Final Day in China!

Today(Thursday June 28th) is the last full day for us in China. I am sad because today is Rebecca's tenth birthday and we are missing it. Ten years ago I labored for 37 hours under extreme circumstances. Rebecca was born 6 weeks premature and we knew she was going to have some obstacles to overcome. Well, after being on the ventilator for a few days, her lungs began to heal and mature. She was weaned from the ventilator to room air! This baby fought for every breath she took. She now is a healthy, happy, beautiful young lady! Rebecca has such a sweet disposition. She is like another mom to the boys. She is so much like me! I hear her telling the boys things to do, and to my amazement, they listen! She used to refer to her brothers as "my boys".

Happy birthday to my sweet Rebecca Rose!! We love you more than you can possibly imagine and plan never to miss a birthday again. Here is our early birthday celebration for Becca with some of her cousins!

This morning when we finished breakfast, Jeremy and my dad decided to go back to Shamian Island to get a few more things. They were able to flag a taxi and make the trip. Jeremy grabbed a hotel business card before he left and it was a good thing. They finished their shopping and got a taxi back to The Garden. That business card was a life-saver! Jeremy showed it to the driver and he was able to take them right to the front door of our hotel! He did not speak any English.

Mom and I finished up packing and took Mariah to the "pray area" (that is what our facilitator called it). We finally figured out she was saying "play area". It is funny how our languages are so different!

We also wanted to get one picture of our facilitator, Miko, with us. She was so cute! Jeremy gave her such a hard time with her English and she was such a good sport. Some of here famous statements were, "So......everyone's mind clear?" and "So, you needn't bring your paperwork." She got Jeremy's humor and it made it fun!

Mariah had never climbed up steps before. She did not know what to do when she came to the first one. We showed her one time and she was off to the races. She LOVED the sliding board! She loved being outside! There have been so many "firsts" for this child. It is neat to just watch her bloom.

And here was the result of her hard work!

After Dad and Jeremy got back we finished up packing, ate some lunch in our room and got ready for our limousine ride to Hong Kong. Now, to clarify, the limousine ride is what they called it. It really was a very nice mini-van that took us on the 3 hour ride.

That ride was interesting. Let's just say that the driving in China is like a nightmare! I have never witnessed any driving like that in my entire life! The odd thing with our limo ride was that our driver was on the right side of the van. We forgot for a brief moment that Hong Kong was British and they drive on the opposite side of the road. But not until we reach Hong Kong. 

The ride was uneventful until we got to the border. We were amazed at the security we had to go through once again. They took our passports and stamped them. We had to have the yellow exit China card that we were given on the plane when we entered China.  They opened the sliding doors on the van and looked us over and sent us on to the Hong Kong security checkpoint. There we had to do much the same but give our Hong Kong entry form. They also opened the doors and read our body temperatures through a scanner that they pointed at us. Once cleared, they stamped our passports and we were on our way.

Once we entered Hong Kong by way of a bridge, we switched over to drive on the left side of the road. It was just a strange feeling. 

We were entering Hong Kong when it was still daylight. That is a beautiful city!!! We were amazed at the beauty of this city. Our driver was really nice with us and spoke fairly good English. He told us he often times makes this 3-hour trip three times a day. Even holidays.......seven days a week. 

We drove over some of the most beautiful grand bridges we have ever seen! Then we realize we were on bridges driving over the South China Sea! It was a beautiful sight! There were oyster farms everywhere! (We had to ask our driver what it was.)

We arrived at our hotel, Marriott Sky City, and it was nice. I was a little frustrated that they did not have a crib for Mariah (I ordered it 2 weeks before) and that there was not free internet. This was a very expensive hotel and I thought that free wi-fi and breakfast were included. Not so! We had to Skype the kids (remember now this is the morning of June 28th, Becca's birthday) from the lounge of hotel. The lounge was actually the lobby. It was noisy and we could hardly talk without yelling. We just wanted to be home. We just pulled over the small couch next to our bed and Mariah slept there. Here she is getting ready for bed.

We got to our rooms and fixed something for Mariah to eat. Now, she has decided to not eat or drink much. So this was quite the task to accomplish.

There were no bathtubs in the bathroom so I tried to bathe Mariah in the oversize sink. She loved it!!! This is the same child that screamed everytime I bathed her in the other hotels. I think she may have been bathed like this at the orphanage. It was a very pleasant bathtime!

Our windows overlooked the beautiful South China Sea! What a site that was!

We leave in the morning for the Hong Kong airport and head home. It is a 15 1/2 hour flight and to be honest we are dreading it. We found out that this flight does not have the individual entertainment on the back of the seats. So this Boeing 777 was a former Continental flight that does not offer the amenities of the other United Airline flights. That makes for a boring LONG flight. We also were in Economy without any extra legroom. We were sitting in groups of three. Jeremy, me and another person and my parents and another person behind us. Mariah was just a lapticket.