We have pictures from the orphanage in Fenyi. That's our Grace, in the lower corner, clutching her teddy bear and in her walker. She has her little Pebbles top-knot hair do. We have photos from the orphanage as well, but these amazingly clear ones came from our friends Danielle and Michael, so we are sharing them with you. Next to Grace is her buddy Charlie, who Grace grabbed on the last day in an embrace, or just trying to get to Charlie's mom, who is also named Grace. Then there is Danielle and Michaels beautiful little Surae next to her. I don't recognize the fourth girl, toward the back. From the orphanage photos, we can tell the Grace spent alot of her time in her walker, and all the kids wore split pants, which is what we suspected when he got her. Grace's favorite stuffed animal (this week at least) is a winnie the pooh bear, which looks very similar to the one she is holding.
Grace is walking up a storm and runs as well. The weather has been really cold lately, and Grace just loves it, and wants to go out, she seems to like it especially when the wind is blowing in her face. She is growing a 5th tooth on top, and I think a few more are waiting to pop out. She is doing very well, continues to sleep through the night, and right after Christmas, we get her "legalized" in the state of Nevada, no 6 home visits needed.
We are winding down the blog, but we will continue to post some pictures on flickr. Our faithful Olympus camera, has disappeared, I think somewhere in this very room. I think it heard us talking about us purchasing a new one and disappeared. We do want to harvest its memory cards, and thank it for a job well done, as we purchased it for preparing our dossier 2.5 years ago and it took great photos. But the black spot that appeared in Nanchang never went away, and it was time for another one. Since we are thanking inanimate objects, I'd like to thank Bunny, the stuffed pink bunny by Carters that I bought at Target-- that was made in China, sent to China in Grace's care package, so Grace was holding Bunny when we got her--and then returned back to the US. During our travels in China, there was nothing that Bunny couldn't solve, and Bunny always accompanied Grace to sleep. She slept with Bunny on the way home, so cute in her Korean Air bassinet--people would stop by to coo over her. But Bunny now resides in the corner of Grace's crib, and she now favors Alphabet the Horse, and Winne the Pooh, followed by Woodstock and Peter Rabbit, and a few others. So Bunny will probably end up in the memory box, but it was Bunny who always seems to comfort Grace just at the right time.
Christmas is around the corner! We are expecting 42 for Christmas eve - sort of a repeat of Thanksgiving, except is potluck, featuring Mom & Dad's lasanga and we do a wild and loud gift exchange, with excuiatingly detailed rules dictated by my brother Frank, who in the photo at the very beginning of the blog, (see August) chowing down spaghetti. Photos to follow!
