Today was another quiet family day in Guangzhou.  Once again, no appointments to have to run to, just a quick meeting to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Tuesday.  Today we got up and headed down to the China Hotel breakfast buffet.  WOW!  It was great!  The food was very good and it had a mixture of western and Chinese food you could chose from on the buffet.  After breakfast, we caught a cab to Shamian Island to go to church.  While following other adoptive parents' blogs over the last months, we found Christ Church.  We had a great time and the worship service was very good.  Robin was overwhelmed with the service and cried off and on through the whole service.  It was moving to hear the beauty in the voices as they praised the Lord in Mandarin.  Also, Maddison had the opportunity to attend church for the first time at the age of 21 months and in her native country.  In years to come, both Robin and I hope she sees the greatness of the moment and the beauty of the experience with the Lord.  The music was fantastic and I videoed and recorded some of the songs.  Hopefully, I'll upload one when we get home.  It was neat to see all the young people in the audience and the pastor gave a pretty good sermon.  While there, we ran into our WACAP friends from Beijing (Jason, Kam, and their son Gabe).  He is a youth pastor at a church outside of Atlanta, Georgia.  We really had a great time with them in Beijing and it was neat to find them again in Guangzhou.  They are not staying at the same hotel as our adoption agency, so it was good to see them.

 

We had a little time before church so we wandered around Shamian island and well as after church.  It used to be an ex-pat area in Guangzhou, so it has beautiful architecture and a lot of bronze statutes.  They are great for photos.  A few years back, the place crawled with adoptive parents.  Everyone stayed at the White Swan Hotel and the American Consulate was located on the island.  Now, the White Swan is closed and being renovated and the American Consulate has moved off the island.  The number of shopping spots has also decreased.  We had to stop and get "Sqeaky" shoes for Maddie and a couple of silk dresses.  It was so fun to see Maddie light up when she tried on shoes (the pictures don't do justice).  She was so proud of her new shoes and had to wear them to dinner!

 

We caught a taxi back to the hotel around 3:00 PM.  I had a meeting with our adoption group to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Tuesday.  Tomorrow, we head to get Maddie's medical checkout.  It should only take a couple of hours, and the rest of the day is ours.

 

Each of the children in our adoption group are adorable and very special.  Their true personalities are blossoming.  It is interesting how each is assimilating to their forever families.  Yesterday, Maddison decided to stop responding to her Chinese name and now is answering to Maddison or Maddie. 

 

Well, that's all from China!  Thanks for all the prayers!  Maddie is feeling better and she is really coming out of her shell.  She is going to be a handful!!!!  Have I said that before?  Yes and will probably say it again............she is a live wire!!!!!!!  We wouldn't want it any other way.