30 JUL--Wenzhou

It's a GREAT day today--except for the fact that N still feels bad. She's now inspecting our bed to see what wood the mattress is constructed from. I suspect the bed engineer is a Chinese man who as a child was forced by his cheapskate parents to sleep on hotel room floors, and now he's exacting his revenge on parents China-wide!

Wake at 5:30 to get ready, check out, eat, and get in the minivan for a 6 hour ride to Wenzhou, home of Hannah's orphanage. We finished _The Last Battle_, the last of the Narnia series, on the way. N was koncked out in the back, getting some well-deserved rest, but the rest of the kids loved the readaloud--except H, of course, because she started halfway into the story, and couldn't really get into it after having missed so much.

H has been drinking like a champ during our ride--and that's really important. She also starts smiling more, and even LAUGHs at N. These are all very good things. She plays with a ball for a few minutes with F, too--she's starting to come out of her shell.

Beautiful scenery--fantastic green mountains, and even a few waterfalls that resulted from the recent typhoon. On one rest stop, B pes in the Chinese toilet (flush against the ground--you're supposed to squat, but he goes standing up--perpendicular to the hole), but misses the mark and makes a mess. This is the second time he's done this--a few more times and he'll be perfect!

Enter the city, and discover everyone speaking in the international language everyone understands: the car horn. Of course, the pattern and length of blast determine exactly how urgent one's request for the other to get the heck out of the way really is.

To the hotel, and 30 mins later we're off to the public security bureau. No idea what we're doing there--large crowds, lots of noise, unruly kids (pretty much just ours, but they still add to the stress!), and lots of L saying that the official needs such-and-such document RIGHT NOW (and may I tell you we've got 2 inches of documents, easily?). After getting through that, there's time to visit the orphanage--the highlight of the day.

It's a clean and well-run place. We take video that perhaps will interest H someday. H smiles and enjoys the visit--which the doctor said would be a good portent--and we parents learn about how they've been feeding her. They've been giving her formula, which she's refused from us...but they prepared her some there, and it was HOT! Now, why didn't we think of that?

After the visit, the orphanage director took us out to eat with another adopting couple. N's stomach's been a little queasy, so we weren't sure how this was going to go. The food was fantastic, though--there was some especially tasty broccoli, and some great tofu. We've been barred from eating any fresh fruits or vegetables, unless we peel them ourselves--unless we want a bout of Confucius's revenge. Not even the tempting watermelon at the bfast buffet is OK. So the cooked veggies we had tonight were some of the first for N since arrival in China. M has had some on the breakfast buffet, but some people are weird and refuse to eat cabbage or stewed tomatoes before noon!

C, F, and B all got to play on a little indoor playground, which was good, as they've had little opportunity to exert themselves physically today.

Love to you all!