22 hours and counting....

Talking with the locals

Did you spot anything in this picture?? Hint (its a bug)

I thought this was a funny pic, I really didn't wear this today!

I took this one for the Phi-Mu Aglaia!

We get Lily 3:00 pm China Time on Wednesday. That means we get her at 1:00am early Wednesday morning Central Time in USA.

We will try to have a post up on the blog by the time you all wake up on Wednesday. I know you all want pictures, so I will try to feed your craving! I am sure that it will be hard for me to put down all my feelings down initially, but I will at least post pictures. (maybe even a "gotcha day" video!) I will do my best at posting, seeing how I will have a little bundle of joy sitting in my lap!

Breakfast this morning was actually pretty good. The bacon was yummy and did not taste like jerky. There were a lot of odd things on the buffet. Some of the things I liked, but not for breakfast! I just can't do stir fry veggies, meat dumplings, and egg rolls early in the morning. Ugh... We noticed they had a big pot of rice congee and I thought..."Hmmm...I'll make that for Lily on Thursday morning!"

Today, Carlton and I ventured out and walked a couple blocks to a local park. Boy, oh, boy did we get stared at! I mean really, really stared at! This province does not have many adoptions each year and its not a big tourist town, so I don't think people see a lot of Americans. This province is known for producing coal. Its a little hazy and can be hard to breathe. We had a great time just "taking in" rural China. This is the part of China that most Americans never get to see. I actually kinda like it...its growing on me. The people are very kind and they love for you to talk to their children...which, of course, we do! We saw lots of kids today at the park. My stomach did flip-flops all day. All I could think about was Lily. Even my very laid back husband is getting very giddy!! So...anyway...we walked around this beautiful park. Sometimes, we found a bench and just people watched. We really loved watching all the people dancing in the park. People really love the small things in life and I love that about them. I have really come to see how rich and wasteful we are in America. The majority of the world does not live like we do in the USA. We are filthy rich, even the poorest among us are rich compared with how the rest of the world lives. I am ashamed of how materialistic my heart can be. My house seems like a mansion now and its an average 1800 square foot home. I have an indoor bathroom (3 of them actually), a heating and cooling unit, a stocked pantry, clean carpet on my floors, a washer and dryer, a bathtub!, green grass for my children to play on, 2 cars, and the list goes on. I encourage you to look around at the things you have and count your blessings. Be grateful. You are extremely, extremely, blessed. Don't work yourself to death, enjoy your family and SERVE what is important in this life. Stuff is NOT important, it hold no eternal value.

After the park, we met our guide in the lobby and he took us to Wal-mart. We got a lot of things for Lily that Helen recommended. OH, I forgot to tell you that I talked to Helen this morning and she told me that she has been so worried about us. She told us that she was going to come to Taiyuan to help us. I said, "Oh no Helen, we are OK. We are fine. Please don't worry." How sweet is that? She was going to come 6 hours just to take care of us! So, anyway...Helen told us just what to get for Lily. I wrote down the names of all of it and took it with us to Wal-mart. She told us to get Wuhaha. Its like yogurt milk. We also got rice cookies and noodles. I would have never known what to buy for her had it not been for Helen. We also got her a big picture book with English/Chinese words and a 4-DVD set that teaches little children English using musical jingles. (this set was $2.50) Can you believe the good deals? I also got a thing of Pantene conditioner, Pantene Silky Spray, and toothepaste. We got 4 huge water bottles, 3 Cokes, Fruit Juice Boxes, and many bottles of yogurt. Our whole entire buggy was $28.00. Oh, this is funny. They scanned our plastic Wal-mart bags and charged us for them!!! But, hey, these things are very sturdy. You couldn't bust them if you tried!

I wanted to get her some shoes, but I think I will save my bucks for squeaky shoes in Guangzhou. (I hope I have enough room in my suitcases!!, we are already over our in-country limit!) I also don't know exactly what size her little footsie is!

After Wal-mart, we had our guide take us to McDonalds. What is wrong with me? I can honestly count on ONE hand how many double cheeseburgers I have eaten in the last 10 years. 2 of them have been in China! Its so yummy. I also crave Coke. Not Diet Coke, but plain Coke. I never drink this at home. Never!! But, I promise, it tastes better here? I know, its crazy! I can't wait to get my little sweetie pie her first happy meal! And then a big, cold, ice-cream cone! Ok, enough about my food issues...

Carlton and I wondering what in the world we are gonna do tomrrow until 2:00 (which is when our guide comes to pick us up) It makes for a long day when you get up each day at 4:00am. OH, boy, this is really going to happen????????? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ok, I feel better now!


I will post again in the morning. I will probably not get much sleep!!!!

love,
aimee