Pictures From the First Week Home

The day after we got home, it snowed. Enough to roll a large snowball.

Abigail and her Chinese American Girl Doll. Yes, we now have dolls in our house.

She even sleeps with the doll at her side.

Abigail loves riding in the car. She was amazed that David could drive.

Just after completing her first jigsaw puzzle.

Imagine This!

I regret not taking a picture; maybe I will be able to sometime, so you will just have to imagine. It was rather humorous watching Abigail try to eat a chunk of finger jello with chopsticks.

First Time at Church

Abigail was at church for the first time on Wednesday night. This is our Thanskgiving Eve service where several in our congregation share what they are thankful for. It is always a blessing to hear what God is doing in other's lives. We serve an amazing God and hearing how he has blessed others just makes Him more amazing.

This year, I was asked to share about our adoption trip. I wrote up a short essay and surprised myself by speaking calmly and clearly in front of all those people. I'll share that essay here as well:

Ni Hao... Hello.

Now you know a large part of my Chinese vocabulary.

We just returned from a trip to China this past Saturday. All four of us went to China, all five of us came back. Our newest family member, Abigail, is nine years old. It is really nice to have her back before Thanksgiving, because now we have so much more to be thankful for.

We thank God first of all for an amazing trip. We spent three days in Beijing, six days in Xi'an, six days in Guangzhou, and a day in Hong Kong. We traveled by plane, train, boat, bus, taxi, van, golf cart, gondola, rickshaw, toboggan, and on foot. I could show you our pictures, but there are nine hundred fifty of them and I might run over my allotted time. Through this all, God kept us safe and on schedule. He placed people in our path who took care of us through the entire trip. Our guide in Beijing was a believer. We met up with other believing families in Guangzhou whom we became friends with, one of whom lives right around here in Zeeland. We thank God for Mr. Gao and the other drivers that ferried us around. They were extremely skilled and navigated the city streets without a single mishap. Those of you that have been to China know that is no small feat.

He carried us through two of our family members becoming violently ill. These illnesses did not affect our schedule in any way.

He carried us through an extremely difficult and stressful day when we met our daughter for the first time. It was probably one of the most difficult days of our lives. Here was a scared little girl who would not even look at us when we first met her. Even though she knew we were the ones she had seen in the pictures we sent her, she refused to come near us, and when I finally got her on my lap, she was stiff as a board and wanted to get off right away. She sobbed miserably when it came time to leave her former caregivers and go with us to our hotel room. It was a heartbreaking scene.

We are also very thankful for the next day. Some of her sunny personality began to shine through and we saw her beautiful smile for the first time. Since that time, she has been adjusting well. She laughs easily, smiles easily, sleeps well, eats well and even likes to sit on my lap. She loves to be on the go and seems to have a strong desire to learn.

We also recognize both the privilege and the responsibility to share Christ with our new daughter. Since we were bringing her home shortly before Christmas, Deb asked her through our interpreter what she thought Christmas was all about. Abigail described a big man with a bag on his back and gifts. Deb described back to her the true meaning of Christmas; how the sacrifices done by the emperors and other sacrifices by other people all over the world were not enough to erase the bad things we had done, how God sent his own Son to be the final sacrifice. We celebrate his coming at Christmas and give gifts to represent his gift to us. When she was done translating all this to Chinese for Abigail, our interpreter told us, "Wow, I learned some new things today."

Abigail may not understand all the things that were said at that time, but we are thankful that she is now part of our family and will be able to hear it again and again. We are confident that he who began a good work in this little nine-year-old will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We are very thankful for our friends at GCC who upheld us in prayer during our trip. This is a giant step for us. We are way outside our comfort zones and we are thankful for all the thoughtful gestures that many of you have done during this process that have provided support for us.

When we made the decision to adopt over a year ago, we really had no idea what the outcome would be. All we had were a small picture and a medical report. Nothing else. We've seen both the best and worst of outcomes in other adoptions. Adopting an older child adds more uncertainty to the mix, so it was truly a step into the unknown.

