Latest Update

Thought I would let everyone know how the last week has gone. We have had lots of good progress and also lots of the normal grieving that comes with the territory. Everybody says how well Grace is doing and how well she is adjusting, which she is; but sometimes we forget how much she is still going through and how unbelievably difficult this still must be for her. She has moved into the big crib in Lily's room and is consistently sleeping through the night, even napping there as well. I think it's more comfortable for her and nice to have a big sister in the room to keep her company. We continue to have more friends and "new people" stop by to meet her and she is generally very tolerant of that.
Each day, sometimes several times, we have moments where she just cries, sometimes for up to a half an hour, and we just don't know why. It usually starts with something identifiable and then obviously becomes something more. Sometimes it can get pretty intense and we just have to hold her or walk with her until it subsides. We had read about the grieving process and were prepared for the worst, so when she didn't do that badly we considered ourselves lucky and prepared to move on, but although we have been lucky, there's still a lot of work to be done. We can see now that Grace needs us to work just as hard with her as if she were reacting much worse. She's still "on the edge" so to speak and we can't forget to treat her as such. Sometimes we forget that she's only been home for two weeks, and still probably has no idea that this is all permanent. For all we know, she may just be waiting around for her foster family to come pick her up.
Sophie and Lily are also adjusting. Sophie is doing fabulously well; she loves holding Grace's hand and helping her do things. Lily is very proud to have Grace in her room. There was some discussion about moving the crib into Sophie's room, but Lily decided she wanted to give it a try. She still has a harder time sharing all of her toys and enduring Grace's poking and prodding, but then, she's still only three herself. School starts next week and then everyone will have their own time in the afternoon and I think we will get into a good routine (I've been talked into being the room mother for Sophie's kindergarten class, so we will all have something to keep us busy!)

Sophie's Birthday Party

This past Saturday we celebrated Sophie's 6th birthday and had a gathering for some of the family who hadn't met Grace yet. It turned into a kind of big to-do but was well worth it. Sophie had a fabulous time and Grace loved having all the kids around to play with. She continues to amaze us with her adaptation skills. She is letting more and more people hold her and care for her. She has started doing the signs for "more" and "all done" and "flower", and has also started giving high fives which she finds quite hilarious. She has her first two forehead bumps from taking headers on the sidewalk. On Saturday all of the cousins got to play together for the first time and we found out that Isabel is not actually four inches taller than Grace like we had originally thought. It was great fun to see everyone and for everyone to get to see Grace.

Sleeping has improved as well. She is sleeping reliably through the night and taking a good afternoon nap. The trick now is to get her to fall asleep without Mom staying on the bed right next to her. I am allowed to walk farther and farther away from her before she realizes and comes looking for me. Our biggest concern is that we be able to keep a close enough eye on her so that she doesn't do harm to herself, our house, or one of her sisters. She's like a secret weapon: she can slip away so quietly and make such a mess before you realize it that we are constantly putting out fires. It's not so much that she's destructive as, I think, that this is all just so new for her and she wants to check it all out. Nothing is safe, even up high because she's an accomplished climber and finds ways to get to everything. Today I took her out of her high chair and put her down in the kitchen. I turned my back for a second and when I looked again she had climbed up onto one of the counter stools and was happily spooning spreadable cheese from an open container into her mouth with a butter knife.

Life is quite busy and even more exhausting, but it's a good busy and an even better exhaustion. I'm sure things will calm down as we get into more of a routine, school starts for the older girls and we have more quiet time at home. Right now we're just enjoying the gorgeous weather and the chance to step outside whenever we feel like it, take bike rides, go to the park or the library and play with neighbors. The cool night air is already reminding us that this won't last forever.

Cheers!

Pictures from home

Well, here we are at home and things are rolling along right on schedule. Grace has started to sleep through the night, still in a crib in our room. We'll try to move her in with Lily as soon as she's a little more predictable. Just like having a newborn, the sleepless nights didn't last long at all, in hindsight. Our biggest challenge now is to get the house in order for a toddler. She is still curious about anything and everything and checks out anything she can get her hands on. We've taken a few outings; one by bike to the new library and one to the pool. Both went well until she decided that she was done and then we were all done. Still trying to finish unpacking and getting the house back under control. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and we've spent a lot of time playing outside. Just the little matter of Sophie's birthday to plan for. Then it's almost time for school!!!

Back Home Again

Hello All!

