Hey Folks,

So yesterday we spent the morning back at the civil affairs office and notary and completed the adoption for Lyric. YEAH! Other than me making a couple trips to Wal-Mart we spent the day just hanging with Lyric. Mar and I ate at one of the hotel restaurants last night (they have two). We thought we ordered a fried rice dish with veggies; it came out with beef stomach and some other kinda gamey meat which made the hair on my neck stand up.

Today, we couldn’t be cooped up any longer and wanted to let Lyric stretch her legs a bit. We walked around a really nice mall and then went to Wal-Mart and stopped by a Pizza Hut to pick up lunch which we brought back to the hotel. After naptime our Facilitator Tracy had scheduled a little sightseeing for us. We went to the Manchurian Palace. This was really cool for us. During my last semester of school, which just ended a couple weeks ago, we studied about the last emperor of China. Mar and I even watched the movie (parts of the movie were even filmed there), this was the palace which the last emperor lived in after being booted from the Forbidden City.  Although it was windy and a little cold Lyric seemed to enjoy herself  and was proud to show off her new parents. We got to the end of the tour and were looking through a gift shop, then...wait, what’s that warm sensation? Yep, I was anointed by Lyric. She pee’d all over me and the gift shop floor. After Mar got us both cleaned up we were headed back to the hotel. We decided to just stay in tonight and ordered some noodles through room service and gave Lyric a bath. We needed to pack anyways.

We leave Changchun in the morning for Guangzhou, about a 4 hour flight. We are very excited about this. It’s in the mid 80’s there, we’ll be reunited with our travel group from Beijing and we are familiar with the area and know where to find FOOD! Don’t get me wrong, Changchun has treated us well; it just will be nice to throw on some shorts, do a little shopping, and chill with our new friends we met in Beijing. If I remember correctly, there is a nice cigar shop in the hotel that sells Cubans, it deserves a visit from me! I must say I will miss our facilitator/translator here, she flies back home tomorrow to Beijing as well. Tracy has been really fun and took care of business with all the officials and paperwork. I heard voices getting raised a few times during the process, she stood her ground and made it happen. We are very grateful for her!

Let me tell ya, Lyric has really started coming out of her shell. She has been very active, seems to have a witty personality and loves to throw her smile at us. She LOVES Mar, runs around the room and yells “MA MA” and won’t let her leave her sight. When we leave the hotel, she is vey uptight and it takes her a while to relax but she never loses a grip on one of us. We are relieved she has taken a liking to us so quickly I just wish she understood she has nothing to worry about from here on forward, in due time.

Laine, I know you might not understand either, but we are almost over the hump and halfway through with this trip. We miss you. Concentrate on driving grandma and pops nuts, we will be home soon Babe!

Well, the girls are sacked out and I should join them. I will write from Guangzhou!

Doug