Day-11: Mid-Autumn Festival and other stuff...

We enjoyed an interesting day in Guangzhou. We started with the very nice White Swan breakfast buffet. It was quite a change from Zhengzhou where we were often the only Americans there. Here, there are many adoptive families. The place was full of little ones and their new parents. It was neat to see all of these children beginning their new lives. Moriah especially liked the tater-tots and scrambled eggs.

At 9:30, we left for the Six Banyan temple. It is a Buddhist temple that was build in 537 AD. The picture of the pagoda is from there. It made us sad to see the people so overtly worshiping idols. We thought it must have been something like what Paul saw at the Areopagus in Acts 17: "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription 'to the unknown God'. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man..." It was sad to see so many walking in darkness, but it also made us rejoice that Moriah will be able to learn about the one true living God. May our Lord continue to build His church here and shine forth the light of Christ to give sight to those who are blind.

Next we went to a famous house that is now a museum called the Chen House. There were rooms with beautiful art and embroidery (even one of Hu Jintao), ivory carvings, and original furniture. It had beautiful architecture with ceramic figures on the roof line as well as intricate carvings throughout. Finally, we stopped at a store which offered lots of neat Chinese things for sale. Across the street was a little grocery store. We found a few things (diapers and snacks) but not what we were really looking for: Cheerios. Moriah loves them! We did find some later near the hotel, but we held off on buying them because they were about $6 for a small box. Maybe we can find some other snacks for her to enjoy. After all of this, we came back to the hotel for a much needed rest. When Moriah woke up, we headed out for some shopping and dinner. We ended up at Lucy's again because all of the restaurants were quite busy because of the Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as the Moon Festival). After supper, we went for a walk along the river. It had gotten dark and the moon had risen. River boats which offer dinner cruises and sightseeing floated by. There were many families out. The children had paper lanterns with candles inside. It was a festive atmosphere. Moriah enjoyed looking at the lanterns and the people. We did buy some lanterns to bring home. A few other highlights of the day: some Chinese teenagers wanted their picture taken with me, we received the special Barbie doll with the Chinese baby that is given to adoptive families who stay at the White Swan Hotel, we got Moriah some squeaky shoes (they squeak each time she takes a step), and we got to know some new folks who have joined our group. Their babies were in this province, so they have been here the whole time. One has adopted a two year old girl and the other has adopted a set of two year old twins. It was nice to meet them today.

Moriah is continuing to do very well. She seems a little more relaxed each day. She didn't seem quite so frantic about food today and seemed to stop when she'd had enough. She really liked drinking water out of the lid of the water bottle today. It was pretty hot, so I'm sure she was thirsty. She tried Gatorade, but I think she liked water better. She likes french fries, but not ketchup. She is happy and cheerful and makes everyone around her smile. We met a young woman working in a store who is from Kaifeng, which is near Zhengzhou. She was so excited when we told her where Moriah is from.

It was a great day!