A Day of Rest

Yesterday, after we finished the paperwork we rested in the room. Julia was much better and ate dinner with no problems. I am sure it was the ham pizza. I would have not let her eat it. The guide told us yesterday not to eat the pizza but it was already too late. Dallas went out and got McDonald's for dinner. It was delicious. We do appreciate the Chinese food but we really needed a break from it. It is hard eating when you don't know exactly what you are eating. The texture and smell is different than what we are use to. And we are all in constant fear of getting sick. Kristopher is the most paranoid of all.

Grace had some Congee last night and really seemed to enjoy it. She did have a couple of french fries, too. I believe she liked the Congee more. Congee to us looks like a thick rice soup. Think Grits with whole pieces of Rice.

There were two reasons we decided on Grace as her name. The first being we wanted the whole family to agree on the name and like it. Grace Meilin was the only name we all liked and agreed on. The second reason being that she is a Grace. When we look at her we see Grace. We came very close to naming her Hannah Grace Meilin Braxton but as we were walking out the room to sign the papers it became clear that she was indeed our Amazing "Grace".

Last night Grace slept in her crib for the first time. She has woken up briefly one time. She is doing so well. The kids adore her. Picture Zachary, Julia, and Nicholas vying for her attention. Zachary wins out many times. There are times she won't let me feed her but she will let one of the kids. She will let me hold her and comfort her but I think she is alittle upset with me for taking her away from all that she loved. She still does not like Dallas to hold her at all. She will play with him and she let him feed her Congee last night. The boys had to start feeding her and then she allowed Dallas to take over.

I still can not get used to the time. I am up every morning by 4:00 a.m. This morning I was up by 3:00 but I passed out pretty early last night. I just could not stay awake any longer.

Today we have a day off from tours and paperwork. It is a relief to have a full day of rest. Our translator,Katherine, said there is a nice garden behind the hotel so today we will walk around there. The boys are planning to go bowling at the hotel bowling alley. Plus, they all are eager to go the pool.