State Softball

 

 

The weekend of July 20-22 Abbie had State Softball up in South Sioux City. Abbie's team finished the tournament with a record of 4-2! She really did a great job pitching! Lainey is our little cheerleader!!! No matter who is up to bat or even on an error, you hear " Go Abbie!" or "Way to go Abbie!" or "Abbie hit the ball!" ( even to the other team!) Overall, Lainey did great and acted like a true sports fan cheering on her big sister!

China Girl Westernized!

 

Since we have gotten home, Lainey has been a social butterfly, but a little stinker at times! Her English vocabulary has gotten quite large, and you can see the wheels spinning in her head. She is a typical 3 year old, on the go constantly and wearing us all out! She loves to say hello, goodbye, blow kisses, and even tells people at the grocery store that she loves them! She loves to go up and down the stairs and has no fear at all jumping from here to there. All in all, we are very blessed, and Lainey is doing wonderful! Her daddy is glad she is a fan of sweet corn, hamburgers, and can say " Go big red!" Her mama is glad she likes when the Pizza Hut man delivers! Lainey seems that she is really adapting well! Next week we will work on " Go Dusters!"

Home Sweet Home!!!!

 

Lainey is officially a US Citizen and we are finally home!!!! After a train ride to Hong Kong and a very, very long flight to Chicago with a 3 year old, and a 4 hour ground stop due to storms in Chicago, we are home! Our flight was supposed o get in at 5pm from Chicago but it ended up being 8:45. So needless to say we ever so happy when we landed and saw our girls and parents! The reunion went great and it only took Lainey about 20 seconds to warm up and then she was full speed ahead! We stopped to eat and she was laughing with her sisters and playing with them like she had known them for months. The hard part came when we got home and she wanted to explore and play till 5:30am!!! Talk about jet lag!!!! I still feel nauseous and out of sorts tonight! Dave and I could never sleep on the plane because our seats were right next to the kitchen area of the plane. I should have counted how many times my seat got ran into with that drink cart! Lainey made new friends (their picture is above), so she got extra special treatment! They even took her once and she came back with an ear of corn in her hand! Today Lainey discovered Dairy Queen ice cream and has had visits from her cousins. She has played hard all day and is currently sacked out so I think I will take advantage of it! Thank you to all of you who have praying for us and helping us out. We appreciate it so much! Can't wait for you all to meet our new daughter!

Last Day in Guangzhou

 

 

This morning we went back to Shamain Island to finish up some shopping. Lainey was so well behaved this time so it worked much better! This afternoon my friend Emily and I went to the pearl market while we left the little girls with the boys. It was quite overwhelming to see 6 floors full of beads, pearls, and jade. We took a group picture of those of us that received our visas this afternoon too. This is only half of our group. The other half gets their visas tomorrow. Their are 19 families total in our group and they said it is one of their largest ever. This evening we went with our Mississippi friends to a Mexican restaurant. Who would have ever thought that we would be eating Mexican in China!!! It was actually the best meal we have had since we have been here! Tomorrow we travel tomHong Kong, cant wait to be home!!!!!!!!!

River Cruise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning we went to the US Consulate. It was a lot easier than I expected. We took our oath as a group and then had to go up family by family to give them our paperwork. We will get Lainey's visa tomorrow. Tonight we went on a Red Dragon Boat Dinner Cruise. It was a lot of fun and very scenic. It was on the Pearl River. The bridges and skyscrapers all light up at night and change colors too. Everyone here is getting anxious to get home and I think Lainey is getting tired of this hotel room too. The last picture is of dragon fruit. I had to take that for the girls!!!

Day at the Safari Park

 

 

 

Today we started out at the clinic to have Lainey's TB test read then the whole group headed to the Safari Park. It is like a giant zoo filled with Asian animals and more. It was very humid today (remember we are farther south than the tip of Florida!). Lainey fell asleep for awhile, this is the only time she will ride in the stroller! She liked the train ride the best maybe because it was cooler! Hopefully it will be early to bed because we are shot! We just ordered Papa Johns pizza for supper so we will see if she likes that! Tomorrow we go to the consulate for our oath taking ceremony. We also get to enjoy a river boat cruise tomorrow night which sounds like fun. On Wednesday we get Lainey's visa and then on Thursday we take the train to Hong Kong and spend the night there and then we will fly out Friday morning. Counting the days to see you all!

Squeaky Boots

 

 

Today was a free day for us. It wasn't raining but extremely hot and humid! We walked to a nearby park this morning. On the way you have to go under the street by way of a tunnel and we saw a lady with a pet duck! At first we thought that maybe it was her supper but we don't think so because sometimes she would carry him and sometimes the duck would just follow her! Lainey loved it! This afternoon we went with our friends to Shamain Island. I was going to take more pictures but Lainey wasn't good about staying in her stroller so we were constantly chasing her! We found squeaky shoes and boots. We bought a pair of each for her but she refuses to wear the shoes in this 100 degree heat and will only wear the boots!!! Well, at least we now know where she is at all times! She continues to be a typical 3year old and feels completely at ease with us. Tomorrow it will be one week since we got her and people are amazed. She waltzes around like she owns the place and shows no fear at all! She goes and goes and then when she's out she's out! We are going to the safari park tomorrow so we will see if she wears the shoes or the boots!?! I will let you know!!!!