Waiting in Chicago

We're back in the US! Waiting in the Chicago airport to catch our flight to Tulsa! Yipee! We have a 4hr layover here. Amy slept on most of the flight home. I've had a bad migraine since we were in Shanghi. Brent found a computer port on the airplane so he was good. :-)

Day 14: Last day in Guangzhou!

Unbelievable. I can’t believe we are coming home. No, it has not flown by, Amy is just a joy but I have missed my other babies back home every day and can’t wait to put my arms around them again.

Today we never stopped. We toured the Six Banyan Temple this morning. The temple is 1,000 years old. The six banyans aren’t there any more though.  It was very beautiful and very interesting.
When we got back we had time to each lunch and on the way back Brent and I had to stop into two separate stores so we split up for the first time. Bad idea. We could not find each other again in that mass of people and shops. Brent had both hotel keys and a watch. I had no idea what time it was or how long I had been looking for him but I knew we had to be back at the hotel soon to get to the Swearing In Ceremony at the Consulate. So I walked back to the Hotel with Amy and hoped Brent would think the same thing. We waited outside our hotel room for at least a half hour (no watch so I have no idea) and Brent finally came up. We had about 15 minutes to spare before we had to leave for the appointment.
So we went to the Consulate and swore Amy in as a US citizen. Then we went to Shaiman Island to get our laundry and to take the traditional Red Couch picture at the White Swan hotel with the other babies from our adoption agency.
After that, we met with Lucy, a girl Brent had met on his first trip here and went to dinner with her and another adoptive couple. After Dinner it was about 8pm. I still had a list of souvenirs to buy and most of the shops were closed. I didn’t get the good deals I like to hunt for, I just had to take what I could from the stores still open. It was pouring rain all evening as well. Yuck. We took a cab back to our hotel instead of walking back this time.
Now we are packing and I am finishing my last post from China. It has been amazing and wonderful. Thank you ALL for your prayers and support in helping to make this a reality. Sweet little Amy Peak is coming home and I can’t wait to introduce her to you all. We will be traveling home for the next 26+ hours. Won’t be able to post but please keep us in your prayers as we seem to hit major delays every time we get on a plane and we will have Amy this time as well.

We were in a store and someone wanted to show off their English skills so she said to Brent, "Hi King!" How did she know that is exactly what we call him at home??

This picture is a little blurry because I was laughing so hard. But it's a picture of Brent holding up some men's boxers we found for sale with the Disney Princesses on it. Don't tell him, but I went back and bought them for Father's Day.

We "skped' Karianne and Angie this morning. Amy and the girls played Peekaboo over and over again. So cute!

Cute Amy

Amy really likes to ham it up for a camera now. There's more in Flickr under "day 13".

Split pants BAD!

Day 13 Pearl River Cruise

Today was our Consulate Appointment. The date that the timing of the entire trip was scheduled around. It didn’t really involve us at all. Our guide took all our paperwork to the consulate and we had to wait in our hotel by the phone in case they had any questions. Our guide called us and congratulated us on all of Amy’s paperwork being done on the US side as well as China. We pick up our papers tomorrow and then we can go home with our girl!!!!
We finally met up with the third couple from our agency that was traveling the same time we were. We met for lunch and walked pedestrian street with them. They have a sweet but very shy daughter. Amy liked her because she shared her snack with her. 
In the evening we went on the Pearl River Dinner Cruise. The dinner wasn’t so great but the cruise was very nice.  It was all Chinese food served with chop sticks, no forks. I thought we would just go hungry tonight. I managed to feed myself and Amy rice with the chopsticks. There were some noodles but I took one bite it was very spicy. Amy ate a lot of it. It amazes me that a child that young can eat really hot spicy foods without bating an eye! My eyes were tearing up! There were other foods but I stuck with the rice. After a light dinner we went up top on the observation deck for the rest of the cruise. It was just beautiful. The buildings and roads lining the river were decked out with LED lights that were animated with color and pictures, just amazing and beautiful. One building was flashing pictures of all the Olympic mascots, another had dancing flowers on it. Another looked like psychedelic rainbows swirling around and my favorite looked like a giant tetris game.

On the way home from the cruise we saw yet another store name lost in translation, it was called, “ Polly Bless You Pharmacy”. Not sure if the ‘bless you’ refers to a sneeze or of Polly is blessing you.
Tomorrow is our last day here!!

Chicken man

This poor guy was standing out on pedestrian Street all day long. We say him in the morning after breakfast when we headed out, after lunch. And before and after dinner. He's the saddest rooster I have ever seen. He has a horn and plays it ever now and then, I think it is supposed to sound like a rooster when he blows it. I think he was advertising something but I have no idea what. There was a little vendor booth with rooster merchandise, maybe he was promoting that, but I can't think they were paying him enough to be out that long. Poor chicken man!

I always...

Don't you?