News from Beijing!

Well we got luggage today. And that makes all of us feel better! Especially me...Bridget!! We are struggling with our communication with home - the internet and Skype is very unstable so we start a conversation and then it breaks off. That has been very frustrating - but the distance between us and our family is temporary! We'll deal!

I know you want to know more about our newest daughter. So here goes... Ella is a cutie, she is so tiny, much smaller than we thought. Her pants are falling off of her. She is full of spunk and personality. Her curls are so cute and she has the blackest eyes. Ella and Mia are for the most part getting along well. it's funny to stand back and watch how they interact with each other. They are both leaders and like to take control, so we will see how that goes when we get home. Ella likes to make sure that everything is very organized.

One thing we learned is that she has a strong relationship with a "grandmother and grandfather". According to the orphanage teacher, she has always been in an orphanage. She told us exactly how to get ot her grandparents room from her room in the orphanage. "You take 2 steps up and 2 steps down and that is where my grandparents live." So at night she screams for her grandparents. All we can figure is that there is a connection between a housing for older people and the orphanage. Maybe the children are assigned a "grandparent" for care. We have heard of this happening before.

Ella's vocabulary is unbelievable. She told us that if she ate too much sugar that it would make her cough and it was not good. There was a candle sitting nearby and she asked us where the fire was and why was it dripping. She told us that she took a bath in a basin at home. Her granddmother bathes her. These are huge words for a 3 year old, so either she is highly intelligent or she may have an incorrect age. She seems to have strong higher level thinking skills, from what we have seen so far.

Ella is a big eater like Mia was. But she will accept NO help NONE! from us helping her as she eats.

It was 0 degrees here yesterday and that is cold. But we had such a warm day - a gift from God! The best part of our stay so far links with Kevin's brother Greg. He has several offices in China and one of his offices is here in Bejing. Before we came Greg talked to the owner in China and told him that we were coming. They are Americans and have 2 adopted Chinese daughters as well. So Kevin and this guy had been emailing back and forth. We planned on going to dinner with them tomorrow night. Well when he found out our luggage wasn't here yet, he sent his driver to the airport to try to get it. But it had been delivered in the meantime. So we thought how nice and we appreciated it sooooo much.

Well his wife was already on her way here with her driver to meet us . So, we met her in the lobby and she offered to take us shoppping to get us 2 strollers because Mia's is somewhere ovver the ocean I'm sure . So we sat in the lobby and talked for about an hour. She is super nice and such a gracious woman.

Kevin took the girls up for a nap. The wife's driver took us to find strollers. Well that was a hoot. The traffic... everything is crazy here. We made it and got back to the hotel. She offered to leave her driver here if we wanted to go anywhere , but we declined.

So she just kept offering! Then she wanted to take us to her house so the girls could play and we could order takeout. That sounded like heaven to me because this room is already getting small and Kevin's OCD is kicking in. So we went on an adventure! It took about an hour to get there. She had already told us it was a big house. Well she wasn't kidding. It is 4 floors ...a beautiful house. Their girls are now 14 and 12. We had the most amazing time. It was so nice to be in a house and have American food, which was fabulous. We just sat and talked and the girls could run and run and run. This was such an unexpected blessing to meet these sweet people and for them to take us in like that. And they are continuing their hospitality... so tomorrow she is picking us up and taking us to do some shopping at th market and etc. She can understand everything Ella says, so that is wonderful.

I don't know what else to say except Ella is precious and the only times now that she breaks down aka "screaming and fighting" with Kevin is naptime and at bedtime. This too shall pass. I miss Savannah and Emma terribly and so does Mia. Mia still asks a thousand times a day "When are we going home Mommy?" Ella is already calling me "Mommy" and Kevin "Baba".

This is for you Michelle.. Ella came with a purse. The first time we were going out of the hotel to dinner with our guide, I put my purse around my body.Ella did it too - I thought it was so funny she was copying me. Later she told our guide that it was "safer to where it this way."

One more note... Ella gets car sick, we found out. When we attempt to get in the van, she starts whining. It took us awhile to figure this out. She has never actually thrown up , but she gets very pale, quiet and just moans and groans. It's very sad... especially when our first few weeks together will be full of travel.

Note to Savannah and Emma... We love you girls and can't wait for you to meet your little sister.