Day 11 - WOW, What a busy day..... with a great ending

It's great to be back in Guangzhou. What a difference two years make. The kindness of the people is the same (as it is everywhere in China) but the air quality is not - - It's dramatically improved from the last time we were here. You can see the blue skies and white clouds this time. The population is now over 20 million and you'll see later what the translates into during our shopping trip.

Today was a very busy day with several planned group activities. We jammed the following into 6 hours. We visited: The Chen Family Academy, The Six Banyan Temple, The Pearl Market, The Jade Store, and had lunch at a great 5 star restaurant overlooking one a park and the mountains.

Here's a few pictures from our visit to The Chen Family Academy (The center picture includes Uncle Morgan - our guide/friend from AAC Adoption Agency and Vickie and Faith Grows):

The following pictures are from the Six Banyan Temple. I love this place as it leaves you feeling very calm. While at the temple, we had a blessing for Lize - which is rare to get a blessing from a Monk when you're not a Buddhist. We did this with Sofi as well and we treat it as a way to say goodbye to their past religion and life (while we will never take away their heritage and ancestral culture and once their old enough and want to learn about it, we'll help them in any way we can including trips back to China) and moving forward to a future of promise, hope and faith.






Then we were off to lunch (Good thing I didn't have any of those "CRAZY" shorts on I don't think they would have let me in - by the way, I love the comments about them). Here's some pictures of us and the location ....what a great view - Thanks Morgan!

After lunch, we were off to do some shopping. We purchased some pearls for the girls. You get a chance to see what a not so busy street looks like on a Sunday afternoon at the mall entrance (those of you who know Dawn well know how excited she was with the small crowd)....

We got back to the island we're staying on and then went shopping for Lize's squeaky shoes. Once we got them on, she was so excited. She was running and walking all over the place just to hear the "squeak" - she especially loved the hallways in the hotel. Here's a couple of pictures:

Our day ended with a dinner with Judy. As you may recall, (for those who followed our journey to Sofi two years ago) Judy was our coordinator during Sofi's adoption who became our friend. She and her son met us for dinner on the island at one of Judy's favorite restaurants.

A funny thing happened during dinner. Lize began saying a couple of phrases that she's been saying quite often and Judy busted out laughing. When we asked what was so funny, she told us that Lize was saying, " It's mine! and I want it!" Judy was impressed with how smart she was for only being two.

Another funny thing happened on our walk back to the hotel after dinner. Judy's son touched Lize's hair and Lize whipped head around and said, " Don't touch my hair". Judy again busted out laughing and once she interpreted what Lize had said in Chinese, we did the same. What's really funny about this is that Lize tells Dawn this every time she tries to put her "pretties" in her hair. (we thought she was just using Chinese baby talk.....what do we know?)

Here's a picture of us before going to dinner:

Day 10 - We finally arrive in Guangzhou

Today, was our travel day to Guangzhou, China. Lize had her first flight ever and traveled well. I must admit that it felt great to be back to somewhere familiar. After settling in at our hotel, it was off to a dinner at Lucy's. We met some more AAC families and other adoptive parents. Here's some pictures from today's travel. The first is a groups picture before departing for Guangzhou and the rest are from the day's travel:

Overall, it was a good day and with it's close we get one day closer to coming home. Let the countdown begin.

Day 9 - A Park, A Temple, A Celebration

Today was a "group day" of activities. We started our day visiting Qian Ling Park, located within the city. It was unlike any city park I've ever been to. Even though it was very crowded, it was a very peaceful place. It spread over several acres and was surrounded by mountains. At the top of one the mountains sat a "huge" temple full of historical treasures. One of the main attractions (beyond the beauty itself) at the park were the native monkeys. I was told that over 700 of them live within the mountains of the park.

