We spent our first evening on this beautiful island in Guangzhou. It's so lovely. You can see the busy city right outside it's edges but here on the island it is like a little safe oasis.  Our room is beautiful but the beds are hard.  I'm glad I brought along some egg cartons to lay on. Yes, they sure filled up our suitcases but no sore hips or shoulder this morning!  The beds have absolutely no give and firm as a board. Tonight \we're eager to catch some Z's and get up tomorrow and take care of Grace's medical exam.  Even though Grace still has diarrhea this is NOT the visit that you want to bring things like this up. We just want to get cleared and get through. Everyone says it's just a perfunctory exam and that's what we want to hear.  For those of you who remember earlier blogs, this visit was the reason we needed to get the amended home study to cover us just in case something was found that they thought would deem her special needs.  Tomorrow afternoon it will be lots of paperwork completed for her Visa and then the rest of the days we'll basically just be hanging out waiting for all of the paperwork to clear and we get her visa and can COME HOME! 

Today while we would have preferred to catch a visit to a local church -- even if it is run by the state, we instead went with the group to a Buddhist temple.  We opted out of the blessing they perform on the children by the monk.  To us, being blessed by the Buddhists would be like negating the blessing of our God, the only true God. We filmed it though and took lots of pictures :-)  There was lots of incense that was smelly and lots of people that were very devout and believe that these man-made images can actually imbibe them with special powers.  Sad.

It was quite hot today (mid 90's with high humidity) and Pat was drenched so I carried Grace around otherwise she would have been quite wet herself.  Pat is also struggling with a fierce cold so prayers would be appreciated for him and for Grace with both their health issues.  I'm doing well but being careful to eat blandly and stay away from fried foods.  We were talking to our kids today and told them that we aren't very adventurous when we have a little baby to care for. That one day off my feet was pretty miserable and I don't want to go through that again if I can help it!

After the Buddhist temple, they took us to Old Chen House which is basically a museum filled with beautiful colored porcelain, lime roof sculptures, stone and wood carvings, and paintings done with embroidery.  We were all especially thrilled to find the embroidery room, not just because they were absolutely exquisite, but because it was the only place in the building compound that had air-conditioning! 

After that they took us to a shop that had many beautiful things. We were told that they were of the highest quality and better than what could be found near the hotel on the island.  But we felt like it was a place that our guides get a bit of a kick-back for bringing customers to them. It seemed like an upscale tourist trap. Pat and I didn't buy anything but I was very tempted by some beautiful porcelain figurines of Chinese women. They were specific to the various provinces and Grace's province kept calling out to me - Buy me -- Buy me!.  We nearly did but then thought we would check out the island first and see if we could find something comparable.  After an afternoon of shopping around the various stores while Pat tried to take a nap (he didn't -- Grace didn't sleep), I realized that there just wasn't anything like that here. So I may be going back. You know what they say - When you find something you love, you just need to buy it or else you'll probaby just regret it and probably never see it again. What's that? You've never heard that saying? Hmmmm. . .maybe that's just MY saying!

To conclude, I thought I'd let you know that our Grace seems to have an easy going personality -only time will tell but this is the side we've seen this week.  She rarely fusses even when we have to hose her down in the tub from the explosion she's just experienced, or she has gone way too long without a bottle due to an extra long tour, or even when she has beads of sweat all over her face and her hair is dripping wet.  She good naturedly smiles at us quite often and falls asleep here and there without any fussing other than a minute or so of rubbing her eyes.  She's a sweetie, that's for sure and it's fun to discover her personality emerging more every day. Now she's sitting fairly well and likes to throw her self back onto the pillows we place all around her. She'll smile and lay there playing with her toes or with nearby toys. This was something she hated just a week ago -- has it really been a week with Grace?!! -- and now she's making a game of it.  She coos a lot and does typical baby sounds.  When I laugh real hard, she does a wonderful silent laugh with all 7 of her teeth showing. We have yet to hear a good old fashioned belly laugh but Grace seems to be a quiet little thing so we're content to wait on her timing.

In the group of pictures above, the paintings are all done with embroidery. And see the eggs? Notice that they have their eggs outside without refrigeration. The porcelain doll I wanted to buy is on the shelf -- what do you think, should I buy it for Grace?  It is representative of Jiangxi province where she was born. I think I just answered my own question! The pot is translucent so that light shows through like little pieces of rice. And the last picture was of a treat I found with my chicken dinner at the Thai restaurant we all ate at together this evening. I just got a half of roasted chicken and I picked up that piece at the very end.  We put it on another place to make it look nicer but it didn't seem nice at all at the time!

