July 1

Today was a great day as we tried to take in some of the sights of Fuzhou. We did this for us and for Ming. We certainly want to visit some of the highlights of Fuzhou, but we especially want Ming to have memories of Fuzhou, his home city. After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel buffet, we went to the Panda Zoo here in town. They have 7 of the 100 pandas left in the world. A few of the pandas from the earthquake area have been brought here. We saw one of these pandas - he has lost a leg and eyesight in one eye because of the earthquake. The zoo director was very glad to have us visiting his zoo and really went out of his way to accommadate us. Our guide told us that he was treating us like he would royalty. Here is a picture of the zoo director with Jody, Jay and Ming.

We really enjoyed spending time seeing the pandas. The director even brought us to a place where we could see them up close.



Ming had never had the opportunity to see the pandas, so I was so glad that we were able to see them with him. He seemed to really enjoy it. We also had our guide tell him that on the way home, we are going to Disneyland. How fun to see his reaction. He gave me (Caryn) a huge hug. He said that he has always dreamed of going to Disneyland. I am so thankful we put that in our trip.
We then went to see the "hero" of Fuzhou's home and went to a tea ceremony. It was very interesting. Jesse and Mitchell did not seem to see it as fun, but Ming enjoyed it. He likes tea, so we bought some dragon tea (the tea of Fuzhou) so we can make him some tea at home that he is used to.
After a lunch of KFC, we came back to the hotel to swim. Ming had told us that he knows how to swim. I believe that he has been in a swimming pool before, but he doesn't know how to swim. I only had to rescue him one time and then he learned his boundaries. We had a wonderful time relaxing in the pool.

We decided to take Ming down to the rec area and see if he really knows how to play ping pong like we had been told. Wow! he is really good. Jody did manage to beat him, but he gave him a run for his money. Ming also wanted to try pool although he had never played it before. He caught on really fast.

It has been such a day full of blessings. Ming is such a wonderful boy. So full of life. I know that this change must be very hard for him, but he is so brave. I feel like he is completely embracing us as his family. He understands what is happenning and seems to be okay with it. The language barrier does make things hard as we can't talk to him like we would if we both spoke the same language, but we are getting by with our limited chinese and gestures. A smile goes a long way. He is getting along wonderfully with the kids, in fact he is playing on his DS with the boys right now.

Please think of him tomorrow as we go to visit his orphanage. We have come to learn that he has been living in a wonderful group home these last 3 years, who have become his family. I know he is excited to show us where he has been living, but it will be a very sad day for his as he says his final goodbyes. Yesterday, after we came into the hotel room after receiving him, he immediantly tried to call someone on the telephone. He could not get the number to work. Through our guide, we found out that he was trying to call one of his caretakers at the orphanage to tell him that he was ok. Thankfully, today he was able to call them and connect with the caregiver. I am so thankful that he feels loved and cared for by the workers at his orphanage. I am fully confident that he will be able to also love us, his new family.