Our last night in China!

This is our last night in China! Wooohooo!
Right now, we're packing for our grueling 30+ hours in airplanes and airports and trying to get Olivia a bath and to sleep a little early.

The first picture you see is our favorite shop here on Shamian Island, Guangzhou. The store is called "Andy's Place", and it's one of a number of similar stores. If you look down the main street in front of our hotel, you can see several stores with names like "Jessica's", "Sally's", "Jennifer's", and such. We were helped by a girl named Mary every time at Andy's. Mary promised to give us "the good discount", and we enjoyed talking to her.

The second picture is of us with the painting of Olivia and the artist. His name is Ben, and you may not be able to see it in the picture or not, but he has long wavy hair, which is somewhat of an anomaly here in China among men. He's a really nice guy that Pat has known for several years, and he's done some beautiful paintings for Pat and many other families. We never got to see Ben until tonight, our last night, and the other people in the art shop kept assuring us that "the Ben was here earlier, but he'll be back". When we went to pick up the painting, they said "the Ben is in the White Swan", and we figured we'd been fooled, and that he was not really here. Christine and I saw who we thought to be Ben approaching, but Pat didn't see him at first. When Ben and Pat first saw each other, it was such a joyous reunion. Ben's English is fairly good for a Chinese person, and he almost teared up trying to explain how happy he was to see Pat. He gave her a big hug, and just couldn't stop smiling and talking to her. He agreed to make a picture with us, and he did something else which is an anomaly among Chinese people - he put his arm around us.

The third picture is of Christine, Olivia and me in front of a waterfall in the hotel lobby. In the pond are hundreds of colorful and large koi.

This afternoon we went to the U.S. Consulate for a swearing in ceremony. There were probably about 75 families there altogether, and we had to go up to a window one by one where someone looked at us and our passports to verify our identity. Then, an American official gathered us all together, and had us raise our right hand while repeating a pledge about the information we've provided.

As I understand it, Olivia will be a U.S. citizen when she gets her passport stamped by the United States government officials in Detroit!

We're trying to get packed for a very early morning checkout and travel to the airport. We're hoping that we can get Olivia to wake up for the flight to Tokyo, then go to sleep for most of the long flight from Tokyo to Detroit.

This will probably be our last entry on The Adoption Journey of Olivia Grace Jones. Our flight number coming from Memphis to Mobile is Northwest flight 5795, leaving Memphis at 7:40 p.m., arriving in Mobile at 8:55 p.m. on Wednesday. We hope to see you there!

Michael, Christine and Olivia Mei Grace Jones

Packing and last minute stuff day!

This morning we woke up around 7:45 (I did, at least), and went down for our last full breakfast here in China. Olivia likes to have oatmeal for breakfast, mixed with a little scrambled eggs. If she really wants a treat, we give her some mashed up bananas. One thing I kept forgetting to tell you about is that the Chinese love to have baked beans for breakfast. On all the breakfast buffet lines, you will find baked beans in containers next to things like french toast, bacon, noodles, and oatmeal.

We went shopping and looked at the painting that Ben did for us; it is absolutely gorgeous! We have to let it dry completely, and we'll be picking it up tonight. We found some nice silk outfits for Olivia to wear now, and some for her to grow into. The young ladies who work in the shops here are quite good at sales. They try to lure you into their shops, and they show you everything you express an interest in. Most times, you can negotiate on the price a little bit, and they will give you a bit of a "volume discount" as we found out! One of them made a point of asking our names this morning, and when I went back to pick up a chop that we had engraved, she smiled and said "welcome back, Michael!" A chop is a small piece of marble or something like marble, and ours has a rooster on top for the year of the rooster. On the bottom, they engraved "OLIVIA" on the top and the Chinese characters for her name on the bottom. It's a stamp, and you put the chop on an ink pad, and then you stamp the name on a piece of paper.

Christine finally got Olivia to sleep, and now she's packing to come home! Only one more night for us here!

