Friday Morning

I think that we have the beginnings of a new girl on our hands!

Our friend, Nancy, met us at our hotel this morning, and we headed out shopping. First stop was the eye doctor. MinMin's eyes were tested, and she did need glasses for nearsightedness. She tried on a number of frames, and finally found one that she liked. While there, Richard checked on having his glasses remade, as his have scratches, and they could do that. We had to return to pick them up and hour and a half later.

We went to the clothing market then, and looked at tennis shoes. MinMin picked out some grey ones. She is definately not a dressy girly type, and likes plain colors and styles. That is fine. We got her socks and tennis shoes, and she seems quite pleased, hanging on to the bag with the shoes in them. Next we found a sweat pants, shirt, jacket combination, and asked if she liked it. No, she shook her head. I had Nancy tell he that it would be cold later, and she would need it. She agreed. She choose orange and black--wanted nothing to do with the pink and pretties.

Next stop, the bookstore, where we found a Chinese-English dictionary, and a number of youth books in English/Mandarin. I bought a stack for birthday/Christmas. Also got One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and a couple of others in E/M.

Lunch was McDonalds, where she ate a Big Mac and fries. She liked that.

During the entire morning of shopping, she stayed right by Richard's side, staying away from me when possible. I guess that I am that mean lady who made her change her clothes. That's fine, though, because we also saw a lot more interest in her in every area. More facial expression, stealing glances as us, and she responded to Nancy's questions with good answers, rather than just head shakes and one word responses.

She seems quite pleased with her glasses, taking them out to clean them about 3 times in the last little bit. She puts them on and looks around, but doesn't leave them on yet.

We are back at the hotel now, for a bit of a rest. Nancy is coming back at 5:00, as she has invited us to her home for dinner. Tomorrow she will take us on a cave tour, and a few other places. Tomorrow night she has a tour group coming in, so she will be busy after that (she is a tour guide).

I forgot to mention that this morning we had MinMin use Starfall.com, a web site for learning English, letters, sounds, etc. She really seemed to enjoy that, and I think is waiting right now to get back on. We also gave her the translator we brought, and she has been playing around with that quite a bit, and seems to have figured it out. That's more than we could do.

I feel like I'm rambling here, but I do want you all to realize that we are sooooo encouraged by the changes today. I know that it is the prayers of hundreds that have brought her along so quickly. She is showing more interest in everything, even laughing a bit at the TV, when for the last few days there was NO expression.

I so want to reach out and give her a hug now and then, but know that she is no where near ready for that, she barely tolerates me now, but is Richard's shadow. She seems to have accepted the idea that we are here to stay, and she may as well accept that. She also knows that I am the one insisting that we try to get her things, and talk to the foster mother, so eventually I think that she will come around to accept me too.

Keep praying. We'll keep in touch.