May 30, 2004

Joel's email: Thanks for all of your prayers. Last night we arrived in Guangzhou by airplane. Alaina's first airplane trip. She did great! She is quickly coming out of her shell and showing off a little. Today, we went on a sightseeing adventure with the group. She was quite the entertainer at lunch. Always ready to eat, she finished her bottle in about 2 minutes. Everyone was impressed. After feeding herself throughout lunch, she proceeded to smile and pose for a couple of photos. She's beginning to understand a little about that. Now, if we can just keep Trina home from the shopping long enough, Alaina might get a good afternoon nap. Apparently, not today. Trina is discovering the shops of Guangzhou. There are several stores close to the hotel that cater to the adoptive parents. Trina's favorite is Sherry's Place where we bought most of our things. In fact, one of the stores is permitting me to use their internet service as I write this. They actually offer this to all of their customers. Well, I have to go and save some money, or at least that's what Trina is telling me. I'm going to save about $60! (I'm guessing that I would have saved more by not leaving the hotel room.) Maybe Alaina and Daddy can get to bed at a decent time tonight. We're getting to be better buddies every day. Guangzhou is very much a busy Asian city. Much different from Nanchang. Guangzhau has about ___ people. I asked the girls that work here; they didn't know. It's a lot. Much more money here. The Westerners are much more common due to the city size, the business here, the U.S. Consulate, European Consulates, etc. We'll check in later. Have a great day. Our return is very soon. Joel, Trina and Alaina Our Day We enjoyed our tour today. First, we visited the Buddhist Temple. Some have said they will not visit there. First, I just wanted to go to see what it looked like. Once we were there, it broke our hearts to see people bowing to a statue. Some say they go there to get good luck. We just wanted to run to the people and tell them about our God, Jesus, the living almighty God, creator of Heaven and earth. It put a love in our hearts, a different kind of love for them. If you are a Chinese Citizen, you are not allowed to meet as a group and worship. Going to the Buddhist Temple changed my heart forever. It added a burden on my heart for these precious lost souls. Alaina will know our God. We ask a grandmother if we could take her picture inside the temple. Her little grandchild had split pants on and you could see his little bottom. After the Buddhist Temple, we toured another museum...beautiful art, carvings, and paintings. Beside this beautiful museum was a very old looking apartment building. We met Sherry, Amie, Daisy (the owners of Sherry's Place) and their Grandfather today at Sherry's Place. I began my shopping adventure. I plan to buy lots of things to take home to give to Alaina through the years as special gifts. I've learned that Sherry is so much like me...and we live a half an earth away from each other. We had so much fun getting to know each other. She has a famous artist that will draw your family from pictures. A friend had told me to take pictures of each child and he would draw them together. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I also picked out satin asian fabric and a seamstress is going to make a quilt for Alaina. The squeaky shoes are adorable and Alaina looks so cute in them. The hotel, the White Swan is beautiful. It has a shopping mall and a waterfall inside the hotel. The rooms are about the same as the Gloria Plaza, very nice. We have the city view and some of our travel mates have the waterfront view which is so beautiful.

Next Day...





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