Official Adoption Day!!

Hey Everyone,

Today is the official adoption day! Quinn is now officially a Hellige! This morning we (we being Dad) signed the papers and got all of the papers notarized! After that, our day was fairly uneventful. We came back to the room and Dad attempted to make us lunch. It is kind of hard to make easy mac and chicken noodle soup without a microwave. Never the less, The Mac and Cheese mush was made. The soup didn't fair so well on the other hand....more peanut butter and granola! 

After  lunch, we headed out to explore. We tried to find the park, but that didn't happen. We ended up walking around the local stores and taking in the local culture. We then came back to the hotel to lay Quinn down for a nap, which Kara and I managed as well. We promise Mom -- we will get our homework done -- it won't all be about napping and playing with Quinn. Suntan Dan was down at the pool for a while trying to take a nap while the girls hung out (code word for sleeping) in room for a little while. 

Quinn just woke up after a three hour nap and now we are just hanging out in the room listening to Quinn belch -- which she does quite well -- just like big brother! We are trying to make the heavy decision of dinner tonight at the Garden restaurant here at the hotel, or   venturing out to walmart and the shopping district, with the grand finale ending at pizza hut later tonight. Wow! Its exciting here.

We did meet a nice family from Pennsylvania today, and Dad invited them to dinner some night if they are interested. The have two boys, 10 & 13, and adopted a little 3 year old girl. It would be nice to meet up with another American family and share our stories.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Love,

The Helliges

Gotcha Day - April 20th!

Today is the day when we are going to get our little Quinn! We leave in about an hour to go meet her for the first time. This morning has been fairly uneventful. We walked over to a little restaurant, but we are not brave enough to try any of their dishes. They looked a little iffy. So now, we are just waiting in anticipation for the time to go by.

We will blog later tonight with pictures!

Love,

The Helliges

Here is our sweet angel!! Quinn is such a blessing, and an answer to our prayers! She is such a sweet little punkin head, always laughing and squealing!

This afternoon we went to the welfare agency to get her. They ushered us into a room with the little girls and then realized that we were supposed to be in another room. Katie and Kara recognized her right away. We were led into the other room and another spanish speaking family joined us. Then they brought her in. She was all giggles and smiles. Quinn trusted Katie right away and let her hold her and then kara got to hold her and then daddy. We were only at the welfare agency for a short time.

We only had a small meltdown when we were in the lobby. The director and another lady from the welfare agency from Guilin were leaving and it hit Quinn. So she cried for a little bit but it didn't last for long.

We then got her back to the hotel room and then off to Walmart to get her some food and diapers. There isn't much to see here, but we will enjoy our new girl!!

Thank you for your prayers!

The Helliges

Hong Kong to Nanning

Hey Everyone!

Sorry that there was no post yesterday. It was a little hectic at the end! We started of just relaxing as we were struggling with jet lag. We woke up between 5:30 - 6:30 and got ready like we were going to go somewhere .... only to crash again until around 10:30. We forced ourselves to get out and strolled along the waterfront and took in the HK skyline. Monday night is their version of the Oscars and they were setting up an elaborate stage setting next to the cultural center. Checked out at 1:00 and sat in the restaurant for a long lunch and the girls did homework while I did some work. 

We got out to the airport 90 minutes before we were to meet Shinko our guide, so we sat and did more work at the coffee shop. Shinko is very nice and very organized -- I know she will do a great job guiding us through the process. Our flight was supposed to be at 6:50 PM but was delayed until 11:50PM. Fortunately they gave us a room at the airport hotel and the girls crashed from 6:30-10:30. We finally took off around 12:30 AM. While sitting on the cramped plane it hit me -- the odor of the plane took me back to my childhood. It smelled like my Grandpa's old 1960 something Rambler -- a mixture of slightly greasy workwear (Dickies), mixed with chewing tobacco, unfiltered Camels and of course the car didn't have AC, so a little bit of sweat! For a fleeting moment it was a pleasant rush back, but in the end, I was glad it was only an hour flight! By the time we got to through documentation, luggage retrieval, 35 min cab ride, we finally arrived at the hotel and crashed.

Monday is the big day and we will have pics and a more details.

