Last Full Day in China - 10/16

Pretty low key day.  We all met in the lobby for pics of each family and pics with all of the babies together in their traditional clothing.  

 Our Family (minus Tru)

And I'd love to introduce the rest of our group to you!

Jason, Tanya, Aubrey, and Rachel Bujnosek - (Texas)

There's plenty of pics of this family on in our China pics.  We traveled the whole trip together - Beijing, Nanchang, and then Guangzhou, so we got to know them the best out of all of the families.  They are a precious family and we had such a great time with them and many laughs, meals together,  and adventures throughout the trip.  Aubrey is such a sweetie and was my Great Wall buddy! Rachel was very calm and sweet during the trip, and we saw her slightly start to come out of her shell by the end. 

The following three couples we got to meet in Nanchang since all of our babies were from Jiangxi province.

 Medray, Susan, and Marin Carpenter - Colorado
Marin makes them first time parents, but you would never guess it!  Marin had a very hard time at first.  She was terrified by elevators and clung to Susan as in the picture the entire trip.  Things like bathing and packing were difficult for Susan if she couldn't hold Marin.  This couple handled this new life changing experience with grace and humor!  God gave Marin the perfect parents for her.  By the end of the trip, she hinted at her smiles to come in her eyes and in the corners of her mouth.  (Since the trip, we hear Marin is a happy, laughing, very well adjusted little girl!)
By the way, Rachel and Marin were in the same orphanage and knew each other.  :)

T.W., Jennifer, Emma, and Lillia Jackson - New Mexico

I loved getting to know this family! They are sweet and personable and T.W. provided us all with laughs the entire trip.  He also joked (and swam) with the boys which relieved some boredom - especially on van and bus rides.  Emma is a charming little girl (and she and Aubrey Bujnosek hung out quite a bit and they were thankful another little girl was on the trip).  Little Lillia was also with a foster mother, but was based out of Nanchang orphanage and we could all see this orphanage from our hotel rooms (which later I found out was the same orphanage my friend Emily's daughter lived in).  Lillia was adorable and came to her family with the most adorable little pig tails all over her head.  She is a cutie!  She appears to have adjusted great at home as well and should be tough like Ellie Kay since she has a four year old brother at home as well.  

The "Three Ts" :)  - Tina, Thomas, and Tia O'Brien - Florida

We also enjoyed getting to know the O'Briens!  Thomas provided a laugh for us the very first night we met him making jokes about his fear of heights and the fact they put us all on the 31st floor of the hotel.  (Believe it or not, he joined us for a ride on the second tallest Ferris Wheels in the world).  They are first time parents, but Tina was employed for years as a nanny, so she is a natural Mommy and could easily tell signs of tiredness, etc, so she made it look easy!  Tia chose Thomas to bond with first and so you'd often see him wearing her in a front carrier the first couple of days.  However, Tia very quickly also bonded with Tina - even well before the end of our trip! (More than we could say for Ellie Kay ;).  Since their trip, Tia has been surrounded with love, friends, family and adventures.  She also started walking on Thanksgiving Day!

I forgot to add this one before on the day we left from Nanchang to Guangzhou, but this was cute, because it was unusual for people to see five American families all with Chinese babies.  It was an interesting dynamic also because there was excitement and with all of the babies just getting to know us.  

These two families we only got to meet up with in Guangzhou since their babies were from a different province.  They also had the BOYS of our group!! We also enjoyed meeting them if only for a few days.  

These families are Lori, Stephen, and Colton Browing from West Virginia (above), and Jason, Nicole, and Tyler Kern from Colorado (below).   Both of these blessed little boys are joining 2 siblings each at their homes. 

Our whole group

Afternoon on Shamian Island with Tanya

Shamian Island looks different than any other part of China.  It's very European since it was inhabited by Europeans years ago.  It's home to the White Swan hotel which is where all adoptive families stayed years ago but it has since closed down and no one stays on the island any longer. 

 It's beautiful and both days we visited, there were many, many brides and wedding parties getting their pictures made.

The prettiest Starbucks I've seen!

Tanya and I got a big kick out of this.  We were disoriented and couldn't find a particular shop we wanted to find and every bit of the sign was in Chinese.  It did us not a bit of good.  :)

Rest of the day was just packing and getting ready to fly out the next morning!