Our day started with sightseeing to Longman's Grotto in Luoyang, which is an amazing collection of Buddha cave carvings--over 100,000 of them. It proves that mankind are incredible worshippers--it's a matter of who or what we worship. The weather is an oven and we melted slowly! We discovered that Maggie gets carsick, and was scared to get back on the bus. Pray for her! We had a last lunch with Michael and got to meet his ministry partner, both who helped us get out of the rooms by 2:00 sharp to avoid an automatic charge! Back on the bus, this time with a Chinese Dramamine working in Maggie for the crazy, hot van ride (I will NEVER say that Atlanta traffic and driving is bad again!) and their first flight on quite a small plane from LuoYang to Guangzhou, China's capital where lots more paperwork needs to get done. The girls did well, holding on to Ryan's pillow and Jenna's Teddy Bear, both on loan to them! We got in late at 10:30 pm after starting at 7 am, but arriving at the White Swan Hotel was a breath of fresh air with beautiful rooms, beautiful artwork, an indoor waterfall with a beautiful fish pond...I felt myself relax as I took in the atmosphere AND the morning not having an official requirement until 10:30 am. Tony and I snuck out of the room at 7:00 am the next morning (our sleep is still messed up!) and had lots of wonderful coffee and actually had real heart to heart conversation instead of just logistical conversations getting 7 people and 7 suitcases from A to B to C to D... Then, we got to have a wonderful American breakfast buffet at a table for 7 and watched the kids having fun interaction again. The Chinese people here might think we're a little crazy, but they'd have to notice the happiness and fun too! We've had several friendly comments of "What a BIG family!" There are so many families adopting here and it's very cool to be a part of it. Today we got through the girls' medical exams and more paperwork, and then our new guide, Sarah, helped us go to a Chinese version of Walmart for some things we needed. It was just about like driving here--lots more people and noise than we're used to. The girls are so fun to be with and are doing great - they just light up and play with Ryan, Joel & Jenna, and they are adorable to watch. We feel so blessed! Tomorrow we're going to the zoo, and then we have complete free time. Please pray for a problem with Ginger's passport that got issued with a wrong birth year. It could cost us an extra day here, which will keep us from going back to LuoYang for the celebration of "Maria's Big House". Pray that they get it done in time for us to leave on schedule 7/1! Sorry this is long, but it has been a full 2 days!
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Praying all details are worked out for the passport. You all really make me smile!!!!! Thanks for updates.
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