Saturday - Medical Exam

Today has been a quiet day by choice for us. We went to breakfast and met up with Lynn Arnette (she is part of our travel group from A Helping Hand). She is alone to pick up her daughter, Olivia. Oh my is Olivia a beauty and so personable. She is miss chatty and smiley now. She is learning English all the time but she is two and you remember how quick they pick up things.

We met Elsie at 10 AM and we all walked to get passport pictures taken. It is a drizzly rain toady and you guessed it, cold. They had to retake Alison's pictures because they had to be able to see her eyebrows and her bangs were too long. The first picture was better. We walked about 3 blocks to the clinic. We must have been the first two appointments because within minutes of our arrival the place was full of children being adopted. We saw two couples we saw at our paper signing day.

Medical: ear, nose & throat; eye exam for Alison (the EEE's which way do they point); temperature, blood pressure, height & weight; then the doctor did a quick exam. Then we were done. Alison said very, very little. Some nods yes and sometimes a short answer to a question but not much. The doctor asked if she responded to any of our commands, which she does. I don't think Alison spoke at all to Elsie. She would have done better with David.

AFter the medical, we went back to Lynn's room and I played with Olivia while Lynn & Lynn did the paperwork with Elsie. Alison sat on the bed and watched cartoons. I guess since she doesn't know Olivia, she wasn't engaged with her at all. Even blowing bubbles with Olivia wasn't entertaining for Alison.

Lynn & Olivia went to lunch with us at Lucy's. Alison had her first cheeseburger with fries. She has had fries a few times but not the burger. She seemed to like it. She didn't finish it all though but the fries were gone. I got her hot tea instead of her usual orange drink. She would have preferred the orange but her cold seems a bit worse to me today. Olivia had peanut butter & jelly and seemed to like it. Isn't that funny, the foods our kids have grown up with are so different for these kids?

We made our way back to the hotel and we have been couch potatoes today. We have just put in videos for Alison. She laughs and seems to enjoy them so much. I think I selfishly like to see her have a fun time that I will indulge the boob tube for a bit. Maybe when she feels real safe and cared for, she will open up.

We ordered Papa Johns pizza for dinner. That was pretty good and pretty quick. It was 114 yuan for a 12 inch pizza & cheese sticks. We have left overs too. Another first for Alison. She ate a cheese stick and about half a piece of pizza. Like I said, I think her cold is a little worse. Her appetite has been better on other days compared to today...another reason not to drag her out in it again today.

We are going to turn in early. All of us are yawning a lot today. We plan on going to church tomorrow. The English translated sermon is at 11:00. I hope we don't have rain tomorrow. I did look out around 5:30 and it wasn't raining at that time. My plan is church and then shopping here on the island.

That's all for tonight. I see giggles behind me as I look in the mirror. We are watching Lion King (remember she didn't get to see the whole thing in the car the other day). Four days and counting until we come home. I can't wait. Brenda

Excuse the typos. Spell check is giving me an error consistently and not running.