Day 3 with Sophie

For lunch today, we got our first taste of real Chinese food.  Actually, I should say that I got MY first taste...Beth and Blake didn't share my adventurous spirit and they opted for granola bars and crackers from the backpack.  I ate sweet and sour pork with fried rice.  It was really good, but not a whole lot different from what we get in the U.S.  I asked Helen, our guide, if we got fortune cookies after our meal...she had no idea what I was talking about.  Must be an American thing!!

 

After a quick stop by a notary office for some paperwork, we spent the rest of the afternoon touring Teng Wang Pavilion...an ancient structure first built in 653 AD.  It's been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times since then.  It mostly just serves tourist purposes now, but remains a major landmark of Nanchang.  We noticed many people there fascinated by Blake's hair.  One lady even stopped him to take his picture.  Another guy stopped us and asked if he could have his picture made with Beth...I had to keep my eye on that guy the rest of the afternoon!  Guess they're not used to curly-headed white people around here!!

 

Sophie had another good day today.  It is the third day since we got her and her best day with us so far.  We know there could still/probably will be some bumps in the road, but we're very encouraged, to say the least.  She's starting to seem happy and secure with us, and she even cried this morning when Beth left the room, indicating she feels some attachment with her.  She's also adapting well to eating real food.  We fill her up at the hotel breakfast each morning...which is a highlight of my day, by the way...and she pretty much eats anything we put in her mouth the rest of the day!!

 

Couple of things I forgot to mention yesterday...

Pizza Hut in China is WAY better than in the U.S.!!

People really have no clue how to drive here.  Lanes are only a suggestion...if traffic's too bad in your lane, then just use the one going in the opposite direction...if that doesn't work, drive on the sidewalk!!

People smoke everywhere!!  I'm still amazed by that.  Some guy sat down next to me in the lobby last night, lit up, discarded his ashes on the couch, then got up and walked away.  Seriously?!!

 

Prayers and praises...

For Blake...thankful for his good health so far, no breathing problems...pray this continues.

For Gabe...thankful for the good results from his doctor's appointment on Monday...blood counts all looked good!!

For Sophie...that she'll continue to attach herself to us and learn to trust us more and more each day.

 

That's about it for tonight.  As always, thanks for taking this journey with us.  I'll leave you with a few pics from today...