This morning I was talking to my mom and we were both just like, wow, it really happened! Our little girl really is home! The waiting seemed to go on for forever, and sometimes I would wonder if it was all too good to be true, and if there even was a little girl waiting for us at the end of the wait. All I can say is IT REALLY DOES HAPPEN! To those of you still waiting, I know how hard it is, but there is a little one at the end of it all waiting for you! I still have to pinch myself every so often, just to make sure I'm not dreaming! Even in China, it was like, wow! I'm in China! But I could hardly believe it! We all love our little Sarah Lu so much, she has quickly captivated all of our hearts! We are SO lucky! Dreams really do come true!


Here are some random little facts:

• Her favorite word is "No!" She says it in the cutest little way! It just sends us all hysterically laughing, this girl has got so much personality! I can't believe she's only two!

• Her favorite foods include popsicles, rice, beef, pork, noodles, yogurt, and popcorn.

• She can already count all the way to three in English perfectly every time, lots of times she makes it all the way to five, but that is with a little help.

• She was very fluent in Mandarin and is learning English so quick, it's really astonishing! Every day she surprises us with another new learned word or phrase. She is very smart.

• She has got so much energy. No naps for her!

• She loves milk and prefers it above everything else.

• She hates bread and most forms of it, she wants nothing to do with any kind of sandwiches and will lick all the toppings off of a pizza.

• She loves her gou-gous (dogs). Her favorite thing to say to them is "no no gou-gou" or "bu hao gou-gou" (bad dog). But, despite that she loves to give them kisses, though she hates to receive kisses back from them, she will quickly wipe their slobbery kisses right off! I have caught her many times sharing her food with her puppies, I think she probably learned that from me!

• She loves her clothes and looking pretty. She likes anything anyone says is "piaoliang" (pretty).

• She prefers it when I call her mei-mei above everything else.

• She loves watching Veggie Tales.

• She adores music and loves to dance. It is the one thing she would do for hours. She will sing and clap along to everything. She loves being spinned around.

• She gets the biggest thrill out of the littlest things. It is so cute to see her get excited. She just wiggles and claps.

• She loves to laugh. And has got the cutest laugh I've ever heard!

• She loves being tickled.

• She puts her whole heart into everything she does.

• She is very determined.

• She is sweet, caring, and very compassionate, when someone gets an "owie" she is the first one to kiss them and offer comfort.

• I absolutely LOVE being her big sister!

• I can't imagine my life without her.

Slides are fun!

Let's go Yashi!! (Sarah Lu's nickname for me!)

Again!

Do you have to take another picture of me now Jie Jie? I want to play!

Now this is fun! I've never seen anything like this before...

But then again, I LOVE slides! Here I come Jie Jie "Yashi"!

Sarah Lu and Me ("Yashi")!

Our little rock climber!

Sarah Lu ADORED swinging! She just laughed and giggled while I was pushing her!

Swinging is FUN!

More Jie Jie "Yashi"! More!

Sarah Lu loved her boots SO much that she had to wear them with her pajamas and even go to sleep with them on!

We are finally home and all together as a family of 6 (plus our 2 dogs)!
We flew out of Guangzhou at 2pm on the 22nd to fly to Hong Kong, where we caught our connecting flight home to Chicago at 6pm... It was such a LONG day, we saw the sun rise and set twice in one day! The flights went pretty well, Sarah Lu finally fell asleep and slept through most of the 14 hour flight, so that was very good! I don't think I slept more than about 1 hr total on the whole flight, Mom and Dad didn't get too much more either, but Sarah slept and that is what was most important! There were a bunch of other adoptive families on our flight and all of them were right around us, so that was really fun! Sarah loves seeing the babies, so she had fun too! The flight got pretty scary at one point, very very bad turbulence, I mean like stuff was rolling in the aisles and falling and all that. It was like that for about 20 minutes and that definitely scared us all! One the way of the plane we even heard one of the stewardesses saying how scared she was! But, we are all right now! It was SO nice to be able to fly right into Chicago O'Hare, which is not too far from our house...most of the other families on our flight had to catch connecting flights to all different places in the U.S... I felt so sorry for them, I would NOT have wanted to get on another flight! Anyway, we came HOME, which was SO awesome! I definitely missed my sisters and my dogs!! I loved our trip and it was awesome being there, but there really is no place like home! Chrissy and Rachael got to meet Sarah Lu when we came home and she warmed up to them SO quickly! She adores them both and has since she first met them!! She also LOVES her gou-gou's (dogs in Mandarin), Wesley and Lilly, and has since she first met them too! I was afraid that she might be scared of them or something, but she just loves them!
We are all having some trouble with the jet-lag, last night I didn't fall asleep until after 3am, and even then I wasn't tired, and then I am exhausted in the day and want to sleep. I think Sarah is adjusting to the time change better than the rest of us! Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

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!

The entrance to the Guangzhou Zoo

Sarah and Emma

Awww, how sweet!

Friends Forever!

Sarah Lu watching the bear

The Hippos at the zoo

"Look at the fish!"~ Sarah and Emma

The Guangzhou Zoo...

Me and "my" chimpanzee!

Most of our group left early this morning except for us, one other family and our guide Rosa. We decided to visit the Guangzhou Zoo this afternoon. That was very fun! Different from zoos in the states though. It was Sarah Lu's very first time to the zoo and I think she liked it for the most part. She was scared of a few of the animals, but she had fun, especially since she was with Rosa! We saw a lot there; we got to see the monkeys, birds, bears, fish, and the deer/gazelle/zebras. We tried to see the Panda, but I guess the zoo only has one and it was not outside so we did not get to see it... We were all really sad because we were so looking forward to seeing a Panda for the first time!
We also got to go to this "Dinosaur World" at the zoo. It had big dinosaurs that moved, made noise, and some lit up. I think Sarah was pretty scared of it... no surprise there though, when they turned on all of a sudden, they freaked me out too! Too funny!! Now, for one of the most exciting things ever, I held a Chimpanzee today! At the zoo they have a "Take Pictures with Animals" part and I was just standing by the side watching and all of a sudden, I had a Chimp in my arms, he just jumped right into them! They said I could get my picture taken with him for just 10 yuan (like 1 U.S. dollar), so I said yes! That was SO cool, I cannot believe I held a Chimp today! Wow, Wow, Wow! And he was SO sweet too... After we had our picture taken together, he gave me a kiss on the cheek!! So SWEET (and adorable)!
The zoo was so much fun and I am so glad we decided to go! After the zoo, we went to Lucy's (a restaurant) again. Sarah Lu had her first peanut butter and jelly (just like Ethan!) and I had pb&j too! I had been craving pb&j for the whole trip practically so I was so happy when I saw it on the menu! Sarah Lu ended up not really eating her's... she preferred the French fries and also just plain white rice... Interesting.
Ok, I will try to update again soon! Only two more days til we come home, and then just a few days til Christmas!
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)