Sunday in Guangzhou

Today is a rest day...we went on a small outing to the Chen Dynasty Academy. It was the school for the Chen children...if your last name was Chen you were in, if your last name wasn't Chen...you were out! I think that is how I understand it. It is a 'new' building, only 120 years old versus the real old buildings which are over 600 years plus. The building is full of carvings made of wood, stone, brick, and ceramic. They also do art here, so it was fun to pick out some pretty pieces and have the artist put the girls' names in Chinese and English on them.

The carvings were beautiful and so detailed. There was also a pretty and peaceful garden in the center of this building, which is mostly open air rooms to allow the air to pass through and cool the classrooms. It gets very hot here in the summer...so I can't imagine the rooms ever cooled too much.

The weather here is beautiful! We are not too hot. We finally got hit up by the 'granny police' this morning. The woman smiled at us and then gave us some understandable sign language that our baby needed to be in long sleeves. Let no baby be uncovered here. Emma is the hottest kid I have ever met...sweating all the time. Plus, she isn't used to the warm humid weather, her province is much cooler than it is here.

Emma continues to adjust so nicely. We are so encouraged by her actions and reactions to us. Her biggest issue right now is that when she gets nervous, scared, or upset she starts scratching her ears. They heal up some and then she gets at them before we can restrain or distract her and we start all over with the healing. Poor thing. We were told she has eczema..but I am not sure. It may have started that way..but now it is just her habit when she is not content. We find the most upsetting things for her are new places with lots of noise. She is also initially upset when we enter a vehicle. Our conversations are full of questions, wondering 'what if' this means this or 'what if' she is reacting this way because of 'this'. Whatever 'this' is will forever be a mystery to us, but we are trying to be students of Emma and figure out what triggers her anxiety. I can't imagine her confusion. Our guide seems to be able to draw her attention and soothe her some...which the other guide never did.

Can't wait for tomorrow as we attend our Consulate meeting. So excited that we are approaching the last steps of our adoption of Emma. We aren't sure what the meeting entails...but we have every type of paperwork imaginable to prove Emma is ours! :) We'll see what is in store for us tomorrow.

Love to all! :)
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