Monday, June 6, 2011

**Blogger wouldn't let me upload pics. Will try tomorrow.

Good day to all. Things continue to improve with more smiles and more laughing. Yesterday we only had one meltdown while I was changing her diaper and the high point was her bath. She did not cry even once!! She even smiled as I washed her belly. What we are discovering is that she is a cranky baby when she gets up. She needs about an hour to eat and get her wits about her before you can start moving her around. Now being a parent, I want to get her out of that dirty diaper as soon as possible so the question becomes, is her being upset for a few hours (she can hold a grudge) better than staying in a dirty diaper? We will be praying and meditating for guidance on this question for the remainder of the night. I will say that Mary Hannah does much better with Lissie during diaper change. Consequently, she is doing most of the changing right now which upsets me greatly because I want to participate in every aspect of raising this child.

Our activities for the day were going to a palace that we practically ran through, then to more shopping. I swear the guide is getting a cut of everything we are spending. I can hear it now… “Here come the Americans. We will take all their money but if they pass out…. run! We all had dinner as a group again at a place that usually only serves local factory workers. However, our guide knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows the owners cat, (or something like that) so she was able to get us a privet room. Even though we had no idea what we were eating, the food was amazing and very cheap!! Interestingly though, our guide did not eat but just sat and watched with a big smile, which was a little disconcerting.

By now I have heard story after story about how folks fell in love with their new daughter's at first sight. Or how they just knew from the moment they saw the first picture that God had intended them to be together. As much as I would like to shout from the rooftops that I had the same emotions and that I was overcome with joy the moment I first saw Mary Hannah, I did not. I was so heartbroken and sad for this child it was difficult to feel any joy. I was so angry at the caretakers for neglecting her. I was so worried that we had been given an emotionally damaged child; I could not feel excited or elated. I am happy to report and want to shout from the rooftops that this feeling did come for me yesterday when for the first time she reached for me. It is amazing how a heart melts when a child reaches out for love. It was, at that point, that I knew God had placed this child with us specifically. It was at that point that I knew we are God's gift to each other. Hannah is here to teach us and we are here to protect and guide her through life. Man what an honor to be so blessed. Last night I thanked God for the love and trust he has shown me over the years. Mary Hannah is just a new chapter in this on-growing thing called life.

Each day brings us a little more closer together. Her newest thing is to straddle my belly (which requires a lot of dexderity) while placing her hands on my chest and then bouncing. She just giggles and smiles. I guess it is like being on one of those bouncy balls that we all played on as kids, just not as hard. It is so cool because we are face to face, laughing and giggling together. The bonus is that I get to seek a kiss on her forehead or nose and she responds by being coy. As a side note, this game is quite a lot of fun as long as you have NOT just eaten. If played after a big meal, it can cause some gastro-intestinal issues which I discovered the hard way.

Today we went to the Buddhist temple to be blessed by the monks. It was an interesting experience and we will post the video once we get back to the states. During the blessing the monk chanted some prayer and then he sprinkled water on our heads. The water irritated Mary Hanna, which she promptly let him know. The chant was cool although I have no idea what he was saying. For all I know he could have been chanting Coom By Yaa in mandarin. The other neat thing was the interest that others had during the ceremony as we kind of attracted a little crowed. Now no one clapped or cheered when he was done, but they may have been taking bets on the big white guy passing out!!!

Until tomorrow.
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Saturday, June 4, 2011

First let me begin by saying that every day I learn something new. Today’s lesson……… The word “allot” means to assign or ration. The words “a lot” mean much or many. Now for the past 40 some years I have always spelled “a lot” as “allot”. Personally, I could care less because I know what I mean and evidently most everyone else does too. However it did bother one person enough to say something to me and being someone who is always open to growth (I am a people pleaser), I will do my up most to spell “allot” as “a lot” unless of course I need to write someone telling them how much to allot something or how much was allotted to me, in which case I will use “allot.” Also in the interest of good grammar, if I have offended anyone else, whether a little or a lot, please forgive my ignorance.

We have seen amazing progress over the past few days. Mary Hannah is using good eye contact and has become more vocal. We have gone through several diaper changes without any fits and we have been able to move her from crib to floor, floor to stroller, stroller to floor and floor to crib without meltdowns. She did sit in my lap today without throwing fit which made me feel a little less monsteresque. She is smiling some on her own and is responding to being tickled with some laughing. She is also much more mobile and curious which tells us she is become more secure in her new environment. She still is very quiet by nature and still pulls away from interaction with strangers or the other adoptive families. She is taking more bottles which is good, four yesterday and 3 so far today. I think we are getting the mixture between rice and formula a little too thick as she always leaves some in the bottle, which usually looks like wood glue. (Yikes)

We are looking forward to going to a Buddhist temple tomorrow and as always shopping. We have come to believe that the reason why it takes the paperwork so long to go through is for the shopping!!! All of our paperwork is done except for the American passport which we will get next Wednesday!!! So shopping, shopping and more shopping. Tonight was fun as all the families we met in Beijing who went to other providences to get their babies, have arrived here in Guang Zoe. The reason for this is that Guang Zoe is the exit point for ALL adopted children. So we all 26 of us met for dinner tonight and it was fun to learn about their experiences for the past week.

Until tomorrow. I plan on writing a lot more until I have used my allotted time on the computer.