Our final night in Guangzhou...

Well, the time has finally come for us to pack up everything in our room and get ready to move on down to Hong Kong for a night. Believe me, packing up everything was a FEAT to behold! You have never seen so much luggage. I think the only downside of being in Guangzhou the whole time is that you have loads of time to shop, shop, shop! Normally, a family is in the province for a week and then Guangzhou for 5 nights - well, we've been in Guangzhou for 13 nights since this is Kate's province.

The last night in China is always a sad one for me. We love being in China. We love so many things about China and feel so connected to this place that is the birth country of our children. I think leaving is bittersweet to me because I really feel such a sense of loss for Kate. She is obviously gaining so much in her little life by being in a forever family and coming to the US but she is also losing as well - losing her native language, losing her birth family, losing everything that is familiar and losing a piece of her culture. We try to teach our girls so much about China and where they have come from and what the language is like, etc. but it is obviously not the same as being here. We know that God has purposed this union and it was meant to be from the moment He knit Kate together in her mother's womb and I am so thankful for that! I am constantly in awe of God's goodness and faithfulness in our lives. Six years ago when we left the infertility doctor's office for the last time, John and I could have never even fathomed that God would have such an amazing and awesome blessing waiting for us! I am so glad He is in control as His ways are so much better than our own!

We are planning to take the girls to Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow as a special treat for being such amazing troopers this whole trip. They don't know yet so tomorrow will be a fun day to tell them and then go explore Hong Kong Disneyland. We will then fly out of Hong Kong on Sunday morning, Christmas Eve. We will arrive back in Chicago around noon on Sunday and then will head home in time to celebrate Christmas Eve in our home with our sweet, sweet Kate. What a beautiful Christmas gift we have been given.

I just want to add what a blessing it has been to have my Mom and Dad here to travel with us and to help. They have been so incredibly helpful with the girls, with Kate and just with everything. Mom spent an hour today making up bottle packets of food for Kate for the next 2 travel days! The girls have loved having them here too. It was so nice for them to be able to receive extra attention while John and I tend to Kate. We have had a fun trip!

Here are a few pictures of the last two days. You'll notice a lot of Kate on the bed but they were all so darn cute that I couldn't decide which one to leave out. She has learned to play peek-a-boo and that is what she is doing in the pictures! The last couple of pictures are of us eating last night at a local Cantonese restaurant. In one picture John is eating a sandworm and the other Leah is about to eat a water beetle. OK - really Leah was no way going to eat that beetle but wanted the picture taken! :) John did try the water beetle. He said it tasted like a roasted garlic clove inside a shrimp shell. The sand worm tasted like squid to him. I'm taking his word for it because there was no way I was going to try them. They made me sick just looking at them! :)

Enjoy and Merry, Merry Christmas! We hope your holidays are filled with the joy of Christ's birth!

Our last days in China...