Home sweet home...

The boys welcome June!

Great Friends!

Our long journey ended with an event less plane ride, a trip through immigration where June became a US citizen, and a trip through customs. My parents met us at the airport and on to Spring Grove! The boys are so excited about June, they play with her on the floor and take numbers on who gets to hold her next. As you can see above our friends had this amazing sign posted on the front of our house, at night is was lit with a spot light and made our homecoming that much better. As you know, Russ and I had a journey we will never forget and we feel so blessed to have had the support of our family and friends during our time in China. Thank you to all of you for your support, kindness, thoughtfulness, and prayers. We will forever be grateful for all everyone did to help us on our journey to Gracie and June.

Last day in Guangzhou...

Dinner?

June's first swim.

On our last day in Guangzhou Russ took June for her first swim and she loved it. We also kicked around town with the Banigans and spent yet another morning at Starbucks. That night for dinner we went to a restaurant where you could pick out your dinner(see the photo above). The restaurant had bugs, misc. water creatures, worms, and lobster that you can pick for your dinner. We however had a typical Chinese dinner. We spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready to go home!

The Red Couch.....

Empress Feng Shao Jun

Great Wall girls Jiangxi province LID 11/17

Jiangxi Families

Emma, MeiLin, and June

Today we took our famous red couch picture. Adoptive families that stay at the White Swan always have a group photo taken on the red couch. The girls did great! There was no crying until the end. Everyone had the chance to snap their pictures before some of the 10 girls lost it. We have traveled with eight families, two of our families have twins, giving us 10 China beauties.

Poolside....

Here is Miss June sitting poolside at the White Swan.

Mid-Autumn Festival River Cruise....

John, Colin, Tiffany and June at our dinner table

Russ enjoying the night life!

Dinner view from our window

Viewing the roundest moon of the year on Mid-Autum festival means good luck and longevity!

Olympic mascots, The Friendlies on a river side building.

We had a great day! Our morning started with a trip to Yuntai Park. The landscape and scenery were beautiful. It was a perfect morning for an outdoor tour, warm, sunny, and a light breeze. Russ and I then took June out for lunch, again to Lucy's for grilled cheese and a hamburger. June loved the grilled cheese! Later in the afternoon our spectacular guide brought me to the United ticket office to purchase a ticket for June on the flight home. Unfortunately ,our other ticket was for Gracie, so we needed to have one for June. Just a note about our guide...she is amazing. Veronica has taken care of every, and I mean every, detail that anyone could possibly imagine. Not only has she made the requirements simple she has taken care of our personal needs in a compassionate, professional, loving manner. We are very fortunate that she has been our guide! In the evening as you can see above we went on a dinner cruise on The Pearl River. The view was definitely the highlight of the evening(not the food). As you can see, we were lucky to see the full moon, actually very lucky because it rained all afternoon and it was not looking very likely that we would see the moon. So as the story goes we should have good luck this upcoming year!

Yuntai Park, Guangzhou.....

September 24th....

Family photo in the White Swan
June's medical exam for immigration
Tif drinks non bottled water with ice, how brave!
Our new friend John eats pigeon for dinner, Yikes!
June and Russ eat mooncakes at Starbucks, yes Starbucks!

We had a great day yesterday. We started at breakfast where we saw a man swimming in the Pearl River with ships and barges? After breakfast it was on to visa photos and medical exam for June. The medical office was packed with families finishing yet another step in our adoption process. After lunch at Lucy's, Rebecca, Lily, and I shopped till we dropped. We bought a lot of Gotcha day gifts for Meilin and June. We had a great time and Lily was a real trooper on our all afternoon shopping spree. At night we went to The Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant. The food was good, spicy, but good. Our friend John was brave and ordered pigeon(he did not eat the head), however, it made a great photo. After dinner we went to Starbucks and enjoyed coffee and mooncakes. September 25th is Mid-Autumn Festival which is celebrated with mookcakes and gifts!

There is always a triathlon....

