the White Swan

We are comfortably settled in at the White Swan Hotel on Shamain Island in Guangzhou even if the room is a bit crowded. This is the most famous hotel in Guangzhou and is where Richard Nixon, George Bush Sr. and Queen Elizabeth stayed when they were in town.

Shamain Island is a small Island on the Pearl River. It was developed by Europeans as a place to build their embassy's and to live. The architecture is distinctly European, and it is very quiet and enjoyable after the hustle and bustle of Urumqi. Many of the embassies have moved into the city and now the Island caters mainly to tourists and families adopting Chinese children. There are many shops and we have enjoyed seeing how much we can get for a few Yuans. The shopkeepers are all very friendly, speak English and do an amazing job at remembering the names of the Children. They will call Ganggang and Rachael by name and will hold them and play with them while we shop. Of course this only encourages us to spend more time and money in the store, but it is still nice.

Our room overlooks the Pearl River and we have a beautiful view. Robby and Rachael love looking out the window at all the barges and boats going by.

You will notice there is a lack of pictures with the last few post. Dan is not feeling well tonight and he is the picture guru. I have no idea how to do it. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow and will be able to post pictures. If not we will add some this weekend. Well, I am off to bed. We will do more updates tomorrow.
Things are going well and we are all slowly adjusting to having new family dynamics. Thank you for your continued prayer support. We know it has made a world of difference.