Here Comes the Sun

It is Sunday morning here. We have been to breakfast and are killing time until time to go to church which is at 11:00. I had to quickly write...as I looked out my window earlier I could see the streets were drying up but just now... I see sun. Real sun. I may have to pull out the ole sunglasses. What a wonderful Sunday. God is good. This is the first we have seen the sun since we have been here. More later.. Brenda

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.

Friday - Free Day but not for Dad

Today was our free day. Lynn fell asleep around 9PM last night (typical) and Alison and I watched movies (well, I played on the computer). I let her watch Little Mermaid twice and we turned out the lights at midnight. My friends and family are laughing at this time because that is so like me to stay up late and want to sleep in and now I have a partner in crime.

We met Carl at breakfast this morning. He is here alone and is adopting a 2 year old cleft pallete son from Zhu Hai. They are from St. Louis and I encouraged him to join our group. His wife is at home with the other children. Alison didn't seem too interested in him so I am not sure if she knows him or not. Well, not anymore interested than she is in people watching everyone.

We kept the TV off today until after dinner (now). The movie of choice is Little Mermaid. Alison picked out all of these Barbie videos and she has only watched one and seemed to lose interest in it before it finished but that was her third movie yesterday (or whenever it was) so who knows. My girls can't believe I would let a child of mine watch 3 movies in a row with their father here. Well, when you hardly ever smile and you can't speak, it seems like a reasonable thing to do for your new daughter. Can't you all hear it? "You never let us do that when we were her age." But, I would let the grandkids so that should all be fair to everyone.

Alison has played with all sorts of things today. The yo-yo she got yesterday most of all. Now as a mom, I should say she excels at yo-yo but she really doesn't but she has the stamina of an athelete and she will get it no matter what... eventually. She is starting to write her alphabet but doesn't want me to hover. She was writing in some of the workbooks that I brought but doesn't want me to help her or comment on what she is doing. We have a deck of cards that is capital letters and small case letters with the same picture A- Apple a - apple. She put all of the capitals together in order (the sequence is on the back of each card... you know... a, b, c, etc). Then she started on lower case and when she didn't know what the letter looked like she found the capital and matched the lower case based on the picture. Hey she may not do yo-yo but that was pretty intuitive!

I fried the Leapster! Well only the charger. I thought I was so smart to bring two battery packs, one Leapster and the power cord. Well, the power cord is fried and won't charge and wouldn't you know she loves that thing. She has drained two batteries. I will have to put it up now as it is frustrating that it comes on/off but that is it.

We took a taxi to Li Wan Square for shopping today. The driver let us out and we weren't sure where we were. It didn't look like where David took us exactly. We were on the pearl side and not the everything else side. Once we found the McDonalds, we knew where we were and that is where we had lunch. Lynn ordered while we found seats. Somehow we ended up with four meals instead of three. The cost for 4 meals was around $12.

Alison loves french fries and lots and lots of ketchup. We shopped around and walked a lot but didn't buy much. Alsion found another yo-yo and wanted it (maybe she thinks it is a mechanical thing and not talent that is holding her back) so of course we bought it. I also wanted shoes for her. They are very reasonable here but a bit hard to find much selection. In the bottom floor of Li Wan (on the McDonalds side) I found a shoe store with Barbie everything. I bought a pair of pink Minnie Mouse boots, two pair of black Barbie shoes (one bigger than the other) and a flashy pair of white and sparkly silver tennis shoes. She has a pair of black & pink tennis shoes that she came with but they won't "go" with everything casual like the white ones. I probably should have got one pair of plain black shoes because I bet her shoes can't be flashy for school. Sanity comes back after the rush of a sale.

That was it. No other purchases. I couldn't find any "wristlets". I love to buy knock-off purses but can't find many of them here. There are a lot of womens / teen clothes in this mall. I will have to ask for an outlet mall for non-clothes items.

