Last Post from China

This is my last post from China. Today we visited a local market where they sell a lot of traditional Chinese medicine. They had things from dried seahorses, dried snakes, flies to you name it. If it was a dead dried bug, sea creature or root, they had it! We also visited the pet shop area. Very cute puppies and kittens for sale. These were for sale as PETS. Today at 4 o'clock we have our oath ceremony at the US consulate. Dave and I just packed some stuff up while Daniel took an afternoon nap. Tonite is our last night in China. Although we cannot wait to get home to see Leah and everyone else, it is sort of bittersweet. we have enjoyed our time here. Living in a hotel with a 2 year old is not ideal but we did see a lot of neat stuff and it is a trip we will remember forever. Daniel has done so well with us from day one. he is such a strong little guy. He has been through so much in his short little life and yet he seems to take everything in stride. Tomorrow he leaves his birth country to start a new life as an American citizen. There are many things I will no longer take for granted living in the US. I will appreciate clean air. It is almost always hazy and smoggy here. Guangzhou is not too bad, but the other provinces were not the best. I will appreciate my home. Most people in China live in small apartments (if they're lucky). Most do not own a car. In Guangzhou the population is higher class and our guide Alvin told us only 1 in 12 families owns a car. He was pretty surprised to find out most families in America own more than 1 car. There is much more that i can write, however, we have to get ready to go soon. It is safe to say that tomorrow will most likely be the longest day that Dave and i will ever have. We start off at 5:30 AM to the airport. Our flight to Hong Kong is about an hour. We then have a 2 hour layover. Next flight to Newark will be 15 and a half hours. If you believe in the power of prayer, PLEASE pray for us :) We need all the help we can get. We have 2 seats together and one seat separate. We're betting that the person who will be sitting next to Daniel will gladly switch seats with us :) No photos today as everything is already packed. Thanks for following along on our journey to Daniel. We will continue to update the blog once we recover from jet lag so please check back! Next post from the good old US of A! Zai jian (good bye) from China!