Zhongshan Day 2

It was a beautiful day today with clear blue skies and pleasant temps in the 70's. We traveled out from Zhongshan City today to visit a few other museums and parks. Our first stop was the museum of the home of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. He was raised in a small village called Cuiheng which is about 30 minutes outside of Zhongshan. Much of the original village has been preserved and restored to show what life was like during his youth in the late 1800's. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and the buildings were very interesting. The homes in the village housed individual families but they were all interconnected with a maze of courtyards and alleyways. Apparently, this one small village was the birthplace for four men who played very significant roles in the Chinese revolution which overthrew the last Chinese emperor. The museum itself housed a very extensive display of old photographs and other items that spelled out his life in painstaking detail. We now know quite a bit about the most famous resident of Zhongshan City. It will be good to have for Kylie as she becomes more curious through the years about her birthplace.



Next we drove to Guishan Mountain Park, a place we had read about which was touted to be a beautiful nature park. The drive to get there took us through some very rural places, which we loved seeing. We had the feeling that few, if any, foreigners have ever visited this part of rural Zhongshan. It is a strange sense of adventure when people literally drop whatever they are doing just to watch you walk by. We felt like celebrities -- in fact, we decided that Kennan was Brad Pitt and Hank was George Clooney for the day. I don't think we fooled anyone but we had a few laughs to ourselves. We spent a few hours exploring the area -- it was a lush park with many winding trails that led to a Buddhist temple at the top of the hill -- and then we left to find a lunch spot.

Just like yesterday, we found a very authentic and local spot to eat lunch. This roadside restaurant was completely "open air" with a bamboo supported roof and tropical surroundings. Walking into the seating area was an experience all it's own as we passed by tanks with live jumbo prawn, a variety of live fish, caged live frogs, snakes, eels, ducks, herons... do you get the picture? Our meal was again family-style with boiled whole shrimp, fish, some very interesting steamed vegetables and roots, and fried noodles. We felt certain that the shrimp and fish were about as fresh as it gets based on what we passed as we walked in. I wonder what fresh cobra with a side of grey heron would have tasted like?



Our guide had one last place to take us after lunch -- another place that we had read a little about online. As it turns out, it wasn't quite what we thought, so we decided to stop at another park on the way back to the hotel. This park was called ZaMaLing and was highlighted by the most beautiful rose garden we have ever seen. Red, pink, yellow and shades in between covered a sloping hill that led up to a pagoda at the top. Some of these roses were larger than both of my fists put together! Again, we were the subjects of many stares and covert photos by the other visitors to the park. More than once we were asked to have our pictures taken with a group of locals.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, exhausted from the day and exhilirated by what lies ahead for tomorrow. We are excited beyond words for what we will experience tomorrow afternoon as we finally get to meet our little girl. Let there be... one less Chinese orphan girl and one more Miller daughter.

Steven Curtis Chapman's lyrics touched our hearts over 18 months ago and a dream was born...

"I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl.
She was standing in the corner on the other side of the world.
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my heart,
Didn't you say you wanted to find me? Well here I am, here you are.
So, What now? What will you do now that you found Me?"

Miss Zhong Feng Cai, soon to be Kylie Grace Miller, we are coming to bring you home! We know it will be scary at first, but we know that the Jesus that made you is the same Jesus that put the dream in our hearts and picked us to be your Mommy & Daddy, brother & sister! We love you so much already. We have prepared our home and God has prepared our hearts. We are ready.



Remember, we are 13 hours ahead -- so while you sleep through the night Sunday, our family will grow. Please pray for Kylie, that even though she may not understand what's happening, that she will have a peace in her heart. And, also pray that God will give us the grace to simply love her as she grieves over losing everything she has ever known.

Blessings to you all,

Hank & family