We made it back; no typhoon, no liquids and all. The flight was actually rather uneventful. Grace was a trooper as usual. She took a quick nap, played, ate, sat in her own seat quite a bit of the time, and then fell sound asleep for the remainder of the flight. The hardest part was getting through immigration in Chicago. We had to go through the foreigners line to get Grace logged in as a US citizen. We got a little taste of what it's like trying to enter the US as a foreigner. After two hours in line we were sent through customs where our bags had already been pulled from the carousel due to our tardiness. All of us who had waited that long in line had to comb through the leftovers from 9 different baggage carousels since our flights were no longer listed on the screen. After finding both suitcases (on opposite ends of baggage claim!?) we were sent to a different customs line where they took our passports and all of the paperwork we had been given in China and told us to go have a seat. After another half hour wait we were admitted and Grace was officially a US citizen - yeah! Then we had to go through our third security checkpoint of the day, re-check our bags for the flight to Grand Rapids, exit customs and take a tram to the opposite side of O'Hare, go through security again and barely catch our flight. Needless to say our bags were not waiting for us when we arrived in Grand Rapids.

On the flight to GR, Grace was wide awake until we landed and were taxiing (sp?) down the runway where she promptly fell asleep. We put her in her stroller and met Dad at the airport. After confirming that our bags were not there, we headed home with our carry-ons. Sophie and Lily (with a little help from Nana, I think) had made a beautiful welcome home sign that was hanging just inside the kitchen door. Grace woke up just as we came inside and was instantly smitten with her two big sisters. She went right up to Lily, pointing at a butterfly on her dress and holding her arm. It was already about 8:00 pm but the three girls stayed up and played in the playroom for a good hour I think.

Since then it's been nothing but smooth sailing for all of the girls. It's definitely still a honeymoon phase for Sophie and Lily, as they share their things gladly and find everything that Gracie does cute and endearing. I give it about two weeks until she officially becomes their sister and all bets are off. But for now it's very nice. The big girls have been a great help and Sophie is excited that Grace is small enough for her to pick up. At night we read stories together and Grace entertains us with her acrobatics on the bed. She's already discovered the power of making the other two laugh. During the day she is the most happy when she can follow the big kids around. She loves bikes and tries to climb on even the biggest two-wheelers. Which brings us to the topic of night and day. Gracie hasn't quite caught on to the difference yet. The first night she was up from midnight to 6:00 am. The second night 11:00 to 5:00, the third 10:30 to 4:30. So we're creeping closer but it looks like it's still going to be awhile. We've gotten her on a regular nap shedule during the day, sleeping from noon to 2:00, but the nights are just too confusing. She's perfectly happy when she's up as long as I get up and take her downstairs. It's when I try to put her in the crib or in the bed with me during that time that she goes ballistic. The neighbors got an earful the first night so we've kept the windows closed since then.

So, other than being pretty sleep deprived, things are going amazingly well. She's already become like any other kid on the block, swinging on the baby swings and running around in the grass. She's still eating anything we put in front of her, both western and Asian food. Right now she's back and forth between macaroni and cheese and fried rice. We've become acquainted with the new owners of our local Chinese food store and they've been very kind.

I'm embarrassed to say that we haven't taken a single picture since we've been home so I don't have anything to post. I'll try to get right on that. With all of the sleepless nights and busy days it just hasn't popped into my mind. We're very glad to be home!

Final Thoughts

It looks like the typhoon may be a washout. Everyone is telling us not to worry about it, so we're trying not to. Now, if the whole London scare doesn't disrupt anything we might actually make it home. We are packed and ready to travel with lots of snacks and a few changes of clothes for Grace and really the same for us. We've decided to keep the extra seat for Grace since we would still have to pay something for her to travel on our laps, and the travel agent said the flight is booked so there's no way we'd get lucky and still have an extra seat by chance.

All in all we can truly say that we have had a wonderful experience in China and have come away with a genuine appreciation of its people. I hope I didn't give the wrong impression when I talked about the people staring because we never felt any ill will at all throughout the entire trip. When I think about the Chinese people I will always remember them as friendly, happy, content, eager to please and genuinely interested in us and what we were doing there. We were definitely an anomaly all by ourselves; add to that a little Chinese girl and we were an outright oddity. It only made sense for them to stare, but the contacts we made, considering the enormous language barrier in both directions, were overwhelmingly positive and sincere.

