One More Day

In one more day, one more night…our lives are about to change forever. One more day until we will hold Amelia in our arms, kiss those sweet cheeks and whisper, “you now have a family – a mommy, daddy and brother to love you the rest of your life”. One more day of waiting, anticipation and feeling our hearts ache with the yearning to meet our daughter. One more night of daydreaming about what it will be like to rock Amelia to sleep for the first time. One more morning where we’ll wake up for the day with hope that the day will come that we no longer have to wonder or daydream any longer. One more day of living as a family of only three. One more day where Amelia will live amongst the noises, smells and sights of orphanage life, of life without a family of her own. One more day where Amelia’s foster/orphanage caretakers will kiss Chun Mei and will likely feel sad that they, too, have only one more day. One more day until Amelia will be welcomed into her forever family with the love of so many. One more day until God’s path that has led us down this journey for so long, will unveil itself with the miracle of creating not another life, but the miracle of creating a family…OUR family…our Forever Finney Family of Four! One more day!!!!!

Knowing we have only one more day has felt so surreal, especially because of the whirlwind we just went through here in China! Our day on Saturday started at 3am in Hong Kong, when we were unable to sleep any longer, feeling the effects of jet lag, full force. We took a taxi at 5:30am to the train, a 6am train to the airport and an 8am flight out to Beijing. We arrived Beijing at noon, took an hour taxi to the hotel and arrived at 1pm. We then discovered that the Great Wall was 1-1/2 hours away, so we immediately got into yet another taxi for the long drive to the Great Wall. Needless to say, by the time we arrived at the Great Wall at 3:00pm, we had zero understanding of what time zone we were in and it was even difficult to comprehend the incredible beauty of the Great Wall of China. No matter what exhaustion we felt though, seeing the Great Wall was well worth the trip and it was a chance of a lifetime we could not miss! Liam’s favorite part was the cable car ride up the hill . It can be so funny seeing sights, especially historical ones as this, through the eyes of a 4 year old. The whole time we’re walking the Great Wall, Liam is begging, “Can we go back onto the zip line”. Go figure!

After a very quick 1-1/2 visit at the Great Wall, we had to meet back up with our taxi driver to take us back to the hotel. This time, it took 2 hours due to traffic and by far, this was the longest 2 hours of the trip so far. We were exhausted, considering it was 5pm and we had been up and on the go since 3am! Luckily, Liam has been such a trooper, really amazing actually. He slept the whole 2 hour ride back to the hotel and there was no waking him up by the time we got to our room, so he was out for the night! And his Mommy and Daddy soon followed!
Once again, we awoke at 3am unable to sleep. It’s becoming routine now where right about 3am, we hear this little voice say, “Daddy, daddy, I’m ready to wake up now.” Liam’s funniest line of the trip has been, “Guys, I’m still on Minnesota time.” When we first heard him say this out of the blue, we didn’t realize that he’s quoting a line from the movie “Rio”, which he has watched probably 5 times now on our playbook. Funny how this movie line is so timely for Liam now.
Sunday morning we had a great time touring The Forbidden City. For those not familiar with China, The Forbidden City is where the Chinese Emperors lived dating back hundreds of years ago up until the early 1900’s. This palace is huge…it’s the size of 9 football fields long and 7 football fields wide! It’s now used for tourism where thousands of people visit each day.

Although The Forbidden City was amazing in itself, we have to admit that the real memory we will take away from our visit here was not the palace, but instead was watching our son turn into a complete celebrity! Just about every person of Asian ethnicity that walked by us, literally turned their heads to stare at our boy. We were getting such a kick out of this, but it didn’t end there. As we walked through the palace, one by one, people stopped to ask if they could take pictures of Liam. Some, however, didn’t even ask, and within seconds, Liam would all of a sudden be looking at a camera lens right in his face. Many people even dragged their children to stand next to Liam so they could get their picture together. No matter how much their own child cried and screamed, getting that picture with Liam seemed to be their number one priority! We think we had just as many people taking pictures of Liam as they were of the palace. Crazy!

After our morning in Beijing, we departed for the airport at noon and we’re now awaiting our3pm flight to Zhengzhou…the city where we will meet our daughter for the first time!
Although our stay in Beijing was a whirlwind of 24 hours, it was amazing to see the city that is the capital of our daughter’s birth country. No exhaustion or jet lag can take away from the excitement and happiness we feel in our hearts knowing that the real fun of our trip is about to begin. In one more day, one more night, our lives will be touched, they will be transformed, by the love of one little human being, the love of our sweet Amelia Mei, and the love of our Lord Above!