Farewell to China

We headed home today. It is bittersweet to leave China. We are leaving our daughter's first home and the wonderful country we have grown to love. We are also leaving our new family. We have quickly grown to love our travel group and guide. These are the people who totally get what we are talking about when we refer to gotcha day, the grieving our daughter has gone through, all the details of our trip, and our spicy girls. But we are glad to be heading home. Back to our normal routine and a soft bed. Back to friends and family. Being able to order a drink with ice in it. All the little things we missed while being gone.

It is funny how we will be leaving for the airport at 6:20 a.m., January 30th, and will arrive home after traveling for 30 hours at 10:30 p.m., January 30th. I think we will be feeling this trip for a few days!

The pictures above show the three girls at the airport in Guangzhou, Theaux heading to Beijing while Madelyn and Lydia head to Shanghai. It was sad for the girls to say goodbye!! Next is my friend Janine and her adorable daughter Annabelle along with Raegan and me in the Shanghai airport. Janine's mother knitted the girls matching socks for the trip and we had to get pictures with the girls wearing them. Of course the girls look super cute in them!! Grandma Faye met us at the airport in Wichita and we got a quick picture of her with Raegan. She was so excited to finally get her hands on her new granddaughter! And finally, Raegan at home in her new bouncing seat. She loves sitting in it and watching Marshall and Madelyn.

Misc. Pictures

Here are a few misc. photos.

There were quite a few brides and grooms getting their picture taken on Shamian Island in Guangzhou while we were there. We were told once a couple is engaged they get a formal portrait done. They might not actually get married for months to come but the portrait is the first step. Madelyn and her friend Theaux were asked to take their picture with the couple.

We didn't see the sun much while in China. This is one of the times it tried to peak through the smog but didn't quite succeed.

We got pictures on the Red Couch with our Pingjiang girls that were roommates. In the first picture I think Raegan and Eliza were trying to decide how long this was going to take. And the second is of the four girls - aren't they all just beautiful. They include Annabelle, Raegan, Eliza, and Keira. What a fun foursome they must have been while rooming together!

Finally, Madelyn and Raegan crashed out after a long day.

Local Market and Visa Received

Today we walked to a local market. It was amazing what they had to sell. And also amazing what they actually eat, or at least for this meat and potatoes midwesterner! Marshall thought everything was really cool and of course Madelyn was grossed out. Some of the most interesting finds included dried black ant that you use in soup (of course!), live scorpions, dried seahorse, dried star fish, snakes and then some more snakes (these were alive - yuck), fish, chickens, turtles, and about everything else imaginable. There were a lot of dried roots and dried flowers which they added to soups or teas. Madelyn wasn't too happy about walking by the booths where they were hacking up the chicken and fish - of course I wasn't either! It was very interesting though and we enjoyed it.

This afternoon our guide picked up all the Visas for the babies. It was great to finally have this last piece of paper. We can now bring Raegan into the United States.

We spent quite a bit of time packing today. Shawn was afraid we wouldn't get everything into the suitcases. Yes, we did purchase a few things while here! But I assured him they would all fit and I was right. We didn't even have to sit on the suitcases to zip them!!

We had one last dinner with our friends (Andy, Cindy, and their beautiful daughter Nicole) at Lucy's Restaurant and it was off to bed.

Buddhist Temple and Pearl Market

Today we headed to a Buddhist Temple and the Pearl Market. The temple had some amazing architecture. It was one of the more popular temples in Guangzhou and housed about 100 monks. After a quick tour of the temple we headed to the pearl market. It was a 5 story shopping center that had not only pearls but every other stone and gem imaginable. We were only able to stay about an hour and a half but could definitely spent the whole day going through the different stores. It was amazing to see all the different colored stones and gems in the store windows. Our guide took us to a pearl store that had high quality pearls. They had strings of pearls that you could have made into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, or anything else you could imagine. We ended up getting a pearl bracelet and 3 sets of earrings. In the picture above you can see Marshall standing next to bags and bags of pearls set on the floor.

Visa Paperwork and Taking Our Oath

Our guide, Veronica, took our Visa paperwork to the American Consulate in Guangzhou this morning. We had to wait in our hotel room until she called to let us know everything was okay with our paperwork. She told us at that time we would be going to the consulate today instead of tomorrow for our oath ceremony. Something had come up at the consulate on the 28th so they had to add the group of families suppose to take the oath tomorrow with the group scheduled for today. We ended up having 60 families at the American Consulate for the oath. It only took about 30 minutes. We had to wait for our name to be called then show the consulate worker Raegan to make sure she matched all our paperwork. Then after all the families had been called we had to take an oath stating all the paperwork we had filled out was correct and true. And that was it. We were done with the American Consulate other than waiting for Raegan's Visa to be ready on the 29th. We couldn't take any pictures at the consulate so I'll just post some of Raegan instead - I'm sure everyone will be okay with that!

