Immigration

We took Lily to the U. S. Consulate in Guangzhou today.

The adoption process is laborious and long, but is also legal and proper.

Let me paint a picture for you.

We are a nation of immigrants.

But we are also a nation of laws (and paperwork).

Legit.

Fun in the bus with new friends!

Day trip to Shamian Island.

Still unsure if Confucius overcharged honest Abe or not...

Hey, mom! It looks like you got some fruit drink at Starbuck's.

I like fruit drinks.

Hey, I was just kidding but that was actually kinda yummy.

Out of a sense of tradition, we had chicken fingers and fries at Lucy's.

Then we shopped around at a few local stores.

Mostly, we just strolled through the streets.

We miss home.

From China to America

Lunch at Lucy's, Shamian Island

Dinner at Banana Leaf

Some of the Lee Family

Jake and Nick

We spent Wednesday at Shamian Island doing some souvenir shopping and having some lunch at Lucy's. That evening, we had a farewell dinner with our new friends the Lees who have several biologic and adopted children, including an adorable newly adopted 1 year old with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease. They brought two of their children with them and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them in Guangzhou. We actually met Mike (the dad) in Hohhot because their 1 year old was from the same orphanage as Samuel in Baotou (although the child had been in Beijing for a while due to the heart problems). They are laid back folks who put their faith to work and know a few things about what it means to love. Their two boys were also wonderful, very well-mannered but fun, often providing comic relief for an occasionally stressful trip. Too bad they weren't with us the first two weeks! Dinner was quite bizarre, at a Thai restaurant called Banana Leaf, where the wait staff also sang (in English only) and danced and interacted with the diners (often in inappropriate ways). Thursday we rode many airplanes. We had no problems from Guangzhou to Tokyo or Tokyo to Washington, DC. However, we were detained (unnecessarily) in security at DC and we missed our 5 pm flight to Richmond by two minutes. So we switched airlines and headed to Charlotte and then to Richmond, arriving 6 hours later than planned. While it was no fun to turn 24 hours of travel into 30 hours, the sunset we chased all the way to Charlotte was a spectacular gift, well appreciated. We did eventually arrive home safely and are adjusting to the time change as well as can be expected. The new children have blended nicely into the family and all is well, as it should be. 

God is good, all the time.

Lunch and Strolling

It's always funny when multiple things spill at once, domino style!

This chocolate milk tastes a lot like Ovaltine. Hey! Where is my secret decoder ring?

Carter King, new son of Todd and Nikki (friends of Mary and Allen Neal) sneaks up on a tourist.

Annabelle playing run around the gate with Carter and dad.

An historic monument, memorializing the time when Confucius and Abraham Lincoln

met to have a Coke and discuss government and human nature.

The Trip Back to Guangzhou

We took Annanbelle's first ever plane trip and she did fine. She spent the first part of the trip viewing her favorite photo album (Thompson kids take notice: You will not be strangers to Mei when she gets home because she has stared at your pictures for weeks). She slept through the rest of the flight, including the landing.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, a very nice place on a small island geared toward Americans, specifically adoptive parents. For our first meal, we HAD to go to Lucy's, where one can choose from such oriental delicacies as grilled cheese sandwich, burritos, spaghetti, and chicken nuggets and fries (Hey, Sholpan!). It is truly the first place we have eaten where Susan would have eaten anything on the menu. (read there was no donkey, no ox penis, no spicy snake, no throat, no ostrich tendon, no goose tongue, and no eel)  Annabelle had a platter of meat that she created from her beef and noodle dish. She likes the protein.

                                                       Hey, Tyler, check this one out!

Two silly Thompsons waiting for their lunch.