This afternoon, we'll go to the consulate office, and do some sort of swearing in ceremony. We can't take a camera, so I can't show you pictures, but I'll try and describe it tonight.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

A long, hot day

I'm glad we only have a couple more days until we get home. This morning, we had to wait around in the room while Doris and Pat went to the consulate office to get some documents for Olivia registered. We had lunch at the Thai restaurant again, and then we took Olivia to see the doctor. Unfortunately, she has another sore on her forehead, and we'll have to come back tomorrow for him to lance that one. Olivia hates having her antibiotics and salve, but, as I've said before, it's just one of those things.

I had a discussion today with Doris about what we do for a living; I think she needed to know for one of their appointments. She understood about Physical Therapy with Christine, but she wasn't clear on what being a Financial Advisor meant. I told her that I help people with their retirement and investment planning, and she still wasn't too sure about what I did. I told her about my company, since they have an office in Beijing, where she lives, and we still weren't together. So I learned about how retirement works over here in China. It's very similar to the Social Security system in the United States, except she said that most people reach the age where they can draw pensions, and they go work a second career or they go and help take care of their grandchildren. For example, her grandfather was a musician in the Beijing opera, and he lives in a large apartment building in Beijing where current and retired opera employees live. I asked her if they invest or save for their retirement, and as near as I can tell, I don't think they do. So, I think we understood each other after all that, so she could tell what I do. Again, the more I talk to people here, the more I see we're the quite different, yet the same.

After the doctor visit, we loaded up on the bus for some excursions, and our first stop was to the jade factory. That was a very interesting place, and we bought a jade bracelet for Christine to one day pass down to Olivia. After the jade factory, we went to the Guangzhou zoo. When we got inside, we made a pit stop to a restroom, which may have been a mistake. It was an open air sort of field house, with no roof. Even the ladies restroom was basically a trough along the walls of a room with flowing water running through the trough. The smell was horrible, it reminded me of one of those bathrooms at a baseball field on a hot summer day, one that hasn't been cleaned in weeks. Yuck!
As you can see from the pictures, Olivia was worn out at the zoo. This was the first time she fell asleep in her stroller, and she rarely leans back in the stroller. She preferred resting her head on the bar, and sleeping leaning forward. Tired baby!

It was feeding time at the zoo, so we didn't get to see a whole lot of animals. There were some tigers in cages that were sleeping, and some giraffes and rhinos. There were two remarkable things in this zoo, other than the bathrooms. First was a display of nutrias - you know the big rat-like critters that are abundand along the Gulf Coast area. Second was a group of small deer.

We left the zoo and headed for home, after stopping at a tea store. We were told that this tea store had a "magic tea pot" that we were all curious to see. The "magic tea pot" turned out to be basically a live infomercial for an expensive teapot. We got to sample some varieties of tea, but they all tasted the same to me. The pitch here was to try to get you to buy some tea, which, again, was quite expensive. As we were leaving the tea store, we noticed that there were several BMWs and Jaguars parked in the parking lot. Hmmmmm. We suspect that fearless leader Doris gets a commission from any sales at the jade factory. Just kidding, Doris!

Tonight, we went to a barbecue on the water at the hotel. It was actually quite nice, but Olivia got sick, and Christine still isn't feeling too good.

Hopefully a good night's sleep will help, but it will be good to wake up tomorrow knowing that we'll be home soon.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Thanksgiving service

Christine and Olivia settled down for about a three hour nap this afternoon. We went to a Thai restaurant, and the service was quite slow. We had the bright idea to buy our Coca-Cola and bottled water next door for about 10% of the price, and take it in to the restaurant. Seems like a great idea, I know. Our guide, translator, and fearless companion Doris got caught in a store talking to the owner who had received a letter in English, and Doris was translating for her. Anyway, when we finally pulled Doris away from the store, she found out that they were charging each of us the price of a Coke if we'd bought it in the restaurant, even though we brought in our own. They pointed to a sign printed in Chinese that says basically if you bring in an outside drink, you'll be charged for a restaurant drink anyway. So much for us enterprising Americans trying to be thrifty.

A bottle of water similar to a 2o ounce Dasani is about $0.18 here in most convenience stores.

I went and had a run at the fitness center here at the hotel, so now I've run in Nanning and Guangzhou, China. I'd like to get in a run here on Shamian Island, but the island is separated from Guangzhou proper by a moat, and it's not safe for us Americans to get off the island. Where we can go alone is pretty small, and it would drive me nuts, even more so than a treadmill, to do laps around a couple of blocks.

