Thursday,
December 9, 2010
This morning we had our final group outing with two other
Bay Area Adoption Services families. We took the bus to the
Guangzhou Zoo just a 10 minute ride from our hotel. The small
plaza in front of the zoo had great flower sculptures of some of
the Asian Games’ Mascots. Guangzhou had hosted the games last
month. The zoo itself was much better than I had expected, it
was beautifully landscaped and the enclosures were pretty good.
We did our best to help Grace know what was going on, our guide
would often stop and tell her about the animals we were near in
Chinese. Grace would babble on about some of the animals. For
Margaret and me it was just a little sad to think that Grace
could not see the animals, especially the monkeys as she had
talked about them so excitedly when we first met her. She did
very well in her stroller for almost two hours. At the end of
our visit she decided it was time to walk, for a girl who sees
nothing more than light at the moment, she walks in new spaces
with a brave adventurous spirit. If I walk about six feet in
front of her making loud steps and Margaret walks just behind
her she walks in a pretty straight line with a great big smile
on her face. The longer she walked the faster she was able to
go, we were almost jogging at the zoo gate as we went back to
the bus.
Once back in the hotel Grace began her lunch by sharing a tuna
sandwich with Mama whilst Baba went out to buy some French Fries
from McDonalds (1st time since we arrived in China). After lunch
she just would not settle so I took her out in the stroller to
explore the neighborhood around the hotel. It really doesn’t
take too long to get away from the glitzy ultra-modern Guangzhou
of our hotel and find the old streets of Canton. I really
enjoyed seeing all the small stores and hole in the wall food
vendors. Grace chatted and sang in her stroller as I pushed her
along. Once back at the hotel she was still full of energy and
as I type has just started to doze in the bedroom with Margaret.
So her 1pm nap has started at just about 3.30pm, this evening
should be interesting. Auntie Jacqui flies into Guangzhou about
9pm.
Grace’s passport with her US Visa will be given to us at Noon
tomorrow and we will begin to say good bye to the families we
have been sharing this journey with. One family will leave for
Hong Kong as soon as the passports arrive, another heads off to
Buffalo on Saturday. We will be flying out of Guangzhou on
Sunday and make our way back to Clearwater via Seoul, San
Francisco and Charlotte. We have a lot of flying before us.
Please pray for Grace - she found her first experience of flying
a little scary, and we would like her to feel more comfortable
as we spend so many hours in the air. Of course we now know much
more about her than we did a week ago so perhaps we can better
meet her needs on the plane. I do see a few magazines being
shredded before we make it to Clearwater.
Thanks for all the guest book comments we love reading them
every day. Tomorrow’s post should have a Visa for Grace and
feature aunt Jacqui.
Love,
Mike, Margaret and Grace |
The Branscombes outside the panda enclosure
A cup of Cheerios brings out the big smile
Festive flowers outside the Guangzhou Zoo
celebrate the Asian Games
I love to tear up magazines,
Chinese or English it doesn't matter |
