Has it been a month already??

Chloe Grace - June 29th, the day we first met

One short month later....an entirely different girl


Wow, I can't believe today marks one month since Chloe Grace officially joined our family. We've had hard days, but I think we've turned a corner.

When we arrived home with Chloe Grace 3 weeks ago today, I wasn't sure things would ever seem back to normal. I was tired & Chloe Grace was cranky...and so was I! I was struggling with how to discipline my new daughter and she was trying to figure out her place within our family. She was prone to fits like I couldn't believe. When she was told "no" about something or I had to correct her, she ran to her room, laid out on the floor, kicked & hit & screamed - all the while rolling around, usually ending up under the bed. She wasn't easily consolable. After letting her do her thing for a few minutes I'd go and get her and hold her and try to soothe her, without much success. I'd eventually find something that would peak her interest and distract her from whatever it was she was upset about. In between fits, she was pretty much stuck to me. I understand her need for that, but it was draining. Through it all she's been very affectionate and loving. Still, I wondered what in the world I'd gotten myself into. By bedtime we were both physically and emotionally exhausted.

A week ago we seemed to make a breakthrough. Maybe Chloe Grace's emotions were heightened because she didn't feel well, I'm not sure. But over the last week, each day has gotten better. Her fits are exponentially less severe and not near as often. She is understanding more and more English every day. She's able to play for short periods of time alone or with the other kids without needing me right there. She still checks on me through out the day - I expect that will go on for quite a while. We still have some bedtime things to work out, but things are coming along.


And let's not forget, that in the midst of all this there are 3 other amazing kiddos that belong here. Jarod, Madison and Jason have all been so great during this past month. They've been patient and loving and kind (most of the time) to their new sister. They have been more helpful to me than I would've predicted. Of course, there have been times when we've had some sibling issues to work out, both among the three of them and with Chloe Grace. But over all, they've just done extremely well.


Chloe Grace is a bright, funny girl. She fits our family like I couldn't have imagined. I can't even begin to understand exactly how God works providentially in our lives today, but I know that He does and this little girl is evidence of that. She is the child I was meant to have. Even before we knew each other, I was meant to be her mother and she was meant to be my daughter. The long, hard road she had to travel to get to me is unimaginable. The pain and agony this little girl has suffered in her short life is more than anyone should have to endure. But I'm grateful for it all, because here we are. I get to see that beautiful smile more times than I can count each day. I hear "I lub ya toooo" almost every time I proclaim my love for her. She gives amazing hugs and out of nowhere will bust out with "Mama lubs ya". You bet I do, sweet girl....you bet I do.

The sky is clearing...

We've had several good days in a row. I say that, realizing I run the risk of jinxing it all! But I know there are those who love us that read this blog and want to know how things are going.

I said in the "to-do list" blog that I didn't think Chloe Grace felt well. I was right. That night she spiked a 103.5 fever. I took her to the doctor the next day and she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. No wonder she was irritable - the poor girl had to feel awful! So, we've been on the antibiotic for 3 days now and what a change I've seen in my girl! Her fits have subsided and she seems genuinely happy most of the time. Don't get me wrong, she still doesn't like being told "no", but she's handling it better. She's not running off to cry and pout like she was.

Something new that's developed over the last week is bed-wetting. She hadn't wet the bed a single time, and in the last week she's done it twice. Maybe it's the UTI...I'm not sure. And the strange thing is she doesn't wake up when she wets the bed, I discover it when she gets up the next morning. My other kids always woke up when they wet the bed, even if it was the middle of the night. I've not made an issue about it, I've just been sticking her in the tub when she gets up wet and changing the bed. If it keeps up, we may go back to pull-ups at night. I used them in China just because we weren't in a situation where I could change the bed easily in the middle of the night, although she always woke up dry. We'll see how the next few nights go.

