Friday in Guangzhou

Man, I'm on a roll here... I finally have enough internet connectivity to upload, so I'm going to get caught up!!! It is afternoon here on Friday and Griff and Mia are napping. We visited Five Rams Statue today and Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall today. It is unbelievably hot here. Alabama heat is very similar, but I do think it is hotter here. Your clothes just become soaked with sweat. Mia gets very irritable with the heat, so I think that may be part of her problems when we sight-see. Five Rams Statue was really pretty. It was much like a park, lots of it shady and many people gather there to enjoy it. They play a game much like what we call Hacky-Sack and others go there to do their "exercises". Several older women came up to us and patted Mia, smiling at us and giving us the thumbs up. M, our guide today, said that they are happy for the babies because they are getting adopted. They are appreciative to us for giving them families. The women were just lovely and you could sense their genuine admiration for us. I felt so good after meeting them. Hot, but good. :) After the park, we headed over to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. This is a very old, beautiful building that is used for congregations, concerts, meetings, etc. It is lovely, but not air-conditioned, so this is where Mia began to totally unravel, and so did I. Again, our guide discouraged us from forcing Mia to ride in the stroller as her crying is very upsetting to the Chinese. So, again I carried her. The sling works well for a while,but then she begins to overheat and so do I. You know how fiery-tempered I am, and how much I despise to be hot, so you can imagine that this is the recipe for disaster. We went back to the bus and sat and waited on everyone in our group to come back. We came back to the hotel and gave Mia a quick, cool bath and I gave her a bottle and she was out like a light. Oh, I almost forgot... this morning, very early, she was sleeping between Griff and me... she sat straight up and began to speak words... Chinese. Griff poked me hard in the back to wake me, not knowing that I was awake and had heard her too. We giggled because we figure she was calling for help... "Come rescue me from these Americans!" Ha, ha. I can't wait to hear her talk again. Griff is in love with her and is working very hard to earn her favor. She is letting him hold her some, as I am giving out and can't physically keep it up. She is definitely coming around. We still think she is basically throwing temper tantrums, many induced by overheating and frustration that I won't hold her constantly. Our guide, M, talked to her for a little while today and told her that I was her mama and that I loved her very much and she laid her little head down on me so sweetly. M, said... "She knows you love her. She understands." It is so lovely watching M talk to her. I wish I could speak Chinese! I have learned one word... sounds like "My-Cow" which means "Stop crying." LOL... Tomorrow, we go for her Medical Examination. We have been warned that she may have to get as many as eight vaccinations... so many that they are allowing us to split them up, 4 tomorrow and 4 more on Monday. As part of the Hague Convention rules for international adoption, children being adopted to the US must be current on all vaccinations. The orphanages are unable to give as many as the US because it is so expensive here. This is why she must get so many. Please pray for Mia. This will be a very hard day for her. Again, your comments are wonderful and I love reading them. I am sorry that my posts are so sporadic. Internet connection is a nightmare. All in all, we are doing well. I can't wait to see Cole, Garrett, and Nolan. I miss them so, so much. I'm also looking forward to a home-cooked meal at my Grandmother's... LOL... Until tomorrow.

Much love,
Ashley