Shamien Island and our last few days in China

Yesterday we spent a few hours on Shamian Island. It's much like what I would imagine Charleston, South Carolina to be like. Muggy, lots of greenery, colonial style buildings, and lots of boulevards. It was a lovely place even though it was raining off and on all day long. They have many cool bronze statutes along to main drag. We tried to have Kara pose in a line of childlike statutes but as you can see, she wanted no part of it! We picked up some sweet Chinese dresses for her to wear as she gets older, some fun gifts for the boys, and what I thought would be fun but have turned out to be a bit annoying, squeaky shoes. We had our COnsulate Appointment on Thursday where we took an oath on Kara's behalf stating that she would be a model U.S. citizen signed a few more papers and will be free to leave Guanzhou after 4:30 today once we receive her Visa! We will be flying to Hong Kong tonight at 10:30 and will arrive there at 11:30. We will spend the night at the airport hotel and then fly home to Chicago at 11:55 am China time on Saturday and arrive at Ohare at 1:50 on Saturday. Of course this after a 14.5 hour flight so this may well be the longest day of our lives! Asking for your good thoughts and prayers for our flights, pilots, and for understanding for our fellow passengers! Also for Kara to have a comfortable and quiet flight! ; ). We cannot wait to get home and get the boys in our arms. We have missed them so much! Thanks to all of you for following along on this amazing journey!