Is it Time to Go Home Yet?

OK, we are trying so VERY VERY hard to just kick back, relax, and enjoy the luxurious life we are living here. Really trying hard. I mean, what is there to complain about when we have plush beds we don't have to make, a gorgeous bathroom we don't have to scrub, delicious array of foods for breakfast day and nary a dish to wash. We really don't have to think very much if we don't want to, either, since our wonderful CCAI guides take care of that for us. (though speaking Mandarin all day long does require some thinking on my part). We are simply passing the time, trying to fill these free days while we wait for Bella's visa to be processed, so we can take our oath at the US Consulate and get on an airplane bound for Dulles.

Let me list the main reasons, however, that I find it REALLY hard to just simply take it all in and enjoy: Jared. Anna. Lilly. (oh yeah, and Tad). I know Tom could add to that list the feeling of achievement being at work each day too.

So, will somone pleaes remind me a few months from now--when I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and scrubbing dirty toilets--how much I should have enjoyed this last week in Bella and Lilly's birthland?

OK,now that I've said it, I'm more determined than ever to soak it in. I'll have to settle for pretend Skype hugs and kisses (and what Tom and I are calling Skype parenting) for 5 more sleeps.

Enough about that. Let me tell you more about Guangzhou.

Yesterday we spent the morning with the group visiting the same temple and Chen House that we visited with Lilly's adoption group. We also went back to the same Arts and Crafts store to buy some jade items. In the afternoon, I took a few friends with me back to the photo shop to pick up the prints from my disposable cameras and drop theirs off. On the way back we stopped in at a tea shop, which reminded me of Teavana in Tyson's Corner (though not nearly as ritzy!) where we got to sample some green teas and check out their supply of all sorts of other teas. We briefly stopped at a Chinese pharmace to get some saline for one of the babies with a stuffy nose, and--when asking about the dried seahorses they had in the Chinese medicine section--got to learn more than we wish we had known about the benefits for men.

In the evening we headed over to Shamian Island with a few families for some more shopping and dinner at Lucy's. We only at there once last time, and I don't really feel any need to go back this time--they serve a wide variety of foods including burgers and fries, Mexican, as well as Chinese. Bella ate half of the kung pao chicken I had ordered as well as her own order of a mini burger and fries (she claims she has eaten burgers before and loves them). It was a fun night with friends, for sure. Just like last time, I'm really going to miss our travel group and look forward to staying in touch back home and seeing our children grow up.

Today, after skyping with the kiddos and Grammy and Pop Pop, we headed with the group to have the TB results read (she was fine) and then moved on as a group to the Pearl Market. We got Bella some pearl earrings to match the ones we got Lilly and Anna when we were here last time. Then we headed to McD's since we were all hungry and it was right there. Bella seemed to enjoy every bite of her chicken nuggets and french fries...but the cab ride home was too much for her poor stomach and her lunch ended up in the zip loc bag that I now carry with me anytime we're in a car. Poor thing. And for the first time, she cried (not like the wailing from gotcha day or the orphanage, which was almost an animal-like cry for help, but the kind of cry that comes from a child who doesn't feel well and knows that mama and daddy care). We came up to the room and laid right down for a little nap. She is still snoozing now--I think all this shopping and activity is really wearing her out. I'm sure it's much more action than she's used to.

So, the challenge before us for the next few days is to find enough interesting things to do to help the time pass (and let us enjoy China), but not so much that Bella is exhausted.