Thursday Morning

Hi everybody! It's 4:30 in the morning here (yeah I slept much better last night-went to bed at 9:00pm).

Yesterday afternoon went very well. We went for our foot massages at 3:30. What an experience! We rode in a taxi. It was Harrison and Zeke's first taxi ride and might be their last. The traffic here is unbelievable. It's almost as if there are no lanes. Buses, cars, motorcycles, bikes, and pedestrians all ride together constantly weaving in and out of traffic. If three vehicles will fit in one lane fine, if only 2 will fit thats OK too. I felt we would surely kill someone. They use their horns constantly. When we got where we were going we had to cross the street. That was another scary expereience. Traffic has the right of way, not people, so you just have to start walking and hope they stop. Our guide went in front of us so I guess she would have gotten hit first.

The massage was quite interesting. They pounded are feet and legs literally. I have sore places on my back from the "rubbing". It was still very cool and worth the $15 dollars to relax (through the pain) for an hour.

Lillie Mei pitched a fit at dinner and wiggled her way out of her high chair. Once the food came she ate like she was starving again and stayed in the chair. She ate dumplings, rice, noodles, and watermelon. Somebody back home needs to start learning how to make Chinese dumplings for this child! She loves them! After dinner she took a quick bath, downed her bottle, and has been asleep with no crying since 8:30.

She's starting to babble a lot. She can crawl very well and I think will walk within a week or 2. As for her measurements--I think her weight is accurate-about 18 pounds. The 12 months clothes are mostly big on her--I should've brought more 9 month outfits. I brought a little sewing kit with me (mostly for the little scissors) that happened to have a tape measure in it. Kirk measured her head with it and the number he got was much bigger than what we were told. Based on that number, she would be closer to the 20th percentile on the growth chart. She seems very smart. I think she is going to be just fine intellectually. She will have a medical exam at our next location and it will be interesting to see what they say. I know God has answered our prayers in so many ways.

Today we are visiting the "countryside" to get a taste of a more rural area like where the babies are from. It should be interesting. Then we are going shopping for porcelain. Jiangxi Province is famous for its porcelain so I'm excited to get Lillie Mei a tea set and do some more shopping. The guide said we could expect to pay about $40 for a hand-painted tea set or $15 for a machine-painted one! After that we are taking the kids swimming in the indoor pool here. It is beautiful and they are very excited--at least Harrison and Zeke are--not sure about Lillie Mei.




There are a couple of e-mails I want to respond to and since I can't e-mail out forgive me for doing it here.

Jennifer--love the pictures of Abby!!! I think Lillie Mei will be right there with her in the kitchen cabinets. I think we may be in trouble when they get together!

Kelly--Noah is adorable sucking his thumb! Thanks for the pictures. I'm glad you are getting some rest!

Dee Dee- Congratulations! We read the Digital Courier and are so happy for you--we didn't even need to vote early!

Lisa R., Donna, Jennifer, Kelly, Liza,and anybody else with little ones--e-mail me the size of the babies' feet in cm (if you want squeaky shoes) and let me know what colors you would like. We will get those in Guangzhou next week.

Amy- sorry about the pizza--not sure what happened there. I'll be praying for you in just a couple of hours--you'll do great!!! I think giving the Mission Friends shirts is a great idea! Thanks again for filling-in for me!

I think that's all for now! We'll have pictures and hopefully video later--the camera died yesterday. Love you all!

BTW-Lillie Mei just woke up and I put her in bed with her Daddy--she went right back to sleep!