A Little Pink Blanket

A little pink blanket is safely inside my luggage.  It is a silk satin blanket with a flannel lining, bordered by several rows of lace.  The little pink blanket is traveling to China to bring home the next Nance female child, our sweet Lilly Rae.

I bought the blanket from a children’s shop in Jacksonville called “Gram & Gramps” right before Heather was born in 1969.  The shop was on Park & King Street.  A sweet mother and her daughter owned the shop and I was a frequent customer for many years.  

I brought Heather home from Riverside Hospital on Father’s Day, June 15^th, wrapped in the little pink blanket.  It stayed in the chest for almost 7 years before I wrapped Miranda in the blanket as we brought her home from the hospital in Brunswick on April 23^rd, 1976.

 

I carried it to the hospital on March 22, 1980, but it stayed in the suitcase.  God blessed us with our son, Will, and somehow I did not think he would like to know he was brought home in a pink blanket. 

In early August 2005, a tiny little 3 lb. 14 oz Alaina Katherine Campbell left Henry County Medical Center wrapped in the little pink blanket.  It has been used one more time when Ella Marie Campbell left the same hospital in 2008.

All the girls’ names are embroidered in the corners and now it is on the way to Wuhan, China to bring home another little girl.  Heather will have it with her on Monday morning March 21^st when she and Brian are handed their little girl. 

A family heirloom traveling around the world to become a part of a family tradition.  Wonder where it will go next time?

Travel Plans

The big day is getting closer and closer.  It has been a busy week trying to make final plans, make arrangements for things at home, work, and at the church and carry on with day to day life.

Heather and I had our final travel phone conference call on Thursday afternoon, so pretty much everything is in place for the trip.  Thursday was her last day at school due to furlough days Friday and Monday, and planned off days Tuesday and Wednesday.  I think she has the most difficult job of getting all her boys ready to travel, plus packing for Lilly and herself.  Keep in mind China has a 44 pound per bag weight restriction on air travel checked luggage.

Our travel itinerary will keep us on the go.

Thursday, March 17^th & 18^th, leave Jacksonville at around 11:30 to Atlanta, about 2:30 on to Seattle arriving at 5:19 PDT, leaving for Beijing at 6:05PDT for Beijing.  We will arrive in Beijing, Friday at 9PM Beijing time (which is about 9 AM, Sat our time).  I think it is going to be a long day….roughly 24 hours of travel. Where did our Friday go?   I’m thinking by the time we get to the hotel In Beijing we will be tired enough to sleep before a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday, March 19^th is filled with sightseeing to include Tiananmen Square, Olympic Park, Great Wall of China and anything else we can squeeze in.  Are we tired yet?  Right now the weather looks to be mild for them at this time of the year.  Thank you God!  He knows I hate cold weather.

Sunday, March 20^th, we will travel to Wuhan City.  Earlier we had been told we would get Lilly that afternoon, but this week we found out it will be on Monday morning.

Monday, March 21^st, “Gotcha Day” We will travel to the Civil Affairs Office where we will finally have Lilly placed in Heather & Brian’s arms.  I just can’t imagine how wonderful that will be.  I think I will feel the same way  I did when I was fortunate enough to be with Heather and Brian when Hampton and Walker were born.  After some time to settle down, Heather & Brian will begin the paperwork to officially adopt Lilly.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, March 22-24….Happy Birthday Will ( Mrs. Nance would have celebrated  #97)  on the 22^nd!!!  We have not missed that our Lilly Rae joined our family on such a special time of March.  These 3 days are set aside for sightseeing in the area. Wuhan City is a city of 10 million people on the Yangtze River.  It is called the “Chicago” of China, as it is a banking and financial center.  We are hoping  for Atlanta type weather.   Heather & Brian have to be available if any questions occur with Lilly’s adoption papers.  Hopefully on Thursday she will have a Chinese Passport and Visa that will allow her to travel to the United States.

Friday-Thursday, March 25th-30^th, we will leave Lilly’s birthplace on Friday.  The Harmony Express (bullet train) will take us to Guangzhou.   Thank goodness the weather is close to what you experience in Miami.  YEAH!!  The American Embassy is located here and all U. S. adoptees must go through legal paper work here.  The week is filled with doctor’s appointments along with filing of paperwork at the Embassy.  Lots of sightseeing is planned for us, too.

