A Day at the Market

Monday was filled with lots of walking and shopping.  In the morning,
Molly walked us and two other families over the pedestrian bridge from the
island to what she called the medicine market.  The market was several
city blocks of vendors selling a variety of traditional Chinese medicines.
We saw everything from roots, bark, dried flower buds, seeds, and leaves
to more unique items like dried star fish, sea horses, snake skins, and
even tubs filled with live scorpions of every size.  A section of the
market was also selling pets like kittens, puppies, birds, fish, turtles,
squirrels, and gerbils.  It made for an interesting walk!

After the medicine market, we walked into a more modern area with many
clothing and jewelry shops.  There were several buildings with multiple
floors of shops that somewhat resembled American shopping malls; however,
each individual store is considerably smaller than in a U.S. shopping
mall.  Molly took us to a pearl wholesaler to do some shopping.  We also
found a few shops to buy Ashlynn some sandals (everything we brought from
home falls off her narrow feet) and a few dresses.

Ashlynn fell asleep on our long walk back to the island and our hotel.
While she slept, Brandi ventured out for some more shopping.  The shop
owners on the island are very friendly.  They ask where the baby is, how
old she is, and how long we are staying.  They then accompany us around
their small shop telling about everything they have for sale and the good
deal they'll give if we buy a lot.

Ashlynn continues to do as well as can be expected.  She has decided she
doesn't like the bath.  We are sure the entire hotel can hear her when she
is getting her hair washed.  Two more of her teeth have started to come in
since she came to us just one week ago.  She is also eating more and
drinks many more ounces of formula than she first did.  She is happiest
when she first wakes up and when she has other little kids to watch.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the day of our U.S. Consulate appointment.  Our last
official step before we'll have all the needed paper work to bring Ashlynn
home.  Last week, we had a bit of a scare with our appointment.  The
consulate was unexpectedly shut down for two days due to a suspicious
white powder found in an envelope.  When we first got the news from our
agency, they were not sure when the consulate would reopen and how it
might impact our appointment.  But we got good news when we arrived here
on Friday.  The consulate had reopened on Thursday and they were adding
Saturday appointments to get caught up.  Everything is on schedule for us
but we feel for those adoptive families who's stay had to be extended last
week.

Thanks again to everyone back home who continues to send us messages and
for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  Only a few more days and
we'll be home!