In Guangzhou!

Well we are in the last city before heading home!! Today we flew from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou and I think it was bitter sweet. I will miss ZZ because that is first where we received Caleb and The Henan province is where he was born but at the same time we were ready to move on. We are so ready to get home to our other kids and are looking forward to enjoying some warmer weather.

We woke up bright and early....5am! I have to say that was the first night I was not wide awake at 2am unlike Ben who hasn't had a day of jetlag and sleeps until the alarm goes off. So up and at it we go. Shower, finish packing and then down to the restaurant for breakfast. I have to say we will miss those omelets they make there! We then met our guide at 8:40 and off we head to the airport. Once in Cindy helped us check in and then lead us to the security line. She explained just give them your passport and ticket and you will be good. Sounds simple, right!?!? So I give Ben the carry on to take because it is only suppose to weigh 11 pounds and if I had to lift it onto the x-ray belt you would be able to tell it was definitely more then that! Caleb and I are first to head through. I hand the lady his adoption papers and my passport. She starts looking at them and then laughing asks the lady next to her something. It was clear there was something she didn't know what to do, then she calls over another employee. He looks at it and says to me......you go to check in. Ben and I both say....no we already checked in. He says......no check in. Me: no we want to bring these bags with us. I don't understand you. He looks at the other worker and rolls his eyes and tells us to follow him. Now I start to sweat. I'm carrying Caleb, have my jacket on and Ben and I are trying to following this annoyed guy while pulling our luggage along.....fun, fun! Next he takes us over to a desk and behind it I see one of our bags. He points over to it. At this point I'm thinking, serious why did our guide need to leave before we made it through. We look at him and tell him...no we don't want that. I just kept saying I want to get on the plane please! Finally we realize he needs my ticket that had a sticker on the back which he scanned. Ok we are good and he walks us back and away we go through security.....oh my word. I think I sweated off 10 pounds! We still aren't sure what happened but think our luggage was pulled for an inspection.

Once through all was good. We got some coffee and then waited at the gate. The airport was so nice and clean! While sitting there there was a little old lady who kept looking at us. I figured it was because we didn't have 5 layers on Caleb. We of course didn't learn our lesson 2 days earlier when we got yelled at on the street by 2 women. I of coursed just smiled. Well when we were in line to get on the plane the same little old lady was in front of us in line. She looked at Caleb and then pointed at Ben's jacket to put over him. I smiled and did it even though he had a onside, long sleeve and winter jacket on, remember we are in a heated building!

We head onto the plane and guess who was in our row!! Oh yeah and she watched me like a hawk to make sure I was doing everything right.

See her in the background. While he slept she checked him every couple minutes. Too funny and cute!

The flight went well. There was a lot of turbulence and I hate flying, combined with being homesick led to some tears and me begging the Lord to just get me home safe and get this plane landed. After we landed and exited the plane Ben looked at me and says....Did you really cry!??? He's lucky I love him.....what a snot!

This city and our hotel are going to make this week enjoyable. It is beautiful here and for those coming next, we are at The Garden and it is only $70/ day. It is actually cheaper then our 70s hotel in ZZ :-). Also we are loving the location. There are tons of shops and restaurants along the road.

Here are some pictures of the hotel. There is a living room area and a separate bedroom....we are on the 16th floor and love our view

 

 

The view out our window

Here are some other pictures from the day.....Enjoy! Tomorrow we head to his medical.

 

 

 

 

Ben was excited to see a little Milwaukee love here in Guangzhou

There are beautiful flowers and everything is green!! How's the snow looking out the windows there in Winneconne!?!?

 

Ok I'm not going to lie. We may be a bit bias to the city because this awesome cafe is right across the street. Any guesses Ashley :-)

We really are so blessed to be able to enjoy this trip. Caleb has been amazing and going with the flow on where we take him. When we started this our prayers were always that the Lord led us to the child He had for us. We could never have dreamed for a better fit. He just amazes us. I know once home this boy is going to just blossom and learn so many new things from his brother and sisters (Nate dad told me to remind you they better be all good things...lol). Thanks again for all your continued prayers. We are so grateful to everyone.