Comment Poll answers from previous blogs: 
Someone in our group today gave me some plastic pants - YEAH!  So thank you to all of you for your comments, the winner is Aunt Ruthann.  We will also probably try to get our hands on some size bigger diapers for the plane ride home, so all of you who answered this way get the consolation prize!
And to all of you who are eager to see our blog continue. . it certainly won't be as interesting or as daily, but we'll be happy to keep you informed of Grace's achievements and of our adjustment and that of our boys once we get back to Raleigh. We feel touched that you have such love in  your hearts for us and for our prayer-child and so how could we say no?

Last night we watched a bit of Chinese TV.  Women in a game show were racing each other barefoot across a rushing but shallow river.  Adding humor and challenge to the game, each woman had to carry a young, squirming, squealing pig.  Hilarious. 

Our bus ride was bittersweet.  We were fine leaving Nanchang because we have heard such great things about Guangzhou, but leaving Nanchang means leaving Grace's home province.  Can you hear my sentimental sigh?  Leaving Nanchang also means leaving Evelyn, our CCAI local representative.  She was a wonderful guide, and she took a special shine to Grace, especially near the end of our trip. 

On the bus ride to the airport Grace was all smiles, and every time she smiled at Evelyn Grace would wrinkle up her nose and make Evelyn laugh.  Evelyn made us promise that we would send her a picture of Grace's smile.  Our traveling companion parents were also surprised to see Grace's smile. Up until now, she has saved it for private times in our room so it's been fun to see her warming up to people.  We've really been enjoying these new friends of ours as well with many times of laughter and fellowship.

While we waited at the airport, we were singled out by a Chinese woman and her mother who kept pointing at Grace and saying "So cute!"  They kept hovering and getting closer until they finally reached out their hands to take her from us (See picture below).  They really got a charge out of it when Grace flashed her million dollar wrinkled up nose smile and laughed and laughed and clapped with joy.  Her older son was with them and spoke English and he said, "How long you have her with you?"  We told hinm for about 5 days and he said, "That incredible because she look so happy with you.  She seems to really love you." 

Our 80 minute plane ride from Nanchang to Guangzhou went smoothly. We sat next to a young woman who was intensely curious about why we adopted, and why from China.  She spoke passable English, so we had a great conversation.   At the end of the flight she wanted her picture taken with us.  Grace couldn't have done better on her first plane ride. She ate her way through with Cheerios and bread until 10 minutes before landing at which point she fussed for a few minutes and then fell fast asleep.Hopefully this is a precursor to our 25.5 hours of flying and layovers that we will be doing on Friday the 18th.

Since Guangzhou is where the US consulate is,  all Americans who are adopting this month from every Chinese province have converged, most staying at the White Swan Hotel.  In Nanchang, the only white people we ever saw were the few from our adoption group and Norwegian families who were also adopting from the Jiangxi Province.  Here, it seems that there are hundreds of American families - all with little babies, mostly girls.

We were thrilled to be here after all of these years about hearing about Guangzhou and our hotel room has a beautiful view of the city. After a quick walking tour of the shopping district around the White Swan Hotel we ordered Papa Johns pizza and have been hanging in the hotel room ever since.  Tomorrow we are visiting some sites around Guangzhou, but for now we are completely content to relax and hopefully get a long night's rest. 

Signing off for the evening!  Good morning to all of you.

Our bags are packed and we're flying to Guangzhou (pronounced "Gwong zhoe") in about two hours.  Guangzhou is where we meet with US officials to receive a visa and US citizenship for Grace.   We will be staying at the White Swan Hotel.  If you google the White Swan Hotel you will see that it is a very upscale place with a beautiful outdoor swimming pool where I am determined to take Grace for her first swim. 

And speaking of firsts, Sharon put Grace on the toilet and made the "Ba Ba" sound.  Within thirty seconds Grace had a bowel movement and smiled really big.  No pictures though - sorry  (Ha).  This wasn't a first for Grace, but it was a first for Sharon.

