It is Friday morning and we are all still adjusting to our time change. We have been up at 3:30 in the morning every morning since returning. Hopefully over the weekend we will be able to recover fully.
We have been reflecting on our travels a lot. The time spent in China will never be forgotten in our lifetime and, I believe has changed all three of us. Several times throughout the week Sue and I said to each other that it was hard to get our thoughts around all that was happening. How do we understand the Chinese culture, what they are thinking, why all the abandon children, how did we get so fortunate to get our daughter, what do all the people there think of us and how we are raising our daughter. In the end I think we cannot answer any of those questions completely. We cannot understand the Chinese culture with one visit in one location no more than we can understand American culture. It is vastly different depending upon regions, and, individual families. What we can and did do was to explore a few of the customs and get to know a few individuals from that culture. Jean, Vivian, Alysson, our guides were easier to get to know because they could speak English. The nannies, children, and workers at the orphanage were more difficult because we could not speak their language but, there were moments of understanding, especially when it came to expressing the love for the children. I think that is what was the best for us and a goal for the future. To try and get to know better the people we have met to give us a better understanding of China.
Several times throughout the trip the words from one of my favorite songs from the Innocence Mission came to my mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr25sF18DZY I hope you enjoy it too.
And, finally, here are a few of my favorite pics that did no make it into the previous blogs:
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| Jasmine and Lilli-Mae |
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| One of the Orphanage workers who traveled a lot with us and her son. |
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| The girls played in the Bamboo field in the scenic gardens. |
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| Ali Pointing to her referral picture at the orphanage |
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| Ali and Andie stopped at every toy shop along the street. |
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| The entrance to the Yangzhou Old City |
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| Friends |
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| Entrance to Narrow Lake Park in Yangzhou |
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| In Amusement park at shopping Center |
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| Jean and Maggie |
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| The Mothers |
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| Jean and Ali. Jean was tremendous! |
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| Vivian and the Girls from Boise. Vivian was tremendous as well! |
