We've been eagerly anticipating this visit since June of last year when we said goodbye to our beloved Xiao Li with promises of "we'll see you when we get back".
And now we are back :) It feels so good to be together with her again. Xiao Li entered our lives in April 2004. Yea, it's been a while! And we are so very grateful to Jesus for the gift of her sweet friendship, and the way she graciously lovingly served our family for years.
The girls stayed up late on Friday to go with me to the airport to meet her. We spend MUCH time in airports and it was a special treat to be there in the arrivals area, not the departure lounge :) Xiao Li got off the airplane with a humongous bag of mangoes, strawberries and papaya.... yummy fruit that we are missing much as we have moved to a different province with a lot less fun fruit goodies to enjoy.
On Saturday morning we drove out to the Panda Research Base to visit the pandas. I last visited in August 2002 with my parents, so it had been a while :) Fun stuff to now be living so close by and I think we'll be frequent visitors, as we plan to take just about everyone who makes it to our side of the globe.
Julianna has been a panda lover since birth. Matt and I gifted her a little stuffed panda when she has born and Jing Jing has been her special buddy for years. I'm not sure Julianna has ever spent the night without Jing Jing snoozing in the bed next to her. So yesterday morning Julianna came out of her room determined to take Jing Jing to see the real pandas.
The kids are all loving this time. And so am I. Late into the night Friday and again on Saturday afternoon we just sat on the couch talking, catching up, enjoying the time together. We baked cookies last night after the kids were in bed - it felt so familiar and good to be in the kitchen together!
Now they are sitting on the sofa watching home videos together :) A sweet gift for our family, to have this big piece of our history here visiting with us this weekend.
4 comments:
I love that last picture of Lydia. She looks like she is in pure heaven with Xiao Li!
that had to be a wonderful time for you all. and you all sure looked happy to see Xiao Li.
love Dad/GrandDad
Looks like it has been a wonderful weekend! What a welcome relief for you.
...and I love Lydia's bows in that last picture! I see that she is "sharing" Julianna's to make her own style statement. :)
Yea! Looks like fun!!
Post a Comment