Some down time

Well, I have no new pictures to post, but I'll give you a little bit of an update of how everything is going. Today we had a little bit slower day than what we've been experiencing. Our guide took us to a temple in down town Kunming where people go to worship Buddha, and then we went to a local tea factory. We were able to taste different teas that are grown hear locally, and learned about all the different benefits they supposedly possess for the body. Cole and Branham did not care so much for the tea-tasting, but I found it pretty interesting. There was even one that was supposed to help you lose weight--unfortunately, it also tasted the worst out of all of the teas we tried. After that, we ate at McDonald's for the first time since we've been here. Cole was most excited about that, and Branham was able to experience his first chicken McNugget--at least we think it was chicken! He seemed to like them anyway.

The rest of the day we just hung out and rested. Branham and I colored some in his Spiderman workbook and worked on the alphabet a little bit. He was already familiar with about half of our alphabet. Then he showed me how to make some some Chinese characters which is quite fascinating to watch the intricate detail that goes into each one--learning our alphabet should be a piece of cake compared to all that. He and Cole played some games, and then we broke out the hand-held Nintendo games, which of course were a big hit. I'm afraid we've created a monster, but there's not much else to do when you're couped up in a hotel room in the middle of a very foreign setting. We had a hard enough time finding our way back to our hotel from McDonald's.

All in all, Branham has a very sweet countenance and has been no trouble whatsoever so far. He seems to love to look at books and really enjoys coloring and playing with the toy cars and figures we brought for him. When we picked him up yesterday, they told us he doesn't talk much, but we have not had that problem. He's had no problem talking to us, unfortunately we can't understand much of what he's saying, but we are managing to communicate pretty well anyways. He doesn't seem to be getting frustrated, and it's been fun watching him experience so many new things. He's been a true delight so far, and we're looking forward to getting to know this precious little one more and more.

We have enjoyed ourselves so far, but we are already experiencing some homesickness. We're the only family from the group who came to Kunming to adopt so it's a bit lonely here. I think when we meet back up with the rest of the group on Friday in Guangzhou we'll have a bit more fun. Just seeing some familiar faces will be welcomed, and there's a Pizza Hut and a Starbucks near our hotel there. Yea! We also plan on doing a "trick or treat" for the kids at the hotel once everyone arrives. Cole and Branham are dressing up as Ohio State Buckeye fans--imagine that! Well, I guess that's about it for now. Tomorrow we're supposed to be visiting a local park and museum. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers! I'll be in touch again soon.