Ahhh We have had an amazing time here in Guangzhou.. Our safari trip was just hands down amazing!!!! We took an open tram ride through a safari where the animals all ran wild and walked right up to the tram. WOW! Luke loved it and watched everything with such amazement and everything was new and exciting. I dont know if his eyes can even get any bigger then they did haha. We loved it! We went with our Madison adoption group of 4 out of our 5 families (Marcie and her Hubby and their daughter did not go as they have been here for 3 weeks). We got to see so many animals and after the tram ride we walked around the zoo and saw some amazing animals. The safari park was more then I could possibly imagine it would be, we loved it and Luke was in awe the whole time, he kept asking me what everything was called and how you spell the name and the sign for it. He learned many many signs at the safari and we had the afternoon and morning of a lifetime. We saw an elephant show that was phenomanl and a tiger diving show that was certainly something to talk about. Then the day ended with Myra and I doing our farewell Guangzhou dance on the stage of the theater (yes we really did this heheh) we were later joined by Luke (yes the boy has totally come out of his shell) and then later Madison joined us (Wayne and Lisa's little girl). I am pretty sure we have left a last impression on China as we know it has left one on us. We have enjoyed our travelmates from Madison to no end and today we said goodbye to Mike, Myra and Little man Will. It was not easy to say goodbye and Luke didnt handle it very well as he is very close to Mike, Myra and Will.. I do beleive I see a visit to Kentucky in my future ( no I have never been there and never thought I would but I sure do want to go there now!)
Last night we went to the river and took pictures of the beautiful river all lit up at night.Luke loved it and truly is starting to be a momma and daddys boy. He had me give him piggy back ride down there ( not easy with him gaining several pounds since we got him a week and a half ago.. he is now 70lbs wow) and then he was wanting hugs and kisses and love. He is starting to want to hold our hands and just be my pal. We are having the time of a lifetime and our boy has blossomed so much in almost 2 weeks that I cant imagine how life will be in a few months, years... He is so different already. Our son is the dream boy. .Everyone loves him (all of the families here..) and the Chinese people here love him too.. he got himself some free icecream last night and today a free lollipop from the lady that owns the shop downstairs because she thinks he is the cutest little boy ever heheh
We are all packed up and ready to fly tomorrow. Luke has been watching the calender for 5 days and loves that we are flying tomorrow, he is so excited he doesnt know what to do with himself!!!!!! He keeps saying " the 29th we fly to China, then hotel, then 30th fly again to America.. fly long long long sun up to sun down.. then I am in America and will see Tommy and Paige and everyone!!!" the boy is sooo excited! Good night Guangzhou and tomorrow is hello Beijing, then Sunday is hello America!!! When we land in Chicago as soon as we go through immigration Luke is an American Citizen!!! I cant wait for him to meet his brothers and sisters and the rest of his family!
Daddy and Son with a little arm wrestling!!
My happy happy boy!
Daddy and his boy!
Our Madison gang out to dinner together with our guide Connie (she rocks!)
Me eating the famous Pidgeon wings..they were actually very good, just not much meat
Tom and I skyping with our little angel Paige at home, man do we miss our kiddos!
The heads of our pidgeon wings
Luke with his new backpack that he picked out himself!
Mike and Myra.. we do love these two....
Myra and my man Luke
Our gang heading into the Safari
Luke checking out the animals
Luke petting one of the many bunnies in the park (2011 is the year of the rabbit!)
One of the many Siberain Tigers, there were many and they were stunning
Tom and Luke posing for a pic...
Me feeding one of the giraffes..way cool!
Daddys turn
Me and the Panda (there were 12 of them!)
Daddy and Luke infront of the Panda bears
Mr. Wayne with the Panda.. he is soooo funny
Mommy and Daddy and Luke down by the Riverfront
Father and Son
Me and my gal pal, Myra
The girls! Lisa, Tracy and Myra
We didnt have the best of luck on the famous red couch.. this was as good as it got (Luke, Will and Madison)
Lisa, Tracy, Madison, Myra and Luke
Tom and I infront of the waterfall in the White Swan
Mike, Tom and Wayne (pals for life!)
