guangzhou! LOVE!

Apologies for the late post!

We all slept in this morning (7:15 a.m -- slackers!.), no time for blogging once sweet Lucy Mei is awake! (She's napping now in a pack-n-play :)

Yesterday was a big day!

It (Saturday) marked our half-way point in this journey and our flight to Guangzhou, in the southern part of China. Guangzhou is home to the US Consulate's office where we will receive Lucy Mei's Visa and immigration paperwork. She will officially become an American citizen when we touch ground in Chicago!

Our last morning in Zhengzhou went quickly. We needed our luggage outside our door by 9:40 a.m. for our 10 a.m. departure to the airport. Breakfast went well. Lucy was loving the rice and Cheerios's and Sam skyped with us at the table! Gotta love technology! The weather was rainy and very cold. A perfect day to be heading south! :)

Our group loaded 2 buses (lots of luggage!) and we were off. Thankfully, Lucy loves the bus rides. She sits in a seat by the window (with a seatbelt, if the bus has one). I sit beside her and hold her hand. :) She stares quietly outside and just takes it all in. Can't imagine what she's thinking!

We arrived at the Zhengzhou airport with plenty of time to spare. Traveling in big groups - with our agency - ROCKS! Our guides are wonderful and everything is taken care of for us. The kids keep each other occupied (for the most part!) and the support and companionship of the other parents is priceless.

After getting through security, we found a small indoor playground. It was very apparent Lucy had never played on a playset or been down a slide. She was intrigued though. She hesitantly agreed to sit on my lap going down a circle/twisty slide and she loved it!!! Belly laugh and all!

We spent the rest of our pre-boarding time cruising around the airport with Lucy Mei on a luggage cart (just like Ben!!....free entertainment in China!!) searching direly for a Coke Zero. No such luck. 

 

(On a side note - while I'm thinking of it - we weighed Lucy before checking out of the hotel. For reference, Ben is 4 and weighs 34.5 lbs. Lucy Mei 2 1/2 and weighed 32 lbs. :) She's also very tall. She fits her size 3 clothing perfectly. Big girl!!!).

The flight to Guangzhou was about 2 hours and Lucy Mei did great! She seemed nervous at take-off and landing (had a window seat all to herself!) and looked to me for reassurance that all was OK. :) She slept on my lap the entire flight...and so did Mama. Hoping for the same on our 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago!!!

We arrived safely in Guangzhou and immediately noticed the extremely warm temperatures! Awwww. We waited forever for our luggage and then met our new Guangzhou guides, Jason and Kathy. LOVE. They are bundles of energy!!!! Extremely nice and very attentive and helpful.

We also LOVE Guangzhou. The weather is AMAZING!!!! The air is clear, people wearing shorts and flip flops (or "slippers" as our guide calls them). It's in the upper 70's with a beautiful breeze and lots of sunshine. Our hotel, the China Hotel, is a Marriott. It is outstanding. Truly, first class. Last trip we stayed on Shamian Island at the famous (in the adoption world), White Swan Hotel. The White Swan is currently closed 2 years for renovations. In addition, the US Consulate's office and the Medical Exam office are now located off the island. So, adoptive families are staying in Guangzhou city. We plan to visit the island during our visit though. The scenery and architecture are beautiful (think Greg -- photo ops).

Our group is spread out in this hotel. In Zhengzhou we occupied most of 1 floor. However, we are just 3 doors down from Warren! Marriott originally booked us 4 floors above Warren, but we were having none of that!!! We are on the 8th floor with a beautiful view. The room is gorgeous and smells great! - even has a see through window into the bathroom. I'm not a big fan...thankfully, there is an electronic screen for privacy. :)

Everyone at the hotel seems to speak English. There are a lot of Europeans, Westerners -- very international. There are playrooms inside, and outside. Also, an outdoor pool and a Starbucks and a McDonald's downstairs!! 7-eleven is right outside the hotel. The biggest plus for me, the entire hotel smells amazing!!! Even the elevators! It's a beautiful scent....no smell of smoke at all!

While we waited for our luggage to be delivered to the room, Mama relaxed with a can of TsingTao. :) It's soooo good. There's something about an old-style pull-top tab of TsingTao. Love it. Actually, I loved 2 of them! Lucy Mei and I cuddled and snacked on the bed. She's so fun, this girl!!!

We met Warren's family around 7 p.m. for dinner. We decided on a Chinese restaurant in the hotel. It was very good, but VERY expensive (although our guide indicated it was "cheap"...hmmmm). $9 for Lucy Mei's apple juice. So sad! Lucy and Warren sat in high chairs next to each other....I can't get enough of these two together!!!! Lucy sweetly shared her food with Warren. When he got messy, she would wipe his hands. They even held hands! They're killing me, these two!!! He makes her so happy. We are starting to see more of her true personality shine through, even when Warren's not around. :) A very good thing.

