Showing a Little Personality

Today has been a day of mountains and valleys for Ava. The morning did not start off great for her after she woke up but as always it got better at breakfast. But as the day went on she started showing a little personality. We were able to see some smiles when Tammy played peek a boo with her and she just laid on Tammy at one point. She continues to love riding in her stroller and likes to sit in the stroller while in the room. She thinks if she is in the stroller then we will be taking her somewhere. Throughout the evening, she displayed a lot of grieving through crying and whining. Today when one of our coordinators tried to hold Ava, she just clung to Tammy and would not reach for him. We know it is going to take her some time to truly trust and love us because so much has been taken away from her. God reminded me of something this evening. We are foreigners in this country and long to be in familiar surroundings and to hear a familiar language. Even though we may feel alone, we still have each other. For Ava, she has been placed with a family that doesn’t look, sound, or smell familiar. Unlike us, she has no one else around her that is familiar. She too is feeling homesick and we cannot forget that.

After breakfast, we went to a local park and zoo. It was interesting watching the local residents doing their morning exercise in the park. We received more positive feedback from people today than we have the entire trip. Many people said how lucky Ava was and we responded and said no we are the lucky ones. One woman just rubbed Morgan’s cheek and said how handsome he is. For everyone who knows Morgan, you know how much he hated the attention. But I have to say he handled it very well. After the zoo, we chose pizza over beef noodles for lunch. The pizza was different but excellent which we should expect since pizza originated in China.

Within the park, there is a Buddhist temple. Many people will come to the temple to pray. We saw a grandfather bring his 3 year old granddaughter to the temple and she bowed down and prayed to the false gods. I probably will never get this memory out of my head. All we can do is pray that one day this country will become a Christian nation.

We spent family time this afternoon in the hotel watching Friends DVDs. Thank goodness we brought these DVDs since the only English speaking channel is the BBC. This evening we took a walk back to the local bakery where Morgan found the cheesecake. We had to get more since he had to share his the other day with his little sister. Needless to say, I will be making cheesecake for my little princess when I get home. She LOVES it!

Continue to keep Ava and us in your prayers. Your prayers are the only thing getting us through right now.

Morning exercise

Ava's serious look

Sweet Angel

Chinese Opera in the park

Local neighborhood