China Farewell

I honestly can't believe we only have two more days remaining here in China. This trip has gone so quickly, and although we long to go home, we are also having a wonderful time getting to know the two families we met yesterday. And we are having a great time enjoying the sights, sounds, and food here in China. :) We ate breakfast this morning and then went swimming with our new friends. It was very moving watching all the new Dads playing with their new children in the pool. So miraculous to think just a few weeks ago, these same children were without families and surviving, but not thriving, in orphanages. To see their eyes so full of hope, their smiles wide with joy, and to know that this is just the beginning of their new lives - it is beyond amazing what God has in store for each of them! After our swim, Mason took a long nap and we began to pack up our suitcases. Around 5pm, Helen delivered the "brown envelope" and we visited. She liked looking through the flashcards I made for Mason and seeing our home, his room, and our other children. She also was happy to see that Mason was feeling a lot better, smiling, and laughing. We made plans to meet her tomorrow morning to drive to the train station. We will leave on the train headed for Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon. I'm not sure how fast the train will go, but it should be fun to watch the landscape of China go by out the window. We headed out for dinner to the same 5th floor restaurant and met up with our new friends. Enjoying great food, wonderful fellowship, and relaxing before going home to finish packing. We were also able to sing Happy Birthday to the sweetest little girl who turned 4 years old! She is full of energy and spunk and it was adorable to see her grinning while everyone sang to her. :) I couldn't help but think of all the birthdays that go uncelebrated every year in the orphanages around the world - millions of children who have never had their special day remembered. No one to sing over them, no candles to blow out, no gifts to unwrap, no kisses, no hugs, no one to make sure they are celebrated. And my heart breaks for those who are waiting for their "happily ever after" to begin. Waiting for a Mommy, for a Daddy, for a family. So thankful, that in the often forgotten orphaned-world of millions - there are 3 less tonight! So thankful that these Mommies and Daddies said, Yes! So blessed to be chosen to be our children's parents - for they are all such treasured gifts! Each one so very precious in His sight!

US Consulate

We woke up early this morning, ate breakfast, and then headed back to the medical clinic to get Mason a stronger anitbiotic. The Dr. that works there is very nice and he gave us a powdered version of the Z-Pack (3 packets that we mix with water). Already, we can see that George Mason is feeling better. He is starting to let his personality show more and more. He loves walking on and off the elevator and then marching down the hallway to our hotel room. It is really cute because I can tell he feels like such a big boy. :) He also has shown us a few temper tantrums. And oh my! He does a backwards body slam to the ground when he doesn't get what he wants and screams and kicks his legs. Not pretty. But, as soon as we scoop him up and tell him "ha la, ha la" - he stops. I can't imagine he got away with that too much in the orphanage, but I could be wrong. After the clinic, we rode in a van to the US Consulate appointment. We made it in plenty of time and we were able to be sworn in with all the other families this time. David and I did have flashbacks to our last trip to the Embassy, and we were thankful that Helen had already secured transportation for us so we weren't standing around waiting on a taxi to magically appear. lol! While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, we chatted with a nice family from NC - and then we were called first to complete the paperwork. So, now when we land in Chicago - George Mason will automatically become a US Citizen! :) After the Embassy, we drove around for a little while waiting for Helen to help two other families and David decided to celebrate Mason's US Visa by buying a Coke for us and the driver. :) Helen's son stayed with us in the van and we both laughed when we saw the book he was reading. A comic book of "Tom & Jerry"! lol! Can you believe it?! I think that has to be theme for this trip.  We decided to eat lunch at Subway and we ran into the same couple from NC and they spoke with another family who is also staying at the Victory and we were so surprised to find out that we live like 30 minutes from each other! This is also their 2nd adoption and their son from their 1st adoption was from Chengdu too. It was great fun meeting them and we were so blessed to run into wonderful families to share the last few days of our trip with. We met them all at this wonderful restaurant that is on the 5th floor above Jordon's gift shop. We shared a private room with them and enjoyed fabulous Chinese food! It was amazing! When we were leaving, we saw the doormen from our hotel enjoying their dinner there too and they asked David how did we find out about this place. Dave said, "From our friends!" They smiled and said, "Good food and low price!" Now the secret is out! lol! George Mason ate and ate and ate. He loved the fried green beans, the rice, the noodles. We think he is finally feeling almost 100%. After we were finished eating, the kids all had fun running around the room, and Mason laughed and laughed at the other kids. Dave and I are so excited to see him at home playing with our kiddos. I think he is going to LOVE them! On the way home, we made plans to swim the next morning and to eat Chinese again at the same restaurant for our last dinner on the Island. Tomorrow afternoon, we will have to wait in our room until Helen picks up the "brown envelope" full of immigration papers and Mason's US Visa and delivers it to us. We are almost finished and we are so ready to come home! We miss you so much AJ, Hollyn, and Jessa! We can't wait to give you all big hugs! :)

