Friday, April 21, 2006

Last Stop...Guangzhou

Finally, we're here at the famous White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. It's almost 10 pm on April 21. I know the date, but I don't even know what day of the week it is. Ever since we left Beijing, we've been swept along by this adoption thing. Our guides have directed us along the way, thank goodness. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty to arrange things for us and to make things go as smooth as possible with the Chinese adoption authorities, provincial officials, and hotel arrangements. It will be nice to be pampered a bit here in Guangzhou. The White Swan is the nicest of all the hotels we have stayed in so far.

Today was Lily's first plane ride, and she was a trooper. She fell asleep the moment the plane lifted off the ground, and didn't wake up until after the plane landed in Guangzhou.

Prior to leaving Nanchang, we got Lily's passport. I'm not sure when the picture was taken. She is wearing the same clothes as the ones when we received her, plus her little ID tag is around her neck, so I'm assuming it was taken the same day. She has this poor little forlorn look on her face, like in the other pictures you've seen. I'll tell you what...she is not the same kid as when we first got her. She smiles often and giggles. She loves to snuggle with her dad, and is fond of Jan, too. She likes it when I hold her and rub her back as she rubs her eyes and plops her head onto my shoulder before I lay her in her crib. Her world has suddenly grown so big, and those big beautiful eyes are wide open when she's awake, taking everything in...her head moves back and forth as if she's afraid she's going to miss something.

I will try to post some more pictures before we leave for home. Here in the business center they charge extra for posting pictures, so I'm going to wait and see if I can borrow the laptop of one of our fellow travelers. I have some really cool pictures that I'd like to share with you all, too...the Great Wall, the Teng Wang Pagoda in Nanchang, and other pictures of Lily, of course.

Also, today is the first day I've been able to see the blog. I've been posting, but I haven't been able to see the finished product. Here in Guangzhou I can access it, so that means I finally have read all of your comments. Thanks so much to all of you who have posted comments. It means so much to me and Julie that you have been following along with us on our journey.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've loved following your journey; thanks for taking the time to write and put up pictures. It's so comforting to read and recognize that 10 month olds are the same the world over. All the ways you're describing Lily's activity and interaction are the same with Emy over here in Montana. Sounds like they'll be two peas in a pod come June when we celebrate their birthdays! God's continued blessings and protection; you all are not far from our thoughts.

Sandy

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