Now that we are home again we still have no idea what the future holds. Only God knows and we are thankful that the future is firmly in His hands. Each day for us brings new discoveries of what she is like. Some of those are pleasant surprises, some are areas that need to be worked on.

As an example, the morning after she came home, she was investigating this new home of hers when she came dashing out of the family room to where I was. "Baba, ka", she said, (Daddy, look!) and pulled me by the hand into the family room. With wonder in her eyes she pointed to what had excited her. She was just so amazed and enthralled that we actually had a piano in our home. She sat down later and plinked out a couple tunes, songs she had been taught by her foster sister in China, complete with singing the lyrics in Chinese. It looks like piano lessons may be in her future.

We appreciate your prayers as we continue this journey and we give thanks to God for Abigail, for our family, for our good friends at GCC, and most of all, for our adoption into the family of God.

Xie Xie ... Thank you.

When this was done, I motioned to Abigail, and she readily came up to the podium. I picked her up and was able to introduce her to the congregation. She beamed to a large room full of complete strangers.

Afterward, Abigail was a bit overwhelmed by the small crowd of little girls introducing themselves to her. Many of them are also Chinese adoptees so she should eventually feel right at home. She warmed up to them quickly and soon they were chasing each other around.

A little while later, she was on the floor, screaming in pain. She must have tripped and fell. She usually tolerates pain and we rarely hear her cry, so this must have been bad. We took her home, looked at the foot, and decided to put her in bed and check it in the morning.

We spent most of Thanksgiving morning in the St. Mary's Urgent Care Center. It wasn't all that busy, so we got in right away. This just means we wait in the examination room rather than the waiting room. Abigail seems very used to all the activity and sat very still for the x-rays. She seemed to enjoy mimicking all the beeps and noises that the machine made.

After another interminable wait, the doctor came back in and told us it wasn't broken. Another thing to be thankful for. It was only a bad sprain. She is now putting weight on it although she favors it somewhat.

It doesn't seem to slow her down. When she does't want to put weight on it, she just hops around the house on one foot.

She was excited to go to grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I think part of the excitement is riding in the car. She was amazed that we could actually drive a car. She was doubly amazed when we drove to Grandma's house, and David drove the car. Imagine that, this crazy family I find myself in, and everyone drives!

Aftereffects

Jet lag has hit us. Hard.

Abigail crashed right after supper. She was up before 5am and went like the Energizer Bunny until after supper, when she suddenly fell asleep. It was all we could do to rouse her enough to brush her teeth and use the bathroom before tucking her in bed.

I came home from work at 10:30 this morning with my head buzzing. Deb had a three hour nap this afternoon so she is doing better than all of us right now. We will probably all end up in bed before 8:00pm.

The meal that was brought to us by a church member was a Godsend. By suppertime, we could barely navigate, so it was nice to sit down to a meal that we didn't have to spend time preparing.

Now that we're home, it would seem that the story is over. But this was just the first chapter. The bulk of the story is still to come.

Please stop by to meet the newest Friend. We love having people over. Especially unannounced. Then we don't have to feel bad if the house isn't picked up. And stay tuned here for further developments. Although there may not be the barrage of posts like the last couple weeks, we'll try to keep you all updated on Abigail's progress.

Details

I have re-arranged the last five posts to put them in the correct time sequence. So there may be one you have not seen posted before one you have already seen.

We're Home, Reprise

Now that most of the brain cells are functioning again, I can offer a few more details on our homecoming.

It's good to be back. We came into the Kent County International Airport just after 4:00pm yesterday. Our flights were all on time and uneventful as far as flying goes. Abigail didn't want to sleep on the long flight from Tokyo to Detroit. She found everything else that was happening too interesting. She was glued to the movie even though she did not have the earphones on. We told her to sleep multiple times and she would get down in her seat. But when she thought we weren't looking, she slowly raised herself up to peer over the seat in front of her. We put her in bed at 6:00 pm and she slept until 4:00 am Sunday morning. 10 hours. Not bad. I made it until 2:30 am.

