Rain & Tears

*Deidra, please do not read the beginning of this post to the girls. I do not want to upset them*

We woke up at almost 7 AM today.  Maggie slept with Hope (praise God). I actually could sleep last night.  Everyone was happy.  I wish we had 2 rooms because having 1 bathroom is hard. As soon as Bill or I go in there they are banging on the door like they can't hold it anymore.

(this is the part please don't read to the girls).....We Skyped Abby, Jadyn & Ethan after breakfast time (I'll talk about breakfast in a minute).  We miss them so much. I started crying when we were talking to them. I was holding it back but Jadyn could tell. I just told her I was tired.  They are happy but miss us a lot.  I'm so thankful for the friends who are spending time with them.  Then my sweet friend sent me a photo of the girls Skyping us and I just lost it.  Cried a lot (we had already hung up from Skype).  Then a minute later Tiff calls.  We have not talked to her in days because of her band camp schedule.  When we connected I could hear she was crying and I lost it again.  Bill did too.  This was hard.  Missing your kids so much and seeing them so upset.  Typing this now I'm crying.  We are just so ready to get home.  One more week. That's all I keep repeating.  One more week.....

So we went to breakfast and I did not take my camera.  Why?? Because the girls are eating the same thing and I just did not feel like taking pictures of the same food. LOL  Well guess what???  They ate different food.  Of course they did.  ha ha ha.  Hope chose spam and lotus root. It was purple (the lotus root).  Maggie tried some cereal. She did not want milk in it (she chose rice krispies) and I said 'no, okay" and poured some in.  She tried 2 bites and did not like it.  She also ate watermelon, a muffin, a hard boiled egg and lotus root.  She also asked to try my french toast. She did not like it.  Too sweet.  I'm just proud that she wanted to try something new.

Hope's favorite drink for breakfast is grape juice. I think she thinks it's alcohol.  Because we always have to do "cheers" with her.  Maggie drinks mango juice or orange juice.

So it's pouring outside.  We were supposed to go to a park. Um, not gonna happen. So our guide took us to the mall.  we said that is good because Maggie is wearing a dirty dress.  So we went. I think I counted 6 floors. We went on 2.  Could not find clothes to fit Maggie. She did buy a headband (the ones we brought from home hurt her head).  We said "take us to the walmart".  So we went. Hope found an outfit.  I'll take pictures when she wears it. then I remembered....FLAT IRON!!!  I am happy to report we found one and I bought it.  I hope it works.  Then we found books and told the girls to find some books/activity books for the airplane.  they did.  Their first choice?? Books to improve their writing.  Awesome!  Abby & Jadyn, we also found 2 activity books that we think you will love. :-)

We left Walmart with Maggie not happy. No dress for her.  So we finally found the one and only kid shop with clothes her size. She lit up.  We found 2 dresses and a pair of shoes for her.  Hope found a pair of sneakers and she also wanted a dress.  WHAT???  We told Shelly to tell her she has to wear this. She said she will.  So for 3 dresses, 2 pairs of shoes and 1 headband for Hope, it cost around $130 dollars. US dollars. OUCH!  I sure do miss my Kohl's coupons and sales.  We told them that when we get home we will take them shopping for more clothes. They said "okay" with a smile on their faces.

So we come back to the hotel. Maggie wanted us to wash the dress she was wearing. So I said "OK, but you have to wear this" (tank top and shorts from home). She put it on with a smile. She looks so cute.  I took a picture.

We are doing laundry. We are washing the 3 dresses Maggie has now and then she'll have 2 more to wear.  We are also washing her under garments (she needs little bras).  Apparently she is not thrilled with the ones we bought, but she's not complaining.

Shelly took Bill to pizza hut. I hope the girls like it. If not, he'll go get them more rice.  :-)

We are extremely tired. We are ready to leave Hefei.  Tomorrow will be a long day.  We meet Shelly at 11:30 for some paperwork (I think she give us their passport) and then at 5 we leave the hotel for the airport.  Their first plane ride. They are excited.

OH, Hope was MUCH better at the mall today.  MUCH!!!!  when we would call her she would come back. I made sure I said "Thank You Hope" every time she listened.  OH, and she has learned what "one minute" means. LOL  She'll ask me something and if I don't answer quickly enough, she said "One minute".  LOL  Cracks me up.

Have I blogged that they can sing "Happy Birthday"?  They can, in English. We were impressed.

TV is horrible. They only watch the soaps and there are a lot of blood & killings on it.  We're letting them do it now just so we can have some peace.  Hopefully on the plane they will be interested in the kid movies.

OK, so here are some pics I just took. Might not be best quality. I took them on my little camera.

Please keep praying. We can feel the prayers. Each day is a little better. The spitting is getting better. she is at least spitting in the garbage or toilet.  :-)

Love & Hugs from China.

Love Skype (Thanks Deidra for this photo)

We saw this in the mall.  Auditions for The Voice, China

The girls with new headbands, and clothes from the US

I'm happy.  I hope it works. LOL  

The girls with their new books