Guangzhou shopping day

Today is our first completely free day to play. We chose to meet up with another couple using Heartsent Adoption. They too adopted a four year old named Eli. He came out of Seping Center foster home in Guilin, China.
We had one 5 minuted out by subway to an ancient art and history museum. There were some lovely gardens around it which we really enjoyed. The sun was shining and some winds had brought in cooler temperatures. Perfect for site seeing.
We saw Christian's foster family last on Sunday night. We will meet up again on Tuesday afternoon to say good bye. We found a playroom on the third floor of the Victory Hotel. The kids love it. There is also a ping pong table there. Art, Feng and Li Ying ( Christian's foster family) played ping pong with Christian for the longest time. It was a great memory for sure. We ordered Papa John's Pizza (yes, they have a Papa John's franchise here in Guangzhou too) which they delivered. We all enjoyed the pizza, a nice switch from our usual fare. Feng and Li Ying treated us to a very impressive Chinese style banquet the night before. Every meat served still had the head attached. The delicacies were three doves, 1 whole chicken and fish. I will send some pics.

Our short weekend ute stop at the medical center today to see how Benjamin's TB shot looked. The area was a bit pink but didn't seem to concern the nurse. That was an answer to prayer. From there we ventwith Peace blew by. She is such a dear and kind friend whom we met when she attended Calvin College many years ago. We had the honor of being her host family while in the states. She teaches English at Wuhan University. She had a fourteen hour train ride ahead of her once she left this morning to head back. It was a tearful good bye.
We go to the Consulate tomorrow (Tuesday) to swear an oath of citizenship on behalf of Benjamin. What an amazing gift to us and our son. On Wed. afternoon we pick up the visa/passport that allows Benjamin into the U.S. Then from there we take a two hour train ride into Hong Kong. From Hong Kong we will catch our flights back to the U.S. and arrive into Grand Rapids on Friday afternoon.
Benjamin is increasingly becoming more content with life in our family. He knows that we will provide for him and like any four year old, tries to push the limits at times. His heart is tender and receptive. We feel so grateful and blessed to experience this time with him and look forward to introducing him to all our dear friends and family.
Once again, thank you to all who have been following us and keeping us covered in prayer. We feel so honored to have been allowed this time to travel here in China to meet our son. God is so good.
Wendy for Art, Christian and Benjamin