Shopping was great on the island. Some places had cheap stuff but some places had some really nice things. Here are some pictures of some of the shops we visited.
This is a picture with Jenny in her shop. She was really sweet and we enjoyed talking to her.
We got to meet up with some friends while we were in GZ. We met Cheryl after our adoption from Vietnam fell through several years ago. She adopted a sweet little boy and was there with her mom and niece. We had a great time having dinner with her and I got to go shopping with her.
One of the few times Jade and Abram played together. They were brother and sister from the first moments they met. They care about each other but already have sibling rivalry.
Elias is a sweet heart like always. He is great big brother. He did really good in China.
Going from GZ to Hong Kong was a little stressful. The train ride was great but getting to the train was a real test of our patience (and after 3 weeks away from home out patience was wearing pretty thin). We were let out of the van in the middle of the street with 5 suitcases, 4 backpacks, 3 kids and a stroller. We had to cross a street, go up two escalators and then wait for our paperwork. Once we got on the train we were able to relax and enjoy the ride.
When we got off the train in Hong Kong some people from Christian Action found us and wanted to talk about Jade. They help with the orphans in her province and had some more pictures of her and some additional paperwork. It was nice talking to them. We were only there one night and Steve and I did not sleep very well. On February 16th we finally came home. With the time change this was a 37 hour day. Steve was able to sleep some on our 14 hour plane ride to the States but I did not sleep at all. Customs and immigration went very fast and smooth (almost too easy). The last plane ride home was only 34 minutes. Altogether out trip was 22 days, 8 plane rides, 5 hotels, 1 train ride, and more than a few scary car rides.
IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME!!!!
Thank you for sharing your journey. It's great to see your family grow with a lovely daughter from Xining, our DD is also from Xining!
ReplyDeleteWelcome Home
& here's to a quick jetlag recovery!
Gina & Lulu
Broken down into all those days, plane rides, and train rides - it sounds downright amazing!! Glad you're home and hope you get sleep soon!
ReplyDelete