THE LORD'S DAY!!

WILL BE ADDING PICTURES SOON!!!!

I am a little behind on updating, so yesterday was the Lord’s Day. We started off with me up a little before 6 and Mom finally got to catch up on some sleep. In fact, she was still in bed when the cleaning ladies came at 9. Then we chatted with some of the nurses who were here on their day off. They really seem to care about their patients! I mean I don’t know any nurse in the States that goes in to see her patients on her only day off! Then we made scrambled egg sandwiches for breakfast and of course JayDonn ate a banana. After this we watched an archived sermon from my brother-in-law - Daniel - church. North Valley Baptist Church has tons of services on their website so we are able to watch them while we are here. The one we watched was on Aaron and his sons and was called the heart of the matter. It was very good! JayDonn sat still and watched for 15 minutes with us. I let him down after that and today we would like to get him to sit for 15 minutes again and then in a few days work at sitting a few minutes longer.
After our church service we put the little man down for his nap and Mom and I were able to talk, read our Bibles, shower and that kind of thing. Oh - the hot water is on from 7:30am-10pm approximately. Then after Jay got up we decided to take a walk to the supermarket that I went to the other morning. We loaded the boys all up and had a baby carrier for Jay. We discovered Mom wasn’t lost the other day, she just wasn’t sure of where she was and stopped 1/2 block short of where the KFC was! Crossing the street with Dillon is so scary. Cars literally will not stop for you. And you think pushing a child like Dillon would make them stop to let us pass? Think again! We each held a side of the wheelchair so that no one could hit him without hitting us first and Jay was on my back so we didn’t have to worry about where he was. We were literally going across the street and saying “STOP!” “WAIT!” and “GO! RUN!” but we got across.

Once in the market it was very strange. We already feel so out of place and disoriented but then literally everyone stops their shopping and looks at us. Some smile, most just look confused and amazed. I don’t think they have seen a child like Dillon before. Two elderly ladies were trying to ask us about him about him but we weren’t able to understand what they wanted to know. They saw us again later and were rubbing his arms and head. They seemed like sweet little grandmas!
We got a lot of things while we were shopping. We walked all around the food part and were trying to decide what to get. I saw the word “Bakery” and thought you can’t go wrong with baked goods! So we decided what we wanted but couldn’t find the little bags to put it in. We were trying to watch other people to see where they got it from but had no idea. So I got the translator out and put the word “bag” in and went to one of the workers and showed it to her. She was still confused so I started to pretend to take the food out and show that I had no where to put it. She yelled out a word and then pulled a bag out from her apron pocket. So we got our food, which was 10.00 YAN per kilo and went to the scale to weigh it. I saw her put in 20.00 and the price came up for it. I had no idea how to say that I knew she charged me double what she was supposed to, so I didn’t say anything.
Mom got Dillon 3 little towels, she got one for her mother-in-law that looks very Chinese and she got herself one. A plain white, nothing on it, can’t tell it was bought in China one….I have to get her to buy herself something a little more “Chinese”! I got a pair of sandals that aren’t too comfortable but look cute and remind me of the Chinese style I have seen a lot of the nurses wearing on their days off. They costs 1.99 which is about 0.35 for us. We got a special hanger to hang our clothes on to dry since laundry is so expensive. (4 days worth is going to cost us over 30.00 - in our money!) We also got some bread and little snack crackers. We also got two bottles of juice.
They have so many “sample people” set up in this store it is really neat. The young lady who was letting people sample the juice we got, knew some English and another man who was giving out samples knew a few words in English. Other than that though, there is no hope of finding someone who understand English and since we know nothing of Chinese….
Of course JayDonn has to go potty while we are in the store. So I use the translator and put in the word restroom. She was able to point me in the direction I needed to go. The bathrooms have toilets right on the floor! I have never seen anything like it before! It didn’t make a bit of a difference to Jay, though.
I also found a cute little Chinese dress for my niece. It was so cute I think I am going to go back and get one to keep for if we ever have a little girl. It was on sale for 50% off so it was about 3.00.

If it weren’t obvious enough that we are not from around here - Mom kept taking our picture!


The meat market
While we were in line we could see all the ladies from what looked like a pharmacy stopped working and stood in the door to watch us. And trust me, I am not over reacting they really were. Then a few people started saying something to us and motioning over. We thought they were telling us we had too many items for that line or something. Next thing I know a lady is taking Mom (with Jay on her back) and Dillon away from me! I started to worry because I couldn’t see where they were being taken. Then when I did see, they were on the other side of the cash registers coming towards us but the Chinese lady was pushing Dillon, not Mom. I was getting very nervous about what was going on, but Mom called to me “we’re coming.” I guess they thought the wheelchair wasn’t going to fit down the tiny isle where the register was and wanted her to go around. They were probably right about that, but I had no idea what was going on and where they were taking all my family. My heart was pounding till they got back to where I was and then I wanted to get out of there as quick as I could!

Then the walk home…. This time Jay was on Grandma’s back and we were both pushing the wheelchair. We did the same thing as on the way, RUN, STOP, GO! Most of the walk is on the sidewalk so it isn’t bad, there is just the one main intersection we have to go through. I saw the hospital and was so glad, I felt home, but I have decided I really like our hospital room/floor and am not in too much of a hurry to leave it! It is really cool in China, but I don’t want to go out too much by myself and the only way for Mom and I to go together is to take Dillon…and that is much harder than it is back home!

We ordered in KFC for dinner after our little walk. All Jay wants to play all day long is “nuggle” (snuggle) and tent. So Grandma made him a tent that isn’t on our beds and he loved it. And then I was so tired I fell asleep.

Today, in about an hour, they will begin prepping Dillon for his first IV stem cells! so will update more after that happens.