July 15, 2006 - "In Guangzhou - Medical Check-Up Day"
Hello everyone. Sorry about the late posting for the 14th! We arrived in Guangzhou after a very good flight, then had an hour ride to our hotel. By the time we got to our room we were all completely exhausted after a long day of traveling. We also hadn't eaten since breakfast so food, then sleep were the priority! Our room at the Victory Hotel is absolutely beautiful! We have a suite this time with a living room, bedroom, and two bathrooms! It reminds us of the cabins in the movie "Titanic". It has deep mahagony woodwork throughout with lighted curio-type mirrored shelving in the corners of the room. The doorways are all narrow and low (like on a cruise ship). In our bedroom is a small crib, much nicer than the last hotel.
Today we were sitting in the living room relaxing after our medical appointment. Anna was playing nicely on the floor with all her toys and Ken said "Now I feel like we are on vacation!" It is so comfortable here having all this space to move around and organize all of our stuff. Thanks so much to all the prayer partners out there! "I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry" . . . . . . . . Anna is sharing equal time with both of us now so it makes it a little easier to care for all of her needs together. The only time she wants Ken over me is at night to put her to sleep. She does like to sit on his lap though and play. Earlier Ken was trying to get some work done on the computer and Anna wanted to be on his lap, he was getting very frustrated with her and I said "Before you know it, she will be in college and you will be wishing she was wanting to sit on your lap again!" He said thanks for the warning and let her play as long as she wanted too. We are so thankful for this breakthrough happening so early in our stay. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Today was a very nice day. We went to the medical appointment, then walked a little around the hotel. The area we are staying in is really beautiful. Despite the rain we have enjoyed walking around and taking it all in. This evening we went to the famous "Lucy's" for dinner with 4 other families. Mom, you are going to love feeding this baby! She has a big appetite for such a little thing and is not picky about anything we give her. Tonight she ate, chicken congee, mashed potatoes, and scrambled eggs! That was all after having goldfish crackers and a few cherrios while waiting for the food to come! If you don't feed her fast enough, she yells at you in this high screech. It is funny at first but then she won't stop doing it. I guess we will have to call Super Nanny to find out how to fix this problem. Have to close for now, we are limited on our weekend post. That is why Saturday, Sunday, and Monday willl all be on one page.
In His Care,
Ken, Sharon & Xiu Xiu
Playing with my new friends Maddyn (left) and Emily!
Anna and Dad ready to head out in the rain
The doctor says all good! (18.6 lbs. and 28.4 in.)
July 16th, 2006 - Another Rainy Day in Guangzhou
Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province located on China's fifth river, Zhu Jiang (The Pearl River). It is the Chinese city most used to dealing with Europeans because they have been trading here for over 400 years. The Portuguese were the first to trade here in 1516, followed by the Dutch & British. Our hotel (The Victory) is located in the small village of Shamian Island. As a result of the history of foreign trade in the area, it contains numerous colonial style European buildings. The two blocks surrounding our hotel are made up of shops and restaurants. The streets are paved with red brick and lined with banyan trees. Even though the rain continues to fall, the views when walking through the streets are beautiful.
It is a very dangerous area for Ken. There are shops everywhere! I stayed with the baby and he went to "Jennifers" (a local laundry place) to have all of our laundry done. He returned with a piece of luggage, 1 Mickey Mouse puppet, 1 Panda Bear puppet, 1 plastic baby "Hello Kitty" fan, 1 musical piano, and a small baby bracelet! He said he would have bought more but he needed "my opinion" on a few things! Today we went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum and the Pearl Market. The museum was beautiful despite the rain and we enjoyed walking around with everyone looking at Chinese Art. In one area was a man playing a Calabash flute. It is a musical instrument used by the young men and women of the Yun Nan minority for expressing feelings of "missed" and "adoring". It's main characteristic is a "light, floating, gentle" sound. Of course Ken had to have one! When he plays it though it sounds like a car horn! Oh well, he has the directions and a 21 hour flight home to practice! Anna loves when he plays it for her, she screams real loud and cracks up! Daddy is so funny!
Next we went to the Pearl Market. It was in a large mall type building with several floors. I have never seen so many pearls in all my life! I asked Zhou where do they get all of these pearls? He said they have huge pearl cultivating farms in China, so the pearls are very abundant and less expensive than home. Of course we picked a few pieces out for Anna to give to her when she get's older
Sculpture at the Chinese Folk Museum
Calabash Flute Player
Sharon carefully choosing pearls for Anna
July 17, 2006
-Monday Morning in Guangzhou
It's 8:00 a.m. Monday morning and we have now had Anna for one full week. You would think we have been doing this all of our life! Our mornings are smooth and routine now. We let Anna sleep as long as possible, she wakes up smiling, Ken takes a shower while I play with her, prepare her bottle and cereal, and choose her outfit for the day. I then take my shower while Ken feeds her, changes her diaper, and gets her dressed. What a team we are!
Last night we had a "girl's night out" with Zhou. He took us to a Chinese Massage House.
It was great, and I highly recommend it to anyone out there that is with EAC and coming to Guangzhou with Zhou. We were served lemon tea and watermelon wedges while our feet soaked in huge wooden buckets. They then massaged our head, neck, shoulder and arm muscles. After that they spent about a half hour rubbing warm oil on our feet and calves. It was amazing and we all were so relaxed we could barely walk back to the Victory. Tonight the guys get to go with Zhou! They are going to love it!
The planned group activity for the day is a trip to another Jade Market and a Buddhist Temple. Ken and I have decided to not participate in this outing. We have seen enough Jade to last us a lifetime and even though I am sure the temple is beautiful, it was built to honor and praise Buddha just like the Jewish temples in the Old Testament were built for God. Sometimes the Buddhist monks will bless the babies and pray for them when you visit. We "very gently" shared with a few of the other mothers that if you are Christian you should think twice about having this done. Buddhist monks pray to Buddha (who is their God) for blessings and favor. As Christians we are not to pray to any other Gods except our God, the great "I Am", the "Alpha and the Omega!" "You shall have no other Gods before me!" We are not judging anyone for what they want to do or not, everyone has their own choices to make in this life. We are going to spend a family day exploring the island together. We heard there are a few Christian churches here that we would like to see! The weather remains overcast but at least it's not raining this morning. We haven't seen the sun since arriving into Guangzhou. Gotta run. . . time to load Anna in the stroller and head out for a day of shopping, sightseeing, people watching, and eating out! Our kinda day!
