The Princess Tours the Museum

Today we headed to the Inner Mongolia Museum. It was full of artifacts and Mongolia's history. I will be honest and say that none of us really loved the museum, but it gave us something to do. The ride to the museum was exciting as we watched about 100 minor traffic accidents narrowly be avoided. We also saw a man skinning a live sheep on the side of the road (which by the way is an image I will never get out of my head.) Hope loves to do the peace sign when we take her pictures. Here she is in front of the example of the nomadic Mongolian farmers. She wore that tutu all day. I packed it for play in the hotel, but she wore it all day and loves it. All the locals thought she was so cute. Americans don't really come to Inner Mongolia, so we get lots of stares. Everyone wants to practice their limited English with us. We have seen people run into light poles because their heads were turned so far looking at us. It really has been amusing. This group of young ladies actually had the nerve to ask to have their pictures made with us. One by one they lined up and had their picture taken with us. Then we asked to take a picture with them. Most other people here just jump in front of us and take pictures. It is funny to have a paparazzi everywhere we go.

Here is Paul and Hope pretending to be Chinese astronauts. This is a replica of a traditional Temple. We took Hope to the grocery store so she could pick out some food for herself. She was so excited about buying things. It was cute how fast she would grab something and put it in the cart. You can see her excitement here about getting some crackers. Hope has been very silly today. She still just adores Paul. She wants him to carry her everywhere. She is starting to pick up some English too. She answered the phone three times today when it rang and said "Hello." Then she would start laughing and try to keep the people on the phone. Things are going better than we could have ever hoped for. I know it is because the Lord is answering our prayers. For those of you who were wondering, the tooth fairy comes to China too. Hope woke up to money under her pillow. She can't believe she has money of her own. Tomorrow is a free day, it is also an important holiday here in China. We have made friends with a local guy here who is from Baotou (Hope's hometown), and he is going to take us shopping tomorrow. Should be interesting. I know you have all been waiting to see George's big adventure. He told me the other day what he was planning, and I was nervous for him. When it can time for him to do it, he ran and hid. Hope and I had to take the flashlight and search for him. We finally found him hiding under the bed. Turns out he was nervous too. I talked to him and prayed with him, and now he says he is gonna do it tomorrow. We shall see!

Please continue to pray for Hope! She told our guide today that she is very happy with us and wants to go to America, but that she misses some of her friends. Please pray for LeeLee, she is taking this the hardest of all my kids. Pray for my friend Suzanne who is trying to give LeeLee some fun breaks to break up our time away.