Today started at 5:40am when I snuck off to the shower before anyone awoke. I was so excited to get it before knocks on the door. I was relishing my time in the hot water. I reached for the complimentary shampoo and it was just water. "Not a big deal", I thought. I'll just get the Johnson's baby shampoo in an emergency. It was dumped and filled with water, too. I seriously stared at the bar of soap and contemplated. I got out and froze to death and got the shampoo out of the other bathroom. Oh, Evie - you drive me wild! We facetimed with Nana Mary and Yeye (chinese for grandfather), Aunt April, Ben and Watson the cat that Joy adores. We quickly got everyone dressed and went to breakfast.
You didn't want to eat much on your own today so you got on my lap and ate cheerios, one pancake, two yogurts, raisins, a half of a breadstick and some baby bok Choy. I don't know what is up, but you won't drink your milk. It's soy milk and hot.. just like you liked it at the orphanage, but you won't touch it. We finished up and headed up to grab coats to meet Cindy in the lobby. We met a Chinese man in the elevator who Evie tried to hold hands with. He graciously shook her hand and said something about her Mama and Baba. She smiled and then he exited and she waved and said "bye bye". I cried right there! Our nonverbal child is speaking! Slowly but surely, she is speaking! We all had chills from head to toe. I'm so thankful!!!
Our driver took us to the passport office and they had to act quickly, but they got the cutest pic of you for your Chinese Passport! It was a miracle to get the shot. This sums up the process
I put you back in that chair 748292 times.
We left there and went to another office to get some paperwork for the passport.
It didn't take long at all and so we decided to go to a local place to shop. This is supppse to mimic one of the Mongolian headresses...
We started the tour and shopping by enjoying some Mongolian milk tea. Yummy!
It was very nice with cases and cases of jewelry, scarves, cashmere items (Inner Mongolia is known for cashmere), etc. So many items to choose from. We decided to do a lot of shopping here because it isn't a big tourist spot, so the prices were great and these gifts came from your homeland. We had a blast. Ezra and Eli got Mongolian knives in a sheath made of local leather and in a beautiful case.
Joy chose a jewelry box and a bracelet made of silver that says "happy little star" in chinese. Accurate. Anna got a necklace from local stone in the mountains here and a jewlery box. I keep catching her slip to her luggage to peek at the box- so sweet. We got you a stone,donut shaped pendant to slip on a silver necklace later (we will gift it to you in a special occasion). We also got you the Mongolian robe and hat that you adored. We bought several gifts here. I also got the neatest hanging decor... it is a yurt made of local leather and hand painted with a tassel under it. So special to have things from your local area. Here you all are in a yurt photo booth
Such a nice place. We saw people packaging Mongolian beef jerky ..
One woman showed me a bracelet I liked and was speaking Chinese. Justin figured out the point and turned and told me.. so then she kept following us and thinking Justin was translating! Hilarious! You enjoyed looking at the cases, but I couldn't let go of your hand for a second. You fought some but only because you want to see what you want to see. That's fine a lot of the time, but you must learn also that you can't get whatever you want. After almost knocking over a 3,000 statue of Genghis Khan on a horse, I started to sweat. The ladies dubbed you the wild Mongolian horse (and you were born in the year of the tiger so there's that as well). You want to explore and look at everything. We stop and let you take your gloves off and just touch (what is appropriate to touch) and that is so good for you. You are amazed at a plastic outdoor chair.. anything.. because you've never seen anything! I foresee lots of sensory play at the table during school. You need playdough, rice bins with toys, glitter water bottles, etc etc etc. You need life experiences. You need social skills. You need to know the love of a family and how it works. You need medical care and language. You just need attentiveness in your people that love you. At the end of the shopping we went through the kids' area and you chose the blue Mongolian empress dress and hat - fitting! We also got you a stuffed camel because wild camels are here in the Gobi.
There was a doll with red hair on a display rack for decor only and the lady handed it to you. You were so happy to touch it (stuffed animals are the greatest thing ever to you), but when we had to leave that area, we had to give it back. Meltdown. You wailed, pulled my hair, throat punched me, and pulled us almost to the floor. It took Cindy and I both to get you to the final escalator. At that point, Daddy picked you up. You arch your back and straighten out to be let down. It's exhausting.
You are super strong. We got to the van while you were still crying and we got you a little snack and water and you were happy again. It was just too long of shopping. We were in front of the hotel about to pull in when you lit up. You knew exactly where we were! We got you to the room and Anna put on your new Mongolian robe and hat. You didn't take it off for hours.
You kept going to the mirror to look and would smile the biggest smile. We fixed some noodles with the hot pot and relaxed while you played in your robe. You cuddled up with Joy and watched a movie on my phone for 1.5 hours. Ahhhh. Nice job, Evie. Daddy walked to the supermarket with Eli and Anna and the rest stayed back. Joy has had fever for three days with hay fever symptoms. Stuffy nose, sore throat, mild headache and fever. I feel so badly for her. Please pray for her healing.
Every night bed time is dreaded. It is such hard work. Tonight at 9:05 I was trying to put her pjs on and at 9:10 she was sound asleep... you guess it.. in the robe. It may never come off. Now I dread morning 😂.
I love waking up beside of you!!!
Forever yours,
Mama
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