More thoughts...

It is Wednesday afternoon here. Selah and Shawn are playing on the floor. Shawn is SMITTEN! I can't tell you how many times I have nodded to him saying, "She's so sweet!" It's cute. The Lord has given us a love for Selah just as he has for Easton and Jonas. A faltering, imperfect love, but she is OURS to raise and love, thanks to God. She is as much a part of our family as we are truly a part of God's family by adoption through Jesus Christ.

Selah is adjusting so well. Really, everyone is asking us why she is doing so well. It certainly isn't our great parenting skills. Could it be the Lord gave us two years of waiting to petition Him almost every night that He would prepare Selah to be a part of our family? I can offer no other explanation other than answer to yours and our prayers.

Not all the babies are so happy. A couple of them have been crying for about 48hours straight. Just stopping to sleep on and off. Most of the babies were very close to their orphanage nannies or foster mothers. They're going through a grieving period. Some have never been around or seen men before. Some scream even louder when their dads look at them. Selah has yet to really cry other than the tears the other night. She is full of more smiles today. She says "Mama, Dada, Nana (banana)" I don't know if she really knows the meanings, but she is saying the words. She definitely recognizes her name (Selah) already.

All of the babies' heads are flat on the back. They don't sleep on mattresses, only hard planks in their cribs. Even in our hotel crib, it is just a hard plank. But Selah likes it. It is what she is used to. One of girls will only sleep with her nose buried on the floor of her hotel room on the yucky carpet. Her name is Kiersten. Poor little one is only sleeping 15 minutes at a time and her mom has to sit on the floor with her the whole night. This is an intense welcome to motherhood for her first time mom.

Selah likes her bottle hot. Hot, like almost as hot as I drink my coffee. I had heard this is common. O.K. all you fellow Baby-Wise moms out there...get a load of Selah's schedule as reported by her foster mother: Selah wakes at 5:00a.m. and eats noodles and eggs. She eats congee (this is just white rice boiled with water to make "soup") at 8:00a.m. and then sleeps until 9:00a.m. She takes another nap from 11:30a.m. to 12:30p.m. and eats congee again. She naps again from 2:00 to 4:00 and eats congee again at 6:00. Finally at 9:00 she gets a bottle (that's right, one bottle a day--I'm guessing her foster mom couldn't afford it) of formula mixed with rice cereal. She goes to bed at 9:30p.m. and is used to sleeping with her foster mom. Wow. Just thought some of you moms might be interested to see that things are done differently in different places.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Super Wal-Mart. At 3:00 on a Tuesday afternoon it was like the morning after Thanksgiving. People everywhere. Hard to maneuver the cart--although the cart had extra wheels so that it could roll side to side as well as straight ahead! It was two stories and full of things we've never seen before: dried fish and meats hanging all over, live turtles (not for pets), a whole cut up chicken includes the head, all sorts of unidentifiable meats and food stuff. We received a lot of stares. It was a bit chaotic with loud music blaring inside, and it was so hot we were sweating. But we were able to buy diapers and wipes and bottled water plus a few other items all for less than $12.00. Wal-mart is still the lowest prices--even in China.

With China's one child policy it is hard to understand how there are so many people. There are people, people everywhere!

Today we went to a local museum and learned a bit more about the culture of our daughter's province, Guangxi. Brass drums are a big thing here historically. They are what the warriors plundered when they won battles with another village. They are sacred-like historically. We saw many beautifully woven tapestries, too.

Tomorrow we visit a park. Oh yeah. It is Thanksgiving here tomorrow. I think we all are going to go to Pizza Hut for our Thanksgiving meal. How awful is that? But I wouldn't trade having Selah for a turkey meal. We indeed are very thankful. Thanks for all of your kind comments. It is so good to hear from our family and friends. We are excited to come home soon.