An Old Hymn, A New Song

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Did you sing along or read along.  I've been humming and whistling that song all day. I don't know if you are this way, but today it felt like my soul was singing. It has a newness to me.... Enjoy your Sunday.

Something that I have missed about being a daddy of a little one:  Hearing DADADADADADADADA over and over.  Very sweet sound.

Something that I have not missed about being a daddy of a little one:  Cleaning up throw up out of the crib. (She's not sick, she got really upset about being put down for bed, or maybe some food did not agree with her, but I think it might be from the teething that is going on....)

Something that I have missed about being a daddy of a little one:  Two little hands stretching out towards my face and grabbing my nose or rubbing my cheeks.

Something that I have not missed about being a daddy of a little one:  Cleaning up explosive poopy that is so bad it requires a trip straight to the bath.

I could go on...but not so much with the things that I have not missed.  This little one has reminded me of the great joy that babies bring.  It's been an interesting 24 hours.  Still not feeling completely right, but we might stay in again tomorrow to make sure that everyone is well.  Important appointment on Tuesday at the American Consulate.

A very uneventful day today because we stayed in the room most of the day. I had my first experience in a Chinese pharmacy picking up some kind of cold medicine for Nicole.  Our guide went with us because I would have been completely lost.  He asked the pharmacist what she recommended and I bought some Chinese version of cold medicine...for about $1.30...not sure why so cheap, but it seemed to work.

Some interesting things, to me...

This evening I went to get Nicole a Subway sandwich.  It's about a 5 minute walk from the hotel and on my way, keep in mind it was still light outside and there were several people walking the sidewalk, I was approached by what appeared to be the Chinese version of Cheech or Chong...he said something that didn't register right away so I looked at him and then I realized that he said, "Want some hashish?" in a raspy kind of voice.  I said no and then behind me I could here him say "It's good stuff."  I just threw my hand up.  I'm not sure the laws of China, but I can't imagine the strict government would encourage the sale of hash.

When you go to a store to buy things you have to pay for a bag if you want one...grocery stores, Wal-Marts, 7-Eleven...it costs 30 Chinese cents which is about a nickel.

There is no such thing as pedestrian as the right of way...cars will not stop.  There are many intersections that have no road signs....I have yet to see a stop sign so everything is yield and if a car is ahead of another car, it pulls out, no matter how close...

Because of that, at intersections with a stop light, at least in the city we are currently in, all four roads have a red light when it is time for pedestrians to pass.  So, when the lights go red and the pedestrian walk sign comes on, for a little more than 20 seconds, the intersection turns into a three-ring circus.  It's actually kind of fun because you can just kind of turn circles in the middle of the intersection while the cars just sit there...not that I have done that.

There is a mall across the street with a lot of American products...a Nike store, North Face store, Addidas, etc...and I noticed that the prices were about a 50% premium to prices in American store.  So, American products seem to be very expensive and are certainly a status symbol. Another funny thing, they consider American made cars to be a status symbol as well...but there are much better, cheaper choices. There are some exceptions.  For instance, I can go to the 7-Eleven and buy a bottle of Gatorade for about 60 American cents (4 Yuan) or a bottle of Coke for about 55 American cents. 

The people here are fascinating to me.  So many will go out of their way to help.  Some seem very intimidated by me, particularly the younger ones who work at Subway, or at the hotel or wherever...so I try to joke with them a little bit to lighten them up...of course, they never get it.  There are these young guys who work at the fitness center at the hotel, which is a very nice fitness center- high class, and they all choose an American name (or someone does for them).  I look at their name tag and see a Chinese name and then I ask them their name and one is Gary and the other was Jackie.  Most all of the employees at the hotel, and our guides, work with an American name.  These guys in the fitness center would wipe the sweat from my face as I run...very awkward for me.  But when I walk in they come running up...get towels, offer to get water.  Gary saw me get on the treadmill with my iPod in my ears and a book I was reading (a Singer novel) and he came to me and said, "I think that is dangerous."  When I told him that I do it all the time he then said, "Ahh, I think you are Superman."  A good sense of humor.  I told another worker at the Fitness Center that I was American and he was immediately intrigued.  He asked me where I was from and I told him Nashville, TN.  He didn't know what I was talking about so of course the next two words that came out of my mouth were "Country Music."  He looked puzzled for a second and then said..."Oh, Taylor Swift."  I ran into him again today and told him that I was leaving in four days and he said that he would miss me being around.

That takes me back to the curiosity about America and Americans...they hang on every word when you talk about America and they want to speak English badly.  All children who go to school start studying English in elementary school.  But they do not learn how to speak it, just paper tests.  If you do well enough on the paper tests than maybe they will be allowed to study English at the university where they can move into some pretty good career interpreting.  So these kids take all these years of English and can say "Good morning."  "Hello."  "Good afternoon."  I think if I told these people that I was going to start an English class in my hotel room that there wouldn't be enough room for all who showed up. I don't mean that arrogantly, I just say there is that kind of thirst from what seems like many, particularly the younger crowd who would like to leave China...which leads me to this thought, they are so receptive and hang on every word...I think they'd be very open to the Gospel...before we left for China, and because my place of employment is Donelson Christian Academy, I had to sign a form promising that I would not proselytize while I was in China..very odd to do.

Most of what I am writing is as much for me as it is for anyone else.  This has turned into an easy way for me to journal about our experiences.  If you get a kick out of them, great but please do not think that I am intentionally disrespecting or being politically incorrect.  This is not edited, I sit down and start typing what has happened along the way...

No pictures tonight, but Bo does this cute clicking with her tongue that I am determined to get video of to post here. I think that many of the women click at the babies to calm them down.  In the states we shh in their ears...but don't do that here.  When they (and this might just be the orphanage, but I think it might be a broader cultural thing) shh in China they are training babies to go poop.  I didn't believe it, but Bo has done it a couple times and once I forgot and did it and the poor kid starting pushing without any success..so, if anyone plans to babysit Bo at all and she gets fussy and you shh in her ear, be ready for a surprise.

God, simply and repetitively, meet us at our point of need and get us home.  Continue the bonding process and get us all healthy. You promise that you are working right now to bring about good in every future event, help us to trust even when it might not be good by our definition.