Seattle {part two}

For those of you who may just now be tuning in,
let me give you a little summary of the significance of this trip.

My daughter Macy was in the Journey of Hope program.
Which is basically a full-out advocacy project that our agency (WACAP)
put together on behalf of older children in Luoyang, Henan.
They also have other
areas of China that they have done this very successful campaign.

So, in Luoyang there were 30+ kids in this program.
All, except ONE (a boy who is precious and still WAITING *hint hint*)
is either in a family now
or is currently waiting for their family to travel to get them.

My friend Patty, Mary and I found each other through the Luoyang
yahoo group and became sweet friends via the internet.
They were/are a constant source of encouragement and help during
and after our adoption.
And we all three (along with other families) are determined
to keep this close-knit group of kids in constant contact
with each other.
This is a VITALLY important part of adoption.
More on that later.
Anyway, so we saw an opportunity for a girls' weekend and
jumped on it.

And that's what we did.

**************

Here is our ferry ride, continued.
I had to include this pic of Ellie because this captures Ellie's
personality perfectly.

After the ferry ride we went shopping at Pike's Place Market.
It was SO FUN!!!

And here I am ordering a much needed coffee from
THE very FIRST Starbucks!!

We headed back to Mary's house to catch up with Lina
since school was finally out.

We went to dinner and the girls enjoyed each
other so much!!

Soooo much happened in between all these pics
but I had to give the girls a break from the camera from time to time.
We had a blast every minute of our time there!

Mary, who is Chinese, was an incredible influence on the girls.
She told them they HAD TO put on Chinese dresses
so we could take pics of them
They weren't exactly thrilled but I think you will agree that
they had a pretty good time doing it though!

All three, camera shy.

Giggles galore, I'm tellin' ya.

Ellie to the rescue for the appropriate hair style.

Ellie will kill me for putting this pic in but I think it's hilarious,
especially compared to the pic that quickly followed...

She was the ring leader in hating this photo shoot but
it is SO darn easy to make this girl laugh!!

Aren't they the sweetest?!!

Later that night a precious family joined us for dinner.
They are adopting TWO boys from Luoyang
and will be traveling mid-summer.
Yippeeee!!!

Hot pot for dinner!!
It was a fabulous experience!
And deee-licious!

More pics of our girlies....

Then the moms joined in...

And trust me, we were just as silly and giggled every bit as much
as our daughters.

While Mary, Patty and I were at an adoption class

(a panel of adult adoptees sharing their experience of being adopted.
It was amazing...more on that later) earlier that morning,
Ellie gave Lina and Macy haircuts.
Oh yes she did.
She's super talented and did a great job!
Anyway, later that night it was MY turn to cut some hair.
Patty strattled the toilet as lady-like as she could
and I gave her a quick hair cut.
We laughed hysterically.

I'm not sure if Ellie was observing me closely in hopes of learning
something or quietly critiquing my work.
I gotta say, I was a little intimidated by the fact that it might
be the latter.

And Patty is checking out her check.
A new body part that we both discovered....chin + neck, combined.

Oh and we did NOT plan to both wear stripes,
it just worked out that way. Nice, huh?

We all had SO MUCH FUN!!
It was an amazing weekend, for sure!!