August 1st...2nd..and 3rd!

Here it is Monday night already.  Where has the time gone, besides slowly by!

The last two days have been fairly non-eventful.  Sunday was the only day with a real plan.  We got up early according to Levi, but it was only 8:30 when I made him finally get up.   It is interesting to watch the daily battles/drama. His usual battles everyday are when to get up and why he has to take a shower! I guess it could be worse, so I won't complain too much.  Ok, not much.

Dad and Levi at the Chen Clan Museum

After breakfast, we chatted with some of the kids at home and then headed out to a museum (outdoor) at about 1030.  We got there about 11:00 and had a whole 1 1/2 hours to kill in the 100+ degree heat.  Levi and I sat with some friends, drank a few bottles of water, talked about how hot it was and waited for Beth and Goo Goo to get done shopping...I mean looking at the artifacts.  A plus about our trip to the museum was running into some friends we met in Taiyuan, Dayton and Joyce Blake.  They were adopting a little girl on the same day we adopted Levi at the civil affairs office.  Really great Christian couple. I wish we had more time with them. 

Ethan, Levi and Nicholas

Levi and Amy, our guide.

Once we left the Chen Clan museum, we headed to the Friendship Department store. It was more than time to get Levi some more clothes, and he needed some shoes as well.  It was fun trying to shop with Levi as the interpreter.  He does not speak Mandarin or English all that well...so we had a lot of craziness for a few minutes.  A pair of shoes, socks, shorts, and a few shirts later, we headed down to the grocery section to get some much needed supplies.  Moon pies, chocolate, peanut butter, jelly, bread... what more can a person really need?

Just a couple of dads out hailing some cabs!

We had a lazy afternoon. We got back here about 3 pm, then about 6:00 we headed to the lobby to meet more folks for an outing to the Italian Buffet.  I think we started with 5 families, but one bailed because they did not want to wait for a taxi.   We enjoyed the friendship and fellowship of new friends over some great food, and we really enjoyed watching Levi learn to interact with the other folks and try out his ever growing use of the English language.   He is holding steady at about 150 words or so and about 12-15 phrases!   After an uneventful taxi ride back, we again had the chance to speak with Lindsey (she camped out on the floor by the computer so she would hear when we called) and the hit the hay with full stomachs.

Yay for yummy Italian food!

Monday was another fairly calm day. Levi and I spend the morning swimming and having a relaxing few hours in the pool and then we headed back to Shamian Island clinic for having Levi's TB test read. Guess what. It was still negative.  So after the earth shattering news of a negative test, we did a bit of shopping for Faith and Beth to gets some stuff for the family they were thinking of.  I tolerated the shopping by listening to Levi talk and discuss things with the nice shop keeper, and he tolerated it by having a great conversation.  I might add we were at A GIFT FROM CHINA http://www.agiftfromchina.com/ , they are a non profit Christian group that supports special needs children here in China. Wonderful people. We met them here last year, and of course, we had to go help them some more this time. Since we still have a few days before we go home, I am sure Beth and Faith will go back again, but I think Levi and Dad are done with shopping.

Beginning of Pearl River Cruise.

Levi's plate!

New "chicken fingers"

Goo Goo and Levi, just chillin' and enjoyin' the ride!

Monday night we went on a river cruise for dinner. We have never done that here, so it looked interesting. It was!  We had a nice triple decker boat with two dining rooms and a top deck that was open.  The way the whole thing worked was that after the safety briefing and instructions (all in Chinese), as soon as the boat pulled away from the dock, we could go to the buffet and eat to our hearts desire.  So the line formed and Levi was about in front.  As we were waiting to get our food, Levi strolled by with a plate with rice, watermelon, and CHICKEN FEET.  I had not seen the food yet, and I quickly surmised it was a authentic Cantonese dinner buffet.  As I held back my laughter, I worked my way through the line and got to choose from  rice, noodles, chicken feet, stewed vegetables with stewed pigs stomach, turkey wing joints with noodles, our old friend "Slimy" the chicken was there, and assorted other delicacies which I am choosing not to remember.  When I went back to check for anything new, I snagged a couple of boiled shrimp which were pretty tasty once you separated the tails from the body which had beady little eyes that had a pleading "don't eat me" look!  We topped it with blueberry and vanilla ice cream.

