Adventures in Eaker adoption land continue.  We are finally in the city of Guangzhou.  It is in the south of Ch*na and the last stop on our whirlwind adoption ride.  Time has passed so fast that I am trying to catch my breath.  We went to the orphanage on Thursday in Hefei but that’s a post for another day.  I need a little longer to process all of the emotions involved.  For now some of the crazier moments we’ve had in Hefei and Guangzhou.  On Wednesday we went to the provincial museum and really had a fantastic time.  It is a beautiful new museum with a lot of amazing old world items from Anhui province.  I loved the 1700s beautiful carved windows and delicate scrolls, Rob loved the antique tools, the boys loved all of the dragon carvings that are on everything and the girls loved the beautiful jewel collection on loan from the Forbidden City.  It was a lot of fun.  Of course, the most fun is our adventures in being the parents of a child in a wheelchair and learning how get her around the streets of provincial Ch*na.  We had quite the time trying to get across the street to Wal-Mart with the wheelchair when we got back from the museum.  This street is under major construction, as is everything in Hefei.  You just have to jump on out there with every type of vehicle and bicycle known to man.  There was a very narrow road way that we had to walk to get to Wal-Mart that also included walking around a very large puddle of running, raw sewage.  Yes, RAW sewage. The six of us set off on this adventure to get presents for the girls friends at the orphanage.  We made our way across pretty well, only took us 20 minutes to get across that one road.  But on the way back we had about 10 bags of stuff, a massive amount of stuff we had bought for the their friends and we had to carry all of that plus push the wheel chair, plus all of the Crazy amount of traffic whirling around us.  Lili Claire likes to hold on tight to one of our arms when we go somewhere new and gets disoriented by all of that chaos so I had her with me at the back of our line, trying to carry about six bags and not get hit by a car.  At one point I panicked and got scared we were going to get hit so I just started walking super fast and accidentally made us stomp our way right through the RAW sewage puddle!!!!!!  Raw sewage splashed ALL over us and I mean ALL over us.  On Lili Claire’s beautiful new coat, her new shoes, her tights, her hands, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!! This child is just as OCD as her new Mama and does not like to be dirty, let alone covered in POOP!  We made our way back up to the hotel room and don’t ask me how but I managed to clean and sanitize every thing without throwing up.  It pushed every germophobic button I have and she was thoroughly traumatized!!!! We did not venture over to that side of the street with them for the rest of the trip!! Blech!

Our trip to Guangzhou was another adventure.  These two girls have lived their entire lives in their province and have never been anywhere close to an airplane.  Everything was new.  The packing up and getting all of our bags to the van, the standing in ticket lines, the going through security, etc. etc.  The airline put Louisa’s wheelchair on the plane first thing so we used an airport wheelchair.  They insisted they needed to wheel her around another way that we could not come.  So off she went by herself, which I really didn’t like and we made our way the normal route. It took them a super long time to get her there and I was starting to get really worried. Thankfully she showed up again right before we were supposed to get on…note to self – always stay with your child!!!  We were hoping that perhaps since she was in a wheelchair they would put at least some of us up at the front of the section. Nope, Rob had to carry her all the way to almost the back of the plane.  Nice.  Once we got off the elevator down to baggage was broken so Rob picked her up again and jumped on the escalator with her to go down.  That one made my heart stop.  Thankfully she has a strong daddy.  She loves it when he carries her!!!!!  Lili Claire loved the plane ride so much.  She giggled and clapped and just starred in awe.  In some ways she is definitely like a toddler, very socially behind and shows the signs of a child raised her entire life in an institution.  But I love her enthusiasm and her excitement.  Maybe we should all be more like that.  After all, Jesus said we are to have faith like a child.

By the time we got done with all this week of adventures plus the plane ride to Guangzhou we were almost sick with exhaustion.  We completely passed out.  I have experienced terrible jet leg before on trips and am just so, so thankful it hasn’t been bad at all on this one.  Each night we have felt very refreshed and renewed.  The Lord is so faithful when it is says in His Word that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion!

 Fun in the hotel room in Hefei!

 She made Daddy a princess!  She laughed so hard.  She loves him so much!

 Lili Claire loves to take pictures of her bears.  So glad they are still young enough to have “little” girl things.  It makes it so much easier to parent them.

 They put their princess crowns on their stuffed lovies.  Sweet girls!

 One last picture in front of the tree.  Andrew is the photo bomb master by now.  He thinks its so funny!

 At the airport ready for their very first plane flight.  Louisa was up at dawn packing her bag!  See ya Hefei, she is outta here!!

 Our fantastic guide.  I just love this woman.  She has such a special heart for these kids and has worked hard for them.  She has a very sweet bond with Louisa and was the first to advocate for her several years ago.  She was so excited and just thrilled that we adopted Louisa.

 They love each other!

 She is beyond excited to be on her way to Mei guo ~ America!

 My amazing, sweet boy.  He has risen to every crazy thing we have asked of him.  VERY proud!!!!

 Matching glasses and headbands!  It’s mommy love!

 The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.  LOVE it!  This tree is awesome.

 The fountain in the gardens.  We can see this from our window.

~ k