Touring the Hunan province - Natalie's birth place

Yesterday one of our guides, Amy, took us on a 'field trip' around Changsha, Hunan Province. Amy is from Changsha and knows the area well. She speaks fluent English and apparently used to teach it. It was nice to get out of the hotel for the afternoon. Natalie seems to really like the carrier we borrowed from Amy Adams (thanks Amy!). They encourage using these as close physical contact is very important in the bonding process.

Our first stop was at the Hunan Embroidery Museum of China - well known world-wide for their amazing hand embroidering. The women spend 3 years learning the trade. It requires a lot of patience and skill. Some pieces take up to a year to complete. Apparently they did a piece for Steven Curtis Chapman's family. It was a picture of his daughter and it took two women a full year to complete! He and his wife adopted a child from the Hunan province. He's a very successful Christian singer/songwriter and he and his wife have 3 daughters from China for those of you who don't know. They also created a piece for former President Bush (not sure which one!).

Some of the pieces in the museum are two-sided - a different color of the same image or a different image all together - same piece of cloth! As you can see below some of the pieces are very large. The detail is amazing. There are about 20 women who work here working either together on a larger project or individually on smaller ones.

At the entrance to the museum

John standing beside a beautiful, two-sided embroidered piece.

Natalie's dress hand embroidered by the women of the Hunan Embroidery factory

The funny part was the group of college girls who led us around - they were practicing their English! Children here are taught English at an early age. The schools only offer English, no other foreign languages. When I decided to make a purchase there were at least 4 of them helping me - holding dresses up to Natalie, choosing different styles, sizes "oh, this one is beautiful". Too cute. We did manage to make a purchase for her. Although, she'd look beautiful in a burlap sack!

Next stop was The Martyr's Park that was established after the revolutionary war (I think). I didn't catch everything about the significance, but it was a nice day and there were some interesting sights. A young boy performed for us on a string instrument, then he indulged us by singing a pop song! His teacher was there and then he performed such a soothing and beautiful song. So different from our music.

John, Beth, Lily, Alicia, Natalie & Andy as we enter the park

Andy on the walkway across the lake.

Alicia & Natalie taking in the sights.

When we got back to the hotel we were all exhausted! We went back to our room and gave Natalie her first bath. She didn't care for it much. I'm not sure if they did tub baths at the orphanage or sponge baths. Good question for our trip today. After her bath she took a quick nap. Then we all went down to Beth, John, & Lily's room for Pizza Hut pizza and Chinese beer. Aina joined us and entertained us once again with some of her many stories. She just has so many to tell! We finished up pretty quickly and headed back to the room for the night. Natalie was in bed at 8:15 and I was in bed by 8:30! Must be why I was wide awake at 5:30 this a.m. Still trying to adjust to the time difference, and the emotions can really tire you out!

Still so confused and serious - but isn't she the sweetest thing? When she looks at you with those BIG brown eyes, you just melt...

Please pray for us as we head out this afternoon for a visit to the orphanage. It's about an hour ride away and we have very mixed emotions. Alicia