We didn't realize what time our Thanksgiving service was, and when our neighbor knocked on our door at 5:45 to see if we'd make it to the 6:00 service, we were in a frenzy. Fortunately, Olivia had just awakened from her nap, so we got her and mommy dressed, and hustled down to our service. It was a beautiful little service that Pat and Doris put on, it's just for the families in our group, and it's a way to thank God for bringing our daughters into our lives. We got some pictures on the red couch, which pretty much every family that passes through here does.

Tomorrow, we have to wait around while Pat and Doris do some appointments for us, then we'll take Olivia to the medical clinic again. Hopefully, we can go to the jade factory and/or the zoo tomorrow.

God said in 1 Samuel 1:27, "I have prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him".
(thanks to Christine and Beth for reminding me of this verse)

Those of you who are emailing Christine; she is getting them. Our routine on most of her emails is that I read them to her while she's giving Olivia her before bed bottle. She's very happy to hear all that you all have written to her, and she will write you back as soon as she can.

Once again, Olivia is playing and laughing in her crib when she's supposed to be going to sleep. She's such a loveable little girl!

Christine is feeling a good bit better now, but please continue to pray for her. Thank you all again for your kindness, and for being a part of this wonderful journey. We are truly blessed.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Olivia's first day at church

This morning started off nicely, with Olivia waking up playful and happy. We played with her musical bear, and had some fun time before we had to give her the antibiotics and salve for her forehead. After breakfast, we went over to Ben's art studio, where we attempted to get a couple of good poses from Olivia for Ben to paint her picture. We have some good ones, and we can't wait to see how the painting turns out.

What was supposed to be nap time turned in to play time for Olivia. We put her in her crib for a midmorning nap, and we kept hearing giggles and noises from her crib. So, daddy eventually got Olivia out and played with her. Will she be worn out this afternoon? We'll see!

We went to the English speaking church service at 11:00 a.m. this morning. The church is about half the size of the chapel at Spring Hill, and has very little circulation. The people were just packing in to the place, and it was about 3/4 Chinese people, 1/4 English speaking adoptive parents and families. We ended up on folding chairs in the very back, which was fine by us. Olivia was enthralled by the music (hang on, Randy, she's coming!). They had someone playing the piano while they had the words to some songs on a projector screen up front. There were two teenaged Chinese girls next to me, and they both had beautiful voices. Olivia LOVED hearing them sing, clap and smile to the music. When we got to the point where we would sit down, there weren't enough chairs for me and both girls, so I offered them my chair. The girls just grinned and said "my pleasure, you sit and worship, enjoy!". Then, one of them sat down in a chair while the second one sat in the first one's lap.

The preacher was a Chinese man who did a sermon from Genesis. He'd say a phrase or two in Chinese, and a young lady would translate. There were so many nice Chinese and English speaking people around us, again, I was just overwhelmed at the sight of it. I'm once again reminded of that song from the 80s - "Love in any language".

We had to leave the service a little early (it is sort of a come and go service), and we noticed that in addition to the chapel being packed, the foyer was packed and there were people standing outside listening. Amen!

The preacher has to be Chinese because if it's an English missionary, the Chinese government will give them trouble for trying to convert Chinese people to Christianity, but as long as it's a Chinese citizen presiding over the service, it's okay.

We got accosted by an elderly Chinese lady on the way to the service about Olivia's band-aid on her head. Apparently, this lady felt like the band-aid shouldn't be there, that Olivia's sore would be better in the open air, and she tried to pull the band-aid off. She kept fussing at us in Chinese and giving us stern looks while trying to pull off the band-aid, and finally Pat had to step in and say "no-no" and shoo her off.

Baby and mommy are sleeping now; please continue to pray for Christine. She is not feeling well at all, and has been taking some strong prescription medicine for nausea and possible fever.

Tomorrow, we'll take Olivia back to the doctor to have her infection checked out, and we hope Christine will be better by that time.

I hope you're all enjoying a great sermon and singing in worship today.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Wow, what a day!

