I made an amazing discovery today at breakfast. I am actually raising a murder of ravens. Ravens eat lots of things but supposedly love chicken and chicken eggs – or so says the Internet which means it MUST be true. We’ve had chicken the past three nights for dinner, and get this, for breakfast this morning, our 3 children ate 12 eggs. 12. In case the number 12 is not registering with you let me write it out this way: twelve, a dozen, the atomic number of magnesium, a dodecagon. I cooked 6 eggs this morning thinking that the kids would not eat all of them. I would just save the leftovers for tomorrow’s breakfast. But they finished them ravenously, and asked for more. Note the “raven” in ravenously. I cooked the rest of the carton again thinking that I would have leftovers. Surprisingly, along with 5 pieces of toast later, they licked their plates clean. And I didn’t even make them go hungry yesterday. Hmmmm.... With adding one more corvus corax to the family, I am just beginning to realize the impact it may have on our grocery bill. Will – is it too late to back out now?

Okay so I am doing a little research on ravens in Wikipedia; THE wiki doesn’t lie. I am now more convinced than ever...get this... “..ravens are often quarrelsome, highly opportunistic (see story below about Sia), and take advantage of a plentiful food supply and have seen a surge in their numbers.” Yikes! How naïve I am. I thought it was Will and I who had decided on adding another child to our family. It was actually our bird-kids.

Well, on to other things. This morning Sia was up to no good again (as usual) and started drawing on our new table cloth with a pen. I was angry. I don’t know how many times she has done things like this. This time I told her that she would have to use her money to replace it. Whatever she had in her spend cup was now mine plus future money she may squirrel away. We were going to the grocery store which meant that she would be the only one who would not have a quarter for the candy machine. For anyone who does not know, a quarter still buys: 6 chicklets, 6 dog bonz candy, two stickers, or one giant bubblegum ball. The kids look forward to buying something at the machines with their allowance. Sia was going with pockets empty today. So she combed over the house and found a penny somewhere on the floor. She asked me if she could take it to the grocery. I told her sure, but that a penny wouldn’t buy anything but a ride on the mechanical horse. So first she tried to trade Fanhua her penny for his quarter. He would not fall for it. So she said “well, how many pennies do I have to give you for that quarter… how bout 2?” Fanhua said “no way, you have to give me 25 pennies.” Knowing she would not find 25 pennies laying around the house on another comb over, she gave up on that angle. So on the way to Meijer she said (knowing Sydney loves horses), “Sydney, I’ll let you take a horse ride with me if you share your dog bonz candy with me.” Sydney complied and they both seemed pretty happy.

Yesterday was a loooooong but good day. We had to be at the soccer games at 8am for pictures. We got our individual shots done and then waited around for the team pictures. Not fun. Sydney and Fanhua both played at 9am so Sia and I watched half of Fanhua’s game and half of Sydney’s game. Then at 10am we had to wait with Sia’s team to take her team picture. Not fun. At 11am, Sia played her game. She did a good job and really went after the ball. We were all tired and ready for lunch when the games were over, so we went home and had leftover chicken for lunch. Then we were off to visit Nonnie and Granddad. We had a grand time there visiting with family, throwing rocks in the pond, kicking dried cowpiles, listening to bumble bees rumble in an old storage building and enjoying leisurely conversations with my Uncle Glen. He told funny stories of sleep deprivation, Ambian memory stealers, catnaps, and getting from here to there w/o knowing how. We ate chicken casserole for dinner (thanks mom – it was delicious), and flew home (not really but I had to stick with the bird analogy). All in all a good day.

Today we went to church on Shamian Island.  The church offers a mixed Chinese English service, but the bulk of it is in Chinese.  We stayed for a hymn and then ducked out because Qiyao was getting restless.  There were no other items on the agenda besides the service and an obligatory picture on one of the red couches at the White Swan. 

