Happy Days!

Greetings from Hong Kong!

When it was learned that I'd need to be returning to GuangZhou and then spending some time in Hong Kong, I sadly realized that'd also mean having to spend my birthday AND Easter alone. Well, my fabulous parents love me and brightened my life once again, and my mom was on a plane to be with me less than twenty four hours later.

I got to show Mom around our foster home and introduce her to everyone for a day before we boarded the train for another day-long trip to GuangZhou. We had a fun weekend at the hostel there that had become so familiar, and she had a great time seeing all her first real-China sights. The passport hand-off went smoothly, and on Wednesday afternoon we were on our way to Hong Kong, passport in hand!

An awesome contact here is putting us up in an apartment at no charge. It's on the 35th floor with a balcony that looks out over Victoria Harbor. We can even watch the nightly fireworks show at Disneyland from our bedroom window! My passport is now in the hands of the consolate and we should be able to pick it up on Tuesday. We were hit with a bit of not-so-great news while applying - they can only issue 30-day visas here in Hong Kong at the current time. So while it looks hopeful that I'll be returning to Beijing later this week, I'll only be able to stay in the country for another month. It's been advised that I now start thinking about returning to the States and reapplying from there. While it'd be great to return home for a visit, it also means another set of goodbyes that just always get harder, and even more travel expenses. We shall see.

Hong Kong is beautiful and I've always loved my times here, but my feet are yearning for rest and I'm certainly missing routine. It's been beyond wonderful to have my mom here and I've enjoyed seeing her experience the China I love and also the China that is sometimes tougher to love.

As always, thanks for keeping up with me and holding me in your thoughts. I have so much to be thankful for! We have a slew of photos we're excited to share once we get back to Beijing, so stayed tuned for those. Love you!