I think I've been doing laundry since we returned home from China - I just can't get it caught up! Part of the problem is just that it's summer...the kids are swimming a lot, so I have more towels & swimsuits that aren't the norm the rest of the year. I need to put a clothes line outside so they can hang their towels and suits to dry and use them again before I wash them. Right now they just dump it all in the bath tub where it waits until laundry day (which lately is every day!!). I keep thinking "today's the day, I'll catch it up today." So far, it hasn't happened. I'm trying hard to be ok with that. Maybe today....

In the morning we're going to check out a farmers' market in Austin. It's about 40 minutes from here. I hope we come home with some great fruits & veggies! Hope you all are doing well!!

My To-Do List

My girls - one with a face full of jam!

I'm a list maker. I'm task-oriented. I get some strange satisfaction in marking tasks off my ever-growing to-do list. I've even been known to add something to the list that wasn't there before just so I could check it off. Weird, I know. Anyway, lately my list is getting longer and longer and the things I can mark through as completed are fewer and fewer. I knew to expect Chloe Grace to need me. I went into this planning to hold her when she needs holding and to just be there when she needs me. I've done that, at the expense of my list. I'm coming to terms with that. Several adoptive moms have said when you adopt an older child, you can't base your days on the chronological age of your child. It's like having a newborn. She's only been home with us for 2 weeks. I'm told to expect this phase to last 4-6 months. I've tried to remember those days from when my older kids were newborns. Nothing was done...laundry piled up (once Steve's mom even took our laundry to her house and worked on it for me), dishes stayed in the sink for days, stuff piled up everywhere. With each of my older kids, my mom came and stayed for 2 weeks after I'd had a baby. She took care of everything and all I had to do is take care of myself and the new baby. I can't imagine not having her there. Knowing we were bringing home a child that was almost 5, I didn't expect to be back in that place...yet here I am. So, I'll share with you my revised to-do list.

Breakfast - check (does toast with jam and potato chips count as an adequate breakfast? If not, I'm in trouble!)

Dress kids - check (as long as they don't have to be dressed before lunch)

Lunch - check

Dinner - check (most nights, anyway. We have ordered in more than usual. I have a roast in the crock pot this morning. We may be having just meat tonight!)

Dishes - not usually done until the next morning. I keep hoping the kitchen elf will come during the night and I'll wake up to a spic-n-span kitchen. So far, that hasn't happened. Where's Dobby when you need him??

Laundry - Maybe the kitchen elf can bring the laundry elf with him???

Bathe kids - check (although I only have to bathe one, the others are pretty self sufficient in the tub)

Bedtime - not on time, but at some point it happens. The past few nights Chloe Grace has cried at bedtime and that's a new thing. Last night I don't think she felt well. This too shall pass!

So, as you can see, my bathrooms haven't been cleaned, my floors haven't been vacuumed and I just got my suitcases unpacked from our trip to China. But I've stopped whatever I was doing to hold Chloe Grace when she needs me and I know that's what is important right now. I'll have lots of time to clean house and do laundry when my kids decide they're too cool to be around me...and I have a feeling that's going to happen much sooner than I'd like.

The honeymoon is over

When we were in China, I bragged on Chloe Grace to everyone who would listen..."Fits? Why, no. She's just happy and delightful!" While I do still believe that, now that we're home things aren't quite as hunky-dory. Real life is setting in. The newness is wearing off for the other kids. Chloe Grace is testing boundaries. It's a hard place to be right now - I'm not sure how to discipline her. How do I distinguish between communication barriers and defiance? Obviously, sometimes she makes her defiance very clear. But other times, I think she's as frustrated as we are. I know it just takes time. I know we aren't the only family to be going through this right now. I knew to expect this transitional period for our family. But none of that makes these days easier.

A lot of people ask how we're doing. I always say we're doing well, and I believe we are. Things are certainly going better than I ever expected, having met Chloe Grace less than 3 weeks ago. But I also want to be real about our days and not paint a picture that's inaccurate. It's hard. Chloe Grace cries - often. She's not easily consolable. She's 5 and wants her way all the time.