She is definitely exploring the limits. Whenever we had a soft drink at a restaurant, she has used her straw to blow bubbles in the drink, often splashing it all over the place. We finally took her drink away at the last Pizza Hut because of it.

On the plane, the flight attendant gave her a coffee straw with her glass of orange juice. She leaned over the glass really close and blew one bubble in the juice. Then I saw her slowly look over in my direction out of the corner of her eye. She saw I was watching her and quickly looked away again. She does know what "no" means but likes to see just how far she can push things.

After leaving 80 degree weather, we arrived home to a blistering 29 degrees. Summer is definitely over.

We arrived home to a warm house (we had left the thermostat set at 45) and several gifts from our dear friends at Grace Community Church. There were signs on the wall, flowers on the table, and food in the fridge. Thanks, GCC, for everything!

We're Home

We made it. Abigail is now running around the house, looking and marveling at all the new things. I'll post more to take care of remaining details after we get some sleep.

Radio Silence

It's been a little while since the last post, but we are still alive and kicking. We are currently waiting to board the plane at Hong Kong International Airport. The radio silence has been due to lack of internet access, or more correctly, lack of AFFORDABLE Internet access. We are all doing well and can't wait to get these long hours of travel over with.

Abigail is definitely NOT a morning person. However, she knew we were flying today and so made it out of bed at 5:00 am with only moderate protest.

Additional posts will follow as time/internet access allows.

A Day in Hong Kong

We spent all day Friday walking the streets of Hong Kong. We were actually in Kowloon, which sits on one side of Victoria Harbor, with a commanding view of Hong Kong island across the harbor. The view during the day and at night was impressive, if you had the right viewpoint. From the streets, you can see nothing. The streets are the most amazing urban canyons I have ever seen, with narrow streets, even narrower sidewalks, and 20 or 30 story buildings rising up beside the sidewalks. When we tried to walk three abreast (Deb and I holding Abigail's hands), we took up the entire sidewalk from the side of the building to the road.

Our hotel room on the 19th floor offered a great view of the city, with the picture below taken from the hotel window.

Our hotel was right on the waterfront, and a large promenade along the water allowed for a nice walk along the city, and a great view of Hong Kong Island at night.

The next few pictures were taken on the waterfront promenade

The Friend Siblings in Hong Kong

Abigail, assuming her desired role as director

We arrived here in Hong Kong late last night (Thursday). The hotel is right across from the train station so we just had to drag our luggage across the street. When I made the hotel reservations, I was told this was one of the more reasonable hotels in the area (without running all over Kowloon). We are finding out that it is one of these posh business hotels where the room is expensive and all the other essentials (like Internet access) is an extra charge. The woman at the front desk tried to sell us an upgraded package which included breakfast, Internet access, and a bunch of other stuff for "only $150 per person" [Hong Kong dollars, or about US$20]. I was told this was a great deal because just to get breakfast was HK$180.

As she was listing off the great benefits of this special package, she looked at Abigail and asked if our children were noisy. We serve a business clientele, she told me, and so the children need to be kept quiet in the restaurant. So I just got told that I'm not welcome unless I can keep a lid on the kid.

And, by the way, this special package is only available if we pay for two day's worth. "I only need one day," I told her. "We need to leave the hotel before breakfast is even served on the second day." She was already writing the figures down on the hotel tab and I was seeing some big numbers add up in a hurry, so I told her we would pass on the special. If we're not welcome, we'll spend our money somewhere else. We'll see if we can forage on our own for meals.

And forage we did. We had a not-so-special breakfast at a train station restaurant, and then Deb and Josh and David went out scouting the city. Abigail and I stayed back because she was complaining that she wasn't feeling well. This is one of those things what we have to learn about her, especially since we cannot communicate yet: is she not feeling well just because she doesn't feel well, or because she doesn't feel like walking?

Deb and the boys returned later to say they had found a bakery which made some excellent cheese bread, and they found some sort of chicken/ham thing at a grocery store deli which was underground. Leave it to Deb to scout out a good deal. The chicken/ham things were fantastic, and we bought more of them later on for the next morning's breakfast.

