April 13th

Our last full day in Beijing and we headed back to Yashow to pick up some clothes for the girls. Two hours later I couldn’t have done another deal, was all shopped out and completely out of money again. Things may be cheap here, but money is easily spent too!

We had originally planned that I would go find the shoe mall after Yashow, but Sharon and I were so burned out that we decided to wait until after we did some packing and had dinner to go. The girls all napped, we packed and felt much better by 5pm, so we headed down to dinner at the place we found on our first night here. Once again the food was incredible and we dined for about $5 per person including a beers all around. Lilah is hilarious when food is around and she’s been eating up a storm at dinner time. When she wants something now, she lets us know by sticking out her tongue and wagging it at us until we put something in her mouth. Easy to tell what she likes and when she’s hungry at least!

All our babies are moving through developmental stages quickly now. Where Lilah couldn’t roll over or sit up two weeks ago, she’s now making games out of both. It’s incredible to see her learn new things daily. She adores Naomi and is always looking around for her. I think she’s happiest when she’s watching her big sister.

After dinner, Sharon, Trish and myself caught a taxi to the area around the Beijing Zoo in search of some shoes. When we got to the area, we found an outdoor pedestrian area with people doing ballroom dancing, chatting and doing calligraphy in water on the concrete. It was neat to see the nightlife in China. Unfortunately we arrived too late to do any shopping. There are two malls in the area, one closed at 5pm and the other at 8pm. We arrived at 8:05pm. Being the diehard shoe shopper (I’ll be calling Shoe Shoppers Anonymous when we get home), I’ve rounded up some other diehard troups to head back tomorrow morning. The Wholesale Clothing Market opens at 5:30am and the other mall opens at 10am. I’ve got a short window, but I think it can be done!

Today we also bid our new friends the Littlejohn family, the Vanderhorst Family and the Ireland family farewell as they headed back to Canada. It’s sometimes hard to believe that two weeks ago we were strangers. Now, I feel the families in our group are now a part of our extended family. We’ve shared some really fabulous moments together as we met and got to know our daughters, as well as their homeland. Our group has been terrific, very closeknit and always banding together whenever someone needed something. For us, this group has been part of what made our trip go so well. There has always been someone to share a glass of wine or Bailey’s with, someone to borrow a diaper from, someone to entertain Naomi during desperate moments and someone to offer an ear when things were tough. Thanks everyone!

The other person who has been indispensable has been my dad. We could not have done this trip without him. Not only has he been there for the girls (which he has done lots of), he’s also learned so much about China which he will take back to Canada with him to share with the Naomi and Lilah as they get older. When you adopt internationally, your waiting room full of loved one’s is on the other side of the ocean and two weeks away. It has been special for me to share this trip, this country and our “birth” with my dad. I think each family in our group has adopted him as well and he’s Papa Tom to 7 other little gals. He’s a special person and words cannot express how grateful we are to him.

So this will probably be my last post from China. Tomorrow will be a busy day with the shoe shopping expedition in the morning and we must depart from our hotel by 12:30pm. We are pretty much all packed and ready to go. This trip has exceeded my expectations and I’ve enjoyed myself, but I am definitely ready to go home. I'll post once we get settled at home!