Last night at bed time she had a royal fit. She didn't want to go to bed. I took her to the bathroom, offered her a snack and a drink. None of that interested her, she just didn't want to go to bed. She laid in bed and cried. I had some laundry to fold & planned to go in and sit with her when I was finished. She got out of bed before then, so I went on in her room. She clung to me like I had been away for days. I couldn't have peeled her off if I tried. So we sat and I held her and rocked her and she did finally settle down. Once she was asleep, I felt bad for letting her cry for as long as she did (it really wasn't long, maybe 5 minutes). She's trying to figure out if she can depend on me to meet her needs and I felt like I had failed her.

She is happy a lot - I don't want to leave the impression that she's miserable all day long. She loves to jump on the trampoline and swim in the pool. She spends at least a third of her waking hours chasing around the dog and/or the cat. She likes to write and color. Often throughout the day she finds me just to give me a hug and a kiss and make sure I'm still here. I've got news for you, sweet girl....I'm in for the long haul. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be right here, ready to cover you in hugs and kisses, rain or shine!

Chloe Grace turns 5

Chloe Grace's birthday dinner


Chocolate Cake Face


Opening her gift



A new doll for her birthday

Today my sweet Chloe Grace turned 5. I made beef & stir fried vegetables for dinner. She loved it & ate 2 platefuls! Next came cake & singing "Happy Birthday"...she passed on the ice cream (Jarod and I sure didn't pass on the ice cream!). She ended up with chocolate icing all over her mouth. It was too cute to not preserve in pictures. Madison gave her the gift bag with her present in it. She picked up the bag and started to walk off. Madison tried to show her she needed to take out the tissue paper to get to the gift, but she just wasn't getting it. Finally, Madison showed her a peek of the box under the paper & Chloe Grace ripped it out so fast - there was no stopping her then! She seemed to like her new doll.

I've learned over the past few days that a temper tantrum from a 5 year old pretty much looks the same no matter where you're from. Now that we're home, Chloe Grace is becoming very comfortable - which is a good thing. With that comes testing boundaries and seeing what mom's going to let her get away with. Any time I tell her "no" about something (which I try not to do a lot at this point, but sometimes it's unavoidable) she starts that long, drawn out, whiny cry and runs up to her room, shuts the door, lays on the floor & rolls around kicking and hitting until she ends up under the bed. It's a sight to behold, let me tell you! I usually let her spend a few minutes getting it out of her system & then I go get her and sit with her until she calms down. That hasn't been happening very quickly, I think partly due to our communication barrier right now. Usually I have to find something else to peak her interest for the crying to stop. I hope we can figure this out quickly...I'm pretty sure that whiny cry she does could be used to coerce a confession from a criminal!!

Over all, though, we've had fairly good days. She loves playing with Jarod, Madison and Jason. Jarod had a friend over for a bit today & they played hide & seek with Chloe Grace. Somehow Chloe Grace ended up being "it" the entire time, but she didn't seem to mind. When she found them she'd yell "I gotcha, I gotcha, I gotcha!" It was too cute!

We sat and looked at some picture flash cards for a while this afternoon. By the end she remembered hat, goat and girl. Except when she saw the girl picture, every time she'd say "good girl". It was funny.

Our neighbor across the street came over to visit for a few minutes and brought Chloe Grace a blanket she made. It was so sweet of her to think of us. Everyone has been so amazing with offers of help. So far we're doing ok. Chloe Grace has slept all night for the past 3 nights, so I think she's over the jet lag. I'm still not sleeping well. I hope I can work it out soon - it makes for a very tired mommy during the day! Otherwise, we really couldn't ask for things to be going any better. This sweet girl just amazes me more each day - I'm looking forward to celebrating a lifetime of birthdays with her!

