Museum and Paperwork Day!

Sunday, December 23rd.

This a.m. we went to a local museum. The compound was once a family residence which was donated by the "Chen" family, a very rich and prolific Chinese family. The buildings were very impressive in terms of the architecture and intricacy of the detail. The doors into the museum (once entry doors into the residence) stood about 20 feet in height, to symbolize the family's status and wealth. We spend a fair amount of time looking for a couple of pieces of "art" we could take home with us. Sherri and I finally settled on a piece with Panda Bears for Grace's room and a couple of scrolls with Chinese symbols for somewhere else in the house. While we were waiting for them to be packaged we were able to watch a Chinese master painter. This elderly gentleman painted in black and white with what appeared to be a water-color like ink. The unique thing was that he didn't use a brush or any other implement to create the most intricately detailed paintings of Chinese Countryside. He would dip the sides of his fingers and hand into the ink and make absolutely detailed paintings that I can even begin to describe.

Grace has continued to blossom and really has seemed unbelievably comfortable from the get go. She loves the kids and when she is tired or just getting up she prefers Sherri but she has really gotten quite comfortable with everyone. She is very ticklish; likes to imitate noises and faces; and prefers to be up moving as opposed to sitting down. She has slept through the night each and every night and we have kept to her schedule of a nap in the mid morning and another mid afternoon.

After the museum we had a marathon paperwork session in Amy's room (our guide) to finish all of the myriad of documents needed by the various agencies before we head home. We had about 30 of us stuffed in a small hotel room for a couple of hours to fill out the remaining paperwork and get everything in order.

That evening we ate dinner with the Routson Family at the restaurant we had been to a few nights before on the lake. Everyone was ready for a little break from Chinese food and so we all had a primarily "American" dinner. It rained pretty steady on the way their and also coming back. There were steep steps leading down under the street which were wet from the rain and I slipped going down. Fortunately for Grace and I, I was able to hold her up even as I went down and aside from a large bruise on my butt as well as my ego everything was fine.