Blogs from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 61

Abby meets the police…(and so does daddy) Its Friday night in China and this has been one busy day full of contrasts. On Thursday we spent time at a park in the city where we rode a merry-go-round for our amusement and became the amusement for the local people. Pictures are included. The people are so kind and wanted to touch the children and practice their English with us. One grandmother rebuked (kindly) Rebekah for not dressing warmly enough! We started Friday with a trip to the police station in Nanchang because they serve as the passport bureau. We had to go there to pick up Abby's Chinese passport. in Guangzhou we will pick up her US Visa which allows her into the USA. It is an interesting order of things since the Chinese Gov't already ... read more

WOW! We have our itinerary for in country and are waiting with anxious hearts for December 5th...GOTCHA DAY! Here is the schedule as we have it.  Thursday, Dec. 1 Depart for China  Friday, Dec. 2 Arrive in Beijing  Saturday, Dec. 3 Beijing Sight-Seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, & Summer Palace  Sunday, Dec. 4 Church service & Great Wall  Monday, Dec. 5 Morning flight to Nanchang; ABBY PINGLAN SPITLER JOINS HER FOREVER FAMILY!!  December 6-8 Paperwork, Sight-seeing, & Shopping  Friday, Dec. 9 Afternoon flight to Guangzhou  Saturday, Dec. 10 Child’s Medical Exam  Sunday, Dec. 11 Filling out Consulate Forms  Monday, Dec. 12 Consulate Appointment at 9:00am  Tuesday, Dec 13 Pick up Child’s Visa at 3:00pm  Wednesday, Dec. 14 Depart from Guangzhou 8:30 A.M. (9:30 P.M. ... read more

Baby Sarah is such a flexible little tyke…she’s willing to eat whatever food (for the most part) we have whenever we can feed her (within a reasonable window); she’s willing to go on 3-hour outdoor excursions in the heat and humidity; she’s willing to sleep long nights when that’s exactly what mama and baba need to get over their colds; she’s willing to hang out with baba when mama’s not around. She may not be the “perfect” child, but she sure is all that we could have ever pryed for. We used to talk about how the schedule we keep (especially with youth mnstry) is going to be a challenge for her. How would Sarah handle FNFs that last til 11:00 pm? How would she do with B studies, meetings, youth outings and dinners? So far, ... read more

Is it Saturday already?! Just a week ago the two of us were in Beijing, thoroughly enjoying our tours of the capital, and now, in a blink of an eye, the three of us are here in Guangzhou - - and Godfrey and I can’t imagine life without our precious gift of baby Sarah. We are having a wonderful trip…it’s impossible to fully describe it all. There have been some quiet moments when I’m holding Sarah as she’s drifting off to sleep, and I can reflect on the journey that the Lrd has led us on. It’s infinitely beyond what I could have imagined. I know deep in my heart that Sarah is Father’s best for us, and we are so grateful and in awe of his plan in this miracle of adoption. Last night at ... read more

From Xiamen, I took a 26-hour train ride to Guanzhou, the capital city of the Guandong Province and one of the five centers of the Pearl Delta (others being Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai). This is the ancestral province of the people from Hong Kong and the home of Cantonese. While I do not consider myself Cantonese (far from it), my great-grandmother is from this province. I shared a sleeper compartment with a family with two girls. How they managed to have two kids in the one-child policy is beyond my understanding. I thought only rich people could afford to pay the penalty associated with having extra children, and here they were sharing the cheap hard-bed compartment with me. I suppose I had a lot of time to ponder this question, given the girls were ... read more