Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Vickie, Amber, Anagrace and Austin!
Please email us.......
March 8, 2006
Today we were up bright and early, only to find a cold a rainy day outside. We were scheduled to take a 4 hour river cruise that travels down between the Guilin mountains and ends up at one of the local villages that caters to the tourists. With all of the clouds and fog, we did not have very good views of the mountains, but it was still beautiful none the less.
The life of the local villagers is just unbelievable. It's as if time has stood still for them. They live off of the river and the land to provide for the daily living necessities. The women still do their laundry in the river and the farmers still plant their fields with water buffalo. Even with all of the fog and rain, the views were wonderful. It was a very relaxing ride and during the last hour we were served another wonderful table full of Chinese food. I just have to laugh every time we sit down for a meal because unlike our meals at home where we have a main course and a few side dishes, in China they have a minimum of 8-10 dishes! Just plates and plates full of food. I just can't figure out how these people stay so small. You are given a small saucer/plate and a small bowl. Instead of dishing out a plate full of food, you take just a few bites off of a plate and eat it, you then move onto the next. Each time placing your chopsticks, which you've already eaten off of, into another dish of food for your next round. Sometimes you just eat straight out of the bowl. It's all served family style and you eat until you can eat no more!
When we came to the end of our river cruise we were unloaded at a little village that sat in the mountains. There were streets filled with vendors and lots of bargains to be had. We have a lot of fun haggling with the vendors and bargain shopping. The thrill of victory as our one American dollar is equal to 8 Chinese wen. So not only is everything dirt cheap, your money goes a very long way. For example, today one of my purchases were 10 silk gift bags for $1.50!
We ended our day w/picking up our laundry--4 days worth for a family of 3, costing us a whopping $12 US dollars. We now have our bags packed and will be flying out in the morning for Beijing where we will finally start our actual adoption journey. The rest of our FTIA group will be flying in, there will approximately 15 families total. We will be spending 3 days touring Beijing and then we will finally be heading to Nanjing where our son Austin will be waiting for us.
Please continue to keep Austin in your prayers. I am starting to feel a little apprehensive about the initial few days of having him. While we all know that his life will be making a change for the better, he will not be able to understand what is happening to him. Please pray not only for his transition, but also for the language barrier that we will have to deal with as well.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support over these past few days. We know that God has been answering them in His perfect way. Don't forget little Anagrace as she remains back home. I'm sure her little wheels are turning by now and she has got to be wondering what is keeping her family away from her for so long. She continues to do well, but she needs all our prayers to get thru this time without us.
Next time we will be writing from Beijing!
The Bennetts
water buffalo and a local doing her laundry in the river
waterfall coming out of the mountain side
mountains with the rice fields being planted where ever there is flat land
