Day 7 with Megan - Wed. March 25

7:25AM in Guizhou China. No fog this morning, just a lot of clouds. We will have to take an umbrella with us to the Park today. Our guide is taking us to Hebin Park. Tomorrow is another free day, but we have arranged with the Bethany office in Beijing to take a tour of the orphanage. We will see how Megan is doing and proceed with caution.

As for Megan, after her nap yesterday, she saw mommy looking through the video camera out the hotel windows and wanted to see, too. She is too short to see on her own, so I reached down, picked her up and showed her the street life, the buildings, and anything else that caught our eyes. She whimpered a bit at first and then enjoyed the view and probably forgot who had her. Mommy quickly put our walking back pack together, with snacks, water, gatorade, silverware for dinner, and she said lets go for walk. We left the room, Megan still in my arms. We took a 40 minute walk, and Megan never left my arms. It was a very good feeling, whenever she got a little fussy, I would lightly sing, 'Jesus Loves Me', and 'Jesus Loves the Little Children'. We saw some new sights, got some new pictures, and crossed some busy streets. (We've realized if you can cross a street in China, you can do anything).

After our walk we ended back at the hotel and it was dinner time. So we went once again to the hotel Aroma Restaurant. Megan didn't like the dish we ordered for her (fried rice/pork chop - it came covered with ketchup). She did however love the french fries on Natalee's plate, she also helped herself to the fresh sliced cucumbers on Natalee and Daddy's plates. Daddy's sandwich was served without the cheese, so they gave us a complimentary plate of fruit. Megan loves watermelon, so this was helpful. After dinner we went back to our room, Megan let me carry her again. We played some games, laughed a lot. Megan still won't let me get too close for affection, but this is a step. Thanks for your prayers. (our struggles are turning to breaking old habits that her 'foster grandpa' may have contributed to - whenever things don't go her way, she cries for him- 'ya ya') I am confident that she will continue to bond with us all!! Afterall, we are a nice family - and the locals always tell both our girls that, 'lucky little girl'. It is actually Kristin and I that are truly blessed by God, to have such the privilege to care for two China dolls.

Dinner cost 124.20 RMB. This converts to less than $19 USD. The last conversion rate we received was 6.7584. Rates have ranged from 6.6000 - 6.7689. There is a $16.89 difference per $100 USD. We are doing ok with our budget. All monies that were set aside for the adoption are still accounted for. We still have some fees in Guangzhou to pay. We found a friendship store yesterday on the map. It is a bit of a further walk, but friendship stores are for the tourists. The only bad part is you cannot bargain for prices. You must pay ticket price. That is what I miss, we haven't had much bargaining for souvenir opportunities. We couldn't bargain at the Museum the other day, either.

Everyone have a blessed day and/or night. We already are!!
Blessings,
kyle.
PS. I received my first 'five' today from Megan, she has given fives to Mommy and Natalee, but not til today for daddy. We are making steps. Thanks again for the prayers!