Sunday Best

Here's the girls all dressed up and ready for church on Sunday. Rebecca did really well too, I knew she would be fine through church because she is MUCH less wiggly that Miz Divine but I wasn't sure if she would go to children's church and Sunday school okay. But, being the little trooper that she is - she went right in and had a blast!

We're Home

Sorry for the belated note, but we are home. We arrived fairly late on Thursday evening and were met by some friends at the airport. There were gifts for the kids and hugs galore. We really appreciate everyone that came out to see us, knowing full well it was a school night and late - but we do appreciate it. Our friends were so kind to send groceries to last us a few days and then we have had several REALLY good meals! Thank all of you!!!

Also, thanks to everyone who sent the kindest emails and sweet notes to our blog. My apologies for not being able to answer each and every one but it just seemed like we were on the go the whole time. I finally got around to reading up on my favorite blogs late last night and hopefully will have some time to send some notes out this afternoon.

Just wanted everyone to know how much we appreciate our friends here locally as well as all my bloggy friends! It's too funny how these relationships develop online and then you feel so close to people. I had met a family online from Kansas and it just so happened we were in China at the same exact time. There's a funny store to tell there too but I'll have to share that later. But the point is, it felt like meeting up with old friends because of us getting to know one another prior to arriving in China. They have the kindest and sweetest spirit and just a beautiful family.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

We celebrated Ryan's birthday tonight on our last night in Guangzhou. It's hard to believe my baby boy is now 11 years old. Where in the world have the years gone?!

He invited a couple of his buddies from our travel group and we went and celebrated with ice cream. After we were about settled in for bed, the hotel delivered a cake and fruit basket. What a surprise!

Well, off to bed for the now hyped up Hunter clan ... we have a 4 a.m. wake up call. We're all dreading that long flight home but we are looking forward to being back in our own beds!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN! I LOVE YOU!!! I'll never forget you coming into our lives in Ft Worth, TX 11 years ago. A lot has changed since then, but my love for you is still the same!

Red Sofa Photo Op

One of the traditions with each travel group is to have the children's pictures taken on the red sofa's at the White Swan hotel. We stayed there with our last trip but this time we are staying at the Victory Hotel which is just down the street.

Tradition held though and we all dressed up our children and walked down to the White Swan to have their pictures taken.

Everyone was bragging on the girls and how cute they looked and you could tell it was just making Rebecca's day and she was smiling and trying to hug and play with Emma. But Emma had just gotten up from a nap and really wasn't in a mood for such frivolity. Thankfully she was in a better mood by the time we got to our destination.

Brian is missing from this one, he has been more than slightly under the weather.

She's laughing not crying!

Rebecca loves her brother already!
Feeling like the most blessed mother in the world!
Sibling Cuteness!

Medical Exam

Too cute to not share :-)



Sorry for the 50 posts today, but we are heading out tomorrow with a 4:30 a.m. wake up call and checking out at 5:30 and I have a whole list of things I wanted to blog about. I made my list, now checking it twice :-)

Rebecca had her medical exam on our first full day in Guangzhou. Same exact place that we took Emma for hers three years ago. Same procedure, the doctors pretty much just looked in their ears, nose and throat, checked their heart rate and the nurses weighed them with the babies being weighed on the little thing you lay on and the big kids on a more traditional type scale. The hearing test is basically a little toy piano type thing.

Meat Bread

One of the best things about having Susan as our guide in Xian is that for one it is her hometown and the other, that girl knows good food! She took us to several of her favorite places, some of which are what seemed to be like little hole in the wall type places ... which just so happens to be the kind of places we like to find back home. I wrote about the noodles place in the muslim market the other day, but the place we kept going back to was one that sold what she called "meat bread". Oh my goodness, good stuff! We all loved it, parents and kids alike.

Crib Time

The girls cracked us up the other day when the both got into the crib to play! They played for quite a while, just giggling and playing - it was too cute.

Guangzhou Zoo

Not much to say about the zoo but we did enjoy walking around and enjoying the Florida type weather. The one funny thing though is that one exhibit was nothing but a dog, too funny. So instead of a bunch of words, how about some pix today:

Our guide Alison, another angel from heaven. For our church friends, you may remember that she came one Sunday with us a couple of years ago. A truly amazing lady!






Alison with Emma. Alison was brand new with our agency when we adopted Emma so I know she has a special place in her heart for her very first group.







Rebecca didn't warm up too easily to Alison ... until Alison offered her some ice cream and then all of a sudden she was her long lost best buddy! Brent, Angie and Paul ... that's the secret to winning her over, food - especially sweets! Just like her mama :-)

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To China

I had asked Amanda if there was anything I could bring her from the states. I knew she was from South Africa but what I didn't know until the other night is that she lived in the states for 9 years. It really warmed my heart that she asked for such simple things like lipton cup of soup, some gel pens, shoe-goo to fix the children's shoes and some things like this. What touched my heart the very most though was that she asked for the lime flavored tortilla chips and some salsa! I had no idea that a British sounding woman from South Africa would crave chips and salsa. When I replied and told her we would bring her what we could, I shared with her how the chips and salsa thing tickled the daylights out of me because when we moved to Kentucky from Texas, we have yet to be able to find a brand of salsa that we like. Every time my mom comes out to visit she brings us our favorite "hell on the red". YUMMMY!

Anyway, Brian & I went shopping and we filled up one suitcase of things for Amanda. He carefully packed two bags of chips in a plastic storage container all bubble wrapped and everything. He bought one of the big plastic things of pace salsa and he wrapped it in plastic and bubble wrap and placed it inside of a shoebox size plastic box and taped it up. Everything was snug as could be and had little chance of being broken or spilled.

We were so happy to hand over the things to Amanda and you could tell the chips and salsa absolutely made her day! When we were packing up to leave Xian, I was pulling the rest of the tape off of the plastic container that had held the salsa and I noticed that it wasn't our tape ... in fact, it had "department of homeland security"! We laughed and laughed and laughed. Can you just imagine something looking suspicious to security and them opening the lock on our suitcase and digging down to the questionable container ... only to unwrap it to find Pace's Picante Sauce!