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No pictures this time. At least today. After 30 hours of buses, airports and flights we made it home last night. Helena did a great job with not one tantrum. She was wonderful. It was a pleasant flight back and Continetal treated us very well. They gave us an extra seat so we had the whole row to ourselves. The kids were obviously excited to see us and we were as well. It is adjustment time and we are all quite a bit tired. I will try to post some home pictures over the weekend. Thanks and God Bless.

Last Day

I think the pictures say it all. The top picture is our group that adopted from the Hubei province. We spent the entire time with these families and it has been a wonderful experience. What a great group of people. The second picture is with our guide Lineker. He has also been with our group the entire time. I cannot say enough good things about him and his wife Amy. Just great people. His coordination skills are just amazing. If I owned a business and needed one guy to run the show he would be it. The last picture is what everyone wants to see : Me. Just kidding. Helena being her funny self. She really is just great. We could not be anymore fortunate than what we are to have her. We want to thank God for that blessing. He has been good to our family and we have seen so many prayers answered. Well this is the end of our transmission from China. I hope you all have enjoyed it and will pray for us as we travel home and for the country and the victims of the earthquake. Thank you all and God Bless you.

the Barnharts

Medical Exam and Shamian Island

Well we have some free time today so I will continue to post. You will probably wake up today to hear about a strong earthquake in China. We are all ok. We did not feel anything here in Guangzhou. Helena had her medical exam today and the whole thing is best described as chaos. Crying children everywhere. But it was still fun. Afterwards was shopping on Shamian Island which was quite nice. The bartering system is pretty fun but reminds me of buying a car. We are going to take a taxi back Tuesday evening to shop a little more. We have ordered from Danny's Bagels tonight : a large pepperoni pizza. I'll tell you how it is. We had a chinese dinner last night with a wonderful group of New Yorkers! What a wonderful family. It really is great to share this experience with so many people. We are anxious to get home but will also miss this place and the experience it has been. Thanks for reading along. God Bless.

Guangzhou

We are in Guangzhou and what a difference a city makes. It is very tropical and very western-friendly (not that the other places weren't) which I think makes everyone feel comfortable. We are also reunited with all the families with started with in Beijing. We have had the oppurtunity to meet so many wonderful families with this group and begin friendships that we think will last a lifetime. Helena has changed so much since we have arrived. She is comfortable with Jeff now and they are play buddies. She really feels like ours now however strange that sounds. We have the doctor's visit Monday and consulate appointment Tuesday. Then that is it. We leave on Thursday with an incredibly long day to get back. We have both lost 10 pounds or more since arriving here so that is actually a good thing. Kind of an expensive diet though. We will miss this place but are ready to come home to our family. If we do not get to post again thank you for all your prayers and support. And for following along. We will definetly post when we reach the States to end one journey and begin another. God Bless.

Last day in Wuhan

It is our last day in Wuhan. Saturday we are off to Guangzhou and the last stop on our journey. We have enjoyed Wuhan but are also ready for a change of scenery. Jeff and Helena are starting to interact more and we are finding she has quite the temper. We are starting to hit the wall a little and are getting a little home sick. Jeff is battling a toothache and a cold. It has been a wonderful trip though and we are so happy to have Helena with us at last. We think she will fit in just fine with our family. We will post again when we get settled in Guangzhou. Thanks for following along.

Ha. Finally and update.

At last we can post again. I think it was an error on my part. Here are some pictures of Helena from our hotel room. We are now in Wuhan and it is a really fascinating city. We have been to the Carrefour a couple of times to shop. It is the Chinese Wal-Mart. Jeff has walked around the City and visited KFC. He was the only Westerner in sight. Helena is doing well as can be expected for someone who is taken completely away from all that she knows. Rally warmed up to mommy but still not sure about daddy. Who is though? She was officialy ours (as if children ever really are) Tuesday after we visited the Civil Affairs office to finalize everything. We will be here until Saturday morning and then it's off the Guangzhou for the final leg of our trip. We promise to update as much as possible. We want to thank God for blessing us with this oppurtunity and for our beautiful children waiting for us at home. We love and miss you Kallie and Aidan.

Great Wall

Today was the Great Wall. It was something to see....and climb. It was a tiring day. We have to leave for Wuhan at 5:30 am to get Helena. We are a little nervous. We are re-packing tonight as the country's weight restrictions have changed. Thanks for following along. We love you Kallie and Aidan.

May 3rd

Hello we made the trips to Tienamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. It was very crowded as it is a holiday here. Also a thunderstorm struck with torrential downpours!! It was still really cool to be there. I just wish we had been better prepared. The food has been great. Tommorow is the Great Wall.

some video

Here's a video from our hotel

We made it

Well we have officially made it to China. It is 3:30 p.m. on Friday here. We are a little jet lagged. April did really well on the flight (her first) however Jeff got motion sickness. It was pretty smooth sailing really. Jeff did find a pickup basketball game right across the street from the hotel. We head to Tienaman and the Forbidden City tommorrow. Stay tuned for pictures.