Sight Seeing

Today we went sight seeing.  We visited the Buddhist Temple.  There were Chinese people bringing in offerings of water, fruit, and nuts.  They would bow first (an odd number of bows) and then put the offering at the altar.  They were also giving monetary offerings.  The whole place smells of inscents because they make wishes and believe that the smoke from the inscents will carry their wish to heaven where it will be answered by buddha.  It was very sad to see this people group who doesn't know or believe in the One true God.  From here we went to the Old Chen House.  It is the best preserved Qing Dynasty building in Guangdong Province built about 120 years ago.  It had colored porcelain and lime sculpture on the roof, stone carving and wood carving all over the house, brick carving on the wall, and different kinds of Cantonese folk arts exhibitions in each room.  From here we went to the Guangdong Arts and Crafts Shopping Center.  It is run by the Guangdong Provincial government.  After our sight seeing we came back to the hotel.  We went to Lucy's for lunch.  It is very popular here for American Adoptive families.  They sell "American" food.  Of course nothing ever taste completely American, but it was close!  We had hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwich, and steak.  We came back to the hotel for naps and then Robert had to go do more paperwork to get ready for our U.S. Consulate appt.  So far we have not forgotten any of the important paperwork we had to bring with us.  I have been so worried that I would forget something, but we have had what we needed :)  While Robert was gone doing paperwork, Brynn, Blake, and I played in the playroom.  For dinner we ate at Subway followed by drinks from Starbucks!  The Starbucks is the only thing that has tasted completely normal!  As I have mentioned the area and weather are beautiful, so we sat on a bench surrounded by beautiful flowers and a water fountain that lit up while we drank our Starbucks.  The kids loved watching the colorful fountain!  We finished the night with a stroll around and then came back to the hotel.  Brynn has started having trouble sleeping.  She cries when we put her down in her bed.  We tried just patting her bottom while she was in her bed instead of getting her out last night and it worked.  We just took turns patting until she fell asleep.  Just as long as we were touching her and she knew we were there she was content.  During the night she woke up several times crying.  I just went over and gave her a few pats and she went back to sleep.  I know it is so hard on her to not know what is going on.  Ever since we switched hotels, she has had trouble sleeping at night.  I am ready to get her home so that she can have some consistency.  I have read that night time is the hardest on these little guys and they grieve and learn to adjust.  During the day she does wonderful, but as soon as we lay her down in her bed, she gets sad.  Please pray for her as she goes through this time of grief and sadness.  Robert is feeling a little better but Blake's cough is still lingering.  Hopefully as soon as we get back to clean air that will clear up.  Thanks for your prayers!