Day Seven

Today was the last day of our very first week together.

The hotel that we are staying on is on an island.

Not really an island like you would think of an island. It's surrounded by a canal and then a river on one side, so you can only access the area by bridges. That's what makes it an island. But it's beautiful.

All of the buildings are from the late 1800's and early 1900's. They were built mainly by the French and British expats during a time when foreigners were not allowed to live in China. But because this city was one of the biggest trading ports in the world, it was the only place they were allowed to be. But they were only allowed to live on this "island." So, it has a very western, colonized feel to it. Much like Savannah, Georgia!

When you are here, it doesn't really feel like China at all. Except for the whole Chinese people everywhere kind of thing. :) 

There are two churches on the island and both of them are still functioning churches. We saw in passing one day that there was a Chinese/English service at one of them on Sundays and so we decided we would go. What an opportunity to be able to take QiLong to a church service in his own setting and his own language with his own people before we take him in America!!

 The worship part was a little more emotional for me than I realized it would be.

I don't take it for granted when I hear the Lord's name being lifted high in this country!

When we got back to the hotel, we talked with QiLong and told him about who God is and how much He loves us. And we talked about how we would go to church every weekend and sing songs about him and worship him. We pray for this sweet boy to know Jesus someday.

After church, we walked around for a bit, looked at the lobby of a different hotel and headed back for lunch. I thought these pictures were so cute of them with their chopsticks. Sean wants to be just like his brother and have everything that he does.

We had a paperwork appointment this afternoon. The boys were napping, so Stephen and I went and got that done. And then we met up with some other adoptive families to go have dinner. It was fun and it was great to be with other families. Unfortunately, Justin began feeling sick shortly after we got there and is still not doing well. At least one of our family members, if not morre, have been sick since August. I am so frustrated with illness, especially right now. We could use some PR's to stay healthy and good to go. We still have a week left here!!

I didn't take any pictures of tonight with the other families, except for this one on the way there.

QiLong's first taxi ride!

All of us get a little car sick, QiLong especially, so we were just ready to get out of that thing.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go back and visit QiLong's orphanage. We asked him today if he wanted to take us to his school so we could meet his teachers and his friends and he said yes. So please be liftint that up about him being back and school and leaving and what kind of emotions that he could potentially have about that. And ask that Justin's tummy will feel better so that we can actually go visit!!

Hopefully I will have some more pictures!!

Final Itinerary

Our tickets are bought and travel is arranged, bags are packed and all paperwork is in its corresponding folder. We are just a few days away from going to get Silas and I wanted to share our itinerary with you. I saw another adoptive mom do this and I thought it was a great idea. I wanted to provide a snapshot of our next few weeks for those of you that are following our journey and want to know how you can pray for us specifically. There are a few days that are subject to change, but for the most part this is our schedule. Would you be willing to pick out a specific day to pray for us as we go through the events of that day? Or maybe you are the kind of person that will print it out and pray for us every day! However, you want to do it, we are appreciative!! Prayer is the ingredient that holds us all together! 

4 days!!!!