While I am typing this Sharon is eating breakfast down at the buffet and Grace is sitting quietly on the bed surrounded on three sides by large pillows, and quite content to play with an empty videotape box.  Just a few days ago we couldn't put her down without tears, and so we continue to be amazed at the strides that she is taking.

I needed one last look at the city this morning, so I stole away for some video and picture moments.  Sharon and I wanted to video tape the crowded streets, because words and still shots don't do justice to the cacophony of horns honking, squeaking brakes, and the hum of motorcycles - the music of Nanchang.

At 7:00am the city is already alive with the hustle and bustle of a Saturday morning - commuters, shoppers, dancers.  Yes, dancers.  Middle age and elderly people, mostly women, congregate to dance in the courtyard outside of the gated Jin Feng Hotel where we have stayed for the past five nights.  

We will miss Nanchang as we fly off to Guangzhou, but there is no place like home, and we are so looking forward to being in Raleigh with our boys.  We're missing them! (Pat)

Today when Grace woke up she looked at us and smiled. On the mornings prior to this, she'd wake up and give us a look like "Who the heck are you?"  so this was a very fun new development and certainly a wonderful way to start the day. We had a lovely morning out.  CCAI has done such a great job of giving us just enough outings mixed with our needed down time.  We are ready to go to Guangzhou tomorrow but it's been a great week -- after the first day of vomiting and diarrhea -- oh - and my day of sickness!  We have generally gone somewhere in the AM and gotten back to the hotel in time to feed our baby and give her a good nap while we load our pictures, blog, nap, and get things organized for the next feeding or outing.  I think our boys would be pretty bored hanging out at the hotel but for Pat and me, it has been just what we needed to not only get on our feet with this parenting business, but to keep ourselves healthy both physically and mentally.  Kudos to our agency for this well thought out schedule and planned sites.  They covered everything we would have wanted to see in a week's time in this province.

Today it was off to a local park.. There were lots of Chinese people with their children and all of them would smile at us and we said lots of Ni Hao's (Nee-how) of hello!  The park was unlike any park I've seen in the US. There were people playing cards, playing musical instruments, using park stationary exercise equipment, pushing babies, riding on amusement rides and boats, eating ice cream and even someone doing a traditional dance with a sword .  We didn't see any joggers or bicyclists but we did see a few statues devoted to communism.  It's hard not to love these Chinese people with their abounding smiles and welcoming nature.  I tried walking on the cobblestone path that is supposed to exercise one's feet, and let me tell you -- OUCH!

One of the highlights for us was to finally get a good close up look at people playing Mah-Johng.  This is a Chinese game that we have really been enjoying as a family ever since our cousins Mark and Sharon introduced it to us some 5? years ago after having been to China themselves.  So here were all of these people in their games using the exact same set that we have! One rule of the game is to take all of the tiles and build a wall. We never do this part when we play or it would take forever. What a riot it was to see that when the game is done, they just push them all into the middle and they go down into the table and come up in perfect wall form! Magic! We can't  figure out how they come out in the right direction so we jokingly said there must be a little Chinese Mahjong man under the table doing all of that! 

Then we went to a pottery place because Jiangxi is known for rice but also porcelain.  We saw some beautiful things but we're trying to keep our luggage weight down until we get the 2 bag international allowance on the way home so we were good. Well - pretty good . . we did buy some egg-shell porcelain vases that were paper thin, light as a feather and just too pretty to pass up.  We also got a mini-tea set that has a mother and daughter on it's pieces as well as a couple of little pink porcelain bracelets. I will most likely find these same items in Guangzhou (for cheaper), but I really wanted Grace to have a few things from her province.

Later this afternoon we received Grace's passport.  It has a picture on it of her that was taken on her way to our Gotcha Day so it is just precious to behold.  We'll be adding a visa stamp to it in Guangzhou but it is exciting to have the official document that allows her to travel with us!

Tonight we have another group dinner and then tomorrow a relaxed morning of packing before getting our 2:30 pm flight to Guangzhou.  We will take one more look outside tonight this evening at the Nancheng skyline and wonder again at how dark everything looks for such a big city.  It just amazes me that the city doesn't light up like cities and towns in the US. The apartments must either have very dim lighting or not have electricity at all.  We were told this week that apartments are very expensive and girls will generally refuse suitors unless they have an apartment. OR they will choose a mate solely based on the fact that he has an apartment.  Also, when an apartment is bought, it's pretty much gutted and you have to add everything - water, electricity, etc so that adds to the expense.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy days to read these lengthy blogs. We love all of your comments every day and send back to you the warmest of greetings and love! Thanks for journeying with us in spirit and through your prayers. Keep praying for good health, good sleep, and for Grace's BM's! We're really hoping that in one more week they aren't so explosive otherwise that trip on the airplane could get pretty dicey if they keep  flying out the sides of the diapers onto her clothes and ours!  We're thinking maybe of putting a bigger size diaper over top to catch the spillover if they're still that way when we travel home -- any other suggestions?