Visits from family and friends

Jumping with Jason

Chloe Grace loves jumping on the trampoline!



Sitting with my uncle

front (l-r) - Daniel (our kids' cousin), Chloe Grace, Madison & Jason
back - Jarod

Chloe Grace & Conrad - a family friend

We've had a busy few days. Each night Chloe Grace sleeps a little more. In China she slept almost 12 hours straight through each night from the first night she was with us. Wednesday, our first night home, I finally got her to bed a little before 11 pm. She was up at 2 am, ready to face the world! I was not! I stayed up with her until 5, then Steve took over for a bit. She finally did sleep a couple more hours. Thursday night she went to bed a little after 8 pm and was up at 4:30. She didn't eat much dinner on Thursday & woke up hungry. She ate an apple and then laid back down with me, but after about half an hour it was clear neither of us would be going back to sleep. Last night Steve's mom, step dad and nephew came in, so we were up late. It was 11 pm again before she went to bed. She got up at 6:30 & climbed into bed with me and we slept until 8:30. So, each day is getting a little better.

We had some dear friends visit from Dallas for a while today. Their boys and our 2 oldest kids were all at the same summer camp last week & this morning was pick up. After we rounded up our kids, we visited at our house for a bit and then went to lunch before they went home. One of the boys, Conrad, really hit it off with Chloe Grace. It was really sweet. He was so thoughtful and helpful toward her and she obviously adored him.

Now that all 4 kids are home, we'll start settling into our daily routine...I hope! I've spent the last 2 days catching up laundry. We had our laundry done in Guangzhou before we left China. It's so humid there that quite a bit of it stayed damp & I had no choice but to pack it that way. So I spent yesterday re-washing it all. I should've just saved the money and planned to wash it at home in the first place!

Our trip home was long. Chloe Grace is an excellent traveller. She didn't like having to keep on her seat belt, but otherwise did great. Our flight was late leaving Guangzhou because it was raining. By the time we landed in Tokyo we had less than an hour until our connection to Minneapolis was due to leave. Chloe Grace and I visited the ladies room before we went through security, which put us toward the end of the line. By the time we got through security it was 3:05 and our flight was at 3:25. We found the monitor with the gates listed and our flight was on final call! Steve grabbed the carry on bag & I picked up Chloe Grace and we made a run for it!! We were on the plane less than 5 minutes before we left the gate. That was a little too close for comfort! In Minneapolis we had plenty of time between flights. The first thing I did was get a big drink with lots of ice! We loaded the plane on time. Then the pilot says there's a minor mechanical difficulty and we'll be leaving in a few minutes. About half an hour later he says it's a bigger problem than they first realized, we needed to get off the plane, switch gates & wait for a new plane that was due to land from Dallas in 10 minutes. So, we were about an hour late leaving Minneapolis than scheduled. At least we didn't have another connection to make.

My mom, my uncle and Jason (our youngest son) were all at the airport to greet us. Our bags came off quickly and we headed home. We stopped for dinner at Texas Land & Cattle. We had nachos, steak & salad. It was so nice to have a large glass and all the refills we wanted!

The kids have done great together. Chloe Grace adores them all. She follows them around and does everything they do. The first night we were home she spent about half an hour chasing the dog around the house. Thankfully, our dog is very patient and great with kids! Our cat has also been hauled around more than she would like in the past 3 days. I'm sure they're hopeful the newness will wear off soon!

I'm not sure at this point how often I'll continue to update the blog. We are doing so much better than I ever dared to hope in such a short time. It's definitely an answered prayer. I'm sure we'll still have hurdles to cross, but for now, things are good. Thank you all for being so supportive. Your comments on the blog were so encouraging while we were so far from home.

We made it!

We're home, safe and sound. The trip went well. I'll post more once I get some sleep!

Tuesday - Last Post from China

This afternoon we went to the US Consulate to pick up Chloe Grace's visa. We also had to swear that all the information we provided was true and accurate.

