China: Day 10

We were due for a bump in the road, I suppose. Things  have been going pretty smoothly over here, aside from a couple of travel delays, and a little tummy trouble, neither of which are uncommon in China. However, today we learned that our entire trip will likely be delayed by a day, meaning instead of getting home early Thursday morning as planned, we very likely won't be able to get home until Friday. Just typing that out makes me cry. I miss my kiddos back home so much and am aching to have my four babies together. And I feel so bad for putting people out. :( While we are certainly doing all we can to soak up Bella's home culture, we are so ready to introduce her to ours. So, the news of this delay has been hard for us to take. If you can, please pray for a miracle, that there is no delay, and that, if there is, it is only one day and that we are able to get home smoothly, quickly, and easily. 

The reason for the delay has nothing to do with our agency. In fact, people are fighting hard for us both over here and back in the States. The problem is, there has been an issue with the Chinese government's computer system (the same one I referenced last week). Because of it being "down" for several days (and then up and running and then down again), we have been unable to get the physical copy of Bella's passport. Well, we need her passport to get her visa. We cannot get her visa until we complete her consulate appointment, which is supposed to take place at 8:30 am Monday. We cannot attend her consulate appointment without the passport, and the visa takes 48 hours to process after the consulate appointment. So, if we are unable to go to the consulate appointment as scheduled, we won't be able to go until at least Tuesday, pushing our departure from China to Thursday, instead of Wednesday. It is just a big, frustrating totally-out-of-our-control mess, and I am so bummed about it. So, please pray for our little family, if you have a minute. 

In happier, more upbeat news, we continue to love getting to know our baby girl and are truly trying to enjoy all this one-on-one attention we are able to give her. She did two brand new things today (more on that in a sec), that were amazing!! I just cannot say enough how proud we are of her!

Today, after another yummy Garden Hotel buffet breakfast (for real! So good!!), we headed out to do our souvenir shopping! 

A little light reading following breakfast :)

We ventured to this place called the International Toy Market. It was five or six stories of booth after booth after booth of all KINDS of made-in-China toys (so, pretty much everything ;)). We were successful in finding (and negotiating for) a couple little surprises for our kiddos back home after wandering throughout each level, bewildered while trying not to get lost in the massive maze that was this market.

One of the MANY maze-like hallways of the Toy Plaza

A view of some of the levels while going up the escalator

Have I mentioned that they don't do carseats (nor seatbelts, really) in China? Which means, we just hold Bella on our laps everywhere we go. :0

Not sure she's going to love being strapped down to a carseat once we return to America. This girl has loved to snuggle up and play during our many car rides.

We then returned to the hotel to enjoy some down time for the rest of the day. We had some (very tasty!) takeout Chinese food for lunch, which we ate in our room while Bella napped (she first enjoyed her own little lunch that we already had on hand). 

Bella is obsessed with these chicken sausage thingys that look exactly like hot dogs aside from being grey. :0 And yes, I packed our own disposable bowls and plastic utensils after hearing these things were not regularly available in China. So glad!

During Bella's nap, Clay and I took turns heading to the hotel fitness room for quick workouts. Yes, we realize this is probably not the norm but (1) we are trying to feel normal and healthy in the midst of a foreign country, and (2) despite all the walking and touring, we both just wanted a good sweat (ironic since I've been complaining about sweating so much in the humidity here). ;) 

Once Bels woke up, we spent some time playing in the hotel room and then, the best thing happened: this familiar music started playing in the background, from the tv. It took me a second before I realized...Frozen!!! Now, I have seen this movie a time or two or two hundred, but this time was the time that my baby girl got to see her FIRST EVER Disney movie. And it just so happened to be Frozen that was playing on one of of the only English tv stations here (HBO), and it just so happened that our tv was not only on, but on that specific channel when it came on. Yes!!!! So, we watched it together (and by together, I mean my girl watched for all of 5 minutes before becoming bored #2yearold). But those 5 minutes were glorious!! :) 

Home girl loves some stacking cups!

No big. Just standing by herself (with a little support from the bed) ;) 

Frozen!!!!

My littlest girl, in awe of her first Disney movie :)

After hanging in our room a bit longer, we headed out for dinner to this local Irish Pub. Yes, you read that right. So many of the moms on the Facebook adoption group that I am a part of highly recommended it as being a nice little "taste of home." So, we decided to check it out, and they were RIGHT! My hub got a cheeseburger. I got chicken fajitas. Bella had some of both. And it was all delish! We felt like we were eating in this Irish Pub right near our home, which was such a nice change of pace! AND our friends who have been stuck in Hohhot with their little girl were finally able to make it to Guangzhou and ate dinner there, too. It was so nice to sit alongside our friends and talk about all that's happened the last few days. 

Those two big things I mentioned earlier? After days of encouragement and teaching, Bella repeatedly signed "More" at dinner when she wanted more of my chicken strips. Yes, sweet girl! Way to rock it!!! I was so proud of our smart girl that I almost started crying (what else is new)! And also, she learned what it means when I say, "Give Momma kisses": she just stays still and purses her little lips so I can kiss them like crazy. <3 

And now, we are back to our room, watching (another) movie, and ready for some shut eye. But first, two quick notes from back home: First, Banks' flag football team won the championship game Saturday morning! Yahoo!!!! Go Heels! He was so, SO excited! Second, the grandparent handoff has officially occurred, with my "in laws" now safely back home and my parents hunkered down with my kiddos for the last leg of our trip. God speed, Bammy and Digby. ;) And THANK YOU AGAIN, NANA AND POP!!! We love you all!

We cannot express our gratitude enough for everyone who is taking the time to read about our journey, send encouraging texts and messages, post supportive comments, and most importantly, pray for all of us. Truly, we are so, so thankful. We may not have time to respond to them all just yet, but we read every single comment that is sent our way, and I promise you, they are lifting us up while we do everything we can to get home with our baby girl as soon as we can. <3

Although tomorrow was supposed to be our highly anticipated consulate appointment, it is now a free day for us since it had to be rescheduled. :( Again, we appreciate all prayers for the rest of our trip, particularly that there are no more delays so that we can get HOME. For tomorrow, it's another day in China...