It was such a blessing that the Daughtery family stayed at our same hotel last night! Shaun is one of the former Pastors from our church, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, who baptized MeiLin. She was one of his last baptisms at the church as he had accepted the calling to becoming the first Lutheran Pastor within China. His church is located in Shenzhen, China near Hong Kong (just a one hour trip from Guangzhou). He and his family have been in China for the last 2 1/2 years. Beth couldn't figure out why she was so tired during the move and when first adjusting to life in China. Well, it was because she was pregnant! They have three precious boys: Jonas, Silas, and Zachary.
Within our schedule, we had a free day today and luckily the Daughtery's were available to come visit with us! Conveniently, Shaun needed to renew his passport, so he scheduled an appointment at the US Consulate this morning. We meet up at 8:00am for breakfast at the hotel. Shaun had to hurry and leave for his appointment. The rest of us joined with the Albright family and headed to the 13th floor castle playroom to let the kids burn off some energy. It was so wonderful to catch up with Beth on their life here in China. It warmed my heart to hear her say that China feels like home! The boys really seemed to be doing well and are loving school; Jonas is fully fluent in Mandarin! Their new apartment is farther away from the metro, so they use bicycles as their main mode of transportation, such a different way of life! While we were sitting there, Beth got a text announcing that her sister was having a baby boy; her first child. Such an exciting time, and I Loved being there to share in the excitement. Apparently the family really likes boys! Poor Zachary wasn't feeling well this day. The poor little guy had a rough morning, too. He fell and hit his head, had his fingers slammed in a door, and then the stroller fell back with him in it. I hope he gets to feeling better soon!
Once Shaun was back, we all walked over to Aeon to the indoor playscape. (Which was convenient since the rain started again!) This was a huge shopping center. It felt like Walmart on the bottom floor and then like a Macy's on the top 3 floors. The play area was tucked into the back of the kids clothing area on the 3rd floor. This place was amazing! Tons of activities for kids of all ages - ball pit, swings, carousel, slides, bounce pits, building blocks, walking cars, you name it! Even an indoor sandpit, which we were steering the kids from for fear of sand in all of the suitcases! We stayed there until Noon when the kiddos were starting to get hungry. As I expected, KaiLi had a tantrum and did NOT want to leave. Being hungry mixed with over stimulation and being tired all rolled into one. I tried to offer a snack, but at this point it was too late.
All of us walked through the rain (it was a light rain) to Pizza Hut. That helped to calm down KaiLi as she liked watching the rain drops fall on her legs and shoes. She dozed off to sleep by the time we arrived. We got the tables setup and I had her snack ready to go before I woke her up, sweet girl! She was in a much better mood after that. Shaun helped us to order our pizzas by speaking Chinese, which was super helpful! We should have had the girls share the pizza slices. MeiLin ate just the toppings and KaiLi ate just the bread - ha! The pizza was really yummy! Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel. Thankfully it had stopped raining!
We were so fortunate that Pastor Shaun was able to give KaiLi a special blessing in our hotel room. "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 8:20. They said to tell everyone, "Hello!" I hate that we didn't get to spend more time together, but they needed to get back home.
We put down KaiLi for her nap. Though MeiLin announced that she was going to nap and even changed into her pj's, she didn't sleep a wink. Mommy and BaBa tried to get in as much rest as we could. KaiLi did NOT want to wake up today! She just kept grunting at me with her eyes closed, so we let her sleep another 30 minutes. Once we finally got her up, we let the girls take a nice long bath together. They had a great time! Mommy's throat has started hurting so I took the opportunity to get in some R&R. My book from the 13th floor library is getting really good!
We laid low for the rest of the afternoon and just had the girls stay in their pj's. Unlike MeiLin, KaiLi is really grumpy and whiny when she gets tired. Going out to dinner is difficult since she tends to meltdown when she gets tired...
The Austrailian Open started today, which we had on in the background. On Facebook, a 'memory' just popped up that 3 years ago today we arrived in Shanghai, China to adopt MeiLin! I remember watching the Australian Open three years ago when Li Na (from China) was in the finals. Apparently tennis is popular here. In on of the high rise penthouse suites that we can see from our room, we could see the Australian Open on their HUGE tv screen. It must have been from floor to ceiling! It was so large that blocks away we could see what they were watching!
Tomorrow we get to visit where Shaun was this morning, the US Consulate, to apply for KaiLi's Visa!
(A lot of our pictures are not getting shared from our phones to the iPad the last few days. We have lots more pictures with the Daughtery's. Boo!)
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