Six Banyan Temple

My plan worked; at least to a point. Since we weren't meeting as a group until 3:00pm, my plan was to get up "whenever," call Mommy and Connor, have breakfast, and then tire the big boy out so he would take an early nap. After a great call with Mommy and Connor, I put his "Oxford" t-shirt on him that my friends from Estee Lauder gave me last week (picture) and then we had a good breakfast. After that, we went to the White Swan Playroom that is only available to adoption families. It is quite the "playroom", as you can see in the picture. Then, it was off to swimming for an hour and lunch. Following the swim, he proceded to take about an hour long nap but woke up crying. After about a half hour of hugs, then some laughter, he was good to go again.
We met the families at 3:00pm and went to the Six Banyan Temple. Today is a BIG day in China as it is the middle of the Autumn Full Moon Festival, the one day of the year when the moon is at its fullest and there is to be the greatest fortune. Tomorrow, in fact, is a National Holiday in China. The Temple was packed with people, all practicing their spiritual rituals. We spent about an hour there, took some pictures and videos, and watched all the childen get blessed in their native cultural way. You can see Shen and I in the middle of the last picture. It was the first time I had actually witnessed such a ceremony.
Today is the birthday for one of the babies in our family travel group so we are all going to a family group dinner at Lucy's, where we will celebrate the Autumn Full Moon Festival and this little girl's FIRST birthday!
All in all another great day for Shen and I. Tomorrow is countryside touring with all the children and our travel group families to see some rural villages. This should really help all of us understand the culture in which these children have grown up.
We hope and pray that all of you are well!
Love,
Jack and Shen