The BEST Birthday present ever! - December 22

I don't think I would have ever dreamed growing up that I would ever spend my birthday in China.  It has been a wonderful day here. The verse for the day is Isaiah 25:1, "O Lord, You are my God;  I will exalt You; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure." We continue to praise Him for such a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit in our lives as we bond with this precious little girl who's smile is brighter every day.  It is such a wonderful thing to see His hand in all of this and be able to say with complete confidence that it is not about us, but about the praise of His name!

We began today slowly since we were up a couple of times calming down Miss Elsa.  She doesn't seem to be fully awake ever, just fussy.  It's a good time for cuddling, but definitely leaves the sleep department lacking.  After breakfast, we met Cindy who had all of our official adoption paperwork notarized and ready for us to file away for our paperwork meetings in Guangzhou in the days ahead. Then we headed off to see some beautiful parts of Nanning.  She brought us to Green Mountain Park outside of the center of the city near the river.  Here we climbed the nine flights of stairs to the top of a pagoda at the tippy top of the park. The view from the top was spectacular and worth the huffing and puffing on the way up.  Next stop in the park was the stone monuments representing the twelve different "years" of the Chinese calendar.  This year was the year of the Rabbit and in the coming year it will change to the year of the Dragon.  A quick look around the part showed us that Todd and I were born in the year of the Dragon, Mari and Annika were born in the year of the Rooster, Elsa was born in the year of the Ox.  Annika found it funny that Jake was born in the year of the Rat while she was jealous of Gus who was born in the year of the Dog.  We then went to the pond and spent some time feeding the koi.  They were well fed, but still jumped at the chance to eat whatever the girls threw their way.  After leaving the park, Cindy took us to a wonderful museum featuring the twelve different ethnic groups found in and around Nanning.  We wandered the exhibits looking at the beautifully colored ethnic costumes and hearing about the interesting traditions of each people group.  This area is known for its bronze drums, in fact the entire museum is shaped like a drum. It was fascinating.  We were able to buy a few things for Elsa to help her understand where she was born as she grows up far away from here.

The afternoon included time at the pool, walking to the park and enjoying tea at that fabulous restaurant we discovered yesterday. Todd enjoyed his favorite mango tea and we all loved trying the chocolate banana waffle.  Walking back to the hotel, we ran into our friends that we met our first day here.  It was great to say hi and to thank them for their encouragement and prayer.  We ended the day with a massage.

So, what was my best birthday present ever?  Elsa turned to ME this morning and wanted ME to hold her!  Then she smiled at me and at Baba's prompting planted a kiss on my cheek. As I write, the three sisters are squealing and laughing, having a tickle fest on the beds.  I'm not sure a birthday could end better than that.  Well, maybe it could.  If the brothers were here too, now that would be beyond words!  In a couple of days.....
For now, I'll take this laughter, smiles and dimples.  Praise His holy name.

 All of nine floors of the pagoda.

 View from the top.

 Cindy and Mr. Fu stayed behind.

 Feeding the koi.

 Year of the Rabbit.

 Visiting the museum...

 Was VERY tiring.

 Birthday girl.

Love that smile!