Travel Journal - Day 6

Getting to Know Each Other

Today was a day to relax and get to know one another. Last night Taya slept straight through the night for 9 hours. We were very happy about that. Dana and I were up and just laying in bed this morning waiting for her to wake up, and finally when she did I leaned over and said good morning and it was instant crying!! I think that when she went to bed that she wouldn’t have to see these blond haired people anymore, and she was disappointed that we were still there!! ( : Thank goodness we knew that this was what to expect with these children, especially when they have been living with a foster mother who she knew as her mother. The crying lasted only 1 minute, and then she quieted down right away with her bottle. The rest of today has been going very well. She has not cried at all, and is being very quiet, serious, and just soaking in her surroundings. There has been several times where we have almost got her laughing, and then SHE reminds herself that she shouldn’t do that yet, and she gets really serious and makes a grunt and looks the other way!! Too cute!! Grandma Judy has gotten several smiles out of her and we got a cute belly laugh from her too. It sure didn’t last long though!! Taya is unbelievably beautiful, and we are just in awe that the Lord has led us to her. We are so excited to bring her home and have her meet her brothers! Taya has a very low voice, and I am not sure if it is because she has a little bit of a cold, or if that is her natural voice. She is very tiny, and I am not quit sure how much she weighs. She is one of the littlest of the group. It will be interesting to see how much she weighs when we get to Guangzhou and have her medical check up. I’d say that she weighs about 15-18 pounds, and Dana thinks she is not even 15 pounds. She is taking the bottle well, and we haven’t had any problems with that. We had a group meal and she shoveled in the cheerios like they were going to disappear if she didn’t eat them fast! She also likes fruit and congee. We got to see a little bit of her personality when she had had enough of the congee and she spit it out all over the place! She also thought that it was quite funny to swipe her hand across the table where all of the cheerios were and watch them scatter all over the floor!! Fun, Fun!! ( : She is starting to get a little bit more vocal too and making noises as she plays. We are seeing more and more of what this little girl is like as each hours passes. Taya will easily go to both Dana and I, and we are grateful for that. There are several families that are still trying to work out how to get their daughters to take bottles, and some just won’t stop screaming. Please keep praying for us that all of our children will adjust fast to their new parents, and also that the parents will be given the guidance needed to help these children make it through this traumatic time in their life. We are leaving in 1 hour to go to the Notary and then to Wal-Mart to stock up on baby things. Our guide Sherry will be going with us to help us figure out what things we need. All of the kids came with shoes on except Taya. We need shoes for her and also all of our clothes are too big. I will need to find some 3-6 and small 6-9 month old clothes for her when I get home. I just hate shopping for girl clothes, so that will be a real BUMMER!! ( : I’ll write more later….. Well, we have just finished the last part of our day. The Notary asked a couple questions, we were in and out in less than 5 minutes. In China the Notary is like an high official (judge) in the USA. We were then off to the Wal-Mart Super Center. This was an experience all by itself. I would describe this experience like shopping the day after Thanksgiving with all the people looking at you and your child then many of them rubbing Taya’s cheeks. There were literally 1000’s of shoppers with 50 checkout lanes. What a Zoo!!! We arrived back at the hotel and Amy spent some time with our guide translating questions the Orphanage sent about Taya. They say she’s not a big eater, likes animals and music, likes to be on the move and enjoys car rides.

Dustin and Jonah: We hope all is going well with you and we can’t wait to get home. We are half way through our trip already. We will be home before you know it. Taya needs her brothers to play with her!! 

Love you lots. 

Mom and Dad