The Kelleys go to Changsha

Well, it's 5am Thursday morning and I am happy to say that I've had my first 7-hours-in-a-row nights sleep. :-) Seems everyone has adjusted to the time change, gotten used to brushing teeth in a little glass of bottled water and showering without opening eyes, nose or mouth (don't drink water out of the tap!), and eating chinese food multiple meals a day. Each day with Caroline is more and more joyful as we watch her personally unfold and get used to her little ways. We are so thankful to Him for making this experience possible for us. As I always say about adoption...if you do it, you will be changed forever, and we are.

Emily did a great job on the Smilebox! I'll try to give some details about the day and attach a few more pictures. Nancy, it's times like this that I wish I had your gift of writing. Hope my accounts are not as boring as I think they are!!

We visited a local museum yesterday where we learned about the local culture from 2,100 years ago. In the early '70s while excavating to build a new hospital, construction workers unearthed a perfectly preserved tomb of the prime minister of Changsha and his family from 150 BC! Very fascinating! Caroline rode on Michael's back in the ergo and was much less interested in the exhibit, so she popped her thumb in her mouth and concked out for about an hour. Every one of our kids has loved to be on Daddy's back and they always fall asleep!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a local pharmacy to pick up some dried prunes and chinese herbs to get Caroline's plumbing to kick in. I loved it! Hundreds of beautiful little wooden drawers covered an entire wall, each filled with herbs to use for everything you can imagine. A doctor mixes whatever you need right there and you're on your way.

Our adventure for the day began after our afternoon down-time of playing cards, when Gongy, Emily, Annie, Caroline and I decided to go for a walk around the hotel before supper. As we were leaving the pool area, a middle-aged chinese man began to point at Caroline in the stroller and scream at Emily as she pushed the stroller. I was lagging behind with Gongy so didn't realize he was hollering at her and by the time I caught up to her, she (Emily) was a bit rattled and decided to take Caroline back to the room to avoid any other unwarranted scrutiny.

So that left just Gongy, Annie and me to roam the halls of the hotel. We were looking for a few little shops connected to the hotel, and when Gongy asked a nice little cleaning woman how to get to the shops, she kindly escorted us to the restaurant. Oh well...eventually we found the shops where purses could be had for a mere $1,500 and up! We decided to pass on that offer.

That we could navigate the hotel empowered us to think that we could walk down the street outside the hotel. Sounds doable, right? Changsha is a busy city and our hotel sits on a main thoroughfare, but we thought if we would be very careful that we could walk a little way without too much trouble. Picture New York City, but add in that people ride bicycles and mopeds down the sidewalk through thick masses of people and no one has ever heard of "pedestrian has the right-of-way." Clearly they DO NOT! SO HERE WE GO - GONGY, ANNIE AND KITTYE - all three completely city-savvy, ambling down a crowded sidewalk seeing the sights. Within seconds of leaving the hotel we narrowly escaped getting run over by a biker and some woman on a moped, but we were not deterred! Onward and upward! Then CRACK! my moving hand hit an object speeding by. It was the rearview mirror of a moped. I had been pointing at something and when I lowered my hand, smashed some guy's mirror as he narrowly missed running me over. I felt it was no big deal, since he was the one riding on the sidewalk! He apparently did not feel that same way, since he glared at me in unbelief, then sped on down to sidewalk to run over some other unsuspecting American. LOL We thought we should turn back in case something else should happen, so we began our trek back to the hotel (only about 500 feet!) and managed to get back to the room no worse for wear. In retrospect, it was kind of like an episode of Curios George Goes to the City.

Caroline is doing great, and each day we are blessed to see her little personality unfold. She is truly delightful and has a funny sense of humor, with a little temper mixed in. Ben has been teaching her to do card tricks (she likes holding the cards between her toes), Emily and Annie are constantly walking or strolling her around, and Gongy spends lots of time playing whatever Caroline wants to play. She loves her congee and devours stewed prunes. Please pray for her plumbing to kick in. We are a little worried, since she is only a few weeks post-surgery to reconnect her colon and she needs to poop. That's the bottom line (no pun intended). Our guide told us about the chinese herbs, so since the prunes haven't worked yet, we're going to do the herbs today. Just in time to go to the "amusement park" this morning. Let's hope this doesn't go really wrong! Pooping baby and 105 degree temps...maybe we WON'T be gone long! :-) Thank you for your prayers!