Dec. 21: Last Post from China

Wow, I can't believe this trip is already over! We come home tomorrow, Dec. 22nd! Sarah Evangeline will become a U.S. citizen upon entering the country, so at the airport!

Today we went over to the Liu Hua Lake Park here in Guangzhou. We thought that was awesome, not only because the park is gorgeous, but also because the name of it, Liu Hua, is almost just like Sarah's Chinese name, Lu Hua! They are even pronounced the same from everything that we can tell, so it is a park named after her! It is beautiful there, just gorgeous, and so it was so relaxing to be able to just walk around a place like that. Out of our whole trip, these last two days have been some of the best! Sarah Lu is adjusting a little better and better with each day and once we get home, I think she will make the transition very easily. And I think the adjustments will be much easier on us once we are home as well. Anyway, back to the park, it was very pretty there and I wish it was by us, I would like to spend more time there! We walked around for a little while, and then we decided to take a paddle boat out on the lake. It did not look like what a "normal" paddle boat in the states would look like, but it was cute. It had a big elephant on the front and was for four people, so it was just perfect for us (except Sarah Lu rode on my lap because otherwise she might have thought it would be fun to sick our feet in the lake, not really the best idea). That was her first time on a boat and I think she did quite well and she enjoyed it too! Afterwards we just walked around a little and then decided to get dinner on Shamian Island at Lucy's again. That was good, and then came back to our hotel, and now we are getting all ready to leave tomorrow to go home! It seems like we just got here, and yet, it also seems like we have been here forever. It makes us sad to think about all that Sarah must be going through, having to say goodbye to her country, her culture, her language, and her life. I know we will try to keep her speaking Mandarin and we will teach her about China and its culture and she will have her life with us, but still she is losing everything she has ever known... Tomorrow she will leave China to go to the United States and start a whole new life... Sarah Evangeline LuHua is coming home and we love her SO much! She is now a part of our Forever Family! We're coming HOME!
I will have a "Home Update" soon.
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)

To our family at home:
Rachael, Happy Birthday! We love you and will see you very soon!
Chrissy, we can't wait to see you too!
And of course we are aching to see our two Black Labs, Wesley and Lilly!