Have a wonderful day. Love to you all!

We, along with many of you, have prayed numerous prayers for Grace since before she was even conceived.  God has heard and answered every single prayer of ours.  Oh, God doesn't always answer with a yes, but He always answers in the best way for His children. We have felt that confidence but now I am even more confident of His utmost sovereignty over not only our lives but over our daughter's as well.  He answered "no" to many prayers including a speedup, the lack of need to re-do our fingerprints, home studies, and I171H's.  Nor did he give us her little finding outfit that would have been a rare treasure or a note that may have been in with her when she was found.  But He answered YES to the many snags we had along the way -- some that have been blogged about and others that we have suffered without writing about.

And He answered with a big YES the first prayer I remember being prayed for our Grace.  It wasn't even my prayer, but when my friend Mary Eloise prayed it, I knew it was THE prayer to be prayed and it escaped my lips countless times over the past 3 1/2 years.  She prayed that Grace would be "a magnet for affection and get lots of hugs, love, and holding."  Indeed, this has been the case with Grace as best we can surmise.  She was held nearly constantly and bonded with the Foster Mother whose picture with her speaks volumes of love and care.  Today was the first day that she didn't whimper "Mama.  Baba.  Mama.  Baba"  when she was tired or sad. She's well on her way to accepting us as her new and forever Mama and Baba (Daddy) and we are overwhelmed with thankfulness that God answered this first  prayer of ours with a yes. 

To those of you reading who have adopted children of your own, we know that God has given you and your children exactly what they needed as well. He does all things well and for every whispered prayer, He sees and knows just what is best.  We gratefully acknowledge our total lack of understanding about what we needed and what Grace needed and most gratefully accept this awesome gift of His in answering prayer #1 with a big YES. 

Sharon

(Pat) First, I would like to thank all of you for praying for our tongues.  We are already much improved, although it appears to still be bothering Grace when she eats. 

Our group took a half day tour of a village thirty minutes outside of Nanchang this morning.  Except for the fact that CCAI probably takes adoption groups there on occasion, most have probably not seen a real live white person.  This particular village has its share of wealthy people, but is made up primarily of rice farmers and their families.  We watched one woman washing her clothes in the small pond outside of her home (her home is actually built so that the back end is over the lake).  A few minutes later I noticed a man fishing in the same lake, a vegetable gardener collecting water in large buckets from the lake to water her crops, and a man who had just slaughtered a dog washing the entrails and other scraps into the lake.  We often talk of multi-purpose rooms and fields in the educational environment, and as wild as I have let my imagination run as a school administrator, my "out of the box" thinking has nothing on this little village hard at work.  That being said, they also use human excrement to fertilize their rice fields, and my guess is that they have never sat through a biology class lesson on the complex life cycle of flukes, tapeworms, and other parasitic worms that can have a hay day in such an environment.

We brought candy and toys for the kids of the community, and they were all smiles and warmly welcomed us onto their streets.  Some even posed for us.  Most of the pictures of people that you will see in our gallery were taken only after we asked their permission. 

(Sharon)It was an amazing walk through real China and we could not seem to take enough pictures.  Yes, we saw dog being cut up and we saw dog pets that were either skinny as rails, or pregnant or nursing.  We saw a pen that held ducks that was also used as an outhouse. The sights and, as you can imagine, the smells, were powerful!  Grace calmly walked along with Pat carrying her in her little Snugli. The Snugly seems to work great for Pat. For me, it really hurts my neck, so Grace gets lots of Daddy time  :-) 

(Pat) From our jaunt to the countryside we made our way back to Nanchang for lunch.  Our group decided on Pizza Hut, so we headed for the shopping district.  I was impressed by the wealth in this area of the city, and except for the homogeneous crowds and Chinese characters on every storefront it reminded me a lot of the shopping districts in New York City.   Having just come from the village, the disparity between the two was striking.