From our guide Iko in Beijing, with whom we shared several good conversations on the bus while navigating the Beijing traffic jams, to Lily in Nanning who shared her frustration with having to eat two dinners every night because they always had to visit both her and her husband's parents, we were always sad to see them come and go so quickly. In Guangzhou we spent so much time in some of the shops that we began to think of our favorite workers as our Guangzhou friends. Stella was our buddy at "A Home of Love" right outside the hotel. She was a perky 4'10" in high heels who probably weighed 90 lbs soaking wet. She worked eleven hour days and remained consistently upbeat, always remembering our names and greeting us with a "Hello Gracie! how are you?" as she scooped her out of the stroller and took her to the toy section so that we could shop. And even though we always pushed her in the bargaining department she never lost her cool or seemed surly, as I surely would have been in her situation. Dave's friend Dong at "Susan's Place" also hooked us up with many of the souvenirs that we are bringing home and by the last evening we ended up sitting outside his shop, just talking and sharing pictures of our kids back at home. These people see so many well-to-do Americans come and go from the White Swan that they could easily become bitter or scornful, but even though they are making a living from us, they never treated us like just another customer.

Even in the crowded markets of Nanning and Guangzhou we found that if someone was staring and we made eye contact and smiled, they would smile back. Many would approach Grace and ask us where she was from or try to talk to her in Mandarin. Their first question was usually "does she speak English?" to which we would have to answer, "not yet."

Our experiences with food have also all been positive. While we took some precautions to keep from getting sick, we enjoyed eating almost entirely local food. We only drank bottled water including using it to brush our teeth, not having ice in any drinks and keeping our mouths firmly shut while showering. It's not that the water here is that awful, but more that there are things in it our systems are just not used to. We've sampled the northern cuisine in Beijing including the dumplings and fried rice with all kinds of things added. In Nanning and Gunagzhou we ate more Cantonese style meals which is where most food in american Chinese reataurants comes from. We found the real stuff to be even better than what we know at home. There are some really tasty noodles with sauce that we ate a lot of. In Nanning we even tried barbecued octopus and a whole steamed fish served on a platter, head and all. It was all delicious and amazingly healthy. We have eaten nothing but rice, noodles, vegetables and some lean meats, none of it fried and felt full and not overstuffed. Between the healthy food and the extreme heat and humidity making most walks feel like a trip in the sauna, I'm sure I've lost a few pounds.

On that note we also have to comment on the complete and total lack of obesity in this country. In Beijing betwen the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and all the other sites we visited we probably laid eyes on close to half a million people; I didn't see a single obese one among them unless they were westerners. There were hardly any that you could call overweight. It simply doesn't exist here. We've heard that with the one child policy and the preference for males, some of the little boys and young men are being spoiled into obesity and we've noticed a little bit of that here in the south, but it's nothing compared to what you see on the street in the US. It definitely makes the epidemic in America seem even more troubling.

All of the cities we've visited have seemed more modern and livable than we had expected. Of course the sheer density of humanity and the size and scale of these cities is almost impossible to wrap your brain around. Trying to compare them to the US is pointless. There's nothing like them there. It's like taking the density and bustle of Manhattan, stripping away the super-rich aspect and spreading it over the entire New York/NewJersey/Connecticut metropolitan area with no break. Even Guangzhou, which is not a well-known city world wide, probably has more people than all but probably the top three US cities. There are simply so many people here! We also thought it was interesting that even living in this close proximity to this many other people in what most Americans would consider pretty substandard living conditions, there's barely any violence and the people seem (outwardly at least) content to sit outside and play Mah Jong or badminton or do Tai Chi in the park. Of course that's a broad generalization and it in no way takes into account the political situation that they are in, but when compared to some low-income neighborhoods in the US, at least they can be outside and not take their lives or their childrens' lives into their own hands. I know of some neighborhoods not too far from East Grand Rapids where the same can not be said. That said, our guide Jack did tell us that the penalty for possessing even 50 grams of marijuana here is death by firing squad. There are no juries in their courtrooms and no appeals process. He said it rather matter-of-factly and put it this way: "there are too many of us, we couldn't function any other way."

So that's it in a nutshell for our impressions of China. We can't wait to get home and see Sophie and Lily. We can't wait to see how our three girls will all react to each other and to see how Grace will adjust to life in the good old US of A. It's been a great ride, but now it's time to be back home and be a family. For those of you in other parts of the country, we hope we'll be able to visit with you and introduce you to Gracie as soon as we're settled, over our jet lag and ready to leave our house again. For those of you in GR, we'll see you soon...