We leave China first thing in the morning. I hope when Chloe Grace is older we'll be able to bring her back to see where she was born. I've thought a lot about Chloe Grace's birth mother today. She has to wonder what happened to that toddler she left behind. I wish she knew how much we love this sweet girl. And that though she was such a very sick baby back then, she's thriving now. We are the lucky ones. We get the privilege of watching this amazing little girl grow up.

Next stop...home. I can't wait!

Monday in Pictures

The White Swan Red Couch Photo

The Chongqing Girls

(l-r) Julia, Chloe Grace, Isabelle, Sydnee, Molly, Izabella

Most of the kiddos in our travel group

Our first pedicure...within 20 minutes she had scraped off most of the polish!

Monday - Pearl Market & Consulate Paperwork

I have my own place!

Having fun with Daddy

Playing with bubbles w/Daddy

This morning the moms went with Alison to the pearl market in Guangzhou while Susan took everyone's paperwork to the US Consulate. The dads had to be in the room available from 11-12 in case Susan needed to call with questions from the Consulate.

The pearl market was a little overwhelming...ok...a LOT overwhelming. There are so many different qualities and sizes of pearls. I had no idea what to buy. I knew I didn't want to spend $250 on a single strand of pearls, but I also wanted to get a fairly descent set of pearls for both my girls. I ended up spending more than I expected, but I think I got pretty nice pearls for my girls. I also got a pendant necklace to give each of my boys' wives when they get married. If they don't like them, they can save them for their daughters. The mall where the pearl store is located is huge. We didn't have time to look in very many of the shops. In the morning Steve and I are planning to take a taxi back over there and do a little more shopping.

The consulate paperwork went well. Tomorrow afternoon we'll go over there and pick up Chloe Grace's passport with her US visa in it. That's our last appointment...no more paperwork!!

Sunday - It's been a week already

I can't believe we've had this sweet girl with us a week already. We've all come so far in such a short time. Chloe Grace is learning to trust us. She's such a silly girl! Madison, she loves watermelon and tomatoes just like you. Really, she's eaten everything we've offered her so far. She definately has a mind of her own and is very independent. She takes a little while to really wake up in the mornings....wonder who else in our family is like that???? Each day just gets better and better.

This afternoon we went to Carrefour, which is like Walmart. We finally found her a pair of shoes. When we came out of the store it was sprinkling a little bit. She made sure the bow in her hair was covered with her hand so it didn't get wet!

Last night on the way home from dinner we stopped in a store called Jessica's Place (everyone has their own place...Jordan, Susan, Helen, Jessica, Jennifer) and bought Chloe Grace a traditional chinese dress for the group photo at the White Swan tomorrow. It's become a tradition before you leave Guangzhou to take the children to the White Swan and take their pictures on the red couch in the lobby while they're all dressed in traditional chinese clothes. Sara, the girl in the shop that helped us, asked me if she could ask Chloe Grace what color dress she wanted. I was going to get pink, but I thought since she could ask her I'd make sure that was the color she wanted. Nope, she didn't want pink. She chose a teal colored dress with butterflies on it. It is beautiful & Steve bargained her down to 45 RMB, which is about $8. I think we got a great deal!

Tomorrow morning the mom's are going with our guide, Alison, to the pearl market. I want to get pearls for both girls before we leave. Susan, our other guide, will take all our paperwork to the US Consulate tomorrow morning. Tuesday we all will go there for our oath ceremony. Wednesday morning we leave our hotel at 5:30 and head to the airport for an 8:30 flight. Finally, we'll be headed home. I'm so ready to be home. I'm ready for some familiar food! Today at the Carrefour we found some Lay's potato chips. You wouldn't believe some of the flavors they have available here....we passed on the Italian Red Meat flavor & stuck with the American Classic in the yellow bag! Tomorrow night for dinner we're ordering Papa John's Pizza. I've heard from another family that it's not exactly like home, but it's pretty close. At this point I'll take what I can get! Steve's craving a juicy steak. Just a few more days....

