Fourth of July

It didn't really feel like the Fourth of  July here.  I don't think we saw another American today. No fireworks, but we did have some big thunder this afternoon.   This morning, our exchange student from four years ago, Mei Ling, flew into town from Chongqing with a friend of hers.  We are so excited about seeing her again. We so loved hosting her and have considered her an extension of our family ever since.  We spent several hours today at the Guangzhou zoo.  They have a very nice zoo here, complete with a Panda.  It is much less expensive to go to a zoo here. We got all six of us in for about the same price as one person at home. We don't have a ton of pictures of the boys today. Shortly after we got to the zoo, Mark took over our camera and Joshua had Mei Ling's camera.  They each took pictures until the cards were full!  We left when the tremendous thunder storm came rolling in and soaked us even with umbrellas.   Joshua tired quickly and his leg was sore from his shots. The only food we found at the zoo were big bowls sort of like cup of noodles in mysterious flavors or ice cream.  Pete, Mark and I had ice cream and the others had the noodles. Joshua was digging into his noodles for quite a while before we noticed he was sweating terribly, his nose was running and he was halfway through a second water bottle.  It finally occurred to us perhaps his noodle dish was very spicy.  Mei Ling asked and confirmed it was way too spicy for him.  However, true to form, he was eating as fast as he could handle the heat. We asked if he wanted one not so spicy and he nodded emphatically!  He finished every noodle in the second bowl.   Food is a really big deal to him.  At breakfast the past two mornings, he has wrapped up some food to take back to the room. Hopefully, he will soon understand that we always have food for him.   Tonight we went to a good Chinese restaurant.  Mark FINALLY got to have the whole roasted duck he had heard was famous in China. It was only six us dollars and was quite a sight with the head and all. We've found that eating at Chinese restaurants is far less expensive than western food restaurants.   Joshua has challenged us with a few things when we know he understands us, but so far, he seems to understand and take correction and direction pretty well.  He was limping and complaining a lot about his leg until he figured out that meant mom would try to give him more ibuprofen and he has been "fine" ever since. He has a good sense of humor and I think that helps all of us in many ways. I kissed his forehead several times this morning to make sure he didn't have a fever.  As I was walking away from one set of forehead kissing, he came back and gave me a good long hug.    I'm missing my other kids terribly.  It was so good to hear all of their voices this morning. They all seem like they are doing well and getting to do a lot of fun and special things. We so appreciate the people watching our kids, property, dog, goats and chickens. Rachel told me she is amazed at how people are bending over backwards (apparently some quite literally) to make them feel comfortable and loved.   Sidenote -- today was Anna's finding day 5 years ago.