Garden Hotel

Not that it matters much, but just thought I'd let yall know that we are no longer staying in the White Swan in GuongZhou, we are now staying at the Garden Hotel. It is closer to the city, but it's views are of the city, not a lake. Also, the rooms are bigger! :) Which we like- but not any more expensive- which we like! :) Here is a pic of our new hotel. It is one of the few 5-star hotels in China:

In Him,
   Chelsey :)

Shutterfly

While in China, we are  unsure whether we will be able to access blogspot, facebook, etc, so my mom has created yet another online way of communication. :) Now we have a website centered around our photos. My mom plans on updating that daily (or whenever possible) while we are in China.If you click on the title of this post: "Shutterfly", it should take you directly to the website. If not, here is the address: http://caelynyibennett.shutterfly.com/

As my mom was showing me the site, she very excitedly explained that there is an intro, she has her first journal entry, and "if you click on the little albums, it opens it and pictures are revealed!" :) Gotta love her.

We appreciate your prayers as we are nearing our departure date. Just 4 more days and we are China bound! :)

In Him,
   Chelsey :)

More pics

Here are some more pictures that Laurie sent us. These were pictures that were in Avery's (her daughter- in the denim jacket) photo album. She scanned the pictures and sent them to us.


Caelyn is front and left. :) Making the face.
Caelyn is on the right (her hand is in front of her face). The sweet thing about this picture is that all four of these girls are either already home in America or on their way! :) Avery lives in Texas by the way, but we hope to keep her and Caelyn in touch.
You can barely see Caelyn in this one. Her head is right behind Avery's hood.
Caelyn is in the back row on the far left.
In this one, if you can see it clearly enough, Caelyn is in the front, on the ground second to the left (green jacket).

In Him,
Chelsey :)

The Waiting Wanes

Here are some pictures to give you a better feel of where we will be in China:



We will most likely be staying at the White Swan Hotel. This is the lobby. Isn't it beautiful?!?


Here is a map of China. We will be in southern China, in Guongdong province. Right now, Caelyn lives the city of Zhongshan.Just thought this was exciting. :)

In Him, Chelsey

PICS?!?!

Yes, one of my mom's dear friends, Laurie, (whom she met through Yahoo groups) is in China right now, picking up her dear daughter, Avery Ya, and sent us pictures! (from just yesterday!) It turns out that Avery Ya and Caelyn Yi are in the same class at the orphanage (we think they are seperated into age groups). Laurie told us that Avery Ya showed her pictures of "Yang Yi" and spent time drawing pictures of herself and Yang Yi together! :) How neat!? Then when they went to the orphanage the director let them see their classroom, bedroom, lunchroom, etc. Avery did not go because she was crying. When her parents asked why she was crying, a little boy passing by said, "Because she does not want to come back to this place." When I read that my heart broke. But it was great to see the early stages of attatchment between Avery and her parents, and really encouraged me since she and Caelyn Yi are such close friends! Anywayanys, Laurie said she got many pictures of Caelyn Yi and a video (which we haven't gotten just yet). Here are some of the pics:

My family had a hard time picking out Caelyn in some of the pics, which is why I edited them (using Picnik.com). It is strange trying to pick out your daughter/sister whom you have never seen before, except in pictures which are obviously posed. It's great to see Caelyn in her normal every-day life and it makes us even more excited to meet her!!!

Thank you for your prayers. We are having a shower in a couple of weeks. :) Thanks everyone who planned/are planning that!

In Him,

Chelsey :)

Updates!

We got a pleasant surprise from Ann of "Red Thread" yesterday! She sent us updates of Yang Yi, and 2 new pictures!



Yang Yi is so beatiful! Getting updates and pictures makes the wait seem shorter. I have also noticed that staying busy does as well. Of course, I don't have to try to do that- Junior year in High School is hectic enough! But if you find yourself restless- fill your time. Don't give yourself time to worry and fret. Fill your time with prayer, thoughts of God, reading scripture. Be in constant prayer. My favorite verse is Philippians 4:6-7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Amen :) This verse either pops into my head, or is spoken to me by my mom or best friend when I begin to feel stressed- and God relieves my burden! :)

Anyways! The point of this post was to share Yang Yi's new pictures! Oh- and updates! Here are her new measurements:

Height :104cm (40.9")
weight :17kg (37.4 lbs)
head :50cm (19.7")
chest :52cm (20.5")
feet:16cm (6.3")

The referral measurements are often not very recent (or so I've heard), but it would seem that her last measurements were not too far off. She's grown .9 inches and gained 5 pounds since her last measurements. So she's still little! Which will be intersting because my whole family is tall (tallest- 6'4", shortest (13)- 5'5") ... haha oh well! She'll always be our "little" sister! I have a feeling that will be a joke in the years to come...

Please continue praying! Anything can happen and we still wish for things to move quickly! We have absolutely 0 control over the situation- this is ALL God! Thank you!

In Him,
Chelsey :)

Care Package #1

Today is day 31 from our LID. We ordered our carepackage from Red Thread China on Sunday (?) And recieved pictures yesterday of our carepackage from Ann. We had a good letter, but that seems to be it- haha. This is what the package she will recieve from her family looks like:

Ann said the orphanage should recieve the package Thursday or Friday. However, we realized after we sent it that 1) the photo album looks as though it may be appropriate for a younger age (pray she isn't offended) and 2) its kind of a wimpy care package. I saw pictures of some other families' care packages and they were huge! So we decided to do some shopping (!!!) for Yang Yi and send her an even better, more personal, care-package through Lily later. We got so excited, that as soon as I finished my homework, I created what I call a "virtual carepackage" where I searched things I considered appropriate (or just cute :) and copied and pasted them onto a Word document. Long story short I have a page full of Hello Kitty, Pleasant Goat (apparently a popular tv show over there-on Yang Yi's shirt :), stickers, candy, etc. It was very fun to be able to dream like that! We are just hoping that she likes Hello Kitty... most adopted chinese children do...

In Him,

Chelsey :)