Power shopping today!

Folks, today was a great day! No meltdowns and just pure laughter and play today. We went to breakfast and then we had to stay in the hotel until Judy called and said our paperwork passed the embassy standards. Then Jason, his son, SoYo and myself took a taxi to the electronics market...WOW! The stuff they had....we spent 4 hours there and no outbursts...nothing. Sophie was great! She did take a breif nap on the way there and back, which I'm sure helped.


We rested up and the group decided to hit Lucy's again for dinner as a group, what a clan, then....power shopping! Shamian Island is a place where you can get some amazing deals compared to the other places where we were able to shop. For those coming to China soon, save most of your money for Guangzhou. You can get Beijing 2008 Olympic t-shirts here for 25-30 RMB ($3-4USD)--some of the other Olympic items only seem to be available in Beijing, though. Traditional Chinese outfits are great prices here also. I used a fairly simple bargaining tactic where I would get what I thought was a decent price for each item, but not commit. Then I would gather the items and get a total price, and then bring them down even further. I bought a relatively good suitcase for 80RMB, about $10USD. There were cheaper ones, but I figured I would buy one that would survive the trip home and then some.

We have such a wonderful group that we are traveling with. They have all been so encouraging as I dealt with Sophie's outbursts. She is possibly the most visible (or should I say audible) as far as issues go, but each of the families is dealing with something. Eating troubles, minor tantrums, not sleeping through the night, clingy, not talking at all. I have been able to spend some time talking with other parents and they just seem to understand, all have adopted at least once before. I am sure that it helps that each of the families has other adopted children.

Sometimes I feel like these are negative posts, but please understand that I am very much in love with our little girl. She is such a joy to play with and she has a wonderful giggle. As one of the notes from the orphanage suggested, she is pretty inconsolable. I am sure that a lot of love and attention with change this as she grows into our family. God brought us together and we are going to help her through the process. Her world has been turned upside down, and to top it off, we look funny. Please pray for us, especially that she will accept the love that we have for her.