Shamian Island

listening to Jason Gray "remind me who i am "     on youtube


i've wondered before coming how many times in the future will Jun ask us to "remind her who she is and what she is to us, to tell her lest she forget , that she belongs to us" i want to in grain these thoughts so i can remember when in her actions she's "asking us" if she belongs.       

                                 the kids found these the first morning at breakfast.   donut tree  

                                                    part of our 1 bedroom suite 

                                         elevators on our floor,   the hotel is gorgeous!!

yesterday we went shopping at Shamian Island, the adoptive families used to all stay on the island , but after the consulates and medical moved off the island, and the White Swan Hotel closed for renovations agencies started using hotels off island. it was a quiet place reminding me of New Orleans. gorgeous buildings and trees, gavin found the chess set he wanted, gage found a set of Terra Cotta Soldiers (wishing we had gone to see them but it would have added 2 days to our trip. ) the girls found chinese shoes, dresses and bracelets . mama got some bracelets too. and a neat necklace charm that is mom in chinese.

   school kids lined up for morning excercise,  some were talking to me til a teacher yelled at them  and they got in tight formation

we were warned that the chinese LOVE photos of themselves with americans,   especially blond children.  poor kestrel put up with it the first day (men mostly grabbing her and posing for a photo)    and since then cries if anyone asks her,     today 3 women asked her she started crying.   i told her,  kestrel the pretty girl just wanted you to take a photo,  she quickly looked up" where????"    i had to laugh,  all 3 were "hmnm"  not pretty :-) 

today we say good bye to some good friends we've made, thankfully they live in KS so we plan to meet halfway to do some camping, etc. they had 3 and were here to pickup their 4th. Evie we'll get you a sister :-)