Some Fun Pictures

To Our Friends and Family,

We're now on the tail end of our journey through China and just arrived in Hong Kong. After a fun day of packing, eating (more), exploring and checking out of the hotel in Guangzhou, we caught the 6:15 p.m. train to Hong Kong and just finished eating our dinner before heading off to bed. Rather than journal tonight, I thought it might be fun to just post a few pictures with captions to give you a flavor of our interactions, love, fun and excursions throughout today. Enjoy!

"Sweetie, you look beautiful, as always, but I'm afraid the Chinese headdress just doesn't quite suite you."

So this headdress is a little more fitting for Xiao Qian, but she'd never be caught dead in it in public. She's being her usual self here,... silly.

This is the Chinese version of hacky-sack. I'm afraid I'm not very good at it. I only got up to "liu" (six).

Xiao Qian is not much better. She got up to "qi" (seven). But she still beat me, which really made her happy. (She's a competitive one, let me tell you.)

I kept telling Xiao Qian she was light as a feather (or as she would say, "fesser" - we can make fun of the way she speaks English and she the way we speak Mandarin, and laugh at each other a lot). She wanted to prove to me that she wasn't as light as a fesser, so she just jumped on my back. I still say she's pretty light.

I decided to try to continue to carry her on my back down the street for awhile.

This is BaBa being crazy ("foong-la" - not sure Pinyin is accurate on this one - tough to translate). She kept saying over and over again today, "Baba foong-la, Baba foong-la". I'm afraid she's correct. As Victoria said to me the other day, "Finally, Honey, someone in our family who appreciates your goofy sense of humor."

Jeff Li was our guide through this journey and he connected very well with Xiao Qian. At one point early on in the trip she said she liked him because she could speak Mandarin with him. Poor thing, we don't blame her for wanting to speak to someone in her native tongue. The two of them are standing outside our hotel with Jeff's wife.

Xiao Qian loves her Mama so much already, as you can see here. And Mama, yes she's very much in love with Xiao Qian. Aren't they cute?

So cards have been a staple form of entertainment for us, and have also permitted us to practice our English and Mandarin. Xiao Qian has come so far already with her English. I'm afraid our Mandarin hasn't advanced quite as rapidly.

Tonight, before hitting the hay, Xiao Qian took a shower and steamed up the bathroom. She came out in her pajamas, hugged her Mama good-night, and then grabbed me by the arm to show me something in the "wash closet", otherwise commonly known as "WC" around these parts. On the fogged up mirror, Xiao Qian had scribbled in English the words, "I love you" with a big heart around the word love.

On that tender note, we sign off for now. Hope to blog more tomorrow night.

Thank you for following along, loving us, and joining in prayer for this tender little soul. We're grateful beyond expression.

Warmly in Christ,