Consulate Appt., Six Banyan Temple, & SUBWAY!

Our Consulate appointment went well this morning. At about 9:45 AM, we got a call from Becky that our paperwork had been accepted.

At 12:15, Becky joined us for lunch at a traditional Cantonese restaurant.
We had sweet and sour pork, stir fried beef and vegetables, fried rice (that was DIVINE), shredded potatoes, sauteed snap peas, and milk tarts. The milk tarts are A W E S O M E. They were a cross between creme brulee and egg custard.

After lunch, we drove to the 6 Banyan Temple. This temple is 1460 years old. It was named 6 Banyan Temple because of the 6 banyan trees on the property. It was absolutely incredible. To think that in this huge city, where everyone and everything is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY !!!

Becky explained that people often come to the temple to pray to offer thanks and ask Buddha to guide them, to help them thru difficult times. Not so unlike our Christian prayers. It was so incredibly peaceful here. I can't explain how close I felt to God during the time I was there.

I wanted to have Mari-Grace blessed here. So we received a traditional Buddhist blessing. It was beautiful. We took off our shoes, and were asked to kneel in front of an alter. The monk chanted, and chimed little bells, and hit this litte wooden thing that made a very pretty sound. He then blessed water, and burned incense, to ask for the protection of Buddha. He sprinkled each of us with water, and then he was done.

It was very touching. I cried. I prayed too at this time. I asked that God help me to be a good and loving parent, that God would guide me thru the difficult days, and lift me up when I needed it. I prayed that he would help
Mari-Grace to understand why she would not live in this country. I prayed that she'd grow to love God, and serve God.

Then I cried again, and thought of how wonderful it will be next spring when we have baby dedication day at church.

We live in a country where we are so blessed, and we take so many things for granted. I am thankful every day that God has blessed me so much.

After the Temple, we were supposed to go the the YunTai Garden. It came a thunderstorm while we were receiving our blessing. It was raining very hard, and we were very tired, so we chose not to go to the garden. We headed to the bead market instead. And let me just say WOW !!!! So incredibly amazing to see a building about the size of the Mall of America with nothing but beads and jewelry. Pearls, Jade, amethyst, pink quartz, crystal, amber ... you name it ... they had it !!! Absolutely incredible. Too bad my taste out-weigh my pocket book !!! I did well ... I put back some things I really wanted and settled for what I considered were the necessities !!

After the bead market, we came back to the Hotel. Hannah was tired, so she stayed here and rested. Mari-Grace, Kelley, and I went walking around the island. It so beautiful here. While we were out ... we got a whiff of something that smelled GOOD ..... SUBWAY !!! YES .. good old american food ! We ate for $14.75 (USD) for 3 people.

We've pretty much been resting since then. Tomorrow, we spend picking up items we had special ordered.

It is sad to think I'll be leaving this country in just a day or so... I feel so at home here. A part of me will always be here. More importantly, China will always be apart of my heart !!!