Wrapping up our trip

It's official...........Rose can come home with us! We received her Chinese passport, American Visa, and the documents needed to get her through customs/immigration and become a U.S. Citizen. We are totally done with everything. Nothing left to do but pack and board a plane for home. Unfortunately, we cannot do the latter until Friday. But, tomorrow will be used to buy the last of our gifts, a new suitcase to get all our new goods home, and then packing it all up. The difficulty we have here in China is that our luggage cannot be over 44 lbs, whereas in the U.S., our luggage can be 50 lbs. So getting all our bags under 44 lbs may be a little challenging, but it will get worked out. We'll probably end up leaving a bunch of the uneaten (unopened) items of food we brought (i.e., oatmeal, crackers, etc.). Buying the additional suitcase will also allow us to distribute the load a little more evenly. It should work out just fine. Anyway, we're very excited that we only have one more day here, but at the same time there is a bit of sadness because we don't know if we'll ever get back here. It has been a long trip and we miss our home, friends, and family very much, but at the same time China is now (and has been for 8 years) a very important part of our lives, especially for Lillian and Rose. This trip has been very good for Lillian and she has openly said that she doesn't want to leave, although she misses home very much. She likes it here, although living on the island doesn't really give her a true picture of what everyday life is for the Chinese people. She's only seen glimpses of it. I can tell you we're going to have one sad little girl on Friday when we leave here. I know she'll get over it once she gets home and gets back into her normal routine, but it is still going to be hard for her. I've told her that she can definitely return to China when she gets older and can maybe study here once she goes to college. I think that she'll definitely make it back someday. Hopefully, we do as well. I hope we can one day bring Rose back to see her homeland. I hope both girls are proud of who they are and where they came from. I know that Michelle and I are very proud of both of them and will encourage them to learn more about their culture and pursue their dreams of returning here one day, if they so choose. Friday will be bitter-sweet for all of us though (although probably more sweet than bitter). As for today, it was another lazy day with no appointments. It was filled with shopping, walking, napping (for Rose), and swimming (for Lillian). I swear, sometimes I feel like we're in the movie "Groundhog Day"! We realized tonight after we returned from dinner that we hadn't taken any photos today. So, we hurried and snapped a few pictures before Rose got too fussy from being hungry and tired. So, the pictures are a little short tonight. Two more days and we'll be home (I can't wait to sleep on my Tempurpedic instead of this Georgia-Pacific Plywood)!!!