Saturday - Visa photos & Medical exam

Flight from Chongqing to Guangzhou

Last night's flight went well. We were delayed about half an hour because it was raining in Chongqing, but otherwise it was uneventful. Chloe Grace did great on the flight. It was only an hour and a half, but she seemed to love it. She got a big smile on her face when we took off. I packed a bag of stuff to keep her busy, but she didn't need it. She opened & closed the window shade about a gazillion times. She played with the channel and volume control buttons for about 20 minutes. She ate some teddy grahams & went through 3 pieces of gum. She spent the rest of the trip flirting with the 3 boys in the row behind us. We're soooo in for it!

This morning we had her visa photos taken. Then she had her medical exam. Both went well. Aterward we walked around the island before returning to our room. We had lunch at Lucy's with another family in our group. It was the best grilled cheese and fries I've had in forever!!

Just a few more days until we're headed home. We miss you all!!

Friday - Leaving Chongqing

This afternoon we leave Chongqing...the only place my girl has ever known. The place she was born, where she lived and was left behind - the place we journeyed to find her. So much has happened here in her short, little life.

Each day she seems to come out of her shell a little more and it seems to happen a little earlier each day. This morning she woke up happy & giggly. We called home and talked to the kids. She talked on the phone to them a little, repeating what I told her to say. We looked through the photo album I sent in one of her boxes before we arrived. She said Jarod, Madison & Jason's names. She also called the boys "gege" big brother and Madison "jiejie" big sister. This afternoon she started saying "I lub ya" on her own...she melts my heart. I'm grateful to be her mama.

Thursday - City Hall & Eling Park

Waiting in the hotel lobby
At Eling Park - Chongqing in the background, you can see how hazy it is here. Chloe Grace was pressing her cheek against mine really hard!

The view from the tower in the park


Art professor writing ShuNan

Today has been another great day! Chloe Grace is really starting to come out of her shell. She's a silly, independant, fun girl! She is repeating more words after us & babbling in chinese a lot. Sometimes we figure it out, sometimes we don't!

We started our day at City Hall. There's an art museum there. An art professor gave us a demonstration painting chinese calligraphy. It was beautiful! We are having a scroll painted with the charactor for goat, since Chloe Grace was born in the year of the goat. On one side of the character is the name of the artist. On the other side is her chinese name, Shu Nan.

We asked Alison, on of our guides, what Shu Nan means. Shu means comfort & Nan means south. Steve said "Are you kidding me??? Our daughter's name is Southern Comfort???" Too funny!

Chongqing is know for spicy food because of it's Sichuan influence. The girls adopted from here are often called "Spicy Girls". Our girl loves spicy food - she'll have to eat it with daddy!

Michael told us that Chongqing is known for it's 5 H's - hot, hazy, humid, hilly & huge. It is definatly hot and humid here. It's like Houston. We just walk out of the hotel and are dripping sweat by the time we reach the bus! The hills here are comparable to San Fransisco. In Beijing there were people riding bicycles everywhere. Here, you see people walking, but not on bikes like in Beijing - the hills are too steep. The haze is part fog and part pollution.

Tomorrow we leave Chongqing and head for Guangzhou. We'll be there the rest of our trip. We are supposed to meet the rest of our group in the lobby at 3:30. We'll head to dinner before we go to the airport. The flight is an hour and a half long. I've heard that blogger doesn't always work right because of the internet service in Guangzhou. If I have trouble posting from there, that's why.

Jarod, Madison & Jason - Daddy and I miss you all very much! We can't wait to get back home to see you.

Jarod & Madison - Have an amazing time at camp! I know you'll have so much fun! I can't wait to hear all about it when we pick you up.