We walked back. It is basically a straight shot back but about a 20 minute walk. We didn't have rain today but still cold in the 40's. We were all cold when we got back. We hung out here and then walked to the Cows Bridge for dinner. Just got back to our room. Alison had to look over the menu several times. Lynn and I think she was looking for more french fries but she settled for fried noodles and some of the sweet / sour chicken from our dish.

As I type at the computer, the mirror is in front of me. Alison won't lounge on our bed but she will lie on the very end with a pillow and watch TV. I can see her as she watches the movie. We don't get smiles but she is giggling as she watches the movie. She doesn't know I am watching her. I can't wait until we can share in those sweet, funny moments. She isn't uttering a word with us. We have not heard one syllable out of her mouth today. That is a bit sad.

Tomorrow we have the medical appointment and Elsie will help us with our paperwork. We should be free by lunch time. I hope Alison will answer the questions they ask at the clinic tomorrow. . . . Brenda

A trip to ZhuHai

Here are some pictures of our trip to the orphanage.

The first is in front of the orphanage where the display of adoption children is.

The symbol of ZhuHai is the lady holding the pearl over her head. Zhu Hai means Pearl Sea. Boy was it cold out there.

Alison is no different than other girls--she loves french fries with LOTS of ketchup. And like other girls, including Ma Ma, she likes to shop.

Next is in the van, before she got car sick. She wasn't green yet.

The next is for you Sue, here is Alison with Ai Li.

That is followed with a few other photos of some of the children who will be adopted. They wouldn't let us include any who weren't being adopted.

Thursday - Visiting the Orphanage

Zhu Hai City is about two hours from Guangzhou. David is such a good guide. He points out all the places of interest. The universities and convention sites. He has been to Zhu Hai City 10 times. It is one of his favorite places to visit. The drive along the sea is beautiful. I can't imagine how pretty in the summer sun. There are sidewalks along most of the seaside in the city so you could walk forever. How lovely.

We were allowed to drive into the orphanage. They were expecting us. We were introduced to the staff. The Director and assistant directors. They even brought teachers over to introduce to us. We were given hot tea (wonderful on another cold day)to drink and asked to stay in the office.

Alison would come in and out and I was a bit nervous to have her out of my site. We came with a bag of chocolates. I gave it to Alison as we left the car and a little older girl came and took it from her. She showed someone her bubble tape and they took that as well. Not sure how this transpired. We never saw either again. She was given a yo-yo and she kept that.

There were 4-5 girls around us most of the time Ai Li was one of them. We took several pictures but were told not to take pictures of the orphanage and no children who are not being adopted. David told us one little girl in a blue jacket has said she does not want to be adopted so she is not leaving. I felt very odd in that place. Alison was talking to everyone and more animated that just with us but not overly so. She ran in/and out of the office freely. I was ready to leave after only about 20 minutes or so. We came and Alison got to see her friends but she was ready to go as well. At the end of our visit, Alison took my hand and took me toward the playground and where her pictures were taken. I think she wanted me to see where she was because we have looked at those pictures a few times.

They said Alison was found outside the fence so we walked that short distance and took a picture. This isn't the story that was sent with her bio but it doesn't really matter.

The orphanage is moving after the new year. Their new facility is ready for them. Kind of sad the old place won't be there for her to remember if she returns. They are leaving the old folks behind and only the children are moving. This facility holds 100 children and you can see they are bursting at the seams. The end of an era here. They said she would be welcome to come back and visit in the future. Lynn asked if any children had returned and they said no but they have only been in the adoption program since 2005.

We stopped by the sea and walked out to the Pearl lady statue. It was sooooo cold out there. One begger was out on the rock. What a miserable, cold spot. We were not out there long and then ran back to the car.

David picked up KFC for us for lunch. We ate in the car. About half way back, I thought a movie would be good. So I put in Lion King in the DVD. She watched for sometime and then looked more and more out the window. I thought she might be getting bored. Well, about 20 minutes went by and I knew the problem. She kind of gagged and I told Lynn to get a bag from my purse but we missed most of it. Poor thing. Did this mom know she gets car sick? Yes, I did but she had been doing so well that I thought they might have been mistaken. I felt so bad for the driver, he has a mess in the back of his very nice van. We offered to clean it up but David said he told him to take it in to be cleaned and we would pay for it.