The dinner, well, it was hilarious. Georgette and Rusty and Aunt Betty crack us up. Soooo, Rusty wanted a dish with chicken that wasn't on the menu. The waitress was not understanding him, so he started flapping his arms like a chicken. Then, Aunt Betty started the chicken dance. I think we were all a little slap happy at this point! (I know I was a wee bit tipsy - 2 more TsingTao's with dinner!) It was a great time though. Nice to relax, laugh and enjoy a great dinner with good friends.

We all stopped at 7-eleven on the way back to the room for "treats". Greg, a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream. Me, a can of Pringles (gotta have the salt!). It was $17 total! Wowza. Children in China typically drink and eat everything hot. Greg gave Lucy Mei a tiny bit of ice cream and she made the funniest face! She liked it though....once over the initial shock. She had likely never experienced anything that cold before. It was a later night for us, all asleep by 10 p.m. As usual, Lucy Mei is a great sleeper. Never a peep. :)

Our pretty girl awoke this morning all smiles. She is definitely accepting change and new experiences much, much better now and feeling more comfortable with us every day. It's such a beautiful, heart warming thing to experience. Every moment with her is pure joy. Seriously! Even her cries. LOVE her to pieces!!!

This morning's late start had us slow going. We needed to unpack, shower, bathe Lucy Mei (Greg did again and no cries!) and skype with the kids before breakfast. Sam (at his friend Preston's house - big shout out to the Shake's!) skyped us and we learned he did great in his first basketball game of the season! So proud of him!!! We also skyped with Gramma Joy (Greg's step mom) in Chicago. Her niece, Angelina, was also there visiting. Angelina studied in Beijing and knows Chinese. She spoke a little to Lucy Mei, but got no response. Lucy just waved and said, "Hi". :) We also skyped with our next door neighbor's daughter, Lizzy, and her friend, Morgan. Lizzy is like a daughter and very close friends with Sam (same grade/school) and our kids. We tried several times skyping home to see Ellie, Jack and Ben but no answer. :) Hoping to catch them tonight (Sunday morning US). Missing them all soooooo much!!! Can't wait for them to meet Lucy Mei in person. They are going to win her over in seconds!! Oh, the hilarity's that await us! I cannot wait!!!!

We headed to the breakfast buffet around 9:45 a.m. I've never seen anything like it. It was ginormous!!! I ate my usual protein bar in the room with my Coke Zero (so sad, no getting "off schedule" for me), but Greg and Lucy Mei loved it. Lucy ate 1 1/2 bananas and a ton of rice. She also drank a lot of milk - cold! Yay!! She wasn't interested in much else today though.

Our group is taking a temple tour and shopping trip today. We took the same tour last year with Ben's adoption, so we opted to spend the day at a nearby park. It's a beautiful day here! The park was amazing!!! Lucy just soaks it all in. She saw a young couple playing badminton and could have stood there for an hour. There were boat rides, an amusement park, nature trails, kids playing everywhere.

We stopped to eat a snack and an elderly couple (grandparents?) were sitting by us with a precious 1 year old boy. They held up 4 fingers....asking if Lucy was 4. We held up 2 fingers, they were shocked, to say the least! They spread their arms like, "tall". We shook our heads, agreed.

They tried to speak to us in Chinese, so I showed them our badge which indicates, in Chinese, that Lucy Mei is being adopted by us....and states her Chinese name, Qian Geng Yun. The elderly woman read the badge and laughed. She pointed at Greg and Lucy Mei - signaling she thought they looked alike!!! She was very surprised Lucy was adopted! SOOOOO funny!!!

We decided to head back to the room for Lucy's nap, around 2 p.m, I am blogging and Greg just headed down to meet our guides to complete US Consulate physical exam and immigration paperwork.

Tonight is a group dinner night at a Portuguese restaurant, close to our hotel. Should be fun!

Tomorrow morning (Monday) is Lucy Mei's medical appointment and TB test. Not thinking she's going to be a big fan. The medical exam is a requirement for the US Consulate's office prior to issuing the Visa. All adoptive children must complete the physical and children over age 2 must have the TB test. :(

I can't believe it's 1 week tomorrow that we met our beautiful, sweet girl. She has come so far, so fast. She is such a tremendous blessing and a joy, truly a miracle. She's still warming up to Baba, but we're certain she's making progress. Baba is definitely smitten with her!!! Oh my. There's something special about Daddy's and their girls. I know it will mean the world to Greg the first time she reaches for him. Please continue to pray for Lucy's comfort and trust in both of us.

Thanks to all those helping out at home!!! We couldn't be here without the support of our family and friends. Thanks also to those following our journey and praying for Lucy Mei's transition. We appreciate all of your love and support.

As someone very special to us likes to say, "over and out". :)