Be Thou My Vision

                   为中国祷告！                       Pray for CHINA!                    Shanghai at the World EXPO The UK Pavilion  Each one of those plastic spikes has a rare (or almost extinct)  seed at the end of it.  From the inside of the building you can see each individual seed up close.   Mom and little daughter in Shanghai. 8:30 am after Tai Chi.  Tai Chi in the park  Early morning chores in Shanghai.    Park by night in Shanghai  Everyone wanted their picture taken with us! My littlest sister really missed me the whole trip, she was so glad to see me when I got back! She would follow me around all day, as if I would disappear or something.   Sisters are the best :-)...

I am back from an amazing 3 weeks in China. I enjoyed Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chong Qing, the Yangtze River Cruise, (Saw the 3 Gorges Dam and went through my first lock) and then Beijing. Here are a few of my impressions of China, the Middle Kingdom. In Chinese, the two characters for "China" are;  中 which means "middle" by itself, and  国 "Country". America is: 美国 Canada is: 加拿大 South America is: 南美洲 Africa is: 非洲 It is so different from my "quiet" hometown. The people everywhere, the buses, subways, taxis, bikes, motorcycles, the noise. The airports with hallways stretching into seemingly endless space. Quiet Hutongs (side streets off the main road) and local markets. Traditional Chinese Herbal medicine markets. Street shops selling trinkets, jewelry, and almost anything you can think of. Meeting friendly people who want their picture taken with you. :-) Learning Chinese characters, and singing hymns in pinyin. (the pronunciation of ch...