A Beautiful day in so many ways

Adoption isn't cheap and there have been many frustrations along the way, but is there any amount of money that is too much for this sweet face? I think not!
She is worth every penny and then some.

Getting ready to feed the fish, with a little help from big sister.

Today was a day reserved just for sightseeing in our province of Zhejiang. We originally joked that this was our vacation with a purpose and a big souvenir, but we really wondered if it would be much of a vacation. God does not disappoint and this place is amazingly beautiful and is THE vacation destination of many people. I wish our boys were here to enjoy this with us. We are in Hangzhou, which is considered the more afluent part of this area. We wondered why we hardly ever heard of other children being adopted from this area and it is because fortunately more parents have the means to afford their children and there are fewer orphans here. That being said, we found out that there are about 95 orphans in our little Lia's orphanage and that is far too many. We feel so priveleged that God has allowed us to lessen that number by one! We found out yesterday that we are the 36th person to adopt from Zhejiang this year.

We were all amazed at the beauty of the peacocks, but this one was showing off just for us.

We had the opportunity to go on a boat ride today around the Westlake, an area that has a rich history in China. The gardens around the lake were beautiful, the peacocks were strutting their stuff in a gorgeous fashion and Lia loved feeding the fish. I don't know how many things she has had the chance to do in her life, but she is taking in everything and enjoying every minute of it. She must have been saving up her kisses for the past four years, because she loves to give us kisses and mimick everything she sees.