Waiting to leave Shanghai

Saturday morning, August 6th, 11:00 a.m.

I just noticed that the blog dates are on U.S. time, so I'll try to remember to put our days and times on here to help you follow along better.

We're pretty much packed up again.  Not really sure about the luggage requirements and allowances for the bullet train, so we'll just be wingin' it when we get to the train station.  Kind of antsy to get out of here before the weather turns bad.  Right now there are lots of clouds and a breeze and we've had a few light showers, but I can see the sun peeking out.

As we wait to depart, I thought I'd take a few minutes to jot down some things that I haven't shared so far.  (I know that we'll use the blog later as our journal for this trip to Max.)

First of all, I wanted to jot down a conversation that Ashlie and I had the day before we left.  I had noticed that Ashlie was very quiet and seemed to be deep in thought.  After a while she asked me, "Mom, what if we have sort of a miracle while we're in China?"  Hmmm.  I wondered what in the world she was thinking of.  I told her that I felt like each adoption journey has been a miracle for us, but that didn't seem to be what she was thinking of.  After me softly encouraging her to share her deep thoughts, she said, "Well, what if we should happen to, say, find our birthparents while we're there?"  My sweet, deep thinking girl.  I explained that yes that would indeed be a miracle, but then also went on to explain that it simply would not happen on this trip.  It seemed to me that she experienced both disappointment and a little relief.

It seems that each day, our girls have embraced more and more of their Chinese-ness.  They're saying some simple phrases in Chinese.  Things that they used to know but haven't said in a long time.  Suddenly they're telling me that they're hungry, they love me, etc. in Chinese.  They're singing some of the children's Chinese songs that they used to sing.  They're choosing Chinese food for every possible meal, and just truly soaking up as much of "their China" as they can.  I'm so glad that they are here with us!

Tricia had asked us if we were getting lots of stares, or if they seemed to see a lot more adoptive families here in Shanghai.  LOL, tons of stares!  Our guide learned on Day 1 that we were quite the spectacle.  I think he had to explain about our family to at least five people every time we went out sightseeing.  The first time it happened, I asked him what they were discussing.  (I suspected they were asking about the girls)  Leon acted a little uncomfortable to tell us, until we laughed and assured him that we get lots of questions at home too.  After that, he laughingly shared each time another person asked him about our family!   and as usual, we've had lots of children telling us "hello!"  On the Bund yesterday there was one cute boy of about 10 years old that obviously had been dared to approach us.  He made a quick circle around us, with a huge ornery grin and simply said "Hello!" and then looked to make sure his friend had witnessed his brave act!  (His friend looked sufficiently impressed.)  So funny!

Now come on, 1:00, we're ready to head to Hangzhou!