The local apothacary in Guanzhou...was quite interesting  ;)
They had everything from dried centepeds to dried seahorses to dried??? I'm not sure what it was, but when I asked our guide, she blushed, so I'm not even going there. And there seemed to be mile after mile of the stuff.  The last photo was some sort of dried, filleted lizards. Whew! Now most of you know that I have had a lot of success with natrual remedies, but I prefer going to Whole Foods and asking for magnesium or C Food complete with polyphenols, but this place was above my paygrade! When I looked in one day, something caught my eye...human legs!  About the size of a six year old boy hanging form the ceiling. I caught my breath just as I realized there was a whole up there with a ladder attached and there was loft, I suppose so the children could nap during the day, so Jr was just descending from a snooze...Thank goodness.

The jet lag has almost worn off and I must admit, I don't do those long flights very well. I'm not claustrophobic or anxious but Geez! on the way there  I thought, "This has to be almost over, I'm suffocationg!" When I looked at my watch, we were only 4 hours into a 16 hour flight, that's when I started to pray. Thankfully, it worked... ;)

Hannah-Yu Qian is doing very well. She is very affectionate, very polite and have I already said very strong when she hugs me? She has already learned that showing hugs and kisses shouldn't hurt and that it is important to check on Susu (my mother) several times during the day. Today, we had just come in from the grocery store, she went downstairs and ran back up spewing Cantonese so fast I couldn't understand a word (not that I could before either ). What I did understand was the word Susu and her frantic expression as she grabbed my hand and lead me downstairs. Mother had fallen and was still in the floor, but was not hurt. Little Hannah has grown to love Mother and it is such a sweet thing to watch.

The Chinese custom of respect and reverence for elders is something she has learned very well, or maybe it's just in the gene pool. But we have to be careful, the other day I stuck my tongue out at her with pure affection and guess what? It stuck with her! Now she thinks that's what we're supposed to do when we look at each other with total love in our hearts...Uh-Oh...work to do.

And I've learned a new Chinese phrase..."Gotcha Gotcha boom-de-aye" (along with some very descriptive charade gestures) means, "Cucumbers make me throw up"

So the journey goes on...

You are loved...

Gotcha Gotcha Boom De aye!!

TTFN
Ta Ta for Now (Winnie the Pooh)

  
                                             We're Home!


These pictures don't have anything to do with this post, but I thought you might like to see a couple of photos from our dinner cruise, Hannah watching a clown perform, and Madeline watching the planes take off.

After a very long travel day, actually a lot more than a day, but whose counting? I was a little concerned about Hannah meeting Susu (my mother ) for the first time.  With the language barrier there is no way to prepare her for meeting an 82 year old woman who doesn't breathe very well, may not smell very well (to her everything smells different), is surrounded by bed-gates, medicines, inhalers, a walker, she has several bruises becauses of the blood thinners...you can imagine.

Anyway... I tried to explain all of this, in my best "charade-language",  and would you believe Hannah warmed up to Mother , and before long, she was hugging her and saying, "Nite-Nite Sue-Sue"! I think my tears squirted three feet out of my tear ducts two different times! She also kissed her "boo-boos", talked a long time about the ceilng fan and many other subjects that I have no clue about and gave her another nite-nite hug before we  left her room. It was one of those moments  that only Hallmark can come up with.  :)

These are the moments that God had in mind when He said, "Go to China". We are all so thankful He did and we can't wait to see what He has in store for this little life and ours...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale....
(sorry, I just had a flash-back form the 70's! )

Love you all!!
or if you are form down here... I love y'all!!

Another great day as the sun sets in the east  ;)

Last night we had dinner at a restaurant called The Rose Garden. It is right on the river and the lights were beautiful.

Tonight we are going on a little cruise down the pearl river...the thunder in the background right now makes me a little nervous, but that's ok...I guess.

This is a picture of me and our travel co-ordinator, Emma. She is doing a fabulous job...we are always at the front of the line and paperwork is getting done at least a day ahead of schedule. Uh-oh! I downloaded the wrong picture, I meant to do the one with my eyes open ;)

Another three nights and we'll be home! We can't wait to see all of you!!!

We love you!

                                             Happy Father's Day!!