Love,
Dave, Susan and Grace

Typhoon Warnings

Well, a typhoon is scheduled to hit Hong Kong right around the time our flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow, so we'll have to see what happens. Today we took the ferry across the harbor and then the tram up to the highest point to look out over the city. At all the public transport sites there are signs saying "Typhoon warning level 1 has been hoisted" We don't take that as a very good sign. The harbor is absolutely clogged with freighters that we are guessing could be coming in to avoid the storm. We'll keep checking to see if our flight has changed and try to notify you if it has. Mom and Dad, if you read this, we are on United flight 896 from Hong Kong to Chicago, scheduled to leave Fri. at 12:45. Then United flight 5864 from Chicago to Grand Rapids, scheduled to leave at 5:55. Hopefully we'll be on them!

Hong Kong

Greetings from Hong Kong. Got a little busy what with all of that shopping in Guangzhou! We took the train this morning into Hong Kong and got some good views of the countryside along the way. Hong Kong is very impressive so far although still very hot, muggy and extremely hazy. I think the combination of the heat, humidity, and pollution are really limiting our views. We went out for a walk tonight after dinner and saw a huge, coordinated light show along the harbor. We are across the water from the main island and from here they play music while all of the highrises on the other side light up or send out multi-colored beacons in time to the music. It's quite impressive. The streets are much like I had pictured: massive amounts of light-up signs all hanging out over the road and even larger lit-up billboards atop all of the skyscrapers.

Grace is doing well, although I think we all are getting pretty tired and worn out from all the traveling. She has definitely changed over the past ten days, each day becoming more and more like we would expect a 20 month old to be. She is "voicing her opinion" in both positive and negative ways. She can be gleeful and excited, laughing and jumping up and down one minute and then throwing herself on the ground and crying the next. We've already grown to recognize her "fake" cry and distinguish it from when she is truly upset. Overall she is still doing amazingly well for a toddler traveling through Asia, staying in hotel rooms and eating at restaurants. We will all be extremely happy to be home where we can let her run, let her play and eat in our own kitchen. We're considering whether to keep the seat that we purchased for her on the return trip. She really won't leave my lap and we'd hate to pay that much money for a seat that never got used. We have a call in to our travel agent to find out.

Loving Guangzhou

We've only been in Guangzhou for a little over a day, but we are already loving it. There is so much to see and do and it's just easier to navigate as a foreigner. Last night we had a great Chinese dinner at a restaurant by the hotel, then some souvenir shopping (we're trying to remember everyone!) and then a boat tour on the Pearl River by night. We've decided that Guangzhou is a mix between Hong Kong (all the lights and signs), Las Vegas (lots of fake structures from other places), Savannah (moss draped trees and old colonial buildings), and Amsterdam (Canals, water and bikes everywhere). It's unique. Many of the skyscrapers put on elaborate light shows with music (another Las Vegas quality) at night. There is a big amusement park across the river from the hotel which plays Chinese opera music very loudly at dusk. We're on the opposite side of the building on the other side of the river and we can hear it in our room with the window closed. It took us until last night to figure out where it was coming from.

Grace continues to do well. I think she's getting a little overstimulated with all the travel and new experiences and has broken down a little more often. It probably also has to do with becoming more comfortable with us and not being afraid to let it all hang out. We did keep her up a little later for the boat tour last night and had to be up early for her physical this morning. We went at 8:00 and Jack had us in and out in 20 minutes. Later Dave told me that he thinks we cut in front of some other families who were waiting, but I didn't even notice. I just went where Jack told me and before I knew it we were done. We may be getting a few dirty looks in the hotel now. The check-up was very cursory: check the heart beat, eyes, ears, weight and height (21.8 lbs and 29 in) and we were out of there.

After the check-up we met Laura for breakfast and stayed there until 10:00. Grace polished off everything we put in front of her and then was ready for a bath. So Dave took her upstairs and Laura and I went out to do some shopping. He thought it would be good to spend some time alone with her.

