Sweet peeps.

As a family, we have been very grateful not to be here alone. It has been life-saving to have these built-in people to travel with, cry with, try not to gag at new foods with, panic with, and laugh with. We have shared days of pure joy, and also of pure exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed with the life-long changes ahead.

These strangers have seen some of my proudest moments, and some of my worst. Mia cried for the whole two-hour plane ride from Hangzhou to Guangzhou, and they were all lovely as I then cried for the next two hours. Another of the worst moments: when we realized that our passport bag was missing while we were on Shamian Island. We didn't know if we had left it somewhere, or been robbed. Michelle got to see that 'special' moment. Each family has also had bouts of sickness, but at a certain point in this process, even the really bad stuff becomes funny. It's all a part of our story here.

(We got the passport bag back 15 minutes later. I was mid-garden, dumping out the backpack and bags crying, while Caleb went to retrace our steps. A Chinese lady came up to me and said "Excuse me, are you lost?" meaning "Did you lose something?" I cry-yelled "yes! a black bag!" At this point, I was causing a commotion, so the security guard came out of the station (actually, it was three guards). So the sweet lady started talking in Chinese to them, and she translated back to us: "He saw two men take it". This is when I full body slapped my knees and said "Why did he let them take it?" Then, more Chinese, and she translates: the men took it to a store, so she starts running to the store with Caleb. Two minutes later, the black bag and all the heroes emerge. The "men" were a young couple who I then made uncomfortable with my crying embrace, followed by one for the sweet lady who helped. We found out she was "Jenny," and that she owned "Jenny's Place". We went straight there and bought gifts for everyone. She gave me a bracelet with a jade cross on it, for free. Sweet Jenny.)

Gracelyn, Nolan, Nina, Mia, and Hannah (and Myah, not pictured here, was napping.)