Before I get into today’s adventure, I have to rewind to last night when we dined at a Thai restaurant with the Smiths. The 5 of them ordered what seemed to be everything on the menu. Sheila ordered corn pizza and I had 6 pieces of “France bread with garlic”. That’s right folks, I admit I am NOT a Thai food fancier. The menu was an actual book, and I had six scrawny pieces of garlic bread. I will have to say that the SunKist orange soda was the coldest thing I’ve had since I’ve been here, and well worth the food ordeal. Jada was the only one at the table that indulged with chopsticks, and was VERY proud of that fact.

“Hello” I said! “Hello, hello, hello” was the reply! Today we visited the
Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum. If you are so inclined and wish to learn more about where we toured, you can click on the link to read a travel site description. There were a lot of steps and a LOT of things (over 1,000) that had been buried for over two thousand years. It was interesting, but in a “I can’t believe this is smack-dab in the middle of an 8 million population city” sort of way. Make sense?

When we were about to leave the museum and were waiting for the last group member to get to the bus, there were some fellows next to several tour buses, are you ready for this??? ROASTING CHESTNUTS! That’s right, roasting chestnuts in hot coals. I just had to get a picture, so I hope it turned out okay. It was a risk since I think I was cursed by one of them when I took his picture without buying anything. That’s okay, let him try to find me in a week!

After leaving the museum, we stopped by the Jade and Porcelain store. Sheila found a few things, so she had her “buying” fix, at least for a few short hours. She got another fix, though, after returning to the hotel while the girls were taking their naps.

You guys can’t imagine just home many artisans there are here, and in China in general. They are amazing at the mediums they find to vent their artistic frustrations. Just kidding, but it is awesome how they create art that is both inexpensive and beautiful.

Helen, our facilitator, asked all of us to meet for dinner to celebrate the week of all the girls’ births. It is very unusual that all the families of a travel group have birthdays in the same year, much less in the same month and week. We ate at Lucy’s, a favorite restaurant among those Westerner’s adopting from China and staying at the White Swan. Helen had bought a cake for the girls, and all of us thought that was a very sweet thing for her to do. Thanks again Helen!

Ruby continues to amaze and amuse us. She is quickly becoming attached to both Sheila and myself. It seems that today, she might actually be on the other side of being a little bit spoiled. She followed Sheila around the room while Jada and I were at breakfast, and she holds her little arms up for us to pick her up. She loves holding our fingers and has the cutest way of staring into our eyes.

She is exploring every inch of the room now and is picking up everything she can. This is a far cry from when we first received her and she wouldn’t even hold onto the toy we brought for her to play with. We are anxious for you to see the little girl that we are also anxious to see in 5 short days.

While we’re preparing for bed, you are starting your new day. All the blessings you have sent our way, we are sending right back to you as huge ‘thank-yous’ for all your prayers and support for us while we are on this incredible journey. We appreciate all of you more than words can express.