September 17 in Guangzhou

Hi everyone,

This will be a short blog since the tablet is only running at 24%.  Let's see... Today started out pretty relaxing.  We all slept in, including Andrew, and then we went down to breakfast just before it closed at around 9:30.  I love the breakfast at this hotel.  You can order fried eggs, omlets, etc, and there is usually canned fruit (the only kind we're allowed to eat here without risk of getting sick) and juice if we want it.  There is always tea.  :)  We always eat so much at breakfast that we're not hungry for lunch until around 1:00.  Of course, Andrew is ALWAYS hungry, but we have a variety of Chinese and American snacks to tide him over until lunch.

After breakfast, we took Andrew down to the kiddie playground on the 4th floor again, and he had a great time playing with blocks and putting them in and out of a cupboard in the  pretend kitchen.  He also climbed up the little slide on the little jungle gym-- first with his shoes on and then with his shoes off, which made it extra challenging, but he's a determined little fellow.  I helped him climb by supporting his bottom when he was near the middle of the slide, and Howie took over at the top end of the slide.  He did this over and over again and would also slide down the slide and let me catch him at the end.  He was so delighted with all of this.  Watching him play and playing with him wore his parents out quite a bit!  When he was done playing, we took him for a stroller walk around the garden, which settled him down a bit, and then we waited in the lobby for our pre-ordered lunch to arrive.

And we waited.

And we waited.  Andrew fell alseep while we were waiting, and it was time to go upstairs to await our clean laundry delivery, so the two of us went upstairs to do this while Howie still waited on lunch.  Soon after our arrival to our room, Andrew woke up and needed a diaper change.  I was finally about to do this (no easy task to diaper change him by yourself since he wiggles and cries and struggles so much when we change him) when the laundry man came.  So... I collected the laundry, and Andrew thought he was going to get out of his diaper change, but Mama didn't forget!  :)

Soon after that, Howie came upstairs with our luke-warm food, and we ate it in a hurry, because shortly after that, we had to leave for church!

We went to one of the Catholic churches (more like a cathedral) in Guangzhou, expecting quite a lot to be different.  We didn't notice many differences, if any, in the mass itself.  However, when the guide and I entered, they made us put on a skirt because my shorts and her dress were "too short."  Another difference was that, when Igot up to take Andrew for a walk when he was getting restless, different sections of the church were roped off, so I had to exit along the side and could not just stand in the back as we would sometimes do with Gabriel at our home church.

We left just after the homily (sermon) because Andrew was becoming too restless and disruptive, and when we walked outside, we saw that the church had a lot of land around it, and on this land, people were standing and sitting, trying to listen to the mass from the open doors.  (Yes, the church was unairconditioned, fans were blowing, and the doors where all open.)  They also had some beautiful statues on their grounds.  Howie took pictures of the statue cluster of The Good Shephard and the outside of the church.

Afterwards, we had some time to marvel at the open air markets and tiny little shops along the street near the church.  We saw these and people carrying heavy loads of goods on bikes, etc.  It was one of those times when we knew we weren't in Indiana anymore.  Very little English appeared along that street, and our guide explained to us that it was District 1 (or D-- we're not quite sure what she said).  Anyway, this district, she said, has stayed the same even after several dynasty changes.  Most of the people who lived and worked there had generations of family who had lived and worked there before them.

Back in the van, Andrew came over to me after being held by Howie, and said, "Mama, 'bowba," which our guide said meant, "Mama, hold me."  So sweet!!  Of course held him, and he relaxed on my lap for a little bit until he started playing, "Let's throw the water bottle on the ground and have my mama try to hold me while I try to get it from the bottom of the van.  Have I mentioned that people rarely buy carseats in China, and there are no car seats in the vehicles we take?  Also, the traffic there sometimes--often--looks like a parking lot with no clear-cut lanes.  Howie and I cringed the first time we were here and saw that, and now we just give each other looks of disbelief.  lol

After this, we went to the mall to buy more diapers for Andrew, because the ones we had bought a few days ago ended up being too large.  We also bought him a few pairs of shorts that would fit him, since we brought mostly size 18 month old shorts for him, and he is in a size twelve months or slightly lower.  We're making due with the long shirts.  :)  We also wanted to buy a fun gift for Gabriel, so our guide ordered a gift we had seen in the store.  She said that her four-year-old loves this particular car and that her older son plays with it too.  Before we left the store, Howie also purchased a small case of bottled water so that he wouldn't have to go by the nearby 7-11 again to buy it.  Every time he goes to the 7-11, he gets hit up by prostitutes right outside the hotel!  lol

When we returned home, we played with Andrew a little bit in our hotel room, made him a second bottle of formula at his insistence (he does a great job with gestures), and then headed to dinner at Food Street.

I didn't bring my camera along today, but I just received Howie's pictures from my gmail account, and here they are!

Some prayer requests to pass along:

1. Please help diaper changes to go better with Andrew.  It's very difficult to change his diapers.  He's strong and struggles like mad to prevent us from taking off his wet/poopy diaper and putting on his clean one.

2. Please pray that my back feels better.  It was feeling better at one part of the day, and then I sneezed, and I've been in worse pain ever since.

Notice my grimace?  Andrew was pulling my hair in this picture.  He alternated from pulling on my hair and knocking off Howie's glasses this afternoon.  That's how we knew he was tired.  He only does this kind of thing when he's missing a nap.  :)

We head to the Consulate tomorrow to complete Andrew's passport process and to swear him in!  :)  That will be close to the end of the paperwork here in China.  (We'll have more to do when we arrive back home.)

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,
Jennifer