China Day 6-7

 Yesterday was an exhausting travel day, but the highlights were my first hug from William in the morning, and then him falling asleep on my shoulder on the bus. He seemed a little nervous on the plane ride, but did well. We had him wear his favorite, comforting outfit, since we had it cleaned. Today we had the medical check up with the other 14 families in our group, and many other adoptive families from other agencies. It was a joy to meet my friend Tami at breakfast this morning. We have communicated online for a few months, and she even sent Will a beautiful handmade blanket and toy bag filled with little trucks. We are the same age and stage of life with grown children and grandchildren and now we both have two little treasures from China.

Our agency staff here in China has been fabulous. Tracy sent all the notes on to the staff here in Guangzhou, and Anson, our guide here helped us though another hurdle today. William got upset tonight and pointing to the phone. We went upstairs to the Holt office and found out that he wanted to talk to his nanny on the phone again. We discussed it and our guide advised that he talk to her one more time on Wednesday afternoon before we depart. The idea is to make it a call where he says a final goodbye. So Anson explained it to William and showed him on the calendar what day he could call her. He is still grieving and evenings are more difficult. But he is warming up a lot more to us and still seems to favor Emma at this point, although he told the guide that Macy is the most beautiful sister. Little does he know he has another beautiful sister at home, and fun big brothers to play guns with! He is having many silly, mischievous, moments each day, along with a lot of smiles. Changing into yet another new shirt today produced no tears!

We are getting to bed early tonight as we hope to be rested for a fun day on Shamian Island, attending a Christian church service, and shopping for pearls and jade later in the day. Will is a great sleeper and asks to go to bed every night by about 6:30, the first of our six kids to do that! We ask for continued prayer for strength for everyone, fast bonding for William, comfort for his grief, and continued health for all of us.

H