Monday

Thank the Lord for sickness, yes, that's right!! What in the world am I saying?? Ok, let me back up just a little. We arrived here at the White Swan late Friday evening, and met our guide and one other family, that was with our agency, on Saturday morning, to go to get the girls medical check ups. Usually you do things like paper work, clinic visits, ceremonies etc with the other families from your agency. The agency secures the guide and we share him (or her). We have a small agency, thus a small, two family group. There are bigger groups here, and they look like they have a good time together. Well, the first outing with our little group was to go to the clinic, like I said, on Saturday. The clinic is in easy walking distance but the wind was bitter cold so our guide asked us if we would like to take separate taxis and meet there, we all agreed, so note... we had no close contact with the other family at this point. We get to the clinic and it is a sea of faces with babies, and we are never really in the same place as the other family at the same time, we are just in the crowd like everyone else. After the visits we have a brief conversation with the family and our guide outside the clinic and then do some paper work in our hotel lobby. At both instances our girls never make contact, as they are both in strollers, and Nate had Brighton off looking at birds etc. so that we could concentrate on the paper work. Basically the point is the girls never had contact and never where in close proximity. At the end of doing the paper work on Saturday, the other family wanted to schedule a tour to a Buddhist temple, for Sunday, to have their baby blessed by a monk on Chinese soil. This was very important to the mother. It would be cheaper for them if we went because they could get a van and half the cost with us, and that is what the guide recommended. They wanted to leave on Sunday morning, but we told them we would be worshipping at that time at the local Christian church, so they planned the trip for that afternoon (around our schedule). Mike was not completely thrilled about the outing but being a religion major, I actually was a little curious to go to the temple and witness the ceremonies, and I thought it would be educational for Nathan, but we would only be spectators, not participators. By Saturday evening, I was feeling so ill, there was no way I was up to a few hours of touring on Sunday, in fact it was all I would be able to do to go to the Christian church. When our guide called that evening to confirm us for the tour we told him we would have to pass. SOOOOOOO glad we did!!!! If we would have went, we would have spent hours in a van with this family who's little girl broke out with the CHICKEN POX the very next morning. Now, chicken pox does not seem like the end of the world usually, but let me tell you what that means for this poor family in China......the dreaded "Q" word.......Quarantine!!!! They are to stay in their room and most likely will not be released to go home until she is not contagious, which means a dreaded extended stay. NO ONE wants an extended stay..... and no one wants to have a baby on a 24 hour travel schedule back to the states that is itching from head to toe miserable from the chicken pox. The trip is hard enough, believe me!!! I hate it for this family, and we will help them out during their stay, but I am just so glad Brighton never had occasion to be close enough to their little girl to be exposed, and it was because I was so sick that we did not spend the day with them in a van!!!!! The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.
Yesterday we toured the local market. It was amazing, the sites, sounds and smells...I am going to post many pictures of it. I will let the pictures of the people and the places speak for themselves. A couple of interesting things in the pictures today are the pet zone at the market. Nathan loved seeing the puppies and fish. I am posting all the little critters on here for my Brookie. She loves them all, including the mice. After walking the streets of this Chinese market, I have come to understand my little girl's love for these creatures. At home, one of her favorite things for us to do is to go to the pet store. I am usually gagging, as she is thrilling over the rats. I take her because she loves them, but now I can really see that her people love them, it is in her somehow, so Brooklyn these pictures of cats (which I also hate--sorry), bunnies (which she absolutely adores), turtles etc are for you sweetie!!!! Brighton slept through the whole thing, so I am not sure how she feels about them. I hope to bring my girls back here one day when they are in their teens, to tour this city and actually go to the little church where they went for their first service and I dedicated them to the Lord, secretly in my heart.
Other fun pictures included today will be of window washers that came roping down our window while we were sitting here doing Algebra (yep that's right, started back schooling Nate yesterday). We are on the 19th floor, so it was a little unusual site for us, and we just had the best time taking pictures of them. By the looks on their faces, they did not seem to mind much either.
Interesting thing I have noticed, people do not use leashes here for their dogs, and yet the dogs stay with them. I have seen them everywhere, even in the airport. So many people, and yet the dog stays following behind their owner. Now picture us, in the States. Most of us are "led" by our dogs, running ahead of us, or running off. We pay big bucks for electric fences, micro chips, etc. We even have dog shows about getting our dog's behavior under control. Ponder.....what is wrong with this picture, what is wrong with us???? Believe you me, I am not preaching, I got my own dog issues!! I just want answers (lol)!!!
One last comment on today's pictures. You will see a picture of a tree that hangs over the water. It looks to be supported by another tree trunk, but in reality it is being supported by a concrete trunk. Mike pointed that out to me, I just thought it was part of nature.
Mike is still not totally well, so I think he is headed to the hotel Dr. today. Say a little prayer for him. Nate and Brighton are doing great, I can't tell you how precious she is, I am eating her up. She gives good hugs and kisses, loves to clean everything with hand wipes, and is practically potty trained (before the age of 2).
Only three more days and we head for home. I am looking forward to getting hugs and kisses from four other totally awesome kids that I am missing terribly. I love you, Baylee, Noah, Brooklyn and Breanne. Major thanks to all who are helping them go on with their everyday lives and activities. You are just as much a part of this as we are, we are a team bringing Brighton home.
Till tomorrow,
Blessings from China,
Tammy

P.S. Funny conversation Mike had with our guide yesterday at the market. Mike, also known as, "Mr. all natural health guy", wanted to by ginseng from the market. It just looked so herbal and healthy all bundled up in its glory. So he asked the guide to help him buy some, to which the guide broke out in a hilarious giggle....and says "Why? we just go to United States to get it to sell to you...go home and buy it!!!" The look on Mike's face, too funny.

P.S.S. Weird things are happening here... for the first time in my life, I had night terrors last night. I don't know if it is a combination of medication, exhaustion, emotions, a movie I may have watched (patch adams), any way they were horrible. I remember waking frantic several times, not knowing where I was, but what I didn't remember was almost biting Mike's finger off. I could not believe it when he told me this morning that he was trying to calm me in the night and I bit his finger and tried to bite it off,,,,,,omg...poor thing is already missing a finger and I tried to bite another one off. It actually was very funny AFTER the fact. I know he will milk this one with his crazy sense of humor for many years to come. The fellows are now calling me "psycho". Not my finest moment for sure.