Love the Helliges 

Hong Kong!!

Well, we spent our first day in HK, and it was a great one! (Although the night was a short one -- about 5 hours of sleep and we were wide awake!) After getting ready, and skyping Janet, Jake and Wren, we started off walking through downtown to get Quinn's return ticket. When we got to the travel agent they had to make some changes to the ticket and told us it would be 30 mins. We spotted a nice park on the way, (think small Central Park), so went for a stroll while we waited. Here are the girls with the flamingos in the park. We then headed back to get Quinn's ticket. The offices for the airline are in the huge 6 story shopping mall, so of course we meandered through a few of the small shops before going to get the ticket. After retrieving Quinn's ticket we wandered back to the hotel for a break and lunch. For lunch, we opted for the oh so foreign McDonalds. Nothing like a good cheese burger and french fries! Of course Kara had to get on Skype with all her friends back home, which took awhile.

We decided that we would head over to Victoria Peak and take the tram up to the top. We are staying in Kowloon, so we took the subway across to HK island. After an uphill hike we found the tram station -- and believe it or not we found Jackie Chan there! I just couldn't get him to look at the camera though. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy misty day up top so the view wasn't much. We wandered around before making the trip back down to the hotel -- where we crashed. The girls slept for a good two+ hours and I had  a hard time getting Pidge up -- KT wasn't too pleased with me bouncing on her bed either as I tried to wake her.

We decided to get some dinner but once outside it was raining and none of us had much energy - back to the room for glorious room service! It was great to see Janet and Wren on Skype as they were getting up this AM. I can tell Skype will be a great tool for us on this trip as we will be able to stay in touch with our other half.

Well its time to get ready to climb back in bed soon -- hopefully for a full night sleepzzzzzzzz

Love

The Helliges. 

We Made It!!

Hello family and friends!

This first picture shows what how this trip is going -- traveling with a few clowns! Actually the girls have been great and had fun with the start of our journey. Thank you so much for you prayers for our trip! We made it here safe and sound with no delays or interrupts. God is so good! Traveling for more than 24 hours makes for a very long day, but the girls did well and God provided the strength that we needed.

Our flights yesterday went incredibly smoothly. We were all able to sleep for some of the time, and the girls actually did some homework . The only complaint from the girls was the food on the plane. As you can tell from some of the pictures, they are not used to this type of food! They went a bit hungry -- but no problem from my end!

Made it in safely to the hotel in downtown Hong Kong and look forward to exploring tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in and we'll post our day in HK.

The Helliges

Wrennie!

Found this video of wrennie on my computer! 

DATES!

Hello everyone! My name is Qin Qiu Yu from Guilin, China. I am two and half years old and waiting for my forever family. I have been told that they will be leaving on April 16th to come and get me -- my dad, and two older sisters. I understand that they will fly into Hong Kong via Tokyo, and then onto Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province on April 19th. We'll meet up for the first time the next day on Monday the 20th.

MY PRAYER LIST
Here is what I would like you to pray about. 1) That their trip goes smoothly without any flight delays and that they have peace about the trip 2) That I will feel content when I first meet them. 3) That all the adoption stuff will go smoothly. 4) That dad can put up with my sisters, or should I say keep up - I hear they have big shopping plans. 5)Lastly pray for my forever mom, my sister Wren, and my big brother Jake -- I know it will be hard on them being a part from the rest of the family -- trust me, I know from experience.

I look forward to getting home to that town with a funny name -- Peoria, and meeting all of you. I hear we have great family and friends waiting to meet me. Once Dad and the girls leave, I will start posting daily comments to keep you informed. I hope you post a few comments so we can start getting to know each other. Keep me and my forever family in your prayers, asking God's hand and favor on the upcoming trip and adoption. See you soon.

Love,

Qin Qui Yu

PS -- you pronounce it "chin tree ee". Since that is kind of hard to say, they tell me that my name will be Quinn Autumn (My Chinese name means Autumn rain -- I hear Mom is kind of sentimental like that!

PSS -- Wren -- I hope you have our room all ready -- I hear its pretty cool! Ready or not family here I come. Love your little sis -- QAH