Thursday, June 1, 2006

Wow! What a difference a day (and a LOT of prayer) makes!!! Today was so much better than our first two combined! Ellie awoke this morning after 12 hours of peaceful sleep and seemed to have a brand new outlook on things. We were walking on pins and needles for the first part of the day, waiting for a rerun of yesterday, and were so pleasantly surprised when it never happened. Her favorite is, no doubt, her Daddy, but she is becoming more and more willing for all of us to be involved in her daily activities.

This morning we visited a park along the river and then a museum where a 2100 year old female corpse was on display… Yes, you read that right! A family can become quite desperate to get out of a hotel room, especially one that seems to induce much crying! We snapped pictures of the two girls walking along the river together. It was precious to watch and a wonderful preview of the years ahead for these two beautiful sisters.

After a four hour nap for Ellie this afternoon, our guide took us to a local Chinese photo shop, where they take traditional Chinese photos of children. These become special keepsakes, especially for adoptive parents, and we were excited to have photos taken of Kate and Ellie to commemorate this special time and their beautiful heritage. Unfortunately, Ellie was not near as excited about the taking of these photos as we were! She especially disliked the fact that this experience included changing into traditional Chinese clothing…She was not even dressed when she literally started to WAIL! Still, Doug was determined to pull this off. This entire experience gave perfect, new meaning to the saying-“they are standing on heads” to make someone smile. Sadly, Ellie did not find any of the participants in this hilarious exhibit near as humorous as the rest of us did! Finally, after many valiant, yet unsuccessful attempts to get her to smile failed, Mommy rescued her from the whole ordeal! (Now, can someone please explain to me why Doug still continues to come out “smelling like roses” in the eyes of our babies after such traumatic events! It makes absolutely no sense to me! ☹) Immediately following this grueling episode, Ellie began to display an entirely new side to her personality! She was thoroughly enjoying play time with Doug, giggling and smiling as big as we have seen! I was happy to capture this glorious occasion on my own camera to share with all of you!

The day even ended on a happy note…After rocking Ellie for a few lullabies, I laid her in her crib without a single “peep” of disagreement from her. I have many faithful friends that have been praying on her behalf to thank for today’s wonderful changes! Please, please continue to pray for us as we work through what has been a very difficult week. We rest in God’s grace, which we have found to be sufficient in everything! We thank Him for friends that are willing to stand in the gap for us when our weaknesses seem so overwhelming…

(Sarah’s Travel Tips were so popular yesterday, we decided to add new tips as she deemed necessary. Following is her very real, and first-hand travel advice from today’s adventures…)
 

Sarah’s Travel Tip of the Day- Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever (not enough evers) enter a Chinese photo shop without the intention of actually dressing in TRADITIONAL Chinese outfits….hats (or boxes) and all. This is a very important tip. You think I’m kidding….just look what happened to me!   Yes, this could really happen to YOU!