a bath - we had more paperwork to complete.

I picked her up, and there she fell asleep in my arms. She slept for almost two hours - even when we got in the van to go do more paperwork.

Fuzhou, Fujian, China - aerial view