She Is Such A Blessing

Iris is such a blessing and we can not stop spoiling her.  She is so Innocent and beautiful that is is hard to imagine how anyone could not love her.  It seems like she is starting to realize that we are not going away.    Last night she decided she was not ready to go to sleep so she tested us a little.  Melissa and I acted like we were going to bed and turned down the lights and crawled in.  She came to the edge of the bed and so we put her between us.  That is when she started talking and singing and laughing.  It was like to she knew she was testing us a little.  She eventually went to sleep and it was still only 8:00pm.  About 15 minutes after Melissa fell asleep.   As we walk around with her in the streets we get a lot of stares but we also get a lot of smiles.  The people here are not afraid to stare and get a closer look at the child we have.  It seems like most people are thankful that we are helping their people.  The Pierce family told us they had someone stop them and ask if they are Christians.  The person told them "the Christian people come over and take the babies that they disregard".   That is amazing in both good and bad.  It is god that they recognize Christians as people who care for those in need.  It is bad that they openly disregard children that do not fit their needs.  Maybe this is planting seeds for Christianity in the coming years in China.   Melissa took Iris to the restroom yesterday in the shopping area and she had to us a "squatty potty".  These are not western toilets as we know them.  They are basically just a hole in the floor and you stand over them to potty.  The Pierce family told us that their son Ben thinks the drain in the shower is a squatty potty and tries to go in there.   As we walked around yesterday (and the day before at WalMart) we noticed several children relieving themselves right in the street or on the sidewalk.  The parents or grandparents just stood there and watched.  We also see a lot of children with there bums open to the world.  Their clothes are open between the legs and in the back so they can just go whenever and where ever they want.   Iris is getting used to the western toilet and does a very good job.  Each morning she wakes up with a dry diaper and uses the toilet.  The only accidents she has is when we are out and do not have a place to go.   We had one crazy lady follow us and yell at us.  This was the first day, before we had Iris.  She was standing in front of a government building that is very close to our hotel.  As we walked by she stared at us.,  As we passed she started yelling.  We turned to see her following us with her cane.  She followed us until she came to the end of the block.  A while later we walked back by and she came towards us yelling so we walked out and away from her.  She followed us to the other end of the block yelling the entire time.  We have no idea if we offended her or if she was just crazy.   Melissa and I both slept until 5:00am this morning which is great compared to the first few nights.  Hopefully we are getting adjusted. Iris is still sleeping.   I know this posting is just a lot of various little things but I wanted to post them so we can someday remember our trip.  I continue to think about Mr. Yang and how emotional he got when we last saw him.  He told us how important Iris was at the orphanage and she was the leader.  We noticed that yesterday when Ben would get upset.  Iris would walk over to him and see what was wrong (I think this may have frustrated Ben because Iris gets very close so she can see better).  She is not afraid of approaching anyone and loves the attention.    Iris also like to tear things up and throwing things.  She loves ripping paper apart and throwing her toys.  She does not throw them in anger but throws them and just laughs about it.  This must have been how she learned to play.   Thanks for all of the responses and emails we have received.  We know everyone likes seeing updates and photos but we also love getting kind words from our friends and family.    Attached are a few misc photos and a few from Gotcha Day.  One photo is looking from our hotel window.  It is very hot here but we are yet to actually see the sun.  It looks overcast everyday but it is smog.