KDyson

February 26, 2005

Ok, we were able to recharge after a very comfortable nights rest here in Guangzhou and had a fairly nice day at the Doctor. Well, not the whole day; we left the hotel this morning after a good breakfast heading to the medical examination office for a health checkup for Kirby, which is required by the U.S. Consulate before any further action can be processed on her U.S. adoption. It was kind of like going to the county health department office with about twenty or so babies and parents in tow; you can probably picture the somewhat organized chaos. The exam consisted of three very brief stations between three pretty long waits, but all in all it wasn't really that bad and we were done before noon. Kirby did really well and makes us proud at each delicate moment; we, as you can imagine, are so proud. We are really hoping this lasts past this sort of "honeymoon" period, we'll see. After the medical exam we were off to the grocery store for supplies and then back to the hotel about two in the afternoon.

We had a brief period this afternoon for the babies to nap and then an early dinner. Tonight for dinner we passed on some of the very (extremely) exotic dishes like blubber (whatever that is), pigeon (again), geese feet, and all sorts of fish heads, etc. (you get the idea). The Cantonese are very proud of their ability to eat anything with four legs except the table and we certainly saw evidence of that tonight. We did however try the eel, sautŽed of course (not live), and it was pretty good once you got the spine out of your mouth (grossed out yet?). Really dinner was very nice and we did a little after dinner strolling around the hotel and now we are bedding down for the evening.

Tomorrow will be another somewhat slow day because Monday will be busy, we assume. We are doing a little sightseeing with a chance for a little shopping as well. We did get to see a some of Guangzhou today and it is a very nice city compared to Beijing and Nanchang. This city is very "western" and is referred to as the Southern Gate to China. You can really see the comparative wealth of this city and the colonial undertones of its history. Canton, like Shanghai, had a very golden moment with western colonialists prior to the Communist seizing power. This influence is evident in both the architecture and the aura; it is as though we left "communist" China and entered "capitalist" China, and it is strange that we are in the same country as Beijing and Nanchang. It appears that the Chinese are ready to embrace the open market, at least on their terms.

We will be off to the consulate on Monday and then will have to wait for our documents to be processed and finalized, by Wednesday and maybe even earlier. That is about as much as we know at this point on our itinerary. For now, thank you once again for visiting us on this site, we covet your prayers and encouragement and cannot begin to express our heartfelt gratitude to those of you who have taken such an interest in this adventure. We know that God has many great plans for all of us and pray that in some way we are glorifying him in the words that we say and the actions that we take. Maybe somehow one of you will be moved to reach out and initiate a love relationship with someone unknown to you; as God led us through the spirit to initiate our relationship with Kirby, he has done the same for us even though we didn't deserve it. I pray that if there is a child here in China waiting for one of you that you will be encouraged for this has been the most wonderful experience, don't wait any longer, reach out and save a life.

We love you all,

Temple, Joel, and Kirby

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