THIS IS DAY 12 OF OUR JOURNEY TO KAI!
APRIL 9, 2006
Today was our first full day in Guangzhou. We awoke bright and early and headed downstairs to try
the buffet breakfast at the Victory Hotel. I had heard there were lots of Chinese variety, but not a whole lot Western.
Well...the rumors were right. I'm a picky breakfast eater...and don't like omelets, which was the main American
food to choose from. Otherwise, it was good. As to the coffee, must be something with Chinese and coffee.
Yuck! But, the room was great and the price was even better so I would definitely stay here again.
After breakfast, being that it was Sunday...Palm Sunday....Xie Xie said she would meet us at 8:15 in the lobby
and walk us over to a the oldest Catholic Church in Guangzhou. I was very excited about this, since last week
we did not get to go to mass. I really miss going to church! I was also looking forward to taking Kai
in front of the Tabernacle and once again, before His presence, thank the Lord for this little miracle.
As we began our walk, a soft mist of rain began to fall. The closer we got to the church, the harder it was
raining. Fortunately, Scott had gone back up to the room before leaving and grabbed two umbrellas.
We arrived at the church, which was built in 1892. Apparently not many, if any renovations had been made.
It was very old and showed signs of it, including peeling paint and rotting wood beams, but yet, it was beautiful.
Xie Xie had mixed up the times and the mass began at 8:00 and not at 8:30 when we arrived, so when we got
there, it was standing room only. The priest was in the midst of the homily...in Cantonese. There were a handful of
American families holding their newly adopted Chinese children, but the majority of the parishioners were Chinese.
It was so neat to follow along although I knew not one word of what was being said. Scott stood holding Kai
towards the back while Amanda, my Mom and at the beginning of the already full pews. It was kind of a Chinese
woman who came over and handed us 3 plastic chairs to sit in. The type of chairs that are little benches for children.
It was so emotional as we all walked up to receive the body of Christ. It reminded me once again that our God
is so good! When the mass was over, my Mom and I went to a little "shop" that had been set up outside.
We bought a couple of rosaries and I bought a small ceramic statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, which I will take
back to Ft. Myers to be blessed, along with the rosaries. I had spoken to our priest before coming and he mentioned
that the Vatican does not recognize the Catholic church in China because the priest are assigned by the State
and not the Vatican. But, I can definitely attest to the presence of the Holy Spirit there. It was very much felt!
After the mass, Scott and my Mom spoke to what appeared to be a Deacon. He was Italian! He told them he was
there doing missionary work and evangelizing to the people whenever possible, but of course, had to do it in hiding.
That's OK...God moves when are where he wants to! :)
After church, we went back to the hotel to change Kai and then headed towards the White Swan and the many
little shops that I have heard so much about for so long. I recognized many of the statues I had done videos
of other families posing at, and then came across Jordon's. A little shop on the way to the main road who is
run by a very kind Christian man. We stopped in to say hello and got to meet his daughter. We ended up buying
Kai's first pair of "squeaky shoes" there. For those of you that don't know what squeaky shoes are. They are very
cute shoes made in China that have little squeakers in the heels. As the children walk, they squeak. Kai loved
it and thought it was the funniest thing! Mom came across a family from Columbia who spoke Spanish and she
was in 7th heaven! She struggles a bit with English, which is all she has spoken since we left the US.
We continued our walk and meandered through some of the shops. We came across Jennifer's, Sherry's Place and
all of those places now famous to the Chinese adoption community. Jennifer's has strollers for adoptive families to
borrow at no charge. Scott picked one of those up last night after our dinner at Cow & Bridge. By the way,
for those families that are yet to come. Jennifer's has a pretty big array of medications to give for free to adoptive
families, left by other families. So, if you find yourself needing medication for scabies, lice, fever, colds, you name
it...it's there!! It's a great idea and I will make sure that when we return our stroller, we leave all
the medicine we took that we won't be needing on the flight home. I know it helped me out, because Kai ended up
having scabies, and I found the prescription medication there.
Continuing on, we bought a few little things here and there and then came across Lucy's Bar & Cafe. This is
a restaurant with mostly western food! Amanda was in her glory. Cheeseburgers and fries! Real ones! Scott and
I had burritos and Mom had a Hawaiian Pizza! The prices were great and the food was awesome! A little bit after
we arrived, in walked the Eller family and Kathy and her family. We finished up and went back to the hotel. Amanda
had gotten a bit of a headache (she gets migraines like her Mama) and went to lay down for a half hour before we
all had to meet in the lobby again. At 2:00 pm, I woke her and she was feeling much better. Ready to start winding
up her little brother again. They are soooo sweet together! I can't wait to get home and see the two of them
along with AJ together. Speaking of AJ, I speak to my aunt almost daily and he is doing wonderfully! Gaining
weight and up to 4.5 ozs. of formula! I REALLY miss him!!!
Ok, back to China. We met our group in the lobby and boarded a bus to downtown for some shopping. Some
families went to a bookstore, and we went with some others to this HUGE electronics building. Scott being a computer
guru was in heaven. I had been told about the stores there having these fabulous DVD sales. Well, I didn't find much
of a selection at all where they took us. It was another one of those places that was so darn hot I couldn't breathe.
I ended up holding Kai and sitting whenever possible and Scott and the kids went through piles of old video games
to play for pennies. After about an hour there, I was so ready to leave. We finally headed out and Scott was bummed
he didn't get a chance to get to the computer components. Oh well....ce la vie! From there, we boarded the bus
again and headed towards the pearl market. A discount mall of stores and stores selling freshwater prices for
great prices. I am not much into pearls, but wanted to buy a necklace for Amanda's wedding day, and one for
Kai to give to his bride on his wedding day. The babies were tired, so the driver dropped us off with one of the guides
and the driver took the Dad's back to the hotel with the babies. I figured it would be hell when I got back after 2 hours
of Kai and Scott alone together, but this was the only opportunity to get these necklaces, and I just know it would
have been a major meltdown for Kai after having missed both naps.
When all was said and done, the shopping was a success! I bought the necklaces and was definitely ready to head
back. When I arrived, Kai gave me a great big smile!! Poor baby had not eaten and had not napped. We walked
over for a quick meal to Cow & Bridge again. That was disastrous. We were all tired. This time the place was
packed and the service took forever, not to mention they had run out of most things, including Congee...which
is Kai's favorite, a mixture of rice and rice water. We got out of there at almost 9 pm. Got back to the room and
were exhausted. I made a bottle for Kai and decided to just wash him up instead of the whole bath routine.
Good thing because he fell dead asleep half way through his bottle.
Tomorrow morning at 10 am, the group meets for the medical checkup and for the visa pictures!
We're almost done and heading home! It's been great here, but I am so ready to go. Also, tomorrow morning
we leave the Victory Hotel and check into the White Swan! Living out of a suitcase is getting old.
