Saturday, May 5th~
Today was my favorite type of day in China. We walked and walked and walked some more. No appointments, just taking in the beauty of the city and their culture.
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| Juan starts her mornings early. She was awake before 6am and tried out the stroller for the first time! |
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All dressed and ready to go after breakfast.
It was hot, but they like their babies covered around here so we are trying to honor that. |
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| We stopped often to watch locals dancing or exercising. |
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| Our first stop was Bayi Park. |
This was the first time we had seen a group practicing good posture. :)
Beilyn would have LOVED this!
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| Then we walked over to People's Park. |
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| Proof she isn't always happy. |
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We picked a random restaurant on our favorite street for lunch.
Alex and I have walked up and down this road between our hotels and Bayi Square no less than 30 times. We walked it 4 times on this day alone. |
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| We ordered by pointing to a couple of pictures and using google translate to request noodles. |
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| It wasn't something that stood out to us on previous trips, but this time, we've noticed a lot of pineapple in dishes, including the chicken (or pork?) selection on the left. |
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| You never know what you might see as you pass by the little shops and alley ways when walking down the street. |
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| We decided to try out some frozen treats from little shops along the road. As always, there's a corn option. 😉 |
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| We tried these instead. 1st 2 were winners, the one on the far right was ok, but the middle one in white was a throw away. It was about $2 for all 4. |
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| Juan's first swim lesson |
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| After her nap, we headed back out. Just a normal day in Nanchang...walking behind a van on the sidewalk. 😄 |
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| While we were eating in McDonalds, these school girls kept waving at our girls from the street. We told our girls to go outside for a picture and the kids loved it. The girls had on sparkly make-up with their ball uniforms. |
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| Eating at McDonalds in China is the same in most ways, but they do have some different options. Alex loved this chicken and rice bowl. |
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| Juan's first McDonald's experience. We tried to let her have a tiny bite of french fry but it came back up. Poor baby can't tolerate solids due to her birth defect. We are hopeful this will improve with more surgeries. |
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| Our journey to Juan really began on a bench in Nanchang on May 6, 2014, the day after we finalized Beilyn's adoption when Alex said, "Next time..." Here we sat almost exactly 4 years later with our "next time." God whispered this moment into our hearts back then and He is always faithful. 💗 |
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| China's adoption rules say our family is big enough. There probably won't be another "next time." Letting that sink in, walking through this square that has held deep conversations between me and my best friend, seeing this beautiful city (that holds our hearts) stretched out before us, knowing we watched 3 of our daughters take first steps in this square... The memories made our hearts overflow as we walked back toward our hotel for the last time. We both shed a few tears. |
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| To lighten the mood, we grabbed some snacks at McDonald's as we passed by. We weren't really sure what we were ordering but it turns out, the brown swirl was coffee-flavored. Brynna said she will always remember that she realized she likes the taste of coffee while in Nanchang. 😊 |
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| Braylee's treat was a carbonated, apple-flavored float. I wish I had caught her expression with the first sip. She LOVED it! |
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| As if the night hadn't been sentimental enough... As we walked back past the hotel where we stayed last time, the room where we met Beilyn was lit up. We had to stop and remember that special day again. ♥ |
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| This girl and that pinky... 💕 |
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| Every time we FT with the little girls, Beilyn immediately asks about the time difference. "It nigh-night time or way-up [wake up] time?" Followed by her signature "oooooh!" lol. Miss them so much! |
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| Every good day has to come to an end. |
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