Laura and I walked through some local markets on the "other side of the bridge". That's what they call anything outside of a three block radius from the White Swan. There were blocks and blocks of food vendors hawking blocks and blocks of foodstuffs, most of which Laura and I could not even identify. Other than many forms of mushrooms and some ginger root, it was all food that we will probably never cook with. Some of the buildings were like malls: three stories high with escalators to each floor and far and wide only bushels, baskets and crates of things to cook with that we had never seen before. The whole market covered about a five square block area including small back alleyways with one small stall after another. After a while we came to the greens section. Nothing but cabbage, kale and spinach-like things as far as the eye could see. Then came seafood - all of it alive. Buckets and barrels teeming with fish, turtles, eels, crabs, waterbeetles, frogs and other unidentifiables. Somewhere along the line it switched to pets, we think, but that line was kind of blurry. By the end there were crates of puppies and kittens, gerbils, chipmunks and tropical fish.

I tried to take pictures but it was the kind of place that is hard to capture on film. The sheer scale can only be appreciated in person. It's also hard to photograph people who are staring at you. You keep thinking, I'll snap a quick picture when they're not looking, but they're always looking! And it seems kind of rude to aim a camera back at someone who is staring right at you. If only we could read minds, or understand Cantonese, one of the two, I'm sure it would be very interesting. After a few blocks the market ended and was replaced with a mile-long (at least) modern shopping street with stores selling everything you could get at a western mall: clothes, shoes, bags, books, kitchenwares, appliances, electronics, jewelry and just about anything else. We got some long-sleeved pajamas for Grace at the department store since the air-conditioning at the hotel can be a little overwhelming. Everybody was very friendly and eager to help us. They always call the young workers over to help us since they inevitably speak the best English. Two set of pajamas cost $5.00 total. We also got 10 sets of nice, wooden chopsticks with porcelain rests for about the same price. On the way back to the hotel I got some souvenirs for the girls (no telling until we get home!)

When I got back to the hotel, Grace was sleeping. Dave said she did really well for the most part but got pretty crabby by the end and he had to just put her down. Three cheers for Daddy! It was the first time I'd left her for that long and she did really well with him. So now we only have one more appointment at the Consulate tomorrow afternoon and all of the adoption work is done. We'll get her visa to enter the US then and she'll become an American citizen the minute we touch down in Chicago. Hope all is going well at home. Has the heat wave broken? It's still sweltering here. Till tomorrow!

All our love

The White Swan

My apologies to everyone for not updating yesterday. Judging from the emails we got, there are a few junkies out there just "jonesin" for a Gracie fix. Yesterday was a travel day and Grace's only nap, which is when I usually do the blog, was on the airplane. She slept on my lap the whole way, which was only an hour and then was up until bedtime. What can I say about the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou except that it is very luxurious. We almost feel guilty...almost. The breakfast buffet this morning was so big that it will take us all of the four days we're here to sample everything. Tomorrow we're taking the video camera to breakfast, it's that impressive.

Our guide Jack met us at the airport. All of our guides seem very happy to meet us. Since they often have to deal with groups of up to 35 people, we are a plum assignment. We took the shuttle bus back to the hotel, got checked in and just looked around. Gracie was a wonderful traveler. At the airport she sat quietly on a chair and played with a toy truck while our flight was delayed for over half an hour. She slept on the plane and sat on my lap peacefully for the forty minute drive to the hotel. She seems to be a very good natured kid. We were comenting on the fact that she had a pretty idyllic babyhood. The foster family said they were just two retirees who liked to play with babies and we think that's what she did most of the time. She's just content to be with us and play and goes along wherever we drag her. Of course each day brings her out of her shell a little bit more. At dinner last night she had her first "tantrum" and I use that term lightly because it basically consisted of reaching for my drink over and over and bouncing up and down a little when I wouldn't let her have it. Otherwise, when you take something away from her she just goes on to something else. (Sophie and Lily are you taking notes?)

Today Jack took us sightseeing in Guangzhou in the morning. We saw and climbed a Buddhist Pagoda. It was nine stories high with one slightly smaller circular floor on top of another. By the top it was very high and very narrow and I wasn't too keen on standing up there holding Grace for very long so I hightailed it back down pretty quickly. Dave took some video though so I can see it later. Grace was in a really good mood. She kept walking up to all the Chinese kids there and touching their hands or trying to give them a hug. She is very social and desperately needs two big sisters to play with. She has also suddenly become very ticklish and laughs hysterically when we tickle her, whereas before she would just stare at us.

