Sunday, October 19, 2008

Just a short update today! It was another sunny day in Guangzhou! We had a very relaxing breakfast in a near empty dining room. We met another adoptive couple and their new daughter. We chatted with them during breakfast. After breakfast we came back up to the room for awhile and then met our guide Bob at 10am to do some touring. We started the morning at the 6 Banyon Temple. We had been there one time before during Kiah's adoption. This visit was a very confusing time for me. I stood there watching all of the people kneeling and praying to these huge golden figures. I felt so sorry for them... they were spending their time investing in... nothing. These golden statues offer them no salvation... no future. Bob told us that 100 years ago there were no orphanages so families would abandon their children at the temple gates. All of the orphans would become monks. This was very interesting. There were a lot of beggars outside the temple which was exactly what we remember from Kiah's adoption trip.

After visiting the temple we went to the Botanical Gardens. We had not visited this site before and it was BEAUTIFUL! SO worth the trip even in the extreme heat. The gardens were fabulous and so well manicured. There was an area to feed fish and Kiah really enjoyed that. We spent about an hour walking around. We then came back to the hotel area and ate lunch. I won't mention where we ate since you can probably figure it out! We did a little bit of shopping and came back to the hotel for a couple of hours. At 3:30 pm we headed out again. The sun was not so blazing hot and we really enjoyed walking next to the Pearl River and strolling down the streets. We met 2 other adoptive couples... 1 of them had been on our flight from Dulles to Beijing. We spent some time playing with the kids at the park. We ordered pizza this evening and ate it in the room.

Tomorrow is our Consulate Appointment. Our guide will walk our paperwork down to the Consulate and we will wait for his phone call that everything is OK with our documents. In the afternoon we will do some more sightseeing.

We are really counting the days until we go home. We miss our kids at home so much! We have had a great time in China and we praise the Lord for all the blessings He has given us! Just 2 more days until we leave for home. We ask the Lord to continue to bless this journey!

Until tomorrow!!!