Thanks for the Memories, China

So, here we are - our last day in China. For now, at least. I think it would be nice to bring Keira back sometime, when she can appreciate the trip. And, when/if she wants to come.
I think it goes without saying, what our favorite memory of the trip is. (Hint for those of you reading before your first cup of coffee: she's about 16 pounds and has a cute little giggle.) We will always have some love for this country because of the precious gift we are taking with us. Forever.
And before I get too emotional on the whole topic of how K came to us, I'll move on to another topic: Blogger's crabbiness. I upload pix in the reverse order of how I want them to show up, so I always load K pix last, sightseeing photos first. Well, guess what, Blogger decides to be grouchy on this last day, and for some reason is refusing to let me upload K pix. Sorry. Seems all you are left with now is the following.................
Our trip to a local Chinese medicine market.
For those of you who know my opinions on herbal medicine and such, you can imagine this was right up my alley. (Sarcasm intended.) But actually, it was quite interesting. They will use a bit of anything and everything.
The photo below shows the, um, Chinese equivalent of Cialis (hanging in center; an anatomical part of deer; you can guess the rest from here...)

We didn't see many pets on our trip to China. Maybe 2 cats and 3 dogs, total. Until today. Many a cat around. I was afraid of what their purpose might be in this market. But alas, kitty is safe: they keep them around as mousers, b/c apparently there is quite an issue with rats in a market that sells a variety of dried-up animal parts.

Some cats, by the way, were quite fat. Especially the one I saw hanging around the fish aquarium store.

Here's a general street scene, around the market:

Our guide, Cindy, did tell us about how the Cantonese like their meat fresh.

I'll spare you the rest of the meat market photos that Chris took. Suffice it to say that anything goes.

Now for something more pleasant, here's a photo of the entrance to the park next door to the hotel. The dad-statue has a video camera in hand. Celebrating adoptive parents, or mocking?

Well, that's it folks. From China, at least. Keira has made such strides since we met her. She has shown us many laughs and smiles and giggles. And she went from not appreciating the new woman in her life (me) to becoming quite a mommy's girl. Now, she hates for me to put her down or be gone for long, and she basically cries the entire time I'm in the shower or whatever. She smiles at us when she wakes up in the morning and from naps. And she seems to be very curious. We are so lucky to have been blessed with yet another wonderful child. I'm not sure how we got so lucky twice. But I'm certainly not about to complain!

Tomorrow we head to the airport at 6am (that's 5pm, Wednesday afternoon, EST). We fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, HK to Chicago, Chicago to Indy. We'll be home a little after 3pm on Thursday. Home Sweet Home! We can't wait!

See you soon! Zai jian! Auf wiedersehen!

(And thanks [Xiexie!] again to everyone who kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Our trip could not have gone any better. And for that, we thank you! We are lucky to have such great family and friends, and we can't wait for you to meet the newest member of our family.)