Sunday

It's been really hard to update the blog since getting to Guangzhou. Grace is a handful! And any spare moment we spend chasing after or playing with her. Our flight to Guangzhou was pretty uneventful until the descent when she started crying to go to the bathroom as soon as we began descending. She was pretty upset by the crowds at the airport and the hour bus ride back to the hotel. It wasn't fun. I held her pretty much the entire day and by the end my back and arms were killing me. She and I fell asleep as soon as we hit our hotel room, clothing and all.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, which is on Shaiman Island, on the Pearl River. It is an amazing hotel. We feel very spoiled. Shaiman Island is like a little respite in the hustle and bustle and chaos of most of the cities in China. It was a British colony at one time, and has beautiful buildings, tree lined streets, statues and a park. The traffic in China is INSANE. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. There are no rules, or lights, nor does anyone stay in the lines. Little kids ride on the back of their parents mopeds, crossing right in front of huge buses without batting an eye. We saw a little kid pushing a smaller child on a toy across a terrible crowded intersection. My palms were ltteraly sweating watching them. Shaiman island has a lot less traffic, though they do still drive up on sidewalks, and do not watch for pedestrians, you must watch for them.

Grace had a medical exam yesterday, which was really just a formality, and a TB test. She was terrified of the Dr.'s and nurses and screamed when they took her from us. She is a "girl" for sure, with lots of different moods. Sometimes she is hilarious, making funny faces and laughing, sometimes she is strong willed and throws a fit when we make her wear a coat. In China, they bundle up the little kids. She came to us in like four layers of clothes. She will have none of that now! She won't even wear covers at night and we have to force her to get dressed to leave the room. She still has moment where she shuts down, and moments where she whines when Paul even looks at her. But, most of the time she is okay with him now. New situations still scare her and she clings to me. At night and before nap she lays in bed and talks to herself in Chinese. Today she was singing, and we videotaped her even though it was dark in the room to get the sound on tape.

Today was mostly a free day for us and we walked around Shaiman Island. We ate at Lucy's an American Style Restaurant. We walked around a park, something new for Grace. Luoyang was all concrete and big buildings. She seemed to enjoy taking everything in. We kept saying, "Wait until you see home." She wasn't ready to play on the equipment yet. She did ride in her stroller after a small tantrum. We felt like we had to have one to save my back and arms. Everyone comments on how big she is and can't believe she is two.

Paul and I are doing well. Physically we haven't been sick or had any trouble adjusting to China (except for the driving). I was pretty exhausted after carrying her so much, but I am doing better. It's amazing how quickly we bonded with Grace, even if it took her a little longer to bond to us. She was definitely ours before they even placed her in our arms. We are constantly surprised by how like the boys she is. She loves to rough house with daddy, she doesn't want to wear anything but comfy clothes, no more hairbows! She is super strong willed. A trait everyone in our family but I possess. She throws her dolls on the ground and loves anything that she has to figure out, or has buttons to push. God matched her well to our family. Skype has been a huge blessing, I love seeing the boys every day. Though, in some ways it makes me miss them more. I can't wait to be united as a whole family. The boys seem to be doing really well. I will try to most more tomorrow. This Internet connection is very slow and it's taking all day to load even one photo. I'll try to post more later. Thanks for all the prayers and messages. We are blessed!