Monday....Patriots Win and Other Stuff

Everyone is ready for bed after another day in Guangzhou. The exciting news today is that our guide, Connie, took our paperwork to the US Consulate today and everything was ok'ed with no problems. The only "official" thing remaining for us in China is the oath we take Tuesday at 2:45PM.

We spent most of the morning in the hotel room waiting for Connie to call, either with questions from the consulate, or letting us know everything was ok. She called around 11:30ish to let us know everything went well.

Oh, I almost forgot our exciting morning of "watching" the Patriots/Colts game on ESPN.com this morning. We woke up around 7am, just in time to see that the Pats were down 13-7 in the 3rd quarter. We continually hit refresh on the Gamecast screen (it was not updating in realtime for some reason :-( It wasn't quite as exciting to watch the Pats come back via a computer screen, but pretty cool to see Brady and the boys get it done anyway. I've got 3 words for this year's Pats....Best Team Evah!!!

Anyway, we ventured out around noon for the park and some ice cream. We found some great ice cream bars for 3 or 4 yuan (40-50 cents) and hung out at the park for a long time playing. We went back to the hotel for Ainsley and Ellie to get naps while Kenzie and I went out for some shopping and "daddy and daughter time." Steph sent me out to buy the rest of our souvenirs because she doesn't like bartering....she feels bad asking for a lower price and walking out if needed...I love the challenge :-) After shopping, Kenzie and I bought our favorite drinks, Sprite, and hung out in the park for a while. We came back just as everyone was getting up from naps and decided to hit the cold pool again.

This was the first time we all went, and we had no idea how Ellie would like the pool. She didn't like it at first, but warmed up to the water after a few seconds. I attached a few pics of everyone at the pool today and Ellie getting warmed up with Steph.

Tonight we ordered out for some Papa John's pizza...my favorite. Then we when back out to get just a couple more things in one of the shops and, well, more ice cream. How can you beat ice cream for 50 cents?

Tomorrow morning is group picture time. Then in the afternoon we have the oath. In between, we will start packing for the looooonnnnngggggg trip home on Wednesday. We are so looking forward to being in our own house, with our own beds, room for everyone to run around, and some sense of "normal" back in our lives. But let me assure you that we are NOT looking forward to a 4 hour, 12 hour, and another 1 hour flight to Tokyo, Detroit, and then to Cinci. Please be praying for all of us....especially that Ellie will be able to relax and sleep on the flight....I can't imaging how hard

it will be for a 2 year old who has always been able to do what she wants within the confines of her orphanage room.

Ok, I'm off to bed soon. We'll probably post one more time Tuesday. Thanks again for your support and prayers!