Monday - September 10

Off and running to an early start this morning! Had to meet at 7:50 this morning. All the families except ours had their consulate appointments this morning at 8:30. Amy dropped them off at the consulate and then took Jonathan and I back to the clinic to have his TB skin test read. We were in and out real quick without problems. Then we went back to the consulate to pick the others up to go back to the hotel. 
We all met downstairs again at 10:30 for our group picture. Everyone dispersed and did their own thing after that.
We decided to go to the park fo walk around.The hotel has the two largest parks in the city nearby. Liuhuahu park and lake is on the other side of the Dong Fang Hotel which is to our left. We went through the walkway under the street and up the other side to the park. It is huge but the less hilly of the two. We were only able to take in about  1/3 of the park today. It is breathtaking and had lots of shade that helped. 
McD's was our friend at lunch today. After that it was nap time. 
We ate some local cuisine for dinner tonight in one of the hotel restaurants called Food Street. We sat with a couple from Tennessee who adopted a daughter from Fujian. They went with Holt International for their adoption. Had a wonderful time getting to know them. We had some beef and noodles, dumplings and Yangzhou fried rice and oolong tea. Even Andrew ate some of the beef noodles! I was the only one eating the dumplings. Everything was absolutely yummy! I'm still using chopsticks to eat my Chinese with. Getting a lot better. 
We have our consulate appointment in the morning at 8:30 so we'll be in the lobby at 7:50 to leave. Traffic is pretty heavy until around 9 and then picks up again around 4 pm. Tomorrow will be a sad day. We say good by to the other 4 families. They head out tomorrow at 4 PM for Hong Kong and fly out of Hong Kong on Wednesday morning. We have really enjoyed getting to know the families. We'll still get to see Jamie and Karen and their kids in Greensboro and at church but we may never get to see the other families again.  Hopefully we'll be able to correspond with them still in the future so we can follow the progress of all the children.  Both the kids have had their baths now and brushed teeth so we'll be getting to bed soon. Morning will come soon enough. We have 1 1/2 days left here before we leave for Hong Kong and home. I will be happy and sad at the same time. I love China and it's rich culture. It is the homeland of both my children. Hopefully, we'll be able to return some day.
Good night all.
Lisa

All the families in lobby of Hotel Marriott China, Guangzhou

Andrew taking a rest break.

Lihuhuahu Park Map