Day 5 With Andrew - Hutong Tour & Fresh Market

Monday-China Time
Today started off much better-Last night Andrew went to sleep with Baba rubbing his back-no crying at all-All kids were asleep by 10 China Time :) Wow! I took an Ambian with hopes that I could get a good night's sleep. I guess when you mix exhaustion and ambian, you get a wild combination---I Skyped Nana and about 5 minutes into the call, she kept telling me to go to bed. The last thing I remember is tilting to the right in my chair-I woke up at 6 this morning completely rested :) I did have an email from Nana telling me that I did not disconnect skype and she enjoyed watching Hal drag me to the bed-I must not take the next ambian till I am in the bed :) Fun times here in Beijing!
We all woke refreshed this morning. We were scheduled for paperwork this morning but last minute plans had us taking a Rickshaw ride for the Hutong tour. It was wonderful. We toured China and actually got to visit with a wonderful woman in her home. She was 73 years old. When we arrived, she served everyone hot tea and shared her life with us. She is a Christian and had several pictures of Jesus in her home. It was a very special morning.

From her home we walked to the “fresh market” and I do mean FRESH! They had goat heads, cow tails, and any type of fresh meat you wanted. We didn't want any! Gasp! This was the market that all of the locals shopped. Ashton and Adam had lots of fun taking pictures and videoing – they were quite mesmerized by the sights, and smells! So glad we don't have to shop for our meats this way at home! Thank you very much Publ*x!

After lunch, we dropped grandparents and children off at the hotel. All of the adoptive parents and children had to go do paperwork. It was crazy. We spent the whole afternoon in the smokiest offices you have ever walked in - again gasp!. We still did not finish paperwork. We have to go back tomorrow to do more. Much more paperwork than our last trip.
We are back in the hotel, watching Anna Grace and Andrew watch Barney and sing together. It is amazing that he already is singing Barney songs! The big Purple dinosaur speaks to everyone :)

Now, what you all want to know about - Andrew! He is changing everyday . . truly! I don't think he could get much sweeter. He gives Baba (Daddy) and Mama (Mommy) kisses all of the time. He now looks for us and comes to us. He wants to be with one of us at all times. He laughs at everything! He loves snacks! No one can have a snack and not share with him. It is so sweet. He shares everything with us. He feeds us a bite for every bite he takes. Not selfish at all! It amazes me! His new favorite thing is to take a bite and then give it to me. I guess he figures Mamas will do anything. He loves our Monkey shirts and pajamas. Yes, we all match! He points to them all of the time. He can now name everyone in his photo album that we sent him. He loves to color. I drew a circle and he copies me. His stacking cups are one of his favorites. He stacks them over and over. Barney is his all time favorite next to his prized Iron Man Car. He repeats all things and loves to say "hello" over and over. He still prefers Baba (Daddy) the most and he gets upset if Hal or I say bye bye. He does not want us to leave.
He and Anna Grace just shared a bowl of oatmeal-sweet times watching them try to bond. Anna Grace does not understand why he doesn't talk to her. He calls her Mei Mei. Ashton loves taking pictures and I am so glad. She is doing a fabulous job and I think she would take over with Andrew if we would let her. She takes such good care of him and he loves her. Adam is having the time of his life. He is trying all of the food and soaking up the culture. He and David (a precious 12 year old who is being adopted in our group) are just loving getting to know each other. The language barrier is nothing to them. They have created their own sign language and are enjoying teaching each other their language. Hayne loves the huge toy store here. It is really more expensive than home but they have things that he can’t find at home so he loves looking.

We are so very blessed-so much more than we deserve. Can't wait for you to meet Andrew!