New Year = New blog!

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WE ARE HOME!

We've been back on Texas soil for about 24 hours and I have never loved Houston or my house with pink carpet more! Here are the first images of the new sisters meeting at the airport! Cuties!







Santa visited last night...we made special arrangements with him before we left. :) More later...

Goodbye China, for now...

We will be on our way to the airport in about 17 hours. I'm glad to be going home but it is a little sad too. China has given me the two best gifts...my two beautiful daughters. And while I can moan and groan about what I miss about the USA and all the things I don't like about China, the truth is that I have benefitted from their family planning laws that seem so unfair to the families here. I can't help tonight but think about the women who gave my daughters life. Both of them are probably just a short distance from me right now and they may be wondering what has become of the babies they carried and gave birth to. I wish that I could meet these women and tell them thank you. I am so blessed by what they have had to do or chose to do. I love them both very much.

These are my two angels, gifts from God:

Lena


and Macey


I will be back in China one day. It may be just a few years from now, adopting another child. We haven't completely ruled that out. But most likely it will be when my daughters are older, to come back to the country of their birth. I want them to be so proud to be Chinese and learn to honor and love their culture and heritage. It is the one gift I can give to their birth mothers.

Goodbye China, for now...

...I'll post again when we get home!! Please pray for our safe travels.

The home stretch...

It's Friday here in China and we leave tomorrow. We're on the home stretch now!

We go to the consulate today at 3 pm to take our oath and receive Macey's visa. Then we are DONE! We have nothing else to do today but hang out.

Last night we played in a game room in the hotel with another family. They had little rides for the kids but Macey was too scared to ride them. She did play a racing video game with me but all she did was steer me into the walls! :) We came back to the room and just goofed off. Macey and daddy played with her little bracelets and she was wearing them on her ears like earrings. It was so cute! Daddy played a little keep-away with her too. He is already teasing the poor child all the time.

I brought crayons with us but never gave them to her until today. She is really liking them and playing so well with them. They are a hit!

Tonight we will have one last dinner at Lucy's Bar and Grill...they have a happy hour on Friday! Yippee! I don't drink beer so I guess I'll try one of their margaritas or some wine. We are going with several other families who are leaving tomorrow. One last get together before we go our separate ways. It has been a joy sharing this journey with them and we hope to keep in touch.

Have a good night in the USA...we are coming soon!

Macey wearing her "earrings":


I sure love this drawer!


Daddy already loves to tease me!


Loving my crayons!!

Clowning around

Today was uneventful. We walked just to the other side of Shamian Island to the local market area. We saw lots of herbs and dried "food" for sale. I put food in quotes b/c I wouldn't eat most of what we saw. There were ants, starfish, seahorses, and the like. We also saw live scorpions and snakes. I didn't bother with photos of any of that.

We just came back to the room to relax and Macey's been clowning around. I'm trying to capture her little personality in photos but she doesn't ever smile when I point the camera her way. I have to coax the smiles out of her. But I got some pretty cute ones.















This picture is for Lena. She wanted to see the crib where Macey has been sleeping. Nothing fancy!



We only have three more sleeps before we head home. It cannot come fast enough! WE MISS YOU LENABUG!

Christmas Day at Yuntai Gardens and the Guangzhou Zoo

First of all, last night we had Christmas Eve dinner at JM Chef. It was recommended by another adoptive mom and it was great! We had a boneless chicken, sweet and sour pork, green beans and rice. We also had tea and boiled peanuts. It was a great place to eat for Christmas Eve. Santa (well a Chinese man dressed as Santa) came in and greeted everyone. Macey didn't like him much, but she did like the candy he gave her. :)



Kevin was not brave enough to try the snake. They had some strange things there that you could pick out for dinner. Here are the snakes, turtles, and mud eels that were available:







This morning we went to Yuntai Gardens. Yuntai Gardens was made in 2000 to celebrate the new millenium. It is at the base of White Cloud Mountain, the only mountain in the city. What a gorgeous place to spend Christmas Day! Sorry, I have TONS of photos. They were all so beautiful I had to share them all.












































After Yuntai Gardens, we headed to the Guangzhou Zoo. My expectations were low but it was much nicer than I expected. Macey had a BALL there. The monkeys were especially cool to her. Here are a few from the zoo:















Oh and this is after we got back...Macey was worn out!



Merry Christmas from Guangzhou China! Just a few more days are we are headed home!