Thursday Update - from Rob!

Happy Thursday to all of you. 2:45 p.m. here, hope all of you are sleeping well!

It has been quite hot and humid today. I would guess the temperature is around 90 with high humidity. It is hard to guess with all the celsius thermometers around here!

Piper is doing so well, we could not all 3 be happier. She has really blossomed even more in the last 24 hours. She smiles and laughs all the time. She loves to be held and likes to play games. She is very smart also, she has learned to shake her head no already! It is amazing how this bonding has taken place so quickly. All the stories we heard about grieving, no sleeping, no eating, crying for 3-4 days has not happened at all (knock on wood).

She is a great eater and a fantastic sleeper. She usually takes a cat nap in the morning when we are doing site seeing with the group for 30-45 minutes. Then a 2 or 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. Last night she slept from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. without a peep! 10 hours is great for us!!

Some of the other families are dealing with other issues, but most of them are not severe. Some of our friends come down in the morning a little bleary eyed, but that is all.

Last night our guide Peter made arrangements for a great dinner for us here at the hotel. It was an american style dinner and was quite good. Beef tenderloin, fried chicken, salad... stuff like that. It was a nice change of pace. Today he got pizza for us for lunch, so he is really spoiling us. He just wants the group to be happy, and we are!

This morning we got on our bus and Peter took us to the park here in Changsha. It is a very nice park and quite large. There was lots going on. Chinese people singing, playing musical instuments, people fishing. It was very crowded and again all of the locals were so interested in us Americans with the Chinese baby girls. They all came up and spoke (as much as possible), smiled, took our pictures, video taped us. It was great. Piper slept through about half of the stroll in our stroller. When she woke up, she enjoyed what she saw.

Then we went to a Chinese Art School where the make and sell art. We bought several pieces to take home and hang in our house. We got a sign with Piper's name on it in English and Chinese.

Laurie and Piper are taking their afternoon nap. I am getting ready to go buy some more baby clothes, and then I think I am going to get a massage here at the hotel.

Tomorrow is Piper's birthday. Our guide Peter has made arrangements for us to have a party here at the hotel. He has a birthday cake coming and all. It will be great and we will take more photos and video. We have been taking a TON of video and pictures and we cannot wait to share with all of you.

Well that is all for now. We are still having an awesome time here in the Hunan province and are not in a hurry to leave to be totally honest! Our group members are great and we have made some great friends. We will definitely be getting together with a few of these families that ilve in Charlotte and Charleston, SC area.

Hope all of you are well.

Rob

P.S. Thanks for all the e-mails. We are getting them all. Some of you have told us you are getting a rejection back, but we are still getting them so please keep sending!

Also, I hope you have gotten some photos by Thursday night. If not, please e-mail Mellisa Gravitt. mgravitt@brenntag.com