(Sharon) Our boys today told us to take more pictures.  HA. We're actually taking tons of pics but sparing you all the boring details (for the most part!).  We were able to SKYPE them today again and it's always wonderful to see them and my mother.  They often just ooh and ahh over Grace -- "Look! She's smiling!" or "Look! She's eating a cheerio!"  and they want us to hold her up and just look at her.  They can't wait for us to come home, and to tell you the truth, as wonderful as this adventure is, we'd like nothing more than to just bring her home and start our new adventure at home! But we are also loving this place, its people, and its beauty. It's a rough and rugged beauty with wizened faces, gritty buildings, and hard working good people. 

As I write this, Pat and I have tag teamed off on the blog.  I was enjoying an hour message - not too hard, not too soft -- very methodically working through my sore muscles from my head to my ankles. The feet is something we're saving for and hour long massage tomorrow. We hear it's quite a treat! Now, Pat is on the bed in our room getting his hour message. She laughed when she saw his large frame and shook her head with a smile and a sigh as if to say, "Well, let's make a go of it!".  She's getting a real workout and putting all of the weight of her small frame into his message. I decided to go first because I knew he'd wear her out and I didn't want to feel guilty about her being tired out  during mine!  He seems to be really enjoying it and we've put on the Chinese TV to help keep her entertained a bit during these 2 hours.

Grace had another first today -- tasting ice cream!  We stopped off at Haagen Daz on the way back to our hotel.  Pat and I shared a small cup of Mango icecream.  Haagen Daz is expensive even in China at $4 for a tiny scoop but we wanted to experience!  Grace kept reaching for it. When we finally were outside and able to give her a first taste, she wrinkled her face up in pain as if we had given her lemon juice!  I doubt she's ever had anything cold in her life.  I'm sure ice cream will warm on her though!  Since everything she eats or drinks has to either be nearly hot or very warm, we bought a thermos tonight at the local grocery store. At 16 RMB (2.75 dollars) it was certainly a better deal than our Haagen Daz icecream, that's for sure!

Grace went down early last night and was up at 3:40AM.  I was still not feeling well so Pat, in the wonderful Daddy and husband role, took Grace out and gave me some more time to sleep. He did an amazing job yesterday covering for me and we were glad both of us weren't sick. It's also fantastic that Grace really likes her Daddy! Later today, when I was feeling better, I returned the favor and he got an extended naptime to make up for those stolen hours. 
 
We went to the TangWang Pavilion today. It’s apparently the “hot tourist spot” in Nanchang.  It’s basically a big building with some pretty gardens that was originally built by the 23rd son of the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty in around 657 AD after the emperor banished him from his sight because "he would never amount to anything." Those of you who love history will probably hate this blog because I was pretty much out of it for the tour and don’t really know what we were seeing!  I was having trouble staying on my feet – pretty woozy, and weak from yesterday’s sickness.  And it was hot, so as we went up the tiny staircases I was struggling just to keep from fainting.  But it was pretty and a nice morning out.  Did we tell you that Nanchang is called one of the “four furnaces” in China? It’s because it has 85% humidity for the entire month of August and temperatures of 105-110 and is located in a valley so it really heats up. We were feeling it today, that’s for sure!
 
We then headed off to a restaurant that Pat and the others really enjoyed.  It looked like a great spread, but I opted only for the rice and steamed egg – yummy – basically the same food our baby is eating. But my stomach thanked me for it!

Today we have loaded pictures of the pavilion, Grace’s first outing in a stroller, her first bath, and yes – her first time sitting up by herself!  She’s been like a weebly wobbly, and then all of a sudden tonight she’s a pro at sitting. We had heard that these little children make incredible developmental strides, but it’s amazing to watch.

The other exciting thing for us happened when someone came to our room to fix our  internet service. The lady reached for Grace and held her and Grace started to cry and turned around and looked for me with a face that could only be described as, “Help! You’re supposed to be holding me – not her!”   It was our first peek at attachment and it was wonderful! 

