We rolled in last night around 7:00 into the Garden Inn in Guangzhou. The hotel is really beautiful.

I mean, seriously! Any place with a room door THIS BIG has GOT to be a nice place, right?!

I will try and get some more pictures of the hotel later. There is a family staying here that adopted Leah’s younger foster sister and they meet us down in the lobby for a little reunion. They had not seen each other in quite awhile because Leah had been in Beijing for so long with her health issues. The two enjoyed spending a little time with each other.

Leah enjoyed showing her the bells and whistles on her new iPod.

Leah obviously had access to Apple products because the girl is fully adept at doing anything that she needs to do with her iPod. Look at weather, surf the internet … I think I caught her checking her portfolio value the other day.

We went with the other family for a late dinner. SOME signs from home bring warm feelings. Others …

Not a huge fan of McDonalds and even here, with little American food options, it wasn’t that great. Brittany did have a double cheeseburger (OK … two) that was pretty good, and I DO like their fries, but my spicy chicken sandwich was marginal. It was nice to have Ali here to help with the ordering, especially when we needed to order dipping sauce for someones McNuggets.

Leah shared a last meal with her little sister.

This morning it was up early to head to the International Travel Health Clinic so that all of the girls could have a physical and get any vaccinations needed by the U.S. Government for access to America.

Jessie is turning into a little bit of a momma’s girl.

The first part of the physical is your typical blood pressure and temp.

Riley had difficulty sitting still for the ear temperature probe as she said it tickled her.

Then they test them for color vision.

Height and weight.

And vision screening. Ali had to explain the process to Riley a little bit.

They all passed with flying colors and, in fact, Riley and Jessie had exceptionally good vision.

Ali caught playing Temple Run on my iPad.

Sometimes you have to do your best to keep Riley entertained!

After this, the girls had to go into the actual physical exam by one of the doctors.

Ali kept the nurses entertained by showing them pictures of her adoption two years ago and regaling them of stories from a family of twelve kids and mom and dad make fourteen! That is how she likes to introduce herself. I heard it today twice already. It is her claim to fame here …

Next it was off to the ENT doctor, for a THOROUGH (mark that as sarcasm) evaluation of their health!

Then the girls had to get their blood drawn (no parents allowed) and caught up on any vaccinations that the U.S. Government requires. It is such a joke. They required Leah to get a Polio vaccine … and she has had Polio. THAT was money well spent.

Oh … here was the second time Ali used her line, on this lady who was looking over Ali’s shoulder at pictures on the iPad.

The girls had a rough time at the end of the appointments. They were woken up early, Jessie is still having trouble with all the change, then they all had shots, and there were some tears and some grumpy girls! We came back to the hotel, worked for awhile getting all the paperwork together for the U.S. Consulate meeting on Monday. Then we went out for a late lunch. This hotel is really nice because there are restaurants everywhere around it … Chinese, American, even a Mexican place (we are going to brave that tonight. They have chips and salsa … how bad could it be.)

The family with Leah’s foster sister was heading to Honk Kong tonight so we went down to the lobby to see them off. Here is our little entourage in the elevator!

And Kelly’s little shadow in the lobby!

When the other family got down to the lobby, Leah gave her foster sister a little present to remember her by.

The two of them spent a little time together again …

And then it was time to say goodby. Leah was pretty sad to see her close friend leave so soon.

We decided to go look for a park that was somewhat close to the hotel. We actually never found the park (we DID, however, find a map that will allow us to get there on our next walk) but we did get to see different parts of Guangzhou!

Sometimes you just need to find a place to sit and read the paper…

On the way back, we decided to get some magazines for the girls to read up in the room. The guy shorted me on my change and I kept arguing with him about it until I realized that I was arguing over $1. Forget it. Not worth the effort! Its hard when the exchange rate is $6 RMB to $1 US to keep some of these things in perspective. You look at a menu item that is $24 and you think, “That is kind of expensive.” And then you remind yourself that it is $4 and cheaper than the “value meal” last night at McDonalds and will feed several people!

How about a little view “behind the curtain?” There are worse places to update your blog!

Tomorrow we are off to Shamian Island, a beautiful part of this city which used to be where all the British dignitaries lived. It is home to the famous White Swan hotel that used to play a central roll in China adoptions not too long in the past. It is also home to the Victory Hotel, the place where we have stayed on that last two visits to Guangzhou. There is a Thia restaurant there where we are planning on having lunch tomorrow! That is, if we survive the Mexican tonight!!

I had someone thank me for including the struggles we have faced on this blog. I kind of laughed to myself. First, I wouldn’t say there have been “struggles.” The girls have offered “challenges” but when looked at in the light of the immense change and disruption that has occurred in their lives, I would have to say that they are all doing remarkably well. Second, Kelly and I have to die to ourselves EVERY day, and I mean that literally. I pray every night for patience and understanding. And, I probably have to repeat that prayer a dozen times or so every day. Our tour guide has worked many years with the orphanage that Ali, Jessie, and Riley came out of and he commented on the extreme lack of rules and how every child coming out of that orphanage is very undisciplined. We are living that. These girls are not bad by any stretch of the imagination. But they have to be corrected and directed ALL the time.

(NOTE: As I was writing this, Jessie was sitting in front of me, head over the keyboard, biting the side of the screen, pushing keys. My points exactly…)

There are so many times over the last week that it would be so very easy to loose your temper or react with impatience and frustration. But I really feel that God has stepped in and given us an extra measure of grace through this time. Notice I said “extra measure” as we have not been perfect. However, we have done very well!

Cameron