Sorry it's taken me so long to put a new update up! This morning started very early for Christine - around 4:00 a.m., to be exact. We had to be up and ready, all three of us, and checked out of the hotel in Nanning by around 5:45 a.m. to catch a bus to the airport for an 8:10 a.m. flight. It was tough, but we made it! Olivia was great this morning, and she did fine on the one hour plane ride from Nanning to Guangzhou. In fact, Christine gave her a pacifier, and she slept for the majority of the flight. Christine and Olivia had the window seat, I had the middle seat, and a rather tall Chinese man had the aisle seat. He quite enjoyed staring at us and the other people in our group.

We touched down in Nanning and gathered together, heading for the luggage claim. We noticed that the Chinese people on the plane cleared out very quickly! We got our luggage, and the van took us the 45 minutes or so to the island where we'll stay the remainder of our time in Guangzhou and to our medical appointment. Olivia did NOT like going through another medical appointment, but we did get her sore spot on her forehead looked at by a different doctor. They lanced the sore on Olivia's forehead, which took most of the infection out. They gave us another round of prescriptions for antibiotics, and a different salve for us to use on her forehead. The doctor here told us that the salve we've been using is no good (great), and to use this one and the antibiotics twice a day. We have to take Olivia back to see the doctor on Monday.

The White Swan hotel is absolutely amazing and beautiful; those of you waiting to adopt are going to LOVE it! We went to a small cafe outside the restaurant called "Lucy's" where most of us got chicken fingers and french fries. Here comes all that weight we lost in Nanning!

After a well deserved nap for all of us, the three of us and one other family and Pat went shopping to Sweet Barbie's, where Christine loaded up on outfits and shoes for Olivia. We got a bag full of clothes and five pairs of shoes for about $120. Then, on the way to dinner, we spotted a new store, where we got some more (even cheaper) shoes for Olivia and a nice silk jacket for daddy. I can't wait to wear it at Chinese New Years!

If anybody was taking bets on which one of us would get sick sooner, those of you who bet Christine are winners. Poor Christine felt awful at dinner; we think she's dehydrated or sick. She drank about five bottles of water at dinner, and has been sick off and on tonight. She took some medicine, so please pray that she will be all well tomorrow.

Olivia has taken to copying daddy when he makes funny noises, and she really likes it when daddy gives her raspberries on her cheek. She's gaining weight, and I think the more her medicine takes effect, the happier and more outgoing she is. She's everything we've been praying for and more!

Tomorrow after breakfast, we'll dress Olivia up in one of her new Chinese outfits and take her right outside the hotel to Ben's art studio, where they'll do a really nice painting of her for us. Then, we'll go to church late morning, lunch, and a Thanksgiving church service and possibly the zoo. The zoo may have to wait until tomorrow though, because there is a small typhoon here right now, and it's quite rainy.

I tried to upload some pictures of Olivia, and some of her friend Addison Claire. I also put a picture of a squat pot, i.e., a toilet. Yes, this is the toilet that ladies have to use all throughout China. In some of the nicer restaurants and hotels, they have regular toilets, but this is basically it. The toilets in your hotel room are normal toilets as well Guys, we're okay, the urinals are the same over here as they are back home. Sorry ladies.

Christine is doctoring my head right now, because as I was helping the driver load our luggage onto the bus, I stepped right up and banged my head on the top of the door. The entry doors to the small bus we have is a bit lower than what I'm accustomed to, and I have a good sized knot that bled for a little while.

I'll be updating you again tomorrow. Remember, anybody who would like to come see Olivia and Addison Claire, the more the merrier!

Michael, Christine and Olivia Mei Grace

Early morning tomorrow

Today we didn't do too much again. Olivia was very fussy today, and she cried for about an hour straight one time. She really enjoyed watching an Elmo's World dvd, and she'd just laugh and laugh and try to push buttons on the laptop.

We got Olivia's Chinese passport and our red book, which is another official adoption document. While we were in the department store across the street, several people gathered around us, as usual. Two men who looked to be in their late 50s were thrilled to see Olivia, and they tried asking us about her teeth by holding up four fingers and pointing to her mouth. Christine, ever the gracious mommy, got Olivia to open her mouth good and wide, and showed them that she's got two more teeth that will be coming in very soon. That made the men happy. Olivia sure does make a lot of people happy.

