Doing much better

Thank you for all the prayers!!!! Cherish had a really rough night with fever and belly pain. We were doing Motrin and Tylenol throughout the night, and at 5 a.m. (4 p.m. EST), her fever broke! I know it had to be your prayers! It ended so quickly for her!

All the children over 2-years-old who were adopted needed to have a TB blood test taken yesterday. Today we found out Hope's test results were "negative". We are very thankful! 

At 7:30 tomorrow morning we leave for our U.S. Consulate appointment. Derek and I will be swearing in with Hope at that time. It is quite a moving time. I remember with Cherish I couldn't even speak I was so moved to tears. All I could do was move my lips with my hand raised.

Some interesting facts about Hope are that she LOVES brushing her teeth. She can easily brush her teeth for 7 minutes, and only finishes at that point because we insist she truly is finished brushing. Also, she loves washing her hands. Two wonderful disciplines to enjoy!

Also, she thoroughly enjoys coloring. AND, a picture is not finished unless every tiny bit of white is gone. Crayon color must be on every square millimeter. AND, a crayon broken into little pieces is just as valuable as a whole, unbroken crayon. Tiny pieces are just smaller treasures. Hope is occupied for a very long time with crayons and a coloring book. (Thank you, Aunt Michele and Uncle Mark, for the supplies!)

In addition, Hope cannot fall asleep at night unless she is touching me. She either MUST hold my hand or tuck my hand under her cheek. Then, she can fall asleep. (She'd prefer to sleep with me, but we don't want to have to break that habit!)

Hope has been doing great with daddy, too. She enjoys playing games and coloring with him. And, she likes teaching him Chinese words. She laughs like crazy at our Chinese pronunciation of words.

Hope loves to laugh. She's known in the group for her laughter. She is the group clown.

At the same time she laughs and jokes a lot, she is a sweetie in transition. Our social worker over here told us that this age group has the hardest time during transition, because they simply cannot comprehend what is going on. They have so many "Why?" questions, and they have to figure it out all by themselves (vs the babies who mostly just care about being held and changed and fed and loved on). The toddlers and preschoolers have a hard time understanding what's happening to them.

Hope cries a lot less now and seems very comfortable with our family. Just this morning she was giving me kiss after kiss after kiss on my hand while we were walking down the hallway. Constant kisses! And she loves to snuggle a lot!

Little brother seems to have grown up tremendously in the last week! He loves to be the leader on our walks through the hotel and seems much more independent. I think he thinks Hope is younger than he is, since she talks in "baby talk" (Chinese) and constantly MUST hold my hand. Thus, he has risen to the occasion and is quite a big boy! Also, his silliness seems to have skyrocketed. He is a crack up! 

I know you're all so concerned about our laundry, too ;). It's going well. It's crazy, but I am doing laundry every day. Because there's 5 of us and just so you know, 5 pairs of socks is 10 socks each night. Then, there are the undergarments, shirts, etc., so I have a load every night. I alternate between a "dark" nights and a "white" nights. They go into the tub with shampoo or bath wash. For whites, I add water that I boil in the room.