Yet another free day

Today was much better with Lily. She has finally opened up her shell and is having fun with mommy and daddy now. She is laughing and playing with us. She even took her shoes off (this is HUGE!!!!) She has screamed like mad when I took them off before and even slept in them.

I am SO bummed that we have not been able to go to her village and see anything. I have been following some other blogs and they have been able to travel the 3 hours to visit where their child lived. Not us..... It breaks my heart that we are not able to see where she has spent the last almost 3 years. I really wanted to get something from where she lived so that she can have it forever. In Bobai they weave all kinds of things by hand. That is their major trade. Luckily we were walking around here in Nanning and found an "expo" that had a booth of weaved items from Bobai!!!! We bought this beautiful lamp. It was hard to communicate with the guys from there but he figured out that Lily was from there and brought us (as we were walking away) a paper that explained the weaving process and where they were made (in English too)!!!!! Thankful for the lovely man!

We got our paperwork and are waiting for her passport tomorrow then off to Guangzhou for our final week!!!!! Super excited!

Today we met another family that is back visiting where their 8 yr old twins are from. They got to go to meet the girls' foster mom and exchange pictures. They even go to see their finding place. What an amazing day for them. We had dinner with them in the hotel and played soccer in the hallway with the girls. They even gave Lily a stuffed panda as a welcome to America gift. It was SO precious. Their mom even had pictures of them 6 yrs ago playing in the same spot we were tonight!!! Precious!!!!

We also ate at Pizza Hut for lunch..... it was the BEST food I have tasted in forever!!!!!! Probably not but sure feels like it when you have not eaten in a week! I even got a Pepsi with ice (unheard of here)

 Believe it or not that is a 24 month outfit and the pants are falling off of her.

 Being silly in the room with Daddy

 Dinner last night

 This is for Landon!!! Here you go buddy. You could live in China now!

 Out for a stroll

 Shawn's new patrol car.... Honda Accord

 Shopping mall we found. Looks ok but not really

 She was in the process of signing I love you

 Playing in the hallway of the hotel

 Rebecca and Elana, Twins that were adopted from Nanning 6 years ago. Back to see where they came from.

 Her shoes are off......

Naked feet

Free day in Nanning

Today has been hard.... I think I am having post adoption depression!!! I really miss the boys and home more than anything ever! I cried all last night and a little today. I have already lost 5 pounds because I don't like the food and stress. Lily had a really tough night and nap today. I think she had to poop and once she did she has been a happy little girl.

We went to Wal-mart last night and did some walking around. We are so isolated here. We have not seen any other Americans here and everyone stares at us like we are weird. I know I am excited to leave to Guangzhou on Friday just because we are on the last leg of the journey and we can see some other Americans.

We signed all our paperwork and Lily is officially ours. We just have to make that last stop at the US consulate for medical, Visa's and final oath that we will never abuse or abandon her. If we didn't have all this paperwork we would be out of here so fast!!!!

We are going to head out to dinner. Tomorrow we are on our own yet again..... ugggg!

Gotcha Day

Today was amazing!!!! We had Skype on with my family watching as the orphanage director and our interpreter brought Lily to our room. When we opened the door she started to cry right away. She held on to the director and sobbed. We spent about 20 mins with them in our room then she handed her over to me and left. Poor Lily just cried and watched the door as I held her. After about 30 mins of whimpering and a little crying she settled in with me. We decided to take a quick walk around the park to cool off. (so hot in our room and she had 4 layers on.) When we got back from the park we ate dinner in our room so that she could play with her toys and get to know us a little more. Poor thing has hardly eaten a thing. She love the Gerber stars that I brought for her. They gave us some toddler formula and told us to feed it to her with a spoon..... Weird.... We tried but she didn't drink any of it. She is so mid mannered with great facial expressions. She does use some of her own "sign" but quickly picked up on things I was signing to her. She loves to sign baby and see!!!! Being on the 9th floor is super cool for a 2 yr old. She took a bath really well with out a single fuss. Her and I cuddled on the bed and before we knew it she was out. Hopefully she sleeps all the way through the night. More pictures to come but we are tired and off to bed ourselves.

Nanning China

 Subway for breakfast

 Our gate at Guangzhou airport

 Nanning airport baggage claim

 View from our hotel 9th floor

 Our room

 Lily's goodies waiting for her

 Lily's bed

 Lobby of our hotel

 Nanning's people park

 Scooters are the main mode of transportation

 Bamboo

 Park 2 blocks from our hotel..... BEAUTIFUL

 Girls playing in the park

 Lake in the park

 Cute ladies doing Thai Chi

 Beautiful bridge in the park

 Amusement park in the park

 This is for Dave!!! Small little bar at the outskirts of the park. PBR for you Dave!!!!

 Spongebob in Chinese for Mason

 Open air market we found

We have made it to Nanning and awaiting Lily's arrival this afternoon. We are sitting here on Skype with the boys, my mom and my sister while we wait for the orphanage director to bring her to us. I will post pictures of her this evening.

It has been really warm here. We packed for 40's but it is close to 70's and 80's. Our room has air but it is not powerful so I would say it is 80 in here! The beds are like sleeping on concrete. My hips are killing me from the lack of softness in the bed!!!!  At least we can now access this blog thanks to Pandoapow and my sister asking all our friends on FB how to route us around the internet blocks here in China. Stay tuned for Gotcha pictures!!!!

Leaving for China

Waiting at Seatac for our delayed flight to Seoul Korea. Can't believe that we have waited a whole year for this flight. We are currently delayed for an hour and 40 mins because of heavy snow in Seoul. Hopefully we will not be delayed any longer because our original layover was 3.5 hrs now we only have an hour between flights.

Thanks to everyone for all of the prayers and we will attempt to post daily. I know there are many of you that are checking. Love all of you!!!

Mason and Landon, Have so much fun with Nana, Papa and Auntie. Be good and we will Skype with you guys soon. Mommy and daddy love you tons. Big hugs and kisses!!!!!