Sunday, August 14, 2011

Our days are starting to blend together as they often do on the last half of our adoption trips. We have a lot of downtime as we wait for Emme’s U.S. Documents to be finalized. Today was one of those easy days.

Thankfully the weather in Guangzhou is beautiful. Yes, it’s hot but very manageable for getting out and doing things! We went with our group for a little sightseeing today. We spent quite a bit of time at the local Buddhist Temple. Wow, it was amazing to see the acts of ritual around the religious traditions of this country. You could smell the incense before we got out of the tour bus. It was crowded with people praying and making offerings. Some of it we as Christians will never understand, but it was really interesting to experience the way they worship.

After the Temple, we went to a local store. Emme got her first pair of squeaky shoes. She loved them! I even got a kiss out of that deal! Our little girl loves her clothes and accessories! We also ran into two other adoptive families at this store. One of the family’s is “Journey to Bayley” on this site! I love meeting other families that are adopting too!

Emme continues to blossom before our eyes. She wakes up happy with the biggest head of hair you have ever seen hanging in her eyes. (I will get a photo of that before we go.) She is so adorable, even when she is half asleep. She travels well, and loves her stroller when we are out. She loves it so much, that we have to say goodbye to it every time they put it in under the bus just so she knows it is traveling to the next destination with her! Most of the time, she is very good. You can tell she was a good listener, and most likely a rule follower at the orphanage. I love watching how orderly she is. We are teaching her to leave her shoes by the door, which she is starting to do. This will take a while for her, since of course in her past life that meant bedtime. She does a great job of picking up her toys, and handing me anything that may fall on the floor, or be out of place! She jumps off the bed when I tell her it’s time to get dressed. She is a great eater, so she does not want to miss that breakfast buffet! She is starting to pick up some English words, and she is working hard to say her big sister’s names. She smiles big and looks to us for recognition when she does something good. She also has a little toddler temper.
It’s actually funny to see the “Little Bean” stomp her feet.. We are doing our best to not encourage that behavior here! Of course the language barrier does not help when your child is upset. She is good at pointing and shaking her head for things!!

As I type Emme is into a three-hour nap. One, she did not want to take! She put on her shoes, and begged to go in her stroller around the hotel. She even climbed out of her crib!!! Clearly, she has done that before! If we were home, I would have woken her up an hour ago. But, she really needs to catch up. It has been a huge week for our little girl. She is totally off her very precise orphanage schedule. Considering that, I am in awe of how well she has transitioned to her new “normal.” It’s hard to believe that tomorrow will be one week with Emme Jade already!! She is such a joy!

Sienna and Ruby are safely in San Diego this weekend. They will be going to the beach today! Oh, how I wish we were all there together! I can’t wait to see the girls on Thursday!

Tomorrow we go back to the Medical Exam building for Emme Jade’s TB test to be read. We would really appreciate prayers for that to be normal. And, at 10:00am tomorrow my dear friend Jennifer will be meeting Gracie Joy in Changsha, Hunan. We can’t wait to see that precious girl in their family! Jennifer’s blog is: http://baseballstobows.blogspot.com/.

Blessings from Guangzhou,
Diana