Getting ready to leave China

Our last full day in china was Wednesday, the 23rd.  It was another spectacularly beautiful day.  Two of the other adoptive families had their consulate appointments that morning so we had a leisurely breakfast and began packing and then we they were through, we went to Shamain Island.  This small island is just a bridge across from downtown Guangzhou and is full of colonial buildings and tree-lined streets built by France and the United Kingdom during the 19th century.  It reminds me of a much smaller, mud less populated tranquil New Orleans.  In the more recent past, the US Consulate was located on the island along with a large hotel where most US adoptive families stayed out of convince to the Consulate.  Now that the US Consulate has moved and the hotel is under renovation, the island's shops and restaurants have suffered and only a few are left.  We strolled the beautiful streets and saw many Chinese couples having their wedding pictures made as well as several magazine photo shoots.  We also had lunch at Lucy's, the first all-American restaurant (besides fast food) we've seen in China.  It was a really nice day.

Later we gathered with friends for dinner at Tekila's for Mexican.  (Can you tell we are just a little tired of Chinese food?)  It was the perfect way to end this memorable, magnificent trip.

This is Caroline and her precious little girl.  Caroline and I have a few mutual friends in common and had been introduced by them earlier this year when we realized we were at similar points in the adoption process.  We emailed questions and encouragement for several months, spoke on the phone several times and then got to meet in person in China.  It was so much fun and I'm so thankful for such a sweet gift! 

Our last night in China

These are our precious friends The Abells who we've been with since Chongqing.  Amy and I had known each other just a little before China but actually met in person in at the Beijing airport.  Going through this together will grow your friendship in a hurry.  We are so thankful for this family!

Thursday we woke up and zipped up our bags.  Then we headed down to breakfast..

LaLa enjoying some dragon fruit.

This is James' breakfast…congee cereal, a steamed sticky bun, and some bacon.

Also anything else I'd feed him.

Saying goodbye to our guide Milo at the airport.

The first and only time James' will use his Chinese passport.  Once we get to the States, he will be a US citizen and this passport will just be a souvenir.

"Uh, did you just say we are going to be on this flight for 13 hours?"

Getting' comfy.

My Rockstar traveler.

Mad it Seoul which has a fabulous airport complete with live concerts and

a Hello Kitty Cafe.

I never get tired of reading the translations on various products.

The tag line on this shortbread cookie, known as a Margaret, says 'We made Margaret with Mom's Love."  :)

On the way home, James' decided to start giving exaggerated kisses with a loud Mmmmmwahhhhh!

He also decided to say his first words in English (besides Mama) which were Dada, Uh-Ohhhhh, tickle, LaLa, and shoo-weee which he says like Do-Way.  It makes me laugh so hard.

So basically this kid couldn't have been any better on the looooooooooooong trip home.  He didn't cry at all in three airports, three flights, two layovers, and a long delay.  He did, however, cry and scream the ENTIRE way from Memphis to Jonesboro because he had never been in a carseat.  Since he sat in my lap the entire time we were in China, he was so mad and hurt that I strapped him in that awful contraption.  

This is our very tired family selfie at around 2:30 am.  So thankful to be home!

We assumed that after being awake for so long, we would all crash into bed.  Wrong.

James was so scared of everything in our house, he, I mean we, didn't crash until somewhere after 6.

We want to thank everyone for all their prayers during our trip!  We are so grateful to be home safe and healthy but most of all, to have James home with us!  It's no doubt that God's grace and your prayers carried us through this journey but now, the real adventure begins and we would love your continued prayers as we transition to our new normal.  Thank you!