We just noticed that the outfit that Olivia was wearing when she came to us from the orphanage has a rooster on the front of it. She (and all of our babies) were born in the Year of the Rooster. It says "farm friends" on the shirt, so it's not a Year of the Rooster shirt, but hey, we thought it was cute.

Tomorrow morning, we need to muster down in the lobby at 6:00 a.m. to make our flight to Guangzhou at 8:10 a.m. When we get to Guangzhou, we go straight to our medical appointment, and we'll have one more stop before we check in to The White Swan. We're really looking forward to a change of scenery. There's been a lot of lightning tonight, and a breeze has picked up. Also, that nice scent of dog mess is in the air again, so a good heavy rain can't be too far away. I have some new pictures to put up, but I'll probably wait until tomorrow to do it.

Have a nice weekend, all!

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Flight info

Some of you have been asking, so this is what I know to be our flight info:

Wednesday, July 19 - leave Memphis at 7:40pm, arrive Mobile 8:55pm
Northwest flight 5795

How could I forget this?

Yesterday afternoon, Pat and Doris went over to the notary office and picked up the adoption documents that officially start our adoption in China! They had an appointment for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, so they went to wait their turn as they always do. When they got there, they noticed several agency directors and liaisons coming out of the offices with no paperwork.

So, they waited in the lobby, and Doris went to speak to the officials. She was told that there would be no paperwork today, and that she could try to come back tomorrow. Doris is a wonderful lady, she can start up a conversation with anyone, and she's very independent (she reminds me of Mulan, but don't tell her I said that). She told them "No! We were told to pick up the paperwork today - we will wait!", and she crossed her arms, walked out of the office, and sat down in the lobby with Pat and waited. Not too long after that, the notary officials came right out to her with our folders! Way to go, Doris!!

We'll have to show you the folders when we get home, we get to keep two originals. They describe how Olivia was abandoned at a street intersection, and that the police officer (it tells his name) found her and searched for her parents, and that efforts were made to find the parents. Then it says that Christine and I want to adopt Long Mei Ru, and that Michael and Christine are the parents of Olivia Mei Grace Jones.

Olivia didn't get to sleep until around 10:00 p.m. last night, so she was a sleepy baby! She loves her bath though, and she just laughs and plays when we put her in her inflatable tub for bath time. She still doesn't like taking her medicine, but we've tried to make a game out of it and trick her so she doesn't realize it when she's getting the salve. When Olivia wakes up in the morning, she has some big-time bed hair, just like daddy when he had more hair. She enjoys having her hair brushed though.

The other family will take their baby to the hospital this morning to have her dressing changed, and we hope she'll be doing much better.

Olivia really likes that bear you see in the second picture. It plays several songs when you push the button in the middle, and daddy and Olivia have made some fun times with bear. She likes singing and music very much. She's also very inquisitive; she'll look around at people standing near her.

Some of the babies in our group put their legs on the top of the umbrella stroller when they're sitting in them, and that's something that Olivia never did until last night when we were in the Parkson's department store. She usually drapes her left leg off the side of the stroller, but this time, she took her right leg and raised it above the bar, like some of the babies do with both their legs. She got so frustrated though when she couldn't figure out how to get her leg back down! Luckily mommy came to the rescue!

Olivia is just now discovering her feet, and she likes to kick and play with her feet as well as have her feet tickled. I still haven't gotten a big hearty laugh out of her like Christine can, but I know it's just around the corner.

We'll be packing tonight for a morning flight on Saturday to Guangzhou and The White Swan; we can't wait! I do want to take a lot of pictures of the people in Nanning today though. We'll give you another update at the end of the day and let you know what mischief we got into today.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Not too much going on today

The family that took their baby to the hospital had some very good results. They took care of the sore on her forehead, and they will have to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning to change the dressing.

It's horrible putting the salve on Olivia's head and giving her the antibiotics, but it's something we have to do. We can tell she's a lot happier now that the antibiotics are taking their effect on her.

We went out to do what we thought was shopping at 1pm today, but our guide was a little late. The pictures you see of Olivia walking with Christine are during the time we were waiting in the lobby. The shops were miserably hot; think Mobile on the hottest day of the summer, and DOUBLE the humidity. It's really hot, and most places have only one small oscillating fan for the whole store. Ouch!