Mike, Tom, Wayne, Luke, Will and Madison
Myra, Will and Mike
Some Anime Cosplayers during a photoshoot
Me and my pal Will... I am gonna miss my little kissy partner
Wayne and Tom.. the sure are gonna miss each other
Luke and his new pal, Will.. they are gonna miss each other too!
Wow oh Wow oh Wow.. where to begin!!
We have had the most amazing amazing amazing days here!! ( I truly dont beleive I have the vocabulary necessary to explain all that has happened here). We are in love with our little man and today he is learning how to love back. He gave his first hug to Tom today after seeing Tom hug me (he was so not sure why we hugged) we told him we hug because we love each other.. he JUMPED up into Toms arms with his arms out saying I LOVE YOU DAD!! then to me.. I lOVE YOU MOM!!! He is wanting to hold hands now and sign I love you a ton ( just since yesterday). Tom and I have laughed so hard the last few days we never ever imagined this trip would be like this. We thought it was going to be 2 long hard weeks of being with a stranger who doesnt really want us here. This trip for us couldnt be much further away from that. God has truly made a match made in Heaven. We are so in love and he cannot wait to get home and actually see his family back in America (other then on skype). Although he is quite addicted to skype!
We spent the last few days touring around Guangzhou. We hit a dried food market, a scarry scarry meat market, a pet market (Luke didnt know what any of the pets where called, not even in Chinese) You better beleive he knows the signs for them all now. We spent yesterday at a park with our beloved pals from Madison. Another match that our Lord so made in Heaven. We have laughed and laughed and laughed some more with our Madison travel mates ( I am pretty sure our faces will be on posters here when we leave heheh). We have made friendships that without a doubt will last a lifetime. Luke is soo attached to the other 2 men in our travel group that he gets upset when he thinks of them leaving. He is such a guy... but a guy with a heart of gold. We are so anxious for our friends and family to see this blessing of a boy!!!
Today we had to stay in our room for an hour while our guide did our interviews at the Consulate and she called and said all was great and we are ready for our Consulate appointment today. We leave at 2 to head to the Consulate and take our Oath promising to always take care of our boy and to love him forever.. That is going to be the easiest thing I have ever done as we love him to pieces already. We truly didnt expect to feel for him how we feel now and it is mind blowing how well he is doing. He is pure joy from the moment he wakes until he goes to sleep. For a boy that knew nothing a week ago to a boy that can have great conversations with us just one week later. His signing is still increasing at a rate that is astounding for me ( and I work with Deaf children on a daily basis) and we are watching his language blossom right before our eyes!!!
I have to get off to head to the consulate now and will try and post more later as soooo much has happend in the last few days (allll great stuff)
here are a few picks from our last few days will post more later...
I am the pillow fighting champion of China!!! Whaoooo soon to conquer the world!!
Some of the dried foods (if you can call them food) in the market we went to
Ohh man does he liek spaghetti!!
It was a watch party! Luke got to pick out his very first watch and it was quite an amazing moment!
All the kids with their new watches!!
The literal sea of people in the market, keeping an eye on 1 kid was not easy. whew
Luke petting his first ever dog!
Tom and I with our new found friend Jana, she just moved to China from NC and is Deaf, what a sweetheart
Our little gang, part of theWorrell family but not the whole crew (soon my babies soon!)
Luke and his daddy on the work out equipment in the park
He loves to exercise
Tom and Wayne on some kind of Chinese exercise/ torture device heheh
Me and Tom in the park, it was so pretty there
us being goofy!!!
We are some seriously strange people, we know!