5 Goat Park ~ Symbol of Guangzhou

Today we decided to go take a walk on the sun. Okay...so maybe not. But if you were to imagine what the sun felt like, well, that comes pretty close to the hotness we felt today in GZ. We were drenched with sweat just walking out the lobby of our hotel. We walked back down to the medical clinic after breakfast. George Mason had a rough night last night and didn't sleep well at all. We wanted the Dr. to check his lungs again and see if things were getting better or not. We also had his TB test read too. The TB test was negative and he passed with flying colors, but the Dr. exam caused major hysterics again. This time we came prepared with the light up/spin toy and it calmed him down enough for the Dr. to hear his lungs. He said he was starting to get bronchitis, so he gave us some cough syrup/mucinex type of medicine and we started the antibiotic that we brought from Dr. Curnow. He took a long nap and was full of energy this afternoon. We were happy to see that his appetite came back a little too. He still doesn't want to drink his bottle though. So we found some little yogurt drinks that Jessa Li loved when we were in China and thought we would try them with Mason. He LOVES them too! We were so glad to find something that was liquid to keep him hydrated. He doesn't like any juices at all - not even apple, which is surprising because all of my kids have loved apple juice. So needless to say, we stocked up on the little yogurt drinks and he is downing them left and right. lol! We went with our guide to a park in the very center of GZ. She told us it was the only park that had some shade, so we decided it would be fun to get out of the hotel room today. We drove by the new millionaire district that was being built and she explained how the US Consulate will now be in one of those buildings. She also told us about the peasant farmers who had farmed that land for centuries and the government bascially made them millionaires in a day by buying their land and giving them their own apartment in the new building. Their lives will never be the same! Helen's little boy is eight and he will start school in 2 days, so she brought him with her. We were excited to meet her son and it just adds such a neat dynamic to our trip to have other children with us. :) Yang Yang really likes being around other kiddos. Her son said "Hello, nice to meet you." in perfect English! He is adorable! She told us he had spent the last week or so with her sister and her sister's son - his cousin. She said they are more like brothers. :) That reminded me of Andrew playing with Joel and Jack and of course I started missing him so badly. He would have loved to have hung out with Helen's son today especially playing video games in the van. Yes, some things are the same no matter where in the world you go. lol! :) So we walked up the hill in the park and saw the famous 5 Goat Statue of GZ. It was up five flights of stairs so David ended up carring Mason in the stroller up all 5 flights. The statue was interesting but more so the legend that goes with it. The people believe that in ancient times 5 celestial beings rode down to GZ on 5 goats and in the mouths of the 5 goats where stalks of grain. They presented the people with stalks to plant with the promise that famine will never come to GZ and it will always prosper. So the people planted the stalks in the water and it was rice, of course, and that is the legend of the 5 Goats of GZ. She told it more beautifully than I did, but those are the facts more or less. :) Then we just walked around the paths of the park, stopped to buy some water and her son an ice cream, and took some photos of the beautiful plants. Lots of different varieties of hostas and shade growing plants with beautiful varigated leaves. Palm trees also and a little creek/pond that ran through the center of the park. There was also a sports stadium and several memorials to important Chinese leaders. She showed us 2 tombs of "little emperors" - which she explained where like the Emperor's cabinet members. They were from the Ming Dynasty - that was amazing to think how long ago that was...like 200 years ago! The US is just now 220 some years old. China really is a country with a long history! We also saw a bomb shelter that had been constructed for the people to run into during WW II when Japan was attacking China. And we of course saw many Chinese enjoying a day at the park too. Listening to music, walking, and sitting in the shade. We saw a large group