Can I digress a bit? It is true there isn't heat (portable heaters in the hotel room only) in any of the buildings but the Chinese do not use car heaters either. As a matter of fact, they leave the windows open a lot. So to say we have had cold outings... well driving in a car is a very cold outing. My feet were frozen by the time we got back here. I just got into bed and took a short nap.

Alison has been playing mostly with the yo-yo today since we got back. No Leapster since we got back. We went to dinner around 7PM and she ate fine. She is very decisive about what she wants to eat. Tonight it was a Quesadea and French Fries. They served the Quesadea with salsa and she ate that by itself with a spoon. The french fries she dipped in ketchup. I think our ketchup consumption will go up at our house. I had some hot tea again tonight. Oh was that good.

We are back in our room relaxing and watching movies. Friday is a free day. Saturday is Alison's physical. Sunday is a free day. Monday is the consulate but we don't go to the appointment...only David. He asked us to be in our room from 11-12 and to meet him for a cruise at 5:45PM. Tuesday is the zoo and Wednesday is home. David has business in Hong Kong Friday thru Sunday so a colleague is helping us on Saturday.

Alison has now started refusing to hold Lynn's hand when we walk. He is very disappointed and feels like we are digressing. I don't think so. I think she is feeling comfortable enough to express her wishes. She acts like she doesn't understand the translator at all. No response when we use it. She won't speak any English even to say "Hello David" or "Goodbye David". Her shyness is quite apparent. We will just have to be patient. I am not discouraged. This is such a major change for her. We are ok.

That is it from this side of the world....Brenda

Pieces are coming together

The couple we met this morning are John & Christine Zernick and they have adopted Zhu Ai Qing (Kailee). They have not joined our Zhu Hai group yet but will soon. In the group picture on the playset, she is third from the left. They ran into Kirsten with Brooke (Zhu Chun Xi)earlier this week. Both families dropped by the orphanage yesterday but at different times. Anyway, we met up with the Zernick's in the lobby tonight and we talked for a bit. Kailee & Alison talked for some time. I have their info and they have ours. We no more finished talking to them and walked outside when we ran into Kirsten, Sue and Brooke. I am seeing a little older sibling teasing the younger ones. Our meek/mild Alison swung a few playful punches at Brooke when they met and as we walked away she was sticking her tongue out at Brooke. A side of our daughter we have not seen.

Kirsten has been doing some major networking. I guess there is a 2 year old boy from Zhu Hai in our hotel and another girl (from our group picture) staying in another hotel near by. I can't remember her name but she is the girl on the far right of the first row on the playset group picture. We have to get all of this info down before we leave.

But the thing I haven't had time to put together is who Alison has been asking for Ai Li. Hello! For those of you who have no idea who I am talking about, the Huber familiy is adopting Ai Li and they are a part of the Zhu Hai Yahoo group. I read Sue's post on the site and they have a travel date. If I had gone back to the Yahoo site, I might have figured this out. I even brought the group picture and printed the girls names and birth dates so I could try to figure out who was who while I am here and I have been so distracted that I have not done that. Kirsten put the pieces together for me. I am glad I know now. How exciting.

We did the bath thing tonight. We have to be dressed & fed by 8:30 in the morning so I better get off here. What a great day.

Oh, Lynn gets the first recognition as being a papa but now his girl won't hold his hand as we walk down the street. Maybe that is punishment for his staring at her and saying how pretty she is. Girls are so moody...except for me...I just have mush for thought/speach right now. I hope this passes. I feel like my tongue is just blah, blah, blah as I talk to people here. Not sure what is happening but I hope is passes soon.... Goodnight....sure has been a good day....Brenda

Jan 30th - More Shopping & Videos

We slept about 12 hours last night. She must think we are hibernating bears or something. Alison slept as much as Lynn and I. I think she is exhausted with her cold and all the emotional stress. She is getting the drill down now. She is acting more like a kid. She will push the elevator buttons to call the elevator and will use the card to open the room door. She got dressed this morning and has the bathroom routine down. She washes her hands like a surgeon rubbing the soap over every part. She is trying to eat with a fork as much as possible. She hasn't mastered cutting foods with a fork yet. She watches closely while we eat and tries to mimic.

