Wednesday, Day 13, we got to go shopping on Shamian Island! We wanted to last time we were here, but it wasn't scheduled into our itinerary. We ate breakfast and headed out at 9:30am. We've been using a stroller all week when we go out because the heat is too intense to wear Jemma in the ergo. The Garden Hotel has strollers for free use for adoptive families. We stopped at a few stores and got a feel for what was there and what the prices were. Shamian Island is a place where you can bargain which is nice. We had a shopping list and also the girls' measurements for Chinese outfits. So we hopped to it and checked off all the items on our list. We stopped at Amy's. She asked us if we were Christians. We said yes and she gave us gifts - little bracelets that say "In Jesus Name I Play" :D We asked her if she had Chinese/English Bibles. She said no. We planned on buying them at Jenny's. She said her sister is Jenny and that she was on holiday. Kindly, she called her sister and asked us to stay in the store while she went to get us the Bible. A very long time later, she came back with the Bibles! We had explained that we wanted to take it home with us for Jemma. She was very pleased and referred to Phil several times as Brother.
We found Jemma's silk shoes and several other things on our list at Amy's and then headed quickly back to the other two stores we needed to return to make our purchases before lunch. (While we were in Amy's it must have down poured because everything was soaked when we walked out of the store and I smiled with the Lord once again for how He cares for us in every detail.) One of the stores was carving our last name into a chop with my calligraphy set so we needed to run back and pick it up. And the other shop had the girls' clothes and a few other souvenirs. While in the dresses shop, Phil and I found a dress that we thought might work for me. But we know that Chinese clothes are MUCH smaller than American so I asked the store owner if she thought it would fit me... and then right there in the middle of the store, I tried it on! LOL - I kept joking that this was also the fitting room - right there in the middle of everyone. Thankfully, the shop owner said I could try it on over top of my dress so I complied with stepping in and letting her zip and button me into it. After making the purchases, we rushed over to Lucy's to meet our Lifeline group for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches, french fries, and OH. MY. WORD. the best drink/dessert ever - espresso with vanilla ice-cream in it. MMMmmmmm! Phil had delicious pear juice.
We headed back to our hotel, gave our driver a gift to say thank you for his service this week, and then took naps. I was anxious to start packing so I organized mostly and did laundry for some last minute clean clothes. I'm the washing machine as I do the laundry in the tub and then Phil's the dryer. He rolls up the laundry in a bath towel and then squishes as much of the water out before we hang it up to dry on the clothes lines.
At 4:15pm, we went to the lobby to wait for Jemma's visa. And PRAISE THE LORD, it printed and was issued with no problems! Grace arrived with Jemma's passport, visa and THE BROWN SEALED ENVELOPE and showed us how to verify that all the information was correct. She again instructed us not to open THE BROWN ENVELOPE and said that we were angels for adopting Jemma. We told her that we truly could not have done it without her and thanked her. We gave her a gift as well (an I heart Port Washington tote, a painting I did of the Port Washington Lighthouse, nail polish, lotions, an envelope with the rest of our RMB coins and small bills, and a packet of Barres Brothers coffee from Watertown, WI) and gave her big hugs. She works SO hard nonstop and was hustling off to help an adoptive family in crisis after dropping off the visas to the Lifeline families.
We walked around Aeon for a while and then went back to our hotel room to head to bed - with Jemma. I can't tell why she is itchy, but I kind of feel like her crib bedding isn't helping her any so we've decided to be done with her crib.
No comments:
Post a Comment