Shamian Island

It is early morning here and we are waking up to day 2 in Guangzhou. We are staying on a small man made island called Shamian Island. It is one of the prettiest places on the planet for sure! The weather is like Miami weather and the flowers and trees everywhere are breath-taking. There are huge fountains and statues - it is all just one huge, gorgeous park (with shopping). The architecture here is like Charleston, SC.

The hotel we are staying at is called the White Swan and this is were many adoptive families are also staying. It was so fun to see all the new mommas and daddies at breakfast and what a yummy breakfast it was too! They have more options than I've ever seen!
This morning we had some business to take care of... although this is a lovely place to visit, our journey here is because the embassy is located here and we need a visa for our baby girl so we can bring her home!
She is taking her visa photo here. The photographer snapped her picture so quickly we hardly had her in the seat! He is good (:

Next is the physical exam and we were a little worried about it - we knew that many families before us had to get multiple shots for their little ones. We are so thankful that a law was passed before we came that Mae did not have to undergo this. She is just learning that we are okay and we don't want any bad experiences this early.
The exam was pretty easy - they just checked her out. She didn't like having to get undressed but that was cake compared to shots. She weighs 19.8 lbs (: And we wonder how much she has gained with us... she is always wanting food (still hoarding it really).

The large building ahead of us is our hotel, the White Swan. We are staying on the 18th floor and have a beautiful view from our room.
Matel has done something very special for the adoptive families and made a Barbie with a little Chinese baby just for us. Mae loved it so much and we will keep it for her for when she gets older. Matel also made the playroom here at the hotel - but we have not gone to see it yet.
Hugging her Barbie (:
Our group ate together in a Thai restaurant for dinner. We ordered Pad Thai and it was awesome!
Mae likes chop sticks but they are drum sticks to her.

We had another hard night with our girl again last night. She is not wanting to sleep... she wouldn't even go down for a nap yesterday so we thought she would be exhausted. She cried so hard for over and hour and it breaks our hearts. We just hold her and try to console her. We know from her personality that she is a social little girl and being out and about she is happy. She will also go to anybody and we don't think that is such a good thing. She has had a year and a half of institutionalized care and she has learned how to put on the sweetness to get what she wants... she just doesn't understand yet that Cody and I are the ones that will always be there to provide it for her.

She also has a chest cold and bad runny nose and Cody is pretty sick too. Please continue to pray for us. Our baby girl still has a heart that needs healing and it will take much longer than a week to get over all the losses and changes she has had to endure.