traveling to Guangzhou (Day 6 with Ty) & Touring in Guangzhou

What a loooooong day yesterday was! 

 The kids are all packed up and ready to head downstairs for our van. LH is tickling SOC to get him to smile just as we do. Funny girl. They LOVE their backpacks!

Our morning went well as usual but by 10 am we were downstairs with all of our luggage and our two kiddos to head to the airport. Our last week awaited us in another city. So off we went. Our ride to the airport was quick and we were two hours early to our flight...good and bad. Two hours of waiting with two little ones in an airport is, well, you fill in the blank, and at lunch time to boot. Our plane was due to leave at 1:05 pm. It's a four hour flight from Shenyang, Liaoning to Guangzhou, Guangdong. We were leaving the extremely polluted air in a city of 10 million people to go to a city with some haze and 17 million people.

Anyhow after making quite a spectacle of ourselves at the airport (this includes stares from every.single.person that passes us, the cleaning lady at the restroom calling over two other cleaning ladies to come view the children in the stroller while daddy-O waited for me, people literally stopping in their tracks...) we made it onto the plane. One of the cutest things was when were looking for our counter with our guide before heading to the boarding gate daddy-O and our guide got ahead of me and the kids a bit. Ty called out to him,"DaDa!" Awesome!

Getting onto the plane was crazy crowded! Not normal crowded where people file onto the plane, find their seat and sit quietly until the plane is full. No. Like people moving like ants at a picnic, rushing, squeezing in small spaces, going way too far into the plane (like to row 15) and having to come back to row 5. What? Who does that. They don't seem to mind that you have a tiny 2 year old walking down the isle. Anyhow, we made it into our seats. I set LH down...then it was daddy's turn to set Ty down and get into his seat. Shoot, bad move! SCREAMS, ear-piercing, not quite as bad but not great for a crowded airplane. Poor guy. There was SO MUCH happening at one time. Too much for him. Daddy quickly took off his backpack and picked up his new son. Safe in his arms, Ty settled rather quickly considering. Ty became a lap-seat. Oh well. He didn't move from daddy's lap for FOUR HOURS!

Our "darling" two-year old, who was over tired and sitting next to the window, was restless for the first two hours. She just couldn't settle. After about an hour Ty woke up and after two hours LH finally fell asleep. They traded off sleeping but at least they both slept some.

We were not looking forward to disembarking because we had to give our stroller to go under the plane. They assured us that it would be at baggage claim. Oh great, thanks! That means we had to carry these two all the way to baggage claim! Ahh! Oh well, here we go! Put those arm muscles to work.

We were greeted by our next guide after getting our bags. We were so happy to see our guide from last year. A friendly face, not a staring face. Although they mean well and are very sweet I was kind of getting tired of the stares.

We finally back to our room at 7pm. Whew, what a day! We figured this was our warm-up for the even longer travels home in a week.

I thought this was so cute last year. It was in our room. They are prepared.

This morning, while in the lobby waiting for our group, one of the guides mentioned to me that it seemed like Ty had been with us over a year. Wow! She sees a lot of families pass through this city on their way back to the states. That was awesome to hear!

Touring today. It was so nice to get out and about with the other families. This hotel definitely has the best breakfast buffet as it hosts people from all over the world.

Some of you may remember the picture of the 6 of us last year on these stairs. I was so happy to come across them again on our tour.

 He actually wanted to get down out of the carrier. So cool.

More progress! It was minion shirt day. ;)

For some reason LH really wanted to touch these elephants.

She kept saying,"Two e-fants, two e-fants."

It's not that often that our boy stands tall on his longer leg. I was able to get this shot so you guys can see just how big the discrepancy is. Inches. When he is on his short leg these two are about the same height but on his longer leg he is much taller!

Pretty soon little man you will be "standing tall" all of the time.

One of the things I am looking forward to the most is the first time he stands up straight and walks. Get the tissue!

  I love this picture of us! He just sparkles!

 Tickles with mom.

More fun with dad while we wait. Look at him fly.

He is getting more and more comfortable with each day! Daddy asks,"More?" His response,"Mo!"

He was wanting down again. So cool!

  A visit to the grocery for snacks, diapers and wipes. Ummm, did you want some meat?

While we waited on the bus for the other families these two sat across the isle from us with snacks and their water cups. More growth!