And finally, we received pictures back from a camera we had sent to Grace in a care package last month. We had few hopes to get back any pics from the foster family. We, of course, were hoping there would be some of her house or of the family she had been staying with.  We didn’t get that, but we did get an entire roll of Grace and the foster mother back at the orphanage on the day that we got Grace.  The foster families had to drop off the children at noon that day at the orphanage to make it to our 5 PM appointment to receive the children 2 ½ hours away in Nanchang. In the photos you can see how very loved Grace was by the smiles on the foster mother’s face.  You can also see in 2 pictures the absolute sorrow and angst she went through as she knew she was moments away from not seeing Grace again.  The pictures are touching, telling, and a real treasure. And did we tell you that we have the Finding Ad for Grace? It’s the advertisement put into the newspaper to see if anyone has any info about her parents.  It has a picture of her at probably 3 weeks old or less. Precious. Priceless.  Even if it is smaller than the size of a postage stamp!

Thank you everyone for your prayers for me.  I’m feeling MUCH better this evening. Pat and I and Grace all have some little sores on our tongues which aren’t too pleasant that you can pray about now!  And thank you for all of your comments. It’s killing me not to respond to each of you individually and hope you all understand.  Please keep the comments coming!  We smile and laugh and get so encouraged by all of your comments. What a blessing you are to us, and we are humbled that you are sticking with us on this journey! 

 

Sharon


A brief note from Pat: Grace went to bed last night at 8:30 - much earlier than the first two nights.  No surprise that she woke up at 3:30am.  Sharon was still feeling sick, and I wanted her to sleep so I took Grace out of the room when it was clear that she wasn't the least bit interested in sleeping.  I put her in a baby carrier and went for a walk outside the hotel.  The weather was a comfortable 80 degrees with a slight breeze, and the streets were quiet for the first time in my remembering.  Over the next 2.5 hours Grace and I watched the city wake up.  Men and women walked or jogged by us, a few women pulling large carts laden with their goods trekked by, and most looked at Grace and me with a smile.  I had one young couple approach me and try to engage in conversation with me.   The man could speak a little English, and the woman, after studying me and Grace exclaimed, "She Chinese!"  After I said, "yes," she thought a minute and then said as if she had figured it out, "her mother Chinese?"  I said "yes" again, and thought about just letting them think that her Chinese mother and I made baby Grace, but I then threw the adoption word out at them.  I think the man understood, but we said our pleasant goodbyes at any rate. 

Sharon slept or rested most of the day today.  Her stomach is less queezy now, but she went to sleep when Grace went down for the night at 8:30pm.  When the two of them were sleeping during the afternoon nap time I decided to take a walk around the city.  I spent one hour walking around one city block, and during that time I snapped a number of photos.  Twelve of them are included below.  There were hundreds of people shots that I would have loved to get, but out of deference to the people, I refrained.   As you can imagine, I already stood out on the crowded streets as the only white guy.  It took me back to when I was a kid living in Japan.  As a toe-head, I was the subject of a lot of gawking and shameless pointing.  Can't say I blame them either.  During our first year of marriage Sharon and I stumbled into a hotel that was hosting the NOAH convention.   I am embarrassed to admit that I did my fair share of staring at that time as well.  For those who don't know, "NOAH" stands for the "National Organization of Albino Humans."

For dinner, Grace and I joined the rest of the adoption group at a local restaurant.  This was my chance to test my ability to handle the spicy hot local food from Nanchang.  To  my surprise, Grace handled a high chair very well, and she really loved the pumpkin soup, the steamed egg, and the white rice.  I say that I was surprised by her ability to stay in a high chair because she was raised by a foster mother who never put her down.  She hasn't yet learned how to sit up, how to roll over, or what to do when on her tummy.  The foster mother did, however, begin a potty training regiment when she started caring for Grace at ten days old.  Every morning, immediately after Grace awakened, the foster mother would hold her over the potty and utter some command until Grace had a bowel movement.  I taught my second dog how to defecate on command, a story in and of itself, but this is probably one of those tricks that we're not going to keep doing with Grace. 

Back to the restaurant: You may find it interesting that I ate and loved everything that was offered to me tonight, and nothing was too hot or too spicy.  Perhaps they save the really hot stuff just for the locals?  The food was delicious, and as soon as Sharon is up for it, I want to take her back to the same restaurant for some of their milder fare.

Oh - one more thing.  Today we had a local pediatrician do a compulsory exam on Grace.  Everything checked out.  We asked about the dark coloring in her belly button, and our translator explained that it is just dirt.  She went on to say that they do not clean the belly button of babies until they are two years old.  She further explained that they believe that if it is cleaned before the age of two the babies would get colds more easily :-)  So, if you see Grace's belly button in any pictures, please know that in fifteen months we will deal with that dirty little patch of skin :-)

Before I blog this entry, I wanted all of you to know that we emailed a short gotcha day video to our wonderful son Adam who put it up in the "special video moments" part of our website.  Click HERE to go directly to it.