We really treated her to a wonderful Chinese buffet by accident last night. We walked to the White Swan and I just wanted a buffet so I could have some choices. Those of you who have been here are chuckling by now. The buffet was fabulous with sushi bar, all sorts of meats, vegetables, dishes of all sorts. The desert choices went on forever. Once you are seated, you go with the flow, right? Well, when it came time to pay the check, Lynn didn't have enough yuan and they didn't take cash...but credit came in handy. I thought we were going to be held hostage while Lynn went back to the hotel... oh I bet we could have gotten money exchanged at the hotel desk but we weren't thinking that clearly when the bill came. The dinner was great! Alison loves sea weed. She nearly cleaned out the bowl. I thought they were roasting a wonderful chicken and the chef even said it was chicken. Ah but I recognize duck when I taste it and I don't happen to like duck. We all had many surprises with dinner. Alison spotted the ice cream right off but I said later. I think every kid remembers a promise made. She ate every bite. She used the finger bowl to wash her fingers and was eager to pull the napkins and use another one with every messy finger. So, we all learned something with this meal. Our lesson...check the price before you sit down.

Lynn mentioned the museum. That was beautiful. I loved to watch David talk to her. It is like he has a vested interest to explain as much about her culture as he can. I admit a spark of jealousy ran thru this mom's veins as I saw her take his hand over and over but I am patient. I don't have to have her every minute. Once we were back in the car, she is like a baby bird snuggling under my wing. She scoots as close as possible into my side and will rest her head on my chest. She puts her hand on my leg and takes my left hand. How sweet. Maybe she fears being car sick . I don't care what it is. I sigh and enjoy the ride.

She is soooo quiet. She will answer questions if pressured but doesn't speak much. David called Miss Zou again today and she talked to her. She really doesn't want to talk to her but she wants to talk to Ai Li. That is who she is asking to talk to. I didn't tell you how upset she was on day one. We took a nap and I woke up to her silent sobs. I tried to soothe her and held her in my arms. She very boldly told me something and then took me to the phone and said it again. She wanted me to call someone. We called David. David said she wanted me to call Miss Zou so she could talk to Ai Li. She calmed down after he talked to her. Like I said she talked to Miss Zou yesterday and today. David told us again today that she is asking to talk to Ai Li.

In the lobby today, a family came off of the elevator and Alison and this girl just started chatting. This is one of the Zhu Hai girls. We only spoke for a few minutes. They needed to go and so did we so we arranged to meet downstairs tonight at 6PM. I am not sure who this girl is and did not think to ask David what her name is. We will find out tonight. They went to Zhu Hai yesterday and got into the orphanage. When David heard that, he said he would call and we would go to. I am a little hesitant about going since Alison was so upset on day one. David talked to her and he thinks it is ok. So, we head over there tomorrow morning. I can't wait to talk to the family tonight and see how things are going for them. They live in Cleveland so we could meet them halfway several times a year and let the girls see each other.

David took us to the mall after the museum. We took a cab to a mall the other day but it certainly wasn't this one. This one had many children's shops. This must have been the place that the Cox's told us about. I won't even tell you how many videos I bought. I picked up two more pairs of pants, a shirt and a jacket (pink & black... do you see a theme as I do?).

We have just snacked in our room this afternoon and watched videos. She has lounged some on the end of our bed and smiled a few times but isn't really warm yet. She is comfortable with us and I think knows we will care for her and buy her things but isn't family yet. I am patient. I just wish she were a little more vocal. I think she pretends she doesn't understand when she doesn't want to talk. She is picking up nicely on routine things. We haven't used the translator much. She doesn't act like she understands when we use it but I think that is shyness and not knowing what to say yet. We should see a different side of her when we meet with her friend tonight.

