Farewell to Guangzhou

As long as these last two weeks have been away from our boys, it's also hard to believe that it's already time to go home. On our last day here, it was cold and rainy, so we had to get creative about burning some energy.;) So we spent much time going up and down the escalators

 And up and down and up and down the stairs!

We also had fun rolling the stroller around the room. Amanda had rides, her dolly had rides, and most interestingly, she had a blast giving rides to all of her cars! I think she's going to fit right in with her brothers!

Jack took us for a delicious farewell and good luck dim sum lunch - it was wonderful! We've been so blessed to have him as a guide through the adoption process, as a tour guide to show us the beauty of Guangzhou, and as a friend with whom we've had a fantastic vacation. 

It's been a really emotional day for me. While on one hand I'm thrilled that we'll finally be getting back home to our Austin and Jackson and having our whole family of 5 together at last, I'm also going to miss so many things about being here in China. I'll miss this fantastic hotel, with the amazing daily breakfast buffet, beautiful and comfortable suite (which was soooo worth the splurge, especially since we were here two weeks!), endless escalators and stairs to burn off Amanda's energy (!), and daily maid service (not gonna lie, I've thoroughly enjoyed having someone else make the bed!). I'll miss walking the streets of this city, with the smells of wonderful food from so many vendors and restaurants, the lights and bustle at night, and the friendliness of the people. I'll miss the beautiful parks, with their constant activity of roller-blading, hacky sack, badminton, card and chess games. But most of all, I'll miss being immersed in the culture of our little girl. A part of me is sad that we'll be taking her from the comforts of her language, food, and people. But I also take comfort in knowing that it's God's own plan to put her into our family, and I know that He has great things in store for her. 

So, it's on that note that I'm saying farewell to (and from!) Guangzhou. We head out for our 30-hour journey home at 6:30 am tomorrow. Please pray for a safe, smooth and uneventful trip - see you in the US!

We're Learning!

Today's activities started with our US Consulate appointment where we did a quick oath-taking ceremony and submitted some paperwork to apply for Amanda's US visa. Jack then showed us around the newest area of Guangzhou, which has really exploded just in the last 10 years.

It's fascinating to see how well the economy is doing here, as evidenced by so much growth in this area. And construction is continuing - lots of buildings are still going up, and they're also putting in a Mall of the World under this area you see here. We wished we could have strolled around more, but it was cold today (about 45 degrees this morning, which is about as cold as it gets here!)

I think we're learning as much from Amanda as she is from us. We've figured out some basic Chinese baby talk from her ;) like if you add "la" to the end of someone or something, it means "where is" to her. So if she says to me "BahBah la?", it means "where's Daddy?" - it's really come in handy! And we've discovered if we ask the same to her (i.e. "go-go la?" for "where's the doggie?" or "chi chuhr la?" for "where's the car?"), it's a surefire way to get her to point for us, which is also a fantastic distraction or redirection! We're learning new tricks like this every day. And she's learning too. This evening we had a breakthrough in her using her words. We've done a lot of walking around this city, either carrying her or holding her hand. One of our biggest struggles have been when she squirms and whines in our arms to get down, or when we're holding her hand she just sits down (doesn't matter where - she just sits whenever she's decided she's done walking). After several stand-offs like this today,

by the end of tonight we finally got her saying "down please" and "up please"! What a relief - I think everyone was about done with all of the charades! 

Amanda is soooo very smart, so she's been picking up things really quickly. Today her favorite new English word to say was "Hello!" - really loudly and over and over again. ;) As we were walking toward our elevators to go up to our room tonight, with a huge smile she brightly shouted "Hello!" to a woman walking by us. The woman returned the smile with an equally cheerful "Hello!" back - and we all completely died laughing because her timing couldn't have been more perfect! So, after lots of learning for all of us, we definitely ended the day on a great note! One more day here and we're headed home - and we will all be thrown into an entirely new learning curve!

Free time!

As a run-down of our day today, we went back to the Liu Hua park during the morning - letting Amanda do lots more stair-climbing and dog-watching. We probably walked about four or so miles, got some noodles to go on the way back ($4 to feed us both from our favorite noodle shop!), and then put Amanda down for her nap. This afternoon we did more walking and sight-seeing with Jack, soaking up some Guangzhou history. It's called the Goat City based on an old legend about fairies bringing rice to the city long ago while riding on goats. The fairies left, but the goats stayed. ;) This statue of the Five Goats was made about 50 years ago and is very famous - you see it on billboards and signs all over the city.

