Familiar Faces

No disrespect to the Chinese people, after all God gave us one as our own child, but it was nice to see some "big nose" people today. "Big nose" is the term Chinese people use to describe westerners. All visas for Chinese children going to the U.S. have to be applied for and received here in Guangzhou, and our hotel is a popular hotel that many agencies use. So, we have been able to visit with several adopting families today. The other family in our group is from Iowa. They are a lot of fun to hang around with; we had a blast today. I wish we could bring them home with us as well. Keelan would love their 6 year old daughter. I have a picture of Maelin with their daughter on today's post. We started the day with an excellent breakfast buffet in our hotel. I have a pic of Maelin eating her favorite fruit-watermelon. In fact she is holding it out for me to see with a smile on her face. Then we, along with the family from Iowa, went with our guide to the Chen Family Temple. The Chen family was a very wealthy and powerful family many years ago in the Guangzhou area. They donated the money to build this temple. I have a picture of one of the huge doors below. We also got to see some embroidery artwork by some famous modern artists. I have a picture of a piece of artwork below, that I wasn't supposed to take-shhhh don't tell, that is all hand made embroidery. Our guide told us that it takes up to five years for the artists to complete one piece! After the tour we shopped, and we shopped, and we shopped. We also ate at a very good Italian restaurant close to the hotel. Maelin had grilled vegetables and a fruit plate. She ate very well! She loves grilled zucchini and grilled eggplant. Tonight for dinner we went to Lucy's again. It is just easy to find stuff for Maelin to eat there. Walking back to the hotel this evening, Maelin fell asleep in her stroller. I am going to finish this post and then we are all going to bed. Maelin has her medical exam tomorrow. Everyone start praying now that she doesn't freak out. We were told by the nannies at the orphanage that Maelin doesn't like nurses or doctors. It should be interesting! That is all that is on the agenda, so I am sure we will do more shopping tomorrow as well. Y'all know Kala! Have a great Sunday everyone. I wish we were there for church. I really have missed that! Rylan and Keelan, Maelin still looks at your pictures every day. She is ready to see her guh guh and jie jie! We love you and miss you!

Also, the area around our hotel must be a popular place to take professional photographs. We saw several "photo shoots" today. I included a photo of a girl doing a photo shoot not far from our hotel. She was in a beautiful red dress.