I will try to write more later. Happy birthday Angie. We will call you later (well, after we sleep tonight).... Brenda

Oh, Lynn has found a way for us to see Lynn Arnette's blog (she is from A Helping Hand and will be here in the hotel on Saturday) and to see the Wees blog. They are at the White Swan now but we haven't been able to catch them in their room. It is so good to hear how everyone is doing with their new children.

I almost forgot the most important part. Alison called Lynn "papa" today. He was putting a video into the DVD player and she had chosen the next video. She was handing it to him and he wasn't paying any attention. So she said, "papa". Oh man, why do kids always say dad first? She has said momma and papa before but only when she had to for Miss Zou. This was the first non-prompted speech to us. Yeah!

More Cold and Rain

It is Wednesday afternoon. I will let Brenda describe the day later. She does it so much better than I ever could. I will upload some pictures though.

Shopping is always at the top of Brenda's list. I think it is at the top of Alison's too. It continues to be cold (40's) and rainy here. We bought more clothes for Alison and lots of Chinese DVDs. We went to the Family Chen's Temple which is a traditional place for the Chen family to honor their ancestors. It is now a museum.

Our guide, David, is very good with Alison. He takes the time to explain everything to her. She responds well and will hopefully remember it as part of a very proud heritage.

More to come . . .

Adoption is Final

Well, she is ours or we are hers, however that will work out. Today has been a long day but we have made leaps in our bonding. We finally had to wake her this morning at 7:25 AM. She got dressed and we went to the breakfast buffet. She is very decisive about what she wants to eat but isn't saying anything... just shakes her head. When we went to get drinks, she walked back alone across the room to the table. She never leaves my side. She usually always has a hold of one hand and is pressed close to me. She is getting a bit brave here.

We went back to the same place as yesterday and did our oath and finished signing the papers. That took almost an hour. We dressed her in clothes I brought and I took a blanket with us, just in case but she wouldn't use it. Then we went to a Walmart type store (not the real deal) and found a play coat with a hood, the warmest sweatshirt I have ever seen (will take days to dry if it gets wet), two pairs of pants (no more high water stuff that I brought). Since this was a grocery, we looked around a bit. She wanted Orange soda...afterall, if her parents were getting diet coke! She picked up a bottle of green tea, a gold rat filled with candy...(it is the "Year of the Rat"), some boxed candy of sorts and a thing of bubble tape. She asks if she can have it by pointing and I say yes or no...ok, I said yes much more than no. But I did practice the "n" word a few times. She likes to shop! I love that in a girl! Hollie, we will come pick you up and marathon shop!

We went back to our hotel. She is feeling more confident. I had to ask if she needed the bathroom yesterday and today she will go on her own. She unbraided the Barbie dolls hair and rebraided it. She plays alot with everything. We went back to Cow Bridge for lunch. She likes fried rice and fried noodles. Today she chose noodles and we got an order of Sweet & Sour Chicken. She liked the chicken. I just put some on her plate and she wanted more. She is a good eater. Oh, did I say she ate seconds for breakfast. But she doesn't hoard or try to take it with her. We have snacks around the room and she doesn't seem hungry.

After lunch I let her play with her dolls and then introduced her to the Leapster. She only got to play for about 20 minutes until we left for the Police Station to apply for her passport. The first thing she did when she got back in the room is start up the Leapster.

When we said goodbye to David, she also said goodbye. She will walk quickly to the elevator to push the button for the floor. She wouldn't do that even this morning but it now seems to be her job. We are getting there. He asked her if she wanted to go do something fun tomorrow and she shook her head yes. She is very shy and will answer his questions but only barely. Oh earlier today, David called Miss Zhou (the person Alison wanted to call yesterday)and let Alison talk to her. Alison spoke to her (not just nods) and didn't cry or seem upset. Yesterday I am sure she would have told her to come get her.