Yuntai Park

Today we visited Yuntai Park. It was an amazing park in the middle of Guangzhou. The landscaping was incredible! They had a wonderful main water area that had fountains. The kids really enjoyed running around the park. Shawn was approached by a Chinese man who wondered about Raegan. They soon were in an in depth conversation surrounded by about 15 people. The man could speak pretty good English so he would ask Shawn questions then interpret for the rest of the group. The people in China have been so kind to us. They are caring and interested in what we are doing. If anyone ever gets the chance we would recommend visiting this amazing country.

Some of Our Favorite Photos

Marshall has already taught Raegan her first bad habit - sticking out her tongue at people. He thinks it is hilarious! Raegan taking her first bath. She loves the water! And last but not least - the most beautiful three hands we have ever seen!!!!

Medical Exam and Visa Photo

Today we got Raegan's visa photo taken. After that we walked to a medical clinic here on the island and had her examination done. It was basically three different rooms she had to go to - ENT, Height/Weight/Temp, and General Exam. She did great until we had to take her clothes off for the general exam. She decided she really didn't like that but just fussed a little. In the afternoon we had the babies picture on the Red Couch. It is tradition for the adoptive parents to take pictures of their babies on a red couch in the White Swan. Our guide arranged for a professional photographer to come by and take the picture. We also got a group picture with our entire group in it. Later we went to the Carrefour store which is basically a French Walmart. We got some more formula and some snacks. This evening we went to a Thai restaurant. It was really good food and we enjoyed it. Marshall actually shared pigeon with one of the other dads and loved it.

Chen Family Temple

Today we visited the Chen Family Temple. It is not actually a religious temple but rather a park that the Chen family in Guangzhou build for their family to enjoy in the 1890's. I attached some pictures taken in the lobby of our hotel. It has an amazing waterfall that the kids love to watch, especially Raegan. Also, there is a picture taken of our lunch at a dim sum restaurant. This was us and two other families. We can usually get about 3-4 families at each table and the food is served on a large lazy susan. We all share the dishes. Our guide orders our food at any of the group meals as we wouldn't be able to read the menus.

Flight to Guangzhou

Today we left Changsha and flew to Guangzhou. The flight was very bumpy and we were all glad it only lasted about an hour. Raegan, Marshall and Madelyn did great on the flight - better than their parents!! We made it to our hote, The White Swan. Our guide took us on a tour of the island. Our hotel is actually on an island in the middle of the Pearl River. The view from our room is amazing. We actually look out on the river and can see boats going by at all times of the day and night. We ate at Lucy's Restaurant. It is a restaurant by the hotel that serves American food - or at least what they think is American food. It was actully not that good. I think we have been spoiled by all the incredible Chinese food we have eaten.

Hunan Embroidery Museum of China

Today we visited the Hunan Embroidery Museum of China. Hunan province is one of the four provinces in China that does embroidery. Hunan province is famous for two sided embroidery. That is basically embroidery where they have a picture on one side and a different picture on the other side. After looking at all the incredible embroidery we were able to tour the workshop and see the women actually embroidering.

Hunan Provincial Museum

Today we went to the Hunan Provincial Museum. The museum houses a 2,100 year old mummy and artifacts that were found in her tomb. It was very interesting and the children enjoyed the museum quite a bit. Our guide is just wonderful and took us around the entire museum. She is very knowlegable and always shares Chinese customs and beliefs with us. It is always a learning experience when she tells us about China. She is from Beijing but has traveled with us the entire trip. She says she does about 3-4 tours a year and the rest of the year is able to stay at home and not work. She is married but doesn't have any children yet. She has been such an amazing help on this trip. Madelyn has enjoyed swimming at the hotel in the evening. She bugs Shawn all day long until he finally takes her down to the pool. She swam for almost three hours this evening!

Walmart in Changsha

Today we headed out to Walmart in Changsha, and what a Walmart it was. It was three stories and full of everything. We are going to keep Raegan on the formula she was on in the orphanage so we had to get more of that. They gave us a bag when we got her on Monday but we are going through it pretty fast. The kids loved looking at all the different products. We got a children's music CD and a couple DVD's of the most popular children's cartoon in China. For us the most interesting part was the food section. Definitely not our typical food selections!! Waiting for the bus the children were definitely the center of attention for the Chinese people passing by. One girl wanted her picture with Marshall and Madelyn, and ended up picking up Madelyn. I think Madelyn was almost as big as the girl! Everywhere we go people are very interested in this group of Americans with their children. In China it is not considered rude to stare so we have quickly gotten use to people watching us very openly. We have not had any of the "clothing police" stop us yet but several of our friends have. The older women have let them know their baby wasn't covered up enough. We have had to take extra care to cover Raegan up completely, especially her legs and feet. Our guide told us that the Chinese people consider the feet to be very important because of all the nerve endings in them. They think you should always keep your feet warm.