Touring and Shopping and New Tricks

What a fun, busy, HOT day!  We met our guide, Helen, in the lobby at 9:30 and boarded a bus with six other families to go to a couple of local destinations.

But first:  Good morning from China!  I'm getting all cleaned up and ready to go!!!

Stop one was the Chen Ancestral Hall and Guangdong Folkart Museum.  It was incredibly beautiful and filled with artists and artwork.  There were paintings, embroideries, bone and ivory carvings, glass etchings, and sculptures.  The art here in China is stunning.  Everything is handmade..... such patience and talent.  

Entrance to the area.

Beautiful carvings adorn the rooftops.  The traditional two lion statues guard the front doors.  You see these around a lot.  

My three kiddos in front of the male statue.  The male's paw is always on top of that ball.... symbol of power.  The woman's paw is always on top of her cub.  Sorry.... no picture of that one.....

Beautiful entrance. See that family?  They're mine!

Gardens.....

Gardens.... and check out the intricate carvings on the roof.  Gorgeous.

Joe dubbed this fella the Bob Ross of China.  See that oval platter beside him?  It's full of black ink.  He takes his hand.... the fingernail, finger tip, and palm and creates unbelievable artwork scenes.  No brushes - no nothing.... just his hand in ink.  Fabulous.  I could watch him work for hours.....

Here, Helen is talking with the guy who carves the "chops"..... these are name stamps with your name in Chinese characters.  Helen said that everyone has a chop and it serves as your official signature.... go to the bank to sign papers?  Use chop.  Very official.  Mary's orphanage actually gave us her name on a chop at Gotcha day, so we got one for each of the boys.  The animal on the top symbolizes the year your were born.... Mary and Jack were born in the year of the Rabbit.  Max is the year of the horse.  I am the Tiger.  Joe is the Pig.  Sorry, Joe.

Gorgeous blue etched glass.

My people.  See those stickers Mary is handing me?  We have gone through a LOT of those.  I'm pretty sure the Chen Ancestral Hall and Folkart Museum now has Tinkerbell stickers stuck to a few poles and benches.  Sorry about that.

At one point, we all looked down at Little Miss and she was sound asleep in her stroller.  Not only is this, according to Max...."tots adorbs" (totally adorable, maybe??)..... it means something very important in our family.  Sleeping in a stroller is a rite of passage - a necessity trait - of MUCH importance....... one simply MUST be able to sleep in a stroller in order to enjoy a day at Disney as a youngster.  Both of our boys slept SOUNDLY in their strollers at Disney.  We feel like this one will, too.  Get ready, baby girl.  You've got some fun times coming.....

Stop Two was the Pearl and Jade Market.  I spent so much time getting my pearls put together that I didn't have a chance to look for the jade.  Hopefully, there will be some in our stops tomorrow.

Pearl Market - one of MANY stores.

Stringing my pearls.....

Her hands moved mighty fast as she was putting those things together.  She's a pearl pro.

Adding the clasp.....

We were able to get Mary a pearl single strand (for her wedding day) and a bracelet and earrings for her teenage years.  I also got single strands for my boys to give to their future brides.  They thought this was very interesting...... My sister also did some pearl shopping today via Mary's mom.  Good day for pearls!

But I didn't buy them all......

They have quite the inventory.....

On the way back to the hotel, we discovered yet another favorite food of our girl:  she like the banana.

Once Mary was resting, Joe did what he does best.  Well, ONE of the things he does best.....

Because the boys were AWESOME shoppers today and didn't complain TOO much, we let them choose the dinner location.  So, this evening, I wound up here.

It's VERY different.  I just realized that I should have taken a picture of the menu.  Darn!  They not only serve pizza (which is delicious), but they also serve fried rice, shrimp, steak, mashed potatoes, many desserts, and onion rings.  They also put some funky stuff on their pizza.  We chose to be quite adventurous;  cheese and pepperoni for us.  Fried rice for the girl (surprise, surprise!)  

We're all winding down for the evening.  Actually - they're all OUT and I'm right behind them.  Tomorrow we go to the US Consulate to take our oath.  Very special day.  

Miscellaneous pictures and Medical Check Day

I'm blogging quick this morning before Mary wakes up.  Plus, we gotta get to breakfast early cause I gotta be ready at 9:30.  R.E.A.D.Y.  Why do you have to be SO ready, you ask?  What important adoption requirement must be met today?  Are there important meetings?  Paperwork to fill out?  Government offices to visit?  Oaths to take?

No.

Today is the SHOPPING DAY.  THE SHOPPING DAY.  Today is WAAAAY more important than all that other stuff.  I gotta be ready, people.

So.  Fast and furious blogging this morning.  Ready?  Set?  Go!

Our driver in Shanghai.  Bless him, he wore this same exact shirt every single day.  We were in his little white van sputtering around Shanghai from Saturday to Friday.  He led us well.  We gave him a little gift before we left..... an Alabama "Roll Tide" shirt, a huge bag of Werthers candy, and some American vitamins (they say these vitamins are really hard to get in China, so we are including them in all our official/guide gifts)  He would always speak in rapid Chinese to our guide and she would tell us that he couldn't believe how sweet the baby was and how funny we were.  Yep, Mr. Driver.  You got that right.  Thanks for not killing us as you were trying to run over those pedestrians out there.

