Home!

Home! The saying is right, there is no place like it! After 3 planes and 18 hours in the air, we were sure happy to see Kansas City Airport and our oldest children, Brooke, Blake, and Matthew. Emma sat with the older kids in the backseat and seemed to have a lot of fun getting acquainted. She signed her opinions on a multitude of things - Blake's shoe choice (thumbs down), cows (thumbs down), planes (thumbs down), the new dolls Brooke brought her (definite thumbs up!), etc.

It was a long trip and she was so tired. Sleeping on the plane did not work well for her, so she had about 4 hours of sleep in 24 hours. By the time we reached Kansas City she was signing continuously that she wanted to brush her teeth and get to bed. The 3 hour drive from the airport was a long one for her, but she held up pretty well. It's funny, she acted like she thought we were lost and that was the reason it was taking so long to get home. She kept pointing for us to go in various directions, thinking this would help her get to her house. Thank goodness her siblings were there to take her mind off of how tired she was.

By the time we made it home, she was having so much fun with her brothers and sister that she decided bedtime could wait. Blake and Matt gave piggy back rides and Brooke helped her get her room in order. She learned their name signs almost instantly. After an hour or so of playing, she put on her pj's and plopped into her bed, sleeping almost 11 hours!

Today is going well too, playing and getting to know the animals. We were a little worried about how she would feel about our pets, but this is going well too. While the Victory is a nice hotel, it's so nice to be back to the farm and not feel so confined anymore. There is so much more for the kids to do here!

White Swan Pictures

Guangzhou Safari

Bob suggested a day at the "Safari" instead of the Guangzhou Zoo, and it was incredible. We had a great time. Tons of animals and just a beautiful park in general. Daniel thought this was the best tour of the entire trip. Emma ran around signing animal names and having a blast. All in all, a great day. In case you can't tell, in the last picture, Daniel is holding a white tiger cub! Despite all the fun, we're still missing home a lot though. I just can't wait to see Matt, Brooke, and Blake.

Video?

Hmmm... from China it looks like the video I tried to attach didn't work, so here are some pictures, just in case!

Yuntai Park

Better late than never! The digital camera was in the shop, but back now! So, I'm finally able to download some pictures. The past few days have been busy, but all is going pretty well. We're all a little homesick and eager to get back!

Got Pics!

Though it made an awful grinding sound, I was able to get the camera on long enough to take and download a couple of pictures from yesterday. I think the cold is getting a little better, which is good. I don't want to spend our time here held up in the motel room with a box of tissues and I'm sure Emma doesn't want to either.

If I can, I need to get a picture of her walking through the Victory lobby when she is on her way back from an outing. She greets everyone with a smile and can't wait to push the elevator buttons. She and Vernon practice counting in the elevator and she's very good at it. As the elevator goes up, she signs the number of each floor as we pass it.

When we first arrived you'd have thought she'd been staying in motels all of her life. She surveyed the room and explained what was good (thumbs up & big smile) and what was not to her liking (disgusted look on her face & waving it away with her hand). When she saw that there was a tv in the bedroom portion of the suite and another tv in the living room she jumped up into the air, pointed at both of them, and yelled for us to look. You could just see what she was thinking all over her face "Can you BELIEVE it?! There are TWO t.v.'s here!!" She's just so much fun and keeping us all very busy!

Adoption Day!

We are back in Guangzhou! The plane flight yesterday went great, with the exception of the last five minutes. Emma isn't a real big fan of seatbelts. ;-) Not counting that, she charged toward the plane ready to fly and grinned during the entire takeoff. She's just the bravest little girl I've ever met. Adoption day went the same way. She plopped herself on Daniel's lap in the waiting area and smiled all the way through the various office visits. She is using more and more signs all the time too. On our various trips she likes to watch out the window and sign flower, tree, and car everytime she sees one.

The only downer of the last couple days is that my digital camera is acting up. Some sand got in it from the beach the other day and it will only turn on occasionally. So, no photos for today. And I've managed to catch a huge cold. So, I'm taking a break for the day. Emma and I are hanging out at the motel watching Signing Time videos and drinking juice. She keeps checking my forehead to see if I have a fever. What a sweetie! So, maybe some pics tomorrow??? Hopefully I'll be feeling better then!