The area around the White Swan has a ton of shops for buying typical Chinese "stuff" so we walked around and got attacked by all the merchants when they saw us with the baby. Of course here we are not the only ones, as all adoptive families from America stay here for their Consulate Appointments. There seems to be a whole industry in Gunagzhou built around selling to American adoptive families, but they do have lots of neat things that are good keepsakes so we'll probably end up buying some of it. Lots of cool things for Sophie and Lily too!

There are two spactacular pools, one with a waterfall, that looks out over the Pearl River so we'll probably spend the afternoon there. Tomorrow we have the medical checkup by an American doctor, then Jack takes all of our paperwork to the Consulate and we wait some more to get it back. Tuesday there's a little swearing in ceremony where we get her visa to enter the US. Wednesday we'll be here just long enough to take advantage of the buffet and then it's off to Hong Kong by train. Friday we fly home. It will be here before we know it. Briarwood Ave: please have the drinks chilled for a Friday evening reunion. We can't wait to see you all. Sophie and Lily: we miss you like crazy and will try to call you Monday morning your time at the cottage. Grace is hearing all kinds of wonderful things about you and can't wait to met you!!!

All our love,

Daddy's the man

When I looked at the title of my last post I realized that it might not have come across quite like I thought. What I meant was that the hardest part was behind us and we could kind of coast down the hill now. I actually stopped to think if uphill or downhill was the correct metaphor, but anyway, now I've explained myself...sort of.

More progress: Dave is in the bathroom giving Grace a bath and I am out here typing. Today at lunch she sat on his lap and let him feed her as well. All I hear from the bathroom right now is, "thank-you, thank-you, thank-you" as Grace hands every plastic stacking cup to Dave. Have I mentioned she likes to hand things to people? It's Friday afternoon and tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou. We're more than ready at this point as it's been raining steadily all day and we haven't gotten out of the hotel much the past three days. In the week that we've been here we've seen exactly two other Westerners and basically only spoken to our guide (who we see for a few hours a day, tops) and each other. It's time for some diversity. Today would have been nice as we had a trip to a park and an outdoor market planned, but I guess there's a Typhoon somewhere off the coast and it's been pouring all day. Instead we went to a covered market for a little while. We got Sophie and Lily each a jade heart necklace on a red thread, just like Grace has. And Mommy got some jade necklaces as well.

Grace has been very happy and smiley today. We've decided that although she may be behind in her speech development, she has not suffered at all in the fine and gross motor skills department. She has the most dextrous fingers of a 20 month old I've ever seen. If I didn't know better (which I guess I don't) I'd swear she'd been trained to pick locks or string beads or something. She can open any container, screw the cap on and off the water bottle, hold a baby food jar with one hand and scrape the sides clean with a spoon in the other. And in addition to pooping on the potty (three times now!) she goes up and down stairs alternating feet with only one foot per stair. It's obvious that the foster family spent some good quality time with her.

As far as her size goes, I don't have any official measurements yet. Our bathroom scale says I weigh 125 lbs (not Kilos, lbs) so we know that's not right. I'd say she weighs close to 20 lbs give or take. The dresses I brought are 18 month size and they fit fine, but the pants in the same size are too big. She's definitely petite, but I can't tell where she is compared to, say, Isabel (her cousin who is the same age) She's very proud of all her new clothes. If she doesn't have something to hand people, then she points to her dress to show them instead.

Well, I've tried four times to post pictures and they just won't work. I'll try again later if possible. Also, a little birdie told me that there are lots of comments on the blog. We can't wait to read them when we get home. If there's anything that can't wait until then just email us at shojnacki@sbcglobal.net

cheers!

All downhill from here

Introducing the new and improved Gracie! You'll notice a similar theme to all of the above pictures: banana rice puffs. I think it's a novel idea for her to be able to sit and have access to food all the time. We've had to put all food out of sight and only bring it out on occasion. Otherwise she wants to have it all! She's almost made her way through one container. Good thing we have two more. We're definitely saving one for the flight home.