I provided several people laughter as I was walking down from the top of the mountain and had one of the monkeys within inches from my side. I didn't notice it right away and when I did, I jumped from being startled and thus the people around me found it humorous. Beyond that, there were several women exercising, people singing, families just being together enjoying the day. Here are some pictures from the park:

After the park we were off to downtown for a group lunch. Before the lunch we stopped at a temple near downtown. On the walkway to the temple, the backdrop of the "old" city contrasted by the "new". Here's a few pictures from that part of the day:

How about that beautiful little girl? Lize is truly amazing. She's like a little sponge and full of life. We sure do miss Zach, Will and Sofia and can't wait for them to meet Lize.

Our day ended by having a "birthday party" for the four girls. As all of them have celebrated their birthday's without us, it was decided to have a celebration for them. It was cake and fun for all (thank you David for the cake).

Tomorrow will be a travel day to Guangzhou.

Day 8 - Free day , Group Dinner

Today was a "free day" to do whatever we wanted. The rain limited what we could do so we ended up going back to Walmart and spending most of the day in the hotel, which turned out to be a great. It gave us uninterupted time with Lize and she is simply incredible. She's like a flying squirrel in our room, full of energy and talks non stop. She has many facial expressions all worth a million dollars each. We really miss the kids but knowing their in the hands of great family and friends makes the distance and time seem a little shorter.

Here's a picture of Lize in our hotel room. She was using her crayons to write and draw pictures.

Here's a picture of Lize on our trip back to Walmart. We took some time to see the "rare" live items they sell which included octopus, squid, frogs and many varities of fish.

We had a group dinner at a very nice authentic Hong restaurant. The restaurant is ran by Hong people and after dinner there was entertainment. The Hong people have no written language and must learn it by listening to the adults as children. Here are a few pictures of the restaurant, the group at dinner (including a dance and shots of rice wine for all) and the Hong people who entertained us.

After dinner it was back to our hotel for a little rest before our planned activities for tomorrow. Here's a picture of our hotel at night:

Day 7 - Visit to the orphange....

Today, we visited Lize's orphanage which was about a 2 1/2 hour bus (through the mountain side -and fog) ride from our hotel. Although she was living with a foster family, she did spend a limited amount of time at the orphanage. When we arrived, the older kids were calling out her name and running up to her. It was easy to see Lize recognized the children as well but wanted to be close to her mommy.

As requested, we will not post any specific pictures of her orphanage . I am posting some pictures from the hotel lobby as we were waiting to get on our bus and then some pictures of the country side there, local streets, a photo of Lize's daytime foster caregiver, and one of the most famous locations in recent Chinese history - the birthplace of the People Republic of China:

As we visited Lize's orphanage as well as the other girls', you were able to see the accommodations provided for the children. With that being said, the caregivers are doing the best with what tools they have available. Although Lize didn't seem to mind being with the kids, it was very apparent that she was also happy to be leaving. I believe this visit helped her to realize that we weren't going anywhere and that we are in fact her mommy and daddy.

I can't help to think about something I heard some time ago, " Our past is a part of who we are but does not dictate what we will become". This is so true of Lize and the other children who were adopted. It's amazing how God works to bring things together that we can only imagine.

Day 6 - A step back in time....

Today was a step back in time for the group as we took a group tour of an ancient Chinese city. The city (which I will not dishonor with trying to type or pronounce properly) is over 600 years old and was once a military post for over 30,000 troops and families. It was located approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours away from our hotel, in a very rural location within the mountains that surround the local area. We discovered that Lize rides MUCH BETTER than Sofi does as she was able to entertain herself and play with us to make the trip better for her, us and everyone on the bus.

The ancient city was spectacular. It's location and heritage was truly amazing (even Dawn enjoyed the trip to this historic site). Lize was quite the trooper as this was an all day affair and someone (like me) could take days to see all the ins and outs of this place. Here are several pictures I hope everyone enjoys:

Here's Dawn and Lize on our way to the ancient city.

The picture below (to the left) is the setting for the area surrounding the ancient city; to the right - is a picture of our group at one of the entry gates to the city:

The following photos are from within the city. Walking throughout this old city, you get an appreciation for the "old world" culture that China has to offer. We had lunch at a great restaurant within the city and did some more exploring. Everywhere we go, we get people who come up to us to look at Lize and then us and in their own way express a quiet thanks and /or express how beautiful Lize is: