Playing catch up - another day in Guangzhou (by Drew)

I am REALLY thinking about changing the name of the blog to "Amy with Salem in a Sling." It would be truth in advertising. I could easily just post pics of Salem in Amy's sling, Salem in Amy's Baby Bjorn, or Salem playing on the bed and most of you would be happy. Plus, we're a day behind on blogging and tired enough to make it two days behind. But since so many of you have been checking in, I'm putting up a quick summary of Sunday. We'll post about today (Monday) sometime tomorrow.

Sunday was a holiday, and it was also a free day for us. We have loved spending time with the other families, but we all did our own things yesterday. It was nice to have some time, just the three of us, in this new place. We hung around and explored the hotel all morning. Well, I say that, but I have absolutely no recollection of yesterday morning. It must have been wonderful. We probably played on the bed and kept asking housekeeping to come back a little later. We do that a lot. Housekeeping is very attentive at the China Hotel, and they check in every two hours.

In the afternoon (or late morning - I really don't know), we went on a Long Explore of the park across the street. Once we made it through the crush of humanity (holidays = lots of people on the streets), we found the entrance to a fantastic park. The place is huge and full of all kinds of gardens, water and plant features, and some statues. What made it even more spectacular was the Chinese New Year decorations they were building as we walked through. My favorite was a very, very long dragon made of, well, china. These workers were meticulously putting these decorations together all over the park. We enjoyed feeling like observers in the middle of the culture instead of tourists peering in fro a distance, and it was great. We hiked up stairs and trails not exactly knowing what we would find but keeping a general sense of direction. Amy was carrying Salem, so I guess she wasn't happily climbing hundreds of steps. But she was a trooper. And she got her reward, too. At the high end of the park, we found a soccer stadium, a museum, and an ice cream vendor. Amy was very excited about one of those. But how did she respond to her excitement? She bought a green pea ice cream popsicle. She and Salem munched on it as we found our way back out of the park.

Sadly, we stopped just short of the goal of our hike - to see the Five Goats Statue. It proves to be very difficult to get directions when everyone in the park seems to speak another language. I bought two phrasebooks, Mandarin and Cantonese, and the day I could have used them was the day I didn't have them. D'oh. Maybe I'll stroll over there on Tuesday to see the magical goats of Guangzhou.

It was fun just looking for things to photograph, and while I didn't catch any really great shots, we did see a little boy in split pants walking around. Amy wanted that photographed. I did not, however, take a picture of another little boy TAKING ADVANTAGE of wearing split pants in public by squatting in the middle of the sidewalk and emptying his bladder. There's no way to take a picture of that without looking like a creep. Plus, the fact that he stayed in that position after he watered the walkway told me that #2 might be on the way soon. We left before it got worse.

Here's the super brief version of today - Amy's post and pics will go up tomorrow. We woke up, got the TB results for the older kids in our group (no TB - yay!), squeezed the shopping sponge dry on Shaiman Island, gawked at the Pearl Market (a 5 floor mall of pearls and such), visited a museum that was more of a classy and educational gift shop, ate Clif bars, got our final paperwork check for Tuesday's consulate appointment, and explored the area around the hotel. Salem loves people and seeing things, but she looked at me today and said "Daddy, please tell Mommy that I don't need any more shoes." At least, I think that's what she said. I'll let Amy weigh in tomorrow.

Pet or dinner?

Words to live by.

Love you all - thanks for checking in with us. The last couple of days seems like we're just cruising and shopping, but the main thing we are doing is spending time with Salem, building trust, learning her personality (delightful, it turns out), and becoming her parents. The bonding process seems to be going very well. Each day is more significant for me. Salem is my girl, and I have loved her from before I met her. I am so thankful to God for her, and I have felt blessed since the moment we met. But although adoption is a quick legal pronouncement and the burden of being Salem's father was placed on my shoulders at 2:30pm on December 26 after meeting her at 11am, the deepest implications aren't instant. It always takes some time for the notion of "this is my daughter" to completely saturate every part of you. I didn't realize how deep it had sunk into my heart until the last two days of doing nothing and shopping. We are ceasing to be a "new family by adoption" and beginning simply to be a family. I miss Jonathan and can't wait to pull him into the family portrait. At the same time, we couldn't have come as far as we have if we were also chasing the redhead around China. When I see Salem today, I feel and deeply know that she is my little girl. And this realization brings me to tears.

Those tears become even more poignant when I consider my own adoption by God the Father through Jesus Christ. It wasn't simply a legal transaction and arrangement. No, I am a child of the Father, and He looks on me with love, affection, and care. He didn't adopt me as a cute, welcome addition to the family. I wasn't just a stranger. I was a rebel, an enemy, and God made me His own. He loved me while yet a sinner. It is hard to overstate how deeply enriched my understanding of the Fatherhood of God has been by twice being an adoptive dad. I am so thankful.

Ok, now I'm free-typing and I need to be in bed. Early morning tomorrow and I'm the rooster. Love you all. Thanks for praying for us. We'll fill you in on travel plans so you can pray for our crazy Wednesday and looong crazy Thursday.