Monday

We have had some issues getting on line so sorry for the delay. Saturday night we ordered Pappa John's - I had the BBQ Chicken Pizza and it did me in. I was up all night running to the bathroom. Sunday I was a mess from lack of sleep.
Sunday we did join Mark and Melinda to the International Church at the Star Hotel. It was very good and packed out. Local's can't attend since it is illegal for them to go to a true Christian church not run by the government. So your passport or id must be checked at the door. It was great for the kids. Taylor did not find it as interesting and eventually had a meltdown - a pretty bad one so I spent a lot of time with her working things out. Melinda was so nice to help me with the kids. I wished we could have spent more time together but that is what we have right now. Time is pretty limited with the three little ones all needing attention.

I slept alot and later we took a very long walk along the canal. The kids really enjoyed that. But it was pretty hot and with being weak was probably too much for me.
So I crashed early last night.

Today we kind of had the day off which was nice and I still was trying to get my body to adjust. I thought I was ok but mid-way through breakfast realized I was not. I slept for another six hours during the day while the kids napped and scott watched them for the other part.

We headed to the White Swan deli for dinner which was easy and the kids could be messy since we ate outside.

Our granite picture is ready and tomorrow we hope to get caught up with things. My friend Michelle arrived and yesterday at Breakfast had a 2 second hello. She gets her two boys tomorrow. They are both from Dongguan like our Taylor. We hope to do dinner maybe tomorrow with them at the Cow Bridge which is a popular Thai restaurant a block away from us. I am hoping I will be normal again. These are the times I ask why can't Scott get sick with all that he eats? LOL

We are seeing more and more from Taylor and with a bit of work are seeing some effort to say a couple of words - so feel more and more at peace about her state of mind. Just as I am typing and the kids are down. She is talking to her stuffed bunny doll and actually had climbed out of bed and had her dolls and one blanket out of the crib. Reagan had to tell me of our escape artist.... so she is now safely back in the crib. It is amazing what she can do with her one arm. Sunday evening she was copying the kids doing summersalts and was doing a pretty good job at it.

She loves Reagan and Kaitlyn, today us girls sat and rolled a ball at each other and she was just thrilled. She still does demonstrate one year old behaviour with some things, but I think there is just so many firsts going on in her new world it is just so hard to say. Tonight Scott gave her ice cream which she loved but quickly spit out because she was not use to the cold. Here she can eat boiling soup - but cold is new to her.

She still demonstrates some disturbing habits that we hope will stop in time. She will sit in a corner and when upset just bang her head against a wall or table...
she bits herself when she does not get her way. She first will throw her bad hand in her mouth and just clamp down hard, you see teeth marks, then if you pull it out in goes the other hand or fingers. Then if you take that out she bits her lip, then goes to pulling her hair or finally biting you. There are a few more of these type things which are more typical of a child left alone in a crib at an orphanage. So we hope with love some will go away, but there are never guarantee's.

It is sad, if she had just gone into foster home earlier she may not have learned these patterns. How neglect can really harm these children.
I am thankful more and more of these children are going into foster homes. We pay for one child currently through Holt to be in foster care and hope to add more in time. If you have not done this. It is only about $32 a month and you really are helping a child. Love without Boundaries is another good organization that offers this plus surgeries for these children.

Well will try and post some more photo's and hope the rest of the week we can start posting all each day so you get caught up on what is going on with us.
Have a great week - Love the Dideon's in China.