From China to America

Lunch at Lucy's, Shamian Island

Dinner at Banana Leaf

Some of the Lee Family

Jake and Nick

We spent Wednesday at Shamian Island doing some souvenir shopping and having some lunch at Lucy's. That evening, we had a farewell dinner with our new friends the Lees who have several biologic and adopted children, including an adorable newly adopted 1 year old with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease. They brought two of their children with them and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them in Guangzhou. We actually met Mike (the dad) in Hohhot because their 1 year old was from the same orphanage as Samuel in Baotou (although the child had been in Beijing for a while due to the heart problems). They are laid back folks who put their faith to work and know a few things about what it means to love. Their two boys were also wonderful, very well-mannered but fun, often providing comic relief for an occasionally stressful trip. Too bad they weren't with us the first two weeks! Dinner was quite bizarre, at a Thai restaurant called Banana Leaf, where the wait staff also sang (in English only) and danced and interacted with the diners (often in inappropriate ways). Thursday we rode many airplanes. We had no problems from Guangzhou to Tokyo or Tokyo to Washington, DC. However, we were detained (unnecessarily) in security at DC and we missed our 5 pm flight to Richmond by two minutes. So we switched airlines and headed to Charlotte and then to Richmond, arriving 6 hours later than planned. While it was no fun to turn 24 hours of travel into 30 hours, the sunset we chased all the way to Charlotte was a spectacular gift, well appreciated. We did eventually arrive home safely and are adjusting to the time change as well as can be expected. The new children have blended nicely into the family and all is well, as it should be. 

God is good, all the time.