Today was our last full day in Guangzhou. We will be leaving our hotel in the morning (Friday) at 7:30 AM to go to the airport here to fly to Beijing. We will have a layover in Beijing for a few hours, and then we will depart for Dallas/Ft. Worth around 5:35 PM here. We are scheduled to arrive there at 4:45 PM (Friday.) Yes.....we will arrive there before the time we left here. :) We will have a 3 1/2 hour layover there, but it will take every minute of that for us to get through immigration and customs. PLEASE pray that we are able to make our flight to Nashville. If everything goes as planned, we should arrive in Nashville at 9:55 PM.
Today after breakfast, we made another trip to the Pearl Market and to the Embroidery Shop that we visited on Monday, and then we headed back to Shamian Island. We went with our friends, Ed and Kylie and their two sweet kiddos. We enjoyed some final shopping time and another good meal at Lucy's. The pictures today are all from our time there.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we received Ansley Grace's visa, the last thing we needed to be able to head home. We had to say goodbye to the three couples who have been our family for the past two plus weeks. It seems like we have known them all our lives....that's what sharing an adoption experience does. Even if we never see some of them again, I have no doubts we will stay in touch. We already have plans to visit Ed and Kylie, who have been our constant companions throughout this trip. :)
I can't begin to put into words what a phenomenal trip this has been for us. It has just been different.......SO very bittersweet in many ways, rewarding beyond words, in others. It has been the EASIEST adoption trip we have ever made. The weather has been great, although a cold front came through last night and it was considerably cooler today.....but NO RAIN, and bright sunshine almost every day. I figure God let us experience the cool temps today to prepare us for the weather we are going home to. :) We haven't had to deal with the struggles that are expected with a younger child. For the first time in four adoptions, I didn't have to pack diapers, bottles, or formula. We didn't have to deal with a stroller everywhere we went. We didn't have to be up at night with a child who wouldn't sleep. We just adopted this cute little girl who just fell right into the mold of our family.
Would I want to live in China? Absolutely NOT!!! I definitely prefer Benton, Kentucky!!!! Yet, I feel such a connection to this country. I could tell you A LOT of things I don't like about it. Probably my biggest dislike are the squatty potties. I'm proud to say that I am leaving here in the morning without having to grace the doors of one.....actually, most of them don't have doors!!! I'm not sure what I will find in the airport in Guangzhou, but if there are no above the ground options offered, I will cross my legs and wait until I get to Beijing!!! Honestly, I have never experienced anything more disgusting than the public restrooms here. And to top that, the fact that there is NO TOILET PAPER in the squatty potties????? The no-wipe policy is a reality here in many places. HONESTLY!!! I don't like the dirt and dust. Literally, there are people who sweep the streets with brooms that look like they are made from tree branches. I don't think it was quite as bad here in Guangzhou as it was in Zhengzhou, but it's just different than home. I really am not crazy about the food here, and after sixteen days, I can promise you I won't be eating at any local Chinese restaurants at home anytime soon. Cracker Barrel never sounded better!!!! I don't like the fact that we can't eat fresh vegetables here or drink the water or drinks with ice in them. If we did, we would probably get very sick. I don't like the traffic there and all the honking that goes on, even though Guangzhou has been much quieter than Zhengzhou was. As wild and crazy as the driving has been here, though, we have only seen one traffic accident since we have been here.
I could go on and on about things I don't like about China, but let me tell you what I DO like about it. I don't just like, but I love this country because it is where our four daughters were born. Even though the circumstances that surround how each of our girls came to be available for adoption will forever break my heart, I am thankful that God led us to this country to adopt. The conception of a child is a miracle. The birth of a child is a miracle. But let me tell you, when God moves in a person's heart to adopt, and He chooses a child on the opposite side of the world to be that person's daughter or son, and when that child is placed in that person's arms and in the case of a mother, she loves that child instantly, as if she had carried it within her for nine months, THAT is a miracle. I have been blessed to experience that FOUR times. Will this be the last? Only God knows, at this point in time.
The adoption of Ansley Grace has been very different. Of course, it is our first time to adopt an older child. If you had asked me four or five years ago if I would ever adopt an older one, I would have said no. After we adopted Eiley Joy, I had said I would never adopt another younger one again, although I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED having a baby again. This time we knew because of our age we wouldn't be able to adopt a baby, and we didn't want to anyway because Eiley Joy was and will forever be our baby girl. At first, I was against adopting a child any older than Molly Kate and Callie Beth, but then God intervened and led me to Ansley Grace's sweet face on our agency's Waiting Child Profile page. We have had it SO easy compared to everyone else in our adoption group. A few of the couples have really had a struggle with their children. When I look back at our past adoptions, I guess we did, too. But with Ansley Grace, it's as if God had prepared her to become a part of our family. We had smiles from her before we ever left the Registry Office the day we got her, and she has warmed up to us SO well. It seems like she has been a part of our family forever. One of the families that joined our group here in Guangzhou told us yesterday, that if we hadn't told them, they would not have been able to tell which of our girls we had just adopted. Her sweet smile and giggle warm my heart through and through. She fits in SO well with Molly Kate and Callie Beth. They pick on her, and she tells them, NO.....but then she giggles and picks back. Right now, she is snuggled up next to Callie Beth sound asleep. I think we are going to have some challenges in the upcoming months.....trying to teach her English and getting her caught up in school. We will be taking her to the International Adoption Clinic, and we are praying for a good report. She is going to need some physical therapy....her legs are not as strong as they should be, but we have certainly given her a lot of exercise with all the walking we have done. She is going to need some speech/language therapy, too, I am sure. However, we know how much that can help. After all, when we adopted Callie Beth, she didn't talk at all, and didn't for a long time. Just look at her now!!!!
We have shed a lot of tears during this trip......we have missed Eiley Joy SO much. Getting past the one year anniversary of her death and funeral was another first for us. But OH, how we have felt her presence here. So many of the places we have been are a repeat of where we were with her our last adoption trip. Yesterday when we were at our consulate appointment, I could see her SO vividly, running back and forth across the room with those red squeaky shoes on, giggling like crazy. Yesterday, as we were on our way to Safari Park, one of many of those bittersweet moments came over me, and my eyes filled with tears. When I looked up, my necklace with her picture in it was reflecting on Ansley Grace's head, dancing around like crazy. It was a Godwink, and it was almost like her saying to me, "Mama, God let me help pick out my new sister." This adoption has NOT made our grief of losing Eiley Joy go away......we didn't expect it to. We know, though, she would be SO happy to have another sister, and one day ALL of us will be together with her in Heaven.
What an AWESOME Christmas this is going to be for us this year. Bittersweet, too, but we can celebrate that another child has come home to her forever family. I'm not sure she is going to be thrilled with some of her gifts. Last year when she was hosted, she LOVED dolls. Now, she wants nothing to do with them. SO much for getting my girly girl!!!! She's getting some dolls for Christmas, anyway. If she doesn't play with them, I guess I will have to. :)
I owe a big thanks to my lifelong friend, Ginger Norsworthy, who has posted on my blog daily. This is her fourth time to fill this capacity for me. Thanks to all of you, too, who have taken time to ready about our journey. I hope to share more posts after we get home. Please pray for safe travels for us. We can't WAIT for you all to meet our China Blessing Number FOUR!!!
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