We got home and let Olivia take a nap, and Christine went for a girl's tea while the dads kept the babies. I spent an hour or so bonding with Olivia, and we both had a wonderful time. I think I'm already turning her into the big Disney fan that Christine and I are by singing Disney songs to her!

We went out into town again tonight, and I continue to be amazed at the response of the people to the babies, and to us. At McDonalds, a group of teenage girls started giggling at me while I was ordering, which isn't too unusual in and of itself, seeing how goofy looking I am. However, one of the girls stepped up to me (there are no such things a lines or queues over here, if there's an open space, it's fair game, in a line at McDonalds or driving on the street). She asked me if I was a teacher, and I told her no, we're adopt baby, and pointed at Olivia. They all just grinned and grinned at Olivia. People young and old have pretty much the same reaction, Young men and teenage boys smile at us, and at Olivia, and often try to start a conversation. When we say "ni hao" (hello) or "shi shi" (thank you), it just makes them talk to us more in Chinese. I wish I could have learned enough of the language to communicate.

The older ladies are the most fun though, because they just get so happy seeing us. On the other hand, they're not afraid to scold you if the baby isn't covered up enough or doesn't have a hat on if she needs it. We saw this one very old lady and her daughter with Down's Syndrome before we got in the cab to come home tonight. They both just loved seeing the babies, and hovered around us for a long time. That's not uncommon or threatening either, by the way. I wish we could have talked to those two. They just grinned and grinned when I said "bye bye" to them.

China is an amazing place, and we are so lucky that God led us here to Olivia. Tomorrow won't be too big today, but we are looking forward to ordering Pizza Hut delivery and getting our laundry delivered to the hotel.

Again, we are both overwhelmed at all the support from you all. Sometimes when you send an email, the servers here won't let me send an answer back. I'll tell you more about that another time, but just know that we are getting your kind emails.

We miss you!

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Olivia's first doctor visit

One of the families wanted to get a doctor to come check out her baby, because she thought she may have an ear infection. So, Doris made some calls, and we agreed to split the cost of making a specialist from the local Children's and Women's hospital make a house call. Incidentally, it worked out to be about $18 per couple, or about $75 for him to come see all four babies.

Olivia didn't like seeing the doctor too much, but we did find out that she has a skin infection. In fact, all the babies from this orphanage have this condition, and all of them needed to get medicine from the doctor. Three of the four, including Olivia, have the infection, and they'll need antibiotics. The doctor also prescribed an herbal salve that we mix up and put on the skin on the back of her head. He said that she should get better in a few days.

The doctor was such a kind man, I don't know if you can tell it from his eyes in the pictures or not, but his eyes are what made you be able to tell he was such a good person.

We actually experienced a Chinese fire drill last night, but we didn't have to participate. We knew ahead of time it would be happening, but we didn't know what to expect; if we'd have to evacuate the building or not. We heard people scurrying around with walkie-talkies and a lot of gibberish, but that's about it.

One family just called, at about 7:35am Mobile time, and they're going to have to take their baby to the hospital to get her sore lanced. Please pray for them. Also, please pray that Olivia will continue to bond with Michael

Thank you all again for continuing to be a part of this journey. Your words and prayers of support and encouragement mean so much to all three of us.

Michael, Christine and Olivia

Did you hear my cry? Did you hear my prayer?

I've always enjoyed writing, but I'm not too big on poetry. However, as I watched Christine, and I watched Olivia sleeping, I just felt like writing something down. This is straight off the Mingyuan Xindu Hotel (The Majestic) stationery, and I'm a little nervous about it. Christine hasn't even seen this yet, but here goes...
Tell me what you think....

This is a converstion between an adoptive couple and God, an abandoned baby and God, and God's answer....


Did you hear my cry? Did you hear my prayer?

When the strip read "not pregnant" for the millionth time
Did you hear my cry?
When in despair we asked "Lord, please give us a child"
Did you hear my prayer?
When the doctors talked to us and said "you cannot have a child"
Did you hear my cry?
When the grief sunk in, when we knew it was true
Did you hear my prayer?
When we were unsure of our path; of just what we should do
Did you hear my cry?
When we saw that little angel, and our hearts burst with joy
Did you hear my prayer?
When she was tired from her journey, and scared of mom and dad
Did you hear my cry?
When we held her in our arms, and saw that precious face
Did you hear my prayer?