For those of you who know Russ, there is always time to exercise. Here in China things are no different. This is Russ coming out of the Pearl River on his way to the the bike transition. Actually, he is running to the Giant Bike store. Russ and John have been on the look out for a great bike deal here in China, they have yet to find one. However, Russ did spot a place to rent Giant bikes here in Guangzhou. He and John decided that the rental shop would be on the list of places to visit today!

Chen Family Temple

Today we went to the Chen family Temple, here are some highlights.

Giggle-bug....

June was is a good mood today and shared some of her sweet giggles with us!

The White Swan...

We made it to The White Swan in Guangzhou. It is beautiful here, it looks a little like Charleston, SC. There is even a Starbucks. June had her first plane ride and did great! We ate dinner last night at Lucy's, a favorite on the island. I had grilled cheese and a glass of much needed white wine( white wine is hard to come by in China). Today, tours and shopping, there is lots of shopping in Guangzhou. YEAH!

Everybody Nanchang tonight....

This was our last night in Nanchang. We had Pizza Hut for dinner, yeah!! It was a far cry from the bread with ketchup, tomato, and cheese that I had for lunch yesterday. We have had an incredible week to say the least. If I could bring two things home with me this week they would be the laundry man(who stitches a small piece of paper with your room number to each piece of clothing and folds them in individual bags) and the foot massage lady. For 55 yuan(about 6 dollars) we had a foot and back massage for 1&1/2 hours, complete with tea and a walk back to our hotel. For those of you who have never been to China it is impossible to cross the street, therefore we needed an escort back to The Jin Feng. June's favorite activity, according to her foster mother, is window shopping, so Russ and I took her for a walk through the local market today. I love it here, although, I miss home. This is an amazing place and I feel very lucky I was able to experience June's home. I hope someday we can bring her back so she can experience what a rich and beautiful culture she was born in. Good night, tomorrow it is off to Guangzhou and the last leg of our journey.

The Great Wall....September 15, 2007

Terry and Gayle these pictures are for you, sorry they it took so long to post them, thank you for keeping up with us. Russ went to the highest part of the Great Wall....

The countryside....

the out house
village kitchen
village road with houses
three year old village girl
Russ and June in front of a house
Tod.y we took an amazing trip to a village outside of Nanchang. The local villagers we friendly and curious about us. We were able to see in their homes and visit with their children. Many asked questions about our girls. To most of us their homes look primitive, however, this is a well off village because they are close to a city. We are very spoiled in America, we take for granted the basic needs we have filled every day. One thing to note is that everyone we met today seemed happy. They live with their extended family, grandparents take care of the young children while parents work. I feel so grateful we had the opportunity to see this part of China.

Elephant Lake, Nanchang China

Dinner and a show..

MeiLin and June getting to know each other
June likes watermelon
Our first time giving June a bath, she loved it!
Sweet Dreams...

Last night we had a group dinner at our hotel. You won't believe what we had for dinner, Chinese. (I never thought I could get tired of Chinese food, but I am craving good old bad for you American food. ) Dinner was of course good and June was very entertaining. We think she is teething and she really enjoyed chewing on the watermelon. We also gave her her first bath with us. We were not sure what to expect because her foster mother wrote that she did not always enjoy the bath. However, she had a great time splashing and all. When she was all done she was ready for bed and so were we.

The Pavilion...

June before breakfast
The Nanchang Pavilion
Russ, Tif, and June
view from the pavilion

June had a great first night, she went to bed around 9pm and slept until 5:30am, had a bottle and we all slept until 7:45am. We had just enough time to eat and meet our group for our trip to the Pavilion in Nanchang. We had McDonald's for lunch which made my day, I have not had much to eat this week so this lunch was good. This afternoon we are going to a porcelain shop. Jiangxi is famous for porcelain and some must come home. Tonight we will have a group dinner in the hotel.

Welcome June...

After a long and difficult week we have been blessed with two daughters, Gracie who will stay in China with all of our love and prayers and June-bug who will continue our journey.