What a difference a day can make!

Hi everyone,
It's 3:30 in the morning here and I'm wide awake so I thought I'd give you all a little more information.

Thanks again for all of your comments. They are wonderful and mean sooo much.

The last time I posted we had finished all of our offical meetings for awhile. Boy have things changed since then! I can't even tell you how hard the past 2 days have been. Monday, Gotcha Day, was so draining. I found myself allowing doubts to enter in. As much as I adored Lillie Mei, I was just so exhausted (I have yet to have more than 5 hours of sleep in one night) and overwhelmed I just wasn't sure I could do this. Monday night Lilllie Mei cried herself to sleep and then woke up in the middle of the night crying for almost an hour, I just felt so sorry for her. She was obviously grieving and missing her foster mother (we did find out for sure she was in foster care).

Then yesterday morning she was just so quiet. She didn't feel well. Her nose has been running and she is very congested. We couldn't get her type of formula on Monday either so she wouldn't take her bottle. The way her mouth is she can't really close it around the bottle and suck. She would eat a little at the meals but nothing substantial. We finally gave her gatorade so she wouldn't get dehydrated and she did a little better with that. When we got back from the appts. she seemed very tired so Kirk got her to sleep while I took the boys to lunch. When she woke up she was reserved, wouldn't smile at all, cried when we tried to give her bath, and seemed lethargic. I was worried about her. We went ahead and started her on antibiotic and got ready for Wal-Mart.

On the way to Wal-mart we she cried the entire time. She didn't want anyone to hold her and nothing seemed to help. We knew we were getting her formula at Wal-mart but decided to try another families formula on the bus. She drank it and fell immediately asleep. She slept the whole time we were in Wal-mart in Kirk's arms (our backs and arms are getting stronger).

Wal-mart was a nightmare--imagine the day before Christmas, so crowded! You had to take a smooth escalator to the second floor, and the line was impossible to get through to get to it. People were pushing. It smelled horrible! The registers are even closer together than ours and it was extremely hot. On top of that we were stared at the entire time. Blue eyes are a rarity here so Zeke and Harrison especially get stared at.

The good news is we bought 5 bags of formula, diapers, wipes, bibs, four canned drinks, a bag of snickers bars, a can of chips, and it was less than 30 US dollars!
By the way in Beijing at a convenience store we bought 4 waters, a diet pepsi, and a candy bar for about $1.75.

Anyway back to Lillie Mei. After Wal-mart we came back to the hotel and our guide ordered Pizza Hut pizza for us!!! The best meal we've had and the only time I've eaten enough to be full. Lillie Mei did OK during the meal. She walked (with my help) around the room a little but didn't interact with the other babies and didn't really smile a whole lot. She ate some cheese pizza and drank some water.

When we got back to the room, she became a different child! She laughed and had us laughing for a solid 30 minutes! She turned into a little monkey. It's like the fog lifted and she really came around. I am so thankful! She seems to have a mischevious personality. She likes to hit and then laugh about it! There is a "3 day rule" with adoptions. They say it takes that long for the babies to adjust--I believe it. After her comedy routine, we put her pj's on, gave her a bottle and put her in her crib-no crying at all. That was 8:30. She's just now stirring a little, sneezing and coughing.

By the way her offical name is Lillie MeiFei Wilkerson. Her foster mother called her Mei Fei (pronounced May Fay) so we wanted to keep that whole name. We'll still call her only Lillie or Lillie Mei but she definitely recognizes Mei Fei as her name.

We'll try to post the video of her laughing again later-only Kirk knows how to do that. I tried to video it on my regular camera and post it (the Silly Girl post) and it didn't work, but I really want you so see it.

God is so good, he has watched us every step of the way. I am so thankful God lead her to us.

Please pray for the boys, especially Zeke, he is worried about his friends picking on her. Children are very curious and I know he will get some questions and she will get some stares. Harrison is doing great as a big brother, other than arguing about doing his homework, he has been great on the trip. They fight over holding her and love to make her laugh. Yesterday when I asked Zeke to watch her while I got a diaper he said, "Yes ma'am, I love her!" That pretty much sums it up for all of us!

Sorry for the typos and errors, did I mention it's 3:00 am?

Love you all!