Something fun!

Tonight we pretended to be in China! Well, sort of. The Culps, another family who has adopted from China and is adopting a second, and the mom-half of a couple who is adopting their first child gathered around a table at the back of China Capital restaurant here in Tupelo. We were learning what to expect when dining in China. We had a native Chinese lady named TZ (TeeZee) guide us through our evening. She works for Itawamba Community College and usually works with businessmen traveling and working in China, but tonight she adjusted her presentation for those traveling to adopt. The restaurant made us a several course meal -- it was not the usual buffet fare. We sat at a round table with a make-shift lazy Susan in the middle. They even served fish with the head on. The custom is that the fish head points to the most prestigious person at the table and he has the honor of eating the head and the special meat behind the eyeball. Well, the fish head pointed at Rick and so he ate it! Since this was a Chinese cultural night, we could not use any Western flatware, but only chopsticks. I was glad that we had been using them around here for awhile when we eat sushi. I even managed to eat rice and small vegetables with them! It would be a good way to diet, it takes too long to eat too much. Our only beverages were tea and water, but that is what I always order in a Chinese restaurant. We ate a lot of vegetables and tofu. Our guide said the rice was more Western than what we would receive in China. We had a fun evening and it makes me look even more forward to being with our little girl in her home country.

The rumors are flying that referrals will be next week. Let's pray that more than just a few days are included this month! (Actually the rumors are that it will be Log-in dates through mid June of last year - that would mean three more AWAA groups.) If that happens, that gives me hope that the May batch will be the rest of June and we might receive our referral in June and travel in August. Nothing is certain though. When we know more than rumors, I will certainly let you know!