Madison - I think big sister in chinese is "jie jie", I'll find out for sure & let you know.

Love you all so much!

Wednesday - Zoo & Silk Market

Today was a great day with Chloe Grace! We're not actually calling her that yet, we're still using ShuNan since that's what she's used to. She also responds to "MeiMei", which means little sister, so we use that some too. Every now and then we throw Chloe Grace in with one of those, but she doesn't respond to that yet.

We first went to the zoo this morning. We didn't see the entire zoo, just the panda habitat and the tigers. Chloe Grace told Michael she had never been to the zoo before. My stomach didn't feel well most of the day, so I sat out the silk market. Steve said it was beautiful & very high quality silk.

After lunch together we headed back to the hotel for the rest of the day. We saw a glimpse of our sweet girl's personality, I think. She is so silly! We played & she laughed and laughed. She said her first English phrase to me...."you silly girl" - you know what she's been hearing! Then she called BaBa a silly girl. I explained that she and I are silly girls and BaBa is a silly boy, so she started saying that to him. She repeated a lot of what we said last night. She said I love you, cup, gum please, thank you mama, noodle, hot. We've come a long way in just a few days!

Yesterday we received our official paperwork from the City of Chongqing. We received our adoption certificate, her birth certificate and her abandonment certificate. We'll need all that in Guangzhou next week when we complete the US portion of the paperwork.

Today our agenda is to visit a park and city hall.

Tuesday - Meeting of the rivers & Wal-Mart

The picture says it all
Chongqing in the background

The meeting of the 2 rivers


Tuesday was another good day. We met our group in the lobby at 9:30. Michael took us to a scenic spot where the 2 rivers of Chongqing meet. The Yangtze River is the muddy one and Jialing River is the clear one. You can see in the pictures the difference in the water.

Then was Wal-Mart. We didn't really need anything, but the other families have babies & they needed diapers & other baby things. We looked around...it was interesting. The shirts all had English writing on them, not Chinese. It is 2 stories, but not really bigger than our Wal-Mart, there just wasn't room to spread it out on one level. There's an escalator you take your basket on to go from one floor to the next. The top floor is mostly fresh foods & the bottom floor is dry grocery items, clothes & electronics. In the fresh foods section there is a huge area where you can buy fresh meat. They don't package most of their meat like we do. The raw meat was just laying in the meat cooler & everyone was touching all over it. There were whole chickens laying on ice, turtles and frogs in a tank...and they weren't meant to be pets! That part was very different from home!

We let Chloe Grace choose a DVD. They had a rack full of Disney DVD's with Chinese characters written on them. She chose Mulan. I wasn't sure if it would have subtitles or voice over, but I figured either way it would give her something different to watch & cost less than $3. Michael said they do the movies both ways, it just depends. When we got back to the room and played the movie, it has an option of English or Chinese & it is voice over, so she loved it.

Chloe Grace had a good day today. She's very attached to me and doesn't really want Steve to do much for her. He's taking it well. I told him today I wouldn't have handled it so well if things had been reversed. He's being patient & plays with her and tries to help her some. On the way back from dinner last night it was hard to let her walk and still keep up with the rest of our group. I carried her some, but my arm is so sore from hauling around this 4 year old! So I asked Steve to hold her. She wasn't happy about that. He put her on his shoulders & she patted him on the head the entire time with one hand, wanting to get down & held my hand with the other. He's very patient about it & she'll eventually come around. There were no tears at bedtime. She even took a bath before bed & let me wash her hair. Her scalp is really dry & she scratches at it a lot. Next time I wash her hair I'll try some conditioner.

Thank you all for your continued prayer on our behalf. We may still have some hard days ahead, but for now we're doing well. I can't ask for more.

Today we're meeting again at 9:30 to go to the zoo and the silk market. I'll post about those tomorrow.

Monday's pictures

Stamping our fingerprints on the adoption papers

My black-haired beauty, ready for bed