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"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west." - Isaiah 43:5

5/23/2006


Today was our hardest day yet, but also the best. Dayna’s personality is really starting to emerge. We’ve seen her smile more often and laugh spontaneously. She still loves it when we sing and is starting to mimic some of our phrases. We were told she loves music, but we weren’t prepared for how easily she would respond to it. We’re pretty sure Kindermusik will be in her future.

After another productive breakfast, we had a bit of a meltdown. It took Mommy and Daddy awhile to figure out that she may be cutting another tooth. In the process, Dayna has figured out how to put things (specifically toys) in her mouth. We’re still working on the Cheerios…she prefers us to feed her.

Leila took us to a shopping mall and tea shop to buy a few mementos of Fujian Province. We decided to eat lunch at the ever popular McDonald’s (they’re as plentiful here as Walgreen’s back home.) Dayna approved. She did very well on our little outing, but by the taxi ride home, she’d had enough. (Mommy and Daddy did, too. Chinese traffic still scares us a bit.) The plan was to put Dayna down for her afternoon nap, but she wasn’t feeling well. About 3 hours of screaming followed. (DISCLAIMER: Bodily function alert) We had been warned that the first few days would be tough on her little system. She had eaten so much food, but nothing was coming out. After some quick internet advice from our Waiting China Family friends, a trip to the store with Leila, and a courageous act by Daddy, we found out that her plumbing does indeed work just fine.

Dayna finally fell asleep at 3:45. We woke her at about 7:00 so we could get her some dinner. We walked to a local grocery store with Leila and bought some baby food and smaller spoons (Daddy was having a tough time feeding her yogurt with the plastic spoons, and we didn’t think chopsticks would be very profitable, either.)

Side note: Alaina’s fifth and sixth graders back at Dodge Elementary will be happy to know that we heard a local street musician singing “Red River Valley” on the way to the store.

As we were walking back, the four of us wandered through Hot Spring Park, right outside our hotel. There we saw about six different groups of people dancing in unison. It looked a lot like America’s version of country line dancing. We also experienced a karaoke version of Chinese opera. Hopefully we’ll get back there one evening and take the video camera.

Now we’re back in our room and Dayna’s having another meltdown. She and Daddy went for a walk in the hallway. Her sleep schedule is a bit off now after her long afternoon nap.

Tomorrow we hope to go to the Gutian orphanage. It will be over 6 hours in the van total; we’ll see how Dayna does overnight. If she’s feeling better, we’ll all go; otherwise, she may stay behind at the hotel with one of us.

Some of you have asked what’s next. We have “free time” until Friday, when we receive Dayna’s passport; then we can leave Fujian and fly to Guangzhou. Once there, we’ll meet up with the other All God’s Children families. In Guangzhou, we’ll have her medical examination and various appointments to make her an official American citizen.

The Wood family has been indignant about the incident with the "noisy" key. Just to set the record straight, Mommy and Daddy have never taken said key away from Dayna. In fact, she loves that key. She even slept with the key during her afternoon nap. Everytime she rolled over, it would start singing to us all. It's become a nice little motion detector!.

Thank you for your prayers last night. We both slept almost eight hours. We still woke up at about 4:30 am, but felt much more rested. We’re hoping tonight will be a good one, too. All three of the Wilsons are quite exhausted from our day. Thank you to the teachers back in Omaha who have shared our excitement with the students. Thanks also to the Waiting China Families folks who helped with our “plumbing problem”. Blessings to you all, and good night from Fuzhou.

Dan, Alaina and Dayna

 
Happy girl
Love my toes
Teashop
I'm Lovin' It!
Is that food?
Tuckered out
(Note the controversial blue key)

5/23/2006





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