2 steps forward, 1 step back (is still forward)

What a challenging few days we've had. It didn't take long with Aubrey to realize that we were underprepared with our Chinese language skills. We can only imagine what she is going through, and we've had a few rough patches the last few days. The good news is, we really feel like we turned a corner today, and what started off as a pretty rough day ended as our best yet. So even though it's two steps forward, one step back, it is still forward.

Yesterday, Tuesday was a hard day on everyone. We departed from the hotel at 7:30 after a hurried breakfast to get on the road for a trip back to Lang Fang, the town that Aubrey is from. We needed to get some piece of paper stamped in some office there, so we had to travel 4.5 hours each way in a van for an appointment that lasted about 20 minutes. 9 hours in a bouncy, Chinese van took its toll on everyone.

While we were in Lang Fang, we decided to pay a visit the the park where Aubrey was discovered. Lang Fang plaza is a beautiful, open park area next to a busy street and lots of shops. This location was obviously picked so that she would be discovered quickly.

Next to the park, is a McDonalds, where we went for lunch. Many of you know about our disdain of fast food in general and McDonald's specifically, so it's odd that we traveled 8000 miles to go to McD's when we won't go to the one a mile from our home, but you've got to eat.

We caused a bit of a stir while we were there. People were fascinated by us, particularly Aaron. He's kind of a big deal in China! People want to take his picture and pat him on the head. He's really cool about it but a little shy of all the attention.

Aubrey also had a bit of a meltdown toward the end of lunch, and we left in a bit of loud rush to get out the door. The ride home brought on another, slightly worse tantrum in the van that left us all a bit dazed. It's typical toddler behaviour, nothing shocking, but the language barrier adds a level of diffuculty, but we're working it out.

Today started off rough.. she seriously woke up ready to rumble. After a prebreakfast battle, we headed to the local shopping area with our guide. Just a few minutes after we got there, I needed to run back to the Hotel, and took Aubrey with me. She has been latched on to me hard for the last few days, to the point where I pretty much can't put her down or she loses it, so we're together most of the time. On the way back to find everyone, she was sort of on the verge of an explosion when something amazing happened. She started to ask for Momma. When we did finally find Becci and Aaron, she went straight for Momma, and was good to go. What followed was a super pleasant day of smiles and laughs. She's been saying things over and over again enough that we're putting together a very basic vocabulary, which helps tremendously. Plus, she's dropped some English on us to our surprise. Just mimicking, but still awesome. She told Becci "thank you", plain as day and has said her English name "Aubrey Chen" a few times. Best of all, she'll give kisses to Becci, and I got a couple today, too. It's really cool when she says something in Chinese that we can catch, like "I nee Baba", roughly I love Daddy.

Tonight ended with a meal with fellow traveler/adoptive parents Allison and Ryan and their new son Bo at a hot pot restaurant, the type where you cook your own meals at the table. Not exactly the most child safe way of eating, but fun nonetheless. A long day of play and no nap caught up with one of the group...it seems like one of us is always falling asleep at dinner.

So, that's it for now. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers, they mean so, so much to us, so keep them coming and we'll keep posting. There are a bunch more photos below...

first photoshop lesson

sleepy kids

becci taking care of laundry

goofy kids