When I was left on a street corner, and was scared and all alone
Did you hear my cry?
When I was nursed to health, but longed for a home
Did you hear my prayer?
When I was hungry that one night, and didn't know what to do
Did you hear my cry?
When I begged for a family to love me as their own
Did you hear my prayer?
When the train ride was long, and I left my orphanage
Did you hear my cry?
When I first saw them both, and I was happy, but I was scared
Did you hear my prayer?
When I missed the ones who cared for me, and woke up in a strange place
Did you hear my cry?
When I saw my mom and dad, and knew they loved me so
Did you hear my prayer?

When you all longed for what you didn't have, and were hurting deep inside
Did you hear my cry?
When you wondered what would happen, how this would all end up
Did you hear my prayer?
When you struggled, and when you didn't go the right way
Did you hear my cry?
When you turned toward each other, and when your journey finally began
Did you hear my prayer?
When you saw one another that very first day
Did you hear my cry?
When you started your lives together, fulfilling my plans for you
Did you hear my prayer?

Whenever you need strength, hope, or love
He will hear your cry.
When you come to Him, when you truly seek
He will hear your prayer.


Remember, God is never far away from you if you truly seek Him, and He does know the plans He has for you.

Michael

Tourist Day

Last night, we went as a group to McDonald's. It was ok, but the babies were hungry. The dads had to walk over to KFC to get some mashed potatoes for the girls to eat, but Olivia didn't like that too much. The people here are so fascinated by us! A lot of the people try to carry on a conversation with us, and they are so excited for the babies!

The moms and babies went on back to the hotel, but the dads and Doris (our translator) stayed in town and went to the Super Wal Mart again.

This morning, Olivia woke up a little earlier than yesterday, and we played with her a while before going down for breakfast. She didn't eat too much this morning, and they were out of bananas, but she seemed to be doing fine.

We went to a mountain tourist spot today, where there are several Buddhist and Hindu temples built that you can tour. We found out through our bus driver that most people in this region of China are descendents of either the Huns or one other race, and he believes that our girls are of that other race. I'll try to get the spelling of it and post it here soon.

The first temple we went to was a Buddhist temple, and the main chamber was a place where Chinese couples who are having trouble conceiving pray for a baby. They sell offerings and incense that the couples carry around and burn and go to each of several different statues. It was a bit ironic for us to see some of the young Chinese couples praying for babies.

There was one area in front of a river where people gathered to feed the koi. They had a little dress up area, sort of like Glamour Shots, that we took advantage of. See if you can spot those pictures! I'm also going to show what it looks like outside of our hotel room. Guanxi is a pretty big city, after all.

The second temple was a Hindu temple, and the temple itself wasn't too remarkable. One thing that was funny was that Christine and I got scolded for the first time. There was a group of Vietnamese tourists at the temple (remember, Vietnam isn't too far away from here), and they gathered around Christine, Olivia and me on the steps to the temple. The men kept saying a word to us and pointing at us. We thought they were commenting on the baby, so we said "thank you" in Chinese (I know, they're Vietnamese). They kept pointing at Olivia though, and we kept smiling and saying "thank you". They then went to the universal language of charades, and they pointed up at the sun, then at their heads - they were all wearing baseball caps. Then they pointed at Olivia's uncovered head. They were scolding us for not having a hat for Olivia!

Nik, one of the other dads, and I got Doris to stop and see where we could buy one of the cone shaped basket type hats that you traditionally see pictures of Chinese people wearing. They said that the hats were work or gardening hats, and that they had some new ones they would sell us. With the conversion, it worked out to be about two dollars and fifty cents for a hat.

We then went to a local shopping area and bought some articles that are made here in Guangxi province. One of the ladies in the shop wiped her forehead (like "WHEW!:"), and pointed to Olivia. Here we go again with the scolding!!

We finally have Olivia down for a nap, and we plan on joining her. Thank you again for your notes and prayers of support. Please keep them coming! Olivia is SO precious; God is a kind and loving God to bring such a blessing into our lives.

Michael, Christine and Olivia