We have to decide about dinner. The days seem so long and we are all so tired at the end of the day. Even Alison was laying on me in the car and David asked her if she was ok and she shook her head that she was only tired. I have been told she gets carsick. Good thing I have Dramamine. She has not been sick so far and driving on highways where people act like there aren't lines...only suggestions for travel... more like an event leaving the drive-in where anything is fair game...anyway, you get the idea...and she hasn't been even green.

They have a Papa Johns, maybe we will get delivery tonight so we don't have to go out in the cold. Travel has been severely hampered in China. It is like frost in Georgia brings everything to a close, people in this area don't know how to drive on ice. Many people are trying to travel for the New Year next week and their tickets have been cancelled and they cannot get another travel time. Some adoption families are in provinces where travel has stopped and they may have to stay longer due to the New Year. We are thankful to only have cold weather and not freezing.

Thanks for your prayers. We have met many wonderful families this week as they bond with their new son or daughter. Quite an adjustment for the little ones (and the big people) but so touching to see as the bonds start developing. We feel quite humbled to be given such a blessing. Excuse the ramblings and the jumbled topics. I don't think I am over my jet lag and we have had so much happening.

Stay tuned...Brenda

Pictures

OK, this access thing is getting annoying. The access to where I started putting pictures (opera.com) is blocked like the other sites. I put them on facebook and said to let everyone see them. To facebook that seems to mean people who have created an account. You can do that at no cost, but it is annoying. So I will include some of them here for your viewing pleasure.

The end of the day

It is evening and the day has gone well. Alison woke up from her nap crying. She misses her friends at the orphanage. I guess I would be homesick too. We took her out for a while, ate dinner, and did some shopping. Alison wasn't shy about picking out some things she wanted. Neither was Brenda. I guess some things are the same world over.

I have placed some pictures on the photo album site. I will try to do this at the end of the day each day. The link for that is on the left task bar. It is hard to choose which ones to post. As a proud dad I guess I think you should look at them all. But I will spare you that.

Sitting here looking at my new daughter takes me back a lot of years. I remember sitting and just watching my other daughters when they were Alison's age. The thoughts and feelings are the same. All I can say is God is good. I now have four daughters I can look at with pride and say God is good.

So, to sum up the day--it is a good day, a very good day.

Lynn

In our room... dressing her doll

WOW! She likes us. We went to the Civil Affairs Office @ 10:30 this morning. We were the only ones there. Alison was in the main room when we got there and made a mad dash for the restroom. She was very shy at first but has warmed up nicely.

We went to a private room to "meet" and she came right to us. We only stayed in there for a short time and then went back to the main room. Within moments she was leaning into me and held my hand. She sat on my lap and wants to stay close. She didn't shed a tear. She got our package. I pulled out her doll from a bag and she immediately smiled and was stroking her hair. She played with the doll for about 15 minutes and then got distracted with the signing of papers and reviewing the pictures. She went through the photo album we had sent her and she pointed to our pictures and then to us. When she got to the picture of her room, I showed her doll on the dresser and she smiled.

We are doing so fine. We came back to the room for a bit and she ate a snack. She has played with the Dora water color book and we colored one picture in another coloring book. She is taller than I expected. The clothes I brought are not warm enough with this cold weather. The pants are a little short (the ones I bought). We have to go shopping tomorrow. I should have brought more of the clothes I had a home.

We went to eat lunch. First to the bank. We walked into the White Swan and she seemed uncertain and held my hand tightly. We did a little shopping but no one has clothes her size. We bought a yo-yo. Then on to Lucy's Bar & Grill. She ordered her drink and picked the meal she wanted. Not forceful in her decisions but quietly showing me what she wanted. She shared my french fries but ate her Tai spicy beef. Good eater but not too much.

The lady in the shop was trying to talk me into buying all sorts of things. We stopped at books and she read Alison some of a story from a book and I asked her to have Alison read it. She says she doesn't read yet. We thought she would be in third grade but now find out that she is only in second. She had some piano lessons before she started school two years ago but not since.

