Marking the Days, and Ella

Today is the sweatiest I have ever been. It's weird. It's not so much the heat, it's the humidity. I have never had sweat dripping from my neck before. It makes me feel better that the Chinese people are sweating as much as we are. We went to a beautiful park today. We realized we are lucky we are located here by the only 3 parks in the city. Not much shopping around our hotel, which the boys are happy with or I would be there 24/7. It's hard to be the only shopper. I'm not used to that.

*Good for us - bad for Ella* The park we went to today was a monument to Guangzhou and there was a museum deep in the park. Once you walked in, there was a huge map of the world. She was interested in it, so we had Elsie tell her where we are going to fly to. Every time she sees an airplane, she gets excited. She seemed happy about it; Ella, however, flipped out. It escalated really fast - so much they had to leave. I wanted to help, but knew that I can't be the one to comfort her. Rose is the only one for that job. Foster care is good, but the ones who have come from there are having way harder times than the others.

I hope today to have time with Elsie to explain to Mei Lynn that her name will change some in America (from Mao Mei Fei - last name first to Mei Lynn Fei Rill). Today she shared a bite of a donut with David and called him baba again. We are making steps.

More swimming this afternoon and to the post office to try and ship B's sword that is to big to fit in the luggage, and to mail postcards to the kids. You know we are stir crazy when the post office is a family outing. We wish they had more tours we could do, but you would be surprised how many people are happy in their room. Not us, we need to GO!

Some exciting news, Hong Kong has a DISNEYLAND! We had planned a day of touring there in order to get out of here a day early, and we found where and what we are going to tour. Oh, Yeah! I am so looking forward to the comfort of Disney to remind me of home. Also, really fun news - we talked Rose, Ella and Marianne in to going with us. That will be really fun, as we get along really great! Well, we are off to the post office.

More to come, mom, T.

p.s. To those who asked about Ella's TB test. It did come back positive, but when they did the chest x-ray it was negative - praise God!

The "Good for us, bad for Ella" map

The next few pictures are from a park we ventured out to on our own. It had a scupture garden which we all really loved they also had a water ride which was ranom but fun.

So Jenny M (our Chinese tutor) told us that the Chinese just like clothes with English on them. They don't know what they mean usually, so we have been reading everything, but so far this is my favorite one.

Please notice the set of stairs I am taking in 110 degree weather. Thank goodness for medication and massage. These pictures are at the park we went to with our group this morning. It was amazingly huge and lush, like a rain forest.

Each level of the park was for a different sport. This one was the hacky sackers (their version has feathers). B and Dave picked up a game with the little man selling the shuttlecocks. He was really good. They kept telling B & D how good they were. They have been practicing. They did buy 2 of his wares without bargaining. We can't bear to argue over $1. When you see where these people live it's sickening. The non pushy salesman can make good $ off the Rills. Also, I included it because the girl in the red and white shirt is Elsie. We have grown to love her very much. She is always telling us, "You have so much energy. Can I have some?" We tell her that at home we do not just sit around very much. We like to have fun and see new things. She couldn't believe we went out to the other park tonight. She is fun.

This morning's tour of the nearby park was optional. Out of 21 families, only 5 came. We told Elsie that if she offered a tour of the garbage dump, we just might go to get out of the room. I guess everyone isn't the same way. It really was nice. D& B said they will run at that park tomorrow. They have been running in the morning. With wonderful places to run, the heat is bearable.

I think we have discovered today that she is very uncomfortable when we go out of the hotel. In here she is active and will laugh, but when we go out, she has to be holding on to someone at all times or she begins to whine like she's going to cry. I don't know why it took us so long to realize that, but isn't that sad she has been behind a fence her whole life and doesn't know who to trust?Not to mention the feeling of abandonment always in the back of her mind. As we were sitting at the dinner table David began to chuckle. He said 1 week ago no one even would give her the time of day, and this week this man is serving her a hot dinner and refilling her drink. A beautiful picture of the difference God makes in our lives. We were lost with no hope and the next day your life is a banquet of food with a promising future. It is only because of God that we are here with her and it is so humbling everyday that God has chosen us to raise her, to be here and to be able to come home to freedom of the U.S. It is all such an unbelievable thought. He has been so awesome.

We really are soaking everything in every little step every detail we want to notice everything. today we noticed there are no birds lying around if you look at that picture of B at the restaurant behind him is a menu option - roasted pigon. Now why don't we do that? We can cut down on the pigeon population! There are also no bugs except ants here, which I love! It is also against the law to honk your horn, so it is nicely quiet here.

In the picture of B in the bathroom you will see that even B is tall here. He has been is so many pictures of people. Some even stop us to pose with us - usually grandpas with younger kids. The younger generation just tries to sneak pictures. Today David turned his head around and a lady was right next to his face with her phone taking a picture of him. She was embarrassed. He just laughed.

Today was a really good day. We kept busy and she stayed happy mostly. Tomorrow we have an interview with the American consulate, and at night we are going on a dinner boat cruise with the group I'm excited about that.

The run in picture. Well, I guess she doesn't understand she needs to smile.

The self portrait of the 3 of us is on top of a monument, which is the thing we were taking all the stairs for. We were really high. It was fun and the breeze was great!