Wednesday,   March 30^th at 10 AM Lilly Rae Huling along with her family will travel to the American Embassy where she will be fingerprinted and her parents will take an oath for her to become an American Citizen!!  She will have full rights as an American citizen when we land in Detroit Michigan on our trip home.   I think that will be another emotional day for all of us too.

Thursday, March 31^st ….Happy Anniversary John Ben & Miranda….10 years since that magical day.  We will pick up Lilly’s Visa from the embassy and head by bus to Hong Kong.  I just hope we get to see some of the beautiful city. 

Friday, April 1^st….home to Georgia….Yeah!!...Hong Kong to Detroit to Jacksonville leaving at 9 AM and arriving at 6PM Friday evening.  With the time change we will once again be traveling 24 hours again.

Check out the Harmony Express…. jhttp://www.dancewithshadows.com/tech/chinas-harmoney-express-is-fastest-bullet-train-in-the-world-photo-gallery/

Hurry...Hurry!!

After all these months of waiting, this past week has been one big blur.  After the phone call Monday alerting us to the possibility of traveling on March 17th things have gone into high gear with a great sense of hurry, hurry.

Heather got the call Wednesday confirming our March 30th appointment at the American Embassy at 10 AM.  That confirmed the 3-17 travel date.  I think we are all in shock at how quickly plans are falling into place.  One of our favorite blogs, Ni Hao Y'all, tells you to not wait until you get travel approval to start seriously planning your trip.  Things will happen very fast once you get your TA and boy she is right on the spot with that advice.

We received an e-mail with travel plans early Thursday, with a 7PM deadline to confirm the flights.  Originally they had us traveling to Beijing via Jacksonville, Minneapolis, Seattle, leaving Jax at 6 M.  After confirming these flights, we noticed another family from Lexington, KY, was traveling through Atlanta and meeting up with us in Seattle.  We called back and asked if we could travel through ATL?  No problem, so now we leave from JAX at around 11AM.  That is much better than a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis.

We will still be traveling about 24 hours arriving in Beijing at 9 PM (which is 9 AM our time) Friday night.  At least we will be tired when we get to the hotel, so maybe we can sleep/rest some.

Mammy, Alaina & Ella 

According to what we were told in our last phone conference call Lilly was probably taken to the orphanage in Wuhan City today.  I cry every time I think about that.  What must her little mind be thinking?  So much upheaval in her life in such a short time.  I just pray for God's love to be poured out onto her these next few days.

In the midst of all this we traveled to Miranda and JB's this past weekend to celebrate Ella's 3rd birthday.  Such a fun time with the girls.  They come creeping into our bedroom and climb into bed with us.  Ella tells us to "open the eyes".  She is the snuggle bunny.  They are full of questions about Lilly and when will she be here.  I don't think they can understand where she is and why is she not here yet.  I can't wait until all 5 grandchildren are all together.  Looks like that will happen Easter weekend when Will and the Campbell family will all be in Folkston.

It's Here!!!

The long awaited travel approval is here.  I'm so excited and all of a sudden scared, too.  We will know Thursday whether we will travel March 17 or 24.  Yes, that's right....in 2 weeks we could be on our way to getting Lilly.  All of a sudden it feels like there is so much to do and I'm not sure where to start.

I guess we will have to start thinking about what weather we will face.  Our tentative itinerary will look something like this...Thursday fly to Beijing (weather like Chicago or New York) from Chicago, Detroit, Newark. or DC., getting there around lunch Friday.  Sightseeing for the next 2 days leaving sometime mid day Sunday to fly to Wuhan City (weather like Atlanta).  Later that afternoon Lilly will be brought to us at our hotel.  Monday Heather & Brian will start the process in WC to get a Chinese passport and sign the adoption papers for Lilly.  With that in hand we will travel on Friday to Guangzhou (weather like Miami).  We hope to travel there by the new "Harmony Express", which is the new "bullet" train that travels at around 350 miles an hour.  Monday would start a new round of medical exams and application for an American passport and Visa to travel to USA.  Hopefully they can sign her papers at the American Embassy on Thursday and we should start home on Friday via Hong Kong or Shanghai.  A full two weeks of paperwork and waiting, with lots of sightseeing sandwiched in between.

Hang on Lilly, we are on our way very soon....these little sweet animals and dolls are waiting for you in your bed...

Giraffes and other thoughts!

