Last day here in counrty

Thursday May 14, 2015  Final day in China

Well the boys are finally on a good sleep schedule and now it is time to head home.   This morning we got up and enjoyed a good breakfast at the hotel.   We then decided to head back to Shamain Island to pick up the stone etching of Joshua’s face.  It turned out beautifully.    We watched the people in the park, walked along the river and went to a few shops but really did not buy anything other than a few T-shirts.

It is always sad to leave the island, we have had many good times there and have enjoyed walking around and visiting with other adoptive families and with the shop keepers.

It was so hot and humid today that we did not want to stay out too long.   It felt good to get back in air conditioning.  We came back to the hotel and grabbed the Shanghai Dumplings again (I took pictures this time). 

Banana pancake

Shanghai dumplings

We worked on packing everything and getting everything ready for an early departure tomorrow.  We have too much stuff this trip and need to decide what has to go home with us and what can just stay here.

This afternoon we received our paperwork packet and Joshua’s passport with the visa to travel home.  He will become a US citizen when we land in Dallas tomorrow afternoon.

Tonight we went back to the restaurant that Shiyan took us to earlier in the week, the one with the snakes in tanks.   We ordered from the pictures on the menu with no English words on it.   We had a pork dish, noodles with beef, Chinese broccoli with meat balls and these wonderful rolls with BBQ inside.  Quite a great meal.

We made one last pass through the shops next door to say goodbye to a lady we know from previous trips.

One of the things I forgot to mention yesterday; when we were walking around at the pearl market, Shaun was singing at the top of his lungs “God Our Father”, have to love it. 

I think Shaun is ready to get home and see his sisters and play with his other toys.   Joshua has not been in a very good mood today, he has been a very picky eater, has been whiny and grumpy.  

He prefers mommy over daddy but does not like being corrected by either of us.  We hope he is in a better mood tomorrow for the trip home.  He is a little squirm worm in the car.  We have a 3 hour van ride to Hong Kong in the morning so that should be interesting since he does not like to be constrained.  Then there is the little 15.5 hour flight to Dallas and if we survive that with him then we have a short 2.5 hour flight to Atlanta.  It promises to be a very long day.

We will leave the hotel at 7 am Friday morning so 6 pm Thursday CDT, we then fly out of Hong Kong at 1:30 PM or 12:30 am Friday morning for those at home.  This will have us landing right around 4 pm Dallas time Friday afternoon. 

Shaun has been very good overall.  He has been very loud, as he and Joshua tend to feed off of each other.  Shaun has had a great attitude, has been very cooperative and traveled so well.  We pray that he will travel home well too. 

This will be the last update from here.  We will post an update this weekend after we get home.   Thanks to everyone for following along on this journey with us.   We are truly blessed to be here adopting Joshua.  We are thankful that we have been chosen for this journey and look forward to watching him grow up and mature into a fine young man.