Saturday, December 30, 2006

“These are the days of miracles and wonder.” -Paul Simon

Much, much better day today. We love Guangzhou! Our hotel is gorgeous, with big down comforters and a breakfast buffet with every food known to man.

Today was our medical appointment. We stopped and bought Jia-Li a stroller, she loves it, she sits in it in the room. It was only $15 American, so we will just leave it here when we go, but I think we will be making a trip to Babies R Us when we reach Florida.

The medical appointment was within 10 minutes from the hotel. It was very quick, they weighed her, measured her, checked her ears, eyes and throat, they measured and looked at her little hip, signed some papers, said some things to me that I just shook my head yes to and off we went!

Jia-Li is tolerating me today, not great but a tiny bit better than before. I’ll take what I can get. She let me put her clothes on in the medical clinic and she has laughed at some of the things I do.

When we were done with the medical we were off to shop. We took our dirty clothes to a place called “Sherry’s” they are supposed to be ready tomorrow after 5, sure hope we see them again. Then we went to Jordan’s, he is well known on the FCC websites, he is a Christian and he is very personable. When you go in he paints your child’s name in Chinese Symbols and then tells you what they mean. He also did Anna and Katie’s names.

The Parnham women were in shopping heaven. Jia-Li got 2 traditional Chinese outfits, 4 pairs of squeaky shoes, 2 toys and some bracelets. The older girls each had lists of things they wanted to buy for their friends and had a blast buying cloisonné and jade bracelets and necklaces.

We did decide to leave some things in the store (and some money in our pockets) for another day. Things were incredibly cheap. The 2 outfits, bracelets and four pair of shoes for Jia-Li were less than $50 US.

Then we went to the hotel and into the Swan Room. This is a giant playroom in the hotel, which is sponsored by Mattel. Jia-Li had a blast, as you will see from the pictures.

Right now we are waiting on a pizza from Danny’s Bagels. The crew is hungry. Later tonight our guide is taking us for an authentic Chinese dinner.

We got an email from our agency telling us that all government offices are going to be closed on January 2, 2007 in honor of President Gerald Ford. This is the day of our American Consulate appointment; we are hoping that it will not extend to overseas offices. We do not want to have to wait for another appointment.

Today we would like to thank our “three o’clock in the morning friends.” Those we hold dear to our hearts and know we can count on no matter what these include—Kathy, Erin, and of course Ellen.

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, you right hand will hold me fast.” Psalms 13:9-10