Gaungzhou Zoo

Thursday, August 5, 2010. A morning trip to the Gaungzhou Zoo - a sweet little paradise within the city. We all enjoyed the animals even though it was really hot...really hot! The highlight was watching the giant panda play with her blocks of ice. It would have been nice to climb in and join in the fun! Ended the visit with a refreshing ice cream treat...I warned Kelly to chose flavors carefully...I ended up with a red bean ice pop...and actually liked it!

Bonding

Wednesday, August 4, 2010.

Today was a day of progress. Both Kelly and Henry made progress connecting with Stella and convincing her of their charms. We all wish we knew more about her life before coming to live with us and knowing what her thoughts and fears are now.

She loves her backpack and carries her loot with her everywhere she goes. She understands more English than any of us expected, but speaks very little on her own. She is, however, like a parrot repeating everything we say!

Today was a day of medical exams and passport acquisition. Stella was good and brave. It was determined that she's in need of eye glasses with a correction to her right eye. We'll have her re-evaluated when we return home.

We also swam today. Stella loves the water. It doesn't appear that she ever swam before, but as with everything else, catches on quickly and is without fear. With regard to closing her mouth and holding her breath....we need to do some work!

It's Official!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010. We returned to the Adoption Center where the day before we'd met Stella for the first time. On this day, we returned to sign the paperwork to make everything official! The joy is tempered by the challenges of adjusting to changing family dynamics and a busy schedule. We're all excited to return home (even though it's still a long way off) to settle into our new lives together.

In the evening we took a walk around town where we met a man who invited us to visit his shop. After only a few words with Stella he recognized her dialect as being from the Wuchuan area, which is where she was found, and where his father had grown up. He said it's a distinctive way of speaking and unique to that area. He spoke a few words with Stella and told us she was saying, "Let's go."

"Girls Love Curls"

This news is worthy of it's own message....

Henry has achieved rock star status! Apparently blonde curly headed boys are all the rage in China! People stop us and ask if they can have their picture taken with him.

The cuter the girls, the more Henry loves it!

Pictures with redheads are also a trophy, but not as prized as the

blonde, curly boys!

August 2, 2010. Gotcha Day!

Stella had us from the minute she walked into the room! Her outgoing personality and inquisitive nature took over immediately. She's absolutely adorable! Her caretakers had her dressed in a beautiful new dress and shoes and she came with the backpack, photos, cameras and some of the toys we'd sent to her. She recognized us immediately from the pictures.

She a real charmer and like another child we know, loves to test the boundaries! She smart and attentive (hard to hide things from her). She repeats English words and phrases and follows some English direction. We have no doubt she'll have a quic

k handle on communicating at home.

She also leaves no doubt as to who's in charge!

The adjustment has

been difficult for Henry, but he really wants to rise to the role of big brother. I think right now since she's really attached to "Mama", he feels a bit violated, but we're all working hard to overcome that hurdle. During the times when he feels good about things, he's sweet and charming with her, and treats her with a gentle, nurturing nature that just warms my heart immensely.

To my friends who like clothing....this kid is all about fashion, so let's go shopping when we get home! She loves dresses and anything pretty! She already stole one of the only two berets I brought along, and today when she got dressed, she had to match her undies to the dress she'd selected! Pink, of course!

She eats everything and dips her french fries in water.

At the moment the boys are at the pool, Stella is napping and I have the time to write to you. This is easy! :)

P.S. Please pray for a family who is here with another agency. They arrived in China to find their son too sick to adopt and are working out details and a decision on where to go from here. My heart just breaks to hear their story.

It's 4 a.m. Monday, we're getting ready to leave Beijing to head to Guangzhou. Today is the day we meet and join up with Stella. I was awake all night practicing what little Mandarin I know, worrying about whether she'll like us and excited to explore all the new possibilities ahead. Henry is worried which DS he should let her play with. All is good!

We've spent the last two days touring the Beijing area. It's been very hot, but we've been able to get out of the sun often enough to not melt...maybe melt away a few pounds which is a good thing!

Can't recall what the last post said, but on Saturday we visited The Great Wall and the oldest Clossinee (sp? Acutally I know that's wrong, but no time to check spelling) factory in Beijing. On Sunday we toured the Forbidden City, Tienneman (Sp? :) ) and took tour of the Hutong Village. More details to come later. I'll post a few pictures here. I'm making Kelly nervous to get to the lobby in time for the bus to the airport. Gotta be there early in case they decide to leave without us.

We miss home and appreciate all of your prayers and well-wishes as we take a huge step today!

Love,

Gini, Kelly and Henry.

Internet connection has been a challenge, to say the least! Fortunately we have two IT guys adopting along with us and they know how to "work" the system - thank you Joe and Gabe!

Bethany has kept us busy experiencing the cultures of China.

Yesterday (Friday, July30) we saw an acrobatic show! Earlier in the day, we put on show of our own as our group of adopting families paraded to the Bank of China to exchange our US dollars to Chinese yuan. Seriously, we were our own little circus!