enjoying a hacky-sack kind of game using a toy that looks sort of like a badminton birdie with chicken feathers on the end of it. One man came up to David and tried to show him how to play. :) David was amazed at the flexibility of the man. Kicking it from behind and spinning it around. Very cool! As we were leaving the park, an elderly woman came up to us and scolded us for having the baby out in the heat. She told us he was pouring with sweat (what she didn't know is that I had just poured water on a wipe and cooled him off), she told us he needed to be in the shade (we were leaving the park so we were leaving the shade), she told us we needed a visor for the stroller (the stroller was a loaner and didn't come with a visor)... I just smiled and nodded and agreed with her. I thought it was actually sweet that she cared so much about our little guy. David was slighly annoyed at a stranger telling a Mom who has had 5 children how to raise them - but really, it was cute. There was also a man outside the park selling roasted chestnuts. They smelled delicious, but Helen told us they do not eat them in the summer because it is hot food and gives you a sore throat. She told me they only eat cold food in the summer like melon, and cucumber, lots of vegetables. So since I couldn't try them, I took a photo of them instead. :) By the time we were done walking the park, David and I were ready to go back to the hotel. Walking on the Sun does that to a body. So we took a cab back, put on our swim suits and we were all excited to go swimming! Only to find out the pool closes between 12 and 2pm. Yep, right during the hottest time of day the pool is closed - mind you, there is a man whose job it is to sit there between 12 and 2pm, but not so that you can swim, nope, his job is to tell you it is closed. And not because they were cleaning the pool, or checking the chemicals or anything. It's just closed. Go figure. So we went to Plan B, well, really I guess it would be Plan C at this point since Plan A was to go to the flower park, but a water pipe burst and the taxi cab driver refused to take us there which is why we ended up at the 5 Goat Park, and Plan B was swimming, and so Plan C was the playroom in the hotel. Oh did I say playroom? I meant to say the "Children's Palace". :) Love the Chinese names for things! We were the only ones on that floor so George Mason had his pick of all the toys. He loved it! He played toss the ball with Daddy, went down the slide, played with blocks, rode a little horsey like the one at his orphanage, and was having a jolly good time until...dun, dun, dun... the attack of the rabid marled brown stuffed bunnies... dun, dun, dun! It all started when the ball was tossed into this little "egg" shaped chair that was in the playroom. Sitting in the chair we could see there was some kind of plush animal for the kids to play with, but it looked like it had real fur - like brown, marled, fur of a beaver or mink or something. Anyway, Mason was a little leery, and when the ball went in the chair, I would go get it for him or David would. Mason got some courage and started getting the ball himself but his face was just priceless. So funny! So I don't know what came over me, but I told David wouldn't it be funny if you growled when he went to get the ball. Thinking that Dave would just do a little growl like "grrrrr", but nope, he decided to do the full-on German Shepherd bark. I tell you, I've never seen a child run so fast in my life! Mason high-tailed it straight for Daddy's arms. Momma put those bunnies in time-out far away from Mason and he helped me tell them a thing or two about being nice bunnies too. hee. He kept checking on them to make sure they were staying put, and was a little concerned that Momma was too close to them too. It was too funny. I'm sure there is something wrong with us in that we found this all funny. I'm also sure that we are beyond tired and very loopy. :) Like I said, walking on the sun will do this to a person. Eventually, we did get to go swimming. And George Mason loved it! He enjoyed it so much he fell asleep in my arms in the pool. :) Then we went back to the room, took a nap, and ate dinner at The Cow & Bridge. They serve Thai food and it is very yummy. However, note to self: when a dish has 2 red peppers next to it on the menu, that means your mouth will feel like the sun! So after lots and lots and lots of hydration, we finally called it a night. We are praying Mason feels a little better tomorrow. :)

Exploring Island Life