Just another day in Nanning... :)

Well, last night Dan won the father of the year award. He made the videos and pictures we have taken appear on the TV as a slide show and cuddled up on the bed with Bethany. She fell asleep in his arms!! So thankfully, no tears at bedtime last night.

A beautiful Nanning street decorated for the Chinese Spring Festival (New Year)



This is the same bush that we have in our entry way at our house on the table. Ours is about an 1/8 as big. The landscaping and foliage is beautiful everywhere here. Even on the big city streets there are lots of trees, flowers and bushes.

Today we went to the Nanning Zoo...it was very large and very different from our zoo in MN. We saw a tiger and lion show - 8 tigers and 2 lions in a caged area with 3 trainers. Not sure the animals are treated too well, but Bethany got a kick out of it. This was of course her first time in a zoo...she squealed with delight at almost every exhibit. She seems to like cats and points out every one she sees to us, so we ended the visit with the purchase of a Hello Kitty balloon.

The Grimaldi's -We're a bit concerned about them... I just so happened to catch him violating one of the rules at the zoo on camera.
Actually they were having some fun with the signs at the zoo telling people not to hit the glass on the exhibits.

Ferocious tigers! Actually there were some ferrell cats at the zoo... They aren't the kind that you can pet.

We hit McDonalds for lunch...just as others who have been here before told us, we are getting pretty tired of the chinese food. Noodles, rice and congee at every meal gets a little old and a little bland. I could really go for a chef salad about now!! However, the water is not always safe for consumption, and we were told not to eat fruit or veggies unless we could peel it, so we haven't had too much of them. So, we settled for cheeseburgers and fries today.

Bethany is starting to definitely prefer mom to dad, and she is insistent on having me carry her everywhere and pulling me in all the directions she wants to go. I want to "spoil her" but want to also set some boundaries and limits, since she will not be running the show when we get back home. :)

Thanks for checking in on us. I don't have a lot to say today...we are kind of in a routine: sightseeing in the morning, lunch, down time/play time in the hotel, dinner and a little of local exploring in the evening. We are ready to move on to Guangzhou but are here yet tomorrow and will leave Saturday morning.

One more thing: I don't think we've mentioned a whole lot about our guide, Glen. He is wonderful. He is a local of the area, but went to get his master's degree in Australia for 2 years. He is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and can speak some Japanese as well. He is a guide for many if not all of the families that come to Nanning to adopt, and he really loves the kids. It is fun to see him interact with Bethany and with Liliah, the Grimaldis daughter. Please pray for him...like most Chinese people, he has no "religion" although he occasionally goes to temple to pray. He has been very open to hearing about our Christian beliefs and practices, but sees no reason for belief in God. It is hard for me to understand the Chinese viewpoint of "country" as god, so to speak, since they look to the government for everything.

Well, that's it for now. You are all sleeping right now...so good morning to you when you are up to read this!!

Love,

Becky (and Dan) ---scroll down for bonus video material!

Also...

I was finally able to upload a video of our first meeting of Bethany and her caretakers. I had some problems with producing videos previously. Sorry for the bounciness. They surprised us and I was a bit distracted...