Well here we are nearing the end of our journey. Hard to believe we have been in China almost three weeks. So many wonderful adventures brought to us by our daughter. We know having her be a part of our family will continue to reward us in ways we have yet to imagine. We also know it will be accompanied by many test of wills and trials and tribulations, since we have experienced a small sampling of those as well. But what an incredible joy it is to have her as our daughter.
We begin today with a trip to the Temple of the 6 Banyan Trees here in Guangzhou. We hope to receive a blessing from the Buddhist monks there. While we toured several cultural sites and Buddhists temples prior to receiving Bei Bei, all of our adventures with her have been more on the amusement side with the exception of our visit to St. Sophia’s church in Harbin, which had been stripped of most its cultural and religious symbols.
The temple is the oldest temple in Guangzhou and dates back to the sixth century. There are three copper Buddha statues in the main hall. They are among the largest and most ancient Buddhist statues in Guangdong Province. The middle one is Shakyamuni, to the left is the Amitabha and to the right is the Apothecary Buddha. They represent past, present and future. This seems some how appropriate and probably why this is a stop for many families who find themselves in Guangzhou taking the final step in their adoption process. We purchase some Bodhi seed beads requested by David’s mom to mark the occasion. It was under a Bodhi tree that the Buddha Shakyamuni sat before his enlightenment. 
We arrive at the main hall and there is a group of Chinese receiving a blessing. We are next. We approach the area in front of the three statues of Buddha and kneel. I think all of us recognize and feel this place to be a holy place and offer our prayers up to whoever may be listening to us, whether it be God or Buddha. There is chanting and gentle rhythmic beating on a small, handheld, wooden drum by one of the monks. We each receive a blessing, and a sprinkling of water. After the blessing ends it is time to bow three times, and make an offering. We burn some sticks of incense and leave those too as an offering. While we know nothing of our child’s birth family or their belief system, we do feel a depth of gratitude to this country and culture and this is one of the few ways we have found to express it. As we leave the temple, this feels like a good stop to have made. 
In typical western fashion, we quickly shift gears and it is time for last minute shopping. We found several things that captured our interest. Ann became particularly enraptured with a pearl market that was actually pearls on the first floor of a mall structure with three other floors of gems or fashion jewelry. It was a gem show on steroids. Ann was in heaven. By now though it was getting to be lunch time so we headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way for more fried stuff on a stick for Bei Bei.
Once back in the hotel Ann began plotting a way to get back to the pearl market and shopping street. Unsure if Bei Bei would be interested and not wanting to leave Bei Bei wondering where her new ma ma disappeared to we attempted to let Bei Bei know that mom would return in a little while. Apparently we successfully got the message across because it was not at all well received and Bei Bei let it be known in no uncertain terms that ma ma leaving without her was not an option. So we hit the streets again as a family and finished up our shopping.
Sampson spent the afternoon and evening helping resolve some last minute paperwork issues with one of the families so we were left on our own for dinner and just ventured down to the hotel dinner buffet. Sounded like a safe idea prior to a day of travel.
We begin today with a trip to the Temple of the 6 Banyan Trees here in Guangzhou. We hope to receive a blessing from the Buddhist monks there. While we toured several cultural sites and Buddhists temples prior to receiving Bei Bei, all of our adventures with her have been more on the amusement side with the exception of our visit to St. Sophia’s church in Harbin, which had been stripped of most its cultural and religious symbols.
The temple is the oldest temple in Guangzhou and dates back to the sixth century. There are three copper Buddha statues in the main hall. They are among the largest and most ancient Buddhist statues in Guangdong Province. The middle one is Shakyamuni, to the left is the Amitabha and to the right is the Apothecary Buddha. They represent past, present and future. This seems some how appropriate and probably why this is a stop for many families who find themselves in Guangzhou taking the final step in their adoption process. We purchase some Bodhi seed beads requested by David’s mom to mark the occasion. It was under a Bodhi tree that the Buddha Shakyamuni sat before his enlightenment. We arrive at the main hall and there is a group of Chinese receiving a blessing. We are next. We approach the area in front of the three statues of Buddha and kneel. I think all of us recognize and feel this place to be a holy place and offer our prayers up to whoever may be listening to us, whether it be God or Buddha. There is chanting and gentle rhythmic beating on a small, handheld, wooden drum by one of the monks. We each receive a blessing, and a sprinkling of water. After the blessing ends it is time to bow three times, and make an offering. We burn some sticks of incense and leave those too as an offering. While we know nothing of our child’s birth family or their belief system, we do feel a depth of gratitude to this country and culture and this is one of the few ways we have found to express it. As we leave the temple, this feels like a good stop to have made. In typical western fashion, we quickly shift gears and it is time for last minute shopping. We found several things that captured our interest. Ann became particularly enraptured with a pearl market that was actually pearls on the first floor of a mall structure with three other floors of gems or fashion jewelry. It was a gem show on steroids. Ann was in heaven. By now though it was getting to be lunch time so we headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way for more fried stuff on a stick for Bei Bei.Once back in the hotel Ann began plotting a way to get back to the pearl market and shopping street. Unsure if Bei Bei would be interested and not wanting to leave Bei Bei wondering where her new ma ma disappeared to we attempted to let Bei Bei know that mom would return in a little while. Apparently we successfully got the message across because it was not at all well received and Bei Bei let it be known in no uncertain terms that ma ma leaving without her was not an option. So we hit the streets again as a family and finished up our shopping.
Sampson spent the afternoon and evening helping resolve some last minute paperwork issues with one of the families so we were left on our own for dinner and just ventured down to the hotel dinner buffet. Sounded like a safe idea prior to a day of travel.
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