When Heather was a baby we lived in the house in town we called the "Stover House", because the Stover family built it in the 1930's.  We loved the house and yard and actually lived there almost 19 years and remodeled 3 times.  It had very small almost non existent closets, so in order to have somewhere to hang Heather's baby clothes I bought a wooden giraffe that had pegs.  It was pink and white and I used it for both girls. After our move to our present home the giraffe has been patiently waiting for a new home while stashed in the attic.

As you can see by the pictures the little giraffe, we must give her a name, has a new paint job and home.  Thanks to the wonderful talents of Kathy Love.  Kathy and I made a sneaky visit to Lilly's room a few weeks ago and actually came out with the paint chips that Heather had used to paint the room.  I cleaned up the giraffe and gave it a light sanding and sent her home with Kathy so she could do her magic.

 Wednesday I slipped her into Lilly's room while Heather was at school.  She looked right at home.  I wondered how long it would take Heather to see her.  Later that afternoon, Heather came into the kitchen at church beaming her beautiful smile and said, "I love the giraffe, and was just thinking several weeks ago that I needed to get the giraffe out of the attic and get it painted for Lilly's room".  Sometimes we Mama's do something right.

Now we just need our sweet Lilly in that room.  No news on the travel approval.  Maybe this week.  We read of another family that got their TA last week and their paperwork was filed after ours.  So we are getting anxious about what is the status of our TA.

Please continue to pray for our travel approval and for Lilly as we prepare to unite her with her "forever family".

Happy Happy Day

It is hard to imagine that something as simple as two little photos can bring such joy, but I tell you when Heather got an e-mail Friday with two new pictures of Lilly, this was one happy Mammy.  I'm not sure who was the most thrilled in the whole family.

Heather had asked for an update on Lilly in January.  When nothing had come to her in early February, she had given up hope that she would get any news on her until after Chinese New Year ended on the 17th.  On Wednesday, she received an update, but no pictures.  While it was great to get new heights and weights, we really wanted to see new pictures.

So on Friday morning she called Randy and I and told us to check my e-mail.  Don't you know just when you are so excited, the download is sooooo slllowww.  Finally there she was, smiling up at us with her doll in one hand and her family photo album in the other.

Just look at that sweet little face.  I think I see Walker's impish grin.  I've analyzed this picture over and over.  I keep looking, hoping each time I'll see something new.  Gene Crews and I think she might have dimples.  What do you think?  She has on a pink jacket with some type of over sleeve on her lower arm, a black scarf with red embroidery and red and black boots or shoes.  We were so happy to see that her hair has not been cut.  The little doll is a gift from Barbara Davis, from Heaven to Seven.  The photo album has pictures of all of us with a Chinese translation of our names with each photo.  What a relief to know she received her package from home.

We are still waiting for our travel approval.  Please pray that it comes in the next week or so.  Right now our tentative travel date is April 7th.  In December that seemed so far away, but now it is only 6 weeks away.  We are so focused on that date, that if we get a delay now we will all be crushed.  I'll post more soon on our travel plans.  For now just enjoy with us the smiling doll....

Gung Hay Fat Choy!!

Gung Hay Fat Choy means "Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year."


Until this year I never really paid much attention to the Chinese New Year Celebration.  With our impending trip to China, I have heard more and more about this celebration.  Our concern is not so much the celebration, but what it has meant to our trip. 

The celebration begins February 3^rd and continues for 2 weeks.  During that time basically everything shuts down.  Government, manufacturing, retail, etc.  Families travel back to their homes to celebrate with their families.

Before the new year, families settle debts and buy new clothes. The house is cleaned and food is prepared.  Homes are filled with flowers and fruit. Oranges, tangerines, and pomeloes are picked and displayed. The colors symbolize good luck and joy. 

Children behave impeccably because they are warned that what happens the first day of the year may decide events for the coming year.  Everyone takes care to say and do the right things and think good thoughts.


On the seventh day of the New Year everyone adds a year to their age no matter when they were born.  In traditional China individual birthdays were not considered as important as this New Year’s date.


So does that mean that Lilly has never celebrated a birthday?  I had hoped that with her living with a foster family maybe they had acknowledged her birthday.  Guess I have a lot more to learn.  I assure you that she will know her birthday in October this year.


We now have our Chinese Visas.  All that is left is our travel approval….the coveted TA.  With that in hand an appointment with the Embassy can be scheduled.  Pray that gets done in the next few weeks amid all the government shut down