Abigail is not a bread fan, but she did eat the chicken/ham thing and an orange. That's one english word she knows, "gorange". Oranges have been a staple for us during this trip.

Abigail does like pizza. On our way back to the hotel, Josh, our 17-year-old Hong Kong navigator, was leading us through the city streets, and found a Pizza Hut on the second floor of one of the bazillion buildings there. I know this sounds like we're wimping out, going all the way to Hong Kong and eating at a Pizza Hut, but our diets have been so crazy the last few weeks and we have had two of us get violently ill, so something familiar was a welcome sight. And it's something we all like.

Goodbye Guangzhou

We're on the move again. I'm writing this aboard the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Abigail was excited to ride the train and now she has been talking non-stop. I think the Chinese woman across from us thought that Abigail was trying to make conversation with her because she was responding back for a while, but it was obvious that she just wanted to read. She had her book in her hand and earphones in her ears. I think she finally figured out that this conversation had no end and lapsed into silence. Abigail's side of the conversation continued on unabated for a while before I got out my keyboard and began to type. Now she points out whenever I type her name.

Our swearing in ceremony was a little anti-climactic. We and 52 other families piled into a fifth floor room at the US Consulate, turned in some paperwork, raised our right hand, said yes, received a brown envelope, and were done. A bunch of people cheered. I had a little trouble hearing what was going on because the room was so noisy. If we were to eliminate the waiting around, the actual process took perhaps five minutes. Of all the states represented there, Michigan had the most families, with four families.

We now have her passport back with an immigrant visa and all the paperwork to hand off to the US Immigration people when we land in Detroit on Saturday.

Abigail has enjoyed the other kids from our travel group. She and two-year-old Simon, who calls her his big sister, were chasing each other around the lobby of the US Consulate building while we were waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. They are always happy to see each other. The cool thing is, they live only about ten miles from us so they will be able to see each other again in the States.

Waiting at the Guangzhou Train Station

Wednesday

Today was a rather lazy day. The only planned activity was the dinner cruise on the Pearl River in the evening. Our consulate appointment was also today, but our coordinator was the one who went to the consulate. All we had to do was assign one of us to wait by the phone from 11 until noon in case there were paperwork problems. There weren't. We did some shopping at the local souvenir vendors. Josh found a copy of the movie National Treasure 2 which he got for 15 yuan (a little over two bucks) and we watched it at night. There's a reason the cheap copies are cheap. Several times during the movie, the dvd froze up but then started going again a few seconds later. We enjoyed the movie, however.

We took the hotel bus to the dinner cruise. On the way, Abigail and Michael were peppering Leila (our coordinator) with questions about what was going to happen next. I'm sure there's many questions in their heads and will be for some time to come.

When we were in Xi'an, Abigail thought our hotel room was "home" and after Jane told her we would be leaving for a different place, Abigail wondered how we were going to take all our stuff along (the furniture) and if someone else was going to buy the room when we were gone.

The communication gap is still pretty big. Abigail understands "eat", and when we told her that we would eat on a boat in the evening, we thought we had communicated it to her successfully until Abigail asked Leila if "eat" and "boat" meant the same thing.

Abigail loved the cruise. She stood on the top deck next to Deb and squealed in delight many times, perhaps not so much with the lights along the river, but with the motion of the boat and the wind in her hair.

Eating ice cream along the Pearl River. We got a tip from another family that the Magnum bars purchased at the 7-Eleven were really good. We would agree.


Dinner on the boat. Abigail now understands that "boat" and "eat" are two different things because she has now experienced them both. She has experienced more modes of travel in these two weeks (plane, taxi, bus, car, boat and [soon] train) than in her entire life.

The "we were there" picture

Abigail found the whole experience highly delightful.

