We hurried back to the room to have a nice Skype visit with the family and our great friends, Dennis and Pam. It is so fun to see and hear people we love.
Elizabeth on Baba's lap while Skyping.
We needed to meet the group at the bus at 10 am. Today we went to the Chen family Ancestral Hall and Temple. This is not a place of worship. It used to be a building that served as a worship area, a temporary residence for people of the Chen family when coming to the area for meetings and a place where anyone with the Chen name could go to school. (Chen is the most common surname in China.) It was built during the Qing Dynasty (1888-1894.) It covers a total area of 15,000 square meters, a floor space of 6,400 square meters, Chen's Ancestral Hall is a symmetrical complex comprising nineteen single buildings in a square form. The Chen's Ancestral Hall is the largest, best-preserved and most gorgeously decorated traditional building in Guangdong Province and is acclaimed as a bright pearl among the artistic buildings in the south of the Five Ridges.
Outside of Chen's Family Temple
Beautiful Sculptures -- very top are all porcelain; in the middle are stone sculptures.
Crazy man posing for the camera.
Our guide explaining to Elizabeth everything that was going on today.
Now it is a Folk Arts Museum for the Guangdong province. All the architectural decorations in the building are a varied topics and superb workmanship, including wood carvings, brick carvings, stone carvings, pottery sculptures, lime sculptures, iron castings and paintings, which make a comprehensive expression of the exquisite folk arts and handicrafts of the area.
Again, all porcelain
Beautiful!
It was so much fun to walk around in this place. It was beautiful. Our guide gave an excellent tour with lots of background and explanation. This museum also brings in top artist to be 'working' while we watch. YES, lots of art was for sale AND yes, I made purchaseS.
Our guide explaining the meaning of the panels.
This man paints all of these pictures with the side of his palm and his fingernail. AMAZING!!!
A close-up of one of the pictures.
The bed that the used to sleep on. NO mattress. AND a porcelain pillows. Ladies kept all of their jewels in the pillow at night. They put straw on it in the winter and bamboo in the summer.
Man doing paper cuttings. Elizabeth was loving this one.
A finished product. Not the one I bought, though :)
Painting on the INSIDE of the glass. This is the one we had done for Elizabeth.
Sweetie :)
One single piece of ivory -- carved.
A marble piece with Elizabeth's name -- American and Chinese -- carved into it to be used as a stamp.
Elizabeth did very well. She really liked being with everyone. She also got to pick out a few things. The bracelets that she picked out and baba purchased were a highlight. You would of thought we bought her the world :)
We headed back around 1:00 pm. MD was not feeling great so I took a little nap but the three of us went to find a quick lunch. It started pouring on our way back. We did not have an umbrella with us so, we just put on our hoods. When we got back she thought it was funny that we were all wet!
After lunch our facilitator came and talked to Elizabeth. We really wanted to talk about the orphanage visit. It was made clear that we were only going for a visit and that ALL of us would leave together. She said she was ok with that. The facilitator also talked to her about not having to be scared that we will take care of her and love her. Actually, they talked for a long time -- all of us did. When she left --- Elizabeth was a new girl. She was full of smiles and fun. She LOVES that she can beat baba at memory -- LIKE EVERY-TIME!!!
Playing cards with dad -- shuffling cards
She thinks it is so funny.
She is lining it all up -- she is very particular.
When she gets a match -- she lights up.
Baba and her have a special shake -- when they get a match.
Having fun.
Playing with MD
We played lots of cards in the afternoon. Late afternoon we decided to go for a walk and try and find TrustMart. Which is basically Walmart. Well, we found it and spent a LONG time in this place. We had so much fun. We found some of the craziest things. AND we found some fun things to do -- more card games, a beach ball and puzzles. We also found some suckers to give to the kids at the orphanage tomorrow. Oh, and we found lots of other fun things :) Yes, we had to walk through the open meat market to get to the check-outs!!!
More cards.
MD showing off the basket -- cart at Trustmart.
It converts into a pull cart.
Picking out suckers for the kids at the orphanage.
BaJabs here are the crackers you like!!
Turtles for sale -- to EAT!!!
Part of the open meat market.
Our cart.
We decided to pick-up dinner on our way back. KFC was attached to TrustMart -- so, that was our pick. Again, the Mango drink is wonderful. WHY -- can't KFC in USA have this????? I might eat there then :)
Dinner.
She loved this -- it tasted horrible to Matt.
Me and my tarimasu -- YUM!!!
After dinner she did let me cuddle with her again. She will keep eye-contact a bit longer than yesterday. She actually seems to enjoy our time together. The both of us went to bed around 8:45 pm -- well, I thought I would just put her down and get up later BUT I guess I was tired, too!!!
Praises:
- Elizabeth seems much happier today.
- A FUN day!!
- Pretty good health AND great safety.
- Kids at home are doing well.
Prayer Requests:
- Trip to the orphanage at 2:00 pm tomorrow (Friday -- it will be 1:00 am Michigan time) -- all the families are visiting the different orphanages today -- it will be emotional.
- Good Health AND great safety
- 8 families are traveling to Guangzhou on Friday from other province. Safety for all of them.
- Continued bonding for our family with Elizabeth
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