Goo Goo gave them a whirl!

Paul played with his food--poor, helpless shrimps!

The view from the top deck was pretty.  It made the city actually look ok and the whole area looked better at night.  It should be no surprise that Beth took a lot of pictures so there will be plenty to choose from. Levi has had fun taking a few pictures.  We wish he had used the disposable camera we sent him in his foster home, but alas, he didn't.

Levi likes to snap a few pictures of his own.

The city was quite beautiful at night.  We all enjoyed the view.

New smile!  I think he had a pretty good time :)

The city all lit up at night--it was beautiful!

Tuesday, ahhh yes, Tuesday.  What did we do on Tuesday?  Well, we got up, went to the breakfast buffet, (Levi is in for a really rude awakening when he gets home and finds out there is not 103 choices for breakfast and he can not have a banana, watermelon, fried rice, eggs, watermelon, juice, an orange, more dried fruit and of course, more watermelon.  When he is stuck with a choice of oatmeal...or oatmeal... I think he will have a few rough mornings.  Beth, on the other hand, is totally unprepared for how he eats. Levi reminds me of Tyler when it comes to eating.  Ty used have a loaf of bread for a snack, and Levi eats about the same.  He is like a Chinese supertanker.

So on Tuesday we went swimming in the morning while the ladies went to go shopping in the Dong Fang shopping center.  They were excited about their HOT deals on Burberry purses, but with the price they paid, I think Burpberry is more likely.   We swam for about two hours then we went back to Dong Fang market because the girls did not have enough $$ to pay for their purchases.  Faith was haggling with the lady about buying some Chinese dolls and she walked, much to the disappointment of the lady who was trying to sell her the stuff.   In the afternoon, Levi and went back to the room, he wanted to sleep, I was reading Acts and working a bit on sermon prep for my next message, and Beth and Faith went to get a pedicure.  It was so cheap, they decided ... sure.  TWO HOURS later when they came back after a 70 minute FOOT, BACK, ARM and NECK massage, they were refreshed and we were ready to load up into a taxi and head to Shamian Island for a 5 pm dinner.

At the Island, we met our good friend Robyn Windsor, her 15 year old daughter Francis and their newly adopted baby David. He is a 2 year old boy with albinism.  I won't go into detail but please remember the Windsor family in your prayers.  She is struggling, and this is a very hard time.  Her husband Frank is home with the other 4 kids so I am sure he needs prayer as well.  We enjoyed a good dinner at Lucy's Bar and Grill, an American type restaurant much like an independent Applebees.  After catching up about our families and dinner, we had a moment to pray together and then we split up and went on our separate strolls.   We, (Beth and Faith) wanted to go to to A Gift from China, but alas, they were closed. We did however run into Dayton and Joyce, our friends we met in Taiyuan.  It was neat to see Levi spot them down the street, and he ran ahead to greet them. He has a heart for friends and for the little ones. He really will like the girlies back home, and I am sure that Amie and Sophie are ready to "teach him the ropes".   

Upon returning, we were able to head back to the pool for a late evening swim from about 730 to 9 pm.  We met our friends the Reinharts, and Kevin and Stephanie and several of the other families.  Dads swam with the kiddos, moms gathered on the couches for a hen fest and talked about kids, etc... It was a very relaxing end to the day.   Back in our rooms, we had the chance to FINALLY skype with Jordan and see him after two weeks. It was cool to visit with Lindsey and Jordan, and of course Jon, and Hannah, and a couple of the Seck kids, Andy and Sarah... and I can't forget Riley!   The evening visit was good, and we can't wait to get home.  It ended kind of sad though, Jordan and Jon called back on skype to talk about Luci, our 13 year old dog.  For the past year or so, she has really slowed down and as of the last few days, she has had problems getting up the three steps into the house, does not eat and spends the whole day in the kennel.  After a conference, we decided as a family that it was time for the one way walk into the woods.  Jordan and Jon took care of her early this morning (Wednesday), and we will all miss her.

That pretty much brings you up today for our last few days. Sorry about the delays, hope to see you all soon.

Paul, Beth, Levi & Faith.... the Lyman Clan in China