Our trip to Xiushan..

Miao ethnic minority women attend celebration
of Yangma Festival in Xiushan

About four days before we meet Ming we are going to make the trek up to Xiushan where the orphanage is. We will not be allowed to visit inside the orphanage (for a number of reasons) or see Ming, so looking through that gate is going to be hard!

We will tour the town and get to meet with some locals. I have been told that Xiushan "is at the end of the earth, so be prepared to rough it." That sounds exciting to me!!

The orphanage director will bring her to us for the "official adoption" after our trip to Xiushan in one of the main cities(Chongqing). All adoptions in Xiushan are finalized in Chongqing. It will take the orphanage workers and Ming 7 hours to ride from the orphanage to Chongqing. We did not want to pick her up then make her go on another roundtrip train ride to Xiushan, so that's why we are making the trip before we get her.

Granted we pride ourselves in being Thunderbirds and we have friends (Smiths and Meyers) that would do this trip alone without a guide/translator, but...we are not as crazy and we know our limits! We found a wonderful guide that we are excited about. Her name is "De" and she will help us with our Xiushan trip. She lives in Chongqing and helps families with their adoption as her job. The families that have used her services love her. We are getting excited!