Noelle Nightly News Network from Nanchang

We had been having a hard time getting Noelle to take a bottle. She only drank a whole bottle one time. Often she would only drink an ounce or less since we have had her. We bought the formula and rice the orphanage said to use but she wouldn't take it. They also told us to make the milk hot, not warm, but hot. We had been making it warm. Well, we made it almost "coffee hot" this morning at 7:30am and she drank ALL of it. It was amazing! She has had another bottle since then and she downed all of it. We're making progress! On another note we gave her, her first bath today. The orphanage just gives sponge baths - when we put her in that water you should have heard her scream. Oh well, she'll like it someday.

We wanted to tell you a little about Noelle's personality, habits, and whatever we thought might be interesting. First of all, she is very curious. If you are holding her and someone behind her even coughs she has to check it out. She is so actively curious it is hilarious. What is funny as well is that Jamie and Maddie are known to be extremely curious - they are major people watchers and love to "get the scoop". I can hardly have a full conversation with them at a restaurant because they are looking around and seeing who is there and what is going on. Noelle is just like that. It is cute and sweet that the Lord matched these personalities up like that.

Did I mention that she is a cuddler? We had hoped she would be a cuddler and she is! She loves to be held. She also loves it and smiles or laughs when she is bounced, flown around like an airplane, swung, and anything else goofy I can think to do with her.

A doctor just visited us in our hotel room. Noelle had been pulling on her ears so we were worried she had an ear infection and we actually have her on antibiotics. The doctor said her ears were dry, her lungs are clear, and she doesn't have a sore throat. On a side note Noelle's sniffles have been fading so it looks like normalcy is near with her! Jamie and I are beginning to feel better as well.

Final word on Noelle for a little bit- we went to a park today with the entire group and there were several locals that we met who were very friendly and were talking to Noelle, laughing, and smiling at us. I have only seen sweet, positive reactions from people who see us with her which is a blessing.

I hadn't mentioned it yet but yesterday several of us went to Nanchang's 2-story Super Walmart. It was awesome! I looked like William Perry "the Fridge" (he was a linebacker right? I'm not a sports guy but I remember he was big) from the Chicago Bears to these people- I had a lot of people staring at me. Funny! The store has some of the things we are used to like Cokes, typical produce, etc and some of the major brands but many Asian and Chinese brands as well. You can buy a cool electric motor scooter suitable for slow speeds in the city for only $200 U.S. dollars which was amazing. There is too much to tell but I'll list a few things I saw which were unique. In the prepared foods meat case I saw some unusual things: whole cooked ducks with the heads on, I saw two large bowls filled with worms (it HAD to be worms.... fine if you push me I suppose it could have been snails), another type of whole cooked bird but without the head, cooked chicken feet, cooked goose necks, fried whole herring, and more I can't remember.

Hey, while I'm on the topic of unusual the city of Nanchang is unusual. You will have a beautiful skyscraper business office next to 30 or 40 tall highrise apartments that are old and falling apart. China seems to be all about building things tall- it makes sense with their population size. You will have a fun, quaint shopping area and look down the alley and there are delapidated dwellings with clothes hanging on clothes lines out the window and right there on the clothes lines are various types of carcases drying on the line such as ducks, geese, chickens, and parts of four-legged farm animals. It is really unsanitary and quite strange. As you drive through rows and rows of 20+ year old high rise apartments almost every window has these clothes hanging out and a lot of meat hanging and drying. I'll show you a picture of this. There will be beggars with no legs on roll-platforms and then there will be a stylish couple holding arms looking very well put together. There are cosmopolitan shopping areas but if you look up... there you go again with the bad living conditions. Nanchang is a place of contradictions and surprises but the people have been nice and everything is fascinating to take in and frankly we vastly prefer Southern China over Northern the more we stay here.

A word on the beggars. Its hard to know what to do with them. You want to be generous obviously and Jesus said, "Give to everyone who asks you without expecting anything in return," but you also want to avoid situations that are scams. It is tough and yet you are moved by the poverty and you want to be a light for the Lord. I had a situation when I left Walmart where there was a 40-something lady holding a 4-year old child on one arm and an empty bowl in the other hand so she could ask for money. They were dirty, poor, and I believe homeless. Next to them I saw a lady with some type of a monkey on a rope- also dirty, poor, and probably homeless. Both were begging for money. I wanted to get some video with the monkey for Madeline so I told the lady to let me put my groceries on the bus and to wait there and I would give her something. On the way back the lady with the child met me first because I had been friendly to her and through my smile and nod on the way to the bus had indicated that I would do something for them. I decided to give her something and pulled out 20 Yuan which isn't much- about $2.50 USD which isn't a lot to you and I but is actually the price of the personal doctor visit we just had in our hotel room to give you some perspective. The lady with the monkey watched all of this and waited for me. Well, all I had left in smaller bills was 16 Yuan and she had seen that I gave the other lady 20 Yuan. She was very upset with me and was really berating me for this and making various gestures about the other lady and the child. I could easily tell the comparison she was making. I cradled my arms and swinged them showing her that I had given her a little more because she had a child and she totally blew that explanation off. She had no value for the life of that child- zero concern. She didn't even really hold up her end of the bargain on videoing the monkey and gave me a hard time and kept asking for more. It turns out that I deleted that video when I got back to my hotel room and watched it because it was so negative and upsetting to see. On the video in such a nice voice I was patiently explaining why I gave more to the other lady and she was just terrible about it. There was no way I could show this to Madeline now. It was a tough view of things to see and I don't really have any conclusions for you right now other than when people don't have Jesus Christ in their life they think they have to be heartless and dishonest sometimes to protect themselves, feed themselves, help themselves, etc. The Believer in Jesus has the ability to weather all circumstances in faith because although we may endure challenges we know that the Lord is faithful and he will help us. I've seen it with my job for years and the Lord has proven himself to both me and those that work with me. We have had constant change, constant challenges, and plenty of conflict but through patient prayer, trusting the Lord no matter what things look like, and doing the right thing when circumstances seem to require otherwise he has rescued us and will continue to do so. This is one of the reasons I try to be open about my faith but not pushy. I want people to know that although eternal salvation is the main and most crucial reason to accept Christ- there is much to be gained in the present time in terms of peace- and REAL solutions for all problems.

Tomorrow we get to take a little trip to the surrounding countryside and get to meet a local farmer and his family. Then, we get to go to a porcelain store. Porcelain was invented in this province and that is a major thing the area is famous for.