Yes, we are getting antsy to get home and to some kind of normal routine. I made the countdown chain today and  before we go to sleep we will only have four links left, which includes Saturday, the day we start home.

Today we went to the Buddhist Six Banyan Temple. This building is at least 600 years old (the whole Temple is about        2000 years old) and at that time was the highest building in Guangzhou. 

There was lots of Bonzai gardens that were very beautiful.

There were lots of Buddhas and they stand for different things, health, fertility, knowledge, success in your job, good family relationships, and so on. There was a building just dedicated to blessing the spirits of loved ones. People buy a card, which looks like a bookmark with a ribbon and they pay the monks approximately $8000 yuan a year (about $1150) to add a photo of the loved one to the bookmark and hang it in the room and say a prayer for the person's spirit every day.  Matthew quickly did a calculation which included the number of bookmarks in each row, times the number of rows, times the number of frames on each wall, times the number of walls and determined that the building generates approximately $10 million each year for the temple. We are a little incredulous about this, however, he insists that his math is correct. :)

These are ceramic bamboo in a window.

These enormous Buddhas have 10 tons of copper for each cast. They are very, very large!

Megan is in love with baby Nathan and "helped" his parents push him around.

This is the monk who named the Six Banyans.

The temple has had a long and complicated history. At one point in the past, the government ordered all the Buddhas to be destroyed. Rather than destroy them, the people decided to bury the Buddhas  (even the 10 ton ones!) and then later reconstruct them. This plaque has the names of the people that donated money to restore the temple. This is only a small section, it is much, much bigger than this.

Another view of the pagoda.

And another view of Megan, the mother hen, and her chick, who seems to adore her back.

Shanna & Mike

Our agency group, minus one family who didn't go to the temple.

Nelson, Suzette & Nathan

Back at the hotel, they are preparing for another wedding. Can you see the photo of the couple on the tablecloth? It's actually an 8 foot sign that will be stood up!

This is the restuarant that we did not eat in tonight. Eric was trying to be ambitious, and experience some more cultural food, and we even had some tea, but once he discussed the menu with the waiter and the manager, we found that they cooked with lots of peanut oil, so nothing would really be safe for Matthew. So we left, and found another italian place down the street and had more pizza. We have had so much pizza this trip. My stomach can't have much more.... but at least it is safe for Matthew and that is the most important thing.

We had some tears today. Shanna was very disappointed when she wanted to watch her favorite show "She Yang Yang" (which means Happy Goat) on TV. When Gramma couldn't find it on, she got very upset and started to pout. Gramma brought her back to our room and when she all out cried, I held her. I knew that it was on the surface the TV show, but underneath it was the loss of all familiar comforts. Eric brought me some pillows for support (she is VERY heavy) and a stool for my legs and it took about 40 mins of crying before she settled down. Later, she had another melt down when Eric stopped her from putting cream on some pieces of paper. She is very strong and really struggled to get away. She was really upset and crying loudly.  Finally, Eric carried her to the bed, and again, I held her. Megan got her a wash cloth and Mary Alice held her hand and Daddy held her toes. We all looked at her with love and she finally calmed down and accepted our comfort. Then she was fine for the rest of the evening. Although it is upsetting to watch her  go through I am very glad to see these kinds of reactions. It just isn't normal for anyone to laugh all the time and not feel unhappy. She needs to allow some of her feelings of fear, anger and loss of control to come to the surface. If she only feels that she can show her happy feelings, it will not be a healthy adjustment. It is much better for Shanna to know that we accept and understand all of her feelings, good or bad. She just LOVES the letters that I sent to her, with the pictures and stories of our family. It makes me so glad that I sent them and she had them all these months to look at. 

She has seen this photo of her bedroom with the quilts on my computer and she giggles each time she sees it. We have an explosion of language today, too. Shanna is saying all kinds of things, and surprising me! When we left for the tour she said "Let's Go!" over and over. She picked up Megan's sweater and said "Megan Groat!" I said "Megan Groat????" and she said "yes, Megan Groat".  Now, she automatically answers "no" questions in English. She seems to be understanding a lot of what we say to her. She is really catching on quickly. She has a loose tooth and I think it is bothering her. She signed hurt to me and pointed to her tooth. It's really in bad shape, as is the same one on the other side, so I hope they both fall out soon.