This is the couch that we’ve traditionally used, although I think most of the families use the ones on the second floor near the main entry to the hotel.  I’m almost certain that Kristi and I have used this one every time.  It is on the first floor at the tour group registration desk.  The only kid’s picture I’m not certain of is Sia’s, but I think we’ve got hers in both locations.  I still remember Fanhua and me sitting on this exact couch, him on the left in that picture with a blue balloon in his mouth. 

The rest of the morning was spent walking around in the heat, sort of shopping, killing time while the other families shopped in earnest.  The falling dollar (6.7 versus 8.5 the last time) has really made a difference in the price of souvenirs.

This morning after a lovely breakfast at the hotel cafe’s breakfast bar we and the other families in the travel group went to get the children’s medical exams on Shamian Island.  It’s always a circus and this time was no different.  What was different was that Qiyao (and the other children too) had to get vaccinations and a TB skin test.  Qiyao didn’t flinch for the administration of the skin test or either of his vaccinations.  We’ll go back on Monday to have the skin test read.

After the exams we had lunch a Lucy’s Cafe.  Personally, if I’m in China, I’d rather eat nothing but local fare, but you go with the group and it was good to be with other adults who spoke English.  We stopped off at a Carrefour, the French equivalent of a Walmart.  We’re back at the hotel now.  Qiyao is taking a short nap.

Not sure if I mentioned this but Guangzhou is pretty warm and a little on the humid side.  It’s kind of like closing up your bathroom and turning the shower on full blast, hot water only, for a couple of days.  But more so.

On our Wednesday afternoon when Qiyao woke up from his nap, which we both needed, we went to Century Park.  It is a big place and we spent a couple of hours walking around the grounds and lake.

Around 5pm we headed back to the hotel and turned in.  The next day, Thursday, we went to the Shanghai History Museum.  They had large collections of jade, furniture, pottery, calligraphy, paintings, bronzes, coins, and others.  We only stayed for about an hour because little was of interest to Qiyao.  It’s understandable, but I could have easily spent a couple of days in there.

Mr. Lee, Mr. Sun, Qiyao and I all had lunch together.  Qiyao got bent out of shape because I wouldn’t let him have Sprite, but it was a good learning opportunity for him.

Friday morning was spent mostly in the hotel room waiting.  We were scheduled to go to the notarization office to pick up Qiyao’s passport at 2pm.  However, the orphanage director called our guide and said that they had a gift for Qiyao but not for the other families.  I’m not sure why only him, but she wanted our guide to come the documents and gift up so that the other families would not feel slighted by their lack of gift.  It turned out to be a nice coffee mug that had his picture and a photo of the orphanage exterior on it.  Mr. Lee showed up around 1:30 with gifts.  As I said in an earlier post he is a talented man, and kind too.  This is us with one of the two scrolls he gave us.  He also gave us a frameable painting of running horses, not on a scroll.

Once Mr. Sun showed up we all went to the airport.  The photo shows our plane through the window.  The flight ended up stopping in Nanchang to drop off and pickup.  That was unexpected and frustrating to say the least.  By the end of the flight I had resigned myself to the fact that I would live out the end of my days in a Chinese prison camp doing hard labor for strangling Qiyao.  Honestly, I was okay with it. 

Nevertheless, we made it through to the China Hotel.  Kristi and I stayed here when we came to get Sydney.  They have renovated within the last year or so, and presently it is better than the White Swan.  That’s saying a lot.  Supposedly, the White Swan will close at the beginning of the year for major renovations.

By the way, Guangzhou is ridiculously hot.

Last night I asked Sydney to say the prayer before our meal. She said, "Dear Heavenly Father, Please help daddy's plane not crash on his way home. Thank you for our food. Amen." Sydney is our cautious and worried child. Last night on our way home from riding bikes at the church parking lot, Fanhua and Sia flew on their bikes down the hill in front of our house laughing. Sydney was afraid of losing control on her bike so she rode her breaks all the way down the hill. Each one of our children has a different personality, and the variety makes life so much fun and very interesting. What blessings! What challenges and joys will Qiyao bring into our lives? We await a new adventure......