Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Trina, Nick, Jesse, Catherine and Faith!
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November 23, 2006 Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Have you ever seen the inside of a Chinese hospital? We have. Ha! Now I have your attention and you’ll have to read the whole post to get the story! Easy, easy, and….SET THE HOOK!
Today is Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. We finally have Faith in our hands, and our journey is almost complete. We can see the end in sight. Just a few more days and we will be back in Oregon with the rest of our family. We also got to visit Faith’s birth city today and see the countryside that Guangxi region is famous for.
Faith woke up in a great mood this morning. I can’t believe how each day she comes out of her shell more and bonds closer to us. She is like a lotus blossom opening up for the first time. This morning she was actually playing in my arms while I was holding her. Trina told me to hold still so she could put the bow in her hair. I told Trina no way, she got to play with Faith like that all day yesterday, and it was now my turn. We have been told that the girls usually start showing us their true self about the third or fourth day.
When we went to breakfast we had to wait for a table. Actually, I (Jim) had to fight for a table. The hostess told us that there were a lot of people there this morning, and that seating was limited. I showed her two booths that were open, and told her I didn’t want to sit where she was pointing because of all the smoke in that area. She said that where I wanted to sit was full and finally gave me a table out of the smoke. The truth of the matter is, the ex-President of Taiwan was in the hotel, and he was occupying the corner booth in that section, so no one was allowed to use the two booths next to him. One man controlled seating for 15 people.
More people showed up for the tour than Liping expected, so he had to call for a larger bus. We left at 9:30 and headed for Yulin. The countryside was beautiful. I took a lot of blurry pictures before I finally figured out there was a motion setting on the camera. The pictures were much better after that. I was able to get a good picture of the mountains that this area is famous for, and a Chinese junk on the river. We saw lots of water buffalo in the fields, but taking a picture of one always eluded me.
Yulin was larger than we expected, between two and three million people. Davey called the orphanage and the assistant director came and led us to where the children spent the first part of their lives. Lo and behold, when we arrived, the assistant director let us drive right through the gate! We were going to see the grounds inside! We didn’t get to actually go inside the orphanage, but I was able to get pictures of where she played.
There are two orphanages in Yulin, and the one Faith is from is the newest. It was built three years ago. Her birth mother had to walk down a long, dirty alley in order to leave her at the gate. According to her paperwork, an anonymous person alerted the police that she was left in front of the orphanage gate; the police went and found her and delivered her inside. Trina and I can only wonder if it was her birth mother who made the call. I, Trina, thought there were some very interesting things about the orphanage. One, it not only cares for children but it also takes care of the elderly. The ages range from birth to 103 years old. Two, the walls of the orphanage have glass that has been mortared into the top of the wall. This acts like barbed wire to keep people out of the orphanage.
After the orphanage visit we ate lunch (at McDonald’s; and yes, I got meat on my burger this time) and walked around the city a little bit. Again Jacob was treated like a celebrity. Then we boarded the bus for the return trip. The bus driver said he would stop in the country so we could take some more pictures. I finally got a water buffalo!
Faith had fallen asleep before lunch, and didn’t want to eat when she woke up. She started running a low-grade fever and had a small rash, so we gave her some Tylenol. Except for learning to wave bye-bye to daddy when I was taking pictures, she slept most of the way home.
By the time we got back to the hotel, her fever was up to 102. She also threw up when we gave her some Motrin. It was not time for more Tylenol and her fever was 102. Combined with a high fever, rash, and sleepy baby we called Davey, who had not left the hotel yet, fortunately. He came to our room and we told him we wanted her to see a doctor. He and Liping took us to a local hospital, only 10-15 minutes away. He said we’d only be gone an hour. We saw an on-call doctor, who said she has a slight throat infection, but wanted her to see specialists for her rash and to check her ears. The dermatologist gave us a prescription for lotion. The ENT said her ears were clear. Faith by now was hotter than when we arrived at the hospital.
The first doctor we saw had prescribed some antibiotics and a shot of “traditional Chinese herbal remedy.” Whatever, at least we weren’t in Africa seeing a voodoo doctor. Two hours later we finally got home.
2 Hours at a Chinese hospital + 3 doctors + 1 “Traditional Chinese herbal remedy” injection = A COMMON COLD!
Faith drank some Pedialite and took her medicine. Trina and I took shifts eating dinner at 9:00 pm. Faith was asleep when I returned from eating, but woke up shortly after Trina left to eat. I had her calmed down when Trina got back and we were finally able to get her back to sleep. Surprisingly, she had a pretty good night, and only woke up every four hours when the Tylenol wore off.
Now you know… the rest of the story. It’s already the 24th here. We wanted to make sure Faith was OK before posting. She’s been awake for almost 2 hours and is feeling much better, although she is still feverish. Today we get to relax and do nothing, so she should be much better by tomorrow, when we travel to Guangzhou. Tonight is our last night here in Nanning and we are scheduled to go out to dinner and a traditional music and dancing show. The journey is almost over, but it is also just beginning. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Kids, we will call you tomorrow at Granny’s house. We love and miss you bunches!
