Hello from China.

It is wonderful that we are able to communicate with our friends and family so easily from half a world away, in China. We love the fact that we can give all of you a snapshot of our days.

We are doing well and enjoying a rest day today. That means we do not have to do any paper work for the adoption today. Thus, we have decided to explore the city, do a little shopping and go to the pool. This morning we went to Starbucks that we just found is close to our hotel. It is a little slice of home so far away. Chris can not get over the fact that the coffee tastes identical what we he gets at home. Also, the store itself looks pretty much the same, too. I think we will be frequent flyers there.

In the mornings we have been enjoying walks before it gets too hot. There are so many people out exercising in the AM. There are many groups doing tai chi and each group is listening to different music. We have heard everything from traditional Chinese instrumental music to Madonna. What a range. The girls and I enjoy watching the woman. The people watching here is just great!

We are fortunate that we are the only family from our agency currently in Guangzhou. This allows us to have our guide all to ourselves and be more independent. We can really tailor our days to what we want to do, besides the appointments for adoption paperwork. Yesterday I went to get my toenails painted with our guide, Connie. It was a fun and relaxing adventure. Except for the fact that I could not read the magazines, but I did like looking at the pictures. Tomorrow she is going to take us to the fabric market for Chris to get some shirts tailor made.

Amelia is growing stronger each day. We have already noticed a big difference in her from when we first met her. Today she crawled across the floor to get one of Madilyn’s toys that she wanted to explore. We were all thrilled to see her do this, as we did not think she had the strength in her arms and legs to do this. She also has begun to smile, especially at her sister. Madilyn is so good with her! Another thing she really enjoys doing is looking in the mirror. We are happy to see her growing stronger each day and hope that this continues and by the time we go home we hope she is quite different from our first days together.

We will continue to write and are glad that all of you are enjoying the blog.

Much love- Sue