4/4/10 Easter in China

Well Sunday is done.  We weren't able to go to church or anything.  Our guide had plans for us to go to Yuntai Gardens,  a beautiful botanical garden in north of Guangzhou.  AG had fun,   tested me a bit--fortunately I won!  We are  packing 4 years of child rearing and trust building and communication in a little over a week so far.  My aunt who has lived in Asia for 30 years,  is here with us till Tuesday am.  She has picked up the translation job that Pa did.  You know it is another gift that God gave us in giving us another of our desires,  a child who speaks mandarin! Most of southern China,  where it seems to me more adoptive kids come from,  speaks some form of cantonese or other tribal language.  Kids don't begin speaking mandarin till they go to school.  Can you imagine beginning to learn mandarin in kindergarten,  and english in 1st grade?!  when do they do math?   It is a great help having my aunt here and my mom too.  Tonight was a success--right to bed and sleep after bath and book--no crying.  She did cry on way home from late dinner though. She refused nap today,  so overtired. Tomorrow we are going with some of my aunt's friends to the safari park--supposed to be nice.  When the Scichuan earthquake hit a year or so ago,  Panda preserve was destroyed,  and some of pandas are at safari park!!
Have not done much relaxing or exploring our area--we are on Shamian island,  where most of adoptive families stay--US consulate used to be here,  and physical exam site is here--that went well for us Sat.  Since AG had a TB  vaccine in Nov,  we knew she'd test positive on skin test,  so she was tested with xray in Beijing.  Here they accepted the TB test,  but made her repeat xray--she knew exactly how to stand  and stood still!  Hated for her to have so much radiation,  but can't argue,  have to go along.   If you meet her soon after we get home,  don't be surprised if she doesnt' know much English.  We really want to try to keep her bilingual,  which means her English acquisition will be slower.  Pa spoke chinese to her pretty exclusively,  I speak most of time with my very limited mandarin,  and have picked up more vocab. ,  my aunt translates and speaks.  Figure she'll have enough time when she gets home.  We almost always call her by her Chinese name--now her middle name,  too.  She was taught her new 1st name,  though  we need to start using it.  She had such an amazing upbringing since being moved to a foster group home at 15 months.  They truly loved and nurtured her.  They trained her very well,  and we are the beneficiaries of all that training.  They gave us a beautiful photoalbum/baby book with pics and growth info and info from 15 months old.  Priceless!!  Made me cry reading it on plane ride with fam from Beijing to Henan.
Continue to pray--we appreciate it--hard starting over at 4 years after raising 2 boys.  Thanks,  MA