Sunday October 18

We are grateful for the birthdays of some of our loved ones and family recently, today and in the next few days... 

Anna's Grandma Bredenhof (Hilda)

Andrew Vandriel 

Heidi Vandriel 

Julia Vandriel 

Joel Vandriel 

And, of course Anna turns three tomorrow!

Happy birthday!! -- We are thinking of you all! 

Sunday was a quiet day of rest. We enjoyed a sermon message by Rev. Cl. Bouwman in the comfort of our hotel via The Reformed Outfitters app on the iPad. We prayed and sang the Apostles Creed: first time for Anna to hear Hymn  1

Pauline has been diligently updating her journal every day. It's a pleasure to read it every few days (with her full permission of course) to find out what she really thinks of us, Between the blog, our pictures and our souvenirs, we have no reason to forget any of the important details of this exciting trip.

Catching Chinese fruit flies :)

We bumped into Nancy Beatty and her daughter Jade (Great Wall) and their newly adopted daughter, Jenna. 

We also saw Lisa and her daughter Chuna and their TWO newly adopted special focus daughters. It is great to see all these couples again who we haven't seen since we all parted ways in Beijing last week

And Megan and Jamie with their little girl, Zoe... 

This is the first Canadian couple that we have met. From Quebec City: they have 3 adopted Chinese boys and are going to meet their fourth shortly! 

This is Greg and Kelly Anderson from Nebraska who have returned to China for a second adoption

Us at breakfast. 

Lots of selection at the breakfast buffet every morning. We feel blessed and definitely a bit spoiled to be here

Aunt Pauline pouring some love and time into Anna's toe nails...

A short walk on the fourth floor veranda 

Dylan found a real gecko

We went out for an evening walk to the park across the street again

In the middle of a park somewhere in China, Pauline noticed an RCMP officer greeting us through the heavy foliage

Our hotel is this close to the park entry way!

Cool little China Post truck. Marty, see the Nissan? I thought of you

After bath time, it was PJ time and a little bit of gezelligheid with Tyler

I think it was Talking Tom that was making her laugh... All three of these guys have a real way of connecting with her.