After our morning ordeal yesterday with Grace's diarrhea, projectile vomiting, official adoption business, and wardrobe malfunctions Grace napped from 3-5 in the afternoon.  I stayed in the hotel room with her while Sharon took off with the group to go shopping at a WalMart Supercenter.  It is almost too hard to picture, but the store was three stories large with "flat" escalators that allow patrons to navigate from one floor to the next with their shopping carts.  There was even merchandise laid out in between the up and down escalators and on either side of them.  The grocery section of the WalMart Supercenter had every imaginable food product including live animals like turtles.  So a zoo and a store all in one.

Leap frog forward to dinner last night:  Our tour guide/local adoption coordinator had told us that the third floor Chinese restaurant served french fries, sweet and sour pork, and a number of other more "Americanized" Chinese foods.  We decided to give it a try for a change of taste from the hotel's buffet-style array of Nanchang specialties like chicken claws and fish head soup.

We went to the third floor restaurant, and no patrons were there.  We asked the waitress, "is this the Chinese restaurant?" and she said, "no," shook her head, and led us to the balcony overlooking the foyer.  From there she pointed to the buffet restaurant below.  After we struggled to communicate through pantomime and English (I'm a bit rusty on my Mandarin) we managed to get seated and she handed us a menu.

One look through the menu and it was clear that there was no mention of french fries, sweet and sour pork, or anything else we could recognize as interesting to us from a palatable point of view.  There were, however, plenty of interesting dishes that we weren't about to try:  jelly fish skin, filet of sea cucumber, and red bird's nest soup to name a few.  For those who don't know, bird's nest soup is made using the nest of a specific bird made from the spittle of the bird.  It is considered a delicacy, but at 700 yuen (about a hundred US dollars per entree, so I passed.

We slipped out of the restaurant when the waitress wasn't looking and ran into our tour coordinator.  She told us that the restaurant would make what we wanted, but we would simply need to order it custom.  She called them with the order and we went back up to our seats and had sweet and sour pork, french fries, and fried rice.  Each of the three dishes was enough to feed a family of eight, and so with contented stomachs we left a lot of food behind.  I thought about asking for a doggy bag, but then rethought it.  If the waitress understood the word "doggy" she might have come back to the table with yet another entree (Ha!)

Grace enjoyed her first taste of Americana with her introduction to french fries, and we had the restaurant all to ourselves.  All in all, it was a wonderful meal.

One more thing - you may not be aware of the fact that the Jiangxi Province is the capital of the porcelain industry.  The fact that Sharon was hugging our own piece of porcelain a few minutes ago and losing her entire breakfast most definitely has nothing to do with this factoid, but the parallels were not lost on me.  Pray for Sharon!  She probably has a bug or some food poisoning.  She feels better now that her stomach is empty, and she's been eyeing my big bag of American candy with focused determination.  Maybe I'll give her one piece of dark chocolate.  I've heard that it possesses some medicinal qualities.

She also just mentioned that she is very glad she brought a jar of peanut butter - making the claim that she could live on it if need be for the next eleven days.

Enjoy this first batch of pictures from Nanchang (pronounced "Nan-chung" with the "chung" sound causing your jaw to drop if you're saying it right).  The first six pictures show a bit of the city - a city with about five million people compared to Hong Kong's seven million, but with average incomes of one tenth that of the Hong Kong population.  Most of the five million residents live in high rise apartment complexes like the buildings shown in picture two.  The average family of three may have an apartment measuring about 300 square feet - which would roughly be the size of our family room and half of our kitchen.  Hardly anyone owns a car, getting around with cheap public transportation and/or bikes, scooters, and motorcycles.

The last four pictures show our hotel.  The first shows it from the outside, the second in the lobby, and the last two in our hotel room.  There is an indoor swimming pool on the fourth floor that we will be checking out tomorrow since our only business tomorrow is a perfunctory 10:00am pediatrician appointment.  With the diarrhea and projectile vomiting from this morning, perhaps there is something that he will be able to do for Grace.  I can't speak for Sharon, but I will probably say no to acupuncture.  Ha!