Hannah-Yu Qian continues to get closer and closer. She has opened up so much and her personality is coming through more and more every day. She hugs, holds hands and laughs with us as if she has been part of this family from the very beginning. She has mastered Solitaire on the iPad and I have to insist that she put it down every now and then, after all, we have to eat, shower and sleep   ;)  !!! She is very smart and can imitate my words with my accent Very well. Is that a good thing??
Sarah and Madeline are bonding with her really well and she loves them very much. I am so thankful that they are here with us. It is an awesome experience and I am thankful that Almighty God, creator of the universe has chosen to guide our family along this journey. It is awesome beyond words...

Firsts...

Today was a wonderful day of firsts.

The first time in the swimming pool (including the first 2 times inhaling chlorinated water!).

The first time in a gift shop (I felt like it was a china shop!)

The first time in a pink polka-dot bikini...and maybe the last...she didn't like it yesterday  :)

The first time eating in a restaurant with white cloth napkins, not a good place to be when we learn that there is actually something she doesn't like to eat   ;)

The first time tasting something that she really thought was disgusting...it was pasta with meat sauce, I knew she didn't like it, but she and the waitress had a conversation about what to order and oops! She ordered the wrong thing...BUT! She ate the broccoli and mushrooms off of everyone else's plate and
 was ok.

It wasn't the first time in a McDonald's, but it was the first time with us in a Mcdonald's.

Today all three girls were in our bed during rest time giggling and playing so I went into the adjoining room and crawled in the twin bed. In just a few minutes, Hannah-Yu Qian came and crawled in with me...love it!!!

Again, this is an awesome experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world...:)
--

God is so good!

Some Things

It's hard to believe it's already been a week since we left home. Although we have enjoyed this beautiful city and awesome food, we do look forward to sleeping in our own beds.

There are some things that the English language cannot describe:

The feeling a mother gets when her new daughter reaches for her hand for the first time.
The sound of her new daughter's belly laugh.
The beauty of her tousled hair as she sleeps...the list goes on.
It seems like she has been with us for a very long time and God knew exactly which child would fit right into this family.

She has a great appetite and she has loved everything that has been put in front of her...until last night. We were at a beautiful Italian restaurant and I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. The look at her face was priceless...Oh well. I guess I won't be cooking that when we get home. But everything else has been a big hit.

She is curious about everything and loves playing games on the computer and iPad.
She won't let a hair bow anywhere near her head.
She loves playing with the Barrel of Monkeys.
She is more organized than I ever thought about being :)

She is loved dearly and we can't wait for you all to meet her.

We'll be home soon!

Gotcha Day!



For those that have not heard Gotcha Day was a happy day! We have our daughter and sister Hannah. She made the trip from Zhanjiang and we met Monday at about 2:30 PM. A short update for now but she is soooooo sweet!! Her first words to us were "thank you" when we gave her a stuffed animal. Hannah was She also wearing a cross necklace... :)

Hannah already loves her sisters and they love her too!

What a day, a day our dream came true!

Sissy and Paul

Am I in Charleston?

We all laid down for a short nap at 2:30 yesterday afternoon an woke up at 3:00 am...we're starving and can't wait for the dining room to open. This town is beautiful...because of some invasion by the British several hundred years ago it looks just like Charleston! Old English looking buildings, 300 year old oak trees...the heat and humidity are the same too . Just a day of sightseeing and anxiously waiting for 2:30pm tomorrow for "Gotcha Day."

Hey y'all. It's an Adventure!

We just wanted to let you know that we are finally in our hotel, 38 hours of travel time later! We got to Hong Kong too late to get transportation to Guangzhou so we spent the night in the airport. We left there this morning around 7:30 with a driver who must have been related to Mario Andretti. It was supposed to take 3 hours to get here, it took 2 hours and 15, minutes and that included getting lost!

The rooms are nice with all of our western amenities and the girl's room is connected to ours.

We are going out now to get lunch and let our co-ordinator person show us around. We have seen many American families with sweet little Chinese children and it just makes my heart ache...but it won't be long now!

Please continue to pray for us and say a little prayer for Hannah as she celebrates her 12th birthday today with her friends and it may be her first actual birthday party.

We love you!!
XOXOXO!

Paul, Sissy and the girls