Saturday in Guangzhou

Hello all!
John has been posting lately so I guess it's my turn. We have finished our first day in Guangzhou. We are staying in the Victory Hotel this time after staying at the White Swan the last two adoptions. We have a two room suite with warm cherry woods and deep blue/maroon colors. A king bed in the bed room with a bath; a sitting room with couch (turned into bed for Sarabeth), two chairs, table and another bath! Each bathroom sink has an R/O tap for clean water!!!! As much as you want, whenever you want. There is also an R/O heated and cold water machine on the bar. Just to be able to brush your teeth and drink the water without a bottle of it on hand is a pleasure. PLUS this is actually cheaper than a regular single room at the Swan. The breakfast buffet in NO way compares to the Swan, tho - but I'll take the Victory! I do miss the little fried pumpkin cakes that look like cocoons, tho - will have to have one of the other families sneak me out some! There is also a full computer in this room - altho we have our own laptop. AND a TV in each room, too.

Jing is busy writing - copying from one of her school books - she is at that age of mastery and is so very proud to show us her accomplishments. I think she will learn oral and written english quickly. We are already working on numbers, letters, colors. I wrote all of our children's names and ages down once for her and she has nearly mastered writing them all ... from memory. She is excellent at copying letters/words that I write or she sees. She is starting to ask "please" and say "thank you" - a big jump! She continues to do quite well chewing and eating, as long as you don't tick her off - she can get peeved big time and throw a bit of a fit, too. One problem she is having tho is at least two of her right upper back teeth have major decay and they really hurt her - she chews only on the left and complains of pain regularly. We tried orajel without results, so we are starting tylenol or advil round the clock for her. We'll be off to the DDS as soon as we get back! These are baby teeth, but her 6 yr molar is adjacent to them and I don't want to lose it.

John and I just want to mention that all of China is decorated for Christmas. Everywhere you look there are decorations, waitresses dressed in Santa hats, etc. The one thing that is so amazing is NO where do we ever see "happy holidays"!!!! In this communist, non-Christian society every saying is "Merry Christmas" - as it should be! The White Swan is totally lit up with Merry Christmas upteen stories high. How politically incorrect!?! LOL!

Jing had her medical this morning and all went well, except for a question on her original medical. The docs couldn't understand why she never had surgery for the tightened valve exiting her stomach (as we are, too) - but then she wouldn't have a special need and wouldn't be our daughter. We were strongly encouraged to make sure we had a full evaluation in the states ... well, duh!

I was able to do a bit of shopping today - to John's dismay! Oh, well, how often do you get to China? Well, besides the fact that this is our 3rd trip in, what, 27 months?? Jing absolutely loves to watch the artists doing the granite etchings - even tried to do some herself ... without permission! Woops! We encountered a young group of artists painting in an obvious "class" of some sort - she wanted to stop and paint, too. We were told she loves to paint and draw - will have to allow this to blossom for her.

We hit the playground - Jing enjoyed this, too. Running from one apparatus to another - even see-sawing with another little girl. We then ventured to a different Chinese restaurant - known for their fried pidgeon and coconut milk with frog guts!! We tried neither of those, but had a nice meal. We had beef and chicken satays (meat on sticks) that had a sweet curry flavor; fried thin noodles with pork strips and mixed vegies in coconut milk - delicious!! John always gets a pepsi or coke - and Jing likes a bit of pop, too - but, me, I only get my iced tea at one place ... Lucy's. So after dinner, we stopped at Lucy's for my iced tea - to make it "to go" they had to put it into 2 soup bowls!! Guess they don't make it to go very often! It hit the spot ... but John told Jing she had a crazy Mommy!

Jing is now reading (in Chinese) from her school book - out loud - to no one in particular ... with her new crazy yellow tinted sunglasses that she just HAD to have!! What a stinkin' weasel! She'll fit right in with our other stinkin' weasels at home!!

We miss you all!!! Hugs and kisses to all the kids. Jeriah, you should be headed into finals next week, right - study hard and pray! Cait - still sad we missed your big night in concert - hope we find a video somewhere - keep asking...maybe one of the kids' parents took one. Grace - glad you are feeling so much better - are you playing with Maggie? Bet she's growing! Nate - hey, you stinkin' weasel, we miss your snuggles! Juliana banana - we sure need some sugar - be really good for Mamichelle! We love you all the way to Pluto ... even if it isn't a planet anymore!

Mary et al XXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOO