Another Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mother's out there. It's a wonderful day.

Sophie has been great today. She has smiled and laughed and cried. At one point she and I were just laughing at an empty bottle. It was too funny. She loves to eat cherry tomatos, cucumbers and watermelon. She also loves, loves, loves jelly beans. She is just like her daddy. I have actually seen several traits that she has that are just like her dads :). Right now she is wearing a Weekend Freedom Machine Tshirt to bed. I didn't get a picture of it before she went to sleep because she was crying, but I will take one when she wakes up. He will be so proud.

Sophie is asleep and I'm not really tired right now so I will explain a little about our orphanage visit the other day. To Nancy and family, I will send more pictures and details when I get home. The connection is so slow here and I have so much to tell you.

Dandong is by the sea in Northern China. You can see the river that seperates China and North Korea. It was very interesting. I wish I could have gotten a picture. Dandong is very old and trying to be very modern at the same time. For those in GA it's kind of like all of the building that's going on in Panama City right now. Dandong is building condos everywhere. They also have very, very bumpy roads. As we were driving there, Sophie's teacher was telling the driver where to go and Sophie was helping her by pointing. We arrived at the orphanage which looked like a very old building. The orphanage was white and next to it was a pink building that was a mental home. We didn't get to go inside, but we went outside to where the children were playing. Sophie took off and the children all came running up to her. It was so sweet to see. There were maybe 8-9 children total and only one girl who had albinism. I felt bad because she was going to be the only girl among all those boys now. I will have to watch for her on list and really advocate for her. The playground for them was really sad. Sophie played for a few minutes and then another teacher came out to see her and she ran up to her. It was obvious that she was very well taken care of and very loved. The group seemed to be very small and they all seemed to be very close. The teacher's kept telling me over and over how Sophie and Asher are best friends. I think it's good we live close enough that these two can keep a connection. The teachers all seem very nice and caring of the children. They don't seem to have much. Dandong SWI is mostly all SN. All the children I saw had some sort of SN. I didn't think we were going to get to go and even though we are delayed, I'm glad we got to go. Sophie was able to have a sort of closure with all of her friends and teachers.

I can't see my blog or read my comments so I'm not sure how it looks. Please excuse any typos and the longness of this post.

Now back to today. We went to the Fuling Tomb. That's where the huge park was. It was a huge park. There was a lake with paddle boats and people flying kites, but no swingsets or slides. We walked and walked until we got to the tomb. It was interesting. On the way back I tried to take a picture of this huge statue of Chairman Mao that is in the center of the square, but the taxi driver was practicing for his next NASCAR race. Oh and yes, the guide did show up late. He was supposed to be here at 1 and showed up at 1:30. He also brought a mother's day present for me. He said my flight was changed to Tuesday morning at 8:40 so I guess they don't think the passport will be ready until tomorrow afternoon. I am to stay in my room all day until he calls me. He said he would call me sometime in the afternoon. He also said if he had news he would call me in the morning. I told him to please call me in the morning. I guess he has to go to the police station and then to the notary. Maybe after he calls we will do a little shopping at the awesome high class children's department we found. I think Sophie needs a new dress to add to her collection. Until tomorrow. Sleep well and happy mother's day everyone.