Lights along the Pearl River

Leaving Tomorrow

It's hard to believe, but tonight is our last night in Guangzhou. Tomorrow afternoon we have a swearing in ceremony at the US Consulate, then we take the train to Hong Kong where we'll stay for a day. It's late, so I'll post more later. Josh bought a copy of the movie National Treasure 2 and we watched that after we put Abigail to bed, so now it's bedtime for us as well.

Consulate Appointment

Today, our consulate appointment was at 11:00. I spent the time in the hotel room, waiting by the phone. Our coordinator attended the appointment and handled all the paperwork and said she would call before noon if there was a problem with the paperwork. It is now noon, and I have not received any phone calls, so our paperwork must have been deemed acceptable. Yippee!

That paperwork consisted of a bunch of forms that we spent over two hours filling in on Monday, a bunch of notarized documents that we got in Xi'an, Abigail's passport, the adoption certificate, and some paperwork we brought from home.

Other than some post-adoption reporting requirements, this is the end of the paperchase.

The Red Couch

It wouldn't be a complete adoption trip without the picture on the red couch at the White Swan Hotel (sometimes jokingly called the White Stork). So, here's ours:

The newly adopted kids in our travel group

Another First

Abigail said her own name for the first time yesterday. Up until now she would readily identify Mama and Baba and her two ge ges, Josh and David, in pictures, but when asked who the little girl was, she would just point at herself and not say anything. Yesterday she pointed at all of us and said in turn: "Mama, Baba, Josh, David" and when she pointed at herself, she said with near perfect pronunciation, "Abigail." Now she seems to use her name readily.

Pictures from Tuesday

On our outing to Baiyun Mountain, we had another opportunity for a family picture. We are finding out that Abigail loves to have her picture taken as much as she loves to take pictures.

The Friend siblings

The route down from the mountain. If it hadn't been such a hazy day, the view over Guangzhou would have been marvelous.

Lunch. Give Abigail some instant noodles and she's happy.

We had dinner at a Cantonese restaurant. Abigail loved the seaweed looking stuff and ate it with great relish (and perhaps a little bit of theatrics).

Simon Sprick has taken a liking to David and wanted to be held several times by him. David had to be taught how to pick up and hold a two-year-old. He asked us, "How do you pick up this thing?"

Our travel group. The Spricks, Friends, Lowes, and Cravens.

Father's Joy

Today we took a trip to Baiyun Mountain. Josh and David made it all the way to the summit. Tim, Abigail and I made it quite a ways. We took a golf cart up most of the way and walked a fair ways towards the top. We stopped at the tablet forest area and had a scroll made of the meaning of Abigail's name in Chinese calligraphy. There was quite a discussion between our translator and the artist, and even some of the people watching about how this should be done.

Since our guide and translator here is not a Christian, she wasn't quite sure how to explain "Father's joy", which is what the name, Abigail, means to the calligraphy artist. So all of you out there who can read Chinese calligraphy tell us if it turned out right.

A Chinese Dutch Girl

Well, it happened today. Abigail and I had just a girls' shopping trip. The guys wanted to get off the island and head into the crowded, chaotic city and check out an electronics store. I decided to stay back with Abigail and try the quiet little shops around here. I felt we had enough vocabulary and she was understanding more and more every day that I could take her shopping and that if I didn't want to buy something, she would not throw a temper tantrum. We have had a few discussions about whining and that when I say no, I mean no.

I knew that Abigail was very interested in one of the feathered hackey sacks that people here are always playing with. The way you shop in China is you ask several vendors what the price of an item is to get a baseline (and believe me, it varies widely) and then you begin to bargain. With an item as cheap as the feathered hackey sack, it didn't take us long to figure out that the typical price for one was five yuan. This is a little over seventy five cents. I know it's not much, but a Dutchman just has to get it for a better price.

I told Abigail that five was too much, and if she could get it for three, we would buy it. Boy, did she go to town. She would go up to the vendors, ask them how much in Chinese, make her offer, and if they told her no, she would walk away.

After trying this for a while, I realized that three was probably just a little bit too cheap. So I told her if she could get it for four (not five), she could have it.

