Journey of Faith:Our Little Guy From China

Yesterday we went to the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum.  It was quite interesting when you learn the history.  Tim took all that in while I ran around with Caleb.  He was video taping it too.  We had lunch at the Museum's restaurant and that was good.  We got back a little after 2pm and tried to get Caleb to nap, but no such thing.  We played a little longer in the hotel and then went back outside to walk and find Pizza Hut.  We went the wrong way, but we were okay with that because we needed to spend some more time outside with Caleb.  We got back to the hotel late--about 8 pm.  Caleb took a bath, which he loves.  I let him play a long time and then we got him into bed about 9pm.  He then fell asleep about 10 pm.  We got up late today and then went to have breakfast and are trying to pass the time in the hotel until 3pm.  Then we will check out and head to Guangzhou. 

It has snowed a little here and we see little snow flakes coming down from the hotel window.  When we went to breakfast we stood near the front entrance and it was pretty cold.  We have decided to stay in because it is very wet outside.  Caleb has had a little cough and we do not want that to get worse.  We have to start packing things up and heading out soon so I will post more later.

Love,
Shelly

We traveled to the Wild Goose Pagoda today.  It was a pretty site.  Tim learned more of the history while I ran around with Caleb, but I do remember that the tower (it is huge) was built 1400 years ago.  It is the original.  There are lots of temples and such around the tower, which was made to be a library, that were built more recently.

It was a great day with Caleb!  He loves to play kickball with Baba!  We did not see him get sad today.  He has definitely bonded with me more.  Yesterday he would push Baba away, but still would give him hugs and kisses, but today he would be with Tim more.

Did I tell you how smart this little one is?  Oh, I cannot even explain how smart he is.  Right now he is learning some English.  If I had it all to do again, I would definitely learn more Mandarin.  His vocabulary is excellent.  He picks things up quickly.  He know shoes, coat, pencil, socks and he says "thank you"  the cutest way.  He is very polite.

I could go on and on about him.  We feel very blessed and thank God so much for him.  We cannot wait to get back to introduce him to all of you.

We love you,
Shelly

Xi'an's large shopping mall.

The biggest smile and we see this all the time (I just am not a good camera person to get them at the right time!)

From the top of the tower.

He is so cute, has a very contagious smile and his giggle is so cute.  I thought I would post this so you can see what we get to see most of the time.   Tim is talking in the background on Skype with Chad about the vehicles in Beijing.  We mostly saw Audi's and BMW's and Volkswagon's.   Tomorrow we go on a tour.  I think it is the Terracotta Warriors tour.

Yesterday we finished the second part of the paperwork in the early afternoon and then came back to the hotel.  Jenny said that she would take us to find the entrance to the Walmart.  The Walmart sign is out on the main road but the entrance is way far away.  We found it and they have a lot of things.  Of course it is a much smaller store than ours in the States.  We then went for a long walk and went to McDonald's.  We did not want to get him started on that kind of food, but it was quick and we knew what it was.  We walked back to the hotel and then settled in to our room for the night.  We play a lot with Caleb and watch cartoons as we are holding him.  We get pretty bored here, but we know that we are bonding with him and that is what gets us through.  He took a bath and then fell asleep about 9pm and slept until 6:40pm.  We are so lucky that he sleeps so good!'

We got up this morning and kept it very casual.  It is a day to ourselves.  We went to have breakfast and then ventured out to the Bell Tower.  We walked there, saw the big Xi'an Mall and then went up the Bell Tower and took photos and spent some time with Caleb.  He seemed very tired and so we headed back toward the hotel to eat and get him to bed.  He slept for an hour.  We are now trying to read to him and we will venture our in Xi'an tonight.  We have not verntured out at night yet.