Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Steve, Allison, Sean, Megan and Ryan!
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined
to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
-An Ancient Chinese Belief
The alarm went off at 6:45am, only 4 hours after falling to sleep. Despite the lack of sleep, we all seemed excited to be in Guangzhou with other westerners, and to be finalizing the adoption process. We were amazed at breakfast to see so many other western couples with Chinese babies (mostly crying infant girls) and felt a little sorry for the businessmen trying to eat a peaceful breakfast! It was nice to have the choice of western food as well (Megan was thrilled to see syrup with the french toast). Ryan loved just about anything we placed in front of him.
We walked about ten minutes to the Medical Exam Office. It was a beautiful (but hot & humid) walk on the Shaiman Island, which was built by the English in the early 1900's so it has a European aesthetic, and the island creates a quiet, low-traffic, pedestrian friendly atmosphere.
The exam went wonderful, they confirmed he has all ten fingers, ten toes, a nose, eyes etc. (they said he has plenty of meat on his healthy bones). They felt his hearing was normal, and that his limited speech was fairly normal for his age in China. We went back to the hotel to finish the adoption paperwork (the last of the paperwork...yeah!) and then enjoy the afternoon. A short, perspiring walk, more shopping, and photos along the river and in the park was all we did. Ryan often walked with both hands behind his back (looking like an old Chinese man), and played with statues like they were real people...he eventually caught on. We ordered delivery from "Danny's Bagel" of pizza, chicken fingers, french fries, and ice cream....it was awesome! Ryan was slow to the cold ice cream, but then we couldn't stop him from making a mess of himself...but it was cute. He even took the wet wash cloth from Allison and cleaned himself off (he doesn't like to be sticky) and then attempted to fold the towel using his chin (obviously imitating his foster mothers actions).
We crashed early, after enjoying the amazing neon lights all around the river, on the banks, buildings, trees, and boats (we will send these photos tomorrow).
