Melodies In My Heart: Winding Down the Trip

Daddy and Katy

Hey all,
We are so thankful that we have had 2 awesome days. Thanks so much for the prayers. We are grateful to have such a great group of family and friends lifting us up. We have enjoyed being in Guangzhou and have even ventured out on our own a little. Yesterday, we had to follow up with the TB test that Jack had done on Saturday. All was good. It just took about 45 seconds (after standing in line for 15 minutes). We have enjoyed shopping on Shamian Island. The weather was hot, of course, but we bought a stroller and that seems to have been our best investment yet. Jack LOVES the stroller. Whether he is in it and being pushed, or out of it and pushing it himself, he is quite content. We had dinner in the Japanese restaurant in the hotel on Monday night. After sitting in it to eat, he got out and pushed it around the restaurant. We were the only ones there, so the staff got a kick out of his maneuverability skills. We think he enjoys it because it has wheels. Seems to be his thing.

Slowly, but surely, Jack is becoming more and more comfortable with me. He loves playing tickle and snuggle and loves to give and get kisses from his mama. I am so grateful for that, but I don't think that Katy is quite as excited about this as I am. We have reached the point of JEALOUSY. Last night, while I was in the shower, both children were upset about it. When I tried to comfort one, the other got more upset. Finally, I got one child under each arm and both were content and fell asleep quickly. It's funny, I had a vision of this very thing before we left for China. Although, I was grateful that it happened in a king size bed instead of one of the oversize twins that are more common here. It made me very happy to have 2 children loving on their mama. We will continue to have to work with Katy on sharing Mama. She was more ready to share Daddy than me.

Yesterday, we ventured out on out own. We even took a taxi. Although, J and I both agree that the driving in Guangzhou is much more civilized than Wuhan. We went back to Shamian Island to finish shopping and eat dinner. We enjoyed dinner at the German restaurant on the island. We also got to play at the park. We thought it was very interesting that all the "playground" equipment was actually exercise equipment in disguise. We did quite a bit more shopping and have enjoyed getting to know some of the shop owners on the island. Emma and Jordan to be specific. We also bought a painting for our house that was painted by a man names "Kenny." He is an artist that trains and employs orphans that have aged out of the system, including those with special needs. We were very excited to see that there are some Chinese people who truly care about the plight of orphans in China too.

Katy won lottery! While in Wuhan, they gave us scratch off tickets with our dinner receipts. Katy scratched one off and won 20 Yuan. So she spent it on a picture of panda bears that a man painted using different parts of his hand. She bought it at a Folk Art museum here in Guangzhou. They had some beautiful embroidery pieces as well. The other people in our group couldn't believe that when we had come here with Katy it was actually hotter.

We go to our consulate appointment and swearing in ceremony this afternoon. We are looking forward to that. Please pray for some of the families in our group that are having problems with consulate paperwork. There are some glitches that we hope are getting worked out as I type this.

Finally, we hope you have enjoyed following us on the blog. I hope to get at least one more update in before we leave. Love and blessings to you all.