We had two other families with us in Kunming. Again, we learned this was considered a large group. And yet, I'm grateful God orchestrated our paths to cross during our stay in Kunming. I can't imagine a smaller group! When we arrived in Guangzhou, our tribe grew by four more families. Each family was slightly different from the next. Some of us were first time parents, some of us were sixth and third and fourth time parents, and some of us were parents of kids who had graduated college. This group was special. They were kind and funny. They were prayer warriors. We appreciated each family for what they brought to our first trip to China. And while I never doubted God's timing, it isn't always easy to understand why things don't work out at first. But here we are, on the back end of our trip, and we can see so clearly why God laid out this plan for us.
At noon, we received Josiah's visa. YAY! But we also had to say "See Ya Later" to a few special families that we've shared so much with these last couple of weeks.
We had nothing on the schedule today which was both good and bad. It was nice to sleep in and eat breakfast when we wanted to eat breakfast. But we also did a lot of sitting around in the hotel room which can make the day drag on!
Josiah finished off his canister of sweet potato puffs this morning so we headed to Walmart in hopes to find more. UGH! The humidity was awful! And Walmart was equally as bad! (I'll gladly take a Walmart in the U.S. any day!) I can't tell you how many times people cut in front of you while in the checkout line. Eric finally stood beside me to block our spot. But, I digress.
In regards to our puff search, we came up empty handed as they didn't sell puffs. BUT, they had cherry coke so that was a positive. As we were checking out, I noticed what looked like goldfish crackers across the way. Eric tried asking about them only to be ignored. Finally, a man behind us, who spoke some English, told us they wouldn't be good for kids. We're still not exactly sure what they were but we were so grateful to the man behind us. We thanked him for his help. The cashier lady barely handed me my change...being very careful not to touch me. It was enough to make me upset and rush out of there. Thankfully, Eric grabbed our items, ha!
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by Burger King to grab a sandwich. God blessed our visit with another kind woman who spoke English and made ordering very easy. Admittedly, my heart needed these positive interactions because it was getting slightly hardened from daily interactions you can experience here as a foreigner. I know that's not what God wants and neither do I. I'm definitely thankful for His grace.
Tomorrow, we leave the hotel at 7:30AM and ride in a van to Hong Kong. It's about two hours until Shenzhen where we'll go through customs and hop into another van for the remaining hour drive to the airport. We were fortunate enough to be able to share a van with two other families and split the cost. Yay!
Our hotel, called The Garden, has a beautiful garden in the back of the building. ..which is probably why it has its name, right?! We went out earlier this week and enjoyed a beautiful walk. Here are some pictures we captured!
(Sigh) We cannot wait to be on the same side of the world as Sydney, Landon, and Emmaline. We have missed them so, so much! The next time I post will be from HOME! Eek! Thanks for praying, everyone! We've got a long flight ahead of us and an extra passenger in tow. Please pray for health and safety for all of us. Until next time, China!
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