Second Day in Guangzhou

OH MY....Do we ever treasure being outside in the sunshine! We are so sick and tired of hotel rooms!!!! The hotel we are currently in is about 50 stories high. We are on the 32nd floor-more feelings of claustrophobia!! I will try to get a picture from the breakfast room which is on the very top floor. The view is awesome-but I do not like being so far away from the ground. Maybe it's just because I am American, but I have these flashes of 9/11 and the World Trade Center Towers. You know, I never use to have this fear of heights-am I getting old or what?

This morning we enjoyed a tour thru the Chen Family Temple. It was an academy for students, and now is a museum of beautiful artworks of ceramics, paintings, ivory and bone carvings, and more. There were many chinese student artists drawing all over the gardens and we purchased several artwork pieces for Natalie. Our guide told us that the younger generation no longer wishes to continue some of the beautiful artwork-such as the ivory carvings-because it takes 8-10 years to complete one unique piece "they have no patience". There were small ivory carvings for purchase, but we were not aloud to purchase them-because they cannot leave the country.

The pictures I am posting are all of the temple and stone and wood carvings. There is one picture, we were "honored" to get-a girl named Sarah, the first adopted child of one of the family's here, honored us with a picture. She has been an enjoyable blessing to us and the other families. Like Natalie, she was adopted at the age of two, and her mother said that she too clung to her like "Velco" for weeks and would have nothing to do with her father. I asked if that will change and she said "Oh Yes!" Our Natalie had a good morning. She enjoyed walking around the gardens and I tried desperately to get a picture, but all I could get was blurr-she can really move; Brad and I are calling it the chinese two-step.

Thank you everyone for the encouraging emails! They have been a real blessing. I continue to feel poorly-but it is just something that will have to run it's course. The irony is-I am NEVER sick, and now twice in one week! I feel like I am missing out of so much of China. Our little one has worn herself out and is currently taking a nap-therefore I wanted to take advantage of the peace to update the blog. This afternoon we go to our guide's room for more paperwork preparation for the US Consulate appointment on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday afternoon our guide told us we would "go to the consulate to swear". Brad found that extremely humorous. He said that if there was a picture of Obama in the room he just might "swear". (I apologize to any democrats who may read this part of the blog!) The guide, of course, meant we would be going for the swearing in ceremony for our children. All formalities-ain't politics great!