Thursday, February 2, 2012

The Stone Museum (and the hammer falls)


Today we went to the National Stone Museum - we loved it - and would have spent more time there except that it was about 15 degrees F - Brrrr.....


Jenny enjoyed taking about 500,000 pictures - thank goodness I bought a 4G empty card before we left home.  One of the most exciting things to see was the Chrysanthemum Stone - unique to Hubei Province.  They are black with what looks like white flowers throughout.


Leave it to homeschoolers to find a field trip in China, haha!  There were some very interesting specimens - rocks I've never seen before - and we are some pretty "rock informed" people. :)  We saw some really interesting crystals and something called "Stibnite" - not sure what it was - but had needle like prisms.

We got Jenny a little Chysanthemum stone since it's from her province - and Rachel - but they were pricey at $17 each for little 2" samples.  They wanted over $100 for the turquoise - also prevalent here - so I declined.  (it was about a 3mm oval!)  We'll wait to shop in GZ since I clearly can't find the cheap shopping here!

Here are some neat things we saw:



They also had fossils:


We then drove by the Yellow Crane Tower and got the picture from the warmth of the car


We then entertained ourselves by going to our fav Chinese fastfood - the China Express for some hot soup!



We stopped by the bakery next to the hotel for some sort of recognizable things...and have been watching Chinese Strawberry Shortcake movies all afternoon.  I am just eating for entertainment now - we're trying to figure out stuff to do in the hotel room - but we're out of ideas.  Thank goodness for Chinese DVD's!!

Please continue to pray for us - we are doing so well and I'm convinced it's all due to the prayers.  There are three families in China right now who are really struggling with some difficult behaviors and move severe SN's - so please pray for these unnamed families as well.  Our only difficulty is boredom at this point - and a rising cholesterol count from countless french fries and junk food.  (I never want to eat french fries again...)  We're hoping to get to Aloha Diner tomorrow and have some homemade American food!!  Thank you so much for praying - and we look forward to moving on to the next leg of our journey and meeting Sarah Grace!  Blessings, Kim









5 comments:

  1. Who would have thought that rocks could be so cool looking?! Such joy to read that prayers are being answered! We'll continue to pray! Love, J

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  2. ah yes, the eating from boredom!!
    At least you have American food to choose from
    In our province, we fouond nothing but Chinese
    so eating in the small room with expensive roomservice was our option=and expensive!!!
    we did lots of coloring, lots of little magnetic games we brought along, and lots of walking!!!!
    Willit be warmer in your next province???
    Lots of prayers nad hugs

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  3. UGHHH! I really wanted to go to that Museum when we were in Wuhan in Oct. Our guide wasn't into taking us anywhere much...I kept making suggestions and she kept ignoring me - I was too tired to put up a fight. So glad to see a picture of the Chrysamthemum stone - super cool - nothing like I had imagined! I am so happy everything is going well and by the way - thank you for sending the video and pics of my little Cooper man...he isn't really mine but I really love him and miss kissing his sweet cheeks. That little man got my heart for sure and it almost killed me to walk out of that orphanage. Enjoy the rest of the trip - GZ is close - go shopping with ANN! Best part of the trip! Love and thanks again!!! Tara
    taralee815@hotmail.com

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  4. Hey - Tara again, I just spoke to my agency about advocating for the boy from Wuhan playing the piano, sent her the video. Do you know how old he is?

    Also, my little sweetheart - little boy with burns, my agency contact literally checks the list every day and he hasn't shown up for a while - we are hoping that means there is a PA issued for him. There was a family at GW considering him - waiting to hear back for sure.
    taralee815@hotmail.com

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  5. I laugh at the french fry comment! Love it. And we are still praying and hoping that everything continues smoothly with Jenny! Can't wait to see you meet Sarah!

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