We saw the Chen Family Memorial, with all its beautiful carvings, and even had some amazing traditional Chinese tea. Jack asked that we could try some very special tea. The woman served us the most amazing tea I've ever had. Jack called it Monkey Oolong tea, named for the fact that the tea leaves grow high up on the side of a mountain and can only be accessed by monkeys. Not only that, it's so rare that no shops really even sell it (including hers). It had such incredible flavor! Amanda even got to have some of her own tea (which she loved!) - a pot of cooled-off jasmine tea.

Our final sightseeing stop for the day was Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Memorial Hall. He's from Guangzhou and very revered for being the "Father of the Nation" and was a unifying figure for China. Dinner followed with a delicious meal of noodles, dumplings, spicy beef, garlic green beans, and Chinese pancakes. A great end to another busy day!

We've really settled into quite a routine here. Jason starts his day with a run (while Amanda and I sleep!), everyone gets dressed, Skype with family, head down to the breakfast buffet and then out to appointments or sightseeing in the morning. Grab some lunch, back to the room to let Amanda nap (and sometimes we nap too!), and then an afternoon full of more walking around and sightseeing. It's beginning to feel less like we're parents trying to bond with our adopted child, and far more like we're just a family having a vacation. Amanda's adjusting so well to us that I'm already starting to forget that there was ever a time we were without her. God has been so good to us.

One Child

We've been doing as much exploring as we can while we're here, soaking in all the culture and traditions we can! This morning we headed back over to Shamian Island to get Amanda's TB test site checked (all clear!) and then shopping for me while BahBah and Amanda hit the playground - everyone was very happy! ;) We stopped by the White Swan Hotel before we left, which is where all adoptive families used to stay before they began renovations a few months ago. They have these beautiful red velvet couches in one of the lounge areas and it's been a long practiced tradition to take a picture of the adoptive child on the couch as a sign of good luck. So, after a lot of arguing about her itchy dress, we finally coaxed a quick smile out of Amanda - hopefully enough to bring us all the luck we need! ;)

The afternoons have held many adventures for us as we've been venturing out about as far as our legs will carry us in the areas surrounding our hotel. Yesterday we discovered a beautiful quiet area near the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School. It was the perfect place to let Amanda run around and explore at her pace. The school is apparently an excellent private school, and the houses surrounding it are huge, single family, European-style houses where the rich and famous live!

This afternoon we found Luhu Park, which was HOPPING with activity. People were playing badminton, hacky sack, roller-blading, bike riding, and taking in the beautiful scenery.

 We've also discovered some of Amanda's most favorite things to do - go up and down (and up and down and up and down...) stairs

and spot dogs! She's obsessed with "go go's" (doggies) and must point to them anywhere and everywhere we go. The only problem is that she isn't at all comfortable with them anywhere near her. :) I think our dog, Meg, will be both her wildest dream and worst nightmare coming true!

So as we walk around this city, we're also struck by the fact that every family, every mother, and every father we ever see only has one child. We've asked our guide, and now friend, Jack, many questions about the one-child policy. The people of China don't like it at all, and the wealthiest have found ways around it (like going to Hong Kong to have an additional child). However, the vast majority of people have realized there's really no choice but to accept it. Not only that, but the law is so heavily enforced that neighbors, co-workers, and even friends will report a woman who gets pregnant with a second child. If a woman is working and gets caught by the government being pregnant with child #2, she gets fined, loses her job, and the entire company will lose their benefits for an entire year. So, in an effort to avoid this, companies require that all women have an ultrasound every three months to be sure they're not pregnant with a second child. Jack's wife works for a bank and must also adhere to this policy and has had ultrasounds through her work every 3 months since their 11-year-old daughter was born. Although the policy may have curbed the population growth in the last thirty years, the government is also beginning to realize the strain it's putting on the younger generations in taking care of their elder relatives. The policy will likely change in the future, but for now it still stands.

So, as we walk around this city of nearly 13 million people and I see so many parents with just one child, I think about our sweet daughter and wonder about her mother's circumstances. Was this her first child? Was it her second? Was it the heart condition or poverty or bureaucracy that caused her to give her daughter up for adoption? These are questions for which I'll never know the answers. So instead, I'll accept knowing that God placed her in our family for HIS perfect reasons.