Adjusting to home

Everyone here is adjusting pretty well. Grace loves her new sister and is treating her like her live baby doll. Jonathan was not thrilled however. He said"my mommy. I don't want that" and then shoved Miriam. With a little extra mommy time I think he'll come around. Miriam is taking a bit of time to get used to violet our dog. The first few days she shrieked every time she saw her. Now violet can get next to her as long as she doesn't lick or touch her. Miriam loves playing outside, at the elmo kitchen, and at Jonathan's train table (although there's usually a battle over the train pieces). Miriam will let grandma hold her and pick her up. She still gets sad when daddy has to go to work.

Last night in Guangzhou

We fly to Hong kong tomorrow. Woohoo this journey is finally coming to a close. Big day today. We took the "oath" for Miriam at the US consulate so as soon as she hits American soil she will be a citizen. It is bittersweet as tomorrow morning we will have to say goodbye to some amazing friends.

And we're back

Sorry we were off for a few days. I got some sort of flu (fever chills etc) and had some troubles getting Miriam's passport, which is still not in our possession so pray for that! So updates... We went to Miriam's orphanage. It seemed relatively nice (as nice as an orphanage in China can be). She was cared for in a section of the orphanage that was actually sponsored by our adoption agency. There were two rooms, one for babies under one and the other for one to two year olds. Some of the kids conditions looked quite grim and it was very sad. We were shown some of the other rooms and it appeared that most of the children had special needs. It was a huge lace though, over 700 kids. I wish the process was easier as we thought about sticking one of the little boys in our luggage. Miriam froze up when we got there. She did not want to look at the nannies and kept burying her face in the pack. I think now she has figured out we are not going to leave her though. Her eating has slowed down dramatically. She no longer eats everything in sight, in fact I would say she has become down right picky. She now only wants to eat cliff bars yogurt and Cheerios. She also has started showing us her true self. She giggles more but she also has shown us loads of attitude. I don't think she was ever told "no". Because when she doesn't get her way, this girl will roll on the floor and kick and scream. I'm sure to all the Chinese we are terrible parents. Even our guides ask of she is hungry or tired-- nope just a two year old attitude rearing it's ugly head. But face is a sweetie. She now knows I am mama and Keith is baba (Chinese for daddy) pretty sweet. We arrived in Guangzhou and it is so nice (maybe just in comparison but there are trees and mountains here and we had blue sky today not gray pollution haze).

She is itty bitty

She is adjusting so well. Her eating has slowed down today. I think she has figured out that we are not going to let her go hungry. She is shying away from other Chinese adults and clinging to us which is so great! She is extremely tiny. All the clothes we brought her are huge and falling off. I had to go through the bag of donations for the orphanage to get a few pants and pjs. Im not sure if she is undernourished or just small. I can't wait to get her home and to the doctor so we can get her better ASAP!

What a sweet girl!

Miriam Yinjin is such a darling, sweet girl. She is doing amazingly with the transition. We were expecting screams and tantrums. She has gotten sad a few times the first day and had some tears the second morning when she woke up. But this morning she smiled and giggled. She only has gotten sad today when a Chinese woman tried to hold her hand and walk away from us. She eats and sleeps very well. Daddy and mommy have both gotten kisses and hugs. Her favorite things are her shoes which she brings to us to put on her even in footy pjs. She has read her butterfly book about a hundred times and is enjoying carrying around graces purse. She's already an accessory girl and is trying to walk around in momma shoes as we speak. Her transition is going more smoothly than we could have imagined and I know it is only because of our amazing Lord and your prayers.

She's ours!!!

Miriam is ours! We went to the city center this morning. Her orphanage director dropped her off. I was so worried that she was going to scream and cry but she was amazing. She was scared at first but after about an hour she cuddled with both Keith and I. She's been such a gorgeous sweet girl. On the bus ride home we fiund her tickle spot; she has the sweetest giggle. We gave her a bath and changed her clothes when we got back. She was a little afraid of the water but when I held her hand she let me wash her. We had lunch in the hotel; she's a great eater. She loved the fruit and vegetable steamed buns. I'm pretty sure she would have eaten a whole watermelon. We took her up for her nap. She was a little sad but after I laid down on the bed near her crib and pretended to be asleep she closed her eyes and went right to sleep. She such a good sweet little girl. Hopefully she will bond to us quickly but I think she will! Thank you for all of the prayers. Miriam is such a blessing already!

Great wall of china

Visited the great wall today. Tired legs from the climbing! Airport tomorrow and Miriam Monday. Sorry for short posts but Internet and censorship tricky.