Last Post from China--Zai Jian!

Here are some scenes from our last few days...birthday cake. the White Swan play room. the amazing breakfast spread (I was a total tourist this morning and took photos of the food).

I cannot believe I am writing this final post from Guangzhou. Forgive me for not posting at all yesterday--we didn't do much of note, and the only times I had a chance to write were during naps or night time sleep, and I didn't want to disturb our little mei mei.

We have enjoyed seeing more and more of Lilly's personality these last few days, and have mostly spent our time (aside from visa paperwork) shopping, playing in the hotel's awesome play room with lots of other adoptive families, and hanging out in the room (which has become Lilly's favorite hangout, where we see more of her playful side emerging).

Today was Lilly's 3rd birthday, and we celebrated by taking our adoption oath at the US Consulate. As we said the oath, surrounded by many other American adoptive families, I found myself tearing up. It wasn't that we said anything special in the oath (we basically said that all of our paperwork was true and accurate), but the fact that this was our last bit of formal paperwork and ceremony to complete this amazing process, and the fact that we were doing it together with the other wonderful families in our group, made it a touching thing for me. Lilly will travel home on a Chinese passport, but the minute we land in Atlanta, she will become a US citizen.

Tonight, after eating fabulous Italian food with some of our good friends (I know, Italian food in China??), we celebrated Lilly's birthday in our room with a lovely cake that Kathy, our CCAI guide, had sent to our room from the hotel management. We gave Lilly a few little presents (a cloisonne bracelet to match anna's, some little utensils and chopsticks, and some Chinese-English picture books). It was fun to watch Lilly enjoy her cake, and then feed it to daddy and mommy!

So as we pack up tonight we leave the hotel at 5:50am), I have mixed emotions. We are thrilled to be going home, retrieving our beloved pets from good friends (hopefully Laura's back yard is intact and Tad hasn't dug up too mny spots!), and settling into whatever our new "normal" will look like. Can't wait to sleep in a soft bed again, too. And we especially can't wait to introdouce Lilly to family and friends. But I am sad to say goodbye to the friends we have made, sad to say goodbye to China (hope to make it back again before too much time passes!), and somewhat sad to see Lilly leaving the country of her birth.

It has been so exciting to remember my Mandarin, and I am excited to maybe put it to use in some way in the future. For now, I will continue to use it each day to communicate with Lilly as she begins to learn English.

So pray for us as we endure the long flight home, and as we begin to settle in at home and get through jet lag.

Zai jian to Zhongguo, zai jian to our awesome CCAI friends!