Dr. Meritt is correct...TB tests are negative! Shopping and playing in the park!

Monday morning came with a visit to the clinic to read our TB test...as I stated yesterday, Dr. Meritt had already given us her "officially-unofficial" reading and as usual she was right!  Big sigh of relief!  So after our 15 minute visit to get the "official" reading, we had about 3 hours to explore shops and park on Shamian Island.  Oh and our bus ride to the island was uneventful as well...in case you were wondering if we filled up any more of our pink bags.  Not today baby!

Meritt and the girls met the young lady in the picture above (Jenny) and her son.  She was extremely nice and invited us to stop by her shop that she and her husband (Mark) own...more small world stuff on that below.

Not trying to make any political statements here...just found this comical...and somewhat humorous and sad that the Chinese people probably have him more figured out than we do based on the characterization.

Back to Jenny and Mark and their shop.  We spent a great deal of time with them...first picking out shoes for the girls (very cute, white something or others that squeak...but you can remove the squeaker...which we promptly did)...then we picked out provincial dolls for each of the girls (Hefei and Xian)...very nice and something the girls will really appreciate...please don't tell them that we have already mixed them up and can't remember which is which!

While the girls were trying on shoes, I was nosing around the shop and noticed these really cool wall plagues with scripture versus on them in both Chinese and English...I really liked them and thought they would be a nice touch to the girl's room.  As I was reading through the versus they had, Mark walked up and asked me if we were Christians.  I said yes, and he said so are we...then he showed us his Chinese/English bible and pictures of his family.  They were extremely nice!

As Meritt and Jenny talked further, Jenny then got out a photo album of her most favorite customers (I think she meant the really big spenders) from across the globe...after thumbing through several pages, Meritt turned to me (she didn't have her readers with her) and said..."Mike, is this Jody?"  And, of course it was...see below where Meritt is pointing.

Note: despite the fact that we bought two pair of shoes, two dolls, a scripture plague and a few other gifts...sadly we did not make the "Customer Hall of Fame" photo album...

A couple more photos from the island...it is REALLY nice...especially as Meritt and I thought back to our previous two weeks in Hefei and Xian.  In comparison, GZ is like the French Riviera.  Please don't tell the girls this, but Meritt has concocted a plan to convince them they are from GZ so that when we return to visit their homeland...we won't have to return to Hefei and Xian!  After contemplating further her devious plans, she mellowed a bit in the afternoon and said we could take two day trips (fly and in and out in the same day) to Hefei and Xian!  From GZ of course!

We saw a photo of the statue above in one of the magazines in the hotel...so we figured we needed a photo of it as well.  Seems to suggest that China is both rooted in its cultural heritage, yet progressively with the times as well.  What do you think?

This is Jordon...he has a shop as well.  Very friendly!  We bought the girls two stuffed dolls and he wrote their names in English and Mandarin on white paper and gave us the translation for the symbols that make up their names.  It is really cool and will look great framed on their bedroom wall.

We found the park...it was awesome to see them play and giggle and smile and bump their heads and cry and trip and fall and kick and scratch...just kidding about the kicking and scratching.  It was your typical day at the park with two toddlers...very fun.

And what, pray tell do we have below...wait for it...could it be the much requested pictures of Mike with the girls!!!!!   Yes!

In this first one we were running around the trees and decided to hide from Mommy...Mary Henley doesn't quite grasp the concept of really hiding.  If you remember the story I told you all about running in the halls of the hotel in Xian...Mary Henley and I would run ahead and turn a corner to hide from Maggie and Meritt...well Mary Henley couldn't stand the anticipation and would instead stick her head out from behind the wall and watch Maggie and Meritt walking down the hall.  They would "boo" her anyway and she would scream nonetheless.  Same thing here...just pretend she's behind the tree.

They love to be tickled...and generally think I am a goof-ball...which I am okay with.  Now back to reality and the more important pictures...Meritt and the girls taking a break before we head back to the bus and the hotel.  Note that Maggie is dressed all in blue (her favorite color) and Mary Henley in pink (her favorite color)!

We dined out this evening at Paddy's Pub...good Carlsberg beer, chicken nachos, fried rice, some spaghetti, and a cheeseburger slider.  We had a hard time finding something the girls really liked...which is the reason for the garden variety selection.  The Pub had a tribute to the Beatles going on so the girls got to hear me sing...A LOT!  Most likely the reason they were unable to find something that agreed with them.  They really liked my rendition of "You've got to hide your love away"...a personal favorite!

We are back in the room now and Meritt has got the girls ready for bed.  We go to the ACS tomorrow for our oath and to present our documents for the girl's visas.  This is a BIG deal.  Please pray that we have everything we need and they are in all in order and proper condition!  Thanks!

See you all very soon!