November 26th.

CJ 11.26.2010

Leaving for Guangzhou!!!

So we went to Martyrs Park this morning… It is a beautiful park! We borrowed strollers from the hotel, so that helped get the girls around! We went by the Koi Pond. We even fed the Koi little fish food pellets. Kimi almost lost her shoe in the pond… not sure what she was doing, but suddenly Jerry was grabbing like lightning… and he had saved the shoe!! Haha! The girls liked the fish… we showed them the sign for fish, Kimi really doesn’t care, but Maria was watching. The fish were fun, anyways. So we just strolled thru the park and saw some pretty bridges. Wouldn’t you know it, Jerry found a lady making and selling cotton candy. Jerry just had to get some for the girls to try. Amy kept saying no no it will be too messy… apparently all the kids she has seen eat it all allowed the whole stick and then of course they just stick the whole big thing to their face and chow… so they always are covered in Cotton Candy… We assured her that we don’t let our kids eat cotton candy like that, and it would be no problem! I am sure she thinks we are crazy! :) haha! Then she and Jerry played a funny bowling ball thing… they had to roll the ball and knock down as many sand-filled cans as they could. If you knocked down 5 or more you get 5 yuan back. Jerry did once… sillies! Amy had a great time though playing. She thought it was sooo funny! We walked part way around the lake. There was a fishing section and a lotus pond. The lotus had been frozen so they were just all brown… but I bet it is so pretty in the summer!

Back at the hotel, I decided that I need take pictures of the front of the hotel. So Jerry and the girls had to pose for me in front of the waterfall. Then we headed to our room for some more room service and naps for the girlies! We packed up everything again… Jerry went and got one more massage… crazy guy. He said the massages weren’t really worthy of a whole post themselves. He did say that they really don’t know how to making it relaxing… they believe that they need to get every knot worked out of you immediately. Haha! Jerry asked them if they played music during the massage, like they do at home, you know, and they turned on the tv to the mtv channel! Hahaha! Now, thaaaaaat’s relaxing. Heeheehee. They didn’t speak English at all… but Jerry managed to get a little bit of relaxation out of it. It was 128 yuan for 80 minutes. So about seventeen bucks!!! They give you water and about 45 minutes of foot tickling – errr - I mean massage. Jerry is ticklish on his feet, so he is not a fan of the foot massage.

At 4 pm we checked out of the hotel and by 4:45 we were loaded and off to the airport for our flight to Guangzhou! Amy went with us into the airport and waited with us until we could check in and go into the waiting room. Amy is so funny. We love her, she is so matter of fact and open! She is patient and kind to the kids. As we were checking in our new friends who adopted the nine year old girl came in. Their daughter bee-lined for Maria... the baby. She gave Maria her pooh bear to hold while we waited. Then we had to say goodbye to Amy… it was sad to leave her there and to think that maybe we will never see her again. We pray that we were a positive witness to her for Christ.

We chatted with our friends until it was time to board… when it is time to board you hand them your ticket, they tear off the first stub and send you out to the bus… then they take you to the plane, you get on the plane and I barely got set down and buckled in and Maria on my lap and we were ready to take off already!!! Kimi and Maria didn’t even know what was going on… we fed them cheerios and Shasha, the nine year old also gave us gold fish crackers and m&ms! She is such a sweet girl! Just precious!!! So kind and gentle and loving with the little kids. It was fun watching Shasha experience her first flight! She looked out the window and took in everything with such enthusiasm. I can’t help but wonder if she was a little sad to leave everything behind, even though she knows a family is the best thing for her. Everything is new.

We actually took off ten minutes early!!! Then we arrived 10 more minutes early… so our flight got in 20 minutes earlier than listed… So we actually had to wait for Cordelia a few minutes. She was trying to get us the lap ticket for Maria for our flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai. They told her that we couldn’t buy it until the day of the flight.

Kimi and Maria did great. They really go with the flow good. By the time we got to the hotel it was about 10:40 pm!!! Maria fell asleep on the 40 minute ride to the White Swan Hotel! We got checked in and Cordelia made plans with us for the morning. She brought us to our room… she ordered a second crib for us. Our room is great and has the view of the river!! We got settled in a bit and finally went to bed… we were all so tired!!

Goodbye Hunan.