He is risen............................

Five of us headed to church this morning for the Easter celebration. It was the normal group on Sunday morning...me and the kids. The only difference was that we walked to church. Tom came a little late and left really early as he wasn't feeling well. We enjoyed the service at Shamian Christ Church. This is a Three Self Church in China; self-supporting, self-propogating, self-governing....basically a government sanctioned church. Anybody is free to attend a Three Self Church; unlike the international churches which only can welcome internationals. We attended the service that had moth Mandarin and English. It was good to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with believers who were both Chinese and other nationalities. We enjoyed the children's choir and the string instruments. We also enjoyed telling others, "Jesu wa ay ni. (hey-zu eyed knee)" which means "Jesus Loves you."

After church we went back to the hotel to check on Tom. He was still down so we grabbled some money and took off! We hit a few of the shops. Lorissa, I got all of your things with the exception of the painting...still working on that. One of the shop owners is trying to get the artist to come to the island. The girls picked some things out for their classmates and two teachers. I made a few purchases for friends. We then went to Lucy's (again) for lunch. If Tom was well, we would have ventured off of the island, but decided safe was best. We didn't want to eat the Easter dinner at the White Swan because it was 480 RMB per person...app. 70USD per person...yes, you read that right. After Lucy's we returned to the hotel to check on Tom....still down so we grabbed more money and took off! This time we stopped at Starbuck's prior to allowing the girls to play at the park near the school. We also took some photos with statues from around the island. As all who know who have adopted, the island has several throughout. I even allowed the boys to take my photo with the fat lady by Lucy's....the only woman I've seen in China that is bigger than me! As we were making our way back to the hotel to check on Tom, we found him walking towards us. He joined us for a small walk and some time in the playroom with the girls.

We are now taking it easy for the rest of the day...ordering Papa John's for dinner! Tomorrow we are having dinner on a boat as part of the night cruise on the Pearl River. We hope Tom feels better to go along. We have decided to not push it the rest of our trip. We've done some pretty amazing things and have seen quite a bit. It's time to slow down and get ready for our return home.

TJ, missed you at church today. Know that we thought of you often and we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night. We love you!

Thanks, again, for everyone that is following!

He is risen indeed,