Travel Journal - Day 8

Hi everyone,

I can’t even figure out what day it is today! All the days are running together. We are enjoying the local parks and just having time with our family but Mike is going stir crazy! He needs to be doing something! I am sure that doesn’t surprise any of you. We had a leisure day today, slept in until we woke up and went to the park, McDonalds, and the pool. Tomorrow we take the children for their medical exams. They will check temp, vision, hearing and answer any questions we have about our kiddos. Of course, Lani’s eye is documented so their won’t be a problem with passing the vision.

Elaine is playing more and feeding herself more. She smiled at me today! We were at the park and we were so hot and sweaty so I blew on her face and she smiled at me. I did it again and she smiled bigger. She has beautiful white teeth so I know the orphanage took care of them. I was so elated to see her smile. Oops, she just pushed something and deleted half of this post. I got it back again but she keeps reaching for the computer! This is a good thing! She still isn’t happy with Mike. She cries every time he picks her up. This makes it hard on me because I am always holding/carrying her. But, it is harder on Mike because he loves her so much and she wants nothing to do with him right now. We have heard that a lot of kiddo’s go through this and it is normal but for Mike’s sake, we hope this phase goes quickly.

We always draw attention when we go out of the hotel. I think there are several reasons for this….Mike is tall, Kara and Meri are blond, we have a Chinese child, and Lani’s eye. We are surprised at how many people will walk right up to us and point to her eye and shake their heads. Mike is sick of this and I had enough of it today and just stared back at a couple of people. I am telling you, the mother hen came out in me and I was mad at people’s responses. I asked our guide if handicapped people are not accepted and he said that they just pretty much hide. He said that “different people” are not seen out in the general population. All I know is that Lani’s life is going to drastically improve on so many levels once we get her back to the states! Beside our family and all of our love, she will have the chance to thrive and succeed! This trip has reminded me over and over again how blessed we are to be Americans! I truly don’t take it for granted!

Well, off to bed we go. Lani is sleeping great. She cries when she wakes but then figures out where she is and we can console her.

I have included two pictures from the park today.

Please pray for little Meri. She has croup. She does great during the day but coughs a lot at night. We have had her in the steamy shower several times today. I tried to call our Pediatrician today but my phone card ran out. I will buy a new one tomorrow and call her back. If she can give us the dosage for Albuteral, a local western Dr. here can give us the RX. (this is what she takes at home) We have only found the herbal, Eastern meds so we need to get her something!

Ready to bring Elaine to the USA! The Goff Gang