A park to see, progress with Daddy, and Emily is awesome!

After Emily's nap today (she is a great sleeper so far!!), it was raining and we worried about being bored and cooped up in our hotel room.  She loves being outside, so inside toys only hold her attention for so long.  Once the room shades open and she knows outside is an option, she wants to go.  Thankfully, the rain stopped and we loaded her into the stroller (she hated it at first, but then had fun.  She must have remembered that today because she willingly got in!) and headed to a park.  Bay Li Park is located down a very busy side street of shops that remind me of loud, teenager-y mall shops.  Each one had blaring (usually English) music and a young girl near the entranceway doing something (clapping, stomping, speaking into a microphone) to try to lure people in to shop. 

 

The park itself was built around a lake and was really nice.  It has some traditional-looking Chinese pagodas and areas for games (lots of older men smoking and playing card games), for pedal-boating, for playing (including an area of amusement park rides, but they were not operating today), and for sitting on benches.  Emily loved being in the stroller and seeing the sights. 

 

It is so striking to us that when she has on sunglasses, people almost fall over staring at her.  People shout "hello baby!" to her or stop us by the arm and say "so cute!" or "so beautiful!"  One couple tried to take her picture and others try to touch her.   People literally have their mouths hanging open when looking at her.  But, when she is not wearing the sunglasses, things change.  Then, she gets stares, but not exclamations about her cuteness.  Some people still look at her and us with kindness, but others are just blatantly staring or pointing.  Some in her culture consider it to be "unlucky" or a curse to be born with white hair and light eyes.  If they think she is American though, they just think she is extremely cute.  So crazy how things change with a pair of sunglasses on or off.  We think she's just plain adorable regardless!  Look at her sweetness walking the hotel hallway (for the millionth time today!)

 

She is so amazing.  She is funny and sweet and tries to make us laugh.  She has a mischievous side and did a few things today where she ran a little ahead of us and then "popped out" to be funny.  She has started to trust us and is so cuddly and precious.  She mimics our words and expressions too.  We were going up a long flight of stairs and I kept repeating "up, up, up" until we got to the top.  Once there, she looked me in the eyes and said "up?"  She has also recognized that people are calling out "hello" to her (especially when she's wearing sunglasses) and twice today, she responded back with a loud "Hello!" from the stroller.  Hilarious!  She has already learned the word "no" and when we asked her today where "Daddy" was, she grabbed Justin's arm and pointed.  She is doing so much better today with Justin.  She let him read to her and when I said "toes!" and grabbed her toes, Justin raised his foot and she put her little foot up by his and giggled (see picture (ordinarily, I would not post feet pictures, but this was really cute)).  She grabs us by the hand and drags us to the door to take her outside.  She remembers where toys are in the room and is such a helper with her toothbrush and bath.  Two times today, she raised her arms up to me and said "mama" and then the Chinese word for "hug." It is just amazing to see her in action.  What a gift we have been given.  She - and so many many more orphans here (and everywhere else) - just need someone to love them and give them a chance.  She is smart and funny and strong and healthy.  I just can't believe how lucky we are to have been matched with her.  I kept thinking - as I watched her today - of that Bible verse about "plans to give you hope and a future."  Emily is so deserving of hope and a future and it is our privilege to be able to provide that for her.