Now she started in on her new price offer. In one shop, the female shop clerk told her, no it was five. Abigail would shake her head and tell her no, I want it for four. Finally, the woman sent Abigail to the owner of the shop and Abigail and he sealed the deal at four. I must say it was great cheap entertainment for me to see her haggling the way the Chinese love to do.

The shopkeeper spoke excellent English and he told me that he is trying to teach his son to be brave and do this as well. He then told me laughingly that when he agreed to Abigail's price, she told him that he was a good man. We also bought a little butterfly baret from him that Abigail was very excited about. He also did Abigail's name for her in calligraphy. When I told him Abigail's name, his face lit up and he said, "Oh, from the Bible! I'm a Christian, too." And he shook my hand.

After this, Abigail was through shopping. She wanted to play hackey sack. I was never athletic when I was young, and I have not improved with age. Abigail took me to the park in the heart of the island and made my try to play hackey sack. We were quite a spectacle for all the Chinese that were all around. I think they marvelled that somebody could have as little coordination as I. I could tell that Abigail had never played before either. Finally, a Chinese woman had pity on us, and gave Abigail some tips on how to play. Her tips did nothing for me, of course. Later on, Abigail dragged us all down to the center of the island to make us all play hackey sack.

A group of Chinese playing hackey sack

Monday Pictures

Today's big event was going to the Safari Park. We went with two other families

Kamryn, Findlay, and Abigail

Feeding the giraffe.

We were treated to an elephant show, where the elephants did all sorts of amazing things.

The park had a small amusement park, and Abigail had her first ride on a couple of the different rides there.

Snack time.

Posing by the giant Panda bear.

Dinner at Lucy's when we got home.

Playing with Simon Sprick in the hotel playroom across from our room. We met up with the Spricks in Beijing and then again when we came to Guangzhou and found they live about 10 miles from us.

Walking Down the Street

Walking down the street with Abigail is testing the patience of Josh and David. First of all, they always try to walk down the street in the most physically challenging way possible. If they are on their bikes, they are hopping curbs, popping wheelies, etc., and if they are walking, they look at cars.

But not Abigail. We've had to try to break her of the habit of walking with pen and paper and copying all the Chinese characters she sees on signs. Josh and David certainly never asked to practice their penmanship while out on a walk.

Abigail doesn't look at cars, either. The island hosts multiple weddings per day and there are several bridal shops around here. She looks at the windows and poses like the bridal mannequins.

But what really put them over the edge the other day is when they wanted to get to our destination, and she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, grabbed the corners of her dress, and twirled around and giggled. Twirling has never before been seen when the Friends are out walking.

Green Eggs and Ham

Training this child in the English language is going to be more difficult with two teenage boys around.

This morning they had her little blue stuffed elephant and she wanted it back. "Green eggs and ham," said David, and Josh handed him the elephant. "Green eggs and ham," said Josh, and the elephant was passed back. This interchange happened a few more times then they told Abigail, "you need to say 'Green eggs and ham'."

Abigail finally said "Green eggs and ham" in her Chinese accent and the boys immediately handed her the elephant and praised her for it.

Tonight at dinner, Abigail wanted one of Joshua's french fries. David immediately piped up. "Green eggs and ham," he said, and Josh immediately handed him one of his fries. "Green eggs and ham," said David again, and received another french fry.

"Say 'green eggs and ham'," said Josh, and Abigail did her best imitation of the phrase. She was rewarded with a couple of french fries.

She thinks this is all a big game and giggles gleefully. At this rate, they will have her totally messed up by the time we return home.

Introducing the Friend Family, Version 1.3

It's a little hard to believe, but today was the first chance we had to hand the camera off and have a family picture taken. We'll try to get some more before this trip is over.

Life in a Bubble

Life for the last couple weeks has been in a real bubble. That bubble is going to pop when we get on the airplane to go home.

