Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Steve, Patty, Caleb, Danae (daughter-in-law), Logan, Drew and Annika!
For this child I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him.
So I have also dedicated her to the Lord; as long as she liveth she is dedicated to the Lord. I Samuel 1:27 - 28
Today was a free day until 5 pm, so we decided after breakfast that we were going to see who from our group wanted to go over to Shamian Island. This is where the famous White Swan Hotel is that most adoption agencies stay at and all the major shopping vendors. We are going as a group on Monday, but I was ready to get out of the hotel and start some major shopping. We hailed down a taxi with another family and off we went. WOW!!! we had a blast, well, I had a blast, Steve just kept saying, "how much you need?".
We were able to go into the White Swan and do the infamous Red Couch photo and you will see that in our photos attached. To those of you who are not familiar with the couch photo, it is another tradition for adoption families.
Annika was offered a free stroller from one of the vendors to use during our stay here (my guess is because I purchased half of her store), so this was a first and went better than I expected. She is still very fearful when one of us is not near her or holding her very close to us, so she kind of hovered down and hung her head low, but she did good and it gave our arms and backs a break for a bit.
I put a picture up of some of the many bicycles that we see in China, we had went to a nice Restaurant with our group last night and there was rows and rows of bicycles. It still amazes me to see bicycles riding along with all the cars in China. They certainly know how to use their car horns here. They are always honking. I honestly have not figured out what the rules or the law is for bicycle riders. They can go wherever they want and in whatever direction, they can go through red lights and they can jump ahead of whoever they want. They are the oldest bikes I have ever seen and we were told that the people do not want new ones, because those are the ones that get stolen.
I had my first experience at bartering and let me tell you, I am good. Steve just shakes his head and smiles. I have left a vendor 4 - 5 times and told them what I'd pay and then walk away and they come running after me accepting my price. This is something that I could really get used to. We do have to watch our money. We transfer our funds into Chinese money here at our hotel, but there is so much counterfeit out there. One of the families in our group had a real 100.00 in Chinese money and he handed it to pay, well the vendor exchanged it for counterfeit quick and told him it was no good. So they lost out on their money. We watch our money well and watch them all the way to wherever they make change at.
Annika continues to be a cutie pie. She is giggling more and more and is getting more comfortable to play by herself and has started talking some sweet little baby talk. She is sleeping all night long since we've had her and she's just all we could have ever asked for and more.
We are so excited for everyone to meet her. You will fall in love with this little China Doll as we have. God has truly blessed us with the daughter that was meant for our family.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your thinking of us during our journey. If you have any questions or are just curious about something please do not hesitate to e-mail me and I'd be glad to answer it for you.
The other half of our travel group has been over in Nanchung since we flew here to Guangzhou from Beijing on Monday. They just arrived today to join us and finish up there paperwork. So it was so neat to see them and their new babies and hear how they are adjusting. There are alot of parents who are first time parents and it is quite interesting to say the least. They had terrible cold weather and rain while they were there. We have had nice and low 70 degree weather and we are not complaining since we had all that cold stuff in Beijing. And will be getting it when we get home next week too.
Off for supper. Little Miss Princess is crawling all over the floor. How cool is that??
December 23 --
Today was another great morning in Western Buffet Breakfast land. After being so sick from the Chinese food in Beijing, I want nothing to do with it again. It was a little colder today, and looked as if it had rained a bit last night (we told our Nanchung group that they brought the rain with them), but to us adults the cold was wonderful. We just dressed the girls a bit warmer today.
Our first stop today was the Chen Family Temple. There is so much history to it and still the superstitions of the temple are just amazing that these people still believe them. We were expecting a museum inside like we are used to in the states and it was pretty much open except for a few shops inside. I was looking for a jewelry box for Annika but decided I'd wait for tomorrow going back to Shamian Island to get better deals and better bargaining.
I have decided after today that unless I am in the hotel, I will not find a western bathroom. Not sure why these women like to squat to pee. I would love to ask them. But would look a little foolish doing my pantomimes that I've been doing since being in China.
We made our second stop to the Friendship Store which is a huge, beautiful, classy, 6 story store with anything you can want from clothing to groceries. I was on a mission to get a variety of baby food to see what little Miss Annika was interested in. We also picked up some Chinese cookies and candies to take home to the boys to see how they liked them.
We had a 3 hour session of paperwork which one parent was to attend, so Steve stayed back to put Annika down and entertain her. Alot of our group went to a Japanese Steak House tonight in our hotel. I was absolutely not interested, so we stayed back and did a great foot massage and back massage and ordered Papa John's Pizza. Annika was not interested in the massages, so she fussed til she fell asleep within 5 minutes of our 70 min. massage and did not wake up til the end. How cool was that?
We are going to our Medical Appt. tomorrow morning and then off to Shamian Island for more shopping.
Annika has been taking a few more steps hanging on to the bed. So I am curious to see what more she does before we actually get home. Everyday she is doing something different and is just a precious little girl. She has those beautiful almond shaped eyes and beautiful lips that just will melt my heart. And we found dimples she has yesterday. So cute, we are in love.
We are having fun seeing the Chinese culture and seeing the sites, but we are so eager to get back home to our family and friends. This is a nice place to visit, but there is nothing like home.
God has truly blessed us with this little girl that was meant for our family and I can not wait for Annika to meet her big brothers. I know she will touch their lives and melt their hearts like she has done us in just one week.
