Final Paperwork & A Field Trip

October 15, 2015

Today was our last full day in Guiyang.  Jerry brought us our finalized Chinese adoption documents this afternoon (YAY!) and tomorrow afternoon we board a plane for Guanghzou to go through the final appointments necessary to bring Isaiah home.  These appointments are the US side of an international adoption, according to China Isaiah Jiang Lang Ross is our son!  It will be fun to return to Guangzhou.  This is where we spent two weeks of our adoption trip for Zeke.

Isaiah had a rough night last night and didn't get much sleep (neither did Randy or I) so he and Randy did not accompany us on our field trip today.  Zeke has been having sleepovers in Mimi's room so the two of them were just fine!  Zeke has had a great time getting to know his Mimi better and she has been an amazing help to have along.  We knew traveling with two littles would be tricky but Isaiah is needing so much of our time that it would be very easy for Zeke to get lost in the shuffle.  Mimi is making sure that doesn't happen.  We love you Mimi!  Mimi, Zeke and I joined Jerry on an excursion to Qian Ling Park and Hong Fu Temple today.  These two places are located in the same vicinity and offered some interesting views into Chinese traditions.  

Qian Ling Park sits in the hills near a lake sharing the same name.  It is an interesting place to visit because every flat paved area you see is occupied by some sort of activity.  These activities ranged from Tai Chi groups practicing, badminton, ladies dancing for exercise, tradition Chinese top spinning, chain practice (see photos), and just hanging out.  The chains are actually replicas of weapons used in warfare.  They were long and made a firecracker sounding pop when they whipped through the air.  Yikes!

 

At one side of this park is a road that leads to the Hong Fu Temple.  The road winds through  a beautiful forest that is known as the "Monkey Park."  The area is FILLED with Macaque monkeys.  They were everywhere!  In the trees, walking with us on the road, and running up and down the low stone wall along the side of the road.  It was crazy to be so close.  Jerry warned us not to have any food or drinks in our hands because the monkeys would not hesitate to come up and try to take them.  At one point we saw a monkey following a lady who had her coat draped over her arm.  After a few seconds of following he reached up and grabbed the hood of the coat and wouldn't let go.  She gave him a piece of her mind and he had second thoughts.  Zeke wasn't too sure about the screeches the monkeys were making but he enjoyed watching their antics.



At the top of the winding monkey road was the Hong Fu Temple.  This is a Buddhist temple built during the Ming Dynasty (mid-1500's).  It was built in this location because the monk who first came to the area thought the surrounding hills possessed "talents" or powers.  It was interesting to learn more about this part of the Chinese culture.  Jerry noted that many of the people coming to burn incense probably weren't Buddhist but came because of culture and tradition instead.

Never knew an incense burner could be so big!

 There were two pools where you could toss a coin in for luck.  The catch was that your coin had to land in one of the small containers under the water (there were about 8 in this pool).  Looking in it was obvious that very few were successful with this challenge but Zeke wanted to try!  Jerry and Stripes were there to help him out.

There was one building in the temple compound that was a bit unsettling.  Apparently there are 500 different Buddha's and every person born has one assigned to them depending on the day, month, and year of birth.  We walked into this building and there were 500 Buddha's on display (and these things weren't small!).  This picture shows one corridor of that building.  Zeke and I lasted about 2 minutes inside before he turned to me and said, "Mommy, this is kind of scary.  I don't like it in here."  I have to say that I agreed with him!





Thank you (again!) for your continued prayers.  They are helping!!  We aren't sure how Isaiah is going to handle the two hour flight tomorrow or picking up and moving to a new location so if you think of us, please pray.  Thank you!!

Love and Hugs,
Randy, Robyn, Zeke & Isaiah

P.S  A few extras . . . 

   

 This was our dinner tonight.  We ordered take-out from the amazing little restaurant next to the hotel.  Isaiah wanted to eat but he wanted to eat at the nightstand standing up rather than with us at the table.  Okay, that works.

Our Cute Little Snuggler