Day 13 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 – Guangzhou

We almost miss breakfast this morning! We sleep late again. We need the rest! But we also need food. J Thankfully there is time for us to load up plates of fruit, eggs, breads and cups of juices, tea and coffee before the buffet closes. But the best part of breakfast is Erin T. showing up at our table with her 3 children! We enjoy chatting about our adoption adventures and then head off to the Swan Playroom together. We spend several hours in the playroom chatting while the kids enjoy all the toys and being able to just be kids. It is great to have this chance to talk with Erin more in person - especially after our very brief meeting in the Cloisonne Factory in Beijing. Teagan is a doll! It is fun to see a baby. We have a "grown-up" 2 year old Juan Juan! We meet a couple other families in the playroom and enjoy sharing our adoption stories. We hope to see some of these people again in the future! After playing for several hours the girls are very ready for lunch and naptime. Off I go in search of food . . . to the 7-Eleven for some items and then to the Deli for the rest. I think they will miss us at the Deli when we leave. After quite a bit of rice is dropped onto the hotel floor (but not of the carpet - Lilla points out to us that she is being a good girl and is staying on the tile floor to eat as we have asked!), lunch is over and naptime commences once again for the little girls. The big girls again head out treasure hunting (that is what we like to call shopping!). We have to avoid buying everything at one store. Each store owner/employee wants us to spend all our money in their shop - but I feel that we should spread the money around the island somewhat fairly. J We get a few things while avoiding buying many on this first round. It is good to comparison shop, except I am quickly forgetting which store has which item and for how much. Thankfully, we find the best store! It is called A Gift From China - Guangzhou's First Charity Store. Another traveling adoptive parent shared about this store on her web-site, but I had forgotten this until we stumbled upon the shop. All my fellow adopting friends, you MUST go there! They have very unique items! They help support kids in orphanages. You can go to the following web-site http://www.goodrock.org.uk/ to read more about the organization and also click on A Gift From China at the bottom right corner to go to the store site. They have small play area for children in the store which makes shopping there even more enjoyable if you are with your children. Emma got a beautiful Chinese silk Bible cover there and I got beautiful silver earrings and the cutest outfits for the girls. I could go on and on about this shop. I was so glad to have somewhere to shop where the proceeds would go to help more children! Being the quintessential charity/thrift shopper and Chinese adoption advocate that I am, this shop was definitely the place for me. Time quickly passing as money was also quickly passing from my hands, so Emma and I called it an afternoon and headed back to the hotel. We had only made it one block in all this time. The shops are stacked almost on top of each other. One shop is called "Shop on the Stairs" because that is what they are - a shop located on a flight of stairs. Interesting. The girls have again slept the whole time we are shopping! Ben managed to get a snooze in as well. We rest for a bit and enjoy a cup of tea before heading to Lucy's for dinner. It is such a warm night that we decide to eat outside. We enjoy our meals. It is nice to have something other than buns from the deli with a bit of Chinese food on the side. Afterwards we manage to find a pair of new pink shoes for Juan to go with her pretty pink dress that she'll wear to the Visa ceremony tomorrow. A few more shops later and we have consumed some coffee, ice cream and acquired a big bottle of water. Time to head back for bath and bed time yet again! Where is the time going? It seems like we just got up and now we are going to bed again. We have only one day left in China. We are sad. Ben is already thinking maybe he will be able to give a presentation someday at the Fisheries here in Guangzhou (figuring out how to get back here for a visit! J). Ben is going to visit the South China Sea Fishery Research Institute in Guangzhou tomorrow morning. Juan Juan update - we are pretty sure she said the following English words today: Lilla, brush teeth, and Prayer Bear (a Steve Green tape we have with us). She is eating better and went to sleep tonight without crying. She was keeping herself awake by taking her socks off and putting them back on. Ben reported to me that she fell asleep with her socks on her hands. She is too cute! I hope I haven't left anything out. Oh - I am fighting a cold and would appreciate extra prayers for a quick recovery. All of us girls seem to be fighting a little something. One more thing - we did hear today that our flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo is double- booked and we are unsure as to whether or not we will make it on the flight. We hope to find out tomorrow when we would get home if we are not able to get on that flight. I must sign-off so Ben can down-load the photos I need to get all of these posts up on our Ladybug Journal site. 

Love and blessings, 

Lisa ><> (Ben, Emma, Lilla and Juan Juan too!)