Last night the boys watched movies on our bed waiting for the New Year because their beds had too many toys on it for them to fit (Where are the neatnick kids who typically come from orphanages? R and D were compulsively tidy . These two act like 'the maid will clean it up'. LOL Maybe they are secretly genetically related to me.) After we entered the New Year, we called Ryan so we could tell him about the future. It is good.
Today we walked on part of the city wall that was built around Xian 600 years ago (or maybe in the year 600?) complete with a moat and ramparts (never knew what that part of the StarSB meant) just like at a castle. There were even men there dressed in castle-like armor.
Chinese New Year decorations are going up everywhere, including the city wall. Apparently , like our Christmas, they figure if you are doing all that lavish decorating, it ought to be up a month or so ahead of time.


We also went to the Drum Tower (Chinese ring a bell in the morning and bang a drum at dusk) in a Muslim part of town and bought the boys traditional Chinese clothes for the 'red couch picture' in Guangzhou and Chinese New Year at home and some wooden swords. They were delighted with the swords, the clothes , not so much. We also ventured alone to the wholesale clothing market again and had another hour wait for a taxi. It is a hard place to live.

We asked our guide when she last saw the sun and she couldn't remember. It seems like it would be so drepressing to live all winter in grey smog/fog, but most people are noticeably cheerful and friendly. Today a groupf of teenage girls asked if they could take pictures with me. Like I was a movie star. Of course, I accomodated.

The boys are best buds. I am so glad that God led us to Jed's picture (he was on another agency's site and I advocated for him for awhile). If it weren't for Jed, I don't think Simon would have stayed with us. And if we hadn't already been adopting Simon we probably wouldn't have considered Jed. They obviously belong together and having both of them actually makes this adoption easier on us. On the way to China, I had the typical 'are we making a huge mistake?' worries. On the day we met Simon, I would have settled with going home with one. I am so glad that I am not the one in control here. His ways are better than mine.

This picture shows how Simon and Jed were feeling about sightseeing by the end of the day.