Well, another day has passed. This day has been L-O-N-G for both us and Daniel. One of Shannon's former students, Melissa, offered to accompany us to Beijing for lunch and some shopping. We left the foster home at 10 a.m. this morning and made the hour and a half drive into Beijing. Once there, we had lunch at a famous Beijing duck restaurant. One of Daniel's Chinese sponsors wanted to treat us to a traditional Beijing duck meal, and boy was it something! Daniel was the honored guest. They even served him a beautiful chocolate cake with candles and everything. The meal ended up lasting about 2 hours and we at things that I never thought I'd eat. We had duck heart, duck feet and duck eggs (Sylvia, you would have been proud!). Actually it wasn't all as bad as it sounds - o.k. the duck feet was pretty bad but I managed to get it down with a smile. The actual duck itself was delicious. Daniel was so great through it all. He ate like a pig and enjoyed all the picture-taking and attention. After lunch Melissa took us to the Pearl market for some shopping and as we remebered from our trip here in February, it was totally overwhelming. But we found the things we were looking for (Shannon, you'll know what)and left the market about 4:30. Daniel was whipped but maintained a really good attitude through it all. Melissa really wanted to treat us to dinner, so on the way home we stopped for a "light" dinner at a restaurant here in Qingyundian. The meal actually wasn't light, but it was yummy! We made it back to the foster home around 7 p.m. - just in time for Daniel to play with the other kids and get totally overstimulated just before bed. When we left him at 8 p.m. he was screaming and crying out for his mama, which broke both of our hearts. We hated to leave him. But we know he is just crazy-tired just as we are after such a full day.

It is getting really sad to watch everyone here prepare for Daniel to leave. His nanny loves him so much, you can just see it in her eyes. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of sorrow in her eyes as she watches him with us. My heart goes out to her.

We apologize that we can't post pictures yet. For now we are using the computer lab here at New Day and so cannot download our photos, but we are hoping that once we fly to Wulumuqi on Monday, we will be able to connect to the internet on our lap top. We will do our best! Please keep praying for us!!! We are exhausted and a bit overwhelmed with taking care of a 4-year-old again, but we know that God will give us exactly what we need each day. And we do love Daniel so much. Everytime he asks for Mama or Baba, our hearts melt. Neil is doing so well with him. He even played horse today for the first time in about 15 years. His knees didn't last long, but we promised Daniel he'd do more tomorrow. We'll write more soon. Love you all!

This is from Neil. Even though the day has been long and hard we did have some special times. The gal who invited us to lunch today volunteered at the foster home and came to love Daniel very much. It was obvious by the way she doted over him that she cared a lot for him and was very happy that he now has a family. She gave us a small picture album and also a picture of the 2 of them together. It is also a blessing to see Daniel getting attached to his Mama. There were 2 times today when Lora went to get something that Daniel got very concerned and kept asking where Mama was. It was very touching to hear him calling to her. We did have a bit of a scare this evening though. When we stopped for dinner Daniel had been asleep on my lap and when we got him out of the car he started crying and was very upset. Melissa calmed him down but when we got ready to leave he started acting scared to go outside. He told Melissa that the devil lived in the dark. We told him to hold on to me and I would protect him from devil and he would be safe. When we got back to the foster home he wanted to get inside right away. We aren't sure where he got this idea but it's a very real fear for him and something we will need to cover him with prayer about. We know that the devil is a defeated foe but explaining that to a 4-year-old who doesn't speak much English will be a big challenge. In the meantime I hope that he will cling to us when he is afraid. Now it is bedtime... GOODNIGHT!