Savannah in front of Lucy's--a bit of a staple for homesick westerners

Tonight (Tuesday night) is our last night in China. Today we took our oath in mass (there were maybe 30 families taking it at the same time) to say the information we provided the US Consulate was true to the best of our knowledge. Tomorrow, our guide will pick up our visa and at 9:00 pm we will fly out of Guangzhou to L.A. We are ready to be home and can’t wait to see our family and friends. We’ve had a great time, but it’s time to go and we are ready.

I’ve posted some pictures for you to see, of our second-to-last day here in Guangzhou. We hope you enjoy them. We may get a chance to post tomorrow since we are leaving in the PM, but I’m not sure if we will or not. We still have to pack tomorrow, which should take a bit of time (lots of planning surrounding that–what to put in the carry on, what to check). For those of you that would like to, we could use some prayer that our medications for Jade will go through okay. We are putting smaller portions into smaller bottles to take with us. Hopefully we will have no problem with them. ;o)

One last cool thing to tell is that tonight Mark was a bit exhausted after a dinner where Jade couldn’t be contained very well, and so he couldn’t eat very easily (since I can’t hold Jade without her crying, it’s frustrating for him because he’s always on to hold her where ever we go) I was playing with Jade in our room to try to get her doing something and out of Mark’s hair for a while. She ended up falling asleep on me. We continue to see small signs like this (it’s always two steps forward and one step back, but the progression overall is forward) that give us encouragement. I still cannot just pick up Jade and hold her for an extended period of time, but at least I can be a taxi for her for short holds and at least if she can’t have her favorite person (Mark), she’ll settle for me when she feels she is in need. I am so glad for this, and continue to work toward having her trust and rely on me more and more. Each day is a new day and many more chances to show her that I love her and can be trusted–knowing something like this takes time, patience and persistence–which is something I can do. ;o)

To everyone, all the friends and family, who has followed our journey, we appreciate all of your wonderful feedback and we love all of you. Zai Jian.

Melissa, Mark, Savannah and Jade