Coloring and stickers in the room while we waited for dad to fix our noodles. We have opted for Cup-o-Noodles and snacks most lunches because it's cheap and fast so we can get them down for a nap. This is the first day that he has colored and the first day that when I said,"It's nap time" he went right to his bed and laid down. LH was harder to get down today. He handed his sister her cup and backpack, rolled up in his blanket, with us backpack, started sucking his thumb and fell right to sleep. More growth! Every other day he has napped on our bed after playing quietly for 20 minutes.

This week we have the following to look forward to:

--medical exam (just a blood draw, no shots)
--visa paperwork
--consulate appointment
--river cruise
--touring Guangzhou
--two restaurants that we like in this city

That's all for now. :)

We're home: One month!

I can't believe that we have had Lightening Hope in our life for a whole month, and yet it is weird to see the video and pictures from Gotcha Day. That day seems like ages ago! Time is weird that way.

Thank you all for respecting our request to keep your distance. She is doing so well and continues to sleep better each night. Tonight she went to bed in her crib at 8pm. AMAZING! not even a peep. It is sinking in that we will come for her in the morning and she can rest her body, mind and heart. Praise the Lord! I was preparing for a year of restless nights. (Not like there won't be more like before but the "every night waking every 45 minutes to 2 hours is hard on us and her!)

My back is a little better everyday! Thank you all for your prayers and help!

Here is a picture from our first day with her and one from a month later.

We had our first visit from our social worker today. We just love her and were excited to introduce baby girl to her! It has been about 4 years since we started with her and the adoption process. The last 20 months have been in China portion. China requires 6 visits by our social worker over 5 years. She writes reports and sends them to our agency who forwards them to China.

(They go as follows: after coming home...1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 5 years)

Here are some pictures from our last week!

We received the Show Hope grant, as I have mentioned before. Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth Chapman came to town to do a Show Hope concert and fundraising event last Friday. We were honored to share our story with their team at a lunch and later that evening at the concert. We are so thankful for their ministry and in helping us bring home this girl!

 (The evening concert)

 After we received the grant our kids starting adding their "GIVE" money to this envelope. They presented it to the Chapmans that evening. They were so gracious and said that they would let us know which grant-family it went towards.

Amazing!

It's so fun to walk every step of this with our kiddos!

After the concert with some friends!

As many of you also know I threw out my back the night before the concert...bad timing! We had some sweet helpers this week come over! Thanks guys!

 A visit from Jason and Molly!

 One of the quirks about our girl is that she gets hot and sweaty really easily.

This is her hair after a bunch of playing and sweating ;)

 She sure loves her daddy! and she loves to go up-side-down!

She also doesn't want to be left out when it's time for playing piano.

School has been rough this week. Lots of transitioning here with schooling our big kids at home while having a super fun and super cute baby in the midst. :/  and to boot my back was bad ALL week. (Painful all day!) Let's just say it was not my best homeschooling week. But we survived.

 When she doesn't want to be put down she lets you know by her leg-death-grip. Funny girl!

After seeing me ice my back all week baby girl thought she would give it a try.

Very sympathetic girl :)

More school with a baby crawling on them, sitting on them, turing their pages for them...

She's such a doll!

Lots of new things to try with our littlest. On this night we busted out the old trike that was Fashion Faith's first trike (now almost 10 years old, yikes!) and Lightening Hope LOVED it! Before we knew it she was pursing her little self in and out of the garage forward and backward. 

We also got out C-dub's first helmet.

Baby girls loves to brush her teeth. She must have done this at her foster center cause she knows just what to do.

A tired day during stations...

Molly came to help last Thursday! AMAZING!

Swept, mopped, cooked, played, "mathed" ;), payed attention to...

This morning the girls made me breakfast. So sweet!

This afternoon after our social worker left we had a visit from some family. (My Aunt Ann and cousin Joan from down south and my Aunt Kathy.)

So great to see them and introduce them to our girl!

This ice cream truck man always comes by late and drives pretty fast. Even if I did want to let the kids get ice cream he is always gone before we would be able to catch him. With the weather cooling off so nicely we had the windows open in the house tonight and I heard him coming around the block. Anyhow, I always say, "No." Tonight it was a "YES!" Gotta throw in some fun here and there right?