The People of China

Nightime along the River Walk

Madeline loves chopsticks!

The boys with somoe Hacky Sack buddies...

Our good friend Judy

Mr. Le became an Attorney at Law in 1991. He has a practice in Family law 50% of the time and the other half helps families out with adoptions. He says he much better likes the adoption part because it is always a "win-win" situation. He says everyone is always happy. He has helped over 1,000 families with adoption since he began. He has been a huge help with Shelly on this trip. He has interacted with Eli in a kind way and even helped during troubled times. Today, he helped Shelly and another family at the US Consulate where they had to swear in there intentions with adoption. They now both have adopted to children from China and were specially recognized for that today. There were 32 other families adopting today at the same time. Over 70,000 children from China have been adopted by US families since this started. And, I think over 110,000 worldwide. We were very lucky to be able to witness this. Eli now has a visa to the States.

Judy did our laundry today. When it was returned to us, it was all steam pressed and in sealed bags...now I wish I would have had her do it all! She does much better than I. "Judy's Place" ( not original in title as all stores in this area are a ____ Place- Sharon, Sherry, Jordon, etc ) is a small, I would say, 12 by 20 ft shop. She was very happy to see we stopped by and gave us "good price" on all that we bought. She was so thankful that she gave Shelly and I bracelets and a "good luck charm" knitted item that we were to place on our bags (Shelly and I are somewhat convinced this "good luck charm" is a flag for other shop owners to let them know who likes to buy things!). She also gave the boys another freestyle hacky sack as the boys had been playing in the front of the store with some other boys while we shopped. Judy markets herself well. We told her when we see her again, she will probably have a huge store! She was very happy to hear that!

And today at the park, I had another person come up to want to "practice his English". Now this is a guy who Todd would have loved to talk to. I tried to get the kids to but they were a little shy. You see, this guy loves football and basketball. He said he would love to come to America to play (not quite tall enough!) He has learned all of his English from watching sports and he is great! He is attending the local university with an English major. College is 3 years here. His name is "James"...after Lebron James! That is so awesome! I do not remember his Chinese name. I certainly will never forget his American name. He named a ton of players, what teams they played for, who was traded. Unfortunately he doesn't know a lot about the Packers and never heard of Brett Favre so he has some work to do but his favorite is Tom Brady. He asked who I thought was cuter, Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise and after I answered I asked who he thought...Jennifer Aniston or Angelina... Jen, hands down.

And our new favorite Chinese person, hands down, is Eli. He has such spirit. He has so much fun with everyone and everything. Everyone comments (if they speak English) on what a nice boy he is. And he is so friendly to people. We have a lot to learn about Eli but I have a great feeling, we have a lot to learn from Eli. He loves his new sword and shows off his martial arts. Tonight in the park, he was doing some moves, push ups, somersaults. And, again, this seems to be what many people we see doing. Even at this kid park with play equipment, the adults are using the equipment to work out and surrounding the park is a running track. Eli plays with the kids and talks to the adults. There is not one place we have gone were he hasn't carried a long conversation with someone.

My boys are so proud of the fact they went to China. Andrew bought a hat with the Chinese Flag on it and told Shelly he was going to wear it at home and when people ask what it is, he will tell them it is a Chinese flag and that he went to China to get it. Jordan has made a great connection with Madeline. It has been so nice for me to just, in this relaxed state, sit back and enjoy my children have this amazing experience. I am so glad I set for the intention of this trip to be about this grand experience with Eli and spending time with my kids.

I took everyone out for dinner tonight in honor of Eli (it cost a whole 300 yen= 40 bucks- we could develop even more of a food addiction with these prices!) We went to a Thai place. We all toasted each other. We had noodles, chicken on a stick, sweet beans with carrots, and fries ( I don't think there is a day we haven't had these!) But we used our chopsticks and everyone did great...funny how Eli stuck with a spoon. And for desert...yeah! ice cream...when it came the bottom part of the glass was filled with kidney beans with a layer of ice cream over it. Eli mixed it all up to eat it while Andrew carefully ate only the ice cream. Madeline and Jordan had ice cream as well with a jello under theirs...Madeline said the jello reminder her of soap. Take a peek at Shelly's blog to see Jordan's reaction!

And then it was off to the river walk to see the lights at night. We were going to do a boat tour but these kids are too stinking tired. So we enjoyed the lights, headed home, and packed up. In the am, it is off to Hong Kong by train for one last night! There are so nay things I have learned here...one I will treasure is that from what I have seen, the people i have met and seen seem to do things that make them happy...I sometimes think in America, we expect happiness to come to us. And to end, I would love to say something sweet in Mandarin but all I remember right now is how to say "excuse me"

...low-jee-ah.

Good night,

Paula