16 - A Day of Firsts
7/3 We arrived back at the hotel to meet cousins, then went to our room to get acquainted. Somewhere between leaving the provincial office and our hotel, I lost our digital camera. We've prayed about this so now it's not a worry. There's a chicken fast food place down the road from our hotel, the Shanxi Grand. Kind of a McD's menu, look at pictures and point. My, can Kate eat! Then we realized that she was enjoying some firsts! While I was looking over the picture menu, she shyly took the card, turned it over and pointed to ice cream. So, Baba bought ice cream for all the kids after they ate their lunches. With her first bite, she made the funniest expression and looked in shock at the cone. That's when we realized that she had never eaten this before. So, after observing a brief demo of proper ice cream consumption techniques, she mastered the art, down to the last bite!
Our group of 8 took an after lunch walk back to the hotel and passed some clothing stores (really, they are side by side rooms which were separate stores.) As we walked thru a childrens' store, Kate grabbed my hand and quietly said "Mama" and pointed at a fluffy blue flowered silk dress with full gathered skirt. We have another foo foo girl :-) Poor baby, how do you tell her Not this dress, because you have a closet of frilly dresses, outgrown by your sister, back home?
Another reason we didn't want to buy the dress was based on others' advice to not start out giving everything they ask for because it will have to stop somewhere and usually it's not a pleasant process. Yet, Kate seemed happy with a smaller alternative purchase and off we went to the hotel for a mid afternoon rest. She may or may not have needed it--Baba and Mama did :-)
Kate was obviously not sleepy, so when I laid her down, I let her listen to the one Chinese children's cd we have. It was a gift to Cora from our Singaporean friends who are missionaries to Thailand--Bible songs for children. Kate is now singing along to the some of the songs! This is such a joy to us that she is already hearing about God's love for her. Gerald and I are so thankful to Jason and PohLai for their part in introducing Kate to God.
Of course our crowd must swim everyday, so off we went to the inside pool at Grand Shanxi. A warning to families who may stay here, the showers in the ladies room have glass doors and are used faithfully by most of the elderly Chinese women who swim here :-) And you may have to wait patiently for them to finish drying off and move away from the pool door before you can enter :-) It became apparent that Kate had never swam. She stepped off the shallow platform and immediately sunk. Yet, cousin Claire was with her and she was up quickly. Before long, she was all around the pool with floaties. Cora even swims across the pool now and this is the girl who doesn't like her face wet!
Supper was a grand adventure. We saw a Pizza place across the busy divided street in front of our hotel, so that was our destination until we walked up and discovered it was out of business. We then decided to be brave and visit the Chinese restaurant next door. Of course, our translation cards for ordering were still in our room, so we had quite a time of looking at the pictures and even visiting the nearby table to view what they had ordered. The pictures were misleading. Even Kate did not approved of the delicacies! Gerald talked with our hotel staff and discovered that they could make pizza. Kate approved and this was another first in her short life. Soon she brushed her teeth and happily wore her new pjs which matches her sister's.
I pray that Kate has pleasant dreams and her calm and curious nature continues. Gerald and I have talked about how natural it feels to have Kate with us, how it feels that she is meant for our family and we look forward to discover more about her nature. We are thankful for the ways God prepared us for this day.
Our group of 8 took an after lunch walk back to the hotel and passed some clothing stores (really, they are side by side rooms which were separate stores.) As we walked thru a childrens' store, Kate grabbed my hand and quietly said "Mama" and pointed at a fluffy blue flowered silk dress with full gathered skirt. We have another foo foo girl :-) Poor baby, how do you tell her Not this dress, because you have a closet of frilly dresses, outgrown by your sister, back home?
Another reason we didn't want to buy the dress was based on others' advice to not start out giving everything they ask for because it will have to stop somewhere and usually it's not a pleasant process. Yet, Kate seemed happy with a smaller alternative purchase and off we went to the hotel for a mid afternoon rest. She may or may not have needed it--Baba and Mama did :-)
Kate was obviously not sleepy, so when I laid her down, I let her listen to the one Chinese children's cd we have. It was a gift to Cora from our Singaporean friends who are missionaries to Thailand--Bible songs for children. Kate is now singing along to the some of the songs! This is such a joy to us that she is already hearing about God's love for her. Gerald and I are so thankful to Jason and PohLai for their part in introducing Kate to God.
Of course our crowd must swim everyday, so off we went to the inside pool at Grand Shanxi. A warning to families who may stay here, the showers in the ladies room have glass doors and are used faithfully by most of the elderly Chinese women who swim here :-) And you may have to wait patiently for them to finish drying off and move away from the pool door before you can enter :-) It became apparent that Kate had never swam. She stepped off the shallow platform and immediately sunk. Yet, cousin Claire was with her and she was up quickly. Before long, she was all around the pool with floaties. Cora even swims across the pool now and this is the girl who doesn't like her face wet!
Supper was a grand adventure. We saw a Pizza place across the busy divided street in front of our hotel, so that was our destination until we walked up and discovered it was out of business. We then decided to be brave and visit the Chinese restaurant next door. Of course, our translation cards for ordering were still in our room, so we had quite a time of looking at the pictures and even visiting the nearby table to view what they had ordered. The pictures were misleading. Even Kate did not approved of the delicacies! Gerald talked with our hotel staff and discovered that they could make pizza. Kate approved and this was another first in her short life. Soon she brushed her teeth and happily wore her new pjs which matches her sister's.
I pray that Kate has pleasant dreams and her calm and curious nature continues. Gerald and I have talked about how natural it feels to have Kate with us, how it feels that she is meant for our family and we look forward to discover more about her nature. We are thankful for the ways God prepared us for this day.
posted by Linda @ 10:24 PM
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