Zoo Trip and Belly Laughs

1. Ready for the zoo

2. We were jealous of the water...It was so hot!

3. Baby bears

4. Snack time

5. Our kids love our guide Elsie - She's a gem!

We are all ready to rest after a very busy day! We spent almost three hours at the Guangzhou Zoo this morning. It really was fun, but it was pretty telling that the kids cheered when we saw the exit sign to the parking lot. The heat and humidity is truly unreal.

We ventured out with another family this evening to an awesome Italian restaurant. The owner is form New Jersey, and the food was incredible. Gracie eats bread like you wouldn't believe & really loved pasta tonight as well. The taxi ride back to the hotel was the worst (Brian thought it was great) yet. It made the Scream Machine at Six Flags look like a kiddie ride. Oh, I miss my safe little mini van and the fresh air of Greenville!

We got our first belly laughs out of Gracie today. I cannot tell you what that does for my heart. I can't believe she's the same girl who was so frightened on Monday. She really knows how to make us laugh - a true baby of the family. We are so blessed. We are so grateful for the Father's love and protection.

Tomorrow is another free day. We plan on finishing up our shopping. Counting down the days till we can be home. We love and miss everyone!

Low-Key Fourth

1. "Dear Grandma..."

2. Coloring with Ali

3 Sweet!

We kept Gracie in yesterday to monitor her cough. It was a rainy day & the only thing that had to be done was the paperwork for the US side of thhe adoption for Gracies' Passprt &Visa. Poor little one...She is crying so hard in her passprt photo! :(

She is such a little copycat. If she sees us eating something, her had is immediately out for her portion. She was "typing" on the computer, coloring with Ali and using the TV remote. She would aim it @ the TV & clap for herself making sure we all were watching. We attempted a bath w/o much success, but Daddy came through by taking her into the shower with him. She loved it, and I feel like she's "officially clean!"

We decided next year we will celebrate the Fourth of July like we never have before. We're all getting pretty homesick and are literally so grateful to be Americans. Our Independence Day dinner was Papa John's Pizza!

I am so gateful to God this morning. After coughing half the night, Gracie is sleeping soundly. It seems it may be an environmental thng. She is from a coastal, small city (We are in a very polluted city of 12 million) and she has never been in air conditioning before. Last night we turned the air off (Oh, a paren'ts love) and gave her Zyrtec before bed. We prayed into the night for healing and we are choosing to believe God for this.

Pictures!

Ups and Downs

Yesterday was another busy day. We visited the Chen family temple which was actually more of a museum of local arts and crafts. It was beautiful and fascinating, but the heat makes things, well, not so much fun! After our tour, Brian, Quinn and Gracie headed back to the hotel while the girls and I went to the pearl market. Talk about sensory overload. Five or six floors of nothing but jewelry vendors. I had my list of what we wanted, so we were done pretty quickly.

After Gracie's nap we spent a good hour in the hotel playroom. She was finally playing with toys on her own and actually crawled a little to get her toys. She still hasn't walked for us so we're anxious to get those little legs moving.

As we walked to dinner I thought she felt warm, and sure enough Gracie had a pretty high fever. She has had a cough since the second day, and we weren't sure if it had to do with teething, her palate, or getting used to air conditioning. We came back to our room to give her Motrin and started her on an antibiotic. Her fever is slight today so we're just going to hang around the room for the day & let her rest. She has been playing on the bed with Erin for quite a while. She will hand her a toy and clap for herself & then do it all over again. Its' so fun to watch little glimpse of her personality come out! She is a brave little girl, but is very cautious with opening herself up to trust.

Please pray for her complete healing. We're scheduled to go to the zoo tomorrow morning, and I would love for her to be able to go and enjoy it. Last night the rest of our travel group arrived her in Guangzhou- 18 families in all!

I have never in my life been more happy to be an American on the Fourth of July. Seriously - We are so blessed.

Little Miss Sassafras

Miracles

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What a day! Gracie was up very early crying and pretty upset. We were bracing ourselves for another tough day with her.. We did some shopping this morning, and thanks to the heat she drank quite a bit of juice for us. On all of our reports for her orphanage, it was stated that her favorite toy was bells. We were in one of the shops & Erin found this little bell bracelet that has quickly become Gracie's favorite thing. It must be every similar to what she played with at her orphanage. OK...it's definitely not the safest, well made toy on the planet, but we were shocked that she wanted it. We were actually getting worried that we may be dealing w/ some sensory issues. Up until this morning, Gracie would not touch or hold ANYTHING. We didn't think she could feed herself & even wondered if she had played with many toys at all. We are realizing that it was probably still some of the shock of her two traumatic days wearing off. She was also still very limited with her eye contact and trust, and was drinking no formula at all. After lunchtime today Brian bought some Chinese formula & we were thrilled that she actually drank it. Bless her heart!

After her nap, Gracie cried and screamed for literally an hour. I've never seen anything like it. I had read about grieving, but wasn't prepared for this. Brian & I just held her and prayed the Holy Spirit's Presence and peace over her. When she calmed down, we felt like we witnessed a miracle. She started playing with toys on the bed, and imitating her sister's every move. We also found out that she could feed herself (cereal snacks)! Erin showed her her baby doll & pretended that the baby was crying. Gracie started patting her on the back and head - Exactly what Brian and I had done for the last hour. Amazing.

We walked with our travel group to dinner at a great restaurant. (If you can get past all of the live seafood upon entering!) Dinner was great, and Gracie came to life even more. She ate and ate and was being a little ham for everybody. - Smiling, clapping and waving.

She's sleeping soundly right now, and we are so grateful to God for His grace and peace today. He's such a good Father, and we are so humbled to be a part of His plan for this little girl. Tomorrow Ali, Erin & I will go to the pearl market, so we're off to bed!

1. Finally drinking!

2. Dinner choice

3. Would you prefer alligator?

4. Our "safe" dinner

5. She can actually feed herself!

Baby Steps

Today was quite busy. We are taking baby steps building trust with Gracie. She ate pretty well at breakfast, but still will take no bottle or formula. We're managing to get juice in her w/ a sippy cup w/ out the suction part (she can't suck b/c of her palate). She cried almost all day and was fighting being comforted or cuddled. At 3:00 we headed to the police station to apply for her passport. We also received our official adoption certificate there as well. We then headed to Shamain Island for the children's medical exams. We were sent to three different rooms - One was a hearing/ear check, one was heart rate, head measurement and cursory glance at her body, and the final room was weight and length. She DID NOT like that little visit! She cried harder than we've heard yet and fought every one who tried to touch her. As sad as it may be, those exams seemed to help with the bonding issue. Daddy was the hero to save her form those strange people, and Mommy gave her hugs on the bus afterward. We ate dinner on Shamain Island, and Daddy was rewarded with the first real smiles form our girl! Gracie fell asleep on the bus on the way back to the hotel and is still out cold. We're hoping to all sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is a free day so we'll probably venture back to Shamain Island for more shopping! God has been so good and loving to us. We are constantly speaking the name of Jesus and the power of His blood over Gracie. Only He can heal the places in her heart that we will never know about.

Pray for the Chapman family while they are here! - http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/marybeth/

Pics.

1. Exam room #1.

2. Not happy in the height/weight room.

3. Our official adoption certificate!

4. No more doctor's visits for me, thank you very much!