Max loves to push Sweet Thing in her stroller.  He has stepped right on in to the big brother role and is doing it WELL.  I didn't even think he knew her name, but he has latched on and loves it.  He did say, "Mom!  She's kinda like having a new puppy!  She's cute and fun to play with!"  Um.  Okay, son.  

This is the face ALL of us were making as we got checked into the Shanghai airport.  What a chaotic mess.  The check-in lady kept pointing to my luggage and shaking her head.  Quit shaking your head, lady.  Everything on these two carts is going with me to the next city whether you like it or not.  And don't you DARE point at that Vera carry-on and shake your head again.  It.  Is.  Going.

Mary's first flight!  Fun!

Boys and the carts.  We were sweating profusely at this point and kinda over it.

Guangzhou airport by night.

Apparently, this picture got posted to Instagram.  This is outside her orphanage.  And by the way, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram..... it ain't really me. Apparently, my family decided that I didn't have enough to keep up with on Facebook and this blog, so they created accounts for me on Twitter and Instagram.  Turns out, I have posted several things..... They keep saying, "Mom, let me just show you how this works...."  No.  I'm not learning anything new.  I've got a few things going on.... like being in China to get my daughter and all!!! 

View outside our hotel room.

Another view outside our hotel room.

One fun thing about being in Guangzhou on this second leg of the journey is being surrounded by other families who are adopting.  There are a lot of mamas and daddies carrying around precious boys and girls who now have families.  It is amazing.  We especially are enjoying meeting the other Lifeline families that are here.... several of the moms and I have "met" through Facebook, so it is REALLY fun to get to know them (and their babies) in person.  

Time for our Medical Check! This is a requirement on the US side of the adoption.

This is the norm.  Me..... peeling off stickers for Mary and putting them where she tells me to.  Boys...... playing on their phones.

You see that little girl?  She's about to get a medical checkup and she's NOT going to like it.  Her Mom knew she wasn't going to like it..... so.... you see that boy on the right?  He got scammed into holding her through every station.  I did NOT want to be the parent associated with the fear that this checkup was going to bring, so I told Joe, "I think she wants her daddy to hold her."  He, of course, was thrilled..... but had no idea that he'd just been set up to be the bad guy.  She'll forgive you some day, Joe.  

Still happy.  For now....

Do you see the floor?  I mean....

This place will soon be FULL of families with their newly adopted children.  There were dozens and dozens of them.  This was another one of those moments that I got a huge lump in my throat.  There were children of all ages and special need.  But EVERY one of those children..... orphans just a few days ago..... had two parents and, often, a sibling or two cooing over them, wiping their tears, cuddling them after they'd been poked and prodded.... being a FAMILY to them.  It was absolutely precious.  In the middle of all that CHAOS, it's probably one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed on this journey.

Hey!  We know him!  (this is the floor of the medical place!!)

Joe:  The paperwork whisperer.  This is Helen.  She is one of the in-country guides for Lifeline and she knows A LOT about the adoption procedures.  We do WHATEVER Helen tells us to do.  Sit here.  Okay.  Give me all your passports.  Okay.  Give me $5,000.  Okay.  Sign here.  Okay.  Go down elevator and get on van.  Okay.  Go in here and buy a silk dress.  Okay.  I adore her.  And, in situations like this, I LOVE being told exactly what to do.  We adopters follow directions VERY well.  I love me some Helen.

Daddy's explaining to Mary what's about to happen.  She's saying, "I don't think I want to."

First stop:  ENT.  Squeak a duck by her head and she turns to look at it?  She can hear.  Look in throat. Okay!  All done!

Weight check.  Skinny little thing..... 

She also had her temperature taken and still has a bit of a fever.... They tried to sign us up for some Chinese medicine, but I explained that we had already started her on some American antibiotic.  They were okay with that and encouraged us to have her drink lots of water.

Final stop:  listen to heart..... doctor had NO comments.... which was good.  Mary's medical special need is a heart defect (CHD, VSD).  She had surgery here in China when she was three months old, but there's always the chance that trouble might still linger.... and there still is.... but I was glad he didn't have anything to say after listening to her heart.  I prayed during this one!  Joe was in awe of how still she sat during this heart check..... with her special need, she's probably had this particular thing done A LOT.  She knows the drill, smart thing.

Lots of families with their new children!  Makes me cry just looking at the picture!

After we all survived the medical, it was time to do a little shopping.  We got Mary a beautiful red silk dress..... and a few other things.  After all my shopping is done, I'll post a picture and descriptions with my haul.

Mary and I drinking some hot Jasmine tea.  She's ready to sleep.  How can you tell?  Anyone know the signs?

The tea maker.

At 3:00, Joe met the other Lifeline families and our guides to do a little paperwork for the Visa stuff.  Mary was asleep, so I stayed in the room.  The boys went down to the pool.

And after a delicious "authentic MEXICAN" meal down the street at Tekila's, this is how we ended our day..... a little playtime on the floor.  

We are still doing well.  We still miss America.  We want some ICE in our drinks.  And we would LOVE to be able to brush our teeth with sink water.  We are excited to get clean clothes today (sent out some laundry yesterday) and to SHOP some more today!!!  

Thanks for hanging in there with us!  Today is Sunday.... and we leave for Hong Kong on Tuesday.  We.  Are.  Getting.  Close.