One of the bubbles we have going is that of communication. When we were in Xi'an, our coordinator/guide, Jane, was dedicated to our family. She was extremely helpful and patient. She fielded a thousand questions from us and patiently explained things to Abigail that we wished to communicate to her. She was able to tell us what Abigail was saying to us, and also spent time just chatting with Abigail. Every time we met Jane in the lobby, Abigail would dash over to her and greet her joyfully.

The communication bubble got a little smaller when we came to Guangzhou. Our guide here is responsible for four families, so we rarely see her. She is not available for those questions that come up.

We were in a play area yesterday where there were lots of kids playing and lots of parents watching or chatting. Abigail went off to play, and a couple minutes later, when Deb went to check up on her, she was very subdued. She was not her normal, bubbly self. Someone must have said something to her that affected her deeply. And we had no way to ask her about it. It took her quite a while to recover. We have it quite a bit where someone will speak with her in Chinese for a while and we have no idea what they are saying. By the time we were able to ask our coordinator to ask Abigail about it, the crisis had passed and Abigail didn't have much to say about it.

Three of the children in our group are old enough to have acquired the language, so Abigail has a couple kids to talk to when we get together. I'm sure this will be an adjustment for her when we get back and there is no one close by and immediately available to talk to.

Pop, goes the bubble.

I just wonder when the adjustment bubble is going to pop. Other than a rough first day, we have had no grieving spells to speak of. Abigail wakes up REALLY grumpy in the morning, but breakfast usually cures that, and then she's a bubbly, giggly, silly nine-year-old who drives her brothers nuts. She willingly holds our hands when we are out and about and even enjoys being carried occasionally (although at nearly 50 pounds of live, squirmy weight, Baba can only take so much). She hugs us goodnight (rather anemically, although our comparison up till now has been two boys who can hug the life right out of you, kind of like comparing Snow White with Sampson), and I think a kiss on the cheek is a new concept for her.

She is generally well behaved, even with her strong personality. We have had a few battles of the will, particularly at bedtime, but we have managed to prevail in these so far. She may have a strong personality, but Mama has a stronger personality, and Mama says that Mama is the queen of this household, and there is only one queen. The sooner Abigail recognizes her rank as princess, the better.

That being said, it is now time to get the princess out of bed. This morning it is my turn. It's not a pleasant task.

Some Pictures from Sunday

Waking the Dead: Abigail is not a morning person.

After we attended the service at Shamien Christ Church, we had lunch in our room. Abigail has instant noodles, we have bread and jam and peanut butter.

After lunch, we went to the open air market across the Pearl River. This is a network of streets and narrow alleys where you can buy pretty much everything.

A closer view of a few of the shops.

The nearest I can guess what these are is dried flying squirrel.

Abigail liked all the puppies that were for sale.

A large mall near the market. There must have been 20,000 people in the square outside this mall.

Shamien Island, where our hotel (the Victory Hotel) is located, is in kind of a bubble. It is an oasis inside a crowded and busy city. There are several weddings a day which take place here amongst the palm trees and courtyards. This is an island by virtue of a section of the river which surrounds it, actually, more like a moat. Life on the island is sort of slow and dreamy, while the real China bustles all around. Cross the moat, and it's an entirely different world.

Another part of the bubble we are living in right now is the weather. It was in the low 80's yesterday, around 85 degrees today, with more of the same for the rest of our time here, maybe cooling into the upper 70's. I hear it's cold and even snowy at home. So I will say this while I can, before I, too, join the ranks of the snowbound:

Nya, nya!

We met up with three other families from our agency in Guangzhou. This evening, we went out to dinner with two of them. Abigail, Kamryn, and Michael [not pictured] spent the evening chatting with each other in Chinese. I think it was nice for them to be able to talk with someone they can understand. It was sort of a fancier Italian restaurant, and the kids were all very good until just before we left, when they began to get louder and louder, having a debate about numbers and hand signs for the numbers.

After we left the restaurant, we stood by the side of the Pearl River for a while and watched the lights. Guangzhou lights up at night and the view along the Pearl River is amazing. We will be taking a cruise along the river on Wednesday, so we will get a front row view of the lights on the shoreline at that time.