Day 5

Last night around 11:00 I got sick, chills etc. I was very worried that this would last a while. Phyllis is still a bit sick to her stomach. I was relieved to wake up this morning much better. Thank God for Pepto Bismol! Mark was my rock as usual and helped me through the night, I may have been dehydrated, I started getting a little loopy, ( I know it is hard to tell). Your messages have kept us going, we look so forward to logging on, especially because the phone calls aren't working. We will try to get that fixed. Everything gets lost in translation. We went to the Hubei Museum and saw some ancient bells that were found in an ancient tomb from 425 BC. We got to see a concert with some replicas, very beautiful. We then went to a carpet factory. We drove into a neighborhood that barely fit our huge bus and we went into the upstairs of this building and there hung some of the most beautiful Chinese rugs I have ever seen. These people work tediously on one rug only getting about 2-3 inches in a row a day. They tie individual knots on the whole piece. Just incredible. We were able to mingle with the locals before boarding the bus. We attract many people, they are so kind and happy, we need more of this back home. I have never seen so many people working so hard to please us. It brings tears to my eyes that they are treating us like royalty, who are we. The housing is so different than ours, many apartment buildings with their laundry hanging to dry , they call it the land of 1.00 flags because of the clothes hanging everywhere. We are learning so much about the culture just by being here. I will never take clean tap water for granted again, or ice cubes, we are getting used to warm drinks. I simply gave a young girl one of Myah's pictures yesterday and she said that she would treasure it forever. Simple acts. I so enjoy waving to people while we are on our bus, they always smile and wave back. Many of the women come up to Myah and comment on her looks. Her hair is very special evidently. She is so precious. We are peeling away the layers of her personality one at a time. A snails pace. Many of the babies are laughing all of the time and playing very actively. That is not our little girl. She is taking her time, making sure that we can be trusted. We earn every smile, trust me! She is just very content. Quiet and peaceful. Not like our family at all!!!! We will bring her out of her shell eventually. I can't imagine what these little girls are going through. You can always hear someone crying at one time or another. They are all doing so well though considering. They are all Spicy girls. That is a nickname given to girls of this area. They like things hot so evidently they are to be spirited and strong willed. I do see that in many of the girls. They are just as precious as can be. Sisters of a sort. Most of them had their first poopy today and we were all so glad, I know gross but with adopted babies that is a huge milestone! We had to say goodbye today to our China coordinators from the agency , Ming and Mary. They are going on to Hubei on a 13 hour train ride to set up an orphanage rebuild that our agency is going to fund/build. We will miss both of them. They have brought us together with our daughters and shared tears with all of us. They are our girls fairy godmothers. Miss Myah is sleeping now, she has to be exhausted, we just get very little down time and these girls are paying for it. Tomorrow Mark gets to go to the orphanage. Our group pitched in and are buying 2 air conditioners for them and we went tonight and bought some outifits and blankets. I am wore out so now I am going nightie night!