All Things Bright and Beautiful

Today, we figured out what Amelia has been saying when she is sad - "dow wa" -"hold me" - GOOD, we were already doing that!! Poor sweet girl. We also finally had some successful la ba bas (poops). This was funny to me: I thought she was using the word "baba" for her water bottle. Apparently, she meant she needed to go big bathroom. So, everytime she was asking me to take her to use the restroom, I was handing her a water bottle. Poor Amelia!! She must have thought "what does this woman want me to do with this water bottle???"


Today's exciting outing was to the Chengdu Panda Research Base outside of ChengDu. Sichuan Province is one of only two places where pandas are still found in the wild. The majority of panda research is conducted here in Sichuan Province. They are very proud of their pandas, and in fact, you can smoke anywhere in China, but not here at the panda base, because it isn't good for the pandas' health. No, that is not a joke!

Amelia loved the pandas, but she kept calling them "lao" - tiger. She laughed and smiled and munched her cheetos the whole time. This kid enjoys a snack!! Sara has started calling her "the snack shack" because she always wants a snack.

The sign at the panda base made me very sad. It says "All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful." And then it stops. For those of you who don't know, there is a last line. It reads "Our Lord GOD made them all." It made me very sad to be in this beautiful place where nature is being honored, but that the Creator goes unknown and unacknowledged. Oh, how we pray for our Chinese friends to come to know the Creator God who loves them!

We ended the night by touring another wonderful street with lots of local flavor. We ate noodles, spicy potatoes and shopped. We then grabbed a pedicab back to the hotel. They strapped our stroller right on the back of the bicycle cab - we love the pedicab!! Can we get those in West Texas?!

Good night from Chengdu,
Amy, Amelia, Mike & Sara