A park, museum and lots of attitude

Our Travel Group

I can't believe it has already been a week since we worshiped the Lord at the International church in Beijing. So much has happened since that time. Today we didn't spend the moring in church but we were able to worship the Lord in a different way-through the eyes of children so innocent and so full of love. As I was putting Lia down for a nap today, she looked up at me with her beautiful brown eyes and said, "I love you," without any prompting at all. It will truly make your heart melt. We are with twelve other families and to see the love in each of their eyes for their new children is a gift that can only come from our Father. He knew which child was perfect for each family and how each one would fit in. Just the idea that we could have missed this, if we hadn't spent time in fervent prayer seeking God's will for our family, blows me away. How many times did I say, "we are too old,"or "we are getting closer to an empty nest," or"we don't have the funds?" So many excuses that were all valid, yet He knew better. No one ever said this was going to be easy, and Ms. Lia is a bundle of energy, but we know He will give us all we need to raise her to love Him. It only took a couple of nights for her to figure out what we were doing before going to sleep at night. Now without prompting she quickly bows her head and folds her hands.

So today we spent the morning at a park and then at a folk art museum. The park was different from what we are used to, but the beauty was fabulous. We just spent an hour walking around and looking at everything and taking photos. The temperature was not as hot as it is at home, but the humidity kept it pretty steamy especially when holding a four year old that did NOT want to walk or let her daddy hold her today.

These were artificial roses, but everything else around us was alive and beautiful

She is generous on her kisses.

A beautiful bride and groom taking photos at the park.

Once at the folk art museum we had this man write Tia and Lia's names in Chinese and English. After a full morning we returned to the hotel to rest. At times Lia thinks I am not understanding her, but I understand her perfectly and am just telling her "no"(imagine that)! Today was no different. She kept wanting her bubbles and I knew exactly what she was wanting as she put her little finger to her mouth and kept blowing. We did not have them with us though so she had to wait. Once back in the hotel we got out the bubbles, but only had the shower area to blow them in. She really didn't care where she was blowing them as long as she had them. She is so mesmerized I really don't think she has ever seen bubbles. She stepped in the shower and had a great time showing off with her bubbles. Here are just a few of the poses:

She is also smacking her gum, another one of her favorites. She has a definite way of making sure we understand when she wants gum.
And my favorite of all!
Don't you just love this Texas girl with attitude?