Day 10 ... Doctor Visit for U.S. Visa

Highlight for today:

Today went great!  Praise be to God!  The nurses at the medical office seemed nice and Micah did well.  No tears even when they took him into a separate room to do the TB blood draw.  Thank you for your prayers.

Details:

 We traveled to the medical building by coach bus with 11 other Holt International families.  It was so nice to see other Americans as well as their adorable new children.  One thing I have found interesting is how many other families already have biological children like us.  Even more interesting is how many of them brought their young (<8 years old) biological children with them.  They are braver than us! 

The doctors office itself was a nice building (nicer than many of the other buildings we've been on this trip) but it was kind of a zoo.  Basically, you get your picture taken, fill out some paper work, and then try to get your way into one of three exam room stations.  Each station had a different line that just seemed to meander through the hall.  There were no numbers or names taken ... Next in line please!  Also interesting to note that there was another Santa Claus decoration hanging on one of the doors there.  We were told in Shanghai by our guide that Chinese think Santa Claus symbolizes happy times to Americans.

 

 

We ate lunch at this place called The Coffee Club.  It sold $9 cheeseburgers, $5 milkshakes, and was slammed full of Chinese people.  We had to wait an hour for our food to be served.  Although these prices aren't ridiculous according to American standards, I get the feeling we're in the Beverly Hills of Guangzhou.  Also noteworthy is that the humidity is so bad you here all of the windows have condensation on them.

This afternoon Deanna had to go to a paperwork review meeting/weekly schedule meeting while Matt and Micah went to the pool.  The pool here is outside, but because it is so hot here, the temperature of the water is rather warm.  The pool had music, lots of inflatables to play with, and a very large screen playing the World Cup Soccer game.  By the way, we see World Cup billboards and decorations everywhere over here.

After pool time was nap time.  Then, off to Seven-Eleven to buy some water and noodles.  We spent our last hour of the night watching home videos on the computer.  Micah thought his brother and sister were hilarious and really enjoyed watching them.  For dinner, we enjoyed a Papa John's pizza and sodas.  Getting Micah down for bed tonight has been a bit harder than other nights.  It probably has something to do with (1) the lack of sleep from the day before, and (2) the late nap that he took today.

 Prayer requests for tomorrow:

- Pray that Deanna feels better tomorrow.  She had a migraine most of the day today.  Combined with this hot, muggy weather, she isn't feeling very good.

- Pray that Micah's blood work comes back negative for TB.  If it comes back positive, we have to get a chest X-ray.  I'm not sure what happens after that.

- We are going to try to venture over to Shamian Island and attend a bilingual church service.  It should be interesting.  Pray that we make it over there on time and that Micah does OK during the service.  We're hoping that this will be a time we get to share our faith and learn about the faith of others in the travel group as well.

- Deanna is going to a market tomorrow with our travel group while Matt stays back at the hotel with Micah.  Pray that it all goes well and the family reunites later in the day without any problem.