Hope's Journey is Nearly Upon Us, by Sandra Miller, Executive Director, ASIA

Today is Friday, July 24th in Guangzhou, China. We are growing excited to meet the 28 children that are "our ASIA kids", at least for a while. Shamiam Island has been my home for the past five days --- in quarantine per CCAA request. Quarantine hasn't been a problem, especially since my temperature has remained steady and unremarkable. This has meant that I can go out to explore the streets and visit with others.

Several exciting things have occurred since my arrival - the first was a typhoon that followed me from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Fortunately, I left Hong Kong by bus before the weather started to turn. By the time I arrived in Guangzhou four hours later, it was evident a storm was brewing. It stormed mightily throughout the night and into the following morning. Fortunately for Guangzhou the damage was minimal, with no flooding. The subsequent weather has been hot and humid, but much less oppressive than when the storm was upon us.

Secondly, I met up with an ASIA family here at the Victory Hotel waiting for their Consular visit. As always, I am so impressed with our families -- they demonstrate such love, commitment and devotion to their children. This family has adopted several children, from as young as three to as old as thirteen at the time of their adoptions. I know mom plans to write about the joys of older child adoption and we will post it to our blog. Right now she's busy getting to know her newest daughter, along with the help of her oldest daughter who speaks fluent Mandarin and English. I immediately fell in love with both girls and it was clear the sisters had also "fallen" for each other. Mom seems so proud of her girls and they are having a great time together.

Lastly, this morning was the solar eclipse seen over India and parts of China. While I watched it on a live TV feed from India, I also kept running to the window watching for the effects here. Unfortunately, the sky didn't seem to darken. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to be so near this rare event. On my flight over, I met a fellow traveler from Portland headed to China specifically to experience the eclipse. What an adventurer!

Tomorrow, Fei, Susan and I will find our way to the Lan Ying Hotel where we will meet with the CCAA officials prior to meeting the children. There we will be spending the final hours filling the "goodie bags" for the children and preparing games and art activities for them. We'll take photos of our preparations and post them to the blog.

We hope those of you following the blog will feel the the energy and excitement mounting, just as we do here. The ASIA staff is keeping me up to date on the huge flurry of interest Hope's Journey has generated. We are so thrilled to have this opportunity to help these deserving children find permanent and loving homes! Spread the word!!!
Til tomorrow,
Sandra