Luke and Wayne calling for Mike.. that was a riot
Me and Ms Madison, my pal
Tom and Luke on his 1st amusement park ride
Mike and Wayne ( I am pretty sure they hate each other heheh ;p~)
The girls, Lisa, Madison, Myra and Me
Tom and Madison they sure are goofy
Hmmm what can I say.. We are enjoying each others company and there is ALOT of guy love to go around hahahah
We love Guangzhou and love our new friends we have made here. I do beleive it is going to be very hard to leave our new friends we have met. There has been alot of laughter with our crazy American adoptive families and I have never felt so releived to have others around that are all going through the same thing. We Madison families have bonded very well and Tom and I truly enjoy everyones company. We have some great stories to tell and memories for a lifetime! Mrya, Mike and Will... Lisa, Wayne and Madison, Angela, Scott and their beautiful entourage of children have been such a blessing to us the last few days.. Much love to you all!!! We havent seen Marcie as much as her poor hubby has not been feeling well and we are praying he gets better very soon.
The last two days with our budding comedian have been the most amazing days. Luke is taking off like there is no limit to what he can do. His sign language is incredible and he is learning at least 20 - 30 new signs everyday and retaining and using them. We can discuss alot of things now and it is crazy how fast he learns and that after one time of being shown it is stored nicely in his brain!!!
Yesterday we went to a Famous Buddhist temple here called Six Banyan Temple and it was truly interesting to see what the religion of this country is. Luke doesnt seem to have been taught any religion but has obviously seen it practiced as he can mimic what they do, but has no idea what for. He was again the photographer for our journey there and the boy has a great eye and is taking some amazing shots. I do beleive he is going to need his own camera back home, I will write that down on his wish list hehe.
After the Buddhist temple we went to a Jade market and got to buy some really nice good jade and it was wayyy cheaper then if you bought it in the USA. Luke saw an artist there that was making ink drawings with his fingers and the artist let all of our kids try and he LOVED it.. he did pretty good too, he really does watch what all is going on and picks up quickly.
After the temple our friends here wanted us to see a dried spice and also a meat market, really an experiance you cant miss when you come here but it truly makes you wonder about why and how they eat the things they do here... We saw some crazy things here and are pretty sure we scarred Luke some as he didnt know that the chicken he eats was actually once alive until we went to the market, he got pretty upset but just hasnt eaten chicken since then. He was facsinated with what we saw and couldnt wait to show his mommy, daddy and his 2 new best male friends ever , Mr Wayne and Mr Mike all the things we saw.
We ended our night with going out to an AMAZING Chinese dinner with Mike, Myra, cutie pie Will and Lisa, Wayne and the amazing Ms Madison and we had some great food and great laughs. I love the support of our little group and sure do hope we can stay in touch and stay close when we leave. It has been amazing to have such a support group here. We are missing Julie and Eric and there gorgeous son Max as they are with another agency and we dont really get to see them. We spent alot of time in Jinan with them and they are amazing people. Hoping to see them again and spend some good time together before we leave.
Our time here with Luke is something I will treasure forever. There are moments when it is just so hard for me to look at him and wonder how no one could ever take to the time to teach him ANYTHING (like what a cat, dog, and mouse are.. how to tie his shoes.. that he was born in the year of the dragon, that he is a human worth loving..), he is so bright and has heart of gold. He has turned into a social bug and is making friends with everyone. He is just a joy and a dream to be around.... tonight as he was going to bed he told me he loved me for the first time and it makes me cry to type it, his little heart is opening up and he is truly letting tom and I in. Tonight we laughed and danced and giggled and tickled and played goofy games, he loves just being in the room with us being goofy and laughing until Tom and I have tears in our eyes. He cant understand how I can be happy when I am crying and he seems confused when I sometimes cry looking at him and I try hard not to do that, but he is so amazing that I cant beleive no one ever got to know how amazing he was for the first 10 years of his life. I am truly blessed to be the one to be able to see this joyous little boy blossom right in front of my eyes. God is truly shining down upon us and I dont feel worthy of the joy. We know that this is not going to be an easy journey for us and there will be bumps in the road.... but seeing the smile the size of Godzilla and hearing his amazing laugh and giggle and seeing his eyes light up when he learns something new and seeing him just about jump out of his skin with excitement of flying home to meet his family....surely makes it worth any bumps that are to come.
Xin Hai's name in Chinese!
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