Day 4- Science that hardly works & Lego's

Today we made plans to visit the local children's science museum. We thought this would be a good way for our family to all have fun together. It was four stories of fun! But the problem was either we were to dumb to figure out the exhibits or they didn't work. LOL I want to believe the latter but know better than to dismiss the first. We all had a great time and Peter enjoyed pushing each and every button that he could. It really was a lot of fun and we are thankful Andrew spotted it the first day and insisted on going back. There were several school girls there his age and Rita told us they were giggling over the cute boy! (Andrew) They even took a picture of him. He thought it was funny! We came back to the hotel and enjoyed a nice lunch and finished watching Cars 2. We finally figured out that you could do English subtitles which really helped because Eric and I had not seen it yet. We pulled out the legos and all the kids played for hours. Peter has quiet an imagination and it was fun to watch all the kids play. By the end of their play time they had combined all their efforts to make one big project. John, one of our translators, brought our final paperwork for this leg of the trip and he walked us over to the Raffray's hotel. We had ran into LJ, Adam, Blue and their translator at the museum and they told us that Wendy was not feeling well. We took her some POOF (for all the oil users) and visited for a while with them. We walked back to our hotel to have our last dinner in Jinan. We wanted to dine in the Chinese restaurant in the hotel but they avoided letting us in there (?) and instead escorted us to the buffet. It was very good and we all enjoyed it which was great because the dinner cost us....$150!!! What the what?! We knew it would be expensive but my stars. Eric tried to write it off as we are on vacation but this cheap mom is having a hard time with some of the money we are spending. There has been no in between so far for us. It's either way cheap or way expensive so maybe it's evening out? I'm trying hard not be be a fuddy duddy but considering we have probably shorted 2 straighteners, 2 DS chargers, (not yours Aunt Brandy!) and lost an iPod, we may be spending more when we get home! Oh well...it's all in His hands! He has brought here and He provided every step of the way so I am not going to panic. Right? Right! I'm not sure we ever shared this but we still had multiple people stopping by right before we left. What a blessing! We thought we had it all but after we counted it, we were still about $800 short. We received every single bit of it before we left. He answers...all the time.... Speaking of answering, Happy 12th Heavenly Birthday Hannah Banana!!! I cannot believe it's been 12 years. If you would have told me 12 years ago I would look back and say that Hannah passing away was a gift and blessing, I would have slapped you then kicked you until you didn't move. Yes, I felt that strongly about it. But it was. Had Hannah lived, would we have had Abi? Would we have pursued adoption? Would Eric and I be together? Would we have started attending FBC? But most especially, would our faith be where it is now? Probably not. Walking through that valley taught us so many lessons. There were some hard years but I wouldn't change them now for anything. Her short little life made a huge impact. What a blessing to know where she is! As I told Abi this morning, I have no worries with Hannah. She's never experienced heartache or pain. All she has known is joy. What a wonderful thing to know as a parent. And we know that she is in Heaven waiting on us. Our other children have the free will to make the choice and we pray they make the right one. So if you are walking a dark valley right now and you think God is not listening, wait on Him. Sometimes it seems the wait is forever but it's worth it. The lessons you will learn and His answer will be worth it. And I know that Hannah, Ms. Debbie and all our other loved ones are gathered around with Jesus enjoying chocolate pie because Ms. Debbie can now have it without getting sick! And she's probably laughing and saying how she knows it will not get her fat! ;-) A big thank you to Stacey and Jeff who are taking flowers to Hannah's grave for us. This is the first year that our family will not be able to do this and it's weird to think about it. But she must have flowers and a balloon. Thanks for not letting me look like the bad mom of the cemetery!! Sorry this was so long!! Keep lifting us up! Bonding is going well but every day holds a new challenge. We move on to Ghouzhong (SP?) tomorrow. Peter's first adventure on an airplane. He has talked about it a lot today. We think he is very excited! One week until we return home and start our "normal" life tomorrow. We are lifting you all up also!! Adding this for Aimee.. SOOO sweet Peter showed me all the items that he had brought from the orphanage. My eyes almost teared up thinking that he had all he owned is in this small backpack. And he kept insisting on sharing it with us. Think about all that you own. I would have to rent 4-5 storage buildings for my "needs." And he's carrying it in one backpack and giving it away. He seemed a bit sad as we looked through his picture album. He had letters from his friends at the orphanage but he wanted to keep them for himself. I understand. He needs to have some things for himself. Plus, he doesn't trust us all the way. That's understandable. Slowly but surely Loving Him, Aimee for the Akin's