Day 13/14... Really I lost count...

Don't get me wrong, I have really loved my time here in China with my sweet Ellie, but I'm ready to go home! I'm so ready to see my other babies, and wrap my arms around my wonderful husband. I can't wait for Ellie to meet the rest of her family!

Today was a big day! Ellie had her US consulate appointment in the morning. This appointment was for her to obtain her immigrant visa. And once she lands on US soil she will become a US citizen! I had to take an oath this morning on her behalf. It was a really special moment.

Since it was a special day, Ellie wore her new dress that Aunt Jennifer had given her. We both loved it!!

After our appointment, I thought Ellie might enjoy the pool. She absolutely loves her bath, and "swims" in the tub. So we put on out bathing suits and heading to the pool...

"Mom, there is no way I'm getting in that pool!"

But....as soon as got there, she was not impressed. There was a man swimming laps in the pool, and she became frightened. There was no changing her mind....so we moved onto other things......

After our nap, we headed out for one last dinner with our travel buddies, Susan and Jake.

Look, they want us to eat THAT!

They LOVE their noodles!!

 

We feel so blessed to have shared this wonderful trip with these amazing friends! We will have so many wonderful memories of this special time in our lives.

For a final treat.....they giggled over their first Starbucks drinks!

 

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Day 12: My Chinese Princess

To start our day off this morning, my princess and I slept in....it was wonderful! Then we headed to the Pearl Market with our guide, and a few friends. It was great! It was located inside a very large mall. And I was so thankful to have Jocelyn, our guide to help. It was quite overwhelming.

Inside the store were bags, and bags of pearls!

It was so much fun picking out gifts! I won't list the treasures I found here, just in case somebody is reading it this....yes, Clare, I'm talking about you! I LOVE surprises!

All I'm going to say is that Ellie was tickled pink (like the pink pearls).....with our shopping adventure!

Chip came along with us to the mall.....can you find him hiding in the candy store?

By the way.....this candy store smelled like fish!!!

This afternoon we met as a group to take our family and group pictures. Most of the children wore their traditional outfits.....so cute!

 

Then we wanted to get one of just the kids.....boy was this a loud picture!

I love all of their expressions!

And here is Ellie posing with some of her new friends....

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures of our sweet Chinese princess

 

 

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Day 11: Medical appointment and lots of fun!

First off, let me thank each of you that read my blog post from yesterday and prayed for Ellie and her bedtime. Tonight was wonderful! Tonight was the first time she did not cry at all going to sleep! She still did not let me rock her to sleep, but at least she was happy about laying next to me! Praise to God, and thanks to all of you prayer warriors!

This morning Ellie, and all of the children in our travel group, had a visa medical appointment required by the US government.

They each had to get a picture for the visa. I think my sweet girl likes the camera!

We had quite a while to wait for each of the children to be evaluated. But it wasn't bad, and the kids had fun together.

Ellie enjoyed playing with her friends in our group.

 

She was such a good girl! She didn't even cry for her TB test! She was very concerned about the mark on her arm, but a bandaid made everything better.

After the medical appointment we went back to the hotel for a nice rest. She took a great nap. Then we took a walk around the hotel. We found the Starbucks for me....yay!!! And the playground for Ellie.

She had such a great time at the playground! We even brought Chip (Clare's dog with us for a few pictures)

You have seen from earlier posts how Ellie feels about this dog....

so she was soooooo tickled to slide him down the slide!

Then we splashed in the little pond next to the playground. Its so nice here!

Tonight was really special. Our guide, Jocelyn, took our group on a dinner cruise along the Pearl River. Ellie loved the boat and all of the lights.

 

She had the best seat in the house, uh, I mean boat!

We cruised passed this really neat building. It's the 3rd tallest one in the world. The lights were amazing on all of the buildings and bridges.

But I think Ellie's favorite part of our boat ride was playing with her friend Aiden. She kept wanting him to chase her as she crawled away. Every time he was close to her she would giggle so loudly.

She is going to have a blast with her big brothers and sisters!

I'm so thankful for each moment with my precious daughter. It's been a week today that we have been together, but it feels like she has always been with me. I am so very happy and so blessed!

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Day 10: Blessings in Guangzhou

Ellie and I started our day with a treat. She was able to "meet" her Granny and Paw-Paw this morning via FaceTime. I've been so happy with the amazing technology we have had during this trip! It was wonderful chatting with them. We all cannot wait to be together next Saturday.

After breakfast we headed out on our own. Today I had the blessing of bringing our daughter to her very first Mass. It was so very special to share this moment with her in her birth county, with the prayers and hymns sung in her native language. It was beautiful. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart here in Guangzhou is gorgeous!

 

 

It was wonderful to here the songs sung in Chinese. And it seemed as of the entire congregation was singing. A one point Ellie was trying to sing too! The prayers are beautiful in Chinese as well. It was so nice to experience the same prayers and readings our family will be participating in on the other side of the world!

What Mom? I'm trying to read the Bible here. (can you see that it's in Chinese?)

After our very special time together. I thought t would be nice to go visit Shamian Island here in Guanzhou. Ive heard from so many adoptive families how beautiful it is, and how great the shopping is there.

The problem was I realized walking out of church that I had to catch a taxi. At the hotel, the very nice bell boy got the taxi for me, and told the driver where I wanted to go. Ugh, now I had to do it myself! Armed with the power of the Holy Spirit that I was just filled up with at Mass, Ellie and I headed towards the road to get a ride to the island. Standing there, I realized that I have never really hailed a taxi before. And now I'm doing it in a foreign country with my newly adopted daughter! But fortunately it was not as hard as I had thought. And my wonderful guide had given me a card this morning with the name of the island written in Chinese. So I just had to give it to the driver, and prayed she knew where to take me!

The entire time we were in the taxi....I had this monkey to entertain me...

Yes, she is lying down in the back seat.... Things are soooo different here! Boy is she going to LOVE her car seat at home!

We made it the island safe and sound, and it only cost 22 RMB (about $3.50 in US money).

All of the wonderful things I heard about Shamien island was spot on....it is beautiful! In fact, it so beautiful that is a favorite spot for photographers. We saw soooo many photo shoots.....wedding photos, fashion photos, and some, well I was just not sure what they were for, but it looked professional.

There are many fascinating statues in the gardenas well. And it's customary to pose for your picture with them.

 

The statue below is famous in the China adoption community. Families take pictures of their children with this particular statue. Ive seen so many precious newly adopted children standing with this statue. It was fun to get Ellie's picture here. But she was not too excited about it.

I really like the one below....it was very interesting!

We had such another wonderful day together!

Ellie still needs your prayers. Even though she is really doing great. She still has some struggles. One big one for her is bed time. She does not like to go to sleep, and a couple of times, has cried so hard when she realizes it's bedtime. Will you please pray my sweet girl finds her peace in my arms at night? Thank you!

 

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