Finally in Guangzhou

We have safely arrived in Guangzhou. There are about 20 families here from Holt (our adoption agency). It's great to see all the families with their adopted babies. Karissa is the youngest, most are between 1.5 to 3 yrs. One family adopted a five year old little girl that is sooo sweet and happy. Her parents told us that when she first met them she gave them a kiss and called them baba mama. She was sooo excited to be adopted that she showed everyone at the orphanage the picture of her new family. Another family adopted two boys in their teens. We also met a few families in the same situation where the child only allows one parent to care for her. Misery loves company, so I feel much better and less depress that we are not alone. Karissa has improved in that aspect. After some complaining, she will allow Hebron to feed her milk. And he can hold her when I am not around. So I leave them alone to have some bonding time. Our tour guide arranged a shopping day, so I went with the group and left the kids with Hebron. The boys took a good nap and Karissa had fun with daddy. She will even play with him now, but still prefers me. I am sooooo relieved. Thank you for your prayers. I can really feel God's protection upon us.

First day here, we did alot of paper work already. We went to take another passport photo for visa purpose. Then we took Karissa to a clinic for a brief physical exam. Lastly, we filled out paper and got ready to see the Consulate. Everything seems to be close to the hotel so we walked to all these places.

White Swan hotel is a really nice five star hotel. They offer really good breakfast buffet. There are omelet, pancake, bacon, pizza, nuggets, variety of dim sum, congee, yogurt, bread, fruits, noodle, and much more. I definitely gained weight. We would have never booked such fancy hotel on our own. It seems like all adoption agencies use this hotel. Every business around this hotel caters to adoptive families. It is an industry in itself. Restaurants have baby menu offering baby food such as congee and pureed food. There are baby stores all over. Some stores even offer to do laundry at a low price and even loan out baby stroller. We met a store owner who is a believer, so we brought our laundry to her. She gave the kids toys and let us borrow a brand new stroller for free. Of course I feel bad, so I bought some souvenirs from her.