We are back in our room trying to thaw out. Did someone say layers? She has 3 shirts on and a silk jacket and silk vest. She has quilted pants under her silk pants so her body is warm but she has the coldest hands. I have gloves and hats at home but not here.

We are watching a kid program on TV. Alison is sitting on her roll away bed dressing/undressing her doll. and playing with her dolls hair. I wish now I had left the doll's hair long, I bet she would have loved playing with longer hair.

So far so good. She is very easy to please now. She didn't ask to buy everything in the stores. She ate well and didn't make any messes...was very careful. Her hands are so tiny and she was eating with a large spoon (not a teaspoon) so it looked so large as she ate. She picked out pink often as we shopped. I think I have a fu fu girl! (however you spell that).

She does have a cold but it doesn't seem too bad. We will do a bath later. She put the pink pajama bottoms on her doll already. They can be dressed alike tonight as they sleep.

Well, that is all for now. It seems later than it is (only 3PM). We got up very early today...imagine that. So far so good.

Brenda

Sunday Update - Tomorrow is the day

First let me say that I can read your comments. Once you can open the blog site (as Lynn said) you can right click on any of the comments and "Open in a New Window". Thank you for all who have passed along messages.

We have two small portable heaters running in our room and there is heat coming in as well. We are comfortable in our long sleeves. The thing you need to know is that China does not heat or cool their public areas much. They do try to accommodate us weeny Americans though with some heating and cooling.

When you enter this area, you drive right by Victory and drive straight to the White Swan (back door). Maybe that will help some of you know where we are. We walked about 2-3 blocks to the White Swan today and all around the hotel. We walked by the river and back down the main promenade. We ate lunch at Cow Bridge which is just around the corner from our hotel.

Sherry's Place is moving. The woman we spoke to said they had lost their lease. We went to the new store which she said was very small. We did not go into the old store. We have time yet.

We took a cab to a mall today. Don't shop on Sunday...there were 9 of the 14 million people at this mall. Didn't see any Prada or Coach knock-offs...maybe that is another mall. We did buy some videos for Alison. Typical...watch what you buy. I bought Toy Story I & II and the outside says English, Mandarin & Cantonese but when I play it on our DVD it is English & French. I bought several Disney movies that won't play on our DVD player but if we change our Region code on our laptop will play them (I assume...Lynn didn't want to change it). Then I have Little Mermaid 2, Cinderella 3 & Moulan 2 that all play on our DVD player. We will talk to David and see if he knows our options. Maybe we should buy a DVD player here and take back home with us for her videos. Bob Kilbourn do you know?

We had a tough time getting a cab to come back from the mall. They just didn't drive by but with the 9 million people at the mall and in the street they were in high demand. We probably stood outside maybe 15-20 minutes to get a cab. Not having tried to get a cab in New York, we probably did good but in Indianapolis I have my choice of cabs most times. Not that I take a cab in Indy though.

We have met a few families here at the hotel. The two we met today are at the beginning of week two so will leave soon. One family is from Evansville and they adopted a boy who is deaf. He is learning to sign and he is a hugger. I saw him stop eating and give his momma a hug three times. He loves being signed, " good boy". The other family is from Pittsburgh. Her sister is with them and she is from MIAMI. She said in 28 years living in Miami she has never experienced weather like this!!! Too funny. And I thought I was cold. She is freezing.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I will also be checking our home email. Oh, our travel companion from our adoption agency said she uses Skyp (I think that was it) and they have video cam capability via Internet. We might want to look into that for the Zhu Hai girls. Since they are all over the US, it would be a very good way they could see and talk to each other until we can get them back together.

Oh, I found Starbucks too. We didn't stop today but I am thinking a "skinny vanilla latte" - Vin... oh you know the biggest one is going to be on my wish list.

I napped earlier today around lunch and Lynn is napping now (7PM here). Tomorrow is our day! Can't wait. I don't care right now if I sleep or not.

Thanks for prayers and well wishes. ... Brenda