So, where were we? We got her on Monday and she was pretty sad. By Tuesday afternoon she was playing and opening up. Tuesday night we thought we'd try a bath to see how she liked it and it was the biggest hit yet. She was splashing and laughing and swishing the water around with her hands. (Lily, I don't think you're going to like taking a bath with her for a while :-) The only crying we had that night was when we had to get out of the bathtub, but by then she was tired and soon fell asleep. Wednesday morning I think she woke up and thought, "These people, still! Enough already." She was very reserved again, but no crying. She seems to deal with stress by going very still and quiet. Lily took us to a big park in Nanning called "Green Hills Park" I carried Grace in the sling on my hip and she was just very floppy and looking around. At the park some local girls wanted to have their picture taken with us. They were about ten and very giggly. As soon as they were done they ran and hid behind their parents, but not before Grace handed them her Little People zebra. The handing is still a big deal.

After the park we came back to the room and took a nap, then another bath (at least an hour and she still didn't want to get out!) so we went for a walk to get out of the room and found the outside pool that we have access to through the hotel. We decided if she liked the bath so much, the pool would be even better, and we were right. She is a little fish - put her whole face in and doesn't mind getting her eyes wet. Oh, but wait, the most exciting news is that she pooped on the potty (sorry non-family members, but this is quite extraordinary and must be shared) When we were getting our swimsuits on she started pulling on her diaper and making a face like she was pooping, but when I took it off she was clean so I thought, why not? I held her on the toilet and said in Chinese (see, those lessons paid off) "go poop" and she did! Just like that. Pretty cool, eh? Don't ask me how they did that, but it worked.

After swimming we went to our favorite dinner spot; The Diner. It's right by the restaurant but a big spot for the locals. It's about one block long and has an open counter along one whole side. You go to the window that has the picture of what you want to eat, order it and then sit down and they bring it to you. We've tried all kinds of good things, and Gracie eats everything right along with us. Here's a list of the things we know she'll eat so far: Congee with chicken, mushrooms and onions, fried rice with pork and red peppers, scrambled eggs, shredded beef, green peppers, steamed fish, waterchestnut gelatin, tea, bananas, watermelon and noodles with any kind of sauce. All of the above she has fed to herself, holding the spoon very carefully in her left hand. If she drops something, she'll pick it up with her fingers, put it back on the spoon and then put it in her mouth. Today at a restaurant I fed her noodles in sauce with chopsticks while she was sitting on my lap. Kids, don't try this at home.

Today was the big day to visit the orphanage and see the foster family. It was a bit nerve-wracking again, but it turned out very well. When we arrived at the orphanage the whole family was standing outside the front door waiting for us. I wasn't sure if I wanted them to hold her again or if I should keep her with me, but that question was answered when they flung the car door open with a big cheer and took her right out of my arms. Amazingly she didn't cry or laugh, but just looked at them the same way she's been looking at us for most of the past few days. Kind of like, "wha...huh? o.k." They whisked her inside and I followed.

We all introduced ourselves. The brother who had written us the emails was there along with the parents and an aunt who was holding the other foster child. The dad held Grace on his lap and fed her a banana while we were allowed to ask questions through an interpreter. We found out her lip had been repaired last Nov. at the local Chinese hospital. They taught us some tricks about how to feed her the formula (on your lap with a spoon) and the foster dad chided us slightly that the airconditioning in the car had probably been too cold for her :-) We gave them the presents we had brought and everyone took a lot of pictures. The foster mom and dad both had a few tears in their eyes, which of course made me have a few tears in mine as well, but it was so good to have met them. They seemed qenuinely happy to see us and to get to hold her one last time. They asked us to be sure to email pictures once in a while and if we ever came back to China with Sophie and Lily we should come visit them. They handed Grace back to me and she was fine, which was a huge relief, and then they left and we went back inside to give the orphanage the gifts we had brought.

They were very grateful for the 40% zinc oxide diaper rash ointment we brought. They said they need that very badly because it is so hot and humid and the kids don't always get changed right away as you can imagine. (By the way, I'll take this moment to plug my cause: If anyone out there would like to donate some ointment to the orphanage, I can have a mailing label made up in Chinese so that you can mail it directly there. They were very excited to get it and said it's just not available over there. End of plug) We were told we could not go inside the children's part of the orphanage because we might spread diseases to the kids. Probably not the real reason, but policy none-the-less. We were shown the playground and the gardens and the outside of the building. We could hear lots of little kids' voices and saw a few out for a walk on the grounds. Then we were done. Lily took us to a museum of the local province and then it was back home for the nap. Only one more day in Nanning and then it's off to Guangzhou. Probably more swimming this afternoon.

Introducing Gracie

Not a lot of time to type because somebody woke up early from their nap and wants to play. Thought you might like some pictures though.

Enjoy!