Visiting Fuzhou

Yesterday afternoon we had a fun day of getting to know Rebekah. She is saying words in Chinese. I know this because she'll say it again in the same context, but I can't repeat the same thing to the interpretor so I don't know what she is saying...however, yesterday her babbling sounded a whole lot more like english!!!! Today, we think she has said Daddy, Mama, and Uh! for Uhoh! She will drop something and put her hands on her face like the guy from Home Alone! It is really cute! She constantly has to be touching me. She is doing better with Jeff...she is liking him as long as she is touching me! In fact, last night she was scream crying in her sleep. Finally after a few hours of interupted sleep, she came into bed with us!!! She cuddled with Jeff the rest of the night...(Don't tell her that though!) She is a wiggler and neither one of Jeff and I can sleep when she is with us so I am hoping those bad dreams will go away tonight! After her nap today she was sitting on my lap when she turned her head quickly to me and made kissing sounds with her lips....I bent down and she kissed me! Sometimes, she gets this look on her face like I am the best thing on earth! It is really neat to watch her learn that I will be here! Yesterday I sat her down on the floor and she started to cry. So I came back to pick her up! She smiled then pushed out of my arms so I sat her back down on the floor...she cried so I picked her back up...she laughed a laugh like "that is really neat...I cry and you come to get me!"

We went to Fuzhou today and saw her orphanage. We were not allowed to go inside. Infact, we were shooed away after a few moments of being in the front. I was surprised. It looked a lot more run down then the picture made it look. The town is smaller than the one we are staying in now. Parts of it had a lot of construction going on. It was nice to see the town where she has been for so long and get pictures for her memory book, but I was very disapointed to not get to go in to the orphanage. It would have been pretty traumatic for Rebekah though if we had gotten to go inside. I don't think she remembered the outside. Seems to me my little girl has never been outside from how quiet she gets now when we do take her. One lady came out of the building to go into another and shouted out her nick name like she was happy to see Rebekah! From what we are seeing of Rebekah's personality, she probably demanded as much attention as she could get from the nannies in Fuzhou. She is also very sweet so my guess is she was a little princess there....as much as one could be in a place like that! I am grateful that she is a bit demanding. You can tell she was taken care of very well and had a strong attachment to her nanny.

Let me tell you a bit about our trip into Fuzhou. The rest of our group was going into their city today and since they have the largest number, our guide had to arrange a personal driver for us. This morning we were told that the city did not have an available tour guide or translator so a college student was going to help us! Her name was CeCe. Fuzhou was only an hour and a half away. It was nice to see the countryside. We saw farmers working in the rice fields with actual water buffalo. The countryside was lined with grave sights. The houses seem to be bigger in the country and yet I don't think my guide understood my question when I asked how many people lived in one house. Now the driving......We spent more time driving on the wrong side of the road than the right! I am amazed we made it home without a scratch. There are huge pot holes everywhere. Both Jeff and I...and Rebekah...hit our heads on the ceiling of the car many times because of the potholes. We thank God that Rebekah fell asleep (did I mention how wonderful it is to finally have a child that falls asleep in the car?) on the way there. The ride home was terrible. She threw up because she was car sick! (The translator also got car sick!) When we arrived in the city, the driver had to ask for directions to the orphanage. We asked about 5 different people. Once they stopped to ask a few police officers. The driver got directions from them that lasted 15 minutes...and a map (which looked like an arrow to me) and we still had to stop to ask someone else. We finally made it there only to get shooed away. We did manage to get a few pictures and especially a picture of the gate where she was left.

Tonight we will go to dinner on our own! Tomorrow we are going to a temple. Friday we will go to do some shopping! Oh! one more funny thing. We ran out of t.p. last night so Jeff called down to the front desk to have them send some up. Housekeeping came up with stationary and envelopes! Not a nice way to take care of that kind of business!!!!!

Hope all is well at home. Thank you for your comments and prayers. It is really encouraging to receive so many comments. Makes us feel "at home". Continue praying that Rebekah will soon like her daddy. Mom...the kids have cereal all the time for dinner! The only time you don't need to tell me what they have had for dinner is if it is ice cream!!!!! Jan, thank you for the tips! We knew what you meant the first time!

Only one more week and then back home to the routine!!!!! Can't wait to start "normal" life!

Loads of Love

Tricia