Day #2 - Tianjin 9/16/11

Dear Friends and Family,
Well, our trip to the Great Wall was rained out :-(. The Great Wall (even the Tianjin portion) is about a 2 hour drive from Sophia's house. Shortly after I wrote my e-mail yesterday, it started to look cloudy. We checked the weather report that said showers. Sophia thought it would not be worth it to drive so far (and the roads here are not as up to date, can be even trickier to drive in the rain) and not be able to hike the wall. So we stayed closer to home. We went to the Tianjin Zoo instead. We had a few sprinkles, but nothing to ruin our outing. It is a big zoo, and pretty typical - but attached you will see a photo of Dave feeding the alligators! Not something you get to do in the U.S., right? For 15 yuan (which is roughly $2.50), you get a fishline with a chicken carcass on the end of it. Dave had the fun of dangling that thing and watching the alligators jump and fight for fresh meat. Very entertaining for all of us - especially the kids. You can see them on the right side of the photo watching intently. The second photo is of Matthew reading the nook a friend lent to us and petting Captain (Sophia's family dog). He looks right at home doesn't he? And the last photo is of our three boys and Sophia's 2 girls at the zoo.
We brought a picnic to eat at the zoo - unfortunately because of the humid weather we were a picnic for the mosquitoes. Dave currently has 20 bites on him. These were nearly all from the zoo yesterday. Suffice it to say, he has already greased himself with repellent this morning! After a rest in the afternoon, I went with Sophia to pick up Noah from school and then we had yummy noodles at home. Dave and Lorden took a bike ride to Lorden's work (he wanted to show him around there). After dinner, Dave and Lorden went to a university student gathering at a neighbor's house. The kids and I did not go, but I heard that it was really fun. They played games, hung out, and read a Philip Yancey story. This is Lorden and Sophia's service over here, and it has been wonderful to get a sneak peak into their life over here.
The kids and I passed out again at 8pm and slept until nearly 6am today. Not sure what the plan is today, but we fly out to Changsha tomorrow morning. We meet Lily on Monday morning. I am getting excited and nervous to be "on our own" and also to be meeting our new daughter in just a couple of days! I have butterflies thinking about it.
Thank you for your continued pryers. We appreciate them so much. We have been blessed so far with good health and rest - so we thank Father for that!
Love,
Chenning