Friends from China

We went to an ice skating party yesterday with a bunch of adoption friends. We came home with an extra 5-year-old Chinese boy in the backseat, laughing like he and Ari had been friends forever. His mom, the Amazing Judy Wu, sat next to me in the front seat and updated me on China adoptions. She was our facilitator while we were in China. In other words, she knew Xanthe before we did, and she helped us through every step, big and small, all through China. We owe her a lot and have fond memories of her laughing with us and AT us as we navigated Chinese taxi cabs and restaurant fare. One of my favorite memories is at the cloth market in Guangzhou. Judy haggled the salespeople down like a pro, until they were practically giving us the fabric for Scott's suits. Every glitch that arose, Judy was on it.
So last night, we played in the snow and rode bikes around the neighborhood. Judy and Mike are from a tropical climate, so the snowball fight was a departure for them. We took them for a grilled cheese at Dylan's, where we munched the all-American fries, accompanied by Coca Cola. Despite the language barrier, all the kids played a matching game and got along great. If nothing else, Mike had his love of basketball to create common bonds. Who do you think his favorite team is? Houston, of course!
After the kids settled down and stopped giggling, Judy, Scott and I stayed up well past 1:00 talking and playing with Google Earth. We saw Judy's apartment building and the White Swan Hotel. Unfortunately, we are leaving to take our friends to the airport in a few minutes. We wish they could stay longer, we have had so much fun. I could have stayed up much later visiting with Judy, except that I was pretty delirious by 1:00! This morning, Ari reported that she tried to wake up Judy and Mike and they wouldn't wake up. She said, "Maybe night time is longer in China." Maybe night time is longer when you're not having so much fun staying up late, but it's worth it! Until next time, maybe in Guangzhou...:)